a ding dang mingle

[endsjustified]

WHO: anyone
WHERE: anywhere
WHEN: Day 9, morning through to late afternoon

[well there's still new landmarks to explore, new teammates (and new ragged individuals) to meet. occasional gunfire's been resounding through the woods sometimes, scaring birds up into the air and sending wandering pygmidillos in the meadow askitter.

what are you up to this fine day?]

Comments

[finalbows]

Could be. It's difficult to tell. I tested it, briefly, but the results I got made me rather wary at the time and I encountered plenty of distractions to push it from my mind.

....I suppose I could ask Red for a bit of mist-powered machinery from home. If it runs, we'd know. There's other things I could do, too.. but most of them would be direct antagonizing of the presence within it.

I suspect it's not the exact same, or that it's... discriminatory, in some way, in how it's produced.

[mykidisthebest]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's slightly different. Every world is going to have some variation in it, right? But it would be nice if you're familiar with it; any kind of familiarity can be an advantage when dealing with an unknown element.

But, it's nice to know that it's vanishing on Gaia. That means the people there don't have to deal with it as much, right? I'm sure it's nice.

[finalbows]

It means they won't have to deal with it any more, yes. No more mist madness. No more wildlife twisted into monsters. No more mist engines, either.

..I can tell you practically everything there is to know, about the Mist from back home. I worked with it. If Red won't provide, I could try and build a mist-powered device myself. ...save for the little fact we're in a sheep pasture with little in the way of decent scraps to use, of course.

[mykidisthebest]

I don't think you need to go that far. I don't know what we'd do with a mist-powered machine even if you built one, so there's no need to go through that much effort. The Mist does seem like it's dangerous, though. How did you get rid of it back home? Knowing that much might be worthwhile here if it gets any closer.

[finalbows]

Fair enough. Saves me the trouble.

<sub>[ then the next question hits.

oh, boy. That exact wording. What did HE do to get rid of it. It comes out before he can double-think around it whether he was all that responsible or not, because the truth was as long as the mist persisted, the world he loved was on a course with death, and so it had to be-- ]</sub>

There was a tree. It trapped the dead, and left their essence-- their souls-- to rot. The mist came from its roots, and I spent twenty years wresting for power so I could stop the man who put it there. I tricked my brother into breaking the seal on the tree, and into killing a creature that controlled it, because I could not be seen doing so myself.


...I thought it would bother me more to say that. Do not ask me why I had to sneak around, please, I'm enjoying puzzling over if this and that mist could be all that alike, and it would be off subject.

[mykidisthebest]

[his eyebrows RAISE at the explanation, but he nods along without much more of a reaction than that]

That sounds like a family matter, so I don't have a reason to pry. I do hope you at least talked it out with your brother later. I'd be a little more concerned if this mist was coming from the roots of a tree that's trapping dead souls. It might be a question for Death to confirm.

[finalbows]

We don't get on.

_{[ moving on. ]}

I'm not in a hurry to meet her again and ask, despite my prodigious record. You'd think it a point worthy of address, if something was holding so much of her due harvest back.

Whatever's in there might not count as alive, or dead... just hungry. But it may be similar in that whatever it is, is possessed of a soul.

[mykidisthebest]

If it's got a soul but it's just "hungry" then it might just be the same as dealing with monsters.

[finalbows]

_{[ titter, titter. ]} Oh, I suppose! Forgive me for my attachment to the semantic details. The
little distinctions have mattered, in the past.

[mykidisthebest]

You're right, they do matter. I'm still figuring out where the line is, I guess. We've got talking sheep and snakes wandering around, so expectations have been a little turned around!

[finalbows]

I always marvel at how sedate some other worlds must be for people to say things like that.

[mykidisthebest]

Is my world sedate? Ahhhh, that's scary to think about. There are plenty of animals and monsters on my world, it's just that most of them can't talk.

[finalbows]

You at least have mooogles, though, right?

_{[ they're like, the most basic kind of natural phenomenon... ]}

[mykidisthebest]

Uhm...

[he does spend a minute wracking his brain for that monster, but nothing comes up]

The name isn't familiar. Is it a bird?

[finalbows]

...nowhere close. They do fly. Got little bat wings.

...That's so funny. It's like if you told me you don't have sheep.

[mykidisthebest]

Not every world has sheep. Most worlds are pretty different, actually. So it's not too surprising if I don't have mooogles.

[finalbows]

Hm. Bad example for their significance. It's like if you told me...

...well, now I'm second-guessing that you're going to tell me you've never seen rain or stars before, or that your trees all grow upside down. They just sort of... happen, all the other worlds I've been to. Even totally inhospitable places have moogles, though they'll certainly complain about the lack of amenities.


...these machines take so long.

[mykidisthebest]

[a little amused]

A washing machine takes about an hour. You're in for a long wait. You might as well leave them to run and come back later.

[jerks a thumb at the door]

Have you seen any moogles out there? The animals in a place can be different. The environments can be different too. I've been to places that were all underwater, or all dessert. There aren't trees in either of those worlds, but there's still other plantlife.

[finalbows]

_{[ right on cue to that question mark, ]}

I haven't. But, please, trust I do understand biomes.

...Previously, I was just assuming the local ones just weren't fond of all the bumbling demon summoning going on around here. It's a small place, and they can be very opinionated... that, or this world was very very ill, somehow, and not producing them properly...

_{[ he sinks down to lay on his side atop the machine. guy looks for all the world like he should have a flicking tail to complete the lazy cat image. ]}

An hour... That's sooooo lonnggggggg... _{[ is he considering putting a seal on his clothes so he can leave them and come back? ...maybe. angel devil IS that untrusting. ]} I didn't notice the last time because I was chattering with the hyena...

[mykidisthebest]

[he isn't helping the mental image of "all of Rose is just lazy cats"]

He's probably more interesting to talk to than me. All I've done so far is ask you random questions about your home.

[finalbows]

_{[ rose IS mostly just lazy cats. and shadow fiend. ]}

Ehnn. _{[ wily, hardscrabble kids like that were a dime a dozen back in Treno. ]} If you feel that way, then you should tell me about some of those moogle-less worlds you've been to. You said you're used to monsters, but what makes them different from just wildlife, in your eyes? For me, a monster is something that's obviously been twisted by mist, or something similar. But you don't have that.

[mykidisthebest]

We don't have mist, but we have dungeons.

[drums a finger on the washing machine. this part always feels like a pain to explain]

My world has "dungeons" all over the place. They're...portals into a pocket dimension, basically. All of the monsters come from the dungeons. None of them are originally native to my world and their abilities are far beyond anything the average wildlife could do.

[finalbows]

_{[ he perks up. ]}

How do you normally get out? The way just stays open? Or is there some special song and dance to it, what with the.. dungeon, moniker?

[mykidisthebest]

There are rules to it! You might not be too familiar with video games, but a lot of the terms are borrowed from those since it's a similar sort of format. After someone--usually a group of Hunters--enters the dungeon, there's about thirty minutes before it closes and doesn't let anyone in or out. The raid group has to clear all of the floors and defeat the boss monster that's inside of the dungeon before the way will open back up again.

[finalbows]

<sub>[


the entire whole of lindblum would fucking love this shit.

something about the logic of it feels innately appealing in a way he can't quite describe, though angel devil has never encountered a ""video"" "game" in his life. ]</sub>

...you don't think you could have wandered into one this time?