NICO

[foreverphantom]

Comments

[resumed]

[ cool, now you have his attention. ]

Really? What kind? Longblade? Shortblade? I mean you could be an archer but that doesn't seem to fit.

[ there is a misunderstanding here. ]

[foreverphantom]

[ fucking blinks. ]

What? No, I don't use weapons.

[resumed]

Oh. [ right. hand-to-hand exists and is more common for some people. ]

Hand to hand then. [ but he's like. ignoring that slip-up and venturing on to his other point. ] Worst case scenario we find people who are trained to help give a few crash courses to people who aren't. The basics for survival. It can't be that hard.

[foreverphantom]

[ sure. hand to hand. let's go with that.

anyway, he nods. ]

The powers should help, too. I mean, not for us, this is a downgrade, but for people who've never had to fight before, it'll probably go a long way.

[resumed]

[ he could ask. he won't, but he could. ]

Right. All of the powers are public on the database, even if the names don't make it always obvious what they are. If people are struggling with how to use theirs, they could even find people with something similar to train that way. Learn to use their abilities even better to carry them through the competition.

[foreverphantom]

[ it's fine, nico can just think he's a world class martial artist. who phases through things. ]

Crowdsourcing the power knowledge. Now there's an idea.

Unless people don't want to help someone on another team in case it might sabotage their own chances of winning.

[resumed]

[ look the guy's catchphrase is going ghost, he can make some reasonable assumptions but he's not sure how to ask!! ]

It's about the best I can think of for now. The people that want to sit out can do that, but I think there'd be enough people among us who would be willing to help. Even if it's just pairing them up with someone on their team. I doubt there's a team out there that doesn't have at least one fighter.

[ otherwise that would be kind of insane? to him, anyway. ]

[foreverphantom]

[ ask him why he's a ghost, coward ]

It's a start. Maybe there'll even be "easy mode" things them to do. Ease them into it. [ shrugs a little, he doesn't know ]

[resumed]

[ don't think that i won't in this here pc!! ]

...what, like a tutorial? [ lol. ] That wouldn't be too bad either. Get a feel of things without going too easy. That's half the reason we train our new campers, it's easing them into things they aren't used to yet. Should apply here, too.

[foreverphantom]

Not everything can be a world-ending disaster, I'm sure some small stuff will come up without it even having to be an engineered tutorial.

...wait, campers? You run a...superhero camp?

[resumed]

Sure. Maybe it really will be just getting people's cats down from trees.

[ ...but he shakes his head. ]

Not a superhero camp. And I don't run it, I'm just a counselor And I live there. It's where all of us train when we start coming of age and everything.

[ that's putting it lightly. ]

[foreverphantom]

...where you train to run dangerous errands for your parents.

[ a dry laugh ] Jeez, even my parents weren't that crazy.

[resumed]

[ there's a very much not-amused but kind of exasperated grin. ]

Would you believe me if I said the training was actually a better alternative than leaving it alone?

[foreverphantom]

Really? Dang. Sounds like one hell of a rock and a hard place you're stuck between.

[resumed]

I wouldn't say "ghost-hunting" and "exploring uncharted metaphysical dimensions" is easy either, you know.

[ explain the ghost. ]

[foreverphantom]

Maybe not, but I had a choice in those.

Mostly.

[resumed]

That almost sounded believable until you clarified. What do you mean mostly...?

[foreverphantom]

Well...ghosts were never an issue until I meddled with things.

I felt...responsible. I didn't exactly want to hunt ghosts, but I kind of started the problem and I was the only one who could take care of it, so...

[resumed]

[ yeah okay that makes some sense, maybe. ]

I can understand that, yeah. [ hm... ] Are you still the only one who can take care of it? How do you even hunt ghosts where you're from?

[foreverphantom]

Not really, but the others who can do it tend to...make things worse.

As for how I hunt them... [ shrugs ] Being a ghost levels the playing field a lot.

[resumed]

[ this all tracks in a sideways sort of way. but he kind of pauses in that. really giving danny a close look. like. yeah. some ghosts look extremely solid sometimes, but this is maybe a little much.

it makes sense actually. of course you fight something on your own level. how's that any different than what he does? ]

"Going ghost." [ he's letting his brain do some work. ] But not a full one. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to have the form you have. Would you? Unless being here also changed that for you.

[ fuck if he knows, maybe ghosts are different where danny's from. ]

[foreverphantom]

[ nods ] ...right. I'm only...half-ghost. Or, well, I was before. I think this place has just made me...completely human but with some limited intangibility.

[resumed]

This place changed a lot of things for a lot of people, so it wouldn't surprise me that it rendered you back to being mortal. Even if they were "kind" enough to let you keep something close to one of your own powers. [ his arms fold over his chest then, studying him briefly. ]

I don't think I've ever met a half-ghost before. How long has it been that way?

[foreverphantom]

Uhhh... [ give him a second while he does the math ] ...two years now.

[resumed]

Not bad. [ genuinely. ] It's enough time to have a decent grasp on new abilities. And others to manifest, if that's something that happens for you. Learning new uses for what you've been able to do before....

[ wait hold the fuck on, focus. ]

Wait, how exactly did you become half a ghost? [ he kind of wishes he could still sense people's life energy but he'll just have to ask awkward questions, he guesses. ]