24 ⚜ Anonymous Text / CW: abuse mentions

[restingstitchface]

Whether a man is a criminal or a hero is a matter of perspective.

But if you don't want to play your role anymore, and are removed from your motivation for being who you are, what do you do? Do you seek redemption and rehabilitation and transform as an individual, or do you repeat negative behavior? How much do you believe people change only because they are imPorted? In short, do you believe people can change?

If I had anybody willing to discuss this in private with me, I assure you, I'd not be raising the issue publically.

Thank you in advance.

Comments

text;

[oceanthief]

People don't change. All you can do is decide how you want to use what you are.

[restingstitchface]

There's the potential to change one's direction, yes. Do you mind sharing how you formed that opinion?

[oceanthief]

I lived it.

[she's still living it, she supposes, trapped in this doppelganger of her own universe's earth. people don't change. planets don't change, even when you cross through the fabric of reality. it was all about what you bent those unchanging materials to do.

Lapis doesn't quite have the words for the emotions boiling in her head, not yet, and so those thoughts travel on in lonely silence for the time being. there was enough power in the tiny sentence that had made it out to propel her sentiments forward.]

[restingstitchface]

All you have seen has taught you to achieve and strive for the direction you have taken.

You speak of a driving force, essentially. Are you familiar with the concept of will to power?

[oceanthief]

Not really. It's not really my own will that's making those things happen.

[it was Steven's, and in part it was an acceptance of her destiny. if she was bound to always be a prisoner, the least she could do was construct her own prison - and use it to protect what was precious to her.]

[restingstitchface]

You consider yourself a prisoner, then? Of fate, of providence, of another's will if nothing else?

[oceanthief]

Of earth. That's more than enough.

But I build prisons I can live in now, so it's fine.

[restingstitchface]

You say that like you're resigned to your fate.

Regardless. I wouldn't claim we're not all stuck in prison here, honestly. It's a dump.

[oceanthief]

I turned it into something that I can use for what matters to me. If you want to call that being resigned, that's up to you.

This earth isn't so bad. It's a little more advanced than the one from my world, at least.

[and there are no gem politics to get caught up in. so far, anyway.]

[restingstitchface]

Right. Do you miss it much, your world?

[oceanthief]

What I miss hasn't existed for a long time, so it's pointless.

[it doesn't mean that she's stopped missing it to the point of pain at times, but Lapis can still acknowledge the futility of it. the Homeworld she longed for was nothing but a memory now.]

[restingstitchface]

Do you think so? One moment ago, you mentioned your world in relation to my remark about being imprisoned here. Yours was a remark made in comparison, I admit, but it was hardly necessary.

[oceanthief]

I'll never miss the earth from my world. You just shouldn't complain about a planet that could be a lot worse, that's all.

[restingstitchface]

I suppose not. Do you have anything else you wish to add?

[oceanthief]

If you have to ask other people a question like this, it's not going to work.

[restingstitchface]

Doubtlessly, there are some who would agree with you. But I am in complete control of my actions. It will work.

[oceanthief]

Not if you have to say it.

[restingstitchface]

Do you know the future? There are a number of factors that affect one's behavior. Practised fraud isn't one of them.

[oceanthief]

No, just the past. And I've seen this one play out before.

[restingstitchface]

Of course you have. Except the factors at play in your case are different to mine. Different history, different people, different places. It's reasonable to estimate that my outcome will be different.

[oceanthief]

Not especially. One thing being trapped here has taught me is that earth doesn't change, no matter what universe it's in. And no one can do better than an entire planet.

[restingstitchface]

A poor opinion of your fellow imPorts, that. I truly believe, if anybody can do better, this world is a good place in which to start.

[oceanthief]

That's your problem to deal with, then.

[coming to terms with believing in something so impossibly wrong, she means. there was nothing on earth but poison and sadness and cycles impossible to escape. if change were possible, it wouldn't occur here.]

What I think doesn't really have anything to do with the people here, though. It's just how this planet is.

[restingstitchface]

[Poison and sadness and cycles of despair are the fuel on which he thrives. All will be fine.]

This planet and others, I imagine.

[oceanthief]

[Crane you're supposed to be changing!!]

If there are any as awful as earth, I haven't been to them yet.