006 [Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

So uh... Hey everyone. Again.

[He could probably get a better opening line, but whatever. Moving on.]

I know like, a bunch of people just arrived so... Welcome, I guess. We're still working on the newbie's guide to waking up in a cave-city run by gods, but until then like, if you have any questions I can try and help? Also uh, it's probably safe at this point and we're just being paranoid, but you may want to avoid eating any meat products you find here. For reasons.

[MOVING ON.]

Also uh, sort of related, but I was thinking that maybe before next month we should really... Plan some way to help out? I mean, people just sort of show up and half the time there's monsters too, and... Maybe some sort of organized thing for helping the new people not get like, eaten or whatever would be a good idea.

[This is not exactly his area of expertise, so if other people want to take charge on this he's more than happy to let them, but otherwise he'll try and figure something out. It really seems like something important to get established.]

In uh, a rare moment of good news though, the whole coffee thing worked out. So if you want coffee there's some at Delight's bar now, though you'll have to like... Be kind of patient with me and the others being possibly terrible baristas. Still kind of getting the hang of the whole thing.

[But surely coffee itself is well worth any less-than-practiced customer service; they're at least pretty good at making coffee, including somewhat elaborate drinks, and as far as Chris is aware they're all trying. That's what counts, right?

Right?]

I think that's about it, except for that like... If anyone's curious, the handheld games from the arena this month are just normal games. I thought maybe they'd be some sort of weird alien-versions of them, but I guess not; I took one apart and it was all the expected stuff inside it.

That said I'm totally betting I can beat anyone's high scores.

Comments

voice.

[torrefied]

[These people. Prattling on about coffee and video games when there's something much more important to ask about.]

What reasons?

voice.

[thechoiceisyours]

[Geez Mello way to focus in on the worst part of the post.]

Uh, the gods sort of... Put human meat in our food supply a few months ago. Just so happened monster spirits that possess people who engage in cannibalism showed up at the same time, so it was a whole... Thing.

[And that's a really, really casual way to put it, but thankfully he's had to explain this a lot by now and so he can do it without thinking too much about it.]

permavoice.

[torrefied]

[He has his priorities straight OK.

Even casually put, that's both disgusting and horrifying. Monster spirit possession sounds like complete bullshit, and Mello doesn't know this kid from Adam, but he can't think of a single reason why anyone would lie about something like this. There's no gain, unless he wants to hoard the meat supply for himself, which is incredibly stupid, as far as motivation goes. And Mello has seen things himself that sound like complete bullshit, too - shinigami and their killer notebooks, both of which he knows for a fact are true things that exist. If there are gods powerful enough to rip people from their realities and bring them here, Mello supposes cannibal spirits are also possible.]

You probably should have led with that. This kind of information is a little more important than coffee and video games.

[thechoiceisyours]

It also super freaks people out for probably no reason.

[So yeah, it's probably a bit more important, but he's hesitant to just scare the new people.]

[torrefied]

I wouldn't call the possibility of being - I'm assuming - irreversibly possessed by something unpleasant "no reason." At the very least, the possibility of being an unwitting participant in cannibalism is a good enough reason - that's simple risk analysis.

[But, you know, not everyone thinks in the same ways as Mello. He knows this as an unfortunate fact of life. He sighs lightly.]

But I take your meaning. People are frequently stupid and prone to panic.

[All the same, this kid doesn't seem as stupid as a lot of people.]

Are you a spokesperson for this place?

[thechoiceisyours]

[He doesn't feel like arguing the point; there doesn't seem to be any reason to do so and so he lets it go, partially because of that and partially because he's much more focused on that last question.]

W-What, me? No.

[Is he? He better not be. These sorts of things seem to happen without him realizing it, but... No.]

I-I just... I've been here like six months, and I just... Happened to have a lot to say at the moment.

[torrefied]

Spokespeople typically do have a lot to say. Hence the title.

[Six months is not terribly long, all told.]

Is six months the longest people have been here? I'm under the impression that no one who currently lives here is a native.

[thechoiceisyours]

Well, yeah. But they're also representing people, which I'm... Not.

[Except maybe his friends regarding the coffee thing.]

I think some people have been here a month or two longer, but I'm not totally sure. But yeah, no one but the gods are actually from here, I don't think.

[torrefied]

[So the gods have only been bringing people here for eight months at most, if what he says is correct. That's interesting.]

And do you know if the gods created everything here especially for all of us? The structures here look like they predate the people who've been brought here.

[thechoiceisyours]

[He shakes his head, though Mello can't see it.]

Not for us, no. There were uh... Some sort of other people or something here, and they got wiped out somehow before we started arriving. I dunno if they made the things here or the gods did, but that's what it's all... Weird.

[torrefied]

[That's even more interesting. If there was some sort of disaster that befell the city's population, there's always a possibility that the same thing could happen again, to them.]

Any clues about what it was that wiped everyone out?

[thechoiceisyours]

Not really. I asked Hope, but he was uh... Vague.

[To put it nicely.]

[torrefied]

The god Hope? He speaks to you?

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah; I've talked to all the gods except for Rage. They post on the network sometimes, but you can also just call them directly.

[torrefied]

[That's extremely interesting.]

That's awfully magnanimous of them. Gods are typically known to only speak to a select few. Is there a particular reason you haven't spoken with Rage?

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah, so I've heard.

[But of course he's not sure if he believes much in any other gods than the ones here. That's a different issue, though.]

Rage and I just haven't had anything important to say to each other, I guess. I was gonna ask her something at one point but got the question answered from someone else, so I didn't have to after all.

[torrefied]

So you're not avoiding her because she's unpleasant? With a name like Rage, I'd wonder.

[thechoiceisyours]

Well, I mean, I definitely like talking to Delight best, but no. It's not specifically because of that.

The gods are usually pretty chill to talk to, even if some of them can be kind of... Also awful.

[torrefied]

Which ones are awful?

[He can guess, but confirmation is obviously better.]

[thechoiceisyours]

Rage and Fear um... Well, obviously they want us to feel rage and fear, so what they do tends to be pretty terrible.

[torrefied]

Yeah, I heard something about that. They feed off our emotions.

[Which is kind of sick, but also refreshingly straightforward, in a way.]

Gods always want something. Devotion. Sacrifice. Typically they make demands of believers, though, not an entire population.

[Typically. Not always, though.]

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah, well. I get the feeling these gods are kind of... Desperate, sort of?

[Enough so to do things to specifically generate certain emotions, instead of being able to rely on what the people here would feel just naturally in the situation.]

But um, I think they save like, the normal sacrifices and whatever for special stuff. They make deals sometimes, and I know Rage asks for sacrifices in exchange for stuff, so... Not too far off the 'normal', I guess.

[torrefied]

[The comment about the gods being desperate draws out a dark chuckle from Mello. Desperation does lead to what most people consider unthinkable. This kid seems to have more than half a brain - color Mello somewhat impressed.]

What kinds of deals do they make?

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris definitely has a brain, but he does prefer not to have to use it as much as he has been the last... What, six months? Ugh. He misses being able to act like an idiot.]

Um, I only know about a few examples; Hope was going to trade a friend of mine cosmetics if she could inspire enough feelings of hope or something, Rage trades dead monsters for bullets, and Delight gave us coffee in exchange for us just serving it and making people happy.

[torrefied]

That's good to know.

[Especially the part about Rage and bullets. Mello has limited ammunition for his pistol with him, and there were no bullets to be found in any of the shops he inspected on the first day. There are always other weapons to use, but knowing there's a possibility of replenishment available is extremely helpful.]

Those all seem like fairly mundane things, though. Has anyone tried to bargain for something a little more out of the ordinary?