o1 👼🏼 video;

[kidsmenu]

Bon soir. I am Claudia de Lioncourt.

[Small, blonde, extremely curly. A little more articulate and staid in her manner than your average twelve-year-old girl. She's wearing a flowery T-shirt and a backward, pink baseball cap.]

I am seeking information on how family relationships mature as a child grows up, in this world and time. In my old world, it would hinge on marriage, and childbirth, and separation from the ancestral home. But it seems that times have changed. Or perhaps they never were.

I'm given to understand that ImPorts don't tend to have children or anything, but I'm open to hearing stories gathered from the natives. Or your other cultures. Apparently, there is a saying, 'when in Rome.' And it would seem there are infinite versions of Romes to choose from.

Comments

[dragony]

Yes. At the very least, you do what you can. If they have reasonable expectations, meet them. Exceed them, if you must. But sometimes the life you want for yourself — the person you are, the person you become — isn't going to ever be what they expect.

If you do what you can to make them understand, but they still refuse, then you have to claim your life for yourself. You're the one who has to live with it.

If they can't see the person standing in front of them, then... sometimes, it's better not to look back.

Of course, a situation that dire is rare. Most families don't break apart like that.

[kidsmenu]

[That seems true even in Claudia's world. She's well aware that most families don't dissolve into like, setting each other literally physically on fire.]

It can be quite terrible, claiming your own life for yourself.

Sometimes you have to take decisive action. Perhaps almost violent action.

['''Almost.''']

[dragony]

Perhaps. But there are many hurts greater than violence. If you mean it in the literal sense.

Bruises heal. In a world like this, for people like us, I hear we can recover from much worse. But the heart, that can carry its wounds forever.

[kidsmenu]

[—

that's uncomfortably true.]

So the rumors are true? No one stays dead forever, here. At least, not ImPorts.

But for sadness and suffering, there is no likewise magic cure.

[dragony]

I haven't seen anyone die and come back, as they say, since I arrived last week. But if it's going on for as long as claimed, then it seems more plausible than the alternative.

I'm sure some would prefer the solution to the latter far more frequently than what they're given, though. Instead, it's all the time in the world — so long as we're trapped in this one.

[kidsmenu]

Yes.

But I don't know. I imagine if you live long enough, you forget the worst of what happens. You could. Maybe with enough happy years.

[She likes to think, she would've forgotten about killing Lestat, someday.]

[dragony]

I'm still too young to say for sure, I think. But sometimes the things I've wished most to forget have a way of coming back, even after years.

And then, the things we should want to hold on to for the rest of our lives, they slip through our fingers, and we're left with not even dust for remembrance.

Hearts and minds are as fickle as the rest of us.

[kidsmenu]

Yes. I suppose that's true.

[Claudia knows a thing or five about being fickle.]

That sounds very dreary, though. Like something one of my fathers would say. He is often very sad. I do not know where I get my sunnier disposition from.

How is it that you bring yourself to continue?

[dragony]

[ Oh, more in common than she first thought. (But if this girl pulls out that one of her dads is a werewolf, she's just going to stare at the ceiling like "how.")]

We don't always take after our parents as they are. Sometimes we become what we wanted to see, instead — or what we thought they needed.

As for continuing, well, it's not like I have a choice in the matter, right? It's going to happen whether I work up my own motivation, or I let the rest of the world carry me forward. It doesn't take much. Still, I don't enjoy wallowing in the past or in my own misery, either, so I try to focus on other things. Anything to get my mind off of the past, or the future.

It is difficult, though. My heart is weak, and sometimes it feels like my emotions are all burned out; it's harder for me to be happy or excited about anything, but it's harder to be angry or sad, too. It's like the sky is always overcast, but it never rains, and the clouds never break. So, I might not be the best person to ask about something like this. My advice isn't very good.

[kidsmenu]

I think your advice is quite good. One of my fathers, I think, walks through life under the same shade of grey that you do.
Perhaps a darker one even, as you will. At least it sounds like you enjoy beautiful things sometimes.

Do you blame your parents for most of it? For how you are, with your sadness.

[dragony]

I try. I cheat, when I have to. But it doesn't always work.

As for my parents, it's hard to say. I try not to imagine how things might have gone differently. But at the same time, I can't deny cause and effect. It's like, if a forest burns because of a lightning strike, what do you fault? The tallest tree, that caught the lightning? The thunder strike? The storm? The drought, that preceded it? Is "blame" the right word, even?

I don't know if I could tell you.

[kidsmenu]

It sounds like you try not to blame them. I suppose that's admirable. I don't think most of us can resist the temptation.

[dragony]

Most grow up under different circumstances. I wouldn't expect anyone else to have the kind of relationship, that I do with my family. And to me, it's hard to hold onto intense emotions for long, anyway. It's too much effort to resent people I'll never see again.

[kidsmenu]

Clearly you've never been in an actually murderous rage at your family.

[IT SOUNDS LIKE A JOKe

it's not a joke.

:);; Rice vamps]

[dragony]

I haven't. That is, not with my family, at least. I have with my friends.

It isn't an emotion I recommend.

[ WHY TREAT SOMETHING LIKE A JOKE WHEN YOU CAN
TREAT IT SERIOUS....
everything is the worst ]

[kidsmenu]

[So many terrible canons in the multiverse.]

They aren't here, are they? Are you rid of those friends?

[dragony]

They're not here, no. No family or friends for me.

I can't say if that's a good thing, or a bad thing, considering this place, but even the ones I hated at times — I still miss them.

[kidsmenu]

I can imagine that rather easily.

[What would this world be without Lestat? She hadn't missed him at home, not after she conspired to kill him, but he seems like a fixture in this world. A gaudy, ridiculous one with plenty of bad memories, but still.]

I spent a long time wishing to be alone. Do you like it?

[dragony]

It's hard to say. It's easier in some ways, and more difficult in others. There are some things I can't accomplish easily on my own, so being alone in that case is a hardship. But there are some burdens I wouldn't want others to suffer, for my sake, and being alone means it's no longer a concern.

I think it's good to have the option. To be able to choose it, if you desire it. But being able to change your mind — that's important, too.

sorry i got donkey punched by RL, feel free to disregard if this is too old now

[kidsmenu]

I don't think I would ever change my mind! But I suppose anything is possible.

You have powers here now though, don't you? That must make it easier. You can do more alone than you could before.

me so often tbh, you're good

[dragony]

They're not really useful in the day to day, from what I've found. In rare situations, I think they could help other people, but I suppose that's how it goes, sometimes.

What about you? The world itself sounds like it's given you more opportunities. Do your powers help at all?

<3

[kidsmenu]

Yes. I actually... I've really liked the powers this world has given me. It's been helpful, but not the way that you'd expect.

It's like-- suppose you've spent your whole life wishing you could fly. Then you go somewhere that flying isn't important, because... hrm. I suppose everyone... can teleport, perhaps? And now you can fly, as well as teleport a bit. Suddenly there's a shift.

[dragony]

You get what you want, but in a way that doesn't make you stand out? Or, an experience you can share with others?

[kidsmenu]

Yes, I suppose.

I suppose I thought it would change my whole life for the better, mainly. And it hasn't been nearly that dramatic.

[dragony]

I see.

I don't think that's uncommon, really. Positive changes never feel as... overwhelming, I suppose, when you finally experience them. You only notice how much things have changed, or how much good it's done, once you can look backwards. Negative changes, those are the ones that are overwhelming in the moment, and get smaller the further away they are.

At least, most of the time.