expiationnet | (anonymous user) don't give theater kids cameras

[In early July, before the glitches become more frequent and noticeable, a newcomer greets the network. He's hiding his ID, despite appearing in the center frame on camera. Light pouring in from the window casts his face in the shadow of his deep hood.

If it feels a bit like he's staged this shot, it's because he has.

The hooded man waves.]

Greetings, my fellow Chosen.

Pray allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Fandaniel.

[He twirls a hand before himself and bends forward in an elegant bow.]

That is, I am the man sitting the Seat of Fandaniel on the Convocation of Fourteen.

[Slowly, he rises again, lips pressed into a grin. He speaks of his title with pride, mustering all of his thespian experience to make the pride seem genuine.

It isn't. He doesn't feel any real attachment to his Seat. Now, as always, it's a means to an end.]

I do not expect those words to mean aught to any of you. Know only this: My title is that of the Assayer of Extant Phenomena and Overseer of Life. I am the Observer, a task I take to quite well, I must say! Why, I studied life before I ever inherited my position.

[The smirk fades slightly as he taps his chin and starts pacing.]

Consider me the one who watches. Now and always. Do not be alarmed, 'tis all in the pursuit of knowledge. To that end, you will find a survey attached to this message. Please do fill it out at your earliest convenience and be honest in your answers. Remember, this is for science. If you decide to toy with me in your responses that would break my poor heart. And why would you ever wish to do something so cruel?

[The pacing stops and his smile returns.]

I shall be eagerly awaiting your replies. Ta!

[He claps his hands and the feed ends. Attached to the video is a small file...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Would it be wrong to say you are some form of celestial bureaucrat then? Perhaps aligned with the forces of order, as chaos rarely cares about such things?

It sounds dreadfully dull either way.

Ha! Celestial bureaucrat! Just so.

How very astute you are.

You have me figured out in but a single message. I shall have to add more theatrics in the future. I must keep my audience on their toes, after all.

"Is this what the mortals call sarcasm? I'm still getting used to these things and, the worlds I have watched have never petitioned your kind for help so... I apologize if I am a bit lost."

"Still, bearing witness is a job someone must do, correct?"

Sarcasm is such a low form of comedy. What I said was the truth.

"Celestial bureaucrat" is, perhaps, the finest summary of the duties of the Convocation that I've heard. My Seat is one to which I am well suited but I would never claim it was exciting.

[Extremely depressing, maybe.]

But now you have roused my curiosity. You, too, are a watcher?

"Once, I was the aide to a celestial referee of sorts. It is not the easiest thing to explain. We assisted in those games that the powers that are too big to comprehend play with humanity. I'm sure you know of them. My master's job was to make sure that humanity itself had the potential to win their side. I... Logged the powers and contracts used for two such competitions."

I have not heard of such powers, nor have I heard of such games. If they existed where I am from I no doubt would have.

Did ah..."humanity", I believe was your term, ever win their trials?

[For one moment the playful lilt in his voice drops away, replaced by a note of fascinated curiosity.]

"Of the trials I know of, they only lost once. The issue of course was were they to loose, they would face annihilation. The Old Ones wanted to remake the world in their own image, and the one time humanity tried to use death to follow in the old one's steps... They did not think it through, at all."

There is a sigh at that and the feeling that she may be facepalming.

That is a higher win rate than I was expecting.

The wandering races of my star would, I feel, meet with great misfortune if faced with a similar trial. They are a woefully short-sighted bunch, alas.

Though even I, in my boundless pessimism, doubt using death itself to combat total annihilation is anything that would occur to them. However did the mortals of your realm devise of such a ridiculous plan?

"There are beings called Shadows, originally born of the Titan Nyx. The Titan of death. A group of mortals found out that if captured and certain technomagical things done to them, they had some ability to manipulate time. One mortal of great wealth decided that he wished to live forever doing this and in doing so unleashed the Herald of Death."

"A girl made of metal sealed the Herald in a small child. Years later, a disciple of the first mortal decided he could better control things and used that small child, now much older and none the wiser of what he held."

"The child was my guest and in the end, the mortals were spared due to their actions."

[A long, thoughtful pause then...]

My! What a wondrous tale!

But you are making the whole thing up, surely.

"Song is my talent, not story writing. I merely held my guest's persona in my compendium as they were found and offered aid in other small ways."

There is a pause, "I know after the ordeals I assisted with, my sister handled the next ones. I believe they were about truth, instead of death, but I had left my master's employ by that time. I had my own truths to find out."

And? What truths did you seek to find?

Pray do not end your story just as it is getting interesting!

"Truthfully, most of my time has been adjusting. They say time is a river, but the Velvet Room sits just off the shore. We watch, and watch, and offer assistance, but due to the ways the rules of the game were written, if humanity looses, time simply resets as long as the will to succeed exists. I have watched the same year more times than I can put to numbers."

She sighs slightly, "When I left, I cast myself into that river. Everything that happens happens. Everything that in happening causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. It has been.... Difficult. That and.... This place has pulled my guest's friends from just after the ordeal, or during it. I have been pulled many years later. I do not wish to undo what has been done."

Time is truly the cruelest adversary of all, is it not?

I would tell you one gets used to being trapped in the causal chain but I would be lying if I did. You never get used to it, not quite. Problems swell, feed themselves, and grow worse as your river flows on and there is naught to be done about it.

"Time is what it is. It has always been what it is. I just have to get used to seeing a new today every day, than the threat of it suddenly being April again... Forever!"

There is a slight mania to the giggle after that, not an unhinged mania, just the mania that is accompanied with being either able to laugh or cry at something, and realizing both options are bad.

"I have seen that it is never an easy battle, luckily, I merely have one thing I have to mind and I am uncertain if it matters here. I simply must murder the Titan of despair, Erebus once a year, as the mortals keep feeding it for some reason or other, that is the truth I need to uncover."

[A pause. The humor in his voice is slightly more forced now.]

If there is one thing mortals do well it is feed despair. There are times I wonder if people can do anything but.

[Or if feeding despair might be the purpose of life itself, he thinks bitterly.]

But slaying despair, even if just temporarily, sounds like no simple task. What is the truth you are hoping to find in this endeavor?

"Oh, killing the monster is simple enough. I grab it, whisk it off to the moon, and stab it till it stops moving. The problem is that given how it is being fed, this seems like it will become a yearly event, and should I miss, and Erebus break through the great seal, all of humanity will end."

She sighs, "Which honestly wouldn't bother me as much as the destruction of the great seal."

[This is all starting to sound a little too familiar to him.]

What is so vital about this great seal?

Elizabeth states in a rather matter of fact manner, "My guest used their soul to create it. The master brought me into being to support my guest. I was not told to stop simply because the ordeal was over."

(anonymous user) don't give theater kids cameras

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