Innocia and Empath

Innocia: Empath, why do you look so sad? Is schooltime so depressing that you must cry?

Empath: Innocia, you won't understand. These tears, this pain and sadness, none of it is mine.

Innocia: Whose is it, then?

Empath: These are the tears, the pains and sadness of the many people I have met. Friends, acquaintances, and colleagues; I have felt all their emotions and now they are with me. I can control emotions. I can move emotions between people. I can transfer your joy into your best friend. I can siphon your anger into my mind. I can take away your sorrow… or fill you with fear. I cannot “feel” the reason you are experiencing that emotion, but I can sense it, and transfer it.

Innocia: I don't get it. Why're you crying, then?

Empath: Every mind I touch is a maelstrom of fear, happiness, disgust, surprise, anger and sadness. But the one I am most experienced in is pain.

Innocia: I still don't get it...

Empath: I told you already, but nevermind. These are the tears, the pains and sadness of the people I have engaged with. They are now with me. I have taken their pain and relinquished it upon myself, and now I cry their tears.

Innocia: Why do you do that, then?

Empath: Isn't it rude to be so inquisitive? I can't bear to see them cry. They can't store their own emotions well enough, so they cry out of sadness. I take their sadness and pain so they don't cry so much, but sometimes I take in more than I can store as well. So I experience their pain. Every moment of agony, every minute of torment. I don’t just feel your pain. I live it.

Innocia: What about other emotions? Shouldn't you be taking them as well?

Empath: Why should I take their happiness away from them? It makes no sense. Would you take your friend's happiness away from him or her? I doubt you would either.

Innocia: I guess... hey, Empath, isn't that your friend? If you took away his pain and sadness, why is he still so sad?

Empath: ...I'm not so sure myself.

Innocia: Don't you know? You said the reason yourself. You cannot feel the reason why he's feeling that way. You can only sense it. You can't understand a person's reason for feeling that way, you can only sense his feeling that way. That pain isn't truly his, it's just your interpretation of his pain, replicated on your own self. Your pain has been robbed of meaning, for it has no reason for its existence. There is a reason why his pain must exist with him, and you can't take that reason away, nor can you replicate it.

Empath: ...but he was smiling when I took his sadness away. Shouldn't he have continued to cry?

Innocia: I'll ask you then. What is the emotion you experience the most?

Empath: ...pain.

Innocia: Why do you experience that the most?

Empath: Because it's the most prominent feeling I get from others.

Innocia: And that's not their fault. Do you understand why he smiles when you are near and cries when you leave? You are there to share his sadness, but by the point of time he has recovered, he can no longer share his happiness with you, for you have moved on to another sad person in need of your company. And when that second person is happy, you'd have moved on to the third already. You have never stopped and stayed with the same person all the way through, constantly moving between sad person to sad person. Sadness and pain have never sought for you; you have been the one seeking for the sadness and pain of others. Is it any wonder that you should cry unnecessary, or even crocodile tears? Stand up. Look over there. Do you see those people? They're smiling, without you.

Empath: ...they are. But why?

Innocia: Because they're together. When one is sad, the other cheers him up. When one is happy, the other celebrates. When one is annoyed, the other either calms him down or pouts with him. Isn't that such a simple logic? You, on the other hand, sit here alone with the sadness of everyone. Have you even considered for a moment that if you actually stayed with people longer before moving on, sadness wouldn't be the only emotion you face? Look around. It's a world of laughter but also a world of tears; a world of hope but also a world of fears. There are as many sad children out there as there are happy children. You have just decided to take one bunch and ignore the other. Life isn't so imbalanced, there are as many ups as there are downs, but if you walk the underground route you never get to see the light of day until you decide to go out through the end of the tunnel.

Empath: ...

Innocia: Oh, just stand up already. The sunlight exists to brighten up people's day, so get out there and smile a bit instead of lying in this cold room singing elegies to yourself.