ɪʀᴏɴᴡᴏᴏᴅ ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ ᴇsʜᴀɪ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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tushanshu_logs2014-12-07 07:23 pm
ironwood) wrote in tushanshu_logs2014-12-07 07:23 pm
Entry tags:
- %event,
- thread: cain (jacob kane),
- thread: china sorrows,
- thread: michaelangelo,
- thread: raine sage,
- thread: skulduggery pleasant,
- thread: solomon wreath,
- thread: valdis,
- † akito wanijima,
- † dante,
- † donatello (2003),
- † iroh,
- † jack frost,
- † ryou bakura,
- † sokka,
- † sonja,
- † tazendra,
- † thread: enjolras,
- † wan,
- † zelgadis greywords,
- † zuko
[EVENT] A NEW WORLD ORDER
Characters: ALL!
Date: December 8, 2015 (with some starters for the following weeks)
Location: Keeliai, the Midnight Hotel, others
Situation: The Foreigners have awakened.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.
They've been in the Dreaming for so long that when they wake up their bodies feel more like automatons, alien and ill-fitting. They haven’t atrophied, thanks to Milyn, but they’re stiff and a little bedsore, and the solidity of the Life Plane is jarring. Here, the surroundings don’t move on a whim. Here the world is more stable, almost harsh and unyielding in spite of the homey surrounds.
It’s been a year, says the clock on the mantle and on the second floor. Says Milyn, too, when she’s able to stop hugging them long enough to speak.
Nothing much has changed in the Midnight Hotel. There are dishes out of place, objects belonging to either Milyn or Eva in evidence, the diorama exactly where it had been but now brightly-painted thanks to Milyn's boredom. Milyn and Eva took a room each, in the time the Foreigners were sleeping, though neither used them much.
Eva’s upstairs, Milyn will tell anyone who asks. In her room.
Eva hasn't left that room in three days. She hasn't spoken in three days, either, or walked, or moved, or breathed. Her effects are neatly arranged around her bed, and the sheet has been pulled up. There is heavy incense in the room and Milyn has managed to preserve the body enough to remove the risk of too much mess (and other things). In a way, that makes it worse: as though Eva is sleeping. It’s difficult to tell whether Milyn is in denial or whether spending three days with no one to talk to other than sleeping Foreigners and a corpse has had its influence.
LINKS
Dreaming log | Foreigner's Awakening (Hotel) | Milyn’s Relief | Exploring Keeliai | Old & New Faces (Canon Updates/New Arrivals) | OOC: State of the Shell
Date: December 8, 2015 (with some starters for the following weeks)
Location: Keeliai, the Midnight Hotel, others
Situation: The Foreigners have awakened.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.
They've been in the Dreaming for so long that when they wake up their bodies feel more like automatons, alien and ill-fitting. They haven’t atrophied, thanks to Milyn, but they’re stiff and a little bedsore, and the solidity of the Life Plane is jarring. Here, the surroundings don’t move on a whim. Here the world is more stable, almost harsh and unyielding in spite of the homey surrounds.
It’s been a year, says the clock on the mantle and on the second floor. Says Milyn, too, when she’s able to stop hugging them long enough to speak.
Nothing much has changed in the Midnight Hotel. There are dishes out of place, objects belonging to either Milyn or Eva in evidence, the diorama exactly where it had been but now brightly-painted thanks to Milyn's boredom. Milyn and Eva took a room each, in the time the Foreigners were sleeping, though neither used them much.
Eva’s upstairs, Milyn will tell anyone who asks. In her room.
Eva hasn't left that room in three days. She hasn't spoken in three days, either, or walked, or moved, or breathed. Her effects are neatly arranged around her bed, and the sheet has been pulled up. There is heavy incense in the room and Milyn has managed to preserve the body enough to remove the risk of too much mess (and other things). In a way, that makes it worse: as though Eva is sleeping. It’s difficult to tell whether Milyn is in denial or whether spending three days with no one to talk to other than sleeping Foreigners and a corpse has had its influence.
LINKS
Dreaming log | Foreigner's Awakening (Hotel) | Milyn’s Relief | Exploring Keeliai | Old & New Faces (Canon Updates/New Arrivals) | OOC: State of the Shell
no subject
China did not outright stare at him, but she was silent longer than was customary where their typical trading of barbs was concerned. None of this made sense. She'd expected-- anger. Violence. The simple cold turn, earlier, even that had been something of a surprise. But this? A smile in his voice, words that in no way followed logically from when she'd seen him earlier that day?
It made no sense. Unless... how long had he been in this city? Long enough to be familiar with it. Perhaps something had changed, in that time. China elected, for the moment, to proceed as if Skulduggery was not about to wreak bloody vengeance upon her, which was apparently a more reasonable assumption than it had been yesterday. "A position of authority? Skulduggery, have you now taken complete leave of your senses?"
no subject
"You don't remember?" he asked, more to annoy her than because he needed confirmation. "Interesting."
The last thing China would remember, then, was Scorn destroying her library. She wouldn't know who Darquesse was, and she certainly wouldn't remember who was now the Grand Mage of Ireland. In many ways, Skulduggery envied her that ignorance.
"Your sense of timing leaves a lot to be desired," he added lightly. "The war's already over. There's one just starting back in Ireland, however."
no subject
This did not mean he was not going to try her patience in the interim, of course. China sighed lightly, for show, and sat on the edge of the fountain, where it was wide enough not to be uncomfortable. Something twinged as she did, one of the places Scorn had struck her; she held herself carefully, otherwise didn't show it. "How long has it been, Skulduggery?" she asked, airy, as if they were old friends who had run into each other by chance, just catching up.
Well. They almost were, she supposed, and therein lay at least half the problem.
no subject
If he sounded a trifle smug, it was only because he was.
no subject
And he was enjoying knowing what she didn't, of course. She'd have been able to hear it in his voice even if she didn't know him well enough to draw the conclusion herself. He was still presenting a bit of a behavioral puzzle, but more than likely with another war on Skulduggery had found some kind of need for her skills, and practicality had outweighed vindictiveness. As much as China was questioning it, however, she was not going to be the first to bring it up.
no subject
"If I'm right," he said, "and the last thing you remember is Scorn destroying your library, then it's been three years since I last saw you. Or, if you prefer, since you last saw me. I've seen you since then, of course. The last time I saw you was only a few days ago, but you're not going to remember that, so it's barely worth mentioning."
no subject
Not that Skulduggery had needed any more of an edge on her. "You're right about the timing, however," she added, choosing to watch the city around them rather than Skulduggery himself. "I didn't think I was ever going to see you again, honestly." Her tone was still light, not particularly concerned.
no subject
"An alternate universe's version of you was surprised I hadn't killed you," Skulduggery agreed with a solemn nod. Then, without any further explanation, he gestured towards the Sector surrounding them. "Apart from when I saw you again a few days ago, I've been here for close to a year." He hesitated. "Two years, technically, but we were all asleep for one of them."
no subject
The picture she had was still incomplete, and would be for some time. And Skulduggery was, certainly intentionally, not being at all straightforward. "Start at the beginning, Skulduggery," she said finally. "And before you start, keep in mind I mean the beginning of this." She indicated the city with a sweeping gesture, absent but still poised. "I'm well aware of where our history began."
no subject
So, after a brief pause, he nodded. "The world is called Konryu - or perhaps the continent. I was never very clear on that. It's a world that straddles a Life Realm, Death Realm, and a Dreaming Realm all at once, which is probably why one of the groups on the mainland decided it would be fun to experiment with merging them. Malicant was the result. He was a powerful force of darkness bent on swallowing this world, and then using it as a stepping stone to swallow every other world as well. A few of the sorcerers here fought back by kidnapping us. There was a very dramatic final battle underneath the shell, during which practically everyone who was both native and useful was killed, and that left most of us stranded in the Dreaming Realm for a year. Now we're back, and new people like you are still arriving each week, and no one seems to know why. Speaking of that, do you have on a piece of jewelry you didn't have before?"
no subject
As for the rest of it-- obvious enough that Skulduggery was leaving out and skimming large chunks, but for now she didn't need the details. The bigger picture would do. "Somehow, I'm not surprised you wound up in the middle of this," she added, needling only gently. A dramatic final battle would suit him. "A force of darkness. Do you mean that entirely literally?"
She was not at all pleased, however, that no one seemed to know why she had been dragged here, and as much as the change in situation did suit her for the moment, China would have preferred to be in charge of that. She'd have to see about that.
no subject
That was about the last true knowledge-bomb Skulduggery had, so he didn't think he could be blamed for letting it sit for a moment. He couldn't remember the last time he knew so much more than Ireland's leading information broker; it was a moment to savour, even if he couldn't savour it for very long - practically or morally speaking.
So he nodded again, the rest of his skeletal frame eerily still on the fountain rim. "Just about. He drew his power from the Death Realm. He'd possessed Asti - the turtle we're standing on. Mevolent was one man; Malicant was everywhere."
no subject
And her timing in arriving here was near perfect as well, apparently, if she'd just missed a threat that was genuinely worse than Mevolent. China glanced down at the ground beneath their feet, reminded again of the sheer scale of the beast, then back to Skulduggery. "I begin to have some kind of perspective," she said. "How do you have a properly dramatic final battle with something quite so expansive?" Not that she doubted Skulduggery had managed it somehow, if only by annoying it until it took direct notice, but she really would love to know exactly how they'd pulled that off.
no subject
His reflexive suspicion about China's motives was both illogical and entirely unfounded. After only a moment's hesitation, the skeleton shook his head. "You don't. We slipped into the Dreaming Realm using an object left behind by Malicant's creators, and whittled him down little by little. He's gone now. We don't know if the turtle is alive or dead or somewhere in between, but at least we know he isn't evil."
Assuming Malicant was really gone, of course. That was a suspicion Skulduggery wouldn't share with China, if only because her fresh arrival to Keeliai deserved to make her feel at least somewhat safe in her new surroundings.
"Speaking of the soul anchors," Skulduggery added, "the disguise sigils you drew for me were ruined when I was pulled here. I don't suppose you could recreate them?"
no subject
"How hard is it to tell if an island-sized turtle is alive?" China asked aloud, not wholly impressed. The inhabitants of the city must have at least tried to check, if they had any sense among them, and it was the sort of answer that seemed important to have.
His question at least provided an answer for the one she'd had earlier. "Of course," she said, only mildly offended that he'd needed to ask if she could. Would was a different question-- but, even so, the answer would have been the same. "If you provide me tools. Ruined how, exactly?"
no subject
It was only a matter of time before they would hit an underwater reef, or the jagged edge of a landmass.
China's answer was exactly what Skulduggery expected, and it still surprised him enough to sit forward. "I'm not sure. What tools do you need, apart from a scalpel?"
no subject
In a moment she raised her eyebrows at him, skeptical, and if his surprise bemused her a little, she had enough of her equilibrium back not to show it. "A scalpel," she repeated. "A small, precise blade, sharp enough to cut into bone with little to no resistance. As it is, I'll have to alter whatever you find; I doubt anything here will have the quality I want. In addition, a good lens, and I would prefer to have ink as well, but can ultimately do without." It was Skulduggery, after all.
no subject
The scalpel would be easy enough to find, especially if China could refine it further, and the Metalworkers would probably be able to sell Skulduggery a small, quality lens. He did so love when plans formed themselves, however simple and ultimately unhelpful those plans turned out to be.
no subject
It would be nice to know exactly what the problem was, but getting a closer look at it would wait till she had that lens, since there was little point in examining it if she might not be able to discern the detail unaided. And her own tattoos were still curiously quiescent.