4th Spell - [Video, Spam]

[whatthewrackspurt]

[In her room, Luna has stacked up all her furniture in the middle of the room in order to reach the ceiling. She lies on her back on a desk that's tilted precariously on a chair, a globe, three books, and a coat rack. Somehow it all manages to stay upright.

Paint drips into her hair as she paints her ceiling. Faces of people on the Barge are recognizable - people she's met and interacted with, Iris, Bush, Steve, Facilier, MewTwo, and others.

She's not a bad artist, really. It's a lot more fun than the art room, where they expect you not to paint on the walls]

Comments

[private]

[exnihilo]

That's lovely.

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

Thank you. I think so too.

Do you like painting, yourself?

[private]

[exnihilo]

[She wrinkles her nose, like a kid who's just remembered they're supposed to hate broccoli, even if it's cooked very well.]

No.

[Scowl, sulk, soften.]

It's the...people. You see them. I like that part.

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

Of course I do. They're the most interesting things on this ship. There aren't any magical creatures, but there are people.

[private]

[exnihilo]

Why those?

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

The ones on the ceiling?

[private]

[exnihilo]

Yes.

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

They're friends of mine. People I've talked to, who I want to be reminded of.

[private]

[exnihilo]

Do you forget things?

[People.]

I have notebooks.

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

I just want to remember them when they're not around.

Is that where you remember people? Your notebooks?

[private]

[exnihilo]

Yes. I don't forget things here, usually. But I did for a long time.

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

Was it a memory charm? I've heard of those being rather dangerous.

[private]

[exnihilo]

I don't know how they did it. But we don't call things magic in my world.

[private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

What do you call them instead?

[Private]

[exnihilo]

Neurocircuit manipulation. Microuniverse-powered warp drives. Nanofractal recombinant technology. Chemical conditioning.

There's things I have tools for that other people would say was impossible. I once found someone who learned how to copy a soul. But it's all science, one way or another.

[Private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

[Luna goes quiet and wide-eyed at the mention of souls]

..Yes. We've got our own ways of touching souls as well.

Magic and science. It's all the same, once you get down to it.

[Private]

[exnihilo]

What are they like? Your ways.

[Private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

Probably very strange compared to the ways of Muggles. We're small in number compared to them, but we're more..experimental, I think, because we have more doors open to us.

[Private]

[exnihilo]

It was my job to kill everyone who knew how to do it.

Copy souls, I mean.

[Private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

It's not something we like to talk about in our world, either. It's not something anyone should be doing.

[Private]

[exnihilo]

There was a man. An artificial, Oscar.

Someone copied him. And I had to - get rid of one, to hide that it was possible.

[Private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

How did you decide which to get rid of?

[Private]

[exnihilo]

It didn't matter.

[That was the horror of it. It didn't matter.]

[Private]

[whatthewrackspurt]

It mattered to the one you destroyed.

[Private]

[exnihilo]

It mattered to him least of all.