[slaps roof of barn]

[endsjustified]

WHO: lilies
WHERE: lily
WHEN: day 76 postgame

[you can fit SO many crises in here]

Comments

[mykidisthebest]

[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]

[endsjustified]

[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.

[mykidisthebest]

[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?

[endsjustified]

[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.

[mykidisthebest]

[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?

[endsjustified]

[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.

[mykidisthebest]

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.

[endsjustified]

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.

[mykidisthebest]

[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.

[endsjustified]

All right.

[he lets the soul spill into Blossom once again, but they both just feel

nothing? just the emptiness of a soulless body]

[mykidisthebest]

[honestly kind of underwhelming when he was expecting cool red eyes

glances at Charon. when is the demon supposed to pop out]

[endsjustified]

[he looks kinda baffled]

It grabbed me immediately the first time. It’s…gone?

[mykidisthebest]

Does that mean it doesn't need to stay in her body?

[endsjustified]

If it’s empty now, then…one supposes…

[mykidisthebest]

That has me concerned that whoever it is will be looking elsewhere.

[endsjustified]

With the selection of bodies in the pasture, though — if they were capable of setting traps in all of Blossom’s potential hosts she’d be caught already, don’t you think?

[mykidisthebest]

[thinks about that for a second...and nods]

That's true. It must be specific to her body, then.

[endsjustified]

Well, it’s a lead, which is better than anything we’ve tried to do with this body so far.

[mykidisthebest]

[...]

Do you think we could get some of her blood while we're here? I'd like to make a duplicate of her body if we can. Even more so after this.

[endsjustified]

…

[HUH]

You’d have to either draw that limbus from the clinic stock or we’d need to take another trip to the plant, but yes. I was thinking of drawing a dose of her blood in case it came in useful somewhere too, but I hadn’t thought towards limbus yet.

[mykidisthebest]

I did ask Azdaja if I could use some of the clinic stock of limbus and she agreed. I also asked for discretion.

[endsjustified]

Miss Azdaja can certainly be relied on for that.

Let’s draw off enough for a body and perhaps a cup extra. Perhaps we’ll find uses for both…one wonders if that entity would settle in a replacement body too.

[mykidisthebest]

Do we want it to settle in a replacement body? The limbus has been here the whole time, so it feels like if someone needed or wanted an extra body, the opportunities for that were always here.

[gets out some materials for safely drawing blood from the body, in that case. no reason to be sloppy about it]

[endsjustified]

[they are following proper medical procedure (they are not)

he takes care of sitting Blossom’s body up and holding her in place for the draw, since he can lift her with relative ease]

I don’t think it’s ideal; but if it’s attracted to Blossom’s body in particular, and it does appear, then wouldn’t it be another chance to communicate and find out what it wants? Or where it’s from? It was trying to pull me beyond the pasture, which implies it intended that for Blossom.

[mykidisthebest]

Beyond the pasture, huh. We'd be in trouble if Blossom got snatched away like that, since her abilities are part of what's holding this place together. But I don't think it's bad to try and have a quick chat with it.

Do you think our lovely Lady would know what this likely-demon is about? I'm not sure if I want to ask her for information related to Blossom if she might use it badly, but at the very least we could use that as a...gentle threat to get Blossom to talk to us first.