7th - Audio

[mmmleather]

I have a question, if I may.

How many of those here have suffered the pain of death? I am merely curious, you see, and wondering how concerned I must be, should I find myself in similar straights.

Comments

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

Then it's not really death is it?

[mmmleather]

Oh, no. By all accounts, they are quite dead. Simply... they later return.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

A watch may stop but that doesn't mean it can't be wound again. The dead don't come back. I am keenly aware of this, whatever the doctors say.

...Whatever happens when a person... stops here, there's a way to wind them up again.

I'm no fool. Dying is when you never work again.

[mmmleather]

... It is as if I am having a discussion with Morrigan again, but with none of the delightful scenery.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

My name is Alice, not Morrigan.

...

Are they really able to bring the dead back to life here?

[mmmleather]

I did not say it was your name. Should it have been, I would have become all the more charming.

So I am told.

1/2

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

[There's a long period of just silence from Alice's end of the comm, punctured only by the occasional crackling of static. Sorry, she's having a bit of a moment to cope.]

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

[Ah, there she is. Though when she speaks her voice sounds a little flat.]

I'm sure charm is among your greater virtues.

...This place gives one a terrible thing to hope for. And a terrible thing to dread. ...Doesn't it?

[mmmleather]

But of course! I am Antivan, after all.

[He's grinning. Can you tell?]

Dread? No one seems to have come back missing anything vital to their continued existence... I see nothing to dread.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

You're an ant? Are you the sort that lives on Caterpillar's mountain and meditates the mysteries of life or the sort that goes about shooting things?

Or is Antivan some sort of term I've never heard?

...

Not necessarily my own continued existence but the resurrection of one with a slight vendetta.

[mmmleather]

... No. I am Antivan. My homeland is the country of Antiva, in the North of Thedas.

You have enemies? Here?

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

...Is that somewhere in South Europe? Perhaps near Italy?

Not here, no. Well, maybe. The ones I brought with me, yes, in a manner of speaking. But if they are able to bring the dead back to life... it is entirely possible they could bring the dead back from another world isn't it?

[mmmleather]

... Eh, no? I have never heard of these places. Why?

Well, this is true. But I cannot imagine one such as you with any terrible fiends to worry her.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

Your accent sounds a bit Italian. Or maybe Spanish. Or Portuguese.

...You must be very short on imagination then. I'm not sure if I should count you lucky there, or feel sorry for you.

[mmmleather]

I... am Antivan. I am not certain what else you wish me to say. None of these words are familiar to me.

Oh ho. Not at all. I assure you, my imagination is quite functional.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

And Antivan is equally foreign to my knowledge. Is it anywhere in Europe?

Well, I hope you put it to better use than thinking up false flattery.

[mmmleather]

It is in Thedas, as I have said.

Ah! You wound me. What reason would I have to be at all false?

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of such a country. Though I wonder... Is it a place in Wonderland?

...Believe me if I had really wounded you, you'd know. And I'm not sure. The same reason many have to say pretty things that are ultimately untrue?

[mmmleather]

Wonderland...?

Ah, I was being metaphorical. But... what you say is troubling. Do you not think yourself worthy of being told pretty things?

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

Ah. Perhaps not then. Where on earth is Thedas? Asia? Africa? Australia perhaps?

No. I've simply had enough of lies, thank you.

[mmmleather]

It... is an earth? A place of existence? None of those names are familiar to me.

I am no liar.... but, ah. Suit yourself.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

...This truly is another world then. I've not just fallen into another hallucination I don't think anyway...

Is Thedas your world then? Not a country in Europe or the Americas?

[She feels bad now. She's not actually used to people being sincerely nice to her.]

I'm sorry.

[mmmleather]

If I am a hallucination, then you have very good taste.

That is the world as I know it, yes. And Antiva is the country in which I was born. Therefore, I am Antivan.

[vorpalknifenut.livejournal.com]

If I wanted maddening quips, I think I'd prefer the cat. Anyway, you seem far too... normal, for lack of a better word, to be of my devising. So no, definitely not another hallucination.

Is Antiva a nice country?

[mmmleather]

I am pleased to hear that I am... normal. I do not hear such a thing very often.

It is most beautiful.