[Video]

[beefaroni]

[It's taken Asterios a few tries to get this thing to work - technology is still beyond him, really. But he's pretty sure he got it working this time, though he gives the screen a few more pokes just in case. Holding it in one hand, he tries to angle it so it only shows his face, and not his giant horns and his scarred body. He figures the less they see the better his odds. Anyway...]

... It is clear. Staying... a while.

[He speaks slowly, his voice surprisingly soft if you don't know him.]

While here... I am, thinking, maybe... learn, more words. Easier to... communicate? Want to learn words. Any words. But... can offer. Little, in return.

[Pause, trying to think it over.]

 Am strong. If need strength... I can, lift. Carry. Break. Fight. In exchange.

Okay. Thank you.

[A beat. Is he missing anything?]

... Asterios. Name is... Asterios.

Comments

[beefaroni]

... Lots of forests. Wide oceans.

[Technically true. Asterios doesn't like lying - nor is he good at it - but loopholes are another thing.]

[vagabone]

You know, I've never seen the ocean.

[Hmm, hmm, how to teach new words... Talk. A lot. He can handle that! Unfortunately, he's the type of guy to gesture constantly while talking and the bracelet camera is bobbing all over the place.]

I live, or uh... stay near a river, back in the land of the dead. The whole city's above me, I can sit outside and look up at it anytime I want, and it's gorgeous, believe me. Especially at night when everything is lit up. Not like Asgard at all, this place is kind of dull in my opinion. [A nervous sort of chuckle.] No offense to the gods.

All our buildings are painted with bright colors, and we've built up instead of out. It's like a whole city made from children's building blocks, with bridges connecting everything. Cars, trucks, trolleys everywhere, driving around a hundred feet in the air... and if you look at certain places from just the right angle, you can see skulls popping out of the empty spaces between everything. Nobody knows how the heck that happens, no one planned for those to be there. It's part of the magic of our land, I guess you could say.

[beefaroni]

[Given Asterios' limited experience with... everything, it's difficult to visualize all that Hector speaks of. But he tries his best, and with what he can 'see', it does sound beautiful in its own way.]

A magical place... for skeletons. Everyone there... is dead?

[vagabone]

We are. I've been dead a long time. But most of us don't mind. Things don't have to change that much just because we've died.

[Give the big guy a minute to think about that--no more mountains of blab.]

[beefaroni]

Mmm.

[In a way, he understands. Servants can just be summoned again.]

What happens... to the dead. Here? They... come back. Yes?

[vagabone]

That's what I heard. And obviously I'm not supposed to be here. Or solid. I should be ghostlike in the land of the living... any land of the living.

[beefaroni]

Mmm.

[Curious and confusing, but not something for a guy like him to really worry about.]

We were... all chosen. For reasons.

[vagabone]

[Hey, it's a good thing. He'd be bored out of his empty skull if he couldn't interact with anyone. Or anything.]

Did someone tell you so? I'm not so sure. Us spirits don't last forever before we move on to whatever comes next, after our skeleton lives. And I've been dead ninety six years. There are plenty of fresher, younger dead people to pick.

[beefaroni]

No one, told me. Just... my thoughts.

I believe... all of us. Serve a purpose, here. May be difficult, to see... but. it is there. I think.

[vagabone]

It's not a bad thought. [Purpose beyond waiting to see her again, waiting to shimmer and disappear, wasting away at the bottom of the world...]

What about you? What do you like doing?

[beefaroni]

...

[Good question. What does he like doing?]

... Eating?

[vagabone]

[Gotta start somewhere!]

Cooking?

[beefaroni]

[Shakes head no.]

Do not know... how to cook. Just eat... whatever's. Given.

[vagabone]

You could learn to cook too, while you're here. You never know what else you might be good at.

[beefaroni]

... I am, too strong. Too... clumsy. I would... make things worse.

[vagabone]

Have you tried, though? [A persistent, encouraging pest!] Something small, like frying bread--I'm not saying you should start out making five course meals. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I remember how.

[beefaroni]

... Frying bread?

[And he's instantly distracted.]

[vagabone]

Baby steps. Frying bread! Maybe scrambling some eggs. It counts as cooking in my book.

[beefaroni]

Did not know... bread could be fried.

[Sounds yummy. He's more on the distraction of eating it than making it, thankfully.]

[vagabone]

[Oh no this is tragic.]

...What have you been eating?

[beefaroni]

Whatever they give me.

[He'd eat dirt if told to, LBR.]

[vagabone]

Everything is free, I don't think anyone uses money here. You should try it all while you can!

[beefaroni]

... Does not, feel right. To take... without giving.

[vagabone]

[He softens a little...]

You'll give back to the city in other ways. You're not doing anything wrong, because I don't think you're the type to get greedy about it.

[beefaroni]

[He's not, he mentally admits. But still... ]

Like fighting? That is all... I'm good for.