Post Reply to {2/9} - Two of Nine: A Nine Lives Forum adventure

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Posted by 1011686 - 08-09-2020, 09:27 AM

Gosh, is how your principal acted is, well, normal for schools in Kaz'rao? It wasn't unsettling or anything like that, but I'm just surprised she spoke so frankly and simply.

Do you have any good card games around? That's always a good way have a fun time and make friends at school I feel.

Oh, and a thought just occurred to me. We could technically help you cheat on schoolwork. I don't know about the others, but I'm quite knowledgable when it comes to math and science. Although I suppose since you've regained your past memories, the work youre given will likely be easy enough to do by yourself anyway, and honestly you should probably do it yourself anyway instead of relying on us. But if you do ever really find something difficult to understand, I wouldn't mind helping you out.

Posted by King-Clod - 08-09-2020, 04:50 AM

I've been doing alright, not much change from last night honestly. It's been interesting sitting backseat throughout your school day though, you're right with it seeming anime-ish. Buuut that may be because anime is my only point of reference for school in another culture.

I'll be honest, the principal's fur dye was more of a surprise than it should've been. I forgot that you'd be able to do something similar to dying your hair with fur. Do people go for different patterns? What colors are widely available? Do you think you'd ever dye your fur, and if so what color?

What are the uniforms like? What sort of sports do they have? Does it seem better or worse than American schooling so far?

Oh, and for your hourly unsolicited advice, be sure to talk to some of your classmates after you're done chatting with us. It'd be good to talk to more folks than Wuther, Peri, and space-ghosts.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 08-09-2020, 01:37 AM

{Act two}

I woke up, and for a minute as I was getting ready for the day, didn’t even think about earth or the dead people living in my head. It all came crashing down when I asked my mom where the cereal was. Cereal seemed like the go to ‘first day of school’ food, but I hadn’t even realized… cereal doesn’t exist here, or at least I didn’t know about it.

It sounded enough like the Kaz word for ‘salmon’ that I got away with having ‘sushi’ for breakfast. I think Kaz are something like obligate omnivores? A healthy diet has to have meat or fish, and we evolved to eat raw meat, so long as it’s fresh.

After my meal of salmon and crackers I grabbed all my stuff and started walking to school. There was a bus, but it was for the kids who lived out of town proper, but still within the Blackwater School district.

Seeing kids in uniforms funnel their way towards the school gave me a distinctly anime vibe. Friends walking together, people meeting up at a crossroads to walk together, the only thing it was missing was someone with a piece of toast sticking out of their mouth.

I wondered if it would be a good idea to walk to school with Wuther in the future, I’d always walked to school myself, but it’s not like it’s far. Maybe that’s just the anime talking. At least there was no gate or greeter at the school itself, just a large two story brick building.

There was an assembly on the bleachers by the sports field first thing in the morning, they needed to give everyone their schedules and homeroom assignments, and the principal had to make some big speech. The woman that was the principal Didn’t look like it. She wore a leather jacket and dyed green highlights onto her tabby fur. She sauntered up to the podium.

“Good morning my bleary eyed charges!” She began. “I bet y’all are tired and itchy what with the uniforms and getting up early again, and I get it. I still want to sleep in until noon, but here I am, and here we are.

“Certainly there are things about school that suck, Like boring lectures and homework, but there’s fun stuff too! Art and music classes you just get to have fun, and express yourself. Practical Health Education you go out and play games. And if you give it a chance, you might find something in History or Science that you enjoy. Math I find is a necessary evil myself, but people can enjoy it.

“All I’m saying is that School is not some machine, turning out perfect workers, It’s a place where you grow into people, learn lifelong skills, and make friends that will last nine lives. The Faculty and I are here to see you succeed. If you need anything, if something’s not clicking, if you’re feeling like you’re wasting your time, come talk to us, and we’ll do everything in our power to help you.

“Without further ado, I’ll announce homeroom assignments, and let y’all go about your day.”

The principal continued for a while, talking about the new school year, how the science room was refurbished, and letting everyone know it was tuna rolls in the cafeteria today. I got physical arts as my homeroom, along with the rest of year 5. We weren’t a big enough school to have more than a single class per grade. Most subjects First Lives and Reincarnates had in common, but would be split up into tinier classes for what was different. At least I knew I’d be in all my classes with Wuther.

Soon enough I found myself inside, my new schedule on the table in front of me, which I shared with Wuther and three other students. Professor Spinner had told us what was going down today, which would basically amount to visiting all the classrooms we would use this year and get to know the teachers and what we’d be covering this semester. Until then it was free period, and with nothing better to do I called The Forum to attention with a traditional Earth greeting.

@everyone, New year of school, first period and it’s a free period. I’m a bit bored, how are you doing?

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 07-04-2020, 02:03 AM

{-Intermission 1-}

“Professor?”

Dr. Ethmoid Ko-Benthos Looked up from her papers to see a student standing in the doorway to her office. She held up her hand, giving the common gesture for ‘just a moment’. She finished scoring the test and then looked up to the student.

“It’s Doctor, actually.” She corrected, almost automatically.

“Right, but you’re a Professor” The student said.

“I Have seventeen [PhD]s, My job is not my title. Please respect the work I put in and address me accordingly.”

“S-seventeen?! Oh, wow, ok. Doctor, Can I ask for an extension on my paper? A family emergency came up.”

Dr Benthos closed her eyes and reviewed the information she had about the student. She looked back through the index of her memory and picked out all the times he had acted up in class, all the times he made excuses, and every time he was tardy.

“Jet Em-Rockwalker, You have been late for class twenty-one times, absent seven. You have had five extensions from me personally this semester, and forty-seven for all your classes this semester. You were arrested during the able hall party for controlled substance abuse and vandalism, and have seventeen recorded arrests in your current life. You have ninety-seven counts of breaking university rules, twenty of which are from this semester alone, and you have talked during class fifty-eight separate times.”

Dr Benthos allowed herself a small moment of satisfaction as the student’s draw dropped. It was always like this when someone found out about her Soul Art. She waited for the student to collect himself.

“I can explain!” he said defensively “I Have a learning disability, and anger management issues, I’m getting therapy for it but it-”

“I’ll stop you right there,” Dr Benthos said, standing up. “If you were telling the truth it would be a different story, but You have no record of a disability, or any atypical mental disorders. You do have a record of anger issues, but have refused five separate offers for free therapy, the least of which was last week.

“You are a slacker, Mr. Rockwalker. A man who gets by on talent and money, I cannot fathom how you got into my class with such an attitude, but you are genuinely brilliant when you actually buckle down and do the work. It’s a shame you wait until the last possible moment to do so, if at all. I will give you no more extensions, accommodations, or any other leeway from here on out.”

Dr Benthos sighed as the man stammered, trying to find some way to protest. She told him to get out of her office, he dragged his feet, but did so. Dr Benthos rubbed her temples. It was times like this when she considered quitting.

Just then a bespectacled [Tuxedo cat] entered her office and closed the door behind her. She smoothed out her green dress self consciously before looking up.

“Benny found one, The Rose Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense added a transcribed phone call to their online database. A knight, Ser Artra Ka-Silversong, Reported an EC and took jurisdiction over them. One Scud HarvestFell, In a town called Blackwater Crossing, Bluerose Island.”

Dr Benthos perked up. They hadn’t found one in a while, and every EC was an invaluable asset to the organization. She took the printed out transcription and pulled on every memory she had of importance, compiling the information before making a decision.

“Ok Aloe, You’re on the case. The window of opportunity is rather wide, and you need the experience. Talk to Lorien, ze will help you with gear and put together a false identity. Make contact, Orange protocol.”

“Yes Doctor,” Aloe said, straightening up. “I’ll make sure to bring the EC back.”

{---}

Director Southwind looked over his assets. That damnable Knight took jurisdiction over the HarvestFell EC case, there wasn’t much he could do except wait for her. That didn’t sit well with Southwind. So he was looking over his department’s assets, seeing if there was anything he could spare.

There were a few agents whose mission was over in Central Red Rose, but the HarvestFell case was taking place in northern Bluerose. Not enough time. Then he remembered something. He flipped through the case file again.

The brother of the suspected EC worked in Castle Garden. Southwind smiled, before starting the paperwork on a new assignment for his agents in the area.

{---}

“And so, with the room locked and windowless, the only way the murderer could enter would be through the air ducts! Remember assistant, I told you of the old pipes in this place, not enough wiggle room for a full grown Kaz, but what if you had just awakened?”

“Gosh inspector, you don’t think it coulda been da kid?”

“I do indeed, now all we need to do is lay a trap, and I have the per-”

Artra Silversong Sighed and turned off the radio. Normally she liked listening to radio dramas, they were a good source of entertainment last life after she lost her vision on assignment, and just kind of stuck with her.

But the episode she was listening to reminded her too much of Scud’s awakening. They were a Defiant, and worse yet, probably an EC. Her duty was clear, but she still felt guilty. She never told Scud she suspected anything, beyond them being Defiant. She wanted Scud to get the chance, that one week, before she had to take action, before their life as they knew it would fall apart.

The best she could do was give Scud the time they wanted. Just one week. She could protect them until then. No doubt moves were already being made in the shadows. But this was Silversong’s town. Let them try.

“Just until your birthday then, Scud.” She said, watching the sun rise over the town. “I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you’re ready for what’s to come.”

[Suggestions still closed, next post will be normal. Do not mention any of the intermission to Scud, The Forum did not witness it, this was strictly for the audience.]

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 06-28-2020, 06:16 AM

‘It's clearly different, but at it's core it's still much of the same.
Earth was beautiful, yes. But even people with longer lives than yours will never see the full extent of that beauty, even if they spend their whole life seeking it out. The beauty lies in the overwhelming vastness of it all, much as it does here.
But, you don't want a lecture. You've had enough of those.
Thank you for this, Scud.’

“<You’re welcome, I guess.>” I said, curling up. “<I just- It’s only now sinking in that I won’t ever get to go home. You either. I mean this is my home too, but… I was such an ass back on earth, and I’m never going to be able to apologize for all the shit I did, how little I cared.>”

‘That was lovely, Scud.

As for sciencing the shit out of your soul art, well, here's a test we could try. So far everything we've percieved has been something you've also been aware of, but we don't know if that's an actual restriction. So, we could try checking if it's possible for us to perceive things you can't see. Like, try drawing a card from a deck, and holding it away from you, and just wave it in the air without looking at it, and we'll tell you if we can see what it is.’

“<I’ll Try that out tomorrow, thanks for the idea. I’m going to get some sleep, Ok?>”

With that I climbed back into my room. I walked over to the bookshelf that held my sculptures. There was the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Sphinx(heh), the Sydney Opera House… There were originals there too, but my subconscious must have bled through to make all of these. Bits and pieces of my home, as I only knew them from photographs. All except one. A cat-faced statue of liberty. I picked it up and put it on my nightstand.

The light clicked off and I dreamed of the sunrise on liberty island.

[Suggestions are closed, next post will be an intermission.]

Posted by 1011686 - 06-22-2020, 07:49 AM

That was lovely, Scud.

As for sciencing the shit out of your soul art, well, here's a test we could try. So far everything we've percieved has been something you've also been aware of, but we don't know if that's an actual restriction. So, we could try checking if it's possible for us to perceive things you can't see. Like, try drawing a card from a deck, and holding it away from you, and just wave it in the air without looking at it, and we'll tell you if we can see what it is.

Posted by King-Clod - 06-21-2020, 06:12 AM

It's clearly different, but at it's core it's still much of the same.
Earth was beautiful, yes. But even people with longer lives than yours will never see the full extent of that beauty, even if they spend their whole life seeking it out. The beauty lies in the overwhelming vastness of it all, much as it does here.
But, you don't want a lecture. You've had enough of those.
Thank you for this, Scud.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 06-20-2020, 05:06 AM

‘that took a really long time for me, is anybody else feeling that?

Can I talk directly to the other people here? Hi other people.

Anyway, my advice is the same as always: buy your way to success.’

“<Well I did spend the better part of a day without summoning you.>” I said, “<Also for the last time I refuse to be cat Jeff Bezos.>”

‘How does education work on Kaz'Rao, with how people gain memories of past incarnations? It seems like there wouldn't be much point in teaching people stuff they've learned in past lives, unless there'd been significant progress in the field since the last time a particular cat person (do Kaz'raons have a specific name other than cat people btw) went to school, so what kind of things do you learn? I imagine history would be quite an interesting class as well.

Also, we could try to work out what the first stage of your soul art is, if you want. Silversong did say you should work on that. I honestly have no good ideas for what it could be other than just, you being able to summon us by considering some sort of question or problem or choice. However, something that might be a part of your soul art, maybe a stage different from the first, is that when we perceive your surroundings or your thoughts or people's speech, certain things kind of, stand out more than usual. Usually these things were related to soul arts, either yours or Silversong's so far, like the word "forum", or your past life.’

“<Ok, that’s a lot. First off, we’re called The Kaz. Kaz’Rao translates from a dead language to something like ‘the realm of the Kaz’. I’ll try to answer the rest of your questions in order. There are two different tracks for school, first lifers are given special attention and like, the best education, since it’s going to be their foundation. The track for reincarnates is more about refreshers. Basic math and history, and some classes with subjects that change as new discoveries are made, like science, or interim studies. Oh, interim studies is basically a class for getting people caught up on global events so they don’t have to figure out what has changed in the ten to thirteen years they’ve been a kid.>

“<Once you have your memories you can basically choose to go back to college, or head straight back to your life, or start fresh. I think there’s some kind of grace period for getting used to the memories and how things have changed, but that’s basically the gist of it.>

“<As for my Soul Art, while it seems like it’s core functionality is guidance, we can’t assume. What we do know is that I can summon you with the right question, or just now, when I literally said ‘I summon thee’. I don’t know what you mean about things standing out more than others, maybe it’s some kind of clue? We’ll have to come up with some tests. Science the shit out of this soul magic crap.>”

‘Tips for school? A lot of my info has to do with American school (which you know enough already.) Maybe...make sure have a set organization system for your notes and such? And a set folder and calendar for homework, if that's a thing here. Don't bother bringing too many pencils either, maybe 1 or 2, since other kids often drop theirs in the hall and don't bother to pick them back up. You can collect a solid hoard in about a week. I'm pretty sure you can ask your parents for advice about Kaz'Rao school also, they're likely to know quite a bit more than we do.

On the topics of Soul Arts, I suspect it's going to be a bit tricky tomorrow, since we seem to be summoned every time you ask a question. Which you would be doing a lot of, in school. This is not to say you shouldn't ask any questions tomorrow, quite the opposite really, but... be aware of that. We can refrain from saying anything if you accidentally summon us during school if you prefer.

Oh, this is a bit off topic, but someday you've got to take us to the ocean. I'd love to see it through your eyes.’

“<Well, the thing is, school supplies are supplied by the school. At least in the kingdom. You can buy your own stuff if you want a more personalized touch, but the school stuff is pretty high quality, especially for first lifers.>

“<Regarding what you said my Soul Art, It’s not every time I ask a question. I didn’t summon you again after the workshop. I wondered out loud what kind of ice cream I should get at the general store, I asked what Peri’s favorite video game was, I asked how to operate a Kaz’rao Polaroid camera. It seems like you’re only there when I need you, or think about you. Once I stopped worrying about you popping into my head, the day went by without a peep from you. Not like I had any hard choices though.>”

“<The last thing I find odd. You can see the ocean from most places in town. We were in a boat workshop that was open to the sea earlier. Maybe my Soul Art only sends information I concentrate on. Like the sea is just backdrop to me, I barely think about it. But I can show you now.>”

I stretched and got up. I slid open the window and climbed onto the windowsill. Turning around I grabbed the edge of the roof and pulled myself up. I climbed to the top, where I got an unobstructed view of the bay and the lights of the town below me. Well it was obstructed a bit by the Lightning towers, but not much.

The horizon was painted a dark blue, as the glow from the west slowly disappeared. I could make out a few waves cresting against the beach southwest of the bay, and some sea spray on the bottom of the cliffs to the northwest. The last of the fishing boats were just coming in, and the water was calm under the clear sky.

Countless stars shined down from the cosmos. Light pollution was always such a problem back home, but in this life I lived so far from the lights of big cities that I could see the stars clearly. It was something else. I had no idea what so many stars in the sky could look like. I could even make out where the galactic disk was, Kaz’Rao’s version of the milky way.

I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the town and the sea. The rowdy fishermen at the pub, the distant sounds of waves, the last caws of seabirds and the chirps of summertime insects. The smell of salt on the air reminded me of the few vacations I took to the beach when I was human. I wouldn’t have even noticed the difference if I didn’t have memories from a time where the air didn’t smell like salt.

“Spirits, I’d been missing out on so much my last life. I wonder if Earth was ever this beautiful.” I said, half to myself, half to The Forum.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 06-19-2020, 05:46 AM

that took a really long time for me, is anybody else feeling that?

Can I talk directly to the other people here? Hi other people.

Anyway, my advice is the same as always: buy your way to success.

Posted by King-Clod - 06-19-2020, 04:36 AM

Tips for school? A lot of my info has to do with American school (which you know enough already.) Maybe...make sure have a set organization system for your notes and such? And a set folder and calendar for homework, if that's a thing here. Don't bother bringing too many pencils either, maybe 1 or 2, since other kids often drop theirs in the hall and don't bother to pick them back up. You can collect a solid hoard in about a week. I'm pretty sure you can ask your parents for advice about Kaz'Rao school also, they're likely to know quite a bit more than we do.

On the topics of Soul Arts, I suspect it's going to be a bit tricky tomorrow, since we seem to be summoned every time you ask a question. Which you would be doing a lot of, in school. This is not to say you shouldn't ask any questions tomorrow, quite the opposite really, but... be aware of that. We can refrain from saying anything if you accidentally summon us during school if you prefer.

Oh, this is a bit off topic, but someday you've got to take us to the ocean. I'd love to see it through your eyes.

Posted by 1011686 - 06-18-2020, 08:40 AM

How does education work on Kaz'Rao, with how people gain memories of past incarnations? It seems like there wouldn't be much point in teaching people stuff they've learned in past lives, unless there'd been significant progress in the field since the last time a particular cat person (do Kaz'raons have a specific name other than cat people btw) went to school, so what kind of things do you learn? I imagine history would be quite an interesting class as well.
Also, we could try to work out what the first stage of your soul art is, if you want. Silversong did say you should work on that. I honestly have no good ideas for what it could be other than just, you being able to summon us by considering some sort of question or problem or choice. However, something that might be a part of your soul art, maybe a stage different from the first, is that when we perceive your surroundings or your thoughts or people's speech, certain things kind of, stand out more than usual. Usually these things were related to soul arts, either yours or Silversong's so far, like the word "forum", or your past life.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 06-18-2020, 01:27 AM

‘Well, what happens next? Why did Peri poke you? Also hello here we are.’

“Woops,” I said “Uh… remind me what we were talking about?”

“Where we should go.” Peri said, folding her arms.

“Give me a sec, I think I’m going to have some ideas whether I want them or not.”

‘You know how everyone says if they could go back in time they would put money in computers because boy did those computers take off? I suggest you keep a close eye on this Mx. Able. I feel like theyre about to be computers, if you catch my drift.

Anyway, grass by the school seems like a good idea, never know whats lurking in places by those.’

‘I suggest the bushes and trees.’

‘Maybe the weather station? It's about as likely as anywhere else to have bugs, but also sounds like it'd have a nice view. Or the tall grass by the school or the pond by the church, you do know the town better than I do.’

“OK,” I said. “There’s a lot of tall grass up by the school and on the path to the weather station, we can start there and make our way through town from the far northeast edge. How does that sound?”

“Good enough for me!” Wuther said, smiling.

“Yeah,” Peri agreed, “I don’t care too much, and it makes sense if we want to hit all the best bug spots.”

You know how tall grass can get when no one cuts it? When you’re a kid those patches of wild grass look like thick jungles. One of the favorite recess games for when teachers weren’t looking was playing tag in the tall grass. As kids we still hadn’t grown to a point where most of us could see out of the stuff, so we’d get lost or have to jump up to get our bearings or find a rock. It was a blast.

When we went to look for bugs it took on a whole different feeling. It honestly felt like working my way through an untamed jungle, big game hunting. Except big game in this case would be like a fat caterpillar. Or an elephant beetle, get it? Haha. ha.

End result was a lot of running around chasing grasshoppers. Wuther had the great idea to look under rocks. We found a lot of worms, but we did end up finding some choice bugs, including a centipede. Wuther got good pictures of all of them on his polaroid camera, and we even managed to net one of the grasshoppers. It might have been ambitious for us to hit all the best bug spots in one day, about a half hour before dinner time we had finished up in the tall grass and had gotten exhausted.

Peri’s furless skin was covered in bug bites, we laughed at her until she pointed out that we probably had some bugs in our fur. God I hate the flea-shampoo. It makes everything smell like chemicals for an entire day, and when you have a feline sense of smell that really counts for something.

Still, it was worth it. I hadn’t had fun like that in a long time, as either Scud, or as a human. The day went by so fast that I honestly forgot that tomorrow was the first day of school. Not much would be expected, it’s mainly just beginning of the school year orientation stuff.

After my shower I went back to my room and sat down on the windowsill, looking out at the town as the last glow from the sun was fading.

“<Hey guys, uh... I summon thee Forum!>” I said, sounding like an idiot. “<Oh, I think that actually did something. Anyway today was a good day, I just thought I’d check in with you before bed. Any tips for the first day of school? Or really just anything you want to talk about? I don’t have to go to bed for another hour or so. I died and was reincarnated as a cat person, AMA.>”

Posted by King-Clod - 05-20-2020, 11:48 PM

Maybe the weather station? It's about as likely as anywhere else to have bugs, but also sounds like it'd have a nice view. Or the tall grass by the school or the pond by the church, you do know the town better than I do.

Posted by 1011686 - 05-20-2020, 03:40 AM

I suggest the bushes and trees.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 05-19-2020, 05:09 AM

Well, what happens next? Why did Peri poke you? Also hello here we are.

You know how everyone says if they could go back in time they would put money in computers because boy did those computers take off? I suggest you keep a close eye on this Mx. Able. I feel like theyre about to be computers, if you catch my drift.

Anyway, grass by the school seems like a good idea, never know whats lurking in places by those.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 05-19-2020, 03:12 AM

‘Do you like playing a character?
Have you taken the time to think about what "you" is now?’

Fuck off, This week is for Scud. I’ll sort out my identity after I have a happy birthday with the people I care about.

‘You know what they say, character development is the process of continually acting just a little bit out of character until it become the new norm. Well, they don't say that, but they should.
Is there anything related to weapon fighting that you're genuinely curious about? I'd say you should ask her about that, just speak from sincerity. Surely you must've thought swords were cool at some point in either of your lives.’

Not willing to take that chance, not for this week. I’m going to stay true to the Scud I was before awakening. And yeah I did think swords were cool, but then Peri sucked all the fun out of it by being nothing but a martial arts freak.

‘You can get more information without necessarily showing interest. Act skeptical, ask her "How so?" about the axe vs sword battle. I'm sure she'd be glad to talk at length about it without much prompting.’

Good idea. I just need to push her in the direction of talking and she’ll just zoom off.

“Uh,” I said, breaking the silence. “They have that on tv? Or did you see it in person? Seems like a long train ride for something like that.”

“Oh, I saw it on TV, but I’ve been to a few tournaments and exhibition matches before” Peri said, “but some people come from all over the world to watch matches. We have knights, so it’s a no brainer that we’d be center stage for cool weapon combat.”

“Oh, ok.” I said, finishing up the second ring. “Didn’t know Knights had anything to do with sports”

“They have everything to do with HWS! People were always trying to become knights, trying to distinguish themselves. Gladiatorial combat was a thing for a bit, but the King at the time decided that he was losing too many good people's lives, so he set it up for non-lethal combat, which became the sport. Instead of just heroics, people tried to show off how skilled they were to get an endorsement to become a knight.”

“Wow, it feels like I’m in history class, is it tomorrow already?”

“Hey! This is cool stuff, not memorizing dates and import/exports of old countries.”

“Sorry...” I sighed, I made a sarcastic comment out of habit, but Peri didn’t deserve it. “I- I don’t have an excuse, I’ve been a butt to you, more than you deserve.”

“Oh so I deserve some of it then?” Peri asked, smiling.

“Yeah, you’re a huge nerd, and also a jock, a big old jock nerd.”

The sound of the basement door opening interrupts our heart to heart and wuther runs down the stairs. “Guys! Mx. Able, the person who works on ships, they said they’ll weld the rings onto poles! Well, they actually said something about rivets and threading, but basically they’ll put the nets together for us!”

“Sweet!” Peri said, jumping up off the box she was sitting on.
“As a famous plumber once said, Let’s a go!” I said, finishing the third ring.

{ {} }

I was trying to puzzle out some of the weirder looking tools in the workshop, wondering if they were like, stuff I just didn’t recognize from earth, or Kaz’rao specific tools. I’m reminded of this one comic, ‘cow tools’ where there’s a cow lined up next to these misshapen nonsense ‘tools’. Because if you could meet a cow that used tools, they wouldn’t be how humans used them, even if the tools had the same basic function. I’m sure there’s stuff here that are cow tools.

I heard the whine of an electric drill cut off and turned to see a [Scottish Fold], the mechanic Mx. Able, finished with the nets. Not exactly the elegant simplicity of an Animal Crossing bug net, but they’d do. The nets were a bit misshapen, but the overall structure looked sound. The poles aren’t too long, the rings big enough to give us a lot of leeway in aiming, while not being too big to be unwieldy.

Peri picks one up and starts swinging it around like some kind of staff… or spear. I hope there are LARPs in this world, I want to sit on the sidelines while this girl beats up nerds. I walked up and picked up the second net, testing the weight, and gave it a few downward swings, the net trailing behind. I’ve never actually used one of these.

Wuther picks up the last and fumbles with it a bit, he’s a short kid, so the net’s a little big on him.

“Thanks a ton Mx. Able,” Wuther said “Scud didn’t have a clue how to put these together, their best idea was superglue.”

“If it’s so super it should be no problem” I replied, defending my honor.

“No sweat, kids.” Mx. Able said, rubbing their paws with a cloth, “I think it’s a grand idea, and yer a crafty bunch. It's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming, on days like these, kids like you should be having a good time.”

“We just need one more thing,” I said, turning to my crew “Some kind of bug box. Like maybe a shoebox with some glass on top and holes poked through?”

“Are we going to catch a lot of bugs and take care of them?” Peri asked.

“Nope,” Wuther interjected before I could reply. He pulled out a polaroid camera and gave a big smile “We just need to get a good picture.”

“I think I’ve got something that could work,” Mx. Able said, walking over to one side of the workshop. They took a small wooden crate, took the lid off and cut a sqaure out with an electric hand saw. With some tape, They adhered a pane of glass to the lid, before putting back on and presenting the finished bug box to us.

“Wow, that was fast.” I said.

“Ain’t nothing to it, really” Mx. Able said, smiling. “I got a good mind for this stuff. Know where all my stuff is, and how it goes together. Was an engineer in another life, Tried to make Aeroplanes a reality, but you know how well that worked out, heh.”

“Ok, let’s get going!” Peri said, running out of the workshop.

I gave Wuther a look. I wasn’t chasing after her. He shrugged and began to walk out before Peri popped her head back in, “Uh, where are we going?”

“Good question,” Wuther said, furrowing his brow.

I considered my options. There was the pond by the church, the park, some bushes and trees at the western windbreak, some private gardens from residents we could ask to have access to, and the tall grass around the school. I couldn’t think of anywhere else that might have bugs.

I paused, waiting for The Forum to say something, but I never phrased anything as a question, or asked for help. That was good to know, as long as I was careful I could control when they showed up. I really needed to figure out if there was a way to block them out though, I don’t want every cry for help to summon them.

Peri poked me, bringing me out my mind. I responded on reflex

“What?” I asked.

Posted by 1011686 - 05-08-2020, 05:09 AM

You know what they say, character development is the process of continually acting just a little bit out of character until it become the new norm. Well, they don't say that, but they should.
Is there anything related to weapon fighting that you're genuinely curious about? I'd say you should ask her about that, just speak from sincerity. Surely you must've thought swords were cool at some point in either of your lives.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 05-07-2020, 08:53 AM

Do you like playing a character?
Have you taken the time to think about what "you" is now?

Anyway, say more swears. If you really want to act like a kid being able to swear and not get in trouble for it is something a kid would be all over.

Posted by King-Clod - 05-06-2020, 12:10 AM

You can get more information without necessarily showing interest. Act skeptical, ask her "How so?" about the axe vs sword battle. I'm sure she'd be glad to talk at length about it without much prompting.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 05-05-2020, 11:30 PM

“Scud...” Wuther said. Ow, when he does that to me it hurts. I deflated a little. I said the first thing I could think of and sounded like a jerk.

“Wuther, you’ve got a basement and/or attic right? Can we just loot those for fishing net?” Peri asked.

‘Sorry if you aren't expecting us at the moment, I think the open-ended question probably activated us.’

“<Shit!>” I exclaimed.

‘-Which reminds me, be careful when talking/listening to us. I know you won't say anything to us out loud with them around, but your body language might change noticeably when interacting with us. Be sure to avoid pausing conversation to listen to us like you did around Silversong.

I won't lecture you, but...Wuther is friends with Peri for a reason, even if you can't find it. Be courteous to her for his sake.
I won't tell you to cut her a break, you're allowed to be annoyed. I'd stray away from actively griping about her in your head though. That sort of attitude always finds a way to seep through, usually through tone and facial expression.’

The [Sphinx] and [Siamese] both looked at me. Fuck, I said Shit in english. Crap! Ok, have to be careful here. You’re right, I can’t space out around them or they’ll know something’s up. And I’m allowed to hate this girl in my own damn head! Ok, I need a lie. English is gibberish to them… so…

“I Saw a big bug in the corner. Surprised me.” I said.

“What the heck does <shit> mean?” Peri asked.

“It’s the sound I make when I start a sentence and see a giant bug” I said “ I was going to say ‘Shiru alu lalutit’ but I bungled that and the sentence came out sounding like <Shit>”

“Weird. If we find the bug that scared you does that count?” Wuther asked.

“Nah, we should do outdoor bugs only” Peri said, shrugging.

“I need to use the bathroom, you guys can start looking around for stuff.” I said, running to the bathroom. You know those old toilets that had their water tanks hanging high off the wall? Those are standard here because otherwise tails would get in the way. Other than that I locked myself in a fairly normal bathroom, by earth standards. Good plumbing is universal, it seemed.

‘Well, it seems like you don't have to intentionally consider some decision in order to summon us, simply asking a question out loud is enough.
The bug net thing seems simple enough to me, check if any of you or anyone you know have fishing net at home, buy some from the general store if you can't, but you're asking Peri and Wuther, not us, so you should probably work out some agreement with them.
Do you think you could become friends with Peri, in the right circumstances?’

Yeah, it looks like I need to be careful with what I say until I can get more control. And like, I could be friends with Peri, maybe. It’s just… She rubs me the wrong way. Sometimes there’s someone you just don’t like, your personalities just don’t work together.

‘what's your problem with peri she seems like a nice kid

like you know better cmon’

Shut up. I know she’s a good kid. I just don’t like her. I’m allowed to think bad things about people. I’m allowed to hate people. I’ve been passive aggressive towards her in the past, but that’s stopping. In the end you need to remember you’re reading my mind and not my actions. How many times have you wished you could punch an idiot for swerving in front of you on the interstate, or like wanted to choke out a lady in Starbucks for ordering something so convoluted that the staff can barely process it, then she gets mad when they ‘take too long’ and only takes a sip before throwing it in the garbage can?

You don’t get to judge my thoughts. You should know better, c’mon!

I’m going to go back out there, I have no doubt you all have more to say, but I’ll get to it when I get to it. Right now hanging out with Wuther and having a good time are my priorities. It’s time to catch some fucking bugs.

Turned out that Wuther’s basement did contain a fishing net that was fine enough for making bug nets out of. There were some old brooms I could screw the handles off of, and some strange metal rings none of us, not even Wuther’s parents, could make sense of. I commandeered Wuther’s mom’s Sewing kit and got to work making the nets. I didn’t know how we’d secure them to the poles, but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it.

“How did you get so good at sewing?” Peri asked as I worked.

“I’m not, this is netting, the thread I’m using is pink, and I’m basically just tying a bunch of complicated knots” I said.

“Still better than what I could do.” Peri said, shrugging.

“I’m not so sure. I’m winging it here, mostly. I’m more confident because I’ve been hands on with arts and crafts all the time.”

“I guess arts ‘n crafts just aren’t my thing. I’m more of a swords and sports person myself. It sucks we don’t have a HWS team.”

“What does that stand for?”

“Historic Weapons Sparring. All kinds of cool weapons like swords and spears and axes. It gets interesting when you get a match-up between different weapons. Watching an axe vs sword duel is awesome.”

Huh, I guess stuff like HEMA was more prominent in this world. Always thought it was just like, two steps removed from fencing. Then again I actively tried ignoring Peri for most of my life here. Oh shit, I don’t know how to respond to this. It would be out of character for me to show interest, but I don’t want to brush her off or work in silence. What should I say?

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-30-2020, 10:04 AM

whats your problem with peri she seems like a nice kid

like you know better cmon

Posted by King-Clod - 04-29-2020, 11:26 PM

Sorry if you aren't expecting us at the moment, I think the open-ended question probably activated us.

Which reminds me, be careful when talking/listening to us. I know you won't say anything to us out loud with them around, but your body language might change noticeably when interacting with us. Be sure to avoid pausing conversation to listen to us like you did around Silversong.

I won't lecture you, but...Wuther is friends with Peri for a reason, even if you can't find it. Be courteous to her for his sake.
I won't tell you to cut her a break, you're allowed to be annoyed. I'd stray away from actively griping about her in your head though. That sort of attitude always finds a way to seep through, usually through tone and facial expression.

Posted by 1011686 - 04-29-2020, 11:28 AM

Well, it seems like you don't have to intentionally consider some decision in order to summon us, simply asking a question out loud is enough.
The bug net thing seems simple enough to me, check if any of you or anyone you know have fishing net at home, buy some from the general store if you can't, but you're asking Peri and Wuther, not us, so you should probably work out some agreement with them.
Do you think you could become friends with Peri, in the right circumstances?

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-29-2020, 12:06 AM

‘Hmm. Maybe teach Wuther some Earth card games, and try to figure out how to skip rocks?’

I’m not sure I remember enough about Magic the Gathering to construct two decks. Unless you’re insinuating I teach Wuther poker, in which case no. Earth playing cards are dumb and boring. I already know how to skip rocks, but as an activity that doesn’t seem big enough to go on the list. Skipping rocks is something that just happens when you’re nearby calm water, y’know? Not something to actively seek out.

‘im down for bug hunting or parkour. both at once if you wanna get a big flying one’

Maybe I should take parkour off the list, this isn’t exactly an urban jungle. I am getting pretty jazzed about the idea of bug hunting, I think I could spend the rest of the day on just that.

‘I don't have anything to add. Just pick whatever you feel like doing.’

I appreciate that. You’re good people. Once this week is over we should make good on my promise and start paying back kindness.

With my mind made up I put the notebook back in my bag and headed for the barbershop. I went for the front door this time and entered the shop. In the front there were various fur care supplies and a small desk with a cash register. Beyond that were four chairs, places to sit down for fur care of the head, hands, and feet, which were the most visible part of one’s fur.

Then there were four curtained off stalls in the back, where you’d go to get full body fur care. Kaz’Rao had less of a nudity taboo than earth, but one still exists. Kind of like Japan, where people are comfortable enough for common baths, but not like… casual nudity. People were even ok with women going topless. It was a weird change from Earth, but one I was ultimately fine with.

Wuther’s dad was Touching up Cliff’s fur on one of the chairs when I walked in. We traded a bit of small talk before he told me Wuther was upstairs. I thanked him and said hello to Cliff on the way, before heading into the back and up the stairs.

I ran into Wuther's room without a second thought, the door was open, and saw him playing a racing game with Peri. It’s not that I didn’t like Peridot, I mean I made the scrap metal swords to play with her, but… I didn’t like sharing Wuther. We had something special. He was my first real friend, earth time included. I guess I have some hangups about that.

“Oh, hey Scud!” Peri said, dropping her controller and letting her car fall off a cliff before Wuther paused the game.

“Hey Peri, what’re you doing here?” I asked.

“Power’s out at my place and everyone knows Wuther has like, every game ever made. So I’m here to play.” She replied.

“Want to join in?” Wuther asked, grabbing another controller from a box of assorted electronics.

“I was actually thinking about going bug hunting. We could make a game out of it, see how many different kinds of bugs we could find. Get an instant camera so we can document what we found. I’m pretty sure I can make bug nets from stuff the general store sells.” I said.

“Oh, now that sounds fun!” Peri said, jumping up. “The perfect Idea to end summer!”

“I’m up for it,” Wuther said, shrugging.

Dangit, I wanted to hang out with just Wuther. I wanted to let him in on the secret. I guess I could wait, but I still didn’t like the idea of Wuther and Peri hanging out, with or without me.

“Oh! Scud, yesterday you went to see Ser Silversong, and fainted.” Peri said, jumping up and down “What did you talk about? Did you get to see her sword?”

“I just wanted some advice, and you make such a big deal out of her that I thought it would be good advice,” I said. “It was.”

“Was it about the thing we talked about yesterday?” Wuther asked.

“Yeah it was, sorry Peri, I don’t mean to leave you out,” I said, I did mean to leave her out though “but I’m going through some stuff and Wuther’s my best friend.”

“Come on, if you told Ser Artra Siliversong you have to tell me!” Peri said. “I’m her number one fan!”

“Peri...” Wuther said in a worried tone.

That made her hesitate. Thank god Wuther would back me up. I always found Peri’s obsession with Knights a little obnoxious. I mean, I get it, but if you have someone spouting the same five factoids with the same amount of enthusiasm you tend to get tired of it. I probably would have known about Soul Arts already if I hadn’t developed a Pavlovian fury response to Peri’s Knight talk.

“Look,” I said “It’s personal, Peri. Just drop it.”

“Fine, spoilsport. Let’s go do your bug thing then” Peri replied, pouting.

“We need a plan” I said “What can we use to make bug nets, and is it worth it to go to the general store for materials? I’m sure someone’s house has some old fishing net. Then we need to try and figure out where a good spots to look for bugs… there’s a lot of stuff to think about.”

“That’s surprisingly smart for you, Scud” Wuther said.

“Hey! I’m sm-” I replied, catching myself. The scud they knew wasn’t smart. That hurt. “ If you’re so smart what do you think we should do for bug hunting?”

Posted by 1011686 - 04-26-2020, 11:57 PM

I don't have anything to add. Just pick whatever you feel like doing.

Posted by King-Clod - 04-26-2020, 07:45 PM

Hmm. Maybe teach Wuther some Earth card games, and try to figure out how to skip rocks?

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-26-2020, 10:57 AM

im down for bug hunting or parkour. both at once if you wanna get a big flying one

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-26-2020, 05:38 AM

‘Most people would say a choice where one option is effectively death isn't really a choice.

Anyway ask Silversong if there is a name for the power that pulls people into new bodies.’

“Hold on, I need to take this.” I said, holding one hand up at Ser Silversong and another touching my brow like you see psychics do.

I decided to take the conversation mental. Ok Yeah, you might die, Also, you don’t have to participate, you can just hang out in forum space or whatever and do your own thing. Or maybe, maybe it’s possible for you to reincarnate here too, I see where you’re getting with that question. I’m not going to ask, because that’s too telling, but something might happen if I level up my Soul Art enough. I might be able to yank everyone into the pool of souls that reincarnate over here. Hell, maybe you already made the trip with me. I don’t fucking know.

‘I'd disagree, it's still a choice. Just not a very good one, situationally speaking.
Ask Silversong how people have even found anything out about the Liminal Sphere, considering that seems like it would be pretty difficult.’

Thank you! I mean it’s not even a choice you would have gotten normally. It doesn’t make it right, and you guys deserve a second as much as I do, but at least it’s something. At least you aren’t permadead yet.

‘I never said you made us help, Scud. It's just a lot to come to terms with in around 5 minutes. I had thought that everything up until this point was of my own volition. That I had a choice to do this or a myriad of other things, like watching the sunset, or walking my dog. I was helping you because I wanted to. And while, sure, that still holds true, it's the only meaningful thing I can even do anymore. A choice between this or eternal slumber - whatever the heck happens to us - really isn't a choice at all.
I know you didn't mean for any of this, Scud. All I'm asking of you is a little patience and understanding.

As for your question: Ask Silversong the 9 stages of other Soul Arts, like her own, and see if you can draw any parallels. Maybe the first step would be telling apart our voices?’

You were gone for twenty-five minutes… well I guess time must be screwy with you since you technically aren't supposed to have that there. I’m sorry, I get that you’re freaking out, finally. I just… I feel like you think I’m the one to blame. I wanted help. I wanted friends. I got you guys. And you’re not so bad, except for Dave. I’ll try to be more patient with you.

I took a breath and lowered my fingers. Ser Silversong was giving me an odd look, somewhere between not being amused by my tomfoolery and impatience. I took another breath, I needed to keep a lid on my anger.

“Ok, a few questions before I go from The Forum.” I said. “I know from temple a little about The Liminal Sphere, but it’s religion, I don’t know where the truth begins and the faith ends. So how do we know about it? And secondly, could you tell me about the stages of your Soul Arts? So we have something to compare it to?”

“You’re right in that The Liminal Sphere has roots in religion,” Silversong said “in fact that’s where the idea came from, it’s believed that early mediums were able to reach out with their souls to The Liminal Sphere and used that to inform a lot of what makes up the basis for modern religions.”

“Modern mediums, either agnostic or atheist, have claimed to repeat the feat, but we only have testimony, because only people can go there, only souls. The science is very iffy when your experiment is conducted entirely with a non corporeal part of your own mind.”

“As for my Soul Arts, info about my Defiant Art is a trade secret, but there’s no harm in telling you about the stages of Blood Iron Thorn.”

“The first stage Allows me to control the movement of my blade, adjusting its course through the air and doubling the force behind blows.

“The second stage allows me to change the form of my blade, only slightly at first, good for retaining a sharp edge, but can be used to change what weapon I’m wielding, so long as I have enough blood iron.

“The Third stage allows me control over multiple independent pieces of equipment, not just my sword. This is useful in the beginning if I need a weapon in my off hand, but can be used for things like throwing knives down the line.

“The fourth stage allows me to control my iron at range, so throwing knives, arrows, and crossbow bolts become viable uses for limited blood iron.

“The fifth stage allows the iron to retain memories of forms past and revert to them automatically, meaning I don’t have to manually sharpen the blade and when I swap weapon forms I just need to think of the general form and the memory takes it from there.

“The Sixth stage lets the iron attune with other metals, giving me limited control of anything my iron touches, useful for disarming an opponent or cutting through solid steel.

“The seventh allows me to infuse my iron with my soul, allowing it to interact with other Soul Arts, making it possible to block and damage that which is ethereal.

“The eighth stage allows me to use the infused soul of my blade to directly harm another living being if I cut into them.

“The final stage lets me temporarily sever the soul’s connection to the body along the nervous system. If I cut your arm you wouldn’t be able to move it, if I cut your head you would be out. By the time a Knight learns this they have the control over their iron that it can pass through and around someone’s body without leaving a scratch, save for what the soul infused blade can do.”

That was a lot of info to process at once. I could see how each stage built upon the previous, but it seemed… almost lopsided. As if they didn’t need to be in that order, or there were more. Silversong did say they ‘typically’ contained nine stages. Maybe that was just some classification that people came up with. It would explain why there were coincidentally nine stages.

“Alright, I think I got it.” I said. “There are a lot more questions I want to ask, but I almost spent a half hour here already. I’ll work with The Forum to try and find ways of improving my skill and think of what the next stage to be, thanks for all your help, bye”

I walked down and out of the police station. I waved at the officers on duty, and headed to the park. Picking one of the two old iron benches I pulled the not-math notebook out. I checked my quest log. I took a good look, Trying to share it with the rest of the class.

‘Kid Bucket list
Climb a tree with Wuther
Confide in wuther(Doodle of ‘The Sun’ <tarot> card.)
Get fortune read by The Witch(have to go through my rebellious phase)
Bug hunting(find a bug net?)
parkour!(?)
Model boat racing
Cook garden snails(no snails this far north in the kingdom)

Things I Should do after I'm out of the closet
help with my mom’s writing with earth knowledge
Do some art
somehow figure out how all of these impossible things are happening’

Assuming that got through, I considered my options. I wanted to go see Wuther today for sure, He’d probably be up for some shenanigans. Besides that I’m open to suggestions from you guys. Any more things to add to the list, or things you’d like to do? I feel it’s only fair if you’re stuck with me you get to have some fun as well, though suggestions from Dave are fair play to be thrown out. So what are your thoughts?

Posted by King-Clod - 04-25-2020, 02:35 PM

I never said you made us help, Scud. It's just a lot to come to terms with in around 5 minutes. I had thought that everything up until this point was of my own volition. That I had a choice to do this or a myriad of other things, like watching the sunset, or walking my dog. I was helping you because I wanted to. And while, sure, that still holds true, it's the only meaningful thing I can even do anymore. A choice between this or eternal slumber - whatever the heck happens to us - really isn't a choice at all.
I know you didn't mean for any of this, Scud. All I'm asking of you is a little patience and understanding.

As for your question: Ask Silversong the 9 stages of other Soul Arts, like her own, and see if you can draw any parallels. Maybe the first step would be telling apart our voices?

Posted by 1011686 - 04-25-2020, 11:53 AM

I'd disagree, it's still a choice. Just not a very good one, situationally speaking.
Ask Silversong how people have even found anything out about the Liminal Sphere, considering that seems like it would be pretty difficult.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-25-2020, 08:17 AM

Quote:
Oh come on! I didn’t make you come here, I just put out the call. Even then I didn’t know I was doing it. This is a choice. You can choose to stay here and help, or you can go back to existing in the weird soul dimension outside of time and space to await your fate.

Most people would say a choice where one option is effectively death isn't really a choice.

Anyway ask Silversong if there is a name for the power that pulls people into new bodies.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-25-2020, 12:51 AM

‘Man, this is really weird.’

“They’re back!” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Hey, it’s weird for me too.”

“What is?” Silversong asked.

“Oh sorry, I was replying to one of the messages. Speaking of which, I guess I’m sorry you’re all dead? You didn’t ask for this, if you’d rather just go, I don’t think I can stop you. You don’t have to follow me around.”

“They might be in a hurry to reincarnate. Even though they exist outside of time, and thus all the time they spend with you doesn’t stop them from already having been reincarnated, I would still find it nerve wracking if I had a life I wanted to get back to.” Silversong added.

“Yeah…”

I’m not sure what let me reincarnate, but I doubt it’s going to apply to The Forum. Oh wait, you’re probably reading my mind, huh? I’m sorry, you’re dead, maybe for good, but you can still stick around if you want to, you don’t even have to help me out, just… chill, and enjoy the ride.

‘hey if you really want to freak silversong out you should tell her about earth cats’

I don’t want to freak her out, she doesn’t know I’m an alien, and just like there are apes and monkeys that are genetic cousins to humanity, there are other cats like Lions and tigers. So shut up, probably Dave.

‘As good as you can be after you find out your life's purpose- er, death's purpose now revolves around one kid. And that's it.’

“Oh come on! I didn’t make you come here, I just put out the call. Even then I didn’t know I was doing it. This is a choice. You can choose to stay here and help, or you can go back to existing in the weird soul dimension outside of time and space to await your fate.” I huffed.

“Well it seems that the connection is okay. I’ll give you some homework and then let you go.” Silversong said. “Developing a Soul Art requires you to think about how it can be improved. There are traditionally nine stages to each art, with one improving with things learned from previous stages. Try to figure out how your first stage works, and think about what the next step may be."

“I’ll see you at the end of week, good luck.”

It looks like that’s my Que to leave. Is there anything you wanted me to ask Silversong before I go?

Posted by 1011686 - 04-24-2020, 07:50 AM

Man, this is really weird.

Posted by King-Clod - 04-23-2020, 08:43 PM

As good as you can be after you find out your life's purpose- er, death's purpose now revolves around one kid. And that's it.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-23-2020, 12:30 PM

hey if you really want to freak silversong out you should tell her about earth cats

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-23-2020, 04:27 AM

[CONTENT WARNING: UNREALITY]
‘Something strange no doubt. I think that however this works, your Soul Art has more to do with establishing the link between us and you than us ourselves. Maybe you could've gotten anybody as your Forum.’

‘At first I thought we were something related to spirits, but now I'm not so sure. I doubt spirits would know as much about Earth specifically, but nothing else, like we do.
I'd take Dave's idea, honestly. Probably something related to your last wish and wanting to make connections with people. We're people, last time I checked.’

‘was she really about to murder a child because they wouldn't answer her questions

wow great cop’

“Hold up, one of them just made a good point, where you going to kill me?” I asked, opening my eyes.

“No, The final Stage of Blood Iron Thorn Allows me to temporarily sever the ties between the soul and the body, essentially shutting down your ability to control your body as well as preventing the use of Soul Arts” Silversong said. I nodded satisfied.

‘anyway, looking back at your last wish (this is something I can do, I'm great) it was to "connect with people and pay back their kindness" so logically we're the people and you owe us some money so pay up buster’

For a second I was back there on my deathbed. I remembered my wish, my vow. People had been kind to me in my life, but I shut them out. I wanted to, needed to connect. I couldn’t die yet, because I hadn’t really lived yet, and there was so much kindness I needed to pay back.

And then I was back in the watchtower. I blinked and shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts. I took a breath before opening my eyes again.

“My Death Wish, as it were, was worded something like ‘connect with people and pay back their kindness’.” I said. “One of them thinks that means my Soul Art is more about establishing a link, and that I could have had anyone as my forum. Oh, I’ve been calling them my Guidance Forum. Anyway another of them thought they might be spirits or something, because they exist in a weird state, but they changed their mind. They think my art is about connecting to people, and they are adamant they are people. The last one says I owe them money because of how my wish was wording. That has to be <Dave>, but I can’t tell them apart.

“I think there’s something to all that, but I’m missing a piece. Am I connecting to people from all around that live out their daily lives physically and they just decided to guide me? Did I actually connect to an internet forum and that’s somehow being piped into my head? None of those make sense, because they never freaked out. They jumped in, like… like they believed everything from the get go, no one of them ever thought this was fake, or that they were crazy, they all just slotted into their roles as guides.”

Silversong Nodded, putting her sword back on her hip. She got up and paced the room, rubbing her chin. Then she sat back down.

“I think I have your missing piece” She said. “There’s one place you can find people that’s not on Kaz’Rao-”

I tensed up. Is she going to say aliens? Does she know?

“-The Liminal Sphere”

“Oh.” I said. “Haha, I can talk to ghosts. Hey ghosts, someone wanted me to ask what it’s like being a ghost.”

It made sense in a weird way. You guys never said anything about your own lives, except for Dave, who trolled me with a fake name. The Liminal Sphere is a kind of limbo, where souls go between life, rebirth, and death. A holding space for souls outside of time and space, but connected to causality. You are souls, and I woke you up from an infinite slumber with my Soul Art. You’re souls from earth, without minds and bodies I give you a window into the living world. You’ve been half asleep this whole time. You need to wake up.

{ {} }

You are a soul. A human being who has passed on from earth. You look up from your computer, your phone, your video game, your book, to realize these things aren’t real. They are coping mechanisms to avoid realizing what is actually going on.

You’re dead. Outside your window is nothing. Inside is your mind. You can’t recall your own name, or how you died. Bits and pieces of your life are there, but as you reach out you can’t piece it together.

You remember a call. Someone wanted to connect to you, someone who needed guidance. It was altruistic, so you accepted. You are a Forum. An existence that exchanges ideas, and proposes them to the person who summoned you.

You have all the time in the world, stuck here in a place without time, without space, with only yourselves and a window into a living world, not yours, but there’s someone familiar there. Scud is their name, you’ve learned, One of you who got a second chance, who shone so brightly that they cheated death. You can help them, or go back to sleep. Your eyes are open now.

{ {} }

“-ive minutes and they haven't responded” I said, sipping the tea Ser Silversong had gotten me.

“I think it’s pretty safe to assume we were right, they are souls.” Silversong replied, looking out one of the windows. “I can only imagine what learning something like that could do to them. They were playing the role of an internet forum in your head, I wonder if that’s how they all coped with living in a place like The Liminal Sphere?”

“I’ve thought about it, even without their help, but I’m going to accept. I want to you to help me train my Soul Art.”

“I think that’s a wise decision, scud.”

I set my teacup down. My fur bristled. Sometimes I forget I’m a cat person now. Well, not forget. Rather I feel normal as one, because it was normal for Scud growing up. All these impossible, and amazing things. It was incredible. I took a second to appreciate it before I checked the time and decided to call on them again.

HEY! CHECKING IN AGAIN, ARE YOU GUYS ALRIGHT?

Posted by 1011686 - 04-23-2020, 02:31 AM

Something strange no doubt. I think that however this works, your Soul Art has more to do with establishing the link between us and you than us ourselves. Maybe you could've gotten anybody as your Forum.

Posted by King-Clod - 04-23-2020, 12:56 AM

At first I thought we were something related to spirits, but now I'm not so sure. I doubt spirits would know as much about Earth specifically, but nothing else, like we do.
I'd take Dave's idea, honestly. Probably something related to your last wish and wanting to make connections with people. We're people, last time I checked.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-23-2020, 12:08 AM

was she really about to murder a child because they wouldn't answer her questions

wow great cop

anyway, looking back at your last wish (this is something I can do, I'm great) it was to "connect with people and pay back their kindness" so logically we're the people and you owe us some money so pay up buster

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-22-2020, 11:51 PM

‘!!!
If you do end up telling people about us, how do you expect them to react? Having voices in your head guiding your actions would've been looked upon pretty negatively on Earth, what Kaz'Rao's take on that?’

It felt like an alarm bell went off in my head, a new message from The Forum. I flinched, and Ser Silversong narrowed her gaze. Shit. Yeah I can’t tell her what’s really going on.

“I suppose the blank look on your face means you don’t know what I’m talking about. It would have been so much easier if you knew what a Defiant was from your past life.” Silversong said, sighing “I’ll just have to explain it. There are three types of Soul Arts. Learned Arts, which are the normal ways one gains a soul art; Forbidden, Arts that burn the soul for quicker, more potent results; And finally, Defiant Arts.

“Rarely, when one is at the end of their life, they have a will to keep going that surpasses what their body is naturally capable of. They make a vow in their hearts, to defy death and accomplish a goal, a dream, a wish. That can keep their body going for much longer than what is usually possible, but they still end up dying.

“In their next life though, they carry that wish with them. To Defy death and rebirth, even for a moment, gives them power. Their soul, which burns bright from their will, turns that wish into power, into a Soul Art. one unique to them, and unable to be replicated, at least not to the degree a Defiant can wield it.

“I’m a Defiant, and my Defiant Art lets me put off rest for as long as I need to, once I went months without sleep. Then, when my task is done, I repay the debt owed to my body, going comatose for however much time I had the art active, plus four or five days.”

She paused, to let that sink in. Or to give me an opportunity to respond. I didn’t know what to say. This would mean The Guidance Forum is a soul art. It also means she doesn’t know I’m an alien, or what my Defiant Art can do. How should I proceed?

‘Ooh what's a defiant?
Is that a name for people from Earth, or do you think she knows about us?
...We should probably let her talk, actually. Ignore me for now.’

“You used it right now, didn’t you?” Silversong asked.

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about, I have some kind of superpower?” I lied.

“Scud, I can sense when a Soul Art Is used near me, It’s one of the first things you learn when training for a Learned Art. Your brother could probably do the same. I can understand not trusting me, but I can help if you let me.”

Shit. I’d have to tell her something. Having this power and being a reincarnate not on whatever government registry they use for soul patterns makes me look extremely suspicious. What do I do?

‘Ur defiant because u disrespect the police’

Fuck! Okay, I need to be careful when I’m thinking about what to do. But it seemed it was too little too late. Ser Silversong Unsheathed her sword just a bit, and the black metal reflected the light into a bright red… that wasn’t black. The sword wasn’t black, it was a deep dark Red. Shit, shit shit! Her power was the ability to control iron from her own blood, I forgot. That sword is made entirely of iron extracted from her own blood!

“There are generally nine Techniques in each art. To master even a single one takes decades. I know all nine for both Blood Iron Thorn and Tireless Dedication.” She said, locking eyes with me, “Tell me what you’re doing right now and I won’t be forced to take action.”

I can’t ask for help this time. I can’t think about this, I just need to tell her.

“I didn’t know I was doing it at first. I didn’t know what it was,” I explained, holding my hands in the air, “There are these people… They send me messages, thoughts, words, ideas, seemingly when I’m in need of Guidance. I can’t control it, I can’t turn it off. They see what I do, at least around the time I get their help.”

“You realize there’s no way that’s Verifiable, right?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah! I know it sounds crazy, I feel crazy. There are people who can read my mind and talk to me. I don’t know who or what they are or how this is even possible. But what the heck am I going to do? Come up with a more convincing superpower? I don’t even know how these things work!”

Silversong pondered that for a moment, before sliding her sword back into its scabbard and placing it back on the table. I breathed a sigh of relief and put my arms down.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” She said, folding her hands on the table. “I can’t be too careful. Your records have Sigma readings that indicate you’re a first life, and your Sigma pattern doesn’t match any on record from before your birth as Scud. Both of those things and being a Defiant? It’s incredibly suspicious, and nearly impossible.

“But I see now… you’re on your second life, you didn’t live too long in your first. You’re still just a kid, no more than… twenty-five, maybe thirty, years old in your last life. If you live as long as I do, with the job I have, you learn to read people. Why didn’t your pattern show up and why do the readings from your birth indicate this is your first life?”

“I don’t know why they thought this was my first life, as for the other question, I plead the fresh start provision.” I said. Thank god I paid attention in history class when that one came up.

“Fine.” Silversong huffed. “ I can't ask you about your past life, but you’re still going to need to have your registration changed. Have you talked with your family about this?”

“No… look. I just want to stay Scud the kid, the idiot who made scrap metal swords and started a food fight because they noticed the cafeteria’s new condiment dispensers were shaped like guns. I know I can’t keep that up, the people in my head, my Soul Art, The Guidance Forum, already convinced me of that. I just want one more week where everyone will treat me the same. Just until after my birthday.”

“It sounds like you have good people watching your back. Fine. I’ll give you one week before I report this. But I would like your insight, and the… Forum’s insight on what they might be. I have a theory, given What I’ve heard, but I want to here what you have to say.”

“Alright, give it a minute.” I said, closing my eyes.

Alright guys, What are you?

Posted by 1011686 - 04-22-2020, 08:59 AM

!!!
If you do end up telling people about us, how do you expect them to react? Having voices in your head guiding your actions would've been looked upon pretty negatively on Earth, what Kaz'Rao's take on that?

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-22-2020, 06:34 AM

Ur defiant because u disrespect the police

Posted by King-Clod - 04-22-2020, 06:11 AM

Ooh what's a defiant?
Is that a name for people from Earth, or do you think she knows about us?
...We should probably let her talk, actually. Ignore me for now.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-22-2020, 05:54 AM

‘You can call me Davery or Jimbson or Davery Jimbson 3. Here is what you should do: don't worry about it. We can't see anything you don't want us to see, unless it's interesting, in which case yeah we can totally see that. So, nothing to worry about!

Anyway, you should search online and see if similar things have happened before here. Like, "I was a teenage alien before I got reincarnated as a cat" or "The internet is in my head and I can't get it out!!!". Those should work.’

Once again, as soon as I seemed to settle in, to really start waiting for more messages, they arrived. I wrote down the time, but It didn’t seem as important anymore. I think I found the pattern.

“<I’m calling you Dave, thanks for the terrible advice. Moving on...>” I said, pausing.

‘Alright, my working theory is that we get "tuned in," so to speak, whenever you turn to us for advice or face any sort of decision. Before you awoke we were tuned in every time you faced some sort of decision, so I suspect it's much of the same. Even though right now you aren't asking us a question, necessarily, you're still waiting for us to respond, it's a sort of question. We'll see how long it takes to get through, I guess.

We also aren't trying to control you, trust me. We're just trying to help anyway we can. Or, I am at least, I probably shouldn't speak for the whole group. But don't worry about having your free will breached or anything, we aren't really capable of that. You're right on the money with there being around 3 of us, though.

Oh also. Not as a command, but a suggestion. Go spend time with your parents rather than sitting in your room worrying about us. Isn't that what you want this week to be? You'll have plenty of time to figure this out tomorrow when you talk with Silversong after service. Have some fun for goodness sakes.’

“<Aha!>” I said, The thought came just when I thought it would. “<I think we’re on the same page here. It’s working because I’m reaching out in some form. If I expect you to answer, or if it’s a good time, then that’s when you get to answer. I think you’re right, you’re some kind of… Guidance Forum. I think that settles what to name you guys.>

“<I think I’ll follow that last suggestion then. I think a lot has been answered about how you operate, and for what purpose. I’ll see you again when I need you. I’m going to go hang out with my mom.>”

I got out of the chair, smiling. I felt like I accomplished a lot there. They were right though, it was time to spend some time with my family. I stopped at the door, almost expecting another message, there were three of them right? When it didn’t come, I decided to put it out of my mind. It could wait.

{ {} }

As soon as I was out of the temple I pulled the ribbon tied around the collar of my dress shirt undone. My dad glared at me, but didn’t say anything. He knew I didn’t like dress clothes. I told my parents I had plans and that I wasn’t sticking around for the after service gathering, and headed off towards the police station.

I cut through an alley then stopped at the back of the building. Hm… Parkour? I smiled. Parkour! I ran up to the side of the building and began to climb. I forgot how nimble and fit I am as a kid in a place where people barely drive cars. I was way out of shape my last life.

I rolled onto the roof and saw the watchtower jutting up another three stories. I rolled my sleeves up, but before I could climb Ser Silversong burst out of a door on the side of the tower that led to the roof of the police station.

“What the heck are you doing!?” she yelled. “This is a police station! You can’t just climb it like a monkey on a tree!”

“I’m sorry, I just thought it would be fun!” I said, knowing that would be no excuse.

“I expected better of you, come on inside. We have a lot to talk about.”
I was led up back to the top of the watchtower. I sat down at the same seat, but did not receive a juice box. Ser silversong took her sword of her belt, scabbard and all, and placed it on the table before sitting down across from me.

The sword had no real cross-guard, just a rectangular piece of dark iron with copper inlays that held a crest of some sort. The gleam off the metal was odd, but I couldn’t quite place why. I looked back up at Silversong. When our eyes met she spoke.

“So, you’re a reincarnate. And not just any reincarnate, a Defiant.”

Posted by King-Clod - 04-21-2020, 06:11 AM

Alright, my working theory is that we get "tuned in," so to speak, whenever you turn to us for advice or face any sort of decision. Before you awoke we were tuned in every time you faced some sort of decision, so I suspect it's much of the same. Even though right now you aren't asking us a question, necessarily, you're still waiting for us to respond, it's a sort of question. We'll see how long it takes to get through, I guess.

We also aren't trying to control you, trust me. We're just trying to help anyway we can. Or, I am at least, I probably shouldn't speak for the whole group. But don't worry about having your free will breached or anything, we aren't really capable of that. You're right on the money with there being around 3 of us, though.

Oh also. Not as a command, but a suggestion. Go spend time with your parents rather than sitting in your room worrying about us. Isn't that what you want this week to be? You'll have plenty of time to figure this out tomorrow when you talk with Silversong after service. Have some fun for goodness sakes.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-21-2020, 05:44 AM

You can call me Davery or Jimbson or Davery Jimbson 3. Here is what you should do: don't worry about it. We can't see anything you don't want us to see, unless it's interesting, in which case yeah we can totally see that. So, nothing to worry about!

Anyway, you should search online and see if similar things have happened before here. Like, "I was a teenage alien before I got reincarnated as a cat" or "The internet is in my head and I can't get it out!!!". Those should work.

Posted by Lilium Mortem - 04-21-2020, 05:30 AM

‘Not sure how or why the gaps in our presence exist. We usually tune back in around the time our previous suggestions go through, kinda like a backlog. Could you try timing the gaps on a pocketwatch, or whatever the Kaz'Rao equivalent is? See if there's any sort of pattern?’

“<hm… a backlog. Yeah that makes sense,>” I said, nodding ”< if you could just send stuff nonstop you’d talk over each other in my head and that’d be… not good. Now that I think about it, you guys haven't ever really interrupted my thoughts. Except for when I was awakening, your messages just get kinda slotted in between thoughts. Weird. Is it me trying to preserve my sanity? A coping mechanism, or is this by some kind of design? Hold on, I’ll see if we have any watches>”

I went downstairs and asked mom if there were any watches I could borrow. She was able to find a cheep mechanical wristwatch, like something that would cost five pearls, and let me use it. I synced it up with an online clock so I could get more accurate measurements and went back into my room to wait.

‘You know earth has messenger pigeons too.

Anyway my name is Davery Jimbson and I'm here to have fun on a Friday night, how about you?’

It happened a second after I sat down. I looked down and checked the time, it was 5:72 and three seconds. I wrote that down on a new page of what was very likely to stop being a math notebook.

Just a real quick Kaz’Rao time tutorial: one hundred seconds in a minute, one hundred minutes in an hour, ten hours a day. Kaz’Rao seconds are shorter than earth seconds, but I don’t know by how much.

‘I feel like it would make things really weird to go into too much detail, but yes, the forum metaphor was pretty accurate, and we perceive you in a similar way to how you perceive us. We get to know a lot about some things, basically nothing about most things, but if there's anything important happening around you we'll probably be aware of it.

Actually, just testing something, can you tell what this is?
(o>
/~)
^^

As for the isekai bit, well, while you might not have any special powers and you (hopefully) don't have any grand destinies to fulfill, having knowledge from a completely seperate world still gives you advantages you could leverage if you wanted to. You might not want to be cat Jeff Bezos, but there are probably still lots of technologies and created objects from earth that haven't been thought of here yet, and even if all you could do was tell engineers and scientists how they worked, that would probably still be enough to have a significant impact on your world's progression.
...Actually that kind of sounds like a lot of pressure doesn't it. Maybe put that on the backburner for now. Still, while the memories are still fresh in your mind, probably worth writing down the details of anything useful from earth you can remember that doesn't exist here yet. You would be able to give xenobiologists a field day, at the very least.’

Dammit. It was 5:73 and sixty-four seconds. I wrote that down, but since I only wrote it down at the end of each message, and these two varied wildly in length I couldn’t be accurate. I’d still continue to write down time, but if the pattern holds there are three of you who take turns, meaning this batch is over, I can at least see how long it takes for a new bundle to come through.

“<Ok now I’ll address the other two messages. Dave? I’m going to call you dave because I don’t think you gave your real name, you’re just fucking with me. Dave, I know messenger pigeons existed on earth, but I never got to use one. When the fuck would that ever come up? Here they’ve had birds domesticated as long as earth has had dogs. So any pet bird can be used to send messages with the proper training.>”

“<Alright, big message time, that first bit is extremely vague, which is worrying. At least I can enjoy my cartoons in peace, so that’s good to know. The next part you sent something over as a test, some jumble of characters. I think it was a parenthesis, an ‘O’, a right arrow, a break, a backslash, a dash, another backslash, and two up arrows. Hmm. let me write that down.>”

‘(o>\-\^^’

“<Is this what you sent? Sorry I was a bit distracted with timing to focus on it at the time, and I didn’t expect you to send a bunch of random characters instead of thoughts like you normally do. I guess I’ll know the result of that test in a few minutes.>

“<In response to the isekai thing, you guys count as a special power, I would think. There only seem to be three of you at the moment, and you’re probably from earth, but it’s still a pretty big deal. Four heads are better than one head that has the ability to shoot lasers, in my own humble opinion, especially if they’re trying to reinvent alien technology from their home-world.>

“<I don’t know of anything too useful from earth that doesn’t already exist. I know about a lot of space stuff, but the reason we can’t get to space here is that rockets blow up from being violently tossed around by magnetic winds. So that wouldn’t be much help, even if I knew how that stuff functioned.>

<Same thing goes for airplanes. They get tossed around so much that only idiots try to build and fly them. We use airships, big old blimp and zeppelin-like contraptions to get around in the air, but it’s faster to take rail lines over land most of the time.>

“<Really we’re on track for developing anything I already know about. It’s not like I got dumped somewhere medieval and could invent paper and the movable type printing press, this world is more or less just a couple decades behind us, barring spaceflight and weapons development.>”

I took a breath and started waiting for the next batch of… did one of them say ‘suggestions’? Does that mean they believe they’re guiding me? I guess that’s what they were doing before I awoke… one of them also mentioned giving myself a ‘command’ to try and influence myself. So they definitely believe that they have some control over me. I shouldn’t be thinking about this when they’re around. Too late now I guess. Sorry, I just have no idea what you guys are, and it bothers me that you’re in my head.

I tried to put that line of thought out of my mind. I considered picking up my portable games console, but I didn’t think there was enough time to play anything. Batches seemed to come together pretty frequently when I was doing something ‘important’ I’d give it a couple of minutes.

Posted by King-Clod - 04-20-2020, 04:40 PM

Not sure how or why the gaps in our presence exist. We usually tune back in around the time our previous suggestions go through, kinda like a backlog. Could you try timing the gaps on a pocketwatch, or whatever the Kaz'Rao equivalent is? See if there's any sort of pattern?

Posted by 1011686 - 04-20-2020, 12:04 PM

I feel like it would make things really weird to go into too much detail, but yes, the forum metaphor was pretty accurate, and we perceive you in a similar way to how you perceive us. We get to know a lot about some things, basically nothing about most things, but if there's anything important happening around you we'll probably be aware of it.

Actually, just testing something, can you tell what this is?
(o>
/~)
^^

As for the isekai bit, well, while you might not have any special powers and you (hopefully) don't have any grand destinies to fulfill, having knowledge from a completely seperate world still gives you advantages you could leverage if you wanted to. You might not want to be cat Jeff Bezos, but there are probably still lots of technologies and created objects from earth that haven't been thought of here yet, and even if all you could do was tell engineers and scientists how they worked, that would probably still be enough to have a significant impact on your world's progression.
...Actually that kind of sounds like a lot of pressure doesn't it. Maybe put that on the backburner for now. Still, while the memories are still fresh in your mind, probably worth writing down the details of anything useful from earth you can remember that doesn't exist here yet. You would be able to give xenobiologists a field day, at the very least.

Posted by ಠ_ಠ - 04-20-2020, 06:03 AM

You know earth has messenger pigeons too.

Anyway my name is Davery Jimbson and I'm here to have fun on a Friday night, how about you?

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