kim kitsuragi

[magichammer]

one of the lone bastions of sanity

Comments

w1, tuesday

[magichammer]

[ that sure was a spooky boat trip. at least they didn't end up falling through any floors though! ]

Hey, Mr. Kim, got a second?

[voltadomar]

[Stuff sure happened! Kim's probably sitting down somewhere in town.]

Sure. Was there something you wanted to talk about?

[magichammer]

Uh huh. You managed to pick up some black powder from the ship, right?

[ there aren't any guns (as far as i can recall), so it's just black powder to her ]

[voltadomar]

Yes, a small amount of gunpowder. I'm hoping it hasn't been contaminated too much by the environment.

[magichammer]

Oh, I might be able to purify it if the right things are here.

[ but if she's going to do that, she has to know: ]

Are you gonna make a bomb out of it?

[voltadomar]

[A mild questioning look at that. She can what? Okay, he's going to answer the question first.]

I haven't quite decided. Normally, I wouldn't touch something like that, but after seeing those "spectres" the other day, and the state of the ship we just explored...

[Kim was not going to stop those spectres with a bullet, and he knows it.]

I know that we're dealing with forces that are well beyond the equipment we have. So... yes, perhaps an explosive device may have a use in the future.

[magichammer]

Can't see why a bomb wouldn't work on a sea monster.

[ :) ]

Those Spectre things definitely are something else though... I wonder why a bunch of us can't see them properly? It makes things a pain to deal with!

[voltadomar]

If it was a sea monster...

[There's some doubt.]

... You really couldn't see them?

[magichammer]

I mean, I sorta could? But it was really difficult! I'd probably miss them if I was in a hurry.

[ you know, like if she was in the middle of a fight, or running for her life. ]

What'd they look like to you? I know the others keep saying they're like "ink in water" or whatever, but that just sounds stupid.

[voltadomar]

It's not too inaccurate. Another way of putting it is... they looked like masses of dark smoke, swirling and slithering like serpents.

[magichammer]

Whoa... freaky... And... what'd they do to Qi Rong, exactly? I think I caught a glimpse of them hovering around him, but-

[ the age restriction ]

[voltadomar]

I'm not sure how to describe it. They swarmed him, latched on... and he appeared to lose the will to fight. Like it had been drained right out of him.

They also seemed drawn to the daemons in the fray. Not just the people.

[magichammer]

The daemons? Why?

[ ???????? what kind of freaky ghost ink monsters are these ]

[voltadomar]

Some people seem to believe these creatures [-- as if summoned, Kim's daemon pokes her head out from under the collar of his jacket, a bandicoot seated on his shoulder --] are connected to our "souls." And that the spectres specifically attack the souls of people.

It sounds like magical nonsense, but at this point, I'm not sure I should dismiss anything outright on that basis.

[magichammer]

Wait, our souls? I could tell Albin was connected to me, but I didn't think like that!

[ implying she thought at all. Albin, hearing his name, takes the opportunity to shift into a kookaburra again and cackle away in her ear. at her. thanks, buddy. ]

... Do you think that's what happened to that lighthouse guy? The one the kids all said was already a ghost.

[voltadomar]

They said he was a ghost? [He raises an eyebrow. Looks like Kim didn't hear that rumour.]

[magichammer]

Something like that, yeah. And Yoo Joonghyuk said when he got more info out of them, it was more like... the guy was blank? Already dead while still alive.

[ wonder why that sounds familiar ]

[voltadomar]

That sounds a lot like Qi Rong, in his final moments.

[Ominous. All of this.]

I wonder when that was, in relation to the time of death...

[magichammer]

You said he died about a week before we showed up, right? But from what I heard, the kids hadn't seen him in a while... So he must've changed long before we got there.

[ then again, it's hard to tell when street children have no concept of time ]

[voltadomar]

Meaning the spectres had been affecting him for some time before he was eventually killed...? Perhaps that's possible.

[magichammer]

... I wonder what made the lighthouse so important that he didn't leave with the other adults.

[ the ones that didn't die ]

[voltadomar]

I don't know. Even with evidence, it's difficult to understand the minds of the dead.

[magichammer]

You'd think they could leave a note or something.

[ darn dead people, give them the plot! ]

Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder why their bodies were there at all.

[voltadomar]

Why is that?

[magichammer]

Didn't those other guys turn into Dust?

[ it might have taken Marium longer, but... ]