hadriel | 008 [Video]

Entry tags:

008 [Video]

[Chris smiles and gives a small wave at the camera when the feed starts, then turns his hand to show Hope's blessing on the back of it.]

So uh, who else got one? And are they all from Hope, or...?

[This is so cool you guys he wants to see who else got what. And for something else slightly less important by still cool--]

Oh, also, my iPhone was up and working for a bit thanks to Pell, and I managed to get some music off it. I'll share on the condition no one makes fun of my taste.

[The last comment is a joke--he's really not going to be too hurt by jabs about his choice in music--but the offer is serious, and attached is a download of the music he's copied off so far. It's kind of a slow process, so there's still more on the phone that he can transfer later.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Jo can't speak on angel business.

God, he's so young.]

Are you even 18?

Yeah, I just turned nineteen before I got here, so uh... I guess I'm actually getting close to twenty.

[What a weird thing to think about.]

[Oh, damn. She hadn't meant to depress or anything.]

You've been here that long?

[It's okay it's just more strange than depressing.]

Yeah, almost nine months.

[She frowns. Wow.]

I didn't know anyone had been here that long.

There's um, a few people who've been here longer, I think. But I'm pretty sure me and everyone else who arrived at the same time were the second group to show up.

[As far as he knows, anyway.]

[She nods. So this place has been around for less than a year? Or have they just been bringing strangers in for less than a year?]

Any tips for a new arrival?

Yeah, maybe. Did you just get here this month?

[He can definitely try to give some useful advice, but he doesn't want to tell her stuff she already knows.]

Yep, woke up in the arena with the new monsters and the creepy body parts.

[He gives a sympathetic wince.]

Those were some pretty terrible monsters to show up with. My uh, friend Hannah got here this month too.

[Why couldn't it have been one of the months with comparatively harmless monsters?]

Okay, well, I guess I'll start with the big thing. Uh, has anyone told you that death's not permanent here?

Yeah? Is she okay? [Jo's glad she had help to get out. She's not sure she would have otherwise...]

No. No one told me that. [That's...

Huh. That kind of sucks and doesn't suck all at once.]

Yeah, fortunately we got out okay.

[He'd just happened to pick that month to venture into the coliseum, and it worked out.]

Okay, then uh... Yeah. That's a thing. Hope brings everyone who dies here back to life a little while later, and you wake up in his Temple.

That must be hard for him. Is there a limit?

I think it takes a lot of energy for him, yeah; I know he uh, really prefers we stay alive.

I don't know if there's a limit. There was um... There was a time when it was possible half the people in the city would die, and he didn't say anything about running out of power to bring them back if so, so...

[So hopefully there's no limit, but they should probably avoid testing that.]

That makes sense. [She nods. Obviously she's hoping there's never a chance to test that, or even for her to go through that, but it's nice to know.]

[He nods a little, gaze distant while he thinks about other things he should mention.]

Oh, so, um... You know which gods are around, right? There's Hope and Fear, who were here from the beginning, and also Rage, Delight, and Sorrow now.

[Jo isn't expecting a textbook. It's okay, Chris.]

Oh. How do the other gods get here?

[They're actually writing a ~~textbook~~ guide that they really need to finish oops.]

Hope brings them back to life. We uh, get to vote on it.

[Which is a little morbid and weird.]

Hope lets us vote?

[How...weird and interesting.]

How does that work?

Uh, yeah. It's kind of strange.

Basically they tell us who's up for resurrection, a little about what they're like, and what sort of benefit we'll get for bringing them back. Like, for Delight it was the bar.

Oh. [Huh.]

That's nice. That we can choose.

Yeah. I mean, it's kind of um... It seems kind of wrong to be voting on who to bring back to life first, but I guess since Hope's going to get to them all at some point it's not so bad.

[He's just kind of sensitive to the topic of choosing who to live, though since it's who to bring back to life rather than who dies it's a little different.]

Yeah, it's weird, but it's still nice to have a choice in something here.

[She's glad Hope will get them all too.]

That's true. Though uh, the polls tend to be pretty close, I think; everyone wants different gods and different rewards. My friend is still mad there's no hot springs.

[It's sort of a joke but sort of not; Emily really is still mad about that. Chris is a little unimpressed with the orchard himself, but he wanted the GPS system rather than the hot springs.]

A hot springs? Who was that?

[Jo likes the orchard. It's peaceful in an odd way. Plus the food is...okay.]