and the air was full [April, catchall, OPEN]

[ruinsprofessor]

Characters: Raine Sage, OPEN
Date: April, various
Location: Healers' Guild, apartment, sky, other
Situation: a variety! This is definitely your stop for Raine at the Healers' Guild, for sure. Others tba.
Warnings/Rating: None currently; will update as that changes.


A | Healers' Guild | open

Raine, most days of the week, can be found at the Healers' Guild, though rarely at the front desk. Any of the multiple kedan who volunteer or heal here will be happy to point visitors toward Raine's office, however, especially if they have an appointment; even those not strictly looking for Raine will be pointed her way if they express they want to help around the Guild.

Raine can also occasionally be found in the halls, or simply passing through the main entryway, though she will appear somewhat distracted and may take a moment to focus on someone talking to her.

B | errands, out and about -- any sector OR outside Milyn's clinic | open

Basket in one hand, staff in the other, Raine isn't an uncommon sight in markets, or especially in the streets of the Water Sector. She walks quickly, like she's on a mission, but she can't help but turn her steps in Water toward Milyn's clinic.

She doesn't go in, but she stands across the street for a long time, a distantly troubled expression on her face.

C-1 | Hatal, Lorn Level | open

Raine's been spending some more time in Hatal, lately, but this-- this startles her. A group of Kin'nal are experimenting with something she recognizes-- a strange vehicle that looks somewhere between a motorcycle and a butterfly or dragon, and a small pack. "Excuse me," Raine says, hardly able to believe she's saying it. "I-- believe those are mine."

Anyone in the vicinity will shortly thereafter be witness to a peculiar sight, as Raine takes the pack and runs her hands over it. Yes, there are her initials, graven besides the silhouette of a wing. She manipulates it just so, and the entire vehicle vanishes into it, in a curious sliding of matter. Raine lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she tells the Kin'nal, who are more or less happy to let her take it, though she does insist on giving them some recompense.

She doesn't know what her rheaird is doing here, but it's a stroke of luck.

C-2 | skies over Keeliai | open to those with flight capabilities

Raine wastes no time in making sure it works as it should, and anyone in the sky or even looking up at the right time may catch sight of her. It works like a charm, and she handles it with the ease of practice as she skims over the city, mindful of the safe distance. She likes flying, a great deal more than she likes anything to do with swimming, and the rheaird is a small-impact piece of magitechnology, one that doesn't put an undue drain on her environment.

She indulges herself with a loop, when she thinks no one could possibly see.

D | apartment, Earth sector | Solomon

It's one of those days when Raine comes home after Solomon; she announces her return with a quiet "I'm home" from the door, and sets about putting her things away. Her jacket gets hung by the door, since things are warming and she really doesn't need it indoors, her staff leans next to it, and she idly orients on Solomon's mana -- his study, unsurprising -- and heads that way, turning the day over in her head as she does.

"Some days, I wonder about the wisdom of working in the Water sector," she says wryly, half to herself though it's aloud, and she leans in the doorway. Open, so he isn't involved in something he'd mind being interrupted. "How did your day go?"

[ooc: feel free to tag in to any one of these, or, if none suit, shoot me a pm or a pp at makaricrow and we can work something out! I'd love new CR as well as old.]

Comments

[ten_zero]

The city is very strange, not only because of the different culture, but because I'm not used to interacting with the world this way.

[ She should probably just preempt the obvious followup question, shouldn't she? ]

For a long time, [ Understatement. ] I've been sleeping in cryostasis, and interacting with the world through a Warframe, which I have the misfortune of not having any of, here.

However, it has lent me a bit of perspective on Dreaming, compared to most others here, I think, which left me wondering several questions about this place, especially in wake of the attempts of several others like Obi-Wan and Pepper, who are trying to re-awaken the turtle.

No one I've talked to so far seems to remember trying to reach Tu Vishan through the Dreaming plane, and I wanted to know more about it. What is it, exactly? How do you reach it?

I'm also told that Eva was involved in taking the original foreigners into the dreaming to fight Malicant. Enjolras told me she was the empress of Keeliai? It seems she has a controversial past, and the Kedan have been a little difficult to get a full story from about her.

[ Oof, slow down, Bisi. She blushed. ]

Sorry, that was a lot.

[ruinsprofessor]

["This way?" was on the tip of Raine's tongue, yes. Well done pre-empting that.]

[Raine listens to what Bisi lays out at the basis of her query, nodding. She's warming to the girl already: they're well-reasoned thoughts.]

What is a Warframe, exactly?

[That out of the way, Raine moves on to some of the answers.]

The Dreaming is, as the name suggests, much like a dream. It responds to intent, emotion, and familiarity, and the rules of reality as we generally accept them don't always apply. It's a separate plane of existence, although...

[Hesitation, mostly because at this point, Raine just isn't sure. She'll come back to reaching it if Bisi is still curious.]

There have been some irregularities. I believe it may be closer to Life than it once was, somehow. You were told about the fight with Malicant, correct? Then you should also have been told about how we were trapped in the Dreaming for roughly a year. It's my understanding that drastic measures were necessary to free us.

[Raine sighs. It's not entirely pretty, and it cost Eva's life, apparently. Now more than ever she wishes she had queried Milyn more thoroughly about that time.]

You've confused Eva and Eshai, however. The Emperor Eshai was the first Emperor here, the one who began summoning Foreigners to combat Malicant.

[At the apology, though, she offers a little smile, despite the subject matter.]

It's fine.

[ten_zero]

What exactly a warframe is might be hard to explain. Hunhow calls them puppets, but they are more than that. It's a techno-organic surrogate, a Tenno's body controlled from the Second Dream. They let us control our powers, and allows us to be fearsome immortal soldiers.

[ She idly fingers the prayer beed bracelet she has, one of which is her bright red soul gem. ]

I've spent more time as a Warframe than in this body. By a lot. It's strange... being like this... again.

[ And it was hard, because she was afraid of hurting people. Her powers were less controlled in this state.

She listens intently to Raine's clarification. ]

Ah, it seems that some misinformation has started to trickle into the rumor mill. [ She'll make sure to let Enjolras know. ]

So who was she, then?

[ She was vaguely familiar with the plight of the original foreigners; it seemed to be less of a concern than other things, because details were scarce. ]

What is the Life Plain, and what drastic measures were needed?

[ Honestly, this was making Bisi even more sure that she was right. Tu Vishan was dreaming, and if they wanted to wake it up, someone would need to find it there. ]

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine isn't used to a lot of those words being used in precisely that way, but context illuminates a great deal of it. She's still going to have to ask a few things.]

Tenno? The 'Second Dream'? I don't have much of a frame of reference for your world, I'm afraid.

[At least she can grasp the idea of a surrogate body, much as it does unsettle her a little.]

Eva -- Evastelei -- was a powerful mage. She kept somewhat to herself, but she aided us in the fight with Malicant, and gave her life for it. I wish I'd known her better.

[To the second question, Raine gestures around them.]

This is Life. It's the domain of living creatures, the waking world. There's a certain solidity that the Dreaming lacks, for the most part. As to what changed... I'm not sure anyone's fully certain, but certainly something about the planes had to be changed to free us, and Life has been more malleable in certain places.

You may benefit from talking to Solomon Wreath; he's studied the planes somewhat more than I, at this point.

[The Guild rather consumed her time once it was ceded to her. Raine still has other studies, but they're not quite so large.]

[ten_zero]

Ah, I'm sorry, it's complicated. [ Everyone asked, but it was never easier to explain. ] I am a Tenno. When we were first recovered from the Void, we had powers that were unpredictable and dangerous. An Orokin scientist named Marguilis found a way for us to interact with the world from within cryostasis, where we were less a danger to others, or ourselves. She called it the Second Dream. She died. [ The exact way could be explained some other time. ] Then the Sentients invaded, and in desperation the Orokin gave us Warframes, and used us to fight them off.

[ Evastelei, a powerful mage. ]

So it was the emperor Eshai that was murdered by the foreigner... Evastelei sacrificed herself willingly to save the foreigners, and... changed the Dreaming and Life Planes to make it happen?

[ She wishes she could have met Evastelei. She knew nothing about her, but she reminded Bisi of both Marguilis and The Lotus.

Solomon Wreath, another name. She nods. ]

Thank you. Would he know how to get back into the Dreaming?

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine shakes her head.] Can you provide any more context? For example, is a Tenno a subset of human, or a different species entirely? I can follow the situation, but I'm curious about the specifics.

[She's always curious. And it will help if the Guild is ever called on to treat Bisi in the future.]

That's correct, yes. Eva helped us along the way, and in the end ensured we came back safely.

[Still: too many lives lost to Malicant.]

The nature of the planes means it's a bit more complex than a yes or no answer, but-- broadly, yes. At any rate, Solomon has a laboratory in this building, which I can direct you to if you like.

[Raine considers, briefly. Solomon can be sharp, yes; but Bisi still seems quite young, and will likely be polite. She doesn't anticipate a problem.] Let him know I sent you, if you do.

[ten_zero]

[ A subset of human? Oof. You kind of touched a nerve without meaning to, there, Raine. It visibly deflates Bisi a bit. ]

It's more like an identity than a category. An identity thrust upon us by circumstance and judgement, but we've embraced it nonetheless.

The term has a long history now, and it's expanded into more of a banner... but originally it was just us, the survivors of the Zariman Ten-Zero. Our ship was lost in the Void for a very long time, and when we were discovered again, we were... different.

[ruinsprofessor]

I see. Does the word Tenno derive from Ten-Zero, then?

[She could see that, in a linguistic sort of way.]

[She is not, however, completely oblivious to how that deflated Bisi; and, having her own similar complications regarding human blood, Raine judges something should probably be amended, and she sighs quietly.]

There are any number of us here who aren't human. Physiologically speaking, it's important to know what to expect, if you're injured. That's all. Matters of your identity are yours to determine.

[ten_zero]

[ OH. Okay. Bisi was a little relieved, although a bit of anxiety persisted. ]

Yes. Tenno. The Orokin were scared of us because of our powers. We couldn't control them at first. ...we hurt a few people.

I don't... know. The Orokin didn't share the findings of their experiments with us. I'm afraid I won't be much help in that regard.

[ruinsprofessor]

I'm familiar with the concept.

[A sigh, less at Bisi and more at the ways of the worlds. It seems Bisi has things under control for now, at least.]

If you recall anything that might be useful, please let me know. In addition to being curious, I'd like to make sure we're prepared, in case you're hurt.

Did you have any other questions for me?

[ten_zero]

No, you've been very helpful, thank you! I'll go see if Solomon is in.

[ She turned to leave. ]

[ruinsprofessor]

Good day, then.

[Absent anything else pressing, Raine will let her go, returning to her other work.]