[Open]

[spellcollect]

[ Frieren's mind opens up; as before, on the surface it's a calm, smooth pond. She's not quite used to this, so the connection (at first) is a touch tentative and then as she feels her way forward it opens more until she thinks she's finally ready. ]

I have a question for all of you. And you may consider it a simple matter of curiosity; I won't take offense at being ignored.

[ There's a pause, as if she's collecting her thoughts. ]

How many of you are long-lived species? Or long-lived by virtue of who you are? My kind are rare, even in my world, so I can't assume others will be particularly more common here, at the end of the universe.

[ It's an open question. ]

Comments

[tresemme]

Me.

[ technically, they’re all long-lived now, but tony doesn’t actually count “sleeping” as “living.” soldier blue probably wouldn’t either. ]

Mu can control how they look on the outside if they feel older or younger, but our bodies are naturally slow to age. Actually… I don’t know anyone who died just because they were old.

[spellcollect]

That's a little familiar. We don't control our appearance in that manner, but we age very slowly, if at all. And we do eventually die of old age, it just... takes quite a while.

[tresemme]

I guess I never thought about it.

[ tony doesn’t know how long the mu have existed. he doesn’t know how long they will exist, or would if not for the circumstances of this world. ]

How long do your people live?

[spellcollect]

I've been alive for a thousand years. I imagine I'll live much longer.

[tresemme]

A th—?! And you think you’re going to keep living after that?!

[ tony’s shock is crystal clear in communion, but more than that, he can’t actually understand how frieren is so casual about this. ]

Why would you want to?!

[spellcollect]

...I'm not sure that's the right question.

[ "Want" has nothing to do with it, as far as she's concerned. ]

It's just the nature of my people.

[tresemme]

What do you even do for a thousand years? There can’t be any evolutionary benefit.

[ he’s calmer this time, but it’s obvious he’s still troubled by the concept of anyone living for that long. two hundred seems like it would be enough to cover any imaginable experience. ]

[spellcollect]

...I've mostly studied magic and gardened, honestly. Oh... and helped defeat the Demon King.

[tresemme]

[ magic, sure… gardening, admirable… but that last part? ]

You shouldn’t lie when people are asking you honest questions.

[spellcollect]

[ Ah... ]

I'm being quite honest.

[tresemme]

What’s a Demon King? That sounds like something from a storybook for kids.

[spellcollect]

Exactly what it sounds like. The most powerful of all demons and ruler of demon-kind.

[tresemme]

He can’t have been that powerful if you defeated him.

[spellcollect]

It did take four of us. But I suppose I can't know what you'd consider "powerful".