networkinthenight | ( audio

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( audio | un: warlock )

Indulge my curiosity for a moment, would you?

( could you deny a face like his? could you? you couldn't. which is good because he's going to ask a somewhat morbid question. )

We're all, apparently, dead. But some of us have died again and been returned via the church. Some of us have disappeared or died and not been returned. Are they still here somewhere? Or have they been sent back to where they came from?

Those are hypothetical questions, by the way. Feel free to try and answer but I think it's going to be a lot of time that could be spent on something more fruitful.

My actual question: could the the way of dying a second time crucial to who stays and who goes? Or did those of us that have been lost end somewhere in this place that we've yet to find?

( he knows that it's not necessarily a fun thing to think about but he recalls the resurrection of his aunt hilda after her many deaths at the hands of his other aunt versus how harvey's brother had come back. two dead people returned to the land of the living but only one went on to live a relatively normal life.

ambrose knows that might be because hilda is a witch herself and tommy was a normal human. but his curiosity still stands. )

Do we need to institute the buddy system to make sure no one else wanders off and doesn't come back?

( he's joking. mostly. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There might already be a list. Have you gone back through the weekly bulletins that appear on the network? I know they do keep a tally of those who die there.

( what a morbid conversation this was going to be. )

I haven't kept a personal tally, though. But your last two suggestions have some merit. I know there was a...situation where people were able to see how others died. I don't think many of us were taking notes.

I haven't, no? [But he's going to, as soon as he gets back to the A-frame and thinks on this for a while and finds some way to keep track of everything. Binders were just so much better than just a tablet.]

What? Someone saw how others died? Died to, uh, to get here, right? Not, how they were going to die. Here. Some day?

Yeah, they saw how they died to get here. Not everyone made the choice to look but those that did saw exactly what happened.

( he still feels for those that saw how he died. )

There were tombstones and those tombstones seemed to insert someone into that memory. You were there, watching death in living color and unable to do anything about it. You were a spectator to the worst time in someone's life.

[Not going to agree on dying being the worst thing to ever happen to a person, but okay. It's information and it's better than what he was working on so far, because he was still stuck on the notion that there had to be a book, a guide, a something that explained the rules and set it all up. Not all of this not-knowing and no guidance what so ever.]

Is that, like, something that happens? A lot? Graves? I haven't seen any when I was walking around, but it's really dark out? And I wasn't really looking for any.

It's only happened the one time but I've only been here a little while. As far as I know, I was in the first group that showed up here.

( but he knows there were others like winters and robin and the like who'd seemed like this wasn't too surprising a predicament. now, not all of them were alive but at least one of them was. )

Most people might be forthcoming about their deaths if you ask nicely, though.

There's a town meeting coming up, right? Maybe I could-- right, thank you? I don't really know what else to ask at this point, but if I make a list can I text you later? And uhm, if you want to know how I died, to compare or whatever, just-- it's fine to just ask?

Very well.

( since he was being given permission and all. )

How did you die?

I was destroyed by magic in the Mirror world? Uhm, it was a minor mending spell, but-- you know, you're not really supposed to use any magic in there, because, uhm, it always goes wrong? But. We needed it and I did it, and it killed me. So. That's how I woke up in the elevator in the Underworld.

Well, that is...an interesting way to die. If you're expecting me to know what the Mirror world is, you will be upset because I don't know what that is.

( he can guess by the name, at least, but if one exists in his world, he hasn't been. )

Do you remember much about it? Your death?

Uhm. So, do you know the story about Alice in Wonderland? There's another one, Through the Looking glass, where she goes through a mirror? It's like that, only everything in the Mirror World is dead. Really dead, and strange. And you can, like, get trapped there? Because there's a seam between worlds in there? Yeah, so that's where I died.

Yeah? I remember everything. Don't you?

Oh, I do. I remember every painful detail of how I died. I don't necessarily like remembering it but it is one of my more vivid memories.

( he'd cried. it hadn't been a very strong moment. )

But, I haven't ever dealt with something like you're describing. Are you human? Forgive me if that's a strange question but most humans don't deal with occurrences like that.

Well, it did just happen. Right? Of course you remember.

[Quentin died for his friends, he saved his best friends from being used as flesh puppets for evil and he's not sorry about his choices. Much.]

Uhm, yes? I'm human. I'm a magician, but-- I'm still just human. With magic.

It's been a little while now. I've been here for a few weeks now so it might be further away for me than it has been for you.

( he still hasn't really dealt with it, processed it, accepted it, but time had passed. )

Were you born with magic?

I'm not sorry I died, so maybe that's the difference? Yeah, all magicians are. Some are better at it, than others? But, we were all born this way. Like having freckles? Or-- wait, no, are you born with those? Maybe it's like the color of your eyes or something?

That could be a factor. I haven't actually spoken with anyone about how they feel about their deaths. I was very sorry to die especially in the way that it happened.

( witch hunters. how cliche. )

Well, I was born with magic as well but I am not called a magician hence my questions.

How did it happen? If you're not a magician, what do they call you? A wizard? [Which just sounds so much cooler than magician, because it doesn't make you think it's all just tricks and sleight of hand.]

How did my death happen? Witch hunters.

( the worst. )

And they call me witch. Or a warlock, I suppose. Either works.

Witch hunters? Like, the burned at the stake kind or--? [God, Quentin. As if there had ever been any other kind. It's all fire and brimstone and setting people on fire for being better at something than others. He winches and just sort of shakes his head.] I'm sorry. If-- if that's how you died? That most have sucked.

Warlock, huh. That's so much better than magician. I don't even know why someone somewhere picked that name? Because, uhm, it just makes people think about sexy assistants and pulling rabbits out of hats.

Oh no. That wasn't how I died. They were trying to burn some of my fellow witches but I was stabbed. With arrows specifically.

( painful. bloody. ow. not something he wishes upon anyone but prudence and her sisters didn't deserve to be burned either. )

But yes, I agree with you. Magician sounds...very amateur and while there is nothing wrong with that, I get the feeling that you are not amateur. You're probably a little more advanced than pulling a long train of cloth out of someone's ear.

Okay, I'm sorry about the arrows? That sounds-- painful.

[Not that being ripped apart by magic hadn't been, but it had been quick and he mostly just remembers the heat and pressure of it. Here one second and gone the next.]

I could pull a scarf out of an ear? But, real magic is-- different? Not better, but. Uhm, different.

Different.

( he agrees. )

I only really pull a scarf out of someone's ear to make them look ridiculous these days. If I want to show off, I have many other tricks up my proverbial sleeve.

Tricks or real magic?

Real magic.

( he gives his fingers a wiggle and smirks. )

Real magic like you wouldn't believe.

( well. )

Or maybe you would all things considered.

Uhm I know magic? But you're welcome to show me? The books at school mentioned different kinds and not just, uhm, just the ones the taught us. Or, maybe it was more magic? Like, something with more power behind it. But. Here? It's hard to cast, like. Like there's only so much of it and-- and it's slow?

I've noticed that too. I can still use magic but it takes more of my focus and concentration to make it work. What usually takes no effort actually takes effort now.

( how dare. )

But, as long as it's not completely gone, I can deal. I just have to adjust.

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