OPEN MINGLE: Welcome to Thorne!

[magicalarchaeologist]

WHO: OPEN to all Summoned in Thorne
WHAT: A party, info dump, and magic study session all rolled into one! Eat, drink, mingle -- make some friends!
WHEN: A couple days after the newest Summoned start appearing
WHERE: A ballroom in Castle Thorne

NOTES: This is an open mingle log where everyone can tag one another! New characters may hear some gossip and chatter about recent important events that happened in Abraxas. They may have heard that the Summoned were invited to the Nether in October to help save the ailing dragons from extinction. Kyle and Rhy Maresh represented the Thorne Summoned in a negotiation with the Nether officials to exchange supplies for assistance with their navy. The dragons are alive and well, and the Draconae are very grateful.

Due to an announcement in November, the Summoned are invited to visit Borrel after Nocwich (the first weekend of the month) for the Maritime Fair. It is a three-day festival with lodging provided for the Summoned and a small stipend.



General.

With Rhy Maresth's blessing, Jill Warrick will be taking over his hosting duties on the celebration side of the mingle. Jill will have sent a written invitation to all Thornean newcomers within a couple of days of their arrival, inviting them to meet their fellow Summoned. Otherwise, there will be fliers posted in the dining area that anyone can see. If your character has CR with Istredd, Jill, or Rhy, you can assume they were told and got an in-person invite -- and you can even assume your character helped with setup if desired (decorations, helping set out food, etc.), since they needed the assistance. Up to you!

Istredd will also be hosting a group meditation to allow newcomers to access to the Horizon (and network). New Summoned who wish to learn how to step into the Horizon have an opportunity to have their connections to the Singularity activated. If preferred, they can also get one-on-one help from those who've been around for a bit. He will also discuss the magic in Abraxas and point them in the direction of teachers of magic, combat, or other things they may be interested in.

Banquet.

The large ballroom is bathed in warm, golden light from dozens of chandeliers above, reflecting off the gleaming inlaid floors and brass light fixtures along the walls. It is at once neatly sectioned, yet naturally open, allowing the length of the room to flow from one potential activity to another with ease.

In the center, a circular area has been left clear, and every half hour or so during the first half of the evening, two native Thornean (apprentice) mages come up to offer magic demonstrations -- mostly flashy elemental magic, adding sparks and atmosphere. If any of the Summoned who've been around longer wish to show off as well, they are welcome to do so.

Along the walls stand narrow refreshment tables, where one can serve oneself wine and liquor from large glass carafes. Hot tea and a variety of warm drinks are also available in a few flavors. For those looking to eat, a large dining table has been set out toward the center of the room, with plates and utensils and large platters of food in the center. Jill arranged for special refreshments to be offered in partnership with local businesses. Dante has also offered pizza for those who want something less traditional.

Both the handful of large tables and the smattering of small, taller tables for standing at are in full view of the demonstrations so the show can be enjoyed with food and drink, whatever your desire. Everything is decorated in Thorne's local winter flowers, filling the space with pleasant smells and pretty atmosphere. There is plenty of space to stand and mingle, walk around, and see what everyone else is up to. In the back of the room, the folding screens offer a quieter area, for more private conversation and meditation as desired.

Magic Studies.

Behind the folding screens made of tall, carved wood in intricate patterns, there are a handful of low sofas and chaise lounges around a fireplace at the far side of the hall. This sectioned-off area has been enchanted to provide some insulation from the sound of the banquet beyond, and once you step inside, the quiet is like a gentle blanket settling over everyone who chooses to spend some time here.

This is the best place to ask questions in some semblance of privacy, to learn about your new home, and to receive guidance on entering the Horizon and using the so-called network of telepathic notes only the Summoned can send one another.

Istredd is the one 'in charge' of this particular endeavor, but others who have been in Abraxas a while are likely also about, lending their assistance to those who are newly arrived and sharing thoughts on their experiences so far. Istredd recommends people visit his Horizon because he has a history of the Summoned and general helpful details written in there for anyone to see.

Just be careful -- even if the insulating enchantment is sturdy, there are still Thornean natives around, refilling refreshments outside and demonstrating their magic. You may want to be careful how candidly you discuss any displeasure toward Thorne or its crown, considering the Queen's notoriously explosive temper, and the rumors of the dungeons deep beneath the castle. It's hardly a secret, at this point: a conflict has been sparked, and the mood around the castle is a tense one, even amidst a celebration such as this.

(( ooc: Feel free to make your own top levels and tag around! This is meant to be an open mingle, with the above as mostly setting and flavor, so don't feel limited if you want your character to do their own magic demonstrations, for example, or even if your thread ends up moving outside the ballroom. Have fun!

It should be noted that if you would like to handwave your character's first experience to the Horizon, you can do so. It's a blanket permission from me / Istredd that he took your character there, helped them leave, and showed them how to go back in with their memory now. Your character can also know anything from the entries I linked to above that are in his library if you'd like to jump-start them into having information, or they can know none of it.

Thanks to Lena for originally designing this mingle every month, and Ammay for joining in on the fun now!))

Comments

[thoughts]

[ river is acutely aware that this entire conversation would be different if her eyes were open. she may be staring in muted awe at everything around her, wide brown eyes that seem to wander and fixate on a whim.

but the chaos that lives inside of her head is silent right now. for the first time in years, river is only seeing the things that are right in front of her. she isn't drowning beneath the thoughts and memories and emotions of everyone in the room the way she ordinarily would.

they say this world is magic and she can't tell if they're lying. is it a trick? a game? a dream?

is any of this real?

she has no way to tell. she only knows what they tell her and what she can see with her own eyes, so she listens and watches and tries to make sense of it all.

the people they're watching sit together with their eyes closed, istredd's hand on the new summoned's arm, and she's supposed to believe they're on a cerebral plane that connects them to the magic artifact that brought the summoned to this realm from across the multiverse. it's impossible. nonsense.

but yennefer sounds convinced. convicted. proud. she speaks of chaos in a way no one else ever has. she snorts and she swears and it's so humanizing that river can't help but smile. ]

So not the mother. Not the sun. [ she's glad for that, not that she could explain why. ] Then what does it feel like? The connection.

[ between the summoned and the singularity, between each other, and perhaps with magic itself, the energy as she put it. it all seems too outlandish to be true but she's listening intently to try and understand.

eyes wide shut, a mind on fire, and a thin grasp on reality - she's doing the best she can, but when she finally turns back to yennefer again, river is very much like a lost child looking to an adult for guidance in a strange new world. ]

[vixening]

[ just yet yennefer had said, and yet it is in those following moments that she realizes she can no longer wait. there is something that exists right beyond the grasps of her, something right below the surface, so close that yennefer can tell it is there but far enough that she can't make out the shape, the intensity.

it holds her attention, builds her curiosity, and perhaps that is the most dangerous part of it all. yennefer's focus has latched, her interest has solidified. this girl looks up at her with the same eyes that yennefer had seen back at aretuza, back before the girls had started disappearing. the young, the uncertain, the ones who had only begun to know all that there was...

like looking in a mirror, to another version of herself. what does it feel like? she asks, and yennefer pauses only for a moment. ]

Like the beat of your heart. [ which sounds...honestly so much more poetic than she means it to be. she doesn't break the eye contact, though, and feels something else well in her chest. she continues, words spilling out faster than she might mean them to. ] Blood moving through your veins. But it isn't the connection that is powerful, but how you come to control it. How you control it. It is there, whether or not you use it, but you can use it. Control it.

[ another second, where the two of them are simply looking before yennefer reaches out. it isn't as though the girl will notice, even those telepathically trained would have a hard time sensing how quick and gentle she looks, but it is there.

it is there, everything, all of it, all at once. were yennefer not at least somewhat prepared to find something tucked away, she might have been overwhelmed by it all. as it stands, though, she is prepared - enough that she keeps her ground, keeps her footing. and maybe it is the similarities that keep yennefer together, that keep her from drowning in the wave of it all, because there are many. the academy (aretuza), the torture (her classes), in hiding (on the run), the power and the weight and the complete and total lack of control (the fire), the confusion and paranoia (all true, all real, all heavy). she sees monsters, piles of bodies, and yennefer remembers the smell. remembers the feeling of being tied down, of being probed, of stregobor.

it is not even a moment, it is a single beat in time, and then yennefer blinks. it is gone, all of it, and the two of them are still staring at each other.

she breathes out, once, through her nose. ]

Tell me. [ river. she already knows the answer, but she asks anyway. ] Your name?

[thoughts]

[ her gaze stays glued to yennefer as she speaks, her own heart thudding painfully at the notion of control in relation to power. control is something that was very explicitly taken away from her, carved out of her brain and rewired in her neurons so that someone could force her to act against her will with the click of a button or a fancy string of words.

river was not designed to control anything; she was designed to be controlled. the idea of using magic seems just as impossible as having only one set of thoughts in her head.

yet here she is in this magical world of abraxas, and she can't tell when yennefer goes probing into her mind. the veil over her abilities leaves her questioning her reality every bit as much as being pulled out of a fountain into a brand new realm.

yennefer seems so confident, so sure of herself and her grasp of everything around her - control, as it were; she seems powerful and river can't help but feel drawn to that. could she ever she be the same, someday? it seems just as impossible as all the rest. she's been cagey about sharing her name depending on the circumstances, but it doesn't feel like she could ( or even should ) lie to yennefer. ]

River. [ said softly, and then after a short pause ] Of the Tam variety.

[ she hasn't really given her last name to anyone in abraxas. there's no way of telling if the liànmèng is hiding somewhere. but she feels vaguely as if she's under assessment, sitting at yennefer's feet and wondering how she came to control her heart, if river could ever hope to be as powerful. ]

[vixening]

[ but that is what this is all about, isn't it? control that has been taken away, being taken back. yennefer has spent her decades, her lifetimes, her years learning what that means to her. and what for, if not to teach it to someone else? this girl looks up at yennefer like she is the key, like she is the way, and the weight of that feels more like a rush than anything else.

is this how tissaia felt, each time the girls realized what she was giving them? some part of yennefer hopes so, hopes she had this bright warmth each time.

this girl stares, her eyes wide and seeking, and yennefer holds the eye contact. doesn't so much as blink away from it. if this girl is as new as yennefer thinks her to be, she'll have no access to whatever magic she might have brought from home. no abilities to probe back, as it were. so yennefer doesn't bother even appearing to be guarded - confident is the right word for it, in the end. sure.

river. yennefer nods, once, knowing that the request and the answer where river's name is concerned is a show of trust in and of itself. she's a smart girl, to be cagey and protective of her information. yennefer is impressed. ] And I am Yennefer. I hold lectures every fourth hour on alchemy and herbology in the North Wing - ask any one of the servants around here will be able to guide you. [ yennefer relaxes back into the couch, like she has completed some task she had set out to do. ] Between lectures, I offer private lessons. That is where I can teach you. About magic, and control.

[ she sounds flippant, casual, like she wouldn't mind either way if river chose to come find her for lessons - but there is more truth to the vague tension behind her eyes. there is more that she could say, more ways she could convince her, but she won't - not out in public like this, where anyone could be listening. instead, she shrugs. ]

[thoughts]

[ a bright wonder dawns on river's face as yennefer speaks of lessons and control, again, something as mystical to her as magic itself. she can't help but smile at yennefer's feigned flippancy; it doesn't take a third eye to see when there's more than what's being said aloud.

that's what she'd thought, before the academy. that body language and expressions can tell you so much more than the voice and words someone uses. things were simpler then.

this doesn't quite feel the same, not with the damage to her psyche that may never be undone, but there's still a childishness to the way river looks up to yennefer with muted excitement, a thin line of hope that might be buried somewhere beneath her fear and paranoia. she knows not to trust everyone that says they can teach her how to be better -

but this is a brand new world, and it's been a long time since river has believed she might have a future at all, let alone one where things don't hurt quite so much.

she follows yennefer's lead and turns back around to watch istredd again, leaning back against the couch as she sits a bit easier. but before that, she lowers her head and softly says: ]

Xièxiè nǐ, Yennefer.

[ she doesn't accept it outright or promise to come. rather, it's a thank you for offering, for speaking to her, for giving her this glimpse into a different way to be. for letting her believe that the chaos will not always control her; that one day, maybe, for the very first time, she might be the one in control. ]

[vixening]

[ yennefer recognizes it, that wonder and awe. she remembers what it was like to experience it herself. it had been much later through her time at aretuza, when she'd finally started working out her own potential, her own strength. it's easy to get lost in the noise, in the colors, in the pressure of trying to work through the actual, true chaos of life - but to be given the path, the structure, the way.

from the glimpse she'd taken, she knows it won't be a simple one. that whatever it is that river has undergone before coming here, it's left a mark on her that has yennefer's own mind turning. magicks or sciences or whatever - it's on a level she hasn't seen before, which merely piques her focus. her interest.

it's a problem she'll have at the back of her mind for some time, a thought she mulls over when she has time, but won't really delve into until river decides she wants to. this isn't something that will work until river is ready to make it so, and that's fine. yennefer has time.

thank you she says, and yennefer picks up her glass of wine, finishes it off and lets her eyes wander for the bottle. ] Don't thank me yet. [ she says, even if her attention is elsewhere. ] Now, if you'll excuse me-

[ yennefer pushes herself to stand, having come to realize there is no bottle near-enough by for her to procure by herself. she flattens her skirts, and then steps around where river's settled against the couch. ]

Enjoy your evening, River. There's plenty of parlor tricks to watch.