illusional | 1st l o s t s o u l ~ [Action/Voice]

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1st l o s t s o u l ~ [Action/Voice]

[There's a rather strange new feather walking around town right now. For one, she seems to have torn off a strip of cloth from around her new-feather dress to blindfold herself, for whatever reason. Despite that, she seems to be getting around just fine...]

[But that's not all! Even if she weren't wearing the blindfold, she's not even trying to watch where she's going. She's too busy leafing through the journal in her hands, occassionally shaking it as though she expects the voices inside to just fall out. And those of you paying attention over the networks have likely noticed that she is holding it upside down as well.]

[In a moment, she stops walking and lets out a very small sigh before stating the obvious to whomever is listening.] I am no longer in the Stendrion Desert, am I.

[[ooc: If you haven't seen her Permissions post, please please take a look at it! I would really appreciate it! <3]]

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["Understanding soul" for the girl who eats souls? Really, Sanji?]

That's a rather interesting choice of words, all things considered. [That deserves a smile.] I don't suppose we could take a break from 'warming your heart' and perhaps move on to warming me? This dress is much lighter than I am accustomed to wearing.

[His lameness, it knows no bounds]

With pleasure! Right this way! [and resuming their walk to the building just a few paces up ahead. The clothing store is as full as it always is of interesting outfits from all corners of the universe, and it's then that Sanji wonders how they're going to find her original clothes]

Ah, how should we go about this...

Assuming that the last clothes I was wearing are what will be here, it's a long-sleeve dress made of velvet, alongside a pair of tights and black shoes. It... should be purple.

[At least, she's assuming it was purple. She'll just be walking into the store and feeling all the clothes until she finds something velvet.]

...although, seeing as I will be wearing more than one dress the rest of my life, I should also search for anything that might fit. [And anything that isn't ridiculous looking. Clothes shopping is hard when you can't see the clothes!]

That'll be a good idea. [And Sanji can cover the 'not-ridiculous' part - his sense of style is good so long as he stays away from the accessories.

He ends up stumbling against the outfit she's described, folded on a table.] Neh, Cheyenne-chan... I think I found it.

[~~Sanji, stay away from the fancy scarves, they won't bring out the color of your eyes!~~ Cheyenne walked over to the table, running her hands over the clothes there until she reached the dress in question.] Hm... yes, this is it. Looks like all of it is sitting folded under neath it as well.

[Dress, tights, shoes... and even a white blindfold to replace the makeshift one around her eyes right now!]

[Now, will Sanji have time to look away before Cheyenne decides then and there to pull that dress over her head to change?]

[~~Or hats. Just. Leave the hats to Usopp.~~]

What impeccable fashion sense yo-- [W-what wait what.

There's a stutter as Sanji quickly turns and pointedly stares elsewhere. He doesn't know how old she is, but she looks out of his age-range. D8 NO STARING.]

[ Wait WOULD HE STARE IF SHE WAS IN HIS AGE-RANGE? She's not that socially inept; she knows stripping in public isn't something humans do.]

[But see, she's not human! So that totally makes it okay.]

[Of course, only now that she has everything on except for the new blindfold does she choose to speak.] It would be for the best that you close your eyes. I do not wish to chance you accidentally seeing my eyes when I remove my blindfold.

[Nope, but in that case there'd be that brief moment where he'd consider it. 8| Sigh. MEN.

But either way, there's no chance of him turning around. And he adds this to her list of quirks]

Something to do with the soul again?

[If she were capable of joking, it might sound like she was joking. But she's dead serious here.] How do you think I feed? It's not as though one can slice a creature open to find their soul. It must be drawn out. Illusionists do that using their eyes.

[She ties the blindfold over her eyes and turns to glance back at Sanji.] You may look now.

So the soul comes out if anyone stares into your eyes. [rather gruesome sounding, he thinks.

And he'll turn slowly, double-checking with peripheral vision to make sure she's got clothes on. When it's clear she does, he relaxes]

Then how would you eat a part of a person's soul? Just stop eye-contact whenever you're full? [He should be a lot more distressed by the sound of this]

Something like that, yes. The name for my kind comes from the illusions we create when someone looks into our eyes. When a creature is trapped in an illusion, the link between their mind and soul is weakened.

[A pause.] ...it is rather difficult to explain. Illusionists draw out the soul gradually, akin to pulling a loose thread off an article of clothing. If eye contact is broken, the thread is cut, and only part of the soul is removed. I only feed from the part of the soul that naturally replenishes itself, which is why it causes no harm.

The soul has parts... [a hum. He's never thought of the soul in such terms. It's a new experience all around]

If you could... what are the parts of the soul? And which one do you feed from?

I am uncertain whether these could be considered universal, but generally illusionists break them down into four parts: length, strength, potency, and power. I feed from the power of a soul, which is essentially the stamina a creature has at any given time. When power grows low, eating or sleeping replenishes it.

[She pauses for a moment and her voice grows softer.] Normally illusionists feed from the potency of a soul. It defines everything that makes a person who they are, including their emotions. To remove it is dangerous, often painful, and... it changes them.

Eeeeeeh.

[So much to take in - stamina and power... well, he's got that in spades, good to know. But he has to keep asking questions so he gets a bigger picture of what he signed himself into]

Change... how? Does it screw up their emotions or their personality?

Edited 2010-09-20 22:20 (UTC)

A bit of both. A person's personality stems from how they emotionally react to a given situation. Without a soul's potency, there are no emotions. They would be unfeeling and unable to understand the feelings of those around them.

No more than a tenth of potency can be safely removed. A person will be unaffected by that. With less than half of it removed, a person can still recover, but it may take years of relearning how to understand and cope with emotions until they are the same again...

More than half and it is irreversible, unless I were to die.

[A small part of him absorbs the information in calculated detachment... leaving the rest to boggle at the gravity of the statement. It's only morbid curiosity that makes him ask]

When a soul is completely removed where you live, do the people die? Or are they just lifeless husks after that?

[She doesn't answer right away. That's not the sort of question she would expect anyone to ask; it wasn't exactly a pleasant answer.]

If their heart does not give out to the strain of having their soul removed, creatures tend to take their own lives in order to end their suffering. I have never seen a creature live longer than a few hours after having so much of its soul removed.

[Well... that was gruesome in all the worst ways.]

I get it.

Thank you for answering all my questions so patiently, Cheyenne-chan.

Of course. I do not wish for you to be at all ill-informed when you have so willingly offered to assist me. Rather, I am sorry my answers must be so upsetting. Few humans in my memory have heard the same answers and taken it so well.

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1st l o s t s o u l ~ [Action/Voice]

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[Action] /sob I should've replied to this days ago /fails

[Action] Don't worry about it~ <3

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