Pathetic

  "You know… you're kinda pathetic."

  That was the first sound that had echoed in the trapped, prison-like existence for the being that wasn't even sure if they were still alive. One night, the fellow had fallen asleep hugging his cat, and then it was like a permanent silence. Was it hell? An afterlife? Some transitory period or some kind of partially-aware coma? Honestly they weren't entirely sure.

  About the only thing the trapped existence knew was that they had been watching something for what felt like an eternity.

  –

  "Ah, Rou, come on, time for a bath!" a red-panda like woman called out towards her hiding child. "Nooooo…" he complained, the point of view that the trapped one watched was through the eyes of the child. They had no control over the child, and it most certainly wasn't them, but it was very much a dedicated first-person perspective from the child's eyes as if viewed from an even further-away third-person perspective as if some screen was displaying it.

  The child's mother, whose name appeared to be Shiela, was a human-like animal person of some sorts that looked vaguely like a red panda. Slender, long fluffy tail, short round ears, general human shape and features like two arms, two legs, even standing upright and walking on feet that were clothed in simple slippers - albeit ones made to accommodate paws. She wore a simple off-white robe of some soft-looking fabric tied at the waist, even having hair that was short and loosely pulled back at the neck.

  Of course, she was all smiles despite the younger boy, whom was clearly named Rou, complaining actively regarding no desire to take a bath. It wasn't an unusual scene of course, one the spirit? had watched numerous times.

  "Come now Rou, you don't want to be smelly do you? Go with your mother." A nearby voice came, belonging to one Dominic, the boy's father. Similar to the boy's mother, he was a bit taller than her, a little broader and more muscled, though much the same features and colorations. Only his hair was actually a bit longer than his partners and tied at the mid shoulders to keep it out of the way. His attire more simply a jerkin of some coarser design than his wife's robe and a pair of shorts, with sandals on him otherwise.

  –

  The only sense of time the observer got was when what he was seeing through the eyes of the child gave a hint towards the passing of time.

  –

  The place the family of three were in happened to be an antiquated-looking cottage. Simple, quiet, never much noise or any surprises from what the one watching could tell. Made of wood and thatch, and other simple materials. A bed the three shared at all times, a family table, the boy typically sitting in the lap of his mother when eating. There were several rugs and carpets on the floors to keep the kid from hurting himself and a separate room that the mother was trying to tug the boy towards that was primarily used for sanitary purposes - bathing, bathroom purposes, etc.

  –

  Just before things once again returned towards the nightly scene of a happy, furred family, the voice echoed again.

  "You had a whole life to make something of yourself and at the end… well, even the ugliest, mangiest dog can still be cute for a moment in someone's eyes. After all, Chihuahua's exist and someone loves those things. But as far as I am concerned, you failed even that."

  Finally it seemed real. At first they thought it was their imagination. It wouldn't have been the first time they imagined something. Familiar sights or sounds, like their cat from before that they fell asleep to, hoping they'd wake up to the cat screaming for wet food despite still having some on his plate from the previous night. Or a phone alert or something.

  But instead, still unable to turn, or even acknowledge a body or limbs, it wasn't until the 'voice' that spoke to them physically moved in front of the 'screen' that showed the third-person first-person view from the kids perspective that it was confirmed.

  A humanoid-shaped energy blob without any defined features, gender, or clothing. It simply floated in the non-existence that was wherever they currently were. They felt stared at by this… energy-like being. Inspected like an egg at a supermarket. Disgusted from finding a rotten egg in a carton. Why was this being, creature, looking at them like this?

  "Don't know how long you've been awake, or aware, but at least for now I am fairly sure you are. Right? … right. Why am I even… let's start this over."

  "Hello! I am God! … well, not really. Your kind refer to us as God, or Gods, but all said we're simply beings from a higher dimension in the chain of all that. No point explaining the finer details, not like you'd understand."

  Of course, said 'God' was correct. There was no understanding. This not only seemed like some crazy dream, but their current state of existence wasn't even known, how would they be able to parse talk of dimensions and gods?

  "Can't speak or interact either. But, I can read your base emotions and desires and get an idea of any queries you might have. Do be a dear and save those until after, yeah? So, let's get to the finer points…"

  The being, vaguely feminine in shape and personality as the 'conversation' went on and it adjusted form a little, proceeded to claim rather softly, "So you're dead. You might have surmised that. Lived a poor example of a life, died just as devoid of success, no one but your cat will miss you and even he won't be able to cement your existence into the world. Everyone who ever knew you or loved you at some point when you were still young, cute and lovable will only recall you as an endnote to a thought and eventually when they're gone, that'll be that. Cremated, buried somewhere with relatives you disliked and who relatively disliked you in turn, though at least your cats were buried with you at the end of it all - cremated as well."

  The dead soul wanted to scream and cry, the energy being - self-proclaimed God very well could feel the horror and shock setting in. But without a body, there was nothing the spirit could do. The God vanished for a while and left them in silence for what felt like another eternity before returning.

  "Done pitying yourself? … well, not really but good enough. I have no interest in listening to you wail at your own impotence now that you're dead."

  "If it's any consolation, a relative of yours grabbed your cat from your dingy little apartment after hearing about your passing, and although disgusted at the places condition, kept them relatively happy until the end."

  By this point the soul was hardly listening.

  "But, now that such is out of the way, why are you here and why are we having this conversation? Soul lottery, or thereabouts. A few souls every hundred years or so, by complete chance, wind up unable to go back into the cycle of reincarnation of this world due to incompatibility. Think of it like… soul inbreeding. Occasionally, through pure unadulterated chance, souls naturally go back towards their progenitor soul. Two souls, two people, have a baby. Bits of their soul fetter off and recombine into a new one. Upon death, souls go back and start the cycle over, free of memories."

  "Yours unfortunately…"

  The being floated closer and further away at random points, a bit overly animated as it explained. Waving of 'arms' or directing of 'hands'. Even pointing here and there to accentuate much to the frustration of the soul who didn't want anything to do with it all.

  "Inbred, or close enough. Your parents, and their parents souls were from the same stock and as a result, your soul was… well, fucked from the start, to use a phrase from your world. And it didn't get any better because you lived too pathetic a life to really chip away at the oddities that arise from such things by sublimating your soul through living life well. So, guess what? No cycle of life for you. Instead, you get tossed into another world."

  "A world you don't really deserve, but hey, that's the way things go. We 'Gods' - see higher-dimension beings, have basic rules for existence and the destruction of souls is rather taboo. So since we can't return you, and aren't going to put your soul down… off you go. Enjoy! …loser."

  That last bit was muttered, and before the soul could even think to complain, it went from the blank void it was in to… another slightly less blank void. Ever so briefly. And then the void lit up a little and in place of the energy blob was a floating fox-like girl. Woman? They weren't really sure. It was hard to tell! Unlike the mother of the boy who looked like a red panda, this fox being, goddess, was a little on the short side. Floating above the 'floor', not that there was one in this empty, white backlit void. Her fluffy tail flicked and flopped about as she studied their soul, once again like it was a rotten egg.

  "Tch…"

  As the fox's nose crinkled and their mouth opened to reveal a disdainful click of the tongue, she turned and vanished, leaving the stranded soul to just stare at the backlit void and then nothing.

  Nothing…

  How long had it been there? It felt even longer than the whole time they'd been watching the screen of the family. Only finally she returned and stated in dismay, "You're still here! Go on, go away! Ugh… souls are supposed to just… reincarnate, right? Damnit, I don't know what to do with this. Aether!"

  She shouted in the void and another voice came, "All yours dear, sorry. Everyone has a turn."

  "Oh come on, this is stupid! This thing isn't even normal, it's malformed! What am I supposed to do with it!"

  The spoiled fox pleaded and begged with this 'Aether' before finally whining and covering her head as she sat on the floor in front of the soul, eventually raising her face to stare at it. The eyes were a strange mixture of pink and red swirling, very unnatural to the soul, before the fox perked up, "Ah, perfect! That makes just the right amount of sense. So, how about you tell ME what you want! I'll just… yeah, that works. Come on, speak."

  She treated them like a dog. Only like a dog who didn't speak, the fox woman began to get annoyed. "...I'm dumb. Of course, it can't speak, I completely forgot."

  –

  With a gut-wrenching disorientation, the existence that was a soul was suddenly transported into some kind of body. A basic, sexless, non-descript humanoid puppet on two legs. Almost as if it was a marionette of some variety, held up by strings, only… they finally had limbs again. A body. A head. No eyes, nose or mouth, but could somehow still see. The puppet looked themselves over and moved their arms around experimentally.

  "There you go. You can move and talk and all now but do try not to make an ass out of yourself? Unlike those from your previous world, we have no problem recycling souls that annoy us. We'll just reincarnate you as a shit-eating beetle or something, so behave~"

  The puppet paused and nodded before just… sitting down and feeling awkward. It tried to speak briefly and croaked out a somewhat mechanical-soundling 'aah' noise.

  "So… I… can speak." the voice gradually returned to a normal pacing before the fox girl nodded and said in turn, "Yes, now hush and listen. Normally you'd just be tossed out but since this is my first time dealing with one of you lot, I'm going to have a little fun and maybe do something nice. You can thank me now."

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  The haughty attitude caused the puppet to sigh softly.

  "Hey! Just because you can speak now doesn't mean I don't know what you're thinking! Take that back this instant, or it's shit beetle time!"

  "Sorry! Thank you very much for the grace! Your fur is immaculate, your tail fluffy and beautiful, the most beautiful I've ever seen and you have pretty eyes!" The puppet blurted out in a panicked fashion, slumping back onto its 'hands' before admitting embarrassedly, "I'm just… it's a lot. I feel like I am being railed through a process that is going a bit quick with no consideration if I have actually understood anything."

  The fox woman grinned in a way only a fox could, cackling happily at his praise. "Flattery will get you everywhere! Go on, tell me more!"

  The puppet seemed confused before a few minutes of verbally gilding the fox-shaped lily that was this woman, who had puffed up a bit and looked very proud of herself. "Yes, well, at least you have the good sense to recognize a perfect beauty when you encounter one."

  Something else the puppet noticed? This Goddess… was a bit ignorant when it came to such things. A bit like a cat that could understand the love given its way, she puffed and preened like a peacock being lavished for its feathers. Only she had fur and fluff. It was, dare the puppet say, cute? But that stray thought briefly panicked the puppet before they realized perhaps this Goddess couldn't read their mind freely as they said? Or at least, not without directly trying to?

  "Alright, that's enough. Is there anything you want coming into our world? I shall see about it."

  "My… cats, before I died…"

  "No, can't bring them over."

  "...may I ask why?"

  "No way around it, don't even try, but sure. First of all, I cannot turn back time to get them when they were alive. Secondly… Felines haven't evolved into having souls yet, not in your world anyways. No other creatures on your planet besides humans have evolved quite that far. Some animal species are closer than others, but all the same, there's a certain level of sentience and self-awareness before souls begin to form and through natural life cycle reincarnation, strengthen and develop properly. Perhaps if you were from another world I could find a way, but in your world… only humans. I know, it's sad… even if I think you're a little pathetic, I do feel for you."

  And then under her breath, "...kind of why I'm even bothering to try and be nice, you really did love your pets more so than yourself. While not uncommon, I do appreciate it. Also, can I just say how ugly humans are? They don't have any fur at all! No whiskers, no tail, no cute little paws… absolutely disgusting."

  The puppet was eerily quiet as it listened, slowly losing more and more hope that it would ever get the only thing it'd been wanting since it came to after death.

  Being able to hold and hug and kiss on their cat again.

  As the fox god noticed it kind of killed any lingering hope about the puppet, she actually floated forward and knelt down to grab the puppet and hug it gently. A small display of gentleness before promptly dropping it on the floor like refuse and going back to floating.

  "So!" The goddess cackled as if the puppet hadn't felt like it just died inside, like it was empty. "That family you've been watching, you'll come into existence in my world as their kid. It's been a few years since he was born, had to wait until a fair time had passed to let you come over. You'll retain your memories of your past life, and kind of merge with your current one. It's hard to explain but you'll figure it out."

  The puppet, devoid of any actions other than simply listening, finally moved a little and looked up at the fox after having just been staring at the floor, but didn't acknowledge what she had to say in much of any fashion. Something that annoyed her.

  "Hey, quit being pathetic. I know it's tough to hear but it is what it is."

  That brief moment of sensitivity and kindness was gone, and the puppet was a bit soured on her personality now.

  "So, I'll give you a few basic things to take with you. Well, not literally, but figuratively. What would you want? Don't annoy me and ask for the moon, be reasonable, be fair, and maybe I'll let you keep asking until I get bored or you annoy me."

  The puppet remained sitting there, quietly, 'staring' at the fox before finally saying in that same, awkward, broken voice, "A healthy body, by my own standards? It would be nice not to have to worry about getting sick or… hurting myself and whatnot."

  The fox goddess paused and seemed thoughtful before clicking her fingers and nails at him, and what looked like a status screen appeared.

  Notice

  [Healthy body - Never less healthy now than you were before. Basic illness prevention, won't prevent death and dismemberment, but will avoid minor things and annoyances. Injuries heal faster than normal.]

  "In short, don't be a dipshit and think this will let you block blades with your arms."

  The puppet wanted to grin but without a mouth instead there was an awkward grinding sound, causing the Goddess, who was floating in front of him, to whine and cover her ears. "Ah, ew, don't do that again, that was horrible why did I even give that puppet the ability to do that."

  –

  The soul was thrown out of the puppet as it burst into little pieces which all vanished and soon another puppet appeared in its place. Visually the same, but clearly lacking… whatever made that sound. And then the stomach-turning vertigo returned as they were replaced into the new puppet.

  "Thank you for the new, better body. As for something else I was wanting… you can read my thoughts, yes? Memories too?" The puppet returned to kneeling from the sitting position it had been in, both attempting to placate her a little, as well as actually putting thought into what it might want..

  "Mm… yes, where are you going with this? I'm not going through your history and stumbling across you playing with yourself or something, so be precise."

  While the puppet had no eyes it kind of just stared at the semi-crude god only to ask, "So you know what a character creator is?"

  A few moments later, her eyes glowed a bit before nodding.

  "So can I… customize myself in any way I see fit physically? I don't know, maybe make some general settings and markers for my life from youth until adulthood or whatever?"

  The goddess thought about it before shrugging, "Sure, not a big deal. But don't try and go giving yourself a foot long prick."

  Standing and stretching as if it had a body, the puppet went to pop its neck only to realize it had no neck. Old habit. "Sure, just eleven point nine inches then."

  It was promptly smacked out of the puppet body and back into a soul. "I warned you not to annoy me, and you sass me? Do you WANT to just give up on this reincarnation chance?"

  In a panic it tried to respond but couldn't speak properly, thanks to no longer being in the puppet.. It was meant as a joke!

  "...oh. Sarcasm. Go on then." With a wave of her hand once again the soul was in the puppet, shaking a little. A proper, full-on body appeared floating in the backlit void in front of the puppet at that point, and a basic screen appeared as well, light blue in color and with various customization functions based off his memories of a character creator. "I don't have the patience to sit here, so I'm going off to do something and when you're done just… well, I'll be back eventually. So just wait quietly or else." And off she went into non-existence as soon as the puppets attention was away from her.

  The body was what he assumed was the adult version of the body they were going to be reincarnated into, of the red panda-like animal people's family. Vaguely human-like in proportions, like the fox goddess. Fairly normal, presumably average male of the species it belonged to. Naked as can be. The puppet stared for a while before beginning to edit to its hearts content.

  –

  What he hadn't realized was the fox goddess had been watching the entire time with rapt attention. While it wasn't meant to be a test, she very much treated it like one. She had certain… tastes in what beauty was. Of course, given his earlier praise, she suspected he shared those tastes despite having been an ugly human in his past life. So… she watched and waited. A bit surprised that the puppet seemed so adept at manipulating the screen to make it work properly. Not that it was /difficult/ but to one unfamiliar…

  Oh, right, Aether modeled it after stuff from the souls world in the past. Well, that makes sense.

  –

  Eventually, after an hour or two of detailed customization, the puppet stopped and stepped back, plopping onto its backside and laying back to stare at the non-existent void sky. It was a bit disorienting here all said, even for a soul in a puppet.

  "You done yet?" Affection said only after making them wait another eternity, or what felt like it. It wasn't actually all that long, but she tried to 'drag it out' to mask her interest in what had been going on. As soon as she appeared, the fox woman landed on the ground and stood in front of the newly customized body.

  Stared at it. Looked it over from top to bottom like a would-be car buyer ignoring a salesmans insistence that it was good and checking for themselves. A peek at the ears, a little rub to see how soft the fur was there and a nod of approval. Extra soft, check.

  Her fingertips and palm ran along the floating bodies soulless form and raised one of his eyelids, approving silently of the eyes as well. A soft shade of green for pupils.

  The fur colors and patterns had been adjusted slightly from a more traditional look like his parents and how the body previously looked to a more red and white appearance. The soul in the puppet really had gone all the way in treating it like a character creator, only one they could customize /everything/ about it with. Even made the tail longer, and fluffier, as well gave the forearms and lower legs a darker look like the body was wearing gloves and socks of black.

  Overall…? The Fox Goddess was beyond impressed. They very much shared tastes. Something the puppet realized as she walked around behind his floating body and inspected the tail, nodding as if somehow this was proper.

  "See?" The puppet led in, "I even followed your rules!"

  Once again trying to be playful, hoping to get on the fox goddess' good side, she asked in a confused manner, having already forgotten her stipulations, "Rules?" before it clicked as she circled around the floating body fully and her attention drew down from the face to the neck, chest, stomach and…

  She kicked back like a horse and destroyed the puppet body, sending the soul flying and scaring the sense out of him..

  "...guess you did."

  The soul was terrified but now unable to even respond or move once more as the puppet vanished into thin air.

  "Alright, think you've asked for enough. If you really think of anything else, you can submit a request through your screen and… oh right, everyone in this world you're going to has a personal screen like the one you looked at. It's nothing quite that fancy, just basic information and you can keep it to yourself or share as you like. No one can forcibly look at anyone elses. Can even hide or share certain parts specifically. You'll have to thank Curiosity for that."

  As the soul tried to inquire, realization struck and the fox cackled, reading his thoughts and emotions instead.

  "That's another of the gods here. I'm Affection, by the way. The most beautiful Goddess of them all, with the best fur, and the most wonderful tail and…" she went on and on praising herself, both very conceited and clearly a bit haughty as well. The earlier fear slowly returned to amusement, thinking her cute, like an ornery street cat.

  "...Why yes, I am quite cute. But I'm not a cat, I'm a fox, thank you very much." she snorted derisively after having caught the souls stray thoughts on the matter. "Despite our names, we aren't limited by them. It's just… the mortals of this world named the gods that and we thought it would be fun to play along with it. So don't go assuming I'll alway be affectionate."

  The fox yawned and scratched the base of her tail, flicked her nails at the soul as if picking and flicking a flea that didn't exist and then sat down on a chair that also didn't exist, legs crossed demurely. "Let's see… there's magic and all that in this world, it's… not as technologically advanced as yours. We gods don't particularly enjoy how violent your world is so since we've had a few of you come over in the past, we… tweaked some of nature's rules. So things like gunpowder don't work in the same fashion here despite all the ingredients being present. Don't be a dipshit like the last one and try to start making explosives and weapons of mass destruction. Well, more mass than normal. He's in a five hundred year loop of shit beetle."

  Affection conjured up a puppet head and put the soul in so it could speak again, holding it like a shakespearean character as she looked it over.

  "Magic though… can I…"

  "No."

  "I didn't even ask yet!"

  "No, you can't be the hero of this world. There's no villain to destroy. No princess to claim."

  "I didn't even want that!"

  "Oh please, don't lie to me, all men are the same. You want to hold hands with a cute girl and feel like you conquered the world." Affection snorted in amusement, clearly suspect of the soul as she leaned in to 'stare' at it face to face... "But go on, humor me, what do you want?"

  "Just… without knowing the rules and limitations of the way magic and all that works here, I'm a bit worried I'll be disappointed by finding out it's in some way super limited or awkward or maybe not even worth learning."

  Affection paused then snorted, "Oh, Aether would hate to hear you say that. But, you'll be fine. She's put a lot of care into it with other Gods and very much enjoys when the people of this world learn and enjoy using her gift. But all the same… after I toss you into your new body, I will speak with her and see if she can't consider your request."

  "Perfect! Thank you, most beautiful and cute of the Gods!" the puppet exclaimed, trying to butter her up, perhaps hoping for something else if her mood remained stable..

  The fox stretched and tried to pretend she didn't enjoy it, showing off slightly in thanks for the souls kinds words, only to click her nails and flick her fingers at the soul as if they were a flea, causing them to lose all sense of time and space, before eventually he felt something physically for the first time in this new world.

  He felt himself yawn. A large, sleepy yawn, followed by a slightly moist, soft sensation on his forehead. His mothers lips, kissing him gently as he woke up, "Good morning sweetie."

  Do you like 1.1, or 1 better? I think 1.1 is better but tastes vary.