[It was an entirely natural thing to fear the unknown - it was this type of thing that was encoded into their instincts down to a molecular level, over hundreds of thousands of years of the most cautious of a certain species being the ones who survived when the foolhardy perished. But it was one thing to avoid something potentially dangerous and still another to arm oneself to the point where they could entirely destroy it if given the slightest provocation. That had been the greatest shift, when mankind had realized that what they could forge and build with their hands could do something so monumental. He has relatively little understanding of how it worked so far into the future, but he has seen the very advent of it. When humanity, holding weapons that could breathe fire and kill with impunity from a great distance, turned them on the gods themselves, poisoning and killing them.
He is quiet for a moment, considering the question. He wishes the answer he could give was better than it was.]
No. Many do not.
[It was one of the reasons they were here, after all. It wasn't the shapers that were killed in their original infestation that brought them here, apparently. No, it had been the ones kept as "pets" that had called out to the coelacanth. But Ashitaka himself had gotten into an altercation with someone who took it into his own hands to destroy them, without the go-ahead from anyone else, and that confrontation had put him quite close to death's door (not that he was any stranger to such a place). He is certain many COST agents didn't care even a fraction of what they did.
He is careful with the weight of his gaze, not wanting Ryo to feel as though he were being put on the spot or otherwise scrutinized. He gives him time, though he can tell that this is no easy question for him - it wasn't an easy question in general, though Ashitaka is clearly the type of person that doesn't avoid such things in lieu of easy, largely useless conversation.
What he ends up saying pierces through Ashitaka's expectations, creating in Ryo someone he felt he could understand and even sympathize with to a surprising degree. He's certain it is presumptuous to assume too much similarity, for Ryo's world probably looked very different from the one Ashitaka left behind, and it could be any number of things behind the meaning of his cryptic final statement.
But, still...]
The world I left behind is beautiful as well. [He looks out over the boreal forest, the mountains, the group of rivers that cut a pattern into the land.] Much of it is like this place. Untouched by man, still the territory of great beasts and gods. These are the most beautiful places; they feel sacred to a point where you feel cautious to tread upon them.
[He remembers the heart of the forest, trees so massive they could be pillars holding up the sky, all surrounded by ponds and streams flowing around dozens of islands. He remembers first seeing the great forest spirit through a gap in some of those trees. Everyone remembers their first brush with divinity.
He finally looks back to Ryo. His expression has lost some of its wistfulness, drug painfully back down to reality.]
Do you bear a curse?
[He might as well come out and say it. It is his only frame of reference for feeling so short on time, at such an age, with so much reason to stay.]
no subject
He is quiet for a moment, considering the question. He wishes the answer he could give was better than it was.]
No. Many do not.
[It was one of the reasons they were here, after all. It wasn't the shapers that were killed in their original infestation that brought them here, apparently. No, it had been the ones kept as "pets" that had called out to the coelacanth. But Ashitaka himself had gotten into an altercation with someone who took it into his own hands to destroy them, without the go-ahead from anyone else, and that confrontation had put him quite close to death's door (not that he was any stranger to such a place). He is certain many COST agents didn't care even a fraction of what they did.
He is careful with the weight of his gaze, not wanting Ryo to feel as though he were being put on the spot or otherwise scrutinized. He gives him time, though he can tell that this is no easy question for him - it wasn't an easy question in general, though Ashitaka is clearly the type of person that doesn't avoid such things in lieu of easy, largely useless conversation.
What he ends up saying pierces through Ashitaka's expectations, creating in Ryo someone he felt he could understand and even sympathize with to a surprising degree. He's certain it is presumptuous to assume too much similarity, for Ryo's world probably looked very different from the one Ashitaka left behind, and it could be any number of things behind the meaning of his cryptic final statement.
But, still...]
The world I left behind is beautiful as well. [He looks out over the boreal forest, the mountains, the group of rivers that cut a pattern into the land.] Much of it is like this place. Untouched by man, still the territory of great beasts and gods. These are the most beautiful places; they feel sacred to a point where you feel cautious to tread upon them.
[He remembers the heart of the forest, trees so massive they could be pillars holding up the sky, all surrounded by ponds and streams flowing around dozens of islands. He remembers first seeing the great forest spirit through a gap in some of those trees. Everyone remembers their first brush with divinity.
He finally looks back to Ryo. His expression has lost some of its wistfulness, drug painfully back down to reality.]
Do you bear a curse?
[He might as well come out and say it. It is his only frame of reference for feeling so short on time, at such an age, with so much reason to stay.]