Ya gotta be cruel to be kind...

[qcontinuum]

OOC: Crossposted from theatrical_muse today.

Prompt 232: Is there a situation where it's appropriate to be unkind?

How about all of them?



My perspective on this is probably somewhat different from most beings. As a member of the Q Continuum, the greatest dangers I face on a regular basis aren't death, pain, hunger or loss; I am at greatest risk of being bored out of my mind or swallowed by the overmind I live within. I don't, generally, have to wonder if people love me or care about me. They can't help it, any more than I can help caring about them even though there are times I really wish I could hate them all. I don't need to feel like I belong; I already belong a lot more than I wish I did.

If the Q are too open with each other, too connected, too gentle, too selfless, too *kind* as you put it... we can be destroyed. Melt into the Continuum overmind, merge into one another and create a new entity. I had a friend who tried to die that way for billions of years, and it was my job to be cruel to her so she wouldn't try to merge with me and wouldn't be able to merge with anyone else... well, at least until she snapped and tried to kill me.

We also run the danger, when we deal with mortals, that they will end up worshipping us. Which I find rather repulsive, personally, but which is also actively dangerous to the mortals in question... because we're *not* totally obsessed with their well-being, and if they spend their time praying to us instead of actually solving their own problems, then we're either stuck fixing things for them for the rest of time, or we'll get bored and abandon them and *then* they'll be screwed. It is much, much better to be mean to mortals when you have godlike power... at least until they can prove to you that no, they're not going to throw themselves at your feet and start worshipping just because you give them a nice present.

So I am, generally, very much in favor of being unkind to people when they need it, and sometimes just when *I* need it... hey, an entity's gotta find some fun *somewhere*.



Muse: Q
Fandom: Star Trek TNG

Comments

Thank you

[(Anonymous)]

Some humans (some Q as well apparently) do allow themselves to die. I don't like to mention suicide but there it is. I know my question came across as ignorant but I was reading somewhere that 'boredom is a state of mind'...possibly the Q have made it a state of being? having to seek desperate measures like suicide (or having children...both are painful) or civil war seems a little exteme...I mean. What happens when all the fun of parent-hood wears off? You're left with a bunch of very not-at-all-happy Q's running around after tiny little beings with omnipotence...(poor you! No wonder you're having such a hard time)...I wonder how many years it will take before another war starts?

But anyway, thank you for answering my questions...despite the depth of ignorance therein. I'll go away and stop bothering you.

(And, by the way, as a female human who has *had* a child I can understand why the Captain turned you down. There are certain parts of female human anatomy that rip you know.)

[qcontinuum.livejournal.com]

Some humans (some Q as well apparently) do allow themselves to die.

Well, yes, but whether or not you allow it, it *will* happen. That's the definition of being mortal, after all. You can perhaps blame a suicidal mortal for dying *right now*, but you can't blame mortals for the fact that they die at all.

What happens when all the fun of parent-hood wears off? You're left with a bunch of very not-at-all-happy Q's running around after tiny little beings with omnipotence...(poor you! No wonder you're having such a hard time)...

I'm trying very hard not to think about that.

Although, since so far I'm the only Q who's chosen both to procreate and to raise the child, we don't have a "bunch" yet. I suspect they're all waiting to see how my son turns out before jumping in.

I wonder how many years it will take before another war starts?

Hopefully, never. War is a sign that something has gone drastically wrong with your ability to communicate with your fellows. We didn't have a war because we were bored, we had a war because we were afraid of our destruction as a species and half of us vigorously disagreed with the other half as to what the prescription for our salvation should be. When someone comes along with a new idea, the way it's *supposed* to work is we take it under consideration, test it, and accept it or not after seeing how it worked... which is what we're doing with having children, more or less. It's not supposed to cause *wars*.

(And, by the way, as a female human who has *had* a child I can understand why the Captain turned you down. There are certain parts of female human anatomy that rip you know.)

Rip? Oh. Oh, dear. That seems like *incredibly* poor design. How is it that any of you ever thought you were created by an *intelligent* being again?

Amanda was of the opinion that if I'd really wanted to procreate with a human, I should have volunteered to take the female role. According to her, if there's a choice in the matter the person who wants the child should take the female role because it's harder work -- also, she claims it would have freed me to pursue Picard, who would probably have said yes for the sake of peace but not if I made him do the work of being pregnant, given that he's used to the limitations of being a human male. I granted her the point tentatively but was unaware that the "work" involved could include grievous bodily harm... even if you can regenerate your body instantly, that sounds rather more painful than I'd ever want to deal with. So I suppose it's just as well I procreated with a fellow Q. At least then no one had to deal with *pregnancy.*