And the wind smells slow and sour when it blows

[whichwayyoulean]

Who: The Once-ler and YOU!
What: Nightmares
When: Friday
Where: HIS MIND
Rating: Uh PG/PG13.


[You'd be forgiven for thinking you've entered a pleasant dream, rather than a horrific nightmare here. You've arrived in Truffula Valley, a peaceful, wonderful place that almost puts Paradisa's created beauty to shame. Forest creatures are scurrying about, singing and playing and generally going about their business.

The sky is bright blue, the sun is shining and the waters of the nearby river and pond are crystal clear. And most importantly there are miles upon miles upon miles of Truffula trees. For anyone the Once-ler described these trees to, he wasn't kidding. The touch of their tufts really is softer than silk and that comforting, wonderful smell? Fresh butterfly milk baby.

Nothing good lasts forever, and there's a general unease about the place. A disjointed sort of feel, like someone's putting on a play and you've already been told everyone dies at the end]

[[ooc: Sections: Pretty Valley | Dying Valley | Dead Valley ]]

Comments

[whichwayyoulean]

...Did you seriously fail geography?

[amiable]

You must not have any pollution here, huh...

[ninjainviolet]

[She becomes confused.]

I'm not sure what you mean. Maybe it would help to know what a "Sneetch" is.

[whichwayyoulean]

What's pollution? [It's an honest question</>]

[whichwayyoulean]

They're this bird race in my world, live on beeches, mostly. Anyway, some have stars on their bellies and some don't. The ones with stars on their bellies used to treat the ones without stars like dirt. Because...I don't know, I guess they thought the stars made them superior or something.

[amiable]

Eh? You don't-- [ HOW CAN HE NOT KNOW? ] It's like... dirt and bad air! And it damages the environment.

[whichwayyoulean]

Oh, that. [Said in the tones of someone who is only vaguely aware this is something that exists. Maybe something he read in a book a long time ago] There's nothing like that here. Just good, clean living.

[amiable]

... You really like it here, don't you? [ Then... what happened to make him so miserable? ]

[whichwayyoulean]

[Well, that's a weird question. The Once-ler gives a shrug]

Sure, there's very little to be unhappy about here. I mean, it'd be nice if I could sell my Thneed, but...this is a good place.

[amiable]

[ Without warning, she'll be in Once-ler's personal space and grinning. ]

I'm glad! Really!

[whichwayyoulean]

[He leans back a little, because Uru, PERSONAL SPACE BUBBLE]

Errr...thanks person I don't know at all who may or may not be a creepy stalker.

[amiable]

[ And then her mouth drops open and she looks offended. ]

Stalker?! I'm not a stalker!

[whichwayyoulean]

Then why are you happy for me? You don't know me. [Even his own FAMILY can't be happy for him]

[amiable]

Because it is great! This place and having a dream that will surely work out! It's good to see people happy.

[whichwayyoulean]

[...]

That's...uh. Nice?

[Are you a real person?]

[amiable]

[ She wishes Once-ler could stay happy forever if he's found that happiness here. ]

You don't think so?

[dupable]

[ How rude! ]

I did fine in geography. Only I lived on Earth, which I'm pretty sure didn't have any towns with names like that.

[ninjainviolet]

Oh. You mean the way elves and humans treated half-elves, right? Or, the way elves treated everyone.

[whichwayyoulean]

...Something like that, yeah.

Anyway. Eventually some guy invented a machine that added stars to Sneetches. The ones without took it up and soon all the Sneetches had these stars on their bellies, right? So everyone was equal.

But the original star-bellied ones hated that the plain-bellies suddenly rose up to equal status. The guy made a machine that took stars away, so they did that, and started to claim the plain-bellies were the superior Sneetches. Which the new star-bellies didn't like.

It's kind of complicated and weird, but eventually the Sneetches kept switching between stars and plain bellies so often that they weren't sure who was an original star or an original plain. So they ended up being equal that way.

...There's a moral in there somewhere. Probably. [Pause] My world does that a lot for some reason.

[whichwayyoulean]

You're kind of...really happy for a stranger. That's pretty irregular.

[whichwayyoulean]

[The Once-ler squints]

...What's an Earth?

[amiable]

Why shouldn't I be happy?

[ninjainviolet]

Unfortunately, the discrimination never ended--laws were even passed against half-elves. [She steps forward and turns.]

A rather skewed form of optimism led to one planet being split into two separate world that fought for the mana that was left. One planet always thrived and was green, but at the cost of the other wilting and dying.

It was another form of optimism that reunited those worlds so they could survive together. [She steps back to him and grabs his arms.] Don't you understand? If being optimistic could do that, then it can fix this! [She points to the devastation for emphasis.]

[whichwayyoulean]

You can be, but why would you be for someone you don't even know?

[whichwayyoulean]

[Sheena no that's invading his personal space. He frowns, stepping back a little]

And it will be, but there's nothing I can do about it until it's time. I already know the future and...well, that's that. No amount of optimism is going to change what's... [his eyes fall to that stone circle again] to what's already carved in stone.