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

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri is no stranger to gore and violence, but there is something about the memory being Julie's, and how out of place it seems in this lavish place Ciri only barely understands, that reminds her of Julie's club and seems so incongruous with the images that flash through her mind. She sees Julie, the stairs, the body, the blood. The man standing above the corpse, wiping his mouth. She knows, viscerally, that this man isn't human.

And while Ciri is processing all this, Julie is treated to a vision of her own-- a series of them, jumbled up and ragged at the edges, snippets slipping through as if Ciri's subconscious is still desperately trying to keep a hold on them.

Ciri -- younger, unscarred, hair loose around her shoulders -- sits huddled up next to a campfire with Geralt; the same Ciri, small and vulnerable, hiding from a many-legged monster, desperately tucking herself against a cliff until Geralt suddenly comes out of nowhere, his sword slicing through the monster's neck; Ciri sitting in a dingy little stone room with a giant rat pelt pinned to the wall, Geralt kneeling beside her and bandaging her bloodied arm. These are the images that skitter past in a series of moments spent with Geralt-- a hug, a touch on her shoulder, a soothing word to pull her from a nightmare.

And then, suddenly the scene shifts. A dance, too-bright, ladies in beautiful dresses across from equally well-dressed men. A table, above on a dais, where is seated the queen. Ciri is there again, and she is dancing too, and yet the scene-- flickers, unsure. There is something wrong here.

Geralt's voice rings through. "I know you're afraid, Ciri--"

The dancers are gone. The great hall is dark, bodies fading away one by one until only a pair are left, a woman with hair the exact color of Ciri's ashen blond and a man, dark-eyed and handsome.

"You belong with us," they plead.

Ciri, crying, shakes her head.

"I have to go home." ]

[princessvegas]

[ One thing is becoming abundantly clear to Julie about this whole memory-swapping debacle: whatever is orchestrating it really wants her to know what a great dad Geralt of Rivia is. Which is great and super hot, but also not really worth the price of this pain and general inconvenience.

By now, she's almost become accustomed to the breakneck way that fragmented memories thread together, switch scenes without warning. It's the terrifying centipede abomination that catches her off-guard, adult Julie stuck against the cliff right next to Ciri, trapped by legs and stone and the nightmarish, huge head of the beast.

Julie has never seen a monster before, at least not alive and outside of Geralt and Ciri's kitchen. She does not handle her first one well, especially given the fact that none of this is really happening. Her mind can only register the danger, the fear, and her hands go right through Ciri's shoulders as she grabs on instinct. Julie shrieks as a flash of black and white falls behind the monster, and she realizes what's happening only as the monster's head is fully cleaved from its body, hits the ground with a sickening, wet noise.

By the time she realizes that the memory is changing again, things are starting fly by so quickly that it's hard to parse them all. The rat on the wall (???), the bandages, the physical affection -- she is stuck next to them as they shift positions, switch clothes, make all the adjustments that show this is happening across weeks and months.

Only when they finally stop in a ballroom can Julie catch her breath, understand what she's seeing. The woman, so obviously Ciri's mother, and the man who must be her father, despite the lack of resemblance. Their hands begin to turn to dust, blow away on wind that isn't there. Geralt's voice echoes all around them, like a medieval loudspeaker, "We belong together. You, us."

There's nothing Julie can do except stand next to them as they fade, as Ciri watches.

"It's not perfect, but it is real. We are your family, and we need you."

Ciri turns to walk away as her parents crumble to ash, and when Julie gasps, opens her eyes to find herself on the ground yet again, her cheeks are wet. She gags and coughs, droplets dark with eyeliner falling into the dirt. ]

[wiedzminka]

[ They're both in a heap in the dirt, Ciri gripping her arm still where she'd grabbed the other woman to pull her back. Ciri's on her knees beside her, Julie nearly in her lap, as a murmuring crowd forms around them. She ignores them, struggling to right herself to a sitting-up position and pulling Julie along, steadying them both as best she can when her whole world is still swaying dangerously and her stomach's trying to crawl out of her throat.

Ciri swallows hard, throat dry and voice tight when she checks to make sure Julie's fully conscious again as well. ]

Julie? You all right?

[princessvegas]

[ Julie folds her legs under herself as Ciri puts them upright, leans with her hands on her knees. She's drunk, on day three of this nightmare migraine, nauseated from both of those, and now she's both emotional and shaken, courtesy of a monster far scarier than anything she's ever conceived of before.

She nods, swallowing back a mouthful of bile, then rubs her palms on her thighs before she swipes at her face. ]

Yeah, you okay? You shouldn'ta touched me.

[wiedzminka]

[ For the moment, Ciri keeps hold of Julie since she does seem a bit precarious on her feet. And it-- it seems like the headache isn't quite as bad this time, not nearly as blinding, the nausea a little less urgent. She swallows too, wondering if removing her hand and touching Julie again is what might trigger a follow up, but keeping the first touch is fine. Maybe she should let go. Some instinct keeps her from it, though, unless Julie pulls away. ]

Couldn't let you fall into the road.

[ She mumbles. It was worth it. Probably. ]

[princessvegas]

[ Julie doesn't feel much better than the other times, but then again, she's quite drunk, so it could be that. Maybe the pain in her head is less sharp, more like it happened hours ago instead of minutes. She's definitely very nauseated, though.

(She can also testify that follow-up touching is not what triggers it, but she will not explain how she knows this fact for certain.)

Either way, she doesn't pull away from Ciri, just rubs at her face again and takes a deep breath. All she wanted was a bottle of vodka, jesus. ]

I'm okay. [ It's a mutter. ] I just need to go to the store.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri rubs her back a few times, and takes a couple deep breaths of her own. Julie has the right idea, already being drunk. Ciri's got catching up to do. ]

Heading there myself. I'm... gonna go. Out of town, for a bit. Tomorrow morning.

[ Of all the things that could happen, having someone accidentally see everything she and Geralt have been trying to keep secret for months is not something she wants to continue risking. Once they're somewhere more comfortable, Ciri wants to ask Julie what she saw -- but Julie can be trusted. Better than most others who might have bumped into her, at least.

Meanwhile, Ciri is still trying to shake the images that have settled into her mind too. It hadn't been as frightening for her as it was for Julie, but it still leaves her uneasy. All of this does. ]

[princessvegas]

[ Julie pauses for a moment, brow knit. As stupid as this all is, she's not sure leaving is the answer. They can't find each other in the Horizon without opening themselves up entirely to anyone else there. She hasn't even tried their psychic network for fear of linking minds that way. What if something happens out there? Ciri may find herself well and truly alone. ]

Uhh... you sure that's a good plan? Not that -- I mean, I know you can take care of yourself, but what if you need help?

[ Look, she just really doesn't want anything bad to befall the people she cares about right now. ]

[wiedzminka]

I'm in more danger risking people seeing things they shouldn't see about me.

[ Ciri replies grimly, and cryptically. But her voice gentles as she adds, for Julie's sake: ]

I won't go far. I'll call if I need help.

[ She takes a deep breath, rubs her face again, pushing her bangs out of her eyes for a moment before they flop right over half her face again. ]

Store?

[princessvegas]

[ Julie doesn't respond to that. She knows that people have chased Ciri, searched for her. She now knows that some woman abducted her at some point. She doesn't know why they want her so badly, but she doesn't care, either -- even in memories, she cannot help her instinct to try and protect Ciri. But she's not going to force anyone to share things they don't want to, not unless it's immediately necessary to help them (looking at you, Geralt in Nott).

She nods, wipes her face again and begins to walk in the direction she'd been headed before this all started. ]

I'm sorry. For whatever you saw, if you did. [ It's said with a kind of morose acceptance. There's little in her head that anyone else should have to see, and nearly everyone who has seen something seems to be extremely depressed by seeing it. There are happier memories in there, she knows there are, but they're all completely engulfed by the sorrow of everything that happened in the last months of her world. ] Just forget whatever it was.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri walks with her, wincing and squinting a little in the sun, and keeps her distance just enough so they don't accidentally brush shoulders. She glances over at Julie, considering. Thinking back on what she'd seen, she hadn't understood most of it, but she does know it had surely been far more horrifying for Julie than for her, even without knowing all the people involved. Considering all Julie's told her about the world she comes from and her reactions to this one, Ciri knows enough to realize that a creature tearing open a man's chest to eat what's inside is far from commonplace.

In truth, it hadn't rattled Ciri all that much. She's seen worse things. Not that she is callous enough to say so. ]

Don't apologize, Julie. You didn't do it on purpose.

[ She hesitates, but Ciri knows she would prefer to know. Not to wonder, at the very least. They're still outside, but Ciri speaks quietly, enough for Julie to hear but difficult to catch unless someone nearby is very determined. ]

I saw a... monster of some kind. I'm not sure what it was. It looked like a man, but he couldn't have been human. He was chasing someone named Bobby-Terry. Killed him in a glass shaft of some kind, I think. You saw the end of it, after going down all those stairs.

[ The entrails. The heart. The blood on the monster's mouth. ]

[princessvegas]

I know I didn't do it on purpose. But I'm still sorry. I know what I've seen.

[ Truth be told, the Bobby-Terry incident is one of the lesser terrible things she remembers, not least because she didn't actually witness the most of it. It also probably would have been much worse if the victim had been anyone else. It's hard to care very much about what happens to terrible people.

She's quiet for a moment, then sighs heavily. All in all, it's better that Ciri saw what she did, instead of Nadine's death, instead of the bodies, instead of -- ]

Bobby-Terry was a piece of shit anyway. [ Julie says it with a scoff, kicks up a bit of dust with her toes. ] Not like it was a big loss. And it was in an elevator.

[ She doesn't elaborate otherwise. No explanation of Flagg, who he is, that he was in Abraxas, what was really happening. Of what her part in all was. ]

[wiedzminka]

[ Well. At least there's that. No love lost over the dead man, and a memory Julie doesn't appear to consider that bad, comparatively. It's... something. An acceptable outcome, all things considered.

Ciri doesn't ask for details. If Julie wanted to share, she would. Even if she does want to know what manner of creature that humanoid was, it feels wrong to pry, and if Julie didn't see fit to explain further or correct Ciri's assumption, she will leave it at that. ]

Right.

[ But since they are on the topic now-- ]

We can wait until we get somewhere quieter. But I would like to know what you saw. And probably owe you a similar apology as well.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie shakes her head, drags her feet a little. Ciri doesn't owe her an apology, and honestly, Julie doesn't want to talk about what she saw. She and Ciri have always understood each other on an eerily similar wavelength, for two people from such different worlds, but only now does it make sense. Between Geralt's memory, his explanation, and Ciri's... memory? It's not really a memory, is it, since it wasn't real in the first place, but it's close enough.

She was still a princess, had everyone she knew, dancing at balls and feasts and whatever else. Her parents were there. Ciri's never mentioned them at all, only her grandmother, so Julie always assumed they were out of the picture earlier than Ciri could even remember, but clearly she wanted them. A demon offered her everything she ever dreamed, a world where she could live the life she lost, but even better.

And it wasn't real. Just like Vegas, it was a dream built on a lie. A role handcrafted to satisfy the demon's needs. The only difference was that Julie didn't have anyone to pull her back out, to make her see the truth of what was around her before it was too late.

It doesn't change anything. There's nothing to talk about or apologize for. ]

Um, it was just a monster, I guess? I mean, I never saw a monster that looked like that, but Geralt killed it. Nothin' important, really.

[wiedzminka]

[ Well. That could be... just about anything. Ciri eyes Julie, a bit uncertain, but she doesn't exactly want to call her friend a liar. And her head fucking hurts like her brain is trying to vibrate out of her ears.

She swallows, one hand pressed to her temple, and tries to catch Julie's gaze with watery eyes. ]

You seemed... quite shaken. It frightened you?

[princessvegas]

[ Julie prefers to call it partial truth. She did see a monster, and Geralt killed it, and she had been genuinely frightened by it. But there's nothing to say about the demon's illusion, not without calling back up a lot of grief that neither of them need right now. Julie already knew about the demon, knew it wanted Ciri -- she'd known that days ago, thanks to Geralt. All this new knowledge does is color in the framework.

Despite herself, Julie can't help but let out a snort of amusement. ]

Well, yeah. I ain't never even heard of a monster like that... it was like a huge fuckin' centipede but with goat horns and people hands? And you were... not a little girl, but younger, and we were trapped against a cliff. [ Her eyes flick down, her brow knits up. ] I tried... I couldn't put you behind me. And then Geralt came from the fuckin' sky and cut its head off.