Jaskier "old-timey fuckboy" Alfred Pankratz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cointosser) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2023-05-09 08:07 pm
cointosser) wrote in abraxaslogs2023-05-09 08:07 pm
[open] wake up, it's time to gather now
Who: ALL OF THE FREE CITIES.
What: A glorious celebration and a Summoned-powered festival!
When: The second week of May.
Where: The Old Public Hall, the outlaying plaza, spilling into the streets of Cadens.
The Reopening Celebration
The Aquila Portal
The Lunae and Ikorr
The Festival Days
What: A glorious celebration and a Summoned-powered festival!
When: The second week of May.
Where: The Old Public Hall, the outlaying plaza, spilling into the streets of Cadens.
[The flyers appear all at once overnight among all of Cadens, with the front text reading: GRAND RE-OPENING OF OLD PUBLIC HALL. FIVE DAYS OF CELEBRATION WITH MERCHANTS FROM ACROSS THE FREE CITIES AND NOCWICH, ALL TO CELEBRATE THE REOPENING OF ONE OF CADEN'S ARCHITECTURAL MARVELS AND THE FREE CITIES'S OWN FORM OVER FUNCTION FESTIVAL! with the dates given underneath.
The back of the flyers will list the precise details, including the topics of each day of the festival. This festival is to act alongside and celebrate the native Free Cities celebration Form Over Function week that the Cities host every year. As with most things Jaskier and Alucard touch, it has to be a little Extra.
New to the city? Want to change careers? As suggested by the mods, the Summoned can use this festival to look for work or make new connections in the Free Cities with the locals displaying their craft. Artists, artisans, playwrights, theatres, inventors, and scientists will be looking for the next wave of brilliant minds and talented individuals.
Also acknowledged on each flyer are the equipment and food donated by the various Free Cities governing bodies.]
[A big celebratory announcement during the first day of the festival will be made in front of the Hall once the market opens. This is the grand unveiling of the new portal that is being permanently opened to Aquila, agreed to by the Free Cities government. The announcement comes from several of the Free Cities' very own Summoned: Jayce, Claude and Sam.
The portal is intended for leisure and business travel and will have a crossing fee. A portion of the proceeds from the festival will go to providing those of lower incomes with a single paid-for trip to and back from the Aquila portal. Please make use of such generosity, Summoned!]
[Most of the festival is meant to feature the local artists and artisans of the Free Cities. However, many artisans from Nocwich have also been invited and provided with their own space, with water misters set up to keep the wolves and vampires (and visitors, of course) cool in the desert air. Long, shaded walkways keep visitors safe from the sun.
The Lunae have a history of traveling to Solvunn to attend celebrations, so they will arrive in Cadens in greater numbers. While the vampires have less of a presence than the werewolves, they will still offer their wares like blood-infused wines, glowing flowers, and unique meat dishes - similar to what was provided last year!
All three Nocwich ambassadors will make an appearance for at least one of the days.]
[A large open-air market will be open throughout the celebration, which will feature retailers and artisans from Aquila, Cadens, Libertas, the Lunae, and the Ikorr, all set up in the plaza that leads up to Old Public Hall itself. Advertisements will be posted to entice new tourists to Aquila, in the interest of Fallon Marsh's new push for tourism to the coastal city.
Each "day" features a special theme:
- Book and Literature Day includes a seller's market inside and on the steps of Old Public Hall, along with book signings throughout, starting off the five-day celebration. The latest and the greatest works that have come from Free Cities minds are featured, sold, and autographed. If you're an up-and-coming writer, there are small podiums and stages set up on the outdoor stages for you to provide readings of your own work and advertise any exciting new book clubs. There is no promise of quality for the open-mic readings, and there's no withholding criticism when it's bad either.
Large presses and the self-published all share their wares, ranging from the latest scientific journals to the unsurprisingly long line to meet the author of the popular Onion James mystery novels. Near the new bar in Old Public Hall, an informal bookclub will open will be hosted. The evening will feature authors in conversations with each other, offering book signings and writing workshops for nervous young novelists. If you're curious, feel free to join in and show off your newest writing piece!- Painting and the Visual Arts Day marks the second day, which will see the Old Public Hall transform into a gallery for a day. Featured artists are lesser-known independents, working to create monumental-sized paintings, glass sculptures that refract light, tiny drawings that show skill on the smallest scale possible, and more. The Hall provides the ground for artists to lay out sales of local paintings, sculptures, woolen arts, and even the services of artists themselves. All matter of art will be set up for sale in the Old Public Hall, as well as works organized on the main floor of the Hall as a gallery. Clothing designers from Aquila will be showing off the latest fashions, as well as looking for new models among the visitors. Libertas's artists will once again be pushing their counterculture art, supported by Quilleth Kaur and the Arts Restoration Committee.
- Science Day will feature a symposium on the current state of technological developments in Cadens and how they relate to artistic practice on the third day. Within the Hall itself, the maze of the books from the previous day has been replaced with an open floor plan, allowing for a horseshoe-shaped display of inventors and their wares -- and a surprising amount of artisan fashion work. Two large areas feature in-depth talks about recent developments in both fabric production and sewing machines, resulting in more unique fabrics and dyes that will be displayed later that evening.
Keep an ear out, as the names "Jayce" and "Viktor" float among the populace as Summoned inventors to keep your eyes and attention on. Provided by these two fame-collecting talents is a display of their fantastic revolving armillary sphere, modeled after the astronomy of Abraxas, which casts an atmospheric starry light over the area once night falls. This new permanent installation is now available for viewing in front of Old Public Hall as a navigation point and to show the union between art and science.
Further into the night, garments will be shown, with a discussion about new techniques used and how they were made. The beauty of asymmetry is lauded, with the use of coraline plant fibers for boning, experiments with structure and bright fabric dyes, accented with fine details. Shapes and textures are exaggerated and celebrated. A large screen behind the stage allows for some projection magic to focus on all the little details for the whole crowd to see.- Theatre Day arrives on the fourth day. Indoor and outdoor stages will be set up, featuring short plays and costume shows. There are several morning workshops available for perusal; some are writing-focused, led by some of Libertas's leading playwrights.
Outside of the Hall is the brand new romantic comedy All The Wolves You Loved Before, commissioned for the grand reopening by one "J. Alfred" to be performed for the first time ever. It tells the story of an exceptionally handsome, white-furred werewolf from Nocwich with a charming and surprisingly funny demeanor, falling into scraps and eventually into love. Inside the Hall is the classic Murder Among Thieves, a mystery featuring a group of bandits that are picked off by a killer one by one.
That night, Old Public Hall will host the three-act play It Happened In Section 600. The horror piece sells hard on its exquisite special effects (made with a combination of science and magic), telling the story of Miss Harker, a new librarian at the University in the early days of the Free Cities. Ghosts supposedly haunt the library, but just exactly why remains a mystery until Miss Harker starts her first day. The mystery features spirits and a tale of revenge with the early days of the Free Cities as the backdrop.
Local theatres will provide backstage access and classes on special and visual effects. Playwrights will provide signings and host writing workshops as they scope out new or aspiring young actors. For those brave enough, you can find others to help practice your audition or even aid others in theirs!- Concert Day, which marks the end of the event, features live, performed music from 3 p.m. until midnight, acting as a tour de force of the restored Hall's acoustic capabilities where both technology and magic work together. Smaller, independent bands will be highlighted and enhanced with magical special effects, with -- unsurprisingly -- the night ending with a special performance by the Gem of the Phoenix himself, Jaskier! Rumors have it that the appearance of a real phoenix itself may appear, granting supreme luck to all who see it in the future...
The magic of the Old Public Hall is in use for this concert series, where magic birds will explode and fly among the eaves of the Hall's roof, the roof will disappear in view of the night sky, or small explosions of color — named "fireworks" — pop off with every growing crescendo. The final show will feature a performance of Jaskier's ballad to Lfybringr, ballads of bravery in the Free Cities sands, and exciting tales of forbidden lovers meeting in the eternal night of Nocwich.
The final song of the night, ending the Festival, is "The Phoenix Always Rises From The Ashes," a loud and explosive power ballad that sounds strangely like modern rock to some ears, meant to invigorate and inspire all of those who have lost hope. This show features magnificent displays of wildfire magic, echoing the unrestrained strength of Libertas's people. When the final line echoes through the hall — And the people, like the phoenix, will always rise! — a gigantic, illusionary phoenix will appear, covering the roof of the Hall, giving a beautiful, defiant screech before exploding into feathers. These feathers are soft to the touch, quite real, and can be taken home as souvenirs.
As always, thank you for your patronage and interest in the arts, Free Cities. Remember that, in the end, the people will always rise.]
no subject
Immediately she reaches across the table to grasp his hands in hers, looking apologetic. For once the mildly misty eyes aren't a ploy either; they're genuine. ]
Viktor, don't you dare apologize. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I wouldn't have done this if I thought it would upset you in some way. I'd be more than happy to listen to you about anything, anytime - even if I don't understand it. And there's probably a lot that I won't understand but I'll try.
[ The last bit is said teasingly at her own expense, but also in an attempt to cheer him up. ]
I love that you shared that with me because it hopefully means you trust me enough to do that. And I obviously can't change anything that happened in the world where you came from, but you're both here and you're both doing incredible things together now. [ The corners of her lips tug a little further up. ] Plus I've seen the way he looks at you. That's really the stuff romance books are made of.
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It's not your fault! There isn't a way you would have--I've said practically nothing of my past. You could not have known.
[He does trust her, at least enough to work with her and to have this conversation. She mentions the things he and Jayce are accomplishing together and his expression becomes something bittersweet.]
I don't doubt his commitment to me. [Especially not after their trip to Aquila, where Jayce made all of his intentions very clear.] I just know it wouldn't have been possible, outside of these impossible circumstances. To know how easily we could be pulled away from here, with no warning...all of it could be lost in an instant.
[He needs to do something about it.]
no subject
[ Hilda had no use for them after all and the cost to make them had mostly been at the cost of her own time. And frankly, she had been planning on gifting Sam and Claude's cardboard heads to each of them respectively along the same lines of a joke. Or maybe Steve or Natasha would enjoy the cut out more.
She doesn't let go of Viktor's hands quite yet, expression filled with a sad understanding. With Petra and Marianne's sudden departure, Hilda knows how finite any of the Summoned's time could be in Abraxas. ]
It's awful isn't it? When we woke up and found Petra and our friend Marianne gone - [ Her voice only hitches slightly. ] I didn't know what to do. [ It's a little, she thinks, like someone dying (and isn't that what Petra's face was when and if she and Claude returned to their timeline? She pushes past the thought, smothering it for another time and place. ] But I think that's why we have to cherish all the time we can here with everyone we've come to care for.
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[And Viktor doesn't really want to explain why he made Hilda throw it away. He'll just have to suffer through whatever shenanigans Jayce will do with it, for a week, maybe, and then the novelty will wear off. He thinks he can do that.
What is more difficult is talking about his various anxieties, when it comes to the possibility of being torn away from everything he's come to to know here. It's not even that he's particularly attached to Cadens--if he could, he'd go back to Piltover, but he wants it to be his choice. The expression on his face when she mentions Petra and Marianne is wholly sympathetic.]
You're right, I know. [He pauses, like he's debating whether or not to say the next thing.] But what if there was something we could do about it?
no subject
Tell you what, if I can find him, I'll give it to him. If not I'll just casually make it disappear.
[ After all, it's not like the cardboard heads had cost much to make; if she were trying to amount it to something, it would be the time she had spent making them and she didn't even consider that a waste. Sam and Claude's cardboard heads could go to them after all.
Viktor's statement halts any side thought she has about whether or not Sam's likeness would be better gifted to Steve or Natasha. Hilda blinks at him several times trying to piece together what he could possibly mean before leaning towards him as if this is some sort of topic they weren't meant to discuss out in public. ]
You mean have the choice to go home or stay here?
no subject
[So Viktor is resigning himself to coexisting with the cardboard head, for the foreseeable future. Now that he's got some of this off his chest, however, he imagines he'll be able to find the humor in it.
There's no real humor in this conversation, however, and that much is evident on Viktor's face. Still, there's a spark there, the same kind of determination he gets when he's solving a particularly difficult engineering problem.
Which this is, technically.]
If we don't gain and understanding of summoning ritual, then those of us who want to go and those of us who choose to stay are equally at the mercy of forces beyond our control.
no subject
Well, I don't see him right now so I'll just have to try again later.
[ She's seen that look before. Not that there's any reason for Hilda to doubt how serious Viktor is about this; there's never been a scenario yet where she's felt like that hasn't been the case when it comes to his work and the things he's passionate about. ]
So has anyone ever asked them how the summoning ritual works? I'm guessing that they aren't super keen to have us leave any time soon if they're the ones that brought us here in the first place.
no subject
I don't think they know how the summoning ritual works.
[Enough to bring people here, but not enough to reverse it. Viktor has his doubts that they're able to summon specific people--instead, his theory is that they focus on broad strokes or particular abilities. Then, once they have a "lock" on a certain world, it's easier to bring in others. It would explain, among other things, why they seem to have assembled friends and family and teams from the same places.
Of course, all of this is conjecture, for now.]
Much less how to reverse it.
no subject
Not that I was reassured or super pleased to be summoned here in the first place, but that really doesn't give me any kind of confidence in them.
So if they don't know how the summoning ritual works, then how are we going to find out? [ Her mind trails back to the execution. She hadn't attended but had heard enough chatter about it after the fact to know that it had been a particularly gruesome display of the gods. ] Unless you think it has something to do with the gods?
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[Viktor will certainly maintain that he is the only reason the missing were found before it was too late. Without his help, the government certainly wouldn't have been able to locate them as quickly as they did. The fact that he even had to jump through hoops in the first place...Viktor doesn't have anything nice to say about the Cadens officials.
As for the ritual itself, well. He has some ideas.]
More than likely it's the Singularity. [Which. Maybe has something to do with gods, but Viktor is more comfortable operating with the former as a source of magic.] Focusing the energy on such a way to not only break open the barriers between worlds, but to reach beyond them. Then they use the arcana symbols to find the person they want--or perhaps just the broad strokes of a person.
no subject
Everything from the day-to-day operations of running a duchy and keeping the people of Goneril safe and happy, to the round table antics (Holst's description not hers), Hilda had developed a rather ideal, albeit skewed, version of what she thought politics should be. All of that compounded in her declaring that she'd never want the responsibility because it was simply too much.
The disaster with the Summoned being kidnapped only proved to solidify that. ]
I heard there was some bickering about what to do with the Singularity but I think that was before I arrived here. Or rather that it's ongoing. [ She pauses. ] Have you been to the Singularity to see it up close? Is there a way we could study it?
no subject
I have, yes.
[He hasn't told anyone this outside of Jayce and Alucard, preferring to let Ciri handle her own people, when it came to their little excursion. Technically, no one is supposed to know about it, but he thinks he can navigate the conversation without mention of how he got there.]
You can't get past the edge of the crater--it pulls you into the Horizon. I believe one of our number took measurements, once. The force of the magic it contains seems to be slowly pulling everything towards it, though not at a rate that's concerning.
[A geological time scale, as far as he knows.]
no subject
Like a sink hole?
[ If she knew what a black hole was, that might feel like a more appropriate answer, but Fodlan is a little behind in that respect. ]
If that's the case no wonder we're being pulled here. And even if it isn't going to eat us any time soon, I don't think I blame the Free Cities for feeling the way it does towards it.
[ Or maybe she's missing something else here. Politics, science, and magic weren't her forte after all. Regardless, based on what Viktor had shared with her, she understands that there's likely several layers as to why he's so curious about finding a way to give the Summoned the choice to stay or leave. ]
Then what's your next step? This feels a little more complicated than trying to bring Perry to life.
[ 'A little' feels like an understatement actually. ]
no subject
[He supposes he could explain further, but the Singularity is only part of the equation. It's what gives the mages the power to conduct the ritual in the first place--there are other elements, other things he can make use of, when it comes to deciphering the mysteries of the ritual.]
I'm more intrigued by the idea of parallel timelines. Different worlds. Solving the ritual could be the key to unlocking nearly infinite universes.
[So, yes. More complicated than Perry. Much more complicated. He shakes his head.]
I'm sorry. This is all getting...very theoretical.
no subject
The furrow in her brow deepens as the cold reality of her death in some timeline begins to claw at her edges. A part of her wants to share it with Viktor, but here amongst the revelry doesn't seem like the time. There's a beat before she lets out a light laugh in an attempt to seem like her mind hadn't wandered. ]
Don't apologize. Believe it or not it's one of the handful of things that you talk about that is - I can kind of follow along with the other stuff. [ Not really, but something tangible in front of her was becoming easier to understand than talks about things she couldn't. ] But I can kind of follow along with the timeline thing; Sylvain is from a different one than Claude and I are from.
no subject
He is, however, surprised to hear this from Hilda, though he supposes it makes sense. The ritual pulls in groups of people--family members, teammates. It follows that, with the imperfectness of the spell, they might be separated by days or weeks or years. It's true for him and Jayce. Why wouldn't it be true for Hilda and her friends? He nods, understanding.]
Jayce and I are separated by a matter of days. Technically speaking, I'm not even the version of myself that he knew.
no subject
I never would have guessed. Did the couple of days make that much of a difference for you?
[ It feels like a silly question. Things could change in an instant, never mind several days. And the months between her and Claude was already concerning enough, never mind the discrepancies between what they knew and what Petra, Sylvain, and Felix had known. ]
no subject
[He still doesn't know just what, exactly, his other self tried with the Hexcore. Whatever it was, it ended disastrously, and that fact hasn't stopped bothering him, even after all of this. Maybe it bothers him more, now that Jayce sees a life for them here. If he can puzzle out the summoning ritual, maybe he can fix everything. Make things the way they're supposed to be.]
I did...something. Neither of us know what. An experiment, maybe. It didn't end well. I told him to destroy my work.
no subject
Does Caitlyn know?
[ The thought of Jayce's sister immediately comes to mind. But Caitlyn knowing something and not telling either Jayce or Viktor is too similar of a situation to the one that she had been in with Petra and Claude. ]
Or maybe the better question is, would you want to know what you did?
no subject
[And why would they? They knew each other in passing, mostly because of Jayce. Viktor kept himself in the lab, both because it was what he wanted, and because it was more politically expedient.]
I think I have enough of an idea. [It was the experiment he tried here, but something went horribly wrong. Just how horribly won't make a difference, now that he's cured himself here, but it is a reminder of what awaits him, back home, if he can't solve this.] Enough to know that if it's my future, I can't go back to it.
no subject
For a moment Hilda lapses into silence. She knows that she doesn't have all the answers or a clear picture of what happened here in Abraxas or in his home. It could be awful. It has to be, if Viktor truly didn't want to return home. But her trust in him is strong enough that she doesn't believe in a capacity where he could intentionally want to do harm - and that's enough for her.
She reaches out, settling a hand lightly on his. ]
I know I can't do much, but if I can do anything to help you, I'll do it. [ She glances down at their hands. ] There's things I'd like to avoid too.
no subject
She grabs his hands again and his eyebrows furrow--not because he doesn't believe her, but because he isn't sure what he can materially do about it. Viktor is also not sure he can even say the real purpose of his investigation, which is to use the power of the summoning ritual, and the principle of alternate universes to create whatever kind of world he wants.
He offers her a sad smile, instead. Understanding.]
If I find any leads, I'll be sure to let you know.
wrapping!
[ The smile that Viktor gives her is immediately mirrored. She lets her hand linger there a moment longer before she lets out a breath, as if the act will dispel the gloomy air from around them. Injecting a little cheer into a situation was practically her specialty at home, and that wasn't about to change here. Talk about death and futures they didn't want to return to could wait another day or never happen at all if she had a say in it.
Draining the rest of her tea from her cup, her shoulders straight up before looking towards Viktor with a grin that is vastly different from the smile that had been there moments ago. ]
I saw some inventions that I didn't quite understand. Do you think you could spare little ol' me some time to come see them with me?
no subject
[That's the whole point of unlocking the summoning ritual--so that those who want to go or those who want to stay aren't held here or pulled away against their will. If he can fix things in the process--give people second chances--so much the better.]
Always, Hilda.