[WORLD TWO | INTRO LOG]

[spellbindmods]

Who: All coven members
Where: In and around the new world’s apartment building where the coven is staying
When: Day (the calendar isn’t syncing for me hELP)
Open/Closed: Open to All

You’re in a room. It’s pretty bright — blindingly so, even. There’s something very stark and very clean about the place, and also the person you’re sitting in front of. You’re sitting? You’re sitting. There’s also a pane of very powerful plexiglass separating you from the uniform-clad person who is now speaking to you. It’s impossible to transcribe what they say verbatim, but here’s the gist of it: - You’re being welcomed to a city called Shehui. Depending on who you are, the level of technology may be light years ahead of you or child’s play. - There’s a very strict policy about magic. While there are measures put in place to prevent magic from happening, this is still something that they reiterate over and over. They don’t want to take chances. - Crime is also frowned upon. Small infractions will result in credit deductions, while major crimes will get you banned. Antisocial behavior is also looked down upon. You’re locked in the city for your initial eight weeks. You can leave afterwards, but trying to break out of the city or cause social unrest will result in monitoring and a potential ban. - This city is supposed to be somewhat relaxing. Is it a free pleasure cruise? No. Is it a self-contained society that runs on community and indulgence? Yes. - You’re being given an allotment of credits in order to stay in the city, which is what the economy there runs on. This goes on for quite some time. - You’re being moved to a housing location. Despite the slotted speaker in the middle of the plexiglass, the only time you have a chance to ask questions is when a small slit opens in the bottom and a package is slid towards you. - What’s in the package? There’s a credit card-like apparatus that has apparently taken a picture of you. It contains a place to write your name, an identification number and barcode. It also has a thin strip near the top that has scrolling script floating by. It states “WELCOME TO SHEHUI. YOUR ID WILL UPDATE WITH COMMUNITY NOTICES AND PERSONAL PINGS FOR JOBS AND VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES RELATED TO YOUR INTEREST.” It’s a lot to take in, but that’s the long and short of it. Have questions? The person will reiterate a few times that there are information desks around the city. That’s all for now…now you’ll be traveling to your next destination: your new home. The floor slowly lowers as if you’ve been in an elevator the whole time. It connects to several other glass containers, much like your own, all suddenly clanking together in a chain. After a short wait, the chain begins to move — quickly. Faster, maybe, than you’ve ever gone before. It’s hard to even make out the scenery when you’re zipping past everything so quickly. Where does this trip lead you? The ground floor of your new apartment building. The plexiglass cases open up and you’re in a hotel lobby. There’s a flashing board on the wall — NEW ARRIVALS, COME HERE. A ▢ So now’s the time to get settled into your new digs. Your name is on the board, and there’s a promise that your things — which, by the way, were mysteriously taken — will be located in your room. No need to fight over bedrooms; those also hold name placards that are digitally installed. Maybe everyone else is already there. Maybe you’re the first person there and need to find a way to stake your claim on the fridge or a bathroom. B ▢ Maybe you don’t want to fuck with anybody right now and are busy exploring the apartment building. You may encounter some aliens, some strangers, some ice machines. There IS that floor that’s nothing but recreational stations. If you’re overwhelmed, the garden is a good place to start. The sport court is pretty empty right now, if you want to have any regrouping meetings.

The apartment building is locked up tight for three hours in order to let new arrivals get their bearings. After that, the ground floor lobby doors open into the city of Shehui. There’s a lot to take in, but let’s cover the biggest bases: C ▢ Right outside this communal apartment building is a large, digital job board. The list of available jobs and credit opportunities are constantly flashing by. Want to pick one out? Just hold up that ID card you were given and the instructions and location will be sent to the ID’s text scroller. D ▢ You’ve got 500 credits to blow on clothes, food, strippers…whatever you’d like? Right next to the apartment complex are tons of local businesses, from bistros to outlet malls. A movie theater, an arcade, a video game store…and the best thing about Shehui? Most everything is dirt cheap. Where are you shopping? What are you buying? Enquiring minds would like to know! E ▢ Right next to the shopping area is a wooded park. It’s akin to a nature trail that’s similar to Yellowstone in scenery and topography. If you’re more comfortable someplace less…tech or modern…then this may be exactly where you’d like to be. F ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

[splinten]

That was the point I was putting forward. I think it's different with you because you aren't human or even humanoid. We don't feel the same social reservations from what we've been trained to think of as a particular and rare kind of intimacy. Our minds associate your behaviour with something more like a cat curling up in our laps. Like, you literally purr. There are different rules around that kind of thing than if you're with a human.

[rootandbranch]

Dirk, I said you could put your face on me.

I still think it isn't stupid if it makes you feel better. I know a lot of humans who need ways to feel better now...

[splinten]

It's still weird. [This comment is followed by him kind of half-doing it again. God, he's tired.] Qri seems to be selecting as ideal members of her team the dysfunctional and damaged.

[It's an ironic comment, but he also gives a little pat to Geir and adds, more genuine,]

Does it bother you? All the humans you know who aren't doing well psychologically.

[rootandbranch]

It's definitely normal for dragons. You should try to be more understanding of... of shape differences. Respect my dragon ways, Dirk.

[Geir has totally made up all his own rules for interacting with people and doesn't know any other dragons, really. Dirk knows this. this is bullshit. it is pretty clear he truly doesn't mind, though.]

I don't know about bother. Mostly I feel sad and want to help? I like most of the people I meet, at least a little.

That's not weird, right? Thinking, oh, I'm sorry.

[splinten]

You're right. I was being culturally insensitive. I apologize for my problematic behaviour.

[No it isn't bullshit is is part of the discipline of Pro6lematics]

It isn't weird. It's sympathy, or empathy, depending. It's a normal thing.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir is very warm and smooth and comforting to put one's face on. 1/1 Verns would agree.]

Those, then... I guess I have some.

[splinten]

It sounds like that idea is confusing you.

[rootandbranch]

I don't know if it confuses me more or less than everything else. I've just gone with it a couple of times... I hope people don't mind.

[splinten]

Some people do, but most probably don't. I've always gotten the impression that it's pretty important socially.

[rootandbranch]

[he turns his head a little to look at Dirk curiously.]

You must have a lot of it. You offer to help out a lot.

[splinten]

[Ah. This makes him feel kind of awkward.]

Not really. In my case, there isn't a lot that I'm particularly adept at when it comes to social cohesion and helping other people. What I do know is a lot of practical skills from raising myself and living alone my life. It's a lot easier for me to be helpful by building someone a robot leg on request than any other kind of help, and if I can't be a good person, then I'd at least like to emulate one for the sake of having a positive effect.

[rootandbranch]

You told me to talk to you any time I felt upset about something. Is that the same as building a robot leg? It's easy and it doesn't count?

[splinten]

[WELL. Fuck. Why is Geir such a stupidly smart dragon.]

I don't know if it is or isn't hard. I haven't done it yet.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir... snickers...]

Dirk, I'm worried about most of the things we talk about all the time. I just don't think about it much.

[these topics don't inspire thoughts. they're a pounding in the back of his head, the inky dark on his scales, a named outgrowth of the nameless emptiness in his belly: will you understand this next incomprehensible thing? are you doing this right? can you even do this right? maybe you can't.]

I guess you already have!

[splinten]

Okay, you don't get to call me out on this without talking about whatever it is you're apparently not thinking about. That's an injustice.

[rootandbranch]

Am I calling you out? Hahahahahaha! I'll remember that!

Oh, come on. We've talked about how I don't know if I can be a person like, a hundred times. At least once.

[splinten]

One and a hundred, you're right. The exact same number.

You didn't tell me you repress those thoughts.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir tilts his head, still amused; that's an interesting dichotomy to draw, that you either have to be repressing a thought or dwelling on it. it does sort of make sense with what he knows of Dirk...]

I don't! I mean, I tell anyone who asks when it comes up. I had to stop telling as many people because they would get upset.

I just don't really think about it all the time. It's... in the background? But I want to do things anyway, so I do them...

[splinten]

[Hm. Okay, he can see how it wasn't 'doesn't think about it' the way he suspects Jade and Jake don't think about things. It's less an active push against thought.]

Do those thoughts bother you?

[rootandbranch]

Y...es...?

[Geir isn't quite sure where Dirk is going with this. you can say that existential uncertainty bothers you the way you can say that the weather bothers you, but it's difficult to do anything about either. to him, they're just part of the fabric of the world.]

[splinten]

[Dirk isn't sure where he's going with it, either. He's trying to understand what's in Geir's head. He thinks he gets it? It bugs Geir, but he can't do anything, so he puts it aside but doesn't bury it.

Dirk gives Geir's snout a gentle pat.]

Destroyer of worlds or not, you're a decent guy, Geir. I'd say your only flaw is not having a surname I can use in moments like this.

[rootandbranch]

I guess you could use Lokison...

[Geir nudges Dirk's hand, appreciating the gesture.]

You said that before. About me being good. I don't know if I am.

[splinten]

I could, but I fuckin' hate that guy.

[So he will NOT be using Lokison, thank you.]

There are a likely senses where you aren't. There's the whole world-destroying thing that you don't seem totally opposed to, although I'd personally categorize that as morally neutral rather than good or evil. But in the sense that you're compassionate and genuinely interested in others, and you have a strong drive to learn and grow, and that you listen and observe and develop your own opinions with consideration to people around you, yeah, I think you're good. I wouldn't call it a perfect goodness, but I also don't think that your compassion and care for others should be discounted as meaningless just because you also have more dubious moral perspectives.

I also think those things, like with regards to world-ending or murder or whatever, are things that you still haven't fully learned about yet, but that you've been inquisitive about them and started to gather new information. So it feels premature to judge you on those grounds when you aren't yet even in a place where you know if you can make choices about those things, let alone what choices you will ultimately make.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir doesn't comment on the hating Loki thing. he doesn't know why Dirk specifically would hate Loki, but a lot of people hate Loki, because Loki is kind of an asshole. it checks out.

but for the rest of it...

Geir's understanding of "good" is a little different from Dirk's -- something less of a moral imperative towards behavior directed at other people, and something more of an innate inclination towards growth and healing, fullness and wholeness and clean bravery: the building-up of things. Geir's cousin Baldr was good just by existing, content to be what he was, generous and giving and kind. Jormungand is a hateful empty fearful rage that grows so massive that it shakes the foundations of the world. how could good come out of that?

still, what Dirk is saying makes sense, and Geir's eyes widen as he listens. the ways in which he relates to other people do seem to come across as okay to most of those he talks to, even if his existence is a state of scorched-earth destruction. the two viewpoints sit in screeching, uncomfortable opposition in his head for a moment, he finds at least a temporary way to reconcile them by applying what Dirk says last: it's true, he doesn't know yet whether he can make choices that would allow him to be different than what he is. since no one else knows either, maybe they're withholding judgment on his ultimate nature, and just basing their evaluation of him on the narrow, short-lived period of time he's been in the coven and with Vern, trying to figure these things out.

that's a very strange thought.]

Oh. Let me think about that...

Doesn't that mean you don't know if I'm good either, though? Since you don't know what I'll decide, or if I can...

[splinten]

To a degree. But I think that's also your situation with me, or with anyone. We only have limited information to make our decisions, and the people we assess usually have the potential for change, even if we're right at the time.