wildestlands | After the event

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After the event

Hello, everyone. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my weapon is effective against the Nightrenders, or whatever those things are called.

[Mio curls her mouth.]

The bad news is that I have a limited supply of film. If we have enough weapons that work, we could split up in many little teams, each with someone who can fight those things off so that no one is left unsafe.

Speaking of, I saw there are other presences haunting this place. Do they take damage differently?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What do you mean, you have a limited supply of film? The weapon runs on film?

Yes, it's a camera. It exorcises ghosts and removes certain seals.

A camera that exorcises ghosts.

You know, weirder things have happened to me.

...Okay?

[She's not sure how to respond to this.]

So, did you find out anything about those beings out there?

[ Ah, right, the girl with the stolen camera. ]

Your...camera hurts those things?

[ You know, this isn't even worth thinking about too hard, given everything else they've got to deal with. He sighs. ]

My tonfa aren't effective, unfortunately. But I think getting a basic bestiary put together is a good idea. [ He digs a notebook out from the pocket of his jacket; he's already made a few notes, but time to add to that! ]

Hurts, kills, puts to rest...Still really gotta figure out the difference.

[Mio shrugs.]

And yes, we should absolutely get all on the same page. Wouldn't want anyone to run into a surprise and be unable to defend themselves.

[ Look at this nerd, scribbling away like someone just told him this will be on the final. ]

We might not be able to tell what the difference looks like, with those things. I don't know. But the locals may be able to tell us more. [ The Nightrenders don't bear much resemblance to any monsters he's familiar with, but the fairies seemed to have an idea of what the risks were... ]

I'm good for a straight physical beatdown, but my orbment seems to have stopped working, so I'm pretty much stuck with "hit things hard."

Think that brute force could be useful against the other creatures? I've only met the Nightrenders, but I heard there are others.

I could hold my own against the woman with the swords, at least for a bit. I don't know if physical force would be enough to neutralize her, but it's a possibility.

It's still good news! It could buy someone time to escape if necessary. I'm sure everyone can be useful in some way.

Okay, your good news needs work. Why does it need film? Is there a chance it’s all in their heads and if you hold it up and say click they’ll still be like aaaah!?

[There are honestly no words.]

...Are you serious right now?

Are you? Cameras aren’t weapons. I’m trying to make this make sense.

Why wouldn't I be serious in a moment like this?!

[Mio rolls her eyes.]

Yes, it's a camera, but it is meant to capture things invisible to the naked eye, so it works on ghosts. Sheesh.

I don’t know! People do dumb shit when they’re stressed out, and I think today qualifies as stressful!

[ Tommy doesn’t see why this needs to be explained. ]

So you can take pictures of ghosts? Nope. Still don’t get how it hurts them. They’re ghosts. What does it matter to them if you’ve got them on your insta?

My what now?

[Mio, being from the 80s, has of course no knowledge of what instagram is.]

Whatever. The Camera Obscura has exorcismal power, that's how it hurts them.

Your Instagram. Your Tumblr. Your TikTok. Whatever social media tickles your pickle.

I thought I could ignore it but I can’t. Your camera can do exorcisms? I bet you’re a blast at Burning Man.

There has to be some sort of linguistic barrier because I swear I didn't understand anything of what you just said.

Does. your camera. do exorcisms?

[ Forget the rest of it. Tommy will settle for just getting this one point cleared up. ]

For the third time: yes, it does.

[She rolls her eyes, then proceeds to squint.]

So yes, if someone gets possessed, I will know what to do.

Tell them to strike a pose and then.

[ He mimes taking a picture with an actual camera and even makes a chik-chik sort of sound. ]

So when you develop the film, is the picture of the demon, or the posssed person, or just the person?

Ha-ha, very funny.

[She is a little bit amused, but she won't show it. This is serious, goddammit.]

Depends. Usually it shows both.

[ You can be serious and cool at the same time. ]

So like, hypothetically speaking, say you had someone whose soul was originally a broken off piece of a big name lord of hell’s soul that was magicked into a baby, reabsorbed but then freed and magically grafted itself onto a person but like in a good way. Taking snapshots with that camera is a bad idea, right?

[Mio's expression crumples as if to hold back a 'what the hell?']

Hm, let me think about it...By 'grafted itself onto a person', do you mean something like reincarnation? Because I am pretty sure that in that case it would count as a living being rather than a ghost.

No, I didn’t mean reincarnation. I don’t know what I meant. It was just an made up example.

[ He’s going to avoid her camera. ]

Mh.

[Mio squints.]

Got something you want to share with the class?

Nope. But I’ll let you know if I spot any good coffee shops.

Coffee sh-- What do coffee shops have to do with any of this?!

[This guy, she swears...]

Edited 2021-11-13 11:18 (UTC)

You… asked me if I had anything to share with the class.

[ What, is she dumb or something? Tommy thought it was obvious that he was sarcastically offering to share future info with “the class”. ]

And I don’t, but if I do, I will.

Look,

[she straight up groans]

that example sounded a little bit too detailed to be something you came up with on the spot. If we are actually dealing with something like that, I would appreciate if you told me in advance instead of having me find out the hard way. Can you do that for me?

No, I can’t. Cause it’s a hypothetical and nobody’s asking you to “deal with something like that.”

[ He was only be curious, and doesn’t want or need to know if any part of him can be exorcised. ]

Well, then. See you later, uh...What did you say your name was?

What did you say yours was?

[GOD. Why does everything have to be difficult with this guy?! She just sighs.]

My name is Mio. I said it under Tex's post.

[ He wasn’t paying attention to everything anyone said. Everybody’s blab blab blabbing and not everything’s important. ]

Hey Mio. I’m Tommy.

Alright. See you around, Tommy.

[See? It was not that hard to give a proper response.]

As far as I know I don't have any weapons that can be used against them, but I do...

[Or weapons that can be used against anything normal. She has nothing! Except...

Ange stares at her hands for a moment, out of sight from what the mirror network can show. She doesn't know how to describe it, but she feels like she has something after all. It's this strange knowledge about magic, knowledge she didn't have before appearing in this strange world. It's not even in-depth knowledge, right now it's little more than an inkling, the feeling that, if she studies and works hard at it, she would have a fighting chance.

She hates that so much. This feels like a joke on her expense]

...nevermind. I don't have anything.

[Or it could be she's delirious and in shock after what happened. It'll take a bit before she accepts what perhaps she will be able to do]

At least you have that camera. Good.

Alright. I will let you know if I find something else, you too let me know if you do.

I suppose since we're all together in this some degree of cooperation will be necessary.

[She doesn't...sound terribly happy about it, admittedly]

Those women don't like getting punched in the face.

Interesting. Do you have any idea of the range?

It doesn't have much range, I think it would be around 10 meters. Either way the shots are more effective when the spirits are very close, so I would have to confront them more directly either way.

I see. Was it able to kill these creatures?

I have the ability to transform into a winged creature that can carry a small human through the air for a short period. That might help to exploit the range, possibly.

Unfortunately, I can't be completely sure. I only took a couple of shots as a test and ran away, seemed the most reasonable thing to do.

[She shrugs, then considers the offer.]

But if your offer is still valid, we can try it once to see if I can kill one. Sure, we're going to need backup just in case. Thanks!

Reasonable enough, I suppose. Humans don't move very fast.

[Not compared to aliens shaped like centaurs and flying manta rays, anyway.]

Ideally this offer only comes into play if it becomes necessary, but I imagine it would still take practice. It's difficult to hold on to a flying creature. Having to keep one or both hands free might make the idea outright impossible.

[He's not pleased at the idea of volunteering himself as a mount but it seems logical. Unfortunately.]

I would need to keep both hands free to operate my camera properly, so yeah, it might be difficult. I will still keep your offer in mind, either way I'm sure you could aid someone with another short range weapon so that's good.

Hey, uh.

[Henry is not sure how to go about this.]

Is this offer extended to everyone? I have a magic sword that I think could work.

[ughhh this is why he was reluctant to offer]

Are you a small human?

Huh.

[Yeah, no this is-- this is bad. He's trying to be more sociable in order to help, but he's definitely bad at this. It's already weird enough to ask something - someone? - to ride them to battle, and now having to respond like you're adamant about it is...Look, he just had to suggest something. 6'1 Henry kind of wants to crawl back in the hole, now.]

Not really.

[Silence.]

I'll find another way, don't worry. Thanks!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

After the event

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