⏳ THE SCORCHING ISLE: Oracle Event One ⏳

[beleos]

ARRIVAL

All Bearers have heard whispers of them - the Oracles. Mysterious and unknown entities of an abstract nature, they serve as the heart of each faction’s cause - both as a means to an end and a very real stepping stone in achieving their objectives. To claim an Oracle means growing ever closer to victory: to see your homes restored as they were, or to herald in a new one of your making.

So you go.

A Cornerstone has been set up for each faction; one for the Zenith and one for the Meridian in Yima’s manor and Heliopolis, respectively. They warn you that upon transportation, your safety cannot be guaranteed and there is no telling what waits for you beyond - to be prepared. To make sure you have whatever you deem necessary with you before you go, as there is no telling when - or how - you will be coming back. CONTINUED HERE...

NOTES

Upon your arrival, you woke up with an HOURGLASS NECKLACE. Please refer to the Time Mechanics on the OOC Summary and bottom of this post for details on its usage.

The COURTYARD is frozen in time. Player Characters and the Great Tree are the only signs of moving, free life in the courtyard. During the intro, time magic does not work.

Characters are free to investigate but cannot move beyond the courtyard if you choose a prompt during the intro. You may mingle among your fellow Bearers or speak with [MR. TIBBS] if you so choose. (Also? LOOK AT HIM HELP)

Iconoclasts and Stargazers will notice Aspect benefits/detriments now.

All characters will be weak for the 24 hours - think like mild flu - and unable to leave until Mr. Tibbs has dispersed them. This is the time in which any threads with the NPC will be carried out.

The INTRO concludes with said dispersal of PC’s once interactions concluded. They will be sent to a location around the castle of your choosing; they are free to move about freely from here. Your prompts can start with you waking alone or in the presence of others - whatever you’d like!

Your character will innately understand how to use time magic from this point forward. It will come naturally to them, like a skill they were born with.

CASTLE: OVERVIEW (p a s t)

The Scorching Isles is home to the Atirat, a people of sea-dwellers who have the ability to walk on land. (Think mermaids with the ability to shift back and forth between human and mermaid forms.) As such, much of the Scorching Isles is covered in large bodies of blue water and glistening pieces of ice to accommodate their lifestyle.

THE CASTLE, however, is what dominates the landscape and it's where the Shard-Bearers will be spending their time. The white castle with colorful glass windows is obscured by a thick layer of clouds and fog. Nearly every location on the island has a thin layer of fog that rolls through it, which gives the entire Island an inescapable chill. The castle has artfully built rooms with a CAVALCADE OF DECORATIVE ICE, lavish mirrors, and white plants accented with blue decorations. Several portions of the castle are submerged due to the aquatic nature of the native residents.

And everywhere you go, you find them - STATUESQUE BODIES FROZEN mid-movement. They are haunting reminders of the power in your Hourglass - the very real power to decide their fates.

The castle has many winding paths to explore, as castles often do. There are sleeping quarters, HALLWAYS, a wine cellar, and a few large rooms presumably for diplomatic affairs. Players can use these rooms at their own leisure for whatever purposes they see fit. (Exploration, combat, or supply gathering.)

However, many of these rooms will require some strategy to access their full potential! Atirat were much more comfortable being underwater than many Kenosians may be. Therefore, rooms of higher importance may be COMPLETELY SUBMERGED or require swimming through an underwater pathway to reach them. Very minimal supplies will be kept out in the open for all to reach. More desirable supplies - such as warm clothing, small weapons, treasure, and the like - will be located past or within one of these flooded areas.

Players may gather supplies within and preserve their Sand or use their Sand to make other rooms accessible and gather whatever lies within! The larger the asset you attempt to unfreeze, the more Sand it costs - and the more drained/vulnerable you will be as a consequence, so choose your path ahead wisely.

Currently, a pervasive fog is preventing you from wandering beyond the Castle's limits. Should you try to venture past it, your Sand will rapidly be stolen and you will find yourself suffering the same fate as the islanders if you don't move back to safety quickly... However, if you ask Mr. Tibbs what lays beyond the mist - he will tell you about the thriving farmland, the once-bustling village surrounding the castle, and the beautiful coral reefs beneath it. Sadly, they're beyond your reach - but maybe if the Bearers decide to unfreeze them when the week is up...

LIBRARY (s a f e z o n e)

The ROYAL LIBRARY - A treasure trove of knowledge, history, and glimpses of a fractured past scattered throughout. The lower floor of the Library is void of much reading material and contains several intricate-looking art pieces on decorative pedestals.

A spiral staircase dominates the center of the room, with its once delicate structure overtaken by sheets of formidable ice; it leads you toward the upper levels where a sea of books awaits. There are isles and isles of books, most perched on intricately carved shelves. Many books lay in piles or are discarded onto the floor, and scattered papers are common throughout.

Curious Kenosians may pick out books from the shelves and read on various topics, but players may also pass through this room on their way elsewhere. This area will function as a safe haven where violence and the taking of others' Sand is not allowed; do not disturb the books or Mr. Tibbs won’t be happy!

NOTES

Characters who wish to receive a book with lore specific to the island may comment [HERE]. You will be RNGed a book from a pre-written list of topics. The books may give you a deeper look into the island, its inhabitants, and its history! (Only 1 book per player! Please assume all other books they read are about commonly-available topics.)

THE EATING PARLOR (p a s t)

There are no basic amenities on the island. No hot water, no warm beds, and no salacious magazines (that you know of. heh heh). That would make the Eating Parlour a wise stop for anyone. After all, this could be the perfect chance to procure some provisions!

The EATING PARLOUR has all the equipment one would need for meal preparation. Dried plants hang from the ceiling, and the walls are lined with mason jars filled with every strange manner of presumably edible thing (Is that a head over there? Hmm… maybe you should check).

The parlour also comes with a garden under a massive windowed dome so that the inhabitants could have fresh produce at hand. Many plants have withered, but there are some salvageable plants if you know how to look for them. But beware… Some of the plants have a strange blue glow. These plants can spell potential disaster.

If someone should make contact with these glowing plants, they will crumble into glass shards - glass that will quickly burrow its way under the skin and curse that person with Blight. Blight will make all resources within that person's vicinity slowly age and eventually crumble to dust. (Which I relate to on a personal level tbh.) Iconoclasts will be immune to its effects.

NOTES

Please see the "Blight" section below for more information on its effects.

TREASURE ROOM (f u t u r e)

Faint singing can be heard coming from this room. Once you hear the song, it dulls your senses and leaves you in a haze. There is no stopping your feet from guiding you to it through the doors and into the Treasure room. The door slams shut at your back, sealed with a wall of ice and magic.

Players will find themselves lured to an icy chamber bordered by a ring of cold blue fire. There is a deep pond that surrounds the platform you’ve found yourself standing on. Beyond its glassy surface and crystal clear water, one can glimpse all manner of treasures - from crowns, jewels, ornate statues in various statues of repair, scepters, spears, and books that seem impervious to the water's cold chill.

As you come to your senses, you will find yourself frozen in place and at the mercy of a large statuesque being before you. This beautiful and horrifying figure in a perpetual song is the SIREN, the only Atirat you’ve seen in person. She measures nearly 20 feet (6 meters) from her head to the tip of her long-finned tail. She cradles an icy shard in her arms, singing to it as if it were a child.

She sits serenely in front of a large hourglass filled with white sand, which is bordered by a spear and a lance. Emblazoned in faint text at the base of where she sits reads: “The future lies in our hands.”

NOTES

Welcome to the Siren’s Chamber! Players must use their wit, charisma, or some good ol' fashioned elbow grease to escape the room or break the Siren’s magic. The Shard that the Siren holds contains dormant time magic that players may activate by using the Sand within their necklace. Players can access the future in 5-second intervals and use whatever they find in that time period to escape their predicament.

For example, if they activate the shard by using their time magic, that shard will begin to glow blue. The room around them will shift, and it could change to a point in the future where there is a sword nearby. If you can grab it, now you have a weapon! When the 5 seconds are up and time returns to the present, you will still have that weapon on your person. You may also try verbal communication if you’d like. If your character is someone who would try and talk their way out of a situation diplomatically, they may give it a try!

It is up to player discretion/creativity to think of a scenario you’d like. Each “future" does not have to be the same across player encounters! What one group experiences may be tailored to the player wants (because branching timelines exist). Let your imagination run free!

HALL OF MIRRORS (p r e s e n t)

Should you reach the rightmost wing of the massive castle Library, you will find a door hidden in the very back of one aisle against a wall; it looks as though the door used to be concealed by magicks that have since dissolved.

The stairwell leads down and into darkness. Once you reach the bottom, shimmering light cast from an unknown source beneath sheets of glistening ice will illuminate your new surroundings; you are in a maze of mirror-like ice. This labyrinth is silent save for the quiet creaking of shifting ice that may disquiet you and leave you uneasy regarding the stability of this area… but it holds beneath your feet.

Mr. Tibbs had told you that the “Kaleidoscope” - where your Sand is counted - rests through here, so eventually, you must brave the journey. Is it a trick of the light? Maybe the product of an especially active imagination…?

Did you just see one of your reflections move without you?

NOTES

Please refer to the OOC Summary for details on the Hall of Mirrors!

THE BLIGHT and TIME MECHANICS

BLIGHT

Blight is an infliction that will age supplies and infect people with a creeping disease that steals their Sand. For objects, this includes weapons, food, and items like cloth. It will take a few days to deteriorate things beyond use - so watching your supplies and acting accordingly is in your best interest. Generally, it will make it more difficult for PC's to get by given that their already scarce resources will dwindle and deteriorate - especially since it's 'contagious' through touch.

The Blight will not act quickly enough to severely hamper infected persons, but repeated exposure will cause effects to a person's body - notedly protruding VEINS in the face and extremities, a lower body temperature, and increased agitation. These effects start out mild and grow more severe with each 'dose.'

Characters must touch an object/person that is Blighted to become inflicted with Blight themselves. When that happens, it will become easily identifiable as Blighted from the faint blue, shimmering outline around the infected subject, as well as the WITHERED, FROSTBITTEN or ashy appearance it takes as it progresses.

However, there is one single perk with Blight. (Or is it a perk?) Players will feel reduced impact by the cold surroundings, making the climate around them somewhat more hospitable. Beware of falling victim to a chill you can't feel...

TIME

To use your Sand, each character is granted access to and innate knowledge of a spell they channel from their Shard that automatically manipulates their Hourglass. This allows the remote control of Sand (aka gathering and dispersing), as well as the ability to pull Fragments of time from Shards.

Fragments are literal pieces of you taken from your Shard. They manifest as memories or images displayed on little shards of broken glass (think of the memory being played out in real-time on the mirror's surface), and can be crushed to convert into Sand automatically, either voluntarily or by force. The only stipulation is that the parties must be close to one another, and the Fragment must be exchanged while both Bearers are still. This means someone has to give it to you, or you need to immobilize them before you take it - one way or another.

Once the Fragment is crushed, the memory and associated time of that person's life is lost and your character will suffer amnesia until the Oracle is claimed. How deep this goes is up to you; they could lose a large chunk of time - even all their memories surrounding a person or place for a big payload of Sand, or they could lose very little for a meager net gain.

Sand is automatically gathered or distributed by your Hourglass and added/subtracted to your running total. No need to micromanage. Convenient!

Please note that using Sand to unfreeze anything (resources, a door which can be then opened, etc) is an unpleasant experience. Each time you use Sand in this way, your character will be left feeling weakened and flu-like for an hour or two, which will leave them vulnerable. This effect stacks and scales up to outright KO-ing them for a few hours if they go crazy, so unfreezing too large of an area is off the table!

NOTES

• An OOC POST will be coming shortly explaining how Sand is going to be tallied and the Oracle claimed.
• Should your character attempt to unfreeze any NPC's, please respond [HERE]. NOTE: unfreezing NPC's may result in physical violence with CW's for severe mental instability/illness and a potential reference to self-harm.
• HAVE FUN!!!

CODING

Comments

[sanguinary]

[Mikazuki Munechika is always causing everyone so many fckin problems DOES YOUR NOVEL TELL YOU THAT HE IS A PAIN IN THE ASS, DOKJA!!! A TROUBLESOME GRANDPA!!!

Anyway that's about what Matsui expected because almost everyone here has no idea what he's talking about any time he starts getting into Sword Stuff, so he just nods once. As for the question:]

It has been... less than a half-year. [He had to do some quick maths because everything feels like a blink to his also old grandpa ass.] Or since my arrival here, as this body is a closer approximation to a true human form.

[Meaning he can't fuckin cheat by skipping meals or lift thrice his weight with one hand anymore because he's still UNHARMONIZED and a WEENIE.]

[passio]

[ eustace had wondered the same about him, once. how he was able to commit atrocities with a blank look on his face. it’s something he hasn’t really opened up to anyone about, neither here nor in the previous world. there are small moments some people know, but the full picture—dextera holds it tight, holds it secret, and all that means is that it’s impossible to ask for understanding. ]

…

[ he exhales a breath that almost sounds like a whimper, but his expression tightens. dextera doesn’t want judgment, but he’s trying to learn to commit to the things he chooses to do. even if he’s wrong, he must see it through to the end. ]

I won’t let him.

[ there’s an odd inflection on that word, let. dextera won’t allow gen to die like this. that’s obvious. but there’s more to it, in the little resonance of their shards. if gen is ever in a position where he would simply be left to rot away—dextera will kill him himself, like an angel of mercy. ]

[prizeneck]

[Mamoru snorts.] An otter? Sure. A talking animal? Not so much.

I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE, if you need to drop it totally do so!!

[sharmat]

(exhausted from his slow progress through the maze, voryn is wary of coming into contact with others. the doppelgangers are a hassle, as he is fighting his way through here every time he needs to find his way back to the courtyard outside the castle. so, he stays low, stays cautious, and ignores for a moment the cries of a young woman entangled with herself. it's none of his business.

what is his business, however, is the exit just beyond where lottie struggles with her hair being yanked. the argument she's having is so vapid that it makes him wonder if she'd be any threat at all to him; however, voryn does not underestimate her. instead, his hand settles on the back of a mirror so that he may lower himself onto a knee to watch. he must pay close attention to the battle, for if the doppelganger reveals the mirror in which it was housed, it will be a quick way to dispatch this thing for good.

this goes on for a couple of minutes.

by the time lottie spots him, voryn has totally zoned out, looking almost bored watching her beat the shit out of herself. the headbutt from her doppelganger even makes him lean heavily onto a hand he's propped up with an elbow on a knee. no, now he's convinced: neither of them could possibly harm him.)

Have you given any thought to finding the mirror your enemy comes from? (he calls, creating a momentary pause in the doppelganger's attempts to wail on lottie.) You should be able to feel its pull... It is connected to you by the magic of this place, and so it is rightfully yours.

(a generous way to put "it's a piece of shit nuisance, but it's your piece of shit nuisance.")

Raise your arms to block your face and think.

[appeale]

[ Oh, are you finally accepting my bribe? Just take it already, you cold-blooded bastard. ]

Exactly! So I'll spend it on anything that's useful to you. I already know how draining it is to use this, and it's more important for you to keep your energy up than someone like me, don't you think?

[ for the same reason that it would be pointless to conserve the amount of sand she has—what does she need stamina for? he could drain her empty, as long as he promised to dump her body in the library afterwards. sitting around in the safe zone is all she would be doing anyway. ]

If there isn't a room you want unlocked, or resources you want, then I can just keep going through books... I just thought it would help more if I could use it on something you were after that's a little more risky.

[spilledinkpot]

[… A guardian. He thinks accidentally (remembers?) the feel of the ax haft in his hands, the thunk of arrows as they pierced his chest, and the strange sensation of what might have been fear at the idea of Shiva being taken from him.

…]

Because people suspected her to be Cursed also, she was abandoned. I found her, with a note asking that someone look after her.

[And he had kept her, when he maybe should not. But something about her…]

… So, yes, I suppose I am-

[Was? No, he has her shard, it has to be “am”-]

Her guardian.

[spilledinkpot]

[“Elastic”… What an odd word. He does not think he knows it. But he still watches her silently as she demonstrates, his fingers vaguely mimicking the movements where he holds his hand…

Before he tries it for himself. Unfortunately… his “hair” is brittle and thin, and the scrunchie… slips from it and falls to the ground.

Looking somewhat like a young child might at an ice cream cone melting on the pavement while debating to be upset or not, he stares at it… then bends to pick it up. Carefully, he stretches the elastic so that it goes on the spiral horn that has been sliced closer to his skull, the pink bow resting there far more neatly.

It is not appropriate for Shiva, but, for him-]

Will this do?

[pyojeol]

[this is clearly Matsui going along with this great idea that he absolutely suggested in the first place.

Sooyoung thinks, then]






You could sing.

[honeytrap matsui]

[appeale]

... There is, I suppose? In that, technically, it's possible to get anywhere in the castle from anywhere else, one way or another.

[ from the light, airy tone of her voice, she doesn't seem to be mocking him—either she means it as a sincere observation, in which case she's an idiot, or she's playing at cluelessness as a kindness to him. (and the secret third option: she's faking it specifically so that it will be perceived as either of the two.) whatever the reason, there is no fracture in her demeanour that would indicate annoyance.

(she is annoyed.) ]

Um, let me think... We came from there, and we must be in the west wing by now, so for the library, we want to go... this way?

[ she points... but doesn't take the lead. even if she ends up giving the directions, apparently she still intends to follow Dokja. ]

[lethally]

[ The most annoying person in the world being asked to do the most annoying thing in the world.....just kidding, we all know Dokja is a thousand times more annoying than Sooyoung.

But it's fine, now they can meet each other's eyes across the room like they're in a romance kdrama, the tension and expectation in the air almost thick enough to cut with a knife.....except it's one sharp nail that cuts through, shishkabobbing HSY with one sharp movement.

Actually she's shishkabobbing the hourglass (wherever that is) but close enough. ]

Sorry, but I'll be taking this.

[ Does that sound appropriately cliche and villainy enough? ]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian takes in the details as she takes her seat, though it isn’t so obviously sharp-eyed. He notes the dwindling hourglass and thinks to ask on it… But he’s quickly distracted from that by the curiosity of familiarity. Her delicate and well-mannered posture is the sort of thing he had gotten well-used to seeing while serving Ciel, but it felt markedly out of place amongst the Shard-Bearers of Kenos. It marks her to him as a true lady, in the rather old-fashioned sense of the word.

Though his curiosity is sparked as she mentions the Vatican. It’s notable enough to trickle through that bond of Aspects, and it’s earnest. It’s also probably quite the contrast against that rather sharp set of feelings that had started things out. ]

My, the Vatican? As in, the seat of the Holy See?

[ He’s quite familiar, of course. Call it “professional interest”, though it’s probably more like an ironic interest. Though, because of his familiarity, he’s a little surprised. If it’s the sort he knew, then he wasn’t aware women were even allowed to live there… ]

Is that where you lived before Kenos?

[lifespanned]

Oh, can you really do that? That'd be a big help.

[ Is what she says, sweetly, clapping her hands together with a muted poff from the thick fabric of her gloves. What's she's thinking, though, is that that's probably a red flag. Letting a powerful magician like Akua cast a spell on her? Willingly? It'd be giving her a free opening to attack her, if that's what she really wanted to do.

Misa tucks her hands into the opposite sleeves of her coat, ostensibly to keep warm - in reality, to close her hand around the dagger that's hidden there. The fluffiness of her clothes obscure most motion from within — it's a fine, fur garment she'd looted from this place for a nice price of sand, after all — and besides, she makes no sudden or jerky movements that read as offensive. No, she just leans in a little closer with feigned interest (edging in on Akua's personal space, really), inwardly anticipating a strike to come at any moment. Actually, she'll just plan on acting like she mistook whatever comes next as an attack — that's a good enough excuse for her to make a move, she thinks. Her hourglass glints from around her neck, shimmering with the image of what's at the forefront of most her thoughts: the profile of her (cold, detached looking) boyfriend. ]

How does it work exactly? It just cancels out all the cold, or...?

[settingup]

[ Ah... ]

That ain't fair!

[ It's kind of fair. He does just blurt out whatever the hell he wants, and has done next to nothing to consider Gray's feelings this entire time. Hell, he's so far into his own bullshit that he's learning this girl's name from a talking weapon literally right now.

He's also realizing he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on, so he's muttering the next part. ]

I never made her cry.

[ Probably. As far as he knows.

But fine, he fixes his attention onto the tussling Gray's, takes a deep breath and starts yelling with all the capacity his very large lungs have in them. In this room of mirrors that sound is really bouncing and echoing all over the place too, making his nice and hard to ignore. ]

Knock it off!

[subsist]

[ Silco didn't have to clarify what he meant. Kaeya thinks he has a pretty good idea of what the other man agreed to, anyway. Distrustful as they both are, that only leaves a few options in the end.

Diluc's Shard is supposed to be Yima's guarantee — or rather, her proof that things wouldn't be the same as what happened back at Horos. That he would be free to make a choice without feeling pressured one way or another. A part of him still thinks that this is the case, but he can't be sure nowadays. The more he learns about what can be done to Shards, the more he wonders if he is fighting for the right side. ]

And what if that's not a guarantee? What will you do then?

[ He knows how Silco thinks. Promise him one thing but refuse to deliver and you'll have the man's grudge for the rest of your life. Is he willing to risk that for an ending they knew nothing about? With little to no fail-safes? ]

[pyojeol]

[it does, yeah]

What the hell -- ?!

[if Lust was looking for a reaction (besides Sand), then she gets one -- furious and enraged, with that red tinge of humiliation and murderous bloodlust (hehe),

she takes a step and then immediately sways, face paling as the sand starts flowing from her necklace -- too much, especially when every grain counts here. her knife materializes in her hand and she snaps it upwards, attempting to break that long dagger-sharp nail,]

You goddamn asshole!!

[goldendeceiver]

[ A capable poet or a bard, huh? Ernesto doesn't comment on what sounds like a very old fashioned thought to him, but he is filing that away as he makes an assumption about the kind of world Zhongli must have come from.

He continues to stare out the window for a few seconds, humming in what almost sounds like agreement, before turning his attention back to the book. ]

It's hard not to feel for them looking at the state of things here, but I wish we had a more solid idea everything that happened.

[ Instead of putting together puzzle pieces from whatever books the find here. ]

[settingup]

[ It's hard to give that question an objective enough consideration, because the cold is all consuming that it's hard to put it aside. He frowns as he hunches down a bit in his new cloak (good luck to Dimitri trying to get it back). ]

There ain't much to think about it. With everyone all frozen up, it's pretty boring. Unless you found something worthwhile around here.

[ Because the most action Atsumu can see comes from fighting, and he hasn't been loving the scuffles. ]

[settingup]

[ As desperately as Atsumu has been looking for something that can trip this woman up, or keep her occupied and stationary, he's still paying attention to what's going on in that scuffle. He sees her get sliced by that scythe, and watches Joonghyuk manage to take out an elbow despite the clear size disadvantage going on here.

So he doesn't even need to feel the water around him ripple to know she's joined him in the pond, because he sees her diving for it as it happens.

And he's now desperately half-swimming half-wading through the water trying to get the hell away from where she dove under. He's not deep into the water yet, but that doesn't mean much of anything when a giant, angry mermaid is coming at you. ]

Shit shit shit!!

[ And large, angry fish ladies tend to be faster in water than most other creatures, so despite his best efforts, he's not going to get far (certainly not far enough) by the time she surfaces again. ]

[gravings]

I don't know...

[ But that won't stop her from trying to kill it; the vitriol in its gaze is too vivid, and she's certain that if she goes easy on it, it'll take full advantage of her hesitation. For better or worse, the doppelganger's fixation on Dimitri is clear cut; she doesn't know how strong Dimitri is, but maybe they can use that fixation to their advantage. ]

Mr. Dimitri, I'm going to the other side!

[ That lance of his surely isn't for show. She trusts that he can defend himself for a moment as she abruptly jumps over the doppelganger, flipping and twisting to land facing the false Dimitri's backside. If the doppelganger goes after Dimitri like she expects, then that's all the opening she needs... ]

[redsoil]

[ Card games are fairly new to him, but he has seen plenty of them played in the Last Dance. Set enjoys the way the cards flow together, the snap of their bodies against one another or the table below; the ones he has with him are of particular delight, with their meanings and faceted uses. His fingers are pale, free of the gloves he's worn in this cold place, as he cuts and shuffles - stepping closer to Sebastian.

There is a nice, sleek patch of ice for them to play upon. ] Satisfied, or left more curious than ever!

[ He cuts the deck once, twice, and then sets it between the two of them, settling down upon his knees. I'll begin, he proposes, and pulls the top card of the deck: IV (4), The Emperor. Reversed. How telling! ]

I begin at a deficit.

[zauneyete]

You think so?

[ Just like Crona is seeing someone that raised them, Silco sees a touch of someone that he raised in their words. There is a similarity in their experiences, but across a divide, at the same time. His question isn't meant to be sarcastic, but there's a touch of it, implicit in the way he says it. Silco... almost feels bad for them.

Almost, but he is somewhat sympathetic to their plight, the way that they feel about this. After all, he too felt out of his depth with some of these great and terrible experiences. He had stared down a being far too grand, who had not once, but twice targeted him directly, and had managed to somehow survive the experience. He was still... dwarfed by the awesome, incredible power that some had here.

It's one of the reasons he had agreed to a contract with Sebastian, at the end of the day. ]

I had no powers, before I arrived. [ In Horos. ] Yet here I am, doing everything that I can, to enact my will on this world and the next. I do not think you could be as useless as I, in the face of some of these great and powerful creatures, and if you are...

There is an opportunity for growth, you know. [ He could sense that, in them. They may think they were weak, and perhaps they are, but wasn't that an opportunity to be...nudged? In the right direction? ]

And perhaps, if you find yourself in a faction, you can find someone to guide you, when you feel ill at ease with your choices. There are many of us within Zenith, who have decided to support Lady Yima and her goals.

[passio]

[ dextera can understand the reluctance, the hope for guidance. he doubts crona is going to find it here, or was ever really going to get the answers they’re seeking, but he empathizes with the attempt nonetheless. unfortunately, he isn’t faithful enough to proselytize. ]

…

[ so, he just nods. ]

A lot of us came from a similar world. Enemies were made before we even… before any of us knew “Kenos” existed. But it still came on so fast. The Oracle.

[hauntedking]

Frozen people, freezing waters, abandoned rooms... it's all very mysterious.

[ But he's managing. ]

All for the sake of an Oracle...

[hauntedking]

[ True to its nature, the doppelganger continues its assault, apparently unconcerned with Gray's attempt at flanking. Dimitri, for his part, fights back with as much force as he can muster, deflecting a blow and then dodging another. ]

Understood-!

[ Another thrust and this time Dimitri gets control of the lance's tip, shoving it downward and trapping it against the floor. ]

Now!

[investing]

[ That's reassuring, in a lot of ways. David never is sure what anyone has or hasn't done, nowadays. At least Night City was a sort of even playing field — their experiences, while absolutely wild, were at least grounded in some sense of reality.. All through technology. And now he's squatting over an iced over roof, in an equally iced over castle, now alive but not a construct.. All through magic. ]

Open it up.

[ That train of thought, at least, reminds him he restored that book using his (his!) sand (maybe magic?). David gestures eagerly towards it, urging him to open the book because it has illustrations of its former self, the castle, surrounded by lush green nature and a bright sunny sky. No ice to be seen! ]

It's got a ton of old drawings about this place, the island. [ His tone definitely reads as: lowkey this is kind of neat, but I'm not saying it?? ] Was trying to see if I could find anything else from the book up here, but the fog's too thick.