God is real. I know this. God is not real. You know this. We cannot both be right if that is the case.
Whether in our real world or a fictional one of science fiction or fantasy there will be people who believe in someone or something others do not believe in. Obviously in the real world you and I don’t decide what’s real and what’s not, but in our fictional ones we do.
The idea behind this prompt is someone who grew up with parents who believed in someone or something they as an adult do not believe in. Whatever or whomever this may be is left open to interpretation to allow for more utility.
God’s existence or not was my initial thought, but I decided it would be more useful for other beliefs as well. Maybe a belief that is less widespread among adults such as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny. I do not, but some people put belief in them on the same level as belief in God.
Or maybe it’s a creature such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or a Yeti. There are a lot of adults who believe in them, but those who do not consider them foolish, so it would certainly fit. If you don’t believe in them can you imagine your response if you learned they were in fact real? What if you grew up with parents who believed in them, what would you say the next time you talked to them?
Another big one is aliens. Do you believe in aliens? I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think wouldn’t it be really cool if they did turn out to be real. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who don’t understand why their parents or someone else they love believes in aliens. What would they do if they found out they were wrong?
And don’t forget examples outside of reality. Maybe there is an entire civilization that can be found in a marble hung around a cats neck like in The Men In Black where it’s literal galaxies or a world on a speck on a flower such as the one in Horton Hears a Who. Maybe there is an extinct animal that isn’t real extinct or a legendary one that really exists such as Omanyte and Ho-oh respectively in Pokémon. The concepts for the real world about what you can and cannot believe in that may or may not exist, also exist as potentials for your fictional world.
And while this prompt does go with the idea that the parents were right all along, it’s possible that they weren’t. If you want to go that route, how do you prove absolutely that someone or something doesn’t exist? You can believe it all you want, but how do you prove it?
Prove that someone else did what they were supposed to do? Well, that only means they didn’t do that specific thing that specific time. Could be they were busy or incapacitated and asked for help.
How would you character handle being proven right?
