Side-Write: Interview with Wonder (Patreon)

I hope you've had a lovely holiday and will enjoy the coming of the new year! Today I'm continuing this series of interviews, as it's proven to be a fairly fun exercise in perspective. With this we're halfway through, though I imagine the later ones may be more intense. We'll have to see how that goes! I hope you enjoy!

As always, these writings aren't considered strictly canon so much as an exploration of what may be. I hope it gives you a better understanding of the world building up behind Project Wild One!

~~~

Q: Hello? Is anyone there? I'm looking for the God of Wonder.

A: My, my... Ambitious indeed, to take on such a quest. And why do you seek such a being?

Q: I'd like to interview them. The people know little about the gods, and I'd like to try and rectify that.

A: Hahaha... If it's wisdom you seek, shouldn't you petition my counterpart?

Q: I hope to speak with all of the gods before I'm done. But I'm sure many people would like to hear what you have to say, in particular.

A: Is that right... Yes, I suppose they must. Well... I will allow you to record my words, then, but I cannot promise you will gain the enlightenment you seek. I hope you understand.

Q: Is that because you are opposed to wisdom?

A: I am not the god of ignorance. I am not here to stop anyone from striving to understand-- rather, I am here to make sure there is always something more, beyond your understanding.

Q: Very well. May I ask where you are? It might be easier to speak face to face.

A: You may record my words, but I will not allow you to look upon me. Do not be greedy, friend.

Q: My apologies. Well. Let's change the subject, then. Is it true that you were the one that first brought monsters into the world? I know many people would like to know more about that.

A: Yes, those were wonderful times. I was so young then, of course, and just presenting new things to all the world with a flourish still felt so exciting. I hadn't yet learned to appreciate subtlety.

Q: I see. Did you know at the time what would happen? That they would be so dangerous to us?

A: Well, they weren't dangerous at the time. Believe me, I had many ideas that I discarded because they would be too dangerous. The problem was that once we got started, people wanted more and more of them! Which of course, I was happy to provide. Back then I was so eager to please, you know? I enjoyed the big moments, that rush of everyone looking at what I'd made. I knew that the more we made, the more dangerous it would be, but I thought surely all of you knew that too, and so did the other gods, such sticks in the mud they were. I knew there could be some big changes if they slipped free, but that would be fun in its own way, wouldn't it?

Q: If billions of people died?

A: Do you know how complacent, how bored, those people were? How set in their ways and sure of the nature of the world they were, even when I was performing miracles every day? They were alive, but to me, they did not truly live. In those days of uncertainty, when the night held fear again and you never knew for certain what might be waiting around the corner, people lived more in a week than they had their whole lives. I brought them true wonder, when they'd refused it by any other means.

Q: So... you wanted that to happen?

A: No! Well. I hadn't intended for it to happen. I knew it might, and I must confess I was delighted when it did, but that was through no action or fault of mine, save that I gave you all what you wanted. Did I want it to happen? I wanted to shake things up, and that could have happened many different ways, but that was certainly one of them. For whatever it's worth, I didn't want people to die, if that's what you're so worried about.

Q: ...But you didn't mind if they did.

A: Well, people die all the time! What's wrong with making their deaths more exciting, more memorable? More mysterious, less predictable?

Q: If the gods had not interfered, we would have gone extinct. Would you have regretted that?

A: Well... I suppose so. The monsters can still enjoy my work, you know. You lot can be pretty stiff and humorless at times. But that makes it all the more fun when I do manage to get a smile out of you. It's good to have a challenge.

Q: Is that all that matters to you? Whether you have... an audience?

A: Of course not. But that's not what you're really asking, is it? How many gods have you interviewed so far? And you still don't understand. You can't see past your own bias.

Q: It has been... a strange and humbling experience so far. I've been surprised how little any of you seem to care about people and our struggles. I've also been surprised with how... pleasant, how kind you each have acted, even while making me feel like I don't matter in the slightest.

A: Why do I even bother making mysteries when you can't figure out the obvious? How dreadfully sad. Well, everyone needs their riddles to fiddle with, even if it's how to untie a piece of string with no knots in it.

Q: Does it really make no difference to you that we are people, and they monsters? Does it mean nothing that we were here first, that we were the originals, born by struggling up out of the dust on our own, but these creatures were made from fantasies and nonsense?

A: I did not make these creatures to be inferior. I did not make them only to be a flight of fancy, or to be cast aside after a few days like a shiny new toy given to a toddler. I was giving you the most incredible gifts you could ever ask for, one after another. Siblings. Brother and sister races, shaped after everything your hearts desired to see in the world. I left it in your hands how to treat them, whether to free them and give them rights, but instead of accepting them, you fumbled them and they took their place in the world on their own. You could have helped them, guided them, or you could have seen the danger in them and killed them yourselves. The choice was yours. And so was the mistake. No, child. I do not see you as anything special or better than the creatures that would have driven you from this world, had you not been saved by the ones with true power.

Q: ...Why were we saved, then?

A: That, love, is a question for another god.

Q: ...Does it truly not matter that we were first, that we are the natural, original people of this world? Does that give us no rights, no precedence, in the eyes of the gods? Isn't a creature made from our dreams at least a tiny step below us, the dreamers?

A: I think... that if you seek sympathy, or favoritism over your siblings, you should not go to the very one that labored the most to create them, that poured the most love and care into bringing new, brilliant life into this world. I give, and I give, and I give, and I do not expect gratitude from those too short-sighted to give it, but do not expect to earn my favor when you come to me asking for still more.

Q: ...Very well. Before I leave, then, let me ask. Is there anything you would like the people of the world to know?

A: Hmmm. I suppose I mostly wish that you would pay a little more attention, and assume a little less! I work so hard to fill this dull world with strangeness and excitement, and so much of it goes unnoticed. Do you know, I once turned the sky a different shade for three days straight, and none of you actually noticed? It was a great deal of work, as well! I don't know how many times I've whispered in the darkness, or on the wind, how many times I've left little surprises for people, twisted the odds to make the impossible a reality, and people just... walk by, not noticing, or shrugging it off. Open your eyes! Your ears! Your noses! Your hearts. And especially, your minds.

Q: ...I did notice the strange things on my way here.

A: Of course you did! I don't hide everything! What fun is it to find the God of Wonder without wandering a labyrinth of danger and illusion? But you didn't notice the faces in the trees, did you?

Q: The trees...? I believe I was running for my life, at the time.

A: Well, pay more attention! That could have been a clue that they were going to reach out and grab you, you know.

Q: I'll... keep that in mind.

A: And what about when your grandfather spoke to you? From an impossible shadow?

Q: ...I... That was years ago. ...That was you?

A: You did notice it!

Q: I thought I was going insane. I had to convince myself for weeks after that I'd just been losing too much sleep.

A: That's exactly the problem. Sometimes shadows whisper! Sometimes the world doesn't work how you expect! That's not even just because of me! But oh no, people can't accept that things go some other way sometimes. You build a cage and lock yourself inside, refusing to believe unexpected things could happen. You think you can understand everything! It's so obnoxious and arrogant. That's what I want people to know. Drop the ego, forget your assumptions, and accept the world as it is, not what you think it should be! My work is only a small part of what you fail to accept, to allow into your little personal images of the world. If you open up to it, then maybe my work can help serve as a bridge between where you are, and where you could be.

Q: ...Where we could be?

A: That, little one, is exactly the sort of question you should be asking.

Q: What do you mean? Where could we go? ...Hello?