eachdraidh | [Video | Both Courts] Rule 1

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[Video | Both Courts] Rule 1

[Sup, Fairy Land, there's a 15-year-old newbie on the network today. He's regarding the Locket with a cool, vaguely curious expression.]

It's a little too abrupt for my taste, but it has relevance in light of certain events. What sort of afterlife do you think there is? Or, if you don't personally believe in one, then what's one that's common in your world or that you might agree with? On the other hand, which one would you disagree with wholeheartedly as an afterlife?

[Joshua shrugs slightly.]

It's a morbid topic, I grant you, but...well, I can't say that I'm not interested in learning about different beliefs and how other cultures view different things.

[The teenager shifts into a more comfortable position.]

Not to mention, with various worlds comes even more cultures I've never come across. I wouldn't like to squander such a chance.

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I don't know if there's one that is wholly agreed upon where I come from. There are lots of different people, and I know in history it generally depended on a persons religion. ( she shrugs, barely. ) I guess... I believe that there's something after this? That there's something more. But I think it's impossible to know what that more is.

[...wow, really Joshua? Originally he wasn't going to respond, but that's a pretty heavy question. when the audio feed clicks on it's obvious Hiro's there, thinking of how to phrase the question.]

Of all of the things you could learn about from different cultures, why death and the afterlife?

[Oh, he likes that answer.]

Interesting. An all-encompassing, but also non-presumptuous, answer. It's true that on this side of the wall, anyone could be right about the truth of the thing. You'd rather find out when you get there, essentially, though?

[Josh can respect thinking. Mostly.]

Because how you view the afterlife dictates how you'll live your life, for the most part. If it's divided into Heaven and Hell, then you'd be more inclined to live a virtuous life. Or if it's divided into Heaven, Hell, and something in-between, then there isn't as much pressure to be on the path to good. Not everyone can be a hero, after all.

Yeah. I guess sometimes I think about what might be after the life we have, but I don't think I'd really want to truly know about it until I got there.

What about you?

I'd say it depends more on the person than the beliefs they carry. What does belief have to do with reality?

[Belief doesn't make him into Lazarus incarnated, after all.

He doesn't know what does, and frankly, he doesn't care. He knows how he's thinking and breathing properly. That was thanks to a whole different kind of Lazarus.

But belief systems? After being buried and digging himself out of a grave, he has a hard time thinking they matter.]

[It's a good thing he expects to be asked about his own or this would be awkward. Or, well, more awkward than it could be.]

Hmmm, I had no real beliefs in what the afterlife could be. What I was told about a Heaven and Hell didn't really stick with me as a child. It wasn't until I was older and met someone who knew what was going on that I understood what our version of the afterlife was for a good portion of us. It's a game, the Reaper's Game, where you fight with a Partner for survival and to hopefully get a second chance at life.

What about if you don't believe in any of the above? [He's not entirely sold on sharing what he believes just yet. He wants to get a better sense of Joshua's intentions and he has a lot of questions he wants to ask to get there.] What's the third option?

Absolutely nothing.

[He shrugs. It is how it is.]

But also everything. It always depends on who you ask. We hold onto belief more tightly than we do facts. After all, beliefs are also our values and say much about who we are as individuals.

The third option is that you believe what you want to believe, which opens up a plethora of other options. It's not like there's a hard and fast rule on what's the truth, especially when you come from a world different from someone else's.

[Poor Hiro, he has no idea that Joshua's played that game for a long time.]

Sure, but you can believe there's a heaven, a hell, everything in-between—but say a guy comes along and says he can tell you differently. He's stood at the point where there should be a gatekeeper to either, and it was just ... deadness. [Of course, Jason knows that experiences with that vary. It's part of why he hasn't looked into it.]

I'm not saying that belief isn't important. But it should be grounded in what's before you. How can you enact that belief? You can't when it comes to that.

Maybe there's not a rule on what's true but there also isn't any proof that there's a heaven or hell, is there?

[This is a very important question and one that he's given some thought on in light of recent events at home.] Without proof it's all just speculation about what happens. People at home believe in a heaven and a hell and sometimes people believe there's a weird limbo between the two, but nobody's ever been able to prove it's real. Where did the idea of heaven and hell come from? It doesn't make sense.

[There's a long pause.] But if there isn't an afterlife, where would people go?

Compared to what?

[ in a hub of interdimensional travel, he can't help but ask for clarification. ]

There are theories. In truth, it tends to depend on who you were in life.

We call it th' Otherworld.

[Why hello, Joshua. Yes, this is a topic of interest to her. Merida leans her head against her hand, tilting her head.]

Once souls leave their bodies, they travel to th' Western Sea. They say there's no sickness, old age, or death. Happiness lasts forever, a hundred years last a day. Sídhe hills are supposedly connected to it. [She purses her lips together.] When I arrived here I'd almost thought that this was th' Otherworld. Th' land of th' fae.

Are you talking beliefs about where you go after you die or is this more an end of days thing?

[ He'll cup his chin, thinking about it. ] Both, maybe?

It's not that I don't personally believe in one. I haven't given it much thought. But I...

[He doesn't want to tell a perfect stranger about his situation, so he needs to word it delicately.]

...Only real people have afterlives in the first place don't they? So I wonder what beliefs would include people we don't usually think of. I don't think anything in my world does.

[Totally not suspicious or weird thoughts. Nailed it.]

It's hard to prove if you can't see or otherwise interact with the metaphysical. Perhaps the original concept had been for the sole purpose of saying that if you do good things in life, then it doesn't go unrewarded or unnoticed. However, if you live a life of evil, that also doesn't go unnoticed and you'll be punished for it. It's an encouragement of good behavior, as well as good deeds.

There's also a reincarnation concept. Or an endless cycle of reincarnation, until you can finally get it right and break the cycle to join others in that peace. Others believe that the afterlife is simply like living again, just in a different state of being. And yet another concept that perhaps, as long as they're remembered, they'll never truly die.

So many possibilities, and all of which are impossible to prove.

I, personally, would take it at face-value, until evidence piles up to one thing or another. On the other hand, would another person still believe that it's true if they were told this? Or another? Maybe some will accept what he says as fact, but others might sneer at him or call him a liar, if not both.

It's much like if I told someone that the afterlife for some people is nothing but a game to survive and earn a second chance at life, what are the odds that they wouldn't write me off as someone who shouldn't be out on the streets?

[Joshua hums as he thinks about it for a moment.]

I'll let you decide on the comparison, as long as I can follow along.

Indeed? So, the afterlife is more flexible, in a way?

[Awesome, he gets to talk to Merida again!]

I would imagine that the Drabwurld had very quickly debunked that thought. Is the Otherworld indiscriminate in whose souls go there?

That's up to you to decide. I'd be delighted to hear about either or both.

[Joshua is so helpful.]

[ The most helpful. Billy will shrug, thinking about where to start. ]

My perspective's a little different from what you'd usually get? I'm Jewish, but I live in a primarily Christian culture. So, that means I've been told I'm going to hell a few times, but don't actually believe in a place like that? If that makes sense.

Well...Heaven, Hell, all that. It's totally real.

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[Video | Both Courts] Rule 1

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