light_mischief | [come sail away] ic inbox (season 1)

"Mm. I walked it off myself, barely, but...a lot of my friends got hit. They're still dealing with it, so. I'm still dealing with it." The admission comes with a small and helpless shrug; what can you do?

"...So, the information. I need to preface this a little. I'm not a scholar of my own magic, just an experienced user of it - and I know very little about how the Captain operates, or the ship itself, let alone, say, you or Mister Sextus or even Ms. Grant, who made a heroic effort to explain. I'm trying to avoid leaping to conclusions, but there will be some inevitable comparisons to things from my world." She pauses, bobs her head side to side for a moment.

Observes she's been dithering like this a lot since the party. That can't be good.

"I'd also like to ask you not to leap to conclusions. I'm pretty sure what I've got is like. Good news. Unalloyed good news. But it can be. Easy to see as something. Not good."

His own friends have been doing considerably well, given the circumstances. Then again, there isn't much of an option -- everyone must move forward eventually.

"Alright, preface noted. I'll reserve my judgment until the end of whatever you've got." He gives up on the books entirely, turning his full attention on Erin as he tucks his hands into his pockets. "Shoot."

Erin sucks in a breath.

(Just spit it out, Peters.)

"I believe there's a commonality between my magic and the systems in place for the Captain's harvest."

(NOT LIKE THAT!)

She plunges on: "I've seen direct attacks on emotions and life force at home. The effects are staggering; effectively lethal in a matter of days, leaving lifelong scars even if you get there in time. My people instead take a byproduct of emotion, something humans and things of Earth never notice even now that the illusions that once swaddled us are gone. Animals don't produce it, I don't know why, but places of beauty and wonder do. The Vegas strip, the Paris lights..."

She shakes her head. "More relevant, something here is culling what I reach for whenever I go to touch what I need. All hours, day and night, everywhere on the ship I've been."

Don't voice a conclusion. We came to Skullduggery for his thoughts.

"I'm not sure how the ship manages it exactly, but it is indeed feeding off of us at what I assume is a consistent rate." That lines up with the Captain's comments about keeping the lights on. "I'm sure you've noticed by now, but the entire magical system in this reality is complete chaos. The Captain picks up interesting bits of magic and fits them together as best he can."

All of that is to say, "It could be that part of the ship's internal mechanics were lifted from your reality's magic, or it could be from somewhere comparable to your own."

That gets a thoughtful nod. "I'll be honest, that element hadn't crossed my mind at all. I had been thinking, and came to you now, on a different angle; that the harvest itself might not be harmful to us...and that what I have might be fungible to what he needs. Something I might be able to offer in trade if he ever...you know...deigns to fucking speak to me."

"Hmmm. That is interesting." Asking the Captain for details on the inner workings of the ship can be a bit like pulling teeth -- which could be a good or bad thing, depending on when and how it comes up.

"I wouldn't take it personally if he doesn't show when you visit the bridge. He's reclusive even on the best days, of which there have been three." But Skulduggery is gregarious enough for both of them. "What would you want to do for him?"

"...Understand that I'm not asking for your assistance here unless he's made you the Boat Pope," Erin warns. "I'm not sure how I feel about the god of this place but that's between me and him. But..." She sucks a breath between her teeth. "...I want to pay another passenger's way. Buy an exemption from the harvest. Nothing more."

"Hah. No. I have enough battles to fight with him without trying to take on other people's interests." He has more than enough work cut out for him, just trying to get their unfortunate captor to see himself, and them, as people.

"All I can offer is advice based on what I know." He lifts one hand in a middling geture between them. "From what I can tell, there's no way to single one person out from the rest. Even if there was, I'm not sure he would be interested to do it for just anything. You'd have to have something to trade that would be worth his time."

"Well. I'm stuck at opening a dialogue anyway." Erin puts her hands in her pockets. Something about Skullduggery is...steady. It's pleasant. "But if the harvest really is anything like mine, harmless, that's good news for making this a home, right? It doesn't have to be torture. I bet folks like Ruby or Fio provide plenty just by making people happy."

"It would benefit quite a few people." And it'd be a good step away from being consistently fed on. He doubts there will ever be a way to completely negate the consumption, but even slowing it would be a good start.

"Maintaining the reality with minimal drain on us is probably our next best step, given the circumstances. It would give us time to figure out alternate living arrangements for those who want it. Considering the effect that reality-hopping can have on the psyche, that's something that should be considered a... long-term solution, and not one to enact on a whim."

"That kinda high-level magical theory is currently beyond me." Currently. "But if there's anything I can do to help on that end, just let me know. If nothing else I can haul big heavy things for the inevitable reality-stabilizing ritual. Everyone seems to have rituals."

Erin opens her mouth to make her polite exit and then pauses, brightening up as she Remembers. "...Actually. Have you had a case yet of someone catching intrinsic magic off of another world, rather than learning an extrinsic technique?"

Skulduggery can only hope there isn't a ritual involved at some point -- there are at least a dozen people on the ship who would likely ruin it without even realizing. (An additional half-dozen or so would actively sabotage anything that might prevent a violent confrontation with the Captain. At least one of them ~~Clarke~~ would think they were doing it for the right reason...

The question makes him pause, as he tries to think back over the past few months. "I've offered to teach two people magic the way I'm accustomed to it, to no effect. ...There was Clarke practicing blood magic, the one time... Blood sigils are how Jenny ran her own ship, and I think Clarke wanted to emulate her." He hums thoughtfully. "She's probably still practicing them, although I doubt she'd let me anywhere near her now."

"Who the hell is Jenny?" Erin thinks she said that in her head. She did not say it in her head; best she manages is saying it mostly to herself. Erin nods and then decides to go for it, speaking up at a much more normal volume: "Miss Ruby's uh, particular strain of humanity has this interesting ability to project their souls. Protect their body with it, smite the wicked with it, that kinda thing. I've been soothing her dreams most of the last month and I seem. To have caught that ability off of her. Now it's got me curious about what else might be possible." A beat, and then, thoughtfully: "...And truth be told it turns out learning about magic and wonder from other worlds is really cool just by itself. I suspect that's the limit of the useful information I can offer. If it leads to any insights that get added to the Binder...could you leave my name off of them? I'm not sure everyone else will be as understanding about my harvest as you're being."

Skulduggery hears the question, of course, but the answer is somewhere in the binder. He's pretty sure. ...She probably can't read that though.......

"Ah, yes, she told me about those when I met her." Skulduggery's usual go-to for introductions is "name, are you from Earth, and what kind of magic do you have?" It's gone pretty well so far. "It's interesting you developed the magic yourself, but I can't say it's entirely unsurprising, given how slap-dash the entire system is here. Magic is probably leaking between all of us at a consistent rate."

And, since the binder's brought up... "I don't tend to leave names to information. And, if your harvesting truly doesn't affect anyone negatively, I don't see any reason to worry about it. Considering that we have had blood-drinking vampires on board without any problem, I doubt you'll be much worse off." Still, of course he won't blow up her spot. "And, if you were really curious: Jenny was a passenger from the last batch. She murdered her own group in order to win her freedom. She recently was returned to the ship through unfortunate circumstances."

So, not very free. Also, not in a very good mood.

"...I find my curiosity now much-dimmed by my sense of self-preservation." Erin takes a deep breath and dusts herself off, not for any particular reason beyond it being something to do with her hands. "We really do need to socialize outside of crises or work sometime. You're interesting company, Skullduggery. Usually this'd be when I suggest drinks sometime since we're all, you know, adults under stress but that's a bit of a non-starter. Still."

"I generally try to avoid her," which is the first time he's admitting to that fact, despite it being for reasons unrelated to her previous stay on the ship.

"Well, I'm not much for drinking on my own, but I make for decent enough company." He shrugs. "I very rarely let being sober stop me from having a good time."

"We'll have to make time then," Erin agrees. "And who knows, if more movies wash up aboard I could stand to listen in. Well," she adds, conscientiously, "once people are...feeling up to gathering at the pool again. If ever. In any event since I'm here anyway I think I'll go raid the stacks. Thank you again for your time, and your insight."

[come sail away] ic inbox (season 1)

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