-Overflow- for 24 - Autumn Reception

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: Autumn Reception
When: September 30, 6 PM
Where: The Gods' Meeting Hall
Summary: The Heavens are throwing a formal party! Old and new gods alike are invited, so put on your nicest outfits and some good dancing shoes, and come see what this shindig is all about.

Continuing from HERE!

Comments

[revolutionfalcon]

That just makes it sound like it's based on who's most like you. [Which sounds like it's more likely to catch those who follow a doctrine and go by their world's rules than anyone who might fall outside that but still live an honourable life.]

But considering what we know so far, you shouldn't have to do it for gods.

[nibelungvalesti]

There are many here who I believe would be worthy.

[The Valkyrie looks away, slightly.]

[She is not meant to live among others; she is a goddess of fate, one whose interactions with mortals are meant to come only at their moments of death.]

I would not wish to make that choice.

[revolutionfalcon]

[That gets Shun's attention more than most of the rest of this conversation has. He imagines that in her world, "choosing" was limited to people she didn't know in life, in a position like hers. But in this place, it could very well mean people she'd become allies or even friends with.

He watches her closely for a few silent moments before commenting, tone straightforward.] I don't think anyone would, in your position.

[nibelungvalesti]

[He does not imagine wrong, but he fails to capture the true nature of her situation. A Valkyrie who is not active sleeps. As such, she can be said to truly know no one -- even her fellow gods are estranged.]

[The implication of making such a choice is profoundly disturbing, such that even she looks taken aback.]

I have come to believe that it would be best were I not called to Choose any of you.

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's about the first time Shun has seen Lenneth look that disturbed by something - or disturbed at all by something, really - and though his sympathy is somewhat limited, he can certainly understand the reaction.]

You're probably right. Even if it was possible, it'd hurt you and others more than it would help anyone.

[Any god here who was Chosen would have more than just a single friend, and an existence like that probably wouldn't sit well with some of those friends.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[The Valkyrie doesn't precisely 'grow quiet'. But her next words lose much of her imperious tone, leaving her voice gentler than most any other time.]

It would. Yet it is tempting to grant some people here an eternity in Asgard.

[revolutionfalcon]

Is that what choosing them means in your world? [From what Shun's heard from her before, her world seems to align in vague points with Norse mythology, but he might as well ask for the confirmation since there's enough differences that he can't be sure.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Those I choose become Einherjar, and once I have trained them adequately, I send them to Vahalla to become gods. [True and literal gods, in all senses of the word, if perhaps weaker ones than the natural Aesir.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That gets a faint snort out of Shun, though there's no humour in it.] So basically what's going on here, but with more steps.

[He can't imagine everyone here would want to be gods in death any more than they do right now. Some people just don't really consider themselves fitting for the role, chosen or not.]

[nibelungvalesti]

There are certain parallels. If shinki became gods as a matter of established course, it would be remarkably similar.

[Why would anyone not wish to be a god? Besides, whether or not they consider themselves fitting is irrelevant: it is the gods' purview, manifested in the Valkyrie, to decide worth.]

[revolutionfalcon]

But it only happens randomly. [So that's certainly not something to rely on. Still, he remains somewhat unimpressed.] It's the kind of ascension plenty would be ready to turn down, anyway, if this place is any sign.

[A good chunk of them don't want to be here, or serve their role only out of obligation to innocents rather than to the Heavens.]

[nibelungvalesti]

The act of losing memories on becoming a shinki is a painful and unnecessary complication. [She shakes her head, utterly unhesitating to scorn the way of this world.] I understand its reasoning, but I believe no one can argue that it costs less than it gains.

[revolutionfalcon]

I don't think anyone would argue with you about that part. But I meant that most of the gods here don't want to be gods.

[He's straightforward about it, because that's the general attitude he's gotten out of his time here - either they don't want to be gods, don't think they're worthy to be gods, or aren't to be trusted in a position of power.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[The slight pause speaks volumes. The Valkyrie requires her composure to respond to his point.]

The 'gods' here have been given the name of gods and certain powers and abilities to go along with that. It is much the same as naming someone a knight and giving them a sword. Their inner nature is no different.

They have not become gods. They are not gods. Their flesh remains mortal, their essence physical. They have not die, been Chosen, been trained, or been ascended.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Composure or not, Shun looks derisive of the notion almost as soon as she starts speaking.]

Do you think extra steps are going to change anything? If someone doesn't want to be a god in life, waiting until they're dead and telling them they're chosen isn't going to do a damn thing, and neither is training someone who doesn't want to be trained.

[It probably helps that Shun doesn't buy into the idea that gods and humans are inherently different, considering the "true gods" here really aren't giving the mantle a good name.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[That is an understandable perspective, but a difficult one to argue when the Valkyrie exists in a fundamentally different fashion from a human. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Near Shore, where she must physically manifest a body from divine energy to interact with anything there. Knowing that is a prime reason she can confidently state the difference.]

Most certainly it does. Everyone who fights has a reason for fighting.

[revolutionfalcon]

A lot of people who have a reason for fighting aren't fond of being told what they should do with it from on high. [He himself basically lost his faith in any kind of higher power before coming here as a result of what he had to fight for with his own two hands. If he'd died in the struggle and some god came down to tell him he was chosen now, he'd be more tempted to beat their ass back to wherever they came from.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Do you truly believe that is so? I do not tell people why to fight. I show them where someone must fight. [From that point, the reasons usually handle themselves, in her experience.]

[revolutionfalcon]

It depends on why you think it is they "must" fight there. Not everyone would agree. [Regardless of other factors, all beings have some kind of bias. The old gods here have proved, if nothing else, that gods aren't beyond that.]

[nibelungvalesti]

Preventing the end of the world is usually a good motivation. Whatever people fight for, it tends to rely on a world existing for those fights to have any meaning. And Ragnarok is inevitable.

[revolutionfalcon]

So you're asking them to prevent something you say is inevitable. [He puts that in a somewhat dry tone, because he imagines the very concept of an impending doom that's inevitable would be enough to have many people turning that position down.]

[nibelungvalesti]

[His comment elicits the faint confusion from her that is the Valkyrie's equivalent of great surprise.]

Ragnarok cannot be prevented. But it can be won.

[revolutionfalcon]

And how many people die anyway in the crossfire? [There's some bitterness from Shun at that. A conflict that can't be prevented, but only won doesn't sit right with him given his history, and he can't imagine he'd be the only one.]

[nibelungvalesti]

...Ideally, none. If the Aesir are strong enough to contain the Vanir and their Jotun allies, it is likely Midgard would know nothing of the battle. Should we fail, however...

[revolutionfalcon]

Then people start dying. [Shun doesn't know a great deal about Ragnarok, but even if he might have the end of the world in the general sense wrong, it certainly sounds like losing it means that end.]