[open] automated vacation message

[light_mischief]

Who: Skulduggery Pleasant and...??? You. Definitely you. Really you, right?
What: After his canon-jump and the confirmation that like, technically he is both real and unreal, Skulduggery has decided he is mentally checking out for the week. Yep, definitely an appropriate coping mechanism that will not backfire continuously and spectacularly.
When: After the camping trip through the last week of June!
Where: Tommy Bahama, Karaoke, the pool, also far away from it all
Warnings: Auditory & visual hallucinations, probably talk of extensive torture, eldritch madness, and general trauma. Some violence is possible/probable.
Notes: See this post for an idea of how Skulduggery might be different post-canon jump! New CR will be more likely to see a balanced, "regular" Skulduggery (since his hallucinations are strictly people he knows), while his current CR might notice him avoiding direct communication until he can prove you're really there. He might also try to throw things at you. You know, it's fine.
(I'll match tagging style!)


[locked to Darcy] I know what I think doesn't matter anymore, but I'd say his mind is gone
[It takes Skulduggery approximately an hour after his conversation with the captain before he starts to have a complete and total meltdown about it. Not that he would classify it as such; no, this is just... a period of adjustment to new facts. He tries his best to write it all down before he forgets, but the more he thinks about it the less sense it makes and --

It takes him almost a full day to get some sort of grip on himself, and in that time he comes up with what may be the stupidest plan he's ever had. Well, the stupidest plan he's ever had thus far. If reality is burning him out, then he simply must not engage with it any more than strictly necessary. That, he figures, is as close to a vacation as one can get aboard this godforsaken ship, and that's just what he needs.

That means: no theorizing, plotting or hypothesizing about current or future affairs; no concerted efforts to solve any problems; no worrying about the captain's plans or personhood or name or anything; and most importantly, no taking things too seriously.

But to do it all, he unfortunately must break the last rule almost immediately. There is an unfortunate side-effect to his sudden temporal upheaval that must be dealt with, first.

The gauntlets haven't changed since he last laid eyes on them, but he has. There's a distant singing sensation in the base of his skull now when he touches them, like a finger along the rim of a champagne glass. He wraps them tight in a towel. Doesn't help. Stuffs the towel in a bag. Still doesn't help. Just being in the room with them is enough to feel it. Throwing them overboard isn't an option; he can't guarantee who will find them. The only choice he has, as far as he can see, is to find someone he trusts to hide them for him. Somewhere he'll never be able to go, or never think to look.

Skulduggery takes the bag, wraps it in yet another towel, and avoids the mirror on his way out. No need to look at himself to recognize the guilt already brewing at putting this burden on somebody else. Maybe it wouldn't sting as much if he were handing them over to Jade, or Palamedes -- but the former would put the pieces together too quickly, and the latter would likely wind up hurting himself. Darcy, he surmises, has no necromancy in her background, and therefore is unlikely to draw even the slightest energy from the cold, dead metal.

She's going to ask a lot of questions, and he'll have to lie to her face about most of it, but at least he can trust her to help. He just has to hope that she's actually in her cabin when he comes knocking.]

1. [tommy bahama] There was a reason why I came here (but I guess now it doesn't matter)
[There is a six-foot-four skeleton in a full suit somewhere inside the Tommy Bahama. You can't see him from the front of the shop, but if you walk the rows long enough -- maybe fifteen, thirty minutes down the aisle -- you're bound to come across Skulduggery. He seems to be browsing the shirts at first glance, but his movements are a bit... Stilted. He doesn't react to any of the patterns or the quiet muzak or the fake lime scent pumped into the store. Truthfully, he isn't even aware of how far into the store he's gotten. He'd been mostly trying to outpace the obnoxious Valkyrie hallucination following him, laughing at the ugly shirts he's pretending to look at. She's the only other voice in the shop, which makes her the one thing ruining this place from being truly peaceful. The silence, the solitude... if he could destroy the speakers, it would be perfect.

"Oh my God," Valkyrie says, "You are totally pathetic. Do you really think a sunhat is going to fix all of this?"

Yes, actually. Skulduggery does think a sunhat will fix things. For one thing, he can throw them at the bothersome figment. For another, he's now left a trail of various hats and pieces of clothing as a trail for him to follow back to the front. (Or, perhaps, for other people to find him...)]

2. [chatterbox] There is a certain kind of feeling that you get, when you're totally helpless
[Karaoke seems to be limited to a single hour every night, but Skulduggery doesn't want to wait for nine PM. He doesn't have time to sit around waiting for things to happen. He needs to be throwing himself into this vacation of his full force, and no semi-sentient teleprompter is going to stand in the way of his good time, damn it.

Skulduggery sits on top of the karaoke machine itself, having the monitor pulled up right in front of him for easy access. He sits in silence a lot for somebody who's supposedly trying to sing, flipping through the catalog seemingly at random. In the audience, he only has to worry about China, who smiles and hums What is Life Without a Wife. She only stops when he uses the ship's translator to translate some of the now-dead language he'd learned. Mostly, that just leaves him shouting things like "Help, help," and "The pain is everlasting," into a silent room. But that's okay. It's fine. Now he knows what those words meant when they were being shouted at him by survivors of a now-dead alien race. The more you know!

When he does sing, he throws his chest into it, so to speak, and for what it's worth, it does seem that he's having a good time. Every time the machine tries to rattle like it might return to its closet, Skulduggery reaches down and punches the side to get it to stop. The truth is, Skulduggery is holding the damned thing hostage. And he knows it. Which is why he will occasionally hit it extra hard and mention,] I will set you ablaze, you know.

[It seems to do the trick.]

3. [the pool] I had a good, good, good, good reason (but I guess now you couldn't care)
[The only one of Gordon Edgley's books that Skulduggery can find is The Vanishing Knight, which is a fun story about teleporters and based loosely on Skulduggery's knowledge of the Grotesquery. Now that he's gotten a little more real-world experience with both matters, he's decided to settle in by the pool and do a little post-humous editing. This issue's got some simple grammatical mistakes, and Gordon always tended toward rambling sentences; on top of that, he certainly took some artistic liberties with the way things were handled.

Interestingly enough, despite being a normally chatty friend, Gordon is a quiet sort of figment beside him, just there to listen and silently chuckle at Skulduggery's asides. He thinks maybe he's just worried he won't be able to get Gordon's voice quite right. That's fine, though; Gordon's a nice, comfortable presence to have lingering around. He doesn't complain, not even as Skulduggery gets lost in rambling asides that are half-spoken and half-thought. This might as well be the closest to self-care Skulduggerys gotten in either a week or a year, depending on which angle you come at it.

He's wearing his suit, but of course, the hat has been replaced by a Tommy Bahama sunhat. Valkyrie has not bothered him once since he put it on, and so as far as he's concerned, this is his new look.]

[wildcard] I got pressure bearing down on me
(Have something in mind? Message me or just throw something up and see what happens!)

Comments

[light_mischief]

[Skulduggery regrets sending Jade the text. He never should have trusted that bastard to keep to himself. (Uncharitable, but the longer he stands in one spot, the more irritable he begins to feel. Something about all the restless energy he's desperately trying to burn through, maybe?)]

Believe me, I've learned that. [Said in such a way that it's clear Skulduggery has already had several interruptions to his vacation from people hunting him down. Admittedly, Jade will be the first to come looking based solely on his text, of which he has begun to regret. (One day, Skulduggery will learn what a manic episode entails and learn to not text valuable information during those moments. That day is nowhere near today.)]

Actually, now that you mention it, I do have somewhere else to be. And I can see you've got things to do, so... Maybe later?

[He heads for the exit like he isn't absolutely running away from this situation. (As if he doesn't know Jade will abandon pretense just as quickly as he would...)]

[fonomena]

[Uncharitable, perhaps, but actually not terribly inaccurate--really, in some ways it's perhaps for the better that Skulduggery's discovering this particular aspect of Jade here and now! Namely, the aspect that has had countless people from all walks of life back home mutually agreeing he can be positively insufferable when he really puts the effort into it. Tenacity and perceptiveness exactly where you don't want it...these things happen to be two aspects out of many more, of that particular feature.

Really, though, it was quite the text. If directly asked, Jade would say he's honestly more surprised Skulduggery figured it'd be any sort of effective way of expecting anyone to Not Worry About Him--you know, as incredibly worrisome as the whole read was. Is it really so strange, in the end, that they're having this incredibly awkward exchange here and now?]

Hmm, not so many things to do that I couldn't postpone them a little on my part, actually! So, it wouldn't have to be later...in fact, I daresay you and I might even be headed in the same direction today. Wouldn't that be quite the coincidence?

[Incidentally, there are two more books to be checked out when Skulduggery seems to overcome his personal freeze, and resume making a positively shameless beeline for the door. Which is, essentially running away, and they sure both know it, as well as knowing that the latter knows it too. No, in the end, Jade doesn't feel very bad at all about promptly detaching from the counter himself--scooping up three of the processed books entirely as an afterthought, in one arm--and leaving the ghost to handle the rest of the books without a second thought.

Because it might be a narrow window of a moment before Skulduggery's out in the hall (and privy to far more options of escape), but catching up alongside him with a couple of tactically applied wide strides surely isn't impossible. Though, in moderately closing the distance like this, and actually getting a proper look at Skulduggery's head in a way that isn't just pointed eye-contact of shame across the way--hm?]

--Ah, your skull... [Sardonic cheer falling a way a bit, actually, in favor of the very mild surprise of this discovery.] It's--is that the physical difference, that you mentioned? [You know, in your manic text message?]

[light_mischief]

[Jade isn't going to let him go without a fight, he knows. He can tell he's being caught up to before he's fully cleared into the hall, his nerves singing with tension even when he knows who's following him. He doesn't slow his pace any, not even as Jade catches up -- and most definitely not when he mentions the most marked change in him.

Truly, he almost doesn't respond, thinking that icing Jade out might be the most effective means of getting rid of the man. But it's just as likely that Jade will be even more irritating if he tries to go that route...]

Yes, it is. No, I don't know where the other skull went. I didn't ask, so I wasn't told. Not that it would matter. He doesn't know anything anyway.

[Fine. Just a little information. Enough to get Jade off his back, so he might get some peace and quiet at the Chatterbox -- surely Jade won't follow him into karaoke mania.]

[fonomena]

[Well, following him all the way into karaoke mania sure would be one way of finding out what in the world karaoke actually is....!

The pause following his question is just long enough that Jade does half-wonder whether Skulduggery is legitimately about to try giving him the silent treatment. Wouldn't be the first time anyone's ever opted for it, where Jade himself might be concerned...though it would be a first for Skulduggery particularly, as easy and engaged as all their previous conversations have generally been up to this point.

Not as if Jade would be too surprised if he tried, though. Not as if the terse edge in the answer that does eventually come is too surprising either. Skulduggery's irritation is plain, and Jade's well aware of the fact he's probably treading a very fine line between tolerance and more outright confrontation about now. Perhaps he should feel a bit more bad about it--so blatantly ignoring the latter's clear desire to be left alone, as he is--but, then again...two weeks really is still far too long.

Besides, it's hardly as if he isn't very used to receiving the discomfort and ire of others anyway. (Honestly, his stint aboard this ship has been strange in the sense of how much less of it he gets on daily basis by comparison--with no alarming reputation hanging about him here, in this place where the very planet of Auldrant is entirely unknown to anyone else, much less its goings-on...)]

You did mention the captain seems to have little idea about much in general, where your recent incident's concerned...which is still quite surprising in its own right. [A slight and thoughtful hum. Jade's continuing to peer speculatively at Skulduggery's person, but at least he doesn't get much closer than the polite conversational distance he's fallen into at this point, in step and keeping level with the latter's petulantly swift pace. (This is basically his brisk morning walk now, apparently. Multiple years being privy to military training regiments sure pay off in this way about now...!)] You know, though, I think the cheekbones are higher--I daresay this new skull suits you rather better, anyhow, even if the old one might now be impossible to locate.

[Which is...yeah, that's weird. Where in the world did the other skull go? Why this particular one, as a replacement? (Is Skulduggery capable of replacing his skull willy-nilly on a normal basis? Strikes an odd chord against his past descriptions of his pain perception, though...) Goodness, a whole new slew of questions just from this tidbit here, but Jade tugs them back in thought before they can escape just yet. Because the tension sure remains in the air presently, now doesn't it? A moment's awkward pause falls between them, and Jade sighs, a pointedly unsubtle sort of thing.]

My my, this won't do at all...you really are quite displeased with me right now, aren't you?

[light_mischief]

[Flattery is usually the easiest way to soothe Skulduggery's irritation. That might make it alarming when he doesn't rise to the compliment, too busy counting down the seconds until Jade releases his barrage of questions. He must have hundreds of them. Thousands. Skulduggery has more than he's willing to count; each time he thinks about it he comes up with some new horror he has to consider.

Which is why he'd decided on a vacation in the first place, no matter how ill-advised it might seem to the casual observer. He needs the time for his mind to adjust. For all of this to make sense.

As if to prove his point, he can just now see Valkyrie unhappily waiting for them at the elevator. He hasn't had to deal with that for a few hours, now, and he isn't inclined to let his brain come up with yet another self-critical thing for his partner to tell him.

He stops abruptly, which seems like a great way to postpone the inevitable moment where he'll have to juggle Jade's attention with that of some figment. He'll just... stare at her from his spot in the hall, so she doesn't get the idea that she can just pop up somewhere else. And since he's stuck here with Jade, he might as well respond:]

I am a bit displeased, yes. I thought I made it clear that I was going to be unavailable for an extended period of time.

[fonomena]

[Not yet being quite as familiar with Skulduggery's vainer habits as some of his closer associates might be, the lack of any particular preening at the skull compliment doesn't overtly bother Jade--because it really was a more genuine sort of commentary, as opposed to some angle at loosening up Skulduggery in any particular way? (Like, it's not that he's a connoisseur of bones or anything, but, he has examined...his fair share of them, over the course of past research. Enough so to apparently form opinions like 'flatteringly high cheekbones' when assessing skulls at a distance nowadays, but. Anyway...) All the same, the lack of any acknowledgement whatsoever certainly speaks volumes in its own sort of way too...

Skulduggery does draw to a halt, though, for better or worse; Jade's promptly slowing and stopping as well, beside him, a bit surprised at the abrupt transition from speed-walking to Suddenly Not. For a moment he wonders if he's actually gone so far as to outright set off a proper temper, now, but...then again, even if Skulduggery's mood doesn't seem to have improved, the tilt of his skull and the direction of his eye sockets seem to be pointing at...something else? Behind him, as opposed to at him, and in turn Jade's casting a quick glance over his shoulder too, but. ...There's just the empty elevator, back there?

Huh.

Blinking, Jade returns his attention to Skulduggery with a slight and brief sort of frown, but doesn't remark upon that just yet. Seeing as there's plenty enough to respond to in his reply first, and all...]

Oh, yes, you were pretty clear about that. Two to four weeks, was it? [An idle enough question, but very intentionally floated specifically to highlight...the pretty wide margin of variation, there. Which might very well be defined as the opposite of clear, really...] You didn't exactly make any specific requests to stay away from the library for the entirety of that time, though. I suppose you'd have preferred I let you walk out without any sort of address? In which case I do apologize; I thought you might still be receptive to at least a bit of preemptive conversation, since we both happened to be in there anyhow. Or that I could perhaps persuade you into becoming so, with my winning charm and wonderful personality...

[A vaguely sardonic lilt does taper off the end of that last sentence, though, paired alongside a wry smile that's clearly fully aware of just how obnoxious he's been in the last couple of minutes or so. Jade's shoulders shift in a slight shrug.]

Alas, that's clearly not the case! But here we are now, all the same. ...Would you be more amenable to a compromise of sorts, perhaps? [You know, where his questions are concerned versus Skulduggery's clear wish to be left alone...perhaps if a few of one could be exchanged for the other--]

[light_mischief]

[It's clearly Jade's tone of voice that makes his timeframe seem unreasonable, not the amount of time itself!

The hall is too exposed for this conversation, but Skulduggery is unwilling to finish the walk to the elevator or again retreat into the library. Really, there's nowhere aboard that isn't being watched, nowhere to be genuinely alone; even his room belongs primarily to somebody else.]

A compromise. [He repeats the word flatly, with the feeling that he knows precisely what sort of compromise is to be had here.] One that doesn't involve me shooting you for some peace and quiet, I take it.

[fonomena]

[It's an odd spot for a pause, to be sure, but the question of Skulduggery's sudden and peculiar aversion to the elevator at the end of the hall isn't examined much further on Jade's part just yet. Considering the more immediate matter to address, here and now...]

Well, no, considering that would be rather less of a compromise and more of a confrontation--don't you think? To say nothing of how it wouldn't work half as well as you'd like, I'm afraid.

[Jade's tone retains a cheery enough mild humor, and his smile to match it does not entirely fade, but. His right hand does slip into his coat pocket: an idle enough gesture on its own, but in reality the most overt outward sign of a very slight prickle of wariness prompted by Skulduggery's words. ...It's odd, really. They're in-line enough as a metaphor, considering his clear ill mood, and if this talk were happening a week ago with no strange text message in the backdrop Jade would hardly think twice about it beyond it being a particularly gallows sort of humor. But now.....paired with the strange atmosphere here, and incomplete but concerning context--he does wonder.

(He might be able to react, before a gun's drawn. Large blunt impacts, or a detonation of energy...'large sustained damage', was it--?)

A twinge of something like unhappiness accompanies the automatic thought--at the reasons said thought's even flaring up, about now--but Jade doesn't allow it to linger enough to grow into anything more recognizable, in favor of setting it aside and focusing upon business.]

I've something rather simpler in mind. So as not to take too much of your time--but still leaving the both of us satisfied enough, with ending this conversation--if you were to permit me three questions, I could opt to leave you be to the best of my ability for the next several weeks on your timetable afterwards. Up to and including turning right around and pretending not to see you, in any future incidental encounters...and so on, you know.

[light_mischief]

[The concealing hand movement is impossible for Skulduggery not to notice, but he refrains from commenting. Realistically, he's more irritated than genuinely upset, and he's aware that at this juncture, Jade likely has a quicker reflex speed than Skulduggery is willing to deal with. Certainly no better than those of the hunters on the red planet, but...

No. Better still to try and maintain some semblance of normalcy here. Again, he's only irritated. Shooting people is certainly out of the question for now.]

...Three questions. Not three questions with three parts apiece, just three questions.

[And then he's going to take the stairway to heaven karaoke.]

[fonomena]

[In that pocket his hand shall remain, probably until the end of this talk unless morale improves--which isn't looking terribly likely at the moment, to say the least. It's not like Jade actually has anything in the way of a weapon in that pocket anyway....but his right arm in itself has, well--

That's irrelevant, because it's not going to be needed anyway. Naturally. ....Probably.

(Hopefully.)]

Just three questions, yes. [No extra parts, no nested inquiries--insofar as he can manage, anyway. Jade dips his head in a slight and prompt sort of nod.] To start...while I imagine eleven months' worth of new memories has likely dilated your sense of chronology quite a bit. If you were to think back, as best you can--was there anything at all unusual that happened to you here, right before finding yourself gaining new memories? Odd encounters or any strangeness in your surroundings... [Any warning signs at all in general, really?]

[light_mischief]

[Skulduggery doesn't move as he contemplates the question. The time alone is enough to make recalling the moment difficult, but the memories therein are enough to drive him to distraction. He tries to think back to the first moment through the portal, hoping to move from that memory to the one from the ship, but there is no step between. And the moment he thinks he last remembers aboard the ship is --]

Mundane. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was... walking, I think. But nothing unusual occurred.

[fonomena]

I see...

[Well, that's unfortunate--in several senses of the word, really. Not exactly reassuring, that something like this could probably happen at any given time without so much as a hint of warning. Jade takes a moment's visible pause to mull over this, a slight frown finally settling upon his features.]

Fair enough, then. ...So, if I parsed your message correctly, I'd like to confirm: your additional memories contain time spent...back in your own reality, presumably. If it were a continuation directly from your last memory before arriving on this ship the first time--do the new memories contain no awareness at all of your previous experiences on the ship, then? A seamless transition, as if your ship venture never occurred between them...so to speak.

[light_mischief]

[Jade's silence mirrors Skulduggery's; he's had some time already to reflect on how horrifyingly transient their positions truly are, and he knows that's likely what Jade's momentarily stuck on as well.]

Correct. [On its surface, anyway. Enough for the knee-jerk confirmation, at least, until he realizes that doesn't encompass the whole.] No. Wait. Our memories occur concurrently with our existence here. The things that happened to me are still happening to me, just a different me. I think.

[It's very confusing and his mind is essentially a slice of eldritch swiss cheese. This is exactly why he's trying not to think about it!]

[fonomena]

[This whole topic in general assuredly has a rather uncomfortably existential sort of bent by nature; as ideal as it would be to view it all through a purely objective lens, it's harder to do when you're the one actually as at risk of experiencing it as anyone else--much less when you have experienced it, as is the case for Skulduggery.

But then he's going on to answer the second question, and well--speaking of existential things--]

...Concurrently. [Jade blinks, as this actually sinks in.] But that would mean--that it was never a matter of time being stopped in our realities, while we're here. That time is in fact still ongoing, there... [...Jade had been functioning somewhat under an (immensely-scaled) Time Stop theory, in a more optimistic sort of bent, ever since Friday had answered his inquiry on this particular matter in a vague way back at the sticker party. But if this isn't actually the case, and it's more like that...then, in reality, they're still home too? --No, not quite. A different me, Skulduggery says. Much the same way it had been mentioned at scattered points in his text, too, and Jade has to pause again to really try and think on this. ...This would imply, then, that there are--multiple versions of any given person, in existence, all at once?

Oh, out of his field. Very out of his field. It's the only interpretation that makes sense, though, if he applies it to Skulduggery's words and what he seems to be trying to convey.]

This must be another component of 'multiple realities'. ...I suppose nobody ever did say things had to be limited to just one unique reality apiece, for any given place...or that a timeline couldn't be layered in a similar way. If 'layered' would even be the right term... [Where is a spatial specialist when they need one! Where!! Jade sighs a bit, shaking his head as if to set aside his own woefully inadequate wording, and refocuses upon Skulduggery with a frown that deepens.] Still, if we are all indeed now in a separate...layer, of time, on this ship--that doesn't explain how you ended up with those memories. Not just memories, either, but a physical alteration as well. ...Assuming your new skull was an occurrence over the course of your new memories, in itself.

[A full-body swap, in a single instance? ...If it was a swap at all? The memories are apparently additive, though, stacked upon his existing ones of the ship. ...Then, was it more like a transformation? There's no answer that isn't alarming in its own sort of way, here, and even if he weren't limited to just three questions to begin with--Jade's not sure he'd want to fish Skulduggery for any of his own ideas on that front anyway. Considering how he's now living the result, regardless of the method...

If there was any method to it at all, for that matter?]

But the captain claims even he doesn't know what happened, according to your message...that's unusual. One would think this is the sort of feat he'd be happy to take credit for, if it were intentional. 

[light_mischief]

[They're still home, in a way, but Skulduggery feels even more alienated and distant from Ireland now than he had when falling through the portal. Out there, he's still with Valkyrie, still chasing villains across Europe. Solving the mystery of Darquesse, murdering her, or being murdered by her...

And yet he's also here. Trapped outside of time and maybe trapping more of himself here with every passing event. He still doesn't know what happens to the versions of himself who he's taken memories from. He has no idea how much he's truly taken from himself. He knows the memories aren't his own, but is the skull? It is his skull, after all, but not one he himself found.

The more Jade talks, the more he extrapolates, the worse it feels. He isn't an expert on these kinds of things to begin with, and the fact that the captain seemed equally in the dark about it...]

Well, he didn't. [Weirdly defensive, but okay...] He has no control over it. Over any of it. He doesn't choose who gets taken aboard and he doesn't choose when this happens. We're as stuck here as he is. Because, regardless of the new skull, I never left.

[He pulls up his left sleeve to reveal Darcy's friendship bracelet still tied on tight, with the same complicated knot he'd made at the dance. It's possibly the only reason he hasn't been mostly catatonic since finding out there are other versions of himself. It reminds him that he's real, and that he hasn't inherited the ship as memories from yet another version of himself.

("Oh, so I don't exist because I never made you something," Valkyrie says, having come close enough to hear even as she stands well out of range of his hat. Skulduggery dips his chin slightly to avoid having to look at her. The answer, he's afraid to admit, is yes.)]

[fonomena]

[It really is a distinct sense of collective fumbling about in the dark--it's bad enough to be limited in this way as passengers, but the fact that even the captain supposedly isn't sure on such finer details is just, truly the unsettling icing on the discomfiting cake. Skulduggery's confirmation is weirdly defensive, that said, but Jade's rather too thoroughly distracted by the three different tracks of thought currently trying to arrange themselves in his head to be overtly bothered with calling that out right now. At most, it prompts a sigh that's less at Skulduggery's expense anyhow, since...]

A truly poorly practitioner this man is turning out to be--dabbling in powers he increasingly only seems to understand on a surface level...

[Flavored with a fair amount of ire, this bit; Jade may not possess untold reality-bending abilities at his own fingertips, perhaps, but he does at least understand the finest intricacies of the fonic artes he uses--which is more than can apparently be said of the captain and his own capabilities. He feels quite at liberty to judge at this point, alright!

...Anyway though. Anyway. Not much point in lingering upon that in the end, after all...Jade's glance drops to Skulduggery's wrist at the movement, the reveal of the bracelet underneath the sleeve. The significance of it alongside his words doesn't take much time to sink in; he might not know that it was a gift from someone here specifically, but Jade does recognize the fibers making up the braiding as being part of the craft supplies back during the camping expedition.]

No...it would seem you didn't--if you were wearing that before it happened. Whatever occurred, then...crossed over from elsewhere, it would seem. Added to you as you've been, here, somehow.

[Maybe at the expense of that other Skulduggery in turn--or maybe not. It's really pretty much impossible to say, isn't it? ...Jade can't help but wonder, though, if it's entirely a one-way process. If, perhaps, the reverse could occur as well--or even be invoked--

More hypotheticals...more things he'd like to discuss with someone, really, except--it can't exactly be with Skulduggery at the moment, now can it? Here they are, two questions in, and Skulduggery's mood has not seemed to ease one bit. Though that's quite fair enough, really, considering the nature of the entire subject...especially when Jade can provide no better answers to any of it himself, at present. Another pause falls, then, this one rather longer than all the others--in which Jade peers pensively at the way Skulduggery drops his chin just so, his overall distracted and thoroughly unhappy sort of air. ...There really are a myriad of other questions he'd like to ask, across a whole spectrum of practicality. He ought to choose well, to take everything he can from this limited opportunity for any more information.

And yet.]

...How extensive is the damage, then?

[light_mischief]

[If that isn't the biggest takeaway of the situation. The captain, for all the power he clearly wields, is no more adept with it than a sorcerer freshly emerging from their Surge. A clear vision of what he wants his power to be, while lacking the patience and caution of long-term practice. In a way, it's offensive to see magic being used so carelessly. And yet, another part of him is secretly glad for it. How could he not hold some quiet respect for the magic that essentially gave him his life?

Not the kind of thought he wants to entertain for long. But it stays all the same.

Jade's third question is -- unexpected. So much so that his head swivels to fix back on him directly, shaken completely from his distraction. No more logistics? No wondering about what it might mean for them, on the timeline or otherwise?]

It...

[("It's fine," Valkryie sneers, "Go on, it's what you always say.")]

...depends on what you mean by damage.

[fonomena]

[Skulduggery's surprise is fairly clear to parse, in the way his focus seems to sharpen once more in a startled sort of way; Jade evenly returns the look finally being directed properly his way, expression impassive in turn--though the frown that's remained settled on his features up to this point does quirk briefly into an entirely humorless smile, for a moment, at the implied question he gets in return as an answer.]

You received eleven months of memory and a swap of your skull in the span of an instant, Skulduggery. This is not a normal thing that any one person could possibly be used to experiencing.

[To say nothing of just what might have transpired, for him, over the course of those eleven months either...Jade certainly couldn't begin to guess. But even if they were the most mundane eleven months anyone could possibly have, the fact still remains that getting so many memories rather abruptly jammed into one's head in the passing of a blink...might, perhaps, be just a tad overwhelming.

You know, if he had to take a guess.]

Or would you rather I'd have wasted my last question with something more standard and useless, like "Are you alright"? As if we don't both know the answer to that already. [Clear enough that the damage is there, after all. Considering...] You didn't seem particularly certain as to whether even four weeks of vacation would be enough...or am I wrong?

[light_mischief]

I suppose it isn't normal for most people...

[But it's supposed to be normal for him. He's experienced memory recall before through his reflection, the pieces of information slotting neatly into the timeline of his day, as if he'd lived both lives simultaneously with very little dissonance.

These memories, however -- they are jammed into place. Crudely so in comparison to what he's used to. The two spans of time don't align at all and thinking about those eleven months feels like unspooling a gnarled tangle of thread. He can't trace his standing here back to the moment he'd been walking before, much less to the abruptly-filled gap of a year.]

It... is jarring. Abrupt. I should be able to -- but they don't fit the way they need to. Sloppy paperwork, really. If it weren't for the skull, this would all be some awful trick. I could play along, maybe... But no. I should be used to this. We have memory spells, I've used my reflection for reconnaissance, but this is... different.

[Jammed in and worst of all, he can remember every feeling, every moment, as clearly as if he really had been living it. Reflections don't have emotions to transfer, and he's never used it for longer than a few days. This -- this...]

...I think it's... too much? [Unsure, even as he says it,] I think, if it had been different, maybe not. But as it stands -- yes. It's too much. So I need a vacation. I need a break. I need to not think about it...

[As if he could possibly put it aside for any length of time...]

[fonomena]

[Outright memory placement on a level such as this is assuredly unheard of where Jade's from, in turn. The closest equivalent he could try describing for himself would be...perhaps, that one experiment in which he'd ended up accidentally inundating himself with memory particles (and very nearly inadvertently killed himself in the process, you know, as you do when it comes to Inadvisable Science)--but even then, that experience had been more of a condensed reel of his own past experiences. ...And recalling that part of the incident still invokes a vaguely awful sort of feeling to this day, even over ten years later. To try imagining it as memories from the future--or at least one future--with even less warning whatsoever...

Well, no, Jade's pretty sure he could still hardly begin to relate to what Skulduggery's feeling about now. ...Honestly, he's actually a little surprised at the honesty that does seem to come forth on Skulduggery's part at length after all--because he really had been half-expecting a brushing-off of the "I'm fine" variety, even if it had been a risk he'd been willing to take in using his third question like he has. The cold and practical part of him--the part that really would like to get back to logistics and theories, to assessing what all this might indeed mean for all of them--yes, that part does still vaguely feel that it was a waste. ...But it's not the only part that governs Jade's thoughts anymore, either. No, if anything, there's another part that does take some validation from what Skulduggery admits to eventually--even if it's a halting and uncertain sort of admission, that only rather cements what Jade has been suspecting ever since he first read through that manic text message of earlier.

The fact that Skulduggery's saying it, though...perhaps that means something. Maybe. He's not...sure what, but--]

'Too much' is probably putting it rather lightly, quite frankly. ...It is possibly something of a feat that you're even out and about like this, right now. But if it's a break, that you think will improve things...

[Jade doesn't think a "break" is going to help, really--not in the conventional sense of the word, anyway. Not when he's pretty positive Skulduggery's finding it all but physically impossible to actually not think about this for any amount of time. Because Jade knows he certainly would be, if it were him...and he's had yet to find a single thing that truly makes the thoughts just stop for awhile, not really. But.]

Well, I imagine I've probably been quite the opposite of any help, where that might be concerned. ...And my question limit is up anyhow, it would seem. [It's a hollow sort of humor, well aware of how little such platitudes really matter in this particular instance; but Jade's head and posture dips in a brief and professional sort of partial bow anyhow, before he straightens to attention once more.] I am a man of my word most times; so, I shall leave you in peace now, insomuch as it might help. Though if there's any other way I could help...

[...Hmm, well. That last bit actually comes out before he quite realizes, but in the end Jade lets it trail off too, with a shrug of his shoulders.]

Ah, but you would have already told me anyhow if there were, I'm sure! [And all Skulduggery has told him up to this point is Go Away, essentially; no terribly difficult dots to connect, there, you know?] I do hope your vacation offers at least a little of what you're seeking. I'll be quite curious to know if it works.

[As if they both don't already know that it won't. ...But with that, Jade's going to take his leave back in the direction of the library without further pretense, assuming he can move past Skulduggery unimpeded from there. May as well get the rest of those books at the checkout desk sorted, after all...]