closed | an eye for an eye

[thecrossingnpcs]

WHO: The Wraith, Shepard, and Soo Won
WHAT: A conversation
WHERE: In and around the Dunes
WHEN: Sometime after The Wraith's sighting in the Desert
WARNINGS Nothing for now, will edit as needed.

[The journey out here takes some time; it turns out the map was not as straightforward as it appeared (and it didn't appear that straightforward to begin with). But, ultimately, it leads out to a cave that will be familiar to Lyn: it's the same one she came out of when she found herself lost, with the iconography of an eye drawn on its inside wall.

Within the cave is a wraith. It is large, with unnaturally long proportions, as if something took it by the head and by the feet and stretched. Its right eye is much, much larger than the other, making it appear almost cyclopean at some angles.

This wraith, like all of the others sighted before it, does not speak. It merely watches, though its gaze has a very different quality than the others like it: curious, dissembling, and intelligent.

There is a book propped up on a stone inside the cave, away from the winds and the heat of the Desert. It is opened to a middle page, where words appear as if by an invisible typewriter:]

Hello.
I see you found your way.
You're persistent.
I thought you might be.

Comments

[thecrossingnpcs]

You can't.
They'll always hurt.
They'll always want.

But you can help me help them.

[callsignhornet]

[The Smart Wraith’s claim draws another wary look. All this was setting alarm bells off in Shepard’s head. It was nowhere near the first time she had been caught between two factions with differing methodologies, but this felt far bigger than anything she’d ever had to negotiate.]

If you want help, you at least need to be more transparent than the Ferryman. I can’t deal with two cryptic individuals.

[thecrossingnpcs]

[The Wraith's head tilts, but it at least seems to have calmed.]

What do you want to know?

[callsignhornet]

[Allynbee thinks for a moment, considering her options. Curiosity blossomed, but at the moment, there was more to consider. Why couldn’t they follow the Ferryman like the group? Were they opposed the the Ferryman? Or just different.

That wasn’t the question that came out.]

Will we have to pay a toll with you?

[thecrossingnpcs]

No.
You pay no toll, and receive no protection.
But if I can help you, I will. We all have the same goal.

[callsignhornet]

[She nearly recoils at the 'no', gaze flicking to the Wraith before she reads further. This is insane. There's no way that this Wraith isn't trying to lead them into a trap.

Allynbee folds her arms again, though there is less tension in her body language. She's listening. Wary, but listening.]

And what's the goal? Some of us are on the back foot and I want to make sure when I talk to everyone, that I'm giving them correct info..

[thecrossingnpcs]

[Only a single word appears as a reply:]

Remembering.

[callsignhornet]

What?

[Allynbee looks over the responses of The Wraith, mind spinning.]

Are we going to become like you if we keep giving up our memories? No, wait-

[For a moment, she looks away from the creature before out of the cavern, and out into the sands. Allynbee can feel her mouth dry and her heart pounding.

How fast can she get back to the group?]

Did the Ferryman do this to you?

[thecrossingnpcs]

No.
The Crossing did this to me.
To all of us.

[The Wraith seems to study her, turning a bit in place to focus its apparent "good" eye on her.]

Your Ferryman doesn't lie.
But they only exist for a single purpose. They have always existed that way.
They don't know anything else. They'll never know anything else.

[callsignhornet]

[Lips set in a line, Allynbee considered all of this new information. What to tell, who to tell. Finally, after a quiet moment, she returns her attention to the Wraith.]

What do I call you? Do you have a name?

[thecrossingnpcs]

I don't remember.

[The Wraith's form sways a little again, though this time more subdued.]

You can call me whatever you want.