KAGACHI;

[crashout]

Comments

[crashout]

What did Higekiri tell you we saw on the camera?

[preceptive]

You saw yourself having sex and being torn apart?

[crashout]

Oh. Yeah. [Is he surprised that Higekiri detailed that? Maybe.] Or more like we were already torn apart...all three bodies were missing faces before we even got to that part. But the likeness was clear.

[preceptive]

The missing faces part is weird. ... Well, all of it is. But why remove the faces?

[crashout]

That's been my question, too. Three almost-perfect replicas, but one of them left the scene. When Higekiri and I were checking the equipment, Beck said she felt something--or someone touch her. Paralyzed her, actually. She's fine now, but the lights went out and things changed after that.

[preceptive]

I heard something like that. She was the one who put in the first cassette, right?

[crashout]

Right. I'm wondering if that's the only connection myself, because there's no way in hell it was a coincidence.

[preceptive]

So we have more answers, and more questions. Great.

[crashout]

Better than no answers and more questions. [He lifts the bottle in a mock-toast.] Cheers to that, or whatever.

[But there's a slight sigh.] If something's really coming for us soon, the next question is how are we supposed to prepare for that?

[preceptive]

Some of us know how to fight. But I get the feeling it's more complicated than that.

[crashout]

You mean like how I'm not so sure it's only going to be a physical fight?

[preceptive]

Yeah, something like that. At the very least, if spirits are involved, then things like possession aren't out of the question.

[crashout]

[...hm.]

You answered pretty quick when I asked earlier. Have you had experience with this kind of thing before? Ghosts and whatever.

[preceptive]

Dealing with spirits was my job.

[crashout]

Like an exorcist? [What are you, Kagachi?]

[preceptive]

Not exactly.

I help convince souls to pass on, if they find themselves chained down by regret. If I'm too late, their emotions twist them into becoming malevolent, at which point they have to be cut down.

[crashout]

A grim reaper then. [He doesn't seem bothered.] Explains the scythe and everything, at least. But how does someone get pulled into a job like that?

[preceptive]

[what the fuck is a grim reaper]

... The scythe used to belong to someone else, actually.

[sort of. anyway,]

The man who raised me had the same job. I don't know the details, but I think it was formed a couple of decades ago, when people realized souls were becoming Lost.

[crashout]

[It's fine, they're fine. He seems to be thinking on this, taking another drink like it'll help clear his thoughts. Who knows, maybe it will. It'll help keep his focus on what's important. ]

What's the likelihood that we're dealing with some lost corrupted souls? That isn't a problem unique to your universe, is it?

[preceptive]

This all seems too convoluted and elaborate for that. The worst I've seen is possessing people to turn them into mass murderers.

But I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that the nature of a soul differs between worlds. Does reincarnation exist in yours?

[crashout]

The idea does, sure, but I've never seen an example of it. At least not really in the way I think you're thinking of it. [That's vague, but sure.] Can there be only one version of a soul at a time?

[preceptive]

[hm.]

I wouldn't say there are alternate versions, exactly, but a soul could be split into pieces, or manifest at different points in time concurrently, if that makes sense.

[crashout]

Yeah. Makes plenty of sense. [Great.] So we have people here who deal with spirits, and people who have been spirits, and people who have experience with multiverse theory. What do you make of that?

[preceptive]

That this is a way bigger enemy than what I've dealt with before, for one. It looks like they've disabled all powers, too.

[crashout]

Powers, some biological functions and even some things that shouldn't be able to be shut down. If I had to guess it's something way more powerful, but who knows what that is? Can a corrupted soul hold that much power?