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[heartofthestar]

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[heartofthestar]

[This brings to mind a thought, however.]

You needn't answer this question if you so desire, but what are your expectations for your own lifespan?

[purrsonality]

[ she blinks, perplexed. ]

I don't have any. I just assumed it was a human one.

[heartofthestar]

[Venat brings one hand to her mouth, failing utterly to hide a smile.]

Well, that is fair. I wondered if it might be different, given your circumstances.

[purrsonality]

It might be?

It's just not important. It'll happen when it needs to. That's okay.

[heartofthestar]

That is indeed fair. I ask only because I have found my outlook -- or rather, my people's outlook -- to be different in many ways, thanks to our prolonged lives. I wondered if such a consideration had affected you. Merely to understand better, not for any other cause or purpose.

[purrsonality]

[ ah. ]

Not me, personally.

But it made Marcille upset.

[heartofthestar]

I believe I recognize that name, but only that. A comrade of yours, then?

[purrsonality]

Yeah. She's . . . important to me.

[heartofthestar]

It sounds like there must be a story there.

[Venat fails to hide her bright smile behind her curled fingers.]

Which of course I would not pressure you to relate, but should you feel willing, it would not go amiss.

[purrsonality]

I guess there is?

We traveled the dungeon together. Laios, Marcille, Chilchuck, Senshi and me. And she looked after me. She combed my hair and gave me baths.

[heartofthestar]

"The" dungeon?

[There is much to unpack in those simple sentences, but an ex-Azem does tend to focus on certain things more than others. What an odd definitive.]

[purrsonality]

It doesn't have a name. It's just called that.

There's a few around the world, but they aren't as powerful as the one we went into.

[heartofthestar]

That sounds remarkable. Izutsumi, you know I could ply you for tales all day and all night, so you will have to stop me at some point from hearing all this. Yet I very much want to hear more!

[purrsonality]

[ hmm. ]

If you want to, I'll tell you. I'm just not good at all the details.

[heartofthestar]

That is quite all right. I shall ask questions where I may, and if you've no answer, we shall proceed.

[purrsonality]

If you're sure.

It's not a big deal to me. And it's not like I keep secrets.

[heartofthestar]

You are fortunate to have no cause to. [A faint shift of expression, difficult to read, crosses Venat's face.] Do you know, all members of the Convocation were taught how to discern lies from truth, but it has been so long and the people here different enough that what little I remember of the technique is useless.

[purrsonality]

I mean.

Why do you even need to know something like that?

[heartofthestar]

We oversaw the world. Doing so would be difficult if we were perpetually misled, deceived, or misinformed. Considering the scope and depth of the Convocation's duties and accomplishments... well, would you really want the keeper of the very underworld itself to make a poor choice because someone elected to oh-so-slightly fib about their responsibility in a given crisis?

[purrsonality]

I guess.

But it feels like . . . overkill.

[heartofthestar]

It appeared to be the path of wisdom for us for many long millennia. Whether or not it truly was, I cannot say. I certainly know of little harm that came of it directly, but it must be admitted our civilization ultimately did not survive.

[purrsonality]

Yeah, it just seems like you guys were really extreme about everything. Living long, planning, not having lies and so on.

But maybe it's a good thing to be . . . flawed.

[heartofthestar]

What some people consider flaws, other people consider strengths. Our society would have considered a dramatic lack of restraint in garb and appearance a flaw, whereas many others would say that our desire to emphasize the community over the individual was one. Everyone lives to the best of their ability, after all. No one seeks deliberately to be flawed.

[purrsonality]

[ oh boy. ]

Yeah, but like no lies ever? Living forever? All that stuff with no end and no . . . bending feels a bit much.

[ that's why the dungeon collapsed. thistle. in a way, she feels venat's people mirror the demon. limitless, unyielding in nature. what world is meant for that? ]

[heartofthestar]

It is not that we lived forever. Rather, we lived as long as we wished. But you are indeed correct that such circumstances led to, or at least contributed greatly, to our civilization's downfall. For so long, we had so little suffering in our lives that as a people we lost the means to cope when it returned.