EVENT #7: THE SIGHT

[abraxasmods]

Event #7 - The Sight

go to the OOC event info and plotting post

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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

[chosenfordarkness]

"You'd think that, but with the Jedi, it's always duty over personal feelings. It was 'never our place' to interfere even if it would have been better for everyone. Part of me thinks they wanted the war to last as long as it could. It gave them purpose in a war we had no business being in."

He sighs, scrubbing his hand through his hair and over the back of his neck. "Yeah.. That's a relief, isn't it?" Anakin blinks, looking at Jesper and then around to his domain. "Too dramatic? Kinda felt right after coming here, but I'm not sure what I'd want from there. Got all I need." The little droid scuttles over with a series of beeps and whistles. When he's close enough, Anakin gives him a pat on the top of his domed head. "Isn't that right, buddy?"

[righteously]

( Ciri is absolutely not a child, and he's full-on watched her punk him out by slaying two monsters at once before he could even cover the distance between them. That being said, she's still young, and to Dean anybody that looks 25 or lower qualifies as a kid.

He spends a moment speechless, but somehow his posture and demeanor are loud about his immediate indignation. After his two seconds of communicating through aggressive Dean Sign Language, he finally makes words. )

I- I feel like I'm beating a dead horse over here, but- she's a kid.

( That's a lot to shove onto somebody's shoulders in general, let alone somebody who probably couldn't legally rent a car back where he's from. )

No offense, Geraldo, but your world blows massive dicks. Just- acres of dicks. Probably a good call sticking around.

[righteously]

( It's hit or miss whether or not his freely running mouth will stick the landing, but that wry smile feels like a solid victory this time around. He offers something back, an echo, a muted little half-smile in turn.

It fades, of course, as they slip back into reality again. There's a careful balance between jokes and earnestness that Dean somehow manages to find — levels that equal out pretty well. )

Whatever it was... ( He starts slowly, carefully, not entirely sure he's about to offer up the right words. He can take a stab at a few things Cas might have had to relive, based on his own experiences. The thing is, the dude's had like a freakin' millenia's worth of memories to tug on, so he might be wildly off-base. Like usual, he goes with his gut. Finishes the sentiment out anyway. ) You know it's in the past, right? That douchebag rock might've brought you back, but... you don't need to stay there.

[provenforce]

Of course it sounds maddeningly simple to do things that way, but Rey knows that reality is much murkier than that. She had been willing to put aside the things that Kylo had done before the Supremacy, but she had thought they were aligned much more than they ended up being.

"I want to. But do you think it's that easy?"

[cryptsleeper]

[Honestly, Alucard just knows Sypha is way too overpowered and she might pull that shit just to be safe.]

Sypha's people had carried it with them for a time. The story wasn't exactly common knowledge, but the people of Gresit had a statue of the Sleeping Soldier in their city for a time longer than I had my crypt under the city.

[He sighs, weary but not shying away.]

The minute my father refused to see reason in cutting down only those involved with my mother's murder was when I understood I was a subject in the prophecy. I had no time to believe. I had to defend myself and then get to safety before I bled to death.

[There's a pause, and Alucard tugs his shirt over to one side. A portion of his scar peaks out from underneath the fabric, same as it has been.]

It takes a lot to leave a mark.

[nightwash]

"Does it have to be easy?"

Maybe it does. Maybe she's like everyone else, only willing to love as long as it's convenient for them. Ronan knows exactly what it's like to be too difficult for people. Maybe everyone has judged Kylo the same.

"Don't you think he's worth trying for?"

[provenforce]

"I didn't know you were a slave," Rey is surprised by that. She had thought that he had come up through the Jedi the way most had, but clearly he had not. She's struck by the similarities between their situations, although he had at least had his mother for a time.

"Luke said the same. That the Jedi would just let things happen and do nothing to stop preventable tragedies. I... didn't accept that." He had used it to play a cruel trick on her, and she frowns a little remembering that. "They should have been better. Used their power to help others." That is what Rey always intended to do.

[provenforce]

"Yes," the answer is immediate, before she can even think about it. He hadn't been who she'd been afraid of, really. It was her. She holds onto that acknowledgement for a moment, before shaking her head.

"I'm not, though. I left him on a burning ship. He needed me not to leave him but I was so afraid of what staying meant..."

[nightwash]

"Whatever it would've meant then," Ronan says, "it doesn't mean that here. He doesn't care about what he was doing back there. About any of it. That life is so far behind him, he doesn't even think about it anymore."

But he thinks about Rey. Ronan has caught that much in Kylo's eyes, in the fleeting glances cast in her direction and even in the times she isn't there, when all Ronan can see is that Kylo's thoughts aren't with him.

"He's done good here. Ask him about his work. Try believing in him."

[cointosser]

Hah. Hilarious, as always. Good. If you have time for your terrible brand of humor, you're not quite about to keel over.

[He doesn't want to think about what he didn't want Geralt to see. What he was afraid he would see.

He doesn't think about him at all.

Ever. Clearly.

Jaskier brings up his other arm out of the water, already holding the soap. He taps Geralt's chest with it, but his other arm remains strained, even with Geralt's fingers around it.

Please. Someone must have picked up the mantle.]

Because no one expects anything from a sandpiper. [He smiles, only somewhat guarded.] Nothing more than a minor annoyance. And guess who assured me I was exactly that?

wrap it up here? :>

[cointosser]

"Ah, only the only one perk, of course."

As if he can think of someone else who he'd rather share memories like this with. He presses his forehead against hers, kissing her butterfly-light with his lips teased up into a smile.

It... it was a gift, in a strange way. From the Singularity. Not one intentionally given, of course, but still taken in the end.

"Good. How about we go to bed a bit early, then. I want nothing more to sink into something soft. With a touch of tonic. Promise I'll even rise early to make you breakfast in exchange."

Boyfriend perks or no.

[gynvael]

[ He takes the soap from Jaskier's hands. He senses the guardedness, but it no longer puts him on edge as it once had. They've spoken of it. He is simply quieter as he unties the cord holding back his hair. ]

I heard it. All your songs. [ He doesn't specify in or out of the memory. Both, now. It doesn't matter. He hardly thinks Jaskier would've expected him not to hear them, with how quickly, how far, his music spread. ] Seemed easy to tell myself they meant you preferred I stay gone.

[ He's not really denying he was an idiot. And a bastard. Just—he's never had anyone in his life like Jaskier. He still doesn't. Not really. Not someone who knows him. They were friends, not bound by anything except Jaskier's desire to remain by his side. There was no bond of suffering, no wish. In all of his life, he thinks, their friendship felt like one of the most fragile things he ever possessed. Some part of him had always anticipated he would be the one to shatter it and so he did.

He supposes he's learned better now. He regrets how it happened. He does. He'd missed him. But he is glad to see that Jaskier found a purpose that drove him. ]

[cointosser]

[Jaskier opens his mouth, closes it, then sighs. When he was all swept up in his feelings at the time -- when being left on that fucking mountain was the worst that had happened to him -- it was all he could do to write the next song with anything other than a sick mixture of regret, anger, and grief.

He may have loved many and lost nearly as much, but it never... Geralt had been the longest-standing thing in his life. The only thing that felt permanent. Jaskier had never doubted what they meant to each other.

Until after.]

Hmph. I wanted you to hear them. I hoped you would, that you would go sick with what a bastard you were. Ah. How I dreamed of you finding me again, grumbling, Oh, Jaskier, I'm stupid and brutish and don't deserve your presence. But I do deserve to be snapped up by a dragon, or a wyvern, or whatever. My life is lonely and empty without you. [All said in the very accurate Geralt imitation he's picked up over the years.] But you are such a silly fool, thinking that's what they meant. Melitele's tits, Geralt, I never thought you were that shit at interpreting my lyrics.

[He takes it all in stride now, however. Mog, having sensed the danger is over for now, trills quietly and curls up on top of Jaskier's discarded clothes. Still keeping an eye on them, just in case.

Jaskier is quiet again.]

I've done plenty of good in the world. I will never say otherwise. And, as we both know, you would be penniless and possibly dead in a ditch without me. [A touch of humor that brings his lips up, his legs shifting in the water.] But it was the first time I felt as if... as if I'd really changed something. The things the elves suffered, I can hardly recount. I was sick with their suffering. My own.

[His hands raise to spread over his face, washing it with fresh water anew. Even thinking of them, of what he left behind... it's his only regret.] Now I'm here, and I cannot help them ever again. It is naïve to hope that another has picked up the mantle where I dropped it, but... someone must, mustn't they?

[gynvael]

[ She is not a young girl any longer, no. Unlike Dean, Geralt does not consider her one. He's accepted she grew up. She can more than take care of herself. More than keeping her safe through his hands, he'd wanted that for her: that she learn to trust in her own strength. He won't always be here to protect her. There's no changing that reality.

But though she may not be a child, she is still his child. ]

She was fleeing when I found her. [ Dean's indignation is met with a shrug of a shoulder. That's how things are. Kingdoms will either want her for a marriage or they want her dead to get her out of the way. Which it is at this point, he doesn't care. He's handing her over to no one. She's not a pawn to be passed around for every bastard's ambition. ] She deserves the choice.

[ And Ciri has made hers. She wants to kill monsters, she wants to be a Witcher. She wants nothing to do with empires or prophecies. She deserves a home, here, where she can stop running for once. He's determined to make one for her.

He brings the bottle to his lips. He studies Dean for a moment. ] If your brother were here—would you do the same?

[righteously]

( It's probably a stark contrast to his answer a second ago that he falters. Not an instantaneous yes like he'd have expected from himself — a flicker of doubt, where he asks himself the same question. On the one hand, it's not like he has anybody else to go back to. Bobby's gone. Benny probably never made it through the portal. Cas is here. He hasn't exactly had a good life where he's from, and hunting here is... simple. No angels, no demons, no politics — at least none involving him. It's like the best parts of Purgatory in its simplicity, where monsters are just monsters, he kills them, he gets paid, he goes home.

At first, the biggest counter-point is just technology and convenience. Hell yeah he misses daytime TV and fast food. Might miss them enough to go back for it, but it's a more evenly split decision than he'd have expected.

And then he remembers his unfinished business back home, the word of God and the prophet that can read it stuck with the king of hell, and his light seems to dim a little. Decision reached, but it's with resignation rather than certainty. Dutiful fatigue. )

Nah. ( He says it with his chin tipping down, eyes on his bottle without really seeing it. Scrubs a hand over his face. ) No, I gotta go... clean up a mess before it becomes too big to clean. That's if shit hasn't already hit the fan while I've been gone, I guess. Only one way to find out.

[aurasight]

[ That's likely the smarter idea, she realizes. With a short little sigh, she nods. It's not exasperation that's directed at him, rather that they need to be as secretive as they are. Perhaps she should take more time to look for where safer places may be, or for defenses that Thorne has possibly put in place to keep an eye on their guests before they attempt further conversations in this vein.

Still... ]

I am. I've been practicing as often as I'm able. Will we be safe in the interim?

[ Is the room safe enough from prying eyes that will not disrupt us is really the question. But if Thancred feels it is, then she trusts him. He's been here longer than she has been, after all. ]

[gynvael]

I already knew I was a cock. [ He means it, when he says that it was easy to think that way. One more reason to stay away and keep his solitude. It's what he knows. It's still what's most familiar to him. He's just...learned not to sever all those ties. That maybe—he can find more worth in clinging to the few people he's found than setting himself adrift, alone.

Coming back is hard. Staying is hard. Perhaps it shouldn't be, but for him, it is. It requires opening a space in his heart that cannot ever be closed should it be found empty. It's funny. He's dealt with loss and grief his whole life. But he's so rarely dealt with being pushed away by someone who matters to him. The lasting memory in his mind is his mother, leaving him. In that moment, some part of him had wanted to do the pushing first, before his closest friend could have the chance.

He places a hand on Jaskier's knee. ] It isn't.

[ The world is shit. They both know that. The war back home, elves and men and dwarves alike will fill the streets with their corpses. But he doesn't believe it's naïve to want for better. Sometimes he wishes he could—

(He could be not so afraid to hope.) ]

[princessvegas]

Oh, every sorta trouble. You might as well start beggin' for mercy right now.

[ She exhales and there's the softest edge of a whine on it, barely there at all. Her fingers thread through his hair as she clings to him. There's still a dull ache lingering in her temple, but the worst of it is long gone. What has really remained is the prickle in her spine from before, from a tone she has never otherwise heard from him, and while it's not like she's pleased by the circumstances that brought (and shared) it, it was still... a lot. In the best way possible, given everything going on.

Silver linings.

There really isn't any urgency, except for what appears to be a very small likelihood of another memory swap. Which, honestly, if it's inevitable -- and it does seem like it might be, if this is the third time Geralt's gone through it -- then Julie would much rather it be with him than anyone else. So she's content to move slowly, indulgently. ]

[aurasight]

[ Are we past Flow? Are we? We just don't know.

Y'shtola's ears quirk just slightly at the mention of tea, a broad smile painting its way over her lips. She gives a little sigh that's just shy of exaggeration. ]

My, you do know your way to a woman's heart. I'll need to try some when we've some time but-- Yes, I think I'd like to see what's here with you.

[ Time is irrelevant in a way: if they only have a short hour, she wishes to make it count. After all, she does not know when she'll be able to see her again, and she does want to ensure she's well. And so she walks with her, feeling the cobblestones beneath her boots. The reality Horizon can bring is so life-like that it's hard to imagine at times that it's simply illusion, cobbled together images the mind has produced in a liminal space. If she closed her eyes, she'd think they'd returned to Eorzea proper. ]

You've put a great deal of work into this. [ Memory is such a strong thing, she knows, and this is no exception. Ishgard is important to her. ] Though I'm hardly surprised; you've always taken to magic like a fish to water.

[gynvael]

He lifts his hand in a small gesture—not entirely dismissive, more noncommittal. A sense that this is a topic he's spoken of before, and neither cares to have his thoughts changed nor change anyone else's. "Folk will call anything a god given half the chance. If it's rooted in truth, I doubt the truth is anything grand."

If the Singularity is a monolith as he thinks, then creatures and entities must've crawled out of it at some point, long ago. He's not certain they were particularly like the Summoned are now. It could easily be some monster, a demon, a creature that people could not understand and began to tell tales of until it grew and grew to become an entire people's faith. Maybe they believe the Singularity is a god itself. Who knows? Faith is faith. It's not a concept he holds for himself, but he knows people who do—was taught by a priestess for part of his childhood—and if it brings them some comfort, who is he to dissuade them? But there's a difference between praying at a temple for guidance and believing in sacrifices and blood spilled. (In abandoning your child because Destiny claimed it had to be done.) He's walked through too many villages who subscribe to the latter, when their god is little more than a monster lurking.

He supposes, when a beast will claw away your children no matter what, it feels less painful to believe it part of some greater plan. Where Solvunn is concerned, he'd prefer if it were merely a matter of harmless shrines and rituals. But it's difficult to say one way or another.

[chosenfordarkness]

"I don't exactly like talking about it, so keep it to yourself. The only reason I'm telling you is that you obviously understand better than most." A former slave isn't what he is, it doesn't define him, and it's better that people don't know, if only because he hates the inevitable pity or questioning that comes from it.

"As someone who spent years trying to fight against their archaic views and their backward thinking, it's best that it was razed to the ground." Anakin is silent for a few moments, watching the lightning streak across the sky. "Did you know that the Jedi had holocrons detailing all the names of force-sensitives in the galaxy? The children are brought to the Temple when they're young enough to have not formed attachments to their parents. Do you know why? It's because to the Jedi, it is unlawful. It's shameful to have them and if you don't gain control over your emotions, you're as good as a Sith."

[monomachy]

[A cold sort of satisfaction blooms in Diana's heart as she hears Inej say she had planned to punish such men for their crimes. Slowly, she is learning that not all corruption comes from outside forces; sometimes, people make cruel choices all on their own. It's something she's still struggling to come to terms with, but Inej's story just serves to help solidify that new knowledge.]

May Nemesis guide you on your journey when you return. [Her tone is solemn, that of a prayer. Amazons hardly ever invoke the name of the fearsome goddess, but it seems fitting right now. She cannot think of another goddess so fitting for such a cause.]

[monomachy]

[Timeline things? It takes Diana a moment to realize what he's talking about. She has met a few people who are from... well, a different year on Earth than she is. Understanding dawns, and she offers:] By men's calendar, the year on my Earth was 1918. [Which doesn't mean much to her; Amazons probably aren't great at keeping track of years outside centuries.]

Extinction? [She sounds suitably alarmed by that. She just saved the world! How could the whole galaxy be in such danger?]

[lackingtalent]

[Indeed, Emet-Selch's voice is drowned by the single voice that utters the exact same name, at the exact same moment. So the figure in question- Hythlodaeus- as correctly identified, does not turn as he stands to approach the desk. Instead, he moves through the indicated door.

His stride is long, and measured. Seemingly relaxed. His body belies absolutely no indication of the utter defeat coursing through his soul even now- yet when he moves through the door unto a hallway of sleek design, and elegant lines- and is seemingly alone, his stance changes almost immediately. His hands move to clasp at one another, and his hooded head swivels slowly in order to ascertain that he truly is alone.

...Needless to say, his calm was very clearly an act for the benefit of those still waiting within the reception area- those that would come after him. An effort, even wordless, to reassure. And now that he is alone, there is very little need for it. His gaze lingers, just for a moment, by where Emet-Selch indeed does stand, and his hand rises to his chin in a small measure of contemplation.]

...A confluence?

[This is only a memory. But to say that Emet-Selch's presence within it, even from a different star, lifetimes upon lifetimes after, has not been perceived by his almost infallible sight would be a falsehood. Like all things, it is noted. Yet Emet-Selch's presence does not have the power to change what is to pass. Nor should it- for Hythlodaeus, even with the considerable degree of his vision, cannot fully perceive him.

It is more a bending of the air. Faint refraction of light. Nothing tangible. Most would overlook it. Yet he is not most.]

That one should have formed here, of all places and of all times... how very curious.

[Enough lingering. He turns his head back before him, taking a few more steps. Silent ones. For, after all, it would not do to speak to an errant burst of aether from somewhere far away, perceivable (in his mind's rational manner) only because their own star was so very drained of its own. Even if he was alone. It was madness.

He turns again, allowing it a side glance, despite his most concerted effort to not. And he presses on, coming to a large door. It is closed. Yet he knows, as Emet-Selch would know, this is the room.]

[monomachy]

[Almost everyone she meets has a story about a war, a battle, some great conflict that plagues their world. It is... disheartening, knowing that war isn't isolated to just hear world, her Earth. But still, she holds fast to the belief, the deep-seated knowledge that no war is forever. Eventually they will end, and there will be peace. And though she is no longer in her own world, she has brought that duty of bringing peace with her to this one.

She inhales slowly, exhales. She's able to stand straight now, despite the pounding behind her eyes. Skilled as he may have been (likely still is now), she cannot ignore his youth at the time.] There are no circumstances that should force a child to go to war.

[She also started her training young, but there is no way she would have been allowed to set foot on a battlefield if the War to End All Wars had come much earlier in her life. Even Antiope would have forbidden it, she's certain. And though he says the war ended quickly, she has no doubt that it was due to his involvement. Is that a good thing? She can't answer that, not right now.]