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[advocacy]

I've seen a lot of discussion lately about whether or not people on the Barge being too cavalier about death.

Honestly, I don't know if that's true or not. I haven't been around long enough and I don't think I know enough of you to say. I also wouldn't try to tell anybody how they view death. But I guess I'm just wondering what makes people think that? Or what about the Barge would make people start to treat death less seriously?

I guess some could make the argument that coming back over and over again makes it hard to see death as a big, final chapter or the next big chapter depending on your theological or philosophical standpoint. But I know there are some ideas surrounding death that says we do just come back over and over again as different people or even different creatures. And sometimes we remember past lives or past deaths. Or, I guess if you have a more negative outlook, that we're doomed to repeat the same patterns over and over again across lifetimes.

[A pause.]

I guess from my perspective, people just get numb to death when it happens all the time or they stop caring about what happens to them. They just give up. I don't know if that's anything really particular to the Barge.

[Her smile is wry. There's definitely people that have come and gone in her life at home that could fit the profile of just not caring about death anymore.]

I could also be completely wrong, too.

Comments

[wedonot]

It obviously varies from person to person, but I would imagine the fact that death here is often equivalent to nothing more than losing consciousness and waking up a few hours later with a bad case of the flu, with seemingly none of the other major effects other theories of resurrection or reincarnation include, some people are able to view it as nothing more than a temporary inconvenience. I'm sure if there were more permanent, lingering side effects, people would take a less casual approach to it, not to mention that other theories of reincarnation and life after death are just theories, in most worlds. Here, we have proof that there isn't much of a negative physical reaction to dying over and over again, and the emotional and psychological effect still depend more on the person experiencing it than a set, logical pattern that applies to everyone regardless.

[advocacy]

Do you think there should be greater consequences to dying here?

[She's not insinuating or trying to read that he does out of what he's saying. She's just curious.]

[wedonot]

No.

We face enough consequences for events we often have no control over as it is.

[advocacy]

That's definitely true.

I guess it really isn't the Barge in the end then that makes people treat death like it isn't a big deal. It really boils down to the person.

[godsays]

The Admiral can do almost anything, immediately, without consequence. Doesn't anyone think about the fact that he can't bring someone back from the dead without a week of pain? The fact that he interferes shouldn't just... make it mean nothing.

[wedonot]

I'm not saying it should. I'm explaining how someone might think that.

[godsays]

What do you think?

[patheticvillain]

It's easier not to give a shit than get all worked up over it.

[Which, in Cassel-speak, means he gives quite a lot of a shit and therefore is at least half lying. Surprise.]

Did I ever show you bingo?

[advocacy]

[She can smell your stanky bullshit, Cassel. You could at least try to use a candle and air freshener to cover up the stench.]

Do I want to see it?

[That is the supremely better question.]

[patheticvillain]

How could I possibly know that, Daneca? I'm not a mind-reader.

[Oh no, more bullshit.]

[godsays]

I don't think we treat it right. It's become... like just an illness.

[advocacy]

I assume by illness you mean more like the common cold than the flu.

[godsays]

...yes. I think so.

[brbculling]

It's not death, and treating it like death is a mistake. It has none of the qualities of real death.

[advocacy]

What constitutes real death?

[brbculling]

It's permanent.

[routemistress]

I don't often agree with Arthas, on account of 'e's mostly kind of a tit. But that's 'ow I feel. It still 'urts. I'll still do anything I can to get between you and it.

But when it doesn't mean someone's going to be gone; when you know you aren't going to be made to face every day without that person for maybe ever, no. I can get over it pretty bloody easily. Same like I can kill fake monsters in the CTS that I'd bend over backwards to save if I met 'em somewhere they 'ad actual feelings.

Perhaps that's easier for me than a human. Perhaps it's just 'cause I'm a mean old cow at 'earts. I know I wouldn't be able to do me job very well otherwise.

[advocacy]

I don't think it's cold to think that way about it. You're just able to separate things into categories. And it probably helps you handle things.

Like you said, it lets you do your job.

[routemistress]

Thank you.

I've found it's a quite effective discouragement for doing it again, oddly. When the person that was killed can go talk to who did it, after. I know at least one bloke that graduated right after that.

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[bodilesswarrior]

I don't think you're wrong. [The words are thoughtful. She's resting her chin on her knuckles, bangs wisping into her eyes.] People can get inured to pretty much anything.

And when you die yourself - it's easier not to dwell on it.

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[advocacy]

I can imagine so. I mean, people usually try their best to forget near-death experiences. What's really stopping them from trying to push actual death experiences as far away from them as possible?

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[bodilesswarrior]

[Her lips quirk, just slightly.] Exactly.

Granted, they're not usually stuck on a boat with their murderer afterwards.

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[fireincarnate]

Death is death, whether it lasts are not. [Her voice is quietly fierce. She's known what death felt like since she was ten years old - she still remembers, even if it's changed.] It's still horror and helplessness and agony. It's still someone just slipping away until there's nothing left.

[But she shakes her head.] It's just easier, I think, not to let it bother you. Easier to just accept it and move on, because there's nothing you can do. We can't make the Barge safe.

[She could, though. Maybe she could even wrest control from the Admiral. But at what cost? What would she turn into?]

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[advocacy]

Is that what people are doing though? Moving on, I mean.

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[fireincarnate]

[Her brow furrows.] Probably not. Moving on means you deal with it. Process it.

It's a lot simpler to just shove it in a corner and focus on something else.