abraxasmods: (Default)
ABRAXAS MODS ([personal profile] abraxasmods) wrote in [community profile] abraxaslogs2022-04-16 10:46 am

EVENT #7: THE SIGHT

Event #7 - The Sight

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.
wickedprayers: (13)

[personal profile] wickedprayers 2022-05-03 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
He expects it, which is why he's able to quickly step back. To his surprise, she's surprised, not because of his sudden appearance — literally and figuratively — but because she knows him. Not from a memory...not with the way she reacts.

Fortunately, he thinks he understands what's happening. When Garrus saw his memory of the hospital there had been...questions...and discussions...along with lots of confusion.

"Shepard," he confirms more to himself than anything, as well as to see her reaction in the off chance that he's wrong. "There seems to be something going around. You are not the first I've come across doubled over in pain or confusion."

He's at a loss for how to broach this. Frankly, he's still unsure how to deal with it himself.

"You've witnessed a memory."
earthborn: (disingenuous assertions)

[personal profile] earthborn 2022-05-04 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
Shepard grimaces at that; headache like a hangover, stubbornly clinging for days on end, sure. But she likes to think of herself as someone with a high tolerance for pain. Never weak, and certainly not in so public a manner. But then, leave it the Thane to get right to the crux of an issue, and pull no punches.

"Yeah. The day we met, on Dantius Towers. Except it was wrong, someone else was there."
wickedprayers: (16)

[personal profile] wickedprayers 2022-05-11 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
"Correct."

Thane is good at this, truly.

"Though it may be a bit more complicated than 'wrong'." He's not sure if this being a matter of "false memories" would make this easier to understand, or more difficult to deal with. "Garrus saw one of my memories as well, had the same reaction as you — confusion. For whatever reason what I know of...Commander Shepard," his pause being the only indication that this conversation is really...not easy. "is different from who you are. What you just saw is my reality."

In other words, that all looked "right" to him.

"Striking similarities, though." In attitude, in speech — at least thus far.
earthborn: (batton your hatches)

[personal profile] earthborn 2022-05-11 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
He talks and she listens, trying to digest the concepts as they come to her. Thane was... had always been, a pretty locked-down person. It was hard to get a read on him at the best of times— as this wasn't. But she crosses her arms, and thinks. Being referred to, to her face, in the third person; that's rarely an omen of good things to come.

Striking similarities, though.

"Well, You don't have to be insulting," Shepard makes a face, glancing back at where the man hadn't really been, "This is gonna give me a complex..."

She doesn't mean it, though, almost ready to accept it on its face. What else was she supposed to do, after all? If she'd been talking to any other member of the crew, there would have been more to doubt, but Thane, with his infallible memory and precise attention to detail?

"You really don't remember me at all?"
wickedprayers: (14)

[personal profile] wickedprayers 2022-05-30 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
He hadn't meant it as an insult. When the two spoke over what passes for long distance communication in this place, Thane had only thought their matching of events was odd. Not once did he consider Shepard to be suspect. Shepard just seemed...like Shepard.

"I don't recognize your face, no. Perhaps somewhere out there is another Thane who would." A sobering thought. He's the odd man out, after all, with Garrus being just as confused about Shepard as...Shepard. "I could be the one who is...displaced."
earthborn: (to conduct espionage)

[personal profile] earthborn 2022-06-09 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
"That's... gotta be a first, for you," Shepard concedes, thoughtfully, and when he mentions the idea of his own displacement being more likely, she has to agree to that, too, "It's possible."

Her tone is doubtful, still. She doesn't think so; more likely, she got lucky enough to have Garrus, and anything else is just— they're both in the same boat, more or less. Damn, what a mindfuck; is that man, that other self just... her, but different? Or is he more like a person she might have been? Or just another person who stood in her place, someone else who might've been the first spectre, the hero, Commander Shepard?

She has no idea. But one thing she is more certain of, is Thane. Crew is crew. Alternate dimension or not, alternate self or not, it didn't change a thing.

"Hey, look at it this way. So, there's two of me; now you've got two friends."