voidtreckerexpress | Death Just Needs A Little Conversation [Open]

Who: Ryo and Open (angled towards those with death powers/connections)
Where: ICP/Garden Car
When: Nebula 3
What: Ryo is coming to terms with the fact that he's kept his death-related Diagad powers, so now he's asking for help with them. (They're not what he's afraid they are, but he doesn't know that yet.)
Warnings: Probably a lot of death talk, but we'll go from there.
Notes: It starts as an ICP post, but he won't be replying on the network, only in person. Anyone is welcome to join in; he's just angling for people with Insight Into Death. (I'll also match prose or brackets.)

[Ryo looks...uncertain at best, but much closer to 'worried but trying not to show it' as the ICP flickers on.]

If anyone is connected to death, or has death-related powers, I could use your help.

[-wait that sounds bad-]

It's nothing crazy - I just have...questions.

[He can't quite bring himself to say what he's actually worried about, so instead it's just:]

I'll be in the garden car, if you wouldn't mind coming to see me.

[And the ICP flickers off. He's not planning on having this conversation in front of the train and everyone, so in-person it is. True to his word, he's sitting on one of the benches in the garden car with Lagos in his lap, holding the plush bird and trying not to let his fears run away with him. He may not be entirely succeeding. It may be obvious.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Elidibus has a lot less structure to his shadowy teleport method than Vexen. It's more of a cloud that he steps out of before it disappears. But here he is in the garden car. He's courteous enough to not appear right next to or behind Ryo; having had experience with the alarm several other passengers have had when he did so in the close confines of the train. No need to startle the youth.]

You are Ryo? I've some experience with the cycle of life and death. Do you still seek assistance?

[He won't immediately remark on Ryo's condition, choosing instead to look at the state of affairs. After all, others might have already been by.]

[Just because Ryo hasn't talked to Elidibus before doesn't mean he doesn't know who he is. There's a very short list of people who can utterly flatten Ryo's sense just by existing, and for reasons Ryo doesn't yet know, Elidibus is definitely on it. Regardless of Elidibus's intentions, a god - or something close to it - teleporting directly into Ryo's space is always going to make him startle.]

I- yes.

[From a godly stranger, but sure, he could use assistance.]

What do you mean, you have experience?

[Poor Ryo. There's a good chance however that the mortal body Elidibus... ahem, 'borrows' shields somewhat from the effect at least. Once he's recognized as present, the Ascian takes a few steps forward.]

My apologies if I startled you. As to my experience, my kind have long been able to witness the cycle of life and death. At least how its laws are written upon our Star.

[He's definitely studying Ryo and appears a little curious but mostly trying to determine what state of mind the youth is in.]

Long ago I ascended above the mortal cycle for the sake of a duty. Over those millennia I have helped others sustain themselves outside their mortal shell. For all intents, they died to achieve that state.

[He offers a faint smile.]

I can't promise my knowledge will help answer your questions. But I have an abundance of it to offer, if nothing else. And I am willing to listen.

[It's the being studied that unnerves him, and he shifts just a bit, defensive and uncomfortable. Someone doing that to him has almost never been good news; even if Elidibus is offering to help, he still can't bypass that instinct.]

So you're a god.

[Or something close to it - everything works so differently from world to world that it's hard to keep track of things.]

[It is a good instinct to have. Elidibus certainly won't fault Ryo for it.]

To most mortals, yes. Especially of my world, my people have been seen as gods. Yet amongst ourselves, we were but fellow man. You're welcome to view me as either man or god. And for now we are fellow passengers and captives of this train. I am Elidibus and you are Ryo.

[The Ascian keeps himself up to date on the roster.

But the explanation of his possible godhood seems to have been considered mostly irrelevant. Elidibus continues on seeking after the matter he had answered the call for. The sense that he's studying Ryo also eases, as though recognizing the youth's discomfort.]

What questions do you have about death?

[That's a hell of an introduction, in that it isn't one at all. Despite Elidibus's offer to help, it does absolutely nothing to set him at ease.]

I am.

[It's the first time in a very long time that he's felt ill at ease with one of the gods or spirits aboard the train. He hasn't missed this feeling.]

[But...he asked for help, and Elidibus came. He may as well try.]

They're...not about death itself, exactly. Were you here for the Diagad mission?

[He should know this, but he can't keep track of everyone.]

[Elidibus keeps a certain distance as Ryo doesn't appear to have relaxed at all. As long as the youth doesn't ask for him to depart, the Ascian won't.

Ease will come with time or not. At least Elidibus has practice dealing with the outcome of both. The question causes the Ascian to close his eyes momentarily.]

Yes, I was here.

[When his eyes open again he seems thoughtful. There are many reasons to be asking about death related to that and Ryo has already eliminated one option. Though rather than offer his guess on the matter, Elidibus instead offers a prompt.]

If not about the cycle of death, then what would you like to know?

[He'd been there, then. So he'll have some context for this line of questioning, at least.]

The power that you got there - did you keep it? Do you know?

[It's not a direct admission that he has death powers - not yet - but it's enough for an intelligent person to put two and two together and get a reasonable approximation of four.]

[There's definitely some contextual clues here. As to the question, Elidibus pauses a moment before answering. Half to consider how to respond but whether admitting as much had more benefit than risk.]

Yes. The false Diagad bestowed on me a command over shadows. [And the dark, though not as much as his false-past's 'brother' of that illusionary world. The Ascian smiles faintly.] A somewhat ironic power for those who are known to be without shadow.

[Strictly speaking he does have one now. Borrowed body and all.]

I take it with your questions, your call for assistance is related to the power which stays with you from that world?

["Without shadow" is a weird tidbit, and he's honestly not sure whether that's a metaphor. Whether it's useful or not, he's probably going to remember that.]

[But there's the subject at hand to get back to.]

Yes. I had death powers on Diagad, and I'm...not sure what to do with them.

[The people he trusts get his actual worries and fears regarding his powers. Elidibus gets vague concern.]

[Elidibus wouldn't expect such intimacy from Ryo on matters of emotion. He closes his eyes but there need not be worry.]

Pray explain what defines this death power of yours? The phrase by itself is unclear.

[He doesn't seem troubled that Ryo holds some sort of power over death. Polite and calm, he simplyawaits the explanation.]

Edited 2021-12-09 04:36 (UTC)

Death Just Needs A Little Conversation [Open]

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30 years late without starbucks fffffff

Starbucks is overrated sometimes anyway. Though their peppermint mocha... c.c

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