XOqNI

[tongueamok]

Hello, this is Carlisle. I mean, it's not Carlisle as in I'm actually answering you right now, so if you're trying to reply to me at the second, you should probably save your breath because I'm not really here. This is some kind of a recording of my voice, but this is my communicator. I'm going to assume these devices are as common here as they are in other places — not my world, but others, ones more technologically advanced than where I come from— so if you'd like to leave me a message, then you may do so here, or er... Right. Here is fine. So just leave yo— [beep]

Comments

[tongueamok]

There are many things in this world and in others that don't make sense, though it seems the naive bravery of youth is universal. I know I was more persistent in my pursuits when I was younger.

[Before he was cursed and realized he was doomed to be the failure of his bloodline. Everything is fine.]

[aroundthecoroner]

Yeah, maybe it works better if you like, believe in yourself or whatever.

[Is that too cheesy? That's too cheesy. Ah, the irony.]

I, uh, haven't seen you out and about lately.
Maybe I'm just missing you.
Everything's alright with you though, right?

[Speaking of persistence...]

[tongueamok]

You are, perhaps, just missing me. Everything is spread out now across the isles, after all.

[Everything is fine, Michael. Perfectly fine... though he feels a bit badly for dodging the truth when it comes to his fellow accursed.]

I have told you about my affliction, haven't I?

[aroundthecoroner]

You, uh, told me that you were cursed.
That we had that in common.
I don't know that you gave me a whole lot of details.
But I got the impression it was pretty bad.

[And something about it coming up now makes Michael uneasy.]

[tongueamok]

[As it probably should.]

It is.

Imagine a waterskin that has been damaged. An attempt to repair it has been made, but still water trickles through what wound remains.

[tongueamok]

[That's apt enough, but maybe he can do better in terms of describing this to a man only barely familiar with magic.]

Imagine instead that the wound in the waterskin is a gluttonous maw, devouring the contents within until there is nothing left.

[tongueamok]

And instead of water, it is a being's very soul.

[Yep. That'll do.]

[aroundthecoroner]

[Michael takes a minute. Reads the messages again to make sure he's getting this straight.]

So the curse is eating your soul from the inside out?
Jesus christ.
Is there any way to fix it? Or stop it?
We have a lot of people here who can do a lot of magic.
Maybe one of them could do something?

[tongueamok]

Those that would possibly have any abilities to deal with an aural wound are the necromancers and the liches.

[And boy, does he have feelings about those.]

[aroundthecoroner]

Well... I know you don't like those kinds of people that much.
Because of the stuff they did in your world.
But these ones aren't from there, so maybe they're not so bad?
Isn't it at least worth a shot?
So long as they don't turn you into a zombie or something, what if they really do know how to fix you?

[tongueamok]

Then I consider myself the unluckiest man currently alive.

I cannot ask for their help. It would be an affront to my goddess to find myself indebted to a necromancer of any world. The very craft they practice is perverse.

[tongueamok]

[He seems to rethink that last message, and attempts to put his true dismay into context.]

I truly hope there is nothing they could do, regardless. If there were, I would be asked to decide what is more important: my principles that have guided me thus far and held me together in my darkest times, or my partner's happiness in this world, something so dependent upon my continued existence that I feel the weight of it even now, knowing that I am damning him to heartbreak.

[aroundthecoroner]

[Ouch. In a weird way, Michael gets that. Give up a part of you or destroy the life of the one you care about the most. It's a tough choice. And it's not one that's his place to make, not for Carlisle anyway.]

I'm sorry.
I know that's not an easy decision.
Which is, like, an understatement.
It's not as simple as choosing what's more important to you, because the answer is both.
There has to be a way, though, even without the necromancers.
If this place has taught me anything, it's that nothing's impossible.
Usually that's a bad thing here, but I'm gonna decide to see it as a good thing in this case.

[tongueamok]

[Though ever the pessimist, Carlisle cannot help but want to believe Michael, if only to relieve himself of his guilt for even a moment or two.]

Thank you, Michael. Truly. Let us hope your optimism is not misplaced, and that, as accursed individuals, we may find salvation here that could not be afforded to us elsewhere.