Sessions Worlds and Stuff

RR: *shakes her head* I'm here because I want to be there for the people I care about. Not because anyone made me do anything. *looks up at the mage* And when I met them, they were the ones who were possessed. And now they're free, and I know they wouldn't inflict that on anyone else. I don't know what a true shadow is, or what exactly these wraiths have been through, but I know how it feels to commune with someone who's suffering. *looks at the darkmatter again* And it feels like that. Something's very wrong here.
II: *waits, not sure what the story is anymore, keeping an eye on both the mage and her husband since Sophie's not in any kind of combat mode*

... "you go right on ahead and finish checking in. But I expect a full, honest explanation when your done. No crap about actually being able to contain and control with a cloak." *her tone is cold. she doesn't understand exactly whats going on, but she does know that this is not something that should be happening in her and her husband's store* *she turns to exit, saying,* "come on. if they break anything, we'll just alert the guild. they would be surprised to hear what might be going on here." *her husband follows, scrapping the grease in his hand back into the container*
[=T=] ... *they look like they need a moment...* [=T=]

RR: Thank you.
II: *...once they're alone...* I can have us out and away in a moment.
RR: Hopefully that won't be necessary. *one hand has gone back to stroking the darkmatter's cloak comfortingly. She knows physical affection doesn't mean much to them, but it's still her go-to response*
II: *nods* It's a pity. I was enjoying being a carefree teenager. I've missed that.
RR: ...now is not the time, and I am not the person you should start suggesting your regrets to.
II: *winces* Right. Sorry.

[=T=] ... [~@~] [=@=] thankyou... [==@] this... willbeamoment... [=@=] sorry... [===] *they get up, reaching back out, closer to the contained wraith* [===] ... ... ...

*they both wait in silence, neither about to start a conversation again*

[===] ... [=T=] *they float away from the tube* [=T=] longago,whenthemembersofourkindwerebanishedhere,
theywerequicktotakeadvantageofthenaturalresources,andbuiltupagrandcivilizationindependantofthehumanshere...
butintime,thehumansroseupagainsttheminfearofwhattheycoulddo,
andtheybrokesomeveryimportantthings,drenchingtheentiresouthrenlandinemotionalfallout. alloftheorigionaldarkmatterbecamethe,'trueshadows',
andcleverhumanmageswereabletousethepowerofthemtofabricatemoreofthemagicalgems,
using'mana',orrather,the'magic'intheairthatwascreatedasasecondaryeffectofthefallout.
itwasaverydangerousprocessbackthen,andsometimesthemagessoulswouldbepulledinalongwiththemagicintheair... theseamagamateswould...
[=T=] ... ... ... *they take a moment to stop, collecting themselves*
theywouldbreakapart,leavingthehumansoulstorntopieces,carryingpartsofthedarkmatterwiththem. thosearethe'scholar'swraiths'... wraithsweremucheasiertocontrol,andwereabletobeconvertedintotheblueorbsandgemanvilslikewhatwesawupstairs... but,ifamagewasevertodiewhileboundtosuchanorb,thefragmentofthehumansoulinsidetheorbwoulddieasitisshatteredbytheevent,
andthefractionofthedarkmattersoulwouldclingtothesoulofthedieingmage,makingitbreakapartintomorewraiths... its...
[=T=] ... [==T] itsacruelcyclewherethedeathsofpastmagesserveonlytomakethenextgenerationstronger... we. we... [=T=] *they slump down again, feeling very drained*

RR: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
II: ...can I ask what you needed one for? Or, thought you needed one for?

[=T=] we... we. thereareonly6ofusleftinthiscloak... afterallourkindhaddone,oursoulshadsufferedand1darkmattersoulweighsonly3grams... ahealthy,fullyformedandcompletesoulhastobe21gramsorhigher. anyless,andthereisnotenoughmasstobeabletoremainstable. emotionaleventscanbuildupinplaces,untiltheypouracross,riskingaleakingout... you... youhadexperiencedtheeventoncebefore,whenourheartgaveoutforamoment,andourmindsstalled,
andweexplainedtoyouexactlyhowwecancreateobjectsusingcrystalizedfluidemotion... [=T=] ... we. wemightbeabletothinkmorerationalyaboutwhatwehavelearnedinsometime... butnow. wecryinside. wedieinside... [TTT] _{wedidthis... wewereapartofthis. wecastourselvesaside,andcontinuedwithoutthem.}

RR: You didn't do this. This wasn't you; you weren't here. You were off trying to do what was best for you. And the darkmatter who came here, they chose to do that. You didn't make them. And you didn't make those long-ago humans attack them.
II: ... *doesn't entirely understand, but doesn't press*

[TTT] ... [=T=] ... [=@=] ... [=T=] thankyou... [=@=] ... we... [==@] ... ... thankyou... *they start to get up* *it almost sounded for a moment like they were going to say something else, but they had stopped themselves*

II: ...so what do we do now? Skip town?
RR: She wants an explanation. I think we should give some.

[@==] perhaps... ... onlyonesherethatcouldpotentiallyworkherewouldbethe,'trueshadows',
anditsoundsasiftheyaretoviolent...
westillhaveconcernsforthisplace,butwedonotthinkweshouldgettoinvolved...
anymagewhoalreadyunderstoodthenatureofthewraithsisnotsomeonewewouldthinkbenevolent...
sheiswaitingupstairsforifwearetotalk... [=@=] ... [==@] ...

RR: I feel like someone should know that they have people trapped in there.
II: And I feel like this place suddenly got a lot less fun and a lot more dangerous.

[=@=] [@~=] werethemassivebloodboundgemslineduponthewallsnotproofenoughthatthisplacewasabletocastwidespreaddestruction? [@==] ... lets. [=@=] letsgotellher... ... *calming themselves, they take a moment to think, and realize that it wouldn't be good to go out into the crowded dinner* wewillneedtoreturntothecloakforwhenyougobackup... we,arenotgoingtophasethroughtotheretoavoidprovokingthem. [=@=] *they return to being a cloak for you* [===]
*if you were to go back up, then you would see the husband waiting before the door to the backroom, ready to head back in and handle maintenance, while the mage would be waiting back in her room*

II: Yeah and I also noticed the gem in her glove. And shiny accessories tend to be powerful magic. *shakes the chain of her hourglass for emphasis*
RR: *lets them settle over her shoulders again* I can do the talking, if you'd prefer. It's my idea anyway.

*a brief thought in response, thankyou...*
*shes waiting...*

RR: *heads back up to talk to her*
II: *keeps an eye on the husband as they pass, just in case*

*he says nothing, heading in to maintain the machine he's worked to build* *the casual sounds of the dinner can be heard till you've left the room, headed up*
*she is sitting on the floor, back where she was earlier, and once she sees you, she says,* "well, do you have an explanation? one that will tell me why you wanted to come here and possibly take the main source of our livelihood?"

RR: They call themselves darkmatter. And they're people, with nice ones and mean ones, like any kind of people. They're most comfortable in groups, and we were looking for more, to join my friend. They knew that some darkmatter had come to this world in the past. They didn't know that they had been attacked long ago, torn apart and merged with the souls of the human mages who tried to turn them into something they could use, and hooked up to machines. Not until now. And when we got here, I didn't know that I'd have to pretend that someone I care about was a slave, a thing to contain and order about, in order to walk freely in this town... We won't take your livelihood; I don't want any part of it. But I thought it was right for you to know just what it was built on. Maybe you already knew. We won't take up any more of your time.
II: ...

?~! "wait, could you please repeat that, but slower? I want to try and think back to our known history... see if it could possibly line up with..." *she's gotten up enough to take a small book off of a shelf, looking in it, ready to try and compare legend to your more articulate description*
[===] *the darkmatter get up during this time, and are about to repeat it for you, but realized that she asked for it to be repeated slowly* [=@=] ... [@==] ...