[Ethereal Notions] Do Not Go Gently (Vance)

[Hadrian]

69th Summer, 510 A.V. Less than twenty-four hours since returning to his hometown, he was looking for books and knowledge. His time in Sahova had been an eye-opening experience, and he had been teased with knowledge from disciplines less represented by the professors at the University of Zeltiva, at least during his stay there. He hoped not to stay too long in Syliras; his family made him nervous. Back in Zeltiva he had a home, of sorts, and it was to that home he would return until he figured out his next move. He perused books while the proprietress was busy elsewhere. He had assured her that he would let her know if he needed her help. What he needed now was more knowledge regarding the Nuit, or perhaps some tome to help him familiarize himself with Spiritism until such time as he found a shaman or other teacher to further his education in that regard. There would be links to the Malediction he had studied with Tieh in the Citadel to be sure. Everything was connected. Of that much, he was sure. Finding a likely book, he found a seat and began to leaf through it. He would have been happy to find a teacher, but barring that, he was always willing to do the initial leg work himself.

[Vance]

Among many of the strange sensations Vance felt coursing through his shrouded body after dieing was the pull. A place he had once considered haunted and only approached on a dare, suddenly seemed like a peaceful sanctuary to him. Ethereal Notions.. he never payed much attention to what it really was, having only a vague understanding that it was a place of refuge for the dead. Although he knew about this, he never expected to feel like he actually needed to go there. Tonight, he finally decided to make up his confused mind and have a peek of what the place held in store. Unless it could give him his wife's and his life back, he would surely be disappointed. Arriving at the building, he walked in casually through the entrance, choosing not to float or make it otherwise more obvious than it already was that he was not human. The place consisted of many rooms, too many for the ghost to make up his mind and choose what to do next. As he stood still in the building, the temperatures dropped around him; a feature he could not control. Finally he moved, figuring he could just go into each room one at a time before deciding that anywhere would be fine to settle. The cold breeze that accompanied Vance wafted unnaturally through the building as he looked around, suddenly stopping dead as one of the rooms he just walked into seemed to be occupied. A young man, sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, flipping through the pages of a book. Inexplicably frightened by another person present other than himself, he hesitated on whether he should flee the scene, or attempt to appear human in such a dim room. Although running would have been wise, he felt strangely attached to the place; it was one of the only things that seemed welcoming to him since he died. Concentrating heavily on the way he used to appear before the color faded in his eyes, Vance renewed the colors to his body and tried to transmit the illusion of mass to his body. The soulmist stopped hanging loosely around his body and tightened to give him some shape, although it was failing miserable. The smoke still moved too much in certain areas, returning to its smoky substance whenever his concentration lowered. The image flickered constantly, waving about in some areas while Vance tried to fix another. The man had surely become aware of his presence now, and he couldn't think of anything to do besides keep trying at making his figure seem real.

[Hadrian]

As he read, he realized that most of the basic information was stuff that he had already read in survey courses on magic and courses on magical history. Spiritism as it was known now was developed by Alahean wizards out of the work of shamans, much like the basics of Malediction, he imagined. But the more he read, the more he made connections between it and other disciplines. Sensing ghosts was similar to a specialized sort of auristics; the production of soulmist was similar to producing res for reimancy; the flow of energies that made up ghosts were just souls, djed, and if one could learn to manipulate one's own flows with the Flux, then Spiritism had some similarities. He smiled. This might not be so difficult as he thought. At least, he might gain competency faster due to his background in magic. For no apparent reason, he began shivering. This made him chuckle softly. Either the cellar floor where Ethereal Notions sat was cold even in the summer, or... Looking up, he spotted a flickering, man-shaped mass of energy and he immediately blinked to invoke his auristic vision, enhancing his normal senses such that he could observe the flow of djed. A ghost, then. Perhaps they haunted this place just waiting for an able wizard to help them bridge the gap. This could be an omen, he thought. He looked hard at the energies that made up the ghost, and then held out his hand. "Hello," he said. "Can you speak?"

[Vance]

Why was the man holding out his hand like that? Vance cocked his head to the side, contemplating the movement. When it suddenly dawned on him that this man was trying to befriend a ghost, he concluded that the man didn't value his life much. Still, Vance would not harm him. At least, he would not try to. "My name is Vance," he said, trying to make his voice come from his mouth as someone with vocal chords would. Still, in a room a nearly empty stone room, his voice echoed off the walls in various directions anyway. He suddenly realized that it was a little untoward of him to leave the man's hand hanging there. He didn't mean to, but his decision to get closer had him blinking immediately towards him. The half failed materialization disappeared and reappeared only inches from the stranger. Concentrating his materialization mainly on his own hand, he managed to make the soulmist condense enough to shake his hand nervously. Little did he know that a ghosts touch was a lot less the comfortable for a living being, despite the weakness of his powers.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian attempted to stave off the atavistic shivers that the pseudo-contact with a dead soul evoked from his living flesh. He smiled and folded his hands over the book he had been reading. His one hand was colder than the other now. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Vance. I am called Hadrian. It's serendipitous that you should appear while I'm sitting here reading a book on spiritism, or did... something call you?" It was only recently that he had begun to ponder the afterlife again. For years he had been focused on the study of djed in the here and now, paying scant heed to where it would all go. There was no eternal death, after all, merely reincarnation until a soul ascended. At least, so he understood. "Can I... help you?" he asked lamely, not sure how to carry out a conversation with a ghost.

[Vance]

He peered over at the book when Hadrian mentioned it, not really seeing much special about the the dark grimoire. Spiritism.. he was vaguely familiar with that word. Remembering the stories he heard while alive, he started recalling the practice that specialized with ghosts, remembering the myths about Master spiritists. He'd be warned that a person of that caliber should never be crossed, be the person alive or dead. Did this man know anything about it himself, or was he just satisfying curiosity? Also, what was he going on about calling? Sure, Vance did feel a strange pull towards the building itself, but it was a well known rumor that this was a refuge for his kind. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Vance tried to figure out what what Hadrian was thinking, an impossible task. "I don't.. help? Er.." Vance didn't really know how to tell the man that he hadn't really come here looking for help. It would be a lie if said he didn't need any, obviously having unresolved issues since he was still here, and all. "I was just.. looking for shelter." Vance had assumed that since he was a ghost, awkwardness was not really an option. Apparently, it was still holding strong even through death. He scratched his head, wondering why this person was here in the first place. "Why.. why are you reading that?"

[Hadrian]

He watched patiently as the ghost seemed to mull things over, still peering at him with his auristic vision to see if he could learn anything just be observation of those postmortem djed flows. "Shelter?" he asked, wondering if there were some storms that even ghosts must weather. Then he looked down at his book thoughtfully before making his reply. Truth seemed safe enough. "I was in Sahova for a little while, and it made me think that if I ever wanted to go back, I should know a bit more about the people I was dealing with, and perhaps how better to protect myself should it become necessary. "By shelter," he said, mind suddenly making a connection, "do you mean a host?"

[Vance]

Well, this Hadrian seemed to be quite the adventurous type, although Vance couldn't really make out what he meant by by his comment, '.. toknow a bit more about the people I am dealing with'. He was reading a book on spiritism, did that mean he had a problem with a ghost? This conversation really needed to be articulated better, being surprisingly hard for him to understand what Hadrian was going on about. "What, host? N-no, I meant.. It just feels more comfortable, in this building, not someone else's body, or something, " he pondered over a way to make this easier to explain, "you know.. possessing people is a lot more uncomfortable than you might think, for both sides." He reminded himself of the times where he would possess some people, usually finding children as they were less capable of fighting back. The process always had him feeling heavy and slower to move about, constantly leaving him completely drained of energy within a few minutes.

[Hadrian]

"So I'm reading," he said thoughtfully, tapping the book with his ink-stained fingers. "Well, I hope my presence doesn't make your refuge less comfortable." He wasn't sure if the ghost liked to reside in the chair where he sat, or what exactly. The behavior of ghosts was not something he had studied in depth before. "What makes it more comfortable?" he asked, curious. He forgot about the book for a moment; it would remain while this ghost might not. He could buy the book, even, but not the ghost. First hand accounts from one of the deceased might be of particular interest to the newest student of Spiritism. It would be good for him to know how to treat kindly with ghosts, develop relationships with them, and thereby gain access to their knowledge in exchange for soulmist or whatever else they desired or required.

[Vance]

Vance just couldn't quite put his finger on Hadrian. What did the man want? What with all the incessant questions? There wasn't much to Vance besides the fact that he was dead. Albeit being a little confusing though, he was grateful for the positive reaction. "Uhh.. if I wanted to make it more comfortable.." Vance pondered over the strange question, trying to think up of an understandable answer, both to him and Hadrian. "Well, I guess you'd just have to get better at it, I suppose. Practice or something. You know, 'cause it's hard to keep up. Like sprinting for longer than thirty seconds." He didn't know why he was not really questioning Hadrian's goal in achieving this sort of knowledge, like he lost the ability to rebel when he died. Well, that trait didn't seem to be a bother to him much yet, as it wouldn't make him lose his temper, or anything like that.