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.

---

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

[a_better_man]

"Good." Mat wraps his arms snuggly around Rhy and nuzzles his cheek against him. There's only comfort in it. If closeness is all that he can offer, if holding Rhy and soothing him like this is what he can give, he's going to.

The way the other man responds, the look in his eyes...it makes Mat's stomach twist. Light, if only he were more useful in situations like these. He never knows quite what to say. At least it seems easier to find words, now. Whether or not they're the right ones, he couldn't say.

"You're very very dear to me, and I'd hate to think you didn't trust my word. You can. Always."

[thearchangel]

It's just so weird. So hard to process. He's pretty sure the other feels the same, given the way he's reacting. They're not going to get things figured out between the two of them, that's for sure. Just sit here and marvel at the weirdness. He shakes his head, the flutter of mandibles against his jaw a quiet tap of cartilage in the battery.

"Glad to hear someone out there's winning." A long sigh. "You're prepared for it. Every soldier does."

His fingers flick over the console. Over the galaxy map. Mentally cataloging the places there should be Reaper signs.

"Then it knocks you on your ass every time."

I'm so sorry for the wait orz

[cointosser]

That simple explanation leaves the door open wide. Very wide. There is little, he thinks, that he has not tried or is not willing to try... though he can admit that having what may call a "modern" lover has opened his eyes to rather new things.

Vibrators, for one. Oh. The world to explore there.

He breathes deep. The smoke still curls and burns his lungs a bit, but it is no longer something he simply chokes on.

And it does leave a wooziness behind.

"And you will be quite aware, of course, that my careful gentleness is completely natural." He smiles, and when her mouth is free, he leans in and kisses it. His scalp tingles, moving down over his neck, to his back, puckering as the pleasure moves.

Don't be.

It echoes in his head, and it, in some way, feels like an order. Jaskier is not necessarily inclined to brutality, neither in bed nor out of it, but he does, certainly, watch himself around Nadine more than he has in the past. He adjusts himself to his lovers, as he is needed, and her needs, at first, have been delicacy and understanding.

"If that is what my lady craves... then I shan't be."

So now his fingers curl into the hem of her pants, and he begins tugging them off, without waiting for permission, simply because he wants her nude, now, as fast as possible. Until he's moved to his knees, and she is stepping out of them, giving him the opportunity to kiss the scar on her thigh.

[catholica]

If you can hold to that.

( it's probably the best he's going to get and he has no reason to think this man is going to run off and tell people what he's seen.

there's no reward in it for him, after all, so what would be the point? still, the trust is brittle, tentative and he still wants to lash out a bit. )

Can you?

[godshattering]

[ The wry smile returns once more with Wilhelm's sentiments though it turns into something slightly more fond at the ending. The slang isn't something he's familiar with in terms of being used widely, but - the meaning's universally clear. And it does, in fact, suck. ]

More or less. And if someone's not telling you what you should be, then they already have an idea of what you are to them and it generally doesn't go well if you're anything but that. There were too many bars on that particular invisible cage for my liking.

[ He should probably be careful to not assume Wilhelm's had the same experience; Claude knows well enough from Fodlan that even those former countries being so close meant nothing when it came to the vast differences in how they conducted their courts or the similarities in how nobles perceived what they saw as the truth. Add in the differences in worlds to that, and there's liable to be so many things to compare and contrast past what he could comprehend.

That's not the important part, though. Claude leans forward slightly, still the picture of casualness, intent on reiterating something Wilhelm's already voiced. ]

In that case, Abraxas is helpful, in a way, for getting away from all of that and everything that's ever been assumed about you. But you should know, that even if you return home from here at some point? That doesn't mean you have to go right back to however things were before for you. There will always be people telling you who you are or what you should be, but that doesn't mean they're right.

[techmaturgy]

Once again, Viktor isn't given any room to argue. He's usually good at taking the hammer in stride, but the light and the noise and the sudden use of it as a canon takes him by surprise, and he finds himself cowering and covering his ears as Jayce uses it to literally blast holes in the wall. Viktor doubts this is going to be the solution--he gets the sense that they won't be free of this until the Singularity decides it for them, but he knows that Jayce desperately wants to be useful.

If this is how he does that, well. Viktor can't exactly stop him.

He can't quite bring himself to move forward, either, and seeing the hammer's wake of destruction nearly freezes him to the spot. Viktor seems, for once, genuinely frightened.

"Jayce, I can't--"

[philancer]

[ Just be grateful he's not the sort of tank that can superbolide himself.

He blinks down at himself in confusion for a moment, poking at the water bubble she'd summoned. He's guessing it's to protect him from the fire, which is great, but the magic somehow doesn't get him wet in the process.

Magic is so weird. ]

Alright, then. Let's see how much damage we can do.

[ He really wishes he had Nova here for this. If he's taking on an army, he'd prefer to be mounted for it. But at least with the Lance of Ruin in his hands once more, they have a better chance than before. The red crest stone embedded in it gleams with an eerie crimson light as he swings the weapon up into a ready position again. And then launches himself forward to make himself a tempting target to lure them in close to him and make them a much more manageable cluster for her to pick off as she likes. ]

[ushiri]

[ An underground civilization? Kahlil has plenty more questions about that. But he focuses on the next part. ]

I've heard about those nightmares. [ Lucifer mentioned them, vaguely. It jogs something else in his memory - His brow furrows. ] I had a strange dream some nights ago. Three items were laid in front of me, objects I'd never seen before. When I picked on up a stranger appeared, giving me its name.

[ And then he woke up. ]

[a_better_man]

Mat freezes as soon as he feels any tension on the tie between them. He tries to look down but his light flickers badly and he can barely make anything out. Fuck!

"Alright?" He doesn't hear any screaming and can't feel any sudden weight, so he assumes Eddie hasn't fallen.

"And no, not much more'n wall. The light's not good, I keep losing it. I think...I might be able to hear something..."

He stays unmoving, straining to hear. There's faint sounds that he can't quite place. Maybe...a thumping? And a...mill wheel turning? Coming from the world that he does, and such a tiny and simple village, he doesn't quite know how to put the sounds of distant mechanical gears into context. The odd echoing quality doesn't help either.

But if sound is making it over the wall, then they must be nearing the top! And there must be something on the other side!

No worries!

[nadine_he_loves]

Jaskier's consideration has been greatly appreciated. It was what she needed, in the beginning. Tenderness and kindness and all the sweet things he'd given her. But now, sometimes, she yearns for rougher stuff.

Nothing so extreme as fists or blades or anything like that. But teeth and nails and firm grips and being held against a wall. Jaskier's more than strong enough to manhandle her easily. And he seems perfectly agreeable, to which she smiles eagerly. There's so much still to explore in bed, and while she's begun branching out some in lovers, most of it she wants to explore with him.

With just how eager Jaskier seems to be, Nadine is happy to help, pulling her loose white undershirt up over her head and off. She's not wearing anything under it besides the gold antler pendant she always wears dangling between her naked breasts. One hand reaches down to run through his hair as he kisses the mark on her leg, now surrounded by the protective tattoo she'd had done. Her fingers tighten and tug his head back to look up at her.

"Here...let's move this to the bedroom."

[ordinar]

[His eyebrows lift in recognition for Claude's name, confirming Sylvain's guess. And, no, he doesn't remember a thing Claude told him about the difference between dragons and wyverns.

His breath has begun to settle back into a regular rhythm. As the adrenaline fizzles, a desire for rest aches in his muscles, so he plops himself down on the grass. Though, it feels strange to relax while not too far behind them fire continues to consume the monastery.]

I'm Wilhelm.

[A pause, plucking a blade of grass, anxiety keeping his hands perpetually busy.]

So you're friends with Claude?

[cointosser]

[It may not have worked from anyone else, but Himeka is still home even more than Jaskier; Moglad stops his frantic fluttering, simply hovering where he is. A blight. Out... there? Infected?

It all sounds scary. Is that what happened to Bleobheris? It's infected? No. That isn't right. The tree is still here, still growing.

Was it... Jaskier?

Moglad nods so hard his whole body moves with the movement.] Of course I am! But... will he even hear it out there? [He pauses. Shedding his armor for his lute again is not the biggest ask, but he has been a dark knight for a while now... because Jaskier needed him to be.] Will it help you to listen, Himeka?

[tobeclosetohim]

[ Jo shook her head at that. The small movement. It had to be listening. She couldn't come up with anything about ground vibration as a consideration without it being hella louder. But wouldn't sound be, too?

Later. There'd be time for that later.

She considered wiping her blade on her pants, but there was no point in that either. It was about to get covered again. ] Wait for 'em out here or go meet our next band of trick-or-treaters where they stand?

[tobeclosetohim]

[ Jo has no clue at all about what should or shouldn't be done in this place, just like she didn't in Wanda's. Ghouls came from every direction when she pulled out her sword and this place. Empty—and the whole area creepy as fuck dark, tendrils and roots everywhere, but none of them looking alive and growing right—and only empty until it suddenly wasn't.

Her sword vanished as it got between her clinging to the seat with one arm and going for the door, wildly flying open still with the other. She manages it, but she's about one-third of the way out of the door, getting that handle when the thing breaks through the trees: angry, and giant, and what the fuck is on its head?????

Bewildered panic doesn't slow her down as she gets that door closed. At the same time, the guy talks to his car, not looking a bit surprised about the monster or concerned with her existence suddenly in his car, even as she's turning to look through the back window at that monster definitely chasing them. ]

What the hell is that?

[philancer]

[ Sylvain flashes him a crooked grin and sinks down on the grass beside him with a groan, still facing towards the burning school. He kind of can't look away. ]

Yeah. We come from the same world. [ A chuckle, before he tips his chin towards the Monastery they'd just escaped from. ] We actually both attended school here together, as boys.

[ Five years shouldn't feel as long as they did, since that time had ended. It almost felt like another life. ]

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo hates—fires of hell first hates—looking week. Hates that she said those words. Hates that she can't even be sure whether she picked the right person to tell them to. Even when that thought crosses out any alternate option to say them to anyone she might find at home, too. That would be worse. She can't.

(How do you live up or live down your own death cemented in someone's mind?)

She swallowed, "Yeah, okay."

The steel part of her spine wants to stare at him doing it. To the flash possibility of doing it, chin up, shoulders flat, her nails into her palm even if the crescents turned red, and show the fuckers she's made of stronger things than jumping at shadows. But something in her feels shaken by it. Not shattered. But like the crack in all those mirrors is somehow also mirrored in a crack down the center of her suddenly, too.

Jo looked out toward the people milling in the road,
between shops and buildings instead, hating herself, too.

[londonbound]

[ He is almost distracted from the words. The garment appears around him, rather startling at first, the confusing sensation of suddenly being dressed in something else taking his attention while his brain catches up. ]

Julie? Did you just--?

[ He calls back, tentatively. She's talking to him, but not saying anything about this. But there's certainly no one else who could have done it. That's when he realizes she'd asked him a question. ]

Y-yes. I saw something. Just a glimpse. [ The realization crashes in, so obvious he should have seen it before. He hadn't thought about that in some time. It had been odd, but with everything else going on, those glimpses of a different place had slipped his mind. He should have made the connection sooner. ]

I saw an ocean. A boat.

[ Not exactly like this, but an ocean nonetheless. It can't be a coincidence, can it? ]

Did you see something too?

[wiedzminka]

"Listen. I like it as much as you do," she snaps back. "Complaining about it isn't getting us out of here any sooner."

She's eyeing the jump up to the landing above when he offers a solution. Ciri looks down, lips pursed skeptically. She hasn't got long to make her decision. A beat, her gaze flicking to the goo beginning to envelop the bottom of the makeshift structure, and then she manages a single, curt nod.

The structure is already starting to wobble. It's going to be consumed soon enough, and they're running out of time.

"All right. Let's go."

Ciri accepts the help without further comment, climbing up with his assistance and to reach the ledge enough so as to pull herself up the rest of the way. Once she's on the upper floor (and the coast looks clear, upon a quick glance around), Ciri appears again through the hole to offer her arm down in return.

[stations]

Yeah?

( Mostly absent, but there's a faint hint of surprise hovering around in there. What a crazy and unexpected turn of events — who the hell is tolerating Lucifer around here and what's wrong with them, like, psychologically? )

Like who?

( Now entering the second-to-last lap. Surprising absolutely no one, Lucifer is in last place, and Jack is having a neck-in-neck battle with an NPC. )

[gynvael]

[ Kind of died. Geralt withdraws his hands, abrupt, as though he's coming to a realization. After a second he offers it again to help Eddie up. It does not, in truth, yet occur to him that Eddie is struggling with his death itself. His mind is a little elsewhere, distracted, and he's known a few who have returned from the dead now—through the Singularity or otherwise. The notion has grown strangely. Acceptable.

This, though. This re-examining of a death through memory. ]

There was a woman. When she was here, she also saw— [ He frowns deeper. What the fuck does this even mean? ] Perhaps this place, or I...We should get you out of here.

[ It no longer feels as safe within as he presumed earlier. And isn't that familiar? Maybe he should've remembered, that these walls do not always keep the dangers outside away. He can—try to fix the storm, briefly. Give them enough time to leave.

He looks back at Eddie. ] Where do you stay? I'll take you there.

[catholica]

Think the end result is gonna be the same either way?

( there's a lot of these undead things but they don't seem to be very skilled when it comes to fighting.

so, he thinks they'll be okay either way. )

Think we can meet them and maybe catch them off guard.

and then they went to church

[righteously]

Call him crazy, but this whole thing's giving him a fresh appreciation for skirts. The way hers bunch up automatically as her legs part, the wealth of skin suddenly made available to him — his hands ghost along her thighs, palm their way underneath the fabric, rucking it up even further near her waist. Still harmless, still arguably chaste — he doesn't go dipping between her legs, his fingertips don't skirt underwear lines, but they do dig gently in just beneath the swell of her ass.

It's lips that go exploring, venturing down from hers, seeking her neck. Finding her throat. Gentle, open-mouthed, warm and wet along the place between ear and shoulder. Maybe he's crazy, maybe he's out of his mind, but for a second there he could swear he tastes heartbeat. For an even more fleeting second, he wants to do terrible things to it — but that manifests only as a gentle, quick nip of teeth.

[princessvegas]

[ Did you just-- ?, he asks, and she perks up more, yells back. ] Did it actually work? The sweater?

[ She sounds just as surprised as he does. It was just a dumb idea she figured she'd try simply because she couldn't imagine it would hurt anything. But she didn't really think it would result in much.

An ocean and a boat. And he's on a beach now. But Julie isn't in the dark or near grass. There are no red strings anywhere. So are they related or not?

Her response is hesitant. ] Yeah, a few times. Always the same place. A field, at night. The grass was long. And there were two statues. Of people, but no one I know. They were connected by all these glowin', red threads. And every time, they were in different positions, but I never saw 'em move.

And there was an arcana in the sky. The Magician, I had to look it up later. I don't even know if I know anyone with that sign.

[falcony]

He gives her a quick squeeze before pulling back again, giving her a quick once-over as if to make certain there's nothing he can see (even when she confirms she's okay) before his eyes are back on the Horizon around them.

Inej is right, they do need to find shelter, and quickly. There's something about those clouds and this snow that has Sam's gut tight and worried. He nods. "You came from that direction, right? Cause there's nothing back this way, so let's keep moving this way. There's got to be something over that ridge."

[hairington]

[ steve realizes, a bit belatedly, how thankful he is that geralt doesn't press any further. not that there is a whole lot of it to uncover, steve's life - relatively speaking - has been pretty easy and pretty boring, and some part of him feels a little ridiculous that this was important enough to show up in the horizon without him wanting it to (this can't be on the same level as being tortured in a russian base...can it?)

instead, they go back to searching, and geralt hums - just loud enough to draw steve's attention to what seems to be a...hole? in the wall? well, that's something. he walks over to stand next to geralt, trying to peer through the hole as well, but he doesn't get a good enough look to really see anything. ]

Older brothers? [ steve doesn't know the feeling, exactly, but he has (had) friends who had older siblings. he knows how tough they could (probably) be. ] How many do you have? [ and then- ] Wait- did you say a bear?