When I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time

[magicalarchaeologist]

WHO: Istredd and some people!
WHAT: Istredd is held with Kyle in the dungeons for a bit and questioned, and then let out.
WHERE: Imprisoned and then back out in Thorne
WHEN: July
WARNINGS: Nothing!





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[wiedzminka]

"I... hadn't thought of that," Ciri admits slowly, her brows furrowing.

"I rarely get sick. Always been that way." Probably her own genetics, come to think of it. She's never really thought about it.

"Obviously, Geralt doesn't either. Jaskier is... Resilient."

She frowns. There is Viktor's case, most obviously. (Though he'd always been sick, and it wasn't something that had happened in Abraxas... Does that count?)

"No, there are definitely Summoned who've gotten sick. One of my friends was really sick, in fact-- though he was able to find a solution."

[magicalarchaeologist]

"Sick from an illness here? That is surprising. I suppose that means it is most of the Summoned, not all of them in that case." Perhaps there is no perfect formula then. It is rare to be one hundred percent anything correctly, no matter how much he'd like it to be that clear.

"I would have said it unlikely any of us were to die here, that we are protected in a way by our unique status, but Nero's loss proved otherwise." Istredd hasn't forgotten about Nero. They didn't always get along, to say the least, but his last memory of the man is a good one. They worked together on the island and seemed to make some kind of peace. He doesn't grieve the way his true loved ones did, but he does regret.

And he realizes a moment later that might bring up bad feelings for Ciri considering she was close with Nero. He inwardly slaps himself for being imprudent.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to remind you." Technically Nero saved Istredd from Ciri in the Pit. A weird connection they all shared, along with the rest of the Pit. But Ciri knows by now that Istredd's just awkward. He talks too much and thinks too much, especially with her, who he gets nervous around.

[wiedzminka]

"...I think it was an illness from home," she mumbles, more under her breath, finding herself annoyed at Istredd for no reason of his own fault. "But it did get worse here."

The mention of Nero makes her jaw tighten.

"I don't know about your illness theory but the thought we'd somehow be immune from dying is as inane as it is dangerous. Nero was more resilient than most, and still it did not save him. Go tempt the Lady Death yourself if you're so eager."

[magicalarchaeologist]

"I nearly died in the Pit, Ciri, an hour later and I would have been." Istredd was grievously injured from a knife to the gut and nearly bled out in a very anxious Steve Rogers' arms. He truly did barely survive it, but arguably, he shouldn't have. The other natives never made it as far as they did.

"But we seem unnaturally sturdy in this land, that is all I meant. The Singularity's favoritism, I'd guess." They grow more powerful by the day, more likely to be on the path that was shown to them. "I'm sorry I brought him up. We didn't always get along, but we made peace on the island, I had hoped that could turn into friendship."

Foolish, truthfully, he'll never be the type that appeals to certain powerful personalities. Ciri included. Even now he fears backsliding. "I do have a way of putting my foot in my mouth, don't I?"

[wiedzminka]

Ciri sighs. At least he knows it...

"You really have a talent for it, Istredd."

She's not angry with him. Just... sad. Frustrated. Upset. At the situation in general: Nero's loss, the inability to use their unique traits to actually help the people who are falling sick, the worry about the changes going on within the Summoned and what it means in the long term for those of them who've genuinely decided to stay.

Istredd may have learned by now she's liable to lash out when she's stressed. In this case, it isn't even his fault.

"I'm not sure how I feel about the Singularity's favoritism. I don't like the idea that our destiny is determined by the thing. Set on the path of... what? Those shared dreams we had within the crater? These changes we're experiencing have been going on for some time, but after all that, it's really become more obvious, hasn't it?"

[magicalarchaeologist]

"I know, I know." Istredd shrugs. "I promise it's not on purpose." Ciri knows that by now. He's never been good with people. He has more practice recently because of Thorne and his place with the Summoned, but it doesn't come naturally. He says the right thing more often than the wrong now, but she makes him nervous.

He has picked up on her lashing out, and he's hoping it isn't personal. She didn't stomp off, she's talking instead about what's going on and her feelings about it. That he's more comfortable with.

"The New Gods were like us once, I feel confident about that now. They're the former Summoned, if Umbvagher is implying what I think." This has been a theory of Istredd's for a long time, and frankly, he does enjoy being right, but it doesn't mean it feels right. He liked his fake life so much that he didn't want to wake up out of it. Lucifer had to force him out.

"I think that is our future. And I wouldn't know how to stop it even if I wanted to. The Singularity is far more powerful than any one of us." Ciri's always had a destiny. He has no idea if this was always supposed to be a part of it. "You've been a child of prophecy, I know it's not your preference. I wish there was a way to make this all a choice for us."

[wiedzminka]

"There is always a choice."

This, she must believe in. Even if there is nothing else. In the dreamed-up future they'd 'lived,' suspended for weeks in the Singularity's crater, she had been herself in some ways Destiny. But she had also done her best to cling to her humanity, to her own freedom, and allow it for others. She'd opened doors -- but rarely made anyone step through outside their own volition.

And this is exactly the path she'd chosen in that dream too. The very reason she'd fought for decades, centuries to break free from the Singularity, to allow them all the option of leaving if they wanted to, alongside Viktor.

In this moment, she can see that future unfolding. She can see herself making similar mistakes.

Ciri closes her eyes a few moments longer than a blink.

"If any of the former Summoned turned 'new gods' have any shred of their humanity left, I wonder what they would choose. Are they stuck here like the rest of us? Like we were in that dream? Where does the Singularity's will come from? It has one, for all that it's a big fucking rock. What need has it of us?"

[magicalarchaeologist]

"I think they are stuck here like we were. Umbvagher is one of them and he chose to show us it, I think it's from personal experience." He was once a Summoned like them, became a god, and now is stuck there after thousands of years that pass. It makes the most sense, and explains why a god was displaying knowledge of other world's language.

"Lucifer explained to me that he was using symbols called emojis that are from his world, and some others said the same. He was communicating in a way that only made sense if he was from a different sphere once." That is what Istredd took as proof that the theory was correct, and then the vision happened and it seemed like it was the answers they were seeking. The problem being that now the only answers are ones they don't necessarily want to hear.

"I wonder if he showed us that to explain where we are headed ... but perhaps also as a chance to stop it from happening." It's hard to know the temperament of a god that seemed to play games. Istredd feels like knowing their future so early, centuries away from them now, gives an opportunity.

"The Singularity ... I wish I knew. No one is more disappointed than me that I've studied it for years with no clear answers as to its abilities." Istredd has been doing his level best, but it won't talk to him. "I wonder if we have become symbiotic, it gives us power but perhaps we give it back too."