[BBS, Open]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

From: Nia
Posted: Jan. 10

So here's a question for all of you.

Say sometime in the future, a way home pops up. The stars are right, or the prayers of the world unite, or we find whatever brings us here and reverse it. Doesn't matter what, the key thing is that it won't last. You've got to decide right away. What do you do?

If you're a shinki, going home means you're dead. No more life like this that you can expect. Is it worth the gamble? What if you get stuck as a shinki in your own world, not remembering anything, no other shinki or gods? On the other hand, you stay here and you get stuck with whoever's left if your god takes off. Maybe they all do and you're off to the old gods, or unnamed. Either one's a raw deal.

Gods? You got it easy. You go back and pick up where you left off. Except you'd be leaving your shinki behind. No promise on what happens to them. Maybe they'll end up with someone okay, maybe not. Maybe even if you made an arrangement with someone who'd stay, it goes wrong. Do you just abandon them? Trust that the old gods won't be so bad?

Not saying it's going to work out this way. But it might. So what if?

Comments

[erogappa]

if you keep it a secret then you dont have to be a superhero all the time.

you can just be a person and go have a drink or see a movie or whatever and not have a dozen people come up to you and ask you to do hero stuff for them.

you can sleep at night and not be worried that the bad guys are going to find your house and kill your dog.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Ahh, I get it. I think.

[Subconsciously, she's used to Drivers being open and obvious. But there's something else she can compare it to.]

Of course, that assumes shinki could do anything in that new world. After all, we can't get to the Near Shore without a shrine or a god.

[erogappa]

sure and were assuming that we dont explode into ayakashi when we arent connected to heaven anymore or that we dont just fade away or something. its all just fantasy at this point, but its a nice fantasy.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

See now you're getting into why I asked this in the first place. Leaving's a huge risk for us, since we don't know what's going to happen. Do you risk it, or play it safe??

[erogappa]

id like to leave. id like to go someplace else, without ayakashi or gods or any of it. but i dont think we could survive anywhere else. i think were held together with magic from this place and if we left wed die.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

You might be right. So surviving is more important to you than getting away?

[erogappa]

when you put it like that i sound like a coward dont i?

none of my memories of the place i came from are good enough that its a place i want to die in. but if i could go there and learn more about who i am and get my memories back that way? that would be worth the risk.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

No. Not at all. I can understand why someone wouldn't want to risk ending it all just for a shot at freedom.

Don't agree with it, but I understand it. I knew my choice from the beginning though.

[erogappa]

so youd stay? you dont want to go see what your world is like?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Other way around. I'd never stay. For me, better to die free than live as someone's property.

[erogappa]

i hope you get the chance.

[erogappa]

to go home! to get out of here, not to die! sorry!

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I knew what you meant! After all it would be tragic for someone like me to die.

Oh. Wait.

[erogappa]

more proof were not dead right? how can dead people die again?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Just another step, I guess. You die, you move on. You die again... maybe you move on again. Maybe there's a Farther Shore waiting for us.

[erogappa]

thats a really terrible thought, thanks.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Super welcome. But hey, maybe it's better than this.

cw: references to suicide

[erogappa]

i thought that way for awhile. this place really sucks, but theres some good parts too. if i died i wouldnt have those any more.

its not easy but im trying to think that way.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I don't agree with that. But maybe it's a better way of thinking than mine, I'll give you that. It's definitely a happier one.

[erogappa]

hey if happy doesnt work for you then be angry. im not going anywhere until i can make sure that whats happened to me doesnt happen to anyone else.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Okay... what's that?

[erogappa]

whats what?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

What's the thing that happened to you that you want to stop from happening to others?

[erogappa]

being a shinki

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Oh, right. I'm, not sure you can stop that, but maybe you can. And maybe there's a way to make it not so bad.