Thanks for calling. If you're reaching out to sell your soul, I'll already know and I'll be there soon. If you're calling to just talk, leave a message and I'll call you back when I can. Which will probably be soon. Talk to you then~
[Rinku takes this in. The dirt and dust swirl around, and she thinks, sniffling.]
Yeah... I know you're right. Really awful stuff has happened. Usually I just don't get hurt. But this one felt like, I dunno. Like the whole world's gone wrong, and even now that it's trying to get back to normal, it's like... pretending nothing happened. Not actually nothing happened.
Maybe it's time for you to talk about what did happen. Because keeping it inside isn't working, is it? I'm here to listen, if you want. Tell me what happened when you went to Hell.
[The dirt drops to the ground. Rinku takes in a breath slow and deep, holds it, and lets it out. She looks up at him with eyes glassy with almost-tears.]
I know demons and hell are supposed to be bad and everything. I was already afraid because of the stuff I've heard about the idol hell, even if it's not the same one. But it was just like I imagined. I mean, no idols or corner stores, but the other stuff. The way the demons only wanted to fight, how they copied stuff they saw without understanding it, how they hurt people just because they could.
There was some old stuff there. Maybe from when all the old people in town were kids, when the dragons got locked away in the mountain. Maybe even older, I dunno. But people have been dragged in there to get tortured and die -- prisoners, pirates, civilians, whole armies and villages -- for a long time. There were flags no one recognizes, who knows how many people or even whole places got wiped out? And why?
[She sniffs and wipes her eyes with the back of her arm.]
It feels wrong. Even a bad person has reasons. They might not be good reasons, and they might not be able to be saved, but it's always worth it to try. But... even if we did try, these guys wouldn't have listened.
And then -- and then it followed us. [Her voice cracks, dry and straining.] The danger followed us home.
That's usually true. Most people usually have a reason for the things they do.
But not all evil is like that. Some evil simply is evil. It exists without rhyme or reason, Rinku. It's about learning how to discern which is which. These demons? The ones who follows people back? They are evil simply because they are evil.
I am sorry you feel bad. That maybe you don't feel like you're enough. But I know most people would tell you you are for them. More than enough in Evangeline's case definitely.
[Rinku cries, just listening and shaking. She hugs back tight and manages to breathe enough to finally reply.]
You really think so?
[She knows it's true, of course. Evangeline would never say it if it weren't. But to hear it now, and from someone who knows Evangeline so well, not to mention this specific person after what happened a year ago, overwhelms her. She starts to glow again.]
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chiming
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Date: 2025-11-19 06:00 pm (UTC)From:Yeah... I know you're right. Really awful stuff has happened. Usually I just don't get hurt. But this one felt like, I dunno. Like the whole world's gone wrong, and even now that it's trying to get back to normal, it's like... pretending nothing happened. Not actually nothing happened.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-22 03:41 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-11-22 03:54 am (UTC)From:I know demons and hell are supposed to be bad and everything. I was already afraid because of the stuff I've heard about the idol hell, even if it's not the same one. But it was just like I imagined. I mean, no idols or corner stores, but the other stuff. The way the demons only wanted to fight, how they copied stuff they saw without understanding it, how they hurt people just because they could.
There was some old stuff there. Maybe from when all the old people in town were kids, when the dragons got locked away in the mountain. Maybe even older, I dunno. But people have been dragged in there to get tortured and die -- prisoners, pirates, civilians, whole armies and villages -- for a long time. There were flags no one recognizes, who knows how many people or even whole places got wiped out? And why?
no subject
Date: 2025-11-26 03:02 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-11-26 04:14 am (UTC)From:[She sniffs and wipes her eyes with the back of her arm.]
It feels wrong. Even a bad person has reasons. They might not be good reasons, and they might not be able to be saved, but it's always worth it to try. But... even if we did try, these guys wouldn't have listened.
And then -- and then it followed us. [Her voice cracks, dry and straining.] The danger followed us home.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-29 04:05 am (UTC)From:But not all evil is like that. Some evil simply is evil. It exists without rhyme or reason, Rinku. It's about learning how to discern which is which. These demons? The ones who follows people back? They are evil simply because they are evil.
I am sorry you've faced those things, Rinku.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-29 04:13 am (UTC)From:But she hugs him, shaking and barely standing up.]
...I'm sorry too. For everyone.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-10 12:36 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-12-10 12:38 am (UTC)From:...
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Date: 2025-12-16 04:04 am (UTC)From:I am sorry you feel bad. That maybe you don't feel like you're enough. But I know most people would tell you you are for them. More than enough in Evangeline's case definitely.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-16 04:45 am (UTC)From:You really think so?
[She knows it's true, of course. Evangeline would never say it if it weren't. But to hear it now, and from someone who knows Evangeline so well, not to mention this specific person after what happened a year ago, overwhelms her. She starts to glow again.]
no subject
Date: 2025-12-21 04:50 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2025-12-21 04:56 am (UTC)From:...thank you. I'll do my best, okay?
[Not just with the earth magic.]
I'll try, Davis-san.