Echo of People-ing 101 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
individualized) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deernet2022-05-22 11:22 am
individualized) wrote in deernet2022-05-22 11:22 am
Video; un: echo [forward dated to May 30]
[A new face to these network posts comes on the screen. She appears to be in her mid-teens, and while the Omni isn't that far away from her, it's easy to spot one of the yellow blankets that have been appearing to those under Baus' patronage in her arm. Occasionally, ears that clearly belong to a young bear pop up at the bottom of the screen in the vicinity of said blanket.
The girl's brow is furrowed slightly and her mouth has a small, contemplative frown. When she speaks, her voice is comparatively on the monotonous side and doesn't quite hold the same emotion as her expression does.]
I am Echo. I thought it would be best to ask as many people as possible of this.
What is the true significance of a festival?
[She pauses for a moment or two.]
Is it the reasoning behind it, no matter how dubious the story may be? Is it to promote business and vendors in the area, particularly in places where they can sharply raise their prices to take advantage people's convivial response to the activities? Is it the different offerings in which to partake, which despite the various rationales behind the events remain surprisingly similar in the broadscale? Or...
[A tiny bit of color comes to her cheeks as she hesitates.]
is there some other reason it may be considered important?
[The top of the cub's head has been lingering on the screen longer than it had been during this last part, and Echo turns her attention toward it. Despite the focal shift, her tone of voice is very similar.]
Do not chew on it.
[ooc: Those of the Pandora Hearts world or who have been overly informed about it may choose to note that I arbitrarily made this St. Bridget's Day.]
The girl's brow is furrowed slightly and her mouth has a small, contemplative frown. When she speaks, her voice is comparatively on the monotonous side and doesn't quite hold the same emotion as her expression does.]
I am Echo. I thought it would be best to ask as many people as possible of this.
What is the true significance of a festival?
[She pauses for a moment or two.]
Is it the reasoning behind it, no matter how dubious the story may be? Is it to promote business and vendors in the area, particularly in places where they can sharply raise their prices to take advantage people's convivial response to the activities? Is it the different offerings in which to partake, which despite the various rationales behind the events remain surprisingly similar in the broadscale? Or...
[A tiny bit of color comes to her cheeks as she hesitates.]
is there some other reason it may be considered important?
[The top of the cub's head has been lingering on the screen longer than it had been during this last part, and Echo turns her attention toward it. Despite the focal shift, her tone of voice is very similar.]
Do not chew on it.
[ooc: Those of the Pandora Hearts world or who have been overly informed about it may choose to note that I arbitrarily made this St. Bridget's Day.]
cw: mention of human sacrifices
Instead she focuses on the other's latter question. ]
In the last place I was in, the people living there also had some sort of festival. You know, with flowers and festivities everywhere. [ Sounds fine so far, sure, even if Ange describes it all with a very uninterested tone. ] .. until they suddenly started sacrificing people who joined in on said festivities.
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What sort of function could that have possibly served? It sounds more like a calculated attack.
[Now that she's seen!]
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[ Look at these two. They're discussing a terrible topic, yet they both sound calm. Ange with her deadpan, and then Echo over here, sounding even more emotionless than her.
But hey, Ange doesn't mind it. If anything, it makes this conversation a whole lot easier than if she'd have to deal with someone freaking out over it. ]
So the former could be seen as a calculated attack, yes. The latter is more.. well, I don't exactly have a whole lot of sympathy for it, but some people might call that sort of thing misguided, I suppose. Though I think people who believe they need to kill others to make some higher being happy are idiots. [ Now Ange huffs, an edge of annoyance sneaking into her deadpan tone. ] Any entity that demands human sacrifices is inherently bad.
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[She looks a little somber about that, at least. But considering Echo killed a fair number of those attackers herself, it's not overly traumatic to remember them.]
It is definitely terrible. [Gotta take her word for it since it sure doesn't sound like she cares. She really does!] I am sorry your previous festival turned into such a scenario, but you do not seem much worse for the wear, at least.
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[ After all, Ange had still been even more on her guard back then, since it was so early during her stay in Deerington.. There's no way she would have been lulled into a false sense of security by a fun festival.
(Being a party pooper also sure helps with that.) ]
I had less luck when they started to drag people into being human sacrifices back in November, but that didn't have a thing to do with any festival. I'd say that you'd do good to always be on guard for that sort of thing in this place, since some of the townspeople seem to believe that the Pthumerians in charge here require human sacrifices. [ And that experience was just so bad - despite Ange recalling it rather casually - that she wouldn't wish it upon anyone.
Which is why she'll gladly warn Echo, despite not knowing the other at all yet. No one deserves to go through that. ]
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[Echo knows this place isn't safe, though she hasn't seen the worst of it just yet. But with her history as a guardian and people she'd like to protect around, that is definitely troubling.]
Considering the Pthumerians are at least accessible to a degree as opposed to a deity figure with no basis in fact, I am surprised such a cultish idea could take hold. Thank you for the information.
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It's fine, no need to thank me for that. I feel like it's the sort of basic information everyone should get. [ Especially when Ange is pretty sure that is something the townspeople don't just tell anyone who arrives here.
Despite it being such important information. ]
The last time it happened on a large scale was back in November, since then it hasn't been as much of a problem anymore. I don't know whether it's going to be an annual thing or not, but it can't hurt to stay alert for that sort of thing, right?
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[Her boss sure liked doing it, so she's very sure of that.]
I see. Correct, it would be foolish to ignore the possibility. Was anything done about the perpetrators?
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[ Which.. isn't the best possible answer here, huh. But it's the most truthful one Ange can give the other. It's not like she wants to lie about this to Echo and make the outcome seem more rose-coloured than it really was - not when those people can still threaten lives. ]
Some of them have been killed. [ Ange saw that herself, after all, while she was being rescued from the place she had been captured in. ] But it seems that their numbers are great enough that even those losses haven't really hurt them. They kept going on like that throughout all of that month, and then have been spotted occasionally since.
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[As she thinks about this, Echo remembers she's holding that yellow blanket, which in turn makes her realize she had an initial point that started this conversation.]
...So, you would say festivals hold no real significance and can, in fact, be a front from which to commit atrocities?
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On the other hand, it's not like she wants to ruin this girl's impressions of festivals forever either.. ]
Well, some people say they're fun.
[ ..
An attempt was made. ]
So it's not like they're all bad. It just takes a certain kind of person to appreciate the ones that aren't fronts.
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After thinking about that response for a moment, she nods.]
That's logical. It does not explain why the date of one might be deemed a Blessed Day for someone who is not connected to its origins, however.
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[ It seems like Echo has been looking into specific things about this world a lot, huh, Ange thinks. Or maybe it's just that she's been hearing about that stuff from other people and got curious about it?
.. who knows. ]
I'm not sure if there's much sense behind those. [ She shakes her head. ] It's the same as which Pthumerian decided to favour each of us. To me, it seems like both that and our so-called 'Blessed Day' are chosen totally at random. I doubt the festivals have anything to do with it.
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So she's actually pretty relieved by that answer, judging from the fact that you can see it on her face some.]
I see. That's good. ...Or rather, it makes much more sense than any alternative. The coincidence is quite strange.
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Did you dislike the coincidence?
[ Is her Blessed Day now, perhaps? Did she think the festival here might have something to do with her personal Blessed Day, like people were celebrating it?
Who knows, Ange thinks, but she can't help but be a little curious all the same. It leaves her question not insistent, since it's not like she's curious enough to be fully pushy about this, but she can't help but at least try to ask anyway. ]
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[She gives a single nod, but then frowns a little. After thinking for a moment, she continues.]
I believe I dislike it, at least. It's a strange feeling.
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[ After all, Ange could think of some potential reasons.
But none of them necessarily have to be Echo's. And even if one of them is, she would have absolutely no idea which one it is. So rather than assuming anything here, she decides to give the other the floor to talk about it.
.. if Echo can figure the strange feeling out, anyway. It sounds like the other might be struggling a little with that. ]
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[Because yes, Echo really does not have any sort of grasp on her feelings apart from irritation. She's slowly learned what more of them are, but she's still far behind where any other humanoid should be once they can speak in full sentences.]
I've felt concerned about learning what would truly be considered "significant" in regards to the festival on this date, however. I...can think of things I would call important, but why someone else would deem it "blessed" is...strange.
[About all her face is saying about her feelings is with a small, frustrated frown and a bit of pink of her cheeks.]
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In that case, I wouldn't worry about it. Or even think too much about it.
[ Sure, Ange thought it was strange too, since her own 'blessed day' isn't even remotely close to her birthday, and she isn't entirely sure what its significance is.
But.. ]
Is it really that important when some entity you don't even know deems some day 'blessed'? Aren't the things you yourself deem blessed or anything like that much more important?
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I don't know if it is or not, which is another thing I would like to understand. But you do make a very good point. Perhaps I find it strange because one I have not met may know something that is very meaningful to me.
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[ They are the ones that seem to pick the days, anyway - considering Ange suddenly received a 'gift' from one of them on a random day. Totally out of the blue.
If it wasn't for the fact that multiple people received the same thing, she might not even have imagined it came from a Pthumerian in the first place. ]
It's really hard to imagine what they might be thinking, or how they decide stuff like that for us. I guess you could try asking the one that's attached itself to you personally, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. [ Mostly out of personal bias - but it's the kind of bias Ange doesn't mind admitting, not even to a stranger. So: ] I don't like them.
[ To be fair: she has good reasons for that. ]
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[And actually, now that she thinks about it...]
I have been under the patronage of someone particularly annoying which was also not my choosing. I suppose it's not odd that it would be no different in this case.
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[ Huh. ]
Back home, you mean?
[ After all, if the other is still relatively new enough to be curious about these blessed days and not have much experience with the Pthumerians, then Ange assumes that it's not something new that only happened to Echo in this place. ]
That sounds like a pain. I imagine you couldn't just get away from them. [ After all, Echo is saying that it wasn't her choice. Who wouldn't have ran away under those circumstances otherwise? ]
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[And apart from the facts of her own tragic existence, she was probably stuck there to keep an eye on the actual owner of her body when Echo wasn't the one in charge, so she can rationalize it a bit.
Even if they're reprehensible, she still really hopes the Pthumerians don't treat people the way Vincent treated her.]
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But it's not like Echo is fully free when she's being subjected to the influence of the Pthumerians instead here, huh. ]
At least it's a little less personal here. [ Maybe that's the only upside to the entire thing Ange can find here. ] There's only so many Pthumerians, after all. That means each of them must be bound to quite a sizeable group of people here.
[ So it's not just Echo having to deal with some potential jerk one on one. Still not ideal, but.. faintly better? ]
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