02

[ex_diplomacy861]

Who: Shelly and Rhi'a (gun_symphony)
When: Throughout the day
Where: Bookstore
Style: Either
Status: Closed

[Given their privileges in the city, the bookstore may as well be a library, and that's inevitably what Shelly has ended up treating it like as she pulls out a book to inspect its front cover. She flips through a handful of pages before returning it to the shelf and moving on. Pity. Nothing's hooking onto her.]

There has to be something . . .

[She turns to Rhi'a.]

Find anything of interest?

Comments

[gun_symphony]

Well, I suppose in simplest terms, it didn't. I didn't agree with the way things were run, anyway.

[ex_diplomacy861]

[Hmm.] Did you have a functional government body . . . ?

[gun_symphony]

Yes, we did. Though....I suppose it was like a monarchy. Remember how I said I was a feral? Well, in my world ferals are in control, and the ones called Beast Lords rule over both humans and other ferals.

There are 12 Beast Lords and each one of them has their own territory. Some of the Beast Lords were very effective rules, who cared about their people. But others were nothing less than complete monsters.

[ex_diplomacy861]

[She nods along.]

Right . . . I can see how things would've turned out chaotic just from that line-up. Did none of the other Beast Lords lift a finger against those that were clearly abusing their power?

[gun_symphony]

Well, I believe it had to do with the even number of malevolent and benevolent Beast Lords. Should the benevolent ones try to fight against the others, war would have happened, which would have caused massive casualties on both sides. Not to mention more-so if they lost.

I suppose they didn't want to risk it. So they picked the lesser of two evils.

...but they all ended up dead anyway, minus one.

[ex_diplomacy861]

[She stopped picking at the books for a second to give the news some thought. How funny, death was such a common thing in politics.]

. . . I see. Then who's in charge now? . . . Just the one?

[gun_symphony]

No, actually. My friends and I managed to find a way to change the world for the better using a special power.

...unfortunately, I've yet to see the results.

[ex_diplomacy861]

Oh? What special power was that?

[gun_symphony]

Well, we had to destroy the god of our world in order to make things better. She wanted to end the world, we just wanted to fix it.

[ex_diplomacy861]

Gods again . . . I feel like I'm having déjà vu.

But it sounds like you and your companions went on quite the journey.

[gun_symphony]

They do seem to be running things, more often than not.

[And then, a fond smile.]

Ah yes...we did.

[ex_diplomacy861]

[With a smile, she turned back to the bookshelf.]

You must tell me more later. I'm dying to know the details, but this isn't the best place to be discussing those matters.

[Demanding as her word choice was, her tone indicated she meant it light-heartedly. But back to the more "public" subject -- ]

So are vengeful gods a common theme in us foreigners?

[gun_symphony]

[Rhi'a took no offense to the Shelly's words, she wouldn't mind letting her know the story.]

Of course! I'd be happy to let you know the details.

[A pause.]

...I'm...not sure. It seems a lot of worlds that I have researched have gods or a god that stay out of the way. But...I've also heard a bit about some being vengeful. I don't want to say one way or the other, however.

[ex_diplomacy861]

Gods aren't as level-headed as we'd like to think, are they?

[Her finger trailed to a stop on the spine of a book.]

It's still so unbelievable. Dealings with gods are far out of my domain.

[gun_symphony]

Probably not, though it's difficult to tell.

[Rhi'a's eyes go from Shelly, to her hand, then to the book she was holding, but was still listening.]

I suppose that's why they are gods...also, find something?

[ex_diplomacy861]

Yes . . .

[She tipped the book back and slid it out of the shelf to offer it to Rhi'a. Some fantasy novel or another, an easy read.]

I don't know if it'd be of interest to you.

[gun_symphony]

[She took the book and looked it over with mild intrigue, before putting it under her arm and smiling.]

I think it sounds like an excellent read. Thank you, Shelly.