tushanshu_logs | [OPEN] KEEP THE EARTH BELOW MY FEET

Characters: Skulduggery Pleasant and YOU.
Date: Throughout March.
Location: All over. Skulduggery's splitting his time between the Palace demolition, the Hotel, and... everywhere else, really. But if you're looking for him, those first two places are the best places to look.
Situation: Now that Skul has his Bentley back, he's in a much more approachable state of mind. Approach! He's also taking active steps towards solving the symbol puzzle, so if you see him flying over the Sectors, that's probably what he's up to.
Warnings/Rating: None yet. Apart from maybe a love affair with a car.

A)
Skulduggery spends at least a section of each day up on the Palace grounds, occasionally helping with the physical work of the demolition, but more often than not somewhere near the library, keeping an eye on what the kedan workers are doing with it. As long as the sealed-over entrance to the basement area doesn't get touched, however, Skulduggery doesn't interfere - and he even goes so far as to help the university kedan catalogue the collection of books.

In a marked observable difference from the previous months, Skulduggery's now almost perpetually cheerful. You might hear him whistling 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' as he works.

That changes when the Dust contamination becomes apparent. Although Skulduggery himself isn't affected for obvious reasons, he's visibly relieved to discover the poisonings don't have permanent consequences, and he starts investigating where the contamination might have come from. That investigation takes him into all of the areas deemed too unsafe for the demolition work, but most noticeably the Throne Room.

B)
While the Hotel garage is still being constructed, the Bentley itself is parked outside the Central Sector entrance. Contrary to popular belief, Skulduggery isn't there all the time, a fact which certain gang kedan try to take early advantage of. From about March 6th onwards, the Bentley gets given a wide berth, due to the stories of Skulduggery chasing up and giving those gang kedan what he called a very firm talking-to.

When Skulduggery is with his car, he's usually polishing it, or fixing the small dents and scratches it acquired while it was with Yunxu - once again whistling 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' as he works. He generally has his magical face on for the first half-an-hour, wears it out until it starts misbehaving, and then abandons it.

C)
Every so often, Skulduggery tries to follow a mental map of the console symbols through Keeliai, flying above the rooftops and landing in the centre of each Sector, following a pattern he changes slightly each time. If you catch him when he's landed, he's usually muttering, but he'll be happy enough to stop and explain what he's doing. Any help, after all, is always appreciated.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sonja chuckled.

"So you don't sleep- I assume you don't eat. Touching up your new car takes up some time, but how else do you fill up your day?"

"Solving the mysteries of the universe," Skulduggery replied. "Learning about the new power struggles in the city. Trying to work out what the console messages mean, and, more importantly, why they're occurring - or who's sending them. Meditating. Learning about people. Exploring the shell. Keeping an eye on the demolition. A more efficient question would probably be what don't I fill up my days with."

"I doubt that that's true. There's a literal infinite number of things you could choose to fill your time with- counting leaves on trees, learning the piano, contemplating logic puzzles, memorizing digits of pi, building a birdhouse, wondering how an even tempered inn-keeper is actually some legendary rage-mancer."

The problem with the majority of those suggestions was that they were boring. Counting leaves on trees, learning to play the piano - logic puzzles were at least a relaxing hobby, even if they weren't exactly useful. But memorising digits of pi? Why on earth would Skulduggery fill his head with more than about fifty of them? Nonsense. Utter nonsense.

He chuckled, exhibiting absolutely no surprise at the shift in conversation whether Sonja had intended the shift or not. "A legendary ragemancer, is it? Who told you that?"

"A woman. A beautiful, wonderful-" what are you doing? "-person."

That was weird.

"That I met walking back to the hotel."

Don't mention the fire sector. It might get back to Valdis, and who knows, maybe skulduggery had a chip on his shoulder about Tu Yuxnu too.

"She had quite a lot to say about Anton."

... China. Of course.

"I imagine she did," said Skulduggery with a nod. "I also imagine very little of it was true. I've never known China to use the word 'ragemancer', but if that's the impression she left you with, she isn't nearly as manipulative as she likes to think she is."

Far be it from Skulduggery to get in the way of whatever China's plans might be regarding each individual Foreigner, but where Anton was concerned - and especially after what happened back in their own world - Skulduggery wouldn't let the gist-user be one of her disregarded casualties.

"You all know each other? From before, I mean?"

Sorrows, Pleasant, Shudder. That makes sense.

"She was a bit more elaborate than I on the topic. Something about using negative emotions to fuel powerful magic."

"We're all from the same world, yes." Skulduggery glanced up at the sky, reminding himself very briefly of where he'd ended up on his rough mental path of the consoles, and then he abandoned the project for the day to pay more attention to the conversation.

"Did China tell you what a gist is?" he asked.

"It's not just another word for emotions?"

Oh dear. This was going to take some explaining.

"Not precisely, no," he answered, idly stepping over to a public bench. "Simply put, a gist is a monster. It's a manifestation of negative emotions - all the parts of Anton he would rather not acknowledge. His magic creates the gist and lets him control it. When it comes out, it fights for him, and it's very nearly invincible."

"He would rather not acknowledge? Like what?"

She want to join him on the bench.

"Like anger," said Skulduggery, "and hate, and rage. Jealousy, to an extent. Frustration. The idle desire to hurt somebody for something they've done. The less idle desire for revenge. His gist encompasses all of it, and it's up to Anton to keep it on a leash. That's why he won't break his own rule of neutrality within the Hotel, even if his worst enemy were to cross the threshold."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to just acknowledge those emotions? Then there's no gist, and he could lead probably a healthier life."

"The gist is magic," Skulduggery replied, amused. "It's not quite as simple as that. He acknowledges that he has those emotions, because that's what keeps him level. But acknowledging the emotions themselves is the first step on a slippery slope to giving in and losing himself to the gist. Keeping his actions consistent, no matter who they're directed towards, is the easiest way to avoid that."

There was a difference between realising the gist was there, and giving it free reign.

"That honestly sounds confusing. I think I'm a little hazy on what you mean by 'acknowledge'."

Skulduggery paused for a moment, eyeless gaze seemingly on Sonja, but in reality on a point somewhere to her left.

"When you're angry," he finally said, "you have several choices. You can refuse to admit you're angry at all. You can embrace the anger and let it rule what you say and do. Or you can acknowledge the anger and then set it aside. Most of us are only capable of the first two options, but Anton's lived his whole life by the principles of the third. When he's facing a murderer within the Hotel, he's usually aware of the man's crimes, and aware of his disgust or hatred. But then he sets those feelings aside and treats the murderer the same way he would treat a friend."

"That sounds... difficult."

[OPEN] KEEP THE EARTH BELOW MY FEET

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