romance and murder go so well together

[capyper]

[ If the colorful posters from Tuesday weren't enough, Yato has redoubled his efforts for today and slapped these up all over the place:



We are admittedly not entirely sure what the heck the catgirl is there for, but she's there. Anyway, in the dining hall this evening, Aqua and Yato have set things up for a group dinner!! All the food is being put on one table; the rest of the room is for mingling and is colorfully decorated in a way that suggests that Yato went wild in the art room at some point and decided what we all really need in our lives is more color and more glitter!!

There's also this piece of paper with everybody's names on it in pairs, and sets of questions (red tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet). That's right, your mystery game is speed-dating and Yato is here to be your cupid for the evening!! ]

Comments

[pokexplorer]

The exact same thing? I...hadn't considered that at all, actually. It would be something to find someone who truly understood my life's work.

[Not that he blames anyone here for finding everything about his world weird, but even back home, it was difficult to explain his work to the trainers he met.]

[capyper]

Maybe not exactly the same, but something close enough! Or somebody who's equally as into their work as you are, so they can at least say something like... "I don't really understand your research, but I understand your passion for it!"

[ Somebody's watched a few dramas in his time... ]

[pokexplorer]

Ahh, so someone else who has research projects of their own, is what you're saying. [Hmmm. Right, maybe it would be too strange to pursue the same research with that person.] It would at least allow for the time we would need alone to do our work. And besides...when you put it that way, I believe that I too would be supportive of that person if they were as passionate as I am about my own research.

[With a smile,]

That was some rather impressive insight on your part.

[capyper]

Well, I am very experienced in the ways of the world!

[ Total lies, he just watches TV sometimes. ]

Anyway, now it's your time! Hit me with a good question.

[pokexplorer]

I would be rather surprised if you weren't, considering your age.

[He still has a hard time comprehending the ages of some of you people! Hundreds and thousands of years! How.

Colress glances at the questions to refresh his memory, making sure he picks from a different set than Yato.]

How about this? "What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?"

[He really likes hearing about personal goals and the like.]

[capyper]

Hmm, well... I got my very first shrine not that long ago! It's been my dream since I was just a little kid to have one, so to have it come true after all those centuries... it was one of the best moments I can think of.

[ Even if it's so small he can literally pick it up... a shrine is a shrine, and he managed to bother the divine government into spiritual legitimacy with it, so it counts. ]

... And I guess it's not my accomplishment, exactly, but I have a pretty great kid who helped me get it!

[pokexplorer]

Ah, congratulations! Having something built in honor of you would be quite the accomplishment indeed. I'd certainly consider it one, despite the circumstances.

I'm afraid I don't know very much about gods, so it is quite surprising to discover that you were a child at some point? Do you age like a human would but at a much slower rate?

[Right now Colress sees Yato as a teenager, so that's gotta be some slow aging! Much slower than Cherryblod!]

[capyper]

I think it probably varies a bit for each of us, but in general, yeah, we do age a lot slower than humans do. Once we hit the age that... we're meant to be, I guess? We'll just stay around that age indefinitely. So it's totally possible for a god to look older than me, but actually have been alive for fewer years than I have. I don't think I've aged for... a bunch of centuries now.

[ He doesn't keep track, so "a bunch of centuries" is as good as his estimate can get... ]

[pokexplorer]

I see! That's quite interesting- I wonder what determines the final physical age...the type of god, perhaps?

[He's not sure if Yato actually has an answer to that, he's just musing out loud.]

[capyper]

You know, you might be right about that, now that I think about it. This commerce god I know, he usually grows up to be about middle-aged. And combat-oriented gods usually look like they're in their mid-twenties.

... But the god of poverty I know looks like a high schooler, but she could just be an outlier?

[ What... should a god that embodies poverty look like, anyway. ]

[pokexplorer]

So in a way, you could all- or at least most of you?- be evolving to fit the needs of whatever it is you're representing. That would make sense.

[Sort of...it's harder to compare god aging to Pokemon evolution than it was when he compared Mettaton's various model changes to it.

In general, it's harder to even really think about gods' lives, especially humanoid ones.]

It sounds like you all have a civilization all your own as well...do you still blend in with humans from time to time?

[capyper]

Blending in would be one way to put it... We blend in so well that most humans wouldn't be able to see us, even if we were standing right in front of you. Most of you guys just don't have a good spiritual sense.

[ ... And those that do probably sound moderately crazy when they talk about it, so. Yeah. ]

[pokexplorer]

Ah, well then! That is much more camouflaged than I had in mind.

Since you put it like that, it makes it all the more incredible that the Kingmaker managed to bring you here...let alone make it so you are visible to all of us.

[Goddamn, just how much ability does the Kingmaker have?]

[capyper]

... Yeah, I've been thinking about that as well. I guess it's reasonable to think he might have some spiritual sense, there's nothing inherently strange about that — but being able to take away other parts of what it is to be a god.

[ ... ]

You know, normally gods don't need to eat or even use the bathroom [ thanks for that info ] — which might be even weirder.

[ He now has a working digestive system. Thanks, Kingmaker. ]

[pokexplorer]

So he...made you a human for the most part, essentially. I hope getting used to that has been as painless as possible...

[THANKS FOR THAT INFO, yet...that's morbidly fascinating at the same time. For everyone's sake he won't follow that line of conversation further though.]

For what it's worth, I still fully believe that you are one, even if you have taken on a near-complete human form. Miss Caren and I had a conversation about how everyone has "unbelievable" facts about their worlds that seem to be completely unique...that certainly is proving to be true.

[capyper]

Aw, thanks! I appreciate it... especially seeing as I can't really prove anything. But we've had vampires and mermaids and crustacean people, so I guess we're a pretty open-minded group to these things overall.

[ Even Yato thought it was kind of a "wh...oa, okay, that was unexpected, but that's totally happening!" moment when Caren went full mermaid on them. ]

[pokexplorer]

Exactly. When you've seen crustacean people, anything is possible.

[Basically, Cherryblod became Colress' bar for "how strange can worlds get" very early on.]

I know that my stories of Pokemon have come off as a bit far-fetched as well. But stories are just what they are until I can actually recover any of mine.