hadriel | seven ☠ voice/text

Well... seems like there's a few of you who are ready to sell us out.

[His voice is soft- not really angry, but there's a sinister lilt to it.]

And here I thought we were all growing to be one big, happy family. I can't say I'm fond of the necessity of weeding out spies in our city, but... listen, we're all in a flurry about this. We need to do something, and everyone wants a say in how we're supposed to move forward from here.

[Which has been a headache and a half for all of the gods. Sure, they get along in the grand scheme of things, but there's definitely a little clash of ideals going on, and frankly, Fear is tired of the arguing.]

So what I thought we'd do is to have you vote on who's in charge here. Who takes action and comes up with a game plan on how we're going to suss out what the Null are planning. Obviously, Sorrow wants to be our fearless leader, but his methods are a little... direct. Delight and Rage would probably have a little murder mystery party when they get back, Tranquility and Confusion- I'm not sure if they'd actually do anything at all, come to think of it.

[Christ, this is a mess.]

As far as Love and myself go... I can think of a few people I'd like to personally interrogate.

Anyway, cast your votes or ask your standard slew of questions. Yes, I realize that some of the dissenters will be voting, yeah I know that you all want to be in charge instead- there's probably a few of us who might bend our ears to you, but as we can't put a hundred people in charge, it's gonna be one of us.

[A pause.]

Sorry.

[Happy voting?]

Poll #18652

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40

View Respondents

Who should lead the investigation?

View Answers

Sorrow and Hope
23 (57.5%)

Rage and Delight
2 (5.0%)

Fear and Love
7 (17.5%)

Confusion and Tranquility
8 (20.0%)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes. Not the same kind of thing as the paintings that some of you leave on the walls of our temples, but...

[He shrugs, listlessly.]

The glass in the windows- when the light from our sun streams in, it leaves patterns on the floor that were pleasing to look at with their eyes. There were murals too, I think. Mirrors with colored glass. Colorful water running between windowpanes.

[Things that are all easily broken, it seems.]

Some music, too. Not as much as your people have, I think. Most of it sounded similar.

[It makes sense that energy beings who look like glowing clouds in their natural forms would like that sort of imagery.]

That explains the music at the ball being much like what would have been played at balls I attended in my own world. Your concept of what music should sound like is much like ours.

[It's quite fascinating, and she's enjoying the chance to learn a little more about them. It's not enough to make her want to stay here longer than necessary, but it does reinforce that they are people.]

What about holidays, festivals and other special celebrations of things?

I suppose that's a good thing, then.

[He nods, before considering her next question.]

We had those as well... I mean, we base our feasts thrown for you off of our past experiences. Most of our celebrations involved food. We'd celebrate our hosts regularly, and they'd return the sentiment. I'm not sure if we had what you'd consider holidays- our hosts had no need for higher religion with our presence, and as a species most of us believe in... well, it's complicated, but not in any sort of deity above us.

[Fear shrugs.]

That's why there was originally the misunderstanding of us self-identifying as gods. In your language, we felt it was an appropriate term.

An understandable mistake to make, especially considering power scale. There are mages from my world who can do some of the things that you and your comrades can, on a smaller scale. There is magic that can put people to sleep, modify memories, craft illusions, teleport, heal...even materialize objects.

[Which also helps as far as her seeing them as people. Mildly assholish self-serving people, but people rather than some malevolent other that's beyond comprehension.]

What did your previous hosts look like? They seem like they were fairly similar in size to human beings, but built slightly differently, judging by the furniture.

Hm.

[It's a question he's debating on how to answer.]

They were- not quite like you at all. They had more legs, for one. Their faces did not have nearly so many complexities as yours do, and they were less fleshy and knobby on the outside. They had large shells on their back where many of their internal organs were kept.

Perhaps, since you are energy beings that can use magic, some other term would be fitting. There are people here who dislike gods, either due to what gods have done on their worlds, or due to the things people have done in the name of religion on their worlds. Calling yourselves gods would put some on the defensive from the moment they met you.

[That's quite a bit different than what she was expecting, but she can look at the furniture to judge size, and take in Fear's description to get some idea of what they might have looked like. At least enough that she might not automatically think one of the previous hosts was a cave monster if she saw it.]

I take it that most of the books in the library are in their language, then? Does your kind have an innate ability to understand the languages of any people you encounter?

I'm open to suggestions.

[He tilts his head, frowning at the question.]

No... they had no written language and communicated mainly through emotion. Many of the books in the library are in various Null languages. They had quite a few- the building itself was a relic from a time when we coexisted. Some of the books came in through the Door as well, and were gathered up by Hope and put there.

We don't have an innate ability to understand language, no. We learned your language via observation in the first week of opening the Door, though the process is rapid due to our abilities.

The Ethern? Ethernano are particles of magic that exist in every living thing in my world. As living bodies of energy with a great deal of magic, it might suit your kind.

[Well, isn't that interesting. She wonders if there's any connection to that and how the Null accessed the network, but she's not going to voice that publicly. Not when she wants the Null to contact her so that she can find out where their weapons are going to be dropped and destroy them before anyone is stupid enough to kill Hope.]

Fascinating. So, we are all speaking the same language despite being from different worlds. I'd wondered if we were, or if your magic was enabling us to understand one another.

It might. Without interacting with it in person, I wouldn't be able to say for sure.

[He nods.]

Yes- though that's more Hope's area than it is mine.

Your people's magic feels different than the magic in my world, but similar enough that I can still sense its presence. I could visit your temple and release a little magical energy sometime so you could see it and judge for yourself. It looks like pink flower petals when I do that. I rather suspect Love would like how it looks.

[Given how many pink things showed up in the shops when Love made her debut to Hadriel, and that Love is a pink glow-cloud and all...]

I'm sure they would as well.

[Love is... extra like that.]

seven ☠ voice/text

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]