nullorvoid | 006. Audio

Entry tags:

006. Audio

...You know, I'm really lenient about what passes for 'evolving' around here? I try to not get into the whole 'okay, but it doesn't work like that' thing, because nothing makes sense around here. I get it.

But at the same time, there's got to be a line in the sand somewhere.

[And that is said with all the exasperation of a man who is building up to something, sounds like. Sure enough, there are a couple of photos posted to the network eventually, and...well.

For all intents and purposes, they look pretty normal?

However.]

...I'm seriously not sure if this counts as evolving or just deciding to be perpetually pissed off.

I mean, I can't blame it? If somebody shoved a damn rock in my face and expected me to fix my damn fighting skills with it I'd probably be pretty mad too. But still. "Come the hell on" has got to be a totally reasonable response to this.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is it? That's too bad! I wouldn't take you for the kind of guy to have a bad memory...but that certainly is a bit on the sarcastic side!

[ She doesn't mind the snobbishness, it pretty much comes with the territory of Latin! ]

I don't have one, but I've seen them around! I opted for the cute firey fox, instead.

[ Because of course she did. ]

I should get around to the horse, though, one of these days...but the idea of riding it still kinda makes me think twice, even if I know it's not supposed to burn me? It's still the principle of "I'm sitting on a horse that's on fire," y'know?

Yeah, that would be why I don't have anything like that either, outside of the part where I just don't travel much.

[There is something inherently unnerving about that, let's put it that way.]

And I don't know, it's more that I don't have the greatest memory for people most of the time. It's less shit here, probably because I'm dealing with less of them? Like the group here is pretty stable, people coming and going sometimes aside. Where I'm working we've got a pretty high turnover.

[...okay it's more like a constant parade of dead people

a death parade, if you will

and that isn't exactly the reason anyway but you know what it's less weird to explain it that way]

Really? I wouldn't think of a job like law enforcement being such a revolving door...if anything, you'd think it'd be the opposite! But I guess I can understand that. You see so many faces that they all just kinda blur into each other...doesn't exactly sound fun.

Yeah, it's something like that.

[...]

Granted, my job's kind of more complicated than basic law enforcement stuff. I've told a couple of people here about it, but it's kind of a mess to get into.

I'd like to think I'm not too bad at dealing with messes, really, if you're not uncomfortable telling me about it. Not saying you have to or anything, of course, but, always open to lend an ear if you want.

[...You know, let's just- ]

Let's just start by saying that I don't judge living people.

...

Ooooooh. So you're, uh, you're like Odin, then! Choosing who gets to go to Valhalla or who goes to Hel? That sort of deal?

[ Well, that's not what she was expecting, but, uh, let's roll with it, okay-- ]

[...You know what, if nothing else he can definitely appreciate Anna's general ability to roll with this, albeit in the most Norwegian way possible.]

Something like that, yeah. I'm not any sort of god, though; it'd be more like if Odin created something for the sole purpose of deciding who gets Valhalla or Hel. Not...exactly golems, because those can't pass moral judgement, but close enough. That's what I am.

Uh huh. I get what you're saying, for sure. ...So, uh, wow, now I get why you were so bothered by the change of scenery...

[ Suddenly going from the Pearly Gates or whatever to a place like New Bark must have been jarring as can be. ]

That's so interesting, though! I mean, it's one heck of a job, but...

Yeah, it's not exactly something I wanted to broadcast immediately after I showed up. But people seem pretty okay with stuff like that here.

It's a tower where I'm from, by the way - you were talking about the scenery. It's pretty huge, and I couldn't tell you where the hell it's located in comparison to places like here. It could be underground for all I know. Some other dimension entirely. I've got no idea. But basically we deal with the souls of the dead and that's...pretty much all I did before showing up here.

...So yeah, this place is pretty weird.

Yeah, I guess you spend long enough here and not much seems all that outlandish. Then again, I mean, I'm from a world where my sister has ice powers and trolls took my memory of it when I was a kid, so, maybe that's just me.

[ Still a little salty about that, but, can you blame her? ]

Wouldn't think of the afterlife as a tower, though. Souls of the dead...

[ Once that part settles in...]

So, million Pokédollar question, how exactly do you judge them?

I...trolls?

[...that is likely not the important part right now hang on.]

And that...depends. What part of it are you asking about? Because I've gotten everything from "is there a procedure" to "how the hell do you know who goes where" and they're all pretty valid questions, I guess.

Long story. I'll tell you later, if you're interested in hearing my mess.

[ Because God, is it ever. ]

I dunno, though. I guess both? What's it like, is there a test? Some sort of review process? Can I appeal if I don't agree with the decision you make? ...This isn't, like, cheating or anything, is it?

You won't remember anything, so it's not like it matters if I tell you. Not just because of this place, but because the shock of dying tends to make it so people just don't remember.

We make you play games, though. Like darts or billiards, easy stuff that you'll know how to do, usually with one other dead person. That part's pretty much just to give you a task to focus on. You're encouraged to talk to each other, you start to get your memories of dying back after a while, and the arbiter overseeing things - that's what we are, arbiters - changes stuff around as we see fit to make things easier or harder for you. Altering the game to keep tension up.

We also get all your life's memories shoved into our heads at one point before the game starts. The arbiters, I mean.

We judge you based on how you play the game, and how you react to being put under pressure, and how you treat the other person playing with you. Your memories are decent resources but not enough to judge you on, we have to actually see you doing stuff.

No appeals, though, once the decision is made. You either get sent back to the living world to be reincarnated at someone else or you're sent to the void.

[ Well, that's cheery. ]

Games? I didn't think such a decision could be made based on whether you screw someone over in a game of ping-pong or something. "Sorry, Anna, you're going to the void, only the receiving player can return the ball."

B-but dark humor aside, I guess it makes sense. You're in an unfamiliar situation, you don't remember what happened to you, and you can either look out for yourself or cooperate...

[ That sounds like it works. Probably lines up with what they can glean from the memories, too.

She knows she won't remember it, but at the very least she's fairly confident that if that's what the judgement process is like, just being herself will work out. ]

Is there no Heaven, or Valhalla, or anything like that, then? Just a circle of second chances?

Something like that. The void is...well, it's what it sounds like. There's nothing there, and there's no coming back from it. It's just you and your thoughts for the rest of eternity. I think you can get where that'd be punishment if someone screwed up so badly they didn't deserve another shot.

But sometimes -

[And he hesitates for a moment, and it's brief but it's still there, even if he shakes it off well enough.]

Sometimes people choose to go there. And that can be for depressing reasons, and a lot of the time it is, but sometimes it's because there's nothing else for them to get out of life, you know? They got everything they wanted, they don't have any unfinished business, they don't have any regrets or despair or whatever.

So in cases like that it's not bad, you know? I'm not going to be cute and say that it is what you make of it, but it doesn't have to be Hell. It's just easier to explain it that way - Heaven or Hell, reincarnation or the void, to most people it makes more sense that way.

I see...that does sound like it's pretty depressing, but, if they're done, they're done, I suppose. I can't imagine being at that point, though. To be alone with your own thoughts forever...not to be too morbid, but right now, to me, that's my idea of Hell, Ginti. No question about it.

[ But, well, that's because she can't stand being alone to begin with. ]

But I can maybe imagine someone choosing to go to the void because...maybe they don't want to let go of their old life by starting over? Maybe they have too many happy memories from their lives before they died that they'd never be able to remember again if they reincarnated...so if they're in the void, they'd never have to forget them? Would that make sense? I mean, when you're in this tower, or this void...do you get your memories back of your other lives, too? If you don't, and it's just you and your memories from that most current life, I can maybe see people not wanting to let go.

You don't get the old ones back, no. What's forgotten is gone, that's just how it goes.

I can't say too much about the void for sure, though, outside of what I've been given to work with. Arbiters don't die, and we're not really alive either. We just judge people, because that's what we were created to do.

That's what I figured, then.

[ There's just a sigh, as if she's thinking about it... ]

So was coming here your first time out of that tower, then?

Yeah. I'm pretty sure my boss has been to the living world a few times, but I'd never seen it.

Wasn't quite what you were expecting, huh? ...Granted, this place is pretty different from, y'know, your living world, but...

It's nice, though, isn't it? The sun and the sky, and the fresh air, and the water...and the people, especially! From one sheltered person to another, I can get what that's like. ...Would've been nicer if you could've seen it on your own terms, I'm certain, but, hey, a vacation's nice, in any case, right?

...It's kind of weird, but there's not too much to complain about other than, you know, the weirdness. And if that's the biggest problem we have, then everything's pretty all right, you know?

Yeah, but in a way, you're lucky! It's not as weird as it could be, since you don't really have much to compare it to, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

006. Audio

no subject

no subject

A+

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject