Journal - Invitation and Menu

[lonelysmiles]

Sender: Alastor
To: Everyone
Subject: Invitation and Menu

Greetings and salutations, everyone!

As most of you likely don't know, today is about the right time for the holiday known as "Thanksgiving" where I was originally born! It's a day to celebrate what one is thankful for and, more relevant to me, a day to show off one's prowess in the kitchen to those around them!

Now it wouldn't do to let the day simply pass us by, so I've taken it upon myself to provide the meal for this year. Between the hours of noon and 6PM, there will be a lovely buffet-style meal waiting for all of you outside of the Dreambucks! I'm providing the menu here for simplicity's sake and to reassure anyone worried about what might be in the food!

Do enjoy!

Sincerely,
Alastor

Menu

Herb Butter Roasted Turkey with optional giblet gravy

Duck Confit

Mixed Greens Salad with French Bread Croutons

Mushroom Risotto

Potatoes Au Gratin

Green Bean Casserole with Andouille Sausage

Cornbread Dressing

Spinach Ring

Brioche Dinner Rolls

Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Beverages provided by Dreambucks Cafe

Comments

Sender: General Nuadha

[burnttoashes]

... what is the catch?

[Sorry, Alastor, he is a natural skeptic.]

[lonelysmiles]

You show up and eat. No strings.

[Honestly, everyone here is so distrustful!]

[burnttoashes]

That's a considerable amount of effort to put in for no reward whatsoever. Surely you understand why people might wonder.

[... yeah, that's a fair assessment. Nuadha is especially bad in that department.]

[lonelysmiles]

It doesn't surprise me too much that people would question my motives. I am a demon, after all.

But honestly I am getting a reward: I get to enjoy others praising me for my cooking skills. I'm a bit of a narcissist, you see.

[burnttoashes]

So, a catch. Although one that is easily dealt with assuming that the food is worth the praise.

I would expect you would get more hesitation in regards to the 'demon' part of the equation, honestly.

[lonelysmiles]

Oh it's certainly worth the praise. I've had over a hundred years of practice between my life and afterlife!

I think initially some mistake me for a demon in the same vein as two others here: much softer and kinder to others. Honestly, their "Devildom" is nothing like the Hell I earned in life.

[burnttoashes]

Don't mind if I judge that for myself, then.

[Because someone here really can't cook for himself, shhh.]

The stories I have heard in my world of 'daemons' make clear they have no love for mortals. I would assume that would hold true in other worlds as well, so to hear tell that there are demons who are 'kind' is... surprising, to say the least.

[lonelysmiles]

Please do! I'd love to hear your input!

[And he's used to dealing with people who can't cook. (Honestly, why is it so many people struggle with such an important skill?)]

The demons of my Hell are split between the Hellborn -- those literally born in Hell as the name implies -- and sinners who commit all manner of atrocities in life and are punished with eternal damnation. Or at least damnation until they're erased during the annual Cleanse.

The sorts of demons that these Devildom demons are? Never seen the like.

[burnttoashes]

[Look it's not his fault he used to be a prince and never had to do any of these things for himself before...]

Interesting. The daemons of my world do not come into existence as such, but rather are turned by an outside force - negative emotions - much like these sinners of yours. When a person becomes filled with enough malevolence, they transform into a daemon. At that point, all they have left is whatever emotion turned them in the first place.

It sounds like our own demons and daemons are not all that dissimilar, then.

[lonelysmiles]

In some ways, I suppose. But a human becomes a sinner via their own choices, not some outside force.

[burnttoashes]

And there is no way for them to be turned back? Merely Cleansed?

[lonelysmiles]

You mean a process like redemption? Ha! No no no no, the chance a human has is the life that came before! There's no undoing what's already been done!

[burnttoashes]

[... ouch. They're not even talking about him, but those words cut deep.]

Not even in another life, if such a thing exists?

[lonelysmiles]

[Look, man. The truth hurts.]

No, what's left after the afterlife is the void. As far as anyone knows, there's no way back from that!

[burnttoashes]

[BOY, DOES IT EVER. And it's a very good thing that Alastor can't see him physically wince at the mention of a void, too.]

Perhaps that's fitting. Doomed to spend eternity in nothingness, with all the time in the world to reflect upon what they've done. A suitable punishment for their actions while living...

[lonelysmiles]

Perhaps, perhaps not. There's no proof that you still maintain any semblance of consciousness in the void. Any lingering remnants of your energy is absorbed by your surroundings in Hell.

[burnttoashes]

A small mercy, I suppose.

[Unlike the Void in his own world, where you're conscious the entire time. Fun for the whole family!]

And what becomes of the energy after that?

[lonelysmiles]

It becomes part of the scenery! The eyes on random inanimate objects isn't just for aethetic's sake!

[burnttoashes]

[...]

... the eyes.

[lonelysmiles]

Yes. The eyes.

[burnttoashes]

On second thought, in some ways the void sounds more appealing.