audience: nico di angelo

[becomemod]

Comments

[resumed]

in a way i think making sure you're in the loop is kind of like taking care of myself phoenix
like...i'm actually doing something to help
instead of having to sit back and watch more people die
and not be able to fix it
or fix how people feel
you know?

[becomemod]

I understand. It's hard when you want to help but have little to do.
What is it you have for me, then?

[resumed]

[ there's a pause. ]

are you at the dorm
it's probably just easier to do it in person
i was going to come back today anyway

[becomemod]

I am. I can head down when you're ready.

[resumed]

[ there's no answer for a bit. ]

i'm downstairs

[ and true to his word he is. he's in the lounge area of the second floor, sitting on the couch with his legs folded and the cocoa puff in his lap. he has his phone in his hand and he waves a little. ]

[becomemod]

[ down they go. phoenix doesn't sit just yet, but he does return the wave as he watches nico carefully. how's the boy looking? after a short pause, he speaks. ] Is it something else from those Thursday trips?

[resumed]

[ the boy likely has not really eaten or slept for three days but it's fine that's a normal week for nico di angelo. ]

It's two something else's, yeah. I got copies of both before the lockdown and everything...a newspaper clipping and another letter.

[becomemod]

[ nico di angelo. take care of yourself. he's begging. no but he IS frowning. ] And more bad news, too, I expect.

[resumed]

[ people should stop dying first, that would greatly improve his mental health.

but he frowns right back and offers phoenix his phone so he can read the news clipping.

"A month after the disaster, the Harbinger building has remained closed to the public. This building is off limits and still under heavy repairs. Despite this, newspapers are still being written and are in circulation.

These prinnies first arrived with Pink Pig. They seemed to be some sort of servant, though when asked for more details they would only respond with “They are repaying their sins.” What sins those are were unclear at the time of questioning.

Pink Pig’s prinnies seem to spawn from the newspaper building. Though the hero is lost to us, the prinnies they brought to the world are still working to this day. Occasionally, they can be seen entering and exiting the newspaper building. While rumors are currently abound, none are confirmed. These prinnies may be the ones stocking the newspapers throughout the city. There has been some talk of the prinnies paying off their remaining debt, though when pressed they would not reveal any specific details. They maintain what secrecy Pink Pig asked of them."

and another letter:

"While the written word has power enough to shape reality, there seem to be some limitations. Something must be lost to attain something of equal value. If power is asked for, something must be sacrificed in turn. What luck. There are many heroes here to sacrifice, for plans they shall not understand. Their deaths shall be my fuel and with that fuel I will become empowered. May their worlds fall to me and burn under moonlight." ]

It's...news, at least.

[becomemod]

[ he takes the phone to read and otherwise doesn't react immediately. after a moment, his brow furrows, and he reads one part aloud, thoughtful. ] "While the written word has power enough to shape reality..."

[resumed]

...does that sound familiar to you at all? Some of us were thinking that maybe all of these letters are happening in order to actually force reality and make us play the game.

[becomemod]

No, not familiar. But it does stand out when we have all these handwritten notes that seem to describe things in the competition, doesn't it? [ hateful. he winces a bit like he's getting a headache. ] Maybe it's reading too much into it. But you might be on the right track, with that theory.

[resumed]

Yup. [ poppping the 'p' a little because gods above this is annoying. but he sympathizes...it's a lot to think about. ] Puts a lot of context to why they're handwritten, if the written word is magical as well. But if that's true can't we just...I don't know, run these papers through a shredder and call the whole thing off?

[becomemod]

...I don't know much about magic. Would that work? Or would the magic still be active because it was already written?

[resumed]

...I think it would depend on how it was written and if the effects were already put into place. [ which is. annoying. ] I do wonder if it's possible to write our own words into reality instead to counterattack.

[becomemod]

It seems like it's already in place to me. Some things have already happened. [ but what does he know? he's not a sage. ] I wonder if this is why we were supposed to find the book.

[resumed]

So no turning them back, it's just preventing the future. Sounds just like home. [ sigh. ]

...I actually was going to ask you how much you knew about this book anyway.

[becomemod]

No turning back that I know of.

[ just to clarify. maybe it is possible, but he's not the one to ask. ]

I don't know much. Tiger has insisted that we find it, but hasn't told us why we need it.

[resumed]

...fair enough. Maybe there is a way to undo everything that's been done but that requires more information than we have right now.

[ he tilts his head to that. ]

Do you think there's a reason they aren't sharing that information? I thought you guys were a team. [ it's mostly that...he wants to make sure it's not going to turn into (yet another) case of someone saying they want to help but it's for their own motives nobody knows about yet. ]

[becomemod]

It's probably best to operate under the assumption that we can't undo it, for now. But we can't dismiss it entirely.

[ crosses his arms. ]

We are, and I do trust them. [ hmm. ] It's possible that they recognize the concept, but don't know much more about it than they've shared, or that they aren't sure if it's the exact same as what they know and don't want to give false impressions.

[resumed]

Like an added bonus rather than an expected outcome if it can work.

[ but that's fine. if phoenix trusts tiger then he can live with that. ]

Maybe. I think I can understand that, not wanting to give a false hope for something that could possibly not work or even backfire. With as many worlds as people come from, there's bound to be some overlap. I'm still open to trying just about everything I can, but I'm starting to run out of options myself.

[becomemod]

[ he nods. ] There's no way to "shape reality" in my world, but there are ways to rewrite history. I wouldn't count just anything out.

[resumed]

Right. And so much of what we work off of are prophecies for the future. [ ... ] Then again shaping reality feels a little subjective doesn't it? Doesn't rewriting kind of fit into the idea of reshaping?

[becomemod]

Prophecies?

[ he nods. ]

It sounds like it should. It's just altering what's already there.

[resumed]

Oh. Yeah, it's...I can explain it if you really want, but it's basically something that predicts future events. Usually something major. And also usually something bad, but at least there's some loose interpretation to them. We never really know the true meaning until after events have happened. Will's father is the god of prophecy.

[ but okay. rewriting...reshaping...god. ]

Wonder if we could just cross out what's written on the pages we have and alter it that way. Like editing? If these things have already happened, but we just change them slightly, it would reroute the course of Oceanside's history wouldn't it?