[Jaunt] That Monk is Terrifying

[failgoyle]

Okay, okay, so, everyone stay the hell away from Matthew. I don't know what the hell he's doing, but he's some kind of monk, and he's talking to ghosts, and he and the ghosts are freaking terrifying and tried to kill me! And he was gonna interrogate me with this scary as hell tree-lady-ghost-thing who wanted my blood, and I barely got out of there alive!

...and...uh...he kind of startled the crap out of me, so I...ah...lost my tail, and I...er, well...he's...still got it...

Comments

[leftbehindagain]

Oh, is that what they mean by summoning? I hadn't managed to get a straight answer out of anyone at the temple yet.

[failgoyle]

I don't know. I guess? He was...he was talking to her the whole time, and I thought he was just crazy and talking to himself, but no, no, he was just crazy and talking to dead people.

[leftbehindagain]

To be fair, Matthew-san's pretty odd most of the time, but summoning ghosts is definitely not his usual thing. What did he ask you?

[failgoyle]

My name, who sent me, why I was spying on him, what my mission was, that sort of thing.

But I wasn't spying on him! I just sat on the wrong house. And he wouldn't believe me!

[leftbehindagain]

...How much did you say.

[He has a bad feeling about this...]

[failgoyle]

...I...I told him I didn't know who I was working for or how I'd gotten here?

...he was freaking terrifying, okay? You should have seen that ghost!

[leftbehindagain]

...oh, for Izanami's sake, it's Nova Venezia all over again. [siiiiiigh. Still, it's hard to hold that against a relative newbie, and if Naoki remembers the voice right this is the guy who's convinced the Trumps are fae entities.]

Hopefully you were vague enough that he won't be prodding even harder at the rest of us.

[willyousee]

....I beg your pardon but. You have a tail? That can detach?

[failgoyle]

So you know how some lizards will lose their tails to try to distract a predator? That. I can do that.

[There is the mental equivalent of a dramatic sigh.]

I mean, I can grow it back, but I don't know if he could find me or find us or do things with it before it vanishes.

[Somehow he has managed not to address the issue of why he's got a tail in the first place. Amazing.]

[willyousee]

That is no trait of any S. Tech I am aware of. It sounds as thought it comes naturally to you.

[failgoyle]

Yeah, it does.

I'm a Lurkglider. It comes with the territory.

[And a mental groan.]

He knows that now, he saw through the Mask somehow, at least a little bit, probably because he's a couple tacos short of a combination platter--and got really aggressive with asking what I was.

[willyousee]

[Okay there, Jules, he's getting about every other sentence.]

...a combination platter? Ah... And you slipped your tail to escape? What did he ask you?

[failgoyle]

No, no, I dropped it when he summoned the terrifying ghost lady into visibility and it scared the absolute crap out of me. It was like a scene from The Grudge in there!

And he wanted to know my name, who I was working for, who I was with, what I was doing there, that sort of thing. Apparently sitting just under a rooftop gets you mistaken for a spy around here.

[tailforbrains]

[Be glad the psychic network is bad at conveying tone, and Neeshka has no skills for streaming what she's actually saying and doing, because that means Jules can't actually hear her snickering.]

So I'm not the only person around here with a natural tail, huh? I mean, mine doesn't come off, but I've definitely got one, all the time, instead of just when I shapeshift it on like some of the people around here.

So what are you?

[Way to avoid the point, Neeshka. Of course, she's also heard everyone else already talk about the point, so she feels safe enough not dealing with it.]

[failgoyle]

Really? You too?

I'm a Lurkglider. What are you?

[tailforbrains]

I'm a tiefling. I kind of don't know what a lurkglider is, though. I'm gonna guess you don't know what a tiefling is, either, huh?

[Well, if he ever played D&D before faerie, he might.]

[failgoyle]

...I have no idea what that is, no.

I'm pretty much like a gargoyle, only I'm not made of stone or anything.

[tailforbrains]

Now a gargoyle, I know. Okay, that makes sense.

And, well, tiefling is somebody who's part demon. Like my old grandpa came up from the hells to... enjoy the nightlife, or something like that. I don't know who it was. I don't know my parents.

[failgoyle]

Really? Like demon-from-Hell-Hell?

That's genetically possible? And doesn't that come with being insta-damned or something?

[capital_asset]

"Tree-lady-ghost-thing"?

[failgoyle]

Some ghost who turned her fingers into wooden vine thorn claw things!

[capital_asset]

...So not a Jubokko, then.

[It occurs to him that he has not seen or heard mention of any nonhuman spirits, aside from occasional references to dragons. He's probably going to have to be careful about who he summons for the time being.]

Were you injured? Aside from your tail, I mean.

[failgoyle]

Not a what then?

And no, no, I'm fine. A couple bumps and bruises from when he dragged me in through the window, but nothing major.

[capital_asset]

Jubokko. A tree that drinks blood.

I'm glad you weren't badly hurt.

[failgoyle]

...I think I saw one of those in Faerie once.

Thanks. I'm mostly just glad I'm not dead, even if losing my tail is a pain in the ass.