text; @Goldilocks, after April fight

[likemybooks]

[Everyone has to know. Some saw what happens to Ereshkigal during the fight, some only know that she disappeared. As the one responsible, Taryon feels he's deserved the position on breaking the bad news to ll Outsiders.]

It is with a heavy heart that I must relay to you all that our friend Ereshkigal is not with us any longer.

She was thrown into a Rift by the kaiju and vanished.

She fought valiantly and tried to protect me even in her last moments.

I'm sorry. I wish we didn't suffer such a heavy loss in this fight.

- Taryon Darrington

Comments

[likemybooks]

[Buddy, where he comes from, the final blow is the one everyone pays attention to.]

It can't be helped? What do you mean?

[misclassed]

[ shit. well the how he wanted to do it was cool as hell but he ALSO almost disappeared afterwards! ]

You know, "Best laid plans" and all that. When we have to tally the price of victory at the end.

[likemybooks]

[Taryon lost one of his friends today. Ereshkigal is worth the lives of the civilians of Alexandria? It sounds harsh, but then when didn't Taryon have a major life shift because he lost someone, or something, important? Much good came after a horrible loss.]

Does it happen a lot to you, too? Losing someone in exchange for a victory?

You seem used to this.

[misclassed]

Awfully callous to say that I'm "used" to the idea of a comrade dying. It's just always a possibility to be ready for, is all.

But I've already lived and died in a time of war, so I know my perspective is a bit... skewed.

[likemybooks]

Some people don't get all that visibly upset when they lose a friend. That's all.



How do you manage it?

[misclassed]

Ah, the lady goddess didn't like me much. I don't think I counted as her friend.

[ He'd told her to mind her own damn business and also to act her age the last time they'd spoken, and she'd... uh, been sensitive about the way he said it (rudely, after being accused of being rude when he was trying to be polite). So that's... part of why he's like this. But the other part...

Well, his Noble phantasm is basically weaponized Zen Buddhism, isn't it? ]

Attachment is the root of all suffering, it's said. Free yourself from want, and you can free yourself from grief.

At the end of your life, it's best to die without regrets.

[ Or, so it's said. Whether or not he can actually do that when it comes to worrying for other people... ]

[likemybooks]

[Taryon and Ereshkigal started out the same way, though Taryon has forgotten about their rock start and only has mementos of their budding amicability in Disneyland.]

What do you mean? I should be too close to people?

Not that it doesn't make any sense, but it sounds rather lonely. [Explain Buddhist philosophy, please.]

[misclassed]

[ Maybe things can be fixed, eventually, but let's face it. Taryon is a kinder person than Muramasa most of the time, who has no patience for foolishness unless he also wants to be foolish himself. ]

I suppose it could be, if you feel you need to play ascetic to expand your view on the world. Hell, I don't mind the idea of peace and quiet myself. But the way I see it, you take important things in hand and then you let them go when you must; you know your own heart well enough to do that when it matters.

[ AHEM. anyway. ]

... But I ain't a monk or a philosopher or any shit like that, so what do I know? Ereshkigal is your friend. Cherish her however you feel you must.

[likemybooks]

[It's not a ten-page philosophical treatise, but it's something in the vein of useful advice. Having specifics would be nice. When is the right time to let things go? When should one give up? Taryon has lost people he cared about, but he's never figured out the right way to grieve.

Hopefully, with Ereshkigal, he will neither attempt to rewrite his entire personality or go along with his friend's suggestions while on the precipice of an emotional breakdown. The third time around, he ought to have it figured out a healthier alternative.]

I suppose I do.

Thank you for your advice. It helps, somewhat.

🎀!

[misclassed]

[ Muramasa can't tell Taryon what the right path is, only that he must find it himself. His words are something that will need to be meditated on, and considered in the long term. People can go their whole lives without knowing the answer, but that is the point of searching.

Or maybe just throwing yourself into your work and making that the sole thing to live for is a healthy alternative. Muramasa seems happy to live that way.

(Do not do this unless you're also a ghost with a weaponized zen buddhism theme.) ]

It's a narrow path to walk, with attachment and suffering on one side, and isolation and suffering on the other. Few can stay on it all the time. Just remember that.