voidtreckerexpress | Look, a book! [OPEN]

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Look, a book! [OPEN]

Who: Zetta, minions, Prinnies, and hapless others
What: Zetta around the train.
Where: The garden car and the game car.
When: Domino 19.
Warnings: Zetta?

The Garden Car

Visitors to the garden car, no matter when, always endure the same ritual: a greeting by a curious woman, armed with a sword and apparently of the opinion that wide belts were perfect substitutes for shirts. With a rather vapid smile, she simply said, "Welcome to the domain of the Overlord."

Inside the garden car, as always, milled a half-dozen people with the same vapid cheer as the girl outside. Some of them were even walking in place, living up to their role as NPCs. A couple of others had the engine of a beat-up old truck half out, while from beneath said engine a pair of legs kicked futilely. Slight technical problems, don't mind that. And in the center of it all, atop a small mound of stones, floated a book -- who was yelling at three patchwork, peg-legged penguin things.

"I told you to steal a proper throne, damn it!"

Fun and Games

"Hyaaaha ha ha ha ha!"

Possibly the weirdest sight to date: a floating book with a VR headset rather haphazardly strapped on, cackling maniacally as a minion listened to his orders and relayed inputs on a controller.

"Yes! Ram the hero into the tree again! Five hit points down every time! Stupid hero, how dare you try to save the day?! This is what you deserve!"

Yes, Zetta was taking great joy in stupidly suiciding the young adventurer out to save the day. After all, humiliating heroes was part of his duty as an Overlord!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Selfish jerks mostly," Zetta mused. "Humans don't think they're evil, as a rule. That's where demons are at least honest with themselves."

"Selfish jerks?" People who were bad were often selfish it was true. "They don't think they are evil? Can't they tell. If they do bad things they must know it..."

Right? It wasn't hard to know when things were bad or good. Except when they were both and it was complicated but that only happened sometimes.

"Sometimes. But even some of those rationalize it. They say it's for a greater good, that it's necessary. And some of them believe their bad things are really good things."

Zetta let out a very long, lingering sigh.

"You sure ended up with the right god, kid. You ever heard Elfnein talk about her past? Two sentences in and I figured for sure she was out for vengeance on the world. I still don't know how she isn't."

"She told me a little bit." He nodded, sadly. It had been really bad what had happened to Elfnein and how people hadn't even seen her as a person.

Zetta might not understand Elfnein but Romeo did! She was his god and he knew that she was a wonderful, kind and caring person!

"Even if you get hurt, if you hurt people bad then you just make more hurt in the world. So even if there are bad people, really strong people know how to be kind and Elfnein-sama is the strongest person I know!"

He had ended up with the right god, he had ended up with the best god and he knew he was very very lucky.

"What -- I could take her with a little finger! What kind of 'stronger' thing are you thinking of?!"

Only Zetta could possibly get this offended over this kind of statement from this kind of kid.

"I'd like to see HER destroy a planet!" he raged, though then he paused for a second. "Actually I really would like to see that. You'd make a terrible Dark King though, you know that, right? Wait, do you even age right now?"

Just try to follow his mental gymnastics from start to finish. Just try.

Romeo blinked at him, did Zetta not know that there were lots of different ways to be a strong person? Elfnein was very strong, even if she wasn't the best fighter around!

He wouldn't want to see her destroy a planet! That would be very bad indeed and he doesn't think Elfnein would ever do that because she was a good person, not a bad person. He doesn't know what a Dark King is either and he just blinks at Zetta.

"Um... No sir! I don't think I get any older now because shinki just stay the same age!"

At least that was one question he could answer!

"...Crap. I was afraid of that. Okay, we've got to fix that then."

Zetta did have underlying logic to all this. Just... good luck following it or even guessing at it.

"Fix it?" Romeo blinked at him, "I got bigger once. When everything was strange in the heavens. Both me and Elfnein got all big like grown ups. Joss did too! It was weird."

Very weird and he had come to the conclusion that as fun as it had been, he quite liked being small!

Oh yeah. Zetta remembered that particular happening. In fact, if not for that weird event, he probably never would have thought of this -- but being aware that Elfnein was gonna grow up into a stone-cold fox meant he had to make sure Romeo was in position to capitalize on that. "Right. We've got to get you back to life."

Romeo blinked at him, taken aback. It was very rare that Romeo was rendered speechless but for a long moment he just stared at Zetta in confusion. Bring him back to life? Like a necromancer?

That was just a story though, people didn't come back to life. Some shinki became gods but that didn't make them not dead. Just gods.

He guessed Joss wasn't a shinki anymore either but also he was a vampire and wasn't alive either. He's not sure you could make people alive once they were dead.

He wasn't sure what to feel about it. He's not got many memories of being alive so he doesn't really know what it feels like. He would get older and that might be fun. Would he remember his life before? Would he forget his time being dead? That would be terrible! He wouldn't want to forget any of his friends, but he knew he had had friends when he was alive who he couldn't remember. He must have! After all living people couldn't see or remember those from the heavens. People seemed to remember him here on this train... So that would be okay. But what if they left the train?

It's a big thing to think about. Being dead isn't exactly a scary or sad thing. He has Elfnein and lots of friends and he gets to help Elfnein as her shinki. But getting to grow up and be a grown up for real... Could Zetta do it? Did he even know a way?

If he did, would he have talked about it instead of just doing it? That wasn't Zetta's way.

Romeo's extremely uncharacteristic silence took Zetta back, and rather than continuing to yell about his plan, he fell silent himself, staring down at the kid with a confused frown.

Book stared at boy and boy stared at book. Romeo still had lots to think about and it was like his head was trying to fit so many different thoughts and ideas in it at once that it almost hurt.

"Do you know how to make people alive sir?"

Because he guessed, if he didn't know. Then there was no point in worrying and thinking about it. But if there was a way. Then it was something he needed to think about.

But for now he needed to keep his spirits up, so he punched the air a couple of times. Banishing the worries.

"Well, I could TRY to cram your soul into some object, but that's a little last-resort," Zetta mused.

Um... He looked a bit more worried at that. "Put my soul in an object. Like I was a weapon, but forever?"

He's not sure how he feels about that. He doesn't mind being in his weapon form, but that's because it is a weasel and he can still run around. It would be a little scarier if he was an object. But mister Zetta is a book and he seems fine. So maybe it's not too scary after all.

"Naw, like the minions." Not quit, because this particular brand of minion currently serving him ran more off his own power than he preferred, but eh. "It's not ideal, though. I'd rather you just came back without anything like that."

He frowned a bit more at that, he wasn't sure he wanted to be a minion. But Zetta had said it wasn't ideal so hopefully he wouldn't try that.

"Okay sir."

He's still not sure what he feels about it, but he's not got any more questions for now at least.

"Hey. Show some enthusiasm, damn it. You can't stay a kid forever while Elfnein grows up." For all the wrong reasons, in Zetta's mind, but was he really wrong? "Unless she starts aging like a demon, but that's not gonna happen."

I can. Being a kid isn't too bad sir! I think being a grown up seems complicated and so many grown ups forget how to be good friends. I wouldn't want to forget anything like that!

[But truthfully he's not that concerned about growing up, it's the implications of potentially forgetting his friends and not being a shinki anymore- when that is all he has known.

It's a big thing but it seems like Zetta doesn't really have a plan yet, so he won't worry too much.]

"Okay, whatever, but seriously -- Elfnein's gonna grow up whether you do or not," Zetta said, looking steadily at Romeo with an uncommon seriousness. "You gonna let her do that alone, or you gonna stick with her and support her?"

The answer was obvious. Zetta just figured Romeo hadn't thought of the question that way.

Romeo indeed hadn't thought of it that way at all but he nodded. "Of course I will stick with her, I always support her!"

No matter what. Even in growing up!

"There you go. And she's got your back too, so if you grow up together you'll always have each other to count on." And let's be honest, the two needed each other. Elfnein knew the world so much better than Romeo did, and Romeo was a reminded of everything Elfnein believed in.

"Yes." He nodded, "We got to keep being a good team." And if he grew up with her they would always have each other to count on.

He smiled at Zetta. "Thank you sir!"

"Hmph. Someone has to look out for you kids, it isn't MY fault no one else is doing it." He should be putting more time into corrupting them, damn it. What's WITH people that he's the one who keeps having to do this?

"They are though sir!" He smiles. "Everyone is really nice and helpful to us!"

They had lots of friends!

"Then how come I have to be the one telling you this stuff?!" He should be focusing on corruption and the like, not explaining this stupid teamwork stuff!

Look, a book! [OPEN]

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