letsplayamurder

The moment is a bit different for everyone. Perhaps you were just minding your own business somewhere, others may have been in more... dire circumstances. Regardless, you were approached by a figure you can't quite picture, and they offered you an accord; in exchange for aiding them in the healing of a world lost to chaos, you would be granted something almost unheard of. Godhood.

And each of you said yes, more or less.

A blurry hand, shifting and rippling, reaches out to you. You feel a glow of warmth, unlike anything you've known before. As soon as you think you can describe it, you wake up.

The room you're in is plainly furnished, but it's about the size of a small flat. Plenty of room to stretch your legs. Don't get too comfortable, however. On the bedside table each room has is a letter; handwritten, it's wrapped around a bronze key. The lettering could only be described as the platonic ideal of 'neat and precise'.

If you are reading this, than our deal has been made. You've awoken in a place that will surely feel strange, so I want you to take some time to acclimate. Meet with the others. Breathe. I shall be along shortly.

-A

Whatever that means becomes more apparent as you step out of your housing and behold the world around you. The building you were in, and every piece of architecture you happen across, is blatantly pre-modern. Yet, something about it is otherworldly. Stone and iron and glass as far as the eye can see.

But above you was where the real questions were. It wouldn't be right to say the sun was shining on you now, nor would it be right to say it's the dead of night. Instead, the sky is a hazy mixture of both, wrapped in suffocating storm clouds that are threatening rain. Everywhere you look, into the horizon, it's the same.

Welcome home. Take your time and explore. Nobody ever said godhood was easy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...

Ah. Well. This is probably a bit of an overwhelming situation for some.

...

He sighs as he sets down a scroll. He developed something akin to this skillset against his will, but he Will investigate...]

...Excuse me. Do you desire solitude, or...?

[he kind of hopes yes...]

[The reaction is instant - as soon as Mikhail talks, the girl's head shoots up, darting this way and that to find the speaker. The fear is clear, even more so when the only living thing near her appears to be a cat.

Despite the clear pain as she struggles to stand, she does it anyway, and voice is loud when she speaks.]

Wh-who's there?! I heard you! Show yourself!

...It is me, miss.

[...he takes a breath and rubs his brow a bit...]

The cat. I understand this is apparently unusual.

[It takes a second, as the girl freezes.

Another second to look down.

And then several seconds before she responds.]

What.

...I assure you that this is strange for me as well, miss.

[Another few seconds, then she speaks again, disbelief still very clear in her voice.]

This...this is a prank, right? I...I don't know how, but that's...

[She waits for a response, now. Paying attention to the cat's face. His mouth. Does it move at the same time the voice does? Will it match to the words? Or is she just going crazy already?]

I am not the one pranking you, miss. I am not particularly given to it, and have been the target of it more than once.

[it is, indeed, the cat talking.]

[This...honestly, you're gonna have to wait a minute, Mikhail. Laurie's mind is going a mile a millisecond and she's kind of forgetting how to be a person for a moment, and so she's just. Starring. Like life itself is testing her.

Then, finally, she has something.]

I-I'm sorry if this is-weird or rude or something, but...can I...touch you? Just-to make sure I'm not...hallucinating?

[She doesn't think she is, but...better safe than sorry and all that.]

[...you know, he's not going to give this person a harder time than he needs to.]

Certainly. ...I have found that it is nice to be scratched behind the ears, so I would accept that.

[Just. Reaching over and doing that. Finding that her hand doesn't go straight through him and that he doesn't move out of the way before she can make contact, she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.]

Okay. Talking cat. That's...that's a new one.

[On the bright side, she's not actively crying anymore? The whiplash of the situation just sort of. Smacked her out of mourning. Good job?]

...I do find it strange that cats do not speak where you are from. Do they simply speak a different language...?

[...it seems like the distraction is working, at least. maybe that's good enough.]

I...guess they do? Technically? They're like...a less advanced species, or maybe it's...their bodies aren't built for it like yours is? I've never really...thought about it, all that much.

[Very weird thing to think about. Not bad, just not something she's used to.]

...hm. That is interesting. The species we consider "less advanced" are overwhelmingly, well, things without backbones... outside of bizarre species supremacists who think that birds or mammals or reptiles are better than everyone else. But those people do not deserve to breathe oxygen, I think.

Like...invertebrates?

[That, weirdly, feels a little comforting, knowing that there's still something at the bottom of the food chain - especially in a world where birds and mammals and reptiles are apparently all sapient.

The latter statement, meanwhile, manages to baffle her even more.]

Jesus, that exists in a world without humans too?

Yes, those would be the ones. Although, even then, it is not always the case... at least we figured out you should probably not eat squids and octopi before any diplomatic incidents happened.

[well. any wars, maybe. there might have been a diplomatic incident or two... although. uh.]

...

Yes? Do you have something other than humans, or...?

That's...wow...

[Terrifying world to think about, where any carnivore is at risk of starting World War Furry.

And, oh dear god, she is not about to explain racism to a cat, that sounds like a nightmare, so time to deflect!]

It's nothing important - probably not going to come up any time soon anyway.

So if so many things are sapient where you're from...what exactly are carnivores supposed to eat?

[Also going to give him extra scratches behind the ears in hopes of making him forget.]

...I see. I will take you at your word.

[weird, though. maybe he will have to figure it out later, because how.]

And ah, we eat the invertebrates, of course. Some of them have been tamed over the eons, so we do not have to go hunting them down the way we may have in the past.

[Internally thanking everything that the distraction worked, she nods.]

Makes sense, I guess. We've got a similar system back home - but, uh, it might sound. Weird. In a bad way.

[And she is now grateful that, if any animal from this guy's world had to come here, it ended up being a cat.]

...I believe I can draw some conclusions from the kitchen.

[...]

I suppose it is only natural, all things considered. It at least did not lead me to consider that I may be on the menu, I suppose...

[HE HOPES.]

Ah. Okay.

[Thank God.]

Oh, no! No, never! People would never eat cats, that's - never.

[Very quickly getting that out in a somewhat reassuring tone - mainly due to nerves - and also giving extra scratches. Does it help soothe him? She hopes it helps soothe him.]

I am not quite certain that was my concern as much as the fact that I have several large herbivores I am acquainted with...

Arrival

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