∞4 | video. Death Takes A Holiday;

[whip_poor_will]

[From the angle shown, Ravine is holding the phone away from her face, elbow propped with her chin in the palm of her gloved hand -- and even now, hints of black smoke continue wafting from her hair and coat.

[ Although apparently uncomfortable, she flashes her smile just as she always has.]

"Well, for those who believe themselves capable, I would advise against any attempts at reaching that ninth god beneath the Colosseum the easy way. It leads to some rather ill results."

[She would know.

[Soon her gold eyes shift back to the soft brown most are used to seeing when she is not wearing her sunglasses. Once she is feeling a little better and not radiating black vapors anymore, her stern expression transforms into a smile, her face scrunched in amusement.]

"For anyone not interested in that, however, I have a question!

"Imagine, if you will, that you have been a dead person for thousands of years. It has also been that long since you've ever felt or tasted anything.

"Then imagine if you have been given an opportunity here to be a living, breathing person -- but only for a few days! Would you mind sharing what you would do with that short time in the mortal plane?

"I admit, I am perhaps looking at this from a dead woman's perspective, but it does not appear that there is much to do for the corporeal here when there is not a festival being thrown by our gracious locals. It would be a shame to put such a generous gift to waste."

['But Ravine, why not just ask the gods to make you permanently living?!' one might say.

[Yeah, no, that is the one thing she is not addressing right now, thank you very much.]

Comments

[whip_poor_will]

They were slaughtered. Every last one of them. That way their gods would be unable to draw power from them and be left defenseless against their enemies.

[queenkiller]

...Those "robots", I'm guessing.

[She absolutely uses air quotes. She's heard whispers of the mechanical beings the liches in charge are on the run from, gotten the sense that she has to be on guard against them as well. She's a little pissed to be caught up in a squabble that she believes has absolutely nothing to do with her, but what can ya do.]

[whip_poor_will]

You guess correctly. They had threatened the very same action to anyone here who refused to cooperate with their goal to capture and execute the remaining gods.

[queenkiller]

[...Okay, she knows this is going to be an unpopular question.

But she has to ask it.]

So what exactly is the problem with cooperating with them?

[whip_poor_will]

[It's unpopular for those who've only had to deal with the gods, at any rate. Ravine doesn't hold it against those who don't know the full story, or have lived through it.]

I believe their "kill anyone who does not agree with their way of doing things" policy sits well with most people. They encouraged us to harm and kill one another other, namely those who do not agree with their way of doing things, in order to gain favor with the Null. That would likely be the straw that broke the camel's back for most who had any intention of cooperating with them.

[queenkiller]

[...Okay, Hella can see how that would make some people probably hate them.

But it's not really enough for her.]

In other words, they wanted people to kill those that are on the gods' side. Is that right?

[whip_poor_will]

No, not necessarily.

[So helpful.]

For many it is not about taking sides, it is about survival. Even those who have always been adamantly defiant of the gods were found in opposition of the Null.

[queenkiller]

Maybe I had to have been there to understand, then.

[whip_poor_will]

I am certain that it was not be the last in which we contend with their species. If you stick around long enough, you may see and judge them accordingly for yourself.

[queenkiller]

That seems likely.

Thank you for the information. Good luck with your... living thing.