SKELETAL SALUTATIONS | OTA

[spaghettimonster]

WHO: Papyrus the Skeleton and You! - (OTA)
WHAT: Catch-all of misc skeleton prompts!
WHERE: Network, Oasis, Riverbank, other?
WHEN: post-river rescue, pre-second Crossing
WARNINGS toll discussion, fears re: memory loss, possible discussion of death - will edit to add more if relevant


(1) 💀 NETWORK:un: CoolSkeleton95

SO, ABOUT THAT 'ENVISION' MESSAGE...
I GUESS YOU CAN'T REMEMBER,
BUT REALLY, HOW MUCH MEMORY DO THESE TOLLS COST???
A MOMENT OR A LIFETIME ARE VERY DIFFERENT AMOUNTS.

[He's a little alarmed by the sheer quantity of memory that could potentially be uprooted, here. Losing his own name before coming to was unpleasant, for all the Ferryman said it shouldn't have happened. But if he was involved in choosing to forget that, he certainly doesn't remember it! So, taking agency in choosing what to lose this time... it's different.]


(2) 💀 OASIS: INTRODUCTIONS & NAMES

[His first while after rescue from the river, the skeleton spent a lot of time loitering along the Riverbank and wandering the (nearby) dunes. Between his utter disinterest in claiming a bed to feign sleep, the lack of his own belongings to gather in a room to use anyway? The restless energy of the ever-changing sky and the newness of his death, let alone the awkwardness of introducing himself to more alarmed humans? There just wasn't much need to hang out in the Oasis right away.

But with a few chance encounters and network conversations reminding him that this next 'Crossing' is only a few weeks away - less time than since he left the underground! - he starts hanging out in the Oasis more. Watching the life in and around the water, grinning brightly at people who cross his path - no matter how alarmed they might be.

And if they respond to his varied greetings by approaching and making conversation, well, sooner or later he'll remember to reach in his scarf/capelet to pull out a crumpled paper with a list of rules and suggestions about names so far!]


(3) 💀 RIVERBANK:

[For all he's been reassured that the Ferryman knows when people are starting to emerge from the river, and that they'll even intervene if no one else is around... He's still finding himself patrolling along the riverbank fairly regularly. It's a little bit like being a sentry, without the human-catching or puzzle-maintenance elements. On the lookout, solely to try to help people. And that feels some kind of rewarding!

...It might be moreso if he were actually finding signs of additional people emerging, on any of his passes along the salt-crusted mud. And he doesn't actually want to want people to die, especially not any familiar people, for all he's still homesick and wondering how they're all doing, wondering...]

...Why did they kill me?

[It's meant as a question to himself, but he's not one for really lowering his voice, and sound can carry in these open spaces.]


(W) 💀 WILDCARD

[Got another prompt in mind? Feel free to poke me in the discord, by pm here, or plurk at swirlingflight to get the gist figured out!

Comments

[hasapoint]

[Need has made a halter for the dracolisk's head, though it doesn't have a bit. The beast only sort of goes where she wants it, which is one part stubbornness, one part incomplete training, and one part not being as sensitive to touch as a horse. She's folded up a good rectangle of fabric to sit on to soften its angular back, not wanting to go to the kind of effort it takes to figure out a real saddle.

Of course, monsters in the underground are weird enough that even that might not be a giveaway.]

And you too. What are you doing?

[she hasn't realized the dilemma and might not be helpful even if she did. Thistle does not make a sound, but lowers its head to stare intently at a Big Treat.]

[spaghettimonster]

[It's not a clear giveaway or a clear answer, just a few extra indications that this is probably a talkative rider and a not-so-talkative mount situation. The halter could be a fashion statement - dog collars sometimes are.

Either way, he gives the lower head a wary look. He's met enough bone-covetous dogs in his life to have a shiver run down his spine about that intent stare.]

Oh, digging. Looking for treasures, or knick-knacks, or books. Whatever might be around in these sands...

[His ever-present gloves mean that the sand hasn't gotten up in between his bones, and he can wipe them together to get the salty grains off fairly easily.]

[hasapoint]

I guess anything could be out here. You've seen the dragon skull and vertebrae? Either it changes, or there's actually a lot of them out here.

[is it strange to bring this up to a skeleton. Surely not. It has to know about the existence of non-animated bones.

the Tatooine Krayt dragon bones are sometimes modest, sometimes looming monuments with eye sockets that can be climbed inside of, and all kinds of points in between. Since Need has elected to spend most of her time away from the Oasis, ignoring the barely-visible presence of wraiths, she's seen it many times.]

[spaghettimonster]

[Oh, he knows about non-animated bones. In those weeks on the surface, there were multiple times trying out human cuisine, including a certain smartass encouraging him to try spare ribs one time. He's even seen at least one of the anatomical models of a dead human's bones that a bird might nickname him over.

But there's still shock in his face and voice, jaw hanging open as he takes in her words.]

A dragon skull?! How? Wouldn't it have dissolved to...

[Realization starts to dawn, and he covers his mouth.]

Wait. Oh my god. A dragon, but not a monster. More like a human, or an animal? Leaving... a real dead body behind?

[hasapoint]

[Need raises her eyebrows. The dracolith fidgets a little and addresses an itch on its foreleg by raising it and nibbling with its prominent teeth.]

Your 'monsters' are that distinct from humans and animals, eh? No, this one seems more like the monsters I know. Those, there's some differences but we all bleed and die, and some parts of our bodies take longer to break down than others.

[Because monsters in Velgarth are humans or animals or a mixture of both, altered. Some do seem to decay rapidly when killed, she knows. Cold-drake bones in particular become quite fragile within a few weeks, as the rest of the corpse becomes soupy, because they rely so heavily on innate magic to reach their massive sizes. They are still water and carbon.]

Maybe yours are more like demons. Dissolve to nothing, is that it?

[She hates demons but says this quite calmly. A demonlike element does not have to mean like the demons adjacent to Velgarth after all. She'll withhold judgement.]

[spaghettimonster]

['Demon' is a word that, like 'monster', can be a tense and threatening thing in a fearful human's mouth. He's come across it in various human literature, a couple times from the most startled humans on the surface... Not to mention that, like dragons, it's a word that some monsters describe themselves as being.

But her calm response doesn't come across like those uses, and with those teeth reminding him of the second head's presence, he's distracted enough to answer without all the evasiveness Nagito had encouraged him to take.]

Huh? No, not nothing. Maybe mostly nothing, but... There's usually enough left for a funeral.

[It might be topical but not a light-hearted topic, and he's a little unhappy thinking of it. Funerals, of course, depend a little on whether the loved ones find the dust to do it properly. Easily enough with the fallen down who die on their death beds, but murder victims? It's... a little more symbolic for them.]

[hasapoint]

Huh. So, you've some non-material-plane substance, but not much.

[she is imagining a thick sludge, probably mostly left over from the digestive tract. Probably reeking, too. Need's largely lost the ability to feel disgust so it's just interesting.

also that'd mean a murderous human was covered in poop.

Need considers. The malleability of the eye sockets is unsettling but clearly has meaning, and even aside from that expressiveness the skull isn't really proportioned like she'd expect, lacking some details and adding others. She's a lot more familiar with skulls still wreathed in flesh, of course.]

...You looked like this when you were alive, didn't you?

[spaghettimonster]

[He nods a distracted confirmation to her first guess, a little too preoccupied by thoughts of his own hypothetical funeral to properly answer. Had they found him? What might they have settled his dust on, anyway...?

(Unhappy as the thoughts might be, he is at least blissfully unaware of the digestive system-related track her thoughts have taken. His ability to feel disgust is entirely intact, not at all changed by the loss of his name.)

It's a welcome surprise to be pulled fully from his thoughts when her next guess is so to the point and accurate.]

Yes, I did! Down to wearing this very outfit that day... Did you deduce it just from the mention of a funeral? Incredible!

[hasapoint]

[Need adjusts her seat. She's thinking more in terms of this is not an animated set of remains, and was primed for the concept by that bizarre half-conversation over her notebook.]

Lucky guess. It seems to be how all of us showed up.

[Apparently she's just going to have to think of this as a person. So be it.]

What's your name?

[spaghettimonster]

[So all the others are attired as they were in life... Good thing nobody had been bathing separately from their clothing. Though he guesses they could just mud bath their way to the Ferryman to ask for something.

But that train of thought isn't nearly powerful enough to hold up to one of the big frustrations that's been on his mind since that first conversations out of the mud.]

My name...

[One of the big frustrations, but one he's gotten used to being frustrated by, and even making some degree of joke out of. His smile is awkward, but it stays up.]

It is, a little something of a work in progress! A passion project. A collaborative effort. Not yet up to being traded back in forth in the mannerly way, I fear.

[hasapoint]

[Need's aware of the comedic exchange where one person is florid and verbose and the other is completely blunt and cuts through to the meaning. Well. Sometimes you have to play a role.]

Meaning you forgot it.

[She lets that rest for a moment before taking mercy.]

Me too. It was missing for a long time, then I found it again, but when I came out of the River it was gone again. I hadn't been using it, so it's not a big problem, but it's irritating.

[spaghettimonster]

[It's less that the comment rests than that he gasps in response, shocked and appalled by the abruptness of it, all but clutching at a pearl necklace. By the time he's recovering enough to retort, she's already begun speaking again - and his expression shifts more to gaping.]

You... lost it twice??

[Of all the things to have in common with someone here, let alone to be one-upped in... It's one he never anticipated. But in the moment, he's triumphant with agreement.]

Yeah - yeah!! It's irritating! It's baffling! I heard people misplaced memories, swimming up... But that seems like more than just one memory??