[Locked to Wanders and Allies, locked against Third Parties]

[deadgirlslikeme]

Oh, where do I start

I JUST DIED in the garden

I hate to be a bother, but can anyone tell me if -- if DYING AND COMING BACK TO LIFE is at ALL normal for this world? Because -- I seem to have done it. Nearly frightened the poor girl talking to me out of her wits. I have no idea how it happened -- she rather startled me, and suddenly everything went --

[Ink smear here, as if whoever was holding the pen suddenly relaxed their grip -- or, perhaps, fell over unconscious]

Good Lord, it happened again! What's going on? Do I run the risk of it happening every time I get frightened now? Please, I need answers!

-Victor Van Dort

Comments

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

Are you sure that's not epilepsy?

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

Quite sure. I've never shown signs of that before, and --

And I apparently become some sort of ghost when this happens. The young lady I was with, Miss Elizabeth Jules, can confirm this. It's very unnerving.

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

That's... interesting.

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

I've seen someone have an epileptic seizure before! So not the same, Mr. Black, although that was kind of creepy to watch, too and I definetly thought they might be dying or something.

There was this green, ghouly version of him that came out of the corpse. And I talked to the ghost!him while his dead body was lying on the floor.

Really creepy.

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

So it was like an out of body experience?

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

Yes. I actually saw myself lying on the ground. And when I touched -- me -- I found myself alive again.

It's all terribly confusing.

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there isn't some way you could use that to your advantage.

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

. . . How?!

I'd prefer it if it didn't happen at all!

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

You can't get injured if you're incorporeal, for one.

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

Yes, but -- I DIE! And I'm scared of leaving my -- body -- behind!

Things were so much simpler back home

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

I've died a couple times now. It's not a big deal, if you come right back.

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

You've -- died --

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DAYS WHEN CORPSES STAYED IN THE GROUND?!

Forgive me, I -- I'm having a bit of trouble accepting this. I suppose it's not as bad as it could be, but still. . . .

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

For him I'm guessing it was!

For me it was just weird.

I figured it was my angel of death thing finally kicking into gear, but no such luck.

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

You're an angel of death? How does that work?

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

I wish I could say I knew, Mr. Black! Truth is I have no fracking clue!! Nobody else seems to know either!

All I know is I'm supposed to help people when they die, y'know, take some of their pain and show them into the light! So I wander around Chicago looking for dying people, but they're surprisingly hard to find! I feel sort of bad cause I know people are dying I just can't... find them!

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

Have you tried a hospital?

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

I did! But they sort of told me to go away and wouldn't let me just wander around visiting people I didn't know!

Besides I think the people dying in the hospital have the help of the hospital. I was sort of hoping to find someone who's more helpless, ya know?

[technicalserial.livejournal.com]

Oh. That makes sense, I suppose.

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I do that. :D

Make sense that is.

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

Maybe you're Jesus? He came back to life! Or so I hear!

I don't know, but if you can always go back into your body it can't be so terrible, right?

As long as it doesn't mean permanent death, right?

I hope you can figure it out! I'll try to look into it for you.

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

I sincerely doubt I'm Him, Miss Jules. I've always been Victor Van Dort. [heavily inked out]If I'm the Messiah, the world's in trouble

That's -- true, I suppose. At least it isn't permanent.

Me too. Thank you.

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

You never know! :D

Although I guess Jesus would know that he was Jesus. Unless he had amnesia, but I bet Jesus can't get amnesia.

I should stop talking about Jesus before God smites me or something with a thunderbolt. Or is that Zeus?

No problem, Victor Van Dort!

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

I -- wouldn't know.

I believe it's God, yes. Pastor Galswells talked about him "smiting" people before.

[pplrunincircles.livejournal.com]

I would like to avoid being smited. :)

[Locked to Victor]

[clanoftheswords.livejournal.com]

In all probability? If you're a Wanderer and you couldn't do this before you came here? It's your Rift power finally showing up.

Wait. No one told you? About the Rift changing people in some way?

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

What??

I Commander Shepard -- the woman who found me -- did mention that the Rift changed people. But -- dying and returning to life?

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[clanoftheswords.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have to admit, that's a pretty weird one.

Is it just that - dying, then coming back after a while? Or could you actually do anything while you were "dead"?

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

No, I -- I'm not sure how to explain it. Miss Jules inadvertently frightened me, then everything went black for a moment. Then I was awake again. I thought for a moment I'd merely fainted -- then she told me I'd just died, and I saw my body lying on the ground. And when I went to touch it -- there was another moment of blackness, and I woke up again alive. Apparently I became some sort of ghost.

I'm sorry if I'm not very clear. This whole situation has rather unnerved me.

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[clanoftheswords.livejournal.com]

Hmm...

Just a thought - maybe next time this happens, before you go back to being alive, try doing things? Can you move around? Pick up things? People can see you, so you don't have to worry about that...

Like I said, just a suggestion - considering that this has been happening when you panic...

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

I -- I suppose I could. Another gentleman mentioned I could try and use that state to my advantage, but -- it scares me. To think I could die and leave my body every time I get afraid. . . .

People can control these Rift powers, can't they? If I'm not being too forward, can you control yours?

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[clanoftheswords.livejournal.com]

For the most part, yeah.

I can kind of see where you're coming from - a friend of mine gained the ability to create and control weather. However, it was also tied a bit into his emotional state, so

[slight gap here - Ah, memories...]

But it is possible, I think.

I don't blame you for panicking, though. Sounds pretty creepy.

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. Perhaps eventually I can prevent it from happening suddenly.

Oh dear. That must have been messy. I do hope he's all right now.

Thank you. I just -- why this? Why now?

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[clanoftheswords.livejournal.com]

Messy... doesn't quite describe it - it's a bit complicated.

But he's all right now for the most part - he's mentioned getting help with that, so...

As for "Why now?" I really don't think I'm the person to tell you. My Rift powers showed up pretty much about the same time I did (along with a headache that made my worst hangovers feel pleasant...), so I was dealing with most of them from the start, except for

[another pause]

Hm. Might have to think about this a bit.

Re: [Locked to Victor]

[deadgirlsliekme.livejournal.com]

That's good, then. Perhaps I can find someone to help me with mine. Though I rather doubt it. . .

It's strange -- I've been here almost three months and noticed noth

Actually, that's not precisely true. I've been feeling a bit ill ever since I arrived, and it only got worse the more stressed I became. Perhaps it needed me to reach a certain state?

I suppose it doesn't really matter. What's important is that I learn to control it. And at least I know what caused it now. Thank you for your insight, sir, it is very much appreciated.