deercountry | 16 . spring catch-all

[ asriel is not surprised to see john in this state because he's likely contributed to it directly any time they've worked together this past month. the Darkblood paranoia spun asriel's already furious pace into an obsession; he doesn't do fear, and so that nagging feeling that something was terribly wrong just made him angry. he's been at it ever since, trying to find the solution to a problem that he feels offended that he even has to consider. ~~probably because it doesn't exist~~.

when it happens, he's more distracted by stelmaria than he is about the change itself at first. they are bound at the level of the soul, but blood magic gives her physical form in this world, and it's like someone's switched it off for now. it's jarring.

awareness trickles in after that, as all of his (john's?) senses finally switch on again. very strange to see those black-on-black eyes in his own face, but after a moment or two of waiting for the other shoe to drop, asriel realises that the change itself is likely the worst of it. his sense of self seems not to suffer as his mannerisms and how he carries himself remain intact despite them playing out through john's body. ]

Well. This answers a few questions and raises several others, doesn't it?

[ he would be far more upset if he couldn't potentially learn more about Sleeper souls this way. ]

[ Weird as hell to hear his own voice speak to him, and to watch Asriel draw himself out of John's easy slouch. But it's the eyes that he's caught on: blue eyes in his own face, plain and mortal. It's only as an afterthought that he registers the absence of Stelmaria, that extension of soul drawn back in to center. ]

Seems to.

[ John holds up a pale hand to examine, worries his lip with the edge of his teeth, and pushes a spur of bone through his borrowed palm. It emerges sharp and white and clean as anything, glittering with Darkblood that isn't quite his. Probably should've asked first, whoops, but it's good data. ]

Huh.

[ this might be more concerning if he were still human (and not so interesting to watch), but asriel can only be amused as he recognises that he would've done the same. john is the one with the obvious powers, it makes sense to test them. it's not like he hasn't walked off worse anyway. ]

And what's that told you?

[ he imagines summoning stelmaria back is the least invasive thing possible by comparison. manipulating Darkblood that isn't his is like driving an unfamiliar car, but it doesn't need to be exact — he really just "makes room" for her and they find their natural state.

they've always known the taboo to be largely psychological, but asriel is still unprepared for the confused discomfort at feeling caught between the familiar and the unfamiliar. no one ever expects to be confronted with the concept of their other half technically being in two places at once. asriel finds things easier to accept just as long as they're still together, but for a daemon who has always known everything about him for all of their lives, it's too strange. worse because it's natural to seek comfort in closeness, which also feels repellent. ]

This will take somewhat more getting used to, I think.

[ she settles somewhere between them, tense and observant, as is her way when asriel is busy with something that unsettles her. ]

[ John still hasn't caught on to the taboo as a deep-set cultural fixture, not when it seems Asriel is just huffy about personal space as an individual. Still: there is a moment's tension as John watches smoke and his own Darkblood coalesce, his attention briefly focused on the summoning, a crease of intent worry in his brow.

It goes the way he'd expect. Eyes and Omen, two windows to the soul. That's for the better: his soul would get distracting, right now. ]

I have a theory about Sleeper bodies and Sleeper souls. [ He presses his free thumb to the jutting bone, smooths it back into place with a little frown. The skin seals up cleanly; he rubs the glitter of Darkblood into the creases of his palm. ] As I figure it, the squid are just... templates. A shape that suits conditions down below, but like wet clay once they hit the surface. Perfect vessel for a ghost, right? It's the soul that really shapes the body— like your daemon knowing to be a cat, no matter whose blood you're building her out of.

[ He holds up Asriel's borrowed palm to show the last flecks of blood. ] But it feels wrong, right? I don't feel like I'm working on me, I feel like I'm working on you. We're revenants, misplaced ghosts.

[ He offers that hand to Asriel, blood and all. ]

All things working as they should, contact should be all it takes. The soul should find its way home.

That's more or less exactly how I imagined it myself.

[ and they've held hands before, so this is easy. asriel is unsurprised when they don't snap back to normal like they should because when has that ever happened for them so far? ]

In theory, swapping places shouldn't matter in the first place because the soul should reshape any vessel to suit it, but I've also found that expecting something to happen can work just as well, depending on the context.

[ he takes his hand back to reach for some paper and something to write with, momentarily irritated by having to contend with someone else's muscle memory to sketch something onto the page. it's circular and has layers like an onion, with arrows indicating internal forces pushing outward while external ones push inward. simple. things seek stability in familiar forms. ]

This is — loosely — the model I've been using. A Sleeper with low Corruption is essentially in equilibrium. Unmitigated Corruption slowly poisons the soul over time until it's altered to the point of no return, which is how I suspect you arrive at a zealot instead of a beast. I imagine Beasthood is a dramatic, rapid collapse and the resulting "explosion" mutates the physical shape irreparably.

[ a supernova in soul form. his pitiful little sketch can't do it justice. ]

I suspect this is the only difference between them and us. That's why I want to know what a Pthumerian soul is like.

[ Asriel clasps his hand, and of course nothing happens. What's interesting is that nothing even tries to happen: there's no momentary displacement, no magnetism pull. The soul doesn't react like it's met the expected vacuum. John lets his hand fall and chews his lip, with the look of a man itching for a pen and scrap of paper.

Of course, Asriel beats him to it. John leans in over his shoulder readily enough to have a look, and hums approval low in his throat. ]

This is good. I've been turning over something similar— it maps to a process we see in my world. We have thanergy, I've mentioned: the energy of cell death. In a slow death, natural causes, you get a gradual accumulation of thanergy... in a murder?

[ He gives the drawing a forceful little tap. ]

Pop. Huge release of energy. It's enough to displace the soul, counteract the natural forces that would keep spirit energy flowing in the right direction. I think we're seeing a similar cascade in the force that governs Corruption.

But I've had a look at Sleeper souls, human souls, Beasts. I can only get a sideways glance at Pthumerians. [ Here is the moment of hesitation, the feeling of a precipice. ] To really dig my fingers in, I'd need the moment of death. And you know how that's gone for me.

Is that so?

[ it's funny because of course it would be the same concept. his most great and terrible discovery, given the cost, but it was knowing that price and still deciding to pay it that made all the difference. ]

There is also a significant amount of energy released the moment someone is severed from their daemon. In most cases one dies instantly, but it is possible to reduce the effects of shock. A ghastly process, but—... [ a shrug. an idea is an idea. ] I already know it's possible to harness that energy for a purpose.

[ that had been a child. this is much easier. there is no precipice for asriel, who continues to charge ahead with enough data to claim it isn't blindly, just like the first time. what does anyone know about what killing gods will be like until you're already trying? ]

I wonder if you could also stabilise the soul after death? And does the manner of death make a difference or only that it's sudden?

[ John listens intently, tips his head in quiet thought. That would be, what, the soul cleaved in half? Spirit fission, where he went and invented fusion? That Asriel has done it, has used it as a power source, is something he'll turn over in quiet thought for a long time after. It's the sort of thing they would have tried at Canaan.

It isn't lost on him, the effect of hearing it from his own voice, seeing his own body animated with enthusiasm for carving up souls. Someone up there is really getting pointed. ]

Normally? I could pin a soul in any state you want. But here... well.

[ He waves a hand out to the distance. ]

Even I can't muscle past the reincarnation cycle. Any soul not tied to its body will be dragged under, back to the sea. We can get away with fragments of soul orbiting an embodied central piece, which, if you ask me... [ He looks to Stelmaria. ] We already see it with Omens, and a handful of players in town who can imbue objects with bits of themselves. But a soul in isolation won't last long.

Still, any sudden death will get me a look at it.

You make it sound effortless. I wouldn't have expected muscling past the reincarnation cycle to be an option even under the best of circumstances.

[ this is funny because it's the first time he's actually wondered about john. it never mattered before. it doesn't matter now, strictly speaking, but it's more difficult not to think about it. ]

Well, I think I can get you a good look, at least.

[ this is not the first time that asriel has had to look himself in the face though, but this is a marked improvement over the last time. the "god" that had shown him that illusion had also been an imposter, so this only makes him feel more correct to be pursuing the local pantheon. ]

Apparently, the body won't last without a soul, either, so when you kill them, they dissolve. Incidentally, so do angels. [ annoying. ] Luckily, I've already solved that problem.

[ he says this with a distinct air of would you like to know more? ]

I mean, there's a little effort. I am just very good.

[ He says this like a joke, because it's such a ridiculous flattening of all that he is and can do; he doesn't address the implicit question. Asriel carries them to a fresh field of red flags, anyway, and John takes a moment to mourn that there's no one here to get the bit. Waging war on Heaven hits a little different when it comes from his own voice. ]

So do Sleepers, funny enough. What's your fix for it?

[ john's words, meanwhile, are the most natural sounding thing in the world when said in asriel's voice. ]

Containment.

[ he goes back to drawing and labelling things, but this time it's a rectangular box. or several boxes, really, because they're meant to be nested. more layers on layers of things. the labels are mostly notations describing what sort of metal the layers are made of. ]

Using the same construction as the intercision chamber I've made previously, anything inside it cannot escape. Sealing it with a blood ward ensures it. Knowing what you've just told me means it's as straightforward as devising a secondary ward that can be activated once it's sealed. [ he snaps his fingers and looks entirely too proud of himself for his awful little murder box. ] Quick.

[ this is fairly tame compared to the last time he did this on a larger scale. ]

16 . spring catch-all

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cw: lil bit of casual body horror

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here comes the info dump oops lmao

love this for them

cw: child death mention

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