hadriel | ∞4 | video. Death Takes A Holiday;

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∞4 | video. Death Takes A Holiday;

[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.]

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[She forms a coy smile at how he approaches the subject.]

I am afraid you will have to be a little more specific than that.

[While she has a feeling she knows what he means, she would rather coax the answer out of him the old fashioned way.]

「Oh come on! He knows she's making it difficult for him!」

......

...

「HOW DOES HE ASK!?

See him swallow.」

You... Have you-- 「He gets redder by the second, Ra, help him!」 never...

Um... been...

「Abort, abort! It's not important anyway!」

You know what... never mind...

[And now she just LAUGHS.]

Are you asking why I am not interested in having "crazy awesome sex" as others are?

[Come on, Ravine, you know that's what it is.]

「Why him?」

Y-yeah...

[She shrugs, at least trying to be more sincere this time.]

Your guess would be as good as mine! I had simply never done it, and never felt the impulse to. By the time I was -- I believe in my thirties? -- that had not changed. But I... also did not like to touch people back then, and that only worsened as I grew older.

「Well, that's much better, but he allows a little moment of silence, trying to make sense of it based by his own experiences, or the lack of.」

I guess it does sound like you.

「Not much like him, no, which is a little disappointing, for him, only. But he doesn't dwell on it for long, never truly has, there is no point.」

I didn't... I never understood why they made such a big deal about it. You're not missing anything.

「That much he can say to agree with her on some level.」

Edited 2018-07-19 12:01 (UTC)

[She chuckles again, more blithe this time.]

Does it, now? I suppose it is rather difficult to see myself enjoy rutting around for what little precious time I would have.

[While Ravine does get its appeal to the masses, it's just never drawn her. She has a hard time seeing anyone in a lustful way.]

There is a reason why they call the attraction people have to one another "chemistry" -- it is all very chemical. Some just have more of it than others.

「Don't make him imagine those things! It's like thinking of his sister doing it! Not that he had one but, hey!」

They do now? ... I guess I don't know much about any of that.

「He gives little awkward shrug. But it does leave him thinking.」

[Oh come on. You Egyptians sometimes married your own sisters.]

Bio-science was rather lacking in those times, but there are physical responses that explain the attraction individuals feel for one another. Oxytocin plays an important role in a variety of bonding experiences, including more intimate ones.

[It helps that Ravine has been around for the last few thousands of years to watch science develop so she can know these things. Even if it doesn't apply to her in any practical sense, it's still fascinating to her.]

「Shush! He didn't have one!

Well, that sounds fascinating indeed.

Also kinda boring.」

Hmm... I guess that goes far beyond to what people were suggesting as an experience for you.

「Again, it leaves him thinking, but it's not like he's gonna be doing that here anyway, or, well, who knows. It's not something he's ever pursued either, it was even Yugi who was a little more into that... He was just a little bit curious why she wouldn't want to.」

Perhaps. Despite the biological response of such attraction, I do know that it is a possible phenomenon for those such as myself -- other Psychopomps -- to experience a similar bond with others. However, it goes beyond sex when you lack a physical body.

[The closest Ravine ever felt to such a thing towards anyone was Elizabeth, but she certainly did not lament being unable to sate any sensual urges.]

I did not...

「But that does resonate with him a little more, deviating from his experiences while being alive and, focusing more on the lasts ones.」

How was it?

「He's sure... so very sure he knows how it was.」

It is... inexplicable. Less to do with what you feel in your heart and more with what you feel in your soul -- and that, in some way, there is no fear that you are not capable of giving enough or receiving enough because the existence of that other is simply... enough.

[It's the most wishy-washy thing Ravine has ever allowed herself to be, but it is something she had once felt so strongly that she clung onto it, made it her own and no one else's.]

「That uncharacteristic awkwardness that came from Atem but a few minutes ago seems to simply fade as she speaks. Yes, this is something he's definitely more in sync with.

He could probably tell her about it, how he felt the same, or something close to it when he shared a heart with Yugi, even though it was different for them both, under different and unavoidable circumstances. He remains in silence, probably reminiscing more than anything, but that's all he ever does, doesn't he? He could spend his life away just thinking about it—and that's why he probably shouldn't even mention it, not that it would be a problem for Ravine to know what he's thinking about, or who. He cannot afford himself to get lost in there — Stop. Making. Things. About. Yourself. — so, instead, he merely smiles.」

I'm glad you found that connection with someone, even after everything.

「Who would be able to say that they had found something so special after their deaths?」

[The reminiscing anchors a heavier sorrow in Ravine's tone when she speaks again.]

It was only once, and her life was cut tragically short. She could not even move on to death in peace.

[It's rare that she ever speaks of this. She didn't when she saw Elizabeth's shadow in the fog and any other time the memory crossed her mind. But she feels as though she owes Atem a few more elaborated details.]

Could you help her in the end?

「It was hard to speak about that shadow that only Ravine could see when trying to keep himself unseen from the monsters inside the fog, but so far Atem knows who she's talking about, as for little as she has spoken Elizabeth, Ravine would only talk about her with that tone.」

Edited 2018-07-21 22:08 (UTC)

No.

[That's all she could say on the matter, and she knows that Atem wouldn't press. He's told her before that he wouldn't judge her for the things she's done, and there have been times where Ravine seriously questioned that. But that's not fair to make that decision for him.]

She was devoured by the Dumah. Her soul is no more. I have done nothing for them since. [Not that she should have in the first place. Sacrificing souls for the vitality of entities of such destructive forces should never have happened on the first place, but she did, for thousands of years.]

「Oh...

There is but a noticeable flinch from Atem's part, he can even feel a chill run down his spine — he better than most knows what that entails. Her soul is no more.

He doesn't know what happened, and it's not like he doesn't want to know, but there really is no point on asking, it won't bring her back, but the way she says it... Was she directly responsible for it in some way?」

What are they...?

「He cannot say he's familiar with the word.」

[Being dead themselves, it's good that Atem at least can grasp the severity of such a fate. Ravine knows that there are many who don't even fathom the concept of a soul, not in the ways that she has seen. But to force that on those who are unwilling, it's unforgivable.]

They are but one of many countless primordial entities, and the one that made me and others like myself into what we are. Ripped us from our time of death. Their acumen is that of souls, and so they determine who becomes reapers for them, and who... becomes nothing.

「Primordial entities... like the Creator God or his descendants? But the fact that she doesn't call them that speaks for itself.

There are so many questions about it. Why Elizabeth? How do they judge them, or,」

You went rogue?

More like independant. People still died, after all. It would be irresponsible to let them suffer over my own short-lived attachments.

[She had simply wanted to make sure that no one would have to suffer the way Elizabeth did. Although in her efforts, the situation worsened regardless whether Ravine played a role in it or not. It was all the more reason for her to stay, than to find a Door and check out of her slowly decaying world and abandon the lives left behind.]

The Dumah have been weakened over the last several centuries. Elizabeth was, ultimately, the last sacrifice to them.

So, they feed on souls?

「Yet another familiarity, not for every single one of his Gods, no.」

Denying souls from them is what weakened them?

「Or maybe something else?」

Yes and no. Even if I chose not to, there are others like me who would dutifully carry out such a delivery.

Where I come from, some humans are born with unique traits that separate them from the rest of their species. Some with incredible and cursed gifts, and others who are... a conduit of powerful energy of sorts. The former are candidates for serving as emissaries of the Eminations, such as the Psychopomps. The latter are the lesser fortunate souls.

What kind of cursed gifts?

「Can't say he's already being too curious, but it's interesting, even if all so tragic.」

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