[open] a starfruit along the way

[oathkeeper]

Sender: Sora
To: Everyone
Subject: Journal Text


hey guys! i'm sora! i've been hanging out in this world for about five months now!

i wanted to asked everyone something that might help me figure out what i'm looking for. i wanted to ask what you think a heart is made out of.

and i don't mean your heart that makes your body work. i mean your heart. the thing inside of you that makes you who you are. that makes you happy or feel great. that makes you angry or cry. the heart inside of you that makes you part of everything around you or makes you see the light or darkness in your world.

i guess some people would call those souls? but i've always known them as hearts!

i wanna know what you think makes you, you. what your heart says about you! and how you think it got there.

let me know!

Comments

Sender: Yujin Mikotoba

[professorbestie]

That is a very interesting question.

Where I come from, the word to refer to one's physical heart is quite different from the word used to refer to what you are describing. Kokoro. It is not quite the same as a soul, nor a mind. It's grander than any of that. It encompasses what a person thinks, feels, and would like to express. It holds our resolution, our wisdom and our experiences. And that is what grants us our unique identities, I believe.

[oathkeeper]

kokoro, huh? wow, that sounds kinda like what i'm talking about too! it's something so much bigger than a heart and a soul, huh? something bigger that makes us who we are. it almost sounds like a kokoro holds parts of our memories too?

do you see a lot of what a kokoro does in your world? do a lot of people know about it?

sometimes i feel like it's rare for people to notice that we have these things inside us. but without them we wouldn't be us.

[indolentaxe]

[That is a very deep question there, Sora!]

Where I'm from, we consider that kind of thing to be carried in one's blood.

Some families have blessings called Crests that are carried through bloodlines, which I guess is also tied to all that? Crests are a gift that was given to certain families a long time ago by our goddess, and they give people special abilities and stuff. I have the minor Crest of Goneril, for example.

[oathkeeper]

[He can do that sometimes! Only sometimes! When it's important.]

crests?! from a goddess?! i've never heard of anything like that before! do you know how the families in your world got those crests in the first place? there's got to be a story to that, i can feel it.

it's really cool to see that it can get passed down through your families too. what does your crest do?

Sender: Kor Meteor

[spirialink]

A Spiria.

[It might seem like a strange concept to some, but to Kor it was perfectly normal. Not to mention he understands why Sora was asking this question. He had to do his part to help out here too.]

Spirias look like a bunch of crystals. Each of those crystals represents a different emotion, like love, or trust, or anger, or your dreams. It's different for every person. Together, they make up your Spiria Core, and without them... You're just an empty husk.

[Maybe a good thing they're having this conversation in text instead of in person, so Sora doesn't see the faces Kor's making as he shares this information.]

Too bad Lithia isn't here. I'm sure she could solve this problem easy peasy!

[oathkeeper]

[He knew he could count on Kor to give an answer like this. As much as he understands parts of this he's really glad Kor writes it out again.]

i gotta ask, kor! what if someone never had a spiria in the first place? can someone just make one up? would your friend lithia be able to do something like that?

it's super complicated when it comes to hearts and how they're made up. i don't know if spirias are exactly the same but i can hope, you know?

sender: Oriphi

[hearthwarming]

Hello, Sora! I'm Ori. I have been here about three months... how are you liking it, here?

As for your question, I suppose when I think about 'what makes me who I am'... I think about the people and the things that I care about and want to protect. The more that somebody cares about something or someone, the more it might make them feel or the stronger those feelings are, even if sometimes it's sadness or anger or regret... The more that space that something or someone takes up in the heart.

I have always thought of heart and soul as being one, though. Or very much connected to one another! Where I'm from, the soul is something that magic can affect one way or another. If someone were to catch another's soul and take it away... then that would very much be like taking away their heart, too.

I hope that helps! I'm sorry I wrote a lot.

[oathkeeper]

hi ori!! thanks for writing back! i've been to a few worlds like this one so it's almost pretty normal for me! i like it here, it's really dreamy. get it? heh

you know, a lot of what you wrote is how i feel about hearts and souls too. i know hearts are complicated and they have so much about them that we don't really understand. but how we feel about each other and how much we care about others and how much we want to fight or cry or smile or laugh really do make up what our hearts are. i know you're right about that one

in my world it's almost like hearts are made up of three different parts. all of them making one whole. take one part away and it's gonna be hard to be whole.

i've never heard of magic that can take someone's soul away or effect heart though. that sounds like a crazy kind of magic. do you know what it's like to use magic that affects that kind of stuff?

and look! i wrote more than i ever wrote in school on one page just now!

Sender: Ira

[iracorn]

You're asking a lot of big questions, Sora.

It's not exactly an easy subject.

[oathkeeper]

haha i know. hearts are a hot topic in our world too. crazy right? i know it's weird to ask about this stuff but i just gotta know.

Sender: Chizuru Yukimura

[thousandcraneswish]

[ It is a very deep question but exploring such a question seems soothing. ]

The heart you described cannot be confined to one word to be complete. For myself, there are three words that come to mind. Kokoro. Tamashii. Chi. Kokoro means heart but encompasses the mind and spirit. Tamashii means soul but also signifies the spirit within yourself. And for me, there is one final piece to this puzzle. Chi. Chi means blood both literally and figuratively, as in the heritage inside you. All of these parts create the spark inside each one of us.

[oathkeeper]

[There's something comforting about it, isn't there?]

three parts??

some people in my world say that hearts are made up of three parts. i never thought to look at it like that. the mind, the spirit and the uh... the blood?

what happens when you take one part away? do you know? i'm guessing you need all three words.

Sender: Vanitas

[darkcharge]

You are ridiculous.

Why are you like this?

[oathkeeper]

why am i like what? ??? i'm not ridiculous!

[:)]

Sender: Alastor

[lonelysmiles]

An interesting question. Given that I'm all soul, I suppose I'm all heart by your logic. Ha!

[Ah, the pleasures of already being dead, eh?]

It's been several decades since I was last alive, so I can't say for sure if I can answer your question properly. It's hard to remember what that little spark the Supreme Creator gave me felt like when it wasn't the whole of my existence.

Though may I ask why you wanted to know?

[oathkeeper]

[Wait a minute. All soul??]

wow, you're all soul so you're just one giant walking heart? how does that work?! how long have you been dead how can you walk around? what does it feel like to be all soul for you?

i wish i could find out what your creator did to make you. if i'm being honest,

there's someone i need to help. someone who really needs a heart...

Sender: Omi Tsukiyono

[oneblackcat]

It's nice to meet you, Sora. I'm Omi.

Others have already described the concept of kokoro more eloquently than I could. That's my answer, too.

It's interesting to think about how it got there. If your heart is a collection of experiences, thoughts and feelings, then it's something that develops over time, isn't it?

[oathkeeper]

hi omi! nice to meet you too!

if you know about kokoro too then that's a safe bet it's a good lead!

i'd like to think that something like that would make a heart over time, yeah. but sometimes it's still missing one key thing and i don't know what it is. maybe spirit? some people have been saying blood or spirit or mind and it's just a lot!

but i think it's true that a big part of making a heart is our experiences!

Sender: Zidane

[tantailizing]

[What makes him... him, huh? And what's he made of? Uh, he doesn't want to think about that, but Sora wants an answer.]

Pretty sure my soul got here when someone decided to wake it up and attach it to me.

No, I'm kidding. Places I've been, people I've met, experiences I've had, things like that helped make me who I am, I'm pretty sure.

[oathkeeper]

wait are you really kidding?

but honestly sometimes i wish it was as easy as just sticking a soul to someone, you know?

i think all our memories and feelings make a big part of it. but what if there's supposed to be one more thing?

Sender: Asura

[abyssbound]

For Celestials, we have something called a Spiritual Entity that is the physical manifestation of our souls. We are comprised of this Spiritual Entity first and foremost, with our bodies as little more than accessories to it.

But I don't know if that answers your question or not.

[oathkeeper]

spirit or spiritual entity, that's gotta be the same thing, right? does everybody have it? i think so?

but i wonder how that spiritual entity stuff gets there? what makes it?

are you a celestial?

Sender: Zhao

[seemagicshit]

Just dropping some soul deep conversation on us all. As you do.

[oathkeeper]

never thought it would come outta my mouth, didja hahahahah

sender: jiang yanli

[soups]

I'd never thought about what you would call what a person's spirit is made from.

People from our world have cores that are tied to that in a way, which is a type of spiritual energy, but they aren't found in everyone.

I've spoken with some who don't really think anything of the afterlife, but I know it to exist where I come from. We all contain a form of energy that makes up who we are. I just don't know how to put to words something so abstract. My spirit holds everything I feel and think, though, and I know that when I permanently die I'll keep these things with me in the afterlife.

[oathkeeper]

yeah! spirit, that's a good word for it all. i'm learning a lot about how people see this stuff. a soul, heart or a spirit are all really similar! something that is yours and only yours!

so in your world, a core is only something some people have? how do you tell who gets one and who doesn't? or is it more like something you're born with too?

sender: REN AMAMIYA

[masqueraid]

Hearts can be pretty complicated things. A place that reflects our deepest desires, somewhere we hold our secret ideologies...

Otherwise... It sort of feels like I just woke up like this.

[oathkeeper]

yeah they sure are complicated. you never know what's going to be deep down inside a heart, huh?

i gotta wonder how hearts just wake up! you know, how do we get those hearts in the first place! are we born as babies with them? i guess so

Anon

[voidbug]

Essence and Soul I would assume. Though how that is I do not think I could tell you.

[Do they have either of those things, they wonder. Though perhaps they already know the answer to one of those...]

[...What would that truly make them then?]

[oathkeeper]

that sounds right but i wish it was easier to find out how that stuff just comes to be you know?

how do we get essence and soul? something like it comes from our memories im guessing

Sender: Hans Westergaard; private

[sleightofhans]

[He can't help himself--]

That's a very intriguing question! But I'm entirely not sure, Sora, I've never thought too much about it. I know, since you're the expert on hearts here, what do you think constitutes mine?

private;

[oathkeeper]

[HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM]

i don't know, are you really wondering that makes up your heart, hans? maybe so you can find out what it all means?