daybreakacademy | You dug me out of this shallow grave with your swiss army knife and only you could revive me

Entry tags:

You dug me out of this shallow grave with your swiss army knife and only you could revive me

WHO: Héctor and Semi-OTA
WHERE: The fountain, the archery range, around
WHEN: June wibbly wobbly
WHAT: Música! Fútbol! Archery (again)! Necromancy! One (1) temporary Ghost!
WARNINGS: Mark in header as needed.

Música - OTA

It's been strange, playing again. It's even stranger teaching it again. Nostalgic and even grounding after the nightmare ending last month. Like everything else, he's more than happy to pretend it didn't happen. If he's got dark circles under his eyes, they're the same ones he's always had being a walking corpse. If he's jittery, well, that's an old thing too.

Whether the lessons are just ending, just begun, or he's simply been caught at the right moment, Héctor plays upon his guitar and forgets the world in favor of the music and a smile. It's been so long since he could (mostly) play without guilt.

Fútbol - Closed to those in on his secret

He doesn't stray into town as far as he used to. Even with Imelda's tracking rune, it's hard not to jump when he's out there and harder not to remember things he'd rather not remember. But old habits die hard and you never know what you can find in a clean dumpster. Nothing he can use this time except an old soccer ball. He looks it over, tests it for air leaks, then decides to bring it back.

And the moment he runs into any person he can go to bones with, he's breaking into a wide grin. "Hey! Look what I found!"

He can't much play while he's fleshy but certain things just don't matter so much when you're made of bones, like a loose fibula. He tosses the ball up in the air as his markings light, indicating a half shift taking place which he stops above his knees. He's lifting said knee to bounce the ball off it to the other, then letting it fall to the ground.

Archery - OTA

"You're sure this is going to work?" He'd asked Peter, getting anywhere from firm reassurance to unquestionable doubt all in the same breath. Eventually, he had to just concede that he could either try it or not and it would be the only way to know.

The bow certainly speaks of Peter's touch in the design, but he notices other things, little signs of his own impression like the white of it and the tiny bits of shimmering gold-- painted on cheaply with their dumpster diving budget but nevertheless there and enough to make him smile. In light marks, to be washed off later if things need to be changed, are the runes to make it all lighter and easier for him to use. He hasn't a hope of ever gaining more strength or muscle than he died with, but this? This might work.

He's certainly got the aim. Lining up a shot, he makes the target, if a bit off center. "Hah!" He cheers.

Necromancy - Closed to Imelda

"So, we're really doing this?" It's asked nervously. He's trying not to be nervous. He's insisted he's not, because he trusts her, he does, it will all be fine. His voice and laugh go higher all the same.

There are a thousand ways it could go wrong, a thousand things to worry about. There's also a lot to think about it if it actually goes right. What will it feel like to be alive again? What will it feel like to not be able to come apart and change? Will he age suddenly or slowly or at all? Will he still be able to see the dead? Will the school be furious that he and Imelda took away their prime subject in the study to cure blight? What about the hunters, the mages, the secrecy clauses...?

It goes on and on and on but he forces a smile.

Haunting - OTA-ish

This was a bad idea. This was such a very, very bad idea. Sure neither of them are outright panicking anymore but that doesn't mean they're not panicked. He waffles on leaving behind his body, still there in the circle she made, but it's not as if he can help her move it. No, the best thing he can do is find help.

Help. Someone who could, for one, see and hear him clearly beyond flickering light and static noise, and for two, who wouldn't be a problem in the long run with the fact that he is-- was-- a corpse. But it's a magic school, right? Someone's bound to be able to see him. They can help Imelda and then... then...

Dios he hopes she can fix this. This hovering and passing through stuff thing isn't nearly so fun when he considers that he's managed to cut himself off from his girl again. Not to mention everyone else. Also not to mention he hasn't quite mastered either thing and sometimes slips through the air and objects with a yelp.

Sunshine - OTA-ish

He doesn't feel tired. Not even his normal not-actually-sleep sort of tired. He doesn't feel anything at all, not even the breeze. It's a sad sacrifice but for the moment, it's one he finds he's actually willing to pay. He watches the sun rise up in the sky, eyes wide and smile growing wider. The higher it goes the harder he is to see, just a flickering shimmer in the light that very occasionally coalesces to the shape of a man. He strolls around and sits by the fountain, seeing for the first time just how many people there are in the daytime. He'll need to go check up on Imelda, but not yet.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Hieke doesn't leave the infirmary very often, and he goes to the range even less than that. He's trying to not be the man he was before, and avoiding the things he used to do seemed to be the way to do it. It's been hard, though, and after visiting the fair with Ky and Ky's class he...wants to start up archery again.

He's surprised when he sees Héctor there - had assumed the man was opposed to combat - but he tamps down his surprise as he watches the man shoot. After the first arrow, he claps softly. "Nice shot, Héctor."

He's not a combat oriented guy. Definitely not. Far from it. But despite being dead he's had not just one, not just two, but multiple attempts on his dubious life. Two, in some senses of the word, succeeding.

Even worse, he's put his family in danger each time. He's got to do something. This seems like it could be it.

He jumps slightly at the sound of the clapping and the compliment, even spoken softly. But he turns and the moment he sees Hieke there he smiles. "Oh! Gracias." A pause. "Are you here to practice too?"

That's all the more reason to learn how to fight. Not that Hieke knows any of this.

He nods at the question, lowering his hands to his side. He's not visibly armed - had just been planning on using one of the training bows - and he smiles softly at the man. "Yeah. I've been letting myself get rusty, and that's no good."

He tilts his head, raising his eyebrows. "That bow looks pretty nice. Did you make it yourself?"

"You're experienced? Aw, geez, I hope I don't get in your way," He says, a nervous but friendly laugh on his breath. It surprises him that a demon would find a need for a bow and arrow but what does he know?

He looks to the bow and shakes his head. "Oh, no. Definitely not. This is Peter Parker's work. He's a smart boy. I, ah, I don't have the proper strength for normal bows, and with my illness, it's not really something I can build on much. He offered to make me something I could actually use. I'm testing it out now."

"Little bit," he says, having spent at least a century using various forms of bows and crossbows. Having other ways to hurt the things that would hurt you is never a bad idea - magic is unreliable, even though it's so much easier to use.

He takes one of the training bows, nodding along to Héctor's explanation. His brow furrows at the mention of an illness, but he doesn't ask for clarification. He has the feeling there's something going on there, but... It would be rude to press. "I see. It looks really nice, and it seems like you'll get the hang of it quickly."

"I've kind of... had an unorthodox means of practicing before this," He explains. "In the Outlands, you use what you have and all." And what he had was his arm and some suspenders. "I'm hoping that means I'll be able to get a grasp of a real bow. Real-ish."

The illness excuse comes easy. Just as it did when he nearly knocked himself out in Hieke's class overdoing magic.

"Do you mind if I watch you?" He asks. "See how it's done and all."

He laughs, nodding his head. He gets that. The Outlands kind of demand a unique kind of ingenuity from people. "I see - well, so far you're on the right path."

The illness excuse is bullshit and he can't keep secrets from Hieke forever.

He straightens up, nodding, though he looks...sheepish. "I can't guarantee I'll be a good teacher, but..."

He steps up to the plate, so to speak, and draws the bow. It comes to him almost naturally, as he sizes up the target. When he releases the arrow it flies straight and hits dead center of the target. He lets out another soft laugh, before reaching for another arrow. "Most of what'll help you is practice."

[ That's interesting.

He'd been outside, watching for a while, but at a mirage rather than the sun. Kano can be quiet when he wants to be, a black cat with silent footsteps in a row along the edge of the fountain, tip of his tail twitching in amusement as he slinks forward under the cover lengthening shadows until he's right behind him, turning back to his gremlin boy self and setting both hands on Héctor's shoulders to shout into his ear- ]

Hi, Héctor!!!

[ and hope he doesn't just fall straight through the ghost of a man and onto his face on the pavement, because ouch. ]

The man was out and about with his own instrument, ready to play when he heard the strings of a guitar. "Arthur" smiles to himself as he sits down, and listens attentively. Héctor was quite skilled, this was obvious to both a casual listener and someone with trained ears, or so he thought.

Once there was a pause in the melody, the vampire politely applauds in appreciation. "You're quite wonderful to listen to."

There's something weird happening. Flickering of a vaguely human shape, very faint; mostly just a perception of an image and not at all appearing tangible or connected. Visions have been coming strangely lately, a side effect of medication maybe. This could be related. Toki really doesn't want to get closer in case it turns out to be some weird eyeball creature or something, but it looks... familiar. For some reason, he knows it. An echoey sort of half-voice half-cracking static noise floating in and out too, now that he's closer. He can't understand it yet.

[He doesn't notice the cat. In another time he might have paid more attention and even offer a small scritch under the chin, but his eyes are fixed on a world painted gold. He doesn't even notice the shift in shadows, though he really should.

Unfortunately for Kano, there is nothing solid about him at all at the moment.

Unfortunately for Héctor, Kano's attempt to spook him is still a success. He screams and jumps high, which results in him flipping up awkwardly into the air, likely the same time as Kano's hands slip right through.]

Kano!?

[His voice is surprised, concerned, and exasperated at once.]

He lifts his head, drawn up out of that haze. He recognizes the man in a moment. He smiles in greeting.

"Hola Arthur. And, gracias." It's not that he's shy about his music, he knows he's good, but there's probably going to be that tinge of nervousness forever since he learned what became of his old songs. So long as he avoids them.

"Are you out to play too?"

"A little bit," He repeats with a wry grin at Hieke. "Looks like you're an expert to me."

But he's impressed. Hitting dead center's no easy thing after all.

"Ay, practice. As with everything," He agrees with a nod. It's the truth. Still, he thinks he'll watch a bit longer.

"Where did you pick up Archery?"

This really isn't working. Hardly anyone can see him. People pass by and pass through and he swerves from them to avoid the weird feeling that comes with it.

"Can anyone hear me?" He asks aloud only to be ignored. So he keeps going. Until he gets that off feeling of being watched.

"Hello? Is someone-- Toki!!" The boy's looking at him! Well, squinting more like, but it' something! And for the moment he doesn't consider that Toki might not actually be the best help here. He moves to him with a wide grin. "Can you see me? Can you hear me?"

"I've been at this for a long time!" He protests, holding the bow up like it'll protect him from the teasing.

It doesn't seem like there's going to be much of it, though, so he readies another arrow. He's sure Héctor wants more of an answer than "The Outlands" for his question, and he's trying to figure out what to say.

"Back home," is what he settles on finally, letting loose the second arrow. It doesn't do anything dramatic like split the first arrow in half, but it lands close. "There's more than one way to fight, and it seemed like a good idea to figure out how to fight from a distance."

Toki tilts his head; it just said something. It's a ghost! Oh my god! He manages to reign in his first impulse, which is to run away screaming. Maybe instead, he can try Jail's method of seeing the truth of the present. He hesitantly steps closer to the flickering ghost thing and attempts to look into its very core - what is it? Where did it come from? Most importantly, what does it want? It takes a minute of intense concentration and then...

"Héctor?"

Héctor's dead; he knows this. But he's a skeleton, not a ghost. How can a skeleton be a ghost?

"Aha! Great! You can hear me! Or see me! One or other, good enough."

He's gesturing quickly as he speaks, all this pent up energy, which probably doesn't help his dubious visibility. But he's found someone! Toki's not capable of putting souls back in bodies and he frankly wouldn't want Toki to be the one to try, but he's a physical person with hands who can lift things.

"Are you busy? Can you do me a tiiiiny favor?"

Toki tries to keep up with the flickering, but it's impossible. He'll just listen instead, Héctor's words repeated in Japanese through the tinny robot voice of the app.

"Yes."

Whether that's yes he's busy, or yes he'll help, it's up to Héctor to determine. Toki takes his phone out of his pocket and scrolls through Google translate for a second to get precise words to ask. More information would be good here.

"Explain?... Dead again?"

He nods in confirmation. "It seemed like a good evening and I would hate to get out of practice. While my form may not change, my skills can wax and wane." With that, he pushes himself up to stand.

Woops, that's right. He's got to go slower for that translation. But he'll take that as Toki probably being willing and able to help him.

He makes a strained noise, wobbling his hand.

"Aah, you'd think so. But it's kind of..." His hand twirls as he thinks. He doesn't even stir up air. "I was trying this thing with a friend, you know, see what we could do and it's less like I'm more dead than I was and more like my soul's just come a bit... loose. You know. Not dying again so much as moving death adjacent." Which is so much better. "Anyway, it's not that important. What is important is that, at the moment, I can't really touch things and I'm going to need a lot of ice. Do you think you could help me get some ice?"

Toki shrugs. That explanation is perfectly fine. Death adjacent, needs some ice. It's a logical progression.

"Where?"

Where does he bring this ice? He's just going to go to the Grand Hall and get a bucket of ice, hotel room sized. Héctor's absolutely come to the wrong person for this.

While Héctor might be thankful that there was someone that could see and hear him, he probably shouldn't. Especially when that certain someone was something a ghost normally wouldn't want to be spotted by.

...It's a good thing Emizel was supposed to be on his 'best behavior', assuming this ghost was secretly a student or staff. Looked too old to be a student. He also wasn't given a scythe to 'practice' with either.

"Why am I not surprised this school has an infestation problem too," he mutters to himself anyway.

He hesitates. He could direct the ice to Imelda's room but... but if they can't fix then it's going to be Imelda who has to deal with and that's not what he wants.

"How about Lumiere common room, floor three? That would probably be fine..." He hopes.

He hums in understanding. He's pretty stuck as he is too. "Do you mind if I listen a little bit? I haven't heard you play. I don't want to throw my noise in with yours before I've gotten to hear the original."

"That's what experienced means!" He laughs. The bow can't save him, but Hieke's right. He leaves it at that.

He nods. Back home, where one had to be on their toes at all times.

"I've got to admit, I didn't really think about daemons needing to defend themselves out there too. I kind of thought all the running that happened was away from them. No offense meant to you." And he really means not to offend. It's just not what he expected. Or thought about.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 7

You dug me out of this shallow grave with your swiss army knife and only you could revive me

archery;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sunshine

Musica

Haunting

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Haunting

no subject

no subject

no subject