thecrossinglogs | Wind In the Desert Just Sounds Like Music

Wind In the Desert Just Sounds Like Music

WHO: Sunny and You! (This happens right after the therapy meet, but it’s OTA. If you weren’t attending the meeting, you can still see Sunny running off ^^)
WHAT: Sunny got upset and ran off. Now he’s lost in the Desert. Help?
WHERE: The Desert (and Dunes. Really he might end up at one of the inserted locations too, TBD)
WHEN: Post-Therapy Meet, Pre-Second Crossing
WARNINGS Most likely signs of PTSD and anxiety. Will update in Subject as needed :)

Sunny didn’t know where he was. He remembered getting upset, running off… but he didn’t recognize any of the surroundings nearby. He wasn’t in the Oasis… and, because he had spent all of his time in said safe haven before now, that fact filled him with dread…

He needed to find his way back. But… that meant finding everyone else, which would probably lead to more questions. Questions that he didn’t want to answer. Questions that caused his stomach to cramp and his breath to come short all over again.

Maybe it was better to stay here…

[OOC: OK! Here’s the search log for Sunny! I’ll be making several prompts below, and whoever ends up finding Sunny will be left to random draw to keep it fair ^^ But feel free to mingle, join the search with someone else, etc. Any of the locations added by us are fair game to explore too!]

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[There's no specific recognition of Celehar's appearance, at least - the skeleton's making a general effort at keeping alarmed people calm, practiced during his time as ambassador. A couple people around the oasis have cautioned him to expect others to react poorly to his appearance or the term 'monster', but they largely didn't focus on naming specific names in those cautions. Possibly out of a reluctance to air others' baggage.]

No, I-- wait, a wraith?

[His eye sockets widen in surprise, distracted from his intentional calm into something almost delighted.]

Hey, that's a new question! But no, I'm not a wraith! Or a 'zombie', or any other sort of... uncanny dead person... [His cheer stutters, sticking around awkwardly as his own words sink in.] I mean. Except in the way we all are...?

[The reminder that they're all dead helps, in its own morbid way. If this were a ghoul, he has no flesh for it to claim for its own, to turn itself into the horror of rotting meat he's had to quiet so often.

A ghoul coming to know the hunt, he has seen before - but polite conversation he holds is quite beyond them. Better to get this one talking further, to give him time to steady his nerves, and further proof he's not about to be torn apart.]

One of the - the others, encountered a wraith she said could speak. [An explanation, offered with a shade of apology to his voice.] Might I - ask your name, Mer...?

[He hesitates briefly at the question, at the strange form of address that might be a title or a placeholder name or a word that just isn't quite bridging the translation gap. The matter of his name sure seems to have become a much more regular question, in this time since he died and misplaced it, than it had been for years prior to that.

...Maybe because his brother had gone around talking about him to enough people that few had felt any need to ask him.

At any rate, he has a great excuse to dodge the name question for a minute longer.]

Did you say, one of the wraiths talks? Aloud?? I couldn't convince any of them to talk, not even pictorially!

[It's a sincere complaint, too - he spent a while at those drawings.]

I have not seen it, myself.

[Hence the moment of confusion, of course. But Celehar does notice the hesitation for the skeleton to commit to an introduction. Which sets a prickle down the back of his spine, but he firmly squashes down the instinct to shy away from it. There is cause for concern, but not alarm - interacting with Need has taught him as much.

So he gives the stranger another chance.]

My name is Thara Celehar, prelate of Ulis.

...Ah. It's, nice to meet you! Thara... Celehar...

[He trails off, uncertain whether all of those syllables were the full name - it seems a bit much to repeat on a first introduction, if so - and moreso from the pressure.]

I would like to do the manners thing, and return with a namely answer! But... when I woke in the river... It was, missing.

[And so, the stranger immediately sets off that red flag, because for all he's had warnings about people being alarmed by 'monsters', skeletons, and so on... The idea that being nameless while dead would be alarming? That will be new for him.]

[Celehar at least dips his head - the skeleton's uncertainty being met with acknowledgement and no correction. He's heard his own share of unfamiliar names here, and the title is a necessity for introduction, but not address, by the customs he's familiar with.

He's expecting something as confusing, perhaps, as Sunny's truncated introduction, or Mer Nagito - but instead the answer he does receive has his ears flattening against his head in dismay that echoes across his expression, despite himself.]

You no longer remember it?

Try as I might, no...

[There's enough monsters where he comes from with various forms of expressive long ears for the skeleton to at least suspect that flattening is a form of some discomfort, though he can't be sure. He also can't be sure of the intensity of the discomfort, especially without context. But enough time living in underground captivity teaches some habits for dealing with distress - like minimizing it and covering it with semi-sincere jokes.]

Awful, isn't it? At least it's the only thing I know I forgot! And, the Ferryman was upset too...

[Which is to say, they were shocked, perturbed, and then promised they would try to get it back for him. Which is a point against Frieda's theory about everything, come to think of it...]

[If it weren't for the strange effect this place had on them, Celehar's quite sure his arms would be breaking out in gooseflesh right now, at the revelation.

He does his best to ignore it by instead bringing up a hand to rub at his mouth, trying to swallow down the many things that brings him to want to blurt out. In the end, he manages,]

The Ferryman... did they say why?

[That covered mouth looks a little bit more like thoughtfulness than discomfort, so the nameless skeleton chooses to believe it's just discomfort on his behalf. Completely commendable to be concerned for him - who wouldn't be weirded out by the notion of not remembering something so basic?]

They... were very vague.

[He frowns, thinking back to that exchange and what he remembers from it. With so few people to converse with and so little written word to occupy himself with, it's all the easier to remember the things people say, these days.]

Or maybe very precise, in an opaque and mysterious way. Just that something 'wasn't right.'

[Which, he thinks he and this near-stranger of the long name starting with Thara can agree, doesn't specify much. At least it wasn't as ominous a wording as outright saying something was wrong. This just sounded like something was a bit off, needing repairs - which reminds him, and he brightens up.]

Oh, and that they'll try to get it back for me! So, wherever it's wandered off to and whatever adventures it's having... I look forward to that eventual reunion.

I... see.

[Celehar looks further discomfited by the explanation, if anything. He rubs his hand over his mouth again, then drops it, glancing into the distance where the Ferryman's lantern should still be - though it's not visible, at the moment. He manages to temper his voice.]

Then I hope they might find it for you.

[He steels himself, to look back at the skeleton.] In the meanwhile... where have you sought Mer Sunny?

[He notices some of those signs of some sort of inner turmoil and silent journey happening inside Thara-long-of-name, glancing at motions and following the look away towards the Ferryman's usual hangout spot. But he doesn't press about the face journey, sticking to monster manners on such things. Instead, he just brightens gratefully at the well-wishing - and considers their surroundings the question.]

Where have I been... Hmm. I haven't forgotten my search, but, there aren't many good landmarks or signs for describing that.

[There are those changing colors of sand, of course. There's the proximity or absence or overall distance from the river, the cliffs above the oasis, and so on... But it's just not like describing directions underground had been.]

I started the way I heard Sunny ran off... and then I began spiraling out, to cover more ground.

Then we must have been searching in parallel for some time.

[That's - disconcerting. Maybe he saw the too-thin form and thought it was a wraith then, as he did before, or maybe he really was entirely unaware of this new stranger until they almost literally stumbled into each other.]

If we are to search further, then. Perhaps we ought to coordinate.

[The urge to get some space is warring with the thought that a moving skeleton ought to be at least escorted - though...]

From whom did you learn he was missing?

[The notion that they might have been just missing each other for a while is interesting, but nothing he finds worrying. Thinking back, 'spiraling' might be a generously simplified description of his path. Something a little more wavering in its outward motion, as he changed his mind about whether to search openly or search sneakily a few times along the way, would be more like it. But roughly parallel... maybe.]

Oh, I heard from Nagito! He was staring at some footprints... Deciding on the best path to check.

[Maybe the cyborg had initially been deciding whether to join in the search, or whether to direct others and encourage them on their way... But by the end of the conversation, Nagito had clearly been decided to search and hopefully help Sunny out.]

I don't think I've actually met Sunny yet... So I had to ask for a description.

You would do that?

[For some reason the explanation too startles Celehar. It's difficult to read a skeleton's expression compared to others with more flesh and blood, but Celehar's attention certainly seems to be searching his face.]

For a young man you have not met.

Of course! Why... wouldn't I?

[It isn't as though there's a lot of other things for him to be doing, he doesn't say. (That's not the kind of sentiment that's nearly as commendable as doing this search out of the kindness of his boney heart, even though it is somewhat true.)

But this isn't the first time he's dropped some of his plans to help someone else out, or had the events of one day entirely throw off his plans for the near future. He likes to think he's adaptable enough to face whatever comes his way. This search might be a little more actively proactive than some of his previous help, actually going around in his search... But it isn't as if he can stay back in the oasis offering help by phone, when Sunny apparently isn't replying to anyone's messages.]

It seems a great deal of risk to take on for a stranger, is all.

[But at least from the way he says it, Celehar does not consider this a reason to disapprove. He's still shy of looking the skeleton head-on, careful as he is of managing his instinctive reaction of alarm and fear, but there's a degree of warmth to his otherwise rough voice as he marks it.]

Our thanks for your assistance.

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Wind In the Desert Just Sounds Like Music

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Papyrus handshake Need: giving Celehar more stress than he needs

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