#tunglr deleted all my saved tags again :^(((

[virmillion]

"what about possession?"

"what about it?"

"can we do it?"

and then, no, not really, because you'd assume that would take hopping into a person's head and grabbing the steering wheel. rough already knew his hands weren't tangible anymore, and he figured that probably extended to the rest of him, too - clothes included. he didn't want to ask about that part aloud, in case the fabric suddenly remembered it was supposed to be abiding by the laws of physics and just sloughed off him.

anyway, he tried hopping into the nearest person, which was a little like going from a hot tub to a swimming pool - shockingly cold, panicky, and a brief stunned stillness that left him standing there as the unwitting victim kept walking. the only indication they'd felt anything was a slight jerk of their head, which rough recognized as a sudden chill that made your body spazz out - at least, that's how he interpreted it. he elected not to ask aleth if that's what all those were.

he tried again on another person, only to be left shivering in their wake.

"the shock to the system on both ends makes it sort of impossible," aleth explained. rough went to grab her hand, but she didn't offer one. right, the intangibility. "usually you're supposed to move on before you've practiced enough to be able to handle it -"

"which you haven't done."

"shut up. but it's also kind of uncouth, i want to say? it's weird to be in charge of someone else, even in theory, so it's just not done."

"because you can't or because you won't?"

"there's no reason to in the first place, so why worry about it?"

"ghost?"

ghost shrugged. "i've tried a few times when i got bored, and they were more suggestible, but that's it. i didn't have total control or anything."

"and they've stopped doing it," aleth added, in a tone that made it clear the stopping wasn't ghost's choice.

"does it always feel that bad?" rough asked.

"describe bad," ghost said, earning a frown from aleth.

"like, i know it's a shock to the system, but the freezing cold part? like jumping into a swimming pool from a hot tub?" yeah, sue me - it's my story to tell, i'm allowed to use the same metaphor twice.

aleth and ghost traded a glance, and rough tried not to explode internally at how they'd apparently developed their own silent language in the time he'd been gone. the time they'd been gone, he supposed, since he was there and they weren't. what was there even to say, anyway, with ghost's expressions hid behind blank, sharpied-on eyes?

"it varies," aleth finally concluded.

"what's it like for you, then?"

"different."

"suffocating," ghost supplied. this afforded them another frown from aleth, coupled with a glare and a slight shake of her head. "but different, mostly."