DIRECTED TO MERIDIAN, OPEN TO ALL.

[twohand]

[ In the midst of the Advocate's beginnings, perhaps a few world adventures in ( ignore pax's belated posting in that case ), there is a quiet presence that coalesces within the minds of all. An Advocate, dusk-skinned and thoughtful as he addresses all present. Even his voice is morose, a little saddened by what he has taken notice of — though that is mostly on behalf of Meridian. He cannot imagine what it must feel like, to look upon something familiar and have it not be exactly what they want. ]

They're dying. These worlds — they're already lost, they're torn up and left in pieces, they're dreams of what was; please don't make them suffer when you can bring them a gentle end. Even if you fight to restore them in the long run, choosing to save them now is torturous. It is asking someone with a terminal illness to fight on, when they ought to be given the ability to rest.

[ He sounds like he is pleading with the Meri, a call not to stand so firmly with their impossible desire to restore all that they make such a glaring mistake. ]

All things have a right to live, I agree. But, all those same things also should have a dignified end. I am only asking that you understand this, and choose to help us give what is left of these worlds the ending that I wish our worlds could have had.

This time, please... just this time. I am asking on their behalf, for all to choose a difficult thing — but, the thing that only we now have the power to do for them.

Comments

[hauntedking]

I think you have reached your conclusion and now cast aspersions on those who do not share your view of it; I do not know if anything I say will truly sway you when you think we lack compassion.

[ There's a pause. Dimitri is... not exactly angry, but perhaps frustrated. ]

The dead have more value to me than you know. I live in their shadow. I mourn the dead. But we also have to live. I spent years carrying their burdens and trying to make up for what I thought were my own failings for them.

[twohand]

I am frustrated, I will admit to that. I only want you to consider being there for these people in a way that is more compassionate than asking them to live until Oblivion ends them.

[ Because it is. It's an ugly, difficult, monstrous choice and — soft, between the two Advocates, is the knowledge that Drizzt ultimately understands that. That he comprehends he's asking something, not of Zenith, but of painfully difficult compassion. That the Shard-Bearers spare people the same fear, horror and agony that they went through. That yes, because they do wield that power, it is a slippery slope — but a decision he makes not lightly. ]

I know that. I live that same way, treasuring every day and every life and every world and the burden of remembering it all. We're not so different, really. I just want... I honestly, just want them to die in a way that gives them the greatest peace. Even if... if even Meridian wins and brings them all back later, I want them to experience the peace we didn't get to have. The peace I wish someone advocated for us to have, before we had to come here.

[hauntedking]

...that isn't peace.

[ Dimitri responds, his mental tone softening a little. ]

I don't know what comes after death. But I do know that life is precious. And I think preserving that life is more valuable than ending it, no matter if it ends later. At one point in my life some might have argued it would have been better to kill me to end my suffering. To prevent a tragedy. I cannot countenance the idea of killing an entire world as a mercy.

[twohand]

Yes, it is. You cannot claim life holds more value than death, for that is cruel to those who lived before us. Both are integral to our experiences.

[ His expression crumbles a little, trying to seek Dimitri's mind to assure him that it's okay to accept the quietude and importance of dying. To Drizzt, it is an inevitable thing — he has always known he would die in battle, and worked hard to live a life that he could be satisfied with, knowing that once he died, he would only leave behind deeds and stories. ]

Do you not remember what it was like, to die? To feel the world die around you as Oblivion took it? Before we arrived here, that was our experience. Please don't condemn these people to that sensation, too. Take them in your gentle hands, and care for the way they will die. That's all I ask.

[ He doesn't expect Dimitri to show such difficult, complicated empathy. Most Meridian's seem to put no consideration towards how people die, only seeking to deny that they will. ]

Thank you for engaging with me.