caughtinanetwork | [video] in before eeveelution jokes

Entry tags:

[video] in before eeveelution jokes

[It's late. Or too damn early. Somewhere in that ambiguous area, like 3:00 in the morning, just fine for certain parts of the alien population and a god-awful time for the rest. But here Kid is, addressing the network from the confines of a room in the island-side village.

One can just make out a few figures (Maka Albarn and Rin Okumura) behind him, sound asleep in their bed.]

I have a very important announcement to make, one that simply cannot wait until morning!

[The grim reaper, looking more lively than he has since... well, since the bubble cracked, stoops out of sight of the SFC, and reappears with an Umbreon in his arms. Beaming with the pride perhaps only a father might have for their child, he declares:]

This is Pip, and he's become even more beautiful than ever!

[It is indeed Pip, recently evolved, and he is still fat. He is also a she, but Kid never investigated that closely. Promptly forgetting about the SFC in his eagerness, Kid retreats with Pip in his arms to bend over Maka.]

Maka, Maka! Wake up! I don't want you to miss this!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That, or you'll do something stupid to prove that you're not like the gods I know.

[Whoops. Offending people seems to be a skill of his.]

[Ever since the last time he did something stupid to prove he's not like the Kishin he knows, he hasn't been capable of much at all.

The crease between Kid's eyebrows deepens. He's actually hurt, but the sting sits right up against the guilt of knowing he had ruined everything with a foolish dream that he might be able to help everyone and prove himself worthy in the process.

And who knows about his screw-up better than one of those who had personally assisted him? He let him and everyone else down. How could he expect Shiro to confide in him?]

Of course. I've failed everyone and I've disappointed you in the past. It's foolish to think I deserve to know.

[LOLNOPE

Sorry Kid, Shiro does not put up with pity parties. He's actually even more disappointed in Kid now, out of everyone else here he had expected Kid to at least be able to pick himself up off the ground and keep going despite past failures.]

If you keep going on like that, I'm going to come find you and knock some sense into you. I'm not disappointed in you.

[Is it actually a pity party when he doesn't pity himself, doesn't want pity and actually believes he's rubbish? Gosh, Shiro, it's like you never dealt with a neurotic death god before.

That's why there's no relief when he says that, just a sort of befuddled impatience, as if Shiro had just contradicted some irrevocable law of reality because it was inconvenient.]

...What?

People mess up. People make mistakes. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a mistake, as long as you learn something from it. Why would you think I'd be disappointed in you for that?

[Go ahead and be befuddled, Kid. You might actually get an answer from him if this conversation continues like this.]

Because!

[It's a startled pair of syllables, punctuated by an equal number of confused blinks. He glances around himself and, finding nothing there to help him understand this seeming ignorance of what strikes him as inevitable, he continues:]

A reaper must be perfect! As a future guardian of order, governing and maintaining the balance between good and evil throughout the lives and deaths of all beings within his domain, he must be without fault, his plans and actions foolproof, flawless, and precise!

Who wouldn't be disappointed in a god that screwed everything up?

I wouldn't.

[He's being honest here.]

Honestly? I hate Gods that are perfect in every way. I despise the perfection, the need for everything to be in just the right place and for everyone to do exactly as their God commands or else face the wrath of a thousand punishments. Perfection isn't something to aspire to be, it's a sign of weakness and stagnation.

[Unfortunately, Shiro is muuuuch more on the 'chaotic' end of the spectrum. He's still decidedly a good person, but definitely chaotic good.]

I respect you more for your mistakes, because it shows that you're capable of learning from them, which is more than I can say for most gods.

[It doesn't take a genius to tell that Kid takes being the son of Lord Death seriously; the point might have been lost on him if not for the tie Shiro makes to the value of learning.

The Kishin, who inspired only dread, terror, and fear as far as his madness reached, had a shocking connection with himself and his father. It was at first unbelievable. And then came the inevitable question: If it was true, then why were they so different? Was Kid one day to fall and become just like the Kishin? Or was he - with his disconnected Sanzu lines and all - created incomplete, brought into being flawed so that he, too, could not become so great a danger to the world?

But if he was created incomplete so he could learn...

It's too difficult for Kid to conceive of becoming a god who did not achieve perfection, that perfection is weakness, so instead:]

Humans don't need a tyrant. That's not what a reaper is.

Ever heard of the phrase 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'? I don't think most all-powerful beings mean to be tyrants, they just forget how strong their powers are. It's very easy to go from "my people love me and would do anything for me" to "I'm using my powers to help them, of course they wouldn't mind, they love me".

That's the difference between a benevolent leader and a tyrant: free will. The moment that line is stepped over, the moment a god assumes they are perfect and so they know what each person wants and doesn't ask them anymore, that's when they've gone too far.

[It's dangerous, for him to say this. Kid is a god himself, or a god-in-training, or whatever he is. But Kid is also way more human than any god Shiro has ever met, and maybe Kid can learn this lesson before it's too late for him.]

It's possible for humans with a lot of power to make the same mistake. Kings have become tyrants since the beginning of time. The difference between a powerful man and a god is that men can be overthrown or killed if they go too far, or if that's impossible then all the people have to do is wait half-a-century or so and time will take the tyrant instead. That can't happen with gods.

I used to know someone who would have taken 'gods cannot be overthrown by humans' for a challenge to a fight. I believe that human can do it.

[As an afterthought, Kid adds:]

If you ever meet Black*Star, I hope you keep what I just said to yourself.

[Or Kid would never live it down.]

Only the soul is everlasting. Yet, even a soul can be crushed. When it comes to a god or to humans, both of them have souls. Therefore, neither are immune to destruction. Be that as it may, I understand that fear.

If the Kishin were to supplant my honorable father as god, the world would know a fearsome tyranny never before experienced. That would be the sort of god you expect, a cruel hand that offers only terror, madness, and death. An unstoppable force not unlike other worlds' "grim reapers" of legend.

That is why--

[He has more to say, but he hesitates.]

[He thinks Kid is missing the point he's trying to make. Which he kind of expected, given how Marie reacted when he tried to tell her the same thing. He figures that nobody from their world ever considered how terrifying a loss of free will can actually be.

They're pretty lucky if they haven't.

But Shiro isn't going to argue with Kid about it. Feelings don't change easily, and just having put the thought in Kid's mind is enough for now.]

From what I've heard, your Kishin is pretty similar to Satan from my world, so I understand that. It's lucky you don't have to worry about them here, at least.

[As far as Death City goes, they enjoy a remarkable number of freedoms not afforded people in other cultures ruled by local customs, traditions, and rulers.

The only real plague had been the Witches and their destructive instincts, but Death City produced an endless stream of Meisters and Weapons to combat them over the centuries.

More recently, the Kishin and the Madness he threatened to spread over the globe had risen as a new and more terrible threat, but mankind had, for many generations, enjoyed a freedom to grow as they wished, provided they did not corrupt souls or worse, consume them.

It doesn't help that Marie and Kid are both naive in some rather distinct ways.]

Satan and the Kishin...

It's Rin's connection with the greatest threat of your world that drives him to overcome what makes others suspicious of him. His and Maka's courage are among the things I admire most about them.

Perhaps in time I too can have the courage to surpass the bonds of such a relation. Presently, however, I fear our world will only have another Kishin should I fully awaken as a god.

You're afraid of becoming a tyrant?

[Orrrr maybe Kid had been thinking about this kind of thing all along. Whoops unexpected depths.

But if Kid could become a Kishin, does this mean he's related to Kishin somehow? Or maybe there's multiple death gods in his world and Kid and Kishin are just two of them.]

It's more than that. Becoming a tyrant suggests I have a greater choice in the matter than I have cause to suspect.

It may be less about what I feel for humans and more what I am predisposed to become. After all, I've learned recently that my father had one other son before me. Just prior to the Coral's most dangerous drop in power, in fact.

[Yeah, right around when Kid became especially intense and keen on the idea of SAVING EVERYONE doing a very stupid, very reckless thing.]

Will a love of humanity matter? Or am I predestined to follow the Kishin down the same path? I had hoped to find out for myself, but I wasn't able to fully awaken.

I was too afraid of failure.

[Damnit kid, you really need to stop talking down about yourself so much.

Shiro figures words of encouragement won't help so much without some context, which is why he says what he speaks next.]

Is Rin going to become Satan's tool for taking over the world simply because he is predisposed to become that?

Never, he wouldn't let that happen! His relation of blood has nothing to do with what he chooses to become!

[And if he faltered? Maka and he would be right there to remind him.]

And if Satan were to manipulate him without his knowledge for some similar end, it wouldn't change my opinion at all -- Rin would absolutely make things right again, no matter the cost. That's simply the kind of man he is.

Exactly.

And the same is true of you too. You are what you choose to be.

[The length of time it takes before the reaper's blank, surprised stare flips over into a stern nod is a little comically long, but it's ultimately an effective way to force him to acknowledge a different perspective.

At the very least, he wants to be deserving of that faith. He needs to be.

For the sake of that perfect world of order he wants to make for Maka, for Rin, for all their friends and for the rest of humanity.]

I'll try and see which of us becomes Death.

[See now that's the spirit Kid. Go kick his ass.]

You'll do fine. I can't imagine you would lose to something as terrible as that, hope has a way of overcoming those kinds of things.

I appreciate the vote of confidence.

In addition, I understand your misgivings about gods better now.

[Free will is part of what makes humans so unique. They have a choice in the decisions they make, those decisions shape their fates, and while many of them choose to embrace a life under his father's "Order", those who don't are free to choose "Madness".

And are free to taste the consequences. Still, that is not the tyranny his brother promises to spread across the world.]

But doesn't the order worship one such god? Why, then, did you choose to be an exorcist?

[He hesitates there for a second, not sure if he should tell Kid the real reason or not.]

...You're right, I'm not much of a religious person. It's fortunate that the Order is willing to be lax about that, if an exorcist is talented.

[Except that doesn't answer the question, does it?

After a long pause, Shiro finally gives an abridged version of what happened.]

Just before I started high school, my father was killed by a demon. It tried to kill me too, but I got away with only an injured arm. But this demon, it was a nasty one. It chased me for over a month, trying at every turn to kill me.

In my world, only humans who have been injured by demons can see demons. So when I tried to tell people about it, they thought I was going crazy. Hell, I thought I was going crazy for a while. It scared off pretty much anyone I could have counted on to help me, and by the end of that month I was left alone with nothing to protect myself. But eventually an exorcist came and killed the demon.

I had no family, no friends, and no prospects for my future. Who was going to help a kid with a record of 'psychotic episodes' and 'destructive behavior'? So I begged that exorcist to take me with him, to teach me how to do what he did, so I would never be so helpless again. The actual religious part was more of an afterthought.

[Damn. Thirty-five years later, and it still brings up bad memories and horrible feelings within him. He's really itching for a cigarette, and he has to fight to keep the urge down.]

I see. So you saw yourself as having no other choice than to become an exorcist.

[Rin wants to overcome what he was born with, wants to face and take down Satan himself. Shiro had his whole life practically taken away from him. Left with no option for a normal life, he took up that path.]

Then, you aren't a very religious person yourself, I presume.

I've been re-evaluating my opinions on that.

[Meeting Gods in-person tends to make someone do that.]

I can't say that I understand the appeal of the institutions that form religious beliefs around my Honorable Father, but as mystifying as I find it, it nevertheless exists.

[In other words, Kid isn't really all that interested in religion. Neither does it stroke his ego.

Other things do. The sight of a splendidly arranged room he's appointed himself, for example. Or people complimenting his totally adorable Pokemon, or the noises Rin makes sometimes that he insists are absolutely not a purr, or those times when Maka hugs him with a ferocity that might make his ribs creak if he wasn't so durable.

Those things make him feel on top of the world. Religious worship? ...Meh.]

As you re-evaluate it, what has changed about your opinion?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[video] in before eeveelution jokes

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject