audio | un: yiling patriarch | early on during the summit

[weifinder]

I've been whistling while I work, and I have yet to find any response whatsoever. Which is to say, ( he continues, almost at a laconic drawl: ) to any and all of my fellow ragtag members of the eastward bound Merchant's caravan with a gift for detecting life, death, or anything of the spirit: have you felt anything?

( he freely admits to how unnerving it is to him to have no reaction, no response whatsoever, when he reaches out to find the resentful energies that have been throughout all of this world they've wandered since his arrival, well over a year before. )

Because I, for one, can't find a damn thing.

Comments

[growlies]

Not to mention all the fake seances because the guy hired a bunch of necromancers to do party tricks. ...Didn't seem like they could really do anything, but I wouldn't say they were bent on vengeance or anything.

Do they do that here?

( Spirits have always seemed weak to her, but that was in the Underworld and she did have much more power at the time and they had a regular amount. They avoided her because they were aware of what she could do and what she had to do. )

No problem. Want some company when you go down there? I know my way around.

[weifinder]

Ah, yes, well. Depending on the spirit and power of its energy, or to whom it aligns or allies itself. Most often they're chatty, but not powerful.

( thinking fondly of the grandfathers that have since been... taken by the lords of undeath. those, sadly, to Anurr.

freaking Anurr. )

Hah! I'd love company, yes. You have the knowledge of the area and the familiarity with at least some of the spirits there. You're kind to make the offer!

[growlies]

So spirits can align themselves with someone more powerful and do more, or they can just show up and be powerful enough to effect shit? Good to know.

( She lifts her eyebrows, pretty sure this is the first time in her existence she's been called kind, but hey. She'll take it. )

Yeah, no big. My role is etiquette teacher to a couple of kids and... I fucking suck at that.

This? I can do.

( ooc: will hit up his starter in the log if you're down ! )

[weifinder]

Yes, well, it's been a learning experience for all of us, even the very powerful. Which I don't count myself as being one of, though in some situations I'm more useful than others.

( very laid back way to say: he's situationally powerful, but not to the degree of some. be it through influence or, well, frankly, look to wrath.

all in all, wei wuxian is human, and comes with all those foibles intact. )

On the bright side, no one said which etiquette you're teaching, so make one up for something no one can fault you for!

( ooc: please absolutely do, we can point 'em on their way there! )

[growlies]

Guess I better strap in and get prepared to learn some shit. At least enough to survive and not get possessed by a ghost or something - does that happen here?

( it feels like something she should be prepared for - just in case.

never mind she pretended that happened when she faked a séance with the doctor. she definitely... regrets that now that she realizes. )

...y'know what you're right. I could teach these kids some real whacky things and call it a day. Going to put that plan into motion. What's the worst that can come from it? Might even entertain myself in the meantime.

( ooc: awesome :D will do. )

[weifinder]

Ah, well, it could happen, yes. There are ways we can work to ward you, or thrall you, to lessen those chances... and the biggest case I know of took preparing the individual for the filling of themselves with a spirit not of themselves.

( here's a nod to taravast and its whole insidious nature, behind the scenes of those who wished never to die. )

If the worst involves any attempts on your life, call us in! You'd hardly be the first to irritate the locals to the point of seeking death, but I don't think etiquette will work quite as fast as politics.

( hahaha yeah it's gonna be after this that they have literal attempted fear-targeting and potential kill attempts over politics they've been plopped down into. good thing he has no idea that's coming! right? )

[growlies]

...honestly it's pretty unlikely they'd choose me to possess. ( If the dragons are frightened when they try to poke around in her head then the ghosts would probably feel the same. ) But that's good to know. Sounds like a real big, involved case.

( She lifts her eyebrows at that, pausing following the information- )

Uh. How often do attempts on the lives of us occur from locals? You're making it seem like it's a normal thing. ( She sounds kind of amused though. ) Helluva group we've got here.

[weifinder]

I'll note spirits aren't necessarily wise about targets, but if you're not easy for them, then they're smart enough to want a vessel that is.

( a pause, and a humming sound. )

More often than I'd prefer, by far, but less often by outright intent for the sake of what we are. That'd be on those called the Undead Lords, so those Master Scorpion hopes we avoid. Instead we get politics!

... So yes, usually at least half of us, every few months.

[growlies]

Yeah, I can see that about spirits. They get kinda desperate when they're dead too, which I guess I can't blame them for, but I feel like there's usually a lot of vessels who are much easier to enter than me.

( she hasn't tested that out, but the three headed dog monster is a Lot. )

...Shit. Okay. No problem.

I'll just prepare for that. ( On top of everything else, this is... fine. ) Any advice you'd give a newbie? Just... when it comes to this world and situation and all of it? Like the top advice you'd give.

[weifinder]

Ah, well, there's not much else for them to do other than cycle through the same lasting emotion they died with in most cases... the spirits here have been different shades of complex, quite fascinating.

( this is not probably reassuring to hear, but there's.

there's lots of different kinds of dead and spirits, okay. )

To this situation? Focus on the beacons and the gates, make friends with at least a handful of the rest of us, and try not to steal from anyone important or murder anyone notable without extremely good reason. Also, don't eat any undead lords. ... Or absorb curses from here.

( he laughs, a touch awkwardly. )

The food hasn't been bad since we left Sa-Hareth?

( she has firmly missed the time of extraordinarily large rats made into rat jerky, as led by wei wuxian and the at the time present young man called eleven. )

[growlies]

Yeah, it doesn't seem like there's much in the way of an afterlife here, huh? Or at least not that I could tell.

( were there that many spirits wandering around the mortal world where she's from? seems unlikely that there were any. hades wouldn't allow that. he is a horrible individual, but he took care of things when it came to the dead.

didn't let them wander. red lifts her eyebrows and releases a long whistle. )

Zeus' dick. Sounds like there are more than a few stories in there, but okay, got it. Good advice all around. I'll keep that in mind. Seems like the murdering and stealing part should go without saying.

( but. yeah. >>" )

...do I wanna know what kind of food you guys were eating then? The food at the Mouse House was horrible.

[weifinder]

Ah, well... I don't know what it is or isn't, but that spirits leave for it I know. Not all, clearly. But most, and then some are anchored by this or that, unable to let go of what emotions they held when they died, or not allowed to pass onward. Did I mention our scholar possessing a tattered executioner's cloak?

( you know, the man who killed him. )

Ahahaha, hah, no, it's not worth recalling, though I don't think it'd be new. Were the large rodents on the Mouse House menu?

[growlies]

You... did not.

( Red would have remembered that, but it makes sense there has to be somewhere they would go. She just- Well, it's not like she has tried to reach out toward an afterlife. It wouldn't be hers anyway. If Hades was around controlling it, he would have found her already regardless of what version of him it was. )

Nope. We had stew and some type of bread that was as hard as a rock, but.

Shit. I never asked what the hell was in the stew. Coulda been rats. There was no other meat around. Huh. Some things are better left unknown.

[weifinder]

Asgeirr! He's the most vibrant of company at present, if you care to say hello.

( He's fond of their dead... scholar... ghost... )

Ah, well, for what it's worth, that's probably nicer than the smoked rat jerky we made... we did have turnips! ... For our stew.

[growlies]

With that kind of glowing recommendation, I'll have to hit him up.

Hey, at least you knew what you were eating. That's gotta count for something. ( Smirk. ) But yeah, I'll see you at the Mouse House later for some ghost busting.