EVENT #8: MÆRE - IC POST (MAIN EVENT)

[abraxasmods]

Event #8 - Mære

go to the OOC event info and plotting post or the IC faction intervention post.

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Sleep can be a welcome escape from the daily toils of life. No matter one's magical affinity or physical prowess, many succumb to the need eventually. While some find refuge in it, others prefer to avoid sleep for as long as they can, fearing what lurks in the corners. For the latter, perhaps what happens next is just part of their nightly struggle.

Beginning on the night of JUNE 18, characters will be met with unsettling dreams and their worst nightmares. It will build slowly over the course of the following week as manifestations of their deepest fears and regrets make themselves known.

Night Walk

How does it start? Familiar, perhaps: experienced before or a recognizable concoction of events and feelings. Your old home, a town you've visited, a room you met an old friend in, a corridor where you faced off with a great foe, or a mosaic of the different pieces of your life. You don't yet sense danger. It's safe, you think. Or alternatively: you are consumed immediately by an unsettling feeling, finding yourself in a darkened room you don't recognize, falling endlessly, unable to move, already wounded in the middle of nowhere, or the growl of an animal. Whatever the recreated vista, you slowly get the distinct sense that you are not alone.

As you explore your dreamscape, this sense does not leave you. You may find a shadow looming over you, catch something in the corner of your eye, hear a sound far off in the distance. Wherever you turn, you seem to just miss it. Whether this unsettles you or not will vary, but you will remember this come the morning. If you are one of the lucky ones, it all ends here. Strange dreams are nothing unusual. Those happen now and again. But for many others this is just the beginning.

The Entity

If you are among those less fortunate, you will find yourself plunged into the same dream. It may not be the next night. Perhaps it happens later, when you're napping in the afternoon, or a few nights afterwards when you've already forgotten all about it. Regardless, it returns to you. The stage might be different, the details shifted, but the feeling of something watching remains. In your absence, it only seems to have grown. Each time you return to this singular dream world, its presence grows ever stronger. Oppressive, suffocating, you know you are being hunted.

When you finally see it, you know exactly what it is. The Entity that hunts you is born out of your subconscious itself, your deepest fears and traumas given form. A twisted manifestation of unshakeable guilt, a creature or foe you have fought with once before, a person you may have loved so dearly now turned against you - the sight of it chills your blood and you know in your heart that it is here for you.

The Guest

Should fate twist further, you might not be the only one. Instead, you'll find other Summoned with you. They might also be running from a presence of their own or maybe they're merely unlucky enough to have fallen into the path of yours. Whatever it is, they too will bear witness to that which haunts you - or you will see what haunts them, as well. Your respective dreamscapes might meld together, shift and change, or one might take over the other completely.

Though it's likely you won't realize you're trapped inside a dream, that doesn't mean you can't fight back. Gather your courage to face down your fears or try to help those you find yourself in the company of - you might just find your surroundings steadily shifting in your favor. A weapon here, a pathway opening there, a wooden door that transforms into steel. Be careful, though: should your awareness grow that things aren't real, the world will try to consume those thoughts and you within it, twisting things further in an attempt to make you forget that you're dreaming.

The Imprint

Luckily, you do eventually wake - unsettled, damp with sweat, but at least you're safe. It was only a dream, wasn't it? For some, that might be the case. For others, you'll start to hear the sounds of the dream in the waking world, glimpse the shadow of the Entity in a reflection, feel a breath against your neck. Marks or injuries might also follow you into the physical world: dirt staining your palms from where you fell, a cut from where you were struck, dampness in your hair from the rain. These occurrences could be obvious, but they might also be so minor you feel like your mind is playing tricks.

Still - what if it isn't merely a dream? As the week goes on, whether you experience the phenomenon for yourself or not, you'll most certainly hear of it happening to your friends, loved ones, neighbors. Word reaches you of fellow Summoned being stalked from the shadows, waking up with injuries they shouldn't have, possibly even suffering a near-fatal wound in their sleep. Clearly, there's more to this than uneasy visions in the night.

The Factions

While it is each Summoned who is the focus of their Entity's ire, they are not the only ones who seem aware of its movements. The factions will soon approach each Summoned with an offer: work with them to help contain the threat and aid the suffering of you and your friends - but the one thing they cannot explain is how they have come to know about the existence of the Entity.

Will you take the offer and try to convince your fellow Summoned this is a vital path to take? Or will your mistrust of those in power have you not only refusing, but trying to prevent others from making what you believe is a mistake?

The choice is yours, but the decision might impact more than just you this time.

A separate log located here will detail the reaction of the factions and so forth. You can tag in under the specific heading for each faction.

To thread out any arguments or conflict prior to participating, please do so in this event post. The IC Faction Intervention log should be only for those actively participating in the full process.

The Horizon

When dreams are no longer an escape, desperate souls might turn to the Horizon for safety - though they may remember that, previously, the Horizon was not safe at all.

It Follows

At first, the same doesn't seem to hold true. Things are quiet in the Horizon. There is no need for sleep or dreams here. You have full control over what's formed inside your domain. However, it doesn't take long for the remnants of that horrible dream to seep into your sanctuary. A field you grew may start to turn dark, becoming nightmarish corridors. Maybe the tower you placed so carefully begins to crumble, or perhaps the reflection you see of yourself in a lake isn't you at all. You will find that despite your best efforts, your Entity has followed you into Horizon and is corrupting your domain with it.

As menacing as the presence may be, the Entity will not be able to destroy other's domains. Within yours, though, it may twist the design to varying degrees, ruining carefully laid paths, staining blood on your walls, darkening what is most important to you no matter how much you might try to change it back. Conversely, its hold may only be strong enough to be a shadow in the corner of your eye. It all depends on the strength of your nightmares and how deeply its affected your mind.

Nonetheless, the message is clear: dreams are born of your mind and your mind is what the Horizon is formed from.

The Looking Glass

Whether you see the manifestation of your Entity in full or whether your domain is barely affected by its presence, all who enter the Horizon during the course of the week will find that they are once again plagued by a flash of a vision.

This is nothing like the glimpses into another's past, however. There are no headaches, no recognizable faces. This time, the vision will flicker in and out of focus like an old television trying to find the right signal, staticky and not quite clear at first. The flashes are brief, lasting only mere seconds, if that. In fact, at first, one might even mistake it for a trick of the mind. For some, this may be all they see. For others, it may return in another burst the next time they enter the Horizon, becoming clearer each time. It might appear as soon as you step in, or it might take an hour, two.

What you see will not be anything familiar. The scene itself will never change. It is a soundless meteoric picture. You may glimpse heavy winds stirring some sand, but you will not feel it on your skin nor hear the wind. You may see a flicker of the sea, but you will not smell the sea salt nor hear the crashing waves. All in all, this image which appears to you is abstract, strange, and impossible to understand in their absurdity - except for one part: the appearance of a single Arcana sign.

Intriguingly, this sign likely does not match your own. It might not even match anyone you know at all. It is an undeniable fixture, though, appearing emblazoned on the scene somewhere, not always in the same place, but always present: seared into the ground, carved on stone, scrawled on a page.

The six available images are below and each one is labeled with the Arcana sign your character will notice when they glimpse the scene. Choose any image you like, but only one may be selected. Characters do not need to be experiencing nightmares or the Entity to see these images.

As noted, the Arcanum on the image itself does not need to match your character's. At this time, there are no real details on what the Arcanum itself means or why it's appeared, though the possibilities are endless. Everyone in Abraxas possesses one, after all.

If you want to be surprised and assigned an image at random, comment here and we will do so for you!

The Hermit

The Sun

Temperance

Death

The Lovers

The High Priestess

CODE

Comments

[princessvegas]

They do use magic -- most of their technology is still partially based on magic, from what I can tell. I think they got scared of magic 'cause they don't like that they can't control the Singularity, and that's where the magic comes from, but honestly, that's some shit I ain't really cared to look into. There might be some shit about how they hate Thorne, too. Which, like, I get, 'cause Thorne's real hateable. So it could just be wound up in that.

[ She doesn't comment further on the idea of how shady the government here is. Even for those familiar with these traits, it's difficult to explain exactly just how close it all lines up with the world she came from. And on top of it, what's the alternative? Thorne is hardly better, and Julie is almost positive that Solvunn is a weird goat-based cult. So... no good options.

Nodding her head a little, she knits her brow thoughtfully. ] I mean, I think most of the Summoned play along enough to get what they need, and news spreads. But no one wants to cause a fuss without solid evidence, and that ain't easy to come by when everyone's all spread out. Best way to hear things is to make friends with people in Thorne and Solvunn, they'll keep you in the loop.

[godshattering]

It makes a strange amount of sense that their motivation is basically spite then. For both Thorne and the Singularity, since that's a heavy motivator for a lot of people. Add in all the other smaller stuff I'm sure they disagree about besides just the major ones and no wonder both sides think the other one's evil.

[ Or maybe all three sides when it comes down to it - he doesn't know much of anything about Solvunn other than what was in the books he's paged through considering (from what he's seen) the nation seems to mostly keep to itself for the most part, so who knows what's going on there. Though it being a goat cult will somehow also be filed under odd things making a lot of sense to him once he figures that out. ]

That's fair enough about using them to get what they need or anything else, and not a bad idea as long as it doesn't put them at risk. And being able to disperse that information, assuming that they do, benefits the rest of us in the end. I'm assuming the Horizon is rather convenient for that since it's probably just about the only place where conversations can't be overheard.

[ Something to keep in mind since at least this cafe has enough ambient noise going on to cover up most of what's said - not that there's been anything controversial in Claude's mind, and surely the Free Cities knows they'll be sharing information as it is - but it'd undoubtedly eliminate the possibility. ]

And with it being so difficult to physically travel to anywhere else without a lot of time and planning, I'm assuming it's also the best way to meet anyone in the other factions.

[princessvegas]

Oh sure, Horizon's the best place, just in general. I know there's some people who're suspicious of it, but there's not a lotta places in this world that we can tend to our own business without it bein' dangerous. No matter how we feel about each other, the Summoned are all "others" to these folks. We're our only true friends, the group of us, and the Horizon is our safe space. They haven't figured out how to piggy back on us and go there, not so far. Plus, this world isn't... it's not the easiest for us from worlds with better technology. There's a lot that we just ain't accustomed to doin' like this. In the Horizon, we don't have to worry about that.

[ Which is much less of a selling point for someone like Claude, but for people like herself, from modern -- or even future -- worlds, it means a great deal. It's a difficult adjustment, when even the smallest parts of everyday life change on you because you've lost the only way you ever knew how to do them. It's comforting, to have that little bit of home be accessible to you. ]

Pretty much the only way. Travelin' over the borders is a one-way ticket, and not a cheap or easy one. You decide to hop factions, you best be real sure it's worth it.

[godshattering]

[ That they're the outsiders here - that's not a realization that's been lost on Claude while he's been poking around Cadens here and there, but hearing it said aloud? It feels different and hammers that point home a bit more. He considers that as Julie elaborates upon it being somewhere for them to congregate without the watchful eyes of anyone but the rest of them. And possibly not even that, given some of the structures he's seen on his passes through that are on another level of elaborate compared to what passed for elaborate in Fodlan.

So needless to say, that last bit summons up a bit of a sympathetic smile. ]

It's been difficult enough as someone coming from somewhere with a fraction of what's available here and trying to adjust to all of it. I can't imagine that the reverse is any better. On second thought, actually, I'd say you have it worse if there's things you're used to having that just don't exist here. The Horizon has to be a comfort when it comes to seeing some of it again. Like... TV, right? Or something like that.

[ That's his attempt at a reference back to some of that technology, anyway, with what the Free Cities could do with it in mind. A shrug and a slightly sheepish grin goes with that since that's likely not what she's referring to, but that's about his only knowledge of it to date. ]

It's definitely not the same when it comes to those differences between your world and this one, but I was used to having more advancements around before moving to where I lived for most of my adult life. All of it was still roughly on the same level but I missed having what I'd grown used to after taking it for granted. Like telescopes just to be able to look at stars since apparently those were too much of a threat, though I'm not sure to who, exactly.

[princessvegas]

[ She chuckles and smiles, though it's much less exuberant than she would normally be. Someone who wasn't also experiencing the same sleep-deprivation she is might think she seems rueful, but the truth is that she's just very tired. ]

Yeah, TV. TV's a big part of my world. It was a pretty major change. [ She had somewhat adjusted after the superflu, when there was nothing left, but even then in Vegas, it was still totally possible to get one's hands on DVDs of shows and movies. It hadn't all disappeared entirely. ] I once heard that even good stress is stress. Like, you can get a better job or have a baby you wanted forever or win a lot of money, and that's all great, but it's still a change, and any change is stressful.

[ To say nothing of being forcibly brought to a new world entirely. She rolls her eyes at the idea of telescopes being banned. ]

In my world, we had telescopes so powerful that they could see other galaxies, trillions and trillions of miles away. You know how when you look at the sky, and all the stars are just little dots in the dark? We had pictures like that, except when you blew them up to study 'em, you could see hundreds of planets and solar systems, all in one little black square. Less than an inch across to the naked eye.

[godshattering]

I think that sums up stress pretty well, really. Even if it's something you're looking forward to you still gotta deal with the effects of it all, and that's still no comparison to the bad version of it.

[ He won't reference the nightmare situation now, but. That definitely falls under that same umbrella and is just something else to weigh on all of them but without any resolution like there might be with any other occurrence. Just one more layer of being here, Claude thinks to himself as he lifts his mug, but Julie's description of the telescopes in her world stops that action in its tracks. Instead he listens in open fascination to what she says until he catches himself and takes a drink. ]

That is... well, far beyond anything I grew up with, even if you might've guessed that already. [ He'll grin just a little bit while setting his tea down though it's quickly replaced with a mildly wistful expression. ] Most of the ones I had access to, they'd make it easier to focus on specific stars beyond the ones you can see with your eyes alone but nothing like being able to see hundreds of them at once. The main religion in Fodlan always said the Goddess came from a specific star that's also tied too and names the month I was born in, so I have to believe telescopes were outlawed there since there's a chance that'd be disproved. Needless to say, the powers in charge wouldn't have liked that.

It sounds like your study of the stars was much more advanced than ours. We have lots of legends - or stories, I suppose - about the constellations to pass on the meanings of the larger ones. Are those also out of date where you're from?

[princessvegas]

I mean, don't think we're somethin' special or anythin' like that. I don't even think it's been a hundred years that we could do things like that, and our modern history is like, five thousand years. We just made advancements, like anyone else.

[ Her world had their own fictions about worlds more advanced, less advanced, every level of development. She's not under any delusion that they were anything remarkable. Hell, she's positive her world wasn't even the best version of modern Earth -- it was an incredibly shitty version, actually.

She pulls a face when he mentions religion; she can't say that she can follow the train of thought. ]

That's... weird. We had religion too, but God made the stars and other planets, so why shouldn't we look at 'em? Even if your Goddess did come from a star, how would seein' it prove she didn't? I guess I just don't understand because our God wasn't like, visible in the sky. Like you can't see God. Never could, He's not like, a person. Is your Goddess supposed to just be a regular lady you can see and talk to?

[ The idea of a physical God, one capable of being seen with a telescope, is clearly bizarre to her. Julie was raised in the very depths of Evangelical America, fully entrenched, but she knows no version of the Scripture that ever represents God as a physical being. He always has to have a representative -- the angels, the burning bush, Jesus. That was the point, of course, that the most holy being in human form was still nothing but a human. ]

Mm, kind of? Like, we have some stories about the constellations, but I'm pretty sure it was always just known that the stories came from whatever shapes people saw. Plus, I think most constellations just have a name, not really a story. The most important constellations are the zodiacs, anyway, and they don't really need a story.

[godshattering]

[ It's not until Julie's expression changes that Claude remembers his jump in logic makes no sense without context. Her titling of it all as weird is very apt, and he hides a quick grin with another drink of tea. ]

You've hit upon several of the reasons I found it hard to follow what the Church of Seiros taught, really. As the story goes in an extremely condensed version, the Goddess came to Fodlan from that star, formed the earth and later on her children lived with the humans already there, then had to repair said earth after a long war decimated everything, and went to sleep it off but never returned.

It's debatable whether anyone can talk to her directly though followers believe she hears and knows all. I don't believe she was human as you and I are though she looks it in the paintings I've seen. All of it is more than a little confusing. Not many people question it because the Church handled so much and they counted on never having to explain. I grew up with different beliefs myself. [ All said with a fair bit of flippancy he could never quite express when in Fodlan, so it's nice to (mostly) state his thoughts on it plainly. ] I take it your God is different than the Goddess Fodlan knows? Though it is interesting they have the creation aspect in common.

[ Claude at least takes care to dial back the irreverent tone when speaking of what Julie knows, both to not offend and because the curiosity about other religions is genuine. Much as it was about constellations when asked, which seems like another difference. ]

Stars are our main form of navigation since they're a constant no matter where you are. Most of them are also named shapes, and the stories came in later to help with learning them based on what I've read. Fodlan says some of them were different people set up into the skies as a reward from the Goddess. The Alliance lands have a supposedly famous archer over them, but I have a feeling that's probably just to make sure everyone carries on the archery tradition.

[princessvegas]

I mean, my world had a bunch of different religions. There were places that were all one religion, but my country had what we called separation of church and state. Our whole country originally started with people who were bein' persecuted for their religion, so they crossed the ocean and decided that they would have freedom for anyone to practice the religion they wanted to. [ That is an extremely condensed and whitewashed version of American religious history, and even Julie knows it, but like hell does she plan on delving further into it. ] The biggest religion in my country -- well, the world, actually -- is the one I grew up with. Two of the other real big religions are kinda similar, they all branched off the same ideas, I think. But for us, Christians, God sort of... always existed, I guess? On the first day, He created light, then kept goin' for five more days, and on the seventh day, He rested. By the seventh day, everythin' was made. He watched over mankind for a long time, and a few times, He told certain people what He wanted, how to please Him. A lot of sacrifices, like animals and stuff, that was how people were supposed to erase their sins. But Christianity, that came 'cause God wanted to make it so people didn't need to constantly make sacrifices. So He sent his only son to Earth, Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a virgin, and he was the holiest man ever. He preached about love and forgiveness and kindness. But he was sent to be the ultimate sacrifice. He was put on the cross and killed by this group who believed in lots of gods. Three days after his death, he rose from his tomb to prove himself as the son of God. Told his believers that now they didn't have to make sacrifices for their sins 'cause he had done it for them, forever. And then he went to Heaven. Someday, Jesus is supposed to come back to fight the ultimate evil, but, well. Hasn't happened yet.

[ She explains it with the kind of simple, flat tone in which lectures are given; to her, it is not necessarily something she believes or doesn't, but it is just how it happened. The same way she can detail major historical events, or the plots of fairytales she's heard since childhood. Factual.

She's also just kind of given up on people from other worlds understanding any of it. Explaining religious holidays has generally been a nightmare. ]

We used to navigate with stars too, years ago. Lots of people still can. We just have better ways now, technology that can tell us where we are and how to get places. We do have an archer constellation, though. Sagittarius.

[ Julie is absolutely the kind of person who is very into zodiac signs and horoscopes. ]

[godshattering]

[ Claude hadn't been expecting to receive a detailed explanation in return, but it's very welcome and he listens carefully to what Julie tells him. There's more similarities than just the ones he's noted as it turns out, but not much in common with what he grew up with. The idea of multiple religions being popular across a world and not just limited to a singular one as the power in charge - it sort of aligns with his hopes of what Fodlan might look like someday. Perhaps it's possible there if somewhere as extensive as Julie's world was able to manage doing so from the sounds of it. ]

Huh. [ Is the response he goes with while digesting all of that information. He has questions - quite a few - but just as he doesn't feel particularly like diving into the depths of the Church of Seiros more than he has to, Claude has a feeling Julie might be feeling the same after the synopsis she has given him quite kindly. ] It's curious to me that despite how different things are from what I've learned of others' homes that there's some parts that seem to be constants in all of them.

[ There's lots more he could say on that, really, but stars and constellations are always more his speed given they're one of his favorite topics. Which might be given away, if it wasn't already, by his expression brightening just a bit at the mention she knows of an archer where she's from as well. ]

I can't say ours have proper names like the one I'm guessing you just said. Most of them are... pretty literal in what they're meant to signify in the sky. The Archer, The Twins, The Lion, that sort of thing. Not particularly inventive even if they all have stories to go with them, as do the moons used to mark dates on Fodlan's calendar. The calendar here is something else I'll have to adjust to since we have months but they're all named after the moons they fall under. Plus each of those moons have stories and meanings much like the constellations, as well as some tales about them determining someone's personality.

[princessvegas]

[ She doesn't ask any questions about the religion of his world -- it's not until he brings up more constellations that her face lights up. And for the total lack of interest she had in detailing the fundamental base of the world she came from, she seems genuinely delighted to talk more about zodiac signs. ]

Oh, we got all those too! Sagittarius is The Archer, Gemini is The Twins, Leo is The Lion. The year is split into twelve zodiac signs -- that's what we call 'em. And each one is supposed to give you pieces of your personality. There are whole charts you can do, based on where and when you were born. It's like, a whole big thing in my world. I'm an Aries. You probably know it as... The Ram, maybe?

[ Julie used to cut out horoscopes and zodiac articles, in a somewhat desperate effort to feel like she had purpose and definition in the universe. She hadn't known until she got to Abraxas (well, several months after she got here) that what she was actually missing was the magic she hadn't had access to in her own world. That's something she understands now. But that doesn't mean she doesn't still have a soft spot for all the mystical pop culture mumbo-jumbo she'd adopted before. ]

[godshattering]

Split into twelve... so it's like your year from the sounds of it, then? Our calendar is much the same in that way but the constellations aren't necessarily tied to the months specifically. There's some that only appear at certain times of year and have tales tied to them that way.

Like for example, that star I mentioned earlier that Fodlan's goddess is supposed to be from: it shows up in the month I was born which is the seventh month, but then it disappears before winter begins. Most of the major constellations stay in the sky year-round other than a bit of shifting around here and there, but we do have one known as The Ram. There's usually also The Hunter by it, if I'm not mistaken.

[ Claude pauses to drain the remainder of his tea in thought. Whether Julie knows that one or not, that there's even those few in common when they seem to be at least a handful of centuries apart based on the discussion of technology seems rather remarkable to him. ]

The charts you mentioned, do those then work together to... [ He trails off momentarily, reaching for the right terms and how to piece his thought together into something that makes a little more sense. Hopefully. ] You said those signs help give pieces of personality, right? I'm not sure what I know of is the same thing but where I grew up, it's less a chart than a reading based on your birth date and it's tied to what you might do in the future. It relies on the stars' locations both of when you were born and the current date so it could also be done again to see if it'd changed. Almost like seeing whether you were on the right path, or if something would come up you might need to know about to affect other decisions.

[princessvegas]

I mean, I won't say I know the exact history of it all, but I think it has to do with how where the sun was in the sky durin' that part of the year. I know more about the personality part of it than anythin' else. Technically, the sun is only one part of it, since there's also moon and risin' signs, plus stuff like where the other planets were. There are predictions about the future for each sign based on the current placement, we call those horoscopes, but most people think that part of it all is a little more goofy and generalized. I think... most people in my world didn't take it very seriously, but they like the idea.

[ Julie isn't the best at explaining abstract concepts like astrology; she's better at the implementation than the rationalization. It's not much different from her magic -- she can do it, but has very few words to explain how she does it. ]

We had another system too, that one was based on the entire year you were born in. So the whole year would be one animal -- they were all animals -- and that gave your personality and what you think's important. Stuff like that. I think there was a thing about blood types too, but both of those systems were from the other side of the world, so I don't know much about 'em.

[godshattering]

That certainly sounds a lot more complicated than the versions I know. It's been a long while since I've looked at it but from what I remember of the one my parents had done for me when I was born, I want to say the sun and the moon factored in with those constellations. But it always went without saying that the gods could decide someone's fate should change whenever they felt like it. Or if they decided someone deserved that - same difference, really, and probably made what you called the horoscopes a little less accurate assuming one believed that as well.

[ There's a shrug from Claude, one implying he's not among said believers in those gods from his home, but they've been over that. Or the Fodlan version, which is close enough from their earlier discussion that he won't linger on it unless needed. ]

The entire year based system sounds interesting especially if it's supposed to apply to everyone born within whatever the year in question is. And I'm guessing since you said it was from the other side of your world that means it was from another country or something like that? [ A slightly wistful expression might be caught on Claude's face for all of a couple seconds then. ] Even if it's not something you know much about, the fact that you know about it - that's the kind of thing I've been hoping will happen in the near future back home. It won't solve everything, but people having any kind of curiosity about what goes on elsewhere is a start.

[ And though there's nothing particularly amusing about being here in Abraxas with no way to make that happen, let alone having to deal with borders here, a slight smile appears on his face next. ] Shame we can't have the Horizon everywhere we go to make that meeting up and sharing thing a bit easier.

[princessvegas]

Well, like I said, most people take it as just like, a lark or a fun thing. I don't think I ever met anyone who lived their entire life just based on zodiac readin's.

[ She shrugs a little. For her, she puts a bit of stock in the idea that maybe your sign can predict your personality, to a degree, and it's fun to read about compatibility, but it's not serious. But maybe that attitude is only prevalent in America. ]

Well, I think I said, my country prided itself on the idea of people comin' there for a better life. It had a name, "the American Dream". It was supposed to be that you could immigrate without a penny to your name, and if you worked hard, you could climb outta the hole to be a millionaire or whatever, all on your lonesome. I mean, I'm not sure that was ever the real truth of it, but it was the line they sold. Not every country in my world was like that, though. And we had a lotta problems, everywhere, with racism and hatred. We just kinda made it work.

[ She takes the last drink from her glass, brow knitting slightly. ] Back home, we sorta had somethin' like the Horizon. It just wasn't somewhere you could go physically. Like, you couldn't experience it like the Horizon. But the internet, you could talk to anyone, anywhere, at any time. You could carve out your own little space and do the kinda stuff you liked. Some people made videos, some people made music. You could learn there, or just kick back and relax, whatever you want. People made friends and met their soulmates and stuff on the internet all the time.

[godshattering]

Fodlan has a lot of problems with ignorance and hatred as well, and a lot of work to do in both regards. Part of the borders being closed for so long besides only a few approved trade routes with other countries means that very little's known about them, and even fewer people immigrate. Officially, anyway, since I'm sure they can't be the only ones who decided to leave what they know in search of something better. I'm sorry to hear that's a universal problem everywhere - the hatred and prejudice, that is.

[ Things he's lived rather decisively and at length with how they've been applied to him in different contexts, but that Julie's world was able to surpass some parts of it is a flicker of hope. Then again, it's just as much of a reminder how difficult it will be back in Fodlan with even more to overcome.

But that's nothing he'd like to dwell on in particular, and more importantly nothing Julie should feel she has to explain more about should she (understandably) not want to, so he's in the middle of searching for another topic - a lighter one, perhaps - when she beats him to speaking. When she mentions this internet and how it's sort of like the Horizon, Claude goes rather still instead of his occasional usual fidgeting and listens, surprise probably readily apparent over something so intriguing described like an average part of one's day. ]

That sounds... [ There's a pause while he grapples with the right adjective when all of them seem to barely scratch the surface on his thoughts of what she just described as an every day thing where she's from, and instead he just laughs when nothing better comes to mind. ] Well, I should probably keep track of how many times I've described something you've told me as incredible at this point, because that's another one. It seems like all the best parts of the Horizon, what with being able to talk to anyone anywhere at any time. Or I'm assuming you could, since it sounds like it was just available for anyone to use? Maybe it's for the best it's not available here since the Free Cities would probably use it just like they would TV.

[ He's joking, probably. Then again, it'd be worth it to somehow see the internet in action, even if it was just for a day. ]

[princessvegas]

No, I get it. The internet wasn't even very old back home. I mean, it was already a thing by the time I was born, but people even fifteen years older'n me could remember life before it. My parents and grandparents, they were already adults by the time normal people could use it. So it was still kinda considered like, a miracle of technology. It's funny, 'cause the Free Cities is... this is hard to describe, but like, a hundred and fifty years before my time? My world was a lot like it is here. They have magic and we didn't, but the technology, the ideas -- they're about in the same place. Then we started makin' all these discoveries, and education got more common, and just like that, we had changed all the world forever. We went to the moon, y'know. And we sent robots to take pictures of Mars. I remember hearin' once that it was a thousand years of progress in less than a century.

[ And maybe that's what scares her about the Free Cities. Not just their current ideas (which are, in fact, terrifying), but the fact that she can practically see their future, and it's coming fast. And sure, maybe there will be a few decades before they get to "secret biological weapons" territory, but she knows what the end game is. If they're lucky, they'll kill the world the slow, old fashioned way, with pollution. If not, well... ]

The internet wasn't exactly free, you needed some kinda device to get online, and usually you had to pay whatever company was carryin' the data to you. But billions and billions of people were online in some way. Mostly Facebook, which... you don't wanna know about Facebook.

[godshattering]

[ One hundred and fifty years catches his attention, abruptly aligning everything he's been told into something more than just nebulous information. It's a measurement that makes sense to him, even if he wonders just exactly what the difference between Fodlan and Abraxas is when put in those terms. Still the same amount of time, where when it passed in Julie's world they were able to come up with inventions he can only understand through concepts alone? Or even further behind? ]

I think you stating that this place is, if I'm hearing you correctly, still ages behind where you're from puts some things in perspective. [ Claude says this slowly, his mind still sifting through possibilities. ] I can't say that our calendars have the same meaning since the one in Fodlan is measured by the founding of the Adrestian Empire as its beginning. The same goes for the Abraxas one as the years I've seen hold no meaning to me, other than being higher than the dates I know. But where I left, the year was 1187 if that's closer to how you keep time as well?

[ There's another thought that keeps tugging at the corners of his mind, based on time, all those discoveries. How the Free Cities, even from what he's learned in the couple of weeks since his arrival, want to chase down every opportunity they can to continue their advancements and with magic he doesn't even fully understand to make that happen. It's a goal that seems to unite the academies, whether that's a good thing or not. Hopefully they aren't working on the face book Julie seems concerned about that he's assuming is a set of illustrations, or something close to it. ]

Considering that where I'm from hasn't had any chances to make any advancements, I have to say thinking about what could be done now that that's lifted makes me a bit uneasy now seeing what's happening here and the potential in that. Like maybe it won't be too long before some not-so-great things may be part of it there. [ Or, maybe worse - ] Or here, even if the situation is much different and they're much farther ahead of what Fodlan's accomplished.

[princessvegas]

I wouldn't say ages behind, exactly, but even if I would, they're about to hit on a lot of advancement, real fast-like. [ She shakes her head briefly. ] I don't think calendars match like that. I'm from the year 2020, in my world, but that number don't mean much. Year 1 was just some random year they decided, after Jesus died, I think. When we talk about history, we use BC to mean before the year 1, and AD to mean after. So I'm from 2020 AD, but someone could come here from my same world and be from the year 5000 BC. Humans have been around in my world for millions of years. It's complicated.

[ And Claude's world doesn't much sound like it matches up to what Julie would consider 1187. She's not even sure that the length of a year in Abraxas truly matches up to a year on Earth, or if she's just so used to counting that way that she's unintentionally kept it up.

She shrugs. ] I'm not sure it's that simple. Advancement is just advancement -- the way it gets used is more important. My world coulda been the most peaceful place ever, with no one in the whole world goin' hungry, but that's not what people decided to use things for. 'Stead of peace or science, people used the new stuff for power and money. That's what I see in this city. That same way of thinkin'.

[ And that's what frightens her. ]

[godshattering]

Interesting. Our calendar is marked by Imperial Years plus a number - all those years since Adrestia began - and then just years 'before' it with no other meaning attached. They consider themselves very important, as you might've guessed by that. [ There's a bit of dry humor in his voice, mostly because he's glad for a tiny chance for any humor at all. ] Yours does sound more complicated and especially if you really are 900 years ahead of me as it sounds like could be the case.

[ The rest of what she says is warning enough, both for here and for Fodlan, and Claude nods slowly as he considers the weight of them and what it is that people have the propensity to do. ]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Free Cities is using science as a guise for just as you said: power and money. Cadens, or I should say the parts they want us to see from what I've gathered, seems rather wealthy at first glance. It reminds me of Enbarr which was the former capital of the Adrestian Empire. Things there were the same in that there was lots of visible wealth meant to distract visitors. The city was a work of art in its own way, but only for the nobility. Those without money or titles were generally left to struggle. [ He pauses for a second with his mouth flattening into a line to make his (negative) thoughts clear on that much even if it wasn't merely the Empire doing that to their citizens. ] Though to be quite fair, that wasn't only an Enbarr problem. I can't say that Derdriu doesn't also have issues in need of resolution to make life better for everyone where it was happening all right under my watch. Now that the war in Fodlan's drawn to a close it's something that can be focused on now, finally.

Regardless, it seems people are consistent from world to world, so my long-winded point there is even from only being here a short time I have to agree with you about the government's plans and what those advances could mean here. And even more so since you've lived somewhere further down this same path of advancements.

[princessvegas]

I'm pretty sure all cities are like that, real wealthy 'til you look close. And Cadens is the biggest city I seen in Abraxas, so it makes sense that it would have more money. But I've been to Aquila and it was doin' okay.

[ He's throwing around more proper names than she's caught, and she's still a bit confused on the timelines, so she just sort of lets his thoughts pass by her. Honestly, Julie tends to drift in and out of conversations anyway, especially when they aren't directly related to her or her interests, and anything happening on a world she's never been to and will never go to falls squarely outside of her purview. She only tunes back in once he moves back to the actual point. ]

Yeah. I mean, I don't claim I know the future, but I know that history repeats itself like crazy, and I'm just sayin', what's up next on the tape ain't very good for any of us. Best case I can see... is that there's a huge war, and then there's a real good time after that. But, for us, that war changed everythin' forever.

[godshattering]

Sounds similar again to Fodlan, in that war changed everything. For there I think it'll be more of a reshaping the continent on top of that change, but for here? Abraxas seems somehow even more volatile, though that doesn't seem like exactly the right word, but close enough with how the Free Cities has military lurking around every corner of Cadens.

[ Claude sees no reason to not assume that's the case elsewhere in the other cities, Aquila being a name he recognizes from studying maps of the territory as a whole but yet to hear much about it. Julie's mention she's traveled there is something he'll file away for later to see about traveling. Something else to focus on while they're trying to get through nightmares, anyway, that isn't being dragged into the depths of the worst parts of his mind.

The door opening to the cafe catches his attention, both as someone bustles in and immediately heads for the counter where another patron greets them with friendly loudness, and also because the sky appears much darker than it did when they arrived. Which makes sense, given that they've been talking for a while, but he's still startled to realize how much time's passed. Or how out of sync his sense of time is with reality. Either way. ]

I, ah, seem to have taken up a lot of your time. [ And not just that, he realizes, since he follows it up with a slightly rueful smile while collecting the empty components of his tea to assist the servers. ] And probably didn't provide the best distraction from everything else going on by ending up focusing on so much about war, whether it's here or elsewhere, so I apologize for that.

Next time - assuming there might be one, that is - we'll limit it to lighter topics instead.

[princessvegas]

[ The appearance of someone new in the shop snaps her back to attention too, and she gently pushes her own glass toward the center of the table. Most of what they discussed was more general knowledge and politics than actual thoughts about those things that could be overheard, but Julie doesn't trust the natives as far as she can throw them.

As she stands, she gives Claude a smile. While she can't say that she necessarily feels better about everything going on, the dreams and being chased, she did, at least, forget it for a short time. That's enough. ]

For sure. Y'all can always come find me in the Horizon too. I'll see you later.