Post by Daruma & Ichi on Feb 22, 2024 20:43:06 GMT -5
Daruma was shopping. She'd grabbed just about everything she wanted from the store and was idly browsing when a colleague of hers (the third one that day!) approached her. "Hey Daru, did you hear? Some pointy-eared lady is surveying people about the universe." he said, and Daruma nodded as she tapped a twenty-four pack of hetap to make it weightless and hovered it beside her.
"Yeah I heard. Just down the street right?" she replied, and he nodded, and they exchanged small talk as Daruma finished her browsing. She bought a gawdy pair of star-shaped shades and slapped them on, picked up some bubble tea on her way out of the supermarket and slurped it as she walked off into the warm afternoon air.
It didn't take long to spot the mysterious surveyor. Pointy ears and their attire were a dead giveaway that they were shinjin, or at least a close cousin of the uptight fruit-folk. And one lobbed with such a boring job as taking census of mortals must have been extra uptight, right? So Daruma decided her mission today was to try and teach them how to let loose and have fun.
"Hey you! Survey girl! Hiiii!" Daruma smiled, waving one hand excitedly at the godly presence before her, popping the gum she was chewing before taking another sip of her tea, swallowing tapioca and lychee jelly, and extending her hand. "Nice to meet you! When do you knock off girlie?"
Daruma Power Level: 12,000 Damage: 0/250 KP: 6/6 MP: 0/6
Surveya had been hard at work - hard at work. She'd been at this for a month now, and she had conducted approximately 38,217 interviews. And yet, she was less than 0.0000001% of the way through the current population of this galaxy. At this rate, it'd be a miracle if she got even halfway through the population. She needed some way to do this faster! To reach more mortals! But how? Her superiors had stipulated that all interviews must be done in person by her, otherwise there'd be no way to verify the results and ensure no one was doing duplicate surveys. Otherwise she'd just post it on the internet, or something.
She had just finished interview number 38,218, when, out of the blue, a blue person approached her. She blinked at them. This person... She could tell by their energy. This was an Ogre, yes? But... Their energy also indicated that they were a male Ogre... So... Why did they look so effeminate?
"Um, hello," Surveya flatly replied to the Ogre's friendly approach. Ogres were mostly seen as menial upkeepers of the Otherworld, in Surveya's experience. She knew of some who ventured to the mortal worlds, but generally, they were all supposed to be working, either in Heaven or Hell. Had this one been assigned to some post here on Earth?
"'Knock off'?" she asked, confused. She had never heard this term before... "I'm not sure what you mean. Anyway, I am not to survey otherworldly beings such as yourself, so if you'll excuse me, I have a few hundred billion more interviews to conduct..." Surveya abruptly and somewhat rudely pushed herself past the Ogre without so much as asking for their name, still confused by both their gender expression and odd terminology. Surely the Ogre must have known better than to try and interrupt a Shinjin while they were working, yes...?
Post by Daruma & Ichi on Feb 29, 2024 19:16:38 GMT -5
Daruma kept a friendly smile on her face as she acted completely oblivious toward the shinjin rebuffing her, a little disappointed in the flat reply when she'd brought so much energy! But what did she expect? Shinjin were the most uptight of the uptight up in otherworld. Total desk-jockey rules lawyers. She did giggle a little when the surveyor seemed confused by the term she'd used.
"You know! Knock off! Like, when do you get a break?" Daruma asked as she swerved back around the pointy eared godling and got in her path again, walking backwards to keep pace. "Oh, I don't want an interview! I just think girls(?) like us from otherworld don't cross paths down here often right? It's kind of exciting!" she beamed, as she took another sip of her tea, before pushing it to her other hand and extending her hand a second time now.
"Let me introduce myself proper. I'm Daruma! Daruma Nanakorobi. They teach you how to introduce yourself properly before they tasked you with... what was it you said? A few 'hundred billion' more interviews? Bleugh," she playfully poked her tongue out. "you should come take a break with me! Miss... or mister...?" she waited expectantly for the shinjin to reveal their name, and pronouns. You can never assume!
Daruma Power Level: 12,000 Damage: 0/250 KP: 6/6 MP: 0/6
This Ogre was... Still following her? Surveya stopped and blinked as 'Daruma,' as the Ogre revealed their name to be, walked ahead of Surveya and even proceeded backwards so as to remain face to face with the Shinjin, lips flapping all the way. Did this Ogre not hear her? Surveya knew Ogres were typically less dutiful when it came to their work than Shinjin, but this was downright absurd.
And he kept referring to the two of them as 'girls.' What was with that? "I am aware of how to introduce myself," Surveya replied, her patience quickly running thin. "My duties, however, do not include surveying other otherworldly beings. Mortals only. And seeing as you are an Ogre, I do not have to speak with you." That should shut Daruma up, if the Ogre had any sense, though, just to be safe, Surveya added. "And I am Surveya. No need for honorifics..."
Surveya felt she was quite obviously a 'miss' and not a 'mister,' though this Ogre did seem generally... Confused about gender. Perhaps she needed to explain a thing or two to him.
"I am unsure what they teach you Ogres," she began after a brief pause and a sigh, "But - firstly - you should never interrupt a Shinjin in the middle of their task. And, second, you are not a girl. I am able to sense your energy, and it is that of a male Ogre. To insist you are something you are clearly not is insulting to your creators." This Ogre's spirit had been reshaped into that of a male Ogre, and would remain that way until he eventually died and was reshaped again. Perhaps then he may become a woman, but now, in this form? There existed no way to change what he was.
"Anything else, or may I proceed with my work?" Surveya sternly asked, her foot tapping against the ground with impatience.
Post by Daruma & Ichi on Mar 11, 2024 16:32:46 GMT -5
"Nice to meet you Surveya!" Daruma beamed, disregarding the impatient way in which the shinjin regarded her. She smiled and went to chime in, but stopped. Her face dropped as she listened to what Surveya sternly said to her. It felt like scolding, and it reminded her of her dad.
"Um..." Daruma fumbled to look for what to say next. She had dealt with this sort of thing before many times, but usually from misinformed earthlings or alien visitors from conservative cultures. Never had she really dealt with this from an authority like this. Even if she didn't really... believe in the kind of authority that shinjin proposed they had, it still hurt her in a deep place, and for a moment she was totally stumped.
Purple flushed her cheeks, and she bit her lip, looking down for a moment. She looked at her body and her clothes, the nervous way she'd put all her things in one hand to wrap the other arm across her chest like she was hugging herself. And she took a breath in.
She was a woman.
She just had to make this shinjin understand! She wasn't trying to be hurtful, she just didn't know any better. Right? "I am a girl." she said, still nervous, but finding her footing again. She made herself smile. "If you're confused, Miss Surveya, I'm happy to explain it to you! Please, come have something to drink with me. I mean..." Daruma tried to think of a way to twist it to be work-beneficial. "...there are plenty of other people here in the mortal realm like me. You don't want to be caught unaware when taking a survey, right?" she asked, trying to sound sincere, and letting her genuine desire to educate Surveya shine through. She neglected to mention there were plenty like her in otherworld, too. That might be too much off the bat.
Daruma Power Level: 12,000 Damage: 0/250 KP: 6/6 MP: 0/6
Surveya fought the urge to roll her eyes as the Ogre, in spite of her attempts to bat him away and show him that she was far, far too busy to have her time wasted by someone so poorly put together they didn't even understand the basic gender binary they had been created beneath. And now Surveya was being asked to drinks? Did Daruma's ears work as poorly as her brain?
"Have I not made myself clear?" Surveya curtly responded, cutting the Ogre off with a raised hand. "I am busy. I have only a hundred years to conduct this task. If I waste so much as a few more minutes speaking with you, I seriously risk never completing this task!" It was the first time she'd ever been assigned something so important. If she did well, then at the end of the hundred years, she was likely going to be a serious contender for a promotion! Maybe she'd even get to be a project lead at some point!
Still, Surveya sighed. Perhaps she was being a bit too harsh on this boy. He seemed genuine - he was just coming from a place of confusion, that was all. Ogres simply weren't worked like Shinjin were, so expecting him to understand all the intricacies of her labor was unreasonable of Surveya.
"Look," she began in a gentler tone, "I understand that some mortals are similarly confused about themselves. But they are mortals. We expect them to be confused about just about everything! You, on the other hand, are a divine construct. A servant of the Otherworld. You may not be on the same level as us Shinjin, but I still expect better of you." There, that ought to explain her position well enough.
Post by Daruma & Ichi on May 6, 2024 20:44:44 GMT -5
"I..." Daruma fumbled with her words once more, even despite the gentleness of Surveya's tone. Despite her usual certainty of self and confidence, it seemed Surveya was quite talented at catching Daruma's quick little heart off guard and stirring it to.... panic? Was that the little feeling in her chest? Something dreadful. Old memories, hard conversations; she shook them off.
She took another breath.
"I'm not trying to get in the way of your work, Miss Surveya, really, I'm not!" she said, nervously sipping on her drink which was now nearly empty. "I just; at first I was just trying to be friendly, you know? Girls like us from the Otherworld don't run into eachother much down here, like I said. But... now, I really think I ought to help you. You're a shinjin! You really should understand how this all shakes out, shouldn't you?"
Daruma was trying — and most likely failing — to appeal to the mindset Surveya had shown. Being a shinjin, holier-than-though and all-knowing, if there was something about this Surveya didn't know, surely she would want to learn more? Daruma hoped, anyway. She clung to that hope, and continued. "It's kind of complicated to get into in full, but I promise you that gender isn't so... binary and lame. And that's not a mortal invention, or a confusion."
Daruma tried to offer a smile. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. Probably my fault; I'm a lot of things, but... good at being formal is not one of them... my b. How about this; I know you can't stop for drinks, so what if I follow along as you do some surveys, and we can keep talking?"
Daruma Power Level: 12,000 Damage: 0/250 KP: 6/6 MP: 0/6