Character Interviews!

[Adele to Alicorn]: I haven't written a rulebook if that's what you mean. I'd say "winging it" is closer. Sometimes I know for sure that something will be better if I help, and sometimes I only suspect that that's the case. I can also be wrong, or fail to see all the possible outcomes that might have given me a valuable perspective on how to handle something. Unfortunately, even though I am gifted in ways others aren't, I don't have the option to control what futures are available to pick from, and I don't guarantee that what I "see" is going to happen exactly how I think it will. Being able to know things in ways others can't solves a lot of problems, but it has its own special problems that it CAUSES, as well--the ethical conundrum being a major one. That said, everyone gives advice to people because they THINK they're helping, and most of the people who do so aren't sure, so I try to remind myself when I experience doubt that I'm always just doing the best I can as an imperfect person.

[Adele to Alicorn]: I think that as living creatures who understand time in a linear fashion, it is hard to conceive of "the future." But we are limited by our perceptions. If we perceive that time goes in one straight solid line and that we acquire our understanding of events only as the events happen, seeing what's yet to happen seems a bit bizarre and mysterious. It is my opinion that I, in the present, am at a crossroads of many possible futures, all of which are real in some sense. I am just aware of it in ways most people are not made to be, and therefore I can take action to bring the most desirable future into my timestream. Problems crop up if I can't see the whole picture, or when I can't be sure that I see all the possible futures for an event. This is also true when figuring out something that isn't in the future, per se, but is true somewhere (or was). I have the ability, somewhat limited though it is, to "read" the universe. But since I live in a three-dimensional, forward-in-time-only world, that is how my mind spends most of its time, and it's really built and trained to live in such a world. Some of my divination processes help me momentarily change that--an altering of consciousness is of prime importance when I'm trying to see something other than the barely hidden chunks of knowledge that sometimes jump out at me.

[Adele to Alicorn]: Yes. I recognize that I came to this new place to do something important, but I don't see why I had to have my past torn from me so completely that I wouldn't know where to start if I wanted to reconstruct it artificially through divination.

[Adele to Jefkin]: . . . Yes, I do. There are definitely some things I know I can't learn except by experiencing, and that's one downfall of my having acquired my education about humans mostly through their writings and my intuition based thereon. But since I am and will always be an outsider, I'm not too concerned about how well I "get" them--I'm more concerned with whether I deal with them in a way that is satisfactory to both of us.

[Adele to Jefkin]: I suppose it would depend on what sort of intervention I performed! If the associated person even knew that fate had been diverted, for better or for worse, I suppose they'd be a bit shocked (and, depending on the situation that followed, either angry or grateful for the change of plans). And of course it also depends on the person. Some people easily accept sudden twists toward or away from what is later understood to have been a possible fate, citing destiny or God's will. Others smell conspiracy or might be skeptical, becoming suspicious or obsessive regarding the issue. I try to foresee these eventualities if they are important and deal with them, but some things surely slip through my fingers.

[Adele to Jefkin]: Well, finding another would double our numbers, that's for sure! It would be nice to have a confidant and someone to "check my work," so to speak, but so far every bit of "research" I've done has either resulted in "no answer" or "answer of no." If there's someone like me out there, they're hidden even from my eyes, and that's quite a trick. I've got to find something to do with myself--something I can at least feel good about--in the meantime, and maybe a person will be born or appear in my life who will be worthy of receiving an invitation from me. We'd still both have to battle the question of what our gifts are best used for, though.

[Adele to Jessie]: I'm still unsure of how and why they draw the line between religion and mythology, because so many of their stories of both types seem similar in quality, similar in historical verisimilitude, and even similar in their installation into human culture (which is to say that the stories were handed down in oral traditions). It's clear to me that with an entire race that lacks an objective way to determine "truth," they sometimes grasp at straws or put belief in stories that are useful and comforting but not necessarily "true." I don't have a problem with what they believe until or unless it hurts people (and I do consider emotional damage a form of hurting people), but I remain a bit disturbed at some of their race's desperate desire to trust their lives to something based on faith if it hasn't necessarily proved it deserves such trust. I also mistrust any institution which teaches people en masse to give up individual thought and understanding to a one-size-fits-all answer. Letting a church, a leader, or a book think for you seems like a great way to go through life ignorant, and ignorance breeds disaster.

I do think that if a person aligns himself with a "higher calling"--regardless of whether that calling is imagined or real--he will feel more accountable for his actions and may be led to caring more about his fellow man. I don't encourage believing in and serving a religion just to result in people who behave themselves--I feel like they should do that anyway!--but when spirituality is handled in such a way that its practitioners truly love their brothers and truly want to serve good, I still have respect for the people themselves. Alas, I see spirituality and religion used just as often to control and accuse and cast out, so I must say overall it disturbs me when humans lose themselves in rituals and traditions while forgetting what they are meant to represent.

[Adele to Jessie]: I'm sorry, I haven't tried it. I'd like to, because it smells really good, but I'm a little reluctant to give it a try, partly because based on my experiences with coffee flavorings I suspect I'm lactose intolerant. (Maybe my people aren't built to drink other creatures' milk? It does seem like a weird idea, but it's prevalent in this particular human culture.) I might prefer to try something that's technically a sherbet since that seems more water-based.

[Adele to M. Lee:] To tell you the truth, I find it interesting theoretically but it doesn't hold my attention for very long because the practical applications of science are what I'm most interested in--how they affect the people around me and the world we live in. I find it less interesting than, say, sociology or psychology, and while of course biology and chemistry have practical applications here, I find that learning the actual hard science of those disciplines isn't really to my liking. I suppose I would say I like the softer sciences as opposed to the harder ones.

[Adele to SHO!]: Well . . . they're not UNattractive. So I suppose so.

[Adele to SHO!]: It would depend on the human, I'm sure. But I don't have a policy against it, so in a broad sense, yes.

[Adele to SHO!]: If I find someone who's interested in me that way and I like him back, I suppose I'd consider it.

[Adele to SHO!]: Nope!

[Adele to SHO!]: I think you've assumed I know more than I do. I may be able to see the future, but a lot of the time I feel unsure of what I'm doing and what I'm supposed to be doing. Constructing a network to bring in slow but steady wealth would be a big project and the idea currently overwhelms me since I haven't a friend in the world. And getting wealth all at once through a windfall necessarily brings attention I don't want. I do want to carve out a comfortable existence as soon as I can, but right now I'm only beginning!

[Adele to SHO!]: I don't really want to be publicly known, even if it doesn't matter because I'm on my way out. I'd rather not be the example. I want to live my quiet life and leave my fingerprint without anyone seeing my hand.

[Adele to Thomas]: That's difficult to answer because I'm not completely sure what the limit is on most humans' intuition. My future-seeing abilities are not much like the other recognized senses here, though. I have to use hearing- and vision-related analogies to communicate about it, but it's much more like "knowing," and my knowledge doesn't come to me in visual or auditory "code." And though I believe abilities like mine were more common where I come from, I do have my vague recollection that my teacher was a human and therefore this type of intuition is not off-limits to your kind.

[Adele to Thomas]: I think that's too broad a question for me to answer specifically. I think humans should continue to develop technology as it suits them, and I admire their ingenuity and determination when it comes to invention. And as far as harmony goes, I don't know if this is supposed to be tied to your inquiry about technology, but I don't have any beliefs about whether technology is helping or hurting the harmony of humankind. Overall I think the best way to contribute to harmony is have some simple empathy for each other's situations, but I can't think of a technology that could make that better or worse. Also, as a hint for anyone who desires peace and harmony, I recommend setting aside quiet time every day. Meditation is very important to me. Separating oneself from the world to think about problems and listen to one's own thoughts free from influence is invaluable when trying to live a harmonious existence.