etraya | un: henry123

Have you tried talking to them? Maybe they want a personal connection.

[He has no other suggestion, since he doesn't believe in ghosts.]

No, I guess not.

It doesn't seem like they want to talk, though.

As in they aren't using words or something else?

Right.

When they're near me, my head starts to bleed. Like everywhere.

Then they reach in to try to grab my heart.

Is that a normal reaction for you, or since you arrived at this place?

[This was not the turn he was expecting. It was like one of those scary stories he heard as a boy.

I guess it's normal?
I've never been around ghosts until recently.

But this is a problem that I have back home.
I'm trying to find a solution here.

Well, I've never seen a ghost, so I don't think I can offer solutions for your plight. However, I'm willing to support you with whatever you need to attempt to sort this out.

It's all right.
It's an odd thing, but I promise I'm not lying.

Oh.

I don't know what I'd like you to do.

But I'm Henry.

Thank you for being so kind.

Edited 2025-03-02 23:09 (UTC)

What do you think you're going to do about your ghost problem? I'm Vander. New to town. Well, what's this place supposed to shape up to be without people supporting each other?

I don't know. I can't kill them.
Seal them? Ward them?
I guess I am going to try to draw symbols of seals and see if that works.
I won't know until I get back home, but it's something.

Nice to meet you.

[ ......... that's a rhetorical question.

He tells himself that it is. Should he answer it? He isn't sure. He isn't very good at conversations.

Henry lived his life happily isolating himself from people; he didn't have any good reason for it. It isn't that he disliked people or being around them. He likes everyone well enough, but he finds it easier to be alone. Or found it easier. He'd like to try to talk to people; he'd like to try to do a little better than before.

So, uh... it's a rhetorical question.

How should he respond?

Um. ]

It probably would be a bad place.

Don't ghosts want something? Aside from making you bleed and squeeze your heart. I thought they had a purpose they had to fulfill so they can move on from being tethered to the mortal plain?

[Look, there were a lot of ghost stories where he came from, not that he had ever believed them. Still, he picked some things up along the way, and it seemed relevant here as it seemed someone was actually haunted.

It sounded about as fun of an experience as the stories made it out to be.]

It would be, yes. Do you have people from your world here to help you?

Maybe. I think they're part of a ritual. I read some pages about it, but I still don't fully understand it.

No.
There isn't anyone.

[ Everyone who he encountered back home that he could actually speak to -- he failed to convey what was going on and his concerns. Each one of them died. And now he's here. Henry thinks that he should say something; he should try to offer something. ]

But I hope that you're doing all right.
This problem is what it is.
But I hope things are going well for you.

[ Did that sound right? He thinks so? Maybe? He just wants to give some goodwill to someone... ]

So someone put a curse on you? And did people not of your world offer any guidance? I assume that this post garnered some suggestions at least.

[He smiled as the conversation flipped to focus on him. He knew that tactic well enough. He appreciated the sentiment.]

It seems to me that individual problems tend to be "it is what it is". I'll support you however I can, even if it's just to chat with you. It seems others will as well.

I think so, and I don't know if anyone's from my world.

When I talk about what happened, no one seems to have heard anything like it.

Thank you.

If it gets to be too much, you can tell me, too.

A situation unique to you and you alone? That has to feel isolating. I'm resilient, don't worry. I can take it. I want to help.

[ Well, yes.

He's starting to wonder if he's going just to be considered insane every time he tries to explain what's happened to him. His head drops a little but -- ]

I'm sure others have situations like that, too.
From where they're from, I mean.
Problems that happened.

[ He wants to find a solution. He wants to ask people for help with his problem. He doesn't want to burden anyone. He doesn't want to upset others. He wants to connect with people after being disconnected from everyone for so long. There are many things he wants to do and -- it also sounds very selfish and self-absorbed.

Even not wanting to burden or upset others... doesn't he just not want to feel as Vander said isolated and strange? Isn't that why he didn't try to talk to Jasper? To explain things to Richard? To ask much of Andrew? He was figuring things out but he could have tried more.

Where to start --

-- maybe something easy. ]

But...
Sometimes, the walls would turn into flesh.
And so would the floor.
It wasn't just skin covering the surface.
And it was still alive.

Potentially. Everyone has a situation unique to them. It still shouldn't be something that you have to face alone.

[Vander, true to his word, does want to help. He understands that a hand up and a listening ear can be of assistance to people suffering. If he wanted to build bonds here, this was exactly the types of conversations he should be involved in.

Except. Ho boy. He'd experimented with neurochemical agents in his youth now and again, and he hadn't enjoyed them. It seemed to him that this guy might have also partaken in his worlds version and this just might be the result.

Well.

He'd promised an ear (or eyes in this case) to listen with, and he'd committed to that even now. This guy was clearly a mess.]

How long does that last for?

[Definitely a bad trip.]

That's true.

How long?
Until the world ended.
Or I guess it's more like the dreamer died.

I think they were dreaming, but it probably was a nightmare.

Sorry pal, but I can't translate 'under the world ended' to actual time. Could you help me with that? Dreamer?

[This was sounding more and more like a bad drug trip the longer that he talked to this guy. Was he high right now? Did he need someone to sit with him? Well, that could come up a bit later.]

Sure.
What I mean is the world would cease to exist, I think.

It was because the dreamer was dead.
The dreamer was the one tied to the world, I think.
I'd hear about the police finding their bodies from the radio in my apartment.

It didn't used to get those radio waves, either.

So is the world that you exist in part of that dream? And if it dies, you also die? I'm sorry, I don't know if all of this makes sense to me. I'm trying. I wonder if some of this is lost over text. Would you be willing to meet up?

Kind of.

I can't say I talk better in person.
But okay.

Do you wake up if the Dreamer dies then? Ah well, I suppose I'm just old fashioned. Facial expressions help, that's all.

Text; un: hound

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