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i've received the strangest gift of a lot of unidentifiable currency scattered around my room--it appraises for a lot of value, so i'm now ... comfortably well-off in terms of money. this doesn't seem like your style and i haven't done anything to deserve it, and yet i feel like i have to ask since you're the only being i know who can create things. do you know anything about this?
I've no recollection of breaking into your room for the sake of creating anything, including currency. There's others from my star here who would be capable of similar acts, but I doubt they would have anything to do with this either.
Considering all the exploration you've organized, it seems more likely to be something one of them found, and left ominously for you.
Considering all the exploration you've organized, it seems more likely to be something one of them found, and left ominously for you.
Yeah, I didn't think you would. Figured I should be thorough enough to ask, though.
And yes, that seems like a likely possibility. [ Actually, he disagrees--he doesn't think any of his exploration teams had anything to do with this little 'prank'. But his other working theory (some other god or superior being?) sounds insane even in his own head, and he wants Emet-Selch's respect too much to suggest something so purely ridiculous. ]
And yes, that seems like a likely possibility. [ Actually, he disagrees--he doesn't think any of his exploration teams had anything to do with this little 'prank'. But his other working theory (some other god or superior being?) sounds insane even in his own head, and he wants Emet-Selch's respect too much to suggest something so purely ridiculous. ]
[He hadn't even been thinking of it as a 'prank' so much as some poorly-communicated delivery of dubious goods.
It made more sense to him than 'a divinity decided to fill his room with old coins'. Or himself, in some fugue state.]
Failing myself and your entourage... I hope you have some other lead.
Still, in addition to all else we're made to suffer, if we're now to be struck by mysterious invasions of our limited privacy, at least it had the decency to leave behind something useful.
[He wouldn't like it either, though. What's the catch? Who did this and why?]
It made more sense to him than 'a divinity decided to fill his room with old coins'. Or himself, in some fugue state.]
Failing myself and your entourage... I hope you have some other lead.
Still, in addition to all else we're made to suffer, if we're now to be struck by mysterious invasions of our limited privacy, at least it had the decency to leave behind something useful.
[He wouldn't like it either, though. What's the catch? Who did this and why?]
Yes, I was extremely disturbed at first to find my room in such strange disarray.
But it's hard to remain annoyed in the face of such value. Money is useful, after all.
How's your busy nap schedule holding up?
But it's hard to remain annoyed in the face of such value. Money is useful, after all.
How's your busy nap schedule holding up?
You just need more practice. Annoyance can be eternal.
[Hold grudges. Forgive nothing, no matter how ultimately useful.
And while he considers brushing off the last comment with something neutral, he's frustrated enough to actually answer after a delay.]
It's been awful. I lose more ground to the bird every day.
I can barely walk, with how it's decided to disfigure me next. You would think that would leave me with more time to spend asleep, but it keeps me awake. I hope your other soul has been less of an imposition.
[Hold grudges. Forgive nothing, no matter how ultimately useful.
And while he considers brushing off the last comment with something neutral, he's frustrated enough to actually answer after a delay.]
It's been awful. I lose more ground to the bird every day.
I can barely walk, with how it's decided to disfigure me next. You would think that would leave me with more time to spend asleep, but it keeps me awake. I hope your other soul has been less of an imposition.
[ oh, great, new horrors unlocked ]
if anything, the cat is eager to increase the amount of naps taken
my physical horrors have been relatively minimal. adorable catboy vibes continue. given what i've seen in others, i keep waiting for my good luck to take a horrible turn.
if anything, the cat is eager to increase the amount of naps taken
my physical horrors have been relatively minimal. adorable catboy vibes continue. given what i've seen in others, i keep waiting for my good luck to take a horrible turn.
[There is always more and it is always worse.]
I never thought a cat would be a more cooperative creature to be paired with. Or perhaps it's too busy napping to disturb you.
The amount of variability between all of us makes it difficult to predict how much worse things will get. Already it's too far.
I never thought a cat would be a more cooperative creature to be paired with. Or perhaps it's too busy napping to disturb you.
The amount of variability between all of us makes it difficult to predict how much worse things will get. Already it's too far.
Neither the cat nor I are very cooperative, but we do have a similar enough nature in many ways to be compatible. So probably that's the different. There's minimal conflict because the cat isn't trying to get me to do anything that doesn't already sound appealing to me. Pouncing people? Taking naps? Causing mischief? Great.
It was too far from the beginning. When we started at 'kidnapping, torture, and experimentation', that was never a good sign.
What concerns me is the ... relative lack of external threat? We're supposed to be here to save the day and protect them, but so far the most urgent quests we've been doing are ... exploring and mapping out the locations of Katalyth. It doesn't seem like reason enough for going to the effort of kidnapping us. I keep waiting for the armies of monsters to show up.
It was too far from the beginning. When we started at 'kidnapping, torture, and experimentation', that was never a good sign.
What concerns me is the ... relative lack of external threat? We're supposed to be here to save the day and protect them, but so far the most urgent quests we've been doing are ... exploring and mapping out the locations of Katalyth. It doesn't seem like reason enough for going to the effort of kidnapping us. I keep waiting for the armies of monsters to show up.
Unfortunately, not all of us are so blessed as to have such a simple mind that a beast's impulses fail to complicate things.
Must you provide more things to be paranoid over? Though your concerns aren't far from mine. If we're meant to be saving anything, they're not pressuring us very hard to do it. They've requested, pestered. All of which I've ignored, without recompense. The more recent drugging aside... they've gotten very little out of me.
Yet bringing us all here surely entailed effort. They've invested in us. There's a direction we're meant to be pointed in, and we haven't been shown it yet. With their technology inside us, they can force our compliance when we get to that stage. Or, we're already providing something of value to them. Gods know what.
Must you provide more things to be paranoid over? Though your concerns aren't far from mine. If we're meant to be saving anything, they're not pressuring us very hard to do it. They've requested, pestered. All of which I've ignored, without recompense. The more recent drugging aside... they've gotten very little out of me.
Yet bringing us all here surely entailed effort. They've invested in us. There's a direction we're meant to be pointed in, and we haven't been shown it yet. With their technology inside us, they can force our compliance when we get to that stage. Or, we're already providing something of value to them. Gods know what.
[ The 'simple-minded' insult just makes him grin. He's used to lines like that as the way that his friends express affection toward him. ]
I mean, we do get money as recompense. So I've been a little more cooperative because of that. [ Emet-Selch has already seen that Gojo's a sucker for nice things. ]
Do you want me to not provide more reasons for paranoia or do you want to hear my new theory? [ He's pretty sure Emet-Selch will want to hear his new theory. But at least Gojo's managing to be considerate enough (this time) to offer an out. ]
I mean, we do get money as recompense. So I've been a little more cooperative because of that. [ Emet-Selch has already seen that Gojo's a sucker for nice things. ]
Do you want me to not provide more reasons for paranoia or do you want to hear my new theory? [ He's pretty sure Emet-Selch will want to hear his new theory. But at least Gojo's managing to be considerate enough (this time) to offer an out. ]
[And he would deny all suggestion that he ever said anything that was friend-shaped or affection-coded. Just as he always did with his friends.]
Ugh. Don't remind me that I'm going to have to find a job at some point.
[It's text, but the sigh is practically audible.]
Go ahead with your theories. My rest is poor enough as it is, I may as well have something else keeping me awake during the day.
Ugh. Don't remind me that I'm going to have to find a job at some point.
[It's text, but the sigh is practically audible.]
Go ahead with your theories. My rest is poor enough as it is, I may as well have something else keeping me awake during the day.
Yeah, with fondness, I don't know who the hell would hire you. Maybe you could be a security guard somewhere? The grumpy glower would be an asset for that.
... Maybe the delay is because our corruption needs to reach a certain level before we're useful for whatever purpose they have in mind.
[ Enjoy never sleeping again, Emet-Selch. ]
... Maybe the delay is because our corruption needs to reach a certain level before we're useful for whatever purpose they have in mind.
[ Enjoy never sleeping again, Emet-Selch. ]
Emet-Selch? May I speak with you? It concerns Lahabrea; I'm sure you already know of his presence here, correct?
[And he'll return with voice... it was easier than typing with claws (though he still stubbornly did it), and it spared everyone the poor state of his feathers.]
I've nothing but time for you Elidibus. And yes, I've noticed he's joined us for our reunion.
I've nothing but time for you Elidibus. And yes, I've noticed he's joined us for our reunion.
Only if they accepted that my involvement would only go so far as my glower. I've no interest in chasing down miscreants.
That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. What good are we to anyone when we first arrive? Even ignoring the mass confusion and potential rebellion, all we have going for us is some resistance to arcane radiation. Whatever they're after from us, it specifically requires us to become more beast than man.
That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. What good are we to anyone when we first arrive? Even ignoring the mass confusion and potential rebellion, all we have going for us is some resistance to arcane radiation. Whatever they're after from us, it specifically requires us to become more beast than man.
Indeed. My concern is that his place in the timeline does not appear to be congruent with ours. To him, the star has only just been sundered; he remembers naught of the following 12,000 years.
This presents a number of concerns. I cannot decide if it would be better to keep the truth from him or not... to say nothing of the fact that this would mean he should be tempered currently, adding to the complications.
This presents a number of concerns. I cannot decide if it would be better to keep the truth from him or not... to say nothing of the fact that this would mean he should be tempered currently, adding to the complications.
Nothing is ever straightforward, is it.
[At least he remembered the sundering. That would have been even more complicated to hide, and a more miserable fate to have to deliver.
There's another sigh over the Syntrofos. (Also a background clicking as his claws absently tap against the side of it.]
I would dislike keeping it from him. I'm similarly loathe to deliver the bad news that we failed, and failed after twelve-thousand years of effort.
[At least he remembered the sundering. That would have been even more complicated to hide, and a more miserable fate to have to deliver.
There's another sigh over the Syntrofos. (Also a background clicking as his claws absently tap against the side of it.]
I would dislike keeping it from him. I'm similarly loathe to deliver the bad news that we failed, and failed after twelve-thousand years of effort.
[ Gojo does enjoy the mental image of Emet-Selch glowering at miscreants. ]
all right well good times nice paranoia chat
i'll bring you a new flower crown soon. it's relaxing to make them, so i should take some time and do that.
all right well good times nice paranoia chat
i'll bring you a new flower crown soon. it's relaxing to make them, so i should take some time and do that.
It's not paranoia if it's one of the more likely outcomes. Even if it doesn't take that precise form, there's nothing benevolent in store for us.
[But yes great times, good thoughts only.]
If you're expecting more cakes in return, you'll have to wait. I don't have the energy to spare.
[But yes great times, good thoughts only.]
If you're expecting more cakes in return, you'll have to wait. I don't have the energy to spare.
i don't expect anything. making flower crowns for your grumpy head brings me joy.
what's up with your energy, do you need something for a refill?
what's up with your energy, do you need something for a refill?
To say nothing of the idea that he will bring that knowledge back with him into the past...
[He isn't sure of Emet-Selch's stance on the way the world is, the way it will ever remain, but he is sure of one thing, left drifting in the Aetherial Sea with his thoughts as he was: it is fine the way it is.
It almost feels shameful to think, much less to confess to after all of their time spent tempered and utterly convinced these people were less than people because they weren't the same people they once were. He spends a moment just quietly breathing, considering his next choice of words.]
It would not be the first time I have kept necessary secrets from Lahabrea, or indeed, any of the Convocation. But that does not mean I would enjoy doing it. I know full well he will eventually pursue answers, and I would be fool to think he doesn't already know we might be withholding something from him.
[He isn't sure of Emet-Selch's stance on the way the world is, the way it will ever remain, but he is sure of one thing, left drifting in the Aetherial Sea with his thoughts as he was: it is fine the way it is.
It almost feels shameful to think, much less to confess to after all of their time spent tempered and utterly convinced these people were less than people because they weren't the same people they once were. He spends a moment just quietly breathing, considering his next choice of words.]
It would not be the first time I have kept necessary secrets from Lahabrea, or indeed, any of the Convocation. But that does not mean I would enjoy doing it. I know full well he will eventually pursue answers, and I would be fool to think he doesn't already know we might be withholding something from him.
Then far be it for me to remove one source of joy in your life.
[It's... sort of gratitude. Despite himself, he liked the crowns.]
I can barely hobble around this floor, much less go downstairs or anywhere else. Creating my own meals is preferable in flavor to anything this world has, but it's exhausting, given what the bird requires.
[It's... sort of gratitude. Despite himself, he liked the crowns.]
I can barely hobble around this floor, much less go downstairs or anywhere else. Creating my own meals is preferable in flavor to anything this world has, but it's exhausting, given what the bird requires.
oh, so just food?
what does the bird require, you need some seeds and worms or something?
what does the bird require, you need some seeds and worms or something?
...Is it not tempting, though. If only in an offshoot timeline to ours, if we were forewarned about it all- what might have been?
[Could they have had it all?
Would he do it all over again, somehow seek another outcome? How couldn't he, if he had the slightest chance of bringing back their people? Nor did he regret anything that he'd done in pursuit of that task. And yet... to see the world as it was now, left in the last Azem's hands, he was satisfied. They'd earned their place, the chance to decide the path their star would take. He would move on.
If he wasn't here, made to have neither rest nor his people. (Apart from this small handful...)]
A more unusual option, but we could ask him if he would prefer to know the outcome.
[Could they have had it all?
Would he do it all over again, somehow seek another outcome? How couldn't he, if he had the slightest chance of bringing back their people? Nor did he regret anything that he'd done in pursuit of that task. And yet... to see the world as it was now, left in the last Azem's hands, he was satisfied. They'd earned their place, the chance to decide the path their star would take. He would move on.
If he wasn't here, made to have neither rest nor his people. (Apart from this small handful...)]
A more unusual option, but we could ask him if he would prefer to know the outcome.
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