near the end of the festival week

[shakenit]

Chie and I have been working with Charalampos - I'm more and more certain that's Hikaru-san, for the record. He's

well. He's doing science about the gods, more or less. His theory is that divine presence within their Chosen people functions like a load-bearing wall in a house, and the Thing With Feathers dying ripped that wall away with no warning. He's looking for more information about how Chosen interact with their gods, if there's anything we can pass his way.

He was also invited to - I guess we might as well call it a seance? One of the Veiled Lady's priests managed to speak with the Thing With Feathers. It said it was killed by a weapon but wouldn't specify further, and anyway that doesn't seem to have been its main point.

[Written slowly, like she's copying from notes:] "The birds still fly. The wings remain. So too does hope." "Scars take time to heal. Never gone. But better with care, with love, with hope." "Hope is found in darkness. It never surrenders."

Just because a god dies, then, doesn't mean the thing it represents is gone from the world. If we're right that another god is going to die, then that's likely about to be very, very useful information.

Comments

[unsheathedfromreality]

Much the same for the gods back home, their embodied principle not dying with them.

They also don't stay dead.

Thank you for finding and sharing this.

[shakenit]

It also said it can't reach this realm? Make of that what you will. [Sumire's mostly just trying not to think about-- other things.]

You're welcome.

[unsheathedfromreality]

So it needs a bridge back. Or an invitation.

[Amounts to the same thing, in a metaphysical sense.]

[angel_of_baal]

Which god should we be monitoring?

[shakenit]

That, I don't know.

[highsteaks]

Mr Chara's got a whole transcript of the seance, but it's too long to copy into the journals. But if you come to his booth or his house and say you're our friends and helping us, he'll probably let you look at it.

Me and Sumire HAVE read the whole thing and I think the Veiled Lady did it. Because the priest who was doing the seance was a Veiled Lady priest and like why wouldn't the Thing not tell everyone who's the murderer unless if it DID it would mess up the guy who's doing the seance in the first place? But it's only a theory. Maybe it's a dumb one.

But also the Veiled Priest guy did ask straight out who dunnit and the Thing was all "I will not have your HOPE lost." Only with a lot more pauses, I guess?

[shakenit]

Right, yes. He does. [At least Chie knows why Sumire's trying to distract herself.]

I don't think it's a dumb theory at all. I just don't know if there's any way we could prove it, since the gods aren't here in a physical sense in the first place.

[highsteaks]

[This is because Chie is ALSO trying to distract herself from the other murder by trying to solve this one. The other one is actually solved, it's just really awful and terrible and they hate it. Apron Brick Lady is the WORST.]

Yeah, I don't know how either. But if we ever do get proof...

[shakenit]

The other trick might be getting people to believe it. She seems to have a

benevolent, if slightly creepy, reputation.

[unsheathedfromreality]

She is Death.

Kindly or not to her worshipers, they do know she will take the precious and the beautiful and never return them, without explanation or apology.

[grandparty]

Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned Tega Sword when he was asking me about my god; I'm getting the sense that the gods here are far different than what I've had experience with. Like they don't ask first before choosing a person. I was given a chance to make a deal and I don't think that's really a thing here?

I'd still like to know what kind of weapon could kill one of these less-tangible gods. How can you defend against something if you don't even know what you're defending against?

[shakenit]

They don't? That's awfully rude. [Even Elphaba asked, and that was technically a part of Sumire herself.]

It said there isn't a comparable word in the local language. Whatever it is, it may not be designed to hurt humans, in which case we're stuck dealing with collateral damage.

The more important part seems to be keeping people from giving up on each other.

[grandparty]

They don't. I spoke with a Chosen who seemed to very much resent being Chosen. I got the impression that outright rejecting being picked is a thing that just doesn't happen.

The collateral damage will still be extensive. I've spoken with the Thing's Chosen, and the moment the Thing fell must have been nothing short of nightmarish. I don't like this.

I do however like and support the idea of not giving up on each other. That much is a worthy cause.

[shakenit]

Well, with so much cultural weight behind it, it'd be hard to say no to a god... [She can't say she doesn't get it, though.]

I don't like it either. Unfortunately, it's not like we can leave until the Library lets us back in, and that would make it hard to help besides.

[terraboo]

The fact that it's now clear The Thing With Feathers was killed - which I think we already suspected - is bad enough.

The fact that care is key to saving people impacted jumps out to me as more important than the fact that what a god represents doesn't fade. But to pull that effectively, we need to be ready to support an arbitrary number of people at the same time. Or we are stuck doing triage.

[curzed]

[That's Curze's runic Nostraman script again; there's flourishes added that translate, somehow through the Library's automatic understanding, as sarcasm.]

How do you plan to triage caring about other people? By how sad they look? Doling out hugs and comfort like regularly scheduled medication?

[terraboo]

You are correct in one sense. The definition of 'care' is of course part of the issue. Plus it's also a matter of who is the best source of care for the individual.

I'm probably overthinking things. And just... Some of those close to me are Actors here, and if they were impacted by this...

[curzed]

Context provides plenty of clues as to what form of 'care' is being suggested, as hope and love are both intangible emotions, so too is this version of caring. Not putting literal bandages on open wounds but providing aid for damaged minds.

Given what happened to this "Thing With Feathers", and the effects on its pawns servants, long term support may be intended.

If you have companions among the actors, then you certainly can't be trusted to apply a nonbiased standard of who needs more or less caring. This is why medicae and apothecaries are not allowed to treat their own kith and kin.

[terraboo]

True there.

At the same time, those closest to someone impacted would be specifically the best to provide care for that person on an individual scale here. But those are also the ones at greatest risk.

I... What we'd need, it sounds like, is not systemic solutions... But things that can drive hope. And not just in the directly impacted - the wrong god dying here could cause societal breakdown far beyond just those immediate to those impacted.

[There's a line at the end of the sentence, as if drawn out.]

What that is, though...

[curzed]

Those closest to the impacted cannot be relied on to do anything but choose their friends, no matter how much others are suffering. The greatest risk is to those without such a .... 'support network'. Those who are isolated and alone.

Perhaps society should be encouraged to not rely on such beings, for a long term solution. It seems they are more detrimental to this Story than beneficial, and will make a more satisfying ending.

[terraboo]

[it is a few moments before this reply is written.]

Perhaps true. Not easy for me to say given I'm so blessed myself, but so it is.

[curzed]

Thank you for providing these little messages. Coordination is a breath of fresh air from the fracas of the last two.