avalaughs | test drive meme ⚔️️ 23

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test drive meme ⚔️️ 23 | FINAL

	QUICK NAV: ⚔️️ Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary
⚔️️ View Top-Levels Only ⚔️ IMPORTANT NOTE: The sun and moon have returned to normal, but the Calamity is still visible in the sky.

ARRIVAL

The re-arrival of characters who were previously not here does not occur in the Bay this month. Instead, re-arrivals can appear at any time or place on the map as long as there is water. The Lady of the Lake is busy dealing with the situation in Atlantis (see the QuestBoard), so her magic isn’t very directed right now. Want to show up in the Red Spring? In someone’s shower? Stuck in the well the minotaur pissed in? Go for it! It’s time to get wet and wild. In fact, you could even show up underwater…

DARLING, IT’S BETTER

After the success at Dinas Emrys, the people of the cursed underwater town return to Camelot’s shores to offer a unique opportunity - to visit the town itself. It has only been seen in the distance before and this is the first time in many years that they have opened their gates to strangers, but all the hard work that the otherworlders have been putting in to fix the Calamity had not gone unnoticed even by them.

A few of the merfolk arrive at Camelot and ask people to put up notices for them. The following day they will be waiting for anyone who wants to make the trip down to the town, which they reveal is called Apkallun, and they will utilise the crown used to get everyone to Dinas Emrys to transform them into merfolk.

Merperson (fish bottom) - Merpeople’s singing voices are able to put people and creatures into a trance.

Cecaelia (octopus bottom) - Cecaelia can normally grant vengeance wishes, but per previous events, wish magic is not currently functioning as it should- so their primary features are the ability to ink and use their tentacles as additional controllable appendages.

Naga (serpent or eel bottom) - Naga have advanced strength and can extend their nails as claws.

The trip to the town is fairly uneventful, unless someone decides to wander off and gets stuck in some kelp or kidnapped by mischievous nymphs hiding along the route. Once there, it’s clear that the arrival of outsiders has been much anticipated by the town. They have put on a grand welcoming for their visitors and although many of the townspeople seem nervous to make eye contact with the strangers the atmosphere is not an unwelcoming one. Everyone is told that they may tour the town at their leisure and move about as they wish, and there is plenty to see.

OUTSKIRTS

It isn’t advised to linger around the areas outside the town, where the light of the lanterns quickly fades out through the water and leaves anyone straying wandering about in a murky darkness. For those more intrepid explorers, though, quick investigation of a noticeboard near the centre of the town will reveal a faded ‘dead or alive’ poster for something called The Wispmera, with a reward of twenty lavender pearls. Enquiring about it will draw laughs and puzzled looks from the townspeople, who will inform the enquirer that no one has ever gone after the creature in all the time the notice has been up. Further pressing will reveal, as they grow quiet and avert their gazes, that this beast will swiftly snatch up children who stray too far outside of the town unaccompanied.

However, all is not as it seems…

Hunting down the creature is no easy task and the descriptions of it are vague. It’s described as a barely-mer shaped thing that haunts the area around half a mile outside of town, occasionally drawing close only to be chased off by the town guard. Some people describe it as glowing, or having a massive head, and of being able to paralyse people from several metres away.

Even reaching the area where the creature is usually seen is fraught with dangers, including carnivorous fish and strong water currents, but persistent hunters will eventually come across the ‘beast’. It has the appearance of a huge jellyfish with poison tendrils wafting delicately though the water around it, but a moment of inspection will allow one to note that this creature also has a mer’s tail, and is simply sitting on a rock in the dark. If one can sneak up on it, it would be easy to kill. This first option would be the easy route to getting the reward and no one in town would fail to be grateful. The second, more risky option would be to engage it in combat, however those tendrils are able to paralyse a person within minutes should they hit. Anyone who is stunned by the creature will find themselves on the edge of the town after they black out, as if someone carefully brought them there.

There is a third option, however. Approaching the creature with no weapons will startle it, but it will not attack. This beast is far from the terrible child-stealing monster that those in the town would paint it as. In fact it has never stolen any children at all! All this poor thing desires is to be left alone, having never done any harm to anybody, and all of the stories about it have simply been passed down over time by frightened people who did not know what they were seeing out in the dark. If the hunter agrees to not kill the creature it will give them five pale blue-coloured pearls in thanks, but this will forgo the reward from the town. Unfortunately, no one is going to believe that you saw the creature at all.

DOWNTOWN

In downtown, around something that looks like it used to be a fountain, a bustling market has been set up with various stands and stalls selling local produce and items. Even the native townsfolk seem to be excited about this as it isn’t a regular occurrence and was thrown together in quite the rush after it was announced that strangers from the land would be coming to visit.

The stalls are offering food and drink, as well as handmade wares. The food is mostly fish-based, but some care has been taken to make choices available for those people who don’t eat fish (though that selection is somewhat limited). Locally made items are made mostly of shells, stones and driftwood as well as glass, and the stall-runners will eagerly push things into people’s hands if they show the slightest interest.

There is one large stall supplying most of the drinks on offer. Rather than being in glasses or bottles, they come in small magical bubbles that you pop into your mouth and break with your teeth and boast a variety of interesting and ‘enlightening’ effects.

BLUE - a cool flavour almost like plain water, but uniquely fresh. Consuming it will cause the person’s skin to glow faintly for several hours.
RED - tart with a faintly spicy kick. Drinking this will make you hiccup multi-coloured bubbles when you try to speak and lasts for around ten minutes.
PURPLE - unexpectedly citrus-flavoured. This one causes the water being ‘exhaled’ from the gills as the person breathes to be dyed several different colours and will last for half an hour.
ORANGE - tastes like honey and ginger. This one will cause the drinker to speak in rhyming couplets for around an hour.
GREEN - tastes very much like absinthe. Also acts very much like absinthe. This will just get you very drunk very fast. Good luck.

UPTOWN

Part of the town is clearly far more… ‘polished’ than the rest. The homes are fronted with shining opals and nacre, and although the people there seem friendly enough there is a certain aloofness to them that isn’t found in the bustling marketplace or the streets around it.

But no matter, that isn’t why people have been directed there. The reason for any outsider to be shown the way to this area (unless they found their own way there) is to attend a concert being put on at the theatre in honour of their esteemed guests. There is a buzz about this show, with the performer clearly being someone of some note, and though there are no posters or pictures on the front of the building everyone is urged that they ‘wouldn’t want to miss it’.

The lights go up, and the performer is an ethereal oceanid of exceptional beauty who has been living in the town since she was brought to Avalon as an outsider herself many years ago. Though she doesn’t sing in a language anyone would be able to comprehend the emotion that she sings with could be enough to drive those in the audience to tears. Indeed, several people are seen to be leaving before the show is even finished and once it is over the entire room erupts into raucous applause.

Those otherworlders who attended the performance will be able to see beauty in everything and may find their emotions to be somewhat off-balance, making them more prone to outbursts and also to blurting out the truth to those around them. This effect should wear off after a few days, but any dreams that they have in the meantime will feature the oceanid’s singing in the background.

—-----------

THE RING OF DISP(HELL)

Part 1: Hot in Herre

As the otherworlders passed the test of nobility, the dragons reveal the location of the ring: it is hidden deep in a volcano. They are able to provide a map, but not much information about what can be expected once people get there.

The volcano itself is not one that the otherworlders would be entirely unfamiliar with, but it is not one that many would have had reason to approach before: the northernmost Ash Mountain, a volcano with plume-hidden bluffs nestled between Mab’s Cavern and the Perilous Desert. Though the Elphame traders are not around to offer much in the way of gear or protection this time around the dragons themselves offer to teach people a special spell (Spell: Dragonscale) which they say will protect from the heat and fumes that will need to be dealt with to reach the ring.

It’s recommended to give this spell some practice due to how valuable it will be when going up towards the volcano’s summit and for the trials beyond, but be warned that overuse can cause stiff joints, inability to regulate body temperature, and chronic burping that makes it feel like you just ate a dozen ghost peppers.

There will be plenty of time to gather supplies and kit, though some of the more unscrupulous merchants in Avalon are taking advantage of the rush as well as the lack of traders from Elphame, and are raising their prices. Some of the gear being sold may not quite be up to the task, either…

Part 2: Feeling Magmanimous

Arriving at the volcano is a trial in itself. The dragons will take those willing to go most of the way, but will drop them near the foot of the mountain to let them make their way up on foot. Their reasoning for this, they say, is to ensure that everyone is able to acclimate to the environment on their way up… but it might just be that they have better things to be doing.

With everyone loaded up it doesn’t take long for things to start becoming difficult. The heat rises swiftly around the travelers and there is very little movement in the air to offset it. Foul-smelling gasses rise up from vents and deep, narrow chasms along the edges of what appears to be a lightly-trodden path, if one could say it is a path at all, between slow-moving lava flows. What vegetation there is at the base of the volcano quickly gives way to the occasional tuft of dry grass and sickly-looking tree that has dared try to grow in this location. There is the constant, unsettling sensation of being watched despite the land around them appearing utterly bereft of any fauna.

Going too near to the edge of the path, woefully under-marked as it is, will put all but the most sure-footed in danger of slipping on the loose, shale-like ground beyond and sliding off down towards one of the oozing rivers of molten rock snaking their way down the side of the volcano. ‘Dragonscale’ won’t be enough to keep anyone from injury if they hit it, so watch out for each other!

A half day’s journey is what it takes to reach a mark on the map which seems to show the entrance to a large tunnel system, and though the entrance itself will be a tight squeeze for some it opens up initially into a spacious cavern that is somehow several degrees cooler than outside.

No doubt a few people will want to make up a camp and get some rest here. That’s probably a good idea. Beyond the cavern itself are several dark tunnels, shown on the map as Labrinth y Brenin, and some preparation is advised before heading into those passageways…

Part 3: Turnkey Toasted

When everyone is prepared, the final and most vital part of the expedition can begin. It is advised to take some kind of light source into the tunnels, as once the glow of the base camp is left behind the darkness is almost absolute. It quickly becomes hot and stuffy as progress is made through the winding passages and anyone who decides to lean on one of the walls to take a breather will quickly realize why - the tunnel walls are warm, almost hot, as if molten rock flows not too far behind them.

Occasionally the tunnel opens into small open spaces, like pockets in the mountain, where lava flows slowly in lazy rivers below the path as it precariously bridges over and edges around it. It might be tempting to linger in these spaces, where the pressing sensation of several hundred feet of rock above and around you is not so keen, but lingering for too long will have an unpleasant side-effect.

The fumes rising from the lava in these small caverns can cause powerful hallucinations, driving people to see their worst fears - real or perceived. It will be up to those who remain unaffected to make sure that their companions make it to safer ground, where the effects will wear off after a few minutes. Until then, it will be up to friends and strangers alike to make sure that those who are under the influence of the toxic gasses don’t cause harm to themselves or others.

Finally, hopefully without too much incident, the final cavern is arrived at. This is a large space, refreshingly cool despite several waterfalls of molten rock rolling slowly down the walls, and the ceiling glitters with geode clusters. In the centre of the cavern is a transparent, locked box inside which a simple ring can be seen. Underneath the box is an inscription.

You cannot prove, but you always know:

The apple falls, the wasp stings, a friend comes, the keys turn.

But what does this mean? The number of lava-falls in the cavern match the number of required keys to open the box, but surely the instructions can’t mean what they seem to?

Close examination of the falls will reveal the faint glint of gold behind them - the pieces are indeed behind the molten rock. Though it seems impossible, those who put their hands through the lava with faith that they will not be harmed will find that rather than burning, they only feel a pleasant warmth as the lava-fall parts around their hand and arm and allows them to pluck the key piece from behind it. Without faith… well, why would you stick your hand in lava if you really think your hand will melt off?

Once all the pieces are gathered by the faithful (and brave), the box can be opened and the simple ring is no longer quite so simple-looking. It can be taken without further trial, and the only task that remains is to make it back to base camp without accidentally falling off a bridge.

With the final item retrieved those who ventured out are free to return to Camelot, where they will need to hand the ring over to Merlin so the final preparations can be made to end the Calamity once and for all.

• This is the final "test drive meme," to welcome returning characters and wrap up the journey to get Lancelot's Ring of Dispell.
• Anyone may reply to any threads or start top-levels. Whichever you prefer!
• If nothing here tickles your fancy, try one of this month's Quests for your TDM prompt.
• Questions about this TDM's content? Comment here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes! My lands have a similar story, though I think orochi is more like the hydra than ouroboros.

Uh... what? [You laid an egg????]

[Is there any way to make that statement less bizarre?]

Well, we had to get the egg from the Ouroboros, roll it down the tunnels, and bring it to Merlin while avoiding its magic nullifying spells. Those spells could take any spells we would have casted at it.

I see. [... Kind of.]

So what's the third one?

Apparently, it is a ring that we’re about to find soon, but I haven’t gotten all the information on it for now. We will have to wait for the dragons to give us more information on the matter.

Hey! Dragons! They found them? Was Zuko here for that? He must have been thrilled, right?

No wait... I think I remember... we were getting their stolen eggs back. I can't remember who stole them though.

Damn! I have never been this hazy about anything. Even the last time... I think I remember being clearer than everyone else. [IRRITATED GROWL.]

[And Kimon... Kimon the oni...]

[Just hands Nobunaga some candy.]

[Of course Kimon is shrunk to normal human size, so he still gets in the door, but still!]

Thanks. [There is only one way to deal with a grumpy Nobunaga.]

[Oda still can't seem to get his memories right, and that's really worrying him, but at least he has sugar sweetening his mood.]

(Harry does remain calm through Nobunaga’s ramblings and attempts to remember things properly. The young man listens patiently even while his oni familiar gives him some candy to snack on while Rose squeaks on.)

I guess that it is going to take a while for the memories to return to you clearly especially if someone has been away from the island for so long.

[Massages his temples and sighs.]

You got a drink for that? [... how did money work here again?]

I can try to get you some coffee or tea. I’m pretty sure that there is something at the pantry that you’ll like.

[Soft grin.]

You're a good man, Harry.

Yeah, matcha, if you have it. [Oh tea, his specialty.] Gunpower if you've got that. [That should blast some of his senses awake!]

Alright then, I am gonna go to the pantry and see if we have a stock of any of them.

(Harry quickly makes a dash for the pantry and finds that there is a good stock of matcha green tea that he can make for Nobunaga. Quickly heading off to the main barista afterwards, he then brews it as good as he can get for a samurai along with the Earl Grey tea he was meaning to get done before Nobunaga was unceremoniously dropped into Helleste.

Once he is done with the brewing, he immediately gives the Earl Grey first to the surprisingly patient customer before he turns his attention to Nobunaga and delivers him the matcha tea.)

Thanks. [Bows his head, before grabbing a seat. He's starting to remember how money works. Maybe he can put it on his tab fff.]

[Magic too. Technomancy and healing.]

["Magic."]

[Well, that was Harry's thing.]

[He can't think of what to say, everything's colliding in his head, and not very clear.]

[The matcha is helping him remember, but he has a feeling it might take a bit to sort.]

[What is the thing that sent him back and forth? Perhaps that's the first thing he needs to work on, even more than the calamity as far as the Demon King's concerned.]

I remember... the Stone giant destroying the buildings. Are they all repaired now? How is the ruler faring? The fairy diplomacy as well?

[Haguro comes and grabs a seat on his shoulder, and he pets the hawk to ease both their minds.]

Sadly, two cities fell during the Autumn Equinox chaos and I am not sure how many buildings have been repaired since I was too busy with my barista job but I was at the rescue and search team for the underground city of Lestari.

But there has been efforts to help the survivors to get back in their feet and I have a roommate from Celliwig who has since managed to regain his footing following the loss of his home town and loved ones. And King Arthur is doing well too and so is the fae diplomacy. At least you didn’t got with lycanthropy during the Wolf Moon: some people were unlucky to get cursed with it.

[Wide eyes.]

Underground city?

Lycanthropy... [Rests his chin in his hand.] I am unfamiliar with this term. It turns people into wolves? Not rabbits?

[Rabbit and the moon... don't worry Harry, it's a Japanese thing.]

Yeah, there was an underground city called Lestari within the Ash Mountains that many otherworlders including me came across while finding a necromancer who is sleeping in there. As for the werewolf part, I actually know some things about it and one of my friends used to be one himself.

(As someone who has known a werewolf very well in Remus, Harry has some ideas what werewolves are and what they are capable of.)

And yes, that does turn people into wolves against their will. I haven’t come across stories of people turning into rabbits under the full moon, it could be an interesting experience though.

I see. And a necromancer is...?

Used to be, so there's cures? [A head tilt.] Against their wills? That is something many people in my lands would consider a small price to pay. They believe Amaterasu, the sun goddess who blesses Japan came to the lands as a wolf.

A necromancer is a mage, witch, or wizard who’s capable of reanimating the dead or communicating with the dead to look into the future through magic. Apparently the people of Celliwig thought it was a good thing to get in touch with the napping necromancer to help out with the restless spirits living within one of the forests.

Oh, so she is capable of shapeshifting into animals while giving blessings to Japan? That is really amazing.

Was it? A good idea?

If she's real. [Waves a hand. Anti-religion is just his reflex.] She probably is, since so much else is, but she's not all powerful. And greatly exaggerated.

Actually in hindsight, it was a bad idea: that’s Fall Equinox attacks originated: all the spirits, including the less pleasant ones, were absorbed into the stone giant and the large dragon in the Ash Mountains went on a rampage and did a lot of damage onto Celliwig, saying it was a bad idea for the city to wake up the necromancer.

(Maybe in hindsight, Harry could have said no to taking part of the journey to wake up Kymbyr if he had known of the dangers of the spirit cleansing ritual they had used for the Fall Equinox. Maybe if it didn’t happened, Celliwig and Lestari would be still standing to this day.)

Oh, I see. I guess that I overestimate the power of the gods in the multiverse and that all gods and goddesses are not so powerful or competent after all.

Hm. [Waves a hand.] Have no regrets. What's done is done, and things have been learned. Keep moving forward.

[Leans sideways on a fist, sipping his matcha.] Everyone does. In their defense... perhaps I underestimate them. And that's not something I do with anyone else. You can never underestimate a foe. [And Gods and Goddesses are certainly his foes.]

[There's a strange mental note, is he underestimating the Demon King Kitsuno's bound to?]

[Does it matter now? Well, it does. It matters to Nobunaga. He still wants to a find a way to defeat the non-human version of himself. Whatever that entails.]

[Using magic, Nobunaga's own weakness as it were. Second to faith. For that... Nobunaga would use even the powers, the servitude of gods.]

[Well, it's not too different from pitting Christianity against Buddhism, is it?]

She was the brother of Orochi. Amaterasu. I keep trying to remember if Orochi's blood was meaningful, that she spilled after getting revenge for tricking her from the sky. [Waves a hand and closes his eyes.] I can't remember. I'm not even sure that's from just returning here, I was always very dismissive of such stories.

[Focus his eyes back on Harry.] I do remember he liked to capture and devour princesses. [Small quirk to his lips.] Very relatable to Demon Kings, of course. [Nobunaga, please.] And Luis Frois and the others believe he might have been an -- [Waves a hand in a circle, trying to come up with the right words.] evolution from the Indian Benzaitan [Saraswati in Hindu.] slaying a 5-headed dragon at Enoshima. Religions do that. Shamelessly steal from each other. Even more than Demon Kings kidnap princesses.

[Despite the words and playful tone, his eyes are ice cold. Talking about religion does that to him.]

(The words he spoke clearly does get Harry to remember that you can’t go back to the past and change things differently. The best that one can do is to move forward and learn from those mistakes.

And he could see that Nobunaga is not a big fan of religions judging by how he talks about Amaterasu and how each religion takes each other’s stories and spin them as their own. Maybe, he thought, that fae could be similar to what the Demon King has told him?)

Ah, okay I understand. So many stories have varied forms in many places? That is fair, I guess originality doesn’t seem to be their strongest suit. There are plenty of legends and stories I have learned in my world: there are some that I thought were just stories while some do have concrete evidence to their existence.

Come to think of it, I don’t even know if any of my world’s legends have lifted from other legends and stories or they are as original as they try to pass off to be.

[General smirk as he just nods in agreement with Harry's assessment of the situation.]

All of them. Well there's nothing wrong with adaptations. Our guns are based on replicating and trying to improve upon the Portuguese. The clothes, fashion, food, all these things start somewhere and get adapted to suit local environments and people, and improve upon the previous design.

[Drums his fingers in thought.] Christianity does it too. They take all the locals' traditions and substitute their own and say, "See these commonalities? That means there's something true in this, something worth using."

[Yeah, but still, maybe they're right. After all that's why Nobunaga took from the Roman Empire to extend roads and taxes and general infrastructure.]

[So magic. Gods. Something something--]

[Focus...]

[The calamities solution fit within that rule, so Nobunaga doesn't need to be concerned about it (he assumes)]

[So the other thing... is finding how to defeat another Demon King.]

(Now Harry has no preferences on religion, Christianity included, to say otherwise. After all, he didn’t recall Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon having to attend church service on Sundays nor seeing a sight of the Bible in the house. All despite the fact that he is a resident of a predominantly Anglican country.

But he can get that Christianity as a religion does have a closet of skeletons in terms of how they try to, um, indoctrinate people wherever they go.)

Hm, I do understand it a bit better now. Nothing worry to changing things up to adapt to one’s culture. And the Christians sure have a way to trying to make people to adapt to their ways.

Funnily enough, England had an interesting way of dumping one branch of Christianity for another when a king from an older period tried to leave his first wife to marry another woman but he couldn’t do so under that branch. So he went on to say in the lines of ‘screw it, I’m gonna divorce this country from the Church and form my own Church so I can marry whoever I want!’.

That's... yes. That's actually very recent in my time. The Catholics were very concerned. [Rubs the back of his neck, in thought. Okay so for commonalities... straight into cultural opposites.]

From my perspective as central power of Japan, it seemed like the concern was that the Pope had lost all influence over England. Oh, but the island England's on is shared with two other countries, is it not? At least it was in -- [Closes his eyes, what was the Georgian version of dates?] 1582.

[Both hands go to acting as chin supports on the table now.] That was another big concern. That the English King might go to war with the Scottish or -- [Thinks. Nope, he can't remember the third.] The other. [Tea sip.] Civil war, fracturing England as badly as Japan. [So it's obvious why Nobunaga soaked up this information like a sponge. It was extremely relevant to him personally.]

[He actually circles a finger in small doodles on the cafe table, thinking hard.] It... It influenced some of my decisions regarding women, just between you and me.

[His hand goes to the back of his neck, then his face in rapid succession, and Haguro headbutts him for being so restless, so he goes to petting the hawk instead.]

Things like heirs, religion, Popes...

[Closes eyes again and huffs.] In Japan, we have the Emperor. Supposedly he's descended from Amaterasu herself. When the Mongol horde invaded, we were partially saved by two off-season completely abnormal tycoons in a part of the seas where that doesn't happen. The opposite side of the island. Everyone said at the time it was the Emperor's doing. [Tilts his head and stretches his neck.] I disagree. I think it was Japan's fierce using skills over riches, quality over quantity...

[Shrugs.] But it's been an ongoing problem. The Emperor divided up the country into fiefs, warlord provinces to whoever was strong enough to take them. And we've been slaughtering each other nonstop.

Religious cohesion isn't enough to prevent that. I told Luis Frois that. We don't... truly have religious cohesion either. There's hundreds of Buddhist factions, Confucians, Taoists, every time I turn around there's another five eager to crop up and put their heads on the line. [Because he likes to behead them. He doesn't like cultists.]

[He waves a hand.] When it comes to the Emperor, he is like the European Pope. All it takes is for those with the real strength, military, economic, or populism among the peasants, [Hideyoshi has 2/3, Ieyasu has the other third... Is that why they can't do it alone? They must do it together. Right, with defeating the other Demon King(s) he needs help. Not from his armies, but at minimum Mitsuhide, and maybe Masamune or anyone else... but if they're not here, then he'll have to learn to trust and use others even if they're untested. Well, that's nothing new. He's always being the first to use new things, isn't he?] -- If they stop believing in the Pope, if they get their monks, err... priests I guess it is in Europe, to tell their people to ignore the Pope, then it's no different from Japan. The Emperor's only power is if people trust him and want to do as he says. If they don't believe in him, if they know he can't do anything, then he is truly powerless.

This is why I say Amaterasu isn't that strong. Many would say she just chooses not to act, but in that case, why let your chosen descendant falter? If she loved the country as much as any human, then why not protect it? Heal it? Tsk.

That’s correct, England shares the same island as Wales and Scotland. And yes, it is no wonder it can be hard to trust the people on top or even gods sometimes. They can be hard to understand as to why they choose to act the way they did and why they made certain decisions.

(Trust him, he has his fair share of dealing with incompetent adults and good but heavily flawed adults to verify these sentiments. He is talking about the likes of Lockhart, Fudge, Umbridge and sadly even Dumbeldore.)

That is a good question: why she didn’t choose to help her descendant out when he needs her the most? Or why can’t she do more to protect Japan from harm? Whatever it is, that is some poor family communication skills on her part.

Because she doesn't exist.

Though, even if she did exist, she couldn't talk anyway. She took the form of a wolf, after being the soul of the sun. At best, her descendants might have been able to translate for her, but again, that would require humans to believe them, or faith and trust, or whatever. [And Nobunaga is more than confident enough that he's eroded that to ineffectual at best.]

Though I suppose maybe I took the easy route in it all. I never asked anyone to believe in me. Pretty much the opposite. "I'll be the Demon King, conquer the God of war, and all the others," then it's up to Ieyasu and Hideyoshi to finish the healing part.

You know, all my time here, it never really bothered me that I wasn't there seeing it through. For almost everyone else, it's ancient history. They think I died, that Mitsuhide killed me, and so on. He didn't... But sometimes I do wonder if I only got here, because of how much I wanted to escape it all. Coming back here for the healing part... now that's pretty ironic.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

test drive meme ⚔️️ 23 | FINAL

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