compnetwork | [Video]

[Oh look it's the guy who threw that New Years' Party. What insanity are they bringing this time...?]

Things are exciting here. More and more exciting. There is even a tournament! I have never participated in one before - it is a friendly contest thing, yes? I cannot wait to see how everyone performs. The aim is to win, so everyone will be fighting to the best of their ability, to beyond their very limits, otherwise the win is tainted, yes?

Yes.

You will all try very hard.

[Er, did their voice get a bit weird then? A bit deeper? Hm, oh, no, their voice is back to normal]

I hope so in any case. It will make this dull otherwise.

There is a question to be asked.

Hatred and Love is viewed in equal measure. Humans normally say love is worth more. In recent months, I have seen media that espouses that love will always succeed over hatred. Hatred is inferior. It sustains only the self, but it is like poison also. Pure intentions become twisted, revenge distorts the mind and morals, and eventually hatred destroys the individual...

I must admit, this confuses me. I have observed no such things in humanity before. Ah, the corruption, yes, but hatred has sustained and protected humans as much as it has poisoned them. It is usually love that brings about self-destruction, as they hold another's life higher than their own.

So, I have always viewed hatred and love being of equal measure. They are different, yet powerful in their own right. It is like that saying, what, pears and lemons? Apples and peaches? Whatever.

So my question is thus: what do you think is more powerful or more important? Hatred or Love?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's practically their defining character trait. Willful blindness. No one wants to face uncomfortable truths or personal flaws, so they clamp their hands over their ears and run even faster down their path of hopeless destruction.

I think we really need to worry about stupidity more than love or hate, really.

Hahaha!

[Anant's laughs are forever stilted and flat sounding, but that was just creepy]

Yes... but I think that side of them is charming. Their ignorance and stupidity is what allows them to cause the miracles they can cause. To survive in times of great hardships, while dying of both love and hatred.

It sounds impossible. But humans are impossible creatures.

Yeah. Impossibly stupid. And obnoxious. And brain-dead. Irreverent. Destructive. Selfish foolish greedy short-sighted ridiculous incompetent witless moronic inept arrogant etcetcetcetcetctetcetc

[Viridi eventually devolves into a hacking cough.]

Sorry. Choked on something.

You sure you OK?

[Anant's head tilts]

Mm? Should I not be asking that of you? You choked, that is normally fatal sometimes.

But, ah, yes. In a way. I am. Just unsettled.

What's on your mind? And why'd you bring all of this up in the first place, anyway?

...

[At first it seemed like Anant was going to clam up. But then...]

It is merely something that bothers me from time to time. I enjoy the contrary nature of humanity. You know this, so I feel no need to elaborate on it lest I go off on a tangent, however...

However. That is only myself. Cast from the same rock, other shards think of it in different ways. Although different, the source is the same, such as hate and love is from the same source, even if it is vastly different from a glance... so do their impressions echo my own? Simply assigned to different thoughts, but of the same rock...

[Anant was mostly muttering to themselves at this point]

'K, you kinda lost me when we went into the rock metaphor there. It sounds to me like you're saying you're the same as a human now.

[She had never felt any divine power worth mentioning from Anant whatsoever, but that probably wasn't something that needed to be brought up.]

That is not what I am saying. I am a god and still no closer to my goal of humanity.

[Anant doesn't sound annoyed, but mildly exasperated]

I am being confusing, but I cannot explain it myself. It is subconscious knowledge, information that resides in the soul but not of the conscience. How does one explain that? I am not entirely sure myself. But it is unimportant now. Perhaps, in my world, it was, but here it is not, as I am separated from certain factors that would make it an importance.

[Anant rubs their head, a small grumbling noise emitting from behind their mask]

This is more convoluted than any bipolar human... my apologies.

Hm...

I know exactly what you mean! Human words are so limited in their scope. I mean, there's really no adequate way to describe the supple beauty of my skin apart from 'divine', and honestly, that applies to me on a whole.

[Anant may want to seek empathy from someone else.]

Look, whatever it is you're going through, I bet some god, somewhere, has thought the same thing. Maybe even I have. You don't have to deal with it all alone, so... chin up!

I was unaware that there were other gods aside from myself, before I came here, so it confuses me to imagine that this could occur with another. It is incredibly rare for humans to occupy a habitable planet, and to be assigned a guardian-

No. Wait.

[Anant paused, then shook their head]

I got confused with something for a moment. You are right, of course. There is time to dwell and think on things, and there is time to merely take it in stride and let it resolve itself on its own. I should focus my mind on something more important!

[Viridi doesn't directly address what her conversation partner had let slip, but files it away for future reference anyway.]

Exactly!

I'd suggest focusing on a picture of me to optimally enhance your quality of existence, but maybe right now you want to think about that tournament. You're fighting in it, right?

Tourname- oh, yes, that thing.

[Seemed it had entirely slipped their mind]

Yes, I am participating in it. I wish to observe humans up close when fighting for competitive purposes, and not for survival. I feel that observing from the stands would be too far away to effectively study it.

Huh.

Now that's dedication.

Don't tell me you're just going to let yourself be wailed on the whole time. Fight back! Show some moxie! How will you observe their behavior if you're eating dirt the whole time?

I don't wish to muddle with results by actively participating in the fights, but I suppose it would be interesting to see how humans respond when a divine being lashes out at them. Non fatally, of course...

I will have to be careful, however. My claws can cut through bone far too easily.

Eh. They'll live. You can't be too soft on them; it'll skew the results if they realize you're holding back.

It will? Oh, but, but I do not wish to harm them by accident...

[FRET FRET FRET]

That's what the Dia line of spells is for! The humans here have it easy. They've got instant healing whenever they want; they've gotta learn to toughen up a little.

Well, that is true... the instantaneous healing I mean.

[...]

Very well. Then I shall give it my all!

Yeah! Way to show 'em! You give 'em what-for!

[And thus does Viridi encourage Anant to get horribly mutilated by the Anoli. Whoops.]

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