[Flashback] Existing Upon, and Below the Surface

[Auldwin]

3rd day of Summer, 510 AV Auldwin had spent his time existing upon the surface of the world. There he met people, interacted with them, spoke with them, and continued to expand his memories of what life could have been like if it had the chance to bloom. Would he simply have continued that static existence, that pitiful excuse he called living? Sometimes he couldn't quite determine, did he miss it, did he regret it, did he detest it? There were no dreams that could haunt him, as he no longer slept. Very little scared Auldwin, what did a Ghost have to fear? There were no predators, no disease, no natural disasters. What could possible befall him? All that was left was to get rid of those few remaining bindings that restricted him. Auldwin looked down at the water, rippling softly against his legs. His body was solidified, albeit somewhat poorly. He worked his skill when he could at Materialization, but the focus it took was straining. Such a shape could not be hold for long until his Soulmist deemed it necessary to rest. "Damn." the man cursed to himself, his legs fading away into the shadowy substance that made up his entirety. He noted something, a school of fish, so colorful attacking tiny creatures or perhaps bits of plant life at the surface of the water and he wondered...could he? Many times had Auldwin Possessed the body of a Humanoid, both male and female. It took time to understand Possession, but he felt a natural pull toward it, a talent he never had in life. It was like inside...he was his own instructor. That Soulmist taught him what to do, showed him the way, showed him the door to true freedom. He just had to let go every so slightly. Let go of his Humanity and join the realm of the beasts, wear their bodies, understand their movements. Concentrating on one fish in particular he picked it out of it's crowd, his sight zeroing in upon it's actions. How it moved, the way it's fins allowed it to glide so smoothly, so beautifully. Could he be beautiful? Soon a tendril of Soulmist fired out from his form and latched against the fish, there would be no pain, only the sense of nothingness. It would be like a dream, one that Auldwin knew all too well. All of his essence poured into that small creature, channeling his power until he felt the weight of it's small body within his 'grasp'. His Soulmist registered the various alien parts. This was what it was like to have to function a tail, fins, eyes on either side of the head. This is what it was to be a fish, and Auldwin was terrible at it.

[Auldwin]

The dorsal fins, the pectoral fins, the caudal fin, there was so much. In his mind Auldwin imagined managing the body of a fish to be a simplistic task. Child's play. The difference between a fish and a man was so great that for quite some time he simply floundered around beneath the surface of the water. He would move slowly in a circle, learning the particular reason for each fin. The fins cut through the water as they had done so many times before for the hapless fish, but this time their efficiency and precision were pathetic shadows of what they should have been. A proper fish could have swam laps around Auldwin's flailing aquatic form. With enough time, the Ghost finally determined how to make the fish move forward, but slowly the body he inhabited started to become less and less responsive. Eventually it failed to move appropriately and he was ejected from the fish. Slowly it's body turned upside-down and floated up to the surface of the water. What happened? Possession had never killed anyone he inhabited just by being there. Suddenly it hit him, out of all of his time fiddling with the creatures fins and working its horizontal body... ...he forgot to use the gills to breathe. Breathing as a Human was something he did in life, and so to do it for a Possessed body seemed reflexive. Even in death Auldwin found himself sighing or gasping for breath, as if there was air for his Soulmist to retrieve oxygen from. A fish had paid the price for his incompetence, but Auldwin seemed mostly unfazed. "On to the next one." he thought to himself, not even taking the time to realize that there was no mourning period for the creature. It was simply a tool to use with which to further his knowledge. Once again his Soulmist fired out. Auldwin was interested that the distance with which he could maneuver things with his Soulmist was much further now. Interesting. He injected himself into another fish, this time putting together the pieces of the puzzle more quickly than his previous attempt. He moved about, forward and to the left and the right, though somewhat sluggishly. He still hadn't mastered the idea of up and down inside a three dimensionally movable space such as water, given he had never swam before even as a Human. Trial and error, the story of a Ghost's life, only now a days the error wasn't quite so costly.

[Auldwin]

Auldwin had to take breaks now and again, lucky for the fish. Possession was easier for the Ghost than Materialization, but was still quite taxing. Like physical training there were times when he just needed to retreat from the body he was inhabiting and take a moment to himself. A moment of rest for his Soulmist, for the ache of such concentration to go away so he could try again a time later. Possessing something for a few minutes was not too difficult. Getting an hour out of a Possession was probably close to impossible, depending on what sort of maneuvers he attempted with the body he Possessed, and how easily he wore it. Auldwin was lucky he was a Ghost, as terrible as the very idea of criticizing his own afterlife in a positive way was. As a Ghost he could maneuver through the water unimpeded, and he could move beneath its surface without a worry of suffocation. This as it was, grabbing another fish in order to Possess it was not that trying an effort. Soon enough another poor subject was close enough for Auldwin to grasp with his Soulmist, but this one was larger than the others. Auldwin did a fine job of forcing that consciousness aside before attempting to trapeze around inside of the fish's body, only to find that this fish was slightly different to maneuver than the first. "What ridiculousness is this!?" his voice echoed to himself, groaining at finding more difficult in this larger fish than the first. With it's longer body, larger tail, and shorter fins the angles with which he had to manipulate the creature were completely different, but not totally unrelated to the first fish. Though he at first had the larger oceanic creature spinning in a barrel formation, it wasn't as long as the first fish until he was moving properly. "C'mon, faster...move faster..." he coaxed, as if his own internal dialog was going to increase his chances at maneuvering the fish. His comfort level began to increase, in turn allowing him to try more difficult things, such as plunging the nose downward and accessing deeper parts of the ocean, where visibility was less. Auldwin found he could reach a decent speed when moving in a straight line, although attempting to turn with any accuracy wasn't without it's almost comical side effects, typically sending his fish body spinning a quarter circle until he was on his side.

[Auldwin]

Moving through that fish's body Auldwin began to experience something he hadn't in quite a while. As a Ghost he couldn't feel all those majestic sensations of being alive, at least not upon his skin. The cool breeze, the warm water, all that was just a memory now. His memories still lived with him, even if his body was dead. Sometimes he could recall how they felt, even though as time continued to pass their memories faded somewhat. The emotions that came from seeing something amazing didn't leave. They stayed, flaring as strong as always. When Auldwin swam down to the bottom of the ocean floor, caught inside of the tropics of the southern most Suvan Sea he saw something he would have never seen as a man, the life of a tropical reef. The sight of it tickled his senses. Indeed, his sight was as grand as ever, perfect even. He had no weakness of the typical Human eye to plague him. No time waiting to adjust to the dark or the light, no burning sensation from the salt in the sea clouding his vision. Everything was crystalline in that warm southern water, the shafts of the sun piercing so far past the brilliant blues of the water he swam in. His Soulmist tingled slightly. Even though he wasn't alive, he felt almost like this was something he would have enjoyed if he was. His desire to experience more of the colors allowed him to relax on focusing upon the motor skills of a fish, which was the most helpful step in learning how to utilize the creature's body. With a twist of his body he curved in a slow arc around one particular protrusion coming up from the floor of the ocean, a few crustacean like bits of life dragging themselves upon the sand of the floor. They kicked up bits of sediment into the surrounding water, clouding their passage slightly like an underwater sandstorm. The ease that everything else moved at made Auldwin pause for a moment, just watching them, studying how they moved. Was he doing it wrong all along? Instead of trying to discover it for himself, was the secret actually watching the professionals and mimicking their movements. "Use the head as a guide..." he noted, watching a long bodied colorful fish darting between some grass-like greenery waving slowly in the motion of the ocean floor. "...where the head goes...the body follows? Keep those fins stable..." he sought to do that fish a compliment by mirroring it's techniques as best he could, like a boy trying to walk just like his father. Was this the feeling of success? The internal emotion of accomplishment? It was something more than that, it was the slightest inkling of a notion that existence as a Ghost didn't have to be all rage and disappointment.

[Auldwin]

Auldwin's time beneath the sea was limited by the power of his Soulmist. While he was no amateur, he couldn't keep up the hold upon a body indefinitely, even the body of a fish. The Ghost could understand the potential usefulness of being able to Possess the creatures of nature, so long as he could function within their foreign bodies. The possibility of harnessing the power of a creature of flight was quite appealing to the Ghost, but he was not skilled enough for that yet. One thing at a time, one foot before the other, so to speak. Once he had the knowledge enough to swim, then he could tackle the more difficult methods of travel. In the back of his mind a faint twinge maneuvered it's way through his Soulmist, an uncomfortable feeling as that essence slowly boiled away, feeding the supernatural power of Possession, allowing this strange union of man and fish. Turning away from the coral, Auldwin twisted that rear fin back and forth, stabilizing the body well enough with his dorsal fins. A small swirl of dirt kicked up from the ocean floor, as close as he had gotten from it when he darted back toward land. The rounded eyes of the fish glanced at their surroundings, Auldwin trying to gauge the depth of the water as he moved. Quicker and quicker he moved toward the surface, until finally he relaxed his hold and flowed free from the bond he had created. His Soulmist rose above the waterline, and he found himself a couple hundred yards from the beach. How much time had been spent down there? He could tell from the ache of his Mist he had probably overdone his capacity for safe Possession, getting caught up in the underwater atmosphere. It was an entire metropolis of sights than he never even dreamed of visiting. What else was left in this world to be seen, he wondered. His Soulmist touched down with the beach shortly there after, the soft surf rolling up upon the shore, moving past the cloudy smoke that invaded the area where his legs would have been. He looked back at where he had just come from, filing the experience as one of the more peaceful days in his death. Perhaps he would do it again simply to pass the time. Idly he wondered what had become of the fish he Possessed, though the thought was kicked quickly from his mind. Why care about something like that? Auldwin had more important things to focus on. Didn't he?

[Growl]

Appreciation Time! Name: Auldwin Experience: +3 Possession Lore: Fish Body VS. Human Body, The Anatomy of a Fish Additional Notes: Not enough materialization used to merit points. PM with questions or concerns.