aren't you glad this was the first video post

[britbrat]

[ Badgernet's video function is broken in today by a disconcertingly close-up pair of blue eyes and a muffled: ]

- oh, blast -

[ Some fiddling and repositioning later, the eyes are revealed to belong to a boy no older than eleven, wearing an unusually green suit and an expression of astonishment. ]

I say, this really is a marvelous little device, isn't it? Right, then:

[ He straightens up to his full height of... not very tall, rearranging his face into a practiced superciliousness. ]

It's all well and good to go around claiming to be angels and devils and what have you, but clearly this gadget's more than just an elaborate typewriter, isn't it? I suggest you all show yourselves! Look, I've done so first, as a gesture of goodwill.

[ And definitely not because he hit the video button by accident while snooping! Luckily(?), internet stranger danger isn't a concept in his time yet, so he continues: ]

And shall we take a roll call while we're at it? You may call me Valmont, and at present I am located in San Francisco, in the year 1976 A.D. Are all of you people really from the future - ?

Who are you talking to, sweetie?

Oh, double blast -

[ A hasty rearranging of the camera view, and a brief close-up of the inside of an expensive suit pocket, before the feed turns off. ]

Comments

video

[oneiroslacker]

[Well, can't argue with that!

The video reveals several interesting things about Hypnos: first, that he is a very nonhuman shade of grey, second, that he is definitely floating off the ground, and third, that there is a giant red three-headed dog in the background behind him, currently snoozing.]

Hey, kiddo! This is the part where I'm supposed to ask who let you out by yourself, right?

[He's no good with kids.]

[britbrat]

[ Okay, apparently Valmont's made it somewhere he won't be interrupted, because the feed clicks back on not too long afterwards - and he immediately takes a step backward, eyes wide. ]

Good lord, what are you supposed to be?

[ Tactful, V. But in his defense, it's one thing to know that supernatural entities exist, and another to stare one in the face. ]

For your information, I am not "out by myself". I'm quite safely ensconced in the bedroom of my host parents' house, thank you. Moreover, I believe I've already told you how you were to address me, and it's not "kiddo".

[ His lip curls at the word. ]

[oneiroslacker]

Sure thing, kid!

[i swear he is actually trying]

My name's Hypnos, god of sleep, you may have heard of me? I own half your life. Maybe not your life if you're in another world or something, but mortals' lives in general?

[godslantern]

I'm not claiming anything that isn't true.

[Not that this small human seems likely to believe Neriel even after she's gone on-camera. She looks human. She looks twenty-something and East-Asian-ish. She has green eyes - emerald green or glass bottle green - and is wearing a pale lavender... either a robe or a sundress, it's difficult to say.

Her surroundings are quite a lot of white, and clearly an infirmary in design.]

[britbrat]

Which one are you, then? The angel or the devil?

[ He won't not believe her! He already believes in time travel, magic, and whatever this weird future phone thing is that he's talking into right now, after all. But just about anyone can say they're a mythical being, can't they? It's the internet. ]

[godslantern]

The angel. My name is Neriel.

[britbrat]

[ Valmont considers this. She does look a bit like what you'd expect an angel to look like, he supposes, but she also just kind of looks like a pretty lady. He's going to have to dig deeper. ]

Have you got wings, then? Or a halo?

[godslantern]

Halos are part of the human perception. [She does glow sometimes, though, but it's been a long time since she was that pleased.

Wings, though, she can do with a moment's thought, and she does - but they probably don't look like he's expecting. They're black, save for a small patch of yellow and stripe of red near where they emerge from her back.]

[vandriaschosen]

This device certainly is strange, it is as if Argyle or someone else from Icarus made it. It took me quite a bit of fiddling to figure out how to use it.

[ The woman speaking to him has dark purple skin and almost-white lilac eyes. She has the high cheekbones, grace, and beauty of an elf, with the ears to match. Her white hair glitters in the lighting of the room she's sitting in. The room, at a glance, seems to be quite posh, and she seems to be wearing very simple linen clothes. Her expression is stern as she speaks, but it is not unfriendly. ]

I am Charbryn. At present I am in a magnificent mansion conjured by Baja, and we are in Saen'dal. It is the year 1272... We just turned into a new year and I admit I am a little disappointed I missed out on the new year celebrations.

(OOC: As a note, Baja is pronounced Bay-zhuh and not bah-ha. Yes her name started out as a joke but we're like level 13 it's too late now.)

[britbrat]

[ Valmont falls on his butt.

There's some scrambling before he makes it back in view of the table on which he's perched his communicator, and when he does, he's wide-eyed, gaping. An angel. He's talking to a real live angel. An angel from the future, apparently?? His one previous supernatural experience did not at all prepare him for this. ]

I, ah... I suppose it's true, then, everything they tell us in church? God, heaven, hell and all that?

[ Hoo boy. That raises some disturbing questions about his future. ]

...And aren't the wings supposed to be white? Er, not that I disbelieve you, miss.

[ He's just checking. ]

[godslantern]

That may depend entirely on whether your Earth is mine. In my case, I can certainly speak to their existence, but not what humans are saying in religious gatherings.

As for the wings, they can be whatever we want them to be. Black isn't exactly a popular choice anymore, but I have my reasons and won't be changing it now.

Video

[superstylishsquid]

[Well, you asked for it. Glowing eyes from behind a tinted visor, curved goat horns, faintly purple skin, and those sure are the most stereotypical demonic wings ever folded behind him.]

Already introduced myself, but in case you didn't quite believe me, the name's Alastor. It's kinda hard to measure time in Movieland compared to the real world, but I think it's early 2000s AD out there.

[ordinarythings]

Very well, then. [The form revealed on screen is the full form of a giant golden dragon, her teeth bared in what might be a smirk. She's floating on her back in the air, over what looks like a white plain with various buildings dotted over it.]

[lightnovelexperiences]

I mean.

When I claim to be a foxgirl punchwizard it's really only in the context of an MMO.

[britbrat]

[ Well, he's certainly not going to stand around video-ing at someone who won't video back. Valmont switches to text mode and spends a minute getting the hang of his new phone's keyboard. Wow, these letters are tiny. ]

If you insist on using what I assume to be future or otherworldly terminology, you might at least explain its meaning for the uninitiated. And I am giving you the benefit of the doubt by not assuming that you're speaking gibberish. What is an MMO?

[britbrat]

[ BOY IT SURE IS A GOOD THING HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT SHENDU LOOKS LIKE or else this could have gone very differently! Instead, Valmont just stares, wide-eyed. ]

I - you're a - a dragon?

[ Not the St. George kind of dragon he's more familiar with, obviously, but he's got a passing knowledge of the Eastern variety, and that matches up pretty darn well with what he's seeing before him. ]

[britbrat]

[ Valmont eyes the purple figure extremely warily, eyes flitting from his horns to his wings and back again. ]

Well, I can safely assume you're not an angel. And it being the early 2000s would certainly align with the time travelers I've met thus far. Perhaps that's when the technology becomes widely available. I beg your pardon, though - "Movieland"?

[ It's going to get a lot harder to take the whole angels and demons thing seriously if the bad place really does have a name like... that. ]

[britbrat]

[ That does make a fair bit of sense, about the wings. If you're going to be flying around up there for eternity, why limit yourself to one color palette? So Valmont lets that topic drop, though he does find himself wondering about her mysterious reasons. Instead, he presses on with his first line of questioning: ]

Well, what can you tell me about them? Heaven and hell, I mean.

[ Should his immortal soul start getting worried? ]

[britbrat]

I didn't recognize approximately half of those words. What are you?

[ His tone is demanding, but she's pretty, at least, whatever she is, and Valmont approves of the fanciness of her surroundings. His host family's place just doesn't cut it fanciness-wise. ]

And - conjuring? I say, are you talking about magic?

[ His eyes light up a little. He knows about magic! He's been in close proximity to it all of one time!! ]

[britbrat]

...Better, I suppose.

[ Not by much, but he gets the sense that if he pokes at it he'll end up with an even less flattering sobriquet. ]

Hypnos? Of Greek myth? Zeus and Poseidon and all that? I suppose that would explain the dog with three heads, wouldn't it.

[ He was kind of wondering. ]

But if there truly are angels and devils on this network, or whatever it is - your mythology can't coexist with theirs, surely?

[silentsummoning]

[The video shows a dog person in a light blue robe with white trim. The background is of a room filled with shelves on which rest many clay tablets covered with angular writing. A shimmering spirit that looks like a miniature dog person covered with words hovers by her side and as she signs her words, the spirit translates it into spoken words... an ultimately unnecessary gesture as thanks to translation magic her sign language can be understood.]

Prior to the appearance of this 'network', I had not heard of such things such as angels and devils. But perhaps I should ask the individuals of those kinds about themselves. I do not know what time period I am from in comparison to you, but I suspect that is an irrelevant question as we are most likely not in the same world.

[oneiroslacker]

That's us!

Don't those guys just work for other gods? Seems pretty straightforward to me.

[what's a monotheism]

[superstylishsquid]

That'd be a safe bet. I'm a devil, but sorry to say I'm not a time traveler. Unless you count forward, anyway.

And Movieland's a world parallel to the human world, where every movie ever made is...more or less real. It's where I've been hanging out these days.

[godslantern]

Well, having never been to Hell for what I hope are obvious reasons, I don't know much about it. It's meant to be rather unpleasant, but unpleasantness can take many forms.

Heaven is very... sterile.

[fruitknife]

Who put you in charge? [But the camera's on anyway, so Shinji might as well go with it. He's wearing a black turtleneck instead of the uniform shirt and blazer he's supposed to be wearing, because every Persona party needs the 'fuck your uniform regulations entirely' guy, and a worn beanie over his shaggy hair. He's also sitting on the bed in what looks like a fairly standard single-occupant dorm room.]

Name's Shinji. Iwatodai, Japan, 2007.