abraxaslogs | EVENT #16: THE ISLAND

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EVENT #16: THE ISLAND - IC INVESTIGATION LOG

Event #16 - The Island

OOC event plotting | wintertide event log

As requested, the Summoned from all three nations will be allowed to revisit the island where the abductions, experiments, and subsquent escape occurred nearly one year ago. Officials will send representatives on this trip: Jolene Sybell of Thorne, Reva Hym of the Free Cities, and Isar Hart of Solvunn. Although they won't be available for private conversations, they're there to lead the expedition and answer any questions you have.

The excursion will take place on DECEMBER 29, after the Singularity and all magic has returned to full strength. A portal will take you directly to the island, where you'll have 48 hours to accomplish what you need. Tents will be set up on the surface for resting.

For the main Wintertide Event Log, click HERE.

The Expedition

CW: Disturbing imagery (text and visual), death, folk and body horror, other dark themes.

At the start of December, officials will inform each Summoned Conclave that their request has been granted. You'll receive a letter detailing the date and time, as well as instructions on where to take the portal. When you step through the portal, you'll land directly on the island.

The expedition carries risks. Representatives have scouted the area beforehand to ensure its relative safety, but considering the cave's collapse and its flooded areas, they can't make promises. You're advised to bring personal weapons and protective equipment and are told to dress warmly. Be sure you can handle some hiking.

You'll see an unusual figure join the expedition. She'll introduce herself as Lorelai. If you're from Solvunn or were one of the Lost, you might recognize her.

◎ All characters are welcome to participate, including new arrivals. You do not need to have taken part in Event 12 to make this trip. However, if your character was not part of Event 12, they'll need to tell officials why they want to join. As long as the explanation is reasonable, such as wanting to help recover bodies, they'll be allowed to go.

◎ To learn more about Lorelai and interact with her, see the Investigations section.

Exploration

Island Surface

Above ground, the island is muddy and wet, and the temperature is cold. Where the ground hasn't turned to a bog, the dirt has hardened from frost. Trees show signs of the same blackened rot that was present during former investigations. The air is thick with a dark presence that leaves a strange grimy sensation over your skin. The more sensitive you are to magic or the Singularity, the stronger the feeling.

Desiccated corpses drained of life, both animal and human, litter the ground. Some animal carcasses - especially birds - are fresher than others, suggesting they died recently. Although many months have passed, it seems time has not been enough to help the island recover.

Follow the faction representatives. After a short trek, you reach the mouth of the cave. Here, a mangled mass of crushed bats and birds lay at the tunnel's mouth. A dried, bloodied residue sticks to the surrounding rock walls with bits of bone on the ground, as if a body was spread into a paste around the area.

Collapsed Cavern (Pit)

To descend into the cave, you'll need to navigate the tunnels. Some of them have collapsed, so be careful of potential rockslides and falling boulders. The worst of the blockage has been removed, but some areas still need you to clear the way by hauling off the rocks. Make sure you don't slip or fall - or worse, cause another collapse.

When you finally reach the pit deep beneath the earth, remnants of the horrors within confront you. The smell of death, rot, and unidentifiable herbs is overwhelming. Scattered at your feet are what's left of the blackened corn that some of you subsisted on. Fungal growths have sprouted in their place, pulsing and glowing.

The bulbous organic growths that once confined its captives have deflated into a gelatinous mass, its digestive fluids having eaten itself from the inside out. Dissolved corpses can be found still trapped under the mass, their skeletal remains rubbery to the touch. Other bodies appear to have succumbed to terrible lesions. Some were consumed so thoroughly that they became bizarre humanoid roots. Others still show signs of having been crushed under a massive beast.

Four disturbing statues are spread out across the area. The melted wax candles - now unlit - suggest they're shrines of some kind. All four shrines are severely damaged. The intestinal mace carried by one is curiously missing.

You might remember exactly what happened here or you can ask a Summoned who was there for details - if they're willing to talk about it.

Underwater

The western end of the island suddenly ends in a series of fresh jagged cliffs, so new that the erosion of water has yet to smooth the edges. A swirling whirlpool appears to have torn a large section of the island into the depths, washing away sins and secrets both...or most of them. Barnacles have formed on the rocky ledges. More disconcerting are the bloated bodies in various states of decay and mutilation that have risen to the surface.

You'll be able to help gather those remains or dive into the water to investigate what lies beneath. Officials - and the Summoned who were here - will be able to tell you that an altar once sat in this area where the terrible rituals took place.

Key Tasks

Hidden Threats

Two major threats have survived the island's collapse:

The bone serpent, a creature whose sharp-spiked legs grabbed many unfortunate victims from the pit. With a substantially decreased territory, the bone serpent has become more aggressive and territorial. It's missing one limb while its other legs show signs of damage or scarring. It attacks wildly, relying on its massive size and strength to overcome its opponents, and hides within the dark depths above. The only warning signs it leaves are the carcasses of its prey. It'll require multiple people to take it down.

The ceiling monster. Its claws and blood are corrosive, and removing its head will disturb the swollen sack on its neck to cause a similar explosion. Due to its ability to respawn when killed, the captive Summoned trapped the beast in a narrow tunnel. With the cave's collapse, it's now loose once more. You're advised to lure it into a trap designed by Free Cities scientists, where the creature can be set ablaze to prevent it from regenerating, ending its reign of terror for good.
Mages have set up a protective barrier to keep the creatures out, but it won't hold forever. Guttural screams and explosions of magic rumble the ground and air after each attempt to break through. You should act quickly to make sure the situation doesn't worsen.

For a general sense of timing, players can assume both threats are properly dispatched 24 hours into the excursion.

Uncovering Remains

Due to the haste of the rescue mission, exacerbated by the rapidly flooding cave, only the living could be extracted at the time. Now, you've returned for the dead. Many of the bodies are in a disturbing state as described above under Collapsed Covern - not just from decay but from something that appears to have been done to them before their deaths.

Few of the bodies can be easily identified and not all of them are on the ground, either. Some are up on the high ledges, which you can reach by climbing up using climbing rope that's provided. Scattered bones or limbs may need reconstruction or to be matched upon return. You can also recover small objects such as jewelry or other innocuous possessions that weren't taken from the captives.

Your task is to collect everything you can. Luckily, you won't need to handle the corpses themselves. Officials will send along attendants who will do the job for you to ensure everything is properly contained. You simply need to direct them to the area.

Purification

Each faction is focused on one of three hazards on the island. Thorne wants to dispel all traces of corrupted magic, Solvunn wishes to cleanse the destroyed shrines to ensure no other dangerous entities remain within, and the Free Cities aims to remove all contaminants. Formally, you're charged with helping your faction with their task, but no one will stop you from pitching in elsewhere.

This assignment will occur at the end of the expedition, once all investigations and exploration are completed.

Dispelling
Thorne will provide a pouch of small jelly-like orbs the size of marbles. The orbs are clear and pre-enchanted. Your job is to place them around the island where they'll begin absorbing unstable magicks. Once absorbed, the orbs will change into different colors. Collect and sort each orb by color. Additionally, you'll need to guard the orbs from curious or hungry critters on the island. Rodents, lizards, and palm-sized beetles may try to snatch what they believe is a tasty berry. Critters who consume a ball will explode into a gory splatter. It's not dangerous, but it can get a bit gooey, so you'll want to avoid bursting too many lizards or beetles.

Cleansing
Solvunn will ask you to perform a cleansing rite used for places of worship fallen under dark forces. You'll be given a pot containing a red substance and brushes made from twigs harvested from the island. You'll paint eye-shaped runes on and around the shrines to call upon the Cardinal God known as Misrklen, Patron of the Unstained. His presence is marked by a distinct fizz or hiss, followed by a popping that grows louder and louder. Solvunn's Elders will perform a chant until the ritual is complete and all of the red substance is absorbed into the ground.

Decontamination
The Free Cities has determined the most thorough way of removing hazards is to burn them. You'll be given a pistol-sized flamethrower and a thick gel to spread on each item to ensure the flames don't spread out of control. Once the gel is consumed, the fire will naturally go out. Main hazards to burn are the deflated organic bulbs, the rotted corn, any odd fungal growths, and parts belonging to defeated monsters. The flamethrowers are prone to overheating, so be sure to give it a few minutes to cool down every once in awhile. Otherwise, you might risk minor burns to your hands.

Investigations

As you explore the cave and its submerged sections, you might be interested in interacting with some of the things in your environment. In particular, the shrines, the mysterious woman named Lorelai, and the submerged altar stands out to you.

Characters can investigate or interact with any of the items provided in whatever way you want: poke it, smash it, try to talk to it or use your abilities on it (within reason!). We'll do our best to make sure every interaction yields something interesting.

See here and here for examples of how investigations and interactions work. The ones available on this log will play out on a smaller scale.

Shrines | Interact

The shrines, as described above, are situated around the pit. Stained with wax and blood, they no longer emit any strange energies or whispering voices. All of the magic contained within is now gone. You might recall that unlocking the shrines unleashed an enormous creature, causing the cave to collapse as it fled. It was last seen disappearing into the ocean, but where is it now? Your answer might lie in the shrines that once trapped it. Though broken and missing pieces, you can attempt to engage with each shrine such as relighting the candles, using magic you possess, or anything you can think of. You can also coordinate with others to test something on all four shrines at the same time.

Lorelai ('Hydnellia') | Interact

Originally called Hydnellia, Lorelai is a former Acolyte who, along with her brother, helped the Summoned escape. The Summoned agreed to let her and her brother return to the Tertiary Settlement where they live in their old home. She is the only non-Summoned survivor of Josselyn's ritual experiments. Lorelai has requested to join the trip to find closure and help recover bodies from her community. She is quiet and polite, and very grateful that she's been given the chance to make a new life. You can speak to her at any point.

The Altar | Interact

Beneath the water lies an altar that's now broken into pieces. To reach it, breathing enchantments will be provided that'll allow you to swim and see beneath the water, as well as protect you from any contaminants. You'll need to dive a distance down, but not too far - about 30 feet. Those held in the room during their captivity might recall a disfigured woman inside the mouth of the altar. What happened to her since is unknown. Perhaps you might try to find out?

A Decision

After the excursion has concluded, the Summoned will be sent home to their respective nations. Conclave representations can call a meeting to discuss the results of their investigations and what steps might be next. They can do this using any method they prefer, whether that be in-person, in the Horizon, or using the Network.

Most importantly, Summoned who were part of the abduction incident, as either the Lost or the Spared, will be asked to decide if they want to raze the island or restore it.

◎ Razing the island will strip it of all growth. This has the benefit of ensuring no corrupted creatures or flora can grow on it again, but will prevent nature from reclaiming it and will leave the area barren for many decades.

◎ Restoring the island will stimulate the regrowth of healthy vegetation and wildlife. This has the benefit of allowing the biome to flourish once more with nature, but may risk the growth of corrupted flora that needs to be removed every so often.

Officials will allow the Summoned affected by this incident to choose, including those who didn't return to the island. You'll be able to accompany officials to execute the decision made. Individuals in each faction can vote to support one of the two choices. The majority vote will be the decision that reflects the Summoned in that faction as a whole. Officials will implement the option with the support of 2 out of 3 factions.

Vote HERE by December 31 at 11:59 ET.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ she can methodical when she wants to be; there's a method to her madness, one that might only make sense to her, which means it likely doesn't make any sense at all. she keeps track of the orbs and doesn't forget where a single one is located, the weight of them remaining on her mind even as they leave her fingertips.

him being here helps anyway. it always does. a grounding point, a familiar face when she's swimming in a sea of strangers, some dead and long gone.

a very familiar face by now, so even in her sullen state, she manages to make a face and nod vaguely when he says he always looks tired. a little bit of cheek when she always does too. she probably hasn't found sleep in over three years. ]

Can we go a little further? We don't have to finish all of them.

[ but from the way she eyes his bag, she might like to try... ]

[ In the way that he's become a grounding force for her, she's becoming that for him too. They may not be from the same galaxy, but it's close enough. There's someone else here familiar with more advanced technology, who's used to physically never being grounded.

And because of all this time spent with her, he sees that determination in her gaze. ]

We can go further. We don't have that much more to do.

[ They do have a lot to do actually, but there's so much ground to cover that it's necessary. He picks up a jelly orb. ]

Just tell me where to place them. [ Mischievous light sparks in his eyes. ] And if you want to take the flamethrower for a spin, you could.

[ She had seen her eyeing it earlier after all. ]

[ she brightens just a little when he says they can continue - and then her whole face lights up when he offers the flamethrower. ]

Bié lā wǒ de tuǐ, really?

[ simon would never approve which only makes it that much more exciting. a bad influence, cassian! and she adores him for it. ]

[ The transformation of River's face is like the sun breaking through the clouds. It feels warm on his skin and he can't help the flicker of fondness in the breath of air that has since taken the place of his laugh as of late.

It could be a very bad idea to give her a handheld flamethrower, but the consequences are far from his mind at the moment if only because it's brought her momentary distraction from the decay around them. Thankfully it's just them around, with the other Summoned just dots in the distance. If anything happens, he'd claim responsibility.

The safety has been on the entire time, but he checks once more just to be sure before handing it over to her. He even tosses in a trick, spinning the pistol guard around his finger. Flashy tricks with a blaster wasn't his style, but he had picked up enough in times of boredom. ]

We'll trade. You've been doing all the placing. Do you know how to use it?

[ it's a little like giving candy to a child, if the candy were very dangerous and the kid was a tormented seventeen year old. her eyes are still red but her pockets are full and the sun shines on them, even if the air is cold enough to make you shiver.

it's a solid distraction, and for now, she's calm enough to take it. river watches his trick with big eyes and then carefully takes the flamethrower with both hands. ]

She knows which end to hold.

[ a bland joke; she observes the flamethrower closely for a moment, getting a feel for the weight of it, before moving it to her right hand and mimicking the trick he'd done perfectly. it spins around her finger a few times, and then in one swift motion, she catches it by the handle and turns very abruptly to aim directly at another rat that was beginning to scurry up from behind them.

it's precise in a way that can't be feigned: a fluidity to how she handles the weapon, a firm grip and steady aim, locking dead on to a moving target that neither of them had been paying attention to.

her eyes are wide as she stares down the barrel of it to the rat on the other end. no flames come out though; after a few seconds, the moment passes and the critter runs away. the flamethrower sags in her grip, river's eyebrows furrowing as though she's unsure of what she was doing. ]

Um, m-maybe she shouldn't. Not supposed to touch.

[ she'd promised the captain, 'no touching,' but she looks confused about it too. the flamethrower rests a bit limp in her hand as she weakly offers it back to him. ]

[ On the list of bad ideas that Cassian has had, this might rank amongst them. But once an older brother, always an older brother; and the instinct to do anything to cheer her up is the driving force behind this particular decision.

Learning not to take anyone for granted is a lesson he had learned at an early age and that includes girls who arrived sopping wet in a new world. That still doesn't prepare him for the mimicry and skill that River displays. His eyebrows lift mildly in surprise which only serves to grow into mild concern at the sharp precision that spoke to someone who had been handling a gun or blaster for years. Cassian holds his breath, eyes never leaving her, waiting for her to make her next move.

But then her shoulders slump. She deflates, whatever momentary mischievous joy sucked from her body in an instant. Guilt prickles against his skin at his poor decision making. Questions flit through his mind but he quietly takes the flamethrower back from her. After a moment he decides to gently steer the conversation away towards what he hopes will be slightly more lighthearted in nature. ]

You picked up the spinning trick pretty quick. Did calculus teach you that?

[ it's the sort of thing that ought to be fun - ill-advised and dangerous, maybe, as many fun things tend to be. but river stares at her hands after he takes the flamethrower back, a look of consternation on her face as she too considers how naturally she can handle a gun. something she was programmed to do ( it's a program, programmatic ) which makes it much less fun than playing with fire under the clumsy supervision of a kind man that spoils her way too much.

the moment passes and river looks around aimlessly, wipes her hands on her coat, and pats her pockets that are full of marbles before pulling some out and redirecting her focus. she goes back to finding places to set them down, speaking to cassian without looking at him. ]

There's a math to it. More than you think. Mass affects the amount of force required to achieve acceleration. Friction is a factor too - don't spin with sweaty hands.

[ she finally turns to shoot him a wry smile over her shoulder. ]

Physics, not calculus. There's geometry too, when it comes to using it.

[ His gaze lingers for only a minute more before holstering the flame thrower and taking out his own orbs to join her. Whereas she doesn't look at him, he keeps a watchful eye on her albeit out of the corner of his eye. ]

Noted. No blaster tricks with sweaty palms.

[ He has before - with sweaty and shaky hands to boot - so he knows that what she's saying rings true. But sometimes you can't help it. Sometimes the rage and need for survival can only eliminate so many symptoms when you're the one behind the trigger of a gun. Her wry little smile is met with an affectionate roll of his eyes. ]

Are you going to tell me about the geometry bit or should I ask?

Who knows? Maybe it'll help with your aim.

[ a heavy bit of cheek, knowing he can handle himself with a gun just fine. it's the sort of teasing of an annoying little sister; simon calls her a know-it-all and a brat, and he is not wrong on either count. perhaps she ought to question how she managed to get so comfortable around cassian after knowing him barely a month, but as it is, she just puts down a few more orbs and starts heading back to where some they placed earlier should be ready to be collected. ]

It's about the angles. Trajectory is impacted by wind resistance and other environmental conditions. Hard to account for moving targets, but some behaviors are predictable.

[ easy to say for a telepath - ]

Degrees matter for cover especially. Did you know you can ricochet bullets off of certain materials? Harder to do with repeaters or lasers, but there are always tricks to play. Know everyone's rate of fire and adjust your calculations accordingly.

[ none of it is really said like instructions for him, per se. it's more like she's listing off information that lives in her brain, like a textbook for how to maximize efficiency in a firefight. she's a small girl, young and damaged in more ways than one, but she clearly knows her way around a weapon. ]

[ What can only be considered Cassian's version of mock offence appears on his features in the shape of a furrowed brow and bone dry tone. Of course he knows that River is being cheeky. It's obvious, especially for someone who's been on the receiving end of others' cheekiness more times than he could count. But he can't say he minds all that much if it means taking her mind off of the decay around them. ]

There's nothing wrong with my aim.

[ He begins to follow her lead, spacing out the orbs in accordance to hers.

Everything River says is sound to him - at least as much as his experience as a sharpshooter can confirm. He had always been less of a student of paper and text and more like a student of experience. So while he might not have studied extensively the physics of shooting, he knew enough. He understands the weight of a blaster, the very topmost carrying capacity of a craft so it could still get into hyperspace, the place to aim if he aims to kill or aim to maim. Even without all of that, Cassian has no reason to distrust her. All of it simply means that that brilliant mind of hers held far more than she had shared with him. ]

Not everyone's brain works that fast, you know. A droid maybe. But not most people.

[ A skittering in the nearby rocks draws his attention and he shoos off the little rat before it can get any closer to the orb he just placed down. ]

Is that why you aren't supposed to touch them?

[ river can see his faux-affronted expression even with her back turned and it makes her smile faintly - and she keeps her back to him so he can't see the way it falls soon after he speaks. it's not his fault, there's no way he could know. but she hears kaylee's voice, the closest she's ever had to a friend, when she told the whole crew 'nobody can shoot like that that's a person.'

she's not. not a person. not anymore. some days, she thinks she might be, but...

a long, long moment of silence passes where she just pockets marbles and places more down, walking ahead of him the whole way, before she speaks again softly. ]

I get confused. Or... lost, in the noise.

[ she told him she can't trust herself, because her grasp on reality is tenuous at any given moment. she's never quite sure if the things she's seeing are real or imaginary, and sometimes she finds herself in places she shouldn't be. holding guns that don't belong to her, locked and loaded, with no intention of ever using it and no awareness of how it got into her hands.

they don't trust her. they're afraid of her. and they're right to be.

river's back is still turned, her face hidden, long hair cascading over her shoulders like a curtain between her and cassian. but with the way he's been watching her, maybe he can tell anyway when her voice trembles, almost insistent like she's trying to convince him. ]

I don't want to hurt anyone.

[ she doesn't. not ever. but that's what she was created for, her purpose as a weapon designed and crafted by the alliance. maybe a droid is closer to the truth after all. ]

[ If he knew about his careless use of words despite them being aimed at himself, he'd hold the weight on his shoulders for days, weeks to come. Life had hardened his heart in a lot of ways to plenty of people and things, but it would always be tender for those that managed to worm their way through the cracks. Instead for the time being, he remains unaware of the similarities of what he'd said to what River had heard commented about her in the past.

It's the slight shake in her voice that has him straightening up, realizing that something is amiss. It's familiar in the sense that he'd heard turmoil in her voice throughout the night - but it's different now. There's a deeper seeded fear in the undercurrents of her voice reminding him of how she had sounded several weeks ago when she had cried out in the dining hall.

What had happened to her in her world?

Cassian only allows a beat of silence to follow her words that are quickly being blown away by the gentle breeze. ]

I believe you. You don't have to convince me.

[ He crosses the space between them, placing another marble a little ways from the one she's just set down. ]

...Is there a way I can help you?

[ she pauses when he comes up beside her, waiting a moment before turning to give him another wry smile. it's much more fraught than the last, tired and sad the way she so often is. maybe she should just tell him someday, the full truth of her sordid history - but it's hard to think about, let alone talk about. she hasn't even really told simon.

maybe someday. but for now: ]

You help. Said you're real, and I believe you. You being here helps.

[ if he's real and they see the same things, then those things are probably real too. it's not healthy to base your grasp of reality on another person and she knows it. but sometimes, that's all she has. river looks at their orbs, thinks of the hours they've spent today collecting tainted magic on an island full of horrors, and questions whether or not they're not both mad at the end of the day. ]

After that, I don't know. Might need to be reminded, sometimes. Or - or stopped.

[ she doesn't say it out loud but it might be implied by the finality of it, the weight of the word. if she's a danger to others then she needs to be stopped, by whatever means necessary. she's not sure if that's something fair to put on him but she looks him in the eyes as she says it all the same, hoping he understands. ]

[ It might verge on co-dependency, but it's not something that he thinks too long about. For someone so furiously independent, even he has his own anchors. Ones that might not be here but are at least somewhere.

No matter how far he wandered out into the galaxy, Ferrix had always been home. Or, rather, it was the people there. Those that could offer perspectives that he might not otherwise see because of his stubborn, headstrong blinders. People who could put him in his place. People who gently pried them back so that he could see the truth he had been hiding from.

He understands the necessity of those ties in his life. And it's with that startling clarity that he understands what River means when she says stopped. Cassian feels his throat constrict slightly at the thought of having to snuff out a life like hers, so brilliant, so bright. But he understands. Whatever it is she's experienced, whatever it is that plagues her have driven her to that conclusion. And while he understands, there's a staunch resolution that that will be a last resort. The look he gives her says as much. ]

Let's hope it won't come to that. [ He holds her gaze a moment before his lips twitch again. ] We just became partners. It's too much work to find another one.

[ river sees understanding flicker across his gaze and smiles. it's honest and sweet, the childlike innocence that tends to shine through her features even in the midst of the grim or miserable, those moments when she's just a kid that's content with her surroundings.

cassian accepts the strange things about her in stride and continues to walk beside her, unfaltering. even in this context, it makes her happy. ]

I think you would do okay. He's resourceful.

[ a resource. she relies on him too much, but that's just it: she needs an anchor. there's nothing else in all the 'verse to tie her down. she has no home to return to, no friends to look after her. the crew of serenity ain't hers the same as she ain't a part of the crew. simon is her everything, all that she has left to hold onto - and even then, she knows with an absolute certainty that he would be better off without her.

suddenly, she wonders if cassian would too. she relies on him too much. she's unstable, a liability. every time she falls apart, he tells her that they're partners, that they'll find the way forward together, the exact same way that simon does. she wonders if she won't be the death of them both, her favorite people that somehow seem to think she can be saved when she gave up on that hope long ago.

river turns away suddenly and keeps walking, putting away the unused orbs and singularly focusing on collecting the ones that are full as though cleaning up after herself at this point. ]

But I won't give up my position to some èrliú húndàn so easily. I'll work hard to earn my keep, promise.

[ she told him she would do her best to become stronger. doesn't mean a day won't come where it's not enough, but she'll try to cling to her humanity for as long as she can, even if only to spare him the burden of having to be the one that ends it. ]

[ In the face of the warmth that blooms across her face, smoothing away her worries he can only give a quiet murmur of affirmation that he agrees with her statement. He is resourceful because that's how he's always had to be. No matter the planet, survival had been his only option. But the tides had begun to change just as he had left his galaxy far, far away.

Suddenly his life seemed to pale in comparison to the cause, to keeping his loved ones sheltered and safe. Sacrificing his life to give them a chance at a future free of the Empire? He'd forfeit his life for that. Without a doubt. Without question. And perhaps that's what he's meant to be. A resource for others. To give as some form of atonement because he had taken so much and been so selfish in the past. Saying as much feels foolish though.

The still selfish, self-serving part of him might still have some hesitations in admitting that he would be better off without River. But it's clear that since his arrival, she is becoming as much of a support for him. At the very least, he can say with certainty that turning his back on those that needed to be reminded of hope is something he can no longer turn a blind eye to. And while he may not be as eloquent with his words as some might be, he's always thought action held just as much weight.

And if his action here in Abraxas is meant to be River's anchor then so be it.

As he turns to watch her go, his gaze lingers on her for a moment longer before trailing after her to reach for the full orbs and placing them into his pack. ]

I guess I don't have any choice but to do the same then. [ He motions to the crest of the hill they're coming up on that had maybe once upon a time, been lush and verdant with grass. ] Let's finish this section and then head back. It's almost lunch.

[ in the brief time they've spent together in abraxas, there's something river has learned about cassian. through all the things he's said and done and kept inside, things he buries down deep as though it would help him hide from them - it hovers around him, in the tired shadows beneath his eyes and that creaky smile he seems to flinch away from sometimes. an uncomfortable truth, perhaps, but a truth nonetheless.

cassian jeron andor is a good man. he may not know it or believe it, would probably make a face if she told him. might think everything he does comes from a place of survival or atonement as though that's all he has to offer to the world.

but she told him the best people go with love and he is a good man. not perfect, but good.

( she wonders, idly, what he and mal would think of each other. latin, for bad; a man that's done bad things to survive while fighting on the right side of a losing battle. they both deserve to laugh more often, she thinks. )

river looks toward the hill, considers the marbles stuffed into her pockets or waiting on the ground, and decides why not. ]

Okay. Race you there, lǎorén.

[ and then she just - takes off running, snatching up colored marbles as quick as she can as she darts off toward the hill. this world is not very kind to good men, but they can find ways to enjoy the time they have until the sun finally sets upon them. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT #16: THE ISLAND - IC INVESTIGATION LOG

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i'm sorry for the lateness!! feel free to drop if you're trying to clear threads from dec 😭

shh i will backtag forever esp. for them!! we can probs wrap soon anyhow ♡

💕 we can wrap here or in your next tag!!

💝💝