029. [Text]

[explosivecombat]

Memory seems to be something of an elusive thing for some people, from what I've heard; I've never really considered it to be much of a problem myself, for various reasons both personal and not. But since we're all in this more or less together, and we have no obvious indication of if - or when, depending on your level of optimism - we'll be returned to our worlds of origin, I have to admit curiosity regarding the experiences of others.

Memories being the finicky things that they are, I'm sure we all have things we remember vividly about home - people, places, various other whatnot that I'm sure mattered to you at the time. I'm mostly curious about the people; you don't have to give me specifics if you choose not to, but I want to know -

What sort of things do you remember most vividly about the people that were important to you, and what sort of things do you not remember but wish you could? I'm sure we've all had that jarring moment when we realize that we don't remember what someone's voice sounded like, for example; I want to hear about things like that, if you don't mind. As always, do it anonymously, if you wish; I have less interest in your name than I do your answer.

Perhaps someday I'll learn to ask questions that are more seasonally-appropriate for any oncoming holidays; unfortunately, I've never really been one to adhere to the spirit of a season that I have no real understanding of in the first place.

Comments

text;

[angerpoints]

[... wait, Yusuke gave somebody else something to consider? Hot damn, it's a Christmas miracle. Yusuke makes a mental note to tell Botan about it later; if he remembers to show her this conversation, maybe she'll even believe him.]

That's right. Technically, I'm the only one out of the four of us whose actual job it is to protect the living world from anyone who decides to mess with it, demon or otherwise, but after the other three guys ended up helping me out on my first big mission, we kinda just ended up sticking together. One of them is this dumbass from my school who basically invited himself along on that mission after we defeated this demon called Rando at a tournament; the other two, believe it or not, are actually demons themselves. They ended up joining me and the other guy on the mission as part of a deal my boss struck with them: that if they helped me defeat the bad guys, the Spirit World would wipe their criminal records and let them off scot-free. I already knew who they were before that point - I was the guy who busted them after they stole some artifacts from the Spirit World's vaults.

[... so yeah, basically, the fate of Yusuke's world rests on the shoulders of two teenage delinquents and a couple ex-felons. Talk about your rag-tag team of misfits.]

[explosivecombat]

[God, your world sounds amazingly screwed, not even going to lie.]

And how has all of that been working out for you, if I may? More or less successful?

[angerpoints]

Haven't failed a mission yet, so yeah, I'd say so.

[He would say "none of us have died yet", but... WELL...]

[explosivecombat]

Well, that's something, at least.

Are demons common knowledge in your world, or are you having to keep reasonably quiet about this?

[angerpoints]

I'm supposed to keep quiet about it, yeah. I mean, people've heard of demons, but mostly just from legends and fairy tales and stuff, not because their kid got their lunch money stolen by one.

[... that said, Yusuke totally wouldn't put it above some of the lower level ones to mug some little human kid for cash. Seriously, fuckin' mooks, man. What a pain in the crack.]

[explosivecombat]

Interesting...are they very different to those legends and fairy tales in person?

Forgive me for all the questions, but I'm finding this fascinating and we have no such things in my world.

[angerpoints]

Nah, it's fine. It's not like I've got anything better to do.

[Fact: Yusuke is actually texting at work right now. OOPS. Way to prioritize there, kiddo.]

Anyway, I've never been real big on reading, so it's hard for me to say whether or not the demons I've fought are anything like the ones people've written about. What I can tell you is that if you looked at all the old paintings and statues that people made of demons way back when, the real deal looks pretty much the same. Not nearly as scary, though. Some of 'em even look pretty human - that is, at least until they grow extra eyes or try to shoot energy blasts at you. Or, y'know, both.

[explosivecombat]

[...good job, though this is exactly how Kimblee spends his downtime at work so he really can't talk. Glass houses and all.]

Interesting...I'm not familiar with the paintings and statues, actually, though I suspect that's because my world is quite different to most, but I've known of some beings that are said to be able to do things like that. Human-looking, even. So if nothing else, I'm more than willing to believe that much.

[angerpoints]

"Beings", huh? Like what kind of beings?

[explosivecombat]

I'm not sure how to describe them, really, but they're definitely not human; they were created using alchemy, and arguably they don't have souls of their own - they're more or less what you get when you take a humanoid shell and infuse them with fragments of the souls of others, if I'm understanding correctly.

[angerpoints]

[... wow, that's pretty grim. Even more so when Yusuke finds himself thinking back to what Koenma told him about souls; he doesn't know how souls work in what's-his-face's world, but in Yusuke's, you pretty much cease to exist once your soul's gone, even if your physical body is still intact. So to think that something would be created using parts of multiple souls, which, he assumes, must have been taken by force if they weren't ferried to the afterlife immediately after leaving their physical body...

Well. Let's just say Yusuke has a pretty strong reaction to that idea.]

That's fucked up. Who the hell would create something like that?

[explosivecombat]

Well, it's not exactly smiled upon in my society - it's considered highly taboo to do any sort of transmutation involving humans, especially the human soul. It's considered playing God; we're highly discouraged from doing it, and even if you aren't taking all the ethical problems with it into consideration, it's dangerous besides.

But some will do all sorts of things with human souls, either through desperation (such as attempts to revive the dead) or through a desire for power because souls are considered priceless and can be used to bargain with beings beyond our understanding. It's dark business, really.

[angerpoints]

[Bargaining with souls... Yusuke pulls a face. Geez, and here he thought some of the crap going on in his world was seedy as hell. He's not sure whether he's more sympathetic towards the idea of meddling in transmutation out of desperation or not; he can certainly understand wanting to bring somebody who's dead back to life - good lord, can he understand that feeling - but to do so more or less at the expense of others? That still seems pretty damn low to him. He doesn't mention any of this to the guy on the other line, though; instead, he simply types back:]

Yeah. Sounds like it.

[Aaand we're moving on! Watch and be amazed as Yusuke oh-so-smoothly changes the topic.]

So... alchemy. What is that, like magic or something?

[Oh yeah. So smooth.]