CONTACT | Call me, maybe

[intercalaryninja]

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Comments

[intercalaryninja]

Ah. I see.

You're actually one of the more reasonable people here. Better than any of the cultists :/

[justbeingknife]

That's kind of ya to say. Actually, this ain't my first run-in with a bunch of cult nutjobs.



Although the last one was practically a pajama party in comparison.

[intercalaryninja]

You've lead an interesting life.

What were the big differences between cults?

[justbeingknife]

That's one way to put it! I suppose the biggest one is that the one back home never killed anyone.

To my knowledge, anyway. I didn't particularly want to get involved, only they kinda kidnapped a girl.

[intercalaryninja]

That's understandable. It's best to stay away from those sort of things, even if they do terrible things like that.

I wish we had that option with the cultists here. Even if you try to avoid them, they end up worming their way into your life, one way or another.

[justbeingknife]

Vexin', ain't it?

But I suppose if this is some sick way of punishin' the locals, it makes sense that we can't ship 'em off somewhere.

[intercalaryninja]

Indeed.

In the end, finding a way to deal with the Fog and Fourth would be much better than trying to shoo off cultists. Deal with the root of the problem.

[He's sorry he's hard veered away from birthdays to cultists.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Birthdays: way better. ]

Yeah. Then maybe this place could move on. By the way, what'd you make of that little play?

[intercalaryninja]

Which one? I've been sort of out of it.

[Because... you know... the whole birthday and depression thing.]

[justbeingknife]

Ah -- the one the locals put up, what with the Fog god being a 'peacemaker' until she starts resentin' her siblings. And drumming up a war to boot.

[ Sorry man... ]

It was... an interestin' watch.

[intercalaryninja]

Oh yes. That's an old Ryslig fairytale.

When the Freedom Fellowship visited Haftesal, we found an old storybook with the same story. I actually have the original book in my room.

Did it include her heart?

[justbeingknife]

No, actually. Would it be possible to take a look at the original?

Dunno why they'd leave that part out, but there wasn't a single peep about any hearts.

time to find that old thread *rolls up sleeves*

[intercalaryninja]

Of course. Do you mind if you came over to look at it? The book survived a fire and had been trapped under Vandare for years. It's in delicate condition.

The book never explains about what the Fog's heart is but the annotations suggest it may have been a real thing, rather than just a metaphor.

o7

[justbeingknife]

'Course not, it's been a little while since I dropped by. When'd be a good time?

[ He'd just show up as instructed, with a package of tea for Tsukikage. Never knew when you'd need an emergency brew! ]

Holy shit I did It i updated the page (sorta) in the comments. Deets are there fyi

[intercalaryninja]

Any time is good during the afternoon.

----

[Tea is always appreciated. Tsukikage has so much tea from Christmas but he works through it quickly, so new tea is always appreciated.

Tsukikage places the book carefully on the dining room table and opens it to the right page. He's just tidying up when he hears the doorbell. Soon, he's opening up. There's a smile on his face. It's been a while since they saw each other.]

Happy New Year, Majima-san.

you are a champ

[justbeingknife]

Happy New Year. How'd that Christmas party go?

[ He smiled as he stepped inside with a slight bow, handing the box over. ]

Mana bring ya anything good?

:D

[intercalaryninja]

It went well. I think everyone had fun. [Admittedly it was a little quieter this year, which wasn't a bad thing.

Tsukikage carries the box over to the kitchen, leading Majima into his home. He already has the kettle on the boil so he'll get right to the tea.]

She got me a fridge full of energy drinks. A little strange but certainly appreciated. I work long hours.

How about you?

[justbeingknife]

Energy drinks? [ Where the heck did she find those? The world was a mystery... unless, of course, the answer was 'Mana'. ]

You're lookin' at a man who got his favorite knife back for Christmas.

[ One might question, really, what sort of monster had not only one knife but so many knives that one was unquestionably his favorite. Maybe Majima liked to cook?

Maybe Majima liked

TO STAB.

He glanced over at the book on the table, and approached it with curiosity. ]

Is this the one? You mentioned some old rituals back when ya first brought up that Haftesal, didn't you? Don't suppose this has anythin' to do with 'em?

[intercalaryninja]

Yeah... Caffeinated beverages. I never had them before but they do help keep me awake. [He can get away with so many extra days to work and not sleep ::::)]

I'm glad for you. I had a favourite blade back in my world. Perhaps I should have asked for that... it was shattered on a robot man.

[Tsukikage doesn't know what Majima uses his favourite knife for but he supports him anyway.

The arachne begins to prepare the tea over the counter and nods.]

Yes, I did. But it's a different book. That book had the ritual we used to temporarily stop the Fog. This is just some scholar's copy of the children's stories.

[justbeingknife]

Temporarily what now?

[ That caught Majima's interest; he looked up from the pages of the book. ]

I guess if there was a way for it to permanently stop her, ya would have done it.

[ He was curious about this blade, too, but Majima figured one was probably more important than the other here. ]

[intercalaryninja]

We temporarily stopped arrivals with a ritual in the book. It was a one-use thing but no one came in for months. She was... quite upset after that. Especially since she didn't know we did it at first. Rin and Haru did a good job pretending it was only one person doing it instead of a team effort.

... That book is how we figured out the Fog had a heart and what lead us to use the Night God's typewriter. We could actually kill her if we could permanently kill all her followers at the same time.

[They can talk about it later. A lighter conversation after all of this...]

[justbeingknife]

I'll bet she was pissed. No more potential followers to string along? And the ones who did it were her 'children' in the first place?

[ Not that Majima put much stock in that relation. ]

...Still, I can't help wonderin' why she's so eager to get rid of her weak spot. It might be true that it's hard to kill a bunch of monsters at once. But wouldn't it be more difficult to off a divine bein'?

[intercalaryninja]

Perhaps. But if the Night God and Day God can lose so much power and be 'killed', perhaps that's what she wanted to avoid. All her followers would have to die at once to kill her. And with her priests able to resurrect almost instantly, it does make it a difficult endeavour.

I sometimes wonder if it has to do with the God that once ruled the Fog, Day and Night. I have no evidence for it... but I wonder what happened to them.

[He'll pass a piece of pottery from Haftesal depicts the shadowy and starry figure behind the three figures that represent the three Gods to Majima.]

[justbeingknife]

[ Majima turned over the piece of pottery in his hands. ]

Couldn't say. Though we did take a little vacation to a place with plenty of stars, didn't we?

[ Wow it would be hilarious if such a creature slept in that horrible eldritch sea. If by hilarious, one meant 'awful'. ]

It seems like enough researchers have been looking into the past to leave a trail of footnotes. Do you know what happened to these people? Why it seems like everythin' we find's half-buried in the past?

[intercalaryninja]

We did indeed. [It certainly is possible. Fortunately (unfortunately?) they have no means to check.]

I tried to search for the text referenced. Unfortunately, there are no records of those people or that literature on the peninsula. The writings likely perished in Hafetsal, whether in the fire or the Fog collapsing the city on their writers.

[Tsukikage sighs. He remembers the time warp event and seeing the final moments of the people in Hafetsal- the ones that summoned the Fog. He remembers her rage before she crushed everyone, including him.]

It feels like we're at a standstill. Progress keeps getting knocked back by some unknown force. It's infuriating.