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abraxaslogs2022-03-25 03:00 pm
sorser) wrote in abraxaslogs2022-03-25 03:00 pm
( closed; quest ) the long and winding road
WHO: Stephen, Thancred, & Yennefer
WHAT: Three individuals go on a quest to help perpetuate better magical monitoring of the Singularity!
WHERE: ALL OVER THORNE
WHEN: End of March into mid-April.
WARNINGS: Some eventual monster-related violence and injury! But nothing else for now; will add as needed.
(( quest info here ))
WHAT: Three individuals go on a quest to help perpetuate better magical monitoring of the Singularity!
WHERE: ALL OVER THORNE
WHEN: End of March into mid-April.
WARNINGS: Some eventual monster-related violence and injury! But nothing else for now; will add as needed.
(( quest info here ))
BONUS THREADS: MEMSHARE EVENT
β yennefer (dreamwalking)
It's midday now, and they still have to ride until sundown before they'll reach the castle. With that in mind, it's tempting to simply push through, but the horses need rest as much as they do. Stephen has been forced to accustom himself to the aches and pains that come with so much riding, and his complaints have lessened over the weeks, but it would not do for them to overdo it either.
Thus, they've found a clearing a few yalms inside the tree line of the forest where they can take a short rest. Thancred dismounts and ties up his horse first, then moves over to where Yennefer's doing the same. ] Need a hand? [ His hand finds her shoulder without him truly thinking about it. It's been three weeks now, and the familiarity between them has grown.
The scenery around them changes in an instant, the temperature rising a few degrees and the forest flashing into an entirely different place. Not just any place, either. This is the Crystarium, the large central courtyard the leads up to a stairwell to the Ocular. It's a beautiful city, bathed in light, with the looming presence of a tower made of crystal that extends far into the sky overhead. As if Thancred could ever forget this place. His stomach drops toward his feet — has he been transported somehow? Has someone seized control of the Crystal Tower to abuse to their own ends? How—
Then he realizes that Yennefer's presence is still at his side, and that there's a group of people standing before them. The Scions as a whole, including himself and Ryne. Thancred's breath catches in his throat, his grip tightening on Yennefer's shoulder before he can think better of it. When he realizes he might be digging in too hard, his hand falls limply to his side. ]
What? This is— [ The words come out, near to breathless, and he shakes his head in disbelief. ] This is one of my memories. [ He tears his gaze away from Ryne to look at Yennefer, to assure himself that she's present in the moment as well. He can't begin to understand how or why this is happening, and a grounding presence would not go amiss. This is something only those with the Echo should be capable of, so why is it happening to him? ]
no subject
( so little of the things she did want to hold on to ever remained, all because of her, in the end. )
still, the promise of a warm bed, of a good bottle of wine, her room. the baths. the material gains that would be offered back to them once they returned to the castle kept her from being entirely reluctant to return, but even so, she did not exactly argue when they all found themselves coming to a rest just half a day's ride out from the castle. she did not exactly mind if their rest took a bit longer, either. she gets down from her saddle right as thancred steps over, his hand coming to her shoulder easily, and yennefer finds she almost expects it. is mid turning to give him a kind of smile - how very chivalrous of you which would only be a partial joke (because she would be happy to let him do the work for her, even now) but the answer is caught in her throat as everything around them changes.
( and for half a moment, yennefer can't breathe. can't move. she can feel the binds around her wrists and the searing pain of stregebor in her head. she wants to scream, she wants to fight, she's terrified and they're going to know and- )
it's thancred's tightened grip on her shoulder that brings her back, blinking once and finding herself in that new place. no dark stone, no echoes of the insides of artuza, no drafts. the air is actually warmer, they're outside, it's a large central courtyard, the starlight sky above. she doesn't recognize this place, these people, this architecture - she couldn't even begin to place this on the continent or even in abraxas itself. but it's that moment, at that very thought, that thancred's hand drops from her shoulder. that she turns to look at him just as he says this is one of my memories. ]
What? Your memory? [ she asks, turning back to the circle of people. to the girl, standing apart from them. yennefer's mind starts racing, trying to put together how any of this could even happen, when thancred turns back to her. it's when she catches his expression that she steps towards him, almost protectively, as she looks back to the space and people around them. ]
Has this happened to you before? Showing someone else your memories. Is this possible in your sphere? [ latent proficiency towards chaos, even after knowing what happened to thancred and his ability to use magic...it's not unheard of, exactly. but she needs to know if it can even happen, first, before they move to her next theory. the singularity. ]
no subject
But no, it does not seem to be that. Which still doesn't explain how Thancred's having some sort of Echo-like vision.
That seems to be precisely what it is, though, based on what Himeka has described to him before. He lifts an arm into the air and waves it around, testing to see if there will be any reaction from the group of people (a past version of himself, included) who stand a few yalms away. As expected, it is as if they're invisible. They're here simply to watch. ]
It's rare, but possible. There is a gift a few people in my world possess, called the Echo. Do you know Himeka? [ If not, well, she is right in front of them, a part of the grouping of the Scions. Thancred nods toward her to indicate who he means. ] She's one such person. [ She's standing a bit apart, though, a bit closer to Ryne — who has now found her voice, and is addressing them all, thanking them with her usual earnestness.
Thancred remembers this all like it was only yesterday, the equal amounts of pride and sorrow in his heart rising up all over again. He draws in a breath, then lets it out. ] And that's Ryne. Who I told you of before.
[ The girl who had come into his care. His daughter, though he may not have used that exact word. It had still been understood between them. ] This is... when we had to bid each other farewell. [ And as much as he cherishes the chance to see her face again, this is a bit like tearing open a newly-healed wound.
Ryne's voice wavers a little as she continues to speak. "We still have a lot to do, countless trials to overcome—but if it ever seems too much, I'll think of our time together." ]
no subject
it's rare, but possible. yennefer's attention remains on the others in this moment, on the moment as the young girl speaks up. addresses them. her eyes move to thancred for just a moment when he says she's one such person, and while yennefer has not yet met this woman, himeka, when he gestures to her yennefer does nod. that is one connection, then. a possible over-arching reaching of this echo ability.
ryne. yennefer turns back to the girl, to the way she holds herself up. the way she wavers, on how she pushes through. yennefer isn't sure if her own reaction that has her chest tightening, or if it is the way thancred seems to almost still at the memory. she doesn't remember thancred mentioning the young girl, remembers the protective, fond way his voice had tilted. ah- ah. yennefer feels her own breath catch in her chest for a moment before she is stepping back to thancred's side, before she sets a hand on his arm. comforting - at last she hopes. i'm sorry in this moment goes unspoken, but thancred has a high chance of seeing it in yennefer's eyes. in the small squeeze of her hand. ]
How long ago was this?
[ it doesn't make it any easier, she knows. she's lived a long enough life to know some wounds never close. but she is curious, all the same. ]
no subject
There's no knowing for certain if he'll ever get to see Ryne again. Himeka will be able to travel back and forth to the First and pass messages between them, but it isn't quite the same, is it? Thancred can't actually speak directly to Ryne, to hear her voice or study her face, to observe how she's maturing into her own. If this is the only chance he's given, even if it isn't truly seeing her, he isn't about to waste it.
Ryne tilts her head up toward the sky — a sky they'd returned night to, together with the other Scions. "The happy moments... and the sad—I will remember it all. And it will give me the strength to carry on without you."
At about that moment, Thancred feels Yennefer's hand grip at his arm, a small squeeze to remind him that he's not alone. And that, perhaps, she understands.
He tears his gaze away to look at her, blinking a few times as he considers her question. How long had it been? Between everything that took place back home, the Telephoroi and Zodiark and the Final Days, not to mention the time he's spent here in Abraxas... ]
Half a year, mayhap? It may not seem like much, but... well, we have yet to find a means of seeing each other again.
[ That alone will take some explaining, he realizes.
In the memory, Ryne levels her gaze back on the rest of the group. "Because you made me who I am. Minfilia. Ryne." ]
no subject
and maybe that is why yennefer does reach for him - because the privacy of this moment, the intimacy...it's something she wouldn't want to be surprised by someone else's eyes. some else's presence. thancred blinks, looks to her and then thinks. answers. half a year.
yennefer's eyes turn back to the girl, watches her with her shoulders high and her expression a tight, complicated determination. because you made me who i am. her chest tightens at the way thancred is holding himself, both the image of him in this scene, and the thancred looking at her. thancred who is working his way through his answer. ]
Did something happen?
no subject
[ Thancred heaves out a breath from his chest, glancing up to the glass ceiling of the Crystarium and all around them. ]
This place we are now, it's not my home star. I won't bore you with the details, but myself and my companions were brought to this other world quite unexpectedly. [ Sound familiar? Thancred's abduction to Abraxas is not the first time that he's found himself in a foreign place with little-to-no warning. ]
I was here, in Norvrandt, for five years before we found a means to return home. And in that time, I took her under my wing. [ He nods to Ryne, who's finishing off her speech. "To honor these names and these memories, I will stand with all the people of this land, and strive for a better tomorrow."
Who taught her to be so eloquent, so heartfelt? Not him. It comes from within her.
They're coming up on it, on some of the last words they ever exchanged face-to-face. He watches as Urianger turns to his past self. "Thancred," Urianger prompts. "I believe the honor of responding should rightfully be thine." ]
no subject
five years. which means this place, this process, isn't new to him. he is used to being pulled across spheres, into new worlds. and if he was truly caught in that last one for five years, this must have felt no time at all.
her attention turns to the girl again, to her speech, words important and meaningful even though she still looks so young. part of her knows that this moment means something significant to thancred, if only because why else would she be seeing it? but the heaviness of it makes her feel...uncomfortable, isn't the word exactly, because she's not uncomfortable. if anything, there is almost something about it that feels familiar.
like she has been an outsider to a similar moment, a similar bond.
still, for now, she nods. looks from the other who says thancred's name back to the thancred she is standing with. who is watching this for not the first time.
this is... when we had to bid each other farewell. ]
She's very impressive. [ yennefer means the speech, but her eyes are still on the circle in front of her. on this response thancred is about to have. ] Are we about to hear your speech as well? [ the slightest joke, a hint of a smile, yennefer tests the waters to see if this is something thancred would rather be brought out of, or if he's okay to get swept up. ]
no subject
She is very impressive, and Thancred's chest swells with pride the moment that Yennefer says as much. He is certain Ryne would have been just as mature, just as accomplished, even without his guidance — and yet the pride is there all the same. ]
She is. She's...
[ But he doesn't need to say the words, not now. His past self strides toward Ryne, slow yet purposeful, and once he's standing before her, reaches out to rest his hand atop her head. Ryne shuts her eyes as he speaks. "I know better than most how much you've grown," he says, voice soft yet sure, "and I have every confidence you'll make your people proud."
His voice hitches for a moment as he continues. "Gods know, I'm proud of you. I always will be. You deserve all the happiness in the world and more."
As he pulls his hand back, Ryne tries and fails to hold back tears, which drip down her cheeks as she gasps out a breath. Thancred, both in the past and present, watches her with the most bittersweet of smiles. ]
for thancred; cw; various mentions of death and dying
And the memory ends. As swiftly as it had crashed through the other's mind, it recedes.]
no subject
No doubt Stephen has all the same questions, and so Thancred can't blame him for wanting to examine them, to learn more. The hand at his shoulder seems harmless enough, until yet again he's afflicted by a mind-numbing headache.
Where he finds himself next he cannot begin to explain, a single rocky platform surrounded by swirls of distorted color. The giant face is perhaps no different in size or scope from being faced with a primal, and yet there's something immense and unknowable about it.
Stephen appears, to "bargain," but this is not the Stephen of the present moment. Thancred is instead here alone, leaving him to only watch as the past version of Stephen continues to play out the same few seconds over and over and over, wearing down this cosmic presence with his stubborn determination. It doesn't matter how many times he "dies" (and does he feel it, each time?); he is always back, somehow, to try again. The memory fades away before Thancred can see the full resolution, but the massive being does seem to be relenting by the end.
In the meantime, Stephen is treated to a memory of his own—
The memory ceases, leaving both of them doubled over as they recover from the disorienting side effects of the exchange. ]
no subject
He has fought against a similar mindset in his own time, though Thanosβ shape of oblivion was half rather than whole. Even so, this βMeteionβ sets him on edge, makes him know that something bad is about to happen, merely because nothing good ever comes from a moment like this one.
His companions fall, stripped of oxygen. Thancred still stands, rushes forward with blade in-hand, but Stephen cannot see the result. The memory goes black, slamming him back into reality.
He gasps, palms flat against the ground, having nigh fallen somewhere in-between it all. Eyes wide and searching, he lifts his head back up to reorient himself, seeing only Thancred in a similar position.]
Wellβ that wasβ [Sarcasm exudes itself in spades when he has nothing else to grasp onto. Give him a moment.] βpleasant.
no subject
It's as if they all have the Echo. Did the Singularity do this to them? ]
You saw something, did you? Something from my memory.
[ He closes his eyes for a moment, takes a few more breaths. In and out. ]
It was different from what I experienced with Yennefer. We viewed the memories together, not...
[ Whatever it is that just happened. ]
no subject
[And it left him dizzy, nauseous, and confused once he had returned to reality β much like Thancred had experienced, as well. Why? Not that Stephen had hoped to traipse through anyone's memory, but the fact that the experiences were different at all meant there was another variable at play.
He shakes his head.]
You were on aβ a ship. A spaceship? [He was under the impression that Thancred hailed from a place far moreβ¦ medieval than what he had witnessed. His personal domain, versus what he had just seen, are hard to reconcile.]
Speaking to a bird-like young woman who definitely did not have life's best interests in mind. What did she do? Try to suffocate all of you?
[What happened after?]
no subject
He glances up as soon as Stephen starts to explain what he saw. That memory is much fresher than what he saw with Yennefer, the details still etched clearly in his mind. He nods slowly, not wanting to worsen any of his symptoms. ]
The Ragnarok.
[ There's a lot to explain there, perhaps too much for him to manage when his head is pounding and his stomach is churning.
All the same, he reaches out for a nearby tree's trunk and uses it to stabilize himself as he gets to his feet. He leans up against the tree, still a bit shaky. ]
Her name is Meteion. It's a long story, but yes, she meant to snuff us all out right then and there. That was the last event I recalled before arriving in Abraxas, but I've been assured it was not in fact our final moments.
[ By Hythlodaeus, of all people.
Thancred lets out a groan and slides a hand down his face. ] And what I saw was... you in some realm surrounded in color, facing off against an immense being who was, so far as I could tell, mainly just a face. It kept trying to kill you, and you kept returning, until it grew tired of you.
stephen. tw; mentions of self harm
she supposes that there is very little, here, she should be worried about. supposes she should be grateful that most, if not all, of her secrets are already out. because the feeling of knowing she wouldn't have been able to stop it, that she wouldn't have been able to stop it. yennefer takes stock of her location, of where thancred kneels not far from her, and where stephen now stands, unsteady of his feet. she doesn't remember stephen in the memory, doesn't recall seeing him anywhere near, but then why...? ]
Stephen. [ her voice is a bit hoarse when she speaks, reaching out because he hasn't yet put it together - that the touch is what did it. that this is something happening to all of them. instead, she does reach out, sets a hand on his elbow, tries to get his attention because maybe he might have an idea of what this is, if it's singularity or if it's something else. there's something tight in her throat thinking ronan might be behind something like this again, but then her hand settles on stephen's elbow and they're somewhere else. yennefer squeezes her hand on his elbow, tries to shake him out. she doesn't know why but she doesn't let go of him, her eyes searching his face.
whether she knows it or not, she's going to be able to ease that headache for him, when he comes to. he just has to come to first. ] Stephen.
no subject
As before, he finds himself debilitated by it. Barely kept standing, some unconscious part of his mind anchoring himself against Yennefer's touch, perhaps the only thing that keeps Stephen from pitching straight into the ground.
(What is this? Running, running, screaming, voices in his mind telling him that it's gone, he's lost it. His magic is gone--no, her magic? The lines are blurred, they're one and the same now--and there is no way to get it back. The rain pelts against him, the sky is grey and heavy and suffocating in these moments of desperation. His hands sting; his palms are bloody.
Words that would summon magic do not come. The space in front of him that should whir to life with a portal remains empty. Once again, in that dimly aware part his brain somehow still active in this wayward memory, it reminds him too much of his own scarred hands beyond this place. That feeling of uselessness after his injury, cutting deep, hollowing him out from his core.
The scream is not his own, but it might as well be. He's felt this way before, in almost every degree, and in that whirl of frustration, anger, hopelessness, desperation, he understands, because he has he knows what it is to have lost everything.)
Stephen.
Her voice jolts him back into reality--or maybe it's merely the severance of the memory finally freeing him--and when he opens his eyes, he's a sensation of daggers behind his eyes. His head may burst on the spot, and he hisses out a curse under his breath, disoriented. The whiplash from her memories to now might as well have set the world at a tilt.]
Yen... Yennefer. Your... [Words feel clumsy on his tongue.] Your magic, you were running-
no subject
this - which has yennefer's eyes wide, her hand still on stephen's elbow. still trying to rouse him. she can recognize the pain in him when she does stir, as he curses and comes to, though she can't help the measure of relief she feels when he does. when he speaks, his words are clumsy - which is an odd, very un-stephen-like experience to have, and yennefer's brow creases. ]
What? My magic? [ what's most confusing about this is that they know - thancred and stephen got the gist of it, back after the wolf attacks. back when she couldn't do anything to help him. they know she is without magic, that she did something that was against whatever rules the brotherhood had always had, and that it left her empty. why stephen is bringing it up now...
a chill goes down yennefer's spine, then, her eyes going a little wide. part of her wants to pull away from him, but she also finds she can't. not if he already knows. not when she's cut herself off from everyone else already. so instead, her hand squeezes a bit around his elbow (which, in turn, will help ease some of those daggers. some of that pain. )
because if she had seen thancred's memories, if something about the dream of the eye and the focus of the singularity is bringing them all together, then... ]
What- [ she swallows, suddenly unsure if she's ready for his answer. her magic, running. it applies to so much of her life, so much of what she's done. you pick p a few things while you're in hiding. ] -what did you see?