deernet | un: eudaimonikos; video

[Well, this is Michael's username, for sure. He seems to be looking rather different, though. Still dressed the same despite it!]

Hey, this is Michael. Just curious - is this a thing that's happening now? Are we all doing this?

Don't get me wrong, it's not a huge deal. I honestly never liked all the weird dangly bits. Not sure about the hair... [He runs a hand through it, holding it briefly up against his head; does he want it short again, or is this good?] ...but I can cut that. Guess now I have to get used to everyone calling me "she", too...

[That one, he sounds mildly irritated by. It's not the word itself, necessarily, it just took him long enough to get used to answering to the first one. Why do humans have to change their language rules every two seconds? But, he's using their language and that's how it works. His usual body was the only reason he ended up being "he", so...well, he'll just have to manage.]

Except the locals, maybe. Why do they call everyone "they", anyway? What is that? [Seems rhetorical, though; he flaps his hands dismissively.] Well, anyway. If anyone else is suddenly changing size or shape, and your wardrobe isn't working anymore, let me know and I'll just run off some new clothes for you for free. Might as well make these things a little bit easier, right?

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It's not as cold as it could be! [ he says, brightly. His standards for acceptable weather are... a little warped, though. ] It'd be bad to go out without a few layers on for more than a couple minutes, for most of us, I think? So it's still good to offer something like this. But it's not so bad that anyone's going to have to worry about frostbite just from walking around.

Ah. Well, that's good.

[He's just been gauging it based on what he sees other people wearing. Pretty sure they don't all get cold at the same rates, though?]

I don't really feel heat either, but this doesn't look like a place that's going to get super hot anyway. Because it's by the ocean?

Is that how it works? I've never lived near the ocean before. I've been there once! But that was to the south, during the summer, so it was pretty hot anyway. Would it have been even hotter if the sea wasn't there?

I think so? I've seen them, too, but never for all that long. But beaches are hot, right?

[Michael is potentially not a great source for facts about Earth and its weather.]

[ And Orpheus lived his entire life in the midst of an ecological crisis, so for better or worse they may be on sort of even footing here. ]

Right, or at least the one I've been to was? I thought maybe it's because sand absorbs heat and then gives it off really well, because the desert's hot too, at least when it's not winter. You think the water being there makes it cooler, though?

The wind from that way's always pretty cool.

[But like, that could mean anything? Michael considers, then shrugs.]

To be honest, I don't have that much experience with weather I didn't create myself.

[ Orpheus just nods. Weather is strange! He's never really put that much thought into it. ]

I guess we'll find out what summer is like here when it comes. [ he concludes. ] It still feels a little strange, to think we might be here that long, or probably even longer. The dream always kind of felt like it could end at any time? And I guess here we could be called back to the sea, but. It feels more permanent, this place.

Feels more long-term, anyway. It's weird...

[Old as he is, Michael has trouble considering most things to be truly permanent.]

The calling back to the sea thing is weird too, don't get me wrong. I really don't care for that.

I don't like it either. The way I understand people talk about it? It's not going back, like waking up from the dream could be. You're just... out there. Waiting to either come back to shore or not.

[ And he worries a lot about what could happen, if either he or Eurydice were called without the other. What would they do? There's no way to stop it, from what he's found. If you feel the pull, you have to go. ]

...I don't like the idea that something could just make you want that.

[It's a bit of a begrudging admission. Michael still doesn't always like to admit his darker fears like that. But he's always bothered most by the things here that mess with the mind. He doesn't want to leave his friends to go float around in some shitty ocean! What would it do to him, change in him, to make him decide otherwise?]

[ Orpheus just nods solemnly, worrying his lip. ]

When I made the choice to come here, after going back home for a while, it was - I didn't want to leave, but I felt like I had to. Everything felt wrong. It's hard to describe, but it was awful. Like trying to listen to a conversation from underwater, except with everything - touch, smell, taste. And I'm worried that's what being called back to the sea might be like. Just... everything becoming too much to bear.

...huh. It wasn't like that for me, exactly.

That's disturbing? Honestly?

I mean, I didn't want to leave, either. I knew I had to, but that was more...I could tell the pull was starting to affect the universe we were in, and I couldn't risk the Good Place's stability. Not after everything we went through to make sure everyone was safe.

[ Orpheus nods in agreement, grimacing. It was very disturbing! ]

I guess maybe it's different for different people? I don't think I would be able to sense if something was pulling on the universe, but I could definitely feel, uh, that.

[ And he's pretty sure anything short of the increasing dread that he was going to fall sideways out of reality wouldn't have stopped him from trying to stay and find Eurydice, so, there's that to consider. Could be it just tailors to exactly the push you need, and isn't that a scary thought. ]

Hm. Maybe it would've gotten worse if I'd stuck around.

[He just couldn't bear waiting to see what might happen. What if a human got sucked into the cracks or something?]

Maybe! I hope we don't have to find out. I don't really want to go through anything like that again.

un: eudaimonikos; video

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