002. Audio / Action for Cherrygrove City

[nullorvoid]

[AUDIO]

...So I've heard this is a video game or something.

[Well, hello again – it's audio-only from Ginti again, though it sounds like he's managed to find his way to Cherrygrove without anything too stupid happening; he still sounds approximately a thousand percent done with everything and everyone, but that...might just be his normal tone, really.

Either way, thanks for the explanation, Lancer, he appreciates it. Sorta. As much as he can appreciate an explanation that stupid.]

Not like I'm trying to be weird about it, but is this the sort of game where we get a whole bunch of save points, or do we Game Over as soon as we walk off a cliff or what?

[...WELL, OKAY THEN.]


[ACTION]

[Anyway.

After Ginti's...that is out there, he can be found kind of wandering Cherrygrove for the better part of the day; he's been here for a while, and it's actually not too bad? Now that it's decided to quit raining, anyway.

He hasn't really seemed to mind the rain, though, even when it was going full force; he's been spending a lot of time on the beach, doing...god only knows what outside of staring at it a lot. He can be found there today as well, though he seems to be entertaining himself well enough up on the rocks as opposed to just being listless; his balance seems good enough that he won't be testing the results of the question he was asking earlier anytime soon, but it's something to do with himself that doesn't involve other people, so naturally he's probably sort of asking to be bothered.

He's not all that great at conversation, but he wouldn't be too opposed to it, either. Probably. Maybe. Kinda. He's sort of a social crapshoot like that.]

Comments

[nullorvoid]

[...Yeah, do try not to go down screaming, Nowi, that'd be a little embarrassing. Waist-deep for you is kind of not that deep at all, and these things have the general power to punch us in the brain and they don't.]

Yeah, I get that a lot.

[He should probably sound a bit more bothered than that about it, but the fact is that he doesn't; he is looking her over, though, at least.]

You're fine.

[invigorating]

Ughhhh....

[She just whines for a moment before finally moving to stand up. She's soaking wet, didn't catch a fish, and got chased by a giant jellyfish. All in the span of a few minutes. And Ginti didn't try to help. What a jerk.]

Why are you such a jerk, huh?

[She doesn't sound upset though, just kind of tired. Give her a bit and she'll be back to her usual high energy self.]

[nullorvoid]

Because sometimes life's not fair, that's why.

[Thanks, Ginti.]

Why'd you go out there if you can't swim, anyway?

[invigorating]

Well I figured I'd be fine if I stayed out there and it was only that deep. Like, if I went any further I might be in trouble. I didn't think there'd be anything in there that would attack me! I thought it was just all those orange fish.

[nullorvoid]

...Yeah.

[And it's a bit hard to tell what that's in response to, but it sure is a response.]

Look, you're fine and that's what matters, right?

[invigorating]

Yeah... It beats being dead.

[She sighs at that and stretches her arms over her head.]

I guess I've had worse, so it's not that big of a deal.

[nullorvoid]

Eh, it's not like being dead's all that bad either. Getting that way probably isn't all that great, yeah, but actually being dead's pretty easy from what I've heard.

[invigorating]

Huh? Really? But how can that be okay? You don't exist anymore. You wouldn't be able to hear something like that from someone who doesn't exist, right?

[This is making her head hurt.]

[nullorvoid]

No, you still exist after you die. Why wouldn't you?

[invigorating]

'Cause that's what everyone says? Are you talking about like, an afterlife or something?

[nullorvoid]

Something like that, actually, yeah.

[invigorating]

Oh wow, cool! I didn't realize there was one! I mean, some people talk about it, but I don't really know what to believe.

[..............wait a minute.]

How do you know there's an afterlife anyway?

[nullorvoid]

I haven't died or anything, if that's what you're wondering.

[invigorating]

That's good, but how do you know about this if you aren't dead?

[nullorvoid]

It's a long story. Let's just say my job is interesting.

[invigorating]

I thought you said you worked at a bar or something?

[nullorvoid]

Yeah, I do. You meet some unusual people that way.

[invigorating]

...I don't really get it...

[nullorvoid]

And that's fine with me.

[GINTI.]

You still want one of those fish, or are you done chasing after 'em for now?

[invigorating]

[WHAT A JERK...]

Nah, I'm done chasing 'em. Maybe I'll try to catch one another day or something.

[...]

But c'mon tell me more about this afterlife stuff, Ginti!! What's it like?

[nullorvoid]

...What is it you want to know?

[He actually doesn't seem too bothered by the line of questioning, attempted subject change notwithstanding; might as well just...kind of find somewhere to sit for a while, yeah?]

[invigorating]

[That sounds good! Nowi will definitely follow wherever he goes!]

What does it look like? Is it a normal place like this or is it like... funky colors and sounds and stuff? I guess you probably don't know the exact answer, but surely someone's talked about this sorta stuff before, right?

[nullorvoid]

...It's a building. A tower. When you die, you don't really remember it - the shock of it kind of makes you forget. So you just kind of realize you're there, only you don't remember deciding to go anywhere. You know how the inn we're staying at has an elevator to take you between floors? That's where you realize you're at - it's sort of like coming back around after you've been distracted or zoned out, I guess. You don't remember going there, you just know you're there.

The elevator takes you to a set of rooms where your soul's judged - someone's waiting there for you, and they talk to you and they make you do some stuff, and based on what you decide to do and how you act, they decide what happens to you.

[invigorating]

...That sounds kinda scary. What happens to you? Like, if you're bad do you just... stop existing or something?

[Nowi looks absolutely fascinated with this. Then again, she spent over an hour riding the elevator when she first found it, so...]

[nullorvoid]

Something like that.

[...]

If you're a decent person, or if your soul still has more to get out of being alive, then you're sent to be reincarnated. Your soul gets sent back to the living world, and you get another shot at life as someone else.

If you're enough of a bad person that you don't deserve that, though, you get sent to the void. And that's it for you - you're just falling through darkness forever, with only your thoughts and your fears and your regrets for company. You still exist because no one can destroy souls, but you're never gonna come back to life and after a while you'd probably think being destroyed was better.