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[bornoflove]

[On the scrolls, an unknown scribe suddenly appears in a flicker of static. Precisely which scroll it comes from is garbled and unknown. There is, however, a flash of the abandoned/chair shop, before the meat of the production suddenly comes to life, the words animated, scrolling and rolling with rainbows.

Interspersed throughout are crayon drawings of the creepy dolls doing the actions of the story, alongside two plain, unadorned cut outs.]


Once upon a time, God made the first woman. Her name was The Gift. And then, came Man, who is also called Fool.

To The Gift, was granted a beautiful jar, which would give humans all they desired. Before God could explain fully what lay in the jar, however, the Fool convinced the Gift to open it up, which the curious girl did do. And indeed, as she did, the spirits in burst forth and danced, inviting the two humans to do likewise. Their footsteps tore apart God's mouth, rendering him mute to human's ears forevermore.

They were the spirits of the way of things. The ills of the world, which at the same time, came as a benefit and boon to advancing humans, at great cost. First was Hunger, War, Disease, Crime, Natural Disaster, Technology and Ideology - the Seven Universal Sins. Then came Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride - the Seven Individual Sins. These fourteen created a monster with their dancing, called Death, and with it a definitive end of life. But the humans were dancing, too busy to realize what they were doing to see the damage they were doing.

"Look," said the Gift, marveling at the beautiful colors. "There is but one more fairy left in the jar. It is called Hope!"

"Yes, and it is beautiful," The Fool replied. "And when we let it go, it shall be the brightest and most beautiful colors of all the creatures which dance with us right now."

However, before Hope could make its grand entrance into the world, the devil's hand came down, slamming down the lid of the jar, preventing its escape. The spirits which were free simply laughed, disappearing into the earth.

"You poor children, you did not realize. This Hope, if released, would give you the ultimate clairvoyance of the fate wrought by its sisters. You would have known, nay, expected, all of the bad things which would happen to you. You would know how you die, when you die, and from what you would die from. You would know and understand all of the ills which you had released, and the evil which they will be used for. You would understand your insignificant purpose in the system. And even knowing these horrors, you will come not to care and curse the world anyways, for what point is there if you can't change the fate you already know about? In other words, you would be like those devils which you have already released.

"But now you are free! You may be happy, without the burden of that knowledge. You can live however you want and without care. Keep Hope trapped, and life shall be like a dream. For when you have Hope, you have expectations, and those expectations will amount to nothing!"

And so the Gift and the Fool lived their lives out in blissful harmony, their memory untouched by Hope. But is that the end? Is that right? Some would say, release Hope, I do not fear my fate. I do not fear the knowledge. I would remember everything. But once released, Hope is not easily contained. Hope breeds failure, and failure breeds regret. Regret breeds a wish that one had never touched the jar, never saw it to begin with. But there will be no means to erase the memory as here. Memories were changed by a different "cutie mark". But there is no reversing Hope's mark once given.

Then, is hope a lie that should be forgotten? Or an eternal expectation which must be burdened?

Discuss.

Comments

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[thedoctorsmate]

[Donna is back to a blank flank. Her purpose once more eclipsed by her insignificance. All of the hurt this inspires just makes her lash out. Whomever the anonymous poster is, they chose a bad day to play at philosophy.]

Hope is what gives us life. It's what makes us good, fills us with aspirations to be better than. Ignorance might be bliss, but I'll tell you, whoever the hell you are, hope is always there. You cannot contain it with a hand, you can't ignore it because it hurts, you can't just forget it.

It's the song you can't hear, and it's always playing. It gives us strength to overcome failure. We're not all fixed moments in time. There is no fate that cannot be rewritten.

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[bornoflove]

Ignorance is not mere bliss. It is a blessing, a protection, from hope. Hope does not give life. But it easily brings forth death. Because with hope, comes inevitable despair, once expectation fails. At the very least.

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[thedoctorsmate]

Hope pulls us from despair. The hope that there will be something better, that a moment is just that: a moment. Hope tells us it won't always hurt. It lets us see past that into the future where wonder and beauty and terrible things are infinite.

[It feels just a bit like she's trying to convince herself her.]

Not being able to see that? Not having expectations? That's not a blessing. It's a curse. It's stagnant. Time might not be an arrow, but it doesn't stand still, either. It's a big ball of wibbly-wobbly stuff held together with hope.

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[kingofthetvworld]

[Teddie's mostly drawn in by the crayon drawings, despite how creepy they are. His enthusiasm for whatever is going on, however, is very much dead by time he finishes reading.]

I DON'T THINK ANY OF THIS HAPPENED AT ALL

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[bornoflove]

[...Well ok, she has to respond to that.]

I think you missed the point entirely.

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[kingofthetvworld]

THE POINT??? WHAT'S THE POINT?? THE POINT IS YOU'RE TELLING LIES!!

[See? He totally got it.]

[superstylishsquid]

*This message is written in ancient Greek with perfect, if a bit fancy, handwriting.*

That's certainly a new take on the story of Pandora's pithos.

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[bornoflove]

You could say it is based on a true story.

[text] Ancient Greek

[superstylishsquid]

Interesting.

Fate against free will, huh?

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[kuukai]

i dunno but i'm not sure i'd want stasis

ur not gonna tell us who you are btw are u

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[bornoflove]

["Stasis". Homura, admittedly, didn't know what kind Kyouko referred to. The stasis of knowing her fate? Or the stasis of an unknown fate in life?

...Well, that wasn't important.]

You know who I am.

I am the Witch you seek, and will fail to find.

[For the present, at least.]

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[kuukai]

yeah i know

i mean ur not actually hurting anyone and i don't need grief seeds so whatever

[ Did she just prioritize them in that order? Yep. ]

u do what u want

[Not Here]

[bustadecapinyoass]

[Mami's keeping a close eye on this scroll, throwing in a small bit of telepathy to let Kyoko know she's paying attention to this.]

Sakura-san, I'm keeping a close eye on this witch's messages.

[visual/also handwave]

[weakbutwilling]

N-no...you're wrong! Hope...hope is what gives us strength! Without hope...

[Aaaaand cue Homura trying to be a strong magical girl, and standing up for hope...with the Witch pretty much laughing at her not even knowing what a Witch was.

Its an act yes, but Homura has to at least make it look convincing. And it ends with Homura looking ready to cry.

The truth was, the words of herself...they still did hurt. Even if they were true.]

[ponycure_dream]

How dare you! To take away one's Hope is to leave them in despair! To keep Hope trapped doesn't mean they live their lives in ignorance, it means they have nothing to dream for!

[Whoops, touched a nerve!]

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[bornoflove]

Is that so? Do you truly think that Hope allows for such dreams to come true?

[sailorlaughter]

Iiiiiii don't think hope actually tells you when you're gonna die and all that stuff.

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[bornoflove]

There are fates which do just that.

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[foalarcana]

That's an interesting story, but you forgot an important part of it.

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[bornoflove]

Is that so?

[voice]

[stormbroken]

Hope is the root of all evil. It breeds laziness, pride, and stupidity.

But I've learned somethin'. Every coin has two sides. There isn't any such thing as an unfathomable evil, or an unerrin' good. Everyone has their reasons, and they're doin' what they think is right... for whatever reason. For a hope that things'll get better.

If we didn't have hope, we wouldn't have evil... but we wouldn't have any good, either. We'd just be some god's mindless toys.

I guess if I wanna play your game and discuss your little fairy tale, th'moral here is that everyone's a buckin' idiot. Stick a buncha parasprites in a jar and watch 'em slam against each other t'try to get out or move around, and that's yer metaphor for life.

[Vis] still sorta hiatus but couldnt not reply

[twotonehoofbeast]

*And Sollux takes something entirely different from this than everypony else.*

Oh buck no, Technology is not a sin!

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[bornoflove]

Technology is a force as destructive as any other. It gives progress, and thus speeds up the demise of civilizations.

[wizardofharmony]

My, someone has yet to grow up if they took that as the moral of the story.

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[bornoflove]

On the contrary, I reckon that I am older than most here, at this point.