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[He was expecting at least 5 feet in height! It's fine, though. One of his best pals is a Pooka, so he's pretty accustomed to adjusting his view. There's no hesitation to shaking Joshua's hand.]

That's me. Steven Grant. [He sounds almost proud about that, somehow. His hand retracts and he takes a step back.] D'you wanna come in, or do you have to jog on once you have the feather?

[As Steven's hand pulls back, so does Joshua's, sliding right back into his coat pocket. Behind him, his tail briefly shakes, then flattens smoothly up against his back.]

I'm on break from work, but it isn't far from here, and I can be back in a flash. [Ha! Because, literally, he can.] I suppose I can step in for a few minutes. Better than standing in the cold, anyway.

[Since Steven has already stepped back and basically invited him in, he'll go ahead and slip on inside. His paws are a little cold.

[The door is snapped shut behind Joshua to keep the cold out, and with that the way is led inside. Welcome to Steven's apartment! It is... a little cluttered. He's got a bookcase full of books, with little knickknacks perched on the shelves in front of them. Doodads in a glass display case, whozits and papers spread out across a desk... A few feathers are already laid out on the table. Probably most eyecatching is the model of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which Steven crafted by hand out of limestone.

When you can't sleep, you have a lot of time for pastimes. A lot.]

Can I ask what you're buying from Mana? You don't have to say if you don't want to, I'm just curious.

[It certainly looks like the apartment of a Naphil. From his couple of months as one last spring, he can easily recall the inability to sleep, and just how much he had been able to get done while the rest of the house was busy resting. He'll have quite a bit of time on his hands now, that's for certain. Enough time to probably read through the entire new stock at the bookstore before he has to shelve it.]

I don't mind talking about it. It will be easy enough to notice in a few days, anyway. I'm asking Mana to change my form permanently.

Ooh, really? That takes a proper load of coins, don't it?

[Steven's never looked into it, because even with a Naphil's drawbacks he's perfectly content the way he is. He does know that others had to save up for a long time, though.]

It does. She took 120 of them from me, though I had more to offer. My fiance permanently changed earlier this month, too, and she took the same amount from him.

[He shrugs, letting his eyes skim over the accumulated hobby-clutter around the apartment. The pyramid is of particular interest, and he keeps his eyes on it for a longer moment, tipping his head a bit. Hand-made, or perhaps commissioned? He can make out faint tool marks.]

Normally, I'm a Naga. Winter lasts too long in this place, though, and I've spent the past year saving up to permanently become something closer to what I am at home.

[Ooh, a Naga! Steven hasn't really met any of those yet. He's seen them around sometimes, but never struck up any proper conversations.]

Yeah, I can see how Naga might be a hassle. The body seems real tricky to navigate, too. Or maybe that's just how I'm picturing it. [He shrugs his shoulders lightly.] So what's closer to what you are back home, then?

It isn't too difficult, once you get the hang of it. Much different muscle control. It's the first time in my life I've had any sort of abdominal definition.

[His fingers flex in one of his pockets, rubbing against a smooth stone. It's the only thing he's found that allows him to stay relatively still.]

A Naphil, actually, so I'm not too surprised Mana asked for a feather from one.

[The mixture of astonishment and confusion that washes over Steven's face might be a little rude, but he can't help himself.]

Hang on... You were something like an angel back home?

More or less.

[It's said with a very nonchalant shrug, but he's smiling at that expression. It seems like that's more or less the response most any time he tells someone. He does enjoy seeing it!]

We do have all types here, after all. Is it that strange to think that not everyone was human before they were brought here?

Well, I mean... [His shoulders hunch uncomfortably, but only out of embarrassment.]

There's cookies running around, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I just didn't think actual deities could end up here. Like, I figured you'd be... immune, somehow?

[And that gets a sigh.]

You know, you'd think that. Unfortunately, the powers that be seem to have other plans. Maybe they think it's funny.

Or maybe it's part of some ineffable plan? [He wouldn't know. That's why it'd be 'ineffable'.]

Either way, it's a good thing Mana can change you back to something more up your alley. I was a normal human being back home, so Naphilhood is about as unfamiliar as most other types would be, I reckon. It's nice, though. Feeding aside, I kind of like it.

That would be my guess. I have theories. There's no telling how correct they are, though.

[Very meta, very fourth-wall-breaking theories. But, not everyone jives with those! So he refrains.]

I've been one before, but only temporarily, and the feeding is the only thing I didn't care much for. I've heard that she can change your feeding type, too, so that's on the list for later on, I think.

Oh... She can, can't she?

[He's heard of it, but never seriously considered it for himself. All of the feeding types are horrible, in his opinion. At most, he'd consider switching to energy, but right now he's sharing his 'meals' with an energy feeder. If he were to change to that just for his own comfort, there'd be more deaths. This isn't about him, though.]

What would you change it to?

Hmm. Meat, maybe. Or blood. Right now, one of my housemates consumes energy, and the other two are meat-eaters. Nanami varies, depending on what form she's taken for the month. We're used to accounting for a third meat-eater in the house, though, since I'm typically a Naga, so it would be easiest.

[He considered energy feeding, but that would take away from what Shoka could consume. Bones and marrow would be easy, too, since Beat is no longer a Pooka, but that requires special teeth. Blood is simple enough - no one in the house drinks blood, and it all ends up donated when they butcher their own meat anyway.]

That makes sense. It's nice that you get to plan things out with a group like that. Makes everything a lot less wasteful. I'm just sharing with a Faerie, myself. And then it gets donated from there, so I don't really... know what happens from that point on. Maybe best if I don't.

[The more aware he is of what happens to those bodies, the more aware he is of the fact that he took a life, so... Yeah. He likes to just assume it all works out.]

It's efficient. But, technically, what you're doing is also efficient, just in a way you aren't privy to.

[Donating is still kill-sharing, after all!]

You know, I'm not sure why Nephilim are required to consume souls in the first place. You'd think energy would be enough.

I dunno... Souls and energy are two very different things, yeah? Maybe Nephilim just aren't capable of, y'know, digesting things like energy. A bit like how meat-eating monsters can nosh all sorts of stuff, including other kinds of meat, but only human meat is what gives them the sustenance they need to sate the hunger. Does that make sense?

Hmm... maybe. It just seems odd to me considering that back at home, handling souls is sort of my thing. The creatures that eat souls are something else entirely.

[Maybe the Fog just doesn't know what Nephilim are supposed to do, so she made something up. It's as good a guess as any.]

Oh... I know of a being back in my own world who could devour souls, but she was a deity. A god, basically. Don't think she needed to do it for sustenance, it was just her job to destroy the souls that weren't deemed worthy to proceed to paradise. But if gods can do it, I s'pose it's not a stretch angel-like beings could do it too.

Oh? Well, if that doesn't sound familiar... That's basically my job, though I don't destroy them. I test and judge, and anyone that doesn't pass is returned to the collective soul code for reuse. Only for my district, though - in a system built for refining, it's better to have quality over quantity, so it's very small-batch.

[Steven's heard stories about afterlives in other worlds before and somehow, each one is stranger than the next. Stranger, and fascinating.]

Souls can be reused? Is that a bit like reincarnation, or...?

[Oh boy, Steven, wait until you hear about the Game.]

It's exactly like reincarnation. Sometimes we can pull a soul from the overall code and turn it into a Noise, but it's not the ideal course, so it's only done in emergencies.

[Oh good, Steven's a big fan of reincarnation. Sure, eternity in peaceful bliss sounds fantastic, but if the alternative is eternity in torment or outright destruction, that just makes it a system of two extremes. More and more, he's started to think the judging process isn't fair. It's better, then, to give someone a second chance.

Joshua's words don't entirely add up, though. He frowns, looking a little lost.]

A Noise? Sorry, I don't... What's a Noise, exactly?

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WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, HASNOFEAR. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 13.15.15.14 * HASNOFEAR has joined 13.15.15.14 <HASNOFEAR>** Hello! This is Steven Grant! If you need something, just leave me a message and I'll get back to you asap!