[voice] - First Ritual

[thegriffinofdeath]

[It's late in the evening when Anastasya addresses the network, and her voice is buffeted by the hum of machinery and cars in the background.]

So I have a question for others who have arrived here.

[There's a sudden squawk in the background, distinctly a large bird, though the tone seems tinted by something that makes it somewhat distorted, almost ephemeral.]

Oh right, yes Bluebeak. Sorry. Ah...my name is Anastasya Griffin. I'm...well, new. [A beat, and she almost sounds amused.] Hi.

[And moving on.]

Anyway. From what I've discerned, there are people here who have died wherever they came from, but they're alive here. Genuinely alive, not simply risen via magic.

So I understand that, but...has anyone else encountered a 'power', for lack of a better term, where you're...both?

Alive, yes. But then, at times, not. As though whatever force revived people in the first place just...keeps acting upon you?

[The bird in the background squawks again and Anastasya draws in a breath.] I'm not asking this right, am I. Mm. Okay.

Does anyone else have a power that involves death? In any form, I'm not feeling terribly picky. I'd just...like to discuss it with you.

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audio

[thegriffinofdeath]

Not a thing, sorry.

What have you encountered before? Assuming you want to share.

[mammal_robot]

A few ghosts, some vampires. Entities that were clearly animate but had no vital signs that would explain their animation. They were probably the strangest things I've ever met, and that is saying something.

[thegriffinofdeath]

[She actually laughs softly.]

I am...quite familiar with both ghosts and vampires. What you saw was probably magic of some kind.

Though what I am talking about is...somewhat different.

[mammal_robot]

"Magic."

I've accepted that there are things in this universe I don't yet understand but I draw the line at calling them magic.

[thegriffinofdeath]

[Give her a second.]

...I'm not sure what you mean. Why wouldn't you call magic magic?

[mammal_robot]

I don't know what magic is in YOUR universe, but in mine it was what humans called anything they didn't understand, leading to centuries of misunderstanding simple physical phenomena. Magic is the opposite of logic and reason.

[thegriffinofdeath]

Well that's...

[She hesitates.]

Not really what I mean when I say it, at least.

[mammal_robot]

...That came out a little harsher than I meant it to. I've had a weird month.

SOME UNNAMED PROCESS that allows the dead to be brought to some approximation of living clearly exists in both our worlds, even if it's a very different process. That's the important thing here.

[thegriffinofdeath]

Mm.

How does it work? In your world?

[mammal_robot]

Thomas Edison discovered something called Odic force, which he was convinced would make him immortal. I thought it was his own delusions until his ghost came back decades later.

I don't even like calling it a ghost, but it was intangible and Edison was definitely dead, so I'm not sure what else to call it that isn't equally ridiculous.

[thegriffinofdeath]

It certainly sounds like a ghost to me. And I'm something of an expert, even if the...method...sounds strange.

Do you know anything about this 'Odic Force?"

[mammal_robot]

Not much. It was supposed to be some kind of vital force that kept living things alive. You'd have to ask Edison for the details, as he was the expert on it, but he's dead and possibly a ghost in another dimension, so that would be tricky. He had some method to siphon it out of the ether via all the metal in New York and into a crystal skull.

[thegriffinofdeath]

Hmm.

I doesn't sound like anything similar to what we use in Ashan, at least.

[mammal_robot]

Odds are low.

Mind if I ask why you brought the subject up in the first place?

[thegriffinofdeath]

This place has given me an...ability that should be impossible.

I'm trying to understand it.

[mammal_robot]

What's that?

[thegriffinofdeath]

[How to explain...]

Sometimes I am alive, and other times I am not.

[mammal_robot]

[Pause.]

That's...unusual.

[thegriffinofdeath]

It should be impossible. Reanimation is one thing, but this is...resurrection. Continuous resurrection without no outward signs of energy or magical means.

I can't decide if it's amazing or terrifying.

[mammal_robot]

The weeks since we all showed up here have really stretched my definitions of "impossible", which was getting pretty ragged already.

[thegriffinofdeath]

Mm. Fair enough.

I just wish I understood it, if I'm going to have to endure it.

[mammal_robot]

Definitely on the same page as you there. Nothing about this place makes any sense.

[thegriffinofdeath]

Mm. I'd love to say I'm adapting, but I'm clearly not.

I can't use a single thing in my kitchen.

[mammal_robot]

...Why not?

[thegriffinofdeath]

I have no idea how they're even supposed to work.

Well, I mean, I've figured out the...refrigerator.

But everything else. I don't know.