015 - Banana Creme

[deadly_ned]

Alpha, Digby and I are on walkabout. If you need to reach us, please leave a message at the tone.


[Private to Alpha

I have to get off this ship.

We. We have to get off this ship. Pick whoever you want to be, I'll dress to match, and we're going to...go into this port and have a good time and I don't..know what else. Whatever you want to do.

[Private to Dean]

Um. Problem.

[Private to Arthas]

Hi.

Uh.

I know we don't...talk much.

I just.

Wanted to see how things were going.

How are things...going?


[Spam]

[The Piemaker has never been to L.A., never stepped foot in California before. But while the discomfort of another yet-unfamiliar place was, as usual, all-encompassing, at least this unfamiliar place was stationed on Earth. The Piemaker could pretend for a little while to be normal.

He's taking that opportunity now, dressing up in the manner of a Hollywood B-Lister with shades and expensive clothes to match. Now fully in his role, he steps off the Barge to begin his new, pretend life for four days]

Comments

Spam

[deadly_ned]

...If I die here, you can test it on me.

Only fair.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

I can't use it at all yet.

[Arthas sits back and flexes his hands, as if frustrated with how useless they are.]

What I want is to make the results of my magic behave more like yours. Have you tested it on something with a soul?

Spam

[deadly_ned]

Yes. Many...many times.

It works consistently.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

How do they... feel? Do you know?

Spam

[deadly_ned]

They feel fine. The same.

Chuck says that food tastes sweeter and her dreams are more vivid. And she smells a little, little bit like death. But it's faint.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

We can't taste anything at all.

[Arthas runs a hand through his hair, looking for a moment like a tired young man in over his head. Then it's gone again, and he's back to business.]

Who have you used it on?

Spam

[deadly_ned]

...I've only kept a few people alive longer than a minute. I've touched...hundreds of others.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

Who in particular, and why?

Spam

[deadly_ned]

...My dog. When he was run over by a truck when I was ten.

My mother. I didn't know what my magic did yet. She died again when she touched me that same night.

My best friend and first kiss because...it was selfish and I wasn't thinking and I was in love. Her name is Chuck.

And Chuck's dad, who I had accidentally killed twenty years earlier, although in my defense I didn't know what I was actually doing at the time. He hates me and stole my car.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

[Arthas immediately cranes his neck to check on the dog under the table. He looks very un-squished.]

That one?

Spam

[deadly_ned]

[The Piemaker too looks down at Digby, who merely wags his tail once before returning to lying on the floor]

That's the one.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

Not as much damage as I'd have expected.

Re: Spam

[deadly_ned]

He didn't go under a wheel.

Plus he's...twenty years older.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

[Trucks seem very aggressive to Arthas but if Ned actually has them on his world Arthas figures the man would know more about how to avoid one.]

Does he age? Heal on his own, like a living animal would?

[Arthas tentatively offers Digby a hand to sniff, fingers tucked in.]

Spam

[deadly_ned]

He doesn't age. But he can get hurt. And he can heal. It's just...slower. I don't know if it's the same healing as normal.

[Digby in turn obligingly nuzzles Arthas' hand, with all the neurotic anxiety that comes from a dog that can't be petted by his owner]

Spam

[darknessb4me]

[Arthas suddenly remembers that he liked dogs, once. Maybe he does again, it's hard to say how much is the product of having a heart now and how much simple muscle memory. Have some pets, Digby. It isn't really the same through a leather glove anyway.]

Mine don't heal. What I want to know is - if your ability didn't have a penalty, what would you use it for?

[Great leaders, Arthas has been thinking. Wise people, kind people, people that simply didn't get enough time with their loved ones.]

Spam

[deadly_ned]

[Still, Digby enjoys the pets, bending his head obligingly to curve against Arthas' hand]

...My mother.


But it always has a penalty. Even if we don't see it. You resurrect too many people, that...tends to get noticed. Suddenly you have important people in suits coming by asking questions you don't have answers to.

When I was ten I used to have nightmares of it.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

You couldn't keep it a secret. But -

[Arthas grins like a skull.]

- I prefer to make waves. Get witnesses, followers. Promise rewards for those who trust you, then deliver them.

Re: Spam

[deadly_ned]

Exactly.


I don't have the backbone for that kind of wave-making. I'm not trying to start a cult.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

Cults are useful to have around.

[It's hard to tell if Arthas is joking.]

Spam

[deadly_ned]

Please stop trying to encourage me to become a cult-leader. I'm a piemaker. That's enough.

Spam

[darknessb4me]

[Arthas grins again, and this time it's warm.]

I'm kidding. But I do want to ask for your help with something, if you'll agree to it. You don't have to draw any attention to yourself.

Re: Spam

[deadly_ned]

What do you need my help with?

Spam

[darknessb4me]

There are thousands of already-raised undead on my world that would benefit from being as close to alive as your dog seems to be. I want to ask for my own power back from my warden and see how close I can come to your results, on both corpses and animated dead.

Spam

[deadly_ned]

...You want to test your powers to get them close to mine?


Who's your warden?