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.

Thank you!

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[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?

[cyberfly]

They get colds, at least. I don't know about something fatal.

[ But he knows they can be slain. Or disappear mysteriously. ]

I don't know if there's anything different. Aside from the teleporting. And some gods have other powers.

[eternalshield]

Other powers?

[Interest piqued.]

Zeno isn't sure what "other" means here.

[Powers they had before? Or...]

How many powers can a god have?

[cyberfly]

I'm not sure. Most gods can jump and teleport. Some have additional powers. They vary.

[ Shinki, on the other hand, only have powers in vessel form. Nagi can move things, but he's pretty sure he was always like this. ]

[eternalshield]

Well, Zeno supposes that is indeed very godly. Zeno couldn't teleport before.

[And he's pretty sure his usual powers are working. He'll have to injure himself later to be sure, but...]

It's silly to think that becoming a god would confer even more power than that. A god giving the gift of power usually limits it somehow...

[cyberfly]

[ Nagi perks up a little at that. He figured this was a newish god, but maybe Zeno knows more than Nagi thought. ]

Usually? You know something about gods and powers?

[eternalshield]

Doesn't everyone?

[He points to a patch of dandelions.]

Bet you somewhere around here, there's a story about a god explaining those.

[cyberfly]

[ He furrows his brow with some confusion. What does that have to do with anything? Or maybe he's just being vaguely philosophical. Hard to tell. ]

Maybe, but that's not very useful, is it?

[eternalshield]

If you're looking for useful, maybe don't look to gods. That's what they have mortals for.

[cyberfly]

You think mortals are more useful?

[ He doesn't ask in a sarcastic way at all. He's genuinely curious. He's pretty sure than humans are full of errors and weaknesses. Nevermind he used to be one. He's probably a little abnormal for a human anyway. Or used to be. ]

[eternalshield]

Of course. Why would gods need shinki if they weren't? Mortals and normal humans have all kinds of things gods don't, or else gods wouldn't get involved with them so much.

[He knows. He's seen.]

[cyberfly]

....

[ This is not something he's really thought about. It's not that he sees shinki or humans are somehow lesser. But he didn't really think of them as especially useful either. ]

Like what kind of things?

[eternalshield]

[Well, just drawing upon his own experience in the lack of mortality:]

A concept of time, for one thing. Gods don't always understand the effect it has or what can be wrought by it.

[cyberfly]

...because they don't die.

[ He supposes that makes some sense. Shinki all used to be living, and then they died. Does that mean they understand the concept of time better? But how can you, if you don't even remember living? ]