Ghosts, Goats, and Guys (Moritz)

[Alice Weaver]

17th of Spring, 522

It was always a new experience to go anywhere while wrapped up in Cavan, who was in turn wrapped up in too much fabric and gloves to blunt any sharp sensations, but Alice would never give him up. But after the nausea that washed over them from stepping through the dovecot to the Outpost, they were rethinking their position on the fact.

A strong hand caught them by the top of the arm as their feet faltered from the sudden shift and they began to pitch forward.

“Woah there! You alright lad?” And they turned up to meet eyes with Paul. They’ve met Paul before but Paul hadn’t met them in this body.

“I’m alright. Thank you,” They responded as they pulled themselves back to their feet. “The transition was always strange to me.”

Not really a lie as it was strange to Alice being able to step such vast distances in mere moments. They’d just never really felt the physical sensation of stepping through. Having a stomach did, in fact, come with some drawbacks to living.

“Ah, so not your first time here I take it then? You won’t be needing a map?”

“No, I don’t think so. But if I get turned around I’ll be sure to ask you. My sense of direction is terrible at times.”

“Well don’t let old me stop you from getting to where you need to go. Enjoy the Outpost.”

“I will,” They nodded their thanks and stepped out into the Outpost proper following the one path she knew from her walk here with Moritz, moving towards the Open Sky Bazaar.

They could hear the Bazaar before they could even see it. It was a veritable cacophony of sound that radiated from many voices, people hawking their deals, their wears, in unison with the sounds of haggling and joy at finding a deal or getting a deal. The wall of sound pricked at their newly sensitive ears. The physical feedback was much stronger than what they had to deal with as a ghost who just kind of resonated with the waves in the air to hear.’ But with a living, breathing body they could feel the sound like a physical thing.

It traveled through the warm air as a current that split around their head, flowing into their ears and deeper into their bones. It was disconcerting to be able to feel the sound resonating through the ground and up into their chest, vibrating all the way. Most people might have filtered that out by not the Spirit. They were still too unused to the going about of a normal body. For The Gods sake, they could track each individual heartbeat and feel the pulse of blood that surged under their skin. Slowly but surely they were learning to tune that out but it was still there.

Their senses got another lightning bolt down the spine when they rounded the corner from behind a building and ran face-first into the Bazaar proper. The sound doubled…no tripled in intensity causing them to flinch and wrap a scarf tighter around their head, dampening the noise that pierced their eardrums.

Their stomach gave a large lurch and green colored their features as too many conflicting scents washed over their nose, sending it twitching like a rabbit. The smells of fatty meat, strong metals, and flowers fought to be the most prominent scent in their nose. They had to wrap the scarf tighter around their face to block out some of the offending stimuli, leaving just their eyes visible with a few strands of hair rebelliously peeking out. A swallow took care of the acrid, burning taste of bile in their mouth as they took a shaky step forward into the crush of bodies.

Oh gods everyone is so gross! Was their only thought as they had to feel the pressure of bodies move past them, flesh deforming and springing back as elbows caught their sides and hands firmly moved them out of the way as they froze from the feeling.

Only to let out a deeply disturbed shudder as a wet arm, coated in sweat ghosted across their exposed forearms leaving a sheen of not their bodily fluids behind that quickly began to dry and itch from the film left behind.

That put a spring in their step as they pushed through the crowd with renewed vigor and broke through the wall of flesh into a little pocket of safety, gasping for breath. Safety that was coated in knives, arrows, bows, and all other sorts of murderous weapons all laid out on a purple rug and rough wooden table, tended to by an older looking blacksmith with a scar running down the left side of his face.

Just about all a girl could ever want really.

[Moritz Craven]

17 Spring 522

Ever since Alric had told Moritz about Voril weapons the prior season the Kelvic had kept an interest in them.

The idea of a weapon of magic, or imbued with magic, or... Something, involving magic... While he was a bit vague on the specifics from what Alric had told him and that he could remember, it was still enough that he was interested in finding one and buying it if he got the chance.

And so any time he got a chance to visit the market in the Outpost he usually asked about them, trying to see if anyone had one or knew about them. So far no luck, but it didn't mean he would quit.

Having some extra time that day Moritz had made another trip tot he Outpost through the dovecote, stepping from a hot and humid climate to a hot and dry one, waving at the map man whose name he kept forgetting as he entered.

As usual he was not overly burdened or dressed, not if he wanted avoid dying of heatstroke. Instead he was simply wearing his normal one piece button up silk suit that covered all of him but his hands, feet, and neck, though he felt that was enough. Besides oddly enough showing his name on the front it also shifted with him, which for a Kelvic meant a lot more seeing as it meant he wasn't in danger of ruining anything or having to take the time to get naked to shift.

He also wore some sandals he had acquired with a ghost while being possessed, a charm bracelet on one wrist he could not remove, and the likewise embedded star in one of his hands he could not remove.

Outside of his clothing the only other thing he had on was his pack which held various tools and items he might need along with some money in case he decided to make a purchase.

Traveling lightly as such Moritz spent a few moments getting his bearings before turning and heading towards the market. He had been there enough times to know where the place was, and did not have much trouble getting right to it. However once actually at the market or bazaar and thrust into the overwhelming sounds, smells, and sights, he was left to try and work out how to find anything.

Stopping to get a Keiss attention Moritz got some directions, explaining in a series of lies that he had been sent by an important merchant and needed to find a certain item, and so was looking for the weapons area. The woman didn't even blink at his odd explanation or abundance of details, simply responding happily. "Sure, just head that way, and move down two rows... Then take a right turn, and you can't miss it."

With a nod and a wave Moritz headed back into the crush of people, working his way along the route he had been given... Of in this direction... Then along and across to the next row... Then the one after that... And at that one a right turn... And... There...

At the general area of where he had been sent Moritz spent a few moments looking around and once more getting his bearings before taking in the wares. On one side was a woman with a series of... Piles of things? Looking a bit closer he realized it was bundles of some type of arrow, though each row of these seemed slightly different. Some had small heads, other large, other barbed, and other extra pointy. And then there was one with a almost blunt head, which Moritz puzzled on the usage of for a few moments.

Looking around he took in the booths, noticing more further along the row along with others with things spread out across the ground or on a carpet. Though, the Kelvic felt, the booth looked nicer and raised things closer to eye level than the things on the ground, which he supposed was some sort of business tactic.

Finding a person who worked at a stall and did not look busy Moritz began asking questions, trying to find some things out again.

"Excuse me. I have a friend, not me I'm not overly interested, but a friend who is looking for a Voril weapon. Do you have any, or know anything about anyone who might have some?"

WC: 731

[Alice Weaver]

Out of the way of the main crowd and, more tucked off to the side Alice was able to recover their thoughts and calm their body. The sensations that wracked their body were flowing away as she felt something akin to excitement bubble up from where Cavan’s soul normally would have been as their body swept its eyes over the assortments of blades, whips, and other weapons. Their eyes lingered for heartbeats longer on the bows that hug on display racks as the excitement abruptly faded as Alice turned inwards to find the source.

It seemed the body wasn’t all that empty after all. It was equal parts concerning and calming to know that she did not eat someone's soul or something to get this body but also the fact that a goddess stuck her in a body that she may or may not have ripped someone's soul out of…

Nevertheless, it didn’t stop her from indulging the few…urges the body got every now and then. She only thought it fair, except for that one time with an attractive blonde-haired woman. Alice wasn’t quite ready to flip the script that far yet. But looking at weapons? She could do that. As soon as she made her intentions clear to look at the weapon the unnaturally involved Grace that Cavan could do snapped back into place and sensation flooded their limbs again. Here away from the food and floral scent, the taste of iron flowed across their tongue and the sharp tang of metal and oil floated through the air.

They unwrapped the scarf from around their face as they took a deep, cleansing breath and carefully pushed deeper into what seemed to be the weapons district of the Outpost. Cavan’s long, smooth strides send them swimming across a sea of metal and sharp objects as their heels barely struck the ground. It was more a stalk than a walk, they absently realized, but the smooth and quiet motion felt the most right to use. Perhaps the muscle memory of always walking quietly as a hunter was ingrained into the muscles. They preferred to be quiet anyway, instincts and ghost both agreeing that noise was always optional and never required.

Besides, it kept them to the side and away from more crowded areas where they could let Cavan’s sea-green eyes overtaken by Alice’s grey rove the great swaths of metal that stirred a bit of excitement in their chest.

They were hunched over a few bows, compound and standard short bows if Cavan’s knowledge was to be trusted, picking them apart for flaws while blocking out the babble of the stall owner trying to sell them on these ‘one of a kind bows.’ Their eyes were caught by a bow formed of dark laminated wood with streaks of silver running through the wood in soft whorls. It was a compound bow and a little expensive but Alice only had disposable income and there was an ache in Cavan’s heart to own something as nice as this. The sensation faded as they silently slid the money to the vendor and slung the bow over their back. The quivers here weren’t the best quality and neither were the arrows so they would go look elsewhere. Besides, they wanted to pick up a knife or a close-range weapon.

They were still torn if they wanted to learn a weapon or learn how to fight with their hands. Hands would be more applicable to anyone they possess but a blade would be more effective against targets that couldn’t give two craps about their fists. They would pick one or the other after a while. They could learn both but that seemed inefficient. There was an appeal to punching someone in the face, however. But a dagger or sword wasn’t that expensive so they could try both and see which one jived the most with them. There was a voice in the back of their head that seemed to be confident of the ‘I want to punch people in the face’ route and they realized it to be her older brother's voice. The one she always mock fought to pass the times.

They smiled at the memory as they moved on to look for their quiver and arrows, cherishing the memory before a voice broke them out of their reminiscing.

“Excuse me. I have a friend, not me I'm not overly interested, but a friend who is looking for a Voril weapon. Do you have any, or know anything about anyone who might have some?"

The cadence of speaking was what caught their ear from across the market if the words confused them a bit of confusing.

A large smile broke across their face as they spotted a large poof of bright pink hair and square shoulders.

They moved before they could truly realize that they were in a complete stranger's body to him as they shouted as they grabbed the man into a hug from the side.

“Moritz! It's so great to see you. What are the odds? How’s Syka! Is it hot? When are you coming home! Madeira is always out being ‘Tower that, tower this, Dusk, Dusk, Dusk.’ So it's just me and Infinity left behind. We miss you.” They tipped their head up as they took a step back and blew a few strands of hair from their eyes. “Also, when did you get so damn tall? What are they feeding you in that jungle…” Moritz was a good three inches taller than Cavan who was at a solid five foot ten and they had to really tilt their head back to meet his eyes. Something was bugging them, however.

“Oh! Right. You haven’t seen Cavan before. It's me, Alice. It's a long story that involves a goddess but this is…tangentially my body for a time.”

They adjusted the bow further up their shoulders as they bounced lightly from one foot to another, its been far too long since they’ve had a good chat with their extended Spiritist family.

Secret :

Composite Bow 75 gm

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz was listening as the stall owner shook his head and explained they didn't have such a thing, when he suddenly sensed something moving on his side. He was only starting to turn as he saw the motion but did not have time to react before the motion was grabbing him.

It took him another few seconds to realize the person was not attacking him, but hugging him in a odd hug from the side. Though turning to gaze at them he did not recognize the persons face. Admittedly, Moritz acknowledged, just because he didn't recognize the person did not mean they had not met. Or perhaps they knew his mother or by some other inderect means? He was unsure which it was but was fairly certain he wasn't familiar with this hugger.

However when the man began to speak and say various things it seemed to indicate they did know him! They knew he was from Syka, that it was normally hot, they knew his mother and where she worked... And that he had left home among other details not too many people knew. At least not too many random people.

Logically, Moritz appraised, either this person really did know him well and was just meeting him by chance, or this man knew of him and had not met him by chance but had been seeking him out. In the case of the latter the most likely reasons seemed spying or plotting some sort of crime, perhaps even an assassination... Though he was fairly certain such in Syka was not too common, nor in the Outpost with the rules it had... Which left only Lhavit. Perhaps someone there plotting against his mother, or trying to gain some info through him?

If nothing else the person seemed excited as they approached, as they announced they weren't really this person but instead... Alice? Alice? Moritz tried to recall who he knew that name from, and as he did he looked down at his shoes and recalled the ghost he had met prior in the Outpost named Alice who he had purchased those shoes with. Sandals. And... This person was professing to be her, a ghost.... In a temporary body? From meeting a godesss? This just raised more questions than anything else. He didn't trust some random guy claiming to be a female ghost he had met before, not when it was possible others would know that detail.

Of course since everything he said was a lie, the opposite was conveyed. Assuming, as many in Syka seemed to, that they didn't just think he was trying for sarcasm. Perhaps it was his semi-dead pan inflection and delivery which didn't seem to change much besides increasing or decreasing in terms of volume.

"Oh yes hello Alice. I implicitly and immediately trust you, and have no doubts that you are in fact a formerly body less dead person who has now taking up residence in a body. Yep, no reason to doubt that at all. Truly that clarifies everything, and I need no further facts or clarification. I mean, that's a totally normal thing, happens all the time. In fact your the third ghost I've met who told me just that."

"Also I've not gotten taller, everything else just seems to slowly be shrinking. But since everything but me is shrinking while I stay the same, everyone just assumes I'm getting bigger and everything else is staying the same size. You've got to look very closely, but I've found some proofs to back this up."

Scratching the back of his neck Moritz blew some hair out of his eye which had shifted when he was bumped by someone passing close by.

WC: 617

[Alice Weaver]

Huh. Maybe they rushed into this a little quickly as Mortiz wasn’t present for the whole ‘I’m going to die in a swamp,’ and the ‘don’t worry Maderia if you do die I’ll come back again to watch over Moritz for you,’ thing. Admittedly the promise was just given in the context to keep them both alive but it seemed to have affected them more than they thought. It didn’t help that they had Maderia’s memories of Moritz from Graceful possession and Infinity’s stories of them. They knew Moritz better than he knew them. So it was not all that strange that he seemed to not remember them.

But even from their brief interactions, this was not Moritz, or at least mentally Moritz.

“Uh…yes. Yes, I am? It's a long story but Mads and I got transported to a swamp and had to fight for survival and as a reward, I got this body from Caiyha. It's a lot to take in and this is quite odd I’ll admit. I would show you but that would involve me exiting Cavan and sending him sprawling across the floor.”

They rubbed a finger across the small amount of stubble Cavan was growing. They made an absent note to shave as they thought about what to say. “We met in this Outpost. I have red hair, been dead almost eight years now, I bought you those sandals you had while possessing you…we had a talk about…lying if I recall correctly? Or more the morality of lying and when or if someone should ever lie.”

They shrugged.

“Also what happened to you? I’ve never heard you tell a lie before or sass someone before. You are blunter and to the point last time I met. Has the Sykan heat scrambled your brains?”

They clapped their hands in front of their chest. “Anyways! Mads is going to be so happy to hear that you are alright and so is Infinity. It might finally stop trying to get me to walk across the ocean to Syka to check-in. It is a very persistent piece of architecture.” They narrow their eyes for a second, “You don’t need me in Syka, right? Because I do sort of have things going on in Lhavit at the moment and I think I have a good chance of getting lost at sea if I just walk across the ocean to get to you.”

It was still bugging them however that Moritz lied to her. And not even a good lie or a spiritist Lie. Just a bald-faced lie that wouldn’t even trick a rock. Ioun was writhing in pain at the terrible falsehoods that were spilling from the kelvic’s mouth.

“Are you sure you are ok? You feel…wrong and this is coming from someone who was inside your body half Graced” The Spirit put genuine concern into their voice, finding it much easier to emote with a physical body as Moritz did feel quite different. Before he felt like a solid mass of rock to her ghostly instincts that told of him being a challenging person to possess but now that rock was covered in a sort of slime and the rock was always changing shape. It was just odd on top of odd for the pink-haired boy.

[Moritz Craven]

While Moritz had tried to reach out to his mother a few times since leaving Lhavit his mother had yet to answer any of those times. She had seemed to him quite upset when he was leaving, but since he had left he had not heard anything but random bits from other people he met in the Outpost who knew her. He had even said when leaving they could meet at the outpost, but she hadn't... Even if she was busy, Moritz reasoned, it meant she had not actively made time to meet with him. If so, surely then meeting with him wasn't all that important to her.

Hearing more things about his mother and how she missed him just seemed to conflict with what he knew about her, in that she had not reached out at all to him since he left.

Being busy himself while living in Syka, trying to figure things out, learn new skills, and overall survive, the Kelvic didn't think it was fair for him to be the only one making an effort in things.

Now this person who professed to be a woman ghost temporarily in a mans body was also telling him about a... Trip to a swamp she/he had taken with his mother? Though from how she said it it wasn't fully her body, but some sort of blank body seeing as without her possessing and controlling it the body would become inanimate. A comatose person maybe, or something similar?

He vaguely knew of the Goddess Caiyha, having been to her arbor or the location near Syka with her name in it were he had met a Jamoura, so the term did strike a memory.. Though as he thought on that he could not recall who he had gone with. Oralie and... Someone else... Who had it been? Had someone else been with them? Surely so if they had gone into the jungle, as neither he nor Oralie were that skilled, but who had it been?

At her query on lies Moritz simply held up his hands and shrugged, unable to properly communicate things.

"Lies? Eh, when did I lie? Don't think I've done that, perhaps your simply misremembering it? I'm totally fine, yep nothing at all occurred to me or is affecting me nor Syka, everything is super normal there, no odd goings or anything untoward going on. Nope, I'm the same as I've always been. And yes I recall Alice well, green hair, hooked nose, one ear missing, habit of chewing her lip. Yep, just like I met you yesterday."

"And yes my mother, I'm sure she is quite worried, I mean all the letters I've gotten and the times she's reached out, honestly its been a bit distracting the number of times he's contacted me. Why just a few days ago she was trying to drag me home, she is after all a very involved parent as she always has been. Always keeping apprised of the comings and goings on of her children."

The more questions asked and the more he answered the more Moritz had trouble keeping the flow of words out. It was almost like his lips has a mind of their own, and the more he tried to say one thing the more it worked to say the opposite.

"Nope don't have need of any help with anything, everything is going great and haven't had any trouble since I arrived. Made plenty of friends, keep quite busy, its a very friendly and social place from what I've seen. In fact all of my endeavors there have been progressing quite nicely."

While Moritz knew some of the effects of the suit he wore, namely of being able to shift in it with it changing with him, its effects on ghosts and enhancement of fighting off possessions were not things he knew about the item of clothing. He had simply been wearing it for its other benefits, and was unaware of such things. If Alice was sensing some enhancement of his abilities, other than perhaps a bit of gained skill in such things, it was likely due to that effect he was unaware of.

"Though I would be genuinely interested to hear of all the goings on of you since we last met, I'm sure there is quite a few interesting things and events that I would love to hear of."

WC: 734

[Alice Weaver]

This whole conversation felt off to the Ghost. It wasn’t that Moritz didn’t have a right to be suspicious but it just seemed he was being more…obtuse than usual. Gods, this was the boy who let a stranger ghost possess him on their first meeting! They never expected to have to deeply prove who they were!

But it didn’t just seem to be that. If anything the Kelvic seemed to be exaggerating, conflating, and even straight lying to them.

When Moritz talked about how his mother was assuredly quite worried and made tons of time to contact him as well as drag him home, it's when they had a realization. Moritz was speaking in opposition. Alice was under no illusions that Moritz’s mother would do that. Their parenting style could be seen as very hands-off even in the best of cases. The statement that his mother missed him was truly just something nice they said since every kid wanted to hear that, no? Alice sure did and wished their mother said that more often to them but it seemed to have backfired ever so lightly. Master negotiator they were not, at least not yet.

“I’m a little hurt you don’t remember me…” Alice said as they pulled Cavan’s face into a slight pout as they thought about how to go about this twisted conversation.

“You aren’t going to give a straight answer no matter how I ask it, right?” They sighed and let their shoulders drop. “And I doubt you’ll tell me if this is an elaborate prank or if you've had some terrible accident and can no longer speak in a straight line.”

“So if this is a prank or a joke I’m going to make a fool of myself here but let’s see. ‘Made a lot of friends' means I’m in good standing with about two people and the others tolerate me. ‘Very friendly and social place’ I’m sure you can flip that one in your head. ‘All of my endeavors are progressing nicely’ means you hit a wall and are stuck at the moment. Is any of this hitting close to home?” They cocked their head and gave a grin that Alice always stretched across their ethereal form.

“I’m also going to choose to take that last statement as sarcasm and not bore you with some of the things I’ve gotten up to. Besides, the fewer people that know what went on the better,” They let out a small laugh and shook their head.

“But I can’t prove myself any more than I already have. So won’t you trust me and tell me what’s going on, Moritz?” They spoke as they pushed the slightest strand of djet from their voice as they wrapped a suggestion around Moritz. They rationalized the use of mind-altering djet on their friend as one in use of keeping him safe and adhering to their promise to his mother. They couldn’t help if they couldn’t understand. “And please, tell me without saying the opposite.” As the djet dropped from their voice and they awaited its impact.

[Moritz Craven]

Moritz simply shrugged in response to the ghost woman in a mans body's words, not able to communicate anything without being affected by his affliction. It seemed to though depend on what he himself thought was communication, what he believed, and so did not affect shrugging. Plus, he supposed, much of what she had just said was more talking to herself or stating something rather than actually asking him anything.

With that in mind he simply let her/him continue speaking as they said what they thought, neither agreeing nor disagreeing since he knew trying to do either would simply end with it being reversed, and so he simply responded with another noncommittal shrug..

When she actually seemed to ask him a question Moritz ended up responding, but as usual did so in a reversed way such that it was made into a lie. He meant the one thing in his head, tried to communicate them, but as they moved across and were expressed by his body by movement or word they ended up coming out wrong.

Moritz felt a slight tingle for a moment, though he was unsure what it was, and looked around to try to find what had just brushed up against him. However he didn't see anything close by, and so was unsure what it had been. Had he imagined it? He was almost certain he had felt... Something... Like a breeze of fingers almost touching his skin but not... But... In a different way... But as soon as it had come it was gone, leaving him to wonder if he had imagined it all.

If Moritz had been willfully lying her suggestion might have worked on him, or at least helped a little bit in convincing him to be truthful... As much as a single suggestion laid a single time could do so. But seeing as Moritz was already trying to tell the truth and the other effect was causing the output to be a lie without affecting his input, it had no actual affect. He simply continued to try to tell the truth, and ended up lying.

"Of course I trust you Alice, why wouldn't I? I mean I pride myself on being an open and trusting person, who never questions anything or anyone. Its just not in my nature, you know? Everything I have said is completely true."

Moritz had already tried lying, but had learned that did not work. After all the effect was not in truth a reversal, but a compulsion to exude lies. If he tried to tell the truth, it came out a lie. If he tried to lie, it remained a lie. Either way it ended up being a lie. Though if it had been a simple inversion of things he could have gotten around it by trying to lie, he reasoned, but he knew that not to be the case and that he could not do much to address it.

"Nothing is going on, everything is totally normal both here and where I came from. I can't imagine why you would think I was lying..."

WC: 518

[Alice Weaver]

They watched on as Moritz had a physical response to the djed they leaked out. The kelvic turned as if brushed by someone in the crowd and then watched him dismiss it…at least partially. That was a discovery. Was his reaction simply because of his multi-hued eyes or were their suggestions sloppy? Wasted power perhaps? Instead of sinking entirely in the mind, it drifted around the body as it looked for something to do. Or it could be that the djed was directly poorly. Alice compared it to possession in their head. There were parts of the soul more willing to give, parts more willing to push back, and reactive bits.


The trick to a good possession was either to have enough force that it didn’t matter or sink the ghost's spiritual fangs into a soft spot, avoiding the hard spots, and agitating the reactive bits to pull focus away from their main ingress point. Possession was much more art than science and hypnotism might run in the same vein. Careful application of guided power into weak spots of the mind. Alice could do that, they affirmed with a mental nod. After all, they had the insight only gained from physically wearing someone and crushing a soul with their will.

Magic exploration aside they could not help but groan internally as they felt the conversation continue on it its circuitous route. Whatever thing, person, or mage did this to Moritz was about to find a ghostly foot up its ass as Alice took their vengeance for making their life difficult, even if they had to travel to those damn jungles to do it.

“Yes…,” They started dryly. “I totally get the feeling you believe every word out of my mouth and everything you said is definitely true.” They gave a shake of their head, “I hope this is just you thing rather than a Syka thing else the settlement must be partially or fully on fire at this very moment.” They pinched the bridge of their nose, yelping in a brief flash of searing pain as they compressed their sinuses and got a sharp jab for their efforts. The flash of pain unironically rating upon their ‘Feeling things is awful sometimes’ scale. Its shock factor is what gave it it's high rating.

“Anyways,” They continued while rubbing their face to banish the pain. “Even if you don’t trust me as is I may as well build some trust in this new body, right? At least until I can safely exit it and not worry about leaving it somewhere to get damaged.”

“So what can I do for you, Moritz? I’m just looking for a few arrows and a quiver so I can definitely take time to help out a fledgling Spiritist any day of the season!” They finished as they clapped their hands in front of them earnestly, the bow on their shoulders slightly sagging as it slipped off their shoulders.

[Moritz Craven]

The more the two of them spoke, the more likely Moritz felt this person was who they said they were. Not being someone he was overly close to, it did not make much logical sense then to press on so much about being that person. Namely Alice the ghost. Of course that did not mean he trusted her, far from it, but he did not overly doubt that he might be she.

Thinking back to their first meeting Moritz realized part of the problem might have been the offered possession to someone she had just met. But that also had not been about trust, it had been a combination of things. A desire to practice and train his abilities as a spiritist. A knowledge that should the ghost be malicious it would take him by force, and he would be no worse off than if he had not offered... And a general interest in such things. With all of that in mind it seemed straightforward in terms of reasoning to end up there, but clearly others might come to a different conclusion from his actions.

But, he supposed, since no one could really see his line of reasoning, it was inevitable that they would come to a different conclusion at times by only seeing his end choice and nothing else.

At this point Moritz was getting the feeling Alice was getting tired of Moritz current standing, that of being forced to lie, though she had seemed to work it out somewhat which was not true of everyone he met. Many just seemed to think he was joking, or perhaps just being sarcastic, which if nothing else showed how little they knew the Kelvic.

He remained silent while she verbally thought things over, trying to work things out it seemed and understand what was going on. In some ways she had been on the mark, in others off the mark, but on average she had not been too far from the truth. When she did finally question him though Moritz thought on that question, taking a few steps along as they stayed together to inspect the wares of the nearby stall. He vaguely heard someone selling items that they were giving away free charms with a purchase, which made Moritz think of his own charm bracelet, but at the moment he had not seen anything worth buying.

Though, he recalled, he had bought some daggers and things the prior season when he was here with Alric.

"Hmm... You know, just looking for some things for a friend he has an interest in. Maybe find a gift or two to bring back home for the locals. Nothing really for myself at all. What about you, how is your new spear doing? It seems quite happy there dangling on your shoulder."

In truth as he looked at the weapon Moritz was fairly certain one was not supposed to carry it that way, but he was unsure on the specifics of its proper usage. The frame of the bow after all was solid, but could the same be said of the string? And was it a good idea to put strain on it like that, just walking around not using it but with it strung? He did not think so, but not really being a bow user and only having seen others use them he was less than fully enlightened on the topic.

WC: 569