ofeventualities | closed to long_live_the

The momentary quiet isn't unwelcome, as it gives Jade some time to put her thoughts together. Not to mention burn through more of her pipe, the peaceweed calming her nerves on top of reducing her Fever's symptoms.

When she hears the apparition speak again, she's mostly smoking dregs from her pipe. Jade sighs, reaching into her bag and rummaging through its contents.

"Yes, well... that's not necessarily a bad thing." Her mouth pressed into a thin line. "I'd hate to be what constitutes as 'normal' around these parts."

Jade herself is far from normal, devoid of the same piety and prudish behavior many people in this country and her homeland share.

Pulling out a book from her bag, Jade leans back, looking at Kaede from over the campfire. Her attention falls keenly on those horns on her head.

"Whereabouts are you from, anyways? I'm not the most well-traveled, but I've never seen anyone who looks like you before." Is that a rude thing to ask? Because it's something Jade had been wondering ever since she first bound this apparition to her.

The specter made a quiet huff, though she did glance over when Jade's movement caught her peripheral vision.

"K̷a̸m̵a̴k̵u̸r̵a̵.̶ ̶ ̷D̷o̸n̶'̷t̷ ̴t̶h̸i̸n̶k̶ ̴y̴o̶u̷ ̸c̵a̸n̶ ̷g̶e̴t̴ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̵f̴r̶o̶m̸ ̶h̶e̵r̸e̵.," the ghost said, unperturbed by the question.

At first, Kaede had assumed the strange stars were simply a fact of the afterlife, gleaming bright above purple smoke. But...it was odd. There were more things that seemed alive than dead. Things she couldn't touch, flowers that grew, the endless cycle of day and night continuing like a clock still in motion. The ghost was the only thing that was stopped at the hour. Everything else in the world carried on without her.

"Ka-ma-kur-a." Jade sounds out each syllable as if it would help her better understand, but it's pointless in the end -- she's never heard of such a place before.

Still feeling the effects of her Fever, Jade dumps out the contents of her pipe and replaces the dregs with a new batch of petals.

"And does... everyone have horns in this Kamakura?"

This time she does snort. "N̴o̴t̴ ̷a̴t̵ ̵a̴l̸l̶.̴ ̶ ̷J̷u̴s̴t̵ ̷m̸e̷,̵ ̴a̴n̶d̵.̴.̶.̴a̴ ̷f̷e̶w̴ ̴o̷t̷h̴e̷r̸s̷.̶," the ghost said, pausing at the end enough that the echoes nearly stopped before she continued.

"W̶e̵'̴r̸e̴ ̷d̸i̸c̷l̷o̸n̶i̸u̶s̷.̸ ̸ ̵E̷v̵e̵r̷y̵o̶n̷e̸ ̴e̷l̷s̵e̶ ̶i̴s̴ ̷h̵u̴m̵a̵n̵.̷ ̵ ̸A̶n̵d̸ ̴n̷o̵ ̶o̵n̵e̸ ̵g̵e̷t̴s̷ ̷a̷l̸o̷n̶g̷.̶" The last part was almost a morose mutter than clear words, even more echoey and melancholy than the last. It wasn't entirely true; her other self could coexist with others just fine. Her other self was...happy, without effort. And then there was Kaede, the monster who clawed through the mirror's glass. Who only found fleeting happiness in time to make its absence twist the knife that much more.

The picture painted in Jade's head isn't entirely that of another world. She's still trying to wrap her head around just who and what this mysterious soul she'd stumbled upon really is.

"Tales as old as time," Jade scoffs, purple smoke pluming from her mouth and nostrils. "You'd probably feel right at home here, and in the worst way. Seems like everybody's always at each other's throats."

Considering how often thieves and cutthroats have attempted to ambush Jade, be it on the roads or off the beaten path, it probably goes without saying.

She sighs, taking another drag from her pipe. "Heck. I left my home to escape war, only to bring it here. That's what it feels like, at least."

No matter where she goes, bad shit follows suit.

Edited 2023-09-23 00:48 (UTC)

Though she had no breath to do so, the ghost still seemed to sigh herself; a quiet, tired noise. "T̴h̴a̷t̶'̵s̶ ̴h̵o̴w̵ ̸i̴t̸ ̵a̶l̶w̸a̸y̸s̴ ̵g̵o̷e̵s̵,̵ ̷i̸s̷n̴'̶t̴ ̷i̶t̴.̵"

Kaede glanced away from the trailing smoke, again at the strange horizon that now was the only one she could see.

"A̶ ̷l̶i̵v̴i̴n̷g̶ ̵n̶i̷g̸h̷t̶m̴a̴r̴e̸ ̷y̸o̴u̷'̷l̶l̷ ̴n̵e̸v̷e̵r̸ ̷l̷e̶a̸v̵e̸ ̸b̸e̴h̵i̷n̷d̴.̴" A pause, and the specter snorted a dry and mirthless rattle. "G̶u̷e̸s̷s̴ ̷n̷o̵t̵ ̴s̵o̵ ̵m̸u̸c̶h̵ ̶t̷h̵e̷ ̷l̷i̸v̴i̶n̸g̶ ̸p̴a̵r̶t̴.̶"

"Can't say it isn't always deserved," Jade scoffs. "I certainly shouldn't even be here."

Both literally and metaphorically. She should have been dead at the bottom of the Red Sea, lungs filled with saltwater.

She closes her eyes and smokes, trying not to imagine her own rotting corpse.

"But, well... Maybe there's something I can do about what ails you. Somehow."

Jade isn't one to believe things happen for a reason, but the fact that Kaede is the first communicative ghost has to mean something, right?

"L̴i̴k̷e̵ ̷w̵h̷a̸t̸?̷ ̶ ̵I̴'̸m̶ ̶a̶l̵r̴e̵a̵d̸y̷ ̴d̷e̵a̸d̵.̵" Kaede's thoughts, as usual, were bitter ones. What was the point of fixing something that had already been cast aside? She didn't belong in the world she'd been born in. So she left. Wasn't that enough? What was therapy, anyway?

"M̸o̶r̴e̴ ̸t̷r̷a̴n̶q̷u̸i̴l̴ ̴t̸h̷a̸n̴ ̸I̷ ̶t̷h̷o̸u̴g̷h̸t̷ ̶d̴e̴a̴t̷h̷ ̵w̵o̸u̶l̷d̶ ̷b̴e̸,̷ ̸a̸t̴ ̴l̸e̸a̷s̷t̴.̵" Noticeably fewer flames, somewhat less screaming. Still hostility, but far less than any depiction of hell she'd heard of.

"Tranquil is probably not the word I'd use, but okay..."

True, it's arguably better than being dead. Or is it? When you're frequently attacked by brigands, undead, as well as crazed red-eyed people and rabid animals, a moment of peace is a rare blessing.

Kind of like right now, really. Despite the initial eight-legged scare, she's actually having a nice chat over a campfire. There's gotta be something to say about that, right?

"Don't you wanna... I dunno. Move on or something? Find peace, or whatever it is that dead people do?" At least that's the impression Jade always got.

There's no eternal fires, demons ducking her in boiling water constantly, or screaming that had gone on so long no one cared to listen to it anymore. Just moments of fighting and death and bloody violence like she'd known when alive. No--that she'd numbed herself to.

But this sort of thing she hadn't grown numb to at all.

Kaede didn't answer immediately. Or meet Jade's gaze. But unlike the disengaged air she'd worn before, the ghost seemed to shift on feet that no longer touched solid ground, and tense up her shoulders.

"W̸͎̊h̷̻̄y̴͈̆?̷͕̇" Was all the ghost said, for awhile. The specter's voice was much more distorted than it was just moments ago.

"I̵ ̵d̵o̸n̷'̸t̵ ̷d̷e̸s̴e̵r̸v̵e̶ ̷t̶h̸a̸t̵ ̸p̴e̴a̸c̶e̴.̷"

Eternal damnation is the kind of thing that theists believe in. Jade never bought into that stuff, and even now with her skills in Phasmalism, she still doesn't, if only because she never thought of this as an 'afterlife' for the souls. It's just another state of being -- a piece of remain that's unable to pass on.

"Y'know, I don't think it's about whether someone's deserving of it or not. No one should be stuck in this existence. Something like that... would just drive about anyone insane, I think."

Even if this spirit proved to be helpful in a variety of ways, Jade would never want to keep using her if it kept her in this reality.

Jade shrugs. "And besides... I'm no saint, either."

closed to long_live_the_queen.

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