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.

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.

audio | un: oil change

[nachocheese]

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

Good find.

un: absterge

[downswing]

Foul practice. Violating. Cruel.

[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.

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?

[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.

[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.

[cosplayqueen]

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

[downswing]

Bodies recover. Spirits do not.

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]

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.

[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. ]

[makemeasong]

so, there’s no way to reunite dead people with their souls?

[ She has no idea how it works, but if they can help put spirits at ease, she’ll do it. ]

[downswing]

You court necromancy.


( Hermione's legacy, grown large. )

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?

not really here.

[reparo]

[SHAMELESS SNEEZE.]

[makemeasong]

nooope. Sure don’t. I mean, not if it’s dangerous and odds are low. This isn’t my area.

[ Those words don’t normally come out of her mouth, but these are people’s souls. Even she knows better than to dabble in something like that. ]

I just know if it was my mum’s soul, it would kill me to know all of this and not be able to do anything about it.

[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. ]

[downswing]

It is not often that souls are wrested so.

[recklessenough]

That's the assumption I'm working from. [ He understands that assumptions are usually colored by bias. This one is as well, though he does have the practical experience to go along with the bias. ]

My theory is the necromancers trapped in this pocket dimension are either looking for a way out, everlasting life, horrific revenge, or all of the previously listed. [ His tone is grim. He isn't a killer by nature, but as he's not against it as a route to stop those who seek to harm innocents for their own gain. ]

After everything we went through in Yancia I honestly just wanted to focus on leaving this place. Not meddling. But the more we've learned about what these three individuals are doing here? I don't know that I can just leave them too it. Either from the prospective of what they are doing to the souls they have trapped here, or from the risk that they might, some day, succeed.

[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?

[cosplayqueen]

That's the plan! [Because it hasn't hit her yet that maybe not everyone would want that. She hasn't asked how the others feel.]

Oh my God! Is that why I never saw you?! I should have been way more pushy about that. I'm totally sorry.

[And dodging that okay question. She's not really. She thought she was finally arriving home and now her basic human needs aren't even working. It's weird. She feels weird.]