Video 01

[killedwithlove]

Who: Cole and anyone
Broadcast: Fleet-wide
Action: Marvisa
When: Now until the next shuffle?

[Cole doesn't usually sleep, so waking up is very unfamiliar. He doesn't usually feel the cold or heat much, so the deep coldness in his bones is alien.

He jerks upright with a gasp, hands scrabbling at the back of his neck and then he vanishes in a puff of black-green smoke and reappears in the corner of the room, pressing himself back into it, staring around with wide eyes.]

Whispering, watchful, wakeful, wondering, where?

[He then spends a while patting things around him like the floor and wall, whispering under his breath.

In all honesty, he'll stay in that room until someone convinces him to leave and go elsewhere. It's not like he has to leave for any reason.]

Comments

[killedwithlove]

No. It's not noble of me. Noble is a title and telling people what to do and looking after them because of it.

I want to help people. I don't have to, not like Compassion did, but I want to more than ever.

Yes. I'm Cole, now.

[unconfines]

[He shakes his head, slightly exasperated.]

You can call me Anders. Remind me later to find you a thesaurus.

[killedwithlove]

Is Justice in there with you?

What's a thesaurus?

[unconfines]

No. [More vehemently than he means, skipping over the question entirely. He clears his throat.] No. Justice is perfectly content to criticize my life choices from outside my head at the moment.

[killedwithlove]

Good.

[Cole relaxes and smiles slightly.]

Don't let him. It's not good for spirits or people, usually.

[unconfines]

You're here. [It comes out defensive, a bizarre urge to stick up for Justice, bound against his will to the rapidly deteriorating remains of Kristoff, and for himself, for no reason at all.] You must have gotten a body from somewhere.

[killedwithlove]

No. This is my body. This is my shape, in and out of the Fade.

[Yes, it is very weird that he's a spirit who takes the shape of a young man. He's been made aware that he's uniquely odd.]

I don't share with anyone else. I'm just me. I came through because I was needed.

[unconfines]

You— what?

["Flabbergasted" is a good word. It almost trumps the frustration he's feeling.]

But that isn't possible. Is it? How could you just... pick up your own body, out of nowhere?

[killedwithlove]

It must be possible, because I did it.

I don't know how I did it. I just did.

[unconfines]

[A stretch of silence.]

It sounds like there's a lot of this you don't understand. If you don't mind me saying so.

[It's not particularly polite. He'd probably say it even if he thought Cole did mind.]

[killedwithlove]

I don't. I'm a spirit of Compassion, not Wisdom.

I don't think most farmers know how their bodies work. They do and that is enough.

[unconfines]

Fine, fine. It's a fair enough point, just....

[He doesn't want to argue about it.]

You're lucky, you know. You could have been stuck in some poor soul's left behind corpse, and then where would that leave us?

[killedwithlove]

It would leave you in your body and me in a corpse.

But I'm not in a corpse. I'm in my own body.

[unconfines]

Yes, so you've mentioned. A few times now.

[A deep breath in, and a slow sigh out.]

Never mind. Don't mind me. Yours will hold up better at the very least.

[killedwithlove]

It matters. People call me a demon. But I didn't take a body.

I can't see you. Am I hurting you? I'm sorry.

[unconfines]

Oh, that. Well, you don't have to worry about that from me.

[He passes over the hurt question like it doesn't matter. He doesn't want it to, anyway.]

I know the difference between a spirit and a demon. It comes with the territory, you see. [He lifts one hand, like that's enough to indicate magic.] They never let you hear the end of it, when you're learning how to heal.

[killedwithlove]

You're a spirit healer!

[Everything in Cole comes alive, pressing closer to the screen.]

I can help you! Compassion, caring, carrying, I can help! I tried to help Cole, but we couldn't, his magic mangled, masked, but I can help you, help, heal.

[unconfines]

Well. With enthusiasm like that, how could I say no? I have been somewhat lacking in the spirit part of the spirit healer title the past few months.

[A beat, while he visibly considers.]

Haven't ever done it with a spirit with your [a vague hand gesture] condition before. Will it work, even though you're— solid, and such?

[killedwithlove]

I don't know!

[Enthusiastic, not necessarily helpful]

Probably. I'm still a spirit. I still have spirit abilities. It should work.

[unconfines]

[For all that Cole is bizarre and impossible and a bit, well, weird, it's hard not to smile at that reaction. He's a healer, Compassion spirits are the most common kinds that have helped him heal in the past, and in this moment it's startlingly easy to include Cole in that category.]

No harm in giving it a try, is there? [beat] But let's try it first with something small, just to be safe. Like a headache. Or a paper cut.

[killedwithlove]

[The truth of Cole's nature is easy to find if you know what to look for. Like so many of his kind, he's enthusiastic to offer whatever help he can and innocent in his interactions with the world.

Generally.]

That would be a good idea. I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone.

[unconfines]

Neither do I. Defeats the purpose of healing a bit, doesn't it?

We'll give it a whirl and see what happens.

[killedwithlove]

We will meet and we'll help people. It'll be good.