![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
@shash
I was shown by Noctis how to adjust my implant's text-to-speech settings
It's my hope that by the end of the week very few of you will sound like an overenthusiastic woman
Select the voice you want to be represented by using the link below
It'll go a long way in helping me to distinguish your messages from other people's
Thanks
[LINK]
( kaladin's implant reads to him in tiktok's "female-original" voice, but there are so many more to choose from. if you're savvy, you can even record clips of your own and have them uploaded so that it's your voiceāpersonallyātelling this idiot to stop using bar soap to wash his hair.
feel free to go wild with it. he'll have no fucking idea. )
It's my hope that by the end of the week very few of you will sound like an overenthusiastic woman
Select the voice you want to be represented by using the link below
It'll go a long way in helping me to distinguish your messages from other people's
Thanks
[LINK]
( kaladin's implant reads to him in tiktok's "female-original" voice, but there are so many more to choose from. if you're savvy, you can even record clips of your own and have them uploaded so that it's your voiceāpersonallyātelling this idiot to stop using bar soap to wash his hair.
feel free to go wild with it. he'll have no fucking idea. )
no subject
[ tezca: brings up daybit
also tezca: WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP ASKING ABOUT DAYBIT ]
so he's one hell of a guy that's for sure. what he's like though... hard to say. straightforward and to the point is what sums it up I think. he's got the confidence to want to end the world and recruit a god to help him do it
[ and there's just a little delay for one more message. it's surely because he got busy at the bar. definitely that. ]
I know he hasn't kicked the bucket yet so at least there's that. but yeah I miss him
1/2
2/2
When gods are gone too long the rest of us try to take advantage of what their absence means
I think I understand him a little
Not because he's trying to destroy the world and I have to wonder why he'd want such a terrible thing
But needing the help of divinity and calling on it for aid
Was he hurt somehow
That's usually the reason people want to throw it all away
no subject
well you're not wrong about why people would usually take on a crazy plan or try calling a god to help out with it. but that's not his deal. he's an unusual guy
he was hurt yeah but that doesn't have anything to do with it. he just sees things similarly to me. big picture. cosmic picture
destroying the world is just what he believes is the right thing to do
no subject
I think it has everything to do with it
I've never met him though so I can't say for sure
All I know is that the feeling has to come from somewhere
How could it be the right thing to do
How has the world erred so badly
I guess a totally alien planet is none of my business but I can't help but wonder
no subject
like at least being here makes part of the explanation easier, since the fact that there's tons of worlds out there is usually a lot for people to wrap their head around. but let's say for example that here we are in this world, and imagine shit's going way worse than it is. the battle with the kaiju isn't something that can be won. this world is going to end etc.
but imagine that it's not just that. when they're done here, well, looks like there are all these nice little worlds attached to it thanks to us. they're hopping over to your world next. or anyone's. everyone's.
would you destroy this world to stop that?
it's that kinda deal
no subject
( wow, he said it................ )
Maybe
But I'd spend most of the time I had left searching for a third option
I suppose that's cheating to get out of answering the rhetorical question
All I know is that I'd protect my world first and foremost
My friends
The people I love
Is it easier to make that decision as a god
Or do you have to sit on the sidelines and watch
no subject
[ teehee anyways!! ]
nowadays I just watch. the time where gods could step in and make those decisions has passed. the world belongs to humanity now, whatever that brings
but back when I was younger sure. it was easy. the world of humans isn't the first one that existed. there were four before it, and the destruction of each of them was either by my hands or caused by my deeds.
that's why I'm hands off with the fifth. more or less.
[ There's a lot more to the story, but he intentionally doesn't elaborate or try to justify himself. It's not that he feels that there isn't any need, but any Creation myth is a parable. It's meant to be interrogated, not to have an easy answer. A god's existence also straddles the line between a life lived and a living story, after all. ]
no subject
Well that's my answer
Maybe
I don't understand why you'd do that
What was it all for
To test yourself
For fun
Human lives aren't playthings
Gods should have rules like the ones you've imposed on yourself
That amount of power must remain in check or you wind up like the very tyrants you tested
Perhaps it exists beyond my comprehension but that's how I feel
You made a wise decision to stop interfering
kaladin getting satoshi mikami asmr, lucky,
[ And indeed, a few minutes later, a voice message comes through instead. There's still ambient background noise of the city as he speaks, though there's nothing specific enough to identify where it might be. However, it's not a farfetched guess that Tezcatlipoca is at work and had stepped out for this. Sticking to text even after learning Kaladin couldn't read it wasn't actually him being a jerk--it was just practical. ]
In life, all centers around the sun. Thereās not many peoples in the worldāhell, the universeāthat donāt have that kind of principle at the foundation of their civilization. It might get steeped in metaphor, it might not become as important over time, but itās still the fundament. In the dominion of my āfamilyā, thatās why the sun is exalted as a precious responsibility to Creation, since without it, nightāthat is, deathādescends. So, there is no single god of the sun. Itās a title that has to be carried with humility and responsibility.
So, naturally, it was yours truly who was the First Sun. I cast myself into fire, and from my blood and power came the first people. They were giants even bigger than you, in fact. But thing is, Iām the Smoking Mirror. All thatās dark, all thatās unseen, and forever incomplete because I sacrificed my leg to create the lands. A half-sun. My brother Quetzalcoatl figured he could do better. He knocked me out of the sky, and from that, we created conflict. The world of the First Sun fell to darkness, and letting people die a slow, hopeless death isnāt my style. With my sacred beasts, I killed them all and ferried their souls to the afterlife I created.
Quetzalcoatl became the Second Sun. Heās my opposite in every way, so naturally, his sun was radiant. The people he created did alright for a while, but the gods gave too much. The people didnāt respect those that gave freely, and their world became corrupt and cruel. Quetzalcoatl refused to see their flaws, so I showed them instead. My magic revealed the nature of their souls and transformed them into monkeys. Thatās all it took for Quetzalcoatl to forsake them. His hurricane blew them away, and his sun set.
The Third Sun was Tlaloc, god of rain and flood, and his people coexisted with the water. Yet, Tlaloc is as passionate and dangerous as a storm, and his attention often fell on his wife Xochiquetzal instead. The people were neglected from time to time as he didnāt watch over the waters. So, I stole Xochiquetzal away. He took away the water completely, and as the people prayed for relief, his anger turned to fire and scorched the world and its people to ash.
The Fourth Sun was sweet Chalchiuhtlicue, a goddess who loved all and was beloved by the people in turn. These people were almost perfect, but their world wasnāt. Chalchiuhtlicue loved her people as protectively as a mother, but they couldnāt grow as a result. Their civilization stagnated because their mother sun wouldnāt let them experience the difficulty of life. I whispered cruel, untrue words in her ear, and thatās all it took for her to crumble and cry blood that filled the world and drowned the people.
[ Thereās a pause, the sound of a lighter flicking open, since clearly, heās lighting a cigarette at this point. ]
—All because those worlds never had a chance. It was destiny that only the Fifth Sun would flourish. I knew that from the start.
no subject
kaladin listens intently, stopping all that he's doing to focus. because this is crucial to his understanding, a part of a world overseen by gods. is it also his planet's "destiny" to fail? is his home an experiment like in tezcatlipoca's stories? )
... I don't understand, Tezcatlipoca. By your telling, you were the only one who tried to cultivate balanced worlds. It isn't fair that your creations suffered. That your family's mistakes ended their lives because you couldn't cope with what you'd made. It isn't.
But... your world was interfered with by Quetzalcoatl. Then you showed him how shallow he was, resulting in him choosing to destroy his people instead of trying to teach them. And you knew you had to make Tlaloc pay attention, so you stole his lover to ensure this, and he also chose destruction instead of trying to spend time with them. And Chalchiuhtlicue, who had to know the reality of thingsāthat the cosmere is cruel and always will beāwas given the truth of the matter, and she chose to let her children drown instead of trying to let go of them.
You all had an opportunity to be betterāto learn from your mistakesābut you decided to kill. But you take the blame, saying it was "your hands," "your deeds,"... You're not responsible for the actions of others, Tezcatlipoca. You didn't want what happened to your people to happen again, and it sounds like you tried to help your siblings see.
It wasn't destiny that taught gods to stay out of the affairs of the mortals of the Fifth Sun. It was you.
no subject
As a person, he feels warmly for that. What person would dislike being understood, after all? But in his larger scope as a deity, itās speaks to the kind of man Kaladin isāwhat heās already experienced in his short life, he thinks. Itās a good thing, ultimately, but the journey to arrive there isnāt an easy one.
But that understanding doesnāt carry in his voice or his response as itās still smooth and calm. He is the Smoking Mirror, after allāa god meant to show someoneās reflection more than himself. When heās taking his duties seriously, anyways. ]
Thatās where it becomes real tricky, doesnāt it? Just knowing something is certain doesnāt always mean the path towards it is clear. There are some things that are the same, no matter if youāve got no divinity in your blood or youāve got nothing else.
[ A puff punctuates the wordsāclearly heās smoking something by the time he was waiting for Kaladinās reply. ]
What can I say? Iām a big picture kinda guy. Itās why Iām āthe venerable enemyā just as much as I am āthe mercifulā. The big picture is rarely kind to the individuals within it.
no subject
You can't be made the fall guy every time... Your siblings, the people here... It's not fair if they only come away with one side of things.
( he pauses, contemplating. )
You've made mistakes. Hurt mortals. If you've changed and learned from that, then why let them make assumptions about you?
no subject
Because I am conflict.
[ Gods were thinking, living beings, but they were also concepts and metaphors. It's a difficult thing to conceptualize for anyone, especially when he appears to be human by every measure. ]
—But that usually confuses the hell outta people, so just think of it like a job and it's a little easier to understand. It's my job to make sure things are always movin' forward, and if part of that is people being pissed at me or getting the wrong idea, is what it is. Don't exactly feel the need to correct them, since that's fulfilling my duties too.
no subject
he doesn't understand why the cosmere created beings with a single identity when he's had so many. the soldier, the surgeon, the bridgeman, the slave. humans are bent and shaped by circumstances, and they are victims of it almost every time.
but gods? )
Do you... like being this way? Working this job?
no subject
[ But he still sounds amused and unbothered, like he's talking about someone else rather than himself. The questions are kind ones, but they're misplaced. ]
Ain't a matter of whether I like it or not. Even if I hated it—which I don't, to be clear—wouldn't matter. It's part of me as fundamentally as your heart as to you. Doesn't mean it can't shift a little over time, so I wouldn't go so far as to say a god's nature is immutable, but it's slow. Our natures change like the night sky changes. Stars dim and die over periods of time so vast that most people don't notice.
[ But, knowing how Kaladin is likely to take that, he adds: ]
But don't go feeling bad about it. That's just the way our lives work and it's the sacrifice we make, since, y'know, think about it. If a god was as ever-changing as a mortal person, wouldn't be good for the world. Our consistency is stability, which is pretty important when you've also got the power to wipe away a civilization without much effort at all, yeah?
no subject
Though, I suspect you don't mind. ( he adds after a short pause. )
Thank you for always taking the time to explain things to me. I feel like I never get a straight answer, but that's not a concern with you. It must be that consistency you mentioned, or... maybe Death must simply be patient.