#space ghosts

Prev: https://www.tumblr.com/savingthedeadwebcomic/718354524172058624/saving-the-dead

Next: https://www.tumblr.com/savingthedeadwebcomic/720537528554422272/loading-update

“Timothy Bainright, recently of Port Ash, age 24 and one fourth Earth years” I read in my sternest voice. “You have died as a result of explosive decompression, brought on by an asteroid impact. You are required -“

“To cease all activities and depart, yadda yadda yadda” he parroted back, zooming over my head. “But that’s so boring.” I looked up from the tablet, ignoring his attempts to flick yet another hex nut at my torso.

“Boring or not, Mr. Bainright, this ship is being refitted and returning to the Lesser Belts. You were and still are a stowaway. And stowaways-“

“Are illegal. I know” Timothy grumped, curling in on himself in the corner. “Not my fault the captain wouldn’t hire me.”

I did my best not to roll my eyes at him, setting aside my tablet and glancing at my watch. We’d been at this for 3 hours now, and I was starving. Doubtless the captain in question was starting to question my efficiency. I sighed.

“Mr. Bainright, the fact of the matter is this. Your attempt to gain passage by less than legal means ended poorly. And the ship, while now in need of several new crew members, is not looking for a Ship’s Ghost, nor any members of the spectral variety.” At the far end of the room, a particle field buzzed quietly, casting everything with a faint purple glow. Timothy refused to look at me. “Your best bet is to either accept your fate and move on, or come with me and speak to an After-Death Career Advisor before applying elsewhere. I don’t want to see you banished.”

Around us, the systems hissed. Another ship coming in, probably, altering the local power flow. Speaking of ships coming in, though...

“We’re a big port, Mr. Bainright. Ships come through every day, looking for crewmembers of all types. You’ll get snatched up in no time.” My tablet beeped, and my watch vibrated. Not the urgent pattern, thank goodness. I could afford to ignore it.

Timothy mumbled something into his translucent knees. I squatted down, mostly trying to relieve the ache in my calves but hopefully appearing approachable. “Surely you don’t want to be banished, Mr. Bainright? I’ve seen it done before. An unpleasant process for all involved. Never a happy way to go for a ghost, tearing them from this plane. I don’t know if you -“

Timothy mumbled again, barely audible over the particle field. I moved a little closer, straining my ears. “You’ll have to speak up, Mr. Bainright. My ears aren’t -“

“I said I’m SCARED!” Timothy yelled, fists clenched and suddenly upright. “This is the first ship I’ve ever been on, and I can’t even leave this room! I get-“ He paused, apparently fumbling for words. “I get all fuzzy, when I try to leave. Like I’m drifting apart.”

Finally, we were making some progress. I could have cheered. Instead, I stood up straight, grabbing the tablet again.

“You’re simply unexperienced maintaining your structure outside of familiar locations. You smuggled yourself onboard in a crate, right?”

Timothy looked confused. “Yes, but -“

“And then you spent two weeks hiding nearby, in this room. You just don’t know the halls. It’s unfamiliar territory. But that’s solvable.”

Poor Timothy looked like a weight had been removed from his shoulders. “ You mean I can go places without disappearing? Like other ships?”

“Other ships and beyond,” I reassured him, quickly tapping some files on my tablet. “We can hook you up with a supportive emitter until you’re more experienced moving about, we do it all the time. And in the meantime you can get some training on jobs you might be interested in.” I looked up. “That is, if you’re willing to leave this ship.”

If Timothy’s teeth were corporeal, I probably could have heard them click as he snapped his mouth shut. He paused for several seconds, abandoning two attempts at speaking. Then he looked me in the eye, rubbed the back of his neck, and said “If you promise I won’t just vanish...”

I nodded solemnly, returning his gaze. “I promise, Mr. Bainright. We’ve done this hundreds of times, and never lost a single ghost.” Timothy’s mouth pursed for a fraction of a second, and then he shrugged, gesturing towards the door. “I’ll go, then. With you, that is.”

I smiled for what felt like the first time in ages, and tapped another file. “Excellent. I promise you won’t regret it, Mr. Bainright. Now I have just a few things you have to sign, and read...”

Half an hour later, and I was finally home free. The Captain was happy to sign off on a job well done, and didn’t even remark about the time, which was pleasant.

like????

all the stuff? all the magic? and bi Loki! and the cloak is hot and funny and has a sword and you know I have a type. (God tho when Renslayer showed up when they were trying to break into the elevator I was like ‘ok now fight’ in the same way people say ‘ok now kiss’ I hope they have a sword fight together.) talking about Frigga and how much he clearly loves and misses her. the TVA confirmation/reveal. saving each other on the crumbling moon. all the magic used trying to get them to the ark? did I detect a bit of the start of an emotional reckoning when Loki was looking out over the crowd, with that line ‘they’re going to leave them all here to die?’

also just generally I still adore the apocalypse idea. I love it. it ties in so well to Loki and Ragnarok and the fact that almost every single extra on the show is the walking dead makes it just feel like...haunted. saturated with ghosts. i’m sorry for bringing up ghosts again, aka all the time, but I just really love ghosts in space, I really love haunted space, I’m having a lot of thoughts and feelings about apocalypses and ghosts in space

but this is also the first of the Marvel shows, honestly the first of the movies in a while too, that really has its own distinct character, from the score, to the lighting, to the way the action scenes were filmed. like obviously, being derivative was part of the entire point of Wandavision and they did a good job matching styles to TV eras and I think it worked really well to have the ‘normal’ scenes feel generically MCU because it offered that contrast to there being Something Up with Westview, but I think they could have still done a bit more to make Wandavision stand on its own, and Falcon & Winter Soldier didn’t really feel like it had its own identity. And despite what I just said about Wandavision, I don’t even remember anything about the score. This show is the first time since Ragnarok and Black Panther that I’ve been like...spotify album release when?

I’m literally barely posting anything anymore except my lair sales bc im not on tumblr much anymore, but you know what fuck it. Its friday, i just hatched quintuplets, yall are going to see them. 

So this week we’ve got:

Gaolers! All the gaolers from earlier are still here, 100g for the second two, 500g for the multi-gaze.

Two golden imperial babies! 30kg or 30g. 

3 bug boi fae, various prices 8kt to 10kt (doing a bit of an experiment to see how high i can price a fae and have them sell lol)

5 space ghosts, 2 fae, 3 pearlcatchers. Again the prices are a bit all over the place for the fae, but the pearls are 10kt/10g. 

If you want to pay with the option they are not listed for, im cool w that, just message me on fr bc i will not see it here!