After the event

[remaininghalf]

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?

Comments

[remaininghalf]

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.

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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?

[remaininghalf]

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.

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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.

[remaininghalf]

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

[slowmotionbuscrash]

Does. your camera. do exorcisms?

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

[remaininghalf]

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.

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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?

[remaininghalf]

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.

[slowmotionbuscrash]

[ 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?

[remaininghalf]

[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.

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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. ]

[remaininghalf]

Mh.

[Mio squints.]

Got something you want to share with the class?

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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

[remaininghalf]

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

[This guy, she swears...]

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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.

[remaininghalf]

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?

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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. ]

[remaininghalf]

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

[slowmotionbuscrash]

What did you say yours was?

[remaininghalf]

[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.

[slowmotionbuscrash]

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

Hey Mio. I’m Tommy.

[remaininghalf]

Alright. See you around, Tommy.

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