crashout | WEI WUXIAN;

[HAHA WHOOPS AND THEN CARLOS GOT GOT ANYWAY. Wei Wuxian looks... sympathetic, at least.]

Haha, true. I don't think many people will be sleeping well tonight. [He rolls his shoulders in something of a shrug, but turns on his heel soon enough to lead the way back to his gremlin den. Once inside:]

Looks like those speculations weren't too far off at all, unfortunately.

[To the gremlin den!! Once inside, Junpei takes a place on the couch and takes the bottle, uncapping it and taking a swig before passing it back.]

Now that we have a sex demon on the loose, things are bound to get worse. So what do we do? [That's not even touching the Carlos and Polly part.]

[Junpei needs this drink more than he does, so after taking a swig himself, he'll place it closer to his side of the couch. He, of course, is gargoyling on the arm of it once more.]

Good question! [He doesn't DEAL WITH SEX DEMONS THIS IS NEW TERRITORY.] I'm not sure whether or not any of them were carrying any sort of protective measures on them, so I can't even say if they are or aren't effective. Outside of that, this style of revival is something I'm not used to seeing at all. A corpse in my world can be reanimated, but it's not as if you can pump blood through their veins again.

[Thank god, maybe he'll be hungover for tomorrow's execution. He'll take another drink, pondering quietly.]

I don't think they had wards up or anything if that's what you mean. [Hm.] Do you think they're actually alive again even with a heartbeat?

[All these people just stumble in to watch Polly get exorcised, squinting blearily through sunglasses with scarves pulled up over their noses.]

Mm, that's what I mean. [A nod! ALSO GOOD QUESTION.] I intend to try finding that out tonight. I'd still classify them as "undead" as of right now, though.

[There's a squint.]

You're gonna go see them and ask or what?

[Don't look at him like that!!]

I don't think asking will really do much good considering the state of their memories, but I'm hoping at least one of them will let me take a closer look at their-- well, where their injuries used to be. There are a few other things I want to check, too.

[The squint disappears. He looks a little more curious now.]

Not a bad idea. I didn't really get a good look at Carlos's myself but when you're torn to pieces there's...probably something lingering there. Can I ask what the other things are?

That's the speculation, at least. [A little nod. Bad! Bad demons. Anyway, he'll hold up his fingers as he counts off.]

Sensation, range of motion. Whether or not they react to possible methods of purification. Anything amiss that can't immediately be caught by the eye. I considered a few other things, but... well. I think they've all been through enough.

Seeing if they still have full control of themselves or if something's possessing their bodies. [That makes sense.] Polly's probably still mad enough that if you flirt with her she'll let you do whatever. And Carlos...[...] ...he'll agree if he thinks it'll help us figure out what's going on. That's just how it works.

[There's a little beat of silence.]

You two were from the same place, weren't you? Seems like he holds you in high regard.

[Even at the end of everything...]

I'll see about talking to them. The other two, too. To be honest, I don't trust these bodies of theirs to hold up as they are.

Yeah. [About that.] We were part of the same team in the decision game we were playing. We had to trust each other if we wanted to survive, so that sort of transferred here, too. He knows what I would have done if I had to.

[He would have flat-out killed Carlos himself if he needed to exorcise a demon. And haha, look at that! That's still questionable!]

I don't trust it either. Polly and Carlos are the only two who were still controlled, so...what happened to Nathan and Chuuya-Red? Were they just casualties? [...] There's also the part where they got their powers back.

It takes a strong bond and stronger understanding to be able to make the difficult decisions.

[Color him impressed... Though that makes Carlos' potential one-way trip to Possessed Sex Demon Hell even more unfortunate for both of them. Watch Junpei be executioner tomorrow.]

--If I had to guess? That kind of "perfect restoration" would come with side-effects, without a doubt. It's pretty likely that the amount of energy it takes to sustain that kind of form will wear off sooner rather than later - those bodies might just give up on them without warning. And barring a quick collapse, there's almost sure to be a slower one. Something happened during the revival process - Chuuya essentially said as much, even if he couldn't remember the details. If it's not done properly, it won't last.

You have no idea. [Haha, yeah! It's great! Let's not talk about that!]

You think maybe they'll fall apart all over again? If Polly summoned something, it wanted them alive again for some reason. But what would it want with people who were already dead?

[He's getting that HM BAD sense here, so he'll mercifully let the topic go... The night's been hard enough on both of them anyway, good lord.]

I think there's a pretty good possibility of that happening. People who were already dead once also tend to have a stronger connection to other things from that side. It's possible that Chuuya and Nathan's revival came from a different source than whatever brought back Polly and Carlos, though the method of revival itself seemed pretty identical.

Some other malevolent spirit that's running around without our knowledge? [This hotel continues to be the worst.] All four of them were able to read that language and go places we couldn't go. So. What do we do about Chuuya-Red and Nathan?

You think people are really going to let them wander freely?

Possibly! Possibly something else. They did seem to be channeling some sort of something at various points throughout the trial, what with knowing how to get into places and having an innate understanding of the rules and all.

[Waving a hand!! This hotel really is a Hard Time. Also, that's a good question and he SIGHS... His zombie bias really leapt out today.]

Some people don't even seem like they'd be happy to keep those two walking around, period. Nathan is one story, but who would even be able to stop Chuuya if he wanted to roam as he'd like?

[HIS POWERS.]

One foot on the living side, one foot on the dead. [Not great! Bad!] Then again, this isn't the first time I've seen something like this so...we were on the right track.

Couldn't we just ground Chuuya somehow? I'm more concerned about the guy who can't die.

Technically neither of them seem to be capable of fully dying right now. [...] Not that I'd suggest testing it out again. I really wasn't kidding - the sentient revived tend to be very fragile and we might risk them dying in a way they can't be brought back from if we keep testing their limits.

[They might be like cats who only have nine lives!! Or Chuuya, anyway...]

We already proved that they can die and come back. But if it's damaging them that's a different story. [...] Let me know what you find out from the four of them. What's different, what's the same...we can figure out how to handle them from there.

Then again, after tomorrow we might only have two or three to deal with anyway. [...he's going to take another long drink, oh well.]

I'll let you know what I find.

[From all four of them... including the extremely cursed Polly...

Haha that sure is a possibility though, isn't it!! He's quiet for a second.]

--Do you still want me to see what I can do about separating hosts and spirits?

[The tone of his voice suggests what he doesn't say aloud, though: that he doesn't think he'll be finding anything any time soon. Not soon enough for Carlos, if at all.]

[Funny he should mention that.]

I do, yeah. In case this happens again, if we have the information on-hand we might be able to save future victims. [But his own tone suggests that he doesn't think it'll save Carlos either and maybe he's accepted that a little more than before. It's still awful, but it's fine.]

[Nothing is ever fine in these here parts!!

There's something understanding in his expression for a second before he nods, in any case.]

I'll do what I can. I think I'll try to speak to some of the others who work with possessions and spirits and the like in their own worlds, too. The more we have to work with, the easier it might be to figure out what we can make work here.

There're a few people I'm sure you know about already. Some of our swords are used to spirits. Tamamo. Kagachi. Muzet, in theory. They're the ones I can think of right away.

I think splitting things into smaller teams is going to help us right now. A group to work on protection and knowledge of possessions and spirits. A group to work on research. A group to work on finding paths to the other floors. Something like that.

Mm, I was planning on talking to at least Kagachi, since it seems like he's dealt with other cases of forced bodily possession before.

[THAT'S GONNA BE A FUN TALK. Also, he nods pretty much right away. Though he's the type who tends to fuck off on his own and try to do things without help, sometimes you just gotta admit that the sex demons have you in a stalemate.]

I think that's our best bet for getting as much done as we possibly can at once, too. Focus the specialists where their specialties lie - usually doesn't work out too badly.

[Usually.]

bless u

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