EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

---

With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

---

THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

---

THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

---

THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

[aquilus]

[He's begun to lose the sense of how much time has passed himself, which is more than a little unnerving.]

Someplace safe.

[Altaïr would never venture into the Horizon if he were not absolutely sure of that. But he's not about to share the location of one of several secure bolt-holes he's made for himself unless it is absolutely critical.]

I'm more concerned with returning to it than I am about what might happen to it.

[righteously]

And thus Dean Winchester was dumped gracelessly over onto the ground face-first, to the tune of a low and guttural groan. Into the grass, there may or may not be a mostly-inaudible murmuring of fuck you. Two or three seconds later he presses his palms to the ground and heaves himself up onto his knees, feathers askew and twig-filled, hair ruffled, looking wholly undignified — just in time to see Jo finish her perfectly graceful descent from mid freaking air.

Flat as a pancake in the world's deadest deadpan: "Showoff."

[itookashot]

"Maybe. Maybe it's erased some of our domains and replaced it. There's definitely a fit of some kind happening."

Jesper can't really imagine that they'd be on an entirely other plane, but who knows with the Singularity. He's never been able to understand it. Julie's the only person he knows who seems to semi-get it, but even then she claims she really doesn't. It only communicates a little with her, but it's still unknowable. Is it possible the Horizon is twice as large as they ever knew? It would have to be, for this.

"This is such a strange series of structures. It must have meaning to someone."
Not them, necessarily. They all share a mind in here. "Maybe we're experiencing someone else's memory of nightmare this time. But independent of them."

Usually in the past they had to be doing it with the other person. This is them separate from it. Jesper frowns and looks down at the pink stuff. It smells like something he's not used to, even from here, something sickly sweet.

[wiedzminka]

Go where?

[ She doesn't need him shoving her. She's already bolting toward the one side that doesn't seem to be rapidly approaching them, but there's also nothing there. No door. No window. No latch.

Ciri presses her hands against the stone, searching for seams or cracks or anything. ]

Dean!

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo does not kiss the ground. She does not. But she almost wants to. Or to hug the ground. Whatever. She's so much happier when her boots are actually on real ground and no longer in the air, and she's no longer bracing just a little before her weight shifts to the next lower stair, like it might give out any next second, at any point she decided to take it for granted.

There's no kissing the ground, but the relief is so grand, and she'll take a terrifying walk through the sky to Dean, who looks like he decided to get friendly with every single branch of the tree above him. It's damn near comedic, even when it makes her want to wince a little. Jo chooses neither. There's a blithe smile, just for him, as she gave a wave of a hand at the whole mess of him over there. "Someone has to show you how to do it. Because this? Is obviously not it."

There's a glance toward the folded-in pile of Geralt, and is it weird that more than earlier makes her look at him for a second? Geralt. All head in his hands. Taking a moment to breathe or whatever. She knows better—and that's not about him, it's about hunters and even miniature breaking points—so she looks back to Dean. "Anyone have a guess where we are now?"

[righteously]

( Go where? )

I don't know, I'm workin' on it, I haven't gotten that far yet-

( He snaps back without any real heat, just urgency. He's only made it as far as go forward in this very strategic plan of his — but the walls ahead are closing in too. )

Son of a bitch.

( Okay, you know what? Now's the freakin' time to shine. This is his moment. Let's do this. He pops out his stupid friggin wings, ruffles them awkwardly. Extends them in a way that's lopsided and clumsy, then flaps — and manages to send himself careening over to one side as one wing catches air and the other doesn't, practically throwing himself into a wall.

Again, with feeling: )

Son of a bitch! What the hell are these things even friggin for?

( So that's gonna be a nix on operation Fly Them Both To Safety. )

[gynvael]

A minute is all he takes. Geralt lifts his head, climbs to his feet and offers Dean a hand up. Seems as though he could use it.

Maybe one day, those wings will have some use.

"Bleobheris. Belongs to Jaskier." A white peacock struts by as if on cue and plucks up one of Dean's fallen feathers.

Mm. Jaskier's domain for certain. They're safe, in other words. Back in the Horizon proper as far as he can tell. The Singularity rises from the center—absent inside that labyrinth. Another time, he will find the energy to reflect on where the fuck they were and how it happened. Where such a space could even exist within the Horizon.

Right now, he's only glad they landed here and not Kaer Morhen for the second time. One of the more pleasant subconscious desires plucked out of his mind, apparently.

[wiedzminka]

[ Ciri jumps a little when the enormous bird wings pop out. She'd completely forgotten Dean had those.

--and it soon becomes clear why he doesn't bother flashing them very often. Because he looks like the clumsiest and most useless chicken.

Okay. So they're not flying out of here. They're not running out of here straight through a solid wall. Don't exactly have time to dig.

That leaves one option.

The first part works as planned, at least: she vanishes momentarily, leaving only a split-second afterimage of blue-green, before reappearing crouched atop the meter-thick wall. Muttering under her breath some sort of haphazard plea for this to work out better than her attempts at making a functioning weapon had gone, Ciri summons a long coil of rope next.

So far so good. It feels study enough. She throws it down to Dean with a very obvious instruction: ]

Climb!

[righteously]

How the hell-

( He starts, bewildered — only to have the wall before him lurch forward, a very convenient reminder that he doesn't have time for that. Questions later, rope now, crushed to death never thank you very much.

He grabs the rope, and he starts the ascent — notably faster than he could've pulled off before spending a year rock climbing in the damn desert, a fact that he'll ruminate on later and feel a little smug about.

Later.

He hauls ass, which seems to personally offend the walls apparently, because they start moving in faster, nearly doubling in speed, intent to cut him off. )

Screw this, this sucks balls, shit shit shit shit shit-

[funbreaker]

[ Being a Tummy Ache Survivor just means he's even more likely to lose his metaphysical lunch all over the place. Since Himeka doesn't seem to want to stop, he focuses on looking forward to their destination. ]

We are, in fact. I think these strange phenomena are happening everywhere. The dead coming back to life as well, as you predicted might happen.

[ This doesn't appear to be the same as Eifstide, though, from what he understands. He has a lot of thoughts and theories about this, but he needs to assure their safety before he can get too deep into it.

With that, he moves to the edge of the roof and jumps down onto a piece of corrugated metal, still keeping tight hold of Himeka's wrist as he goes. She doesn't need his protection — this is more about keeping her focused. ]

More than that, I haven't been quite myself lately. Have you noticed aught like that yourself?

[ Her eating the pink ooze isn't a dead giveaway. ]

[assembles]

[ It's a whole lot more graceful when the shield actually bounces off of the things the way Steve's used to, and when it returns to him.

As he catches up to both the shield and the undead it hit, however, he sends a kick right into the thing's jaw, sending it bending backwards and collapsing to the ground. He snatches the shield up then, turning back toward Ciri as she suggests her plan.

And, well, it's not a bad one. Steve certainly wouldn't have hesitated with his own shield. He sends a glance down at the one he has now. ]

Well, there's only one way to find out.

[ Sorry in advance, Jayce, if this thing ends up melting. Steve doesn't hesitate then, circling around to a small cluster of the undead and using some wide swings with the shield to force them closer together. ]

Head's up!

[ He gives one big shove, sending them all stumbling in Ciri's direction, then falls into a crouch with the shield held in front of him to offer as much protection as it can. He's done this sort of thing before, and it shows in how readily he takes to the task. ]

[wiedzminka]

[ It's a bit precarious up here, but she hasn't gotten a chance to assess what's on the other side of the wall, so Ciri braces herself on her knees atop the wall, bearing down her full weight on her end of the rope to make sure he has a solid anchor. She isn't able to help haul him up at the same time, only watching anxiously while he scurries up and swears.

When he's close enough, Ciri reaches down to offer a hand. ]

Almost there.

[assembles]

The "brain network" isn't always the best way to get to know people, although Steve would say it worked for the two of them. Still, it's impersonal enough that he's glad for this chance to meet Garrus in person — or as close as they're going to get, for now.

Palaven. Steve steps just a little closer to get a look at it, but it doesn't appear that different from any other planet. Up until that not-so-small correction Garrus makes, which causes Steve's head to snap toward him as he frowns. "I'm... sorry to hear that." He wants to know what happened, of course, but he doesn't push, figuring that Garrus will elaborate if he wants.

"As for the updates..." He crosses his arms and shifts his weight. "As you said, the times people are from here can differ. Sometimes people will go to sleep and suddenly have... an extremely vivid dream of things that happened back home. A way of catching them up to events, I guess." It's not the same as going back, but it may as well be. Almost like memories are being unlocked, except Tony's proof that it's more than that.

[righteously]

( There's about a quarter of a second of debate when she thrusts her hand down over whether or not he should take it, whether he should trust she's got the strength to actually help haul him up — she's not exactly a body builder, and Dean's doesn't have what you might call a small frame.

But that quarter of a second flits by, and before he can really consider it he's already reaching out to grab her wrist for leverage. Between that and his left hand gripping the rope, he manages to heave himself up over the lip and roll away just in time to not get one of his wings caught in the giant asshole trash compactor beneath them.

One pregnant pause gets spent silently metabolizing the fact that he is actually still alive and not a pancake, and then he hauls himself up to look between her and the fraction of an inch of seam where a hallway used to be. )

That. ( He points at her. Points at it for emphasis. ) Sucked. That sucked.

( Which is... gratitude. It just doesn't look, smell, or sound like gratitude. But. You know. Thanks. )

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard nods once, satisfied with the response. So long as it isn't in the open, he won't worry. The man has never given the dhampir the sense he can't look after himself. A small miracle, some days.]

I am as well. I keep wondering if there's some sort of metaphor at play here, some break through we have to have, but then I say those words out loud and realize how ridiculous they sound. [He sighs, reaching up to tug a stray piece of vine out of his hair.]

This is the worst the Horizon has acted up since I've arrived here.

[righteously]

Insert the most immature mocking face he's capable of along with a silently, sardonically mouthed someone has to show you how to do it — or maybe more like mermer hers to mer yer her mer mermer. Because that's what level of come-back he's at right now. A six year old.

Anyway. Moving on.

He takes Geralt's offered hand for a little help hauling himself up — and only a tiny little over-balance from the weight of the wings. He's been working on it. Started popping them out once in a while during training, look at all this progress, go him.

"Blob-whatnow?" He echoes skeptically, ineffectually dusting grass and leaves off his clothes. Finally gets his first good look at their surroundings, and a pleasant dusting of mild incredulity passes over his features. "Wait, your boyfriend lives in a tree? Man, you guys are friggin' weird."

Also noteworthy: this is the first time he's referenced Geralt and Jaskier's romantic thing out loud since he learned about it (and then promptly gossiped about it to Jo). The fact that he's doing it in the middle of judging something unrelated is a sign of acceptance when it's coming from Dean Winchester. Congratulations, it is now Mostly Normal to his brain. Even more progress, hashtag growth.

[tobeclosetohim]

The big tree gets a look before she turns to look first over her shoulder and then around at her surroundings. The first connection that snaps into place is that she should have spent more time looking around herself when she was up in the sky. Have some clue which direction Dean's forest, the bar, and the bunker are in. Have gotten herself a bird's eye view of this whole god-forsaken mental as all get out (literally) place.

Jo wonders how hard it might be to do it again.
Things to test not today, but at some point.

Dean's sentiments match hers because massive tree and strutting peacock. Okay, maybe the second fits at least what she's observed of Jaskier from a distance, even if she's still yet to meet the man himself and have a conversation with him for all that she's had dozens with Nadine at this point.

What catches up with Jo the next second isn't the newest reference to the weird amalgamation of people connected to Geralt's sex life dominoes that short-circuited Dean's brain; it's the missing person of their party who she can't spot in any further distance from them. It combinations the last far too short insanity time, most of Jo's focus centered on her until it'd been jarred out by the falling floor and the not-falling sky. "Where's Ciri?"

[righteously]

He'd be inclined to agree that her taste has improved — unfortunately, the universe is probably laughing its ass off at the concept, considering what's in store for them in the near future. Depending on how you look at it, might just be her taste still runs similar. Demons in denim.

Definitely wouldn't be inclined to agree with that good person label, though. Thinks he probably misses that mark by about a foot and a mile — a fact that might've had him backing out of this by now last month, last week, maybe even last night.

But tonight...

Tonight he's empty, and he wants to pretend to feel full for a little while. Wants to fill that hole where love and intimacy should be, and can't think of a single damn person he wants to fill it more than her right now.

So the glass gets blindly, absently set on the table behind him without a single sip having been taken from it. That newly freed hand drifts down to settle at her waist, to glide around the small of her back. She says she's wasted too much time waiting, so he won't make her wait any longer. He closes the distance. It's a slow trajectory, almost tender, but unfaltering. When he catches her lips, it's chaste — but it won't be for long.

[stations]

( Jack makes a small sound of concession — well, you're right about that. Once his town figured out they could just re-use suicides and weird weather phenomenon on repeat and get away with it, they pretty much stopped trying. At this point, honestly, it's just gotten embarrassing.

Lucifer manages to skid around a curve without falling off the edge, and there's a fleeting half-second where Jack almost feels proud of the guy.

Then he remembers he totally hates this jerk, and drops a banana peel in his path. )

So you really don't like anything about humanity? ( Because he's curious, and they have nothing better to do. Half-vacant conversation's a staple part of the experience. ) Like, I get it, most of society sucks on a cosmic level and as a general rule I don't talk to living human beings whenever I can help it, but... It's not all bad.

[gynvael]

"The Seat of Friendship." His reply comes absently; he's still gathering his bearings, trying to decide if their connection to the Horizon is finally stable. "Was. Soldiers raided it."

So. That's why it's here now, rebuilt and with more than a few additions. The history isn't important, in truth, where Dean and Jo are concerned; it's clear Geralt's only answered because—ironically—he is too distracted to have deliberately chosen not to.

By the very thing Jo asks. He'd felt Ciri vanish from his grasp. Not slipped. Just disappeared.

"Not here. I'll—find her." She's either elsewhere in the Horizon, or returned to the physical world. He's not contemplating any dire scenarios, despite the tightness in his voice. "Stay as you like. Don't fuck with his pets. They bite."

The peacock in particular. Regardless—unless they need him, Geralt's taking his leave.

cw: gore

[ushiri]

I don't know!

[ He shouts back over the clash and grinding of bone against bone. The tail-hilt swings in his direction, slamming into his ribs and throwing him toward the wall again. It rattles his brains again and he can feel something in his right arm snap.

The blood streaming down from a new wound on his head feels sticky and hot against his skin. It's as close to panic as he's come since facing Jath'ibaye - he doesn't know what this is, he doesn't know how to stop it. In the midst of striking Claude the beast turns its head toward Kahlil, sniffing the air.

The earth is your flesh, the rivers your blood, the skies your breath. Parfir, the earth is your flesh, the rivers your blood, the skies your breath. I honor you. I honor you. I honor you...

The prayer wrings in his head as he struggles to his feet. Too scared to summon another weapon, he bites into his own wrist, tearing open the flesh with a pained cry.

The spill of fresh blood has the bones whipping around, ignoring Claude entirely as it fixes on Kahlil.

It's the opening he was hoping to give Claude. Hopefully he either has the strength to swing a good hit - or the strength left to run. ]

[philancer]

[ It really is a little disappointing. Even though Sylvain's not as fight-crazy as some of his friends, he still enjoys the adrenaline rush. He's already moving on to the next several shambling corpses even as he cuts down the one to his left. ]

Mmm. Obsessed with being the best. He's usually in it for the experience, the training, the challenge, rather than just the fun of it.

[philancer]

[ Sylvain needs a moment to clear his own lungs. And to also release the squirming bundle he'd had tucked under one arm, which turns out to be a very annoyed black cat, who swishes her tail at him in annoyance before darting off in the direction of the woods. At least it's away from the burning castle.

Hunched over with his hands braced on his knees, he drags in a deep lungful of fresh air before glancing back behind them at the chaos they'd just escaped from. ]

That... That's what it looks like when a giant dragon shows up to battle an invading army.

[philancer]

[ Sylvain had already planned to get involved with Libertas as much as he was able, if for far more altruistic reasons. But he gives Claude's idea some deep thought all the same. ]

Considering they summoned us here to be their support [ or their fodder? ] in this war, do you think just doing something like that will be enough to grant us the influence we need with them?

[ He doesn't sound too convinced of that, but he's not writing the option off yet either. He'd prefer not to have to enlist, but it might be the more direct approach. ]

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's needs nearly snap at the way the thing is here and then just over there.
Very much a ghost move. Except ghost shouldn't be in the Horizon. At least, she'd assumed that.

Had she ever asked? No. It's like the way zombies shouldn't be in the streets, but they are. That one hadn't surprised her. Zombies in the real world happened, even if other people thought it was only kin media. It annoyed her that this Horizon one had. It might as well be a good assumption to go with nothing being assumed in this place, too. She needs to know so much more about it. Maybe once it stops being fucked up. If it ever stops being all fucked up.

"Fuck the fucking fuck out of that," Jo snarls it.

"Inej only belongs to herself and whoever the hell she wants to belong to, and I gotta tell you, lady hellspawn, if you haven't figured out what that looks like, it definitely ain't the look on her face now."