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]

Anakin ducks his head under the praise, rubbing his neck with a gloved hand. "I've always been good at fixing things. When I got him back, it wasn't the best cover job, but it worked. I think he appreciated the upgrade, though."

He looks back up and looks between R2 and Threepio. "Not really, that's just a skill. Anyone can do it with the right mentor and time. My powers are different. There's a lot I can do, and the Force helps me do it better."

[itookashot]

"They're both beautiful, just like you." Jesper winks at him because he can't help it, that's his nature. And he means it too, he's beautiful, the droids are beautiful, he's having a great day right now. Yes, he had a horrible headache and saw a weird bubble play with a creepy old man, but Jesper's mood shifts quickly from bad to good. He's easy-going.

"There's a lot I can do with my powers too." Jesper raises an eyebrow, a little cocky. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

[chosenfordarkness]

He lets out a huff of laughter, his expression doubtful. He doesn't exactly feel like he's got an upper hand here. "That's one I haven't heard before. I've gotten handsome before, but never beautiful."

Anakin stands back up to face Jesper properly, not one to back down from a challenge. "Why don't you show me and I'll be the judge of that."

[itookashot]

"I'll call you both if you like it. I also use lovely, glorious, adorable, charming, and sexy as descriptors." Jesper likes people and he also is a flirt, but it doesn't have to be flirting for him to simply admire them as they are. Besides, Anakin seems to have gone through enough nonsense, maybe he deserves some compliments.

He glances around to the strange world Anakin's made and puts out a hand, a scrap of metal snapping off the ground and going right to his head. Telekinesis is only part of the trick though. Jesper runs his fingers along it and the solid metal shimmers before it bleeds right into a liquid form instead. When it's pure liquid, he makes it into a few different shapes, ovals and squares, just to show off, and then brings it back together. A tap of his hand and it all snaps back into place, the same as before, like nothing happened.

"I control and manipulate matter. Most things are made of matter."

[chosenfordarkness]

"Well, you're definitely not a man of few words." His tone is playful, but he doesn't get around to actually answering the question, either. Instead, he watches with interest as Jesper reaches out and calls a bit of scrap metal toward himself. Initially, he thinks of the Force, but he knows by now that other worlds have magic that acts in a similar way.

He grins in amazement when the metal seems to melt and liquefy as it's manipulated into shapes. The tap of his hand sends the shard back into one piece and Anakin can't help but pick it up to investigate to see if it actually is. He lets out a huff of surprise, looking back to Jesper.

"This is amazing? Tell me more." Since he told Jesper that he'd share, even though it's not exactly an ability, he waves a hand toward the sky, turning the rumbling lightning storm overhead to a blanket of stars.

[itookashot]

"Oh good, I like stars better than lightning." Like he said, Anakin's domain seemed a bit depressing. This is far more lovely. They're more in space, something he's only learned about recently from Shepard. He's looked up at the stars before in Ketterdam, but never even thought about what was out there, past the planet. He could barely see past his city.

"They technically call it a science instead of magic, but it doesn't feel like science to me, I'm not putting things in test tubes." Nina feels strongly about this, but she was raised in the army, they have certain beliefs about anything involving Grisha. Since Jesper was on the outside of it, he can only go with what he feels, what his mother told him to do. He takes the piece back and does it more slowly this time so Anakin can see what is happening.

It does appear like the molecules themselves are breaking apart like they're all shards of matter, tiny tiny bullets, and he can move them, morph them. They're not being destroyed but just reshaped like they were never made of anything solid in the first place. "I can do this with all objects. I am a perfect shot with a gun too, because I can move an item without having to look at it, I feel them around me." It's beautiful. So this time when he moves the object back to solid, Anakin can watch those same molecules piece together like a zipper, or a puzzle.

"Until I got here, I've rarely used them. My father made me hide them, there are dangerous people who kill my kind. But it feels so good. Letting myself be who I really am."

[chosenfordarkness]

"I could show you more than just some distant stars if you'd like." It's only depressing because it's a representation of what he was feeling at the time and hasn't seen the need to change it. He's not committed to anything in his domain, really, so he's happy to oblige the suggestion to change it. Honestly, he doesn't know what he wants.

Anakin listens with interest, watching the process as Jesper goes through the motions of shaping the matter to his whims. It's fascinating, magic or not. Certainly, nothing that he'd ever seen before.

"What does it feel like to use your powers?" He understands someone hiding their powers because of Mat, but it's a relief to know that Abraxas is a place no one seems to have to hide who they are. "Nobody should have to hide who they are."

[itookashot]

"Absolutely. Show me where you came from, unless it's boring, in which case show me something city-like. I miss cities." Cadens is a city, of a sort, but it's in a desert, and it's not Ketterdam. Bright and dark all at once. He's definitely homesick for those winding back streets. He's seen the Citadel but he wonders if there are other extraordinary places like that.

"You know how if you hold your breath, when you first gasp in some air, there's this relief that comes with it, because breathing is natural and stopping it was unnatural?" Jesper isn't sure that makes sense as a metaphor but it's the one he has in front of him. "That's how it feels." He's been basically suffocating himself for all of his life, and using them means he's sucking in air again, all of his life becoming better because of it.

"I didn't want to hide them, but there's really no safe way to exist as a Grisha. It's walking around with a target on your head."

[chosenfordarkness]

Anakin nods. "The Force is kind of like that, too."

"Well.." Sighing, he steps back and rubs his hands together. "I don't know how Mos Espa compares to your cities, just be warned you might be underwhelmed." He concentrates and everything bleeds away from cold machinery to buildings carved from the sand itself. Two suns appear overhead and the dry heat of the afternoon saps away the storm's humidity. Around them stands a bustling space port, a dozen or so unmemorable faces milling about accompanied by the dull murmur of activity.

"Welcome to Tatooine." He gestures grandly around them. "The most miserable place in the galaxy."

[itookashot]

Jesper had a suspicion that Anakin had fun space options like Shepard, considering the droids and everything, so his eyes are bright and curious as everything changes around them. He laughs when he sees it though. "Oh my friend, there are a lot of great things about Cadens, but it looks like a more lively this. So much sand." It may not be super exciting, but he still likes it, he likes all new things.

"I don't know if I can change anything in your domain to show where I'm from, but picture an almost opposite of this. Very dark and winding small back streets, smells like the sea, everything is scrunched together tight." This place is bright, spacious, although not very colorful. Jesper himself is the most colorful part of Ketterdam sometimes, with his bright clothes in contrast to most people wearing more neutral shades.

"It's a sea port ... there's probably no oceans here, huh?" It's a desert, that seems unlikely.

[chosenfordarkness]

"Tatooine is a desert planet, there's not much that's enjoyable about it.. But I only spent nine years there. After that, it was the Jedi Temple. I could show you many more interesting places than this." He looks to Jesper with interest, for the moment, the sand and desolation are forgotten.

"I want to see where you're from. I'd never seen an ocean before I became a Jedi. I'd never really experienced a rain storm before, either. Everything was so new and different after this vast nothing of sand."

[itookashot]

"I've never actually tried to change someone else's Horizon before, so bear with me. I think as long as you don't fight me on it, it should work." Jesper has been next to someone when they create things in the domain, like he has in his own, and he has managed to show them things before by simply manifesting it, but it's different to change the actual look to things. It will definitely only happen if Anakin allows it.

The area around them changes drastically. Ketterdam is a unique looking port city completely surrounded by the sea with ships constantly coming in and out. It has a lot of tall buildings and long dark roads turning off into shadows. It always seems to be very dark lighting though, like simply being in the snug and crowded feel of the winding streets and oppressive buildings makes the sun shine less. It is typically very busy and crowded, but it's quiet and only the two of them for now. All the buildings have lights on despite the shadows and it makes the city look very alive despite its odd darkness. He decides to make it look like they're on a roof instead, looking down at it.

There is a certain beauty to it, and a whole lot of personality. That's why it has always been the perfect place for Jesper.

[chosenfordarkness]

Anakin stands to the side, gesturing that the floor is all Jesper's to do as he pleases, while he looks on with interest. The first changes start with the sands changing to the color of stone before buildings resembling the castle of Thorne and its surrounding market rise from beneath. He watches in fascination as part of a city the likes of which he's never experienced form around them. Everything is crowded together much like the lower districts of Coruscant, but lacking the dim fluorescent lights.

The smell is what strikes him the most.

"This is.. uh-- wow?" Immediately, he wants to get to know it. Quite different being in a facsimile of a place as opposed to what Jesper remembers as home, but he'll take the illusion.

[itookashot]

Jesper smiles as he sees all of it get into place, a wistful but happy smile, because he loves his home but he misses it too. He fell in love with Ketterdam at first sight, when he came from his farmlands and walked into these strange streets. He knows every single road here, every building, it's his job to know it inside and out. It does look exactly as he remembers the last time they stood on the roof, making their plans to get away with the biggest con of all time.

"I know, right?" He breathes in deep the smell of the sea, it's as close to reality as it probably could be. It also smells of fish and spices, causing a very interesting and a little weird mix. "This is where most of our gangs are and the shops and housing. Way up to the north there are the fancy buildings, university, and past that are the rich homes. But this is the majority of Ketterdam." He usually ignored the fancier areas because it wasn't his thing. Until recently.

"I was living in one of those fancy mansions though when I got taken here. I do miss the cook."