sixteenth soul ;; audio

[soulcontracts]

I've read the notes I've left, and I remember - being here, if not the details of the place and those I'd met. It completely dismisses the original theory I had about the nature of Adstringendum, but I suppose I'll just have to come up with another

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[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

[Raven almost has to pinch herself to make sure she's not imagining that. The world is full of surprises they say. But she'd never thought she'd see the day when Johannes Cabal thanked her.]

You're welcome.

[And her look is slightly cautious. She's kinda expecting him to have something to ask her.]

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

[Nope. Nothing to ask, nothing to add. He simply stares a little blankly at her, as if asking if she needs anything else.]

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

[She's about to cut the feed when, on a second thought, she turns back to him.]

The graves are empty. The tombstones only seem to trigger visions or memories.

[Read: No need for you to go outside to try and retrieve a corpse.]

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

[Johannes gives her a hollow, constricted smile.]

I know. I've checked.

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

[Oh, well. She tried.

She pauses. Reluctant to ask her next question. But somehow she just has to.]

Did you find his tombstone?

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

Yes.

[Another pause. Johannes is suddenly absorbed in his notes.]

Three of them. Odd, isn't it?

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

No. It makes sense to me.

He died once when he became a vampire. He died for the second time here after you left. And you told me he commits suicide a while later back there in your world.

That makes three.

[And she sounds so detached about it. But some emotions flicker across her face that betray how hurt she truly is.]

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

[Johannes snorts slightly, shaking his head.]

No, no, I'm aware of all of that. [Spoken in the tone of: I'm not an idiot.] But that the place saw fit to give him three. Simply over the top.

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

[A shrug.] Apparently they did this for many people. Why not for Horst? Some were given many more than just three according to what I've heard.

And since when do the Animus care about being over the top anyway?

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

Hardly a surprise. I haven't really died yet, and I've got several of my own, too.

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

You have?

...Was there something written on them, your name aside?

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

I didn't stop to look.

[It wasn't his tombstone he was interested in. Nor Horsts' several, really.]

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

Probably for the best.

[Raven won't ask for whose tombstone he was looking for. She gets the feeling she already knows the answer to that. And she's not supposed to mention her anyway.]

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

[Johannes is.. not being friendly. But he's not as acidic as he was before, either.]

They could have at least given us bodies to work with.

[Same filter]

[feel_nevermore]

[She kinda notices but it's so unusual, and unexpected, Raven wonders if she's not just imagining things.]

[A soft snort.] That would have been way too close to nice for them.

Also there's that well known biblic quote: 'We're all dust and to dust we shall return'. They do seem fond of clichés. That or they're just big fans of Queen.

[Same filter]

[soulcontracts]

Nice? It would fit the season better. Everyone here would be out of their minds with fright if there were actually bodies in the ground.

It would be doing me a service, however.