audio | un: hide-and-seek

[makemeasong]

I fouuuuund something.

[ Clara still hasn't cleaned herself up, but she found a thing! And she's so excited she decides to get it all out before she does anything else. ]

First, can we just have a hand for all the people who were cheated out of a growth spurt? Because being the size of a fifth grader is what helped me find this stuff. The 'stuff' being what I think are invoices. I'm no business major, but that's what I think I'm looking at: copies of business transactions. They're old, too. The letterhead says 'Dawn's Reach Trade Company,' and it goes from normal things like food, to trading for old artifacts. Since it's basically a receipt, it doesn't list out anything specific, which is too bad. Just 'item one equals X amount.'

[ There's the sound of rustling papers and a pause. ]

Sorry, I wanted to make sure I was still reading this right. The payments are from Lisanther and he was paying in dead people. Didn't really know how to say that so I figured I'd make it quick.

Who wants to speculate exactly what 'spiritual remains' are? Like...souls? Bones? Anyway, this was in a bedroom, hidden away. Like really hidden. It was a secret compartment situation so obviously, it wasn't meant to be seen by anyone else. Too bad, I guess?

Comments

audio | un: slothbaby

[cosplayqueen]

[Kamala claps because Clara deserves it!] I'm 90% sure my growth spurt isn't happening too so we can be tiny fifth graders together. As for the rest.... creepy, but okay. My money would be on souls, I guess? We should ask our ghost experts.

[makemeasong]

Yeah, I'm betting you're right, actually. I really, really hate this place? I mean the people, you guys? Pretty great. The vibe? Not so much.

[cosplayqueen]

Well, we are always great, but yeah these vibes are awful. I really need us to go literally anywhere else.

[makemeasong]

Maybe we’ll figure out this whole time loop thing soon and go home.

[ A bittersweet thing for so many reasons, and she thinks of Red. ]

You doing okay? There’s been a lot since we last touched base. Had a fake life and everything.

audio: Lockwood

[recklessenough]

[ The feeling he had, when he spoke to Dr. Strange, is growing. This whole place needs to be burned to the ground and the ashes covered in salt. ]

In the vernacular of my reality, 'spiritual remains' would equate to souls, or at least the remaining energies of a sentient creature who has died. To take it a step further; most times the more traumatic the death, the more powerful the 'remains'.

The hobbyist necromancers of my reality were known for attempting to harness the power of such remains. They usually provided their own sources, through torture and murder.

if i try to tag before coffee it's the ultimate disaster

[makemeasong]

I figured you would probably know the most about this, but it's usually open table for these things.

Maybe...maybe the remains are doing something for What's-His-Name, or maybe it's part of the time travel loop?

I shouldn't tag before coffee, but sometimes I get overeager

[recklessenough]

[ Her words definitely stroke his already substantial ego. Lockwood so desperately wants to continue to present himself as an expert, but even as he spools up the words, he inwardly deflates.

He might be 'Anthony Bloody Lockwood' back home, but here? Nothing has worked the way it has in his experiences. And his equally healthy desire to protect people, won't let his ego spout off nonsense that could get someone hurt. ]

Ghosts act differently here than they do back in my reality. In my brief time here, my brief experiences here, they are a lot more deliberate and aware, but significantly less dangerous.

[ Focus Anthony, focus. He takes a breath and when he speaks next it is with more of his habitual swagger. ]

At its most fundamental, a ghost is considered to be the energy remaining from the living. If we think about it in the most basic fact of physics; energy can neither be created or destroyed. [ He's actually not trying to mansplain here, he's just thinking aloud and hopefully the tone of his voice conveys this. Because he can have moments of mansplaining; usually Lucy smacks him upside the head when he does. ]

In my experience, those who seek to mess with the natural progression of life into death, do so in an attempt to harness the energy of the dead and mold it into a tool for the use of the living.

Whether back in my reality, or here in this one, that is an unnatural perversion of life and death and it should not be allowed. For any reason.

[makemeasong]

[ Clara certainly doesn’t feel at all mansplained, she knows shit-all about any of this. So she listens intently, taking mental notes. ]

Wait, so if souls are being traded then are they being used as an energy source maybe?

[ She feels sick thinking about it. She’s never been good at figuring things out, but damn there are a lot of ghosts and that would mean a lot of souls, she assumes. ]

audio | un: oil change

[nachocheese]

[ Paying in dead people, huh? That makes Nacho's blood run cold. He swallows. ]

Good find.

[makemeasong]

[ A smirk in her voice. ]

My best work yet, honestly. I mean, I had to get filthy to do it, but eh. Worth it if we can get the hell out of here right? Or at least a place other than this.

[nachocheese]

Hey, you got me impressed. [ His voice is as dry as ever on the surface, but maybe there's a hint of smirk too juuuuust beneath. ]

Do you think the next place is going to be better than this? If we're gonna be going to all these magic places and shit, maybe the next one can have... I dunno... fairy dust? Or something?

You'd fit right in there.

[makemeasong]

[ There's an audible laugh in her voice. ]

Yeah, let's pretend it will be nice, just fo the hell of it.

I remind you of a fairy? What kind, are we talking about, Tinkerbell or mushroom circle fairies?

un: absterge

[downswing]

Foul practice. Violating. Cruel.

[makemeasong]

'Violating' is exacty the right word. No wonder the ghosts here are fucking angry.

[downswing]

They deserve better.

[makemeasong]

They do. Maybe we'll be able to figure out a way to make it right.

audio; un: man's greatest treasure

[reparo]

Spiritual remains don't just happen to exist in silo, so I would dare to assume that whatever Lisanther did to pay for that contract was nothing short of murder.

But also importantly, what on earth could a merchant company possibly need spiritual remains for?

[makemeasong]

If it’s souls, and souls give off energy, maybe collect enough of them and you have a way to power something?

[ Theorizing is not something that she’s been good at when it comes to what the hell is happening at any given time. But based on what Lockwood said, it’s what comes to mind. ]

[reparo]

Nothing good can come of anything that uses sounds to power anything, I can confidently say that much. Everything I've learned about the Dawn's Reach has been suspicious. How do they manage to get themselves into even the most unusual of places?

Who leads them? What is their goal?

[makemeasong]

I don't even know anything about magic, and I know that sounds like a bad idea.

Maybe there's one person with their hand in both places, controlling both. It'd be a good distraction, making us think there are multiple people involved. Like a shell company, I guess? I dunno, I'm an English major, not business.

[ This is the least correct thing she's probably ever said. ]

Now I'm just wildly theorizing. It feels better than doing nothing, though.

audio; un: owllady

[traaaaaash]

The Dawn's Reach Trade Company, huh? Hey, we dealt with them back when we were sailing the high seas! Ahhh, good times. I got to wear my pirate outfit and there was a kraken. Good calamari, too.

The company, though? Shady as heck.

[ A beat. ] Also, if you ever need someone to reach the high shelves for you, y'know, I'm here.

[makemeasong]

I wasn't here for that. Can you tell me more about it?

[ She has no idea if the calamari part is a joke or not, but if it isn't, she's sad she missed a Kraken barbecue. ]

I always need someone to reach the high shelves. Are you volunteering for the official position?

video | un: kahl-175

[kahl_175]

[Kahl doesn't have anything to add about the invoice. It's awful stuff, makes him mad, but people like Lan Wanji know how to deal with spirit stuff, not him.

So he's going to focus on his brother for now.]

Clara not cheated, Clara made special. Kahl tell about short Grineer? [He thinks he mentioned them, just a little. Back in Eidris. It's been a while by now.]

video | private

[makemeasong]

[ Clara smiles softy; she's only switched to private because it's Kahl, but no one else needed to see the fading bruises around her throat from her encounter with the trees. They're already light shades of green and yellow, and she doesn't seem to be bothered, at least right now. ]

You did tell me. I'm just happy being small helped for once. I don't think anyone too much bigger could've gotten through the gap I found this stuff in.

[kahl_175]

Small can be solid. More than big. Kahl can teach, if Clara want.

[Bruises after a mission are normal, for Kahl. Bruises can make him feel proud, sometimes. It means hard work got done.] Clara did good. Brother resting now?