Character Sheet
The Mysterious Orphan

Name: Lotte, daughter of Henrik and Anelie
Sexuality: Pansexual
Age: 18
Species: Lamia, Central Lands Human Culture
Level: 3
Class: Hunter
Weapons: Bow, Knife

XP: 2/18

Description: A tall lamia, with short blond hair, and blue eyes, dressed in a protective vest and a noble's hunting shirt. They are muscular, well-formed and handsome, and have slightly yellowish eyes and a forked tongue. Their snake-half is in a forest pattern that helps for blending in, except for the occasional splash of Tyrian purple.

Traits:

Just Devotions (Racial--Human, Central, Cultural)(Level 0): Humans in some parts of the world worship the Gods, vast and sometimes unknowable beings that do grant blessings to those that believe in them, magical blessings. But even the lowliest of the pious knows how to pray to them, how to do the right supplications, how to act in the proper ways. This knowledge can sometimes be put to good use, though the Gods rarely turn their eyes to every little prayer.

Wholesome Farm Looks (Human, Central, Physical, Level 1): Though most of the people of the Central lands, that mass of Kingdoms, Princedoms, Dukedoms, Duchess States, and more, are of course quite poor, they are a hardy, hard-working people, and sometimes this life less beats a person down and more hones them. They have reasonably good looks, and even more importantly, look trustworthy, clean-cut, and otherwise like the kind of person who'd never lied a day in their life or slacked off a single hour, either. This remains even after becoming a lamia, though it is... tempered, obviously.

Snake Eyes (Level 1, Physical, Lamia): You can see in the dark pretty well. It isn't perfect, but the night is not nearly so dark and full of dangers as you expected it would be, for whatever reason.


Forest Wanderer (0, Pre-Class): The forest is a fascinating place for a child, as long as they don't go too far. As one gets used to it, one learns more about its ins and outs, and while some of it only applies to the forest that such a child lived in at first, much of it is quite helpful later.

Forest Eyes (Level 1. Class): As one could have eyes that pick out every tiny detail of the tundra, so can one be used to seeing in the dark forest tracks, possibilities, old growth, traps, and anything else, especially when one knows how to use your ears and nose to aid it. It is remarkable how much you can see, when you see what is actually there.

Hunter's Mettle (Level 1, Class): To hunt, one needs a bow, an arrow, and perhaps a knife for self-defense. Having some skill at them is inevitable, having solid skill at them is admirable, and quite useful.

Steady Arm (Level 2, Class): You have a strong, consistent aim. You're not a superlative archer, at least by the standards of adventurers, but you don't have off moments, and you don't waver from being able to hit your target, even if you're not doing the fancier tricks.

Leave Few Traces (Level 2, Class): The experience of being on one side of the hunt makes you wonder how you'd hide your tracks if you were being hunted, or tracked by hostile enemies, as sometimes does happen in adventures. You've begun to practice how not to be followed in the woods, and perhaps elsewhere.


Mending Knowledge, Basic (Level 0, Pre-Class, Healing Priest): You know how to apply poultrices, and you know the basic ingredients of a number of potions that cure headaches, deal with common pains, put someone into a gentle sleep, and other minor things. You can also bandage someone properly. You are not very good at this, merely adequate... but that's more than what most people are.


Whitlin' Ways (Level 1, Common): A man or woman who knows how to whittle will never want for whistles, or spoons, or any number of goods. It's a useful, solid sort of skill, and one that could be made into a trade. It also makes a pretty decent way to pass the time, and the person who whittles never lacks for a knife in sticky situations.

Penny Pincher (Level 1, General): You know the value of a Pfin, and how to keep from wasting all of your money, even if you're far from a merchant. Money is something you're familiar with.

Steel Nerves (General, Level 3): You've seen enough strange places and done enough fantastic things that you are less likely to panic in terrible situations, and more likely to think things through, however difficult. This doesn't mean you can't panic at all, but you have a grip on those nerves. In battle and danger only, this unfortunately doesn't help at all with social anxiety.


Divine Sense (Level 0, Divine): You can sense when someone is a Demigod, and there's at least the potential ability--though you have not figured it out yet--to try to track people through their divine 'scent.' A person's 'scent' gets stronger as they get more magically and divinely powerful... but on the other hand, you now have a 'scent' of your own, that will allow other demigods to know you for what you are, increasingly as you grow more powerful yourself.

Captivating Eyes (Level 2, Divine): You can sometimes 'catch' people with your eyes. If you're concentrating, they'll find it slightly more difficult to look away, though any sense of threat or danger breaks it immediately, and they'll hear your words clearly, actually listening… or at least hearing them. There's no requirement to listen to them, nor does it seem as if anyone's mind is being altered in any way, but it's an interesting, if bizarre, power, and certainly is a new take on 'lost in their eyes.'

Slithering Shadows (Level 3, Divine): You can blend into the shadows better than you should be able to. At night, and in darker areas, you can seem to shift away from sight. It doesn't work well in a wide-open space, but that little bit of extra secrecy can be very useful as a hunter, and as someone who might need to sneak through various areas.
 
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@Raiseth, since Laur didn't I don't think we're vetoing that write in, but... I do think that the answer might be very metaphorical, or poetic?

Even beyond our plans, she's not a straightforward goddess, speech wise.

Edit: being more clear, I'm not sure that knowing what the Nachtmother thinks you are will be helpful, in this situation.
 
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@Raiseth, since Laur didn't I don't think we're vetoing that write in, but... I do think that the answer might be very metaphorical, or poetic?

Even beyond our plans, she's not a straightforward goddess, speech wise.

Edit: being more clear, I'm not sure that knowing what the Nachtmother thinks you are will be helpful, in this situation.

If you don't mind, I would like to leave it all the same. Besides, no one's voting for it, so no harm done, right?
 
[X] "Why me?"

This wasn't Lotte instigating, he got pulled on though the circle...
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by NemoMarx on Aug 28, 2019 at 8:28 AM, finished with 22 posts and 16 votes.
 
2:6
2:6

Lotte knew what you weren't supposed to do. You weren't supposed to question the Gods, not really. It was disrespectful, and how could you expect to know more than what the Gods told you, should you somehow meet them? Of course, Gods also spoke through signs, symbols, and intermediaries, and even those weren't to be taken lightly. The respectful act was to say nothing, to accept all that she'd been told.

But Lotte wasn't all that good of a listener, when it came down to it. She'd been too good of a kid to earn it often, but the few times her hide had been tanned at all were for falling asleep in that stuffy room listening to the priest drone on about reading.

So perhaps she'd missed something, or perhaps she was too far gone to think, but she opened her mouth and said, 'I'm… early, what do you mean?"

Were you ready to survive a night in the forest ten years ago?

"No," Lotte said, quietly. She'd rarely spent time in the forest at night, of course, but if she had to survive out there, she could. Perhaps not here, though. She wasn't used to this strange red forest.

What you must survive is great: that is to be alive. In time, in time, you would have come to me and others, seeking to know what you should not know. That is what being alive is. The night is no older than the day, but it keeps its secrets better.

"And I was to talk to Gods?"

Talk? You barely listen. You are barely an egg, compared with what an adventurer can become. She could feel the disdain, the uncertainty, as if the Nachtmater didn't want to be here, or didn't want to be here now.

Yet still she spoke. Lotte gaped, uncertainly. "I… I am trying my best."

Yes.

Not a compliment, not an insult, simply: Yes. Yes she was.

"I can come back in a few years."

If you do, you may.

Lotte was shaking apart, like an old, half-dead tree before a storm. The darkness was smothering her, as scratchy and uncomfortable as a blanket.

"W-what would you… what would you even tell me, a few years from now?"

I'm sorry.

"Oh," Lotte said, as the darkness bowled her over, and her knees finally buckled under the strain of conversing with a Goddess, especially one who told her so little.

And yet so much.

*******

She woke all at once, with none of the drowsiness that she might have expected to come with it. Her head ached, the pain pulsing up and down, and around. She could feel warmth at her back, and she shifted towards it.

She was laying on the ground on a thin pile of blankets, and a fire was nearby. The world was dark, but the other three members of her party were there.

Lotte sat up slowly, trying to ignore the pain.

"Oh, you're awake," Oscar said, quietly. He held himself stiff and still as a tree one chop from collapsing and yet resolutely holding on. "There is yet some time before dawn. We should be safe, if you wish to sleep, Lotte."

"What he's saying is that we're kind of worried, and also kind of terrified. We didn't know we were going to be seeing… something. The witches, they said it was the Nachtmater." Guilliam shuddered. "All we could see was the night wrapping around you, and then you were gone. I tried every song I knew to try to--"

"They almost killed both of the manlings," Clemencia pointed out. She was huddled even closer to the fire, and was emptying a flagon of ale that she must have kept in her pack. "Said we were interfering with… something. They were scared too, I think. You can smell manling fear, when you're used to being underground, in the dark, with nothing more than sound and smell to see, sometimes."

Lotte didn't know whether this was true or not, but she stepped forward. "I'm… sorry," she said.

"Did you see a Goddess?" Oscar asked.

"Yes."

"What did she say about it? About our quest?" Oscar asked.

Lotte bit her tongue. Maybe she should have asked about Ingeld, while she had had a goddess in front of her. It had entirely slipped her mind. "Nothing, or. I don't know. She is a goddess, and so she spoke in strange rhymes and riddles. I didn't understand most of it."

This was true.

She understood some of it: this was a truth she didn't want to talk about.

She didn't know how she understood it, but she understood that somehow she mattered, though only by default no doubt. Perhaps fate had picked her out to be the wrong person at the wrong time, to suffer some great evil, or be the victim of some great but telling injury. She couldn't know why a goddess would tell her sorry, but she didn't think that they were the kinds of things that apologized to mortals.

Lotte didn't know how she thought that, since of course all well-raised people apologized when they were sorry, and certainly the Gods had to be the best among all of them, right?

But nobody spoke of Godly apologies.

"Ah," Guilliam said, though there was something skeptical about his look. He was also looking at Lotte's left hand.

She glanced down at it, and blinked. It wasn't glowing, not quite, but it looked almost as if it should. The small part of her hand that had had its skin torn was now replaced, but by slightly silvery skin. It was faint, barely noticeable… unless one was already looking there. Unless one had half expected that something would have been done.

"Oh," Lotte said, surprised.

"Does it do anything?" Guilliam asked.

"I don't know."

That was the simple truth. She didn't know a lot of things, and the list of things she didn't understand was only going to grow.

"You don't--" Oscar began, looking somewhere between furious and horrified. "Were you chosen by accident? Did the Nachtmater truly talk of nothing important to our quest?"

"No," Lotte said, firmly. "But did the witches?"

"We've learned that if we follow the path, there might be a divergence point, but that whoever was passing wasn't known as a bunch of bandits."

"They weren't?" Lotte asked.

"No. They are apparently known in this forest as good residents, or at least quiet residents, which is the same thing apparently," Guilliam said.

"It makes me wonder why they stole relics," Clemencia asked. "It does not make sense."

"They are clearly some form of heretic, quiet or not, hateful to the Gods," Oscar said.

"Which is why the pious witches didn't notice anything?" Guilliam asked.

It felt as if it were the sort of argument most like an oft-patched cloak, so worn and thin that it did not do much good. Clearly, nobody had slept while waiting to see if she'd awaken speaking ancient truths.

Unfortunately she was nothing special, and even meeting a Goddess couldn't fully change that.

"I'm going to sleep," Lotte declared. However long it was until dawn, she needed the time, and so she rolled over, even though she was sure there was no chance she'd get to sleep.

But within a few minutes, she slipped off into a strange sleep, in which she could imagine she must have dreamed, but could remember none of it.

The next day, nobody spoke much as they got ready. Everyone was tense. Lotte went to the bushes to relieve herself, then washed her face and hands as well as she could and got together her pack, all without anyone saying anything to her. Lotte watched everyone closely, looking for signs of them cracking like an egg (yes, she was thinking of what the Goddess had said). Everyone was trying to hide how they felt, now, but Lotte wondered if her own attempts worked.

Theirs certainly didn't, and when Oscar began to put on his armor, Guilliam had rolled his eyes at that. "Do you really need to clank so much?" Guilliam asked, throwing his hands up.

"Yes," Oscar grit out. "I will have to use my weapons sooner rather than later."

"Maybe so," Guilliam said blandly, as if he didn't care.

It was an hour or two past dawn by the time they were ready to get together. Lotte still led the way, even after all that happened.

The woods felt different, which wasn't that surprising. The odd thing was that it was a good sort of different, as if having faced strange animals and a Goddess, a little red about the leaves and bark of a tree was no longer terrifying. It didn't hurt that the path was finally getting nicer. It was still a bunch of dirt and stones, but it hadn't rained last night, and it was at least wide and relatively clear.

There were sounds of animals, here and there, but none of them scared Lotte, because they were clearly acting as an animal should. Lotte listened to the birds cry, to the wind through the trees, and allowed herself to relax every so slightly.

They finally came to where the various trails all combined, shortly before noon. She'd not broken the fast as she might have wanted, but despite that she felt full of energy, and so she almost protested when the rest of the party all agreed to stop.

"So what do we do?" Clemencia asked. "We're going to be faced with potentially dozens of bandits, and then what?"

"We fight our way through them," Oscar said.

"We run like the wind. Or, better yet, we find them and then go back. Yes, it's less money, but what are the odds we can pick them off?" Guilliam was frowning, his whole face transformed by that fact.

"Low," Lotte admitted. "But I can perhaps find the scouts around wherever they are holed up."

"So, that's something. But I doubt we're going to get much more luck than that," Guilliam said. "We're being led into our deaths."

"Are you such a coward?" Oscar asked.

"Yes. Yes I am. I wish to live to spend my rewards, not die out here fighting for a cause I don't understand."

"We can at least find them," Lotte said, though in truth she too was worried. She'd survived thus far, but something felt off about the whole situation. They kept on talking, but Lotte wasn't really paying attention. Something about the air itself felt different, especially once they took off again. Now, Lotte could track them, as if they'd stopped hiding themselves, or as if it weren't enough.

They left the occasional footprint, still, but they also went straight through bushes, clearly rushing to get somewhere. Perhaps they had had some sort of ritual? There was also the fact that besides all of that, they'd stopped burying their… waste quite so well. Lotte wasn't an expert tracker, but she could tell that they'd assumed there wouldn't be anyone coming to look this way for at least a few days.

If Lotte had come by even a day later, many of these signs would have been gone anyways, and they must have felt sure that they weren't going to be immediately chased by then.

As she tracked them, Lotte's hand ached inexplicably. It had to do with the Nachtmater, of course, but why? It wasn't any help at all, which meant that it had to be either a punishment or a warning.

Finally, they came upon a dip in the forest, and Clemencia grabbed Lotte's arm to keep her from stepping any further forward. "It's here. It's close," Clemencia said. "Now we should be careful, and find a way to sneak someone in."

"Good idea, but none of us are thieves at all," Guilliam said. "If we know it's close, we should turn back and lead someone else here."

"How dare you!" Oscar whispered, hoarsely. "If you try to turn back now, I'll run you through. We've been through too much to turn back now. Do not make me fight to stop you."

Guilliam glared at Oscar, who glared back at Guilliam, while Clemencia watched them.

What does Lotte advocate?

[] Turning back. The odds aren't in their favor, and surely the bandits won't run away within just a few days. Or will they?
[] Charging on ahead. Take them by surprise and attack their camp head-on. It has… basically no strategy, but it's what Oscar is sorta in favor of.
[] Sneaking in. Unlikely to work, but you can at least find the scouts and try to take care of one or two of them on the way. Of course, taking care of them would be bloody, and messy, and Lotte has never… taken care of people before.
[] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.
[] Write-in.

******

A/N: Sorry this is short, kinda hit a rough patch, and also a decision point very early.
 

Well, fuck.

Too much WMG so I stop discussing Lotte's origins. Want to be honestly surprised by it. Later.

Lotte didn't know how she thought that, since of course all well-raised people apologized when they were sorry, and certainly the Gods had to be the best among all of them, right?

But nobody spoke of Godly apologies.

Because one rarely apologizes to their lessers.
Do you apologize to ants when you step on them?
How often do you notice?

So either the grievance is large, or...

[] Sneaking in. Unlikely to work, but you can at least find the scouts and try to take care of one or two of them on the way. Of course, taking care of them would be bloody, and messy, and Lotte has never… taken care of people before.

Yep, either Lotte can kill a lot of people in succession on her first try or they will alert the camp and probably kill us.

[] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.

Ugh. When the best option you have is parleying with people who killed a bunch of priests and stole holy relics, you know your options suck.
This is the one most likely to work, because I kinda-sorta understand why someone would want to do what they did, and all these reasons can be negotiated, potentially
Still don't know what to choose tho

Oscar is going to like this option only slightly more than turning away, the weird lawful neutral Paladin murderhobo he is

Also, lol
Our decision isn't the one that will necessarily win
We are not the party leader
The party doesn't have a leader
Oh my gods
 
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[X] Let others argue it out. It's your second adventure, after all. Observe and take notes on how to deal with disagreements within a party and how to not.
-[X] Remind them to stay quite if they forget.
 
[X] Sneaking in. Unlikely to work, but you can at least find the scouts and try to take care of one or two of them on the way. Of course, taking care of them would be bloody, and messy, and Lotte has never… taken care of people before.
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.


Hhhonestly? Something's off. We do not know what, but it is off.
Plus we have a Party Face now, so we actually have more people suited to talking than to sneaking in rn, given Lotte is closest we got to a sneaky type.
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.
 
[X] Let others argue it out. It's your second adventure, after all. Observe and take notes on how to deal with disagreements within a party and how to not.
-[X] Remind them to stay quite if they forget.
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.

Yeah, I'm going to agree something is off... We just don't know enough about the supposed motives of the thieves. Or even the high priest at the shrine- he felt kinda shady too? How sure are we that the bandits aren't actually squatting in the shrine and the real priests ran off with the artifacts? (Prob 70% for me)
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.

It stinks to high heaven.
 
[X] Parleying? It's not popular with the others, and if it fails then… a lot of things will go terribly, terribly wrong, in quick succession. But there is something wrong about the picture they have.

Yeah, okay. Let us be Lotte the Diplomacy Hero. I mean, be a shame not to use that honest face we got.
 
Don't let me tell you what to do, but WMG is usually pretty fun!

I can be patient and wait for the reveal for your reactions and theories though, I guess.

Look, I kinda have a few theories, but I don't know enough about this setting to figure which of them are valid, or you know, feasible.

If it's what I think is most likely, then fuck yes, apologies seem to be in order. Otherwise?

I'm just gonna keep mum to look vaguely knowledgeable and smart.
( Don't tell the others, tho. I'm sure they haven't noticed yet. )
 
Don't let me tell you what to do, but WMG is usually pretty fun!

I can be patient and wait for the reveal for your reactions and theories though, I guess.

I mean, I obviously cannot help myself, but to avoid discussing it in definitive terms, have this half-cooked analysis instead.

Edelian society seems to depict their Gods as the rulers above the mortal ones. You don't have to like your ruler, you have to obey them, and that obeisance is morally right and proper, is what I got from the description of their religion.

I kinda doubt that this outlook formed despite Edelian Gods being all nice pals who go around saying "Don't sweat it, bro" or "Jeez, stepped on your foot, sorry."

That behavior brings to mind something more Old Testament-y, like "For I will go through their lands at night, and will strike all their firstborn, man and beast, and against their gods I shall execute judgements."

So when Nachtmater ( even though she's being depicted as a fickle goddess, maybe more relaxed than her brethren ), tells that she would say sorry. Well. Well, well, well.

My biggest question is whether Lotte's star is ascendant or falling, or both.

But yeah, I obviously don't know enough to even make an educated guess, I just kinda see the shapes of possible stories that would correspond well with the facts we have on hand.

But it could very obviously be something entirely different, and The Laurent may be clenching hands together behind the screen, smiling and saying "They suspect nothing. All is proceeding according to the Scenario.", so there's that.
 
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I mean, I obviously cannot help myself, but to avoid discussing it in definitive terms, have this half-cooked analysis instead.

Edelian society seems to depict their Gods as the rulers above the mortal ones. You don't have to like your ruler, you have to obey them, and that obeisance is morally right and proper, is what I got from the description of their religion.

I kinda doubt that this outlook formed despite Edelian Gods being all nice pals who go around saying "Don't sweat it, bro" or "Jeez, stepped on your foot, sorry."

That behavior brings to mind something more Old Testament-y, like "For I will go through their lands at night, and will strike all their firstborn, man and beast, and against their gods I shall execute judgements."

So when Nachtmater ( even though she's being depicted as a fickle goddess, maybe more relaxed than her brethren ), tells that she would say sorry. Well. Well, well, well.

My biggest question is whether Lotte's star is ascendant or falling, or both.

But yeah, I obviously don't know enough to even make an educated guess, I just kinda see the shapes of possible stories that would correspond well with the facts we have on hand.

But it could very obviously be something entirely different, and The Laurent may be clenching hands together behind the screen, smiling and saying "They suspect nothing. All is proceeding according to the Scenario.", so there's that.
 
I kinda doubt that this outlook formed despite Edelian Gods being all nice pals who go around saying "Don't sweat it, bro" or "Jeez, stepped on your foot, sorry."

That behavior brings to mind something more Old Testament-y, like "For I will go through their lands at night, and will strike all their firstborn, man and beast, and against their gods I shall execute judgements."

I will point out there's some variation? But you have a grasp at it. Even the nicer folk hero types might help you out personally, or save a village from a famine or something. But for them, an apology would be... like, part of that folk tale? If Robin Hood apologized to you that's a moment or a turning point in someone's story. Maybe it means he couldn't save someone he promised too and now he's owning up to it, or that kinda thing?

This is all just to give a general vibe. For this goddess, you already know some of how she's viewed, and it's rather esoteric. A meeting, instead of vague signs in the night, or the presence of her children, is already strange. So any communication is already kinda beyond Lotte's understanding of religion, and what could Lotte imagine her apologizing for? Nothing, really.
 

I mean, it could still happen in the future, but I think it's about the past and Lot lacks both knowledge and capacity to comprehend it, so an apology would be worthless and pointless at the moment.

But for them, an apology would be... like, part of that folk tale? If Robin Hood apologized to you that's a moment or a turning point in someone's story. Maybe it means he couldn't save someone he promised too and now he's owning up to it, or that kinda thing?

Ah, a performance. Kinda like Odin sacrificing himself to himself. It involved pain, of course, but mostly it was about the sacrifice itself, to pay the price and gain knowledge, that sort of thing.

A meeting, instead of vague signs in the night, or the presence of her children, is already strange.

I mean, we did bust into the middle of a ritual, so some strangeness was to be expected. But the whole episode is again interesting in a sense that it doesn't correspond with a goddess-supplicant relationship dynamic. For starters, we didn't ask for help, Nachtmater volunteered. Usually, you have to pray to a god in a fantasy setting to receive help, and curing potentially fatal magical rabies ( lol, would be funny if she hadn't and we will get worse in a few hours ) is still an effort. Not much, but again, Nachtmater did it like a small favor, not a divine intervention, or really anything worthy of mentioning. Maybe that's how Nachtmater is in person, tho, and I'm reading too much into it. Maybe that's her shtick, along with being a moth who talks about flames.
Also, flames. That part sounded like she was both making an observation and explaining things to Lotte, despite not making much sense. About how being a god and being a mortal is different.

Oh boy, is Lotte confused at the moment. Somehow, I think that happenstance will be recurring.
 
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