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

[funbreaker]

[ Thancred imagines Himeka rushing through the teachings necessary to become a priestess, and he can only assume there had been a number of rules to memorize and rituals to practice. It's hard to imagine her taking on such a role, picturing what sort of life she might have led if she hadn't been inspired to leave her underwater dwelling.

Granted, that never would have happened, because Himeka was a traveler at heart. There's no universe in which she would have been content to remain cloistered away in her hometown.

Thancred nods as she remarks on the elementals of the Shroud, having heard similar commentary about their temperaments. Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa had always suited his tastes better than Gridania, in any case. Yet he is relieved that Himeka had found some kindred spirits there, nonetheless. ]

Horns, indeed. And who's to say? You may very well have been.

[ Knowing now of Himeka's long history as a shard of Azem, it truly does seem like anything is possible.

When she suggests that they might visit her home more literally when they return back to Etheirys, Thancred turns his attention to the dome off in the distance. Himeka's younger self has now started making her way back toward it. Soon even the brightness of her hair is bound to disappear from view. ]

That would be something, wouldn't it? [ He smiles, something small yet genuine. Now that Y'shtola has confirmed that they do in fact save their star, they can indulge in this sort of talk. ] I would be honored to meet her, truly. I can only assume she'd had her hands full, raising you. [ With that, he glances back to Himeka with a teasing wink. ]

[aquaveiled]

[ She drops her hand and gives a shrug, though she keeps her smile. There was a time where fantasizing about past lives was something she had fun with, but more recent revelations has led her to be a little more cautious about it.

In truth she fears there's a legacy she will never live up to--and really, that shouldn't matter since the only ones who would know or care about it are effectively dead. But it does make her wonder sometimes if she's less than what she could be. If her actions leading up until this point weren't fully her own. And she hates those kind of thoughts.

But Thancred is a friend--a good friend. Family. She knows that no matter who she was before won't matter to him as much as the who she is now and that's good enough for her.

Himeka gives a fake scoff at the idea of being a handful. Except he is exactly right. ]

From what I've heard, you were something of a little scoundrel yourself!

[funbreaker]

Oh? [ Thancred's face lights up with a playful smile as he bends at the waist slightly to lean toward Himeka. ] And who has told you such lies, exactly?

[ The environment ripples and shifts around them, as if immediately responding to Thancred's claim that tales of his scoundrel past were greatly exaggerated.

After a few more beats, they find themselves on the lower decks of Limsa Lominsa. A number of ships are docked close-by, with even more on the horizon, out in deeper waters whether coming in to port or leaving from it. The sea breeze gusts through their hair, and that pungent sea-salt and fish smell is there, as always.

At first it's unclear which memory this might be, though Thancred does have a guess. As he glances up and down in search of something of interest, he goes still as a board when he does spot someone: none other than Louisoix Leveilleur himself, not quite in his prime yet looking healthy in spite of it, striding down one of the docks with purpose.

It's been so long, what feels like well over a decade, since Thancred saw this man. Himeka never even got the chance to meet him, only hearing in great detail of his legacy — and seeing hints of him in his grandchildren, of course. ]

I suspect I need not tell you who that is. [ Himeka's seen portraits, to say nothing of the family resemblance. He sends her a soft sort of smile. ] Then I suppose you'll now see how I became the man I am today. [ Even if there's no sign of where Thancred is in the memory, thus far. ]

[aquaveiled]

[ Though this memory of her own is hardly one to be embarrassed about, Himeka can't help but be a little excited when the scene shifts. She knows what this means. With only Thancred around, it must be--

Her eyes widen.

Now by association alone she was expecting to see Thancred just as mischievous and adorable as one would imagine the little rascal to be, but to see Louisoix...as Thancred remembers him. Not as a mysterious and mythical figure spoken of in battle and in passing. But as a man. ]

...That's really him, isn't it?

[ This man that she's never met changed so many lives. So many more than he may have ever realized. That his dreams could come true through the actions of not only his grandchildren but through the trusted children and adults alike that he gathered around him. She cannot help but smile. ]

I have a feeling he's about to meet someone he didn't intend to.

[funbreaker]

It is.

[ There's a certain respect that enters Thancred's tone when he speaks of Master Louisoix, even now. Despite all of the mythos around the man, he'd been a gentle, kind, and humble soul. It would have had to be so, for the events that are about to unfold before them to have done so in this way.

At Himeka's next comment, he glances over and nods, difficult as it is to avert his gaze from a moment that had so profoundly affected his life. ]

And you would be right.

[ A beat later, a young version of Thancred appears from the shadows behind boxes filled with fishing supplies. He creeps up after Louisoix, one small hand reaching out to take the man's coinpurse. Thancred can even remember what he'd been thinking at the time — that the man was old enough that his senses might fail him, but that he looked well-dressed, and therefore was likely wealthy.

In a moment that the young boy never could have predicted, Louisoix spins around and forces him to the ground with a burst of magick, which then surges around to bind his limbs.

Thancred shakes his head slowly, halfway to laughing. ] It's a bit embarrassing to watch now.

[aquaveiled]

[ Himeka watches with no small amount of interest. It's like she's intending to memorize every nuance of the scene, so pivotal to two people who have change the trajectory of her own life so greatly, even if she never met one of them.

Her smile drops with the intensity of how closely she watches, even leaning in to get a better look. Yet she pulls back and laughs readily at how quickly the tables turn on the brash young Thancred. A cheeky smile is sent to the grown version beside her. ]

Oh, I don't know. I'd say that your form was a good...seven out of ten. It's your sneak attack that needs a little work.

[ Is the woman who has about zero stealth skills ribbing the man who has a Ph.D in sneak? Yes. Yes she is. ]

[funbreaker]

I'll take your criticism under consideration.

[ Thancred jokes back, even as he continues to watch the events unfold. It's true that at this age he was untrained, simply relying on natural abilities to snatch what he could without being caught. Until now, that is. If this had been someone else who caught him red-handed, he might have lost said hand, or been thrown into a cell for who knows how long. He might have ended up a lowlife pirate of some sort, rather than becoming an Archon and Scion of the Seventh Dawn.

The boyish version of himself is wincing, expecting the worst, but then Louisoix bends down and offers his hand to help him up. He escorts him out of the open to an unoccupied corner of the docks and begins to question him.

"My name is Louisoix Leveilleur. I am a scholar from across the seas. What is your name, child?”

“Thancred,” the boy mumbles, still in disbelief.

“Thancred... what? Have you any family?” Louisoix continues, with a sympathetic smile.

“Just Thancred,” the boy shrugs. “And I don’t have a family—at least, none that I know of.” ]

Well, that much has changed. [ Thancred wears a small smile as he chimes in, then glances to Himeka with a knowing look. She's part of his family now, after all. ]