NPC Inbox: Fear

[lingeringfear]

[Fear's inbox message is simply a crackling of static, with vague thumps here and there. It goes on for about thirty seconds before cutting short, like the sound was snapped off.]

Comments

text

[lingeringfear]

Of course.

But it wouldn't be the same. It could prove disastrous... which is why I'm beating around the bush about it.

Oh well. A promise is a promise. Just try to keep this quiet, will you?

text

[chantes]

I can try.

( She will. Spreading it to everyone isn't part of her plan anyway )

text

[lingeringfear]

I'm using my power to conceal the city.

I'm the only one of us who can.

text

[chantes]

Conceal it from what? Or who?

( Is Fear afraid of something? )

text

[lingeringfear]

What else? That which killed our previous hosts, the other gods you know now, and the rest of our species.

If I hadn't, we would all be dead by now.

text

[chantes]

Does it have a name?

text

[chantes]

( Actually she has another question )

If we stopped fearing you would the concealment disappear, or would the power you've already gained still sustain it?

text 1/2

[lingeringfear]

No.

But it is unfeeling.

text

[lingeringfear]

My power will run out, yes. Faster than you might think.

text

[chantes]

Unfeeling and unspoken?

( Rhetorical )

That explains much, whether or not it is intentional. ( The fact that monsters are more like to appear than something cute -- they need to keep their fears running ) Having something to be afraid of is healthy.

text

[lingeringfear]

Mm.

Healthy for everyone in this city, I'd wager.

But I'm not quite the big, scary god pulling the strings if I'm the one trying to keep everyone alive, now am I?

text

[chantes]

You can understand why people would assume so. If you and Hope had not been left alive this would all be rather different.

text

[lingeringfear]

I encourage the assumption. I need the fear it brings.

If Hope and I had not survived that which killed the others, then none of this would have happened at all.

text

[chantes]

Yet you did. Do I have enough left to know how?

( Hoping that perhaps some politeness will grant her a question outside of the original topic, rather than simply asking )

text

[lingeringfear]

I don't know if we ever intended on it being a secret. It's only that nobody has asked.

Sorrow died to afford us time to escape.

text

[chantes]

Was there no way to fight them back?

( Though she knows this answer, given that the Inquisitor had offered the same thing at Haven )

text

[lingeringfear]

We tried.

We were not created for war. We were ill-equipped to deal with a genocide.

text

[chantes]

Was there ever another way to accomplish this, or was this just the fastest?

text

[lingeringfear]

To accomplish ridding themselves of us?

I don't know. This was the most convenient for them, I'd imagine.

text

[chantes]

And for getting your power back?
What gave you strength before they came?

text

[lingeringfear]

Our host population. They were the first casualties.

They were more simple than you all. We carried a great deal of affection for them.

text

[chantes]

Did they face monsters as we do, or were your needs not as dire?

text

[lingeringfear]

We didn't have the Door back then, so monsters weren't a factor.

They weren't like you anyway. Your kind needs to be... coerced into supplying us with power. They did not.

text

[chantes]

Why didn't they?

text

[lingeringfear]

Because they were capable of giving it freely, willingly, and without the negativity that your kind associates with these emotions.