[OPEN] JUNE INTRO MINGLE

[asgardmods]

Who: Newbies and anyone who wishes to greet them!
What: Getting used to the city
When: Days 92 and forward
Where: anywhere in town!
Rating: PG-13 tops! If it gets worse, move to a private log please.

[Please include your location and the IC day (ex. Day 92) in your top-level comment or your subject line when starting a thread! It can be any welcome hall, major attraction, or just out an about in any district. For newbies making a top-level thread, you may include your character's name/canon/house in your subject line if you'd like, to make housemates easy to find! :) If a God is needed or wanted, please ping the mods and depending on availability we might be able to throw them in where asked.

Also, keep an eye on the event scedule for June! If you're ICly introing during an event, make sure you take that into account. Thank you!

Have fun!]

Comments

[whatagoodgirl]

And people will wish for something so big that they'll lose themselves in the process? That's...

[She can understand that, actually. She'd give up herself for her mom's safety.]

... I guess you're not demanding their soul from them, they're offering it, so it can't be seen as your fault. But don't you feel bad?

[granter]

No, I don't. People that come to me for a wish come out of their own will. They will not meet me unless they want a wish granted. It's truly a fated meeting.

[Though she's still smiling slightly, it's colder. This is Yuuko's business, and the eventual fate of those whose wishes she grants may interest her, but she can't take the weight of them. When it comes to granting wishes, she's truly a neutral force.]

So if they wish for something that will harm them or even kill them... It's not my concern. That is their wish, and the weight of the price is theirs alone to bear.

[whatagoodgirl]

That... still sounds so hard. I don't think I could doom someone like that.

[granter]

Then you wouldn't be well suited for the business, I'm afraid! People often wish for things that harm them. It's human nature, but it's just as much human nature to be ignorant of the danger of wishes.

[whatagoodgirl]

[What are you? She wants to ask, but she's still a bit intimidated, even more so now by her cool detachment.]

No, I wouldn't. [Shivers a little.] Do a lot of people do what you do?

[granter]

Not at all! It's a very small market to begin with, even though everyone has a wish... Very few of them need the help of someone who can grant wishes. Most people have the power to grant their wishes themselves, though they may not realize it.

[And even sometimes when people come to her shop, she still pushes them towards fulfilling the wishes on their own—Many wishes can only be granted through the wisher's own will.]

It makes the job itself a fairly rare one... I know of a handful of others, but I'm the only one in Japan. There's another deep in the Himalayas, though they work even less than I. It's too difficult to reach!

[whatagoodgirl]

[Funny, that's her first thought.] If that's the case, do you tell them so, or do you still ask for a price and grant it? [It's one of the first halfway challenging things she's asked.]

[granter]

[The smile widens]

The ones who don't need my help won't come to my shop. It's that simple. If they truly have the power to grant their own wish, they'll never be able to come and see me.

[whatagoodgirl]

It all sounds like magic... is it that, or something else?

[granter]

It is indeed magic!

[The wide smile falls back to its pleasant neutral] I've been called a witch before... I'd just think of myself as a person who uses magic, though technically, "witch" is completely accurate.

[whatagoodgirl]

I guess "witch" can have some bad connotations. Well, it could in my world, anyway. Some places burned people they thought were witches. [A little sketchy on her international history of witches, but it gives the idea.] But I've met two here, and you both seem like... well, I wouldn't have guessed.

[granter]

We're very much the same as normal people. There are good and bad witches, but most of us are truly neutral, and the perception of others tilts us to one end of that scale or the other.

[She takes another sip of her coffee, closing her eyes half in bliss and half to let the bitterness calm her slight headache]

That's why the word "witch" doesn't seem fitting. It's a word full of too much meaning to tilt one way or the other.

[whatagoodgirl]

That makes sense. [She seems to remember her tea then, and takes a sip - it's cooled just enough to be comfortable to drink.] I'm sorry to bombard you with so many questions, but there's nothing like that in my world, so I just get curious. I don't mean to overstep at all.

[granter]

[Yuuko's smile turns friendly again, and she waves as if to wave away the concern]

Oh, there's no need to apologize! I enjoy explaining such things. Or perhaps it's just that I like to hear myself talk! [She laughs] But to make it balanced, I have a question for you, Nakama-chan.

[The smile falls, because it would be inappropriate with her question. It still remains, but there's a rueful hint there.] The weapon that you mentioned... Would you mind telling me more about it?

[whatagoodgirl]

Oh, um... yeah. [She brought it up, it's only right that she share as well.] It was... well, this might sound strange, but it was a giant robot. Over 100 meters tall. There was this special being, Koyemshi, who could teleport you to and from the cockpit, and all of the pilots would sit there during a battle even though only one person controlled it.

It was really easy to use, because it ran from your thoughts... you just thought "walk", and it would move, or "use lasers"... you get the idea. It was used to fight other robots that would appear at the same time, and if you lost or your time ran out, the planet would be destroyed.

... I know this probably all sounds weird, but it's true.

[granter]

[She listens in silence, absorbing the implied hardship of such a machine. Yuuko doesn't allow herself to think about it too much, because she doesn't want to get too invested in it, nor does she want to project a sorrow that may not be there at all.

Yuuko shakes her head slightly, her voice warm and soft.] It's certainly unique, but I don't doubt its truth for a moment. I have heard of things just as strange and seen even stranger with my own eyes.

Besides... How could I doubt what does and doesn't exist in other worlds? The possibilities are endless, beyond any one person's understanding.

[whatagoodgirl]

That's kind of the attitude I've taken. [She brightens a little, relieved to be off the topic of Zearth without any apologies or pity.] A lot of people could be lying to me, but I just tend to believe, because anything's possible here.

[granter]

Though most people wouldn't lie, either... There's no reason to lie about where they've come from, hm?

[She looks up toward the sky with a soft smile]

This world is charming, though. It seems quite peaceful.

[whatagoodgirl]

It's deceptive. [Darkly, but she smothers any further thoughts with a sip of tea, and she's feeling more upbeat by the end of it.] It can be a good place to live, sometimes. The people are mostly open and welcoming, and it's easy to make friends.

[granter]

[She looks interested at the mention of it being deceptive, but allows the conversation to go towards the light-hearted]

The latter is good to hear, and I'm not surprised at all, considering how many people are willing to start a conversation with a stranger. [She bows her head slightly towards Nakama, tilting her cup toward her too] But those sort of meetings, the ones between two strangers where there's just a draw... That's what's called a fated meeting. So of course it would be that easy. Perhaps all of the meetings that take place in this little world are fated. But that depends on just what you think of fate.

[whatagoodgirl]

I don't know... what I think of it, honestly. I haven't thought about it a lot. I guess I tend to think of my life as the result of a lot of mistakes, but if it was all fate...

[Then she doesn't like fate very much at all.]

[granter]

Then they weren't mistakes at all. It was meant to be. [She finishes her sentence for her, then reaches for the sugar. Now that her headache's mostly gone, she can afford to sweeten the coffee at least a little bit.]

But fate is strange that way. If you believe that your life is fated, then it is. But if you believe that your life is constructed by your own decisions, then that too is true. It seems strange, because it seems like someone would have an answer to which it is, but there isn't one. Everything happens for a reason, and everything happens for no reason at all.

[She swirls the small spoon in her coffee] Are you glad that you've been brought here?

1/2

[whatagoodgirl]

[She just looks baffled for a moment, pardon her.]

2/2

[whatagoodgirl]

[But then, hey, a question to answer!]

Yeah, I am. Even with the bad things that happen here. Or maybe even because of them... it's good to have a purpose again, to be able to offer more help.

[granter]

[She laughs lightly, though not mockingly at her look of confusion, but then her eyes turn to her coffee as she listens. The answer resounds with her, because long, long ago, she had felt the same way. When faced with a suddenly new life, and one that could very well be eternal... What else could she do but find purpose in it? There's a rather nostalgic expression on her face for a moment as she remembers a certain person's face, but it passes quickly.

Yuuko takes a sip of her coffee, sighing softly that it's still so bitter.]

Those are very wise words for one so young. Ahh, unless this is one of those cases where you merely look young, but I have a feeling that it isn't. ♥