EVENT #7: THE SIGHT

[abraxasmods]

Event #7 - The Sight

go to the OOC event info and plotting post

---

The night before APRIL 18, your dreams are disrupted by a vivid image of the same eclipse that occurred last month. The black sun seems to be an endless void in the sky, growing ever darker - until it suddenly opens into an eye that stares straight at you.

When you wake up, much of your night seems a blur except for the vivid dream of that eye. Whether you find it unsettling or try to ignore it, the image is something you cannot get out of your mind. If you ask, you will discover that none of the locals of your faction saw another eclipse. Speak with your fellow Summoned, however, and you may learn that while there was no eclipse that formed over the world, you were not the only one who had this dream.

Of course, dreams don't need to mean anything. You can't feel or see any immediate effects, and nearly everyone around you is going about their day as usual. Maybe you should do the same.

The Awakening

It might happen that very morning or a day or two later. You could be discussing the dream with a fellow Summoned or perhaps you simply brush shoulders with them as you walk by. Whatever it is, as soon as you make brief physical contact, one of you is struck with a sharp pain in your temple that grows into a terrible headache. It's disorienting and painful as the world around you shifts to someplace you may or may not recognize. Like an old film reel, you watch the events of the past play out before you: the past of the other Summmoned. It might be something they would rather hide, a moment of failure or despair, or something they are immensely proud of and brings them great joy - or even a jumble of several images over the course of a person's life. But you see it as if it were real and right in front of you all the same. When you come to, you'll likely find yourself on the ground or bent over, possibly with one or more people around you to see if you're okay. It'll take you a bit to gather your bearings, and the subsequent pounding in your head could last from minutes to hours.

Or, maybe you aren't the one who receives the vision. Instead, as you watch, another Summoned might grasp their head and crumble in front of you. They may go silent or groan in pain. They'll be impossible to shake out of their stupor until it's over. If you ask what happened, they may be inclined to tell you the truth - that you, you were what happened to them.

Or, if your Arcana signs happen to line up in a specific way, you'll see each other in the shared memory itself. You may also find that for certain Summoned, you can help soothe the effects, calm their emotions, or help draw them out of the memory before it consumes them for too long. It's not entirely clear what determines which effect, but one thing is for certain - within each memory, every Summoned as they appear in the past seems to wear the mark of their Arcana somewhere on their person.

For some, they might experience this only once. For others, they might experience it multiple times: with the same person, with several other Summoned, or with a different memory each time. Over the next 7 days, you'll find the Summoned around you are all receiving a glimpse into each other's past, as if the Singularity has awoken an eye within each of you.

Flee for the safety of the Horizon if you want, but you'll find that in there, it's much the same. In fact, inside the Horizon, the other Summoned don't even need to be anywhere near you - just existing in the Horizon space itself together will be enough to possibly set off a headache-inducing vision.

The Factions

What has occurred between the Summoned will not go unnoticed within the factions. While it's difficult to say how faction officials have picked up what's happening, it'll be obvious they do know.

In THORNE, characters will be asked to remain in the castle walls until further notice. Characters will not be allowed to leave the castle grounds, not even to go into the surrounding city, and anyone who is already outside will be requested to not leave again as soon as they return. If asked, they will be told it's for their own safety, given the Singularity is behaving unpredictably and the Summoned have a unique connection to it. Soothing potions and healers are on hand to offer assistance, if anyone is particularly suffering from ill effects.

In the FREE CITIES, characters will find the army by the outposts show more activity than usual. A higher number of guards will patrol the streets throughout the event, particularly in areas frequented by the Summoned. Anyone who publicly and visibly experiences the effects of the memory share (pain, doubling over, etc.) will be offered assistance by the guards. They are generally there to help, but they are also there to maintain order and ensure anyone behaving erratically due to this incident is properly contained. This might include confinement for a day or two if anyone is especially posing a risk, but no one will be punished except in the most extreme cases, as the locals are aware this is not within the control of the Summoned.

In SOLVUNN, the locals will be watching what's happening with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity. Host families and neighbors will be on hand to help with charms meant to offer protection, as well as general care and assistance (soup, blankets, and so on) if your character seems to be especially under the weather or afflicted by the event. Towards the end of the event, more elders and mages will be out and about to check up on the Summoned to make sure they're doing okay. If asked, the mages will say they aren't sure what's going on, but that they are currently divining with the gods and hope to have a definitive answer soon in the upcoming days.

None of the factions appear to be doing much more than keep a watchful eye on the situation - but as the week comes to a close, officials will start making a decision as to what they want to do and how to handle the Summoned who have demonstrated this unforeseen connection to the Singularity.

Comments

Link | Solvunn | Strength

[hylife]

OOC: FULL DISCLOSURE I'll Probably be slow-tagging this month bc of ongoing IRL stuff, but I really wanted to participate in this one, so if anyone is willing to put up with that... 😇 also feel free to hmu at urgentmatters or PM for plotting, or to direct me towards your TL!

I. The one where Link dies

Location: Solvunn

[ Link is on the road between settlements of Solvunn when the first memory hits, caught totally unawares. He is no stranger to sudden and debilitating flashes of memory - but this is the first time such a memory has come with a thunderclap of pain strong enough to bring him to his knees. He crumples to the ground with his hands clutching at his temples, gritting his teeth over a pained cry. ]

Link is on his knees in the mud. It's not just his head that hurts. It's everywhere. His eyes sting with blood and sweat, and the sweet, acrid smell of burnt flesh is in his nose - from the searing pain on his shield arm, Link is aware that it must his own. His ears ring with the unnatural, high-pitched whine of the Guardians' lasers sizzling through air and pouring rain, each followed the screams of the soldiers struck down by those relentless machines' beams of burning light.

A Guardian spots them, sirens blaring as it skitters over fallen bodies and debris on its looming, spidery legs.

Their enemy is in front of them. The Princess is behind him.

Link lifts himself onto shaking knees, his field of vision swimming and lurching - no! That's not just the concussion playing tricks on him. Zelda has pushed him aside, standing in front of him with her hand outstretched, her palm out as if she means to block the laser with her hand. Link's stomach bottoms out. She'll be incinerated! He opens his mouth to scream at her to get back, but his lungs are empty. He can't even breathe.

And then there's light. Dazzling, blinding light, its gentle warmth washing over him like a tide. The pain evaporates from his face, leaving behind a small smile as his lips form the words:

She's done it.

Link collapses.

II. The one where Link finds the Master Sword

Location: Horizon or Solvunn!

Verdant foliage surrounds, the air cool but heavy with humidity, a not-quite-mist as a young blond elf boy - no older than 12 - pushes aside tangled clumps of leafy vine and springy fronds of fern nearly as big as he is. He's breathing hard, moving through the dense, untamed forest as quickly as he can.

A hollow, rattling sound calls attention to the little green creature he's following, which giggles as it runs. The critter's body is just as green as the trees, its face disguised as a leaf. It would be nearly impossible to see, if its giggling didn't plainly betray its location -

- in fact, there isn't just one. There are many, in the trees, in the vines, floating through the air on oversized dandelion seeds. A chorus of giggling.

It's hard to tell if Link is running towards them, or with them, away from something else.

"Wait! Where are we going?!"

III. The one where Link crossdresses

Location: Horizon or Solvunn!

The sun is blisteringly hot in the clear blue sky, and the breeze through the filmy fabric of his cropped Gerudo top feels bone-dry, sapping away what little moisture Link has left on his lips despite the meager protection of his veil. He desperately wants to get inside the City and bury his face into the cooling meat of the nearest hydromelon, and the only thing stopping him is this creepy guy.

Said guy is dripping with sweat and breathing heavily, hunched over his wringing hands and muttering something to himself while his gaze flickers over to the breezily clad she-elf - er, Link - with alarming frequency. Link isn't sure what to make of it, but had a man had ever looked at the Princess like that whilst Link was on guard, someone would soon be missing a pair of hands. As a preventive measure.

iii (also mutable!)

[bloomly]

( it's easier to understand what's going on, now--it's easier to know how these things happen. their friendship, however slight, is important enough to her that the sight of link, collapsed on the roads between solvunn settlements, means that she drops what she's carrying to dash over to help him; it's just a small touch, a shake of his shoulder, and the feeling cracks through her head like lightning.

the change is sudden. it's not even the scenery--everything is foreign, here, but the weather is what strikes her, first; it's hot, dry and simmering where the sun seems reluctant to hide. immediately, she's squinting in the sunlight; one of her hands lifts, shelters over her brow as though to try to make some sense of what she's seeing. it's an entirely different place--she hasn't seen many, here, but the way things look, she doesn't think they're anywhere near solvunn anymore.

oh, she's familiar enough with women, in particular, to recognize that the beautiful, scantily-clad person in the distance isn't quite right, but she would never judge; it's the man that's sweating out his life in front of the other that worries her, makes her push up onto her feet and try to stagger her way in the heat towards--well, it must be link, if that body shape is anything to go by.

but she can't do anything, can she? already, she's starting to sweat; midgar is a relatively cool place compared to this one. she's dying on the inside, but too stubborn to complain--and it's only once she finally sweeps her gaze around entirely that she sees a more standardly-dressed link there with her, presumably watching the memory unfold as well. )

What sort of outfit is that? ( she says with a laugh--one of her arms stretches out, points towards the other link. ) You wore that? Why?

Jayce Talis | Arcane | The Magician | Fixed Arcana

[hextechhead]

That strange dream was pretty unsettling and Jayce had trouble falling back asleep so he's tired the day after, but it doesn't stop him from having things to do. He doesn't really question whether it's a dream someone else would have, it's not a big deal. He is very easy to run into because Jayce is friendly and recognizes a lot of Summoned now that he's settled in. 

He could be found accidentally falling asleep in a medicine lecture at the very back after not sleeping at all from the dream, and if you put your hand on his shoulder to wake him, you might get hit with a memory. The same could happen in the workshop, for people who know to go there to see him or Viktor, he might be passed out or drowsy in his chair. 

Maybe you've stumbled and he reaches out to grab you or he helps carry something. Whatever it is, Jayce is easy to touch whether it's a handshake or a light pat on the back. If you fall into a memory of his, Jayce will be concerned deeply as you show pain, kneeling next to you if you've fallen down and deeply worried when you come to. 

After realizing what's going on, Jayce flees into the Horizon, but as everyone eventually figures out, that does not help in the least. It is there that the following memories can be accessed, and if you want to confront him directly afterward, feel free to, he'll be in the lab. For those who want to walk through a memory with him, this is the Fixed Arcana option. 

[ooc: Please feel free to jump at any of these however you'd like, whether we've discussed it or not! Message me on plurk @ waftingcurtains if you want to check anything first. ]

The Memories: OTA on every one! TW marked where necessary.

[hextechhead]

The memories are vivid, some beautiful, some tragic, but they all come with some kind of general emotion due to Jayce being a strong feeler. 

1. One memory shows a mother and son lost in a blizzard. There is no end in sight, blind to all but the snow, and his mother collapses, her fingers frostbitten. The child pleads help please into the abyss, wrapped around his collapsed mother. A figure appears out of the gloom and in its hand glows a bright crystal that seems to crackle with electricity. At first the boy is scared, but the mage starts using bright and powerful magic, lighting up the snowy sky and surrounding them. The boy and his mother are weightless and teleported in a bright and unnerving tunnel, until he comes to in a beautiful grassy and flowery spot. The boy's mother wakes up, looking confused, and he smiles, relieved. He bravely goes up to the mage and asks 'how' and the mage hands him the same crystal, now depleted of power. And that's the end. The heavy emotion here is wonder/joy.

2. A young Jayce stands in the center of the council chamber, a light on top of him. This is a trial. They accuse him of dangerous experiments. At first he keeps his eyes down and admits he was reckless and endangered people, and that he is sorry. At first he remains contrite, but as the council starts picking him apart, questioning it, Jayce explodes in emotion. "I was trying to create magic!" He goes on to argue his case about them using magic instead of fearing it.  In the end, the council declares he is dangerous, and it is implied he will be exiled. His mother begs for him, and Heimerdinger declares him expelled from the academy.  The heavy emotion here is rage.

3. TW: Suicidal thoughts. The next memory is a quiet night in a half-destroyed apartment.  Jayce looks beat down and depressed, staring out over the city. He stands on the very edge of a steep drop, leaning, looking as if he intends on falling off, likely to his death. The moment before he does, a voice speaks out "Am I interrupting?" Viktor enters the scene and stops him, leading to a little argument but then Viktor telling him he thinks his theory is correct. Jayce passionately speaks about magic and its beauty, and Viktor talks about being a poor cripple from the Undercity. He hands Jayce a bracelet with the dead crystal given to him by the mage. The heavy emotion here is hope.

4. Later on, Jayce and Viktor are in a lab working with a bright and brittle glowing crystal. They have set up a contraption that when they press the button, it starts zipping around. While at first it seems out of control, they manage to stabilize it briefly. The door is being pounded on, they're in trouble for certain, but they refuse to stop the experiment. Jayce sees the runes in his mind, the ones similar to what the mage did before, and there is a bright flash of light in the room. At first it is blinding, but then you witness the two of them floating in a room made of blue light, smiling and joyful. Heimerdinger looks both impressed and then worried, but Jayce and Viktor are glowing and happy. Jayce knocks a gear through the glowing portal and Viktor gets it on the other end. The heavy emotion here is joy.

5. TW: Terminal illness. This is a brief but intense memory. Jayce sits beside a bed where Viktor is lying, a tube in his nose to keep him breathing, and he looks terrible. He has his head in his hands until Viktor says his name and he looks up, lost. "Viktor. The doctors, um. They said you...." There's harsh emotion in his voice, so much it hurts his throat. Viktor asks how much time he has. There is no answer for now. The heavy emotion here is grief.

6. They're in the council room and Jayce now has a chair of his own. Heimerdinger starts speaking about losing their way and his speech is supposed to come off as inspiring. "We must hold each other accountable," he says. Abruptly, Jayce interrupts, anger in his voice: "And who holds you accountable?" Jayce starts arguing with his former mentor, the anger still in his tone, getting more as he points out the violence in their city, and the inaction of leadership. "All under your watch." Heimerdinger eventually seems to assume it's because Jayce is frustrated about his experiments needing time, and Jayce shouts:  "Humans don't live for centuries!" while slamming his hands on the table. It leads to Jayce saying they need leadership and suggests Heimerdinger needs to retire. Slowly the other councilors vote for this, leaving Jayce as the last vote, and he looks down as he puts up his hand. The heavy emotion here is rage.

7. This one takes place in the forge. Jayce is working shirtless, clearly getting some aggression and feelings out in his blind use of it. It is hot and dark in there. A beautiful woman steps in, Mel, and they clearly are intimate with one another. He is upset and she wisely asks what is bothering him. "He was my mentor, Mel, and I betrayed him." She assures him everything he said was true, and displays intimacy by coming up behind him and putting her hands on his back, her forehead on his shoulders. She takes his hand and assures him they'll do what he dreamed, which seems to help. He says "First I have to save Viktor." But he's missing. She caresses his face and they flirt a little, it's clear the two of them are romantically involved. The heavy emotion here is sadness.

8. TW: Violence. This memory is in what looks like a plant. What is being made is bright colored substance, but someone on the outside wouldn't know. A boy runs across the room and hits a button that warns that Jayce and what looks like police are there. People appear in giant mech suits with bright colored powder in the face mask, and they seem to have no trouble cutting through all the people Jayce brought down. Jayce seems alone at first carrying a giant glowing hammer. When he is attacked from behind, a woman appears with giant glowing gloves and saves him. The two of them then fight the people and seem to be very easily defeating them despite being outnumbered. At a point Jayce seems to turn the hammer into a giant gun-like weapon that is blowing electrical explosions at people. He looks caught up in the moment, intense. The heavy emotion here is adrenaline/excitement.

OOC NOTE: This memory stops before the boy dies. 

9. TW: Suicidal thoughts. Viktor stands over a very high drop at a water treatment facility. It looks as if he plans on jumping, leaning over the edge, in a parallel to when Jayce was in the same position. "Am I interrupting?" Jayce asks, coming up behind him. He sets a giant hammer to the side. He brings up a fond memory between the two of them which makes them both smile. Viktor asks him to destroy the Hexcore, which is clearly a surprise as it's the only thing to save his life, which Jayce brings up. Viktor looks deeply sick and unwell, coughing horribly.  He makes him promise which Jayce does with great reluctance. He touches Viktor's shoulder and Viktor says: "We lost ourselves. Lost our dream. In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good." The heavy emotion here is love. 

Alucard | Free Cities | The Hierophant, fixed

[cryptsleeper]

For plotting, hit me up here.

Content warning: Canonical levels of extreme violence, gore, and sexual assault will follow.

Closed. Geralt, Old Public Hall

[cryptsleeper]

Careful, I’m behind you.

[The words come out automatically as Alucard passes behind Geralt, loaded with steel beams. There is a need to put supports up against the floor being replaced on the second story balcony, and using a steel frame with supporting planks is the most structurally sound way to do it.

Having a second set of hands with decent strength to bring to bare doesn’t hurt either, at least as far as having someone hold up a part of the structure while the other screws the hardware in to complete the frame. Alucard’s request was genuine, and it played into his own observation of Geralt’s skills.

It was quiet work, all things considered. No need for conversation unless it was wanted, or there were instructions to give. And here, now, that’s all just fine.

Alucard will admit, he might have grabbed a few too many pieces of metal this time around. They’re long, meaning he has to walk sideways, and for it he brushes over Geralt’s back.]

Jasper | Thorne | Judgement [Fixed]

[leitstern]

Plotting: safekeeping or PM

TW: Death and body horror and spoilers. Want something different? Feel free to get in touch.

Closed | Shuten, Wanda, Sephiroth

[leitstern]

[Jasper examines the Silver Orb in his hand. It weighs him down: his fingers adjusting to gravity and pressure. Nails scratch glass without leaving a mark. He lifts it before his eyes and blinks for a handful of seconds. Motes of light spark and fade within the sphere, the crystallised blood of the power of creation

But he wastes no time admiring it - magic erupts around his hand and engulfs the orb with a malevolent darkness. Black flames envelop his arm and ignite the remains of his humanity. His heart pulses, pounds wildly in expectation. The orb is brought to rest against his bare chest and cradled for a second.

One second more. Two. Three. Flames conflagrate and ignite - motionless for a moment until he slams the orb into his chest. He forces it deeper, sinking it into muscle and bone. Nerves spasm and spread around the sphere. Fingers elongate into claws. Bones lengthen and malform. Spikes erupt from his arms and vertebrae. Teeth grow into fangs. Skin hardens into leather and covers a tail that extends from the end of his spine. His ashen hair covers his body: arms, thighs and torso sprouting fur. Horns crack through his skull and the wrist joints of a large pair of wings.

One moment later, his tail twitches, flicking back and forth before curling at its tip. He feels the orb within his chest and fondles it thoughtfully. Wings extend and push, swimming through the air before folding by his side. He strokes a clawed hand through his mane and smiles, proud and satisfied of his power.

Strong. Powerful. Humanity is no longer a millstone around his conscience.]

Fandaniel (Endwalker Spoilers ahoy) | Hanged Man | Free Cities | Mutable

[endcaller]

((Select a memory here! Or people who are canon familiar can select a different memory. If there is a type of memory you are interested in and you are not canon familiar we can find a memory that works for you.

Instead of writing top levels for every potential memory I will be writing top levels as individual threads under this comment for each memory someone picks, closed to them. Anyone is welcome to pick a memory and get a top level.))

also mutable! (the hanged man)

[carmesi]

[wanda remembers excruciating pain, a migraine that she has grown most accustomed to now; it spells not ruin, but a lapse into someone else's memory—if not her own. she does not know what awaits her when she opens her eyes, the pain mollified for moments while she witnesses whatever there is to be witnessed.

the room she is in is dark, and she turns on her heels, looking around to see if this belongs to anyone else, if there is someone else here, after all. the pieces of the memory pull together, little by little, and her eyes land on a man who seems out of place; a layer within the memory, not a participant, much like herself.]

Is this yours?

[—this memory. it is hard for her to tell that it isn't hers, just yet.]

Goro | The Free Cities | The Chariot | Mutable

[fourarmedandangerous]

[Memories here! Feel free to pick one and get a prompt written, that way the writing I have to do is cut down. Goro is in the Free Cities when it first starts, but tries retreating to the Horizon on the second day and finds his situation is now actively worse.]

[carmesi]

The world she experiences here is familiar; walking in this memory, as it constructs itself, takes shape and forms a battlefield that has been of most recent renown. It is the world she returned to after having being dusted out of existence, with a new resolve in mind—to destroy Thanos.

Explosions, bombings, kicks and barrages of power of all kind.

Wanda remembers herself, tackling enemies but looking, for the purple Titan, to return the favor for what he did. In the battle-ridden landscape, he had been impossible to find, until she saw where the Infinity Gauntlet was headed, the pulse of purple energy, and there he was.

She puts arms to cover her face as she, the Wanda from the memory, lands, a pulse of red and anger and thirst for revenge.

"You took everything from me."

"I don't even know who you are."

The cold way in which she says "you will" in response is followed by her using her magic to raise the ground from below her, rising in tandem, throwing her magic without guilt nor concern. She faces Thanos without fear, rage fueling her attacks, one angry throw of scarlet energy after another, giving the Titan barely a chance to breathe, only managing to deflect her blows.

And the only moment he gets to take her on, her defenses down? Wanda slams the brakes with a magical shield—managing even to pull him back and destroy his sword in the process, wrapping him in red to remove every ounce of existence from him.

"Rain fire!"

She could have killed him—she knows this—and it angers that he had stopped her. He took Vision the right to die the way he had wanted, took the peace of his death away from him.

The real Wanda blasts magic into the memory, towards Thanos, but does nothing to the memory. "Coward!" It had been a cheap shot, to remove her from the equation. The memory storms with plasma energy from the skies, Wanda in the memory trying to fend it off—only to find herself blasting away and her magic removing itself from Thanos.

"Coward!"

The world erupts around them, the cannons blasting everything, the battlefield as chaotic as it can get, everyone trying to fend for themselves, alien and human alike.

Edelgard von Hresvelg | Thorne | The Emperor | Mutable

[flame_emperor]

[Memories can be found here. Same deal as Gorp, pick a memory, get a prompt to save on writing. Edelgard will likely also try to see if the Horizon is a refuge so I'm open for cross-faction experiences if you wanna do that.]

Closed to Byleth [CW child abuse, imprisonment, rats, experimentation, death. this is a heavy one.]

[flame_emperor]

In a cell, somewhere underground, a young girl in tattered red clothing that might at one point have been quite fine, but are now tattered with mud and filth, sits in a dark corner sobbing. Another figure, a young man in his late teens, early twenties perhaps, similarly dressed, sits slouched over on the other side of the cell, head bowed and silent. The young girl's twin tails have been undone, and the roots of her hair appear to be slowly turning white. Along her exposed arms and legs are what look like surgical scars. Recent ones.

She looks up to the cell's other occupant. "C...Conrad?" She utters, her voice terrified and hoarse. "Conrad, wake up." She starts to lean forward perhaps to try and go to him, but as she does so a small dark shape skitters across the stone floor and the girl throws herself back with a terrified shriek, curling into herself protectively. She does not try to get up again, but looks towards Conrad. Towards her brother.

"Conrad!" She sounds desperate now. "Conrad, please wake up! They're going to be here soon. Please...!"

In their shared domain, in the living quarters of the cottage by the windmill, the real Edelgard (at least as real as any other manifestation of a Summoned in that space) enters the living room with a tray of her and Byleth's preferred blend of tea, but her attention is immediately drawn to the way her love is slumped in the chair where Edelgard had left her.

Dismissing the tray and all its contents, Edelgard quickly crosses the room, and kneels down by Byleth's chair, cupping a hand to her cheek. "Byleth. Byleth, look at me." But the other woman's gaze is...glazed. Like she's in some sort of trance. Damn. Edelgard can guess the reason. The headache must have come on suddenly when Edelgard was out of the room.

The only thing she can do now is wait it out. She takes Byleth's hand in her own, ungloved in this most private space of theirs, and holds it, giving a small squeeze, if Byleth can even feel it wherever she is.

"I'm here, love. It will pass soon."

Mat Cauthon - Thorne - Wheel of Fortune

[a_better_man]

The dream alone is enough to unsettle Mat and have him on edge. Unfortunately this means he's restlessly roaming the castle or changing things up in his domain in the Horizon, where anyone might easily bump into him...


Memory 1 - CW: Child Neglect

A dark, tiny hovel. There's dirt on the floor and the windows are shuttered with nothing but pinned cloth. Three children huddle together in a hollowed out space in the wall, a boy of about eleven with Mat's curly dark hair and hazel eyes with his arms around two very young girls...


Memory 2

Nighttime. Crickets are chirping and a night-bird is calling. This is a small village, a handful of stone and thatch buildings visible, mountains in the near distance. Mat, a few years younger than he is in Abraxas and dressed in a dirty gray shirt and worn green jacket, stands with his fists balled in front of an older man with a red face, both of them appear angry...


Memory 3

Night again. Inside a dark building. The smell of smoke is on the air and people are screaming. It's chaos, even in here. Frightened people huddle together. Mat, in his worn green jacket and dirty shirt, is addressing an older man and woman.

"Where are they?" he's screaming. "Where are the girls?"


Memory 4 - CW: Possession

The empty streets of a dead city. It's cold. Something smells wrong. Mat is running. There's another young man with him, red haired and dressed in an animal skin coat. They're fleeing as though for their lives.

It flickers for a moment with another image. Mat in a darkened chamber, crouching in front of a chest, eyes dark and intent...


Memory 5

Sunlight. People laughing and calling out. Music. Mat sits on a balcony, legs dangling over the side, next to the red haired young man. They're watching the street below, expectantly. Mat looks ill, hollows under his eyes and a sheen of sweat on his skin...


Memory 6 - CW: Possession

A bedroom. Mat is in bed, bathed in sweat, shifting with pain. He groans. Two voices can be heard outside the door, a young man and a woman. The words are hard to make out but they're arguing. Mat attempts to lift his head but can't manage it..


Memory 7

Mat stands alone in an open field. There's a stone structure before him with a shimmering surface between the two towers of stone. Mat is staring at it, face contorted in confliction as he looks from the structure to behind him and back...

Memory 7 lmk if this is cool

[itookashot]

Jesper doesn't know what the hell is going on but he knows it's giving him regular headaches and throwing him off his game. Although, if he's being honest, there is an unbearable amount of curiosity in him that also is fascinated. Still he's come to the Horizon for a break from being nervous around people, thinking going to see Mat might be the easiest option. What's more soothing than being around his fellow Wheel and lover? They can talk about the nonsense going on.

He knows exactly where Mat's domain is obviously and heads there, wondering if things have changed, they look a bit different. He walks into the front hall and glances around.

"Love, you here? It's Jesper, are you all getting the same, oh fuck." It's toward the end of the sentence he feels that headache begin. Guess the Horizon is not in fact safe. Jesper manages to stumble over to the side and sit down with his back against a wall, suffering intensely.

They're in an open field. Jesper's confused to find that he actually seems to be in the memory. Not that the Mat in it sees him or anything, but that it's not the same as looking from the outisde. They're the same sign after all. This is new. He sees the structure and frowns, walking up to the Mat in the memory.

"What's this?"

He speaks up in the memory, surprised he is able to exist in it, somehow.

Jesper Fahey | Grishaverse | Wheel of Fortune | Mutable Sign

[itookashot]

Jesper is very active and he's always at the inn. He didn't give a second thought to the dream, odd and all, but whatever. He's doing work for Mags which means he is very easy to walk into or accidentally graze for a lot of the Summoned, leading into any of the following memories. He also is often running through the streets running errands, for Nadine or anyone else, and can run right into people in the meantime. After the first few times he gets the picture and tries to avoid touching people, but it's still possible.

Like others, he ends up fleeing into the Horizon. And it's also a mistake. At one point he gets tired of hiding in Kaz's room or Wylan's room, the only places of safety in his mind, and thinks maybe if he goes to other people's Horizons, he has a better chance of escaping it. No such luck.

[ooc: message me on waftingcurtains on plurk or just throw yourself at whatever!]

OTA any of these memories, marked for triggers

[itookashot]

Memory 1. These memories are a bit of a jumble, of a young brown-skinned gray-eyed boy six or seven and his loving mother. He helped her with all the chores, laundry, cooking, wood chopping, mending baskets, and they'd sing songs together. She was there teaching him how to ride a horse, clean a fish, but the most important thing they did together was shoot. It is on this memory that it pauses, the woman and her son training with a gun as they hunted together, or training him how to track and shoot from on top of a horse. "Anyone can shoot, but not everybody can aim," she'd tell him, and he started closing his eyes when he pulled the trigger, feeling the bullet. 

She showed him too how to strip stains from clothes and make gunpowder with her fingertips, and she said they were blessed, they were Zowa. "What kind of mother would I be to my son if I hid away my talents?" Her voice echoes through the last of the memories.

Memory 2. TW: Parental death. It's the middle of the night. A young boy is pretending to be asleep as his mother gets prepared to leave. A little girl needs her. She sweeps him up in her arms and whispers "go to sleep, little rabbit, and I'll be back tomorrow." Except she doesn't come back, they had to go to her. A little girl was crying when he came to her house, she looked guilty, because it was her who was sick, who his mother came for. "She didn’t take enough care when extracting the poison,” a strange man said. She's unconscious, lost in dreams, and Jesper presses his cheek to her hand, waiting for her to wake up. She never does.

Memory 3. The man who spoke about his mother's death appeared later, with the young girl she saved with him. He spoke of zowa, of people with gifts. He told Colm Fahey that he wanted to take Jesper with him. "There are teachers in the west, past the frontier. They could train them." Colm coldly replies. "Jesper doesn't have it." They man pushes, asks if he's sure, if he's been tested. Jesper is hidden in the back of the house, staying out of the conversation, although he's watching, he's listening. "You come back on this land and I'll consider it an invitation to put a bullet between your eyes. You go and you take that girl with you. No one here has the gift and no one here wants it."

When they leave,  Jesper asks him if he's zowa, and his father tells him to never say those words again. "That's what killed your mother." He tells Jesper never to use them again, that he has to promise. He asks Jesper if he wants to go with them, instead of stay with him, and he is ten now, his father needs him, shaking his head. "I want to stay with you." And they don't speak of it. 

Memory 4. Jesper's fifteen now, just off a farm so still a pigeon, but he's lost all his money and left the academy. He looks desperate, he feels desperate. He has been gambling again, every penny of his money from work with the gangs going to it. He's tossed out of another place, living on the streets. No matter what he does, there's never enough coin. He is trying to find a place to sleep when he's jumped by two men in a dark alley. Jesper puts up a valiant fight but he's not particularly well and he's about to get the beating of his life, he does know that. And then Kaz Brekker shows up, a boy like him, all sharp edges and ice, dark-haired and cold-eyed, and even with a cane he elegantly took them both up. Like a damned hero. Looking up at him, Jesper thought he was the cruelest looking angel that ever lived. "Come along, Jesper," he says, limping away, and he doesn't think about it. He gets off the ground and follows.

Years later he and Inej joke that it's possible Kaz hired them so Jesper would be indebted to him. Needless to say, by the love in Jesper's eyes as he follows him, it worked.

Memory 5. TW: Gruesome death. You're thrown into a memory that's almost like a nightmare. Wylan and Jesper are running and a woman walks right through a wall, she is made of mist. The two of them pause, confused, as guards turn to fight her and her partner, a man. The guards start to scream, loudly, flesh turning in on themselves, and Jesper says, horrified: "The Tidemakers are draining their blood." Blood is pooling on the ground and Jesper tries to get them to escape, but they're noticed. The woman disappears and appears again, kicking Wylan. Jesper starts to feel that same pain, red in his eyes, until Wylan tells him to Fabrikate. 

He hears him scream, the merchling, and through the pain Jesper focuses on every piece of metal, his clothes, the gate chain, on them. He thrusts his hands forward and the metal shoots out, stabbing into the two of them. They try to turn into mist and back into bodies, but he keeps throwing the metal at them, little pieces that they couldn't fight as they banged through their organs. The two of them die right before your eyes, with the woman crying "help me." But all Jesper and Wylan can do is run. Run while they can. Jesper looks behind him, at the people who would have been his people, other Grisha, and feels like a part of himself is left with them.

Memory 6. You're thrown right into the middle of a fire fight. Jesper and Wylan are running as bullets zip around them, Jesper returning fire and sniping one person after another. They're in a giant ice prison, dark and foreboding, outnumbered in a way that no one should be able to survive. Inej has run ahead toward one of the tanks and a huge loud boom split the air. A wall of glass shatters into infinite pieces and he manages to throw Wylan down, protecting him with his body. The two of them run to the tank and he climbs in, taking the controls from Inej. "Oh, hello, darling," Jesper croons as he pulls a lever. Wylan and Inej try to take the guns and aim, but Jesper focuses on the wall. On that damned famous legendary impenetrable wall made of ice and steel, and he pushes the tank's steering. They slam right into it ... and through it.

Inej, Wylan, and Jesper all end up in laughter and tears, as they drive right away from the ice prison, from men still trying to fire at the tank. They came there with all odds against them, and they were stealing it right from under their noses. 

Memory 7. There's a group of young Crows talking and arguing over what to do, the room is tense. There are a lot of opinions all at once, with Kaz saying he'll go to jail, and Jesper saying they should leave the city. Flee. Stay alive, stay safe. "This is my city," said Kaz. "I'm not leaving it with my tail between my legs." He and Jesper start arguing intensely, loudly, and Kaz says that the only reason Jesper wants him to run is so he doesn't have to feel bad about running. Jesper claims it's to stay alive.

"For what?" Kaz says. "So you can play another hand at the tables? So you can find another way to disappoint your father and let down your friends? Have you told your father you're the reason he's going to lose his farm? Have you told Inei you're the reason she almost died at the end of Omen's knife? That we all almost died?" 

Jesper looks devastated but he doesn't back down. "I made a mistake. I let my bad get the best of my good, but for Saints' sake, Kaz, how long are you going to make me pay for a little forgiveness?"

Kaz brings up a name Jesper's never heard before, Jordie, and he calls Jesper by that name. Surprised, confused, he asks who it means, and that seems to turn Kaz meaner, angrier, he calls Jesper a born loser and the two of them start to physically fight. They're punching and grabbing at each other, and the others watch, although Nina and Inej reassure the panicked Wylan they're not actually trying to hurt each other. It all ends when his father appears, yelling "Jesper Llewellyn Fahey, that's enough," and it stops, abruptly.

Memory 8. This is a completely different memory than all the others in that it seems to be made of pure joy. They are in a beautiful mansion, colorful, bright, and Jesper, Wylan, and Inej are happy, they're smiling like the weight off the world is off their shoulders. Anyone who has visited Jesper's Horizon may recognize the fancy Van Eck Mansion as this location. They're sitting around a table decked out with so much food, it should be enough for a whole group, but Jesper looks at it with his 'challenge accepted' face. 

"If you two want any, you'll have to act fast, because I'm going for the record." It's waffles, stacked high, with fruit and syrup and everything any waffle enthusiast could ever ask for. Jesper takes way too much onto his plate and Wylan smiles at him. He's a beautiful boy with blue eyes and russet gold curls, and Jesper smiles back like the sun hung over him. Jesper takes his hand and kisses the soft fingers, making him blush and pull it back with a laugh. Inej rolls her eyes at them, and the memory ends in that glowing sort of happiness.

Ronan Lynch | Thorne | The Moon (Mutable)

[nightwash]

Choose one or more of the following memories & tag into a starter below or post your own!

1 - Bury It: Minor spoilers. No warnings. A very young Ronan is excited to show everyone the present he's dreamt for his mother, but she tells him to bury it because such things have to remain secret. Provides context for #11 & #12.

2 - Matthew: Minor spoilers. No warnings. Three-year-old Ronan is tired of his grumpy older brother so he creates a brother who will actually be happy to see him and play with him. Provides context for #6, #11 & #12.

3 - Damn Cool Trick: Minor spoilers. Warning for gore and vague references to pedophilia and child murder. In the midst of dreaming blackmail material against the man who killed his father, Ronan is forced to kill a copy of himself.

4 - Cabeswater: Major spoilers for The Raven Cycle. No warnings. Ronan and Adam are investigating the corruption of an enchanted forest when Adam has a realization about Ronan's connection to it. Provides context for #5, #6 & #10.

5 - Unguibus et Rostro: Minor spoilers. No warnings. Ronan's first kiss. Provides context for #6, #9 & #10.

6 - Sacrifice: Major spoilers for The Raven Cycle. Warning for body horror and death. As Ronan is being destroyed by a demon, his friends decide a ritual sacrifice must be made to save him.

7 - The Worst Dream: No spoilers. Warning for existential horror. Ronan's worst dream. Provides context for #11.

8 - Bryde: Minor spoilers. No warnings. Ronan's first encounter with his mentor. Provides context for #9, #10, #11 & #12.

9 - Murder Crabs: Minor spoilers. Warning for creepy nightmare creatures. Ronan's plans to start a new life with his boyfriend are ruined when he loses control of his dreams. Provides context for #10, #11 & #12.

10 - Fuck Texting: Minor spoilers. No warnings. Ronan and Hennessy dream together. Provides context for #11 & #12.

11 - End of the World: Major spoilers for The Dreamer Trilogy. Warning for existential horror. Ronan has a devastating realization about his mentor and his own nature. Provides context for #12.

12 - Start Something: Major spoilers for The Dreamer Trilogy. No warnings. Ronan feels betrayed when Hennessy confronts him with a dream that will change both their lives.

Plot with me here or hit me up at pana / pana#3353!
If you'd rather, we can handwave a memory experience. Just let me know.

Castle Thorne / The Horizon | OPEN

[nightwash]

Ronan is used to sharing his mind with others. It can be a very crowded place, in fact, under the right circumstances. In dreams, his thoughts are laid bare for any other dreamer who might decide to drop in. In the waking world, his mind is a physical place that can be sought out, explored, violated. Back home, it was a forest called Lindenmere, nestled into the Blue Ridge Mountains along a ley line that cut from Virginia to Wales. In Abraxas, it's a different forest, tucked into different mountains, feeding off a different source of magic.

It's not unheard of for Ronan to invite someone into his forest. It's quite another matter to have someone enter his sacred mindspace without his permission.

By now, Ronan has realized that this is out of his control. His memories are spilling out of his mind whether he likes it or not, and he can either hide himself away like he's done all his life or he can carry on as usual. He chooses the latter.

That means he's at breakfast, sitting at one of the communal tables like he does every morning. He's at training after that, though physical contact is almost guaranteed, and he even goes to the baths when that's over. He does a fair bit more meditating in Kylo's study than he would ordinarily dare, seeking out answers on the Horizon, but then he's at dinner with everyone and socializing or eavesdropping for a couple hours until it's time to sleep again.

Jordan Hennessy | Thorne | Moon (mutable)

[impressionism]

[ Choose a memory; if we've discussed it already I'll give you a closed starter; open starters to follow shortly. 1 & 2 may be experienced together or individually.]

1. A young Hennessy's mom paints her portrait.

2. Continued from the above memory; Hennessy is locked in her mother's studio. (cw: child neglect.)

3. Hennessy's mom's death. (cw: suicide; locked to those who've discussed it with me already!)

4. Hennessy's worst nightmare: The Lace.

5. A surrender; or Hennessy finds some help?

Open Prompts:

[impressionism]

Nothing to see here.

Hennessy awakes with a gasp on the first night, her hands flying immediately to her throat and checking for blood. She pulls back a shaking hand to find it clean, the only moisture a bit of sweat likely resulting from the burst of wild panic that had pulled her out of it. It wasn't the Lace dream. If it had been, she'd be dead. If it had been, there'd be another girl with her face. If it had been --

That line of thought leads nowhere good, and she's well and truly awake now. She's not going to wake Ronan just because her brain got spooked over nothing. She needs a walk. And a drink. And something to think about besides the memory of being seen by something that ought to have been the Lace but somehow wasn't.

As she makes her way down to one of the common areas, she sees another such as herself, awake before dawn and wearing a similarly bemused expression over it. She's not looking for any particular company, but conversation tends to chase away the threads of sleep as well as anything else.

"You're up late. Or early."

On the Horizon.

The moment she realizes that castle Thorne isn't any safer than the places they're forbidding anyone to go, she retreats to her domain -- a large, ornate house with completely impossible architecture once one truly looks at it, surrounded on all sides with a wild tangle of equally improbable plants. Some of them look as though the might bite. Some of them do bite. Overall, not a particularly welcoming place, but Hennessy never did appreciate confinement of any sort. Eventually, even she gets bored of solitude.

Find her out along the edges of her domain, perhaps even having wandered into yours. In either case, once spotted, she holds up a hand in warning.

"Don't come any closer. Bad shit happens if you get too close."

She hasn't worked out if it's only touching that sets off the memory thing, but she's not in the mood to find out. Bad enough that she's seen a whole lot of other people's bullshit and let them see hers. If here isn't even safe, what's the point of it? Might as well go back to where she can just poke someone with her sword if they get too close.

[ Pick a memory or throw one of yours at her, or just have a conversation about it; your choice! ]

wanda maximoff · solvunn · the hanged man (mutable)

[carmesi]

CLOSED STARTERS BELOW
WANDA'S PLOT POST COMMENT
TW: war, family deaths, (mild) human experimentation, grieving of lost loved ones.

GERALT · mutable

[carmesi]

[coming into the horizon was a mistake, but one wanda will only be able to consider after the effects of whatever is stringing their memories together gives. she had been hoping to find solitude in her cabin, lock the doors, invite no one, and wait this out—and it had worked, momentarily.

the sharp pain in her head is the only thing that gives her warning, the next steps she takes not on hardwood floors, but that of concrete flooring, cold walls around her. wanda sees herself, a child, ten years old, sitting in bed together with her twin brother who holds her tight around the blankets.]

Wandechka, [pietro starts, whispering in sokovian, and wanda's lower lip trembles at the emotion this memory brings.] we have to try to sleep. Tomorrow we can look again.

[their parents dead, pietro took the role as the 'older' brother upon himself most seriously. sometimes wanda can't understand where he got all that optimism and energy from.]

I don't want to see this!

[why does she get to browse through this particular memory? why is she in it? perhaps if she voices this, outs her protest, the memory will cease?]

y'shtola rhul | thorne | the high priestess (mutable)

[aurasight]

Hit me up here for plotting. Closed starters below, will eventually have an open post later.

Content warnings will be posted in comments depending on memory.

thancred | ~ apr 20th

[aurasight]

[ It isn't long after Y'shtola's arrival and the subsequent return of her magic when things begin to change. At night, there is a dream of an eclipse, and as the day wanes on she hears more and more of troubled Summoned discussing what came the night prior...and concerns they have that something has changed. For every now and then, someone else murmurs about a dream they encountered, some kind of memory.

And then, well, it happens to Y'shtola too. She cannot lie and say she wasn't angling to try and see such a phenomena for herself, but at least the first time it is only a passing glance. Things seem to grow more and more convoluted, as even the Horizon is not safe from such a thing. She could, of course, hole herself up in the library and look for mentions of this. So, too, could she ask some of the locals, even if they seem not to be affected by what's going on. But as Thorne begins to demand that no one leave the castle walls, she finds that she isn't inclined to share her growing fascination or her inclination to know what else is happening.

Instead, she goes to find Thancred.

She doesn't think he's already slipped out - though she wouldn't be shocked if he had, frankly - and so while it takes some time for her to find him, it, thankfully, doesn't take her too long. She finds Thancred near the outskirts of the North Wing, coming close but not touching him. ]

If you've time, we should speak.

[ Which is the Y'shtola equivalent of not just hello, how are you but also not...really a suggestion. She keeps walking, heading far enough away that they might not be immediately overheard, should someone chance upon them. And she waits until he's joined her to ask: ]

I'm certain you've heard of the complaints around Thorne from the other Summoned. Have you been subjected to anything peculiar yet?

Thane Krios | Solvunn | Death, Fixed

[wickedprayers]

Plotting TL
Starters in replies
Open unless stated otherwise!
Please use whichever format you prefer

The Assassin. CW: brief discussion of terminal illness

[wickedprayers]

Video clip, memory ends at 4:30

"Stay put. When I'm finished dealing with this nuisance you and I are going to—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Thane is seen dropping from a vent above behind the first armed guard. He snaps his neck and in one swift motion, he's dead. The next guard doesn't notice quickly enough. Thane is already plunging a fist against his throat. The only sound he makes is a strangled one as he drops to the ground. The woman at the end of this macabre queue sees what's happening fast enough to draw her gun, but not fast enough to draw it faster than her attacker. One shot is all it takes from a concealed weapon when Nassana finally turns and registers what's happening and the last of her guards is hitting the floor. Her hand is outstretched in defense, but Thane grasps her wrist and spins around until his gun is pressed against her stomach.

There's finally a pause, but it only lasts a second before he pulls the trigger.

In one smooth motion, he cradles the woman in his arms, a hand behind her head as he gently lays her on top of a console, her dying noises the only sound in the room. Thane crosses her arms over her chest and steps back, looking as if he is admiring his work. Instead, he waits until she dies, bows his head, and places his palms together in silent prayer.

"That was quite the entrance," remarks a man in a distrustful tone, and like his companions (well, save for one standing with confidence and full armor at the forefront) are pointing weapons at him.

The man in the middle steps forward. "I came a long way to talk to you."

"One moment," Thane says after a pause. "Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

"Nassana and her men deserved what they got."

"Not for her," he starts, before finally lifting his head. "For me."

Thane finally holsters his gun as he begins to walk around the console, a hand running over its smooth surface. "The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance." He gestures with a hand and gives the armored man a once over. "All this destruction. Chaos. I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me." He glances over at Nassana's lifeless form before he turns back to the group of three. "Well, here I am."

"I do want to talk to you, but how did you know I was here?"

"Gunfire and explosions," he starts, walking over to one of the armed individuals pointing a gun directly at him. He stands before her as if studying her, with his arms behind his back he continues his response. "I prefer to work quietly. If I have to fight through guards I've made a mistake. I rarely make mistakes. You disrupted my plan," he says as he spares a glance back, briefly. "But your distraction eventually proved valuable."

"Let's cut to the chase," the armored man cuts in, unbothered at the admission he was used as a distraction. "I need you for a mission."

"Indeed."

"You're familiar with the Collectors?"

Thane finally turns from the woman and walks over to the console, staring out at the setting sun. "By reputation."

"They're abducting entire human colonies. Freedom's Progress was their handiwork."

There's a pregnant pause as Thane lowers his head. "I see."

"We're going after them," the man speaks with about as much confidence as you can expect from someone with a rocket launcher strapped to his back.

Thane turns. "Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

The man continues to be unphased. "They tell me it's a suicide mission. I intend to prove them wrong." He steps forward as they both turn their gazes to the setting sun dipping lower into the sky, rays of light piercing the room.

"A suicide mission." Thane's eyes close as he considers those words. "Yes, a suicide mission would do nicely." He passes the man a brief glance. "I'm dying. Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."

"Not to look a gift assassin in the mouth," the man starts, awkwardly readjusting his helmet that needs no adjustment. "but why are human colonists a concern to you?"

"They're innocent, yes? Like all victims of the Collectors. The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die."

Commander Shepard ★ Mass Effect ★ Judgement (mutable)

[earthborn]

Never the sort to put much stock in dreams, despite everything, Shepard is unperturbed. She's lived an eventful life, with plenty of bizarre and upsetting things to invade her nights; she's no stranger to an unusually observational hallucination. Besides, the daw days, time moves on, life continues...

...And then it happens.

Maybe you're just bumping elbows with her at the bar, or the canteen, or in the street. Maybe, once she tries out this Horizon thing, later in the week, looking for some relief, you're unlucky enough to catch the back-blow that way.

★★★
Individual prompts to be posted as comments to this toplevel.
Check here, or contact me for individualized plans/prompts.
micabean .★. Mica#1346

Prothean Cipher ★ tw: blood/gore/ect

[earthborn]

"Shepard!"

It starts in flashes, pressure, pain inside her head so that she thinks it'll burst, so that Shepard is forced to hunch over, mouthful of blood, bitten lip. The Prothean Cipher pounces, rising up in an acrid swell of bile. Shepard has just enough time to realize that something is about to happen, but it's already begun.

"No, don't touch her! Too dangerous!"

Light and sound distorted beyond comprehension, incredibly bright, extremely close. A disorienting, grinding cacophony, vaguely flickering like the light of an explosion around the silhouette of a tortured figure, one arm upraised. Blood and machines intermingled, coagulating, clogged, the smell of wet meat, of cooking bacon, mother and child clinging to one another, screaming, burnt. The ugly, fluid stretch of muscles wrenched out of place. Pain. Burning, stretching pain. Electric pain. Cutting pain. Somewhere, someone is screaming-- some thing is screaming, a sound so raw with emotion that it is painful just to hear. An alien shape, like an impossibly large cuttlefish, looming up and up and up, flickering with flesh and red light so that the screams somehow, impossibly, intensify.

The sound of a drill, meeting resistance in wet wood. It is not wood. It is not wet with water.

Flashes, one after another, death, fire, the chaos of an unplanned evacuation multiplied a thousandfold. The smell, over it all, of burning flesh. Bodies, not yet dead, huddled figures in the process of dying, of never being allowed to merely die.

It all distorts, combines, falls away, star-fire and black holes, a glowing accretion disk. The horror continues even as all other sensation fades, leaving behind a painful, agonizing anxiety; a message of warning that cannot be ignored. This is important. This is important. This is important, and you must never forget it. You can never forget it.

The dark shapes loom, hundreds strong, huge beyond human comprehension, skyscraper-sized, but wider. Alive. Malevolent. Coming.

Reapers.

Himeka Sui | Solvunn | The Fool (Mutable)

[aquaveiled]

[ ooc; I default to brackets but will match your style! All memories are open! Feel free to respond to whichever one you want to have witnessed and just let me know if this took place in Solvunn or Horizon. Also, if you want her to experience one of your memories and won't be top-leveling, feel free to use the open prompt for that! You can always ping me on her plotting comment or on plurk at doggystyle or the discord server. ]

✽ locations

a. in solvunn

[ Himeka is the sort of person you will run into all over the Commune. Though she many spend a week or two in one place, she is always traveling in town or out between the Settlements, exploring the woods, or running errands for the locals. She likes to keep herself busy and is wont to wave and stop and chat with anyone she's met for spoken to even just once before. Having horns and scales does make her stick out a bit, but she's a stable enough presence for the past several months that no one bats an eye. She's just part of daily life now.

In April she is found mostly in the Primary Settlement or just outside of town, having come back from a journey into the woods not too long ago. When she sees you, she smiles and offers a wave in greeting, only for her face to change to concerned when you start to succumb to the vision... ]

b. in horizon

[ As with the woman who crated it, Himeka's domain travels and is ever changing. When she parks her crystal and the domain is open, it appears as a large bubble stuck to the ground from the outside. Upon entering a myriad of different worlds are reflected, like a small snow-globe of different scenes. In all instances, small dragons accompany her both inside the bubble or occasionally venturing out to greet visitors.

While she can be found entertaining herself inside her domain Himeka is just as likely to snoop unannounced in other people's domain's--she likes to explore new places and reacquaint herself with old or changing lands. Whether she is welcoming you to her domain or taking a step into yours, she (or her dragonets) may offer a greeting. Until the Horizon begins to fade and twist into something else... ]

a lizard's memories

[aquaveiled]

✽ memories

i. making friends [ cw; none ]

[ The memory begins in the water, several yalms underneath the surface of the sea. It's bright despite this as light filters in from above the waves, creating beams of light. They highlight a young Himeka, no more than six, as she floats completely unbothered by a coral reef. Her tail is noticeably much shorter and her horns are small and underdeveloped, but her scales have the same pearlescent shine as they always have. Though fish swim all about, picking at the coral or migrating above, Himeka herself is focused on something in particular. ]

Do you really think so?

[ In front of her is water--of course it is. But it stands out from the water of the sea, something condensed, heavier. An amorphous deep blue glow undulates in front of her, seeming to wiggle a little more to her words. Fish noticeably stay clear of it, but they are not afraid. ]

But...if it's too hot the oysters will die.

[ The strange blob glows and pulls tightly into itself before drawing into the coral and disappear. Young Himeka frowns as she looks behind her towards a village beneath the waves. As she starts to swim back, the memory ends on a sudden flash of oyster beds with many of the shells burst open. ]


ii. sickness in the sea [ cw; disease, child death, plague ]

[ It's not a coherent scene, but rather a series of different memories strung together in sequence. The first is of a man and a woman, both Auri and with similar scales to Himeka. They are telling her and two older boys that there is nothing to worry about and that it is best to eat dinner and not play outside for a while. Next, Himeka is close to the man from before, holding onto his pant leg as he checks the oyster beds outside of town. He's scolding her for swimming off without him. Next, she and the two other boys are hustled quickly away from a fishmonger as he coughs, coughs--he cannot stop coughing. Next, Himeka is hiding under what appears to be some sort of catch for spears with a girl about her own age. They squat together and draw in the sand, but the other girl's scales are dull, looking almost rotting. She coughs as Himeka tries to cheer her up with a new drawing of a crab. Last, she's asking the woman from the first scene where "Maneyo" went. The woman says that she is one with the waves now. ]


iii. lord of the inferno [ cw; violence, implied human sacrifice ]

[ YouTube Clip of Scene ]

[ Himeka is in a desert, flanked by beings who are even more lizard-like than she is. There are several human-looking men who are tied up behind her, though she stands unbound. The lizard people pray towards the sky as a ball of fire ignites and a giant creature appears engulfed in flame. At the bidding of the lizard people, it blasts the group with a bright flame--the previously bound men suddenly bend to the will of the great creature. But Himeka does not--despite being blasted, she stands untouched. The lizard people, aghast, pull back as the giant creature Ifrit surrounds the area in fire to face off against her.

In the end, Ifrit is defeated, leaving behind a red stone. There's a swell of success through her chest. This is something that shouldn't have been possible, she feels--but she did it! And it was exhilarating. ]


iv. to those we have lost [ cw; mass death, dealing with corpses, loss ]

[ Another desert, but this time it's a port town made of stone. Despite the warm weather and idyllic setting, the mood is anything but. Himeka watches as lifeless bodies are carried out of a building that feels familiar if not loved, bodies with faces that ping recognition as well. They are all manner of people, all cut down too soon. She stands outside as they are laid down just off to the side. She feels her stomach churn, her heart sink into it in the same beat. ]

How could this...is this really happening?

[ No matter how hard she looks, it doesn't feel real. It doesn't. Or maybe that's just because she doesn't want it to be. ]

"We need help moving them to the carriages..."

[ Himeka swallows, looking up towards yet another familiar face and nods. She can do that much, at least. Her steps are heavy as she walks towards the corpses... ]


v. the keeper of the lake [ cw; none ]

[ YouTube Clip of Scene ]

[ Himeka appears tired with her conjurers cane at her back, flanked on her sides are the bodies of two dragons, recently defeated. A booming voice calls out as she looks up to find the glowing red eyes of the calcified body of a great dragon now awake again. Though the mouth doesn't move, she hears the voice in her mind, speaking to her as a feeble mortal. Her talents, he says, are not so much talents but Her blessing. He calls forth the name of Hydaelyn and in that same instant, a beam of unknown energy shoots through her chest.

Strangely, she seems unharmed, though the great warm laughs. He states that he has not harmed her but only removed Her Blessing and will thus leave Himeka to her own wiles. As he continues the speak, a deceptively cute and comically pot-bellied little dragon appears, now projecting that same booming voice. ]

"Fight and struggle if it be thy will... I drink of Her body, and then doth mine own find new life. When it hath grown whole, the loyal and sentient shall rejoice. The Dragonsong heraldeth a beginning...and an end."


vi. finally some good fucking food [ cw; none ]

[ YouTube Clip of Scene ]

[ The scene begins on what seems to be a balcony on some city by the water with seagulls audible in the background. Himeka places several plates of food in front of an older, discerning looking man. Then she stands back and watches--though her face is mostly calm, her heart is beating quickly as he picks up his knife and fork. The whole landing is quiet as he samples and, surprisingly, finishes each plate.

It's a tense moment as the final score is requested and, without saying a word, he holds up eight fingers. It seems to be a loss for Himeka...except the suddenly holds up another! Nine! A tie! A tie for the highest score on re--

--wait, no. Ten fingers! A perfect ten! ]

"We have a winner: Himeka Sui, with the first perfect ten in history!"

[ The crowd cheers! But her opponent cannot believe the results. The judge seems relieved despite this, finally gal he's found someone who surpasses his culinary skills. He then waxes poetic about each of her dishes, down to how the minute differences in ingredients helped prepare him for the next course. With each appraisal, dreamy though he seems, Himeka feels delighted and claps happily to herself.

This feels almost better than defeating Ifrit! Finally... she is a chef! ]


vii. my first friend...my enemy [ cw; glorification of violence, masochistic language, suicide ]

[ YouTube Clip of Scene ]

[ Himeka lands a final blow on her enemy and his body is shot down from the sky, landing in a bed of flowers on the menagerie below. She appears not far from his form as two figures that register with fondness in her heart rush in behind her. The woman names the fallen figure as "Zenos"--a man clad in full dark armor as he stands, despite his wounds. He chuckles as he does, not seeming the least of all upset about being defeated. No, if anything, he is elated. ]

"The hunter has indeed become the hunted...And yet...there is only joy. Transcendent joy that I have never known. How invigorating, how...pure, this feeling."

[ Blood trickles from his mouth as he waves off the judgment that all this death came for his own entertainment. Himeka can feel her heart clenching in on itself at the thought as he continues to wax poetic. ]

"...Oh this. This moment. Let it be enshrined in eternity! My heart...beating out of time. So clear, so vivid, so real... So real."

[ He holds his large katana up to his neck. Himeka immediately lurches forward as a boy beside her calls Zenos a coward. The woman rushes forward in an attempt to stop him.

Zenos pays her no mind, instead locking his gaze with Himeka as he smiles fondly. ]

"Farewell, my first friend. My enemy."

[ He slices his throat, his body falling to the ground. The woman stops in her tracks, too late to do anything. ]


viii. sin eaters [ cw; death, body horror ]

[ YouTube Clip of Scene ]

[ Himeka and a white-haired girl run out into a desolate, rocky land bathed in harsh light. They seem to be looking for someone, but to no avail. The girl mentions that they need to be on the lookout for something called "Sin Eaters" just when the hear something that sounds like the beating of wings overhead. A creature that appears like a totally white valkyrie soars above them, towards...a boy. A boy who has scales and a tail much like Himeka does. ]

"Is--is that? Oh...oh no! Halric!"

[ Himeka and the girl rush forward towards the boy, but a blonde-haired woman armed with a sword appears and slices through a wing of the creature, effectively knocking it away from the boy. She then quickly slides forward towards the boy, bidding him to run with her--

--only to be stabbed through the chest by the creature.

Himeka and the girl stop, watching horrified as a bright white light glows from her chest. Though blood pours forth from the wound, that is clearly not the problem. Even with the sword removed, the glowing doesn't stop. The woman--"Tesleen", as the white-haired girl shouts--fights through the pin as the light slowly consumes her, reaching out to the emotionless boy as she tries to offer words of comfort. ]

"The time left to you...is precious... No one should die... in pain..."

[ Tesleen convulses again and again, screaming out in agony. Light pours forth from her mouth as she coughs it up on the ground, her face stretching to impossible lengths as she melts like a candle. In one instant, she's in a cocoon that writhes. In the next, she hatches reborn an abomination.

The valkyrie-like sin eater takes to the sky. The transformed Tesleen follows, offering a disjointed apology as she disappears into the bright horizon. ]

viktor | free cities | death (fixed)

[techmaturgy]

i. the setup

[Despite the fact that Viktor tends to be fairly private—at least about his personal life—he discovers fairly quickly that there’s really no avoiding the situation short of physically sequestering himself somewhere nobody can find him or make physical contact with him or transfer any unpleasant memories alongside an even more unpleasant migraine (as if he needs more various physical ailments). None of this is ideal, obviously, but he isn't going to sit around and just let it happen, if he can help it.

So he can be found, as usual, in his workshop, or around the academies, or maybe just having a really bad headache somewhere, apparently because of his attempts to discern what may or may not be going on around here. When those efforts prove fruitless (or, perhaps, put him more in contact with others than he wants to be), he tries the Horizon instead, even if that’s arguably worse. If this is coming from the Singularity, however, this is where he’s going to get to the bottom of things, even if it means more inadvertent sharing than he might like.]

ii. the nice stuff
cw: prevention of a suicide attempt

[The entire day is a whirlwind—what begins as a somewhat unexpected assignment (go to the ruins of an apartment building, consolidate research for disposal, ensure that the hapless student responsible for the illegal research is taken into custody) becomes something else entirely. He attends the trial out of curiosity, only to find that the illegal research in question was an attempt to artificially harness magical forces. Despite the general outrage of the Council and Jayce’s ultimate expulsion from the Academy, it’s impossible not to consider the world-changing applications of such technology.

Viktor steals the notes. He finds Jayce. Stops him from making the biggest mistake of his life. Convinces him to change the world.

It’s not an entirely seamless operation but with some luck, they break into where the equipment is being stored and complete the experiment. Everything is beautiful, and blue, and neither of them are bound by gravity, at least not for a few long, perfect minutes. Viktor smiles more sincerely than he thinks he ever has. How can he not? This is revolutionary—nothing will be the same, not after this.]

iii. the not so nice stuff
cw: terminal illness, blood

[Years pass. Everything in the interim seems to come in flashes, but a few things are clear—Hextech pushes the city of Piltover to unimaginable new heights. Viktor withdraws, slightly, from public life in the wake of what seems to be declining health, more than content to allow Jayce to become the face of their research. It does not, however, stop him from working, though from the collection of memories it seems that each new innovation is subject to slow-walking from the Council, scrutiny from Academy officials, and a lack of urgency when it comes to allowing the Undercity access to Hextech. In one instance, it’s even Jayce that reneges on announcing a project, while Viktor watches, agitated, from a darkened backstage.

Whether you receive glimpses or a more comprehensive chain of memories, one thing seems to be certain: Viktor does not have the luxury of time. Perhaps it’s just ill-timed coughing. Perhaps you glimpse something more worrying than that. Either way, it all culminates in one night of overwork and a stay in the hospital where the worst is revealed, though it’s apparent that Viktor, on some level, has known this for a long time.]

iv. the weird stuff
cw: terminal illness, medical stuff, blood, altered mind states, the intent to self-harm/do drugs (but not the actual act)

[Things only get weirder from here—Viktor spends a not insignificant amount of time with Hexcore, which moves on its own, now, a floating, ever-shifting collection of runes that whisper strange echoes. He stares at it for hours, gazing into seemingly endless fractals of criss-crossing purple webbing, and when he finally takes note of his own dried blood on the table, Viktor reaches the logical conclusion. Whatever’s he’s made here reacts to organic matter, but when he tries to push these arcane forces through a succession of houseplants, the result is always the same, his subjects flourishing beyond anything previously thought imaginable, only to die moments later. He’s not sure what else to do, and his mentor provides no advice. Worse, he wants the thing destroyed.

So he goes, eventually, to what some might recognize as the cave in his Horizon domain. Beyond the wood door, inset into the rock wall, is a lab that glows with ominous green light, shadows cast across the floor by the looming shape of a lizard-like creature suspended in a cylindrical tank (slightly less recognizable from his domain). Whatever Viktor’s doing with the Hexcore isn’t working, and time is running out. The scientist inside has advice, at least, though it all seems sort of ominous, and culminates with the handing over of a vial of vibrant purple liquid—everything one needs to survive a violent transition, he says.

When Viktor returns to his own laboratory, the intent is clear. The vial, inserted into an injector, the compressed air pump primed for use. Scalpels laid out in a tray. The Hexcore, spinning and chiming in anticipation, casting its ethereal blue glow across the worktable.]

v. wildcard

[Bespoke starters below. I will write one!! For you!! Anything you want!!! These general open prompts are just a small smattering of memories (just let me know which one you’re going for), but there are many many more on my plotting post here and a some compiled youtube links on my plurk here (feel free to friend at whitticus). Open to fixed signs and mutable signs and everything in between.]

@alucard

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor has no reason not to go to the Horizon, this soon after the dream and it's apparent effects on the Summoned. Clearly the eclipse has something to do with the Singularity, so the logical conclusion is to retreat into his domain and see what he can discover there--if there's any sign or signal of what's happening within the strange mindscape itself. He's almost disappointed to find that it really isn't any different, just with the added bonus of not needing physical contact to experience someone else's memories. It leaves him without a lead, with more memories than he really knows what to do with.

This one, at least, he recognizes. Viktor is a bit more desensitized to violence than he might let on, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard to witness, especially when he knows to whom the memory belongs. Alucard has hinted, briefly, to the ugly events of his past, and it all makes sense now--more than that, it makes Viktor feel profoundly sad, that someone would be put in this situation. Would have to make that kind of choice. He's an intensely private person himself, so he knows that company might be unwelcome, at a time like this, but he also thinks that, perhaps, it's wrong to try and bear this kind of thing alone.

He's not even sure Alucard is in, right now. If he's also fled to the Horizon in an attempt to avoid what must feel like an incredible invasion of privacy. He's not even sure where to find him, but it feels wrong, not to let him know. Viktor thinks, that if someone out in the Horizon is experiencing his memories in turn, he'd want them to be honest with him, so that's what he offers now, reaching out to send a message.]

I saw something I'm not sure I should have. I'd like to visit, if you're here.

noa | geralt of rivia | the hanged man (mutable)

[gynvael]

(( please find me at any time on the plotting post for memory share things or discontinued. that list of memories is not exhaustive; if you have a certain vibe or cr direction in mind, just drop a comment and we can talk out what fits!

because geralt's emotional state will be highly influenced by what he experiences and when (and with whom), i'm keeping to custom starters only to have a good grasp of his behaviour in various threads. that said, i'm 100% open to doing additional starters for anyone at any time, so feel free to poke me and i'll work it in. ))

day 1.

[gynvael]

(( CW: gore, torture, experiments, fucked up childhood experiences, children dying, massacres, plagues, other bad things ))
I. Sephiroth

[ In the aftermath of the dream, Geralt seeks answers. Tries to, anyhow. He asks Ciri when he catches her awake, Jaskier, Sam. Gathers that everyone knows about as much as he does, which is fuck all. He doesn't like it. Dreams, visions of this kind, they mean something. They always do. But Ciri assured him she saw nothing else other than what they all did. Just the same image. No pull.

Late morning, he finds himself in the academy library. He was here more often early in—reading on the world, its creatures, its history—but lately, there's been less of a need. Now he searches for...what. Omens and dreams? Is there even fucking anything worth looking at?

It's either in the library itself or his way out the door that he glimpses the familiar length of silver hair. Geralt pauses, then catches up. Falls into step beside Sephiroth with little announcement. He means to ask the man about the vision, the unblinking black sun. Their shoulders brush, and—

( What Sephiroth might glimpse is not altogether clear, tattered at the edges the way old memories are—but somehow, this one seems especially hazy. There are faces of young boys, absent of defining features. It is cold, a chill that filters into the dimly lit room. One child stands out in particular, a clearer image than the others, and strapped to a bed stained with years of dried blood. Looks not more than five, six. His hair flickers dirty blonde to brown from one moment to the next, like Geralt himself no longer recalls the exact shade of his hair as a boy. Fear fills the air—a thick syringe in the hands of a figure who radiates magic, bent over the bed. Beneath the stone floors, unseen, the screams echo. ) ] ]

II. Dean Winchester

[ His head is still fucking pounding. Frankly, Geralt's not stayed long after his encounter with Sephiroth. He's grasped an idea of what the man glimpsed; he isn't interested in going over it in detail. It still feels too fresh after what happened in Thorne.

And what in the hell is going on? The Singularity again? Must be. It's opened up his future once. Why not the past? But he hasn't any idea what's causing it, if it's a burst that can occur any time or if there are particulars, conditions, a reason. He makes his way home. Thinks, maybe, if he removes himself from the crowded city streets, he can clear his head a little. He's distracted, sees Dean far too late as he steps through the door into Mag's inn and bumps right into him.

( Here, it is just dark: a pitch-black void that comes from a complete lack of light. Not much of anything can be seen. It matters little, because the sounds, the screams, the smells paint enough of a picture. The air is stale, freezing, what feels like stone floors underneath their feet. Blood soaks the air heaviest, new and old alike, thick and rotting and punctuated with vomit and decay. It all stutters and fades in and out, muted and then too sharp—as though time has been frequently lost, the memory itself full of missing pieces.

Hard to say how much time is meant to pass—days, certainly—and one by one, the sound of the dying fall silent. )

Outside, Geralt reaches on instinct for Dean, a furrow to his brows. Thinks: fuck. ] You all right?

III. Julie Lawry

[ The honest truth is, he isn't certain what brings him to Julie and Nadine's place. They're near. He wants to check on them, see if they're experiencing what he has, if they're okay. It must be affecting all of them, but he can't tell to what degree. Maybe the other part of it is he doesn't want to go home where Ciri might be—because if there's one thing he's learned, whatever the Singularity does, however the magic of this world reacts, it always hits her the hardest when they're together. He doesn't know what might happen if they're in the same room, if it'll spark something even worse.

Or maybe deep down, he's simply looking for a familiar face. Someone not from his world, someone who firmly exists here, only. He feels unsteady, a headache that'll not leave and flashes of images that are both not his own and yet are at the same time. The taste of blood sits on his tongue; it shouldn't bother him, normally would not, but now it makes his stomach lurch.

(Of all the pieces he could've received from others—can't anyone be running through a fucking flower field?)

He knocks on the door, almost without thinking. ] It's me.

Garrus Vakarian | Mass Effect | Justice (Fixed) | Cadens

[thearchangel]

This has taken some getting used to. All of it. For the most part, Garrus has laid low. Kept his head down and observed. Not his favorite activity, but until he understands this place better, the locals, the absurd lack of technology, it will have to do. It grates at him.

When he's too cooped up in where he's hunkered down, it's out he goes. "Prowling" the streets is unfortunate terminology, but it's all he's got right now. Trouble is, when you're this tall, covered in spikes that poke out through your clothing... you're going to brush up against people.

And they're going to get a nasty snapshot into his world.

x x x

Posting prompts as separate comments because I got carried away!
Warnings in subject headings & any format reply is fine with me
Definitely up for individualized prompts as well!
Hit me up Here or redfirelight discord @ RedFirelight#4036

MEMORY: Uncharted Worlds - Mako Driving

[thearchangel]

[The whole world bounces. It jars and shifts to one side, and it becomes apparent you are inside something. To anyone from a more futuristic setting, it resembles the interior of a tank. Seating is cramped, only large enough for three passengers. The third passenger seems to shift between several different individuals - at least two humans, maybe three, if Liara is wearing her helmet, a slight, masked alien, and one huge hulking dinosaur-looking alien. None of them look particularly happy to be there.]

[The driver is an armored woman, short red hair. And the only one who looks even remotely unperturbed by all the jostling.]

"That's a mountain." [The voice comes from the viewer of the memory. Garrus' voice. He sounds incredibly concerned by this fact. A screen before the driver's seat shows a near-vertical slope ahead of them. The other passenger glances at him, then at the screen as well, about to voice their own opinion.]

"Yep." [Says the driver, cutting them all off.]

"And we're just... going up?"

"Yep."

"Not around?"

"Takes too long, Vakarian."

[The other passenger, no matter which it may be in this scenario, tightens their safety harness. This is going to be a bumpy ride.]

Hythlodaeus | Solvunn | The Empress | Fixed

[lackingtalent]

[ooc; I'm only listing memories people have shown an interest in / we have plans for, so this thread is mostly closed! If you would like your character to interact with any of the memories or with Hythlodaeus, send me a PM or send me a mention through the discord server and we'll work something out.]

Dreamwalk | Meteion's report | for Fandaniel.

[lackingtalent]

[Reference.]


[There is a chill in the air. The whistling of the wind, a sky which is black fading to blue, with clouds far, far below. There are three people at Hythlodaeus' side. One woman, attired in a cloak of the purest while. One man, in a cloak of the deepest black. And one other, one that appears entirely alien. A woman, most certainly. But one less than half of their size, bearing scales and horns.

All, including Hythlodaeus, stare onward, at a man in a dark cloak as he gathers himself upon the floor of this platform, clutching his right arm close as if injured. The wind's whistle is loud. Yet his words rise above them. His tone is broken, weak- it appears he is most severely winded. Yet the determination, the resolve, of his speech transcends even the elements and his physical injury.]

Meteion... I'm so sorry. Would that I could have listened to your report in full...

[Meteion?
A girl is on the end of the platform. She bears the lower half of a bird, yet the rest of her is human. Save the wings on her head, of course. She is clad in different fashion to everyone else in attendance. A cloak, blue, the same colour as her hair and her feathers, lovingly rendered and accented with a large broach.

She gazes, expressionlessly, toward the stricken man as he lurches forward.]

Reflected upon its meaning and conveyed it to others- that they might reconsider their chosen course... But I have failed, and that wish will never be realized. However...

[She says nothing. She merely waits.]

Ere our fates become the province of others, I bid you tell me... just one thing. Was there happiness... in those distant stars? Was there a reason for living?

diana prince | free cities | the empress | fixed

[monomachy]

↠ Original plotting comment is here.
↠ Memories available for viewing are here, and I'm slowly updating that as I find more clips. This list is by no means exhaustive, and if there's something in particular you're looking for, let me know!
↠ Feel free to PM me or contact me on plurk at watchet for anything specific! Open and closed starters will be posted below.

↠ TWs: Scenes and themes of war and death, and the aftereffects thereof. A single naked man.

open;

[monomachy]

i. the beginning; free cities; outpost & cadens

[A great eye stares down at her from the sky, peering straight into her core, and Diana jolts awake in her bed with a cry. Her heart slams against her sternum, and a cold sweat drenches her. She’s no Oracle, but a dream so vivid, so unsettling, must have a meaning. Now wide-awake, she throws off the sheets of her bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress as she listens intently through the building where she’s rented a room. Once satisfied that no others had woken from her outburst, she dresses and heads to the one place where she always finds solace: the training field.

She has no armor of her own yet, but the clothes she’s chosen will suit well enough. She can move freely in them, which feels more important right now than how she looks. The hour is still early, the sun barely peeking over the desert’s horizon, but she’s grateful for the presumed privacy she’ll have to work through these disturbing feelings.

But privacy doesn’t seem to be in the cards for her today. One way or another, she comes into contact with another Summoned—a brush of a shoulder in the city, during a spar at the outpost, or a handclasp of greeting—and the memories floods their mind. So many, so quickly, or perhaps only one: a young girl, watching women she admires learn to fight; that same girl training in secret with her general, growing older by the year (decade, century), soaking up the ways of war like cloth to water; taking part in the games, besting those older and stronger than her until an untimely and earned defeat. The passage of time in these memories is unclear, a distant thing not even spared a thought by the child. She had forever to figure out who she could be, how she could become strong and brave like her sisters, her mother, her aunt. She cares not for the passing days, centuries, millennia, unlike the woman she is today.

Diana only knows something has happened by the reaction of her person before her, their wince of pain or perhaps even collapse. Her brows draw together, and she extends her hands towards them, offering help, wishing them relief.]

What is it? What is the matter?

ii. the middle; the horizon

[Her head has not stopped aching in days.

Some things she’s seen have filled her with joy, and others have broken her heart. But she knows they were not for her to see, not like this, without choice in it. She’s retreated to the Horizon, a place that has quickly become a balm to the wound left after leaving Themyscira behind. Her domain recreates the island in miniature, the streets shorter and water more a moat than an ocean, but it still feels like home. And it is here, strangely, that her memories focus on the place that was as unlike her beloved island as anywhere could possibly be: London.

Her arrival was as shocking as anything could possibly be, and trying to find clothes deemed appropriate for the world of men was certainly a trial. Though she didn’t know it at the time, the bright spot in that city of smog was meeting most of her new friends in the bar Steve insisted was full of good (well, decent) men. They are a glimpse into her last moments of joy before the true horror of Ares’ war was revealed.

Here in the Horizon, she can look as she pleases, and she dresses as she would on the island. The symbol of the Empress is stamped across the leather of her baldric, and she runs her fingers over it as she sits on one of the tiny beaches of her domain, staring out across the Horizon with unseeing eyes, lost in her own thoughts.]

ii. the end; the free cities or the horizon (tw; war imagery, death mention)

[There is no escaping the ache in her head, it seems. No matter if she stays in this world or the Horizon, she is still bombarded by the memories of others and they, in turn, by her own. She doesn’t fear anything they’ve seen, not really. Those moments are all a part of who she is, and Diana knows she cannot change them now. But that isn’t a comfort to those who are caught up in her remembrances, especially not the worst ones.

The airfield is on fire. Ares’ attacks are relentless, mixing magic and raw strength to pummel her into the earth. He gives her no room to breathe, to think, to anticipate his next move. She is only reacting, only barely keeping up with everything he throws at her. She hears the screams of the German soldiers in the distance, collateral damage of this fight between gods, and there is nothing she can do. Ares was not bluffing when he said he would destroy her, this she knows. One moment of weakness, and he will kill her where she stands. Then, all would be lost. She cannot let that happen. Will not.

He pins her to the earth, his magic too strong for her to break. Her attention is drawn to the sky, to a plane, the one holding the bombs that could kill millions of innocent people. She strains against her bonds, but to no end. Ares cackles, taunts her, goads her about the mortal man she has come to hold so dear in so short a time—and the plane explodes.

Diana has known physical pain before, but it is nothing compared to the pain of her heart being sundered in two.

She screams, power surging through her, the bonds finally broken. Her rage finds an outlet on the soldiers unlucky enough to be nearby. They fall before her, weak, mortal, flawed, and all she knows, all she wants, is vengeance against them, this war, against Ares--

The thought stops her before she drops a tank on Dr. Maru, helpless and cowering before her. Diana makes the choice to stop herself, reeling in her deep, unfathomable power. No one is innocent, and it is a bitterness on her soul to know it, but she will not kill a defenseless person, will not step over that line Ares drew before her.

Still, the damage is done. Steve Trevor is dead, the German forces tremble before her, and she holds a new weight on her shoulders. She knows now why Hippolyta prayed her daughter would never learn to fight; it is a heavy burden to take a life, and Diana has already taken many today. Rage has been tempered by grief, by acceptance, and she fuels her killing blow with all of it, every hurt and hope she has. Ares falls, obliterated by the power of Zeus, King of the Gods, her father, a debt payed five thousand years too late.]

Bucky Barnes | Strength | Free Cities

[freightcars]

( a variety of memory options — closed to mi hombres from the ooc plotting post )

ᴏʜ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀʀᴛ

[freightcars]

( A handsome young man in his twenties lies strapped to a table in a sterile room. His eyes have gone glassy and unfocused beneath the scrutiny of his captor, a beady-eyed scientist happily plunging a syringe into his arm. )

-Buchanan Barnes, three two five five seven oh three eight, one oh seventh-

( His mumbling begins to falter, to stutter, to stop, and is suddenly replaced with screaming. He rips his throat ragged with it, pupils blown wide as the scientist tuts disapproval at him for the fuss he's making. )

Julie Lawry | Free Cities | The Wheel of Fortune ☆ mutable

[princessvegas]

[ come hmu at the plotting post or alternately, bitchcraft or bitchcraft#2753. if none of those memories work, lmk and we can figure something out. ]

for wanda

[princessvegas]

[ She needs to get out of the Horizon. Julie knows that now, that being connected is doing something to them. Kylo is a thousand miles away in Thorne, but their minds had brushed without them being in the same room. It has to be the Horizon, the Singularity; at least in person, it hadn't happened spontaneously.

But it's hard to leave without checking on those she can't see in person. Sending messages could be worse, more dangerous. A direct linking of two minds, rather than shared through the Singularity. It's better to stumble her way across the crater, through the woods. The crows caw at her and Julie squints at them.

Christ, her head hurts. She feels nauseous, almost wants to cry from the pain of the pulsing behind her eyes. ]

Is she here? I know you're birds, but you could be helpful.

[ The crows do not respond, nor do they give any indication. Julie forces herself to keep walking until she reaches the cabin. Her knuckles are white as she grips the doorframe. ]

Wanda? Are you here?

thancred waters | thorne | strength | mutable

[funbreaker]

[ Closed starters for previously plotted threads below. Plotting comment is here, feel free to reach out if you're interested in doing something! ]

for rhy (apr 20)

[funbreaker]

[ Now that Thancred is back at Castle Thorne, he has had to accept that there are certain things that had become routine here, one of those being sparring sessions. Rhy is one of few people he's agreed to spar with to ensure he stays sharp. Granted, Thancred's trip had involved two direct monster encounters, so he's nowhere near going soft at this point, but there's no need to slack off simply because he's back within the relative comfort of the castle walls.

It's only been a day since his return, but when he ran into Rhy by chance and was asked if he'd be up for a session in the training yard, Thancred saw no reason to refuse. He's aware of the Echo-like effects the Summoned are experiencing and has suffered through a few instances of it himself, but there doesn't seem to be any way of controlling when it triggers, which means that he has no choice but to carry on. Himeka has been putting up with this for years now. Surely he can endure it for as long as this lasts.

Which is how he and Rhy find themselves on the training yard, as they have a number of times before. Thancred grips a blunt training sword in hand. He doesn't grant Rhy much time to prepare himself before darting in to swing the mock weapon, aiming for a strike to the flank. ]

Don't tell me you were idle while I was gone!

Cassandra de Rolo | Legend of Vox Machina | Strength | Mutable

[enduringkestrel]

Cassandra has mostly settled in by this point. For the most part, anyway. She’s accepted that she’s here for the foreseeable future, and ignores the guilt at having abandoned her people AGAIN as best she can. It helps that there’s so MUCH, here. Cadens is filled with things to discover. Things to learn. She’s been spending a lot of time in the various libraries, and wondering if she would be able to become a student at one of the academies. She’s met someone who is. So perhaps…

She’s been working on mapping out the city properly, too, thanks to Inej and the supplies she helped her get. She wants to venture out of the city, too, map the surrounding areas. (And surrounding cities. She’s heard a little about somewhere called Libertas. It sounds… interesting.) And she’s been attempting to make herself slightly familiar to some of the shop keeps. Striking up conversation and perhaps lending a hand if they need it. (She’s going to need a regular job, eventually, but for doing work for Mags is keeping her busy and keeping a roof over her head. And keeping her out of the barracks.)

Sleeping is something that she tries to avoid as best she can most nights, but there’s no avoiding it forever. She’s used to strange dreams, used to nightmares, but the dream she had last night was… exceedingly strange. Unfamiliar. An eclipse, an eye, gazing straight at her… And it sticks with her, no matter how hard she tries to ignore it.

But she tries to anyway, going about her daily business. Wending her way through the city, her scarf securely wrapped around her neck. Stopping by her usual shops. Pausing to sketch something in one of the journals she keeps with her. Perhaps you brush shoulders with her at one of the taverns, or your fingertips brush as you both reach for the same apple. Or you stumble and she catches your elbow, or she stumbles and you do the same. It doesn’t take her long to figure out that touch is the cause and try her best to avoid touching others. (She doesn’t want people to see anything. Doesn’t want them to know.) But it doesn’t always work. Isn’t always possible.

Later, when she steps into the Horizon for the first time both out of curiosity and because she thinks that perhaps here will be safer than anything else, she finds much to her dismay that it isn’t.


[Plotting comment here! I’m going to write up the memories I know I have plans with people for first, and then the others will follow. Feel free to choose any of them.]

SUN TREE MEMORY THE FIRST

[enduringkestrel]

[CW: death, trauma, emotional abuse, hanging on display]

The memory begins with Cassandra as a child, her dark brown hair long still, and white-streaked, standing trapped between two figures. There is a smile on both their faces, but there is nothing friendly or good about those smiles. And the smile on the taller gentleman is positively sharp.

“Come my dear,” Delilah murmurs, “there’s something I want you to see,” and she shudders at the sound of her voice, at the fingers digging into her shoulder, pressing hard into the still healing arrow wound (she swallows the cry of pain, desperately tries to bury the hurt, although she cannot help how she tenses) as she is all but dragged towards the balcony. She doesn’t want to go, doesn’t want to see what it is they want her to see. It’s nothing good.

So she struggles as best she can, but she’s weak. Exhausted. Hurting, heart and soul and body. And she’s just barely a teenager (no matter how mature she might be). She’s not strong enough to fight them. She’s not strong enough to stop them. They drag her out onto the balcony, thrusting her out to the railing. Holding her in place. “Our gift to you.”

It takes her a moment to see, because she refuses to look. Looking away defiantly. So Sylas takes her chin and forces her. Forces her to look. Forces her to see.

She chokes back a sob, hand covering her mouth, stomach churning violently at their ‘gift’. She’s going to be sick. “NO.” She can’t breathe. She can’t breathe. There… hanging from the Sun Tree… is her family. Mother. Father. Brothers. Sisters. All of them. Save Percy. Hung from the tree like they’re NOTHING. Like they’re trophies. There’s no control in her now, she’s sobbing, tears streaming down her face, hands pressed against her mouth to muffle the sound.

“I’m so glad you like it,” Delilah says, smug and terribly, terribly pleased.