EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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

[ordinar]

[The cat, snarling and springing from Sylvain's arms, startles Wilhelm into taking a step back. He'd half forgotten about the squirming bundle too. Despite everything, he breathes out a weak laugh. With the monastery going up in flames and crashing down around him, the guy had thought to save a cat. That simple act reveals a lot about him. A genuine knight in shining armor, Wilhelm decides.

Then giant dragon and invading army send his expression right back to worry.]

You're serious?

[He scans the skies with frantic eyes, as if he might have missed a gigantic fire-breathing lizard circling around.]

Is it still there?

[hextechhead]

Exactly. And as we all know, there hasn't been a single instance where someone goes back with their knowledge of this place. People who have say they forget once they're there, and they go back at the exact time as before. The only way we'll ever be able to intentionally go back is if we figure out the spell ourselves, and make corrections so we can choose the details, but ... there's no way to do that. None of us are good enough at magic, Free Cities isn't going to help us. It's ... impossible.

[ That was a long string of thoughts with maybe an underlining frustration. It just won't work. There is no way he can see around this. And that should honestly make it a done deal, no more of a conversation, they simply can't do it. But it won't stop Viktor from wanting them to investigate or figure it out, if the cure works out. Jayce sighs and rubs his eyes. ]

It's not a concern right now. The only thing that matters is curing him. If we can't do that, it's all moot.

[ Jayce looks apologetic. His emotions are all over the place. The heralds have been really throwing him off and getting lost in the Horizon doesn't help. He also trusts Alucard. ]

Sorry. The thing is ... only a few people know about his condition. So I can't really talk to anyone about it.

[aquilus]

[He doesn't comment on the clear skill and experience as they fight, but he does make note of it. It's both valued in the moment and useful information about the man.]

You aren't wrong. But arrogance can be cultivated long before it is warranted. Better that the weed should be cut off at the root before it blossoms.

[aquilus]

[That gets a slightly odd look, because Assassins are a people, a brotherhood. It's a strange thing to hear the name distorted into a verb.]

We're known to the people of the Holy Land. But for all that we keep to ourselves [usually], rumors flourish. The Crusaders accuse us of being fanatics.

[He supposes they aren't wholly wrong. But the Assassins are not the religious zealots some believe them to be, either. The Grandmaster of the Templars had known that — known that they are something far more dangerous, too.]

I've kept it to myself here because I don't know what other Summoned might believe based on name alone.

[godshattering]

Seeing if I can grow them outside of the desert or in other conditions, mostly. But I do have some other plans for them besides that.

[ The latter part added casually with no further explanation provided for said plans. Probably for the best since Claude learned a long time ago that most of Fodlan didn't particularly want to hear about the whole poisons thing, and those he's met here don't seem too keen on it either. He'll keep that to himself, though. Besides, where Sylvain decides to take the woes of nobility gets a blink from Claude first before he breaks into laughter a split second later. ]

Huh, I'm torn on whether it's the rich patron or the marrying one part that sounds more like some sort of previous plan. [ He's trying to look serious again, like these are valid options and not something he's also about to run with, but it's not going so well. ] I've noticed plenty of people with money around and the merchants I work for are certainly some of them, but even then. I think we'd have to marry about five people each to get anywhere or find even more so-called patrons. Nowhere quite the same as finding a random noble in to finance everything.

[ A pause, and then he'll tilt his head conspiratorially like this is an actual discussion of prospects, ] and if you were looking to put any of them on your list back home, I can promise the current Alliance nobles who weren't our classmates aren't worth it now that I know far too much about all of them.

[assembles]

A war. It's far from the first that Steve's heard of from other Summoned here, and he wishes that he could be surprised about it. But this seems to be a common thread through so many of their worlds, and given what the Summoned have been brought here for, it makes sense that soldiers would be prioritized. He heaves out a sigh all the same, sending Garrus a knowing look. He's fought his fair share of battles, and lost his fair share of them too.

"That seems to be how it works, given that it happens to people overnight. But when it happened to someone I know, he woke up with some extra scars. Physical proof, even if he didn't age. It's bizarre."

He's not sure what to make of it, and he'll leave it to the geniuses with the PhDs to try and figure it out.

"So you were in the middle of this war when they brought you here?" he asks, making a gesture toward the map. "Talk about awful timing." If the authorities who summoned them had some control over the time that they brought people from, wouldn't it make more sense to wait until their conflict had ended? It only adds to the theory Steve has that the act of summoning itself is not a precise process, that the mages and technologists here only have so much control.

[nadine_he_loves]

Nadine shakes her head in mild awe as she looks down on the projected display of the Milky Way. She has no doubt that this is exactly how it looks when Garrus is really on his ship, and really projecting a display.

"Clarke was right. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

But it's something else to see that in action. Having witnessed both true magic and technological marvels beyond her time, there really isn't much difference.

Cautiously, despite his assurances, Nadine reaches out a hand to lightly tap her finger at a randomly selected spot.

[ordinar]

He takes her hand the moment she extends it.

"There was a teacup in mine. It seemed really important for some reason, but now I have no idea why."

Though he can only guess at what will happen once he's got a hold of Wanda, Wilhelm follows her instructions. His best hypothesis is that she intends to whoosh them out of this pocket in the ground, or maybe create some kind of protective forcefield around them — her powers are as nebulous to him as the red mist spreading through the forest above them. For good measure, he slides his free arm around her.

[cryptsleeper]

[In all of this, it becomes clear that the more Jayce talks, the more he just needs to get it out. Alucard isn't sure how it has come to pass that he's become the sounding board for so many complex and complicated feelings. He'll blame the Heralds for now, loose tongues and a lack of filter seeming to be a hallmark.

So he waits for Jayce to finish. The look of apology is nice, but there's a more important question to ask.]

Do you want me to just listen then? Because frankly, I think anything like advice or perspective on the matter is well, well beyond my capabilities at this point.

[aquilus]

Fascinating.

[Endless possibility, a space of pure creation — the Horizon doesn't lack these qualities now, but there's something about the idea of pure potential that intrigues him.]

Yet somehow, it's not solid. Immovable.

[He gives the nearest wall a good kick. Just because.]

[techmaturgy]

“Then, I’ll defer to you in this matter.”

Though, uh, the fact that she says she’s dealt with this before is not necessarily heartening. Viktor has a defense mechanism built into his crutch, but will an electrical shock matter to a creature that is, technically, already dead? Does it have a heart to stop? He supposes they’re going to find out.

If she’s offering to escort him, he’s not going to stop her, falling in step the best he can (which is, of course, a step or two behind).

“Unfortunately, burning them would contaminate any potential samples. Let’s save it for a last resort.”

[techmaturgy]

It’s a silly, innocuous confession, though the way she says it gives Viktor pause. Clearly something about this is distressing her, and though upon closer inspection it seems like an ordinary mirror, Viktor knows by now that he can’t take anything at face value when the Singularity might be involved. Still, he does a cursory, physical check, looking around the side of it, using the best of his magical ability to determine whether or not it has any specific properties.

No, the mirror is ordinary, which leads him to believe that whatever’s going on, it stems from Jo herself.

“Perhaps you’re seeing them everywhere because you’re seeking them out.”

Not on purpose, of course. He’s been here long enough to know that magic can be insidious, and the Singularity has inscrutable motives and surprising powers. In lieu of an actual solution, he can at least remove the thing that’s aggravating her paranoia. Viktor leans heavily to one side and lifts the mirror off the wall with his free hand, seemingly unbothered that it doesn’t belong to him.

“I’ll put it away. Try not to look, for the time being.”

He understands that may be a tall order, given what seems to be going on, but she’s never struck him as particularly weak-willed.

[thearchangel]

"Touch."

The word grates out from a clenched jaw. If he'd been any other species, it's doubtful the word would have come out at all. With all the underlying vibrations to it, it's almost garbled as it is - anger, disgust, shame, fear, guilt. Garrus couldn't play poker with another turian to save his life at this point, too used to being around species who couldn't read into those lines.

He holds up his hands once Shepard looks stable, and doesn't meet her eyes.

"Nothing happened this time, did it? First time, was you touching me. The other times? Me, touching you."

Now he just sounds bitter.

"So instead of useful light, I get this crap."

Instead of being useful, instead of being helpful, whatever the hell power this is has just made it so he can't so much as be in contact with Shepard - with anyone, maybe. But Shepard... not only that, he's actively hurting her. Hurting the person - hurting someone he cares for. He's stepped back, now, for her sake, arms folded tight across his chest, mandibles flattened to his jaw. It's worse than screwing up. Worse than tripping over his words or a bad date, or anything like that.

So much for one thing going right.

[thearchangel]

"Scars? And he was just asleep the whole time." It's less of a question and more Garrus repeating the facts to himself. Mulling them over aloud. They must have matched up with Steve's friend's experience, otherwise he figures it would have been mentioned. "I'd say it doesn't make sense, but what about this place does?"

If Mordin somehow ever turned up here, maybe. Hell, any salarian. Or asari. Damn, he wishes an asari would turn up. They could probably put all this brain junk into a better perspective.

He shakes his head. "Yeah. Galaxy-wide invasion kind of war. We'd just lost some good people..." The loss tempered only by the fact he'd been able to actually see Thane Krios again here. "Could only be worse if it'd been in the middle of combat, really." A pause. "You?"

[thearchangel]

"Is it?" Another genuine question. "I mean, this I can explain. I know someone who could put together a working version with a bunch of scrap. Magic is..." He shrugs, helplessly.

Magic was wild, crazy things you couldn't explain logically. Even biotics, you could explain. They were based in logic, in science. But some of the things he'd seen here? No logic could explain it. That's magic, far as he's concerned.

Her touch illuminates a planet, and the map zooms in on it accordingly. "THESSIA", reads the caption. Garrus stifles a chuckle. It's somehow fitting Nadine tapped that place, out of everywhere, though he's not totally sure he can put a talon on why.

"Asari homeworld," he clarifies. "Big on culture, diplomacy, research. Half the asari I've met are some kind of researcher." The other half were mercs, or soldiers, usually.

[cryptsleeper]

[And--

--the wall moves.

It moves like jelly, slow and wobbling. Reverberating from the strength from the kick. Alucard's eyebrows shoot up.]

Do that again.

[catholica]

I can tell you where I come from that assassins can be a variety of things. Hunted because they're going about it for their own reasons, committing murder because they can or employed by the government.

( he shrugs. )

It's a lucrative business.

[hairington]

[ it takes a second before steve notices the blood, but even then he's not sure if it's worth bringing up. his eyes go from geralt, who seems to be moving about the room without any real care for what he's leaving behind, back to the trail behind him. he comes to a kind of decision, about to say something about the blood, when geralt turns and hands him the kitchen knife. no. and there goes any thought of that.

steve's expression shifts, his worry now replaced with minor confusion. ] Wait- you've been here before? [ and depending on his answer, steve's got a load of other questions. for now, though, he'll keep close to geralt as they move through the space, knife still in hand. ] Does the Horizon normally do this? Cause my place isn't supposed to look like that. I mean- kind of like that, but it's wrong.

[ there's a particularly wet squelch that draws steve's attention, and his thoughts are back on that feeling from a few moments before. that the ooze is moving. that it's coming towards them. that maybe there's something else to it, but he's not the sort of person to figure that out. still, steve stares at it for a second too long, enough that geralt's voice makes him...not exactly jump, but startle back to what they were doing.

task at hand, steve, come on. ]

Is there something up there?

[earthborn]

She doesn't have to think about it for long to realize that he's right. Before all this, Shepard would have called bullshit and moved on; Indoctrination was as close as anyone had come to the mystical hoodoo that this whole planet seemed to run on, and even then there had been some kind of explanation.

But he's right— or rather, it checks out. Shepard watches him, and she doesn't have to be a Turian to hear the misery in his voice.

Fine, then.

"Let's test that theory," She says, shoulders squared and jaw set. She steps up, reaches out, and just as she's done so many times before, cups his cheek and jaw, on the scarred side.

She's braced for it, and there's nothing wrong with Shepard's poker-face, but it still takes her a moment to breath through it; the piles of corpses, stinking even through a hardsuit filter, and the moist almost-organic look of the interior of the Collector ship. Death, she realizes, as her vision clears. All of the flashbacks, or hallucinations— whatever they were. They were about death.

"Okay," Shepard blinks clear, and maintains the contact, steady and sure. It only seems to happen when they touched, not just if they touch; small blessings that mean she doesn't have to let go, "Right. We are going to handle this."

A statement of fact, flat and uncompromising.

"You don't stop using your biotics just because you might hurt somebody. You train them, so you won't. So if this permanent, if this is you now, we got work to do. You understand me, Vakarian? When have we ever quit just because the going got tough?"

[philancer]

Please. I was the rich patron back home. I didn't bother with making lists. Besides, it wouldn't matter anyway, I was only biding my time until I got ordered back home to play stud anyway.

[ Crudely blunt, perhaps, but Sylvain had never really made a habit of hiding his disgust for what lay in store for him. Although not everyone picked up on the disdain he had for those who sought to check him off their own 'lists', that hadn't exactly been subtle either, if one was paying attention. ]

As for here, hmm... That is a conundrum. Well. Seems like your best solution then is... [ He trails off, rubbing his chin for a moment before casting Claude a cheeky grin. ] Start a harem. Then you can collect as many as you need to fund whatever you're working on.

[philancer]

Unfortunately.

[ Sylvain casts an eye towards the sky in reflex, but the beast had been so large that it would be pretty hard to miss if it were still looming nearby. ]

I don't know if it was actually here. The Horizon seems to be having trouble maintaining what this place has looked like since I arrived here and recreated it. This... this is the predecessor to what it looks like now, back in my world, but I formed it from memories far earlier than all this. Obviously, dropping a dragon on it didn't do it any favors.

[philancer]

I'm not sure I want to ask what that 'weeding' entails. [ There's humor in his voice as he glances back over his shoulder at Altaïr between fighting. ] It sounds highly unpleasant.

[ He considers those words a moment longer before offering a shrug. ] I also think some people are just way more inclined to arrogance than others. Whether they realize it or not.

[godshattering]

[ So: they do, in fact, have that in common. There's a fleeting sense of satisfaction that his guess was correct as always happens when it turns out he was right, though it doesn't last long. The reality is having that in common isn't something he'd wish on anyone, and a wry smile of acknowledgment crosses his face. ]

It's a lot like starting over. Here you don't have to bring in any of what you know or lived from home unless you really want to share it. And if you don't want to? No one will know the difference. [ Well, except - ] Assuming no one else is here from your home. I'd imagine that makes a difference.

[ Something Claude's learned he has to watch now that Petra and Sylvain are here, and more so than he had upon first arriving and discovering he was alone. Nothing too troubling, and nothing he hasn't balanced before. Easy enough to shrug a shoulder. ]

I've done that before too, in some ways. I joined my grandfather's house when I was... [ He'll trail off here to appraise Wilhelm for a second with a slight smile, ] probably about your age, and that was swapping one set of criticisms for another. Did you grow up in a court yourself as well?

[ Not that there aren't lots of reasons to want to leave a past behind, but. Just another guess. ]

[aquilus]

[The notion of being hunted isn't so foreign, more than one party has wanted revenge on them for their actions, but the rest is utterly, utterly foreign. He's not one to reveal much of what he's feeling, but a combination of disbelief and disgust is evident on his face.]

Then they claim a name they can't live up to, and desecrate our creed.

[He can feel anger rising up within him at the very idea, and forces it back down. This is not the time or the place; he can't do anything about pretenders who exist worlds away from here.]

We are nothing like that.

[aquilus]

[What.]

This has to be a joke.

[It's not that he wants to continue having no effect on their surroundings. But this is a little ridiculous. It doesn't stop him from kicking again, harder this time, hoping he doesn't pull back a foot with several broken toes.]