[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.

Comments

[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.

[mammal_robot]

Oh.

I'd offer to explain but I don't really have a lot of experience with kitchens either.

[thegriffinofdeath]

It's not just the kitchen, it's-

[She sucks in a breath and lets it out slowly.]

Never mind. I just have to come to terms with the fact that I am quite behind everything here.

[mammal_robot]

Must've been pretty different where you came from, huh?