un: cantilena

[windsongs]

This might be a weird question but bear with me. I think some of us remember having a life before the one we've supposedly lived in Crane City or beyond. But does anyone remember dying? Literally dying or being led to believe you have.

I won't ask the specifics. You don't even need to tell me your name if you don't want to. Death is a very personal thing and one of the first things they teach you in my profession is to avoid asking direct questions about the event itself. But I've been turning the possibilities in my head and even the reincarnation angle doesn't really fit. If you've got any insights or ideas I'd love to hear them. Or if you know anything about the afterlife/netherworld in general. Either way, let's swap notes.

Comments

[windsongs]

[ It's only speculative until proven, and well. She has some experience in this field. ]

no. just a normal person surrounded in supernatural circumstances

they may have only been superstitions in your world
but for some of us here they're very real. I get it thought
I've met at least one ghost who didn't believe they existed until I've had to break the bad news
so this isn't the first time I've had this conversation with someone

[janescayre]

[Whereas Fukawa's first taste was being flung into Stygia and humiliated tenfold. Oh to have never perceived at all...]

Well at least someone's prepared. My friend claimed she was possessed by a ghost but I'm half-sure she just said that to freak me out. It's her fault I couldn't sleep alone in the dark anymore, and now places like these just make those nightmares real.

How the hell are you dealing with this so calmly? Every day I wake up expecting to be hexed into the shape of some foul creature, or trip over a curse that melts my skin off, or encounter some man-eating magic beast that'll rip me apart. It's untenable. People weren't meant to live like this. Reality was horrifying enough by itself, now we've got to throw in witches and youkai and vengeful ghosts?

🔒

[windsongs]

[ Fukawa please get better friends.

There's a part of her that wonders if she should just toss out some self-depreciating joke like she always does (or maybe a 🤷‍♀️ and be done with it). But the fact that this girl is legitimately freaking out about the whole thing, hooo. Okay. Time to send a privated message. ]

so if I find out you tell anybody about this I'll put in a special request with one of my spirit friends to pay you a visit

[ No you won't, Hibiki. ]

but part of that is true. I've been a magnet for the weird and unexplained for as long as I can remember. probably a lot longer
even if you don't know or understand why things just happen around you, you get kinda desensitized to it

but I had to learn when I was really little to keep any big emotions in check
so it's not that I'm completely calm all the time
but bad things happen when I don't keep myself in line. and that's not the whole "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" trope you see in media

literally
*bad things will happen*
especially if I can't keep my tone AND emotions in check

also wtf who does that to somebody?? seriously
you need better friends

🔒

[janescayre]

[Unfortunately it is her pal Komaru who needs better friends: the ghost was real and delivered vital information, Fukawa is just an idiot with a persecution complex.

Not that she's too stupid to understand the implications of a private message. Those are always juicy secrets or a vile threat. Or both? She squints at the screen. Spirit friends...was this person some kind of shaman? Necromancer? There's shockingly little to glean here, hardly worth going private over in a world where every other person can shoot laser beams from their eyes. Perhaps there was a contractual secrecy with their powers, or a secret identity situation. Maybe they had an enemy among the intergalactic refugees.]

Bad things as in a cruel and unusual twist of luck, or as in "spirit friends" rising up to wreak havoc? It's difficult to catch a drift that's riding on one ripple.

Are you summoning those things here? How angry do you have to get before something happens?

And don't say stuff like that, Komaru is just fine! Maybe the ghost crap was hard to swallow and she can be childish, but she's the only person alive I'd ever trust my life with! And she doesn't care what I smell like!

Just forget it, it was a stupid anecdote in the first place. I only meant that I don't have any experience with this stuff and I'm probably gonna get squashed by it sooner rather than later.

At least the city seems normal. It's that "virtual" world worries me.

🔒

[windsongs]

I can't summon the dead. I'm sure there are people out there who are able to, but I'm not one of them
that isn't what happens when I get angry

do you know what a siren is? if you do, that might give you a hint on what happens if I lose my temper
and I'm just saying, friends tease each other and she might not be trying to be malicious
but people can still be toxic even if they don't mean to be

[ Man, this girl is a huge downer. ]

I'd say the ON world is just a game, but the whole thing with the princess felt way too real
so I get it
but you're able to use magic there right?
I know it's not the be all end all solution to your fears, but it gives you some tools to defend yourself

🔒

[janescayre]

Of course I've heard of sirens. I'm a liberal arts girl. I haven't heard of any myths involving their tempers, only that they drew sailors to their deaths with their song. Is it a hypnotic effect then?

[She types out "Komaru is too stupid to be malicious" but her fingers still before hitting send. Then, delicately, they backspace until it's wiped clear. Because it was true: Komaru was pretty dumb, but only because she had a warm sincerity that would melt any mean bones in her body. If seeing a ghost were a prank, it would be out of character. Right?

She nibbles her thumb. Okay, just gonna breeze past that bit. No one needs to be nosing into their business. If she ever gets to see her best friend again, she'll bring it up then.]

I haven't tried using the magic there. I don't trust it. Being given "powers" for free, that's way too suspicious. There's always a price for such things, we just don't know what we're paying with yet.