“Eh, sorta.” Firecracker shrugged. “Within a… couple hours of dying.” It really sucked to learn that limitation of his power the hard way.

“Anyway….” What else could she say about him? “Here’s a weird thing about him: he didn’t care a lot if people treated him like a God, but what he really wanted was for his followers to help make the world a better place. So there were some former Christians who followed him. I guess he reminded them of Jesus or something. Except for the part where he exists.” Now that she thought of it, maybe that whole humility thing was what held Orochi back.

“He also promised to make some of his followers immortal like he was, if they showed him that they could do something special to make the world better. Like… Styx. Sebastian made Styx immortal because, if you make a promise while he’s around, you can never break it. So Sebastian made him the God of Oaths.”

“Then this jerk called the Oracle ruined everything. He has the power to look into the future, but he’s only right most of the time. One time, he looked into Sebastian’s future, and he thought Sebastian was gonna try to destroy the world. Actually, the end of the world was his fault. He thought he could save everyone by killing Sebastian, so had someone else use their powers to make me blow up this whole city.” She took a deep breath. “That’s how he started the nuclear war that almost ended the world. And it didn’t even kill Sebastian.”

She let out a bitter chuckle. It was kind of funny, in spite of everything, that Alister went to all that trouble and sacrificed so much to kill one person, then proceeded to not kill him. What a strategic mastermind.

What an impressive ability, to raise the dead was a power from every religion and mythology around the world. However Ryoga silenced his thoughts as Kaitlyn continued her story. Ryoga's eyes visibly reacted when she explained this Sebastian cared not for worship or respect. To have this much power and not demand the respect deserved was truly odd, that type of humility beyond Ryoga's arrogant mind. "What an odd man, to have no sense of pride when gifted with such ability." He said interrupting Kaitlyn briefly, Ryoga was born special, born powerful and born a God. Respect and worship were to be expected, at least that's what his Father had planted into his mind.

Apparently this Sebastian even created his own pantheon, passing immortality around as he saw fit. Though it seemed Kaitlyn's story lacked an ending she liked, as she showed disdain for someone named Oracle. The dragon glared at her, his interest never lost for a second. So someone saw a bad end for this Sebastian's plan, and set up a plan of his own to put an end to it in hopes of preventing disaster. An honorable idea at it's base, but arrogant as well, to assume you knew what was best based simply on a vision. The girl seemed truly bothered though Ryoga could understand, the idea of being "used" was absolutely disgusting and infuriating, a feeling Ryoga would never again let happen to him.

Ryoga had kept mostly silent as he listened to Kaitlyn's story, his respect for her, and his love of stories holding his tongue in check. But the idea of nuclear war finally got him to speak, talking hold of the conversation. "A nuclear apocalypse, such a thing has only happened twice before. Perhaps that world would have spawned another Dragon."  Ryoga mused aloud, knowing that nuclear radiation had some form in creating him, he could feel it deep in his bones.  The warmth and power of atomic fire flowed through his veins, and it seemed through this child.  Kaitlyn was intriguing to Ryoga, and that meant he was going to keep an eye on her.  Whether that turned out good for Kaitlyn, or if she approved would have to be discovered later.

"Your life is certainly fantastic Firecracker, like one of the epics from an ancient culture." Ryoga was complimenting the girl, her tale feeding his deep seated love of tales and stories. He lowered himself down to her level, his fiery eyes reflecting her image as he observed her. "Though you are not a Goddess, perhaps you are instead the hero of this tale, unaware of your greater destiny." He was playing Kaitlyn up a bit, in return for her story and proper respect for the Dragon God. Time travel, divination, nuclear apocalypse all of these things wrapped up into one little girl's life was certainly something he'd always remember.

He spoke softly, thanking the girl for her time. "Thank you, your story was certainly unique." He wondered though, how the girl felt after all that, all that intrigue and drama, did she prefer this life, or the one she held before. "But tell me little one, do you miss that life, or do you prefer the present before you now?" He questioned.

She shrugged, uncomfortable. “I… guess there are parts that I miss. Being a destruction goddess was kinda cool. But…” she stared at the floor. “A lot of the stuff I saw after the apocalypse was really messed up. Some of the people who survived, just… weren’t people.” She couldn’t afford to think of them as people, wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she did.

Firecracker didn’t know if she wanted to say anything else on that subject. It was hard to think in terms of heroes or epic tales when she had to live with those memories.

Ryoga could see the girl's sudden change in mood, memories were always to be valued, but sometimes the things they held were not to be enjoyed. And in this case, not only could Ryoga imagine the horrors of a world after an atomic war, but he had seen them in person. "A dreadful power, my Grandmother survived the blast. But that weapon burned the very image of her kimono into her flesh, and others it simply turned to ash. I can imagine that world held something you wish not to relive." The dragon lifted himself from the ground and turned a bit, inching himself deeper into his den and further from the cold outside.

"You are not without power though are you little one? Your ability coupled with experience makes you a far more interesting individual than most of the mutants I have met." Finding a more comfortable spot temperature wise, Ryoga sat back down on his legs, and like a statue watched the girl. " And though you lost your patron deity, it's not as if this world is without new Gods. After all, you've just met me." Ryoga looked at her, curious where this relationship with this unique little mutant would go.

It was the second time in the same conversation that he mentioned his grandmother’s kimono. He must really like telling that story.

Firecracker realized that she might have misspoken. “I, uh, didn’t mean that people like your grandmother weren’t people, by the way. Some of them, they didn’t get deformed or anything, they just… did things.” Things so bad that she didn’t even feel comfortable describing them.

The dragon’s last comment made her pause. Her patron deity was gone, but hey, he was a God too. Implied: she should go ahead and worship him. But that wasn’t a commitment she would make lightly. She was only just starting to get comfortable with godlessness again.

“Speaking of that, Lord Orochi... why does your cult… I mean-” She struggled to find a respectful way to put this: after all, was an important thing to know if she was even going to start thinking about being his first American convert. “Aside from the fact that you obviously deserve respect because you’re a big, powerful, intelligent dragon, does your cult have any other reasons to worship you?” There had to be more to it than that, especially if she was going to keep entertaining this thought.

Ah, she was probably referring to how some cultures resort to looting, and terrible violence in the face of fear and uncertainty. "Humans become such impulsive cowards in the face of fear. But they are short sighted, I wouldn't expect much more from them." He said in response to her thought, though Ryoga also knew that his own people, the Japanese were not as prone to such frailties of character as American's or Europeans were, another sign that his blood was of better lineage than any other.

The girl used the word cult, but quickly retracted the statement for fear of incurring Ryoga's wrath, though really he didn't care what term people used for his congregation. The mainstream world always referred to religious change or differences as cults, as if the insult would stop a true new religion from rising up. But Ryoga was no volcano loving alien overlord from space that another cult loved to embrace, no he was a real God, a creature beyond the scope of nature. And of course in the face of a creature proclaiming Godhood the girl would question why? What makes you a God to be respected?

Generally he'd take offense at being questioned at all, but Kaitlyn was not your average human, mutant, or even little demigoddess. No, explaining to her a reason why he was more than just a beast was within the scope of reason. " Father is far more silver tongued than I, and his words often draw people in to see me, before my presence seals their opinion. But a God should be able to prove his greatness all alone." Ryoga took a deep breath, his body flushing with oxygen as he took a more impressive stance, standing up and presenting his body to hold her attention. "Some men worship power, others praise intelligence, but more than any physical aspect of my form, the fundamental aspect of my nature, something you cannot see is what makes me truly unique."

If Ryoga wanted to, with his massive size and maw full of teeth he could easily devour any creature on this world, but he didn't need to. Food was for mortals, Ryoga fed upon something far more elemental. "You of all people know the power of the atom, having seen the aftermath in another future. Now tell me, what could be more powerful than such a frightening weapon? What about the creature that feeds upon that weapon like man feeds on fish?" If he could grin, he would be, because talking about his greatness always brought the egomaniac joy.

"I feast upon energy, whether it be electrical, radioactive, or simple force. A basic aspect of existence serves as mere food for me, and no other creature can do as I do." He said, puffing up his chest with pride as he proclaimed himself one of a kind.