timelymaid | fifth bubble; video/action for ecruteak.

[ Aradia's sitting at a table with a sizeable stack of books and her binder opened to red-inked notes that can't be read clearly on the screen. She's got the pokegear propped up against something, and she smiles absently, clearly ordering her thoughts. ]

Hello! This is Aradia. I've been doing some reading - well, I suppose it's rather a lot of reading? - about the legends of this place. Jade, thank you again for that book! I actually read a reference to it there, and then it took me a little while to locate other mentions of the topic - it's been nearly two weeks? - because I suppose I'm really in the wrong region for this, but -

Hm. I'm rambling. Anyway! Here's a story that some of you might find interesting.

A long time ago, there was a pokémon known as Regigigas. It seems to be part of a creation myth, like a few others - the task Regigigas completed was pulling the continents into place. When it had completed that task, it created three golems in its image: one from an icy mountain, one from rocks, and from one magma. Regice, Regirock, and Registeel. For a time they were worshiped by the people of the land, but this would not last. They were so powerful that the people grew afraid, and took action.

Using magic they sealed away the master of the golems, Regigigas. The three golems it had created were spirited away to a new land, for if they were to come together Regigigas could rise again, and the people of that land feared that would mean endless destruction. The golems were all sealed away, their locations lost or forgotten.

[ Aradia falls silent for a minute or two, making a note in her binder, before looking back up. ] I'll admit it isn't exactly overflowing with details, but I thought I'd share anyway. The legend itself is apparently native to a place called Hoenn. "We built this" - that was in the translations they released. I wonder what it refers to in specific? The placement of the continents? This world's civilization? I really want to go to Blackthorn sometime soon to see for myself! Oh, and the rest, if you weren't following the news, I guess: "Man ends, pokémon ends, everything ends. New worlds inherit new dreams." We've certainly got worlds aplenty represented here, anyway.

This place does have something of a knack for cryptic messages, though. "Our words shall remain here for the ages. Thus we shall erect a pokémon statue outside. They possess great insight and refuse the outside world. We humans must learn to walk in harmony with them. We depart for their sakes."

I wonder how many more of these little messages are hidden around the realm. I suppose we'll just have to find out! At least reading about this makes it easier to know what to keep an eye out for when we're exploring! Although reading about all of this also makes my "to see" list absurdly long, so maybe I ought to stop until I've caught up with that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's true, but it is possible to lie without meaning to. Leading questions can cause people's memories to become confused, so the answers may not be as accurate with them.

That's entirely true, too! And if you know what you want to find out, your questions are probably going to be leading.

Precisely. So, for example, if you ask if people were involved in some sort of important event before arriving here, they might vastly overestimate the importance of whatever they were involved in.

True. Perspective makes things different, and not everyone has the same amount of it.

Exactly... and, barring the presence of someone with more perspective from the same world, we probably wouldn't have any choice but to believe it.

It's a fun puzzle! What's real, what isn't. What's true and false!

Well, yes, but when there's that much on the line, I'd rather have something straightforward rather than a puzzle.

...I'm not going to disagree there. I suppose I'm just trying to look at it in a way that keeps things fun! It's easier to look at things, that way.

...I suppose so. I'll admit, this is more interesting than the things I'm usually faced with, so I can't complain too much...

Puzzles are actually pretty common back home! But I think I prefer those here to those there, if I might say so.

Well, I'd imagine the ones here are a bit less... urgent, if I'm reading your home world's situation correctly.

You're reading it correctly! Although I, at least, am not on the team that's being chased by the entity in charge of random teleportation murders. I'm rather lucky that way!

Are there many puzzles in your home?

[He... huh?]

I... yes, I would rather consider that to be a plus.

In the sense that there are many mysteries left to be unraveled and problems left to solve, yes.

It really is!!!

[ it's best not to question when she makes comments like that, Kayneth ]

Well, that sounds exciting! I think our homes are similar in that sense. Though, what kind of problems do you have to solve at home?

Oh, finding the root of all magic, attaining immortality, generally finding ways to do better magic... that sort of thing.

Oh, so nothing big, then. [ Teasing about his casual tone, basically. ]

Finding the root of all magic and attaining immortality...sounds pretty impressive! Have you gotten very far with it?

Well, it's something practically every mage family works towards unless they're completely unorthodox, and it's rather hard to say how far anyone is in their pursuit because no one has really gotten properly close. There are some mages who have found ways to prolong their lives far past any normal human's lifespan, but that sort of thing usually comes with a severe cost.

No kidding! That's true even in my world. I mean, you have to die to gain immortality, which is a fairly big cost? I'm not surprised that there's a similar cost in other worlds. Momo seems to have had immortality in death, as well, but...well, again, a cost of death.

Precisely... and even then, I don't think the methods that are technically available to us would guarantee proper immortality, given that eventually the soul starts to deteriorate. Even if you found some way to preserve your body, you'd still have to account for that.

The soul starts to deteriorate?

[ This is news to her, so she's zeroing in on that. ]

Yes... something like that. It's a bit difficult to explain, as I've met very few mages who've managed to prolong their lives to that extent without turning to something like vampirism. The ones I have met... they still no longer feel like humans-someone who may have had a diverse range of personality traits will seem as though they have been reduced to one or two.

...Well, that sounds unpleasant. I can't say that's a problem I've seen at home - though souls whom remain in the world of the living do find it hard to care about the problems of the living.

Understandable, I suppose, though in my world it really depends on the spirit. There are different classifications, and some are more... complete than others.

"More complete"?

Some are only fragments of memories that have little else but the drive for self-preservation, while others are far more like the person they were when they were alive. Of course, the latter will still eventually degrade and disappear from the world, but they can stay around for a decent amount of time.

[video]

timelymaid - 2013-08-03 10:45 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-08-07 03:24 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-08-10 03:12 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-08-17 20:00 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-08-17 20:02 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-08-17 21:46 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-08-22 09:50 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-08-27 01:52 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-09-01 09:45 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-09-21 03:47 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-09-23 10:28 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-09-25 23:52 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-09-26 05:38 (UTC) - Expand

enjoymyatelier - 2013-09-27 03:23 (UTC) - Expand

timelymaid - 2013-09-27 04:20 (UTC) - Expand