[WP] When a person dies, an individual can volunteer to house their soul within their own body until a donor body is found. You are beginning to regret your decision.

.:. T.I. Pendraig

Souls, all on their own, have a very limited awareness: enough to recognise safety, and incompatibility, as was shown with the Housing of Timothy Green’s soul back when the practice was in its infancy. A soul’s level of comfort is nearly always expressed by a lightening or dimming of its core, and its health by its assumed shape. The more perfect a sphere, the more robust the soul, according to literature.

And yet.

And yet, we have the case of Jack Manley, who, it would seem, is in contradiction with the established science. The soul of Sol-0573 was destined for a studious, shy volunteer by the name of Kale, who had proven to be quite compatible. 0573 was once a philosopher of great renown, a consummate philanthropist, and deserved nothing less than the most honourable of bodies. Housing 0573 with Kale was to provide this.

I could not say what possessed me to allow Jack into the quiet room where 0573 was waiting to be Housed, except that he has always been an earnest, polite fellow of whom I have been acquainted since my intern days. And while this is not a breach of conduct by any means, it is not a thing to be done lightly. He is not family, has no claim to the life of 0573. But he asked to say goodbye to someone who had saved his life, and I, as others, could hardly refuse such a request.

And yet.

Jack is currently seated across the room from me, under the glowing lights of a dozen medical instruments, and now I begin to regret my decision.