video

[deepstar]

Type: Video
Sender ID: deepstar ( Khalid )
To: Public
Subject: Curing the Phantoms
Warnings: N/A

I'm not sure that anyone's come forward with this yet, but there's a way that we can help the people that have been all inky this last moon. You know those purifiers some of us have been making for the miasma?

[ Khalid moves the camera around. Okay, don't be alarmed, he kind of corralled a bunch of Phantoms into an abandoned barn. With Sylvain's help - thanks Gautier. So the camera is panning around to those lanterns with the filters inside and it seems like it is helping out with the inky Phantom-ness. ]

It's a bit of a process, but it does seem to be working, as long as the person affected isn't too far gone. Moth dust is a lot more helpful than the crushed stones and pearls, for the record.

It's not like I was going to keep this to myself, so if anyone's looking to help these people out? Well, there you go.

Comments

[deepstar]

There does reach a point where the individual is consumed by their own negative energy. At that point there's really no bringing them back.

[ That's about as close to the truth as Claude is going to get. There's more to it. but to say more would incriminate someone he knows. SO. ]

[talizoraaah]

Then the only cure at that point is ... death, yes?

I haven't encountered death yet here. And I suppose I'm trying to process this new reality by overanalyzing it.

[She smiles slightly. Not that it's visible from behind her mask, but her resignation is likely audible.]

I do appreciate all attempts to make this place survivable for as many people as possible. I'm sure those with affected friends feel the same.

[deepstar]

It's not exactly ideal... I have a lot of purifiers up and it's not touching a couple of them. Still, a few of them are better than none of them.

[ He's accustomed to war and loss. And loss associated with succession and all of that. Doesn't mean he wants there to be losses that can be avoided. ]

[talizoraaah]

[Tali nods. She too has experience with war and its costs. She gestures briefly at her suit.]

My people have extensive experience with filtration systems. I'd like to take a look at them and see if there is anything I can do to augment them, if that's alright. I'm not sure if it will change anything, but we should try.

[She understood death was different here, but. Well. Any death avoided was an improvement.]

[deepstar]

Help yourself. I'd just prefer to be at the barn when you take a look at them.

I have some extras, just in case I need to change them out.

[talizoraaah]

That seems fair. I would need time to gather a few makeshift supplies, at any rate. Let me know when works best for you and I'd enjoy the opportunity to feel useful beyond my shotgun again.

[Tali doesn't mind being a gun arm, but she does miss getting to use her brain on occasion too.]

[deepstar]

I don't think we'll need any kind of gun - not sure what a shotgun is though.

Just hit me up on the shellphone when you want to take a look. If I'm not already there, I'm probably with the young wyverns.

[talizoraaah]

[That actually startles a short laugh out of her.] Sorry. I forget sometimes how different things are for all of us. If you have an interest in projectiles I'll show you sometime.

[If her eyebrows were visible he'd see them raising right now.] Wyverns?

[deepstar]

The only sort of projectile I'm accustomed to are arrows. I've shot a gun, but I'm an archer, you know?

[ So that should give her an idea of what he is familiar with! Even if Claude has to laugh at her surprise - even if he can't see her expression. ]

But yes, wyverns. Giant lizards that can fly?

[talizoraaah]

Ah -- well, you would have to adjust for weight and projectile speed, but otherwise not terribly different. Except the recoil.

Lizards that ... fly?

[Claude where she's from lizards are a sentient species this is blowing her mind.]

[deepstar]

Give me a minute. My girl is on the roof.

[ So he'll cut the connection and it will be a couple of minutes. He has to, of course, scale the side of the barn to reach the roof. And when he turns the camera back on, Azita is just resting there. While scales glisten and glimmer. ]

There she is. My darling. My princess.

[ The wyvern lifts her head and grunts. ]

[talizoraaah]

[ This is such a normal interaction. Extremely normal. Just the most normal day Tali's ever had, and she's literally a space alien.

She stares at the camera for a long moment, then speaks somewhat breathlessly-- ]

That... flying lizard.

[ You're smart, Tali. So smart. Look at you go. She reboots and tries again, though there's still more than a hint of wonder in her voice. ]

Are they intelligent, then? Like a human's horse might be?

[deepstar]

[ Hey it's... Honestly, it's not a weird conversation. This is pretty normal. After all, not every world has wyverns. So it doesn't bother him to show off his own.

Which, speaking of, Azita groans and lays her head back down. ]

Oh she's more intelligent than that.

[talizoraaah]

[ She scoots a little closer to the screen, as if doing so might get her close enough to touch. She's a bit bespelled. ]

How so? Do they get much larger?

[deepstar]

Azita is fully grown. She's not going to get any bigger. Some are smaller and then some get larger than her, though. What makes her special is that she's white.