Operation 15 | [Anon Text/Audio]

[orlokbutterfly]

[Anon Text - Morning]

[Gale has been in an odd mood, and he just sort of mindlessly poses an anonymous message to the network.]

If you were to be in a situation in which, by all rights, you should be dead but are kept alive by unnatural means...
can you even be considered "alive" anymore?

would you even still have your soul at that stage?


[Text - Evening]

[Once he's back in the comfort of his own apartment and more awake much later in the day, he realizes the weird text he'd made that morning. So now he'd send out a different text, this time not anonymous... and all it is is a single picture: ]



[He is so proud of himself for that one.]


[Private Audio - Karla]

[Even though he had a stupid grin plastered on his face for that awful aircraft humor, he'd realized that he should probably actually get ahold of Karla... despite the fact that he hated thinking about what his other half did. Two months was a long time to sit on something.

But, it needed to be done. And if anyone should know about it, it should probably be the only law enforcement that he felt confident enough to bring it up to.]

Hey, it's Gale. You have any openings in your schedule? There's somethin' I'd like to talk about.

I could even treat you to dinner or somethin', if you'd want.

Comments

[Text - Morning]

[alwaysimpaled]

Considering I've had swords shoved through my chest what... 4 times, been shot in the head, electrocuted, set on fire, stabbed over a thousand times (I stopped counting after 1000), hit with every kind of weapon imaginable, and still kicking, I think I can definitively say yes. I'm still alive. And have my soul.

[Anon text]

[orlokbutterfly]

[... wow that is... he doesn't even know. Normally he'd have some sort of snarky comment, but that would probably give himself away.]

Sounds like quite the adventure.

but what unnatural means keep you alive?

[He already knows, because it's Dante... but he's gotta fake it for anon.]

[text]

[alwaysimpaled]

you make it sound like it all happened at once. that was spread out over several decades

unholy genetics. demons are notoriously hard to kill

[Private]

[swordprincess]

[Karla hasn't really heard from Gale since the incident with his other half, so she's relieved to see him whole again. She smiles at her device as she responds.]

I'm always willing to make time for you, Gale. Do you have a particular time and place to meet?

[Private]

[orlokbutterfly]

Aw, you're too sweet to me.

[More than anything, he's especially relieved that she doesn't seem to have anything against him for what happened. Orlok was such an asshole.]

Can't say I did. I figure let you decide, since I imagine you're busier than I am.

[Somehow being a deputy seems like it would take more time than being the asshole manager of two clubs.]

[Private]

[swordprincess]

Well, my training probably keeps me busier than my actual jobs, so I can sacrifice a training session if need be.

[She pauses for a moment.]

I don't have any particular preference. Would you prefer Genessia or Nova City?

[Video]

[kalmaleader]

[Oh boy, Qubine has words for this one.]

I've had more than enough experience with that. Not for myself, of course, but for the dead dragons of my clan who were brought back to life. They were soulless beasts, only resurrected for the purpose of attacking the survivors of my clan. I can't say I'm fond of the concept in the slightest.

[If he's talking about the same thing...it certainly feels like the same thing.]

[Anon text]

[orlokbutterfly]

[y i k e s. Necromacy is one type of magic that he's kind of glad doesn't exist in his home anymore. Of course, something about undead dragons is actually kind of horrifying.]

I'm sorry you've gone through that, though I imagine my my words offer little consolation.

but if they were on the brink of death, does your world have other means of keeping them alive, regardless if they wish for it or not?

[Video]

[kalmaleader]

[He just sighs.]

There's not much, if anything, that can offer any consolation...

[That's just the truth of the matter.]

We do have healers. Some dragon breeds are naturally gifted with magic where I come from.

text;

[needssouls]

I think that's called being a zombies, minus the need to eat brains all the time.

[It's hard to tell if she is joking or not since it's over text.]

anon text;

[orlokbutterfly]

[Whether or not she's joking, it does make him crack the briefest of smirks.]

I haven't had a craving for that yet. So I guess that's a good sign.

or at least a good sign that I'm not a traditional zombie.

text - evening

[gamerrep]

What is a dassault rafales and why would one want to paint someone like that?

Also pretty sure that plane is upside down.

text;

[orlokbutterfly]

do you
do you know the phrase "paint me like one of your french girls"
because in some worlds,
a Rafale is built by a french company called dassault

[He legitimately doesn't know what France even is so he had to look that one up. But its language looks suspiciously like Hazaethian.]

and yes
yes it is

Text - Morning

[youfool]

Much depends on one's state of being. If one still experienced nutrition, growth, and decay, "alive" would be a fair description.

As for soulishness, that too can be better known through an inventory of one's remaining capacities. The five senses and procreative powers are part, but the greater would be reasoning or rationality. There's also imagination, dreaming, etc. Those testify to the existence of a soul, their absence bringing doubt thereof.

But there's loss of soul in the sense of damnation and eternal forfeiture. If these unnatural means have driven a wedge between one and one's beatification, their soul, to the extent that it remains at all, will become a sorry and torturous thing.

anon text;

[orlokbutterfly]

[Wow. Deep. But... it does at least make sense.]

Even if I shouldn't be alive, I guess by some definitions, I'm not "damned" yet.

I guess there's hope for me yet then.

so would you say that even if one isn't technically fully "human" physically
having the soul is what really defines it?

[Text-Evening]

[beauty_burns_gold]

You okay there, boss-man? Didn't know you want to be a plane. Seems kinda a plane ambition if you ask me.

[Text]

[orlokbutterfly]

[Oh, Yang. Your puns are what make you one of his favorite employees since day one.]

well, what can I say

I am kind of an air head

you know how often I gotta wing it

text - morning;

[stairsbro]

if youre capable of asking that question
youre probably still alive and souled up
honestly the best thing to do post-death and resurrection of bullshit methods
is to just not question it
roll with it ya know
thinking about it too hard is going to accomplish fucking nothing but putting you into this whole existential crisis
believe me i am a god damn expert

anon text;

[orlokbutterfly]

a goddamn expert is a good thing to have in this situation
but I suppose you're right.

when you've physically become more machine than man, it's hard to avoid the question.

text - morning

[captain_by_the_book]

I wouldn't concern myself too much with the means being natural or unnatural. That depends on your point of view. If someone can still worry whether they are alive, they are alive to me.

anon text;

[orlokbutterfly]

That's a fair enough assessment.

though sometimes, when you've lived an entirely different life for nearly seven years with a body that's more machine than anything else,

it's a question that becomes unavoidable once in a while.

[Text - Morning - Just as Anon]

[lunarlegionnaire]

That depends on what brought you back. Or who.

You might have your soul, but it may not belong to you anymore.

[Anon text]

[orlokbutterfly]

[That's one response that makes him hesitate. It hits a little too close to home.]

After that, I didn't really have control of my own life anymore.

I really was more of an experiment than anything.

[myfayevalentine]

*In the apartment, Faye is rifling through the kitchen trying to find something decent to eat. It's evening, and she's putting together a sandwich with ham when she notices the second message that Gale sends. It doesn't get a laugh from her, she just rolls her eyes and yells through to his room*

Are you drunk or something?

[orlokbutterfly]

[He has to stiffle another laugh when he hears Faye, getting up and peering out of his room with a grin.]

Honey, if I were drunk, that would be way funnier.