Your regularly scheduled creepy visitor

[killedwithlove]

Who: Cole and anyone who needs him... or wants to chat to him
Broadcast: No
Action: On any ship except Marsiva, Tourist or Red Fish because he avoids visiting two and can't visit the third.
When: While the fleet is moving and probably a bit after

[There is this thing Cole does.

He visits other ships. Sometimes he put the Pathstone alongside to visit and sometimes he takes a shuttle, but he's constantly wandering all over the fleet, being with people, circulating.

He hasn't done it in a while. He got a nasty fright and went into hiding for a while.

But the creepy psychic being is back! Sticking his large nose into all the business.]

Comments

[nerdeology]

Sometimes, yes. Often for a very long time. But when trust is built up companions, they're more likely to share their sorrows. That's what I mean.

[killedwithlove]

But I can help faster than that.

I don't tell people spoilers, though. When I remember.

[nerdeology]

"Spoilers"?

[killedwithlove]

Yes.

Telling people things they will find out before they get there.

[nerdeology]

[whaaaaaaat]

You... know the future!?

[killedwithlove]

No.

Not like you're thinking.

I can see outcomes, though. Where people's feelings will take them.

[nerdeology]

I'm... not sure I understand.

Sorry, I dropped the ball

[killedwithlove]

... I don't know if a rock will fall on someone's head, but I can pretty well know what they're going to say to their sweetheart and how their sweetheart will react.

More sense?

no worries!

[nerdeology]

Ah- okay, I get it now, I think. That really is like knowing someone before you really know them. Amazing.

[And, you know, weird, but that's basically just another Cole-ism.]

[killedwithlove]

[He nods.]

I know people. Before I meet them often. It makes some people uncomfortable.

[nerdeology]

Of course it does. Most people don't have that ability, and what's new or unusual is also scary.

[killedwithlove]

I don't mean to scare people. But I do. I try not to.

[nerdeology]

I've scared people by being what I am, if they happen to notice me. You learn ways to avoid it. Or other ways to live with it. You do alright, as far as I can tell.

[Cole's said some weird things, and he's felt that discomfort before, but it's never crossed a line. Boundaries are important, but he can understand that it's probably not easy for Cole, either.]

[killedwithlove]

I've learned. Be something not Cole, not Compassion, not spirit or mage, just... me.

Spirits don't have boundaries. Mortals even have boundaries in themselves.

[nerdeology]

Some spirits have boundaries.

[Plenty of seraphim do, anyway.]

[killedwithlove]

Not my type of spirit. We don't do... inside and outside. We just are. With ourselves and each other.

[nerdeology]

Yes, so I've noticed. I don't think I've ever met anyone so... open, I suppose is the word.

[killedwithlove]

People have layers. Hidden bits and shown bits, faces for the world and faces for private and faces they don't even realise they have.

[nerdeology]

And your kind do not? Do you keep nothing hidden?

[killedwithlove]

... no.

What would we hide? Spirits are very simple. We are what we are, wholly and completely.

I hide things now. Now I'm more than just spirit.

[nerdeology]

I guess it's harder to imagine, living so simply. We seraphim are our elements, but we're ourselves, too. It's very different.

[killedwithlove]

Yes, very different. You're elemental but like mortals in your thinking and being. We're not. We're... conceptual?

[nerdeology]

How does a concept form an identity, if you don't mind my asking?

[killedwithlove]

No. Not usually.

Some do. Very old, very powerful spirits. A fear so great that it becomes Nightmare, things that terrify but you can never quite remember clearly. Wisdom so firmly worshipped that it becomes the keeper of the Wild Woods.

Or... spirits which are shaped by mortals. When mortals die, their souls appear in the Fade. Their memories and emotions. If they encounter a spirit, it can reshape that spirit.

Compassion might be lost and think it's Cole.