public channel | day 92, afternoon

[dontpokethat]

Alright, we got any priests here? Tanyuu says we need one.

[There’s a lot more he could say here, like the fact that they’re specifically looking for a Shinto priest, and that they need one so Reira can experience a proper shichi-go-san festival, and that he suggested that maybe it didn’t really matter since it’s all symbolic anyway, and Tanyuu didn’t seem to like that suggestion.

But none of that has occurred to him, so here we are.]

Comments

[impatientdefense]

So it's all more... passive, manipulative. Power behind the curtains.

[It's a little hard to conceive of, since in her experience, most entities that never really socialize aren't much good at pushing people to do their bidding. But cultish groups might spawn up around those entities, and push each other to do things.]

You run into any things like that out here?

[dontpokethat]

Something like that. Humans may run into them on occasion, but their influence isn't usually evident unless you already know what they are.

Eh, none that come to mind. Most conscious forces that we run into seem to be a little more overt.

[impatientdefense]

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? All the overt, conscious forces. I'm guessing not that great, considering... everything.

[dontpokethat]

It... depends. Back when we were actually functioning as a carnival, we ran into quite a few that were benevolent, or at least not malicious. They were usually among those we were putting on a show for.

[impatientdefense]

Huh. I wouldn't think people that powerful would care to watch some carnival. That's more the... bored townspeople, thing.

[dontpokethat]

Hey, it was a really good carnival. [Yeah, that's his explanation.] We had things here you couldn't see anywhere else - and a pretty incredible performance crew, to boot.

[Is he bragging because his boyfriend used to be stage manager? Maybe a little.]

[impatientdefense]

Right... [She catches there's something he takes personally about it, which makes sense, since he's been with them for years.]

I guess being powerful doesn't mean being creative.

[dontpokethat]

[Ginko laughs quietly.] Guess not. It seems like some of these people can fall into a rut pretty easy after a few hundred years... which I suppose makes some sense.

[impatientdefense]

I can't imagine it. Hundreds of years, doing basically the same things... Living for thousands of years, tens of thousands.

Shit, what do you even do with thousands of years?

[She knows there's at least one person with the carnival who claimed to be that old - the orange one with the centaur body, with some rock name - but it's still baffling.]

[dontpokethat]

It's tough to really think about.

[An expanse of time on that scale... he doesn't even really want to think about it. Hell, he doesn't even like thinking ten or twenty years forward.]

I guess, if you're a fae, you focus on running your realm. ...Or carnival, or whatever it is you've got.

[impatientdefense]

And it all just blurs together...?

[It's hard to imagine and harder to relate. A few days without travel or fighting, she starts getting antsy.]

I guess.

[dontpokethat]

Right. Most likely.

Kinda makes you glad the rest of us don't have to deal with that, huh?

[impatientdefense]

Eh. I mean...

Don't we? I heard there's some kids here, who haven't been, like... aging. If we never go home...

[dontpokethat]

...Maybe. But the option not to renew our contracts means that, if we ever do decide we've had enough, we can go back. It's up to us whether we keep living like this, or not, right?

[impatientdefense]

Heh. Right. So it's just... Optional immortality. Opt-in immortality.

[dontpokethat]

Something like that. Just for the immortality-inclined.