Death Just Needs A Little Conversation [Open]

[fivemilesdeep]

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.]

Comments

[fivemilesdeep]

[The anger may have burned out quickly once he'd let it out, but that doesn't mean Ryo is calm. He feels a bit like he's vibrating, like there's electricity dancing on his skin, and he can't quite shake it. He's still upset - at this entire situation in general, and at the fact that Murphy is still offering despite everything.]

[He's able to rein it in a bit, and his voice is as measured as he can manage right now.]

Thanatos isn't going to stop you from dying.

[Sorry, Murphy, you're not Zagreus. Thanatos will just take you where you need to go once you pass on.]

[That imparted, Ryo turns Murphy's words over in his brain. He has a point, for a world full of revenants; having a speaker for the dead is a bit less important in Ryo's world where the dead don't talk.]

I'm sure you are, but...my world doesn't have revenants. At least, not the part I'm from. [There are stories about other lands, but as far as he knows, they're just that: stories.] The dead don't need someone to talk for them there. They're just dead.

[There's something else to be had there - that Murphy thinks his power might be behaving differently - but he hasn't quite processed that yet. There's been too much high emotion too quickly and he's still recovering.]

[zombiemessiah]

Really? I thought he could at least tell it was happening. Oh well, I still don't think it'll be a problem.

[That they're just dead is also a tragedy, but to him there's still some dignity in a body. He's met the ones he has no connection to and... well, even if he's disassembled them he's at least acknowledged that they were once people. He doesn't propose that train of thought right now, though.]

Alright, so. Tell me how your normal powers work. The ones that aren't death powers.

[Because Ryo is coming at this now with a whole other knowledgebase, a whole other skillset.]

[He takes another sip of his fruity drink, leaning back to listen. He has his own usual level of calm, at least the one that he wears at face value. It's how he handles every non-painful stressful situation.] It sounds like something you're really proud of.

[fivemilesdeep]

He can tell, but he won't stop it. That's not what he does.

[Except for Zagreus, but...yeah.]

[But at least Murphy isn't insisting he try again, and he settles back a bit, taking a breath and letting it out slowly, trying to soothe the unease he still feels. At least this is something he can talk about.]

I'm a healer. I can connect my life with someone else's and heal their wounds - it's how my magic works, and it's...it's who I am.

[A lot of his identity is tied up in his abilities. The missions where powers don't work correctly - or at all - are hard on him.]

[zombiemessiah]

[He almost argues that he could warn him and Murphy could do the rest. But eh Ryo's coming up with excuses to not try, not even with back-up. So he's giving up to just ask shit instead.]

So how does this connecting work?

[Because, like he said, he feels Ryo reaching out somehow. He can't figure it out, just a sort of vibe coming off of him. He does know he didn't feel it at all before that adventure with the Diagad. And if it has been since then, he's not feeling it in any great amount. But like a word he just learned, now that he's here and paying attention? He's very aware of it.]

[fivemilesdeep]

Physical contact.

[He's pretty sure he'd mentioned it earlier, but earlier may as well have been a thousand years ago for how intense this conversation has been. He holds up an open palm as if to illustrate, then closes it after a moment's thought.]

I'd show you, but you said that hurts you.

[He's spent this whole conversation refusing to put Murphy in harm's way, and he's not about to break that streak now.]