.11 [Video]

[what_ho_jeeves]

[Bertie's been reading bad pulp fiction. The title on the spine of one of the books near him is "The Haunting of the Queen Mary." Another is "Ghosts of the Titanic."]

What ho, my fellow passengers!

Do you ever think there's something a bit...odd about this ship? Now, I'm a man possessing of a keen and rational mind, but there were times I would swear I was being watched. There's a distinct creeping up my spine as if the ghosts of those who have died on the ship are nearby.

[There's...something wrong with that thought. It takes him a while to place it.]

I say, if someone dies, and becomes a ghost, does their ghost-self die when the Admiral brings them back to life? Just as if I'm inside, I have to pass through my door to go outside, and if I'm outside, I have to pass through my door again to get back in again. And if that's the case, do ghosts have ghosts?

Comments

Video:

[acid_rayne]

Are the mirrors telling people to do stuff, again...?

Video:

[what_ho_jeeves]

That's...happened?

Excuse me, miss.

[And Bertie runs off, leaving his video still on, to go cover his large standing mirror with a sheet. Because surely thin fabric can prevent talking.]

Re: Video:

[acid_rayne]

[Been here so long... This behaviour is not alarming.]

So... Not, then? Well, that's a relief...

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

I don't think so. I think... once you're a ghost, you are stuck as one. Death is just like starting the loop all over again.

[what_ho_jeeves]

But does that mean that everyone who has died on the ship is a ghost now? Even though they came back? Did they just come back as highly corporeal ghosts?

Or, even having died, did they never become ghosts in the first place?

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

I think that rather depends on how you define a ghost.

What do you think makes someone a ghost?

[what_ho_jeeves]

Well, being dead is, I think, a large part of it. Although that definition alone would also include all number of non-ghost states, including being simply dead and buried.

I suppose traditionally they are the disembodied souls of the deceased. Except for the Holy Ghost, of course, who was never rightly alive, I think. So the Holy Ghost is disembodied without being deceased. Which means being dead isn't necessarily part of the criteria at all.

[Bertie frowns. This is getting quite confusing.]

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

It may prove easier if you consider the Holy Ghost as the Holy Spirit and saved yourself confusing the two. It's quite easy. [Right. Yes. If you're Bertie.]

I think being dead, and disembodied are part of the criteria. But a ghost... perhaps it's nothing more than a snapshot of a moment, repeating itself. Or a soul trapped between the earth and Heaven, because it had business to finish. Perhaps it is a moment of tragedy so powerful it lasts beyond it's instant.

I don't think anyone here are ghosts. They're not disembodied. They are certainly in a form of afterlife, but not in the same way as a ghost.

[what_ho_jeeves]

Oh, excellent idea, old chap.

So the people who die here don't become ghosts? That's comforting to know.

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure not. I imagine becoming a ghost is quite exceptional.

[what_ho_jeeves]

Well that would explain why I didn't become one when I died that one time. I have my strengths--iron will, keen mind--but I'm not the kind of fellow who does truly exceptional things.

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

Now, I'm not entirely sure that's true.

[you decide which bit.]

LOL. Best reply!

[what_ho_jeeves]

Well...I did win the Scripture Knowledge prize at school, and published a few trifling novels and an article about men's fashion. Nothing the literature dons are going to get excited about, though.

:D

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

What, may I ask, were your pertinent opinions on men's fashion?

[what_ho_jeeves]

I've got a copy of the article around if you're interested. "What the Well-Dressed Man is Wearing." Mind you, it's a few years old now, so it's no longer current, more like "What the Well-Dressed Man Ought to Have Been Wearing Four Years Ago."

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

Four years ago for you being, exactly? It might be current for me.

[what_ho_jeeves]

I wrote it in...I believe it was '24. I shouldn't think it's current for you, though. You've always struck me as very fashion-forward, especially for an elderly chap. [Bertie. Still hasn't noticed that there are mass murderers on this ship, but can date someone's clothes style at a single glace so long as he has a frame of reference.]

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

It isn't current for me, I just wondered.

I didn't realise being old meant I was excluded from dressing well.

[what_ho_jeeves]

Not excluded, certainly not. But I've observed that many elderly gentlemen tend towards fashions resembling those of their youth, which, being elderly, was quite a long time ago. My Uncle Henry, for example, always used to wear a black morning coat.

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

I admit, I've hardly bought clothes since the twenties. But I like to at least be well presented.

[what_ho_jeeves]

Well, I can assure you that you cut a very dignified and respectable figure and do not look at all old fashioned. [To Bertie.]

[iam-aghost.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Mister Wooster.

[justareverie.livejournal.com]

... If you have died here, how don't you know? ...Were you a ghost?

[what_ho_jeeves]

That's the problem, you see. I could be a ghost right now and not know it. Stories abound of ghosts who aren't aware of their fate.

[justareverie.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you'd be unaware of it. I mean, people wouldn't hear you? You sound pretty alive to me.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

I've suggested that the Barge might be haunted before, but I was told that was silly.

And that ghosts aren't interested in looking at people without their trousers. But I'm not convinced.

[what_ho_jeeves]

I'm beginning to suspect that the Admiral is a ghost. That would certainly explain why we never see him, but only hear his disembodied voice. Most of the crew could be ghosts, too. Ghosts who keep the bits of the ship we can't see running at ship-shape.

Although...I honestly can't think of a single soul who, while alive, was interested in looking at people without their trousers. [Because Bertie leads a VERY SHELTERED LIFE.] So I can't imagine why a ghost would.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

But how could a ghost steer? Their hands would go right through the wheel. ...Perhaps this does actually explain things.

...Really?

[what_ho_jeeves]

The Admiral is a bit of a rubbish pilot. Even if he is a ghost. Or, as you say, perhaps because he is a ghost.

Really and truly. Indeed for certain people, even the very idea of them without their trousers makes me want to take a stiff drink.

[19centconstable.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I think we may have solved something here, Mr. Wooster.

The same, but: there are certain young ladies...

[darknessb4me]

Ghosts don't have ghosts. No one becomes a ghost here. If you kill a ghost, it vanishes or goes to an afterlife. And if a ghost's body were to be brought back, the ghost-self would simply become the living-self. Alright?

[what_ho_jeeves]

Oh.

...

Might there be ghosts of souls who were here before we arrived?

[darknessb4me]

Half the people on the ship are dead and aren't ghosts, what would be special about those ones?

[nicebluehat.livejournal.com]

[Mentally negligible indeed.] I think they may just change from ghost to living being again. I doubt what you're reading is a good authority, though.

[what_ho_jeeves]

[He glances back at the books.]

Oh, those are just a diversion to read before bed. But they do get one thinking.

I don't believe we've met, Mr...? [Between the clothes and the androgyny, Bertie thinks Naoto is boy.]

[nicebluehat.livejournal.com]

Shirogane. [a pause, to clarify what she wants to be called. Making a correction on the gender isn't even worth it these days, everyone figures it out eventually.] Naoto.

I don't think I've seen those particular titles, but it's an interesting question.