BBS | Voice

[brynwieldr]

From: Leo
Date: November 17th

[Leo sounds tired as he starts the recording, but this is easier than typing right now. His hands still hurt.]

Now that everyone's had a few days to recover from that disaster, does anyone have any idea what the fuck was going on in that forest?

[He rarely swears, but give him a break here.]

Comments

[brynwieldr]

[Leo finally looks at Aymeric, pointedly ignoring how his eyes are a little misty. He wasn't crying. He wasn't!]

Thank you.

[onedrinkwithme]

[Lies. Aymeric can see it as clear as day, using his thumb to wipe them away.]

I did not mean to make you so upset...it was never my intention.

[brynwieldr]

I know. I don't know why this upsets me so bad.

[kokuyoyo]

...Why.... was it not the better reason exactly... .

[onedrinkwithme]

Is it not a sign of caring?

[Using his other hand to try amd pull him a bit closer. There would be no joke about letting the mage get rest but the gesture is gentle.]

[arcadianvampire]

[And in return is the sound of a voice who sounds incredibly done with what happened there. Not unlike Leo himself, perhaps.]

I have no concrete explanation for them specifically, but if I were to make an educated guess, it's what humans so often like to do: tread places they ought not in the pursuit of power. Too often do they seek to control powers greater than them. Blasphemy is a way of life for many... such as it was with those cultists, interfering with the very structure of this universe. Though the possibility of them being merely corrupted puppets in a larger play is there, I am not keen on forgiving them so easily for their trespasses.

[His tone's as no-nonsense and dead serious as they come, perhaps a view tempered with experience.]

What troubles me most, however... what were the cultists and their spirit conspirators going to do with all that power they tried to steal?

[brynwieldr]

Because I don't use first aid kits often and would be clumsy and unhelpful with one. I use my tome quite frequently.

[brynwieldr]

Still, I don't cry like this.

[He goes, resting his head against Aymeric's chest.]

[brynwieldr]

[A kindred soul. Bless.]

Mm, that's been a sticking point for me as well. That the humans stumbled across a heavenly forest--fine, whatever. I'm human, I know exactly how good we are at finding and poking at things we really shouldn't. But why? Why kidnap and drain so many?

[arcadianvampire]

That I cannot say, I'm afraid. Cults are confounding things, finding cause in all manner of madness. I'm fairly certain there could be a cult for virtually any deranged idea you can imagine.

[He paused to think for a moment, but to Leo's question, he came up empty at first.]

Digging straight into madness is just making me arrive at more questions. Why target gods and shinki alike? What is it that we both have that they cannot get elsewhere, and what can it be used for? And how did mere humans learn to cut us off from our divine power en masse?

...Whatever is behind this, it must require immense amounts of power. And it knows how to defang divinity in the process.

[brynwieldr]

Not just gods and shinki alike--gods and shinki and soulless shinki. Were is just the newer gods and shinki, the ones not native to this world, that'd be one thing. It'd be obvious that there's something about us that they wanted. But soulless shinki are from this world! And usually not nearly as powerful as other shinki. So why them?

[arcadianvampire]

I can think of only two reasons: The first possibility is that they simply cast a wide net, uncaring what they caught in it. The second is that perhaps even the soulless had something of value.

If nothing else, they could be used as bait. Sometimes you use a smaller fish as a lure for a bigger one, like using a sardine to catch a salmon.

[onedrinkwithme]

[Gods is he still sore but Aymeric is capable of adjusting that his stab wound was not in range of touching. He can at least do that much. But he hurts in another way: enough to make someone cry and that stings more than any wound inflicted on him.]

It does not make you less of a person if you show emotion.

[kokuyoyo]

....Has it occurred to you to learn...

From: Thanatos

[trademark_skull]

["Humans somehow got into the forest" was likely an exposition that goes without saying. And they don't really have any idea how they managed to do that anyway. Emizel can assume Leo wanted more of an explanation than that.]

...It looked to me like they were trying to use us as some kind of power source.

[The draining effects from the sigils and those papers. They seemed perfectly okay with luring gods and shinki there and then suck them dry.]

[brynwieldr]

...I never considered they were bait. If they were, then it is something about us new gods and shinki that the forest wanted.

[brynwieldr]

Doesn't make it any easier to show it, you know.

[brynwieldr]

Has it occurred to you that I really don't have time or energy to entertain a teenager's petulant boredom? If you're not going to offer any ideas or answers to my questions, I don't have time for you.

[brynwieldr]

But for what purpose? That's what I don't understand.

[kokuyoyo]

You've been doing so well until now...

[Chikusa]

....Humans.

[brynwieldr]

A futile hope that you might offer something of use if I kept answering your inane and frankly rude questions.

[Idiots]

Are you saying 'humans' as an insult to me or as an answer to my question?

[kokuyoyo]

Yes.

[CHIKUSA]

Did you speak with any of those hooded figures....?

[brynwieldr]

No. I was too busy tearing down sigils, saving my son and fiancé.

[....there's a pause as he processes what word he just used to describe Aymeric before quickly:]

Er, Aymeric.

[onedrinkwithme]

I know.

[One arm goes around Leo gently as he tries to support him. If it wasn't for the injuries, this would look like a romantic moment but in one way it is. Maybe the idea of healing and closeness can be something to show much to care.]

You need not to hold back on my account.

[brynwieldr]

...let's get back in bed.

[Then he might.]