shitposting rave 5: discount rejects from every genre

Ah! I see. I can't speak for him of course-- I've been more interested in how he contracts, since the idea of reciprocal respect from a blood mage and the demons they summon is laughable in most instances (my apologies to the Keeper of Kirkwall)-- but I think I see what you're getting at. I suppose it's hard for me to understand all this about energy when the Fade is the Fade, and it's the shape of our will and dreams on it that influences the spirits inside.

They're quite different when they're on the material plane, and different in general now with the Veil weakened. Maybe your theories can explain some of that.

[He laughs.]

I think I'm being typically polite, rather than surprisingly polite, but I suppose I will take it. Speaking of which, when you say that reputation means a great deal, is that similar to how names have power? Is it just a matter of having contacts within the material and immaterial planes, or is there a genuine aspect of strength attached to it?

 

Valiska nods. "However, the act of killing is not what you are feeding on; it's what you take from the killer that you are feeding on, even if we don't yet know exactly how to describe that in terms that mean the same things to both of us."

 

It is a little of both. One who does not honor the laws and rules might find themselves weakened. Though whether it is in the literal sense or in the sense of others being unwilling to enter agreements and alliances and work with you is not quite so easy to determine. I am understandbly I hope unwilling to test it.

If that is how you want to rest the case feel free. I do not much care either way. As long as you do not try to tell me that I am mistaken on fundamental aspects of my being there is no ill will between us.

 

Quite understandable, actually. Either way, it's not exactly something a demon of any merit would do, right? [He grins, tucking his hair behind an ear.] Do you have any anecdotes of demons who have managed to shatter their reputations like that? I can make another birch carving for you, as payment.

 

[Grimm grins as well]
Quite frankly I do not tend to fraternize with the kind who does, rare as they are. All I could offer would be anecdotes of someone-who-knew-someone-whose-predecessor-heard-about-someone-whos and the like. It seems most of such tales seem to presume a quite literal effort being involved in defying these laws and rules until their essence dwindled in measurable ways.

 

Hmm. Well, I suppose all stories have agrain of truth in them, even if the truth isn't the one the story would like us to think it is. May I hear one anyways?

[He holds up a birch carving in the likeness of Fen'Harel. He's pretty sure both of them would find the irony amusing.]

 

[Grimm barks a laugh, taking the carving and turning it in their hands. They can't quite jam the woodcarving into their body in this form (well they could but some people get all prissy about swallowing wood carvings whole while looking human) so they merely slip it into a pocket sewn into one of the sleeves of their tunic for now.]
I assume I can tell you about the Rainmaker's Lost Twin. Tales have it they were never quite as effective of influential as the Rainmaker themselves, despite being superior in raw power, since the Rainmaker was actually a fairly well liked demon of great reputation in their time and thus The Twin grew jealous.
Of course jealousy tends to distract one from actually getting anything done whatsoever so that only made The Twin more of an obscure, ineffectual twit. There is probably some finer details I'm forgetting about, but the point is that at some point the twin attempted to impersonate the Rainmaker and take advantage of their agreement, which was all reprehensible and stupid until they realized that in fact this weakened them despite initial relief derived from the payment they stole. In the end recounts of the whole situation disagree on whether The Twin faded away after attempting the same idiocy a few more times or if the Rainmaker simply ate them for being an idiot, and I do not care either way.
[They yawn.]

 

"Fascinating," Ford says after a long moment. "I would not have thought that demon twins would still be able to impersonate one another. My brother managed to convince people that he was me for thirty years, despite lacking the two additional fingers and the cleft chin, having darker eyes and having a completely different muscle-and-fat distribution." He shrugs. "It probably helped that I was almost as much a hermit as I was hermetic."

 

It is not usually possible, not without great effort and quite some luck. Rumor has it that the Rainmaker's twin and them were incredibly similar in preferred form, close enough to fool mortals. Of course another rumor has it they were imperfect splits of each other formed through an accident and The Twin was the inferior shard. Rumor has a lot of things.

 

Ford just barely manages not to snicker. "It's not like I read it in a peer-reviewed journal, no."

 

The really important thing to remember about soul-shards is that they just don't stop from keep fuckin' happen. Here a Dirk, there a Dirk, everywhere a slightly-different douchebag sticking his face places it don't belong. Can't speak for demons, obviously, but here I am, spouting off anyway.

Amazing.

 

Soul shards? How would that come about?

 

You'd be surprised!

 

Shenanigans.

 

If you find me one I will manage to find something wrong with it too. Nothing is sacred, or true.

Please refrain from multiplying in front of me, I find it rather disgusting and I am trying to drink myself senseless here.
[.... Billy hasn't given the bowl back. No problem they can just summon a new one, flat and oddly shaped and with the bark still stuck to the outside of it which explains some of the weird shape. The liqueur inside smells of treesap and too much alcohol.]

 

Oh, dear. This isn't an 'essence of Mythal' situation again, is it?

 

Sometimes! Not always, though.

 

"It's always shenanigans."

Ford laughs. "Of course you will. Everything is sacred, and most things are true somewhere, but almost nothing is true everywhere." He puts an arm around Valiska's shoulders. "We prefer to do our multiplying in private."

 

"Fortunately, my husband's brother is not a soul-shard."

Valiska snorts. "Like I would ever get into a position I couldn't jump into a fight from around anyone I didn't trust implicitly."

 

"You? Hermetic? Maybe. You're certainly no Chaote."