Stones of Farspeech; backdated to October 30th

[cacoethes_mori]

Hello. Has anyone seen Lance around?

I don't need to talk to him! Just tell me if you've seen him.

[Or has he, you know, broken something important with his necromancy?

That would certainly explain the Storyteller's reaction to it.]

...if you are Lance, then say so and I'll be done with this.

Comments

[antepone]

It's been about a month since I last saw him, I think.

[cacoethes_mori]

Mmmm. A whole month?

Haha!

That's... bad.

[Wait--]

You wouldn't be able to tell me what he looked like at the time?

[On a scale of 'floral' to 'none,' say.]

[antepone]

... Well, he looked perfectly normal.

Should he have looked different?

[cacoethes_mori]

Depends!

Was this before the... flower thing?

No. Wait. Better question.

Did you talk to him?

[antepone]

It was... after. After we all came back.

[ ... ]

He couldn't speak, but... yes, I talked to him.

[cacoethes_mori]

[?????

Foster is dead silent for a couple of seconds.

Then he starts laughing--quietly at first, softly snorting laughter that finally turns into a barking kind of laugh.]

That wasn't Lance.

[He is assuming, based on her description, that she was talking to the undead puppet he'd made out of Lance's available corpse.]

[antepone]

What?

[ She has absolutely no idea what he means, but all the same, it makes her feel cold. ]

No, it-- it was definitely Lance.

Whoops

[cacoethes_mori]

Genetically, yes.

[That's not cryptic.]

But functionally, no.

Anyway, that definitely answered my question, hahaha!

[Haha. This is bad.]

I'd thank you, but--

You don't want that.

[antepone]

[ .... ]

If you're trying to confuse me, it's not working.

[ Except it is. ]

Who I spoke to was Lance, not... whatever you're thinking he was.

1/2

[cacoethes_mori]

[Foster wasn't going to reply, but the accusation strikes him as bizarre. Bizarre enough to actually annoy.]

....why would I try to confuse you?

I don't even know you.

2/2

[cacoethes_mori]

[He doesn't really care about her conviction that a corpse is the same as the actual person. Héctor wouldn't let go of it either. It's really common.

Anyway--]

Ha ha! Besides, it sounds like it doesn't matter now.

[antepone]

What makes you say that? Because he's gone?

[cacoethes_mori]

Apparently!

[He doesn't miss a beat before adding the next part--]

Sorry about that.

[He doesn't sound sorry at all.]

...

Mmmm.

But if the magic is that sensitive, I'd recommend we stop leaving bodies lying around in the open.

[antepone]

[ There's a very long pause. ]

What are you talking about?

[cacoethes_mori]

[Foster considers that question for half a second--]

What do you think I'm talking about?

[Legitimate question or thinly veiled criticism?

Yes.]

[antepone]

[ You know, she hasn't actually... thought about what happens to their bodies when they die here.

But now she is, and she doesn't like any of this at all. ]

What did you do?

[cacoethes_mori]

Haha!

[Foster's laugh is loud and rough and not quite natural sounding.

In contrast, his tone following is the downright insolent. Although he doesn't actually intend it that way, he knows better--not answering her question is still acting above his station.]

That's basically the same question, you know.

[Does answering it afterward make up for it?]

.... it was mostly necromancy.

[He says it almost like an aside.]

[antepone]

[ She's about to snap back that he didn't answer her question. But when he says that, well... She's stunned into silence. ]

You used necromancy on Lance's-- on Lance.

[cacoethes_mori]

[Oh, come on.

He doesn't even care about the ideological nuances of necromancy, he sees that as someone else's problem. But here he is, again. Of course he is! This is why he's wrong...!

He's wrong, and now he has a chance to prove it.]

Do you actually think a dead body is the same thing as a living person?

[antepone]

I think you had no right to use him for your own whims.

[ She's forcing her voice to stay level, but... it shakes. ]

He wasn't yours to manipulate.

[cacoethes_mori]

[Foster is not the eye rolling type, because that would be far, far more presumptuous than he could ever--

But. This is.... certainly.

Well, it's certainly not what he asked for. Which is fair! He's not worth answering, after all. But still, his reply is slow and excruciatingly pointed.]

Use... who.

[Say it.]

[antepone]

Lance.

[ Backtrack a little. Her head is all muddled, and for someone who feels other people's emotions she's... bad at her own. Bad at thinking coherently when upset. ]

Even if-- it was just his body-- [ and boy does she hate thinking like that ] --Alive or not, it's still him.

[cacoethes_mori]

[Foster sputters into laughter. It's a lot less jarring and abrupt-sounding this time.]

Hahahaha!

Wow.

[Are you sure that's the hill you want to die on?]

Amazing. That's really fucking creepy, haha!

[He sobers, immediately and weirdly calm.]

Okay.

[antepone]

[ Well. If that doesn't get her hackles to rise... ]

Not nearly as creepy as reanimating a corpse!

[cacoethes_mori]

How is that less creepy?

[It's a perfectly serious question.]

Mmmm. Lance's corpse and Lance are both of equal value? I find his corpse, and that is Lance. I find my corpse, and that is myself?

Haha! Well, we knew that. I am... my corpse.

But now Lance is his corpse, as you are yours. You are your corpse. Haha. You are your corpse. You are your corpse--

[He's taken this idea and has started to run with it, and his speech grows increasingly pressured with excitement.]

[antepone]

You--

[ What does she say? She doesn't know. She's struck speechless, and she... Even when it comes to this, she backs down. Always. She's not like Nari, she can't...

Can't do anything, in the end.

She doesn't reply to Foster again. ]