EVENT | ZUGZWANG | SEPTEMBER 21-28

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: September 21-28, 2014
Location: Keeliai
Situation: Something in the city has caused the Foreigner's powers to go off the charts, affecting even those who wouldn't possess any. Things pretty much go downhill from there...
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The state of affairs in Keeliai has been tense since the incident at the Midnight Hotel with Evandau, and the aftereffects have put a touch of pall on the city. Kedan look at each other distrustfully, wondering who among their number might be possessed by Malicant's essence and that suspicion carries to the Foreigners as well. How can they fight for us? they seem to be asking. They can't even stop fighting amongst themselves and the Emperor. Of course, the kedan's opinion of Evandau is likewise not exactly stellar any longer, as whether through inevitability or design, his cold actions of killing those who cross him has come to light. While there's no open dissent in the ranks (and likely, it seems, more due to fear of repercussion than loyalty) there are certainly looks and whispers.

The turtle hatchlings have also picked up on it, and they've become quieter than normal. Especially those who are suffering under shedding the remainders of Malicant's taint if they were injured by the poisoned weapons, they'll seem hesitant to bother their parents for minor things, or if possible will ask a parent who isn't afflicted first.

It feels like the calm before a storm.

---

LINKS
Powers Going Haywire (Sept 21-25) | Powers Nullified (Sept 26-27) | PART 2 TBA (Sept 28) | OOC Plot Post

OOC NOTE
Reactions to the Part 2 plot reveal will also be threaded on this post and the comment will be unfrozen when the other posts are made. Event questions can be directed to this comment. Have fun!

Comments

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery ignored Raine's answer and set about to making tea anyway. For a man with no true facial expressions of his own, he was well-versed in reading the expressions of others - particularly when those expressions bore disappointment or disgust.

"True," he nodded. "The main problem with unifying our force is the culture shock. We all come from very different worlds. For many of us, this is a rude awakening from a relatively normal life. For others, this is an annoying inconvenience. Some are used to magic. Others aren't. Some find me a curiosity, and others flee at the very sight of me. It's difficult to unify a group of people when even their motivations are very, very different. How strong would you like it?"

[ruinsprofessor]

She scowled at him, but it was an expression mostly for the sake of objecting, without much real disapproval. "Not overly," she said after a moment. Tea was not a battle currently worth fighting. She did hope, however, that he knew how to take no for an answer when the matter was more important.

Culture shock, hm. Raine watched the skeleton in her kitchen make tea, and considered how alarming this might have been even a year ago, or to someone with no precedent for magic. Perhaps he had a point there as well. Still. "People are always going to be different," she noted, settling into a chair at the kitchen table. "Even if you took a random assortment from the same world, there would certainly be enough difference in nature and motivation to divide them. Still, a common enemy and the possibility it could get at our own worlds... That's a start, or it should be. Hence the divisive tactics, I suppose."

[skeletonenigma]

"I don't know if anyone truly believes he can," Skulduggery pointed out. "He can move between the planes here with relative ease, but that's very different from dimensional hopping. It's much easier to fool yourself into believing your world is last on the list, far removed from anything here, than to imagine everyone you know dying at the hands of an enemy you've never even seen. Defeating him is one way home, but it's an indirect way, and it isn't the only one. Milk and sugar?" Skulduggery hesitated. "Assuming you have milk and sugar here, of course."

You'd think milk and sugar would be staples in a household with tea, but Skulduggery had been surprised before.

[ruinsprofessor]

"We were brought here, after all. It's foolish to assume that connection only works one way, especially given that our enemy doesn't seem to have a body of its own to get in the way. And neither." Raine got up to move behind Skulduggery, retrieving a small citrus fruit from a bowl on the counter. Lemon, or what passed for it here. She halved it, careful with the knife, and went back to being out of the way of the tea process.

"No one can count on simply vanishing, either," she said next. "It doesn't seem to have much reason to it, when it happens. Unless you've noticed something I haven't."

[skeletonenigma]

"Not quite." Skulduggery handed the mug of black tea - or, to put it more accurately, dark brown tea - to Raine. "I do have theories, however. If they're our enemy's doing, only the ones most capable of threatening him would be disappearing. That means it's likely a fault in the magic pulling souls across dimensions, and if there is a way to predict them, it's beyond me. I'm a little more concerned over the lack of new arrivals."

But he'd mentioned them before, and rehashing old discussions would do nothing to help either of them, so Skulduggery changed the subject. "Feeling a little better?"

[ruinsprofessor]

She tasted the tea a little warily at first, but her expression cleared rapidly. He'd done a much better job than she had, and him without working taste buds as well. Resigned, she squeezed the citrus into the tea and settled down.

"No one I asked when I first arrived had noticed any predictable pattern, either," she noted, more for completeness' sake than anything else. "So it most probably is that, some kind of trouble with the initial magic. Hm."

His question Raine had to think about for a moment. Her head was clearer, certainly. And he'd given her things to think on, broken the previous circle of her thoughts. The world still rang hollow and frustratingly lifeless, but she hadn't noticed it nearly as pressingly while they talked, and even now she could handle the loss a little easier. "Yes, I think so. ...Thank you."

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery gave her a little shrug. It was difficult to interpret the meaning of many of Skulduggery's movements, but this one came with the connotation of 'think nothing of it,' and anyone who'd observed him for a while could probably guess that. Less easy to guess was that the motion came with an invisible smile.

A smile. How about that. Skulduggery was perfectly capable of being cheerful in the middle of catastrophe, if only for the benefit of others and overall morale; but he could count on one hand the number of times he'd managed a genuine smile during the same. Or, well. Thinking about a genuine smile, at least. He briefly debated pulling up his false face just to share that smile, and then realised that with all magic nullified, it wouldn't have worked anyway.

"This won't last long," he mentioned off-hand. "The calm before a storm never does."

[ruinsprofessor]

She was reasonably sure of the shrug's meaning, at least, even if other aspects of his body language still occasionally threw her. Nevertheless she was going to think something of it, despite the implied dismissal. Perhaps it hadn't been out of his way, but the impact was not inconsiderable.

"At this point, I'd almost prefer the storm," Raine said, a little wryly. "I'm sure the respite is more than welcome to most, however." Skulduggery included, if how relatively cheerful he'd been was any judge. She'd have been glad for any kind of stability after the fluctuations, as well, if it hadn't taken quite this form.

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery was enjoying the respite for what it was - a respite. But there were plenty of reasons to be worried about it as well, and one of the curses of having a mind like Skulduggery's was not being able to escape the many implications. He'd enjoy not being able to feel the darkness inside his own head because enjoyment was, on the whole, a much better feeling than grim pessimism; but they were two sides of the same coin in the end.

There was, Skulduggery belatedly realised, another person he knew unfortunately well who would be much easier to hold a conversation with while he was barred from his magic. Someone the detective still had questions for, in fact. He eyed the tea in Raine's hand, and then the door, and then sighed. "Far be it from me to make tea and run," he said apologetically, "but I'd like to take advantage of the respite while it continues to be a respite. Would you mind?"

[ruinsprofessor]

That was grounds for some consideration. Did she mind? She hadn't wanted his company, but it wasn't unpleasant. "No, I understand," Raine said after a pause, lacing her fingers around her tea. "By all means. I'm sure I'll see you another time." She had better, at any rate. If and when the nullification passed, it would be smart to check on his status again. And, of course, he was a friend.