lingeringhope | ic inbox

[Will wanders into Hope's temple. He'd wanted to talk to all the Gods, this was their home territory, and it was only polite to introduce yourself, even if they probably already knew you were here.While they seemed vaguely like the Gods he was familiar with, there were differences, as there were bound to be. Will just wasn't sure what all those differences were.

Hope honestly seemed the most like his father's domain, either Hope or Tranquility, so he thought he'd start there.]

Hey, Hope, I don't know how this works here, so I'm just going to talk and assume you're listening. If you feel like responding, great. If not, well, I know you're a busy god. I don't know if you know who I am, if you can keep track of everyone so I'll just introduce myself. I'm Will Solace, my dad's a god from back home,or used to be one, that's more of a long story. The point is, I want to help. I'm not sure what you need, if you need anything, but I understand you're the one bringing people back to life here and creating the food. That's probably taking a lot of work. So, if there's anything I can do to help, let me know.

Also, I have some food and drink of my own that came with me.Medical supplies for my kind, if I get injured. I have a bit of it, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Can you make more, or should I do my best to ration?

[Will spun around, looking at the temple.]

I'd like to leave an offering or something, but, I don't really know what you guys like.It seems weird to leave an offering when you've created most of the stuff here.

[Will's really hoping he's not going to get turned into a blueberry bush or that Hope isn't going to demand he fetch him his godly dry cleaning, which happens to be right in the middle of the monster infested tunnels.]

I guess that's it. Thanks for listening.

Offerings are unnecessary. What we need from you are your emotions.

[It's as if Hope has been there the whole time, and Will only now noticed him - he's a god, after all. Appearing out of nowhere is fairly standard.]

If you wish to help, simply inspire hope in as many as you can. That will give me more power that I can then use to help those who need it. As for your supplies, you can find plenty of food here in the shops, though likely nothing identical to what you have. It's possible I could make more, but it would not be without price.

[Will's not bothered by the appearance at all. Hope is a god, and it's his temple, his territory. If he couldn't hear him or appear Will would assume there was a giant problem.

Well, I guess for you emotions are a kind of offering. I can do that. Hope is much easier and nicer to inspire than fear or some of others. I'd much rather inspire hope.

[Will rifled through his pack to grab a small square of ambrosia and the bottle of nectar and held it up for Hope]

What kind of a price?

[of course there's a price. There always is. The Gods don't do anything for free. From what he's used to, Will's assuming it's probably going to be near-death inducing.]

I'm sorry, do I keep standing or should I kneel?
[He wasn't entirely sure how much offense Hope would take, and while the Greeks were a little more touchy than these guys, well, he wanted to check.]

Kneel?

[Hope's brow furrows. That's not the kind of thing people usually offer, especially not the humans.]

That isn't necessary. I believe it's easier to talk face to face, given these shapes.

[Kneeling would only make it more difficult, right?]

If you wish for some sort of ongoing trade, you could destroy the monsters in the cave. For each one, I would give you a bit of - one of those things.

[Or something similar enough to have the same effect.]

[Will was seeing the similarities. They weren't the same flavor, but they were both gods. And used god logic. I do something nice for you, you risk your life to do something nice or potentially meaningless for me. Sounds fair, right? At least Will was prepared for something like this. He hadn't watched others go on quests--important or otherwise--not not hope or assume that something similar might happen to him. He was just happy Hope didn't want him to grab his favorite hat while he was in there--just happened to be in the caves, imagine that.]

That sounds perfectly fair. Thank you. If I might ask though--does killing these monsters completely destroy them, or do they reform eventually? Is there an eventual end to them?

[Or was this a seemingly kind gesture and a meaningless quest that he'd do anyway, but it was nice to know just how pointless it was at the start.]

Killing them will destroy them. I don't bring the monsters back to life - that would be a waste of energy. They're not capable of feeling emotions the way you are. However, the Door brings in new creatures regularly.

[So it's pretty unlikely that Will will kill them all. Wipe out one kind of monster, another will come along in a few weeks.]

So what I'd be doing is more like population control. Keep the monsters at an acceptable number while the Door keeps bringing in more. Sounds like fun.

[Or at least training. He'd hate to end up back at Camp having lost all his hard won skills and reflexes from having not trained for gods knew how long. Will paused before asking, mulling the questions over.]

I assume you know about the beings that hijacked your network? Are the connected to the Door or are they separate?

[Will was assuming that Hope and the other Gods were like his own, and knowledge of certain things, but couldn't always act on them.]

Yes, something like that.

[He nods, and an even more unamused expression crosses his face.]

We have been informed of their intrusion, yes. They have no connection to the Door.

[That actually caught Will by surprise. He had assumed that like the Greeks, these gods knew certain things. Were able to be aware. He paused, trying to figure out how to phrase his question so he didn't offend Hope or get turned into a small helpful plant]

I mean no disrespect, but, are you not aware of all the actions around you? Or is it something specific about the Null that block you and your abilities?

We don't bother watching everything you do, if that's what you're asking.

[That sounds both boring and time-consuming.]

In this case, they were able to break into our network without our knowledge.

[See, that would be where Will might suggest reworking the network so they had a little clue if someone broke in. Not that it was his specialty, he knew that Olympus had things like that, but he assumed a lot of it was Hephestus' work. Maybe these guys didn't have an equivalent.

He smiled, since he liked Hope, and didn't want to offend him.]

Could I make a suggestion maybe? I don't know if it's possible, I don't know how your network works here or really anything about networks. But would it be possible to rig some kind of alarm system, so that if it happens again, you guys would know and be able to monitor what's going on?

Since we do not know how they managed to break onto the network, that would be impossible. Normally we are capable of easily monitoring everything on it. Our first goal is to discover how they were able to.

[Well there went that idea. Oh well.]

Understandable. Can I ask one last question? You guys, the gods here, are all embodiments of emotion right? That's why you get power from it, like we eat food.

Where I'm from, gods can be killed when what they stand for no longer exists or their seats of power are destroyed. In my world, Pan faded, when there were no longer enough Wild places in the world. But you guys, are emotion incarnate. So, you can't really die, right? Or fade?

Not that I'm planning on killing you guys.
[Will added hastily, because killing Gods is really, really bad. Unless they were like Kronos or Gaea or something. Unless he had Reasons. Like mass murder.]

I'm just trying to figure out how you differ from what I'm familiar with.

We're not embodiments of emotion. Emotion is what powers us, but we are not representations of it. Without emotion to power us, we are far weaker and can be more easily killed.

[But you're dreaming if you're hoping for clues to how gods are actually killed, Will. Hope has had enough people threaten him to know better.]

[Huh. That was interesting. Will didn't want to press his luck, but he was curious.]

If you're not emobidments of emotion, why are you named after them?

Because you cannot communicate the way we do and would not be able to say our names. These are names that you understand.

Oh

[Will shifted. That was a pretty good reason and explanation.]

Thank you for your time Hope, and for answering my questions.

And for not killing me.

I do not kill.

Well, thanks. I appreciate it. Or not being turned into a bottle of merlot or a swan or something.

You are welcome, I suppose.

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