[...Wow. Yeah. Yeah, it sure is wearing shades, huh.........]
Even applied the bare minimum of concealing corpse eyes, how very thoughtful of her.
In the ocean though, is that right? Can't have been by design. Perhaps some sort of storage mismanagement. I've been wondering if the physical bodies of those who vanish aren't actually set aside somewhere...which makes this incident quite the data point.
[Unbidden, of course, the ordeal with the zombies at the diner sure is springing to mind about now........but Jade isn't about to try mentioning that directly here and now. Hm.]
Well, that aside, this update is appreciated. I haven't the faintest idea what brand of "chaos" might be impending, but I imagine it will likely be ghost-related. [...] Possessions first, and now potentially consumption. My my. We may want to brush up on methods of spirit-warding once more...
I thought he's storing bodies in the desert reality. Or maybe the crew cabins.
We should ask Palamedes to ward the cabins. And probably stay away from the bars and restaurants. We still need to eat but we should be careful of the "staff" acting up.
[Alas, so much for not bringing it up--] Could very well be both, perhaps. Unfortunate as those implications might be...
Palamedes was the first to come to my own mind as well. In this place he's one of the most versed in the nature of actual ghosts and souls, after all. I know he's been wanting to start setting up ward measures ever since the incident in October...but it couldn't hurt to warn him that reinforcing may be in order. Have you already touched base with him about this as well?
Can't really fault him for that. I imagine it must be like spending one's entire life training with a sword to defeat some unique monster, only to find out that someone with no experience whatsoever has come along and already slayed it on the first try entirely by accident.
Well, though I actually don't know how versed Ava herself is with ghosts. Apart from using 'Ghost' as a codename for herself back in her home, if I recall correctly. How did she summon that ghost, exactly?
I didn't ask. She was already worked up and I didn't want to shut the conversation down. Honestly I don't know if she's wrong about not spreading how she did it.
Fair enough. I suppose at some point I could touch base with her myself and ask...though we're not particularly close, and I'm not exactly a reassuring sort. [Look, just because Natsuno happens to find his terrible sense of humor comforting doesn't mean that's normal and everyone else will too...!] Perhaps after some time has transpired since the event, and she's more settled. Assuming, of course, that we aren't immediately eaten by ghosts tomorrow :)!
[And there were not, in fact, any hungry ghost swarms the next day. And so he'd go on not to ask her about it, until perhaps some time in March, as cracks gradually begin to fill reality and Ava Starr incidentally also stumbles into one of his more unfortunate memories........which is likely to not be the conversation starter Jade's hoping for at the time of this particular text exchange. But oh well. All that aside!]
There is some prudence in being cautious with that sort of information. Especially while we don't know the results of what she actually did, just yet. [....] But you don't need to hear that from me either, I'm sure. As we're both well aware by now, after all, I certainly hadn't been a sort of person in the habit of spreading information around myself.
[Text is a toneless sort of medium, of course. It could be interpreted any number of ways. Would Natsuno be able to discern it, the utterly self-deprecating humor with which Jade sets down that last bit?
It's been a little while since December's events and January's fallout, yes. Natsuno's inadvertent sunsliming incident had also gone a decent ways towards laying a very makeshift and tentative bit of a bridge, across that particular rift. ...Is that why Jade's able to type out such a thing now, and decide to hit send? One wonders...]
[Natsuno stares at his phone for a while, an uncomfortable heaviness settling in the pit of his stomach. It's hard to stay mad at someone who looked after you when you were sick - he remembers the desperate, childish wish for Jade to show up and somehow fix things, even if he's unwilling to examine it. And yet...
He types, deletes, types, deletes again.]
I still think you were wrong not to say anything. But lately I realized It's hard to know if keeping a secret will cause more harm than telling.
[It's a bit of a delay on this end, as well, before the response finally arrives. A bit of typing and deleting of his own.]
It's a tenuous sort of balance, isn't it? You know how you yourself are going to handle it, but it's often impossible to be sure how others will. How it may go on to impact all manner of things. Accordingly, if terrible results befall, the fault falls squarely upon yourself.
For a long while...far too long. I was far more sure of myself and my own judgment than I ever was of anyone else's. It felt sensible, then, that I should be the only one to hold information that needed to be held, until I could be absolutely sure of certain outcomes. And if I was never sure...well. But you don't need to hear any more of that, either.
[Here, finally...is something of an explanation, maybe. The one he couldn't properly put to words, the first time Natsuno had confronted him over this after December. There's been a lot of time to mull over the matter since, and...besides that, there's a certain barrier afforded in text, that makes it easier. Whether that's a good thing or not.
Naturally, of course, a part of Jade can't help bit be curious as to what exactly's brought this 'realization' about from Natsuno's end of things. But...the inclination to ask directly fades fairly quickly. If Natsuno wants to talk about it further, it's his choice. But either way...]
It always gets a bit too easy when you've grown very used to being a hypocrite. But you're no hypocrite by habit at all. So, it's only natural that our perceptions have been so different on this front.
[you're no hypocrite by habit at all. Reading this makes Natsuno feel... something. He's been feeling like a huge hypocrite with all these secret.]
I'm trying to think about worst case scenarios. What's the worst that can happen if you tell no one? A few people, or everyone? But then you just keep thinking in circles and don't get anything done.
...
Did you think about what happens if you disappear and the knowledge is gone with you?
["By habit" is the key word there, you know? It's a very defined distinction, as far as Jade's concerned. There's plenty to be said just for how the idea is troubling Natsuno this much...
Oh, that question there, though. That--wasn't an expected one. There's a slightly longer delay, this time, in which nothing is typed at all, and Jade sits back and peers pensively at his phone for a drawn moment.]
In full honesty? No. I try not to think about disappearing at all. And perhaps that's ill-advised, in a place like this, but that's another habit of mine that's rather harder to break.
To cease existing has never felt like an option I have the luxury to consider, when there's far too much that I still need to do.
[Not just here. But back home, too--ever since he'd finally given up, on trying to resurrect Gelda Nebilim. ...Ever since Luke had vanished in the ruins of Eldrant. A heavy weight of self-responsibility he'd laid firmly over the top of that perpetual nagging thing in the darkest corner of the back of his mind--the thought that's always wondered how things in the world of Auldrant might have been better, if he'd never existed at all.
(Because he does exist regardless, and he's now come this far...and the very least he could do is try leaving things better than he'd found them, for once in his life--)
--But things are different now, here, in this place where people are apt to vanish regardless of their own will on the matter. Now aren't they?]
Still, that's actually an entirely valid concern. ...A prudent reminder, that I shouldn't be forgetting so easily. We cannot discount such a possibility, after all, if we want to entertain the idea of keeping some aspects of knowledge to ourselves at times...the information vanishing into the Nothing alongside us helps no one at all.
I'm not sure I have an answer to that issue yet. [Hm...] I have heard, at the least, that possessions of the vanished do remain left behind. Leaving some form of written record in the case of disappearance might be one option...
[Not anymore. Belatedly, he realizes that's the first time he said it to Jade outright.]
But it's not up to us. A written record is an option, only I'm not sure how to stop people from reading it while we're around. Maybe some magic seal you have to maintain every week and opens automatically when you don't? Or have I been reading too much fantasy books.
[It is the first time he's said it to Jade so...completely outright, like this. --What a good thing this is over text indeed. The way this first line actually gives Jade a genuine moment's pause won't be noticed, nor the expression his face may or may not be making as an odd sort of feeling settles in the back of his head. A minor but persistent sort of concern that he'd grown a bit numb to properly noting for awhile, until it's suddenly and finally easing just a bit now.
To convince a person that their life is worth continuing is a truly difficult thing, when certain crippling events in that life have given them little reason to consider it. In the end, the choice was always going to be in Natsuno's hands alone. Receiving such a plain sign as this one, though, that he's actually made that choice in the end? It's...
Well. But he's still right, that the sticking point currently remains: It's not up to us. Not the way things are right now in this existence, anyway. But when the option opens for him again someday...won't that be something?
It's already something.]
No, I don't think that's an unreasonable idea to entertain at all. A timed seal...not a bad notion in the least. Such forms of artes aren't generally within my own specialties, but I'd be genuinely surprised if there's no one on this ship that might actually be more versed in such things. Something to ask around about at some point, perhaps. ...And I might try workshopping something in the meantime anyhow...
Fontech may be one of my weaker points, but we do have nothing but free time on our hands between the horrors around here, now don't we?
Oh, that's certainly true...her formulae might actually be rather more conducive to something like this. I get an impression she does usually work with more physical devices than not, too...
That aside, I certainly don't see why you couldn't see the process once we get around to it. The chances are quite decent we'll either be workshopping this in our cabin or Rita's, so it's not exactly like there's much possibility of you getting locked out. [Alright, but more sincerely, humor aside--] I'll be sure to call you over as we get started on the more exciting aspects, hm? We'll probably test it upon your own stash of notes first too, if anything. Since you did come up with this idea first!
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come_sailaway
no subject
Even applied the bare minimum of concealing corpse eyes, how very thoughtful of her.
In the ocean though, is that right? Can't have been by design. Perhaps some sort of storage mismanagement. I've been wondering if the physical bodies of those who vanish aren't actually set aside somewhere...which makes this incident quite the data point.
[Unbidden, of course, the ordeal with the zombies at the diner sure is springing to mind about now........but Jade isn't about to try mentioning that directly here and now. Hm.]
Well, that aside, this update is appreciated. I haven't the faintest idea what brand of "chaos" might be impending, but I imagine it will likely be ghost-related. [...] Possessions first, and now potentially consumption. My my. We may want to brush up on methods of spirit-warding once more...
no subject
We should ask Palamedes to ward the cabins.
And probably stay away from the bars and restaurants. We still need to eat but we should be careful of the "staff" acting up.
no subject
Palamedes was the first to come to my own mind as well. In this place he's one of the most versed in the nature of actual ghosts and souls, after all. I know he's been wanting to start setting up ward measures ever since the incident in October...but it couldn't hurt to warn him that reinforcing may be in order. Have you already touched base with him about this as well?
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He's pissed that Ava managed to summon a ghost when he couldn't.
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Well, though I actually don't know how versed Ava herself is with ghosts. Apart from using 'Ghost' as a codename for herself back in her home, if I recall correctly. How did she summon that ghost, exactly?
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She's freaking out over what happened.
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But that's quite interesting. [To understate it, anyway...] If not what the name itself is, did she mention how she came upon that name, perhaps?
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She was already worked up and I didn't want to shut the conversation down.
Honestly I don't know if she's wrong about not spreading how she did it.
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Fair enough. I suppose at some point I could touch base with her myself and ask...though we're not particularly close, and I'm not exactly a reassuring sort. [
Look, just because Natsuno happens to find his terrible sense of humor comforting doesn't mean that's normal and everyone else will too...!] Perhaps after some time has transpired since the event, and she's more settled. Assuming, of course, that we aren't immediately eaten by ghosts tomorrow :)![And there were not, in fact, any hungry ghost swarms the next day. And so he'd go on not to ask her about it, until perhaps some time in March, as cracks gradually begin to fill reality and Ava Starr incidentally also stumbles into one of his more unfortunate memories........which is likely to not be the conversation starter Jade's hoping for at the time of this particular text exchange. But oh well. All that aside!]
There is some prudence in being cautious with that sort of information. Especially while we don't know the results of what she actually did, just yet. [....] But you don't need to hear that from me either, I'm sure. As we're both well aware by now, after all, I certainly hadn't been a sort of person in the habit of spreading information around myself.
[Text is a toneless sort of medium, of course. It could be interpreted any number of ways. Would Natsuno be able to discern it, the utterly self-deprecating humor with which Jade sets down that last bit?
It's been a little while since December's events and January's fallout, yes. Natsuno's inadvertent sunsliming incident had also gone a decent ways towards laying a very makeshift and tentative bit of a bridge, across that particular rift. ...Is that why Jade's able to type out such a thing now, and decide to hit send? One wonders...]
no subject
He types, deletes, types, deletes again.]
I still think you were wrong not to say anything.
But lately I realized
It's hard to know if keeping a secret will cause more harm than telling.
no subject
It's a tenuous sort of balance, isn't it? You know how you yourself are going to handle it, but it's often impossible to be sure how others will. How it may go on to impact all manner of things. Accordingly, if terrible results befall, the fault falls squarely upon yourself.
For a long while...far too long. I was far more sure of myself and my own judgment than I ever was of anyone else's. It felt sensible, then, that I should be the only one to hold information that needed to be held, until I could be absolutely sure of certain outcomes. And if I was never sure...well. But you don't need to hear any more of that, either.
[Here, finally...is something of an explanation, maybe. The one he couldn't properly put to words, the first time Natsuno had confronted him over this after December. There's been a lot of time to mull over the matter since, and...besides that, there's a certain barrier afforded in text, that makes it easier. Whether that's a good thing or not.
Naturally, of course, a part of Jade can't help bit be curious as to what exactly's brought this 'realization' about from Natsuno's end of things. But...the inclination to ask directly fades fairly quickly. If Natsuno wants to talk about it further, it's his choice. But either way...]
It always gets a bit too easy when you've grown very used to being a hypocrite. But you're no hypocrite by habit at all. So, it's only natural that our perceptions have been so different on this front.
no subject
I'm trying to think about worst case scenarios. What's the worst that can happen if you tell no one? A few people, or everyone?
But then you just keep thinking in circles and don't get anything done.
...
Did you think about what happens if you disappear and the knowledge is gone with you?
no subject
Oh, that question there, though. That--wasn't an expected one. There's a slightly longer delay, this time, in which nothing is typed at all, and Jade sits back and peers pensively at his phone for a drawn moment.]
In full honesty? No. I try not to think about disappearing at all. And perhaps that's ill-advised, in a place like this, but that's another habit of mine that's rather harder to break.
To cease existing has never felt like an option I have the luxury to consider, when there's far too much that I still need to do.
[Not just here. But back home, too--ever since he'd finally given up, on trying to resurrect Gelda Nebilim. ...Ever since Luke had vanished in the ruins of Eldrant. A heavy weight of self-responsibility he'd laid firmly over the top of that perpetual nagging thing in the darkest corner of the back of his mind--the thought that's always wondered how things in the world of Auldrant might have been better, if he'd never existed at all.
(Because he does exist regardless, and he's now come this far...and the very least he could do is try leaving things better than he'd found them, for once in his life--)
--But things are different now, here, in this place where people are apt to vanish regardless of their own will on the matter. Now aren't they?]
Still, that's actually an entirely valid concern. ...A prudent reminder, that I shouldn't be forgetting so easily. We cannot discount such a possibility, after all, if we want to entertain the idea of keeping some aspects of knowledge to ourselves at times...the information vanishing into the Nothing alongside us helps no one at all.
I'm not sure I have an answer to that issue yet. [Hm...] I have heard, at the least, that possessions of the vanished do remain left behind. Leaving some form of written record in the case of disappearance might be one option...
no subject
[Not anymore. Belatedly, he realizes that's the first time he said it to Jade outright.]
But it's not up to us.
A written record is an option, only I'm not sure how to stop people from reading it while we're around.
Maybe some magic seal you have to maintain every week and opens automatically when you don't?
Or have I been reading too much fantasy books.
no subject
To convince a person that their life is worth continuing is a truly difficult thing, when certain crippling events in that life have given them little reason to consider it. In the end, the choice was always going to be in Natsuno's hands alone. Receiving such a plain sign as this one, though, that he's actually made that choice in the end? It's...
Well. But he's still right, that the sticking point currently remains: It's not up to us. Not the way things are right now in this existence, anyway. But when the option opens for him again someday...won't that be something?
It's already something.]
No, I don't think that's an unreasonable idea to entertain at all. A timed seal...not a bad notion in the least. Such forms of artes aren't generally within my own specialties, but I'd be genuinely surprised if there's no one on this ship that might actually be more versed in such things. Something to ask around about at some point, perhaps. ...And I might try workshopping something in the meantime anyhow...
Fontech may be one of my weaker points, but we do have nothing but free time on our hands between the horrors around here, now don't we?
aw jade...
It'd be great if you tried. Maybe ask Rita too? She's got magic ink and she's working on formulae.
...
Actually, could you show me too? It'd be cool to be able to use something that doesn't involve writing in blood.
shush do not perceive--!!
That aside, I certainly don't see why you couldn't see the process once we get around to it. The chances are quite decent we'll either be workshopping this in our cabin or Rita's, so it's not exactly like there's much possibility of you getting locked out. [Alright, but more sincerely, humor aside--] I'll be sure to call you over as we get started on the more exciting aspects, hm? We'll probably test it upon your own stash of notes first too, if anything. Since you did come up with this idea first!
no subject
But if it ends up blowing something up we do the next test on deck with YOUR notes.