001. voice.

[shadohdamn]

( potential spoilers for season one of American Gods, if you'd like me to avoid any spoilers please just lmk in the subject line. )


What do you believe in? Really believe? What do you devote your time to?

( A pause; he's having a sip of cocoa. )

Now I've been here a few weeks, I've gotten to wondering about that. There's a lot here that's the same as back home, with a few obvious differences thrown in. Advertising, TV, that kind of thing. Back where I come from, what you spend your time on and what consumes your thoughts matters. There's a lot of shit you might not realise how much it matters to you. Mattering matters, if you want to make it sound like some bullshit affirmation.

So here's the thing: what if the reason we come through those porters with the powers we got is because people believe we will? What if we only start fighting crime or committing them because people believe we will?

( A long exhale, almost a verbal shrug. ) Or maybe it's bullshit. I dunno.

Comments

permavoice;

[shadohdamn]

Amen to that.

( Shadow sounds amused, in a tired way. )

So many people have conflicting things they'd like to do with their free will, though. I'm not complaining about it, just saying.

[aloadeddie]

That's humanity for you. We're just a bundle of contradictions.

[shadohdamn]

Probably why gods get so much of our time - praying to get our way.

Assuming someone's the type to pray.

[aloadeddie]

I've always found praying to be a waste of time. If there's something I can do, I will. If not, things will happen the way they happen.

[shadohdamn]

Yeah, that's how I felt for a long time. We make decisions, we do what we do. We only have ourselves to hold accountable for the shit in our lives, good or bad.

[aloadeddie]

More or less. You don't feel like that anymore?

[shadohdamn]

I still think we have to hold ourselves accountable for what we do. Just that I know the worlds bigger than I thought it was, now. Sometimes gods shape things and sometimes we shape gods, whether or not we know it. How absolute it is? Don't know.

[aloadeddie]

Gods, huh. You might be right about that in this place. Supposedly it's one of the Fates who runs the Porter. Not really any gods in my world, though.

[shadohdamn]

( "I thought the same about mine" seems condescending, so he doesn't say it. He does think it, though, so maybe that's not much better. )

Heard a bit about that. Sounds like the kind of thing Mr. World would do.

[aloadeddie]

At the very least, it takes someone with enough of an ego to think they're a god to kidnap a bunch of people across dimensions like this.

[shadohdamn]

Makes corporate power plays look pretty minor.

Though, you know, I don't know if I'd say gods are always egotistical. Big personalities, though.

[aloadeddie]

I can't speak for gods, but I can speak for corporate executives - I know a lot of them. They all have huge egos.