[❀4] [video/backdated to friday]

[styxiedust]

[For once when the video opens up, Botan doesn't seem to be in her shop. Her surroundings are unclear, but wherever it is the sun is setting--and with it, the greyish aura around her is fading. She's apparently holding her gear steadily in one hand while cradling one of her Phantump in the other arm.

Her expression looks...serious for a moment, then she shakes it off and smiles gently.]

Hello, everyone. Botan here. I suppose there's no actual reason for making a broadcast for this, but at the same time I feel it's been a long time coming.

[The Phantump in her arm opens one eye, then immediately closes it.]

You're all aware that not everyone is human when they arrive in this world, of course, so it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone for me to say that I'm one of those people. It's just the nature of what I am that I've kept mostly quiet about--rather, my line of work, since I'm not exactly what humans built me up to be in their lore.

[Lore? That implies that Botan is older than she looks, though she says it's a job, so what is this--]

I am what humans in common terms call "the Grim Reaper" or a "shinigami"--death kami, death god. Though I don't like either of those titles, they sound pompous.

[Oh. The Phantump in her arm doesn't open its eye again, it must already know about this.]

I merely guide spirits over the River when their time has come, compared to other spirits in my line of work I'm actually somewhat recently employed, but it's still been a couple of centuries or so, I can tell you a little bit. [Ahem.] What I'm getting at is this: I'm the Grim Reaper, ask me anything.

[The feed shuts off there.

Well. That was something.]

Comments

[Video]

[cyan_maid]

...

[Jane has a very distinct sense of deja-vu.]

Did you know there used to be a woman here who was Death itself? I don't think she's around anymore, I haven't seen her...but, erm, were...you two friendly?

[Video]

[styxiedust]

I think I know which woman you're talking about, yes. She knew me, and somehow...I knew her, too. Death is, of course, a separate incarnation from what I do, so although people mistake me for it or think I bring death, I'm not it--rather, her in this case.

[Video]

[badluckbabe]

[Here's Jinx resurfacing after getting lost in the wild for awhile. This post was enough to catch her interest.]

Employed? So...does that imply you have someone you answer to?

[Video]

[styxiedust]

That's right, I do! The lives of humans are monitored very carefully by strict scheduling and paperwork.

[Of course they are.]

My superior is the god of the Spirit World--Underworld, afterlife, whatever. I suppose technically there's a senior ferrywoman that I answer to as well, but we both answer to Lord Koenma overall.

[video]

[defyingfrigidity]

[Things have been... not awkward since the last time they've talked, but Elsa's been thinking. A lot. So when she sees the start of Botan's video, her heart stutters just a little. It then sinks, as she listens to Botan talk, but... in the end, it smiles. Because she knows how much Botan tried to hide her true identity, so for her to be able to finally let it all out like this...

She's proud of her friend. Proud and happy and... something else she can't quite put her finger on right now.]

... That's still a very unfitting title for you. You're as far from grim as one can possible get.

[video]

[styxiedust]

I know.

[What's left of the aura around her turns pink at seeing Elsa. That shouldn't be weird, right? Pink is a signature color for Botan...

Though the Phantump in her lap smiles a bit smugly in its "sleep."]

However, as you know, it's not a title I assigned to myself. No offense, but humans are really fond of making up ghouls to scare children.

voice;

[bertall]

<sub>[Well, now he's heard almost everything.

As reluctant as he is to believe something like this, there has been a lot of odd stuff and various... beings from other worlds. Surely an actual personification of death can't be too far out of the question, right?]</sub>

Can the dead, uh... Can they talk to you?

voice;

[styxiedust]

Yes and no.

[She answers this easily and with a tone of a friendly clerk in a store.]

The dead can't directly speak to a living person unless they have a heightened sixth sense, but they can speak to all people within their dreams while they sleep. Your experience may vary, however, a lot of worlds seem different.

[A pause, then:] As for me, yes, it's part of my job to speak to them after all.

[video]

[charcoalfeather]

[In this early evening, when the auras are still in effect, Rakka's had been a soft red for most of the day. Hardly a sign of anger, it was like... soft sunshine.

Now, that redness has faded, growing back into a deep brown. Confusion.]

The grim.... reaper? [Judging from both her tone and the aura, she's lost.] Botan...

[video]

[styxiedust]

Do I need to start from the top? Or is there something specific you want to hear about first?

[She feels bad about the confusion, really, but she can't think of anything more straightforward than "grim reaper."]

video

[veggie_vamp]

Oh My Ghoul! Another reaper, that's fangtastic! And it's YOU! This is soooo cool!

Do you also have your own boat and everything?

[styxiedust]

[Ah, of course Draculaura isn't surprised. She's...a Western vampire in her own world, if Botan recalls correctly (as if the name isn't a tip off) and she's surrounded by an assortment of similar ghoulies.]

Not quite! We've mitigated the need for boats and toll payment, ferrywomen just have oars that they fly on.

[Yes, ferrywomen, implying in Botan's version of things the job is strictly for female spirits.]

Video;

[schachmeister]

Then how does it work exactly in your world? Dying that is.

[He's careful to phrase it as 'her world'. It is not that he distrusts miss Botan. She honestly hasn't given him a single reason to believe she would be lying about this. And he's certainly learned that different worlds have very different ways and customs. But in the end, he also cannot really believe that his own world has something similar.]

Video;

[styxiedust]

Well, let's see, a person dies and they become a ghost--a separate thing from their soul being extracted, which is a very bad thing. The ghost bit is a semi-physical embodiment of their consciousness and acts as a sort of protective shield around the soul. Typically a person's death is kept on an accurate to the letter schedule in the files, once they have passed on and manifested as a ghost, it's my or another ferrywoman's job to go to them and take them over the River Styx to the Spirit World where they can be processed. From there, they will go to Paradise or Hell.

[It's a straightforward explanation, spoken evenly and with the practice of...having done this a long time.]

But I should add, this is specific only to the section of the world that I and my coworkers are in, we don't have rule over other places.

[Armin is such a curious little fellow, expresses no fear or apprehension at learning this. Maybe he's an atheist.]

[islandshore]

[After everything he's endured here, the concept of death gods on its own isn't all that strange. Yet despite this, he gives the camera a puzzled look, chin in hand and brows furrowed.]

So, wait. What's a river got to do with death in the first place?

[styxiedust]

Hm?

[So...some people don't even have a concept of the River? Well, that should be expected, still--]

The Sanzu River or the Styx is the border between the living realm and the point of no return in the Spirit World. Humans can't go over the River on their own and need a guide like myself or else they'll get lost and end up...somewhere they can't leave. Drowned, I suppose you could say.

video

[pikapikajankenpo]

Cool, an ama.

Okay, first off: whats your stance on escorting world-ending end-bosses to the afterlife. Do they get an afterlife or when say a certain group of magical girls obliterates the Emperor of Darkness would that be considered the metaphoric coin or not?

video

[styxiedust]

Well, don't give me questions that are too easy, I might get bored!

[Boy...magical girls? Final bosses? Sure, a lot of different people are brought in, but Botan never expected actual magical girls.]

That depends, either way we would still have the soul of the "boss" to deal with. If said magical girls have a way of sealing or destroying the soul reliably, I think it would be feasible to allow them to decide if they will relinquish the rights to handle it or not. Personally I wouldn't want to force perfectly nice girls to deal with a risky thing like that, but I'm just a guide in the end.

[voice]

[notvaljean]

So there's something else out there? Really? And you expect us to believe that?

[Beneath all the bluster and confrontational tone, there's a tiny kernel of... what? Doubt? Hope? A desperate desire to be proven wrong?]

[Probably one or all of those things.]

[voice]

[styxiedust]

That would be stupid of me, wouldn't it?

[Ah, a macho type.]

I can't reasonably expect everyone to believe what I say, especially not since I'm unable to demonstrate my abilities and I don't have knowledge of how the afterlife works in all worlds, as convenient as that would be. It's honestly up to you whether or not you'd like to take what I'm saying seriously, but it's still the truth in the end.

[video]

[meteorman]

[HOLY SHIT YALL]

Are you really? Fascinating! I studied ghosts extensively back in my own reality, actually, and from some of the other responses I can see that our realities are already markedly different on some points.

Are there by chance different varieties of spirit? Do you deal exclusively with the left-over impressions of deceased sentient beings, or are those merely a subset of a larger spiritual population?

[video]

[styxiedust]

Golly.

[A "FASCINATING, TELL ME MORE" type, she didn't expect to see one of these so soon.]

As a guide to the afterlife, it's my duty to deal with ferrying the spirits of the deceased over the River, yes. The varieties of spirits I can think of are ones that can't or refuse to pass over in some way, "attached" spirits are content to stay in the place where they felt strongest towards and wait for...something. It takes a lot of counseling to convince them that they must let go. Spirits that die in bitterness or anger gravitate towards other spirits of that kind and congregate into a kind of black mass--perfect for summoning to inflict curses on the unfortunate.

[Both types Botan has had to deal with as it might show in her expression.]

Some spirits are not human in nature and you or anybody like you wouldn't be able to perceive them, that's the type of spirit I am. Demons are considered another kind of spirit, though a human's ability to perceive them can vary wildly.

[thedifferencebetween]

That sounds...really not true.

Not saying I don't believe you... [Except that was pretty much what he said.] Just seems all a little too...spirits and some kind of existence after death...

C'mon.

[Handsome Jack doesn't believe in anything beyond the physical and tangible.]

[styxiedust]

I'm not going to force anyone to believe me, I'm only a guide, not a missionary--haven't got a clue what the afterlife in your world is like if anything at all.

[Trying to coerce someone living to see it sounds like it violates all sorts of rules anyway.]

video;

[shiro2hero]

... You're kidding, right?

video;

[styxiedust]

I'm dead serious, Shiro.

[Ha...ha...jokes to cover up anxiety felt at revealing this at all and violating so many regulations, it's fine!]

How many women do you meet that feel the need to announce themselves as spiritual pallbearers as a joke?

video;

[nobell]

...Did not see that coming.

[the nice lady that talked to her is. a reaper. what.]

video;

[styxiedust]

A lot of people don't.

[BECAUSE IT'S DEATH HAHAHAHA.]

Are you all right? Do you need a moment?

text

[quadrangle]

[... The fuck.]

OK, FIRST QUESTION: HOW BORED ARE YOU, THAT YOU'RE DOING THIS?

text

[styxiedust]

[Oh look, colors.]

Not especially.

It might seem out of nowhere for people who don't know me and didn't know about this before, buuut it's more like I've gotten to the point where I'm tired of keeping quiet about it.

Video

[coolskeleton_95]

[Papyrus looks a bit nervous.] SO...DO YOU ALSO GUIDE MONSTERS WHO TURN TO DUST?

Video

[styxiedust]

[She...tilts her head to the side, something in her expression looks like a cat hearing an unfamiliar sound and, actually--]

Please excuse my ignorance, I've never met a monster before. Unless you mean a demon, which I doubt. If they're someone with the same level of sentience as you and a soul, however, yes I'm going to hazard an affirmative that I would also guide them.[Assuming something doesn't HAPPEN to interfere with their soul being found, but haha...why would that happen right...?]