(OOC) Question meme

[grave_understandings]

B-broke 500 comments. Question meme time. You ask, I answer, I ask, you answer, etc, etc. We all know how this works.

Comments

[derpfarmer]

How's Wisdom feel about resident puppy Solar?

[grave_understandings]

He's very...well, puppy. Wisdom kind of wants to headpat him sometimes.

More seriously, it's kind of nice to have someone who's coming from the same assumptions he is, give or take various things. It's fascinating to him to see all the differences, but it's also sometimes exhausting and sometimes a bit of a minefield. He does see Kidale as much younger than he is, both in terms of the Exaltation and in terms of...actually being younger. (Wisdom looks about twenty but is somewhat older than that due to the age-freezing effect of the Black Exaltation).

There are things that Wisdom is kind of (unsure) about -- namely Kidale's general optimism about Thusia and his girlfriend -- but in general he's fond of him, and quite serious about teaching him what he can.

Reverse?

[derpfarmer]

Wisdom's a cool guy, and it's nice to have someone around from Creation who doesn't want to kill him for being a Solar. The Abyssal DOES make Kidale feel pretty silly and underknowledged, but that's been Kidale's life since he left the olive farm, so. Taking that in stride!

He's a little bit unsure about this whole ~just a new type of Exalt that you wouldn't know about since we weren't around in the First Age~ thing, especially since Abyssal. That's. Not usually what you'd name heroes right. BUT Wisdom's been nothing but polite and helpful so Kidale's willing to buy that there's nothing to worry about. Maybe he'll pester Wisdom with puppy questions about things, but he's altogether not worried about Abyssal presence the way a more experienced Solar might have been.

Anything you look forward to doing with Wisdom? :3

[grave_understandings]

I want to actually get into a fight thread with him at some point. I actually haven't yet; there was a nature thread but it got lost in the threadrunner's rl stuff, I think. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with him derping around talking metaphysics with people and being mildly annoyed at the general premise of Thusia. (Stop fucking with the afterlife, gods, that's not yours!)

General state of the union?

[derpfarmer]

I as a player am failing at life right now so characters are being very slow and etc.

Kidale's okay! He's...okay! He wants to be an awesome hero so he's eager to learn some stuff and become competent. Supporting a girl is nice for his self-esteem, but he really needs to get off his butt and do some things.

Revan is suffering. He has a hard time really investing in the reclamation of a lost world. He really, really wants to just burn everything up with a superweapon, turn to the gods, and be like "job done. Bye?" He's spending too much time just watching and trying to figure out a critical action to take as a result because most of the people-to-people drama is too petty for him to feel like he needs to get involved with them, and the flora/fauna thing...it's no "save the galaxy from the Sith Emperor by murdering an interplanetary society! 8D" situation.

Izumi Curtis is doing GREAT. She's doing what she does: settled in with a family unit and kicking and hugging a bunch of kids. She'll go hunting and stuff and she's teaching a chemistry class, and she feels that's enough for her to contribute. Plus her condition is worse in Thusia and she knows it so she's wary of TRYING to do more, particularly since she applies to the Jim Butcher Rule of Dangerous: smart enough to know her limits and willing to pick her battles. I'm happy with where she is. o/ Maybe needs more kicking Apartment QQ kids around, needs to fulfill a request to go bleed on Rory.

Isabela: hahahaha such a destressing character to play. She's chilling, disappearing every now and then to gut an animal and get necessities, DRINKING A LOT, MOLESTING GODDESSES. She's just fine~ Though she's a little grouchy at Lavi right now because he told her he doesn't buy the whole "shallow and only interested in sex" reputation she tries to cultivate for herself.

Not counting the Neverborn, five things Wisdom won't miss from Creation/the Underworld?

[misterious]

First impressions, if applicable, go here. I suppose.

[grave_understandings]

She's pleasant company! Almost restful, in a way. He appreciates her appreciation of information and her willingness to exchange it, and he respects that she doesn't particularly want to talk about herself; it's something they have in common.

Reverse?

[misterious]

Pretty much the same on all fronts! She's a firm believer in equal trade of information and likes that he doesn't pry, and does the same. There is relief and respect there.

Thoughts on the dream walking god guy?

[grave_understandings]

Quite, quite interesting. Wisdom's currently working under the assumption that he's the god of "nature" or the world itself or some such thing, and thus an opponent of the current pantheon. Which...hmm. He's not really very invested in the current pantheon, obviously, so he doesn't have any particular bias against its enemies. They had a quite pleasant conversation, really.

It seems as though this guy is bigger than them metaphysically, or thinks he is, which is also an interesting thing to note. It would certainly explain why they took the trouble to kidnap a pair of Exalts, who specialize in defeating things much bigger than they are. He's not immediately inclined to do anything with the information other than watch and wait, and be aware that "nature" might have a guiding intelligence behind it.

Same question because I am boring!

[no_hero]

EXPLAIN THESE RONIN THINGS TO ME.

I-I am so blind in understanding your things '-'

[grave_understandings]

S-sorry, I have been playing this game for like ten years now and forget to explain terminology.

Okay so. Abyssal Exalted are world-killing weapons, raised up by the ghosts of dead Great Old Ones, or Neverborn, for the purpose of finally allowing them to die (in general, by destroying the world, which metaphysically anchors them to existence). By default, Abyssals start in the service of a Deathlord, which is basically a massively amped-up ghost who serves said Great Old Ones with varying degrees of faith. These are loyalists, and ultimately they are expected to burn the world down.

Ronin are Abyssals who don't have a lord and thus aren't committed to destroying everything that exists; Wisdom is one of these. The problem is, their entire power set is oriented around death and the dead, so even if they intend to help people it's difficult for them to create things that aren't weapons, rule benevolently, fight without killing, et cetera. What most ronin end up doing is wandering from place to place and destroying threats to Creation or local stability, staying only as long as necessary lest the forces of the Neverborn find them or their own power turn on the people they're trying to protect. (What Wisdom did was say "fuck this" and go to the Underworld -- the land of the dead -- to build a powerbase and figure out how to destroy the Neverborn without dragging Creation with them. It might have worked if not for one of his fellow Abyssals, who found and killed him on his ex-Deathlord's orders.)

First impressions? And/or how awkward is their next thread going to be?

[no_hero]

Kiritsugu was already pretty awkward about someone being able to look THAT close at himself and see what all's going on with him. But the thing is that Kiritsugu's also a HUGE FAKER and thus will probably... act as if he doesn't remember/know anything unless thoroughly called out on about it. Mostly because that's how he... self-defenses. But at the same time, there's an uneasiness because basically (lolol abyssal ronin-like) the closer people are to him and knowing his nature, the more likely his nature will corrupt them. Since his whole thing is severing and binding--nothing really comes out RIGHT after he touches them. Or that's how he sees it anyway.

But he does hold some respect for Wisdom as a fellow not-magus. It's more of a professional sort of thing which is why he said he would have liked to talk to him more about that sort of thing at the end of their first meeting. Hoooowever, this whole dream thing will be an unsettling omen-like thing to Kiritsugu so he will be very much hesitant and withdrawn from that sort of approach. It's nothing against Wisdom personally, and everything to do with Kiritsugu not knowing really how to deal with people who see that damage inside him.

It's easier for people to see him as a douchebag cold man than someone who still feels and not only that but hurts a whole damn lot.

But the saddest thing is that it also... means he sort of sees himself stuck with Wisdom in a way. And there's all the about it. since. yeah. all the above.

Reverse?!

[grave_understandings]

...lolo remind me to explain Resonance sometime. (e-even though I'm minimizing it in Thusia because it's a serious bitch to play.) The short form is that as an Abyssal does things against their nature as a creature of death, metaphysical backlash builds up and eventually erupts against them or people they care about. S-so there's not much left for Kiritsugu's nature to do that hasn't already been done.

Wisdom...hmm. A little bit awkward because man, he really kind of screwed up that conversation, in his opinion; way to pry into a dude's private life and accidentally reveal someone else's secrets, self. /)_(\ He feels sympathy for Kiritsugu, and certainly found him pleasant enough to talk to despite the awkward subject matter. (And was sincere in his desire to try to break the curse; if Kiritsugu had wanted a solution outside the gods, Wisdom would have happily taken it on as a project.)

But he does also see a lot of similarities to the ronin Abyssal mindset in Kiritsugu, and to his own mindset to some extent. The central question of a heroic ronin Abyssal is "how do I use this power for good", so he certainly sympathizes with the conflict of "is killing some to save more the right way to do things", and he's thought a lot about it. (He himself is a powerful combatant but also a researcher and necromancer, and ultimately he chose to focus on research first as a method to help the world, but he's spoken to another ronin who was doing the traditional thing). So after the dream, he feels (will feel) a little bit of kinship, and probably bother Kiritsugu more.

Also he's quite fond of Iri (because seriously, it's Iri), so Kiritsugu gets bonus points for being her husband.

Does Kiritsugu have plans at the moment?

[homoenculus]

I NEED TO PICK UP THAT OLD THREAD because I just lost all my threads after a certain point /o\ But what are Wisdom's thoughts on Fate/magic shenanigans

[grave_understandings]

Yesss play with me |D

He's pretty intrigued in general! Basically, being Daybreak caste, he's a huge geek and loves working out new things about magic and with magic. He's also been impressed with the Fate/magic cast that he's met so far (Iri and Rin) as competent, creative mages. And the alchemy thing was just kind of mindblowingly cool.

Bonus relationship thingit: he's quite fond of Iri already. She's obviously competent and powerful, and also very nice and very civil, and obviously interested in learning new stuff which is something he shares. So basically an excellent first impression.

Reverse?

[homoenculus]

I WILL DEFINITELY DO THAT at a time that isn't 3am because fictional metaphysics are hardddd

She has an excellent impression of Wisdom as well! He's nice, polite, and eager, which is really just a winning combination of traits for her. And what he's told her of his magic is amazing and also relevant to her interests, because gosh if only Fate/universe had competent necromancers :'D GOSH. She'd like to learn more about it and would be likely to ask him questions/request demonstrations/etc.

And his awe at alchemy was, in a word, adorable, since it's definitely a skill that she takes for granted much of the time. She doesn't know how well these powers work across different worlds and different types of 'magi' but she wouldn't mind trying to show him basics, either, to see if something sticks.

If Iri wanted to start some kind of organized gathering for Thusia's magic users to exchange information/techniques/lore would Wisdom be down with that?

[grave_understandings]

I know right. ;; I love them but they're hard. (And yeah, if only you guys had had any kind of decent necromancer around, much less an Abyssal Exalt...gosh.) He'll totally demonstrate for her, yeah; he's even got a couple of spells that are relatively safe demos.

He would absolutely be down with that. Super down with it.

Is that on her list of stuff to do?

[corinthian]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS FOR WISDOM AND RIN...........

[grave_understandings]

Wisdom quite likes her! She comes across as very competent as a mage, and he's enjoyed being a huge experimental geek with her and trying to combine their disparate systems. He also just enjoys their conversations; she's pleasant to talk to and hits his sense of humor pretty well when she wants to. So yes, A++.

Reverse...?

[yuetsu]

She has a positive first impression! It's pretty neutral though because Rin has a heaaalllthhhhyyy distrust of other magitypes. It isn't even a conscious thing so much as a reflex and just her own general mistrust of people in general. She is excited to get working though because she could both use the distraction and the challenge and practical application is great.

Wisdom's thoughts on the god system?

[grave_understandings]

It makes him cranky! Basically he thinks that gods have no business interfering with the dead, and especially no business kidnapping them and dragging them off to who knows where without so much as a by-your-leave. And he recognizes that the gods have them in a very neat box, which he doesn't like much either; they control everything necessary for life AND they've capped everyone's abilities at a level where they can't threaten them. He's sufficiently cynical to suspect both are at least somewhat deliberate, especially since the pantheon in general seems to have issues with the idea of consent from what he's seen.

That said, he is a strong believer in taking the situation he has and moving on with it, so he's throwing himself into stuff like working out a warning system with Rin or clearing out his own apartment or possibly building some constructs once he gets enough spare parts. He can accept working for the benefit of the other people here even if he's disinclined to work for the gods directly, and once he gets his head wrapped around that he'll accept dealing with the gods a bit more. Right now, though, he prefers not to.

How's life for Rin?

[nolongerslate]

First impressions? I don't remember if Wisdom's met Toph or not, but I know he's met the other two.

[grave_understandings]

He hasn't met Toph yet, no.

Zel made a good first impression; he explained things, he's another sorcerer who doesn't mind comparing and theorizing about different kinds of magic, and he was willing to bypass his own prejudices and give Wisdom some forewarning, which he very much appreciated. Would happily talk with him more and/or get him and Iri talking about the magus club idea they both seem to have.

Melisan is obviously more complicated. Wisdom genuinely rather liked him and, to be honest, genuinely still does; until he tweaked out about necromancy, he was a perfectly pleasant and erudite conversationalist. The freakout was frankly kind of insulting, mostly because Melisan implied that Wisdom was incompetent and didn't know what he was doing (neither of which are remotely true), but rationally he's willing to make allowances for the fact that it was a freakout coming from personal trauma. (The insult is why he took the "no, actually, it's fine in my cultural context" route rather than one that was more conciliatory, which he might otherwise have done.) On thinking about it later, the business about souls being trapped in the zombies made him wonder just how different necromancers are on Melisan's world; that's something that does not happen in Exalted -- ghosts can willingly possess corpses to affect the world more easily, but raising them just requires Essence -- and something he frankly finds unpleasant, crude and mildly blasphemous.

He respects Melisan enough to try to stay out of his way from now on, basically, and as long as Melisan doesn't get in his business he'll be content, if slightly regretful, to leave things that way.

Reverse...?

[nolongerslate]

Zelgadis likes Wisdom, for much the same reason. He like talking craft with people. It's something he missed in Sabra, since by the time Glide got back significant memories of magic, Zel was gone, and the only other sorcerer he interacted with was Rezo and Jace, both of which ended badly. And Zel's relationship with the undead is... well, complicated since he does remember Trickster's zombie Homecoming, but he also had Chika on his team, who was a decent guy and also undead. Plus he does come from a world where intent matters a lot more than where you get your magic from -- one of the Lina and Naga manga chapters has Lina helping a girl who is a necromancer.

Melisan was enjoying it. He likes people, he likes hearing about other places, and he wants to know more about what the others do. It's only... he does have a visceral fear of anything that reeks of sorcery or the undead. He's willing to grant that sometimes people who use it aren't evil, mostly because someone in his campaign was dabbling in sorcery. Hell, he knows a few of the abilities that, when used on an unwilling target, would start to corrupt his soul. But the whole personal trauma just leaves it a whole mess of fear which Melisan covers by anger.

It could be worse, though: Wisdom is not a telepath. So, Wisdom might flip out and try to conquer the place with an army of zombies (in Melisan's mind), but at least Melisan's mind and secrets are safe.

Any things you definitely want Wisdom to do or mess with?

[grave_understandings]

He's currently working on an early warning/rescue alert system with Rin that I'm excited to mess with; the idea is that people can pick up a remote unit that will attune to them and send up an alert in the common room if they start losing a lot of blood. Once I properly nature him, I want him to start building some constructs out of the bodies he brings back, since he is pretty good at doing that, but he might hold off until he sees a decent use for them. (He originally assumed he'd be able to set them patrolling for wildlife, but he suspects that that wouldn't go over very well.)

Same question for any of yours?