[12:55] -- theTracker [TT] began pestering handyDandy [HD] at 12:55 --
[12:56] -- handyDandy [HD]  following intensifies --
[12:56] -- theTracker [TT]  steps out into their dimension with Elma. The area they're in is a small town in a boreal forest in the dead of winter; the town is very quiet, lit dimly by lanters contending with a particularly dar --
[12:56] TT: k night and in stark opposition to the glimmering, open starlight of the sky. There's no light pollution here at all, so every star is visible in grand detail, but for those obscured by the Gilded Moon, a massive, gold-streaked moon with a visible glowing golden eye on its surface.
[12:57] -- theTracker [TT]  The town is clearly rural in nature, with plain cobblestone paths winding between small wooden homes. It's probably about midnight here, and it's quite chilly.  --
[12:58] TT: This is Anahar, a little town I stopped in at to solve a murder at the mayor's behest.
[01:00] -- handyDandy [HD]  seems immediately unsettled by the fact that it's night time with very few lights --
[01:00] -- theTracker [TT]  to that, they're on the outskirts of the town, a short walk from properly being 'in' it, the access to the teleporter apparently hidden away amongst a particularly tight clutter of trees. --
[01:00] TT: ... Ah, it's quite cold, let me—
[01:00] -- theTracker [TT]  undoes the cloak and shrugs it from their shoulders, trying to place it around Elma. It's quite warm, beyond what would be normal for a cloak of its type, so it's probably subtly enchanted. --
[01:00] HD: O-oh h-huh. Did ya solve it or uh. Or is there a murderer still out there?
[01:00] TT: Caught 'im.
[01:01] -- handyDandy [HD]  :/ nice clean cloak you got there don't mind if I rub all this mud on it. --
[01:01] TT: Was a nobleman from a nearby territory, takin' a relic that had been stolen from his family by the... murdered party.
[01:02] TT: Got into an altercation with 'im about it, had to kill 'im and just took off.
[01:02] TT: We worked out a ... fair penance, given it was self defense and all.
[01:02] TT: Anyway, come with me.
[01:02] TT: I know a place we can find some embers here.
[01:04] -- theTracker [TT]  is gonna' lead Elma through the town. It's /very/ quiet, and the air feels thin as if this place is at a high altitude, so it's quite the eerie atmosphere already. Tracker keeps close to Elma to help them feel safer, making sure neither one leaves the other's sight.  --
[01:04] HD: O-oh thank you! You don't have to worry about me getting cold miss Tracker. 'S always cold like this in town and I betcha you could make icecles out of spit out in the woods at night. But uhm. Yeah. Yeah
[01:04] TT: It's alright, I got fur.
[01:05] TT: Just makin' it even.
[01:05] -- theTracker [TT]  laughs quietly. --
[01:05] -- handyDandy [HD]  icicles even --
[01:05] -- handyDandy [HD]  today is not a spelling day --
[01:05] TT: Are you alright goin' into a graveyard?
[01:05] TT: Not gonna' be too spooked?
[01:05] -- handyDandy [HD]  held out her hairy arm as she followed --
[01:06] HD: I've got fur too. It's just not quite there yet
[01:06] TT: Heheh.
[01:06] -- handyDandy [HD]  nods --
[01:06] TT: Alright. There ain't nothin' that can hurt ya' here, just keep that in mind.
[01:07] -- theTracker [TT]  leads Elma to the other side of town, into a small graveyard. The tombstones are marred by a recent dusting of snow, and some are written in foreign languages. They're rather sparse, and there's no real church or anything attached to the graveyard; it seems like a very low-key affair. Some of the tombstones have nothing at all on them, being nothing more than markers.  --
[01:08] HD: If it's dangerous I trust you'll kill it twice. And besides I ain't really scared anyway
[01:09] TT: Alright then. Lemme' explain something, before we ring this here bell.
[01:09] TT: There's another sort of... reality, ontop of ours.
[01:09] TT: We call it the Astral Wild.
[01:09] -- handyDandy [HD]  lets her gaze trail off to something or the other a few times but remains relatively close to her despite opting to stay in the back --
[01:10] TT: There, all sorts of spirits live. There are some kinds of spirit animals, plants, everything. It's like a whole ecosystem we can't even see most of the time.
[01:10] TT: That's where our souls live, too. Our body lives here, and our soul lives there.
[01:10] HD: O-oh! Aren't they gonna be mad that we're summoning them down here for nothing?
[01:10] TT: Nah. They're already here, in a sense.
[01:10] TT: It's just that we can't see 'em.
[01:11] TT: Our eyes just don't work that way, normally, so there's a whole reality ontop of ours.
[01:11] -- handyDandy [HD]  squints --
[01:11] -- handyDandy [HD]  where r u hoes --
[01:11] TT: That's what you'll see when I ring this bell.
[01:11] TT: So here we go.
[01:12] -- theTracker [TT]  draws the stick around the midsection of the bell, tracing the runes again. They wind it back, and give it a hearty tap; that same chime plays, but this time it /resonates/ and echoes powerfully... [continued] --
[01:12] HD: I'm ready miss Tracker
[01:13] -- handyDandy [HD]  dusts off her clothes and straightens her posture. @ _ @ show yourselves --
[01:13] -- handyDandy [HD]  what's the echo like --
[01:13] -- theTracker [TT]  When the Tracker used the bell in the Library, the sound was rather flat and stopped quickly; here, it rings out for several seconds, a wavering sort of frequency. --
[01:14] -- theTracker [TT]  Across the land they stand on, a second layer of existence blossoms into vision, travelling with the soundwave. Colorful plants, usually ranging in shades between blue, purple and red and with more d --
[01:14] TT: reamlike, rounded and transparent appearances than normal plants. Special plants grow from the graves, these gorgeous, personal and colorful bushes and over one, unmarked grave even a full tree with willowy golden leaves. Each one is /starkly/ different from the rest, indicating they are personal to the graves from which they grow.
[01:15] -- theTracker [TT]  no ghosts yet, though...  --
[01:16] TT: No animals out this time of year, which ain't surprising. The winter affects even the spiritual types.
[01:16] TT: There's another layer, though. And another ontop of that.
[01:17] TT: The Channels, and the Deep, as we call 'em.
[01:17] -- handyDandy [HD]  oh! Oh god! She kneels down in front of one of the oddville flowers --
[01:17] -- handyDandy [HD]  reaches at it but stops to look at TT for permission --
[01:18] TT: Go ahead. Just don't touch the ones on the graves, okay?
[01:18] HD: 'Cause they belong to the dead?
[01:18] TT: Yup.
[01:18] TT: Only their family can take from those.
[01:19] -- handyDandy [HD]  actually attempts to pull the smaller ones out  and place them in her overall pocket. She's  uncharacteristically delicate with them --
[01:19] -- theTracker [TT]  They feel almost like they're not there; they have no weight to them, and at first her fingers sink through them a bit, but with a bit of practice she manages to withdraw them. --
[01:19] TT: You won't be able to see those in about ten minutes, just warnin' ya.
[01:19] TT: They'll still be there, but you won't be able to touch 'em nor see 'em.
[01:20] TT: These plants, they don't feed on sunlight like most things.
[01:20] TT: Instead, they feed on emotions. Astral plants grow well on homes and graves where lots of people live or come to mourn.
[01:20] TT: Some on positive, some on negative, some on whatever they can get.
[01:22] HD: ... Awe... Darn. I wanted to bring them home for my herbarium. Miss Berry would go nuts for these!
[01:22] TT: That's the nature of the spirit world, it's all hard to really grasp.
[01:22] TT: There are some alchemical things what can make any spirit visible permanently, but I'm afraid I don't have any of that on me at the moment.
[01:23] TT: So... you came to see a ghost, and we ain't seen one yet.
[01:23] TT: Reason is, those two extra layers; the Channels and the Deep.
[01:23] HD: O-oh but....
[01:23] TT: Mm?
[01:23] -- handyDandy [HD]  looks down at the flowers again but gets up hesitantly --
[01:23] HD: N-no it's alright. I wanna see the ghosts too
[01:24] TT: Don't worry, you'll keep seein' those plants too.
[01:24] -- theTracker [TT]  laughs quietly. --
[01:24] TT: Alright... so.
[01:24] TT: The Channels are where all of the subtle magical stuff happens. It's where even the things in the Astral Wild can't see, and only real special people even know about.
[01:24] TT: Through the Channels you can see the ebb and flow of magic, and the Embers.
[01:25] TT: Most ghosts show up in the Wilds, but the Embers live in the channels because they're so subtle and weak.
[01:25] HD: 'S a lot to remember..
[01:25] TT: It's real complex, I know.
[01:25] TT: But think about it like the ocean.
[01:26] TT: You got the surface, where lots of interesting stuff happens, then a ways deeper there's lots of stuff going on that's hard to see...
[01:26] -- handyDandy [HD]  scratches at her cheek with her muddy gardening glove --
[01:26] TT: And then in the deepest parts... well... there's some real scary stuff you don't wanna' look at.
[01:27] TT: The Embers live in that middle part, where the... for the sake of this metaphor fishers and the like never really see unless they go lookin'.
[01:27] HD: Mhm. I believe ya. I've never seen the ocean in person but uhm. I think I get the gist of it. That's a good example if I ever heard one
[01:27] TT: Ahh, it's a bunch of technical jargon. I'm just gonna' ring the damn bell, and you'll see the Embers.
[01:27] TT: I appreciate ya' humoring me, though~.
[01:28] -- theTracker [TT]  laughs quietly, and swings the little stick around the bell again, this time faster, creating a sharp, high-pitched resonating sound... and then drawing their hand back, and hitting the bell much harder than last time. --
[01:29] -- theTracker [TT]  This time, the sound is harder and a little painful, and that same wave of light expands. The graveyard here is positioned atop a hill, and over that hill and down into the forests below, HD can see glowing lines start to dart between the trees, and a massive one sweeping across the sky. Leylines. --
[01:30] -- theTracker [TT]  Slowly, however, creeps into focus the Embers. Pillars of faint, grey spiritual energy, they have no noticeable humanoid traits besides what amounts to a nondescript human head shape, attached to a neck itself attached to a pillar of light. They look very gloomy, with brightly glowing eyes of various colors. Tens of them stand around the two. --
[01:31] -- theTracker [TT]  They are perfectly, statue-still, even their heads. They all look in different directions. --
[01:32] TT: Well... there they are.
[01:32] -- handyDandy [HD]  visibly flinches at this variation the sound, immediately putting a hand over her ear. She however stays put. Well until she spots the embers that is. She jolts forward towards one of the ghostly figures but stops abruptly after a few steps --
[01:33] HD: Why. Why ain't they roaming around miss Tracker?
[01:33] TT: Embers are like... well, 'corpses' of ghosts, like I described 'em last time. They're ghosts that became so withered and empty that they lost everything that makes a person who they are.
[01:34] TT: They don't think, or feel, or know anything.
[01:34] TT: They never move from the spot and angle that they were at when the last thought passed through their head.
[01:34] TT: All they do is watch.
[01:35] TT: And, lucky for me, even though they don't have emotions, they store some amount of information in themselves anyway.
[01:36] HD: Awe... That's sad. It ain't really resting in peace if all you can do for the rest of eternity is watch things you can't participate in.
[01:36] TT: Mm, sorta.
[01:36] -- handyDandy [HD]  starts slowly walking towards one again --
[01:36] -- handyDandy [HD]  if she isn't stopped she's going to wave a hand in front of one of the standing figures --
[01:37] -- theTracker [TT]  It doesn't move, not one bit. Tracker steps up to the Ember next to Elma, and reaches out, placing a hand 'against' it. Tracker exhales hard, and takes a deep breath, and... does something. --
[01:38] -- theTracker [TT]  Elma sees... something in the ghost, in the grey pillar of spiritual energy. She sees an image, a short snippet of a young couple coming to mourn someone at the height of summer, with warm dusk light casting shadows from behind the trees lining the hill, a glowy heat-haze about the place.  --
[01:38] TT: Their memories last about a year before they decay, give or take.
[01:39] TT: You can see all sorts of things through 'em.
[01:40] -- handyDandy [HD]  She stopped waving her hand after a few attempts. She had her attention fixed on the figure's dead glowy eyes before Tracker had to do it to them. She frowns at the projection and taps her thumbs together again --
[01:41] HD: I'm. I'm sorry you had to die mister ghost. Or maybe you're a miss ghost. I can't tell
[01:41] TT: Ahh... don't worry.
[01:42] TT: That ain't them being mourned, probably.
[01:42] -- handyDandy [HD]  is the ghost near a gravestone --
[01:42] -- theTracker [TT]  Not near any particular one.  --
[01:44] TT: Everyone has their time, I suppose. It's just a shame so many end up here instead of off on one of them fancy afterlives.
[01:44] TT: You can put a normal ghost to rest, but it's a little too late for these ones.
[01:45] HD: 'S that how you track all these rotten folks down? Must be tough being a criminal here if fellas can up ask the ghost who killed them
[01:46] TT: Well...
[01:46] TT: I'm a one in a million sort, not to brag.
[01:46] TT: Most people would never see somethin' like this in their lives.
[01:46] TT: I'm a real practiced metaspiritualist, and I can't even look into the channels without the help of this bell.
[01:47] -- handyDandy [HD]  squints and mumbles. "Metaspiritualist" --
[01:48] -- handyDandy [HD]  perks up --
[01:48] HD: Awe sheesh. I ain't nobody special but you took me here to see them. I uh. I owe ya
[01:49] TT: It's no problem.
[01:49] TT: Hardly got a better way to spend my night than sharin' my gifts.
[01:49] TT: Wasn't even the one who made this bell; it'd be rude to keep it all to myself.
[01:49] HD: ... O-oh!.. Say miss Tracker..
[01:49] TT: Hm?
[01:49] HD: Is your horse around? The one that's your uhm. Your familiar
[01:50] TT: Oh. Hm. One second.
[01:50] -- theTracker [TT]  steps away, and whistles loudly.  --
[01:51] -- theTracker [TT]  within a few seconds, heavy hoofbeats approach! A big, clydesdale-like horse with black and mottled white fur comes galloping up. It's a sturdy, healthy looking horse, which it probably would have to be to carry around all the bags attached to its saddle. --
[01:51] -- handyDandy [HD]  I --
[01:51] -- handyDandy [HD]  I READ HOOFBEAST --
[01:52] -- handyDandy [HD]  HOMESTUCK IS A CURSE. --
[01:53] HD: ....(H-huh)..?
[01:53] TT: Here 'e is.
[01:54] HD: I thought he'd be uh. He'd be shifted when he wasn't working as a horse
[01:55] -- handyDandy [HD]  takes another hesitant step towards the horse but this time she seems genuinely perplexed. More so that when she saw literal ghosts for the first time --
[01:55] TT: Shifted?
[01:55] TT: Familiars don't shift. They're just animals ya' form a real special bond with.
[01:55] TT: Until they can basically read your mind.
[01:56] TT: They get extra strong, live longer, they follow every order but they develop a bit of a personality too.
[01:56] HD: No? Gosh that's uh. That's different...
[01:57] TT: It all comes back to a sort of connection to nature us warlocks got.
[01:57] -- handyDandy [HD]  smiles crookedly at the horse --
[01:58] TT: When you make the transition into Wildkin—the animal-type thing that I am now—you form a special little connection with nature.
[01:58] TT: Animals will listen to ya'.
[01:58] TT: Plants will grow a little faster around ya'l
[01:58] TT: .*
[01:58] TT: Everything that lives is just a little nicer to you.
[01:58] HD: Familiars follow you willingly?
[01:59] TT: You gotta' make close friends with an animal before it becomes your familiar, but once they do, they'll follow you to the ends of the earth.
[02:00] TT: At this point, I'd trust ol' Spots here with my life.
[02:00] HD: Huh. That's an awful backwards thing you got going on around here. 'S fine though. Uhm. I was expecting a human fella but that's my fault for not asking earlier
[02:03] -- handyDandy [HD]  scratches her cheek again but nods after a short moment of thinking. She extends a hand towards the horse but doesn't try to approach it anymore than she already has --
[02:04] HD: 'S nice to meetcha though!
[02:04] TT: ... How's it normally work?
[02:04] -- theTracker [TT]  the horse leans its head down and bumps it against Elma's, indicating it will accept pets. --
[02:05] -- handyDandy [HD]  @ v @,, reaches to pet its head --
[02:08] -- theTracker [TT]  pets... accepted. it is soft. --
[02:10] HD: I'm not sure if it's more normal that what y'all got going on over here but a familiar ain't a witch's friends it's uh... Uhm. Like her work partner. But it's more of an obligation than a choice
[02:14] TT: That sounds... rough.
[02:15] -- handyDandy [HD]  shrugs --
[02:16] TT: Well.
[02:16] TT: I don't think I got anything left to show.
[02:16] TT: We ain't seen into the Deep, but...
[02:16] -- theTracker [TT]  shakes their head. --
[02:16] HD: It's whatever. Can we take a ride back on Spots? I was wee lil when they had the horse at the farm and I never got to ride one
[02:16] TT: Aw, sure.
[02:17] -- theTracker [TT]  hops up onto the horse, taking the reigns and patting the back end of the saddle.  --
[02:17] TT: Hop on.
[02:17] -- handyDandy [HD]  demonstrates her lack of horse climbing skills --
[02:18] -- theTracker [TT]  helps her up awkwardly. :V --
[02:18] -- handyDandy [HD]  gOOD. She needed that. She gets on eventually and looks more than pleased to do so --
[02:19] TT: Alright... 'ere we go.
[02:20] -- theTracker [TT]  begins Ride. They don't push Spots to go particularly fast, but they also aren't takin' her on the Baby Ride for Babies either. The two gallop out into the town, Spots' hooves beating a steady rhythm into the cobble paths as they pass by a number of small homes and a tavern. Maybe 50-60 people live in this place, tops, so it's not a particularly long ride. --
[02:21] -- handyDandy [HD]  stuffs some berries into her mouth on the way back. She gets them from where she put the glowing flowers so she probably also eats a bunch of invisible ghost leaves and pedals at this point --
[02:21] -- theTracker [TT]  hfhdfh nutritious. --
[02:21] -- theTracker [TT]  pulls Spots to a skidding stop near the portal.  --
[02:22] TT: Aaalright! Here we are...
[02:23] -- handyDandy [HD]  practically slides off of the horse awkwardly. She stumbles a bit but quickly finds her footing on the ground --
[02:23] HD: Are you coming back too?
[02:25] -- handyDandy [HD]  jogs in place near the portal --
[02:25] TT: Maybe not for now. But uh... hang on, actually.
[02:26] -- theTracker [TT]  slips off of the horse as well. They stop to dig through some of the packs on its side... and withdraw a small, glass cube, containing preserved inside an alchemically treated spirit-flower; it looks like a lotus, with deep, translucented blood-maroon petals with curved, soft edges about it.  --
[02:27] TT: Here's a little alchemical sample. It's not quite the graveyard flowers you were after, but it's surely somethin'.
[02:27] -- handyDandy [HD]  STARRY EYES BOYYYY --
[02:27] -- theTracker [TT]  offers it over. --
[02:27] -- theTracker [TT]  translucent* --
[02:28] TT: Guess hoardin' junk pays off sometimes.
[02:28] HD: O-oh! Oh gosh! Thank you! You've been all sorts of nice to me today. I really really owe ya miss Tracker
[02:28] -- handyDandy [HD]  takes the cube and holds it close to her chest carefully --
[02:28] HD: It ain't junk at all!
[02:29] TT: Hey, it's alright. People bein' nice to each other is what keeps everything together 'round here.
[02:29] TT: Glad you had some fun.
[02:29] HD: Mhm. Still! I'll get you something from town next time
[02:30] -- handyDandy [HD]  nods @v@ --
[02:30] TT: That'd be mighty nice of ya'.
[02:30] HD: Uh-huh. Well, catch you later miss Tracker!
[02:31] TT: Seeya'.
[02:31] -- theTracker [TT]  gives her a warm smile as she takes off! --
[02:31] -- handyDandy [HD]  ditzy smile. She waves and goes through the teleporter --
[02:32] -- theTracker [TT] ceased pestering handyDandy [HD] at 14:32 --