notthislife (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notthislife) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sticksandbones2025-06-02 07:42 pm
notthislife) wrote in sticksandbones2025-06-02 07:42 pm
Entry tags:
002 | On Gestrals
[The mood in the Grove has shifted. How could it not, when bodies of their own had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Verso hadn't known either of the men, but it was clear that many had. Their grief is... difficult to stomach, leaves him feeling unpleasantly itchy and irritable.
Drinking doesn't help it. Neither does ignoring it. The grief permeates everything, until his ability to resist is worn away and he finds himself rambling away in his journal. Growing up, this had helped him. Maybe there would be some wisdom to be found for the citizens of the grove.]
You wanted to know more about the Gestrals, didn't you? You being the general Grove and not anyone in particular.
In addition to being broom-headed menaces, and pseudo-experts in engineering, they really seem to have it right.
They don't fear death. When they're lost, they enter what they call the queue. It's... a line to get into the "sacred river." Once they're bathed in those waters, they come back. They aren't always the same, children might become parents to their forebears, and so on. But they still come back.
And that's how it goes.
They play their games. Fight their fights. And when it's time to go, they go.
I never understood why we grappled so angrily with the concept of death. Why we let grief and loss change us so deeply, or do things we might regret. It's another journey. A trip down the river. And the comfort that you will find another again one day
Drinking doesn't help it. Neither does ignoring it. The grief permeates everything, until his ability to resist is worn away and he finds himself rambling away in his journal. Growing up, this had helped him. Maybe there would be some wisdom to be found for the citizens of the grove.]
You wanted to know more about the Gestrals, didn't you? You being the general Grove and not anyone in particular.
In addition to being broom-headed menaces, and pseudo-experts in engineering, they really seem to have it right.
They don't fear death. When they're lost, they enter what they call the queue. It's... a line to get into the "sacred river." Once they're bathed in those waters, they come back. They aren't always the same, children might become parents to their forebears, and so on. But they still come back.
And that's how it goes.
They play their games. Fight their fights. And when it's time to go, they go.
I never understood why we grappled so angrily with the concept of death. Why we let grief and loss change us so deeply, or do things we might regret. It's another journey. A trip down the river. And the comfort that you will find another again one day
no subject
I know what the pits of grief are like, and what they can do to you.
It's why I agree with the Gestral way of looking at things.
It's easier when you believe that another life will be waiting.
no subject
The god of my home is the Phoenix. Just as it burns and is reborn, we burn our dead so that their spirits may be reborn.
A similar concept, but one just as idealistic. The loved ones who leave us are gone forever.
no subject
Ignore that.
There's nothing wrong with your outlook either. It's still acceptance. And I've known many who could not manage that.
no subject
Far be it from me to complain about fairness, but I think your wording borders on cruelty. To some, losing such a pillar is akin to losing a leg or an organ. It is not that people stricken by grief "let" it consume them, can simply "manage" the pain away.
They have been injured. It is asking them to will away an open wound.
no subject
Falling into it. Letting it rot you. Condemning others, or yourself.
That is where the line should be drawn.
no subject
hm.] I have seen this, too. It cost me my father.
no subject
[Translation: No hard feelings.]
I'm... sorry to hear that.
I am doing all I can to keep it from claiming my mother.
... And my sister.
no subject
[and an out from the too-real, too-painful conversation, if he wants it:]
These Gestrals, then. It is not a bad way to live, to live without fear or regret. You are right that many people hinder themselves, not appreciating life to its fullest.
no subject
Instead, I found myself here.
[The bitterness of it all has yet to fade. Every day he agonizes over what could have been, and worries over what's become of Maelle. The longer she spent in the painting, the worse it would be. And given the fact that time was already distorted between the painting and reality, who could say how warped things were between this world and another.]
I agree. I admit the outlook is probably... juvenile. But there's innocence to it too. And acceptance.
Death isn't my enemy. That's what they've taught me.
no subject
I would argue there is a maturity to it as well. To accept death as an inevitability, and live accordingly, rather than spend one's entire life railing against what we cannot stop.
no subject
I'm inclined to agree with that.
But don't get me wrong. It's just as healthy to grieve for a time. Bottling it up is hardly any better.
There just reaches a point where it tips into something... ugly.
More Whoo than Whee, as a friend would say.
no subject
Or perhaps it may even venture into... "whoa" territory.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject