EVENT #21: SPECTER - IC LOG

[abraxasmods]

Event #21 - Specter

OOC Event Log ⦁ Nocwich

In light of the odd happenings throughout September, it might take a few days or longer for you to notice that yet more is going on. Perhaps you catch your neighbor walking out of their house in a daze at midnight, or the bartender tells you his wife went missing two days ago. Maybe the fisherman claims he found his friend staring into the lake in horror before wading into the water and nearly drowning.

Whether you investigate further or dismiss the stories, you soon find yourself confronting some hauntings of your own.

Participating in the hauntings is optional! For players who wish to opt-out, characters can help others or attend the Eifstide festivities. You may also play with the onset aspects only. The hauntings do not need to escalate beyond the onset stage.

Haunting Echoes

For some of you, the incidents don't stop with your neighbors. They begin to impact you, as well. Indeed, after the eerie effects of the Heralds, you might even think they've returned. However, you realize this appears to go beyond Gods or spells. Instead, it's as if the land itself is crying out...the echoes of which you are absorbing.

How affected you are depends on how vulnerable you might be to such specters, the number of regrets or fears you have, and how much of your past follows you into the world of Abraxas.

Onset

Whether it begins while you're awake or asleep, or both, the effects are subtle at the start. You might shake it off as a lack of sleep or a trick of the light before you understand what's truly going on.

◎ Waking Visions

If awake, you'll notice it first in shadows and reflections. Mirrors and windows are common sources, but it can be anything where you might glimpse yourself in its surface: the blade of your sword, a polished dinner plate, or the side of some steel machinery.

What do you see? Is it the face of a terrible monster? Your own corrupted features? Someone you lost who's returned? It might not be a person at all. You might catch a splatter of blood across the sawblade you're using that isn't there. You may see your eyes bleeding when brushing your hair in the mirror or spiders crawling from the ceiling.

Alternatively, your glimpses might be surprisingly pleasing rather than frightening. As you apply your makeup, you find it looks incredibly nice - a surprise when you normally struggle to like how you appear. Of course, as you walk by a shop window later, you realize, to your confusion, that your lipstick is smeared, as though applied wrong. How could that happen? What's your real image? You may need to ask someone to discern the reality.

None of these tricks will last long. They could be accompanied by whispers or be solely visual.

◎ Lucid Dreams

While dark and frightening imagery can occur in your dreams, other aspects may be involved. For instance:

If you often have trouble sleeping, you'll notice that while you've more easily started falling asleep, you also dream immediately. You may find it difficult to tell when you're awake or not. You "dream" of sitting down to read a book...then discover that the pages are bleeding or the ghost of someone you lost appears over your shoulder. When you jolt awake, you're right where you dozed off on the same couch, book in hand. Everything is normal once more.

If you're prone to nightmares, you might experience something unusual: your dreams begin to take on some oddly cheerful aspects. Bright flowers bloom where you usually dream of corpses, or your stormy skies become sunny. The incongruous images might cause the scene to feel more unsettling. They can either overtake the dream or appear in subtler ways.

Most significantly, regardless of your experiences when asleep, they are strangely vivid. Further, you have to wonder, are you seeing glimpses of someone else's dreams overlapping with yours? Like ink bleeding through a page, the imagery creeping into your dreams could belong to another Summoned and vice versa. As the days continue, you might even see that person for brief periods.

Escalation

As the hauntings grow stronger, the effects equally increase in frequency and intensity.

◎ Whether they're visions or dreams, the brief and unusual flashes grow more frequent, last longer, or increase in intensity. Soon, you begin to see things that aren't there. You start to question reality. You find yourself in places you don't remember traveling to. Perhaps you end up at the market stalls with no memory of how you got there...or somewhere more dangerous, like the ocean or the forest. It may be that you're sleepwalking, or you could simply be following a nonexistent figure without realizing it.

◎ Other Summoned begin to see what you do. Eventually, they become drawn into your visions or dreams - or you into theirs. Your visions start to blend into a surrealist experience and you become trapped in the scene. You realize that danger lurks nearby, but your ability to affect or control your environment is limited. After all, you don't know that this is a dream. It feels so very real, though you may recognize that some of what's happening shouldn't be possible. You'll have to rely on each other and your wits to make it.

When inside a waking vision or lucid dream, characters will not know that it's an illusion regardless of how impossible the scenario or events might be. They'll behave as if the stakes are real.

Players can write the dreams and visions however they wish. The danger can be genuinely serious or something lighthearted that characters treat solemnly. For example, characters could be attacked by a monster or they could be fleeing from a giant chihuahua that's a manifestation of somebody's fear of dogs. The atmosphere of the thread is entirely up to you!

Dispelling

As you navigate the illusion you're trapped in, you eventually stumble across an Arcana sign. By now, you're familiar with the symbols. The one you see depends on what choice you made during the previous event: it may belong to you, it may belong to the person you're with, or it might be that of Justice - the Arcanum of Zorne, the Herald of Last Blood.

It'll appear anywhere: floating in the air, hidden in a vault that needs to be cracked, or held in the mouth of a dangerous animal. Regardless, you understand instinctively that you must retrieve it and that it's the only thing that'll help you. There could be multiple Arcana signs if the others with you manifest their own, but only you can activate yours.

There won't be any doubt which one is yours, either. The symbol's shape will carry an identifying mark somewhere on it or around it that you know inherently belongs to you, such as runes in your native tongue, your family crest, or equivalent.

The moment you reach for it, it begins to heat up until you can hardly stand it. Then it shatters, leaving behind the very thing you need to break free of this vision or dream once and for all.

See the Plotting Post for an OOC explanation of how the dispelling mechanic works and the impact of previous choices.

Eifstide

Although the incidents can be disturbing, the majority of Abraxas is either unaffected or only mildly affected. Most are preoccupied with the upcoming Eifstide celebration. Additionally, Nocwich has opened its doors for the Summoned to enjoy their version of Eifstide. They intend to provide a brief haven for any who want to get away from the troubles of war for a bit.

Of course, this doesn't mean everyone's safe. If you catch your neighbor walking off in a daze, you should probably try to help. You might also hear about a child who's run off and gone missing or somebody operating dangerous magical equipment at the lumber mill.

For aiding locals, players are free to come up with scenarios on their own. Situations may occur in the major three territories or Nocwich. If you have any questions or require further details, just ask!

Eifstide in the Major Territories

Thorne

Throughout THORNE, the cities and towns turn red and orange with decorations befitting the season, with garlands hanging between lampposts and awnings. Carved gourds are placed on windowsills and in entranceways of homes and businesses alike, with the gentle flickering of magical flames inviting family and friends to come in and enjoy a cup of warm cider. Eifstide is a happy fare, a time to gather and share in the company of the people you care about the most and share what you have with strangers.

Children run around in cobbled-together costumes of old clothing and hats, mimicking the university students of Hayle or the scarecrows that now stand as décor throughout the town. This year, though, they may ask for something from you to add to their costume: your trusty hammer, a feathered hat, or your scarf. They'll also Roam from house to shop to market, asking for Blessings in the form of treats and toys from anyone they see. The most popular blessing is the dolls, whose outfits and designs change year to year. Possessing the prettiest or best-made doll is a sure status symbol in the following months.

The spirit of the season peaks during the street fair on the final night. A plethora of seasonal goods like pastries and sugared nuts, jars of preserves and pickled vegetables, and crafts made from natural materials are sold for cheap so that patrons of all classes can enjoy them. Shop to your heart's content! The night concludes with the releasing of the lanterns into the sky, a symbol of carrying the light of summer into the darkness of the incoming winter.

In Nott and Borrel, the festivities are nearly the same as that by Castle Thorne, if with a more nautical flair. There's far more seafood available, and popular costumes include sailors and mermaids. They send their lanterns over the sea, and it's common to give little strands of unsellable pearls as a blessing.

Additionally, Queen Lia is rumored to be visiting Nott this year, but without the usual royal fanfare or her husband. She can be spotted in town, dressed plainly and giving Blessings to the children or encouraging her own children to explore the sights. Nonetheless, as the Queen of Thorne, she's followed by a few guards wherever she goes. While they do their best not to intrude, they're not difficult to pick out.

The Free Cities

In THE FREE CITIES, the weeks leading up to Eifstide provide a boost in local trade and commerce. Even with the unprecedented inflation due to recent conflicts, the markets are full and lively as citizens of every standing buy up all the party supplies that they can. Dark costumes depicting older periods in history are always popular while the grim decorations often contain a touch of humor like smiling skulls or signs that cheekily say "wish you were here" over a tombstone. Despite the dark and mysterious energy, Eifstide is undeniably a celebratory affair in the Free Cities. Locals may ask for assistance in hanging decorations or carrying supplies from the markets and storehouses. Just don't be surprised if a few good-natured pranks happen along the way. Usually, this involves children jumping out of bushes in "frightening" costumes or making scary noises from behind the trees.

Recent incidents aside, local museums continue with their plans to host macabre exhibits and art walks. If you have your own pieces to contribute, donations are highly encouraged. This year also includes a ghost tour in each city. The tour in Cadens follows the final path of a platoon defending the outskirts, Aquila's tour follows the exploits of a charming con man who met his end fleeing from authorities, and the tour in Libertas follows the sad story of a starving artist who famously cut off their drawing hand to force themselves to paint in a new way. Tours are scheduled regularly and can be joined at any time with only a small donation!

Parties held in individual homes are also popular. They frequently spill out into the streets and strangers are usually invited inside - including the Summoned. Laughter can be heard from dusk until dawn. Seances and spirit boards are common. Ironically, the spirit boards are twice as popular this year due to the eerie phenomenon that occurred last month. It seems all the frights and rumors have only made people more eager than ever to try their luck, hoping that it means they'll be able to contact a real ghost for once. You might be asked to join as an observer or direct participant.

Solvunn

In SOLVUNN, Eifstide is a somber occasion. In contrast to the festivities of Thorne and The Free Cities, the end of the harvest is when death walks amongst the living. The lighthearted attitude about getting the work done before noon is almost gone, its residents working harder and longer hours as if a fire was being lit under their feet. Children may take time from lessons to help and any volunteers from the Summoned are welcome and almost expected. Whether it be harvesting crops, turning the earth, delivering goods, or tending to livestock, everyone must do their part before proper preparations can begin.

In the days leading into Eifstide, wreaths of branches and bone are carefully crafted and hung upon the doors and walkways about houses and any buildings where animals sleep. Lines of salt or soot are placed in front of the door and the hearth. The work can be done by any family member or friend but a Summoned's hand is considered blessed, so your involvement would be pivotal to the particularly pious.

Daylight hours are spent in small groups with family and neighbors in quiet contemplation and reverence. The elders ask for Summoned volunteers to assist with warding rituals. You can decline if you wish, but locals will doubtlessly feel more secure seeing you smudge with sage around the Settlements. At night, all stay indoors and don the masks they created the days prior. This is to confuse any gods and spirits should they not be deterred by the wards on the doorways.

On the night of Eifstide, all gather at the center of the Primary Settlement where the Council members perform sacrifices of small animals born the week prior, each doing their ritual for the safety and prosperity of their settlement as well as for those who reside there.

Eifstide in Nocwich

Eifstide isn't as large of a celebration in Nocwich as Wintertide, but the Lunae and Ikorrans still observe a few traditions. For the werewolves of Luna, Eifstide is about hunting, while for the vampires of Ikorr, Eifstide is about memories.

Oleuni Square

Traditions in Oleuni Square are tailored for visitors rather than the culture of either Luna or Ikorr. As a result, you'll find a wide array of treats, drinks, and decorations not unlike what's available in your home territory with the usual Nocwich twist: glowing flowers, decorative bottles of blood wine, and appropriately spooky "dolls" knit from yarn spun using werewolf fur.

Tattoo artists will also offer discount prices for their unique glowing tattoos with set designs themed for the holiday season. If you pass by one of their booths, you'll be coaxed to take a look and consider getting a piece!

Taverns, inns, and gambling dens will also offer themed specially themed cocktails, including a delicious apple cider and spiced wine. All in all, the Square is bustling with tourists eager to leave behind the troubles of war and spend a few days enjoying themselves.

Luna

To prepare for the upcoming winter, hunting is an important part of fall. Thus, Eifstide in Luna has been structured around this need. The werewolves demonstrate their connection to Solvunn by also donning masks made of bone and antler during this period. However, rather than for any ceremonial reason, the masks are worn by hunting parties instead. They're seen as a symbol of good luck.

If you're interested in joining a hunting party, the Lunae will be happy to have you along. You'll be warned that it can be dangerous and that they won't slow down or stop if you fall behind. If you can keep up, though, you'll get the chance to hunt a variety of beasts in several forests around Luna. The most popular animal to hunt is the Fisceime. Wildly populous and destructive to the environment in large numbers, hunting them is an important aspect of maintaining the ecosystem.

Should you not be the hunting type, you can instead visit the Trail of Unseen Eyes. Here, masks from previous hunting parties over the years are displayed along a path that winds around all of Luna. Following this trail will take you to some beautiful views and popular spots in which you can dine or shop.

If you're the collector type, you can obtain a small booklet containing lovely sketches of specific masks and a small hint as to where they might be. Participating shops and inns will stamp your booklet if you can locate the shop displaying the mask matching the one in your booklet. Earn enough stamps and you'll receive a modest gift basket filled with cured meats, cheeses, and jams!

Ikorr

Due to the long-lived nature of vampires, typical concepts of spirits and the dead are not a part of Eifstide. Instead, Ikorrans revisit the past by sharing old memories. Many will use the opportunity to visit a friend they haven't seen recently or recreate an important event in their history. Couples might dine at a restaurant where they had their first date or a group of friends might dress in the same outfits they wore to a memorable party years ago.

Though your memories may not be as from long ago, you're invited to do the same. Why not recreate a fond memory with a friend?

You can also honor old memories by weaving a wreath of flowers using the unique glowing blooms that grow in Ikorr. Use colors and florals that remind you of someone or something important. You're encouraged to describe what you're making. It's considered not only polite to provide an answer when asked, but it's also courteous to ask others in return about what they're making.

Once your wreath is complete, you can take it home or gift it to someone. Those who carry a wreath in Ikorr will receive tokens from shops and stalls they visit. The tokens consist of small samples of desserts, miniature bottles of wine, beautiful colored crystals, and scented candles.

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Comments

Haunting echoes: Lucid dreaming (Open)

[bealufull]

(cw for drowning, being trapped, panic attacks, and hemophobia)

Dreams of all that happened in the Pit after he'd been kidnapped and trapped for days are always part of his nightmares. So much so that there are times when his dreams are already positively haunted by those memories and those alone.

Finding himself once more in that dimly lit Hell is not new, even if the terror and panic begin quickly creeping up the back of his throat. Burning into his skin until it all feels on fire as he finds himself surrounded again. The odd fleshy walls are always a thing of his nightmares, and suddenly he finds himself from the already small space he is often haunted by, to suddenly finding himself in what is little more of a tube than anything else.

Surrounded by slick, vile feeling walls, the surface wet against his hands as he tries desperately to find purchase with no support. The water beneath him... and when was there suddenly water? It begins to rise, forcing him to paddle as best he can in the tight confines.

He tries to cry out for help but the sound is weak and sounds sickly as if he suffers from some kind of respiratory issue, nothing more than a croaking yelping sound.

It doesn't take long before his injured leg begins to cramp, sending sharp pains through his hip and down to his toes. His fingers fight for purchase along the slick walls and it's only then he realizes how red his fingers are. Not from the nails but the water, tinged with blood.

The reaction is instant and dangerous, the world spinning, dizziness overwhelming him and he forgets where he is or what he's doing, nearly slipping beneath the surface as that maddening sensation of being both too much for what's going on and out of his body takes hold.

[itookashot]

Jesper's never experienced the Pit personally. The survivors weren't keen on talking about what happened to them which only meant to him that it was too horrifying to talk about in detail. He hasn't forgotten this or that the acolytes are alive somewhere, and he hasn't given up on his dream to assassinate the lot of them someday.

At first he thinks this may be a real Kaz memory from their world, because he knows that he's afraid of drowning from his experience. It's the walls that tell him otherwise. He remembers hearing about the walls, a rare detail of the physical place they were in. Jesper was not part of the team who went inside, so he's horrified as he looks around. There's water everywhere and he sinks into it himself, looking around for someone to help. This isn't his memory, that's for sure.

When he sees Kaz struggling, he swims right toward him, rushing. "Kaz, it's me!" Jesper grabs him and he pulls him. There is a very rare patch of space left, although the water keeps rising, and Jesper sets him there. It's so dark in there and it smells horrible, he wraps himself around Kaz. "I'll figure something out, hold on."

[bealufull]

Kaz hasn't talked much about the pit and what he and Inej had gone through, because it's a new nightmare to replace so many of those when he was younger. Except the ones in his youth were now distant and not nearly as painful in his mind as the nightmares about the pit.

So of course this place finds a way to bring them both together in the worst possible way.

The dizziness is nearly overwhelming and only the survival instinct that has saved him from so much kicking in keeps him from entirely sinking down beneath the surface of the water.

He hears noise, something drawing his attention out of how easy it would be to sink into the black.

"Jesper..."

The name is almost a wail, shaking his head.

"No. No."

He doesn't want him there, doesn't want him dealing with this but he clings to him, starting to try and kick his feet again, to help despite the pain and the way his vision grays in and out.

"Jesper, stop. Don't..."

He can't watch him go back into the water, to see him disappear. So his hand catches him by the wrist, deceptively strong, trying to hold tight to him.

[itookashot]

"It's okay, it's okay."

This isn't okay, nothing about this was. Jesper already is filled with so much anger about what happened but he's furious all over again. He didn't go on the secret mission inside because Kaz and Mat escaped and he ran toward them instead, killing everything in his path. There's no one to kill there, just the disgusting water and disaster around them.

This would have given him nightmares if he went through it. He doesn't know how all of them manage to go about their lives. Kaz has already gone through so much pain. It's unfair. He scrambles them up for now and lets Kaz hold onto him, his mind working overtime to try and think of a way around this. It feels so real, so hopeless. He's sinking into the feelings they must have had.

"A rescue is coming. You just have to hold on."

[bealufull]

He's shaking from the cold, the memories, the fears that he hates he can't hide but he's learning quickly that if he doesn't let them out, he's going to pass out and then it'll be worse for Jesper. He can't let that happen.

It's what haunts his nightmares. It used to be the things that he went through, the losses of his childhood and the horrors he went through, but now it's in losing those that matter most to him. More often than not, that is Jesper.

"You were the rescue," he says, half caught between where they are and what he knows. If this is new, then who would come for them this time. "You've always been my rescue."

He knows he was there for Jesper. He's still alive. The Barrel hadn't eaten him alive. And yet, when plans went wrong, especially here, Jesper has always been there for him.

"We have to find a way out."

Even as he says it, there's a sickening look on his face as he gags just thinking about going back into the water, of touching those walls.

"There has to be a way."

He won't let Jesper risk himself for Kaz again. Not like this. Not without trying to work with him and help, to find a way.

[itookashot]

"We met when you rescued me. That's what we do for each other." Kaz saved him from people he owed money to, and maybe that was part of plan, but that's not the actual rescue. It's giving him a home, a job, a gang, a purpose. Kaz saved his life in the ways that actually matter.

Jesper reaches toward the wall. It's horrible and disgusting but it does move to his whim like all matter does, even in this lucid dream he can use his powers. Not enough to simply break them out, but instead he uses the wall to surround their area, to hold off the water for now. It won't completely get them out of things, and they're still trapped, but it'll force the water to stay away. Long enough for a plan.

"There has to be a way out." Rescue is coming, it must still be coming, that's the only thing that makes sense. Or maybe they really can rescue themselves this time, maybe that's what Kaz needs. They're cocooned now in that terrible squishy wall but it's better than drowning right away. They have a few minutes to think.

[bealufull]

There's a part of Kaz that could argue that he wasn't saving Jesper in the beginning. He knew that the actions would save him, but it hadn't been why he'd done it. That doesn't matter now though. They're here and have come this far, and so it doesn't matter how they got here because Jesper is right. No matter how it started, it is what they do for one another.

Anytime there's water he thinks of that night, of the darkness and the death and the determination that shaped the man he is.

But in that moment it's something else. It's the life of the Barrel that he had shaped to his needs and desires. Those there spoke of how the Barrel changed a man, how it changed his future, but for Kaz it had been the other way around. He had changed how things were done in the Barrel to fit his needs, and it was driven by his desires. Egotistical, perhaps, but then he was still, somewhere within, the Bastard of the Barrel and water like this shaped it in a very literal sense.

But that night had changed Kaz, and yet he'd never stopped to truly think about what had happened. That night was about his brother dying, and the scam that had killed him... but in all he had done, Jordie's actions were for Kaz's sake. Even in death, his last act had been to save Kaz's life and he'd never honored that. Only mourned in his darkest anger a loss that never should have happened.

But it had.

His hand took Jesper's, bringing it to the sickening flesh that had only driven him further within himself in the pit. A reminder to him of the night everything changed, even if it meant different things to others. Now it would act as Jordie once had and be their escape not his prison.

"Shape it for us to hold on to, to use to find a way out of the water. Something with a hollow center that will float." Even in this he can't bring himself to say body shaped, though it's what he's thinking. "We're not waiting for someone else. We rescue ourselves."

[itookashot]

Jesper lost his mother at a young age and it was traumatic, but for him all he ever thought about was the good parts about her. He couldn't find it in himself to be angry at her, not anymore. She was a noble soul and that is why she died, and his father raised him to be as little like her as he could, begged Jesper to avoid his gifts, to help no one at all. In the end he turned out to be a twisted mix of them both.

He was lost and alone in Ketterdam, when his sickness got to him, and he couldn't see an out. An early grave was waiting for him, it almost felt fated. But then Kaz plucked him out of it. Their traumas made them an interesting partnership, but it made his life what it was. And he would willingly drown in this horrible place if it meant Kaz not being alone while he did the same. They're together, to the end.

"Yes." See, Kaz is the ideas guy. Jesper digs his hands into the terrible squishy wall but he can pull matter out of it like usual. He can pull out the parts of it that they need, making the dirt and mud turn into something akin to a dried out wood. He doesn't make it body-shaped, it is more like a piece of driftwood for both of them, enough for one person's weight to be held onto it. They can float for now, until next steps.

"You escaped, you got out, do you remember how?" Jesper wasn't there when it happened. He told himself that if he was there, maybe his powers could have made a difference, and in a way he's getting to have that illusion now. He's helping them now, even if he couldn't hav ethen.

[bealufull]

Dragged out of the water in this place, Kaz had been angry and filled with spite and a need for violence. Now he imagines he would feel much the same if anything happened to take either of them from this place. One day they would get away from the army and find a place where they didn't have to worry about them conscripting Jesper, but until then he had to work through these things rather than allow them to cause him paralyzing fear.

Working through his issues dealing with skin contact with Jesper's help was a lot more desirable.

But he could do this.

He isn't even aware he's holding his breath until he sighs out as he sees the shape Jesper is forming things into. He had been thinking of his brother's form, but he's thankful that it's not anything of the sort.

"There wasn't this much water most of that time. It's like my fears are caving in on me," he says, frowning because it's exactly like that and he's wondering why they would arrange something so tailored. "But it would be..."

He stops to think. He can't see the pit as he had then, but he explored it all and so as he gestures, he's certain that's the way.

"That way. There was... the land should become drier there and then there will be a nearly hidden passage."

He thinks. He won't let himself hope for it.

I just put in the dispel beginning in case we wanted to use it :D

[itookashot]

"We're not in the Pit, love, not really. This is ... something else." It's not enough to know that to make it go away though. He doesn't think this is something Kaz can just blink and destroy. The only thing he can think of to do is to follow the same path that got them out. Maybe without the water and the smell of this place, he'll be able to get free. So the water is there because it's more than one memory for Kaz.

They float along to the best of their ability and Jesper kicks them in that direction. Luckily his imagination has come up with a boring version of his clothes because he couldn't imagine destroying his favorite clothes even in here! This place still seems very warped and confusing, his mind isn't quite locked in. They come upon the dryer land and he gets up first, reaching his hand out to help Kaz get out of the water.

This is not Jesper's dream so he can't control it. The walls all seem completely blank with no clear way out. But if Kaz looks himself, with his own eyes, he might see an arcana symbol on the wall, indicating this may be the way he is looking for.

perfect to me

[bealufull]

He'd wanted to believe the pit hadn't been real either, but as each day dragged out, he'd been unable to deny the truth.

But Jesper hadn't been with him then and he's here now and it's different. It's as if all his nightmares are coming together but he wants to hold to one thought. That this says more about who he's become than what this place is trying to do to them.

Even if the memories are almost too much. Of this same situation, of his brother's body, of the sensation of skin and...

He doesn't stop and think. He does what feels right. In that moment of panic that had changed his life and given him the inability to be close to others... he reaches out and closes his bare hand over Jesper's wrist as he puts more into kicking his feet, to get them out of there. That touches steadies him, brings him in focus. A little dizzy but it grounds him in a way so little else ever has.

And maybe coincidence, maybe because of it, the water seems to recede and Jesper finds his footing. His fingers close around Jesper's, stepping in closer to him as he gains his footing. Just a moment, needing that closeness in a way he would have before needed to flee and be as far from others as he could. He draws a breath, eyes fluttering open and he sees, just past Jesper, a symbol seemingly carved into the rock.

Keeping a tight hold of Jesper's hand, not realizing just how much something that used to be his greatest weakness is strengthening him now as he steps closer to the wall and runs his fingers over it, tracing the lines around it forming the very "R" that is tattooed on his arm.

"Now they're giving me clues?" He rolls his eyes, sounding a bit more like himself. "Not tossing me into the pit again would have been better."

The rock is warm beneath his hand, vibrating softly, and then it cracks with a sharp sound and the rock crumbles into dust and leaving a small alcove carved into the rock. At first he doesn't see anything. Then he realizes there's a few slips of paper flat against the rock. Even before he picks them up he knows what they are. They've been in his possession for years.

Jesper's markers from the casinos in the Barrel and a scrap of paper from Inej's contract, the piece torn from a larger piece and bearing a pair of familiar signatures.

With the water and the flesh like walls of the Pit, he would have thought this was about his phobia, but in that moment he knows the truth. It's about not why they're in his life but why they're still there. His fingers tightening against Jesper's as he sets the scraps of paper back down against the rock.

"I know the way out of here."

been a bad week sorry for the wait!

[itookashot]

Jesper wishes he was in the Pit with them. He's always thought that way. It's irrational, to believe that somehow he would have made a difference, but it was a better idea for him than being so helpless on the outside. He was able to rescue them and got there in time to gather them up alive into his arms, and kill many, many cultists on the way to get them, but he wishes he could have protected them before that. It's who he's supposed to be, how he sees himself. It's his job to have everyone's back.

And now he can do exactly that with Kaz, he can be there for him this time, even though he couldn't when it actually happened. It isn't a full healing, but it closes over a scar, slightly. Jesper follows him toward the wall, holding his hand tightly, trying to look behind them. It's so dark in there he can't see anything though, at least behind them.

"Well that's ... interesting." Kaz is touching a rock that is doing strange things and then there are pieces of paper in his hand. Jesper can lean in close enough to get a look at them but they don't mean anything to him, not at first glance. They seem to mean a lot to Kaz. It's funny but in the logic of a dream, it does make perfect sense. Sure of course there is a rock that turns into paper while they're stuck in a version of the Pit!

"Let's move then, love. Although you'd going to have to tell me what those were, because I feel like we're playing some kind of bizarre game." It reminds him a bit of the video games that his modern friends have shown him, where you have to get one item to get another item to finish a quest.

never a worry. it's been hellish

[bealufull]

Kaz pauses then. He considers an offhanded comment and getting out of there as fast as he can. Yet somehow it feels more important to turn back to those pieces of paper, to turn back to Jesper, and to be honest with him. He should know what it is that steeled his resolved and left him feeling strong enough then and now to carry on despite the terrors that had besieged him.

"The signature is mine. It's a deal that I made with Per when I extended your credit at the Crow Club."

His gaze lifts from the papers to Jesper's face, staring into those exquisite eyes and remembering the boy he had first met and seeing those eyes almost at the same time as those of the man he loves.

"The others... The Emerald Palace, Cloud Cumulus, Weddell's, the Crow Club. They're markers. Specifically, yours. Those papers are the debt I bought out to make you a Crow."

It was manipulative and a means to an end. Having Jesper with him had been promising since the beginning even if he hadn't known just how promising at the time.

"We will get out of here and through whatever else this place throws at us," he says. His hand is trembling as he uncurls his fingers and cups Jesper's cheek. "Because through their games will always be you.

"You've always been mine, Jesper... I just never realized how much I was yours."

This place has proven that to him. Not just now, but he was then as well. Since the moment he'd set eyes on the gambler and gunslinger, he'd not known until this place how much he belonged to Jesper.

His fingers caressed the other man's cheek before taking his hand. "Come on. This way. I can get us out of here."

He knew the way. Just as he knew that no matter what happened, he would find his way back to the other man. Here or in Ketterdam.

[itookashot]

Jesper knows that Kaz had to do several things in able to take him in. It wasn't enough to save him from a deathly beating on the streets, he had to take on the debt that Jesper built up. Buy him, in a lot of ways, and Jesper knew at the time it was a business deal like any other, so he was grateful, and he threw himself head first into being the very best second Kaz could ever ask for.

His devotion to Kaz is absolute, it happened long before they became lovers. He's always been Kaz's man. It's clear that the paperwork that made Jesper his is valuable enough to him to focus him out of the Pit. Jesper is what's bringing him out of the Pit.

They're both disgusting and covered in what is definitely fake but smells and feels real. They're wet and dirty, and he smiles at Kaz anyway when he cups his face, when he picks to touch him in a variety of ways to show his care. "We're unstoppable together, Kaz. That's always been true. You and me, until the end." He may have walked off with Wylan, but it was never a forever goodbye for him. He'd see Kaz again, he would never leave his life for real.

He follows him out of the Pit and the moment they step outside of where the escape route, it all falls away and it's just them again. They're no longer wet or dirty, the dream falling behind them.

Jesper immediately cups Kaz's face in his hands and he kisses him deeply. He kisses him like the world only exists for the two of them and pours all of his heart into it, deep and penetrating, until they're both breathless. "When we get out of the Free Cities, Kaz, when we're actually free from this shite, I am going to marry the hell out of you."

[bealufull]

That moment, those markers, the tender touch from Jesper and a kiss that would have once left Kaz in a heap on the floor, all of it is a moment of clarity unlike any he's known before. He had once asked Jesper, after their time as Gods if he would have to leave behind everything and forgot his brother and who he had been before, and all of that if he wanted to have that life where he felt free and light and no one but himself. Jesper had denied that then, and now Kaz could see for himself how the path laid out.

Everything in his life has always been about the past. About Jordie and Pekka Rollins and revenge and while those markers are from the past, they're about the man beside him and all that matters then is their future. Whether it holds a life as gods or not, that is all that matters. That future they have been building for themselves for so long, even before this place. Even when Kaz hadn't realized it.

Yet now, as they make their way out, he thinks about how he'd been hurt about Jesper leaving with Wylan but he hadn't done anything about it. He wasn't a man to sit idly by when hurt, yet he hadn't done anything. Not because he wasn't hurting for him and missing him but because he had known. Somewhere within him, he had known. Known that he wasn't gone for good, and known that Jesper was his.

The horror of the pit fades as it dissolves and they emerge from the dream. Nothing more than a memory once more, a haunting that already was fading even as Jesper's mouth claimed his own. The kiss was searing, burning away the last of the horror of those memories and reminding Kaz that there was nothing they could do to truly hold them back or stop them. Not when they were together.

"Be careful," he warns, though there's what really is a coy smile curving his lips. "You know how binding I make my contracts," he teases, knowing that he is never going to let Jesper go, and never expects Jesper will ever try and leave. Not for good. Not from all they have.

[itookashot]

The Pit was terrible and now that he's experienced it he's angrier than ever, but honestly, he forgets that the moment that he kisses Kaz. He forgets anything but the two of them. He puts an arm around him to hold him close and kisses him in a way that they couldn't actually do until recently. It's been a journey for them to get to where they are now. They hadn't been there at the time of the Pit. It's been a long time since and they've come to a time when Kaz leans into the kiss instead of squirming underneath it.

"As long as we're here, I am yours, Kaz Brekker. You are the only bet that I ever cared about winning." They are now fully back into the Free Cities where they were before the world changed around them into that strange lucid dream, and he kisses the top of Kaz's head, hugging him. It doesn't matter where they are.

Jesper never knew that him leaving with Wylan bothered Kaz, because he never said so, he brushed them off to their new life like it was nothing. He knew that Kaz still wanted him around though because he'd show up for jobs and they never fell out of each other's lives for good. But if Kaz asked him to stay, he would have. He's been dedicated to this man for years.

He pulls from the hug to kiss Kaz again because he can, and out of relief that they made it out of whatever that weird situation just was. "I love you. Are you okay? That was nuts." Nuts for him, experiencing it as he did in a lucid dream, but it meant more to Kaz. It was from his trauma.

[bealufull]

"A good thing then I don't take chances. The game always goes to the house."

Which maybe he shouldn't talk about his love for Jesper in that way but it was true. He had made sure that Jesper was always his, even if that hadn't been what the other man would have wanted, but it was a bet worth taking that they both wanted the same thing. And now here they were.

Without this, without this connection they have and that has grown over the years they've shared in this place, Kaz had no idea how he would be when Jesper asked that million dollar question. Likely in the worst possible places and it wouldn't be good for anyone.

But instead he has this, and he has Jesper.

"The truth? I don't know yet."

Which is more honest than he's normally capable of. The standard answer is that he's fine, that nothing's wrong, but he knows that isn't true... and he knows that Jesper would know that. Something has changed. he's just not sure what that means but he feels...

"I feel lighter. I just don't know what it is."

Yet in finding a way to get out of that trap, and to do so with the memories of Jordie but without it being his brother, something feels like it's taken away part of that weight on his shoulders.

"I just know that the things we talked about after we were gods, suddenly I'm understanding things." About how he could move on and yet not utterly give up Jordie... or how he'd come to place as a god and hadn't had those horrors shaping everything he said and did.

Let's wrap on this one, do something new for the event :)

[itookashot]

"Well thank goodness for that then."

It's not everyone who would come out of a nightmare reliving something terrible and actually feel the better for it, but Jesper knows Kaz. He's suffered from a lot of grief in his life and he's not afraid of the bad things happening to him, he's been more afraid of the good. He has somewhere - and someone - to go to now. It makes a difference. Jesper is relieved to hear this won't sink into his mind in a bad way, although it'll certainly be something he personally remembers.

Jesper pulls him into a hug, pressing his chin against Kaz's dark hair, and simply holds his love. He almost lost him in the Pit but he didn't, and there were a dozen times they nearly lost one another, but here they are. And he doesn't take for granted a single moment he has this man of his in his arms.

"Come on, I need a bloody drink after that."