assorted non-canon and AU threads

[aesculapian]

who wants delicious post-forest terribleness

Comments

[aesculapian]

[ sounds... maybe faintly pleased ]

This is not punishment ... so we do our best.

[miraculost]

Well, I suppose I'd best get to finding myself a place. Thank you again for your assistance, ma'am.

[aesculapian]

[ bowing again ]

You are welcome, again ... please let me know if you need anything.

[miraculost]

Ah, I don't want to be a bother. I'll get by.

[aesculapian]

It is not a bother.

[miraculost]

Then... thank you.

[aesculapian]

[ Len will find that the housing is all scantly furnished. there are beds and bathrooms and smaller shelves, but nothing like a kitchen, for example. if he pays attention at all, it's quickly obvious that that's because he doesn't need those things. technically he doesn't need the bed, either, but if he tries to sleep despite the lack of physical exhaustion he can.

morning brings some activity. there are about twenty other people "living" in the housing complex, some of whom seem more or less friendly and some of whom decidedly do not. from them, he may find out more about his current situation: the games, specifically, and the fact that they're all in competition. ...also the fact that sometimes they are incredibly unpleasant in an assortment of creative ways, although that mostly occurs when other Arbiters pass through or choose to stay. if he thinks to ask around, he might even find out the truth about the Arbiters themselves: that they're parasites attached to the hosts of shades who failed to go home.

and later, if he looks around, he'll find the girl from the night before sitting on the porch of a slightly nicer home closer to the river. she's wearing an incredibly ruffled hoodie over jeans this time, the entire outfit in shades of blue with black accents, and is doing something with her hands and a large amount of ombre yarn that looks like a mix between cat's cradle and crocheting. ]

[miraculost]

[creatively unpleasant games aside, it really is rather a cozy afterlife. comforting, in its way.

but, of course, Len is Len. and once he learns what the Arbiters are - the fate of their hosts - he can't stop thinking about it. in this land of the "unjustly dead", what constitutes failure? and, is there any chance of recovery?

these are the questions he has in mind, when he goes looking for the girl in the snake skull. but her project with the yarn distracts him, at least for the moment.]

Ah - that's lovely.

/2

[miraculess]

[ glancing up and over, and—

it's a blink-and-he'll-miss-it thing, but for a moment the flat stare she favors him with has an absolutely feral intensity— ]

[aesculapian]

[ she blinks almost immediately, though, and then it's gone. ]

Thank you ... It will be a scarf when it is done.

[miraculost]

[he doesn't blink, and he doesn't miss it - but knowing what he does know, and not knowing what he doesn't, it doesn't occur to him that it might be directed at him. she was one who "failed", after all.]

Ah, I see! For yourself?

[aesculapian]

For myself, or for trade ... it is the making that is enjoyable.

[miraculost]

Is that so... Well, it's sure to brighten someone's day one way or the other. I think those colors would look lovely on you.

[aesculapian]

[ it is in fact in shades of the same blue as nearly everything else she's wearing. it matches the few stray locks of hair slipping out from under the hood, too. ...which is pretty similar to Kaito's in color, really, just brighter. perhaps even what Len would have seen his become with enough time and actual nutrition.

she smiles at him, a faint and sleepy thing ]

Thank you very much ... I do like them.

[ "we," rather, but that's not a conversation she's quite prepared for ]

[miraculost]

[it's rather melancholy, that almost-familiar blue, especially remembering how tall she was... but he tries to put it out of his mind. it's hardly fair to Kaito, to try and fill this hole with someone else. as if Kaito could be replaced.]

I can tell. You've got a very clear personal aesthetic, haven't you?

[aesculapian]

[ her visible expression doesn't change much, but the way she tilts her head and the angle of her shoulders suggest she's preening at least a little ]

Yes ... it is comfortable.

[miraculost]

The shade you're riding on - does she like it as well? Or, er, I suppose it could be "did she" - I'm sorry, this is all rather intrusive now that I say it out loud, isn't it?

[aesculapian]

[

perhaps they should have expected him to talk with some of the other shades. h...umming... ]

She is still present, and she does ... the color is her choice, but we both like this style.

... Whether it is intrusive or not is ... depends on the pair and the question. In our case ... it is good to think of it as asking about a friend who is not present ... ? So asking what clothes she likes is not rude.

[miraculost]

I suppose not.

[this is still so awkward though help me]

... I did have some questions, about Arbiters and shades... Since you've been a help to me, I thought I would come to you first? If you'd be willing to answer.

[aesculapian]

[ nodding, setting the knitting (?) aside and shifting to tuck her legs under her ]

If I can answer, I will ... but know that not all answers may be pleasant.

[miraculost]

[he nods, moving to sit near her]

My first question... You've told me that we are here to prove ourseles worthy of returning to life. I've also heard that Arbiters' hosts are "failed" shades. So to clarify, does that mean a shade that has "failed" in proving theirself worthy? And what constitutes "failure", in this context?

[aesculapian]

[ ...she should have kept the yarn; unlike her old host, Lilith's impulses are not geared toward holding still when nervous. folding her hands together ]

Yes ... shades that have failed to prove themselves worthy can choose to become hosts to an Arbiter. Failure ...

[ humming again, briefly breaking eye contact to stare in the direction of the river before glancing back to him. the sound is distinctly unhappy, rather than merely thoughtful. ]

... it is the nature of dead things to break down over time ... shades who do not progress toward redemption will begin to experience this. When a shade can no longer move toward redemption due to this degradation ... they have failed.

[miraculost]

I see... so it amounts to a failure to outrun the natural process of decay. I wouldn't have expected that souls could degrade...

My second question... I'm bracing myself to not like the answer, but - is any recovery possible, from that state?

[aesculapian]

There is not.

[miraculost]

... I see.