Asa

[residentflorist]

code

Digitalis
Old English folklore said that foxes wore the flowers on their paws
to silence movement and stealthily stalk prey.
Healing, pain, insincerity, insecurity

Comments

[halved]

Still... Even if we can't recover them, it'd be nice to know where they disappeared off to. I wonder if they just don't know.

[residentflorist]

It seemed like they weren't sure. I get the feeling they have different ideas about what the afterlife really is, so asking of them them might get a different answer than the others. I asked Famine, but maybe War or Pestilence would have a better thought.

[halved]

Huh? I mean, I guess there could be an afterlife. I don't know. But I'm more interested in knowing that their bodies weren't cut up to pieces so the cultists could use them as, um, materials.

[residentflorist]

[well she's from a place where sometimes bodies just disappear and disintegrate into the lifestream so. but simultaneously she's also from a place where bodies are, you know, sometimes used for experiments and hearing that from asa makes her frown for a moment.]

You think they'd still have a use for their bodies when it's the blood they're supposedly after...?

[halved]

They're a cult, right? I bet they have other rituals they would want the parts for.

[residentflorist]

Well that's creepy. [she says, as if she's never been aware of people wanting to use other people's body parts for science or magic. ] Like maybe something else to make their god stronger?

[halved]

To draw a god's attention, probably. Death... Um. He said they don't worship a specific god? But they're trying to catch the attention of one who will give them what they want. So everything we've had to deal with so far has been the cult trying to get a god to notice them.

[residentflorist]

And the other three have said they just want to see if the cult can summon a god at all. [so...hm.] Did Death happen to say what it was he wanted?

[halved]

[... she shakes her head.]

It didn't come up when I talked to him... But when I asked about his plans, he said he wasn't going back home. He wanted to start a new life in another world.

[residentflorist]

[there's a frown.]

And now that chance is gone, too. I don't think this counts as starting a new life at all.

[halved]

... Yeah.

[just. quiet. man. ]

[residentflorist]

[a quiet pause.]

I wish there was something we could do for him now. For all of them. With Aventurine and Boothill gone, too, it's the same, isn't it? It's unknown where they'll go from here.

[halved]

If they'll even go anywhere. If they've already been sacrificed to a god... Is there anything of them left at all besides their bodies?

[residentflorist]

It depends on if those who have been sacrificed are being used already, or if they're somewhere else until more of us join them. [morbid, but.] We don't know what the ritual is like or how they're really using us. For all we know, they can't act until there's enough blood shed so the three of them have been set aside.

[halved]

[hm. bad. she makes a face, vaguely horrified.]

That's way worse than just being gone, you know?

[residentflorist]

Maybe. [but...] But maybe not if they're somehow able to be reborn or brought back. That's not uncommon in some places.

[sometimes you're from a place where people die, go back into the stream, and then can come back. it's fine.]

[halved]

What, like a devil?

[residentflorist]

Depends. What's a devil?

[halved]

A monster. Every time they die on Earth, they're reborn in Hell. And then, when they die again in Hell, they're reborn on Earth.

[residentflorist]

Oh. Maybe not exactly like that. I don't know about dying again being a requirement for coming back, but it's different for every world. [also she called them monsters and aerith is kind of like "well when people come back from the lifestream they...usually...aren't monsters." usually.]

Does that mean it's a perpetual cycle for them then?

[halved]

Yeah... Public Security puts them down but they always come back to Earth after a while. We can't stop it.

[residentflorist]

Is there at least some time between when they die and when they come back? I guess it's hard to say if it's just when they die in hell.

[halved]

Depends on the devil, I guess. A really weak one would probably be killed again as soon as it gets back to Hell.

[residentflorist]

Kinda sounds like a pain for the devil to constantly go back and forth without being able to settle then. Not to mention anyone who has to deal with them.

[halved]

[she lifts her eyebrows.]

You're worried for the devils? [a little scoff.] Don't. They don't remember anything about their past lives. And besides, they only care about one thing.