Loading...... Prayer.exe

[fourthmade]

This is a place to send your prayers to the Fourth god. He may not always respond, or he may respond in ways you don’t expect, but he is always listening.

Speak, he hears you.

OOC note:  As of April 2020, threads with the gods will be capped at three NPC replies! Please keep this in mind when writing god prayers to make sure you get everything you need out of the thread.It’s also possible to handwave prayers by titling your comment HANDWAVED PRAYER. Handwaved prayers lack our usual flourish, but you can expect a faster response!

As of February 2024, god prayers will be handwaved only. Please only submit a prayer if you have a question for either god which needs answering in order to progress your character's arc within Ryslig. If this is something you need to tier up within the god boon system, or just to set up a player plot in general, please don't hesitate to submit a prayer about it! You may shorten it down to an OOC summary of what your character is asking. This will allow any of our helper mods to reply much faster, without having to dig into the specifics of either god's personality/writing quirks. Should this limitation be lifted again in the future, this note will be removed.

Comments

[terribibble]

I'm not cross with you. About what you did, I mean.

[Fiddleford doesn't talk to Elias too often. At least, not in the way many of his followers do. He doesn't offer traditional prayers and he doesn't offer updates on himself because, well, Elias is keeping an eye on him. He should already know. What he often does do is explain his math or his code to Elias whenever it's not working quite right, going over it again and again until he finds what needs to be fixed. It seems appropriate somehow.

Today, though, he is addressing the radio on his desk with intent. Since he regained consciousness after spending a week collapsed (he's still sore) he's been feeling more and more alarming and intrusive thoughts, thoughts that are compounding on top of a problem he was already having.]

Some folks are but it... well it wasn't your fault what they saw or what their minds made, was it? You didn't do that.

[That's not the issue.]

And you kept her away from us at the end there and I'm grateful for that, I really am, but I could feel her tryin' to get her fingers into my head and I couldn't --

[That's not the issue either, but it's closer.]

I miss the tail.

[There it is.]

I have since I got my legs back. I thought I'd be happy because the way I am now I'm closer to bein' human, comparatively I mean, and that's what I ought to want, but especially the past few days I keep thinkin' how the way I am now's not right and it's not because I'm not a human, it's because I'm not a snake. [That all tumbles out in one shaky rush. He takes a deep breath and tries to relax. He fails.] At first I thought it was because I needed to get used to the legs again but it never went away. I shouldn't be feelin' that way, should I? I shouldn't have got so used to it. There's a difference between dealin' with somethin' and gettin' too comfortable with it. Did she do that or is that -- is that just me?

[He almost hopes it's just him. If it's just him then he can correct it. If the Fog God managed to get to him even with all of Elias's protection then that's a lot more alarming.]

[fourthmade]

[a long beat, but an answer finally comes. its whispered, thoughtful, as if the 4th isn't paying much attention]

i didn't create any of what was seen

but some people
have very interesting minds, huh?

[It almost seems like he's ignoring Fiddleford's rant. There's a long silence, with nothing but the hum of electricity in the air.

until--]

i missed my body too you know

i hate this.

[a screen flickers and crackles]

having a normal life would be nice

but

like this i can make a difference. now, i don't want to go back to how everything was before. back to being weak and vulnerable.

Fiddleford. she's not getting to you. you're using her, just like I did. but we're using our power for good.

if you think you can help me
and everyone else
better as you were before

what's wrong with that?

we'll be able to make sure everything is right in the end anyway.

[terribibble]

[It's good to have confirmation that none of what he saw was influenced by Elias, though that raises some new questions about the state of his own mind that he isn't going to look too closely at. Better not to.

The more important thing here is the reinforcement of the idea that despite how he feels the Fog God hasn't managed to get her claws into him. It doesn't gel quite right, exactly, but he'll take it and cling to it all the same. It isn't even about thinking he could help people better as a human. It's about having convinced himself that being fully human again is what he should want and being terrified to find that's not really how he feels at all. He wants to feel like he's kept his humanity and his moral superiority, sure, but he's found he doesn't care so much if that doesn't come with the return of his legs.]

I haven't even managed to make a difference like this, as a naga or a troll. Even with all the gifts you gave me they've -- I've died. Been killed. More than once. You know that.

[Why is he talking to Elias like any of this is new information? Yikes.]

What am I doin' wrong? I should be stronger than this, even holdin' back everythin' that's just the snake in me talkin'.

[fourthmade]

. . .you haven't. . .?

you toppled the obelisk

took down her deluded priestess

helped me protect you

every time you've fallen

it was because you spat in her face

youve twisted her power into your own

and you WILL become stronger for it

so long as you keep fighting for what is right, what's true.

with me.

[terribibble]

You...

Y'know, you're right.

[Every time anyone has ever come after him to try and kill him it's been because of his connection to the Fourth and his opposition to the Fog. It's because of what he's done and the progress he's made that he's found himself a target.

That's not a problem with him. It's a problem with them.]

It just feels like everythin' I do... it doesn't change anyone's mind. It just makes 'em shore up around her twice as hard.

Killin' that girl didn't -- it didn't make her stop what she was doin'. How do we make them see reason?

[Because killing her followers and destroying her property is all well and good, but if it doesn't weaken her support base any then what is the dang point? A powerless figurehead with a large and dangerous group of zealous followers can still do a lot of damage through those followers.]

[fourthmade]

i don't know

at this point, maybe she's too far gone

you can't save someone who doesn't want to be

[A pause, as if Elias feels regret, or maybe even sympathy for the disillusioned followers. Or maybe he just sees an opportunity.]

if you can't help people like her

help those who you can

those who haven't been influenced yet

save them before she can get in their heads, too

[terribibble]

I've -- yes. I've been tryin'. Every time they show up I'm there to try and steer 'em right. It's just I don't want to force people, even if we're right and I know we're right.

Maybe I'm not comin' on strong enough about it. I don't know.

[It just feels wrong to him to put so much pressure on new arrivals right off the bat when they're scared and confused already. He remembers what it was like when he first arrived. It would have just made him balk twice as hard, he thinks -- or perhaps he'd have had a keycard in his hand before whoever recruited him even finished their pitch. He wasn't exactly thinking too clear those first few days.]

[fourthmade]

you don't need to force them
i didn't force YOU...right? [a hum of the surrounding televisions, almost like an electronic chuckle, drags on for a minute and fades into a thoughtful drone.]

maybe you shouldn't worry about me for a while

show people what YOU can do
what you can make for them
what you can create

people are suspicious
and thats ok

but maybe if they understand the real power comes from you
and what you do with it
maybe they won't be so mistrusting.