knightofratatosk | [Accidental Voice]

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[Accidental Voice]

[It's late in the evening after a busy day of work at the tea shop, cooking and chores, and animal-wrangling that Emil finally sits down to flip through his journal and catch up on the events of the day.

He's taken to using a certain Christmas card that Buffy gave him a couple of years ago as a bookmark in the journal, both to keep it from getting lost or damaged and because it's bulky enough (being one of those musical cards) that it makes it easy to find his place right away. It's never occurred to him that sticking something that plays music into a journal that can broadcast things to everyone else whose journal is open might not be the best idea-- he always keeps the card closed, and besides, he's been doing it for a long time without any issues.

Today, however, he's so tired and the couch is so comfortable that he ends up starting to doze off as he pages through the journal. Everything is fine for a while... until he rolls over a bit, dislodging both journal and card from their places on the couch beside him and sending them toppling to the floor, the card landing half-open atop the also-opened journal. Of course, this immediately triggers the card to start playing music....

So Luceti, enjoy the very tinny version of "Jingle Bells" that is currently being broadcast over the journals. Emil has no idea his journal is even on.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I haven't exactly lost them. It's a little more complicated than that. See, there's a part of me that still remembers things, but it's also not the part of me that's talking to you right now. He only comes out sometimes, and I can't control when he does, or remember anything that happens when he's in control.

But... I do wish that I could remember more about who I really am. It'd be nice to know all of those things.

[Saori is quiet for a long moment, but she has the foresight to put up a filter. That is a problem that strikes particularly close to home. The dichotomy of spirit within her body, and the aggressive side coming out to overtake the other is a constant fear. It's hard not to think back to her first kidnapping, locked up and prodded while the Malnosso sought to drag it out of her. She never wanted to deal with that thing, but having it has made her more conscious of the darker side of people and other spirits too. Swallowing thickly, she tries to put on a more cheerful tone, but it's probably obviously forced.]

Is he a good sort of spirit in you, or bad?

[Hopefully good...unlike mine.]

I'm not sure. He doesn't like humans, but I don't think he's bad, just trying to protect his tree and the world's mana supply. He's angry at humans and half-elves for betraying him and causing the original World Tree to die. I don't know if I can really blame him for that. I mean, it did really mess things up for a long time.

[A very long time, and the world ended up being split in two (quite literally) because of it. It's pretty understandable why Ratatosk would be angry about that and why he would carry a grudge against humans even to this day.]

Well I...can certainly understand that. It's something my kind and I have struggled with for a long time. Humans do things, bad things, and damage the world we live in. They've killed some of our cousins, and naturally we're not happy. It's actually caused a split in Heaven. Some of my relatives have retreated from the Earth, leaving it to it's own ends. Then there are ones like me, who blame specific people, not humans as a whole.

It's...complicated though.

[Emil nods, understanding.]

I think it's always going to be complicated. Not all humans are bad, but there will always be some who are, and they're the ones who are going to end up causing problems for everyone else. It all comes down to whether you blame the people who are responsible or if you just blame humans.

Well, yes. When the American gods were killed, naturally there was a lot of outcry, but rather than march to war the more...moderate of my kind managed to sway things away from that. It's a shame but what's done is done and a mass killing won't change that. Those responsible were dealt with in the proper way, though.

[She definitely doesn't like the idea of a war on humanity, it would be too high a price. But a few mysterious deaths of a few key people, and things changed for the better.]

They killed gods in your world?

[Emil sounds a little unsure. He'd thought beings like gods were immortal, or at least that's how it had gone in the books he's read.]

In a way. The only way a god can die...truly die...anyway, is for them to wish themselves dead. Our "bodies" are more a shell, and when they're destroyed we reform a few hours later. But if one of us wants to end it...

[She trails off, slightly unnerved by the idea and the memories.]

Some of the American gods were so drained they choose that path.

Oh. That's... that's really sad. I don't know if the summon spirits or Centurions in my world could do something like that. As far as I know, they'll always be reborn as long as there's mana in the world. Not that I want to find out if you can kill one forever, but... it kind of makes you wonder.

It does, but honestly, it's better not to know. It's not really a situation that should come up, I think. Interfering with natural forces like that...

Though, the world finds a way to go on, so it's not all sad. When one god dies, a new one has to take it's place. That's what happened in mine, anyway. Four new gods for a new era, and they're friendly at least.

That makes sense. I mean, it would be bad for the world if all of the gods disappeared, right? So there has to be some way to replace them if something ends up happening. But I think you're right that it's probably better not to know whether or not it really is possible. It'd be kind of scary to know for sure.

[There's a faint humming sound of agreement on her end]

I think that's true. The universe does bring everything into balance. Maybe it's the same for your world, if the spirits are tied to the land like in mine. The newer ones, they're different...but I suppose it's suitable to match the times. They're tied to the people, the culture there, and the ideals of that nation.

I think the spirits in my world are just tied in to the mana-- that's like our world's life force. Everything in my world needs it to exist, spirits and Centurions especially.

Mortals as well, then?

Yeah, everything. Humans, animals, plants... they all need mana to survive.

We have a different word for that, where I'm from. It's called Anima, but ultimately it sounds like the same thing.

[Mana is around too, but that's a form of memory rather than energy.]

Is that where your world's magic comes from?

That's right. Wow, this Anima thing from your world really does sound like it's a lot like mana.

There do seem to be a lot of common denominators between worlds. Just...some things that bind all our world's together.

Yeah... I've even run into a few other worlds that have the same kind of money as mine, too.

I've found that common enough, but I'm from one of the many variations of Earth. Yen...dollars, all of that seems to stay the same.

Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be too surprising if they're all just alternate versions of Earth. I'm talking about totally different worlds, with different names and places and everything. Everything else about them is different, but somehow we still use the same kind of money.

Really? How many different worlds are like that, here?

So far I've run into three of them. There might be even more that I don't know about yet.

That's quite a lot. And they all have different names and races? Is Mana common between them?

That's just it-- we all have the same kind of money, but none of them have mana. Everything else about the worlds are different... well, except for things like gels and some other items. But none of the names or places are the same.

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[Voice] Filtered it's interesting how topics change, reading the rest of this thread.

[Voice] It is! But this is an interesting turn.

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