un: magic wand (video)

[faceblocker]

So, I saw the blood, I just wanted to see if someone was really shitty at hiding bodies, but—

[ Out by the trio of wells, Vi's sporting a cozy red jacket that she 'liberated' before leaving Serthica. This close to the pocket watch, the scarring on her lip and brow is visible, along with her nose piercing and the VI tattoo under her left eye. She isn't wearing a hat despite her short hair and undercut, and when she leans over and swings the watch to face down, it's visible she's opted to do without gloves for the moment, too. One hand gripping the well is only protected by some dirty hand wraps.

The well she's leaning over is the one that should be lidded, but...that lid is a little bit broken and leaning against the side after a certain someone wrenched it off.

It's not easy to see from this high up, but the well is mostly empty, and down below is a skeleton dressed in a gown. ]

Not the kind of dead body I expected.

[ The pocket watch is tied around her belt so anyone watching can enjoy some Hardcore Henry motion sickness as Vi hops over the edge of the well and ping-pongs off the narrow sides to keep from dropping down into the three feet of what looks to be very dirty water. Somehow she manages to keep a grip without falling, but the watch stays on her waist so she can have both hands free.

Down here, the skeleton's dress is visibly tattered, and the water is filled with silt. The partially submerged skeleton is posed...almost like it's sleeping?

Just as Vi's trying to scrape closer for a better look, one of the innkeepers is heard fretting up above to not disturb the skeleton's napping spot. Something about the sun's glare. Since there's nothing else to see, Vi concedes and climbs back up, the pocket watch bringing the innkeepers into view when she lands back on the ground. Vi's husky voice can be heard 'asking' for (demanding) an explanation: "Sorry, but, what the hell?"

The innkeepers explain that they suspect the lady of the bones forgets each night where her final resting place is and keeps trying out each of the very similar wells. They lid the well they find her in every morning. The water returns in that well, nicely purified, once she's out each night.

It isn't until the lid's back on and they've left that Vi looks back to the video, more disturbed than when she had started. Are they getting their drinking water from magic haunted skeleton wells? ...Probably still better than the water she had back home. ]

Feels like we ought to pour one out for her. [ A softer mutter: ] And she should have a better grave marker...

Comments

[scrapgege]

If you're human, you can probably damage it, yes, but not actually get rid of it if it decided to attach to you. You need an exorcism for that.

There's a good chance it might just put itself back together if you tried to fight it off.

[faceblocker]

[ Good job freaking her the fuck out, buddy. ]

So exorcisms are your specialty?

[scrapgege]

Ah, kind of? I can do them and those are really minor ghosts and demons. They're not a problem.

[faceblocker]

[ Raised eyebrows...more-so than before, somehow. ]

...Demons?

[scrapgege]

Oh yes, there's a few around but they're really small. You don't need to worry about them.

[faceblocker]

[ Is this person just talking out of their ass? She's starting to wonder if this is a prank. ]

Around here? What do they look like?

[scrapgege]

Well the ones I saw were mostly blobs, really. Humans wouldn't be able to see them, they're not really powerful enough to show themselves.

[faceblocker]

Blobs.

[ That's boring. ]

So what's your name, then, if I need to get rid of some blobs or ghost stalkers? You can call me Vi.

[scrapgege]

I'm Xie Lian. I guess I haven't been around on the network a lot lately and we have a lot of people around.

[faceblocker]

[ Vi's never on the network, really. She's much more about the tangible. ]

Xie Lan.

[ Slightly...butchering it. She'll get better. ]

What's the craziest exorcism you've done?

((spoilers for TGCF if some people care about that))

[scrapgege]

I killed a Supreme Calamity that masqueraded as the Heavenly Emperor for about five thousand years without anyone noticing.

[faceblocker]

[ Those sure are some words that he said, but where is the story? It sounds like it's supposed to have been epic, but she can't really...picture anything. Too little context.

Five thousand years haha that's not real. ]

I'm guessing those are big deals where you're from. What'd you have to do?

[scrapgege]

It's a little complicated to explain, because for me, it was the revelation of why so many things happened to me in the past eight hundred years, but... Someone had to lend me power because I had two curses on me that prevented me from using my own directly, and then, well, I'm a martial god, so I basically just punched them really, really hard. A lot. Through a mountain.

[faceblocker]

[ There's the story! Even if it's ridiculous, she can appreciate the fantastic image that conjured. She has definitely been going stir crazy here. She doesn't believe a word of anything coming from someone calling themselves a god, but she still won't knock it, even almost smiling. ]

What kind of person has the sort of power that a god could use to punch through the mountain? Are they here, too?

[scrapgege]

Uhm, a Supreme Ghost King. And no, he's not there.

Although to be precise, the power to punch through the mountain was mine. I used his to break through the curses that were holding my power back.

[faceblocker]

Can't say I've ever punched through a mountain. [ Or been near any back home. Definitely a city girl. ] Walls, yeah. Still pretty effective at getting people to stop moving.

Don't suppose you can lend out that kind of power, can you?

[scrapgege]

Not to a mortal. Especially if you haven't ben trained in cultivation. It would destroy all your meridians.

[faceblocker]

[ What are all these fucking words. ]

Destroy my what?

[scrapgege]

Your meridians. Where the qi flows through your body. Everyone has them, but not everyone knows how to use them, or qi.

[faceblocker]

How do you use them?

[scrapgege]

Well you need to learn the techniques. It takes a lot of years of meditation and martial arts practice.