Ninth invocation; video

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse floated above a bed. He didn't know who owned the bed, but he was borrowing it for a bit. He tended to switch which house he was haunting, whenever he got bored. A big danmaku event was coming up, but it was taking time. Idly, he flipped through the videophone, reading and playing people's messages and randomly throwing out comments. After a while, he began his own video.

"YO, GENESSIA...and well, the other places, too. How are you babes and fellas getting on? Gotta admit, your resident Ghost with the Most is a tad bit bored. NOW. I could just come up with some brilliant scheme to prank you all, because honestly, you need some shaking up. I've been listening in on some of your messages on this thing, which is the best gossip hotline I've ever seen, I gotta say.

Where was I?

Ah, yeah, yeah, anyways, it's just too damn quiet, know what I mean? SO, instead of pranking you, I'll give you a chance to distract me. I don't care how. JUST MAKE SOME DAMN NOISE ALREADY!"

Comments

video

[dreamingartist]

Well...maybe it should be! Then people might not feel so scared of it when it happens. I mean, when they get old... [Says the boy coming from a world where reincarnations happen.]

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse shrugged, spreading his hands in a gesture of compliance.

"It seems like a good idea, but nothing's ever that easy. You think people fight about religion now? If people knew, things would probably blow up, at least in my world."

[dreamingartist]

Oh? How so?

[betel_geuse]

"Most people on my world think you either cease to exist, when you die, or you find out all the answers about religion and stuff. Now, imagine thinking that and finding out neither of those is true. That death is just another sorta waiting game and everyone still has their own opinions, only now you got the living and the dead fighting over it, too."

[dreamingartist]

Oh...yeah, that makes sense. I didn't really think of it that way.

[betel_geuse]

"I don't think many people do think about it. Why would they?" Betelgeuse said, shrugging lightly. "Got any idea what your world's afterlife is like?"

[dreamingartist]

...I try not to think about it too much. [mainly because thinking about Aviophiel and the Ancient Elementals and all that reincarnation business leads him to thinking about Donovan, do not want.]

[betel_geuse]

"Huh. Typical living folk thinking. Ignoring death won't make it go away, pal. I mean, I am talking from personal experience."

[dreamingartist]

I know, and I know everyone has to die sometime. But it's just really sad to think about it.

[betel_geuse]

"Yeah, yeah, bring a tissue," Betelgeuse scoffs. "Look, you plan out your life, right? You make decisions about school, work, sex, and all that. How long're you gonna live? Eighty years? You're gonna be dead for millions of years. Don't you think that calls for some planning ahead?"

[dreamingartist]

But in my world, death is kind of...the end. You don't do anything. [Unless you're reincarnated, but...]

[betel_geuse]

"How do you know? The dead could still be there, just...somewhere else, somewhere the living can't see. That's kinda how it is in my world. Unless you're a necromancer or had some kinda death experience, you can't really know, until you die yourself, right?"

[dreamingartist]

I guess not. It's just so different in my world, I never thought of it as any other way.

[betel_geuse]

"Well, y'know, to be fair, you can't plan for your afterlife, if you don't know what it'll be like, so it really isn't your fault. And, yeah, different worlds, different rules, which just makes death that much weirder, really but still inevitable, which sucks. It'd be interesting, if there was one world where death was, y'know, optional."

[dreamingartist]

That...might not be such a good idea, actually. [Because Donovan is immortal, and, well.] Wouldn't people who chose to live forever eventually get tired of it? And lonely?

[betel_geuse]

"Why would anyone get tired of livin'?" Betelgeuse asked, perplexed. "Being dead sucks. As for lonely, nah. Why would you get lonely? The world's full of people! Not as many as in the afterlife, sure, sure, but it's still brimming with people."

[dreamingartist]

But...if you lived forever, you'd watch all your friends die off, one by one. No matter how many you had...watching everyone die. One by one...

[betel_geuse]

"Well, you're gonna do that, if you live or die, anyways. I guess it would be better, if you were immortal and could see ghosts. Betcha you would be able to, after living so long."

[dreamingartist]

I don't know...it wouldn't be the same as being with someone in person.

[betel_geuse]

"Being with a ghost is being with someone IN PERSON," Betelgeuse shouted in annoyance, frowning deeply, before continuing in a low, furious voice. "Ghost are people, in case ya didn't know."

[dreamingartist]

Ah-! I-I'm sorry, I didn't...o-of course, right, ghosts are people, just...transparent! Or...not alive! Sorry!

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse calmed, shrugging.

"There ya go. I can be transparent, but that cheap trick gets old after a bit. So, see, there's no reason immortality's gotta be lonely."

[dreamingartist]

I guess...but what if in someone else's world they can't see or talk to ghosts? Some people don't believe in them...

[betel_geuse]

"Then, you figure something else out, right? There's always a solution somewhere. Besides, if one person can be immortal, others can too. I bet there are some, even if only a few."

[dreamingartist]

I guess...