Deerington Inbox

[onerthes]

[A tinny man's voice gives what is clearly a default answer machine message. Vira-Lorr is still figuring the phone out it seems.]
"Hello, we are not available now. Please leave your name and phone number after the beep. We will return your call."
*Beep*

Comments

[onerthes]

So, you still carry some of their philosophy, but none of their agenda and make it your own. Would that be an accurate guess about how this has played out for you?

If so, I can't fault you. Going your own way is something I can appreciate in theory.

[survivalthroughhate]

Extremely accurate. Do you have a talent for seeing patterns or have you merely had a similar thing happen to you in your life?

[onerthes]

We forsook and killed the mad gods of our worlds when they sought to iradicate all life in their madness and start over fresh. You could say I have a certain experience with putting in the past the agendas of what once one may have served, but still carrying what was useful.

It also makes me skeptical of all absolutes. Too far to the light, too far to the dark, and only madness awaits.

[survivalthroughhate]

Of that, you are correct too. Those of the Light have become stagnant and complacent due to becoming too insulated, corrupt and arrogant hypocrites in the Force. On the other side, my master and his apprentice stand, having fallen so far into the Dark that they can no longer see a different way.

[onerthes]

When I was a young woman, I was certain that the Light, and Liberty for all were enough, that all we needed to do was keep to the light and everyone would be saved.

A hundred years can teach you a lot. Absolutes are the path of destruction, by one measure or another.

[survivalthroughhate]

I can imagine living for such a length of time would help give perspective on anyone after a certain point. How old are you for comparison?

[onerthes]

Tut tut, asking a woman her age. So rude.

I'm a little over three human centuries in this world, more or less. The Onelthes live, as a rule, around eight of those to perhaps eleven at the outside, without the aide o extensive magic.

By the time we're in our last centuries, most of us have had our fun and are comfortable finding an end to things. A long journey well spent.

[survivalthroughhate]

Ah, so you are still considered young for one of your species. Alas, Zabraks have a comparable lifespan to humans, so there is less time in which to gain wisdom.

[onerthes]

By some standards. Our average life expectancy is a bit lower because many die young. I'm considered middle aged, but that period lasts for many centuries with us.

Some of us, myself included, envy the younger races like yours.
We gutter and flicker for eons. You burn far more brightly.
It can seem a cold comfort at times, but I think to live shorter may be the better fate. To live fully.

But what do they say? The grass is always greener in someone else's lawn?

[survivalthroughhate]

Something like that, yes.

It is the envy of many other species that they die after a bare century of life at the most. For me, I have counted every day a blessing since I was a small child. There has never been a guarantee of survival for me.

[onerthes]

A far more sensible approach.

Relish life that you have, and live in that moment. But you know that, clearly. Only those who do not live so long ever really want to try. It's a lesson you don't learn until time passes.

Your way is the better one, Maul.