time doesn't love you anymore

[somebadnews]

WHO: Five and OPEN (with one closed starter)
WHEN: Early-to-mid September
WHERE: All Around Taravast
WHAT: September Catch-All: Obsessions, Curses and Family Meetings
WARNINGS: Language and... whatever Five-related things come up



i. Southern (Artist ) Areas (open)

It's been a while since Five took a walk to get some fresh air. Tensions have been escalating again, and despite his best efforts to claim otherwise, his thoughts have been too erratic to feel like he has anything under control any more. It's an incredibly inconvenient time to be staving off the effects of a curse that he's stubbornly against prioritizing, and refuses to think about now. He's well accustomed to dealing with anguish; acknowledging it just makes it more insufferable and he has too many other things to worry about.

He needs a clear head if he's going to avoid another gaffe like they had at the masquerade. Hence the outing. He gives himself an errand or two — find a more secluded meeting location, procure more coffee — if only to get away from all of them before he snaps and murders someone else just because he's frustrated and running on fumes. As he makes his way through the streets, he thinks bitterly that his thirteen-year-old body could probably use the exercise.

When they first arrived in Taravast, he had been vaguely insulted by the identity he'd been assigned. That was before he'd learned it could be much worse. He's largely left alone, and when he's approached by anyone who seemed to have gotten his description from who-knows-where, he can make them disappear in relatively few words. Just drop a comment about their staggering irrelevance and they walk away shocked and offended. Temperamental artists are apparently common enough to play on assumptions. He barely cares.

All this time he hasn't actually bothered to look at any of the actual art in the city, because why would he? It's all useless decoration that doesn't serve any purpose, and mostly makes him think of the Academy and those terrible portraits his father had done of them as kids. That was his closest point of reference; nothing really survived in the apocalypse and he certainly didn't spend any time looking at it during his years at the Commission. — So it's strange that in the middle of his hike through the citadel, he finds himself facing an unfamiliar statue in the middle of an alcove. It's only half-finished, the form just starting to emerge from the stone, and he stares for full ten minutes before he realizes where he is. They have plenty of paintings on display and jewelry stands stretched along the alleyway, but not a single one of them sells coffee.

Fuck, he's tired. He nearly blinks away instead of walking back to where he made a wrong turn, but it's quiet here and all he really wanted was somewhere to think. So he wedges himself into the small space between the stone and the wall while he tries to do the math to get him to where he meant to go.

Moments later he's fast asleep where the statue's feet would be.

ii. Necromancer District (open)

Five went back to that same location where they'd picked up a cure for the poison a few days later. So far they hadn't heard any grief about what they did to obtain the blood; no one so much as questioned any recent murders, but he does think enough to stay away from certain incriminating areas to avoid the hassle. He wanted to see if he could find this particular house again by memory, and he feels some satisfaction that he manages to, even if it had been an entirely different time of day.

It seemed strange to him back then, and he said as much, that the necromancers had a cure for the poison almost before they asked. Not until later did he find out that Lady Vannozza has ties here. There's an almost too-obvious link between her and the attempt on their lives, and looking into it actually feels useful in a way he hasn't been lately. It's straightforward enough to investigate, and something productive he can share with his family later if he gets any leads.

A shorter route would have been to ask Allison to rumor Vannozza to tell them exactly what her involvement was, but he knows his sister will want more than his paranoia to go on. The other solution involves having them conjure the man responsible for delivering the poison, but Lan Wangji was acting strange about it after he was the one who suggested it. Five still doesn't understand his great moral objection, but he rarely does, and spends far too much time trying to. Several of the necromancers here could do it, if he really wants to pursue the idea.

That doesn't mean he won't also try and get more information about how the necromancers work while he's poking around. He pays careful attention whenever he spots their customers coming and going, and if his timing is good enough, he might teleport in to see what their healing rituals entail. For curiosity's sake.

Today it seems noticeably less crowded in the district, which is... not ideal and throws off his plan slightly. If he stands out too much they might start to recognize him as a kid who keeps hanging around here, and he'll have to put more effort into hiding in the shadows. It also might mean he's missing something again, which just makes him feel more out of sorts. He doesn't abandon the methods, but he keeps an extra eye out for anyone he recognizes that might fill him in.

iii. Academies (open)

Five comes around eventually. He really hadn't needed any magic curse to break his fragile grip on sanity. But when he keeps confusing the anguish he's stubbornly holding onto with memories of the apocalypse, he knows that pretty soon people will start noticing what's wrong with him. At some point he's going to need to make it stop. The unfortunate truth is that there's no way in hell he can trust that the easiest solutions available to get rid of it, and his other idea isn't any guarantee.

Under normal circumstances, he would have learned enough about magic to handle his own problems, but there's just so many different types and languages that he doesn't know where to begin. The research he left to Fox came to a halt after the masquerade, because of course they try to murder the one person he had chosen to tell about his problem, which left him largely on his own. (While Fox presumably recovers. He's sure he would have heard from Mingyu otherwise.)

The academies are easy enough to break into for someone like him, but without a guide, he's less sure of which books to disappear with that might have something worthwhile in them. He ends up with one that looks questionably promising, and others he grabbed simply because they were near it on the shelf. While he's waiting for his personal translator, he flips through the pages and tries to make sense of them.

Almost immediately he starts to write notes in the margins, which quickly devolve into something more familiar to him. Soon he's sitting in the courtyard working the equations he hasn't touched in weeks, trying to work backward to the earliest he could alter the timeline without jeopardizing his family, what events he could change by eliminating various people, and ways to predict where and when they might find his remaining siblings. The mask they insist that he carry around is beside him and he seems intensely focused and oblivious to anyone who might have noticed that he isn't a student.

In hindsight, he should have brought a different notebook with him, but it helps him for a time to slip into the world of time travel and probability equations to remember that he's actually smart about some things. Eventually he'll return to the palace and try to track Fox down to explain what he was originally trying to do. When he does finally hand off these books to him, he's sure he might even have the math worked out and not need him any more.

iv. Undisclosed Location (closed to Hargreeves)

The meeting is, frankly, long overdue. Playing political games for the sake of the group at large has only left them out of touch and ill prepared. They weren't ready for the attempted murder at the masquerade, and he was blindsided by Allison's trip to see the necromancers, purely because he hadn't kept a close enough eye on his family. They need a better system.

Fortunately, securing a suitably discrete location wasn't all that difficult once he started looking, and his ability makes it easy to get around any onlookers who might catch on that he's in cahoots with his family. Before arriving, Five had made at least some effort to splash water on his face and put on a less rumpled set of clothes to disguise the exhaustion that makes him feel every bit of his actual age. He does a passable job. He won't admit that the nap he had earlier might have done some good.

They haven't been together in the same space since the masquerade, and he takes time to assess all of them as he paces around the room. The wolves are still hanging around, apparently. Five takes a moment to look at each one of them before narrowing his eyes at Diego. He's already made it clear what he thinks about his new coping mechanism, but that doesn't mean he won't bring it up again. The only one of them to stay out of trouble is Vanya, and thank god for that.

"Alright. To start with, great job all around at not getting stabbed or poisoned." Really, it's a low bar, but they've managed to cross it. As far as he knows, he's the only one who screwed up anything major, and he's fine with delaying that news until the end. "We don't have a lot of time, but I thought we should get on the same page."

v.

Wildcard for whatever else. Additional starters available on request.


Action spam or prose idc/will match format/I swear I will use less words one day (I will forget I said this).

Comments

iv.

[remugient]

Vanya takes a breath, holds it while counting to 3, and then slowly exhales. She's not a fan of these political games--she doesn't like the ideas of all these eyes on her waiting for her to mess up. It feels a little too like home.

She sinks into a chair, hands clasped on her stomach, and watches them all too, her eyes following Five's pacing in concern before she looks to Allison and Diego. Five has always been a bit...

'Unhinged' seems too cruel and not wholly fitting the description she needs. She looks back at him and then claps her hands lightly in applause. "It's a good track record that I think we should keep going. Diego, can I pet your dogs?" They're not actually dogs but like, that's fine, she still wants to pet them. Giant dogs!

[rumorate]

Allison is not going to speak for Diego in terms of his furry friends, but she is also glad that all of them are in one piece. She has a feeling that if one of them had gotten poisoned, things would have gotten much messier.

She settles next to Vanya with a soft sigh, leaning back in her chair. "In some ways, this hasn't gotten used that the usual brand of Hargreeves crazy." Vanya hasn't even accidentally ended the world yet.

[gladiokinesis]

Diego feels the weight of Five's stare and only knows it would be worse if Five knew the sketchy deal he got himself caught up in. It had seemed like a good idea at the time -- not that Diego did a lot of thinking ahead.

He so rarely does.

But he hears Vanya's words and smiles, his words pointed:

"Of course you can, Vanya. They won't hurt you. They'll know you're part of the pack."

[somebadnews]

Five passes a look to Vanya, a silent and stern 'be careful', but he manages to hold back remarking on just how Diego knows a pack of wolves won't suddenly behave like the wild animals they are. Is Five really the only one who sees a problem?

"Anyway." He keeps pacing, but most of his focus is now on Vanya and the wolf nearest her. "We've been lucky. The good news is they aren't after us, specifically. They only seem to care about political affiliations."

The other good news is that the world isn't currently ending. But since they still don't know what's waiting for them in 2019, and since he's fairly sure that outside of Taravast the undead outnumber the living, he doesn't bring it up.

"The bad news is everything else. We don't have a convenient glimpse of the future to know what's ahead of us, and we've gotten too involved as it is. We need to be smarter about this." If Allison wants to assume he's talking about their impromptu field trip to the necromancer district, well. There's a reason he turns towards her and feels the need to bring this up. "This isn't the time to trust anyone just because they seem like they're on our side."

III

[soulsrob]

THe good thing is that Winnie likes to come and go as she pleases, and typically people can do very little to stop it. She crafts a personality of being a whirlwind of a person, and usually before someone thinks to stop her ,she's gone. It's best to make people feel she's too much trouble to deal with and that it's easier to just let her do what she wants.

Which is partially what brings her to the academy, just because she can and it's fun. Five is easy enough to spot and Winnie laughs brightly as she flutters over. "My, my! What a familiar sight this is!"

She immediately plops gracefully into a seat, grinning brightly. "Busy little bee, aren't you?"

[somebadnews]

It was probably inevitable that someone spotted him. Five nearly forgot that he was still somewhere visible to the public, but that's not anything new. Even if it's been true for well over two years now, when he's lost in his work it's easy to forget that he's no longer the last living person around. Not that he cares anyway. He can usually just blink away if anyone bothers him, and he nearly does before he recognizes the voice.

The nickname makes him scowl, but he keeps writing, because this is the first time he's been able to get anywhere on his math since the lake incident made it impossible to focus. — Then he stops, remembering.

"Hey." It takes exactly that long to notice she's sitting by him, and he loses track of what he was just in the middle of. Then he's looking at her more incredulously, like he's not sure if she followed him. "Why are you here?"

1/2

[soulsrob]

Winnie leans in a little, expression serious and eyes a bit wide. "I'm stalking you," she says in a sort of stage whisper.

[soulsrob]

Then she grins and laughs, sitting back with a shake of her head.

"I wanted to see the books! There's bound to be interesting poetry somewhere. And I was curious! I do love the feeling 'curiosity' so I try to follow its whims when I can."

She looks to him again, expression easy and open. "It's truly just coincidence. I am pleased to see you though! How have you been? You look dreadful, dear."

[somebadnews]

He never really knows with her, so he only narrows his eyes when she takes it as a joke. All smiles like she's immune to everything around her, and maybe she is. Taravast suits her more than most. It's been a while since he's seen her, and just when he thought she might have something he needs, she shows up out of the blue. (Well, it's also been a while since he had that thought, but he's been busy and the point still stands.)

The comment about his appearance just gets an annoyed huff and he closes the book he's been scribbling in. He still doesn't know why she seeks him out, other than the fact that he's the only one who knows about her.

"That's convenient." For once, he means that, and he forces a smile. She saved him the trouble of figuring out exactly where she was staying. "I was just trying to read up on your mirror."

i

[lancifolium]

How awkward.

Though she didn't come here often when Lily found herself in the artist's part of town it always resulted in a meandering, peaceful stroll. She enjoyed looking at everyone's work on display, it was diverting and at the very least it would give her cultured-seeming talking points for the next time she put in an appearance at court.

What she had not expected was to find Five lodged between the wall and a sculpture upright with his eyes closed like some kind of cinema vampire in an open coffin. She jumped back slightly, her hand going into her pocket to grip her wand as she looked around the area nervously. This wasn't the most subtle place for an assassination attempt, but after several of their number had suffered from being poisoned Lily had to wonder if the worst had happened.

Her hand went into her pocket, fishing out a small round mirror. She held it stretched out as her other hand stayed concealed, gripping her wand tensely. Five was not a soothing presence as a rule, but after what had happened during the siege she remained on edge whenever he was around.

Silently hoping that some unseen hand would nudge the boy and make him snore, or take an especially deep breath she eked forward tensely, trying to angle the mirror under his nose as she considered what she was going to say should she need to use her pendant to reach Allison and give his sister either weird or very grave news.

Lily held her breath, creeping just a bit closer as she waited for the mirror to fog.

[somebadnews]

Five must have been dreaming, the horrifying things always dreamt of when he succumbed to sleep, because a sudden jolt of panic shot through him the moment he opened his eyes to someone hovering over him. When he saw something reflective being held under his nose, he reacted without thinking — he roughly snatched the object away, and in the same moment he blinked to the opposite side in a flash of light.

When he reappeared he held back whatever was in her hand like the weapon his mind assumed it was. Then he stopped. Reality seemed far away, but it slowly pieced back together. His breath came out in ragged huffs as he started to remember where he was. And who was in front of him.

Lily. A very specific memory came to him, and he quickly held up a hand.

"Don't." If he saw her move to grab her wand, he was jumping again. When he finally noticed what he took from her, he flipped it over in his palm, deeply confused as he stared at it. A mirror?

His gaze was hard when he looked back at her. "What were you doing?"

[bearshermark]

Eleven turned away from the painter to ask Lily a question, then turned further with a frown until he found her. What she was doing, he couldn't tell, but his heart leapt as Five materialized behind her.

He moved for them without thought, eyes barely leaving Five. The look he was giving her set him ill at ease.

"..Is everything all right?"

[lancifolium]

"I couldn't tell if you were breathing! I thought it was less intrusive than trying to shake you awake," she hissed at Five in an indignant whisper.

"People are getting poisoned, we might all be in danger, you were in such an awkward pose I thought something happened to you." It had made sense at the time - keep the mirror at arm's length just under his nose, and wait a moment for the mirror to fog. She could neatly confirm that he was napping and not just stuffed into a space between the wall and the sculpture, lifeless and move along with her lovely afternoon. It had seemed like a very good plan (she had seen it in a spy film even!), but she had forgotten just how cagey Five was.

Not aware that she had been glaring at Five until the sound of Eleven's voice made her look towards him instead, she puffed out a sigh before lifting her hand in an almost sheepish wave.

"Fine. We startled each other." Lily cleared her throat, trying her best to present El with her most put-together and not at all jumpy and annoyed over this face. She wanted to take a few steps closer to him, but she made herself hold her ground. Lily had managed to get some space between herself and Five, and nobody was going to make her stand aside, least of all him.

Turning her head stiffly she looked back to Five, her smile forced and cold. "My mistake."

I

[scrapgege]

[.... Well, alright then.

This is a bit of strange place for a nap. Not that Xie Lian should judge, he has slept in very strange places in his time, but still...

Xie Lian comes forward and gives Five a slight poke.]

... Excuse me? Hello?

[somebadnews]

[ There's probably an unwritten guideline somewhere about how to wake sleeping ex-temporal assassins, but poking them is apparently not recommended. The moment Five feels someone touch him, he jerks awake and lashes out immediately to grab the wrist of whoever it is; a move that could snap bone but instead he just holds it in a vice grip.

It doesn't immediately register who is in front of him, or where he is. He just gives him a hard, confused stare while he tries to get his bearings. ]

[scrapgege]

[Xie Lian only gives a small gasp and blinks when his wrist is suddenly caught in a vice grip, but other wise doesn't seem worse for wear. however, the bandage around hos wrist suddenly unwraps itself and shoots towards Five's throat, until...]

Ruoye, no!

[The silk bandage suddenly stops in mid-air, looking a bit like a half-confused, half-sheepish snake, and coils back... but it's other end is trying to tug itself free from Five's grip.]

... Are you alright? You shouldn't be sleeping here.

[somebadnews]

[ Five isn't expecting that kind of attack, though he probably should have if he's stupid enough to fall asleep in public, and he nearly blinks away when the bandage flying at him stops on command. His hands are still glowing blue when it retreats and tries to free itself from under his grasp.

It's a difficult trip back to reality, and he very slowly releases his hold. He seems to recognize who he's with and where he is a few moments later, but he can't remember what he was doing. Before. Nothing that seems as relevant right now. ]

It listens to you.

ii.

[inferus]

Wrath has recovered from the poison. It was rather annoying the cure wasn't instantaneous, but at least it worked, which means he wouldn't be ripped from this one back to Hell. He steps out of the building where he teaches his disciples. Another one has joined the rest, and they are speaking about how Vanozza wants a special exorcism or summoning ritual to be performed.

It does not sound good, but they know little more information than that.

He is not surprised to see Five among the Necromancy District again though he thinks Five has chosen to go another route with solving his... problem, which still clearly radiates off of him. For Wrath, it is like a beacon. Even if Five was sneaking incredibly well, he'd be able to sense it- feel it in the air. He walks up to him with little fanfare.

He is still aware he owes Five (and his sister) a great deal, and while he thanked them both already, he would like to set the terms of how he'll repay that debt, but first: "What brings you to the Necromancy district today?"

[somebadnews]

Predictably, Wrath is the first one to approach him. Five might have thought he'd be reluctant to return after the entire ordeal getting the cure, but apparently not. The necromancers were easy to trick into taking someone else's blood, so maybe it isn't a concern that they now think they have some kind of power over him. It's none of his business.

He turns and smiles up at him, giving it all his usual charm. As much as it gets under his skin that he knows so much about him, Wrath is at least someone he doesn't need to pretend around. And there's a part of him that wants to demonstrate how perfectly functioning he is even with the curse he's carrying around. So much so that he can dedicate time to matters that are clearly more important.

"Just out for a stroll." That kind of question deserves a trite answer. Five considers him for a moment, not even hiding that he's suspicious why he asked, then glances around them. He's visited enough to know that something is off. "I'd heard that this was a popular spot for one of the cousins, but it seems quiet all of a sudden."

[inferus]

Wrath looks down at him when he speaks about how quiet it is in the Necromancy District. He has noticed the very same- the shift, the change, in the district. The comment about the cousins gives him pause given what he has learned.

His own voice lowers though the rest of his body is the picture of being both calm and casual as if they were discussing the weather. He keeps his attention on the nearby area, noting every heartbeat, every breath.

It can be dangerous to speak too much about things where they can be overheard, and so he speaks only loud enough for Five to hear him:

"Vanozza?"

[somebadnews]

Five gives a minute nod. It's interesting how mindful he is to being overheard, but it's not like he's an all-powerful demon if he can be poisoned. Otherwise he wouldn't be exchanging magic lessons and trying to gain influence with necromancers.

He seems just fine now though. They kept their word.

"She must have a lot of influence here, if they were already prepared with a cure." That still sticks out to him enough to bring up again. Just because they're fine now doesn't mean he's going to forget. "You'd think she would have wanted to make a bigger deal about that."

i

[wooden_one]

Incidentally, Chu Wanning is also looking for somewhere quieter to be away from people. Trying to pretend to be a gentle sort of man is...difficult. And he really didn't know what to do about the people coming up to him to talk. He breathes a little easier when he finds an empty alcove...before he realizes it isn't as empty as he expected.

There's a child at the foot of the unfinished statue.

He stopped for a moment.

He vaguely remembered someone saying that sleeping outside, especially on stone--especially so close to the ground is likely to cause a cold.

Mo Ran had slept outside before, of course, but that was under the barrier over Red Lotus Pavilion which kept out the chill and his trouble-maker of a disciple had some cultivation to protect him as well.

Slowly, he stepped closer to the statue, unclasping the short cloak that he'd been given and moved to drape it over the child.

[somebadnews]

Five generally isn't a heavy sleeper, but being so exhausted that he passes out is apparently an exception to the rule. He didn't hear anyone approach, but he jerks awake with a start to feel something draped over him, and he nearly teleports away from it before he can tell what it is.

He looks around, wide eyed and confused, before he zeros in on someone nearby and quickly gets to his feet. Somehow that little rest left him feeling more sluggish than before. It takes him longer to process that he's outside; that he's not in the apocalypse. This person didn't cause the anguish that stirs in him, and he isn't trying to attack him now. If he looks vaguely familiar, Five doesn't recognize him, and he squints while he looks between him and where the cloak fell when he stood as he tries to sort out what happened.

"Who are you?"

[wooden_one]

Chu Wanning had planned to leave the cloak behind and walk away, maybe after setting up a protective barrier of some sort.

His plan hit a bit of a snag now that the child has woken up.

He looked a little taken aback, but it's a brief sort of thing before he covers it up with something more stoic.

"Chu Wanning of SiSheng Peak." Because this child certainly wouldn't know the name. Then he added in a similar tone as he'd use for one of his disciples. "You shouldn't sleep outside. You'll catch a chill."

[somebadnews]

He doesn't recognize the name, but he still gets the impression that he's not a local. Whatever he was going to follow up with gets delayed when he chimes in with his helpful advice. His jaw clenches and he realizes what he thought he stumbled on. Some lost child sleeping in the streets.

"You know us kids, we're always doing what we aren't supposed to." He pulls in a tight smile as his gaze sharpens on him. "I guess I owe you a favor. Which one are you assigned to?"