tushanshu_logs | EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA

Characters: ALL!
Date: February 12th - 28th
Location: Kithika, inside the bottle
Situation: The discovery of an artifact from the first war against Malicant reveals the land of Kithika within a dimension of the Death Plane... and just happens to be contained inside a bottle.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

OOC INFORMATION ♦ CITY OF KEELIAI ♦ INSIDE THE BOTTLE ♦ THE WORLD EATER
Arriving in Kithika is unpleasant for the most part. Transport through the glass vessel deposits you in the middle of a thick and murky swamp, with air so hot and humid it feels as though one is breathing through a wet towel. This is a place of perpetual night and there are no celestial bodies visible overhead through the twisted vines to break up the blackness, making the only light visible that which comes clumps of marsh fungus that emit a steady glow in a variety of muted colours: pale blue, whitish green, watery mauve. The only other light comes from those who can generate it themselves and that will reveal numerous broad-leaved trees, in some places standing too thick to move through. Below, knee-deep water laps in swirls at their legs, accompanied by the occasional slithery feel of something moving in the bracken against wet limbs, gone before it can be identified. A variety of strange noises from creatures of the swamp fill the air with buzzing and hoarse croaking, interrupted by the screech of mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds darting past and hungry for a meal.

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OOC NOTE: Characters will not be able to progress past the Temple and the Grounds for 48 IC hours after which point, the way to continue onward to find the dragon will be discovered. The second log will be posted on the 17th, to help spread out the tagging. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She turned back, and what little guilt didn't already come through in her expression was more than compensated for the almost smug look on Ilana's face.]

Go on, liar. Tell him.

...it was from Razer's memories that I first learned of Ilana's image. Before I knew what such things meant, or understood their personal significance.

But I did not love him then. We had only just met.

So you assumed it in order to get information from him. I've done worse.

[He shrugs. He's a wizard by trade; being tricky is part of the job description. Helps occupational survival rates too. And now Naugus is meddling again, like the annoying old man he is. He strides over to approach this Razer person, reaching to poke or maybe even pinch at him with his crab claw.]

How can you even be here? Everyone who arrives is said to come through whatever magical facilities the Palace holds. This Ilana has the excuse of being a summoned spirit; not so for you.

I did not.

I assumed her form initially in order to communicate with him. He had been trapped in his own mind. Later, when I recreated the visage on the physical plane...it had simply been a matter of convenience. I had not encountered many female forms since my initial coming on-line. Ilana's had been the most recent, and thus, it was the one I chose to use.

[That was it. The whole Truth. Guilty as she felt, there was some small relief in the knowledge that, given her young, still relatively innocent state of mind at the time, it had been a coincidence. To assume the face of the deceased beloved of one she would later fall in love with....]

[None of it had ever been intentional. And now, with so many individuals sharing faces and even names of loved ones left behind, Aya had even less reason to believe that a similarity in appearance (regardless of the reason) should be the sole defining characteristic of her as an individual.]

I could ask the same of you. You continue to speak of things you know nothing about.

[...despite herself, Aya almost smiled at that. Illusion or Projection or Real or whatever he was, Razer had not changed.]

[Naugus gives a small, involuntary wince- a squint of the eye, a twitch of the tail, a bunching of the shoulders -when Aya mentions being trapped in one's own mind, as if the words trigger some kind of reflexive disgust. It makes him withdraw from Razer as well, as though he might infect something of the sort if he keeps messing with him. He grumbles a reply even as he slinks back again.]

I was summoned by the powers that be in Tu Vishan. Same for Aya. We are allies, for better or worse, and we are presently on a mission in the name of the Emperor! Very dangerous, very important. You should be proud of her.

Why?

[A single question. A single syllable, even. And Aya's face fell, turning back to him with an increasing sadness. That he should not only not be proud of what she had done...but to no longer understand why anybody would claim as much.]

Wh-

[Naugus' ears flatten back and his mouth sets into a flat, stern line.]

You colossal, contemptible cock.

[Naugus proceeds to loop his arm around Aya in a buddy-buddy fashion, gesturing pointedly and angrily at Razer with his staff as he speaks.]

She is a remarkable construct, capable of having found her own way, her own voice, to have truly embraced the spark that is life and bypass the mechanical designs set for her. Which is quite a feat where I come from, if the robot in question was not an organic prior. She and I have had most engaging conversations as to the nature of memory, self-awareness and self-actualization. She is profound and she is concise.

And as I said, we are saviours, she and I! Selected especially for the massive, daunting task of rescuing a whole world beset by an evil so great, its very name is poisonous and malignant! Only the greatest of heroes are set to the task and she stands among them! Even now, we are here to save a world within a world! She is a hero, a remarkable feat of heart and machinery of the likes I have never seen before and you should be humbled she even claims to harbour affection for you, you gaumless pissant.

[Well, if Naugus stands up for you, he's gonna go all out and he's gonna do it his way; bombastic and dramatic.]

[The buddy-buddy physical contact was...a bit much. Aya was not yet used to hugs from her closest colleagues, let alone a relatively stranger placing his arm around her. But he meant no harm, and so, she allowed it. Awkardly. Staring up at him as he spoke.]

[His words...they were complimentary of her, yes, but he did not know her. He only knew of the anger at which he spoke towards Razer. Thus, they did not hold quite as much merit as if it were somebody close to her.]

[That did not mean, however, they weren't a help.]

You speak highly favorably of me, despite the current feeling of animosity between yourself and Razer.

It is not his fault. He is allowed his Anger.

So when do we tell him to toddle off? Are we through here? I'm not leaving you alone with these antagonists.

[He means well. Just keep telling yourself that, Aya; he means well.]

I am more than capable of taking care of myself.

They will not harm me.

[He looks sidelong at Aya, scrutinizing and unsure. Then back at the pair that have been the focus of this exchange. Removing his arm from the robot, he points two fingers at his eyes, then at the presumed phantoms.

Watchin' you.

Then without another word, the mage suddenly evaporates, just turning into a thin wisp of fog, drifting upwards and away, soon mingling with the rest of the mist clinging to this abandoned ruin. Just like that, he's gone(?).]

[She held true to her word. And so did they; neither Ilana nor Razer ever lifted a single finger towards her. But nor did they ignore her any longer.]

[The remainder of the exchange was brief. For all his rambling, her newest colleague had been correct. This was not Razer. Not the Razer she knew. An illusion. And this was not a conversation she could continue with an illusion.]

I understand that I will have a lot to answer for when I meet him again.

But that is something that I will face when I do. And no sooner.

EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA | BOTTLE

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OOC: I'm sorry he's such a pest, haha. 8D

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