sheep_game | [slaps roof of barn]

...I can try.

[tips his head in front of them]

After we deal with this. One thing at a time.

Thank you.

[they can knock on Bluebell’s door and make their way to the morgue…]

[lost in thought as he follows, clearly trying to think of What To Say rather than paying attention to the current matter. but he does focus up once they get into the morgue with Blossom's eerily pristine body]

[sighs at it once they pull the drawer out]

Really now, the number of ways this confounds us by not being actually dead…

It's like that fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty? She sleeps for hundreds of years until a prince finds her and kisses her awake to break the curse on her and her kingdom.

Except in this case she doesn't need a kiss.

[finds one of the sterile blades they keep in the morgue, and a small hand basin]

Or maybe she does...? It seems like she had her reasons for taking the actions she did, in that memory.

[leans up against the wall next to him, observing in case something goes wrong or seems off]

It's not my place to comment on someone else's love life...but I couldn't help but notice that too. Should we see if Stormy is willing to kiss her? He's not really a Prince Charming, but nowadays people are into the bad boy type.

He was very insistent they weren’t in a romantic relationship, but…

[shakes his head a little and draws the blade over his lifelines in the customary cuts, bleeding into the basin beside the body; after a brief frowning concentration, pale ghostly wisps start to gather above his cupped palms, like smoke]

She was too. I'd rather not pry, normally, but...the fate of this world and the people in it seems to be at stake, so we can pry a little. Maybe she'd talk to one of the girls about it?

[this is his first time seeing this in action so he is paying attention, feeling the flow of mana in the air as Charon works]

Maybe…

[it feels very much like quite a bit of mana is separating out from Charon’s body, as might perhaps be expected when the substance is his own soul and he’s working under powercap! he’s got it under control, though, shoulders tense as he gets it to form a wispy sphere in his palm

takes a deep breath]

Nothing amiss?

[nods after a second]

It feels stable. Now that you've got hold of it you shouldn't need to focus as much.

Well, let’s hope this does what we want it to.

[keeps the soul stuff stable as he reaches down, letting it spill from his palm to sink into Blossom’s body]

...

[Charon abruptly feels the Teacher skill knocking; if he lets Lethe in, he can sense the flow of mana as he pours his soul into Blossom's body and see how to minimize excess use of mana in the process]

[SURE THEY CAN LINK UP

insane soul experiments are always better as a pair]

[as his souls sinks into the body, Charon alone suddenly feels something tugging at it, trying to drag his soul forcefully somewhere, deeper, and most certainly not just into Blossom's corpse. He'll have to to fight for a few moments not to get it ripped from his body completely if he doesn't want to die where he stands, but if he holds out long enough. . .

Suddenly, he sees two red eyes, staring up at him from a void. It's just him, alone, in the darkness. They eyes bore into him.]

.........this is not the intended soul.

[And just like that, the grip on his soul releases, and Charon finds himself just as before.

As for the body, there's no change. A chunk of soul isn't enough to maneuver or get anything out of the body as is.]

[he yanks the soul sphere fully out of the body on reflex, staggering back from the drawer with a stifled curse and nearly knocking Lethe over in the process

what the FUCK was that]

[almost gets fully knocked over by the sudden movement; he reaches out to grab the nearby wall to steady both himself and Charon and they stumble backwards]

--Everything okay?

[CHECKS HIS MANA AND HIS SOUL REAL QUICK]

[it just almost got torn out by the roots and let go so it probably feels a bit off kilter from his body. his mana is noticeably lower from the brief struggle and he has to lean against the wall of other empty drawers, trying to calm his breathing and heartbeat]

There was—there’s something sentient in there.

[grips the sleeve of his coat tight as he works to. idk anchor his soul. reinforce that thing. lock it in.]

Sentient? Was it the connection to the Wolf King that the rest of his court has?

[he lets Lethe work without resisting]

No. An individual I didn’t recognize. It tried to take my soul completely, then let it go. I wasn’t the one it was looking for.

We may have discovered why she’s trying to get rid of the body so insistently.

[anchors his soul until he's satisfied it'll stick long enough for Lethe to help]

If it's someone looking for her soul...a demon? Evil twin?

[straightens a bit as the strange disorientation starts to fade, though he keeps his weight on the drawers]

One suspects a demon, but we can't jump to conclusions. I just saw red eyes...

I'd like to try again.

What a glutton for punishment.

[offers him a hand]

Together, this time. I don't want your soul getting sucked out because it knows you're coming.

It's just worth seeing if we can talk to it.

[wraps his hand around Lethe's -- the piece of his soul he called forth is still hovering over his other palm]

Together.

[Lethe cannot use Charon's soul manipulation skill, so he doesn't have the exact same stakes; but Charon can feel him apply his Teacher skill differently, like he's using a bit of understanding from Charon's skill and their flock abilities to share senses with the bit of Charon's soul]

Ready when you are.

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