001

[forceofnature]

[More information? One new arrival, at least, has all the information she needs. The influx of energy from this one is massive, completely unsubtle, almost as if purposefully designed to attract the attention of anyone with any sense whatsoever of the divine. It doesn’t fade away nor does it seem to be easily localized. This surely wasn’t ‘Magatama Energy’…

Whatever ambiguity this might present is cleared up almost immediately. Despite that no one may be in the vicinity, the voice of a young girl sounds clearly throughout the city of Hinoto-Ri to nearly every inhabitant, as intelligibly as if the speaker were standing right next to those she addressed. …Perhaps too intelligibly. The first sound they hear is an vehement, despairing cry.]

NO!

This can’t be…! The forests… The oceans… The deserts and mountains, the tundra and the plains! W-Where are they?! Who did this?! What did you do to them?!

[For a few moments, the speaker seems too overwhelmed with ire to speak.  The sound of her breathing eventually slows...]

Humans. Look at this world. Look at it!

I knew this would happen.  In every world across every dimension, it doesn’t matter! You -- you’re all the same! See for yourself! This is what will happen if you tear through all of nature without respect for anything but your own wealth and gain! Are you happy?! My children… 100 million species. One hundred million. There's almost nothing left...

I am Viridi, Goddess of Nature, ruler of the Earth and all living things! And I will not allow this land to be desecrated any further.

They say there are monsters ravaging what remains. If you stand against them, then... heed the command of a goddess and CRUSH them!

Comments

[gforceinmyfaaaace]

Stop what?

[forceofnature]

Of course not. I only just got here. This is something I can do naturally - goddess, remember?

[forceofnature]

Being sulky. I changed my mind; I liked you better when you were insufferably perky.

[gforceinmyfaaaace]

Well you started going on about "angel puberty" out of the blue! I was confused!

[primordial]

Oh, yes. Um, right.

[A long pause.]

I don't think I ever imagined talking to an actual goddess before...you were taken here too like the rest of us, right?

[plunderbunny]

Oh, don't mind me, just making an observation! It's usually the gods of war and strife that are the angry ones. But you do have a point!

[greyerrant]

....

[greatergone]

Should I thank you...?

[forceofnature]

You were sulky before that! Just don't do it! You'll mess up the balance! Dark Pit and I sulk enough for the whole cast combined!

[forceofnature]

No, that's alright. The words 'respecting nature' spoken by someone other than me is gratitude enough.

[forceofnature]

No!

...Well. Yes. But it's different! I'm here to make sure that none of you mess this up, which you'll definitely do because humans never see the forest for the trees!

Think about it! What good is defeating the monsters if you don't plan for the future? You'll run out of clean water and fresh food, you'll reach a population bottleneck, the sheer absence of biodiversity will make you ridiculously susceptible to disease... One super-bug against your one strain of potato and bam! No more potatoes forever.

[forceofnature]

I know I do. The problem is convincing all of you to pull your fingers out of your ears and stop whining about how it's not your fault.

[primordial]

[There's another long pause as he takes that all in. And then he speaks, hesitantly:]

Um. I might be wrong about this, but...aren't those all things that kind of happen over long periods of time? Like the fresh water and food sort of thing. And this place really has only one strain of potato? Really?

Maybe we can get other strains of potatoes from other places...I mean, if they can get people here, I'm sure that getting a simple vegetable won't be at all that hard.

[forceofnature]

It's not just about you. All these people have left is this one city. How much fresh water and food do you think you have? Even if we're done here by then, they won't last another 50 years! That's less than a blink of an eye! It won't matter, anyway, because there's barely enough people here to sustain genetic variance.

And you can't just keep zapping in potatoes; they don't operate a trans-dimensional teleportation system.

[primordial]

Maybe this city wasn't created to be a city like what you're saying, though? Kind of like a...erm, camp, or temporary colony or stop point or something. And once they're done with one group of people, they'll just send them back and get another group of people if they need to. I don't really know, I'm just guessing out loud, really.

[He looks slightly incredulous at that next part, though.] Then what is the name of the system that brought us here, then?

[forceofnature]

I'm talking about the inhabitants of the world. The people who actually live here.

[A brief pause.]

......Oh, gross. That would just be wrong. You can't pull people in just to breed with them.

And what brought us here is our souls.

[primordial]

How are you sure they've always lived here, though...? Have you asked?

No, no, you completely misunderstood! [Oh god, he sounds so flustered, as if he's walked into the girl's bathroom by accident.] I mean kind of like the International Space Station! Once one group of people has done their job, they're sent home and another group comes and takes their place! T-that's what I mean!

[A long sigh.]

Our souls?! [A scoff.] You're not kidding me, are you...

[maybe_a_king]

Yes, clearly. Not shouted at us as if we are children and in such a manner that many of us are not accustomed to. It tends to make people unwilling to listen due to the rudeness and, in some cases, scaring people, and your message gets lost in the translation.

[forceofnature]

You mean the one that got dumped into the ocean for not being advanced enough? Some kind of comparison that is. Isn't the idea here to get rid of the monsters permanently?

And of course it's through our souls. What, did you think they chose you for your nice haircut?

[forceofnature]

You are children! You live to maybe 50 if you're lucky. Then everything your parents learned has to be taught over and over and over again except each generation is more willfully selfish than the last.

[primordial]

Um. What.

[WOW WAIT WHAT]

The last time I checked it was still up in space...

And why would they ever choose me, then? It's not like I have a particularity nice soul to offer...in fact, I'm probably the worst choice.

[greatergone]

I think I understand. We all have something important to us, I think.

[meaningdies]

Tch.

Humans were made to be the masters of the planet, at least in my world. Perhaps not in yours - but the fact remains that they are extremely efficient as a species in terms of pulling resources they need from the environment. Are there too many of them? Probably.

However, as a goddess of nature, you should recognize the nature of an evolving species. Humans change and adapt quickly - as all life does. Goddess or not, who are you to say that this isn't the natural progression they should take? Would it be better if another species were as efficient and ruthless as humans? I doubt it. There will always be someone at the top of the food chain. If it weren't humans, some other species would be just as ruthless towards nature.

[gforceinmyfaaaace]

Being bossy isn't the same thing as being sulky!

[electricyousei]

"Hrm, either I'm loosing my mind, someone has hacked the Nadesico's network again or you are using some form of magic to speak this way. If you were willing to help me solve this perhaps I could share data with you? Unless I am loosing my mind that is."