text | un: Sasaki

[ex_adept136]

Like a few others here, I'm among those who met the goddess Nalanni. And like others there are things I learned from having a conversation with her. First and foremost, I'd like to request some help in conveying a message she intended for her people.

She wanted them to know that she loves them, and that she knows they can go on without her.

At the time, I was struck with the thought that she'd considered her own passing a possibility. And now that I've seen mentions of slaying gods here, it seems she wasn't wrong. Maybe some of you know more than me, but I'm not convinced it's the only way. Having said that, I'm not blind to the reality that those are our orders, and that there are those who will follow them.

I'm more interested in helping the Nalawi. I gave my word that I would do whatever I could, and so... To those who are already making efforts to ensure the Nalawi are able to sustain themselves, whatever may come, I'd like to volunteer any help I can provide.

If anyone wants further information on the conversation I had with Nalanni, please let me know. I'm unsure how much would be redundant, since admittedly, I've picked up on recent developments here and there.

Comments

[ex_adept136]

[That introduction to their circumstances is something of a blur now, but, thinking back in it...]

It's true they haven't offered us proof, though I'd hope our contributions would be valued enough when we were pressed in to service this way.

[grunehexe]

Providing they prove to be magnanimous in nature, yes. I hope so as well.

[Being only able to hope, though-]

[ex_adept136]

Being faced with uncertainty is like looking into a void, I know...

[Those words aren't a simple platitude, either. They're borne of raw experience, though he wouldn't admit to just what that experience is.

He's spoken so little of it, back home]

[grunehexe]

We survive until then, teetering on the void. I apologize to greet you with such darkness, but I am afraid that is all there is to it.

[As much as she hates it... she has to accept it. They all do- maybe. She can lose herself in her studies, in the joy she can take from others... but it all returns to this.]

[ex_adept136]

[He shakes his head.

A void's been looking back at him for as long as he can recall - this void is simply of a different nature]

No, if anything, I appreciate your frankness on these matters. I'd rather know the reality than otherwise. And, if nothing else, none of us are alone.

[grunehexe]

That is true- there are those worth making into comrades here among our number.

[Some... not as much, but.]

It is for the best to speak frankly, I find.

[ex_adept136]

Agreed. I'd rather difficult truths over pretty lies.

[Those truths tend to surface, no matter how one might bury them]

Better to understand things for what they are.

[grunehexe]

[Once you find out your whole life is a lie, you tend to start hating lies in general.]

Well, it is good to see another recruit with a decent head on their shoulders. We could use that in all this turmoil.

[ex_adept136]

[Sounds about right. Replace hate with manpain at and he can +1]

I'll hope not to disappoint. Honestly...I think if my associates were here, they'd have similar sentiments about the lack of disclosure, among other things.

[grunehexe]

[Let's get some +1'ing up in here]

What sort of work do you do, you and your associates?

[ex_adept136]

[+1 for more fun]

Investigation and enforcement, if I were to use the most succinct terms.

[grunehexe]

Like some kind of... peacekeeping force?

[She... hasn't had the most pleasant experience with those, not after the last mission in Chantes, but... people had told her that such things weren't supposed to be like that. Apparently police were supposed to help people.]

[ex_adept136]

In a manner of speaking. We're similar to law enforcement, but...

[He trails off, debating how to phrase this. Certain details are best not discussed over a public network, though he's yet unsure how much to tell people who seem to know nothing about ghouls.

Perhaps it's better not to make it number among their concerns]

We have influence only under particular circumstances.

[Only when it involves ghouls really]

[grunehexe]

What circumstances are those?

[Heedless, Sieglinde continues to ask- one, because she simply is the curious sort... and also, well. She never really liked vagueties either. Hypocritical as it was.]

[ex_adept136]

[Well...perhaps avoiding the term isn't much use.

Just keep it simple, Sasaki]

We only handle cases involving ghouls.

[grunehexe]

Ghouls as in... the undead who consume dead flesh?

[Which made him the same sort of company... as werewolf hunters, yes?]

[ex_adept136]

[Laedo had a similar description for them, when he thinks back on it...

Is that typical for most? He can only wonder]

Not exactly, at least not where I come from.

[grunehexe]

[Her own reference for these things is... the Arabian Nights, so. Her upbringing involved... a lot of books.]

What about where you are from?

[ex_adept136]

[Books are good, books are great, his life went to hell because he wanted a bookstore date.

True story]

They're a predatory species that feeds on humans or other ghouls. Aside this they can consume coffee but biologically speaking anything else will make them ill.

[grunehexe]

[Books are good, books are great, she tried to proposition two men she just met for a threesome because one of her books said men in the outside world were lusty monsters.

... Maybe they should lay off the books.]

A living species that feeds on the living, then? Exclusively?

[ex_adept136]

[Yeah they...they might want to go outside and touch grass for a little bit]

I'd...say most don't eat people alive...

[Unfortunately, some do which is pretty horrifying.

Awkward? Awkward]

[grunehexe]

[All that lush grass... so posh... so green... so unfamiliar...]

Then it is dead flesh...

[She puts a hand to her chin contemplatively, gaze going a bit unfocused as she mentally reviewed what she'd read in her library.]

Do they shapeshift? Animals... the forms of the dead they've consumed?

[ex_adept136]

Not like carrion animals, though. They hunt.

[Phrasing that delicately is a true challenge, but he's trying.

How to explain the thing when one is a case of What Has Science Wrought and is therefore half-the-thing...]

There are cases of mutation as a result of preying on other ghouls in great amounts, but otherwise, the result is an accumulation of RC cells. Those cells are used in a number of their functions.

[grunehexe]

So fresh kills only... and only humans? No dogs, or?

[But wait. Science ping.]

RC cells?

[ex_adept136]

Humans or other ghouls...or coffee. Consuming anything else makes them violently ill.

[And it's downright debilitating. 0/10 do not recommend]

Both humans and ghouls have RC cells but they're far more concentrated in ghouls, and so far as I know, only have a functional purpose for them.