. I’ve touched on this briefly in a previous post, but I don’t consider Nico’s communication with spirits to be very . . . linear. There are times when even he doesn’t quite understand the boundaries of who he can connect with, who he can summon, and what ghosts he can cross energies with, even if they’re not there at all. Generally, however, there are three common ways that Nico can communicate with the dead. In order of least to most used :
Connection through residual energy. Sometimes, even if a spirit is no longer present in a place, Nico can connect with the energy they’ve left behind. This is particularly true if he is in an area that meant something to the deceased person : for example, if he walks through the place where someone died, Nico might get a flash of how they felt when their life ended, and maybe a few quick images of them or simple facts about them, like their name. This happens semi - frequently, but Nico doesn’t pay much attention to it, both because it’s so normal for him, and because it doesn’t convey much to him. He can’t actively speak with a spirit this way, just obtain the knowledge that once, they were there.
Meeting a wandering spirit. Not all spirits have moved on into the afterlife with ease. Some of them linger behind on earth, waiting for a sign that they should move on, or simply because they do not want to. If a ghost is inhabiting an area, Nico will always be able to sense it. He can’t always see the ghost, if they are intentionally hiding, but he can usually draw them out into the open once they realize who he is. Nico doesn’t always take interest in leftover spirits, but being able to see them can be helpful under certain circumstances. These spirits are significantly harder for Nico to actually summon, since they haven’t moved on from the earthen plane yet, and so if he needs some information from them, it’s usually easier for him to actively go and look for them in a place they’ve been known to frequent. He’ll usually opt for this option too if he wants to gain the ghost’s trust rather than force them to speak with him.
Intentional summoning. By giving an offering and repeating a ritual, Nico can summon ghosts back onto the mortal plane after they have left the earth. If he needs information from someone passed, he will often do this, especially if it is someone that he or his friends knew in life ( since they would trust him more easily this way, even after being forced into the overworld ). This is significantly more draining for him than the other methods, and so he doesn’t use it very often. He has been warned many times not to tamper with ghosts in this way ( he still does, but he tries not to. At least, not too much ).
While Nico can manipulate ghosts’ actions, such as forcing them into silence or banishing them from the earth, he cannot force them to tell him what he wants to know, or make them say anything they do not want to. He cannot make them lie if they refuse, but he also cannot necessarily tell the difference between their lies and their truths. This is why every time he summons or speaks with a spirit, he has to gain their trust, and sometimes manipulate them into revealing whatever he is asking them for. Some spirits are much more willing to get along with him than others : but many of them are also angry, and upset with the fact that he’s summoned them. These ghosts in particular drain his energy much more quickly than a spirit who’s trust he has gained.
