[EVENT] A NEW WORLD ORDER

[ironwood]

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

Comments

Sorry for the wait! And thanks for the invite!

[oceanblue]

While exploring the surrounding areas with her brother the past two weeks had been both exhilarating and informative, returning to the hotel was always a relief, and finally given a few moments to herself while Sokka went searching for food, she had taken up a seat in the lobby, to rest, and to watch.

They really weren't coming back.

With a sigh, she had rested her head back for the slightest of moments before Tony and Bakura's arrival. Even from a happened glance from the corner of her eye, she knew immediately that something was off, and straightened her posture to get a better look.

By the time Valdis had reached them, Katara was on her feet and moving forward, ready to take charge of the situation if she was needed. "What happened? My name is Katara; I'm a healer," she explained, giving a silent greeting to Valdis through just a look before turning her full attention to Tony and the unconscious man.

[highprofilerichkid]

Almost immediately, two much more qualified people make an appearance. Fantastic. He doesn't really know either Valdis or Katara well, though he's very friendly with Katara's brother, Sokka, and he knows through Akito that she's a waterbender healer. He's not sure what Valdis does, but she sounds confident that she'll be able to help, and that's good enough for him.

Tony sets Bakura carefully down on the floor, and then de-armors, looking obviously relieved to have other people taking charge.

"I have no idea. I found him lying in the street like that. I don't know if he got hurt back in his own universe, or after he got here. I don't even know how long he's been back."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis nodded to Katara when the girl ran over, acknowledging the silent greeting and then returned her attention to Tony as he explained. Much as she still disliked it, she knew what she had to do.

"Katara," she said, kneeling down next to Bakura, "His soul is fading from this plane. Not quickly, but if we don't do something, then he will die." She paused, glancing at Tony. The boy knew nothing of her powers, but at this point, she was past hiding all but the darkest of her secrets. "I can hold it here, but I will have to send my soul into his. Like with the turtle."

Hopefully Katara would remember what she had told her before that event, how she would essentially be empty and in need of protection should something go wrong.

"I'm going in now, I don't want to risk having to wait any longer, especially since you don't know how long he's been like this. Katara, try to heal his physical injuries as quickly as possible."

She took a deep breath, reached out, and placed her hand on Bakura's chest, right over his heart, the stronghold where his soul had retreated. It would put her directly into his essence instead of her having to search it out. Bakura was powerful, he was used to feeling souls and with his ghosts seemingly gone, there was no telling how he might react to her presence. Though she suspected it would be negatively.

The void responded quickly to her command, opening the path into the man's soul and oddly didn't even resist when she reined it in to prevent it from pulling Bakura's essence into the darkness. She would allow it to take hold of his soul in an attempt to keep it from fading any further, but nothing more.

[denyamenti]

Valdis would find that Bakura's soul was not only faint, but feeling distinctly disjointed and fragmented. What may have before felt like a cohesive, strong presence is now broken into very small pieces, and it's not so much that those bits are weak so much as there simply isn't enough of them to hold together. Whatever had been binding Bakura's soul previously -- hatred and darkness black as tar pitch -- had been burned away.

He didn't even register the intrusion at first, and only one she'd begun manipulating his essence, did she feel any resistance.

Who...?

[redlightgreenlight]

His soul was in tatters, there almost wasn't enough of it to even try saving what was left. Even if she could hold it, reassembling the pieces might be impossible. The moment she tried to pull the pieces back towards a center, she felt them tug away. She hesitated and then almost released the essence entirely when she heard his voice.

Bakura?

[denyamenti]

His spirit drifted aimlessly, without anything to coalesce around; the presence of the ghosts appeared to have been as much an anchor for him as he had provided for them. This would mirror what Valdis might have learned from speaking with those who knew Bakura and knew of the Kul Elna ghosts, combined with the way he'd reacted to her once they'd been threatened.

The game ended...

[redlightgreenlight]

Bakura, She said again, demanding this time, pull yourself together.

She released a bit more power, pulling against the resistance, trying to bring his soul together. The angelic magic that held her own soul together might have been able to help, but she didn't know how to use it, didn't even know if she could.

[denyamenti]

Her demand had no appreciable effect, and the dispersed fragments of soul continued to try and drift away from her hold. The gate is closed.

But even mentioning it seemed to provide some kind of focus, and a sluggish effort was made to clarify. Where?

[redlightgreenlight]

The fragments continued to fight against her grip, trying to fade away where she could no longer reach them. If she only knew how to access that accursed magic.

Here, She hissed, trying to simultaneously restrain Bakura's soul and her own power. It was becoming difficult to simply hold his essence as opposed to consuming it.

[denyamenti]

We are the Dead, xese-k em ta, those who have been turned back upon the world...

The piece of ancient litany is 'spoken' wanderingly, like he's recalling it through a haze, before the thief falls quiet again. Valdis has successfully corralled the thief's spirit from drifting away entirely, but now they're merely unconnected in a smaller range. Without something to hold them together, it's possible she's only delayed the inevitable... but she has bought them some time.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis felt the resistance lessen as she found the proper balance of power and she felt the thief's essence stabilize, for now anyway. His voice echoed through the emptiness, sounding lost.

You aren't dead yet, Leiðr-fjándi She replied, directing her power to encircle the pieces of soul, trying to bring them even closer together. You aren't allowed to die, life isn't done with you yet.

[denyamenti]

"Life isn't done with you yet."

Although not the reaction she probably hoped it would provoke, there's a stirring of anger, though it's a hollow sort of flare. I have given enough--! Yet then the anger ebbed, as if it had taken any amount of energy left, and the pieces fractured a little more.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis was losing patience with this particular soul. The pieces wouldn't merge together and if fact were splintering into smaller pieces.

Fine, She hissed, If you want to cease to exist so badly then I will cast your pathetic soul into oblivion.

She tugged on the pieces, the void responded gleefully, trying to pull the essence back into it.

Fight me, Bakura, She growled drawing her power back slightly, Get a hold of yourself and fight back.

[denyamenti]

Prior to this, the approach would certainly have worked. But the thief was exhausted from fighting, of planning, of scheming, of trying to change men and gods and rights and wrongs, and of failing. Of having it all have been for nothing. He could barely remember a time without fighting, before everything had narrowed to that one singular purpose. He didn't remember what that time had felt like, only that it had been there, for too short a time, and never since.

No.

[oceanblue]

Startling as Tony's de-armoring was, Katara only nodded to both conscious parties and knelt next to the young man on the floor, immediately drawing water to her hands and laying them over his side as she listened. It would be more difficult with Valdis touching him as well, but knowing the extent of his injuries--at least, the physical ones-- was instant. Without a second thought, she lifted her hands and drew from her second waterskin, laying her hands over him once more, only this time with the spirit water Wan had given her. The glow from her hands would be just that much brighter, her healing reaching much, much deeper.

[highprofilerichkid]

Katara and Valdis almost immediately get down to Serious Business, which is good, but leaves Tony a bit at loose ends. It does seem kind of callous to just wander off while the two women do their thing, though, so Tony keeps standing there awkwardly, waiting for something to happen.

Will he be able to tell when Valdis fixes Bakuras soul or whatever? How do you fix a soul, anyway? He hadn't even believed in souls until he got here. This is so weird.

"Is, uh... Is he going to be okay?" Tony asks, hesitant, after several seconds of uncomfortable (for him, anyway) silence. "Should I get anything for him?" A pillow? Band-aids? A stiff drink? An undertaker?

[peacefullywreathed]

All Solomon had meant to do was go downstairs to deliver a dirty mug and get a clean one. When he saw Stark and Valdis, he quite deliberately bypassed the group for the kitchen without drawing any attention whatsoever. What was the point? They were quite capable of finding a healer on their own, and too many people would only get in the way rather than be of aid.

It was only on his way back that Solomon could see around them, and the new addition of Katara, at what was attracting their attention--and the flash of white hair that made him stop. Valdis was blocking most of his sight, but Solomon took a step aside to glance between them all to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing and then rubbed his forehead.

"That depends on whether his injuries are physical in nature or not," he said, answering Stark's question unsolicited and approaching them to kneel at Bakura's head, putting his clean mug on the floor. "As far as Bakura is concerned, it's more likely not. You bloody idiot." The last was directed down at the unconscious tomb-robber.

[oceanblue]

Katara nodded, though a frown knit her brow. It was difficult, this healing, though the spirit water seemed to be working its magic. The sound of a not too unfamiliar voice drew her eyes open and up in slight surprise as Sol joined the small party. "His physical wounds are healing... He won't feel very well for a while, though," she told him, somewhat confused at his comments.

The comment itself, however, seemed to be a well-timed reminder, as the girl turned to check on the wolf-woman at her side. Seeing her trembling, Katara's eyes widened. "Valdis?"

[highprofilerichkid]

When Solomon suddenly joins their little group, Tony is so, so tempted to ditch. He's very slightly more tolerant of Solomon these days, thanks to his assistance in the fight with Malicant, but that doesn't mean they're BFFs. All other things being equal, if Solomon is in a room, Tony would rather not be.

But he still wants to make sure Bakura isn't going to kick the bucket before he leaves. Tony's not friends with Bakura, either, but since he'd been the one to find him, he feels like he has some stake in his well-being.

"Valdis said his 'soul is fading from the plane,' I think. Whatever that means," Tony tells Solomon. Then Katara's concerned exclamation draws his attention back to Valdis, and he can see that she's pale and shivering.

"Whoah. Uh, that doesn't look good. Is that normal for" - he wiggles his fingers vaguely - "spirit healing?"

[peacefullywreathed]

"Not unless the person attempting to offer the help is themselves under attack or dying," said Solomon. "Then yes, it's perfectly normal." His tone was almost too absent to be a proper taunt; Solomon was barely giving Stark the attention. Instead his gaze was on Valdis, narrowed but thoughtful.

'Fading from the plane', Valdis said. Well, Solomon no longer had a connection to the death-plane, but Bakura's soul was more associated with another plane altogether--and Solomon had forgotten that he had some access to it. The khajbit was of a much different magic than Solomon knew from his world--it came from the soul more directly than necromancy did. Perhaps it wouldn't be affected by his magic-binding bracelets.

Solomon lifted his hands and willed the khajbit open between them, with edges darker than night but wisps of purple shadows inside. He smiled grimly. "Stark," he said, "I hope you happen to have that armour on you. Whatever you do, don't go running off. Strength of will is your weapon in this place."

Then he threw his hands wide and willed the khajbit to open around them, a place of darkness and shadow, with silhouettes visible at the corners of the eyes--ones that vanished the moment one turned to look. Solomon had never done this before; he couldn't have it take over a whole space the way Bakura could. But creating a bubble in the immediate area around them, enough to see what was happening between Valdis and Bakura's souls--yes, that he could do.

In this place, strength of soul was power. At least here Solomon could lend Bakura some strength to his.

[redlightgreenlight]

Deep within the shadows of the khajbit, an even darker force was present. It twisted around the soft light of Valdis' soul, occasionally reaching out in an attempt to touch it, but each contact was instantly repulsed by a flash of golden light. It might soon became evident to anyone watching that the dark force was fighting against slender leashes created of the same light as Valdis' soul and that those leashes were incredibly strained as the tendrils of the Void pulled against them, fighting to be free. Her soul seemed unbalanced, its light fluctuating, and each time its light dimmed, the dark force would twist more strongly and strike out, both against Valdis and against the pieces of soul that she had been trying to corral.

[denyamenti]

The small piece of the soul that Valdis' light was trying to corral drifted about, appearing in this setting as drifting chunks of broken stone. At certain angles it seemed as though there might be something carved on them, but on direct inspection, nothing could be seen. That seemed to be the hallmark of this shadow realm -- things that were there, except when one tried to identify them.

And it did not appreciate the multiple intrusions. Leave!

Sorry it's late!

[oceanblue]

And in that moment, Katara lost all familiar bearings, her eyes widening as she drew her hands away from Bakura's side in pure shock as the darkness spilled over and around them. "What…?!"

She watched the darkness lash out, and as Valdis' light fought back. "What can I do?" she asked the men, ready to follow orders. "He…should be okay. …I think." Physically, at least.

[highprofilerichkid]

What the FUCK, Solomon. What the fuck.

"So I guess it's too late to opt out of the field trip," Tony says drily. He's pretty sure Solomon could have said something like 'hey, gonna do some freaky magic, if you don't want to get dragged into it you might want to take a coffee break now.' He didn't, though, because he's Solomon.

Tony does armor up again, because even if Solomon is an inconsiderate, irresponsible show-off pot, kettle he knows his stuff, and it's probably smart to listen to him. Anyway, that toothy-eyeball-darkness is seriously creepy.

And then he waits. This is what he hates about magic— not knowing what's going on, not being able to control what's happening, not understanding anything. Doing the wrong thing now will probably get him eaten by an eyeball darkness monster, so he'll wait for instructions.

For the record, though, he'll be bitter about it.

'Men'? Does that include Tony, Katara? Because Tony has no idea what the fuck any of this bullshit is.

[peacefullywreathed]

Solomon took in the situation within a few seconds. Bakura he could pinpoint--but whatever Valdis was tussling with was new. At first Solomon thought it was a monster from the khajbit, but then he saw the strands and realised that this must be a facet of her power. Perhaps the souls she carried--or whatever she used to contain them.

"Heal him again," Solomon ordered Katara, and spared a moment to glance down at her, and managed to soften his expression just a little. "Everything here relates more to soul than to body. Heal him again. It should help his soul's bindings." And Katara being a healer by inclination, far more than Solomon, would have a greater influence on the khajbit than if Solomon tried to do so himself.

He rose, already turning toward Valdis and the monster. "This place plays on your flaws, your regrets, your doubts," he said tersely--to the both of them, but primarily to Stark. "With any luck we won't be here long enough for it to actually start twisting reality, but in the event you start seeing Malicant-like phantoms, do be so good as to defend us."

Either way Solomon was anticipating a hefty price. He'd never opened the khajbit like this before, and when he and Bakura had dueled they'd been interrupted by Solomon accidentally yanking them into the death-plane. But the khajbit was a place of games, and right now, the game was to save Bakura's soul--with the opponent being, at this stage, Valdis's power. Hopefully winning that 'game' meant Solomon wouldn't lose too much out of it.

So he stepped toward Valdis and the twisting caricature of darkness. He didn't dare use the monsters in the khajbit--not with so much doubt lingering over his natural magic. Instead Solomon exhaled and the space around him shone as though with a glowing blue corona. Mist mixed with shadow and the creature that spilled from Solomon himself wreathed protectively around him, and Bakura, and Katara--even around Stark. It reared up and lunged toward the force wrestling with Valdis.