[The Stone Garden] Dancing for the Dead (Dead)

[Flur]

Armesi Rulf "True immortality is no the lack of death, but rather the abundance of opportunity." Stepping forward, Flur placed herself between Vance and Ora. Pointing accusingly at Vance, she spoke. "Don't talk down to me. Obviously it does concern me, or I wouldn't have asked. I don't know about you, but I'm fixing my dead status soon enough.. I'm working on acquiring a vessel to live through.. What are you doing, mopping? Unless you were "enjoyed" by bandits before being decapitated, I guarantee my death was more traumatic; so lose the attitude." She explained, irritation clear in her voice. Turning to Ora, she smiled and spoke. "Anyways, as you wish, on to happier topics.. Hmn.. what brings you to this part of the city? I'm here because its.. peaceful?" She explained Staring at Naledi for several moments, Flur hesitated for a moment. Opening her mouth and closing it, she watched the cat for a little more. Leaning down, she knelt and spoke directly to Naledi. "You feel different than any other cat I've ever met.. what are you really?" She asked She really wasn't sure what Naledi was, and for all she knew she was little more than an odd spirited cat.. Still, she was doing her best to persuade Naledi to open up.

[Naledi]

The cat stared up at each (person? Are these people?) … being in turn. All of them pale. Agitated. The cat knows agitated. She can see agitated, she can feel agitated. She can feel when somebody is happy or sad. As a human, she can only see it. But as a cat, she can feel it.

What a terrible way to die, the cat thought. A surge of some strange emotion welled in her chest. She wanted to press herself against the ghost-girl, to give her back some warmth, but the cold kept her at bay. The cat feared cold.

She knows, she knows, the cat thought. Oh gods, she knows, the dead girl knows. The dead boy knows, too, he’s looking at me strangely. Will they tell on me?

A hundred images flickered through the cat’s mind, starting with her master Skylar’s face and ending with a flash of fear. Fear seemed to be a lot of what the cat was feeling, lately.

If Skylar knew she was leaving without asking… the cat didn’t know what Skylar would do. The Nuit was unpredictable. Frightening. But more than anything, the cat was afraid of Skylar being disappointed in her.

The cat’s head reeled. There was very little stimuli she could handle as of late. It was a bit much. Dancing, dead, swirling mist, dead, white, grey, stones, breeze, fear… It all confused her. This isn’t what it’s supposed to be like. This is human mind. Cats are never so confused. Cats don’t need reason or irrational fear. Cats are afraid of bigger animals, of cold nights, of unseen foes. Cats are not confused by emotion. She hated this, the split-mind. The cat disliked the human, but then again, cats disliked people in general. The human disliked the cat, but humans disliked everything. Both of them hated the split.

The cat, however, did not change. But she did try to creep closer to the ghost-girl, mewing again and stopping before she touched the ghost’s soulmist. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she touched it.

I am different. I can be human. But it’s not safe for me right now. I don’t know, I don’t know.

[Vance]

Vance could have hit the girl right now, but he wasn't too sure how to go about that process, seeing as they were both ghosts and all. He couldn't stand it; how she thought they had anything to do with each other just because they were both dead and lingering; it's like she was treating their situation as some sort of game that she was just going to beat. "I'm not looking to compare our lives, since we're both just as royally screwed if you hadn't noticed. Go find a Nuit to infect you or something, and stop assuming I'm looking for the same things as you." As much as he hated her right now though, he envied how she could go about as though this was some mere obstacle in her life, which was long gone at this point. The cat, however, seemed to have a better impression of her than he did. It went as far as to approach it up until it was only inches away from the soulmist. Now it was impossible not to tell that the animal was either lacking animal instinct or possessing a more human behavior. Since dieing, Vance had been quick to notice that most all animals (probably especially cats), had been avoiding him in the mile radius. It wasn't very hard to discern that they could tell that he should not be here. He dismissed his doubts when Ora asked them to stop bickering. Clearly, she was unhappy about the whole mess. Oh man, I upset her, he thought, averting his eyes from hers. Why do I keep messing shit up, his annoyance towards the ghost was suddenly directed to himself as he obediently made his way over to where Ora was pointing. He sat on the bench (or at least appeared to), buried his face in his hands and tried to sort his mind out a little. Sure, the dead girl was annoying to say the least, but at least she was managing with being a ghost a lot better than he was. He made things worse by staying, but from what he could gather the girl was getting things in order to make her existence better. His soulmist stopped its rageful motions and settled as he reasoned with himself.

[Ora Sa'vina]

Ora frowned, her hands twisting each other as the two ghosts snapped at each other. Her eyes followed Vance as he spoke to the female ghost, he was greatly upset, and she understood why he would be. Her eyes moved from the pair of ghosts to the small cat in the midst of everything, she had seemed to have calmed down enough.

The womans attention moved to follow Vance with her eyes as he walked to the bench and sat, his head falling into his hands. The woman frowned and sat down next to him, giving his soulmist space. "Vance?" Ora asked quietly, her eyes looking at his transparent figure. "I am sorry for that, will you be alright?" Her tone was thoughtful and concerned, she didn't want to pry, but she could tell what had happened was more than just slightly upsetting. Her eyes moved to look over the stones at surrounded them before looking back at Vance. "What brought you here today, if you do not mind my asking, Vance?"

[Leviathan]

Thread Award! Ora Sa'vina Exp +2 Dancing, +1 Observation, +1 Persuasion Lore Respect for the Dead Knights Vance Exp +1 Observation Lore Konti Dance (basic) Naledi Exp +1 Detection Lore Konti Dance (basic) Flur Exp +1 Interrogation Lore N/A Additional Comments It's a shame this thread wasn't continued. If anybody has any questions or concerns about the thread, feel free to PM me.