so, shi qingxuan goes running to the dog park. the blanket is left abandoned in her room (she'll go back and fetch it if he wants it back later), and when she spots him buried in a pile of puppies, she darts over.
she's a little out of breath as she crouches down next to him and tries to sort through the dogs...]
Ah... they... [she lifts one pup up so that hopefully he can sit up at least??] ...they seem to like you!
[laughing, he pops up amid the dogs which are now being shuffled around.]
Oh, you made it! And you rescued me, too! My hero! Maybe they can smell Cerberus!
[there is a dog here with flaming feet; it's excited to greet shi qingxuan.... hm. and another one on the other side with a weird middle part, but the dog quickly goes POOF and vanishes.]
[she looks briefly surprised by the middle-parted dog poofing (than? THAN IS THAT YOU?), but reaches out to pat the dog with flaming feet. oh, cute... too cute... this room is honestly the best of the new ones.]
[the petted dog wags its tail happily. there are some others, too. a huge, thick dog who sits grumpily away from everyone. an older, blonde dog that has a bandage on its heel.
a luxurious and beautiful black, long-haired dog who sits regally nearby. a greenish dog with wild fur who keeps "singing" forlornly every so often. a lavender dog with a high ponytail who keeps trying to chew on his horn.]
Oh, no, no, no! Cerberus belongs to the master and the prince! He guards the gates! He has three heads, though, and these only have one! Wow!
Three heads... oh! [she's remembering something] The first week, when we went into the tunnels, there was a three-headed cat near the end... is Cerberus something like that?
Oh! Yeah! You're right! He's not a cat, but he has three heads all in a row! The first time the prince left the House, he completely destroyed the lounge! The master sure was mad.
Ohhh. Wow, reincarnation! Bet the mortals in the underworld would love that.
[he loops an arm over the back of the flaming feetsies dog, like he plans to use leverage to get up, but just ends up...... rising up into a float off the ground anyway.]
You guys really just... vanish? Whoa. We can lose our forms, I guess, or get chopped into a thousand pieces, or even thrown into Tartarus, but I don't think any of us ever ceased to exist yet. Maybe if no one believes in some of us.
[honestly, he's valid. why would anyone ever not float if they had the option of doing so?]
Ahaha... that can happen to us, too. If we don't have anyone who believes in us, anymore, we lose our divinity. [she sighs] ...but that's... the exchange, isn't it? We live lives that are... much longer than they should be, so...
[...she looks down and pets a dog as her voice trails off.]
We become gods after ascending to the heavens. [her hands are shaking. she tries to disguise it by petting a dog.] But when we do, we leave the cycle of reincarnation. And we don't live forever - just for as long as people believe in us, or as long as we don't fail a Heavenly Calamity.
There's always someone else who can ascend and take our place.
[maybe shi qingxuan is just cold? hm. he does not have his blanket unfortunately. :( why did she not bring his blanket if she gets cold easily?!]
It's like being... fired from your job! My brother is always telling me I'm one hundred percent replaceable. Who knew? Hard to imagine me being a goner because I fell asleep again, got fired, and someone replaced me!
Are you worried, too? Like Mineo and White? About, um, dying?
[wait a minute. HOLD UP. his brain has momentarily stopped working for a few seconds. excuse him, he's WHAT?]
I-I... I'm one of a kind......? Wow.... Even though I'm a twin...!
[his skin is as white as a sheet of paper, but it gets pretty toasty suddenly. anyway,,]
Oh, um... Well, I don't know. I've always been my authentic self! Born as the personification of sleep, grew up as the personification of sleep, still to this day: the personification of sleep, too! Wait--
Is there something about you that you're not telling us? You're actually immortal? You're a gorgon?!
[nooo he's too cute. what the fuck. that reaction actually gets her to smile faintly, and she reaches over to pat him on the shoulder. the dog she stopped petting to do that gives a little bark.]
It's good that you've always been yourself. Never lose that, okay?
[anyway - ]
...no, it's... [she sighs] I found out, from a memory I saw. I wasn't ever supposed to be a god.
[noooooo. well, anyway, he perks right up. without his hood, it's easy to see why there was feathers because he just poofs with the praise enough a few tufts fly right off the wings on the side of his head.]
Not supposed to be a god? Wow! You really went out and ascended right into someone else's seat, huh? Do you hate it? That's surprising! The mortals always want to be gods! They try so hard to get divine blessings by proving themselves.
[what the fuck that's so cute. feathers everywhere. please praise him forever.]
It's not even that I proved myself. My brother, he... [...] He switched our fates. The man whose fate I stole was tormented and he and his family died miserably, just so I could...
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so, shi qingxuan goes running to the dog park. the blanket is left abandoned in her room (she'll go back and fetch it if he wants it back later), and when she spots him buried in a pile of puppies, she darts over.
she's a little out of breath as she crouches down next to him and tries to sort through the dogs...]
Ah... they... [she lifts one pup up so that hopefully he can sit up at least??] ...they seem to like you!
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Oh, you made it! And you rescued me, too! My hero! Maybe they can smell Cerberus!
[there is a dog here with flaming feet; it's excited to greet shi qingxuan.... hm. and another one on the other side with a weird middle part, but the dog quickly goes POOF and vanishes.]
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Cerberus... is that your pet?
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a luxurious and beautiful black, long-haired dog who sits regally nearby. a greenish dog with wild fur who keeps "singing" forlornly every so often. a lavender dog with a high ponytail who keeps trying to chew on his horn.]
Oh, no, no, no! Cerberus belongs to the master and the prince! He guards the gates! He has three heads, though, and these only have one! Wow!
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Three heads... oh! [she's remembering something] The first week, when we went into the tunnels, there was a three-headed cat near the end... is Cerberus something like that?
[she's going to pet EVERY DOG THAT LETS HER.]
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Oh! Yeah! You're right! He's not a cat, but he has three heads all in a row! The first time the prince left the House, he completely destroyed the lounge! The master sure was mad.
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[...it's kind of funny to imagine, though. a three-headed dog, throwing a fit...]
Did the prince come back, at least?
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Oh, yeah. He usually ends up dying some way or another, so he comes right on back into the House to start all over again.
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...aaah, that's what you meant when you said death reminded you of your home.
[she understands a little better now.]
I wonder what it's like - going somewhere like that, after you die.
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Why, have no afterlife?
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[...]
But when a god's time comes, they cease to exist.
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[he loops an arm over the back of the flaming feetsies dog, like he plans to use leverage to get up, but just ends up...... rising up into a float off the ground anyway.]
You guys really just... vanish? Whoa. We can lose our forms, I guess, or get chopped into a thousand pieces, or even thrown into Tartarus, but I don't think any of us ever ceased to exist yet. Maybe if no one believes in some of us.
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Ahaha... that can happen to us, too. If we don't have anyone who believes in us, anymore, we lose our divinity. [she sighs] ...but that's... the exchange, isn't it? We live lives that are... much longer than they should be, so...
[...she looks down and pets a dog as her voice trails off.]
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[he's losing his mind HIS JOB]
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[...]
No, I know it is. Where you from - gods have always been gods, right?
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[wait, it clicks shi qingxuan is trying to make a point about something. wow.]
You guys just die?
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[even the heavenly emperor, probably.]
We become gods after ascending to the heavens. [her hands are shaking. she tries to disguise it by petting a dog.] But when we do, we leave the cycle of reincarnation. And we don't live forever - just for as long as people believe in us, or as long as we don't fail a Heavenly Calamity.
There's always someone else who can ascend and take our place.
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[maybe shi qingxuan is just cold? hm. he does not have his blanket unfortunately. :( why did she not bring his blanket if she gets cold easily?!]
It's like being... fired from your job! My brother is always telling me I'm one hundred percent replaceable. Who knew? Hard to imagine me being a goner because I fell asleep again, got fired, and someone replaced me!
Are you worried, too? Like Mineo and White? About, um, dying?
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He said that to you? [her brow furrows at that. nooo, he's not replaceable...] That doesn't seem right. You're one-of-a-kind.
[...she looks down at the dog she's petting.]
Not that, exactly, but... [she bites her lip.] ...what would you do if you found out something you believed about yourself was a lie?
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I-I... I'm one of a kind......? Wow.... Even though I'm a twin...!
[his skin is as white as a sheet of paper, but it gets pretty toasty suddenly. anyway,,]
Oh, um... Well, I don't know. I've always been my authentic self! Born as the personification of sleep, grew up as the personification of sleep, still to this day: the personification of sleep, too! Wait--
Is there something about you that you're not telling us? You're actually immortal? You're a gorgon?!
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It's good that you've always been yourself. Never lose that, okay?
[anyway - ]
...no, it's... [she sighs] I found out, from a memory I saw. I wasn't ever supposed to be a god.
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Not supposed to be a god? Wow! You really went out and ascended right into someone else's seat, huh? Do you hate it? That's surprising! The mortals always want to be gods! They try so hard to get divine blessings by proving themselves.
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It's not even that I proved myself. My brother, he... [...] He switched our fates. The man whose fate I stole was tormented and he and his family died miserably, just so I could...
[she shakes her head.]
I don't know what to do, now.
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Like coming down into the underworld to get them back!
[oh, they pet the dog from before that was disgruntled about the lack of pats. way smaller that cerberus, but that's okay!]
Maybe you should, like, apologize!
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I'm going to - I just don't know if an apology will be enough, you know?
[there's no changing what happened, after all.]
...especially not coming from the person who benefitted from it the most. I don't know. [she sighs] I need to figure it out, before we go back.
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