008 | OVERFLOW

[godsoffortune]

This is an overflow post for 008 | Sakura 2.0: You Can (Not) Have A Picnic. Please bring any further comments here and link to your threads at the original source.

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[eternalshield]

[Look out, here he comes. He sees a kid hovering, and really, he has things to give kids. At least hover with something in your tummy, c'mon.]

If you need an invitation, let Zeno oblige you!

[He picks up a truly revolting neon-orange frosted monstrosity, and offers it.]

Otherwise, Zeno will help you count them all, if that's what it is that's got you so engaged.

[cyberfly]

Uh.

[ No, he doesn't need an invitation. Definitely not to eat such an unnaturally colored cupcake. He frowns, mostly because he's confused. ]

Why would you want to count them all?

[eternalshield]

To know how many there are.

[...naturally? That's the main point of counting.

But something has to be making this kid hover, so Zeno has resolved to... not find out what, because that might not do any good, but at least welcome him to hover more... companionably? Maybe? Something like that.]

Is that what you were staring at, the great number of them? Or something else? Zeno's not a mind reader.

[cyberfly]

I guess so.

[ And also because the cupcakes are so gaudy, it's hard not to notice them. But anyway. ]

What are you doing with so many of them...?

[eternalshield]

Eating them, mostly. Making sure other people eat them, too, sometimes.

[It's interesting to see how other people react to them, too.]

Zeno's never seen them before, you see, so Zeno's trying to collect people's reactions. But unfortunately, they're reacting more to the number or the set-up than the cakes themselves.

[cyberfly]

...never seen what before?

[ Confused. Because he can't mean cupcakes, right? Everyone knows cupcakes. ]

[eternalshield]

[Nope, he means the cupcakes. He holds one up as illustration.]

Someone told Zeno this was chocolate, too. Zeno wants to know if it's very common, or very luxurious and expensive... Zeno might have to go stock up!

Or don't tell Zeno, so Zeno won't hoard them. Have one.

[cyberfly]

[ Another one? That girl thought chocolate was amazing and rare too. And coffee, for that matter. ]

No thanks.

[ He doesn't really trust the food here, so he eyes it warily. ]

But if it's chocolate you want, it's not that expensive, you know.

[eternalshield]

Oh, you don't like it, then?

[Following that wary eye.]

It's common and there are better-tasting things? Has Zeno been cheated?

[cyberfly]

No, I mean...

[ It's not really a matter of liking chocolate or not, but Nagi forgets that not everyone is as careful as he is. ]

It's not always safe to eat things, from the Far Shore.

[eternalshield]

[Aw, no, were these chocolates poison? Did he eat delicious-looking wild poison again without realizing it again? He did that with berries sometimes. He'd had a bit of a stomach ache earlier, but it vanished like all of his ills...]

Is Zeno going to die now? [Making that sound fearful and not sarcastic was a great feat.] What's not safe about it?

[cyberfly]

I don't know about those. But there was an incident a few weeks ago, where people got blighted from tainted chocolate they got from some gods.

[ He shrugs. Zeno probably won't die. But it's not like death is the worst thing that could happen. ]

[eternalshield]

Thought only naughty shinki could do that.

[But the explanation he'd gotten was brief, very brief. This more experienced new friend...]

You must be so terrified, any time you see chocolate now, and never able to eat it happily again! Zeno will test it all for you, then you have some.

[Because of course, now he's curious. Does his general immunity to sickness and injury include the blight? Or perhaps the distance from Hiryuu Castle merely slows it down.]

Of course, Zeno knows nothing of blight, so you must watch Zeno eat all the chocolate and tell Zeno when the blight becomes apparent.

[cyberfly]

[ Naughty shinki? Terrified? Nagi looks somewhat perplexed by these descriptions, as though he's never even thought about them. Then again, he's never been much of a judge of naughty versus nice. And neither can he ever recall being terrified of anything, even blight or death. Furthermore, he's confused by the offer, which seems to be out of kindness or stupidity, neither of which Nagi understands. ]

Why would you do that...?

[eternalshield]

Well, first, to have an excuse to eat the chocolate first.

Second, because it's more fun to share it, and bad manners not to.

[This is... basic... also he won't die if it is poisoned, so. You can be vindicated the hard way, if needed.]

Zeno is new here, after all. Zeno needs to start making friends or else Zeno will still be alone.

[cyberfly]

... I think most of us are new.

[ Nagi included. He's only been here a few weeks. Though it's obviously a relative thing. There have been many new arrivals since Nagi got here. ]

Wouldn't you just be alone again if the poison killed you?

[ Unless you know something about gods (or shinki) who die again... ]

[eternalshield]

Normally, new people might be the best kind of people, but if everyone is new, then new... doesn't mean terribly much. It isn't special anymore. Who isn't new, that can talk about these things?

[Still, it's rare for him to really come across something truly new.]

Having never died, Zeno can't say one way or the other on that! [But he's come across ghosts before... who can say...]

But how many people have died of it so far? That might affect Zeno's final decision to get started.

[cyberfly]

...I don't know if anyone died. I only heard about people getting blighted, from people who have been longer than me. I can give you some names, if you want.

[ The chocolate incident was before his time, so he only heard about it from other people who had been there before him.

He pulls out a bottle of water from his messenger bag. ]

I have some purified water. If you start getting blight, you can have some.

[eternalshield]

Aah, that's really kind!

[He doesn't take the water just yet, though now he's curious. Now that he actually does have access to a cure, just in case he isn't immune... this gives him that much more confidence that he could survive an experimental exposure...

He'd have to come across it naturally in the wild, though. He doesn't want to make Shin-ah feel bad...]

If it's only something you heard about, you must've heard a lot. Zeno would like to know who you've heard from. [He takes an experimental bite of chocolate and... feels fine. Hm. Moving on.

It was broken off a bar. He offers the rest of the bar to Nagi.]

[cyberfly]

[ Nagi shakes his head. No thanks. He doesn't really have a sweet tooth, anyway. ]

If you talk to someone named Hakkai, he can tell you about it. [ Actually, Nagi first heard the story from that hero guy, but he never caught his name. Oh, well. ]

...how do you feel?

[eternalshield]

[Oh, a name he'll have to hang on to... hm...

He concentrates very hard before answering Nagi. Any ill effects will be fairly brief. He doesn't know how far away he is from Hiryuu Castle, so he doesn't know how brief... or how long...]

Nothing different. Happy!

[cyberfly]

....happy?

[ What a strange response. Nagi looks somewhat confused by it. He was asking how he felt, physically. ]

[eternalshield]

[To Zeno, it's a physical thing... the taste of something new and sweet is definitely physical, so is the way a smile breaks out across his face, and it fades after a moment.]

Mm, it tastes so good, and Zeno isn't feeling sick. Zeno is very happy not to be sick.

[cyberfly]

...gods still get sick.

[ Nagi says this as a statement, because he's seen it. Omi came down with fever a little while ago. He wonders if this means gods also age or can wither in other ways. ]

[eternalshield]

Do they? Zeno wouldn't know.

[That genuinely surprises him, since the gods were able to prevent that for him.]

At that point, is being a god any different from being a human?