lifenet | May Event: Lost in Translation

May Event: Lost in Translation

MAY EVENT: LOST IN TRANSLATION

Who: Everyone!
What: Crash.
When: May 21st to May 30th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: Mark as needed!

I Have No Words
Feel free to use this post as an event catch-all for any misfires, island-wide broadcasts, or glitching Stone shenanigans you'd like your characters to get up to! Remember that the Stones of Farspeech do not currently have a texting feature...but that doesn't mean the screen they use to display Caller I.D. can't display text, on occasion. Bear in mind that this screen is small and therefore has limited display options.

If you have any questions, feel free to look over our OOC event post here, and ask any questions as needed!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank goodness.

[Ignis unceremoniously dumps his crystal into a nearby basket, just barely catching the mention of the spider. It's probably a good thing Michael wasn't in charge of daemon creation back on Eos. Arachne are bad enough already without having multiple heads and being able to fly.

He does get bonus points for creativity though.

With a smile, Ignis greets Michael. He might not be able to see Michael's wave, but he still gives one in return.]

It's good to hear you and not some memory. Would you like to sit?

Oh, ah...sure, I guess.

[Michael's a little distracted by now being able to actually hear what's going on with the other stone. Boy, that's gotta be from a thousand years ago.]

Have you considered burying that in the woods?

I would like to see if it can swim first or if it will sink like the stone it is. Burying it comes next.

[Then fire. Then ice... He has a whole list.]

Would it be better if I tossed it into the cottage where you can't hear it?

Maybe it's better if I know what other people are hearing. My kind don't really forget things, anyway...it's not going to be anything I don't already know.

[Although he is still not the biggest fan.]

It lets you know what you will need to explain. I understand. Just let me know if you change your mind.

[Ignis gives the crystal a dirty look, one remarkably strong for a man who cannot see.]

If it's any consolation, I'm not going to demand an explanation if you don't want to give it. I'd be a hypocrite of the highest order if I gave one person who did similar things a second chance and did not give you that same chance.

...you must lead an interesting life. But no - no, it's fine. I don't mind explaining.

[Not like this, at least. Hearing people he tortured before Everything is...different. It was bad. He knows that now, and he regrets doing it, but mostly in a sort of academic sense. He doesn't feel the same keen, stomach-churning guilt that he's felt over hurting his friends, even if he never really harmed them physically. He can talk about it.

Maybe that's a failing in him. It seems like it must be. But if the time ever comes when he can help those people too, he'll do whatever he needs to then.]

I'm a demon. Torturing dead humans is sort of our entire thing. Seems like enough humans have stories about us that it's barely a secret anyway, unless I start lying about my entire species. But I don't do that now, and I'm...well, I'm working on reducing the torture, at least. [Ugh, it sounds shitty when he puts it like that.] Stopping it altogether would be nice, but there's already a good chance I'll die doing this, that's sort of a later-down-the-road thing.

[Ignis snorts softly.]

'Interesting' is certainly one way to describe it. 'Dangerous' is another, much like trying to change a system from the inside is, as it sounds like you are trying to do.

Eos is different from what you describe, from what most people describe, really. We don't have beings such as yourself. Our daemons don't care about torture. They just wish to kill and destroy. The process that creates them generally strips away the ability to think rationally.

[Ardyn being the one exception to that rule, though he would most certainly argue about how rational his thought processes are,]

From what I have hear most worlds that have demons as you describe yourself also have angels. Is this the case for yours too?

[Michael narrows his eyes as a few previous conversations come together.] Oh, are you from the same place as Ardyn?

[Ardyn is...he doesn't dislike the man on principle, but he doesn't much trust him. And it's unnerving, having seen how a human can be altered that way. Michael's glad that can't happen back home.]

We've got angels. Fat lot of good they've done anyone.

[A small self-conscious smile pulls at the corner of Ignis' mouth.]

Yes, thanks to Bahamut's' meddlesome ways Ardyn would be the main reason why my life is so interesting.

[And dangerous, though oddly enough, he doesn't sound upset about this.]

I would say your angels might be equivalent to our messengers, but our messengers are actually quite helpful, if sometimes cryptic in the way they deliver their messages.

[Thanks Gentiana. How is it that the dogs are clearer in their intentions than you are most times?]

Ours just sit around talking about how good they are and not helping people. You've gotta clear a real high bar with them, to be worth not getting tortured forever.

[Ignis' eyes narrow and he frowns.]

Wonderful. They sound like glorified bureaucrats.

Basically. I went and told them all about how no humans were getting sent there anymore - which, really, you'd think they'd have noticed. They just wanted to form a committee to pick the people who would be on the other committee that was going to, maybe in several hundred years after it was all formed, talk about whether or not they wanted to do anything about that.

Meanwhile, all the humans are still getting tortured that entire time!

Astrals. No wonder you are risking so much to help them. The only thing these so-called angels are good at is wasting time. It's a shame you can't torture them for a while. Maybe it would like a fire under them.

[That's probably blasphemy, isn't it? Oh well, it's not like Eos has angels anyway.]

Oh...the humans probably wouldn't approve of that.

[Although you can tell just from the way he says it that Michael doesn't totally hate the idea.]

[Oh yes, Ignis hears that little bit of 'not hating it' loud and clear.]

The thing about humans is, when they find out a groups of beings are screwing them over? They generally change their minds about how much they like them very quickly. I bet if someone let them see just how useless those angels are, they would change their tunes very quickly.

You have not met Chidi. It's not about liking angels, it's about how he's... [how to put it] ...he's a moral philosophy professor with anxiety.

[And even Michael can't, genuinely, find an argument for literal torture being all that morally good. Killing, sure - Chidi would balk at that, but not Michael, not if it saved the humans. Torture, though, goes a little farther than just removing a threat.]

Oh goodness...

[That really doesn't sound like a good combination, especially if said person has never actually had reason to put all those years of morality study to real life use.]

He's never been tempered by the harshness of reality either, has he?

[He gets the impression this Chidi would probably have an aneurysm if he knew the kinds of things that Ignis has had to do in the name of survival. Morality sometimes has to come in second or lower when lives are on the line.]

Well, I think any reality he enters sort of becomes harsh for him...but no, not really.

[He probably needs to go to therapy or something.]

He did almost die one time! Would've died, but I went back in the timeline and turned it into a near miss. He got a little better for a while after that. [And then, eh.]

Went back in the timeline?

[Oh boy, time travel on top of everything else. Ignis really shouldn't be surprised. He is, but he shouldn't be.]

Does this have anything to do with the erasing memories bit you mentioned?

They did forget the timeline where they died, but actually no. That was just a side-effect.

Honestly...well, them remembering would have defeated the whole purpose, but I wish they did. They forgot the one where we became friends.

[Ignis' heart sinks when he hears that.]

Forgetting the good and the bad equally. I suppose it makes sense, but that must be so hard on you.

[Especially now that Michael has devoted himself to trying to change things.]

It -

[That catches him off-guard for a moment. No one's ever asked him about that side of it.]

It went - really badly, when we first met again. It's getting better, but there's still...there's things that happened, that were important to me, that they don't know about. I don't know how I feel about that. [literally, what is that emotion]

That's completely understandable. There are any number of things you could be feeling and likely, you're feeling more than one at a time. Sadness, loss, regret, confusion, frustration, even anger.

[His gaze shifts from Michael out toward the shoreline.]

I know it's not really the same, but almost every person who has been brought here from my world has been farther along in the timeline than me. They start talking about things I should know, and when they remember I haven't lived it yet, I've heard all those different emotions run through their voices. It's hard, especially when I hear the anger and frustration. I know it's not aimed at me, but it still makes me wish I could do something to make it easier on them.

If your humans knew, I'm sure they would feel the same way. It's a hollow comfort, but maybe it will help a little?

...maybe. Yeah. I never told them all the details about what happened before, kinda just an overview...it didn't seem important then, how I felt.

[It hadn't been about the personal memories, at the time, just the actual facts of what was happening. What would happen, now that they'd caught him. And, true, maybe that hadn't seemed like the best time, when he was still a stranger who knew far too much about them, who'd just doomed them all.]

This is the first time they've ever known me as just a friend. Not a...an enemy, at any point.

Emotions are difficult that way. I know I kept mine locked away for a very long time because it never seemed like it was the right time to let them interfere. My friends weren't always happy with me about that. In the end, you just do your best and learn as you go along.

[Ignis tilts his head back in Michael's direction.]

Do you think you'll be able to make progress this time? Changing things?

May Event: Lost in Translation

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