EVENT | LANDFALL | VALISHAERA

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: JULY 13-26
Location: Valishaera
Situation: Tu Vishan has made landfall on Siaxhi, to explore the Dreaming Watch City of Valishaera.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

As Tu Vishan draws near, the heavy jungle visible even from miles out quickly identifies the landmass as Siaxhi, one of the westernmost continents in Konryu and one that has been largely untouched insofar as the kedan themselves have gone. There is a natural inlet along the southeast shore on the continent and Tu Vishan makes for that, though he fills nearly all of it.



OOC INFORMATION
Landfall Questions | Approved Item Requests | Pocket Dreaming Signups

CITY OF VALISHAERA
Exploring the Coast | The Arybar | A Ruined City

WITHIN THE TEMPLE
The Monks' Domain | The Labs & Library | Gathering Rooms & Garden | The Pocket Dreaming Realms

LANDFALL MISSIONS
Dreamscape | Night's Wood | Inan | OOC Organization

Comments

The Labs & Library

[ironwood]

To the west is the alchemical laboratory. A modest room filled with various glass beakers, burners, fires, kettles, etc. The walls are lined with jars of various herbs, all labeled in an alphabet neither of kedani or any foreigner language. Off of the lab is a small and extremely cluttered living space with all the necessities. Many monks use the lab and some might even be willing to attempt to teach interested characters.

At one "side" of the circular room is a wide doorway which leads out into a short hall before opening again into a grand library. The books here seem both familiar and nonsensical. Any book a character can think of well enough will be recreated, but if they only remember the title or a vague image, the missing pieces will be filled with gibberish. The rest of the library seems filled with others’ such vague memories. Some monks are wandering around the library and will give ambiguous responses to characters about what they do, directing them to Wlodzislaw and Karanea with further questions.

Wlodzislaw can also often be found in the lab or his quarters; (Wlodzislaw is an official NPC played by Kate).

Donatello

[i_speak_softly]

"Hey, Don."

"... Kirby?"

"Good to see you again, pal. Hey, I found this crazy portal inside the temple. You really ought to see it. I think it leads to the real Valishaera!"

"The real Valishaera...?"

No sooner had Don crossed through the portal, than Kirby was nowhere to be found. It gave him a bad feeling, but as he moved cautiously through the crystal rooms, it was hard not to be tempted by the laboratory. It's crowded with beakers and jars, Bunsen burners and bubbling experiments, but strangely empty of any people.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

Re: Donatello

[wickerwood]

"A moment!" It was Kirby's voice that called back to Don from the other room a moment before an old man came wandering out, offering a smile. He moved swiftly around the counter and offered a hand in greeting to the turtle.

"I'm pleased as punch you made it. What can I do for you?"

Re: Donatello

[i_speak_softly]

Don's not great at recognizing humans, but he's fairly confident this is not Kirby, in any shape or form. He considers drawing his bo, but then decides to shake hands instead.

"What is this place? Who are you?"

[wickerwood]

"That depends on what you want it to be. Could be any number of things really. An island. A cave. A temple. That depends on you." Wlodzislaw gives the turtle's hand a quick and light shake, already distracted as the monk moves over to a bookshelf. "At the moment, I'm this man. Lovely chap, if I do say so myself. A bit of a bore at times, but I fear most living beings are. Yourself included. Hopefully less of the time than more."

[i_speak_softly]

"I'm not boring," Don mumbles, but it's a half-hearted rebuttal to an often-heard accusation.

"Am I still in Valishaera? What was that portal?"

Aya | ota

[looksfine]

[Was anybody surprised that Aya found her way to the laboratories? Anybody at all?]

[Because that was precisely where the young (not-so-)artificial intelligence headed for the moment she was made aware of its existence. Her motives were pure. Curiosity. A desire to learn more. The potential to gain something that might better support the systems currently provided to her two companies back in Keelai.]

[The books were of little interest to her; her only thoughts were vague recollections of a collection she had once seen in the Science Director's laboratory. And even then, it was only the large, black cover with the undeciphered symbol that even drew more than a momentary glance. Interesting.]

[She moved on, eager to observe their sciences first-hand.]

Permission to enter?

[wickerwood]

You're assuming that permission is required.

[Wlodzislaw glanced up from his work with what could be described as a twinkle in his eye. Then his attention was back to the pelican and long-beak alembics before him where he was clearly preparing a number of different tinctures. It barely took more than a look for him to understand what Aya was, in a sense, and the potential which laid before her.]

Bring me that beaker, would you?

[He gestured at a table with a number of glass beakers behind her without looking up, his gaze instead diverting to the pages sprawled across the counter beside him.]

[looksfine]

[Her assumptions were not wrong. Not entirely. While it may not have been required, it was her understanding that common courtesy stated she should at least announce her presence before entering in the domain of another.]

[It was a lesson that took a while to learn, and thus, one she could not ignore.]

Certainly.

[What was a single beaker in the face of a welcomed greeting?]

May I then ask what it is for?

[wickerwood]

Certainly.

[He echoed, though the response guaranteed no answer to her question. Wlodzislaw lifted a quill that wasn't there a moment before to scribble some notes on the page before him. Then he dropped the item and returned to watching his materials distill.

A few seconds later, he straightened and finally regarded the creation for any real period of time.]

You're green. Are you supposed to be?

Superman || OTA

[andaway]

Most people wouldn't take reading every book like a challenge, but Superman isn't most people. There doesn't seem to be a purpose between what he's doing- he simply grabs a book, opens it to read a few pages then leaves it where he found it before grabbing another with a grin on his face, rinse and repeat. He might be testing if there's a limit to the library, but so far as long as he actually remembers the book it seems to have no problem pulling it for him.

[ooc: Kal has been hit by pink Kryptonite, but tell me if you'd rather me skip that.]

[runrightround]

Wally likes libraries, even if they're not the most exciting place. Not to him, anyway, from the looks of things they are very exciting to other people.

On the one hand, he doesn't feel like he should interrupt whatever it is Superman is doing. On the other hand, he really wants to know what exactly he's doing.

"Are you just looking at the pictures or what?"

[andaway]

He actually laughs, then shows the kid how 'Towards the End of the Morning', the last book he's checking, doesn't actually have pictures. Just the text.

"Did you know this library can give you every single book you remember? Or gazettes-" He grabs the last number be ever read of Vogue, also showing it to him. "Isn't it great? I was trying to test it."

[runrightround]

That's actually pretty awesome, if that's really what the books do. He might have to test it himself. He grins at the books being shown to him.

"Cool. Do you think it would work for comic-" Yeah, he stops himself once he realizes what he's looking at. "You read Vogue?"

[shorttempered]

Mark had been examining everything he could, so when he heard about the library he just had to check it out. Before he could pull out his first book, he notices someone doing the same thign. Someone he knew well.

"Hey there, Superman. Fancy meeting you here."

[andaway]

"Mark!" He grins down a the man, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. The other hand is still holding the last book he'd tried to pull.

"How are you doing, son? Your skin look fantastic, have you been taking sunbaths?"

Enjolras | Library | Open

[solo_patria]

Enjolras has wandered his way here, for whatever reason, his eyes widening as he takes in the sheer amount of books. It's a far cry from the part of their new housing shared by himself and Combeferre, as covered with books as the dual spaces had been. He does not allow the thought of Combeferre to linger now, as there are others about, but he does allow himself to think of another friend who would appreciate this just as much as Combeferre would, and as he does.

Feuilly, with his love for learning mercifully does not hurt to think about now, as much as Enjolras is well aware he should have gotten his second chief of the barricades well away from it along with Jehan and Combeferre, to continue living into a new world that would have needed them, regardless of whether or not he would have willed it. Perhaps, because he has not seen Feuilly here, in this place between his life and death, because Feuilly is so very much a part of the old life, he finds it a little easier to look back on him and only smile, instead of wanting to curl up somewhere and die because of how dead he feels inside.

In any case, he finds himself browsing the shelves, his mind trained not on his preferences, or on Combeferre's, but Feuilly's instead, his mind skipping over bits of conversation they have had, of various works Feuilly had been reading and stopped to speak with him about. Enjolras still wonders at the fact that he was the one so chosen, out of all of them, to be so honored, and he finds himself wishing, as he did in life, to have access and time to consider some of the works his friend had spoken of loving so much. Something of Poland or Greece, and actually...

His mind strays to a certain biography his friend had mentioned more than once as having quite the influence on his thought process. Kościuszko, he recalls the subject well enough, and the man's attempts to stand against Poland's second partition, though he's rather fuzzy on the author or translator at this point. At any rate, he's scanning the shelves for the name, then pulling said biography from a shelf, surprised at his luck. That is, until he begins scanning pages, and it seems almost as if he's still looking at Polish itself the way the words and details scramble up in his mind.

Still, he's game to keep on going a little, searching for somewhere to sit, so he can puzzle all of this out in more detail. At least this is far less painful than taking down any of the natural histories, or god forbid, insect texts that he remembers clearly from watching Combeferre reading them in Paris. This memory brings a smile, where the other would bring tears, and so, mixed up words and all, he's gamely trying anyway, although he finds the swimming words quite odd when it comes to down to it.

Perhaps he should seek out some help, though he is not sure who he might ask in here, after all.

[wickerwood]

Wlodzislaw has taken up residence in one of the chairs by the fire, pouring over a tome twice the size of her lap. Its words shift with her memory, saving her the effort of turning pages as handwritten words scroll across the pages like the Kindle of another world's modern age. She stops the letters at last, reading through a pair of specific paragraphs before letting out a frustrated grunt. She slams the book closed as much as she is able given its size and does her best to dramatically slam it on the ground.

She's oblivious to Enjolras' presence, the gesture done for her own benefit rather than for an audience. It isn't until she stands and spins around, perturbed, that she catches sight of the revolutionary. Her expression immediately alters to a smile at the sight of him and she gestures vaguely at the book he holds.

Company and curiosity are more important than the rest. It's precisely the reason why she led so many of the foreigners through the gate, to see what she can make of them and to test their strength, resolve, and interests. Okay and maybe a little bit to help keep her entertained. Being a monk can get tiring, especially when one isn't leaving the city much anymore.

"What are you reading?"

[solo_patria]

"Ah well."

Enjolras does look up then, because weeding through the bits of the history he knows, and trying to make sense of the rest of the words that seem to shift,confusing dates at some places, and, a strange combination of what seem to be direct quotes from Feuilly himself (because he doubts very much that the phrases "an injustice beyond the mortal imagination" and "divvying up a sovereign state as though it were some paltry bit of bread, a mere robe à la polonaise instead of a noble nation of a noble people who did not deserve to bear witness to the first of many thefts of nations and the most terrible and infamous"), are proving to be more frustrating than he should like. And discussing reading is something that he has never had much trouble doing, even with someone he has not met before.

"It is a biography of Major General Kościuszko, of Poland, which is a country in my world.

And Enjolras hopes he is not mangling the man's name too badly here, though his version of the prouniciation is a bit less confident than Feuilly's ever was, words and phrases that he managed to snatch up of the Polish language rattling off his tongue. Enjolras has to smile, remembering that.

Or, rather, Poland was a country and will be again, actually. Poland has been under the control of invading nations for some years now. Kościuszko, though,lead an uprising in the midst of the second division of Poland. There have been some ...difficulties for quite some time with invasions by Russia, another of our world's nations. Kościuszko's life was, well, a friend at home, I think the best among our number, greatly esteemed and admired him. He'd recommended this particular account several times over the years, but I'd not had the chance to truly read it so much as leaf through it several times.

I did not want to keep it from my friend for too long when he lent it, and did not have the chance to truly read it in my lifetime. So, I am making an attempt of it now. I do think though,that this one...the translation seems to nearly be IN Polish after a point. And some of my friend's words themselves have found their way inside. Is that the nature of this library?" He wonders, curious now. "It seems as though, well, it is filled with my perception of the text instead of what it truly is?"

[wickerwood]

"Never heard of it," she admits easily. Wlodzislaw feels ambivalent about the topic. There's a curiosity in her that enjoys learning all things, particularly those which might lead to new potentials and the application of new Dreaming. Yet there's a weariness about her right now, after so much failure looking for a specific passage in a labyrinth of ever-changing tomes that she's not entirely certain she much cares to learn about the gone today, here tomorrow city state. Luckily, Enjolras doesn't force her to make the choice.

"Perceptive." She puts a finger on her lips and taps it there as she thinks. Then her hand falls away and she tilts her head. "The nature of this Realm, in point of fact."

Garrett Hawke | Open

[iwannabeadragon]

[It's a movement out of the corner of his eye that draws him towards the portal. Someone beckons to him. A person that he feels like he should know but just can't quite place. Then the person disappears into the portal. Hawke stops for a moment, and looks to Notch. The dog look back at him seemingly confused. With a shrug, Hawke enters the portal but keeps his hands near his weapons. After moments go by and nothing attacks him, Hawke begins to explore.

That's how he comes to arrive at the library. He almost passes through it without a second thought. Then he spies something that stops him. A book sits on a shelf. One that Hawke recognizes instantly and pulls into his hands. Its name reads Hard in Hightown: Siege Harder. Hawke stares at the book for seconds then explodes in the merry laughter as he begins to read.

Next to him a bored Notch looks confused before trotting exploring the room in search of something more interesting.]

[wickerwood]

Great read, that is.

[Wlodzislaw sidles up not far from Hawke's back, having arrived strangely without drawing much attention from Notch. His voice is, at first, the same vague familiarity as the visage that brought the man through the portal. As he continues, however, it takes on the tone of an older man, one distinct to himself and not a recreation of others'.

He smiles at the dog and crouches down, gesturing to invite Notch over in an attempt to pet him.]

[iwannabeadragon]

[Hawke turns his head around when the old man speaks. Are his ears playing tricks on his right now or was that the same voice from earlier? Maker everything about this place feels just so strange. Honestly it's perfect for Hawke that way.]

I have a friend that would take an instant liking to you if he heard you say that.

[Notch approaches the old man, but does so carefully, first looking to Hawke to be sure. Hawke gives the dog a wink. If the man's not to be trusted then they'll be better off with both their eyes on him. Following his master's lead, Notch settles himself in front of Woldzislaw letting the old man pet him.]

But now I've got to wonder how his book made it out here. They're not exactly that popular.

[wickerwood]

[Wlodzislaw is all too eager to commune with the animal via petting and scratches. He knows the creature is watching him the same as his master, can feel the tension in his muscles, but he doesn't mind so much.]

Good pup. [Then he lifts his gaze to Hawke again, still scratching at the dog's ears.]

You brought it.

Hellboy | Open

[histruename]

When Hellboy shoulders his way through the old wooden door, light and color floods his senses. The massive white arch yawns overhead, surrounded by glittering crystal. It's all startlingly beautiful, but Hellboy's mind is other places.

There's no sign of the Professor.

"I need a drink," he mumbles to himself, rubbing tiredly at his forehead. He's dealt with ghosts before. Even ghosts of good, old friends. But that was just too damn much.

The sound of chatter and movement up ahead forces him to move on, and he takes the distraction gratefully.

Inside, the temple is massive and full of life. Hallways wind, maze-like, through a strange collage of architecture. And then there's the monks; praying, cooking, reading, talking amongst themselves... They must've packed up and passed through that portal centuries ago, moving on to live in this place just left of reality.

It's beautiful as it is strange, and Hellboy can't really blame them.

"Guess I found all the monks," he says to himself.

He stops and talks to a few, gets some pretty vague answers to his questions. They seem happy here, at least. That's a good thing. When he's initially been trying to figure out how they all disappeared, he'd been expecting something much, much worse.

One hallway leads him to a laboratory of sorts. The shelves are stacked with books and bottles, delicate instruments he couldn't even try to guess the purpose of. The place is teeming with monks pouring over books and bubbling liquids, weighing strange powders and scribbling on papers strewn across cluttered workbenches.

Hellboy takes the time to examine a shelf teeming with pickled specimens, squinting at the labels printed in a language he's never seen.