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

[carmesi]

[it is inevitable, it seems, that they end up traipsing into each other's memories. wanda worries as the walls in her cabin give way to a new place, a place that's modern, but tiny, too—a kitchen, she realizes, and she stands from where she stood, not quite used to the fluid transition of the horizon into whatever this phenomena is. in the same breath, she isn't sure what she is looking at.

it's julie, clearly, much younger than she is now, and there's something — weirdly strange about the whole situation. the dirt, the shovel.

doesn't sound like it's anything good.

it had helped wanda, when she saw the memories of nero and himeka back in solvunn, to hold their hands. she likes to think it made a difference, anyway, which is why she takes hold of julie's hand in her own, squeezes tight, and has her other hand grab at her forearm.]

I'm here. Whatever this is, it can't hurt you anymore.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie feels like she can't breathe. Wanda tries to reassure her, but she doesn't know, doesn't know that this can and will hurt again. The only difference is that, now, someone else has to see it happen too. She lets Wanda hold her hand but it's like she's checked out, fixated on her doppelganger.

The memory Julie, face somewhat clean, takes a deep breath, obviously steeling herself for what she has to do next. She walks into the hall, enters a room just a few doors down, and the real Julie follows her, dreamlike. It's a bedroom, with wood paneled walls and dated furniture. The kind of bedroom belonging to people who haven't been able to afford anything new since they moved in twenty years ago. Though the blinds are closed, light still seeps into the room between them.

On the bed, there are two bodies, a man and a woman. Both of them clearly lived a hard life, but the most notable thing is that they're swollen almost past the point of recognition as people. Their necks are huge, filled with fluid, their faces pale with dark circles around the eyes. Luckily, Julie had cleaned all the foul mess off of them before she went outside, delicately washed their faces, wiped down their skin. There's a bowl with a cloth on a bedside table, the water inside murky and thick.

The real Julie, clad like a club-going pixie, watches herself, tears already running down her cheeks. Memory Julie takes something off the dresser, sits on the mattress next to the woman and lifts her head as gently as possible. ]

It's gonna be okay, Mama. [ It's whispered, thick with emotion. Julie gingerly puts red lipstick on her mother's distended mouth, softly brushes her hair into place. Placing her mother back down, she goes to the other side, fusses with the buttons on her father's shirt. She opens a drawer on the nightstand and takes out a folded knife, carved and ornate. Clearly meaningful. She slides it into his pocket, then kisses his forehead. Sniffling, she stands and swipes at her face. There's a sort of awkward pause, like she's trying to figure out what to do next, then she takes a sharp breath and rolls her eyes to the ceiling. ] Well, y'all always told me what Jesus said, right? "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." So y'all are okay. I love you. I reckon that, the way things are goin', I'll probably see you pretty soon, but... well. C'mon.

[ It's here that she runs out of steam, wipes at her face with her palms again, then comes back to her mother. Bending, she loops her arms under the body's, tries to lift it off the bed, but can't. She only raises her mother's upper half a few inches, bends her slightly at an odd angle, then slips on the carpet and drops the body again. Both corpses are so full of fluid that they jiggle slightly, like gelatin.

Julie stands back a moment, jarred. She obviously had not planned for her inability to carry them. She breathes out a soft, "Umm...", then nods to herself, trying to restructure her plan. Moving to the foot of the bed, she grabs the bottom of the sheet, tries to pull them to the floor so she can drag them outside. The bedsheet moves a tiny bit, but then she slides again, falls on her backside, bumps her head on the wall. After a second of shock, she tries once more, falls again. Tries another time. She grunts and gasps with effort, doesn't succeed in more than pulling them almost to the foot of the bed. Her forehead is damp with perspiration. She lets go, leans back against the wall and bends over, her hands on her knees, then abruptly leaves the room.

The real Julie can remember what her thought process was at this moment. She thought she would grab some water, figure out a plan. There had to be something she could use as leverage, she just needed to go to the shed. She follows her other self's steps as if in a trance, back to the kitchen.

There is a brief beat where it seems like the memory Julie is trying to get her bearings. She puts her hands over her mouth, stares into space thoughtfully, and then it's like she loses whatever had been holding her together, keeping her upright. She can't make herself get to one of the chairs; she just sort of folds to the ground, sits with her legs criss-crossed and rests her elbows on her thighs.

For a long minute, everything is quiet. Distantly, outside, there's the sound of a single bird tweeting. Both Julies have been crying the whole time, but the memory Julie presses her face into her hands and begins to sob, having completely depleted the small reserves she's been drawing on. The sounds become more and more desperate, animal, raggedly pulled from the deepest part of her.

Real Julie, shaking uncontrollably, tries to run from the kitchen, out the back door, her own howls following her. But as she hits the back step, she's not at home anymore, not in the familiar setting Kansas sun. She's in Wanda's cabin, gulping for air, fingers clawing at the arm of the chair she's in. ]

[carmesi]

[julie doesn't reply, and all wanda can do is follow along with her. the moment they enter the bedroom, wanda lets go of her hand, putting hands to her mouth, a certainty in the air of dread. it's like the time her parents' bodies lay a few feet from her and pietro, under the rubble—memories storm her mind, and the tears she sheds are for julie.

for the child that takes care of these bodies, for whatever reason, and has to go through this all alone. at least wanda had her brother with her, a warm body to hold her hand.

from the room, and back into the kitchen. it's silent, and wanda doesn't know what to say, let's the memory run its course until they're both back in her cabin. the physical ailments from going through the memory feel like nothing in contrast to the emotional trauma that just blew open before them.]

Julie. [she calls softly, reaching for her, hands gentle on her face as she uses her thumb to remove the tears from her cheek.] Hey. It's over. Breathe.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie has spent two years blocking it all out. Trying to bury it all under a mountain of alcohol and sex and drugs. Loud music and now magic. She's learned to make it bearable by compartmentalizing it, never thinking about any of it.

When Geralt told her he'd seen the bodies, watched her in the days she's spent searching for even a single other survivor, she'd felt the box begin to crack. But she hadn't watched it with him, was able to keep it pushed far enough away that she could still get things done. When Sam told her what he'd seen, she'd slammed the door in his face, locked it. It was instinctive, an automatic defense mechanism.

But still, she hadn't watched it happen.

Now, now she trembles madly, looks at Wanda with wide, blown-out pupils. She feels like a giant hand is squeezing her ribcage, crushing her lungs. She tries to breathe in anyway, tears still streaming down her cheeks. It's over.

It's never really over. ]

[carmesi]

[wanda will have to apologize later for what she is about to do—the only thing she can do, raising her hand and allowing her fingers to dance over the other woman's forehead, magic pooling from her wrist into her fingers, spilling into julie's mind. wanda digs into threads of happier memories julie might harbor, sucks in a deep breath when she finds more splinters of grief and pain, put away behind heavily locked doors. she continues—seeks something comforting within abraxas.

time spent with new friends, laughter, drinks, reasons to look forward to getting out of bed.]

Hn—

[wanda has to keep her focus, and when she anchors onto something that's inherently good, she lets it take over for a moment, pulling her hand away and trying to remove whatever bad may have spilled onto her own mind.

she sits back, on the chair she had been on, and squeezes at julie's arm.]

Julie?

[princessvegas]

[ Wanda doesn't have to apologize -- Julie is no stranger to having her mind manipulated by outside forces. It was kind of a defining feature of her life for a while. It may even be something that Wanda can sense, a period of months where something was regularly monitoring her thoughts, amplifying certain feelings and behaviors. And beyond that, there is so much more pain and trauma, dealt with only via compartmentalization, ignoring it all entirely. Comparatively, Wanda being in there is absolutely nothing, barely noteworthy.

The easiest moment of happiness to find is recent, in one of the tents at the Summit. There are seven of them present, though Wanda may or may not know them all; besides Julie, there's Nadine and Lloyd, then Geralt, Jaskier, Ciri and Rinwell (who is accompanied by a small owl wearing clothes). Except for Rinwell, they've all clearly been drinking a lot of wine, their laughter loud and frequent. Geralt wears a coating of glitter, courtesy of that strange little animal, and he is good-naturedly, if begrudgingly, sitting still as Julie, Ciri and Jaskier cajole him into tolerating what is obviously a sleepover makeover. His nails are painted and they've braided his hair, even moreso than the little girls from Solvunn who snagged multiple people from this tent; most of them have flowers twined into their hair still. Even Nadine and Lloyd join in on the gentle, teasing reassurances that Geralt looks very beautiful like this. The little owl lands atop Geralt's head and settles there, hooting happily as the others crack up.

On the outside, Julie's face is still wet, but she isn't actively crying anymore, has stopped shaking. The panicked vise that had tightened around her chest is gone, and she can breathe again. Her hand clumsily takes Wanda's, mild confusion in her expression, but she doesn't seem at all upset. ]

Wanda?

[carmesi]

[wanda catches hints of the memories she's pulling to the forefront of julie's mind. it all feels so happy, so warm, and it's a little contagious. thankfully, it's enough to bring her back to the present, where her tears aren't an active denominator of her feelings, no longer catatonic to her surroundings, lost in the recesses of her past.

she doesn't say a word, but reacts at the question that comes with her name. she pulls the younger woman closer in an embrace, tight, because what she's been through? no child should have to do that. no child should have to ponder upon the carcasses of their dead parents.

not like julie, not like pietro, not like herself.]

We shouldn't linger here.

[she pulls away, keeping contact with julie, hands on her forearms.]

I can draw a spell for your mind, make it so you can forget. I can make it so it doesn't hurt anymore.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie hugs her back, arms tight around her shoulders, and sniffles deeply just once. She can still remember it, still feel grief, but that was something she had been living with every day since, anyway. And she knows that her method of dealing with it, of just blocking it out, isn't healthy, but it was a way to make it distant. Like they'd died of something normal, like she was just a regular fucking orphan who didn't have to sit next to the bed and watch them slowly suffocate on their own snot, who didn't have to go dig the hole herself and then not even be able to get them into it.

This feels like that. Sad, full of grief, but no longer in the moment. Distant. Time has passed, it's been two years since Captain Trips ravaged the world. Another world, now. Not hers.

They break away but not apart, and Julie shakes her head a little. ]

You don't have to do that. I got through it without magic the first time, I can do it again. It was just a memory. You've already done enough for me, Wanda.

[carmesi]

[then her spell shall linger to keep her thoughts on the same happy, warm energy of the memory wanda was able to pull out from amidst all the darkness she threaded her way through. she nods in understanding, pulling away back enough so she can at the very least keep holding onto julie's hands.

(pietro used to hold her hands a lot, especially when words were not enough.)]

My one regret of being in Solvunn is that I cannot be with you outside of here. [—or to be there for sam, or peter, or sephiroth. will they be alright?] Can you promise me you'll be with someone after we leave the Horizon?

[she pauses, then squeezes her hands.]

We can talk about what happened— about anything, anytime you want. Okay?

[princessvegas]

[ Julie has been described as a very touchy person before, never one to shy away from grabbing an arm or a hand, to pull someone into a hug. It doesn't occur to her to take her hands from Wanda's, so she holds tight, nodding. ]

Yeah, Nadine should be home soon. She has potions, if things get bad. [ Upsides to living with a healer? As many potions for various inconveniences as you could ask for. Julie won't have to spend the night sleepless. ] Are you gonna be okay?

[ She will never want to talk about it. The world Julie comes from is not the kind she likes to talk about, to have to explain what happened. There's nothing left there, nothing except for a handful of survivors, just waiting until the gene pool shrinks humanity into extinction. The fact that anyone else is having to see what she's seen, what she's been through, makes her stomach ache. ]

[carmesi]

[wanda takes a bit of a deep breath and nods, forcing herself to smile. she will be okay—even with the thoughts spurred forward by julie's memory. she will look after herself, and she will be content knowing that there will be someone to look after julie.]

Yeah. Yes, I have friends I can be with.

[she cups her hands together, julie's in the process, and nods once more.]

I'll go visit you in a few days. [to check on her in her horizon.] You go first.

[princessvegas]

[ Julie can't bring herself to smile, but she nods again, then takes her hands away to hug Wanda once more, briefly. ]

Message me if you need anythin'. I'll do whatever I can from Cadens.

[ She pulls away and takes a step, then blinks out of the Horizon.

In her room at home, she opens her eyes, blinks at the ceiling, then rolls to quietly face the wall for a bit. ]