eudaimonikos | Deer Country IC Inbox

Oh
My god
I forgot about Christmas

[They don't really celebrate it in the afterlife, for obvious reasons? Should he get people late gifts or something???]

Yeah, I'm totally still up for it! Sounds fun! （＊＾Ｕ＾）人（≧Ｖ≦＊）/

Do you celebrate Christmas too?

[ people will appreciate gifts even if it's not christmas, so. fire away, michael. ]

That's great! I can send over the directions to the music shop. It's around Willful Machine so it shouldn't be too far off from your shop. We can meet up there if you wish.

Not really, but most of the humans I know do. Or did, at some point.
Time doesn't run the same way in the afterlife, so human dates don't apply too well. Some folks like to do the holidays anyway, though.
I'll do whichever ones people want me at.

Works for me!

I suppose I can relate. My brother and I only know of the holiday from our travels, but we don't necessarily celebrate it.
Mostly because time isn't exactly something well defined for us, either.

[ she'll send over the address, possibly even draw a rough sketch of a map for him. she'll be there, possibly the one person dressed in white among all the other trenchies. ]

It's not Jeremy Bearimy, is it?

[Surely not! Anyway, Michael will be there! He's dressed in very bright colors, per his usual taste, and presumably he's managed to get a guitar from somewhere or other by now.]

[ she spots him very quickly and gives him a smile and a little wave, even with her guitar slung over her shoulder. ]

Looks like you also got a guitar. [ which means they can start quickly! this is getting exciting. ] It's finally nice to meet you, Michael.

Nice to meet you, too!

[He shifts his guitar to one hand so he can offer a handshake with the other!]

Yeah, I went and picked one up. Messed with it a little - I do know how to tune them, at least, it's not so different from the cello. [Frankly his perennial inability to pick up the guitar is something of a mystery when he can canonically play several other instruments!]

[ oh! she wasn't entirely sure if he does handshakes so she didn't offer it initially. but she takes his hand anyway and gives it a shake, a smile on her face. ]

So you play the cello as well? [ what else can he play?? she's honestly curious. ] Then playing the guitar shouldn't be too challenging for you.

[ most musically-inclined people she's met can seem to pick up instruments without too much of an issue other than learning how to play it at the start. ]

The shopkeeper said they have a room at the back that people can use to practice music, though we may need to get our own books since they don't rent them for free.

Yeah, it's just different...

[I don't know, it seems like he should've been able to do it in all that time, but whatever I guess]

Oh, I don't mind just buying something. Don't have to buy much of anything else except food for my dog - I don't even have to buy clothes from someone else anymore. [And that was like, half of what he did in Deerington, it felt like.]

[ whatever is fine!!

but something she's realised about michael: he likes to share stuff about himself. not that she minds since she likes listening to people's stories; she simply finds it delightful, in a way, especially in a place where trust can be a fragile thing given the amount of shit this world throws at them.

in any case, she leads him inside the shop, giving the shopkeeper a small wave. ]

You have a dog? Did you get them from somewhere in the city?

[ because she's thinking of getting someone a pet ... hm. ]

No, I got her in the dream.

[Michael offers the shopkeeper a nod and a smile as well.]

She's technically a war direwolf. But, you know, that's like a dog. [It's generally a lot easier to just say "dog" and not explain himself!]

I ... see.

[ an animal called a direwolf is not a dog, michael ... but she supposes it probably, just probably, resembles a wolf. which is kind of like a dog. ]

I didn't know you're able to bring even the pets you've gotten from the dream to the Trench.

It wasn't anything I did. I didn't even come here directly from the dream - I went home after that, for a good few hundred years. I left her back in Deerington with a friend. You can't...really bring living creatures into the afterlife.

[Or, you can, but it's a pretty one-way trip.]

I just found her wandering along the beach after I got here. No clue how that happened.

[ that's ... curious, she supposes. then again, she's seen people find and drag in items that they claim are theirs from the beach, from clothes and weapons to a damn grand piano. but still, living creatures ... ]

So you're really from the afterlife?

[ not that she had doubts or anything, but then, she didn't exactly believe in that. ]

What's it like, if you don't mind me asking?

Bureaucratic. But humans don't have to deal with that part.

[And really, he knows what most people actually want to know when they ask.]

There's the Good Place and the Bad Place. I'm running the Good Place, now, and it's pretty varied - not everyone wants the same things, after all, and variety's good for everyone. These days, the Bad Place is operating more like a purgatory system. People get some time there to...you know, work on their personal issues.

[ curious, though she supposes it'll be chaotic if there was no ... order? system? involved in sorting out the dead souls. ]

And then they go to the Good Place once they've worked on it?

[ like ascending from purgatory to heaven? ... or at least, that's what she's read in some books. ]

What if they don't decide to, though?

[Michael shrugs.]

Well, you can't force anyone to improve. They'll get time and, if they want to try, help. But people have to decide to take those steps themselves.

[ oh! good point, so she supposes it's the person's fault if they remain in the bad place forever, then. it's interesting how that afterlife works, though she wonders if such an afterlife even applies to everyone, including those who don't come from michael's world. ]

What happens when a person gets to the Good Place, then? Do they just live eternity in a, well, good place?

[ that's gotta be different for every single person, like what he said. so what does it even look like ... ]

Mmm, yeah, basically - as long as they want to. Turned out humans don't love the idea of being somewhere eternally, though, so we made a doorway out. No clue where it goes - they might merge with the universe, or something?

[It's an afterlife for dead people!]

There actually haven't been all that many people to take it, yet. I think maybe they just wanted the option. Makes it feel a little less claustrophobic. Not that it's small, but you know, eternity's a long time.

Eternity can be pretty boring, after all, especially if you're stuck in one place.

[ even five centuries is quite a length of time for her, though perhaps that might be because she's been separated from her twin brother for so long that it's become unbearable. ]

There's only so much one can do after a hundred years or so ...

[ and that's with her and her brother traveling through worlds. ]

I guess that's why you've decided to learn how to play different instruments, then.

Well, it's as big as it needs to be, and there's plenty to do. Literally anything, really.

[Michael seems mildly confused at the notion that a hundred years is enough time to reach total ennui?]

I think the constant influx of new people is really what we need, though. That was definitely one of the big problems before, lack of new people and ideas. [.....] But yeah, yeah. Honestly, I was too busy back home to practice as much as I should've, but it seems like you really might as well.

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