Private Finished NebulaR Meets the Neon Moth

Nebula was acclimating surprisingly well to the island. Arriving from a magical court, she was no stranger to what humans might consider weird. The only difference was now she was living among the "weird" that she had only seen from afar. That was school and all the free time she had. All that free time discomforted her. It made her antsy. Or depressed. Or a weird mix of both.

Slowly but surely, her mind was getting used to ignoring what would otherwise phase her. A vampire drinking from a Capri Sun-like pack filled with blood. A talking cat conversing with a giant that loomed over it (him? her? them?). A green-haired boy with fox ears and a tail. A mermaid flirting with an uninterested dwarf.

Wait a second. One of those things looked familiar. Nebula raised her head up from her phone. Zoom. Enhance. No, that person was definitely familiar. Was that... Neon Moth? A guy cosplaying as him? Sort of fucked up, but okay. Cosplaying as a dead dude's avatar at school. He must've been one of those who enjoyed the urban legend of Neon Moth's avatar showing up around his in-game shrine.

Wait a second times two. Why was Nebula so convinced that this wasn't the actual Neon Moth? He died, then his avatar started showing up to trick people while avoiding bans, every time someone encountered him he claimed he was alive, then his avatar suddenly disappeared, and here he is, right in front of Nebula. At school. For supernatural creatures. Who couldn't be out in the Narrow Reality or else the Veil might be broken.

The only way to know for certain—and she was pretty certain—was to ask him. So Nebula pocketed her phone, got up, and approached the person. "Neon Moth, is that you? Or... should I call you by your real name? Damn... this is wild." First Pixelhazelnut, now Neon Moth. Was every popular gamer some supernatural creature and she just hadn't noticed?

Holy shit. It was him. What the heck was with gamers here?

"Really? Why's that? I'm guessing you don't remember your old life at all and you're distancing yourself from it? I didn't know you forgot your old name, but if you ever want to know, I can tell... Ah, man, I have so many questions."

It made sense. Once someone died, a multitude of things could happen to them. Losing their original identity and being reborn into another person was one of those things. As a new person, they often viewed their old self as a completely separate entity they had no business with. Those who did learn of their past lives sometimes felt obligated to return to it, even if it went against their best interests.

Because of that, Nebula tried to be careful with her words. She wasn't one for tact, but she needed a good reputation here if she wanted to be adopted. Forcing a person to be constrained by their previous life when they were doing just fine here was a jackass move.

That was weird. A person died in a game and actually became a character in the game? This was like some weird isekai thing. Actually, that sounded like a pretty good anime, now that Neubla thought about it. She would totally watch a show about that.

But that was beside the point. Neon wanted to know what questions Nebula had, so he was going to get them. "No, I'm a pixie of The Perpetual Motion Machine's The Dungeon sect." She watched with an impressed expression as Neon jumped and landed. "To clarify, I'm a robot fae from a court who brings inspiration and advice to hardworking humans. My sect focuses on games, which is why I know about you so well."

With that explanation over with, because she just knew he was going to be another who didn't understand what her court was about, she transitioned into her questions. "Er... tell me to stop if it gets uncomfortable. I don't know how much about your old life you don't want to remember. I just... I don't understand how you became who you are now? The headset you wore must have been enchanted or something... When... When you died. The human you, that is..." She cringed, even closing her eyes, then opening one to see what Neon's reaction was.

She really did feel like a jackass now.

So it was true. He didn't remember dying at all despite everyone saying so. "Yeah... your human self died... and they built a shrine for you... him... They built a shrine for him because he was the highest level player and completed every quest. Er... every quest until he died. This isn't super abnormal. It reminds me of other times when a human died and they become a spirit that closely resembled their death. Sometimes they remember their previous life, sometimes they don't." Nebula hoped the explanation would offset the whole creepy factor of this entire thing. Neon didn't look to be phased by what Nebula was saying, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"On another note, what's The Hang? Never heard of that before," she continued on after giving him some time to think about her words.

No wonder this guy didn't stay dead. He sure was stubborn. Stubborn and apparently not emotional. His expressions were worse than most others on the island. Why was it so difficult to get an actual reaction out of people here?

"The Hang sounds like a scary thing to go through. But... with the other stuff, that's why I referred to your human self as another person. You're here, not your human self. Your human self died and was reborn into a new person. You. That's the idea I'm familiar with. But don't act like it's impossible. Do you know where you are? I'm sure there's plenty of people who have been reborn from another person here."