[Wow. Insult him all you want, but don't crit on his life's work, okay? Douman clears his throat behind his mask and unconsciously crosses his arms only to catch himself and lean on the table instead.]
Sorry that our life is more than just your horror tales. People nowadays want more than to just fly or lurk around and eat the occasional human.
[That had been fine when the majority of youkai had been not much more than basic, uneducated beasts. But nowadays things like a comfy home, health services, easily accessed recreational options, a reliable income to buy whatever one desires with and a stable internet access are far higher on the general priority list than the brief satisfaction of carnage.]
That's what Spookology and Youkai Studies are for. I assure you that we take our responsibilities toward our students seriously and tailor our lessons to each one's unique needs. Even the exams consider what type of youkai you are. If we didn't none of our animal students would ever manage to graduate.
[ Don't worry, Douman. It doesn't even really have anything to do with the specific style this school is going for - it's much more a problem of Ange's own mindset. Which might become a little more obvious when she asks: ]
Is it that appealing to you guys? A human life?
[ She doesn't even really sound as judgmental as a moment ago. Instead it sounds like that is genuine difficult for Ange to comprehend, despite the fact that the girl is clearly human. ]
If I was given the choice, I'd rather have been a youkai. I don't see why anyone would want to live as a human if they don't have to be one.
A human life? Gods beware, no, most of our students even think that humans are creepy nowadays. No way that any of us would want to become human.
[He falls silent for a moment, lips pressing into a thin line as he thinks of the Minister's half-human son. He'd had an inkling that the kid might have wished to be taking after his human mother's side rather than his youkai father's, especially with the difficult home situation he's been in, but with his appearance being clearly inhuman that had never been an option for him.
That one had been a tragedy that had been narrowly avoided. But it also hadn't been about being human directly. So did he just accidentally lie or not? Eh, whatever.]
What's appealing to us is civilization. You know, like why insist on bathing in a freezing river in winter when you could also have a warm bathtub with a jacuzzi or maybe even an all-inclusive stay at an Onsen? It's that kind of thing.
[ More than wanting to be human, anyway. Being human sucks. There's a reason Ange had been trying so desperately to flee that existence before giving up, knowing that she'd never be able to. That her attempts were just pathetic and useless. ]
Sucks that you need math in order to have a society with a Jacuzzi. [ Apparently that part of life is cruel even when you're a youkai. ] But I can't blame anyone for wanting a little bit more comfort in their life too.
[ There's a slight pause, like the girl is thinking, and then she speaks up with: ]
Do you guys teach any kind of magic at school too? Is that what Spookology is about?
Close, but not quite. Spookology is about how to haunt. That means to know yourself and the innate abilities you possess. What you can do with them, how to best use them, what to look out for, where there is still place for growth, maybe even some advices for synergy with other ayakashi... Stuff like that.
I invented the subject because everybody has their own skills and needs. Giving them a relatively safe way to try it out themselves seemed like the best bet. [Translation: having to be responsible for a bunch of teenagers with supernatural powers is a goddamn hassle, so he found a way to make it somebody else's problem. There'll always be an inevitable lot of accidents, bad ideas being tried out and so on, but now there's a teacher just for that. Spookology teachers need to be competent and tough for a good reason.]
But we're not Hogwarts, if that's what you're wondering. I might teach a student magic if I feel like there's a damn good reason for it, but that's a pretty hard exception.
Right now I only have one where I'm even considering doing it.
[ There's definitely a very slight moment where Ange is trying to process that 'Hogwarts' reference, but alas, she's far too much of a shut in to know about it.. She figures it's probably just some other school from his world, maybe? A more magic-related one? ]
I was wondering that because I know finding magic teachers is a pain in the ass. [ She explains.
And apparently she's even comfortable enough around him already to use casual terms like 'pain in the ass'.. without even seeming to think about it.. ]
I've been in this place for about a year already, and the only person who ever was able to teach me anything disappeared about a month later. I was wondering if it was the same where you come from, or if I'm just particularly unlucky both here and back in my own world.
[The moment when a mythical monster of folklore out-popcultures you.
Douman gives her a queer look for a moment -- he'd expected some sort of quip back over the H.P. thing -- but maybe she's just not the type for that kind of media. Surprising, considering that she seems interested in learning magic. (In comparison, the 'pain in the ass' doesn't faze him. His students are pretty notorious with speaking their minds a little too bluntly sometimes.)]
It was the other way round back when I learned it. Dozens of wanna-be practitioners trying to sell you their services, but barely anybody who was worth learning from.
[it hadn't helped that he'd been a precocious kid with a lot of magical talent]
I'm sorry to hear that your teacher went missing. Do you know what happened to them? [since she said 'disappeared' rather than 'ran off']
No one in this place knows for sure what happens to the people who disappear, but it happens all the time.
[ To a point where Ange can speak of it like it's just a totally normal thing. Though there is a very slight start to a frown in her eyebrows, betraying that she might care more than she's trying to make it seem like over here. ]
I doubt they go home though. It's probably whoever is in charge of this place disposing of people. I've found gravestones before that belonged to people who were here before us.
[That's bad. That's all sorts of bad! So far Douman had only thought of this being an ordinary trap realm, but if there's both randomly people vanishing and graves... !
He needs to check if there are any mortal remains.]
Can you lead me to where you've found those graves?
Which is a good thing, as far as Ange figures. Way too many people are just far too chill about this place, despite the horrifying implications here. At least he seems to be aware that this is something you ought to be worried about, no matter whether you're a human or a youkai. ]
Unfortunately not. [ Or else she would have. It doesn't matter that she doesn't know him well yet - she would have shown anyone those if they seemed interested, if not just to hammer in the fact that they're in a really screwed up situation. ]
I saw them a long time ago. The town radically changed a little while back. I could lead you to the spot where they used to be, but there's nothing to be seen there anymore. [ She pauses, thinking about why he might want to see them. He didn't seem to disbelieve her, so maybe it's not just for confirmation in general. Instead--
Ange raises an eyebrow as she looks at him. ] What, did you want to dig them up?
[ What else would one do with a grave, after all? ]
Maybe. I definitely want to check if there are any remains, or if those graves are something symbolic instead. Am I right to assume that whoever made them is unknown or not around anymore?
[That's how it usually goes with such things. Curses, trap realms, whatever other creepy or divine stuff... They try to mess with your head while you're having to figure out the rules and beat them at their own game.
It's annoying that he can't just use his exorcism powers and bust out of this shitty cage. But unfortunately Byakko was right when they pointed out that his human magics have lost a lot of their strength ever since he became a youkai. Busting something that's capable of simulating a whole city plus it's citizens and hold a whole string of captives at the same time goes beyond his capacities.]
How did the city change? You make it sound like it literally shuffled around like the pieces of some board game.
[ There's a slight nod in response to his initial question. Yup, they sure had been mysterious graves that had appeared out of nowhere - much like everything else in this place. If there was any sign of who made them, Ange didn't see it.
Which means there's so little to the answer that she doesn't further go into it other than that nod. Instead she just shifts and focuses on his other question, where there's a little more to explain. ]
It literally was like that.
[ To her, anyway. It doesn't help that Ange has learned how to think in board game metaphors for a long while now, considering everything back home. Maybe that's why she can speak about this so calmly, without her facial expression shifting at all - like talk like this is just normal to her. ]
One moment the city looked like some old medieval town. The next moment we all woke up in a city that was much more modern. We're just dolls in some sort of giant crazy doll house. [ Not exactly a fun idea!!
Yet Ange has been in that position for so long now that she speaks of it as easily as anyone would talk about the weather. Even if it might make her sound like a weird teenage girl. ]
Hmm. That'd work out. [Trap realms often shift according to their casters desire or in order to fulfill their set purpose.]
The traps could have been a way to mess with you. Or for tallying a score. Did all the people whose graves you found die from the same causes? Like did they all suddenly vanish, or where there ones whose names you recognized that all were sick or met a violent end? Actually any kind of pattern would be useful to look out for.
[ She'll give that disclaimer first, since she knows it means her answers here aren't very reliable. As much as Ange loves spreading information, she wants to make sure it's accurate information.
Especially since he sounds like he might actually take it seriously in the first place, and she needs more serious people on this case in the first place. ]
But.. I don't think there's ever been anyone here who's died like that and stayed dead. [ The girl frowns, seemingly trying to remember as much as she can from her year's worth of experiences here. ] Pretty much anyone who is fully gone from here now just disappeared one day. I've seen some people die, but they always came back, unlike the people who vanished.
[ Which is strange, sure, but-- nothing more strange than the things Ange has seen where she comes from, hence why she can speak of it relatively easily now. ]
[Her not recognizing most names doesn't surprise him. If this place is grabbing people at random, then it's only logical that one wouldn't know most of the other victims unless they met them here before. Now's the question how long this place takes to 'digest' the prey it swallowed.]
But you recognized some, that of your teacher included.
[Her next reveal is big enough to give him a visible start as he gapes at her.]
They - don't stay dead? How's that even possible??
.. I'm not sure. I used to think it was just.. magic.
[ Ange says that like it's a natural thing - or natural to her, at the very least. She has seen people being revived with magic so many times in her world that the assumption it was magic of some kind felt entirely natural to her.
Magic can revive people, after all.
But that easier assumption isn't the only thing she's heard of anymore, making a more complicated, thoughtful look appear on her face. ]
Nowadays I'm not so sure anymore. People talk about all this complicated stuff I don't really understand.
[He shakes his head, unwilling to say any more. Douman knows that that had been what the Divine Beasts had tried to do with Seimei, but that had been only after the man had been reincarnated. They had merely tried to burn up one soul in the hopes of replacing it with a pieced-together version of an older one. A fools' errand through and through, no matter how much 'divinity' one's got. He isn't feeling guilty for stepping in and stopping them without any hesitation, no matter how much his heart longs for just one more meeting with the real Abe no Seimei.
But the dead are dead, and that's that. Unless they come back as ghosts or undead, but then that doesn't count as them ever having been properly dead, does it?
He is just going to ignore that he had been killed and been fully, properly dead for a short amount of time before he'd been 'reactivated' as a youkai himself. That had been something else.]
[ .. oh, boy. Is that ever something Ange has so many feelings about. Something about the words almost feels like he's shoving a dagger straight into her chest, but she's aware that it's not like he's doing it on purpose. There's no way Douman could have even the slightest idea what those words mean to her.
So she doesn't say anything about it. It feels easier, as it often does, to just not open up, especially when it sounds like he doesn't want to talk about it either, nor is willing to be persuaded away from that thought.
Ange breathes in, breathes out. She keeps herself calm, like she has always taught herself as the only way to survive. ]
Stuff involving technology. Computers. AI. Those sort of things. [ .. would youkai know about those?
Ange isn't too sure, but if they have some sort of school system going on, then they likely know of the modern world as well. ]
I've hardly ever used anything like that, so I don't know how it works. It makes talk about it almost impossible to follow.
[He can sense that he might have touched a sore point by her body language, but as long as she doesn't choose to tell him anything about it there is nothing that he can do about that.
Oh, you don't know it? It was a movie that made the idea of "being trapped in a computer and all our reality is just a simulation" popular. There were probably others who did the same plot before, but that one had some new filming tricks that made it a big global hit.
The story was about a man who got the option to "wake up" from the fake reality, and how he and his allies fight the computer to safe the others from the Matrix as well.
[ She stays quietly, patiently listening to his explanation. It's a good one. Or at least - despite still not recognizing the exact movie he's talking about, she seems to understand what it's about because of what he's saying here. ]
.. yeah, I guess it's something like that. People are talking about this place that way sometimes. I don't really know to which extent it's true though, even if it'd explain how this place can sometimes change so drastically out of nowhere.
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expiationlogs2024-06-10 07:58 am
no subject
Sorry that our life is more than just your horror tales. People nowadays want more than to just fly or lurk around and eat the occasional human.
[That had been fine when the majority of youkai had been not much more than basic, uneducated beasts. But nowadays things like a comfy home, health services, easily accessed recreational options, a reliable income to buy whatever one desires with and a stable internet access are far higher on the general priority list than the brief satisfaction of carnage.]
That's what Spookology and Youkai Studies are for. I assure you that we take our responsibilities toward our students seriously and tailor our lessons to each one's unique needs. Even the exams consider what type of youkai you are. If we didn't none of our animal students would ever manage to graduate.
no subject
Is it that appealing to you guys? A human life?
[ She doesn't even really sound as judgmental as a moment ago. Instead it sounds like that is genuine difficult for Ange to comprehend, despite the fact that the girl is clearly human. ]
If I was given the choice, I'd rather have been a youkai. I don't see why anyone would want to live as a human if they don't have to be one.
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A human life? Gods beware, no, most of our students even think that humans are creepy nowadays. No way that any of us would want to become human.
[He falls silent for a moment, lips pressing into a thin line as he thinks of the Minister's half-human son. He'd had an inkling that the kid might have wished to be taking after his human mother's side rather than his youkai father's, especially with the difficult home situation he's been in, but with his appearance being clearly inhuman that had never been an option for him.
That one had been a tragedy that had been narrowly avoided. But it also hadn't been about being human directly. So did he just accidentally lie or not? Eh, whatever.]
What's appealing to us is civilization. You know, like why insist on bathing in a freezing river in winter when you could also have a warm bathtub with a jacuzzi or maybe even an all-inclusive stay at an Onsen? It's that kind of thing.
no subject
[ More than wanting to be human, anyway. Being human sucks. There's a reason Ange had been trying so desperately to flee that existence before giving up, knowing that she'd never be able to. That her attempts were just pathetic and useless. ]
Sucks that you need math in order to have a society with a Jacuzzi. [ Apparently that part of life is cruel even when you're a youkai. ] But I can't blame anyone for wanting a little bit more comfort in their life too.
[ There's a slight pause, like the girl is thinking, and then she speaks up with: ]
Do you guys teach any kind of magic at school too? Is that what Spookology is about?
no subject
I invented the subject because everybody has their own skills and needs. Giving them a relatively safe way to try it out themselves seemed like the best bet. [Translation: having to be responsible for a bunch of teenagers with supernatural powers is a goddamn hassle, so he found a way to make it somebody else's problem. There'll always be an inevitable lot of accidents, bad ideas being tried out and so on, but now there's a teacher just for that. Spookology teachers need to be competent and tough for a good reason.]
But we're not Hogwarts, if that's what you're wondering. I might teach a student magic if I feel like there's a damn good reason for it, but that's a pretty hard exception.
Right now I only have one where I'm even considering doing it.
no subject
I was wondering that because I know finding magic teachers is a pain in the ass. [ She explains.
And apparently she's even comfortable enough around him already to use casual terms like 'pain in the ass'.. without even seeming to think about it.. ]
I've been in this place for about a year already, and the only person who ever was able to teach me anything disappeared about a month later. I was wondering if it was the same where you come from, or if I'm just particularly unlucky both here and back in my own world.
no subject
The moment when a mythical monster of folklore out-popcultures you.Douman gives her a queer look for a moment -- he'd expected some sort of quip back over the H.P. thing -- but maybe she's just not the type for that kind of media. Surprising, considering that she seems interested in learning magic. (In comparison, the 'pain in the ass' doesn't faze him. His students are pretty notorious with speaking their minds a little too bluntly sometimes.)]
It was the other way round back when I learned it. Dozens of wanna-be practitioners trying to sell you their services, but barely anybody who was worth learning from.
[it hadn't helped that he'd been a precocious kid with a lot of magical talent]
I'm sorry to hear that your teacher went missing. Do you know what happened to them? [since she said 'disappeared' rather than 'ran off']
no subject
No one in this place knows for sure what happens to the people who disappear, but it happens all the time.
[ To a point where Ange can speak of it like it's just a totally normal thing. Though there is a very slight start to a frown in her eyebrows, betraying that she might care more than she's trying to make it seem like over here. ]
I doubt they go home though. It's probably whoever is in charge of this place disposing of people. I've found gravestones before that belonged to people who were here before us.
no subject
[That's bad. That's all sorts of bad! So far Douman had only thought of this being an ordinary trap realm, but if there's both randomly people vanishing and graves... !
He needs to check if there are any mortal remains.]
Can you lead me to where you've found those graves?
no subject
Which is a good thing, as far as Ange figures. Way too many people are just far too chill about this place, despite the horrifying implications here. At least he seems to be aware that this is something you ought to be worried about, no matter whether you're a human or a youkai. ]
Unfortunately not. [ Or else she would have. It doesn't matter that she doesn't know him well yet - she would have shown anyone those if they seemed interested, if not just to hammer in the fact that they're in a really screwed up situation. ]
I saw them a long time ago. The town radically changed a little while back. I could lead you to the spot where they used to be, but there's nothing to be seen there anymore. [ She pauses, thinking about why he might want to see them. He didn't seem to disbelieve her, so maybe it's not just for confirmation in general. Instead--
Ange raises an eyebrow as she looks at him. ] What, did you want to dig them up?
[ What else would one do with a grave, after all? ]
no subject
Maybe. I definitely want to check if there are any remains, or if those graves are something symbolic instead. Am I right to assume that whoever made them is unknown or not around anymore?
[That's how it usually goes with such things. Curses, trap realms, whatever other creepy or divine stuff... They try to mess with your head while you're having to figure out the rules and beat them at their own game.
It's annoying that he can't just use his exorcism powers and bust out of this shitty cage. But unfortunately Byakko was right when they pointed out that his human magics have lost a lot of their strength ever since he became a youkai. Busting something that's capable of simulating a whole city plus it's citizens and hold a whole string of captives at the same time goes beyond his capacities.]
How did the city change? You make it sound like it literally shuffled around like the pieces of some board game.
no subject
Which means there's so little to the answer that she doesn't further go into it other than that nod. Instead she just shifts and focuses on his other question, where there's a little more to explain. ]
It literally was like that.
[ To her, anyway. It doesn't help that Ange has learned how to think in board game metaphors for a long while now, considering everything back home. Maybe that's why she can speak about this so calmly, without her facial expression shifting at all - like talk like this is just normal to her. ]
One moment the city looked like some old medieval town. The next moment we all woke up in a city that was much more modern. We're just dolls in some sort of giant crazy doll house. [ Not exactly a fun idea!!
Yet Ange has been in that position for so long now that she speaks of it as easily as anyone would talk about the weather. Even if it might make her sound like a weird teenage girl. ]
no subject
The traps could have been a way to mess with you. Or for tallying a score. Did all the people whose graves you found die from the same causes? Like did they all suddenly vanish, or where there ones whose names you recognized that all were sick or met a violent end? Actually any kind of pattern would be useful to look out for.
no subject
[ She'll give that disclaimer first, since she knows it means her answers here aren't very reliable. As much as Ange loves spreading information, she wants to make sure it's accurate information.
Especially since he sounds like he might actually take it seriously in the first place, and she needs more serious people on this case in the first place. ]
But.. I don't think there's ever been anyone here who's died like that and stayed dead. [ The girl frowns, seemingly trying to remember as much as she can from her year's worth of experiences here. ] Pretty much anyone who is fully gone from here now just disappeared one day. I've seen some people die, but they always came back, unlike the people who vanished.
[ Which is strange, sure, but-- nothing more strange than the things Ange has seen where she comes from, hence why she can speak of it relatively easily now. ]
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But you recognized some, that of your teacher included.
[Her next reveal is big enough to give him a visible start as he gapes at her.]
They - don't stay dead? How's that even possible??
no subject
.. I'm not sure. I used to think it was just.. magic.
[ Ange says that like it's a natural thing - or natural to her, at the very least. She has seen people being revived with magic so many times in her world that the assumption it was magic of some kind felt entirely natural to her.
Magic can revive people, after all.
But that easier assumption isn't the only thing she's heard of anymore, making a more complicated, thoughtful look appear on her face. ]
Nowadays I'm not so sure anymore. People talk about all this complicated stuff I don't really understand.
no subject
[He shakes his head, unwilling to say any more. Douman knows that that had been what the Divine Beasts had tried to do with Seimei, but that had been only after the man had been reincarnated. They had merely tried to burn up one soul in the hopes of replacing it with a pieced-together version of an older one. A fools' errand through and through, no matter how much 'divinity' one's got. He isn't feeling guilty for stepping in and stopping them without any hesitation, no matter how much his heart longs for just one more meeting with the real Abe no Seimei.
But the dead are dead, and that's that. Unless they come back as ghosts or undead, but then that doesn't count as them ever having been properly dead, does it?
He is just going to ignore that he had been killed and been fully, properly dead for a short amount of time before he'd been 'reactivated' as a youkai himself. That had been something else.]What complicated stuff?
no subject
So she doesn't say anything about it. It feels easier, as it often does, to just not open up, especially when it sounds like he doesn't want to talk about it either, nor is willing to be persuaded away from that thought.
Ange breathes in, breathes out. She keeps herself calm, like she has always taught herself as the only way to survive. ]
Stuff involving technology. Computers. AI. Those sort of things. [ .. would youkai know about those?
Ange isn't too sure, but if they have some sort of school system going on, then they likely know of the modern world as well. ]
I've hardly ever used anything like that, so I don't know how it works. It makes talk about it almost impossible to follow.
no subject
Instead he inclines his head curiously.]
Something like in "Matrix"?
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[ Judging by her tone - genuinely surprised, a little bit confused - she really has no idea what he's talking about, for whatever reason. ]
What's that?
no subject
The story was about a man who got the option to "wake up" from the fake reality, and how he and his allies fight the computer to safe the others from the Matrix as well.
no subject
.. yeah, I guess it's something like that. People are talking about this place that way sometimes. I don't really know to which extent it's true though, even if it'd explain how this place can sometimes change so drastically out of nowhere.