Sunday, December 25, 2022

A Christmas Quandry

 Kiketsu Family HQ, Whalestrand, Christmas Eve...

"So what are you getting David for Christmas, Tara?"


Tara Skew, attorney at law and presently a ghost, looked up from her work studying the Glasetera legal code for the Kiketsu Family's move into the region, not as Kobber antagonists again but this time as potential allies. At the very least, it was a comfortable place for the goddess Aqua Moriya to try being a heroic goddess without botching some Gensokyo incident. The lawyer looked up at said goddess with a raised eyebrow.


"I got you and Darkness each something. Why do I need to get something for David?" she asked tersely.


Aqua grinned. "Oh, come on! He nearly kills himself to keep you alive and then feels really sad and pouty when you died? Don't tell me you haven't noticed?"


"I've noticed, but I'm neither a human or - as noted - alive. I don't want to lead him along thinking I share his feelings," Tara countered, getting back to work.


"He's been very respectful of your personal space, moreso than anyone else. I don't think he's a bad guy either," the goddess continued, pacing casually. "At the very least, you ought to send him a card."


With a chilly glare, Tara looked up. Aqua pretended not to notice and started walking off, already yelling something to her bodyguard before the attorney could get in one last word. One peevish grunt later, Tara was back to work, going through page after page of dry legal code, all in the original language so she couldn't misinterpret anything due to translation issues. The sounds of laughter echoed down the hall; they'd do a gift exchange in the morning and have drinks with her cousin Yachie in the evening. Even their...*ahem*...legitimate businesses stopped working for a day to celebrate. What else did she need to do, especially after a trio of ghosts had tried bullying her into being more celebratory? It turned out ghosts weren't immune to another ghost's fire breath.


The recently deceased dragon did lean back in her chair slightly, deep in thought. She drew upon everything she knew of David, probably not as much as she could considering she'd only known him a few months, but it was...enough, at least. A noble fellow from another world who'd saved the life of a dragon who'd just claimed to destroy a village? He'd also shown quite a bit of respect for personal space, a very - no pun intended - touchy subject since everything that had happened with the Cardholders. Dying had ironically been the best thing to happen to her in that regard in a long time.


"Hmm." Tara paused and reached for a phone book, her hand phasing through it before she remembered her 'touching things as a ghost' lessons and flipped through it until she found a specific ad, dialing up the number on her phone.


"Pawn Shop of Doom. How many I help you?"

Tara paused for a moment to wonder how a skeleton could talk without lips, but decided it was unimportant.

"Yeah, I'm looking for something to let a person touch ghosts."

"Ah, yes. I do happen to have such a thing! A priceless Ghost Touch Amulet!"

"That's...convenient," Tara said, slightly incredulous.

"Our guarantee is to somehow have something you want or we offer you an apology FREE OF CHARGE!"

"...alright then. How much?"

"Ten dollars."

"Perfect. I'll be there in...ten minutes. Okay?"

~

Wherever the Earth Sect Planeswardens currently live on Earth, Christmas Day...

It wasn't the prettiest parcel ever, but it was currently sitting in the middle of a room with a large "To: David From: Tara" tag on it. The object inside wasn't actually that nice, though it had gotten polished before delivery, but it had a hand-written card inside.

"'A ghost touch weapon deals damage normally against incorporeal creatures, regardless of its bonus. An incorporeal creature’s 50% reduction in damage from corporeal sources does not apply to attacks made against it with ghost touch weapons. The weapon can be picked up and moved by an incorporeal creature at any time. A manifesting ghost can wield the weapon against corporeal foes. Essentially, a ghost touch weapon counts as both corporeal or incorporeal.'

That's what instruction manual said. I don't know what nerd wrote that but the gist is you can touch a ghost while wearing this. Merry Christmas.

-Tara Skew"