Heathens Archives

"Alright, let's see what we've got..." Justin muttered, sitting at a wooden table in the local library with his journal in one hand and pen in the other. The boy had woken up that morning and attended one of his classes at an earlier time, before taking the rest of his free time to head out to the library and do some "research". Which was mainly at the moment reading fictional books and trying to find anything that could inspire an idea for some kind of writing.

Right, so, need a plot first. Have a setting in mind, I've got a fair cast of characters. I think. Oh god, I need a foreign character that stands on their own or everyone's going to flip their crap. Hold on, not the point. Okay, so plot. It should be something with funny moments, but also some sad ones too. Some good bits of action, a plot that you need to take some time and think about to piece together, yeah, yeah...

Ten minutes later he had a page covered in Breadfish. "Heh, I do see the marvelous Breadfish."

Putting his journal down on the table, he reached over to a thermos of coffee he had brought with him and grabbed onto it, almost taking a drink from it before deciding otherwise. I don't need it yet, I'll have it later. He figured, placing the thermos back onto the table about a foot away before going back to flip the page in his journal and actually starting to write things.

It was rather late in the evening, and Faeneth had been in the library almost all day. She had been given the day off from her chosen form of work today and had opted to spend it in the forest of books. Faeneth was absolutely fascinated by books, and the more she read, the more she realised there was more and more to read. The books were never ending, with more and more being produced each day.

The way people could weave stories from tiny ideas, or create entire fictional worlds that seemed so real... she was intrigued by it; so much so that she was a common sight in the library, sitting in a corner reading a book, or carrying whole stacks of reading material to the counter to take home with her.

Glancing up at the clock, Fae sighed as she realised the time. So many books, so little time to read them in. With the job she had taken at the local park, unfortunately she was not able to spend every waking minute in the library, enjoying it's vast contents. Even as a goddess she couldn't bend time to her will and in her mortal body, she had to conform to the need for eating and sleeping and such like.

Gathering up the books from the table next to her, she stood and considered each one, narrowing it down to a smaller pile since she wouldn't have enough time to read every single book she picked out, before all of them were due back in.

With her now rather measly selection of books, considering how may had been laid out on the table next to her, Fae headed towards the counter, wandering past a boy sitting at one of the other tables as she did so. Spotting the thermos on the table, Fae picked it up as she walked past, blinking as she opened it and smelt it's contents. Making a face at the scent, she screwed the top back on and wandered around the table until she was standing behind the boy. Glancing over his shoulder at the page covered in drawings of strange fish with their bodies encased in a loaf of bread.

Confused and still holding the thermos, Fae spoke, "Is that something people do these days? Draw fish with bread bodies?" She was quiet as she spoke, being in a library, but the confusion was evident in her voice.

Jumping in his seat slightly, Justin turned around and noticed Fae behind him before glancing back at his journal and chuckling, trying to come up with a response for her.
"Well, I mean it's possible that everyone's just obsessed with the Breadfish, but as for me things just kind of fell apart and that was the result." He whispered, not even noticing that she was holding his thermos the whole time as he explained it.

"Anyways, any certain reason you're so interested? Or were you just that captivated by the inverted living sandwich that is the Breadfish?" Justin continued to ask in a quieter voice, knowing that they were in a library and that people were supposed to be, well, quiet. Deciding to take a drink he looked back to the table and went to grab his thermos only to find it wasn't there. A bit confused, he turned back around to Fae.
"Hey, you haven't happened to see-" He started to ask, but stopped as he noticed the thermos in her hands. "Oh, I think that's mine." He finished up, looking relatively relaxed despite the fact it seemed that she had taken his thermos and pointing at it in her hands.

"I was just... curious. I've never seen it before," she replied quietly, wondering how someone could have come up with such an idea. Then again, that was like asking how anyone came up with anything. Who first thought to craft the first fictional story purely for the pleasure of others?

Lost in her thoughts, Faeneth had actually forgotten that she was holding the stranger's thermos and blinked when he mentioned it, looking at it as if it had jumped into her hands. With books held in one hand, Fae gently shook the thermos with the other, listening to the sloshing of the contents within.
"Surely all that caffeine isn't healthy... why not settle for a nice cup of tea instead?" she smiled hesitantly, her blue gaze watching for Justin's reaction.

"Well you obviously don't know what a good cup of coffee tastes like in the morning." Justin bluntly responded, before thinking about the second bit that Fae had mentioned about tea.
"Haven't really had tea before, not much of an herbal person really. Though now that you mention it I'm sure it can't be that bad. Plus, I did say in the morning and it isn't exactly morning now is it? A bit late to be having coffee without something else to go with it." He had started to respond and started to just ramble, going off into his own thoughts.
"Sorry about that. Anyways, do you know where someone could go find some tea since you're suggesting it?" Justin asked, placing his journal and pen back into the bag he had hung on the back of the chair he was sitting in.

"Drinking tea with a random stranger I just met. Sure, why not. There's a cafe around the corner that sells decent tea, the least I could do is introduce you to this wonderful and life changing drink" she replied cheerfully, a small, mischievous smile forming from her delicate features as she continued;
"As long as you get rid of this."
Faeneth deftly tossed the thermos towards Justin. They were close enough that he would likely not miss the catch, and even if he did the lid tightly sealed the coffee inside, preventing it from spilling onto the library's relatively clean floor.

Fae wandered over to the counter, grinning to the librarian as she handed the books over. Usually she'd take out a few more than this, the librarian noticing the difference.
"Less than usual? Ah well, you have a pretty good taste in books. Enjoy," she smiled good naturedly, scanning each book and then Fae's library card before handing the books back to her. Fae nodded her thanks before turning back to Justin.
"Oh yea... I should probably introduce myself. I'm Fae, pleased to make your acquaintance."

[19:35:41] mephisto1 joined the chat on Fri Jul 26, 2013 7:35 pm
[19:35:43] mephisto1: Hey guys!
[19:35:53] BobTehBall has been disconnected on Fri Jul 26, 2013 7:35 pm (session timeout)


Caleb stared dully at his computer monitor, hardly noticing the loud, heavy guitar riffs blasting into his ears. "Nobody's on, huh?" He sighed and glanced at the homework lying on his desk. He could almost hear them begging to be done, scolding him for not completing them, warning him that they were due the next day...

"Maybe later," he muttered, instead opening a new tab to browse the forum for anything interesting. There wasn't much. Some people were arguing about whether MLP was the epitome of good television or the nadir of human society, while others fawned over the latest trailer of Grand Theft Auto Five. A newbie posted in the introductions page, but it was just a troll telling everybody to convert to Islam and that the American Government would topple or some shit. It was obvious even to him that the boy wasn't even Islamic himself, and his attempt at satire just came across as offensive. Bored, the boy closed the tab and moved to close the chat tab, when he noticed that somebody had logged on.

[19:39:53] OceansFTW joined the chat on Fri Jul 26, 2013 7:39 pm

Caleb grinned; he loved talking with this girl. They always ended up having the most interesting conversations - deep ones he'd never be able to have with most members of the site, as fun as they were.

[19:40:01] mephisto1: Oceans! What up?

[19:40:01] mephisto1: Oceans! What up?

The words appeared only seconds after Drijven logged on to the chat. Meph again eh? he thought. His laptop lay on his lap as he sat on a old looking sofa that looked as if it were picked up off the streets, which it was. His room was large, but was the only room in the apartment if one counted the kitchen with was also slightly worn from use. The cheapest apartment he could find, was this. The only cash he had received was from his job as a high school janitor, since he had spent all the cash he had ever gotten in his past lifetimes in a casino and the rest on traveling. He had only recently(being a year ago for a god such as him) gotten this laptop and joined a strange site where the humans would chatter like birds about different things on the net and things occurring in real life, or as they decided called it "IRL".

Drijven stared at the screen as he typed; his fingers were a blur as he typed into the chat box. He would have to greet his friend, who he had been talking to for a while now. He had about to type a simple "Hello, how are you?" into the chat, until he noticed something scroll by in a section of the forum called Recent Topics. He furrowed his brow when he opened it and read its contents; apparently someone was attempting to "Troll" and make an insulting attempt of satire. He closed the window by accident instead of closing the tab, causing him to huff in frustration before reopening the internet and returning to the forum.

[19:44:01] OceansFTW: Sorry about that, closed the window by accident! Hello Meph! What's up with the newb in the intro section?

Drijven sighed as he laid back onto the couch and waited for a reply. He had seen no progress in his own search for a mortal. He knew one of the gods were going to kill him for this if the Old Ones did not get to him first. He ruffled his own white hair in boredom. Sure, he could go out and search right now, but the internet opened a gate to the entire world. He remembered when the computer was a giant hunk of metal, heavy, slow and frustrating yet amazing. He had watched technology grow to the point of harnessing his power, water, to create energy to supply the computers. He was amazed by how time flies! He smirked, lucky for him he had the possibility of living forever and seeing just where man kind would go next.

*In a random Cafe in New Orleans*

Neoma cracked her neck and took a sip of her coffee. Looking outside, watching the rain, she smiled when she heard the clash of thunder and lightening.The lights flickered for a few seconds but stayed on. Aww, it would of been cool if the lights got cut off. Then I could scare these pesky mortals. she thought. She chuckled softly, Neoma was one of those people that liked dark things. Horror films, mystery stories. Times have changed a lot, but one thing always stayed the same: Fear and Darkness. "I wounder how that pesky Fjor's doing? I hope he's in a burning building, or maybe he got caught in a bad storm and got struck by lightening. Heh, his fur would be all over the place." she whispered to herself. Wrapping up in her trench coat, she shivered slightly when the door to the Cafe had opened. She liked the temperature of the state of New Orleans.

"Excuse me, miss? Here's your Gumbo." the waitress said, setting down her meal. "Thank you." Neo said. Adding some salt and pepper she dug into her meal.

[19:44:01] OceansFTW: Sorry about that, closed the window by accident! Hello Meph! What's up with the newb in the intro section?
Caleb sighed and frowned. He had a huge rant for that newbie, but he knew from prior experience that such rants were not appreciated by most members of the site.
[19:45:00] mephisto1: IDK. Troll acting like a tard and offending every single muslim to exist ever.
[19:45:50] mephisto1: Hey, what do you think the meaning of life is?
[19:46:05] mephisto1: Sorry bout random topic, just been thinking and stuffs.
[19:46:40] mephisto1: I used to think that life was about appreciating the little things
[19:46:51] mephisto1: but that's a bit of a hedonistic mindset innit?
[19:47:01] mephisto1: life has to have some purpose besides being a means to appreciate the world, right?

Caleb frowned; he'd been having serious thoughts like this much more than usual. He'd considered that perhaps it was a result of researching religion too much to be healthy, but he'd been researching religion for so long now anyway. Was it puberty?
He turned around and took a good look at his room. He didn't know why - well, perhaps that was a lie; he knew why in a way he couldn't put into words, though if he found a way to do so, he'd describe his reason as 'the need to appreciate the monotony that has long since been forgotten.'
It was a small room, with a small blue bed less than a step away from his computer desk cum bookshelf. The lightbulb on his ceiling was dim, though not out of choice; he simply couldn't bother himself enough to grab a spare lightbulb and change it. His desk consisted of his laptop, a pile of papers, and some pencils, and above it was a shelf filled to the brim with books, most of which were religious, though a fair few were fictional novels.
He'd always believed that life was about appreciating the little things, but how could he say that when he'd left his own room unappreciated for so long?
When he'd finished moping to himself, he went off to his monitor to check for any replies.

[19:45:00] mephisto1: IDK. Troll acting like a tard and offending every single muslim to exist ever.
[19:45:50] mephisto1: Hey, what do you think the meaning of life is?
[19:46:05] mephisto1: Sorry bout random topic, just been thinking and stuffs.
[19:46:40] mephisto1: I used to think that life was about appreciating the little things
[19:46:51] mephisto1: but that's a bit of a hedonistic mindset innit?
[19:47:01] mephisto1: life has to have some purpose besides being a means to appreciate the world, right?

The words popped onto the screen like rapid fire of a machine gun. Drijven read the words, and just as he would finish one another sentence would pop up. He could imagine whoever this Mephisto person was rapidly typing away at the other end, mashing the enter key as if hitting a button for a game show.
Drijven did find it interesting, however, that such a person would think about such a thing. He had assumed that humans were selfish creatures that would go about living their lives without questioning anything. He fixed himself so he was now laying across the couch with his back resting against the arm of the couch in a more comfortable position. He rested his head on the arm and thought for a bit, the time was coming on when he absolutely needed a mortal. Sure he's tried before and failed multiple times, but he was getting desperate now. He could not be bothered to go out into the world and search in person for when, why do that when he had the entire world available to him in the form of a monitor and could communicate with simple clicks of a mouse and clacks of a keyboard?
The godly being decided to put this "Mephisto" character on the list of possible choices, he seemed reliable. He thought about things much more than Drijven did, and seemed to be a smart choice. He typed:

[19:48:01] OceansFTW: Well, I've never thought of it much, but what if we were all just put here to worship some divine beings that we don't know much about? What if we're just here for their amusement as they laugh at our mistakes to hide their own?

Drijven tapped the enter key with a single finger in satisfaction and laid back to wait for a reaction. It was simple, depending on the answer, Drijven would make his decision. If he was spiteful about it, he was out. He would probably not be too happy about his existence if he found out about this situation. If he was accepting, then this person would seem to be someone who has given up on life or be a bit pessimistic. If he did neither, and simply replied with something along the lines of "maybe" or more "what if"s then this person was open minded, and would not throw the nearest things at him most likely. Drijven experienced being struck in the head with a vase before, and did NOT want to experience that feeling again...

[19:48:01] OceansFTW: Well, I've never thought of it much, but what if we were all just put here to worship some divine beings that we don't know much about? What if we're just here for their amusement as they laugh at our mistakes to hide their own?

Caleb frowned; that didn't have much to do with anything, did it? It was a bit too specific to be just on a whim, nor could it be an attempt at the Socratic method - or perhaps it was?
It took him a full minute to write his reply.

[19:49:00] mephisto1: Very specific. Did a cultist try to recruit you? :P
[19:49:21] mephisto1: If we're here to worship shit we don't know about, they've obviously failed from the get-go, amirite?

When he finished with the short reply, Caleb began really thinking about the question. What IF they were simply toys for 'Gods' to play with, amusing little creatures made to do circle tricks?
Oh. Oh God, Oceans was a genius.

[19:50:12] mephisto1: ahmg, you're a genius. socratic method is awesome.
[19:50:43] mephisto1: The world's a shithole, and it doesn't matter whether it's because of Gods that need their diapers changed or because we suck
[19:51:01] mephisto1: What matters is that I have to try to make a difference and try to make the world good so that my life isn't a waste.
[19:51:13] mephisto1: Man, where'd you learn how to use the socratic method? It's genius, exaggerating the current situation to make the answer obvious.

It was an obvious answer, and not the true one. No, the true one was one he didn't feel like sharing to somebody he didn't know, no matter how friendly she was.
The true one was to stop simply messing around with his theological studies and start trying to make a difference through them. Not disprove the existence of God, mind - nothing so big, presumptuous or offensive - but reveal the exploitability of religion in order to leave people more alert.

And then Caleb stopped mid-thought upon looking back at Ocean's question.
"They laugh at our mistakes to hide our own"
It was too specific.
Governments, corporations, anything that could be used as a metaphor did not laugh at people's mistakes to hide their own. They blamed each other, but not the public. Something was up.
It did not occur to Caleb that these gods could be real. Rather, it occurred to him that one religious nutjob actually struck his friend, made her think and ask the question.
Without checking to see if she replied, Caleb began typing once more.

[19:52:02] mephisto1: Wait, dude, are you actually serious about this?

[19:50:12] mephisto1: ahmg, you're a genius. socratic method is awesome.

"The hell is a socratic method?" Drijven said aloud as he opened up another tab and typed in the words to see what he would find. First thing to appear, as usual, was a Wikipedia page. He read the first sentence aloud, "The Socratic method, also known as method of elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate, named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and discussion between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas..."
He thought for a moment and finally remembered what the humans had called Socrates and just who they thought he was, a genius. He closed the tab, satisfied with his findings, but unsure of just why he had used questions anyways. He figured that it did not matter anyways, Meph seemed to like it, Drijven did not care for it, so why bother? He watched the Wikipedia page disappear to reveal a block of text on the Chatbox for him to read.

[19:50:43] mephisto1: The world's a shithole, and it doesn't matter whether it's because of Gods that need their diapers changed or because we suck
[19:51:01] mephisto1: What matters is that I have to try to make a difference and try to make the world good so that my life isn't a waste.

"It doesn't matter" he had said, "I have to try to make a difference" he had said. That certainly was not what he had expected. The boy had a drive, it seemed. Something was off though, the answer seemed to obvious for Caleb; He believed that this was what the humans called "A feeling in my gut." Drijven watched as even MORE words appeared.

[19:51:13] mephisto1: Man, where'd you learn how to use the socratic method? It's genius, exaggerating the current situation to make the answer obvious.

A pause

[19:52:02] mephisto1: Wait, dude, are you actually serious about this?

The used-to-be-god decided to be honest with Mephisto:

[19:52:02] OceansFTW: Yeah I'm serious. I'm also being honest, what about you?

He sat back once again after typing, Listening to Float On relaxing and hoping he had not just screwed up big time with such simple question. His tendency to mess up was great, the past few hundred years worth of failures proved it so.

Samuel sighed as he walked through the door of the Cafe. The storm had knocked out the power at his house, causing him to go to the Cafe to access the internet. As he entered, he immediately looked around, taking note of every person in the building. Sitting down in a booth, Samuel pulled his laptop out of his bag, placing it on the table in front of him. Logging onto his most frequented conspiracy forum, he paused, deciding to get something to drink while he was here. As he approached the counter, he took another look around the room, noticing a girl in a trench coat. She's pretty suspicious looking. Wait...Dammit! Have they found me already? I can't take any chances, she could very well be working for them. Screw the drink, I need to get out of here! Samuel got out of line, heading back to where he had left his laptop on the table. Once he got there, he shoved it back into his backpack, while constantly shooting glances back at the girl.

Neoma had just finished her lunch when she felt someone staring at her. Looking up she saw a young man that looked like he was, scared of her? He had made his way to the line to get an order but suddenly decided to leave. No one stares at me and gets away with it. she thought. Getting up she walked over to the table where he had set his laptop down. Placing her hand on it she glared at the boy.

"You got a problem with me kid?" she growled. Narrowing her eyes, she looked like a tiger staulking it's prey.