lili.

[nonbelligerent]

Comments

[coastal]

Do you get tired of saying it often? Have you already had to explain it to thirty other people?

If not, I don't really care whether or not I'm familiar with it. You still are what you are, and I still want to know.

[nonbelligerent]

[no, that's his tablet. he's definitely had to explain that one over and over again.

...]

Sura.

[coastal]

[a tilt of her head]

What makes you different from humans?

[nonbelligerent]

Quite a bit. To begin with, you've read my scroll, right?

[it kind of tipped off the obvious difference.]

[coastal]

You're very old.

[say something else]

[nonbelligerent]

There is that.

[coastal]

Mm... Something about horns?

[nonbelligerent]

You remember the scrolls well for someone who dismissed them.

[coastal]

I have to remember what they say in order to decide whether or not they were true once I meet the people involved.

[and then way too directly:]

May I see your horns?

[nonbelligerent]

I don't mind, but why?

[they're horns. just go look at a cow, lili.]

[coastal]

If I don't see them, then the scroll might still be wrong and you're playing along with it for some reason.

[she has to see things with her own two eyes sorry shess]

I don't see why you would, but if it doesn't bother you, I want to confirm.

[nonbelligerent]

[well, all right.

shifting the tablet so it's under his arm, he pulls off his hood. ta-da, horns. exactly as stated.]

[coastal]

[UWOH

she tilts her head in surprise]

Ah....

Why do you have them?

[do

do they ram into each other with them]

[nonbelligerent]

Why does any being have what they have? I was born with them. Among sura, they're a feature of my particular clan.

[coastal]

I was wondering if they served a purpose...

[WHAT ARE THEY FOR

DO THINGS LAND ON HIS HEAD OFTEN]

[nonbelligerent]

[BUTTERFLIES??]

Each clan has features in common with a creature of some sort. It's just how the Primeval Gods chose to create us, I suppose.

[coastal]

Primeval Gods...

You know your gods?

[that's pretty cool, she thinks]

Are they all-knowing?

[nonbelligerent]

For better or for worse, yes. Though the future doesn't seem to be set in stone, so their insight is only so perfect.

[coastal]

Oh... that's reassuring.

[nonbelligerent]

[he tilts his head, because he's not sure if that was meant sincerely or as sarcasm.]

[coastal]

[she turns back to him]

In the sense that there is no certain future

Even if there was, I don't think I'd like to know.

I'd be upset if it turned out that I had no agency of my own, and none of my actions and if I chose them truly matter.

[nonbelligerent]

[he smiles.]

They seem to prefer leaving us to our own devices, for the most part—whether that path leads to preservation or destruction. After all, even if the universe is destroyed, they can always start over again.

They are not above interfering, but I imagine that from their perspective, there is infrequently a reason to try and control our actions.

[coastal]

.... wait - so they stand idly by while others are suffering even if they have the power to stop it?

[this is literally always, specifically, her least favorite thing]

[nonbelligerent]

To them, their duty is to the universe, not to us.

[he glances to the side for a moment, as if gazing somewhere far away, before he looks back at lili.]

I understand your feelings. I don't necessarily agree with all their decisions myself. Though let me ask you something: what does it mean to have the power to stop suffering?

[coastal]

[she doesn't LIKE IT]

It means that they have the ability to do what others they cannot, whether they worked to achieve that status or were born into it. Time, resources, power -

If someone has those things, they have a responsibility to people under their care.