[open] at least the month couldn't get any worse, right?

[fonomena]

Who: Jade Curtiss and YOU!!
When: Several days after That Party but before the start of next month
Where: Various places! Mainly the Promenade / some random hall with a supply closet / in front of the menacingly new Tommy Bahama...
What: Mostly some processing of a few Neat and Fun gifts from sundries! .....But also like, what is up with that Tommy Bahama place though--
Warnings: Nothing too pressing! Some talk of earlier events in the month and all the murder/party stabbing therein may arise, though, considering...well. Gestures at the last few weeks.....
Notes: (I've started out with brackets, but feel free to use prose! I'll match whichever style you prefer)

A; hawaiian shirt hell persists...with a twist??
[It's a bit of a belated sort of takeaway, from the one part of Friday's last announcement before the party that had seemed entirely innocuous in the grand scheme of...everything else. A new shop being opened in the Promenade, apparently--because that's just, a thing that can happen on a ship like this, apparently. Granted, the evening following that announcement had been quite the mess in and of itself--and such small things were promptly forgotten for a few days afterwards.

But eventually, Jade finds the new storefront standing out in a passing sweep of the Promenade one day, its wide display windows now taking up a space that had most certainly not existed between Sand Dollars and John's a few weeks prior. --From that point it's only natural to investigate, isn't it? i.) Perhaps you're investigating it too, and might find Jade rather further inside, staring hard at an assorted setup of polo shirts in various distinctly...tropical color gradients with a thoroughly exasperated sort of frown on his face. One would think it's at the expense of the casual gaudiness of it all--which, to be fair, it sort of is. But........he also feels like he's walked by this display a couple times already. He's been moving in a straight line this entire time. Yet the back wall sure hasn't...actually gotten any closer, for a good few minutes now--??)

...Or maybe ii.) you find Jade outside the Tommy Bahama, after the fact, hovering in front of the entrance once more with a moderately-filled matching shopping bag now on his elbow but...a frown still on his face, too, this one a great deal more perplexed.

If you're passing by, or happen to be looking even vaguely interested in checking it out:] You know, I think you might want to exercise some caution, if you're headed in there...

(closed to Natsuno) Room 109; awkward unboxing session
[Early one morning there's a card slipped under the door; familiar to Natsuno, perhaps, but actually addressed to Jade for once. Several packages waiting for him in the sundries shop, apparently--and so Jade had set out to pick them up promptly enough, probably making some airily sarcastic remark about the impressiveness of the nonexistent postal system apparently afoot here on his way out. It's a half hour or so before he returns...

Though it's not immediately obvious, because it's not like he actually comes back into the room off the bat. No, instead, Natsuno might find Jade's return instead heralded by...well, it's not quite a knock, is it? More of a weirdly muffled thump--and then another one, for emphasis--like somebody's mildly kicking the foot of the door or something?

That's exactly what it is, actually; Natsuno would open the door to find Jade on the other side, sure enough, arms full between a couple boxes stacked in the crook of an elbow and, propped in another hand...something longer than he's tall? Very narrow, shaped vaguely like a pole, with some sort of horizontal piece attached to the top of it...? Not much else to go off but the shape, though, considering it's wrapped in matching nautical wrapping paper as well. --Jade shrugs, insomuch as he's able.] Ah, thank you. Might want to step aside a moment, yes? Let's see--

[--Well, alright, initially trying to move through the door has the pole-thing promptly rapping against the top of the doorframe. Hm, time to attempt awkwardly angling it through instead...]

B; that feel when you get the useful item drop only after the nasty boss fight...
[It's an hour or so after he's processed the "gifts" in his room; at length, Jade opts to take one of the boxes in question someplace else for a closer look, if only mostly out of a discretion for Natsuno's reactions to well over half the contents. Jade can thus once again be found seated at one of the many Promenade tables--this one near a window, in the full light of the sunshine streaming through--considering the contents in said box as it now sits open on the tabletop. Slowly, one at a time, he's pulling a series of pocket-sized glass bottles from it; each one is critically examined, before evidently being considered cleared to be set upright in a growing line on the table proper. A couple of the bottles are an eggshell white, with a very vague but distinct sort of luster; a few other bottles are black, and seem to reflect rather less daylight than glass ought to; and two of them are a deep brown, oddly-shaped in a more rounded sort of way.

Jade's attention lingers rather longer on the odd-shaped ones than the others. In fact, he even opens one of them, and seems to try peering inside before testing the scent of the contents as well. Whether he's actually happy about whatever he finds is difficult to say, though, a rather inscrutable sort of expression on his face as he recaps the bottle and sits back in his chair...though a deep sigh follows the movement, too, and his tone is very dry as he speaks--more to himself than anyone in particular, but perhaps audible all the same if you happen to be nearby.]

Well, this certainly would have been rather useful about a week ago. Seems practical jokes take many forms, around here...

C; obligatory deck-cleaning happens only after burning away to ghostly nothing ok
[The question, though, the real question...is what to do with the most exasperating gift of the bunch.

Should you happen to be passing through one of the smaller and quieter halls connecting one part of a deck level to another, you might end up bumping into Jade lingering in one of them. In front of one of the more basic janitorial supply closets found throughout the ship, specifically? The closet doors are opened, anyway, and there sure are some very boring cleaning supplies in there...though Jade's still hovering and staring inside in a weirdly intent sort of way, for some reason.

Then again, difficult to miss is the fact that he's also got a deck brush with green bristles propped over one shoulder. Did he...just take it out of the closet? Or--?]

Hm, what do you think? [Oh, he's looking over to address you now, noticing your presence and acknowledging it with a cheery sort of smile, as if this is now a totally normal conversation in totally normal surroundings happening here.] If I put this inside, do you suppose it would stay put? I'd almost bet it doesn't, if I were a betting sort of man... [...Jade this doesn't actually offer anything in the way of any context here, though--]

D; wildcard!
[This log can also serve as a catch-all for any other interactions that might arise before the end of this month! Jade can generally be found in most any of the more-trafficked areas of the ship, as he does like to check around all the more common facilities at least once every few days. Feel free to have your character bump into him for whatever reason! As always, if you have something more specific in mind you'd like to thread here and want to hash it out beforehand, feel free to hit me up by message or on plurk at rainbell!]

Comments

[hellonspectacles]

“Perhaps we’ll make a convert of her someday.” Palamedes voice takes on a wistful tone, but it is obviously not stationary that has turned him briefly thoughtful. Converting Camilla to the majesty of actual paper would require Camilla to come here. She would have to withstand this horrifying place. Undoubtably, they would see each other suffer. It would be awful.

But they would be together.

But none of that is the point right now, and Pal pushes away his longings and his fears as soon as they raise their heads. He lifts his brows in curiosity as he takes it and slowly removes the lid. And then he blinks. Pal certainly wasn’t expecting to see a doll (a creepy doll!!) nestled inside.

“Er. What is this?”

[fonomena]

The wistful note in his words, and the brief pause that follows, surely aren't going unnoticed on Jade's end of things. In relation to this 'Camilla', yet again...Jade certainly isn't about to make any remark on it here and now, but the trend becoming more and more apparent of late is being noted all the same. ...She must be a dear friend of Pal's indeed, he thinks. Doubtless a very interesting sort of person at the very least, considering Pal himself. Jade will probably end up asking more about her, eventually--assuming Pal would even be amenable to such a comversation...

But--not a tangent to slip into at this particular moment, no. Pal's shifting back to the matter at hand, and Jade's attention is promptly following suit; Pal's surprise earns a very wry and humorless sort of smile.

"A toy doll, by all appearances." Ah, though...Jade does wonder, a bit, if Pal has actually seen dolls particularly frequently before either? If paper is such a rarity where he's from... "Small children tend to be very fond of them--and they also don't tend to be very fussy about appearances when it comes to toys, either." Because yes, it sure is kind of creepy.....he's aware. Not that this is even the actual crux of the issue with it, unfortunately-- "They aren't necessarily a rarity where I'm from, but...I'd like to know if this one actually is as it appears, so to speak."

He has a sinking suspicion already, about its actual nature--a feeling that had sprung up the second he'd first opened that box himself....but there's the need to be sure. A need that supersedes how potentially...tricky this conversation might become, if those suspicions turn out to be true. Depending on what Pal actually finds...

[hellonspectacles]

Palamedes knits his brows together and just looks at Jade for a long moment. Yes, he knows what a doll is. They even have them on the Sixth. Sometimes they’re shaped like cute little skeletons.

Otherwise, Jade’s explanation only puzzles him further. If he thinks the doll might not be what it appears to be, then what does he imagine it could be? Pal could ask, and part of him is dying to, but he knows the reading will be better if he remains unbiased.

So Pal sets down the box and takes out the funny little figure. As always, he does a non-necromantic examination first. It’s made of fabric, cotton and linen, he thinks, and stuff with what’s probably wool. The stitches are neat, and the whole thing is somewhat faded, like it has been stuck in a drawer for a couple decades. His psychometry confirms that all of his initial suppositions are true, and he is about to tell Jade that it is, in fact, an old child’s toy and nothing more, when something makes him stop.

“…huh. Well. That’s odd.”

[fonomena]

Jade returns the look with a perfectly mild and innocent sort of expectance; look, even if his tone and turn of phrase might have implied as much, he didn't outright ask if Pal knows what a doll is, alright!! At least now he can safely guess that Pal probably does...

But then Pal's going on to properly take the doll from the box and really start examining it, and all further sidelined thoughts in that bent promptly evaporate in short order. Jade's expression remains fairly neutral as he watches Pal go through motions that are starting to grow vaguely familiar; the way he always seems to take a normal sort of examination of an object to begin with, before he actually does go on to apply the psychometry. --Or so Jade can readily assume, at least, based off the remark that Pal does eventually say aloud. The fact that there's no visible sign or sound of the psychometry occurring is still a very strange thing to Jade, but--

He does straighten where he's seated, a bit, at that bit of a pause. Pal hasn't even said anything specific yet, but Jade can already feel something sinking rather unpleasantly in his chest, vague tension starting to unravel into a more palpable sort of resignation. ...Still, can't be utterly sure until it's confirmed in concrete; his glance flicks up from the doll in Pal's hands to Pal's face.

And though his expression is impassive, Jade's hands may be inadvertently curling into very loose fists in his lap, about now.

"...Yes? And how would you describe that oddity--if you mean to say you've found one?"

[hellonspectacles]

The reply is awfully careful and precise, even by Jade’s standards. Pal was already keenly aware that the other man came looking for confirmation regarding what he believes the doll to be, even if he has avoided explaining his thinking. Now, the way he tenses even so slightly when Pal calls the object odd, confirming that Pal is on the right track.

“If you’ll forgive me for starting the obvious, an object like that has been made from many individual things, all of which have their own manufacturing histories and rates of decay. Even if all the materials were plex-based, you would still expect the doll’s stuffing to have been created separately from its eyes.” Up until now, Palamedes has continued to study the doll, and now he raises his eyes to look at Jade, his gaze both polite and pointed. “Every single kind of material that has gone into the making of this children’s toy is precisely the same age. To the millisecond.”

Okay, the last bit is pure speculation—Pal can’t get a reading that precise in an environment like this—but he’d bet his eye teeth that he’s right.

[fonomena]

Well. That's about as damning as it's going to get, now isn't it?

...If this wasn't a purposeful selection, then surely it must be some kind of karma--and Jade supposes, rather bitterly, that it's really the least he deserves. As if the past couldn't be tossed at his face in the most unexpected sorts of ways, even here....

A sigh of breath pushes out before Jade even realizes, but--probably not much point in hiding it now, anyway. Something in his posture bends just a bit, less a release of that tension and more as if under the burden of a new and familiar weight, and Jade returns Pal's pointed glance with a direct and acknowledging one of his own.

"...I suppose it would be, considering the method of its creation. I do know now exactly which doll this is, based off your findings--thank you, for this confirmation." Which was the crux of what he'd visited for to being with, all things considered. ...But Jade doesn't move from his seat after speaking, for a long moment; stills further where he sits, in fact, as his gaze moves from Pal's face at length and back down to the doll in hand, and his expression takes on a sort of...blankness. Quite visibly in thought about something, for a second or two--because he is.

He could probably try to take his leave now, after all. Perhaps he could even succeed, despite the questions quite nearly palpably emanating from Pal's vicinity. But that'd be a surefire way to cast an entirely new layer of awkwardness upon the tentative repair of their relations here and now, and even besides that.....it would be a disservice, as Jade is well aware. After all, Pal's never been half so insistent on holding the extent and mechanics of his own abilities close to his chest, so far as Jade's aware. No, from their first meeting and since, Pal has always been very open in that sense--and it's not exactly like Jade's been reciprocating, has he? No, the consequences of his own very bad habit of reticence have already been encountered once, with their last interaction over the nature of necromancy considered...

...Right, moreso with that last conversation considered. As if a set of notebooks could full the gulf alone. --Now, perhaps, is as good a place to start bridging the rest of that gap--even if it's uncomfortable. Especially if it's uncomfortable. After all...

"Of course, this is hardly a natural sort of way for a doll to be made...to state the obvious in turn. I'm sure you probably have a lot of questions about now." Hm. Jade looks as if he's about to say something more, but pauses, attention shifting to the desktop behind Pal instead...before he seems to come to another sort of decision. "--Actually, a demonstration would probably be the best way to begin explaining. May I see one of your pens, on the desk over there?"

[hellonspectacles]

“Curiouser and curiouser,” murmurs Palamedes, who had never read Alice in Wonderland and wouldn’t recognize the names Lewis Carroll or Walt Disney if you asked him. Some bits of culture just stick, even as their origins fade from view.

He watches the emotions shift on Jade’s face—shift, and then pointedly disappear. Pal has no idea if the doll is merely a sentimental reminder of something in the past, or if it poses some kind of danger. Either way, it’s obviously important.

It’s only because he trusts Jade that he doesn’t ask more questions—yet. Instead, he sets the doll back in the box and goes to fetch a pen from his desk, as requested, and then passes it to Jade without a word.

[fonomena]

Jade can guess just how much resistance it likely takes, to refrain from asking questions even at this stage of things; Pal's trust on that front is certainly very appreciated, about now. He accepts the pen just as wordlessly, save a slight nod of thanks, and then he stands up--moves to the coffee table across from the couch--kneels beside it, placing the pen on the dead center before bracing his hands at either side of it upon the tabletop.

Pal has perhaps seen Jade cast a fonic arte or two by this point--if only most likely by virtue of the battle royale's footage, and Jade's bit of a showing against La Pluma before his demise at that time. Despite the lack of audio, there was probably an impression of some form of verbal incantation being used back then...but, here and now, Jade doesn't say a word. His invention of this method had rendered incantation unnecessary, after all, when all the data and structure needed would be drawn directly from the original...

The air stirs with a soft hum of energy that thrums in a low sort of bass. Until it isn't--when the gathering of ambient fonons prompts a circle of energy to flare to life atop the coffee table, fonic glyph symbology actively forming throughout the circumference in streaks of white-red light, the patterns drawing from the pen at the epicenter. With the passing of another second--and another swell of sound, this one a rather harsh and shrill reverb in the ears--a clump of bright energy begins forming and converging upon a spot right next to the pen, narrowing and solidifying and...

Resolving, eventually, into a second pen visually identical to the first.

As soon as the second pen forms, the bright fonic glyph vanishes; removing his hands from the table, Jade draws back to his feet with a sigh...and picks up both pens, offering them to Pal, expression still unreadable.

"Here. Compare them, if you wish. ...This is called fomicry."

[hellonspectacles]

Palamedes sits on the side of his bed to watch Jade work, keeping a respectful distance but not allowing his gaze to waver. Much as was the case on film, at first Jade could be implementing some sort of necromantic theorem; it’s only when the hum starts up, and the little light show follows, that Pal is truly reminded that he is dealing with something altogether different. Palamedes can sense thalergy and thanergy. One could even say that he can see it, and feel it, and hear it, but those would all be imperfect metaphors. They produce no show of light and sound unless a necromancer is using their energy for that purpose.

The Master Warden remains still and focused throughout, merely wincing very slightly when the tone reaches its highest pitch, and he only reaches for the pens when Jade directs him to. Pal holds one in each palm, weighing them, inspecting them in every way he knows how to inspect an objects. One pen is a few seconds old. The other, like so much aboard the ship, is a few hundred years. Otherwise, they are identical.

“Fuck me, that’s gorgeous, Jade.” And honestly, it’s a hell of a lot less creepy than he had imagined. A tiny grin curves at his lips. “Fomicry. Hah.”

[fonomena]

You know, of all the responses he'd been guessing at...Jade hadn't actually expected Pal's to come out quite like this. It's even enough to break the blankness that's been vying for position on Jade's expression at this point, a flicker of very wry amusement crossing his features despite himself.

"...Gorgeous, is it? That's a first, I must say. You know, very technically, the replica should be no more or less beautiful than the original."

The joke still feels a bit odd in his mouth, though. Talking about it--quite like this--still feels...well, he's trying not to actually look too hard at any particular feelings stirring somewhere in the pit of his chest in general, right now. He's already decided to go through with this, he reminds himself...because really, Pal is quite possibly the best type of person to start with, insofar as this particular reveal might be concerned. Natsuno's proposal about the panacea bottles still nags insistently in the back of thought, and he needs to...

Hm, he's not actually sure what he's looking for here? A second opinion, perhaps. A completely unbiased set of eyes and thoughts, perhaps, entirely divorced of all ties to Auldrant and its recent history with replicas. (Honestly, in a way, this is an angle that would have been utterly impossible to obtain back home. If there's nothing else of benefit to be had, from being thrown into this impossible mingling of multiple realities on this ship...at least there's this. A truly rare opportunity, isn't it? If just he thinks of it this way--)

The smile that Jade eventually offers in turn is slight, and not quite matching in humor to Pal's--almost more rather tired, than anything. "Based off mimicry, yes, with fonons--a rough sort of portmanteau. I devised the name...and the method, too. That doll in your hands, earlier...it was the first replica I ever created, considering your readings of it." Implying, yes, that Jade had first put the theorem to practice at around nine years old--if the doll's age is anything to go by. ...He glances sidelong at the box Pal had set aside, shifting his weight on his heels as he absently slips his hands into his uniform coat pockets. Pal is evidently free to do what he wishes with both pens, as Jade makes no move to take them back. No, now he's more preoccupied with...trying to figure out where to even start, here. Hm-- "Actually, I suppose I never have gotten into the finer details of explaining fonic artes to you, have I? ...Or the properties of 'fonons', for that matter?"

[hellonspectacles]

For the time being, Palamedes remains far too focused on the two identical pens to notice that Jade’s reaction is decidedly tepid. Obviously he had been nervous when he came in, and eventually Pal will begin to put two and two together, but for now his full attention remains on the masterful and mysterious bit of work that just occurred before his eyes. Palamedes Sextus is very good at focusing, and very, very bad at turning away from something that has caught his attention.

“Anything with a molecular structure this precise will always be gorgeous to me,” Pal quips. “Do you mind if I keep these, by the way? I’d love to examine both pens further.”

After another moment he looks back at Jade, belatedly realizing that he has been asked a question. “Oh! No, you haven’t explained. They’re a sort of energy particle, yes? I gather it isn’t common to create whole new methods for manipulating them at the age of nine.”

[fonomena]

Well, if it's a molecular sort of appreciation...the quip is fair enough. Blinking a bit at the question--as Jade had already rather promptly moved on from the pens themselves on a mental level, honestly--he shrugs slightly, with a brief nod of his head to accompany it.

"Oh, certainly. The original one is still yours, after all; the replica may as well be too."

Not that he grudges the very clear bent of Pal's focus, really. Truth be told, his preoccupation with the phenomena itself, and less on the emotions Jade may or may not be happening to subtly show as he talks about it...makes things just a bit easier, in this way. It isn't exactly as if Jade came here seeking out anything in the way of sympathy or delicate handling of the topic, after all. No, if he wishes to find something objective here...Pal's form of focus works just fine, at least for the moment.

"Yes, a sort of energy particle--put in the simplest sense. A fonon more specifically represents a singular particle of vibration; multitudes of them are bound directly alongside atoms, and combined together they form the foundations of the matter around us. ...Back home, at any rate." The addition at the end is a dry one, ghosting the edges of an exasperation that's more well-worn by now. The strangeness of the ship, and how its environment somehow manages to accommodate multiple systems of magic at once, must be accounted for where they stand presently in some way. "As of the present day in Auldrant, seven categories of fonon types have been identified--we divide them according to their ranges of vibration frequency, and each category corresponds to a major element of the world. In order: darkness, earth, wind, water, fire, and light...are the primary six. The seventh fonon is Sound, a type seemingly formed from aggregation of all other elements; a more recent discovery."

At the very least, running through this explanation a few times with several different acquaintances on the ship already means that Jade has started to find a means to fairly decently condense it to something that could be somewhat parsed by those from other realities. Not that it changes how Jade still finds the process of explaining in itself rather, trying, most times--and has still somewhat thought about starting to write up fliers with the major bullet points, or something, to simply hand out as needed. ...Having Pal as an audience does mitigate that aversion somewhat, at least; he has a fair amount of confidence Pal would be able to keep up with the more technical aspects, after all, considering how closely aligned their perspectives seem to fall where more scientific matters might be concerned.

(Because fonology is a science, damn it, no matter how some people on the ship seem to insist on it being magic anyhow....)

"I myself am able to access every category of fonon--except the seventh, which is beyond my range. ...Still, the seventh is not necessarily required, when it comes to the fonons necessary to create a replica." Even if the seventh fonon, as a fusion of all the other fonon types, is in fact the most ideal sort of fonon to actually use--especially where living replicas might be concerned, with their high complexity and tendencies towards instability...but, they're not talking about that, yet. "Fomicry involves being able to take the fonic component data of an object, and use the blueprint derived to create an exact copy from fonons in turn. ...Indeed, the method did not exist until I was nine, and rather too ambitious for my own good." Jade's tone does take on a dry sort of lilt, here, paired alongside a dry smile to match it; very nearly self-deprecating, really, despite the objective weight of the feat. But it seems sarcastic, at least? ...Maybe? "It's uncommon to such a degree, in fact, that such nine-year-olds are generally referred to as freaks. Or demon children, perhaps, depending on how alarmed you're feeling...but I was undeterred, as you can see."

...He still rather thinks he should have been more deterred, though, honestly--

[hellonspectacles]

Whatever discomfort or frustration Jade feels at having to once again explain his abilities, Palamedes is a patient and eager listener. Perhaps the properties are different, but as they have both observed previously, fonons and thanergy/thalergy clearly have quite a bit in common. In fact— “You know, your fomicry doesn’t sound so different from many principles of necromancy. To be clear, I don’t have the ability to duplicate the data I’ve gathered about an object, but the process of psychometry, for example, involves detecting a pattern of energies that serve as something of a blueprint. Bone and flesh magic also require a necromancer to visualize the thanergy and thalergy of human tissue in order to create and control it. Fascinating.”

But now, at last, Pal comes to understand that all is not well with his friend. The words freak and demon hang in the air even after Jade falls silent, and something angry curls in Pal’s stomach. He had been a prodigy, too, and though plenty of people had found him surprisingly, puzzling, or annoyingly pedantic, no one would have called him a freak. And not just because Juno Zeta would have murdered them in their beds—or worse yet, left them off as co-authors of her next paper.

“Jade,” he says quietly, setting the pens aside on his desk. “That’s absolutely dreadful.” A beat. “You must have been an awfully tenacious child.”

[fonomena]

"Truthfully I've had rather similar thoughts, ever since you first explained your method of psychometry to me. The capacity to run an analysis on a more molecular level, in these sorts of ways..." It really is a rather fascinating parallel--especially now that Jade can look at it at least somewhat more directly, mostly setting aside his own hangups over the concept of necromancy on the whole. "For my part, however, I've no current means to simply take up an item in hand and promptly analyze its many properties to such a degree, as you've repeatedly demonstrated yourself. I'd need to be either actively breaking it down into its component fonons, or actively performing fomicry--and the fonic glyph applied during the process tends to be the part that's actively utilizing the data to create the replica, at that point. I could not recount the nuances of any given item's makeup to nearly such a prompt and clear degree as yourself, even after doing these things."

A little gained here, a little lost there...or something like that, sort of, considering the parallels in this sort of fashion. ...But then Pal's tone and demeanor are both shifting, somewhat, as Jade's recounting of the various descriptors given to him by various locals of his hometown at that time settle in the air. Jade follows the movement as Pal sets aside the pens, and wonders at the words he says eventually; quite opposite to the flicker of anger Pal might be contending with at the moment himself, the response is turn is met with a stirring of something more dull and tired, on Jade's own part--can't quite identify it. He wonders, vaguely, if Pal is perhaps expressing some form of pity for that strange boy in Keterburg...and, well, if he is--

"Oh, it wasn't so bad, really. Quite warranted, after all, everything in the end considered--so, no need for too much sympathy where that child's concerned, rest assured." Because he was quite a freak, in those times, always pursuing things he shouldn't have been--taking apart things that needn't have been. The 'demon' remarks started getting whispered after he rather unintentionally changed his eye color at age eight, too, rendering the rumors just as unsurprising in turn...

A rather jarringly breezy note, to those words, being used in an attempt to cheerfully set aside Pal's rather uncomfortably sincere sentiments at the moment? Maybe! Paired alongside some very strangely separating sort of phrasing, as if he's talking about someone else and not literally himself? Perhaps. Nothing to worry about here, though!

"I never cared about all that very much, anyhow. Didn't care for much of anything else at all, really, except for fonology. 'Tenacity' is one word for it, I suppose...or maybe just fixation. I always was terribly fascinated by what fonic artes could do--and by what else they might be able to achieve." Jade shifts his weight on his heels once more, and at length finds himself turning to settle back onto his earlier seat at the edge of the couch, still across from Pal. Some form of movement to preoccupy himself, maybe; some form of distraction so that, when he's oriented again, he's idly peering more at the notes posted on the wall over Pal's shoulder than Pal himself, for a moment or so. ....Hmmm. "...Perhaps you've an idea of the sort of focus I describe. But you know, out of curiosity--in your own opinion, Palamedes. Where should the line be drawn, you think, between scientific investment and outright obsession?"

[hellonspectacles]

Palamedes’ answer comes immediately. “When it puts the lives of others in jeopardy.”

Up until that point he had listened to Jade with his brows knit together just slightly in concern; he isn’t sure what to think of the way his friend eagerly skips away from the topic of his own history, or that, when confronted with it, he dismisses outright the harms he has suffered. Maybe he is being completely honest, maybe being called a freak and a monster did not trouble his younger self, but Palamedes is decidedly skeptical. Even if he thought it likely otherwise, Jade’s dismissal is far too breezy to take seriously.

But then Jade asks a question that has steered Palamedes’ life even before he realized it. Pal is entirely too familiar with walking up to that line—had he not spent his entire adolescence in a quest to save the life of a single girl? Does he not owe everything he is to his pursuit of her? Once, his answer to Jade would have been philosophical, perhaps a little sheepish if he was feeling particularly self-aware. But that was before Canaan House, before he had seen what happened when inquiry turned into destruction.

[fonomena]

Pal's answer might be short and simple at face value, and yet the immediacy speaks volumes all in itself--alongside the contents of the actual words. When it puts the lives of others in jeopardy.

Jade thinks of the countless replicas--in the fomicry labs, in the experimental ranks of the army, in the Tower of Rem--their blank eyes and shattered hopes. He thinks of Fon Master Ion's small form, fading to nothing in Anise's arms. He thinks of Luke, sending them all away in the heart of Eldrant, knowing he'd never return and never be found.

He thinks of Gelda Nebilim, bleeding out in the snow.

The nod he offers Pal in response is a slight one, and his expression has emptied again--not that he realizes. But Jade does make eye contact at length once more, at least, when he does speak after a moment's pause. "...Then, we are in agreement there. Though, for my own part, it took far too long to finally realize exactly where that boundary actually fell. Until it was rather too late, in a lot of ways..."

So late, indeed, that he's not entirely sure he'll ever be able to truly undo the damage. ...But.

"Pursuing such a tangent. The things one might have learned from that obsession, all the same--would you still believe they ought to be utilized, should an occasion arise where there could be a benefit? Despite their origins, or the fact that they've been applied to terrible things in the past?"

[hellonspectacles]

This time, Palamedes pauses for a moment before answering—but only for a moment. “If the knowledge can be used towards positive ends, then yes, I think it can be, regardless of its source. Depending on the circumstances, I might even be inclined to say that it must be.”

For all its swiftness, Palamedes’ answer lacks some of the surety of his previous one. He is taken back, uncomfortably, to the unsettling conversation about necromancy that he and Jade had not too long ago. In those moments, Pal had insisted that the necromatic arts had no evil at their core, even if they could be used for evil means, laying out an argument that was as much meant for himself as for Jade. In order for that argument to hold water, Pal must also believe that something born in darkness and obsession can be used for good ends.

And he does believe that. Mostly.

“Knowledge, once acquired, is neutral. It does no good to refuse to use it merely on principle.” He studies Jade for a moment in silence. “I gather fomicry has not primarily been used in the making of children’s toys.”

[fonomena]

"'Knowledge is neutral', hm? ...That is an interesting stance. It leaves the result entirely in the hands of the user--and postulates that the outcome need not necessarily always be the same, even when placed in a grasp that was irresponsible once before. ...I see..."

Jade's certainly noticing a great deal, about the way Pal builds his response in this way--the slight but notable hesitation before the words, even as he goes on to apply them with conviction. Jade, too, finds himself reminded distinctly of their previous conversation about necromancy--the impassioned defense Pal had also laid out for it then, at that time, with this selfsame sort of...hm. What is this energy, really? Almost as if he's trying to convince...someone else, even beyond Jade himself. ...Just how many times in the past has Pal had to argue his beliefs in these ways, Jade wonders?

(It'll assuredly be quite the revelation, really, if he ever eventually figures out that Pal's also trying to convince himself of these things too--)

...Still, Pal's studying glance afterwards must be addressed in as well. Jade returns it impassively--but the expression sits at odds with the sigh that inadvertently pushes its way out, before he answers. "...Fomicry can be used to replicate any physical object within accessible vicinity and size constraint. Inanimate or living."

...Jade ends up looking away again, in the slight pause that falls here, unnaturally red glance not quite able to match the piercing gray of Pal's scrutiny in the end. Jade can hazard a guess at exactly what image he's painting about now, where fomicry's concerned...and it only feels right to confirm. But the knowledge is still a heavy and bitter sort of thing, in his chest.

"Quite honestly. There have been many times, in recent years, where I quite wish I'd never invented fomicry at all. ...But such hangups do not exactly help anyone here and now on this ship, do they?"

[hellonspectacles]

Pal can’t deny that is something strange and arresting about Jade’s eyes that makes it somehow both difficult to meet his gaze, and hard to look away once one has. The master of many a staring contest, the studies Jade’s expression carefully, and when the man speaks, some things begin to slot into place.

Jade Curtiss is—was?—a military officer, and Pal knows just enough about the Cohort to understand that armies will go to great and terrible lengths to reach victory. More than that, he had once spoken mysteriously of ‘soldiers with dead men’s faces.’

Of course.

Emperor almighty.

A tingle goes up Pal’s spine, but it doesn’t change his opinion on the larger question. “I can certainly imagine that such a power could have a number of unsavory implications,” he says slowly. “But you only need look to biology to see the obvious parallel. All life requires cell replication. That’s how we grow, how we heal, how we procreate. But when cell replication occurs in the wrong place, or in the wrong way, we call it cancer.” He purses his lips. “The positive possibilities of fomicry are at least as obvious as it’s negatives. And if you can use its principles to save people here and now, then I sincerely ask you not to hold back.”