driftfleet | Video.

Entry tags:

Video.

Who: Sam and you!
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: Bloodsport or Iskaulit Bar if you find a way to squeeze in an action thread!
When: Today or whatevs, but backdated stuff is cool too.

[The last week has been really, really rough. Most people probably know.

He's been all but nonexistent for that entire week, and a few days after, too. Buried in hell memories and glitched to the point of barely functioning, he had stayed aboard the Bloodsport mostly with Nami. For the better, he knows later on; Nami understood him best, when it came to that side of him. It doesn't make him anymore ashamed and embarrassed that people had to see that. It makes him a bit depressed in the short time that follows. He wakes up on the third as himself — himself now, anyway. But he decided to just sleep for a day or two and try not to think about all the baggage.

But — he'll get pushed to move eventually, and the bar does need bartenders.

He will be out at the bar as he had been before the glitch.

It was what it was, he reminds himself. It was a part of him, and it's... well, it's not over, it'll never be over, but he's come a long way. He's better than that husk he'd been in the garden. He adapted and he survived. That has to count for something.

Still, there's some things to address.]

[Video.]

Hey, guys, I'm alive. Sorry for being so MIA at the bar, but I'm back now... Let me know if I missed anything.

[He's much better. See?? No burns or scars, and he's got his hair brushed, and everything is A-OK.]

I wanted to... apologize to everyone who ran into me, last week. I, uh, I said some pretty miserable crap and I know I sounded like a crazy person. And I just wanted to thank you guys for putting up with, um... that part of me. It's been years, and I'm much better now, and I don't... want anyone to - [He pauses, wringing a rag from the bar in his hands.] - to worry or anything like that.

I'm okay now.

So If you need a drink, I'll be here.

[A deep breath.]

Well... I don't want to just leave it on that note, so.

... Aaaah, let me think.

...

What's something you've accomplished that you're really proud of?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well shit, Sam. You can see the outrage you didn't tell her flare in her expression, but she doesn't say as much. Instead, she resumes chewing on her lip for a moment, deep in thought, before she finally lifts her hand, palm up.]

Can you see this?

[She summons a wisp of light. Which will then mosey across the room and flare briefly before vanishing in front of another customer. Given it's a spell that only her kind are meant to see, and all...]

[He totally reads that outrage and has the sense to look a little guilty, ducking his chin as he... clearly watches the wisp of light travel, all the way until it disappears. It all makes a lot of sense. It's not like he didn't have his suspicions, but...]

... You were just a kid. What was I supposed to say?

How much of a kid do you really think I was, Sam? [That long. That long means she has to shuffle some of her own memories of events into a different light. This isn't a simple case of accidental enchantment. Not with the timing.] Did you ever think of the timing? Do you think maybe holding a piece of me had come with repercussions? Did that occur?

[She's dreamt of hell. Sporadically, not commonly. She put it down to the fleeting glimpses of Sam's memories she'd seen, and later on her own experiences, but now? She wonders.]

Of course it did.

[He sighs.]

But it was a cakewalk for a while, compared to the other crap. The hallucinations, the — hell. [He swallows.] I don't know, Katie. There's always so much going on, I don't even know where what begins and ends, and I don't even know where to start fixing them.

[She runs her hands over her face, rubbing fingers into the bridge of her nose. Hurgh.]

Is it getting better or worse?

... Worse.

[Said with the best of pauses in an attempt to find an answer that isn't the truth. But alas. He rubs the back of his neck with a frown.]

There was a planet a while back, it did... something. When it released some kind of — magic energy? I don't know. It's been progressing after since. And then when I was... um. The me from Hell, I might have... made it worse.

[There's a few moments where she's quiet, trawling her own memory of time long gone past for Katie. There was a wave of energy, she remembers that. She tried to follow it back to its source like a needy magic addict. Too young to parse the effects.

...ran into Sascha. She remembers that. Let's not think about that too hard.

She owes him an explanation, and it's going to hurt. So she points at the bottle he got the first drink from, speaking placidly.]

Do you know, when most fae are born in my world, they have two souls? You probably realised that from Diereadh, at the very least.

[Given he tore her in half and all.]

[He bites his lip, nodding.]

I had a suspicion. That there was more than just a kid to you, anyway.

I mean... If the rest of our weird time in Adstring was anything to go by.

[But he smiles fondly, despite how... nasty some of those memories are.

For both of them, assuredly.]

A fae soul in my time can't survive on its own. The world is too punishing. So it strikes a bargain with a human soul and they agree to co-exist. Unless you're a noble, anyway. [Her lip curls back, briefly, but the colour is fast leeching out of her face so she sighs and lets that go.]

Over much time, they become one. I didn't--

I didn't think that would happen with a soul I struck no pact with, but I suppose in the end I struck two.

[Hopefully that's enough for him to get the gist of what's going on. And I pointed at that bottle for a reason, give me a refill. Monster headache.]

[.... He thinks he gets it, for the most part.

So he lets the silence settle for a moment, as he pours her a drink.]

Well.

Fuck.

A great suggestion. The only solution, too. [Which would sound more snarky if she didn't take the new drink and down it fast. That's enough honesty for one day. And the court would kill her at home for telling him that much, but what're they gonna do all the way out here? She sets the glass down.]

I have no clue how to fix it. I imagine there are several ways. Have you tried to touch iron lately?

[He'll do her the favor of not totally babying her, when she looks worn out.

It's hard to remember she's a grown-ass woman, sometimes.

Even if that grown-ass woman is right in front of him.]

... Hasn't really been something I think about lately.

[He doesn't exactly hunt here, not often.]

... Should I try touching it?

[That is one possible way of dealing with it. If there's spots of glamour left in his soul, cold iron will kill them quickly enough. But it's a solution she doesn't offer, because (1) it would probably hurt at least on some level, and there are vows in regards to that, and (2) no changeling worth the name ever resorts to iron as a cure.

Those pieces of soul are hers. She won't advocate unmaking them. And besides-- this whole soul mingling possibility isn't just one way.]

I'm trying to work out how deeply the influence goes. I'm rather fond of the stuff, you know. [She shakes a wrist free of its sleeve to show him the burn scarring wrapped evenly around it.] It goes well against my skin. I wondered if it might look so good on you.

[A wince.

Sorry, it says.]

Right... um. I'll refrain.

But — uh. As long as nobody's getting hurt... I don't know if we should really do anything about it. I mean, is it safe to try and make it stop? To... I don't know. Hand it back over? Can I even do that?

As long as nobody's getting hurt. [Her eyebrows raise, and she glances down at her drink with a mournful smile.] You do remember what happened the first time I hit you with this, don't you?

[Rhetorical. Of course he does. At least Hallucifer is no longer here. Just flickers of him.]

[He looks away, sheepish.]

... That wasn't your fault. This wasn't either; I wanted to help you out of Deireadh any way I could. [Um.] Is it dangerous, to remove it? Could it hurt you or the others?

[He doesn't think it's her fault, and Katie... worries, but she's not keen to protest otherwise. Too many things have been laid at her door of late that she is directly responsible for. This at least... wasn't foreseen by anyone. ~~Except sadistic muns.~~]

No more dangerous than crossing a road. The more attention you pay, the more dangerous it gets.

Of course if we don't remove it, everything works the other way round...

[She's not looking at him anymore. It's not avoidance, just... she's distracted, trawling through possibilities. Souls are infinite. It's not like she's missing pieces now, no more than Sam has lost a part of himself for the what stayed clinging to her. Just memories. Among other things.

So no actual damage directly at the source, but that also complicates trying to remove what's now essentially a part of Sam. Can she tug them free without tugging other pieces along with the ride?]

...it's like trying to get your chocolate syrup back after pouring the milk in.

[The most absent-minded and unglamourous comparison ever.]

[.................... He stares for a moment.]

Well, that doesn't sound terrible at all.

[It sounds terrible, Katie.]

[...she hopes you're referring to the chocolate milk analogy, Sam, or you just called her whole existence terrible. It makes her look unsure, and she glances away again.

To be honest, it's just frustrating navigating through options that you have no real experience with in practice while at the same time imparting that knowledge in so many falsehoods. It's real tiring to be a pooka after a while.]

Well, let me ask you a question. Can souls be torn in your world?

[Well, I'm sure your existence sucks to some degree, but he's mostly just mortified at trying to get chocolate syrup out of milk. He thins his lips, considerate.]

Honestly, souls are kind of weird territory. They can't be destroyed, but I think they can be torn up. Um. Taken out for sure. [Sam's soul has dealt with both, anyways.] I don't really know if you can pull them apart like stringed cheese or anything and use them separately.

... It's an interesting thought, though.

[Her existence is just fine, thanks. :T She just tends to be sensitive about other people thinking she's awful okok.]

If they can't be destroyed, I should think-- [She breaks off. She's already been rather honest in the last five minutes and would really rather not start bleeding at the bar, kthx. Hm. Pointedly.] I'm sure, then, that if I just try pulling my soul back to me it will do terrible things to your spiritual welfare.

[It shouldn't be an issue. On his end.]

[He frowns, thoughtful.]

Will it do terrible things to my spiritual welfare if I don't mess with it?

[Just wondering.

And feel free to lie it out, Katie. He understands. He speaks Katienese.]

That depends on many things. The colour of the sky, how good you are at ignoring things that don't belong to you, other planets deciding to wash you with magic cries for help.

[She's kind of glad he hasn't thought to ask whether the soul mingling thing happened both ways. This is complicated enough to get around.]

You know, I'd say you're just doing your usual thing when you mention the color of the sky, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually an issue at some point...

The colour of the sky is more of an issue in day to day events than you'd think. Of course, telling you I'm just doing my thing wouldn't be very reassuring, now, would it?

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