Is Your Love Strong Enough? Part 2 - Personal Interwoven Soulcatchers

[cityship]

Following you awakening and talking with a few of the members through the communication systems by way of the three kind people who had awakened her, Nezaitben realized how the crew was stuck in a terrible mess.

So many of them felt sad and depressed. Considering the entire ship, it wasn't too hard to see why. The next day, there had been an unusual amount of magical flowers spreading all over the ship. Nothing that damaged the controls (she might be naive in the way humanoids were, but Nezaitben was no fool either) but they were found in the most unexpected of places. Her own awakening area was now blooming in a flower paradise, the wooden palace standing proudly on top, the smell and pink cherry blossom strong enough to carry through most of the central city area where most people resided.

Yet the ship was still sad.

This would not do.

That night, or what passed as a night for in the ship, Nezaitben took to the 'sky', letting pieces of her own essence fall on top of the sleeping populace, or those that were not sleeping finding themselves feeling the need too. Enveloping the ship into a peaceful slumber, she searched their dreams. The powers granted to her by the pantheon of gods in her homeworld allowed Nezaitben to weave a series of dreamcatchers giving her the ability to see those whose hearts connected true.

These noble souls would do. Lead by example had always been her philosophy. She would give them a great gift - communication with each other in a single body, allowing them to share everything together. Their two soulcatchers were woven together that night into a single, grand ones, hanging in the garden's trees.

A few minutes later, the empty husks of the bodies that weren't being used showed up at her palace. With a smile, she welcomed them like her own children and began to dress them for their task.

That morning, some of the crewmen would wake up to a strange surprise...and that would just be the beginning of a long, strange misunderstanding and young gods trying too much to please everyone.

[OOC - Just a few rules. Keep in mind the listed rules. You can all start your own threads of waking up in the bodies of others. If you feel like leaving a 2nd post for other people to intact with them, start a reply to your own first post with OPEN header. That way everyone else will know where to post and if you don't feel like having an open interaction post right away, you won't have to!

There will also be another post for all the soulless characters to go around spreading joy and love, so look forward to that too!]

Comments

[indeliblepast]

There was a moment of hesitation there before she answered, her uncertainty resonating in a way she couldn't hide, right now.

...What would that mean, exactly?

[morganknight]

It means I'm going to open myself to you a bit deeper so you can read my nonconscious impulses. Like movement, primarily. Unless the two of us can move the body in concert we're not going to get anywhere.

Face down on the floor was technically movement but didn't count.

[indeliblepast]

She relaxed. If it was one way, that was less of a problem for her, then.

Okay.

[morganknight]

He did just as he said. In a moment of concentration, the distinction between "his mind" and "her mind" decreased dramatically.

It wasn't quite as straightforward as he'd advertised, in large part because it made his thoughts emotions that much more open to her. He had nothing to hide from his own perspective, but his emotions were a flood of worry, concern, alarm, and a small part of just being intrigued. If he had to get stuck with someone in his head, well, he could have done worse.

On the other hand, now she COULD read his impending movements like her own.

[indeliblepast]

The sudden overwhelming rush of feeling that wasn't hers was frankly, a little terrifying, and it took her a moment to separate herself from Morgan. Once she could grip what thoughts were her own, though, she could feel the call to motion, and could move with it, instead of sending them toppling over.

The Hangar.

[morganknight]

I know what I'm doing, he said as soothingly as he could. I've done this before. Though he couldn't think of a time he'd done it outside of lovemaking, he thought to himself in an undertone that he didn't realize she could hear, but that didn't mean it wasn't safe. Probably just the opposite!

So they, his body, began moving forward at a pace that frankly looked bizarre to anyone who knew Morgan well enough to see how far less fluid it was than normal. But progress was progress!

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi flushed a little at the undertones of that thought - and hoped to hell that it didn't translate itself to the body she was currently in - but the idea was intriguing, too. The sensation of movement, now that she was used to it, was not wholly unpleasant, and she could see how it could be interesting in other situations.

Walking was still a little ungainly, but at least they were moving at a halfway decent pace. Hopefully nothing horrible had happened to her body...

[morganknight]

This may take a bit, he said, uncharacteristically flustered himself. He had so not meant for her to pick up on that. Not that he had made a secret of being attracted to her but that was supposed to come out in a controlled, sensible fashion and -- she was getting all of this too, wasn't she?

You know, he said, since mental talking went a long way to prevent mental thinking (as any HG2G fan should know), my mind is not usually this disorganized. I kind of feel like wandered into my mental apartment right when I was in the mental shower!

[indeliblepast]

There was awkward amusement to her mental reply - and she tried to squash the thought of Morgan in the shower as quickly as possible.

I suppose I sort of did. Though I wish I knew how.

[morganknight]

Uh. If this kept up long enough, well, that might be a real problem to deal with.

That's a good question. His body passed by the Infinity -- he didn't dare attempt to drive in this condition, not when one slowed reflex could splat them both -- and continued on towards the transport tubes.

I'd suspect someone did this to us, for whatever reason.

[indeliblepast]

Yeah - the question is why, and how we go about reversing it.

Not that she minded time with Morgan but this was... not exactly how she'd envisioned that happening. And it had better not be permanent.

[morganknight]

Well, step one, find your body.

"Hangar!" he managed to say to the lift, prompting one of the tentacles to scoop the body up without further ado.

At least that works.

[indeliblepast]

Small mercies.

They stepped out onto the Hangar level - and Sumeargi spotted the Ptolemy, in among the smaller ships.

You'll have to give me control for the keypad.

[morganknight]

I'll try not to watch, he said, not even pretending that was likely to happen. He shifted backwards, offering her control carefully so the shared body didn't tip over. Luckily this seemed, if not exactly familiar territory for him, at least something he understood the mechanics and theories of.

[indeliblepast]

Suddenly being 'in charge' again felt strange, but Sumeragi managed not to trip or stumble. She took them over to the Ptolemy's hatch, and quickly keyed in the lock sequence. The door disengaged with the soft whoosh of the vacuum seal opening, and she stepped inside the airlock.

[morganknight]

An interesting thing to note, as she became more deliberately aware of the body she now inhabited: Morgan's heart rate was only about thirty beats per minute or so. He, of course, was perfectly used to it, but having one's heart beat only half as often as it seems like it should might be alarming.

For his own part, Morgan was too busy trying to figure out how not to observe her lock code that he completely missed it. He only pulled himself back to paying attention when they stumbled a little as a result of him unconsciously taking more control of the body's motions with each step.

Sorry! He pulled back his control as much as he could, supporting her guidance rather than challenging it, but he couldn't help looking curiously over the inside of the ship as they entered.

[indeliblepast]

The corridors were much the same as the bridge on the Sensoriums had been - only even less interesting. Plain grey metal, with moving guide-rails along the wall, though in full gravity, there wasn't much use for them. Except...

"...I don't remember anyone leaving flowers in here."

[morganknight]

Well, not that leaving you flowers is a bad idea, Morgan thought, since he'd considered doing it himself once or twice. But this is a bit weird.

He carefully, carefully kept from his upper mind the brief thought that her body had somehow dissolved into flowers. Let's NOT go there.

[indeliblepast]

Yeah, as sweet a thought as that is, it'd mean I'd have a stalker capable of breaking some scary-advanced cryptography.

She headed down the hallway, towards one of the lifts. Crew quarters are aa floor up.

(I put up a dream thread, too!)

[morganknight]

Or has magic, Morgan said. Making flowers appear in here at a distance actually wouldn't be difficult. Not that I intended to do that...

He was rapidly accommodating to the sort of control necessary to support her motions rather than repress them. Surrendering control in this respect was a little scary, but right now their minds were pressed so close together he couldn't feel threatened or alarmed.

[indeliblepast]

That thought gave Sumeragi pause.

You can do magic?

Though, given that he hadn't mentioned it before, it probably wouldn't help them get out of this situation. And there seemed to be even more flowers. And... was that her? Running at them? Ugh, where had she gotten that gold dress?

[morganknight]

Didn't you ever wonder about the flower I made you? Or how I managed to accommodate you in my head...

He trailed off at the sight in front of him. Okay, admittedly there was a little bit of a positive reaction in the depths of his brain, because it was a hot body in a cute dress. But overwhelming that was revulsion, because that was Sumeragi's body, but not her mind powering it. And no matter how hot that body might be, that was pretty horrible.

...at least your body is still alive and existing, he said lamely.

[indeliblepast]

She hadn't wondered, she realized with a small pang of guilt - thought the flower had been another Sensorium-illusion even after she'd gone back to the ship, and left it on a shelf in her quarters.

There were more pressing concerns for the moment. She - the other her, her body - was grinning like an idiot, and advancing on them with a garland of flowers.

"Love and peace to you, Morgan~"

[morganknight]

This seems entirely likely, he said, using humor to mask (poorly) his serious concern. Another intelligence animating her body? No. No he did not like that one bit.

[indeliblepast]

Sumeragi was a bit too distracted in staring in horror at that idiotic grin to really contemplate what was going on below the surface here.

Flustered, she backed up a step. You deal with it. Her. Whichever. She was far, far, far too sober for today.