Video: UN - Runeseeker

[onerthes]

[Vira-lorr is relaxed in a small looking room saturated with baubles and accoutrement of a fortune teller. Anyone with even the slightest familiarity can tell that almost everything in the room other than the deck of cards next to her are just for show. Nothing there looks like it has power, but it definitely gives the feel of mysticism one would expect from one of the Rom or the like performing fortune telling. She's dressed in a black and red Ao Dai and clearly more at ease than she'd been early on.]

Well, I think I'm just about as set up as I can be. I know that a nice young tiefling lad has already offered his services as a fortune teller, and so I'll do likewise. I've set up shop, at the western edge of the Cellar Door, should anyone want their fortunes told. My second sight has returned, though it is vague at the best of times, in fairness. So, be careful how closely you rely on it.

And, should you wish, I can try to help with any matters of a mystical nature that happen along. My spells may no longer work, but I still know a bit about the arcane arts, so I can offer what insight I can glean. I might be able to help figure something out with you. And... lately I've been getting strange flashes when I touch certain objects, so it might be useful.

If you want fencing lessons, I'm available once or twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. We should all learn to defend ourselves, and for some? A light blade has its uses.

[There was a pause. She leaned to the side and rested her chin on her hand before sighing.]

And I don't think I need to warn most of you. Stock up on necessities before next month. October was always a difficult month. Until it proves otherwise, I'd just assume we prepare for the worse. It's been far too quiet so far and I'm not a trusting girl.

Incidentally, I have a special request if any of you have taken up artificing. There's no real rush, just... please contact me privately.

Comments

[kyley_b]

...that's actually exactly what happened.

[onerthes]

That... wait... WHAT?!?

[No, that was something entirely different.]

You saw another time, and you reached through and found this axe to defend yourself with it? Am I hearing you right? That is something entirely different.

[kyley_b]

I mean, not through time, exactly, more like... I said something and the soap bubble shivered and I knew the guy had missed the axe and it would be there for me.

[He stares, working through this himself.]

I. Think I made it happen. How did I make that happen?!

[onerthes]

Hmmm, that might be a temporal or spatial manipulation of some sort, or perhaps a reality one. I ... don't know if I've ever encountered the like. No... No... wait, I remember a girl. This was a long time ago.

She could reach through tears in reality to alternate versions of the place she was in. She'd pluck something out of it from time to time, though she couldn't travel with them. Nice girl, really, very sweet. Good at throwing ammo packs.

[It had been years since she thought of Elizabeth Comstock. Literal years. She idly wondered how the girl was doing.]

[kyley_b]

But I shouldn't be able to do that! I'm just a human I've never been able to do that before! Where I was before everyone ELSE could do cool stuff, but I was always nearly dying and shit!

It's the blood. Like, we know that, right? That does it, I'm going to get every book I can in this place. There's got to be instructions or something.

[onerthes]

So... I have a guess about our situation. I'm not entirely sure, but it makes sense, mostly because it is similar to our situation in the nightmare.

You are a human spirit, residing in a body that has taken your current form. You were drawn to this world from your own, but the transfer probably didn't include your body. So... in a way. You're in a body that was once a squid that has transformed into a form that matches your spirit. You're in a body that isn't human, but which shares a human form.

So, yes. The blood is the source of that power. And it's very weird?

[kyley_b]

[Kyle shuts the hell up and listens carefully, eyes glued to the screen. You get the impression that he wishes he had a notepad on him.]

...Vira-Lorr, yes. That makes so much sense, when we take everything into account. We're no longer who we were. [He shivers visibly.]

Yes. Very, very weird. I don't know how it all fits together yet, but... the libraries, the lectures, I bet I can find answers there. [He looks excited now, determined to discover everything he can.]

Oh. Vira-Lorr, one other thing... I got a present. A compass. It showed up in my house on the eighteenth. And, uh. I think it's magic, too.

[onerthes]

I'm being careful who I say it to, honestly. [She shrugged.] They can be kind of squirrelly about their body. Three years of having it changed on me off and on. I know that this place can do strange things.

And you probably can find some answers there. Just be suspicious of everything until we are certain. Did you say you got a compass? And it appeared at a specific time? That's...

Honestly that's probably normal. It may do something interesting. We used to get odd gifts in the nightmare.

[kyley_b]

Yeah. I can't say I like the idea of some unknown force putting my soul into squid form. Wait, changed how? More than being a squid?

Oh, don't worry, I'm a meticulous researcher.

Uhm. It like... it's an eyeball. It looks at things. Honestly it's kinda creepy, but at least it doesn't sass me like my dumb whale spirit thing.

[onerthes]

well, other than being a squid in the form of a human that's holding a human soul and has weird powers because of magic blood? That's probably it for now, though we still have things to verify before we can say for certain.

That doesn't surprise me. Their gifts are often strange and surreal.

[kyley_b]

Okay, when you put it like that... Smartass. [But he's smiling a little.]

You're remarkably unfazed by all of this. That's... actually really comforting. So thanks.

[onerthes]

[She snickered.] The nightmare taught me the gift of Paternal Comedic Stylings and Sarcasm.

[She couldn't even call them Dad Jokes could she?]

Thank you. Though... I admit? Three years... It teaches you to accept things that most of us would not otherwise. This month? really hasn't been as bad as anything I know. It's been very easy.

[kyley_b]

Wowwww. [He's actually really amused.]

I've seen some really weird shit, but this is a whole other level. I weirdly don't mind much, though? I miss some people, but overall... I dunno. Feels like home.

[onerthes]

[Probably not Cartman. Nobody misses Cartman.]

You come from a very strange town then. Ah, but that will help in its own way, and at the very least people will go out of their way to help, I think. If there's one thing we've learned, it's that no matter how awful someone might have been in their world, we have to stick together here.

Hah. You should have seen one man I met a while back. still not sure I should have trusted Mister J quite as much as we did, but he never did cause that much trouble as far as I know. Still, he was a disturbing fellow.

[Yes. That Mister J. He... uh, never actually got caught when he blew shit up.]

[kyley_b]

[Kyle would CLAIM he doesn't miss Cartman. It wouldn't be entirely true.]

Yeah. I do.

Mister Jay, huh? Was he a real creep? I've still yet to meet anybody as awful as my old third grade teacher. Darth Maul is kinda psycho, I guess, but he doesn't seem like... batshit crazy and mean.

[onerthes]

Maul is ... a violent man from a violent world, taught by a vicious master. His understanding of things without a powerful, passionate response is poor. It means that sometimes he can be quite dangerous. He's tempering it better than when we first met.

I even believe I saw him not stab someone on camera for once the other day. Improvement!

[She managed a bit of a bitter laugh. For all that she did like certain things about Maul, the man had issues.]

J was ... a man with nasty scars along his lips and a very bad reputation with a few people from his world. I think he was a dangerous, violent man at one time, probably still is. We never spoke that much. He helped in local defense from time to time, but it was very much a "shared survival" sort of thing with him.

He always seemed to be thinking, his mind ever working, and there was always a perverse, twisted joke on his lips.

[kyley_b]

I think he's okay, honestly. Like, in his own way.

[Kyle smiles a little.] I mean... with some people, that really is.

[He listens, and his smile doesn't fade.] I know the type.

[onerthes]

He's an interesting soul. All from his world are.

[She sighed and scratched the back of her head.]

I would say that I'm sorry. though desperation makes for strange bedfellows, some can feel you leaving uncomfortable. Still, sometimes it can really open your mind in others.

[kyley_b]

No need to apologise. And, you know. Even the worst people often have SOME good in them.

So. You said fencing lessons?

[onerthes]

I did indeed. Others will be teaching different weapons, but I am skilled with the light blade, so if you want lessons, I can absolutely offer those.

[kyley_b]

I've never used anything before.

...I did that that sweet axe I found home with me, though.

[onerthes]

I can show you the very basics of the use of an axe, but you're going to get the best lessons from the Hunters. Still, stop by sometime and I'll show you the basic ropes.

[kyley_b]

I will! Thanks, V!