dead to the power of two | OPEN

[runeing]

Who: celen's boys (aka charles and viktor), you?
Where: viktor's lab, lupin, the farm
What: viktor finally loses the battle against his illness and comes back. meanwhile, charles is learning magic (badly).
Warnings: death and dying, mentions of child abuse



PROMPTS IN COMMENTS.

▷ charles.
▷ viktor.

Comments

[bulleting]

[Caitlyn visits the farm often enough, thanks to it being the official lodging of her white chocobo, Toby. She used the lands near the farm for training, too, but today she's happily spending time riding the bird she doesn't spend nearly as much time with as she would like.

They've been riding for some time, but knowing the bird needed to rest and eat, they were trotting back towards the barn when she noticed a familiar face seemingly get...tugged into the air then fall flat onto his face?? Caitlyn raises a curious brow, bringing Toby to a stop a few feet away from the ghostly disaster.]

Long enough to see you face plant in the dirt. [Caitlyn fights back a smile. She would dismount and offer to help him up, but...ghost, yeah? Not much use in trying if her hand is going to go right through him.]

Are you alright?

[incorrigibles]

Great, [ says charles, in a despairing tone — played up just a little, though, because if she's going to laugh at him, he might as well lean into it. ]

I'm aces, except for the way my ego might never recover.

[ as he pushes himself up, he presses his hand on his chest like it hurts to say that... but he's also fighting a smile, now. ]

[bulleting]

[Caitlyn's not laughing!! At least, openly, anyway. She's trying her best to keep her smirks on the downlow!!]

Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

[And likely Vi, if she's honest. There isn't much they don't share with each other, these days. He does appear to be okay, so there's that, at least.]

Does it-- how.. [She pauses, taking a second to formulate the words she's trying to find before she speaks again.] Do you feel pain? Since you're... dead, technically speaking?

[incorrigibles]

[ his grin, meanwhile, finally breaks through — he nods, then. ]

Counting on that, Cait. [ sorry, he's just absorbed the shortened version of her name from scott and vi... does he even remember it's not her full name? anyway, the question makes his smile dim but not disappear, as if to show her he's not at all offended that she's asking. ]

Nah, I don't. I mean, it's possible to hurt me with the right tools, but... normal stuff like this, no.

[bulleting]

[For a time, there really weren't many that even called her Cait. Her family was so proper, it was always full first names only. Then there was Jayce. He started the nicknames, then Vi walked into her life. Vi was the first step in opening up her world, and once they found themselves here, making a life for themselves, making friends, Caitlyn isn't very surprised that the nicknames have lasted. She quite likes it. It's proof of how much her world has changed.

She finally dismounts from her chocobo, grabbing his reigns and leading him closer. The chocobo tilts his head curiously at Charles and squawks, and quickly busies himself with poking at the ground.]

That's... fascinating. So specific items can affect your...aura? [She really has no idea what to even call his visual state. Because he's definitely there. And yet transparent enough to disappear through walls and be unable to drink.

There are spirits in Runeterra, and are a big part of Ionian culture and life, but she's mostly just heard those things in stories. She's never really witnessed them in her life, but that's hardly the same thing as what Charles was.]

[incorrigibles]

[ meanwhile, charles blinks at the chocobo — it's definitely not an animal found on earth... but that's maybe for later.

right now is for grinning at caitlyn as he nods. ]

Sort of, yeah. I mean, I do exist, just... uh, in varying degrees of corporeality?

[ as she has already witnessed in lupin, he can very much either pass through objects or touch them like he's fully corporeal. ]

[bulleting]

And yet, not enough for a drink?

[Look, Caitlyn hasn't forgotten his visit to the bar. She's thinking of ways to make that a possibility, but it does help, learning more about how it all works.]

Is it dependent on your circumstances? As in, where you are at the time? Or if you're around something particularly "spiritual"?

[She's genuinely curious how close this affliction relates to what she knows of spirits, okay!! But it was mostly lore from Ionia that her father told her, and she had no idea how much was truth and was what simply folklore.]

-- Sorry, if I'm prying. You don't.. have to answer. I'm genuinely curious. We have spirits in our world, but it's not such a common occurrence where I grew up.

[incorrigibles]

Yeah. Dumb, innit? Technically, I can eat, but it just all tastes like ash, so not much point to it.

[ he smiles at her as she's backtracking, trying to apologise for her curiosity — it's an easy thing, to shake his head. ]

Nah, it's fine. I don't mind. It's all about concentration. I can choose how corporeal I am, or how incorporeal. I could float up right now, and the only reason I don't is because I choose not to.