deernet | Text | un: big ben

Sure have.
Been on it recently, and that's not a joke. Kids are calling it spice.
One hit and you're feeling other people's emotions.
More than that and you start being able to talk to your own soul.

But hey, like, man. By all means, come over one day. I'll tell K you're coming so she doesn't try to kick your ass.
She knows more about cooking than I do, so she might have good suggestions for someone with a stomach like yours.

Are we talking a bath salts kind of spice, or a 'The Spice Must Flow' kind of spice?

Not that there isn't much difference. Unless interplanetary travel is a possibility, we're not aware of yet.

A visit would be a good excuse to get out of the apartment, even if the weather IS atrocious and we're dealing with a 30 Days of Night kind of darkness. Is there anything you would like me to bring?

Bro, we are almost literally talking "The Spice Must Flow" kind of spice.
And just 'cause we can't move between planets doesn't mean people who CAN move between planets haven't shown up here.

idk about stuff you should bring, like. You're the guy who wants to see my little makeshift terrarium.
I assumed you knew more about what it needed than me.

I'm more of an alchemist than an herbalism expert, but maintaining a balance of elements within the system is universal between the both of them.

Besides. You're trying to grow mushrooms, not slime mold. I shudder to think of what the slime molds here are capable of.

...I still can't believe we have That Spice in the city. Good thing the land is rocky and temperate, or I'd worry about sandworms too.

Damn, alchemy, huh? Not out here trying to change lead into gold or anything, but yeah, I guess the principles are the same.
Equivalent exchange and all that.

My dude, you are really gonna be blown away by the kind of stuff that we have here.
There's so much that I remember vaguely reading or hearing about. It's only 'cause I already know that the multiverse exists that I'm not losing my mind constantly.
I've run into people whose echoes I remember, actually. That part's still weird.
Same situation as what happened to me, except I'm meeting the original people behind the souls.

Wait. Fuck, did I fill you in on my life yet?
Hard to keep track lately.

Somehow I'm not surprised that this is a multiverse thing.

[Not that he had much experience, but he knew theories that suggested it's existence and that his own world was comprised of layers inaccessible to most people. It was only a natural extension.]

Between dragging me out of the brig and us trading jokes, we didn't get to talking much about yourself. I am curious... If you're willing to tell it.

Hoo boy. All right, cliff's notes version because I think you can probably keep up with it.
Two souls inside my body. One soul's from the multiverse.
Her world ended and my soul started resonating with hers across time and space.
We resonated so strongly that she started changing my body and giving me memories from her life.
Now we live inside my body together, and that's why I've got an android body and a human head.

You follow that?

[If Waver were from a later canonpoint, he would make commentary about pseudo-servants and feeling unnerved by the veritable monster of logic that had lodged itself into his head. As it was, he had a more poignant comparison.]

I do.

There's no one on the outside who arranged for the alignment between yourself and this hero from another world? Because I've heard of circumstances of mages taking action to revive ancient heroes in the vessel of a living person.

That person may even find themselves Changed by this, like you have.

[Like Gray had.]

I mean, there sort of was.
Bunch of people working for an app called Retrospec.
They were supposed to be making sure that all these souls had the chance to be reborn, but one of their founders went rogue and started thinking he could decide which souls were worthy enough to live.

I actually ended up working alongside one of the Retrospec guys to stop the rogue founder, because he and I definitely agreed that nobody gets to do that shit.
Guess that makes me, like, a spellsword.
If I was the weapon of a mage.

[He tacked on a privacy filter out of politeness. Were the system more familiar, he would have done it sooner.]

It also sounds like you were being overwritten for the sake of a soul that didn't exist in your timeline, almost as if you were yourself not important.

Did the physical changes happen all at once, or in spurts triggered by Something Else?

Apologies for asking. Your story reminds me of someone I know from my version of London.

It was usually something similar happening in my life that plucked the strings and made me resonate.
Sometimes it just happened out of nowhere, though.
The physical changes were random. The memories, those were more the kind that you could trigger.

I started with my legs. Woke up one morning and I couldn't move them. Thought they just fell asleep.
Pulled off the covers and they were blackened and metal and heavy. And my brain hadn't figured out how to work with them yet.
So I was stuck there for a while. And it still took me a few weeks to actually get used to them.

Losing my heart was the one that hurt the most, which probably isn't a surprise.
I still have something like a heart. It's just different now.
My body figured out how to adapt to that one a lot faster.

[pointedly, she is not discussing the part about her existence as a vessel and how easy it is for her to vacillate between "no, i'm still important on my own" and "i only exist to make A2 happy".]

[Each word Waver read had his brows furrowing and gray eyes narrowing as the veritable Gordian Knot of nervous tension in his stomach tightened with concern and anger. There was nothing he could do in either situation, but the parallels were uncanny.

The fact that this sort of event could happen in more than one dimension was a concern, but lent credence to the Multiverse Theory that many people proposed. In his world, someone like Anna would be referred to as a 'Sibyl'-- the name given to those who were vessels for souls meant to be revived.

Here, they were just 'Sleepers'.]

My friend gained no memories thus far from her circumstances, but she has had a number of physical changes that seemed random-- but on closer investigation were related to other rituals at play elsewhere in the world.

She was a child when it started. One day she woke up with a face that wasn't her's-- but the face of a spirit who hadn't possessed a physical form in centuries.

...A spirit that I met, during the same affairs I told you about on the Lonely Island.

I knew a lot of kids who had this happen to them.

[it's a surprise, but it's not unwelcome, to hear that there are other worlds where exactly this sort of thing happens. there it is in the back of her throat, though. the idea of this happening to children. no matter how well she got along with the kids who got the app, it never made any of it sit better in her stomach. still doesn't.]

They had support networks, though.
It sounds like your friend might have started out alone.
I'm glad that you were there for her eventually. I know she appreciated it.

I've had the chance to meet some of the spirits here, too. In the flesh, and with no memories of the people I knew them as before.
None of them knew anything about their worlds ending, as far as I know, but it's not something I've exactly asked a lot of questions about.
Still haven't met my own, but things are getting a little eerie.
These parallels, I mean.

She's fifteen now, but she had a very long time where her circumstances were praised rather than having anyone worry about her personhood. She's a grave keeper with the talents of a necromancer and a legacy that isn't her's to carry...

But that's a story you know well, isn't it?

[It was chilling-- and already Waver was questioning his own judgement when he continued with his next words.]

I took that girl in as an apprentice, although I'm a lousy teacher for what she needs. She's my Queen on the chessboard; we support each other.

Not terribly unlike how I hope we can support each other one day.

...If your friend Amaranth needs a crew, let her know that Mackenzie is willing to help. And, if you need help, I'm willing to assist how I can.

Let's not put the cart before the horse.
Or the knight, as it were.

[and yet, it's hard to deny that he may have a point. the great cosmic chessboard may have room for another piece on it. if it's possible for phenomena from each of their worlds not just to exist here but to be, at least on the surface, the same phenomenon, that's something worth staying together for. and even if this is over text, she can almost feel his sincerity. the pain of having to see this happen to someone. unlike some others around here, she doesn't need to wait to see it in his eyes.]

I reckon the Amaranth would be right pleased to invite Mackenzie aboard.
As for where we stand?

Back home, I used to ask people to point me in a direction and pull the trigger.
Might could do that again.

[The parallels were too uncanny-- there was indeed benefit in working together, if only because they had an understanding of these concepts from different angles. How many others in town could say that?

Probably more than he wanted to believe, but those same people didn't have the dubious fortune of meeting the same face on two different people from two very disparate places in time, either.

Anna, however, did.]

I'm a professor and archivist, Anna, but I've also been called to do the work of a detective within my circles. The Who, the What, and the How are usually always factored in-- but, discovering the 'Whydunit' of the matter can often be dangerous.

Gray, my apprentice, has aided me on a number of cases. Her skills have been helpful to me for both the different perspective and the danger that we tend to happen upon.

If you're willing, we may be able to facilitate more of that kind of work here.

I think I already have a couple dangerous mysteries worth investigating.
I'd be glad to help you out with them. It's probably a lot safer for me to have someone who knows how to do research working with me.
Especially with one of the people I have in mind, but... well, I'd feel safer talking about that one in person.

[she doesn't know what specifically needs to be investigated yet, but she knows there's probably something going on with the first necromancer.]

It's a bit of a tall order to cut our teeth on, but I think we can handle it as long as we work together.

It wouldn't be the first time I've nearly met my death over my work, Anna.

We can meet wherever and however you like.

I'm just glad to have someone to stand beside again. Thank you for humoring me.

It's not humoring if you're making good points. It's a partnership.
Let's meet at your place and talk about it when I'm making you some damn food so you don't starve to death before we start investigating.

I promise you, I'm not going to starve to death before I find Okeanos. You have my word on that.

But. I won't say no to a good meal.

Oh, I never said I was a GOOD cook yet.
Listen, partnerships are mutually beneficial and you're going to be my testing grounds so I stop wasting food at home.
I want my girlfriend to be proud of me.

I can guarantee than you're better at it than I am.

And, that's fair. I didn't expect it to be free, and I'm already working on an idea.

A proper spellsword needs to right equipment, after all.

We'll make your girlfriend proud. And don't worry about wasting food here. Some people are picky about it, but I'm not. People with more power and resources than us to far more damage than we can dream of.

Well, my gf comes from a really... food insecure place, you know? And I don't.
So I'm not very worried about it, but she's still coming to terms with food being available, and I don't wanna make things worse for her if I can avoid it.

Anyway, it's not real payment. Like, I never ask to be paid for what I do.
It's just the right thing to do as far as I'm concerned.
Doing it for the love of the job, or whatever.

Culture clashes like that can be difficult to manage, so I'm certain your partner appreciates the efforts you're taking to be careful with it.

Besides that, I need practice in a few things as well. If it helps, you can consider it a situation where the both of us are practicing on each other for a greater goal.

Oh yeah, okay, I can party with that.
We do the stuff we know we're good at, and we practice what we're not good at until we're good at that, too.

You're definitely gonna have to put up with me talking about Kainé, though.
Ain't much I'm better at than being gay and loud about it.

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