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

[backwordscompatible]

[She wasn't quite as willing to reach out to the local flora quite yet. But when Kaldur touched it, and nothing seemed to happen, she decided to try gently poking one near her.]

Maybe. Maybe not.

Keelai is basically run off of Asti, right? So it depends on how much power he has.

[andaway]

He shakes his head.

"In theory, but it's completely different shades and it looks completely different against people's skins. For example you'd look terrible in salmon, but I still highly recommend peach."

[unetrustworthy]

...maybe a little.

[unetrustworthy]

She noticed. A reaction like that...this girl must have known him, too. Not surprising. Damian was smart. He would have known other smart people around the city.

"Earth sector." Which, admittedly, looked different from her old apartment. But the layout was different too, so she never thought to make the connection. "...you knew Damian?"

[unetrustworthy]

[She nodded absently at the first question. The title alone wasn't offensive to her, It was essentially true. She infiltrated enemy ranks and made them think she was one of them. If that was all that had happened, she wouldn't have been bothered at all. It was the fact that so many people died because of her...right in front of her...that weighed heavily on her conscience.]

Well enough.

They were strict, sure, and there were a lot of things we weren't allowed to do. We got yelled at when we screwed up. Punished, if we broke the rules. But we were fed and had a bed to sleep in every night.

[wickerwood]

Among other things. Certain Death forces at play don't help any.

[Another shrug. Wlodzislaw moves back behind the lab counter to check on his brewing salve.]

[looksfine]

...what Death Forces?

[Aya had been informed of the Death Realm previously, but this was the first time any implication of it interfering with their current whereabouts was mentioned.]

[wickerwood]

"And perhaps Poland is of use to you, or your friend. Perhaps her knowledge is better left to your friend and your friend best attending your side, such that the knowledge is available to you through proxy. It's always difficult to say without omnipotence." Wlodzislaw let a shrug roll off of her feminine shoulders, taking a brief moment to notice the shape of them before her eyes returned to look at her new acquaintance.

"As such, it is all a guess and what we might make relevant in our time. Your world is not relevant to mine, yes? Yet you, as a person, are relevant to me here and now and therefore parts of your world and its understandings, laws, and disruptions become an intersecting bit of information to learn and consider, even if it may be easily forgotten later."

She rolled an invisible ball from one hand to the other, carrying the gesture forward in a subtle statement of the continuation of time and all things. Then she nodded and smiled again, more than happy to talk about her Realm. It was refreshing to speak with someone who seemed to understand, more so for what he might accomplish back in Tu Vishan with the right knowledge.

"Mm. I can certainly impart a few, yet they are as varied as your own world to the city you reside in on the turtle's back." She considered, tapping a finger to her lips again. "Things here cannot be so easily created or destroyed as in your world, for all things here are inconsistent by nature. As your thoughts change, so, too, does this Realm. Like the book you endeavored to read, which changed before your eyes with the memories of it. Change is inevitable."

She crossed her arms as she thought some more. "Masks are easier to come by here. Even this is not what I should naturally look like. I wear it because it suits my mood. You see masks in Life as well and fail to recognize them as such. Be aware, my boy. Here and there. Rarely are strangers what they appear to be, particularly those native to this world, and no individual is incapable of it."

[skeletonenigma]

"With who, then?" Skulduggery managed to ask in the split second before Wreath brushed off the Bentley.

He didn't think he could be blamed for having his attention immediately and completely taken up, much as he tried otherwise. It was his Bentley. It was his Bentley. There were scuffs, as he'd known there would be, and one of the side mirrors was bent so far forward it had almost broken off. But the body of the car was still gleaming in the sunlight which managed to filter down through the leaves, and that was all that mattered. That gleam was what told Skulduggery that, provided she had enough fuel, his Bentley would drive as far and as smoothly as he needed her to.

After a full minute of silence had dragged by, Skulduggery managed to kickstart his nonexistent brain back into gear. He turned to look at Wreath. "Unless you're planning on having a heart-to-heart with Bakura, you really only have one option."

[peacefullywreathed]

Distracting Skulduggery was precisely what Solomon had had in mind. So he stepped back, fully prepared to leave the skeleton with the only lover he was still capable of having, when he realised he still had the keys in his pocket.

With a sigh Solomon stopped and watched Skulduggery, and settled for enjoying the silence. He did not expect, after a minute of reverence, for Skulduggery to turn around and pick up the conversation as though there had been no interruption at all. It was the Bentley. Few things could engage Pleasant's attention so completely as the Bentley.

"It hardly matters anyway," Solomon said irritably, "since I'm no longer at risk of losing control the way you did." He plucked the keys out of his pocket and threw them at Skulduggery, and turned away with no desire other than to leave.

[fearlessherosheart]

And I have not heard of these 'Greeks'.

[Technically, not a barrier in a multiverse where a god could have followers on several planes.]

[backwordscompatible]

Yeah, I'm going to lean towards the very different worlds theory.

[Given how widely known, if not seen, they were.]

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine did not quite grin, as that was not an expression she was overly given to, but her face lit up as she clasped Solomon's hand. It was instinct she followed rather than any conscious knowledge, to extend not only her mana but also one of the most basic senses she possessed across the point of contact between them. "Here. If this works-- this is what I feel."

Solomon might find his hand warmed slightly, by more than simply the heat of another person. Far more noticeable, however, would be the sense that the world around them had more vibrancy than it had a moment before. As if everything, from the mushrooms to the earth to the animals in the underbrush, was full of a tiny sunrise waiting only for something to nudge it into cresting the horizon.

"This place is rather more exuberant than any at home," Raine added after a few moments, watching Solomon carefully for signs of his reaction, and whether or not her impulsive idea had borne fruit.

[peacefullywreathed]

It was enough of a warning for Solomon to brace himself, somewhat, although frankly he wasn't entirely sure if that was possible after what he did feel. It was warmth and could have been soothing, except that he was a Necromancer.

It wasn't opposed to the sense he already had--quite--but it was a wellspring of potential in the presence of the same things from whose deaths he would have drawn power. It was enough that it made him feel flushed and cold in equal turns. His magic was cold and calm; what Raine was showing him was warm, blooming. It felt like ... like his body was trying to reject a virus.

Solomon yanked his hand away from Raine's, feeling a touch dizzy. "Exuberant, yes," he managed, blinking. He probably could turn that magical potential to his own ends--but he wasn't certain he wanted to try.

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine stayed right where she was, conscious as logic caught up with her that pushing mana at the necromancer could have been a bad idea. "My apologies if it startled you," she said, quietly. "Words are often insufficient-- I have never been completely successful in explaining mana to a human." Her tendency to get carried away with magical theory he could likely extrapolate for himself.

[peacefullywreathed]

'Human'? That was the first time Solomon had had any indication that Raine wasn't. After a moment he answered, "Never mind. It isn't ... dissimilar to the sensation of finding power in death. But it has opposing characteristics and I am afraid it clashed somewhat with my usual magical senses."

He tilted his head, still watching her, this time with curiosity in something else. "If you're not human, what are you?"

[runrightround]

"But I like yellow."

He crosses his arms and definitely does not look or sound like a five year old.

[runrightround]

[Hmm.] If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to mess with me.

[ruinsprofessor]

She wasn't wholly surprised he described it as opposing -- mana was, after all, essential to life as far as she was concerned. But it hadn't harmed him, either.

His question made her still briefly, in wariness that was more reflexive than conscious. She'd been somewhat careless lately. Overall foreigners on the turtle didn't tend to question a woman in her twenties already white-haired, and she supposed the precedent set by Bakura worked in her favor. Keeliai was worlds away from the fear she'd been raised in, and it was with that in mind that she said aloud, "I'm a half-elf. Some measure of elven blood is usually necessary to perceive mana."

[peacefullywreathed]

"I see," said Solomon, and fleetingly wondered if that was why she wore her hair down around her ears. "The elves with which I'm familiar haven't been seen in a very long time, and they usually referred to the fey folk--the sídhe."

He managed a brief smile. "Of course, there are those who have claimed that sorcerers, such as myself, are elves ourselves--the older folk, Tuatha Dé Danann, who lived on my nation's land before mortals did. Legend says they agreed to leave our shores to allow mortals room to prosper, and went into their mounds, the sídhe. Since then the word has become, for some, synonymous with both dwelling and people."

[solo_patria]

[Well. This was one of those moments when Enjolras was forced, once again, to re-evaluate the priorities and standards he had known at home. Spies, even when one used them, were never quite trusted there, and he had understood why, with it being so EASY to sell one side out to gain a profit, and vice versa. He, himself, had reviled Javert at the barricades when he had learned that the man among them was the inspector and there to ensure that their barricade fell.

It was different though, now that he felt he knew Midii a bit better than at first. Perhaps spying, as it seemed to have been for her, and as it had been done to aid the side she stood on, was not always so reprehensible as it had felt to him then. At any rate, it was not the sort of thing applying to this moment, or to their future, so he simply committed that fact to memory, in the case that her skills may someday come in handy. And well, what she described sounded rather a lot like school had been for him. Well, aside the fact of what she'd studied, really. ]

Not so awful as I had first thought, then. [He spoke those words outloud, musing over them.] But still a rather difficult position to be in at times, I would imagine. After all, for most of us, having someone to report to and such, ends when we finally are allowed to leave the lycées.

[ruinsprofessor]

A practical woman, often among wounded people, whose hair was unbound and long enough to swing into her face while working-- it'd be a safe assumption for Solomon to make that she had reason to keep it so.

He had her undivided focus the moment he mentioned his own world's version of elves, and Raine couldn't help but make comparisons all the while. "Did they... diminish, so to speak, when they changed their home?" she asked, a moment or two after he stopped. "I think there may be some parallel, which is frankly fascinating. It seems there's many worlds that, despite how disparate they are, share some key concept or paradigm. And is it possible that modern sorcerers are descended from your sídhe?"

[solo_patria]

Enjolras still has the hope, it's only that he's had to reevaluate the timeline quite a bit. And then push it further out. It seems to be one of the points humanity must reach someday if they want to fulfill their true purpose on Earth and all of that. He can accept that it will not be today, or tomorrow, and that, probably, many, perhaps all of the people here will never see it come in their lifetimes. But that does not stop the principle from having its hold on him all the same.

"I would not doubt that has proven true." If Enjolras looks a little tired as he says it, well, with good reason. "I suppose, in the end, that what we must all do instead, is strive to make things as close to our own ideal, as we might, and hope it makes some bit of difference."

[solo_patria]

"That second option served us better, I think, in practice." He had to agree to her point there. "It seemed among the lot of us, that every man had his specialty from which the others could draw necessary knowledge and skills. It may not have been the best, of course, but I think it may work better than trying to absorb everything by myself."

As for worlds not being relevant? Enjolras was not quite sure on that end. In the grand scheme of things, perhaps not. But if Malicant would like to reach his power here too, then another world that he has threatened to go after, was, perhaps, a bit more relevant than not.

"Not so often relevant as that, I should think, no." He answered at last, pausing as he spoke to tug at one of his earrings, as he thought this through. "Though we may be linked by our enemy in the shadows. We are told he wishes to go after our worlds if he is not stopped on Tu Vishan. Now this world has something of a link to Tu Vishan and Tu Vishan to the worlds that all of us come from, I would say that worlds like yours and mine are perhaps a little closer than not by his plans."

Never before, as in this place of knowledge, had he wished to say Malicant's name more. It hardly seemed right to tiptoe around it, in a place where knowledge, facts, and the truth were so important as all of that It was so hard not to, but, knowing what it would bring, Enjolras did not dare.

"Still, in general, yes. There are many whose worlds are not so relevant to mine who have become important to me here. In that case, when I ask them to speak of home and learn of things I never would have imagined on my own, yes, we are, or were, linked then, and by extension, there are our worlds."

His eyes followed the gesture for a moment, taking in the places where that rotation would be, and then Enjolras nodded. "Near everything is circular is it not?" He asked, considering. "A good deal many worlds, time itself, the seasons in some places..." Birth and Death, he added silently, especially when it came to realms like that he'd found his way to after death. A heavy thought, but not a sad one. Simply one that required much more time to tease out in full, but not the current time, since he could be exploring and learning of more to be done in here.

He was no Combeferre, but Enjolras was no slouch when it came to wishing to expand his education. He'd left it limited before, a mistake, he'd come to learm, but the chance to fix that in any way he could was still upon him, so he leaned forward, simply listening.

They could not be so easily created? But if that book had come from his memory, then...

"Oh!" He spoke the syllable out loud, then looked a bit embarrassed at that. "Ah my apologies, I've only...they cannot be created or destroyed due to the fact that they change instead. Each person has their own association to place on an object like that, and it cannot be consistent because no one is the same."

Failing to recognize masks in life felt almost more like a specific hint at someone or something else being not what they appeared to be right here. Rarely were strangers what they seemed to be...yes, he had learned that the hard way, once, it would be incredibly awful for that to be the way of things again.

"And might there be a way to note the mask, beyond much more careful attention? Signs that could give anyone away besides them not behaving like themselves?" It seemed a key sign to Enjolras, that, which meant that there had to be other, more subtle ones to look for, yes?

[animosus]

At the moment was good enough. He's seen a lot of weird things, what's one more. It's not like he had a leg to stand on.

"So that makes things easier. As long as you've got air in your lungs you're going to float so no need to be scared and once you're over that, that's most of the work done."

Hmm, fear and overcoming it. This was becoming a trend for him just because he was a Green Lantern.