serthica: war & peace

[groundrules]

Clockwork Serthica’s arrival event stretches til around 3 September. You’re welcome to hit up this log or make your own entries. Characters not assigned to a region can still access it, as long as they’re discreet.

Please share cool plot clues via network — and have fun!

WAR & PEACE

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SUMMARY: The Merchant assigns the group to determine if the dead lurk within Serthica’s adversarial halves. Eidris and Minaras hold a summit to normalise trade within Serthica’s elusive Neutral Zone — while a resistance movements attempts to capture Minaras lead figure Arabella. In Eidris, locals must calm a maddened dragon and her cohort and retrieve her hatching eggs. Minaras hosts its eerie civic indoctrination that seeks to extirpate physical and moral decay.


FAIR FORTUNE | SWITZERLAND | EIDRIS: THERE BE DRAGONS | MINARAS: EYES ON YOU

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FAIR FORTUNE

The party at sea is smuggled into Serthica with help from false passport papers secured by their Mouse House companions. The two groups meet at Serthica’s port customs, in time for the Merchant’s private transmission:

”Good afternoon. I salute and thank the efforts of our recent additions. You performed exceptionally.

You will hear Serthica is sundered by war, sickness and irreconcilable differences. In truth, she is likely divided by the interests of those who weaponise fear and manipulate opportunity.

In Eidris, they claim Minaraians are not human. In Minaras, they speak the same of Eidris. Disgust, dismay and paranoia have created a… system of profound physical avoidance. If this is mere fearmongering, it is distasteful, but inconsequential. However… if one of the citadel’s halves has succumbed to the dead, who now know to feign they yet live… this marks a dire escalation. You must study this.

Your transportation beacon sleeps in the holy grounds of Vassarizhia. It will light within months, when the Heart’s clock quiets for its annual winding. You may visit the grounds during the upcoming trade summit.

While in Serthica, your only objectives are to survive until the beacon’s eye opens, and to discover the dead present. I pray but question you will prevail.”

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SWITZERLAND

After a lengthy inspection of their passport papers, the party is steered towards the Sanctuary of Serthica’s Neutral Zone — a vast institute near Serthica’s great clock tower. Here, representatives of Eidris and Minaras assemble at midday for peaceful negotiations to improve distant trade relations.

■ The Merchant recommends mingling to broaden your investigation into Serthica’s dead. Even Minaras leading figurehead Arabella will attend.

■ For peace-keeping, entrants to the Sanctuary must surrender their weapons or allow them to be sealed, if they want to carry them in. Weapons are released on departure. Physical enhancements that characters cannot remove (ex: vampire fangs) are excepted.

■ Those who are unwilling to give up or seal their weapons can head on to Eidris and Minaras.

■ Summit attendants receive badges reflecting their Serthica identities, or can divert the greeting droid and liberate the insignia of a delayed delegation. Higher-ranking badges earns you more lenient treatment and higher security clearance.

■ Eidris attendants receive golden armbands or scarves, those of Minaras dark blue.

■ In bustling halls, officials negotiate grain exchanges, new train railways, the currency exchange rate and the saddening conditions of Mouse House exiles. Alas, if only someone (not them) could help.

■ Those drafted into the talks are toasted with a green, mint-like potion — an unadvertised truth serum intended to keep negotiations honest. The potion’s effects last two to four hours, compelling truth but not speech. But do talk: candour wins answers.

■ Artisans display their finest novelty items in the main reception hall. Aggressively enthusiastic traders seek testers and investors for their wares — potent opiates, goggles that show you the world in 10 years’ time, even detailed plans for luxury teahouses offering droid companionship. Extricate yourself with as much coin and dignity as possible.

SLEEP, CHILD, SLEEP

■ The great clock of the Neutral Zone strikes 18:00, triggering a light three-minute earthquake and the rise of nocturnal Minaras.

■ The Sanctuary loses all electric power. As servants rush for candles, you might notice some native summit delegates behave peculiarly: their eyes look glassy, faces trapped in an expression of comical, exaggerated dismay. Many are frozen in tense positions. Others move in sluggish, uncoordinated and jerky spasms. One might catch your wrist and attempt to speak in staggered, guttural croaks.

■ Lights return once the earthquake finishes. Locals resume regularly and do not seem to have noticed any erratic behaviour.

SLEEP, CHILD, SLEEP
CONTENT WARNING: TERROR ATTACK

■ Starting her speech, Arabella of Minaras calls a tribute for those lost to the great Culling sickness that struck Serthica mere years before. The vigil is interrupted by a fusillade of rifle shots fired from outside, through the Sanctuary’s wall-long windows.

■ The bullets exclusively target Minaras delegates and do not contain gunpowder, but a thickened, pale liquid. Once shot, those wounded experience a hysterical, incontrollable terror and the certainty that their greatest fear is hunting them. Many of the shot delegates develop an instant flight response and seek to claw their way out of the Sanctuary, with no care for whom they trample in their path. This terror lasts 30-60 minutes. Please content warn if you graphically describe your character’s greatest fear.

■ As rifle gunshots die down, a voice from outside introduces the Remembrance coalition, pledging safety if the summit surrenders Arabella.

■ The Sanctuary activates emergency measures: protective magical wards start to slowly reinforce, while attendants risk their lives to return characters’ weapons.

■ You could team up and help Arabella’s few remaining guards to escort her to safety in Minaras. Drop a line if you take this route.

■ Outside, you find the Sanctuary’s grounds have been drenched in a thick fog that barely allows you to see steps ahead. Your senses dull, and you are gradually prone to sleep — while masked men close in with rifles and vicious droid hunting hounds.

■ Help Sanctuary guards take out the assailants — and submit your character for a RNG draw to interrogate a lone captive.

■ Characters who later investigate the Sanctuary can find some of its windows have been very carefully pricked, fissured or even minutely holed, easing the way for attack.

Crawl back to your home base in Eidris or Minaras — you need the beauty sleep.

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EIDRIS | THERE BE DRAGONS

Eidris’s relaxed atmosphere might balm your rattled nerves after the Sanctuary’s disasters. Startled citizens gather to offer you help settling in, while dragons seek you out to curl up and nuzzle.

Eidris is governed by natural order and harmony, achieved through firm etiquette, consideration and reminders to slow down. You can hole up in a room in one of the many abandoned and repurposed villas, or group up to take a whole house. Local technology is a blend of mechanical gears and magic that substitutes fuels. Sorcerers are frequent, boastful and admired.

Dig deeper, and you’ll find the people of Eidris are unwilling to linger on negative experiences and gradually lose memory of them. If queried, many natives have normalised intermittent amnesia, with some using their link to their dragons to stay anchored in the present.

■ Acclimate to your roles in Eidris and enjoy the sweet welcome of neighbourly gifted meals and knitwear and a personal, signed letter of support from king Thivar.

■ Eidris prepares for the rare hatching of dragon eggs, lain by the beautiful fire-breathing Aiva — one of the fewer martial dragons used by Eidris’ military. Two weeks into your stay (around 25 August, forward date at will), word spreads that Aiva’s mate has been deeply injured by a Minaras scouting ship during the 6:00-7:00 overlap period when the two citadel halves are both overground.

■ A panicked, distrustful Aiva collects her silver-shelled eggs from the formal nest quarters, hiding them on the rooftops or in the balconies of tall, dangerous buildings. Several other martial dragons assist Aiva by guarding these hideaways until the young dragons can hatch.

■ Eidris calls back most transport dragons to avoid altercation with their fire-breathing, paranoid brethren. This might strand some riders on the nearest decrepit rooftop, while testy dragons fly by. They don’t initiate attack, but are more prone to warning tail sweeps or light charring, if you come close.

■ Dragon lord Cain d’Ubiq urges riders that can reconnect with their dragons to help retrieve the 1m, 50-kg eggs and deliver them back to the dragon grounds nest before they hatch by sundown — terrorising the baby dragons that wake alone and ripping into local architecture. Other riders are needed to spread a trail of deep incense smoke in the air that can soothe dragons from their outburst. Lend a hand!

■ Characters who enlisted for dragon riding on arrival could be middling riders by this point.

■ Aiva’s children hatch moments before the clock ticks 18:00 and Minaras also surges overground. Characters linked to a dragon feel the birth: first as an overwhelming exuberance, then as an all-consuming and irrational dread that briefly reduces them to inexplicable tears.

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MINARAS | EYES ON YOU

A sharp departure from Eidris’ laissez-faire is watchful Minaras, where citizens obsess with schedules, orderliness and time — as if every second is both borrowed and wasted.

Newcomers can choose between one-person 2.5x2.5m ‘sleep units’ in packed industrial homes, or pool funds to rent small refurbished alcoves that once served as hospital or science halls. Space is a luxury, silence a myth: helper droids constantly fuss after their masters, steam engines cough outside, and the gentle thrum on the streets betrays the current-shifting omnipresence of large Watch ships.

Civic sound systems periodically bleat reminders for citizens to STAY HALE, STAY WHOLE, alongside tips for basic droid care, the latest in scientific discoveries, paid ads and reminders not to park your robotic carriage near hydrants.

■ Quickly learn the ropes of your assumed identity, as Minaraians have a duty to report peculiar behaviours.

■ Watch ships prevent lawbreaking while Minaras is overground. Crime rates spike rapidly when Minaras falls underground.

■ More than violence, Minaraians appear to fear their pocket watch times being wrong, filth and sickness. The smallest cough earns a stern glance and a wide berth.

■ As part of Minaras’ periodic social indoctrination, you are robotically escorted alongside your peers and other unrelated Minaraians to a civic integration centre. Here, you take turns before a mechanical droid sphinx labelled ASCLEPIOS that asks, ”What rots you? and compels an honest answer (this can be emotional, mental or physical sickness, minor or severe).

■ A painless tattoo appears on the back of your hand, listing your Decay (ex: ‘malnourishment,’ ‘a choleric temper’). Others in the indoctrination centre must help you mend through acts of care (ex: cooking you a meal, helping you meditate). The tattoo fades after 72 hours, or once sufficient acts of care have ‘cured’ you.

■ After one week (around 20 August, but feel free to forward date), a transmission from Arabella informs watch, aerial, military and health units that Minaras is changing the daily schedule of its scout ships. The last scouts will now be deployed at 4:15am and return to base by 5:00am.

QUESTIONS

Comments

[spoilers]

[ She nearly chokes on the laugh, her eyes shining with tears she won't let fall. Earned or no, he isn't wrong. There's nothing she won't forgive him, and this is, perhaps, the least of his transgressions.

He has a chance now to start making up for so many others. She wonders if he'll take it, if he even can. He may be young, but sometimes she sees the man he'll become. He's still that man. She knows he loves her, even if he hasn't learned to show her yet. ]

Not nearly as much as I'd like. There are eyes everywhere, Sweetie. And do you know, for some reason, they think I'm a military hero.

[ That might be overstating it slightly, but her position and rank do seem to be widely known. Everywhere she goes it seems someone wants to hear her account of the last battle between the forces of Minaras and Eidris. She never tells the same story twice, and it makes no difference to the number of people who ask her to tell it the next time. ]

Serthica seems to be of two minds. Eidris is too at ease. Minaras, the opposite. Rigid, horrified by disorder and disease. You should see how often they check their watches.

[spoilers]

If there's any way to avoid the inevitable, River intends to find it. Whatever the woman before her has just faced, she doesn't care to experience it herself. What little explanation she's gotten out of her is enough to make her certain of that.

"I know a little about androids." Even if he is a somewhat less advanced model. "A hobby, you might say."

Her expression suggests she's well understating.

"I may come to collect on that." She has reasons for not wanting one tagging along behind her, and she'll need to find the right tools and somewhere to put all his mechanical bits if she's to go about disassembling him. But the prospect does thrill her. "I'm sure I can make excellent use of him."

[hatejakku]

[ Mundanes? Mortals? That draws Finn up short for a second. ]

I know what a- [ Phone. He knows what a phone is. But he's also instantly distracted by the tattoo. ] Oh!

[ His hand flies to it, slapping himself like he can retroactively cover it up. Instead, the movement transitions into him just wringing his hands. ]

Ah, sorry, I, uh- I visited the sphinx a few minutes ago. This sort of... happened... while I was there.

[ It's difficult to explain. So difficult, in fact, that he's already forgotten about the 'mortals' comment. Momentarily, anyway. ]

[thedreamer]

As he follows Vanessa, it strikes him that it's usually the other way around; the Doctor leads, directs, guides, commands. People look to him, follow him, stand beside him, and he takes up the charge. This situation they're in now is extremely rare, in more ways than one, and he finds himself feeling uncomfortably vulnerable, alongside the panic and fear constantly trying to take complete control. He shouldn't really have room enough left for feeling this vulnerable, but there it is, unmistakable, his emotions nearly raw. It's all of this, it's everything all at once, an onslaught so chaotic that he struggles to sort through it.

Everything is too loud around him, he can't think. Though, right now at least, he doesn't need to think so much as act. Move forward. One step at a time, as quickly as he can. He's trying to outrun himself, really, before the fear catches up and swallows him whole again. He wants Vanessa to be long gone by the time that happens, somewhere safe.

Aware of the people beside them essentially sheltering them, the Doctor thinks to stop and help the moment they falter, but his own madness is only tenuously contained. If he, too, falters for but a moment, it will overcome him again. It's taking every last bit of mental strength that he has to hold on now, letting Vanessa's words sit in his mind and tether him to rational thought. They're so close now, nearly there, and though it occurs to him that what awaits them outside may be far worse, he'd rather take his chances than be trapped any longer here inside the Sanctuary.

They're right there at the threshold, escape so close. But it's there, it's right there, the panic grabbing at him, not allowing him to move. And he knows what he needs to hear to push through it, push past it, defeat it.

Gripping Vanessa's wrist tightly, he looks right at her again. "Do I scare you? I know I do, I see it. Tell me. Right now. I need to hear it."

It would make no sense, perhaps, to anyone else, but he needs to hear the words. To hear that she fears him, to have it confirmed out loud, well, the fear of that is far greater than this bullet. The destroyer of worlds; with so much blood on his hands, and yet, all that he's ever really wanted is to help, to be a Doctor. He doesn't want the fate he's built for himself, he wants to run from it. He fears being feared by others, by the better people, that is. The ones far better than him. He knows he deserves the fear he incites and now, it must be accepted. To be better than that, he must accept it first.

[thedreamer]

Well, your luck's already changing, my friend. You see, trouble seems to be good at finding me. [ It's never the other way around, not at all. Never. The Doctor would "never" go looking for trouble... ] But that's okay! Because I'm very good at fixing the problem.

So, if things go wrong around the pair of us, well, we cancel each other out, don't we? And all will be perfectly well, not a care in the world for either of us!

[northerndragon]

[He would take her arm, but he is quite sure that if he tried to, it would be like enough to detach from her body. And he could not bear that, he could not bear that. If he had his sword, he would run her through, to put an end to this — to give her her rest, since he could not save her.

He should distrust her words, but the fact that there are words at all… might be that she has come to him in a dream to tell him what to do. Might be that she is fooling him, but there is sense in what she’s saying. I must stand against this terror. I must not be craven.

So he gives the rotting thing that used to be Daenerys a hesitant nod, and he moves.]

Come on.

What he finds is that the dead, though they are many, are like her: most do not seem prepared to attack. Many cringe — some scream, and some weep.

Something makes him check to see that she follows him.]

I don’t know where to go. The doors. So many dead there, all clawing at them.

[winscenario]

Nothing like either side, like the name indicates. I'd still advise keeping an eye out for others, you never know if someone might try their luck even in a purportedly conflict-free place. There's also rumors of a resistance groups that tries to recruit new members in the Neutral Zone mainly, but I'm yet to encounter any of them.

[ But it's obvious by Jim's words that he intends to find them. ]

[winscenario]

You're telling me. The worst of it was not being able to take a decent bath.

[ He did manage to wash himself, but there was a lot of dirt and smell that he didn't manage to wash off of him until he got to take an actual shower here. ]

Well, I do like the pirate look, but the smell kind of ruins it for me. The clothing options are much better here, though.

[somebadnews]

Five felt him staring, and he seems puzzled when he stops walking to turn to him. His furrowed brow slowly rises once he clarifies what he was getting at.

"Oh." He wants to share a room. Maybe Five should have picked up on that before he spelled it out, but it's never come up with anyone before, when they weren't forced into the situation. It's certainly not the first thing he thought they'd be discussing, but once they are, he seems to understand why he'd want to get off the streets.

Objectively it makes sense. Out of anyone, he has no reason to doubt Wrath's motives. Artefact aside, it would be convenient to discuss strategy with one of the rare few with opinions he cares about. And it would save him from having to threaten any landlords who might have tried to deny him a space.

He'd rather not think that he's offering in order to keep an eye on him, so for once, he decides to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"That's not a bad idea. Practical." He looks up at him again, and he knows he's waiting for his verbal agreement after he'd been silently debating. There doesn't seem to be a way to answer that doesn't come off as awkward, so he just runs a hand through his hair and nods. "Okay then. That's settled. Between the two of us, we should be able to negotiate some kind of arrangement."

[thedreamer]

[ There are so many things he should do, ways he should be better, but it's a rare occasion indeed when he actually has. Still, that's only ever been because he wasn't forced to. Here, he doesn't have a choice otherwise, and he can't ignore River. He wouldn't, in fact, even if it gets hard, and it will. It will get hard and it will hurt. That's the way of it with them. But he's also a bit more inclined to seek out the hope where he can find it. Sometimes it can't be found. He'd thought it impossible to ever see River again, in fact, and yet, here she is. Not just an echo, but real. It's a sign of...something. That impossible things are still, and always, possible. ]

Well, not the first time anyone's been wrong about you. They got me in one, though. Negotiator.

[ They couldn't have picked a better person for the job. Right, River??

Of course, he moves on quickly from her role specifically in the military, given his own feelings on the military. In some ways, it's a bit on the nose for her, too, with her past. ]

Yes, the two halves are on opposite extremes. Not only is Eidris too at ease, they forget, well, quite a lot. Anything negative, they ignore it, like it never happened. Minaras remembers, Eidris forgets.

I'm still working out this sickness. It was unsurvivable for the people it infected. Many in the Mouse House came down here after the sickness swept through. I'm not sure anyone actually did survive. Perhaps death took a different form here and everyone is coming to life backwards, in various stages of undeath.

[inferus]

Wrath nods at Five's acceptance and then without speaking again, he starts to walk once more. It's imperative they find a place to stay more for the tongue than anything else. They are both aware of how well it is being sought out even now. While Wrath is confident in the wards on it, the pirate crew is still out there somewhere, and they easily could have followed them here.

While they may not recognize the entire group, they did interact with some of them, and they do have Captain Vane at their side. Any of the above could be questioned, and it would lead them directly to Five.

The sooner the box is safely placed away within wards that no one but Five or Wrath could penetrate the better.

So they find an alcove to stay in. They have a lot of money but there are not many options so nautical themed it is. There are winding stairs at the back on separate sides that lead up to small rooms with private beds at least even if there isn't much room within those rooms for anything else. They pay their gold, move in with their items, get alcohol and candles (well, Five gets very special candles), and Wrath gets to work.

There were a few items he needed to make more powerful wards, and he is able to find and return with them - a splash of demon blood makes it all the stronger. The box is warded, but he means to do the same to the alcove. He walks over to the bottle of bourbon and pours a glass full for himself as he turns to Five.

"It's done." His guard-dog droid is at the entrance of their alcove, staring at the door. "I can do the same to the alcove."

[matermali]

Droids. Short for androids. Of course. Neither are terms used in her 'modern' London, but she's familiar enough with latin to understand why android is applicable here. River saying it as such actually makes it easier for Vanessa to understand now why they are called 'droids'. The fact that a woman claims to be knowledgeable on them is curious, but pleasing, since women aren't exactly welcome amongst scientists and scholars in Victorian society.

The droid seems to have shrunk at the conversation, more compact than ever. Is it hiding? Does it know fear? Vanessa should not bother to think on it. There's a reason she refuses to name it. To give a thing a name is to give it life. Still... She must be pragmatic.

"I did not mean to lose him entirely... I would be hard-pressed to handle the cooking and cleaning on my own in such an estate. However, he is so vexing while I wish to take a walk on my own. There would be no better time for you to have your way with him...should you be able to return him in a functioning sense by supper."

[matermali]

[ It isn't overly proper in Victorian London, either, unless they're courting, but Vanessa is not as proper as she seems. Likely best that the droid is enforcing the distance for now, then.

His bold jest regarding murder invites a raised eyebrow and a gentle smirk. Perhaps she's been luckier than she realizes... Neither does she sleep very much, but certainly not due to obnoxious snoring. She's been gifted with more space than others in their party, and she mustn't gloat about it. If anything, it can be lonely. ]

Gawking? Whatever for? I should think the people here ought to be accustomed to metal people scurrying about the place. They are the ones to have engineered them, after all.

[somebadnews]

The alcove they found isn't what Five was picturing, certainly not thinking they'd find something so ornately decorated, if small. He keeps all of his possessions in the same magic box, so it's not as if he takes up much room. Then there's the droid that's taken to following him around that seems to match the nautical theme. He isn't sure what to make of it, but paired with the eccentric displays, it feels oddly... nostalgic, all things considered. The droid even helps him arrange the candles they procured as it moves around to tidy up the room.

It's an adjustment, but at least being away from so many people has calmed his nerves. He's more settled by the time Wrath returns to finish his wards.

"That's fine by me," he says as he eyes the bourbon, contemplating getting his own glass. It's notable how he's deferring to Wrath's expertise, and trusting that everything is in place when he tells him, since he has no way of knowing. "How does it work? We choose who can come in?"

[inferus]

Wrath notices the way Five is eyeing the bourbon, and so he pours him a glass and hands it to him. It may help with the frayed nerves Wrath can still sense from his roommate. He does appreciate the trust Five shows in him when it comes to this, and he even understands Five agreeing to stay in the same space as him is another expression of that trust. They have been through quite a bit to get to this moment, and they both deserve a long drink (or several - Gods, but he misses demonberry wine).

He takes a long sip from his glass, eyeing the candles as he knows them to be Emilia's...... But one thing at a time.

"Yes. I will at least need to meet or have already met anyone who is allowed in." He needs more than name alone to go by. "The ward can be altered though it would take time for me to add or remove anyone from the list."

Time enough that it could not be done in an instant, but not much more time than it takes to set up the wards to begin with.

[somebadnews]

Maybe it's not quite mind reading, but he's not surprised when Wrath pours him a glass. He's always been a good host, even if that isn't the situation they're in now. He nods his thanks and takes a drink as he explains. It sounds simple enough, and he's had a long enough day that he's willing to go along with whatever security he wants to install.

He wonders if that robot dog would attack on command. They weren't given much in the way of instructions.

"I don't have a long list. You probably already know who's on it." His family. A couple others. Explicitly not the entirety of their group. Although, it occurs to him that there's someone he's only been working with lately. "One I'll have to introduce you to."

Exhaustion is already pulling on him, so he blinks away and returns with one of the lit candles to set near them as he returns to his drink. Not mentioning it, he continues their conversation.

"What happens to everyone else? Can they not see the door, or is it like a forcefield?"

[inferus]

Wrath nods as he takes a longer drink from his own bourbon and then fills it again as his cup grows low. "I imagine I can guess who would be on it, but who would require an introduction?" It didn't seem like there are many lately who really would have earned that spot when it comes to Five especially after what happened with the network post. It was a mess.

Granted, even if someone does have access to this alcove, they would not be able to access the tongue without Five or Wrath retrieving it for them. It's hidden both within Five's items and within the alcove itself and then heavily warded on top of that.

"They can still see the door, but they will not be able to pass through it. They will not be able to open the door, and if they decide to go through the extreme measure of destroying the door, they will not be able to pass the threshold. And unless they are magically inclined, they will not be able to see the... forcefield."

That is not a word he has used before, but he can infer the meaning.

"It will be well protected - extensively so."

[chosenbylight]

Anduin frowns at that, and the wolf-droid across the room in turn.

"I have wondered much the same thing myself," he replies. Whether he is being watched, each time the pair of them step out together into the streets. Or here in their little apartment, where they have assumed they have privacy. Even if it is powered down, someone else might still be watching, listening, though the creature’s eyes.

He reaches for a bit of cheese, shaking himself out of that train of thought as he does.

"It’s just as well we’ve managed to find a place with a separate room for sleeping in," he says.

[matermali]

The prickling at the back of her neck is surely for the terrible secrets that lay in wait beyond the doors, just as thunder waits for the shock of lightning before it can even come into existence. So focused on this step, then the next and the next and— Crack! Too fixated on beyond and behind, she must not forget that the threat of thunder continues to rumble just beside her—waiting for lightning to strike. The air is primed for it. Air sticks to her lungs, oppressive and cloying, tickling from the inside out so that her breaths are more forced. Rushed. Better to match her racing heart, now.

She feels his words before he says them, and when Vanessa turns to find his gaze she sees the monster inside, hungry for acknowledgment. It must live before it can die. There is a flash of Ethan Chandler in that moment, and for that she drops her skirt to reach up and touch his cheek with her knuckles. Even with the tenderness, even with her heart opened to that darkness, the acceptance is not because it makes her feel safe. It's for the very fact that it endangers her that she invites it so willingly. If he is to become a beast, let it be for his sake and no one else's. Not even hers. Is that not what she would want for herself? Is that not what she fears for herself?

"Yes. You frighten me."

Her thumb taps just beneath his eye, stock still in this blink of a moment as terror reigns the hall. A bullet flies by, ringing in her ears but going unnoticed. Mad doctor. Sad monster. Her voice trembles, but not for fear alone. When it comes to those who break apart their own souls in order to piece themselves back together, love is always near.

"What you have been. What you could be." What I could be. "It is all of you. Use it. Be now; be who you are."

They just wait, don't they? ... The monsters inside us, had muttered her dear Mr. Chandler not long ago in the dead of the night, as the storm hovered near the moors and the fire crackled in the hearth. And when they're released?

Vanessa had always known the answer, though it had taken her far too long to accept it. Ethan had turned from her answer, because he had known it true. It is the most frightening realization of anything because there is no escaping it. We're most who we are. Unrestrained. Ourselves.

[intermingled]

[ He's not operating at his best. It's all too clear when he feels Jim grab him. He puts up no resistance, trusting the judgment of the other man.

It takes a moment once his back is pressed against the wall to reorient himself to the situation. They're tucked away and now he can hear the footsteps, so he keeps his breath even and quiet even as his heart beats against his side.

Jim is pressed against him close and Spock can smell the soap he's used just as much as he can feel his warmth. Now is not the time to allow himself distraction, though, so he concentrates on his breaths until the danger of discovery has passed. ]

Yes.

[ He carefully does look down at Jim, instead looking out of their small spot and straight ahead, though he realizes a moment later that his fingers have curled around one of the straps of Jim's clothing, gripping tight. ]

[somebadnews]

That sounds fine to him. If he didn't have his family to keep an eye on, he'd be content staying inside and focusing on the bigger picture without all the distractions. He has more important work to do than the ridiculous job they assigned him.

"What about someone like me? I'd imagine it's something like it was in the cabin, where something was blocking me from blinking inside." He's mostly making conversation, but he is genuinely curious how it works. All this time, and the only magic he's been able to learn is some potion recipes from his months living with Hermione. And he's not entirely sure how magical those are.

As for the other person, he shrugs.

"There's a woman I met on the ships. She's an engineer from the distant future." Which is a trip in itself, finding someone who survived past 2019. He's putting a lot of stock in the potential he saw in her. And she was notably silent during that entire argument over the tongue, which was a wise decision. "I thought she might have some insights."

[winscenario]

[ It's not like they're being hunted down on the streets or something, for what it's worth. But no one likes to be under that kind of constant surveillance, and Jim likes it even less than most other people. Here things aren't quite as tightly controlled in that sense, or at least it seems like. ]

I didn't know about the psychic link.

[ But he did know that most people seemed to have one here, if the number of the creatures he saw all over the place was anything to go by.

He follows Marco quietly through the streets, letting himself be hidden by him as some people walk by, breath held in until they're mostly alone again. ]

The government there keeps tabs on everyone. Constant vigilance; watch ships in the sky, several guards, and instead of dragons we all get assigned a droid, ostensibly to help us with personal and menial tasks but I'm absolutely certain they record our movements and other data on us as well. We've been careful on what we say or do in front of them. Wouldn't be surprised if they're using them to watch their citizens.

[wooden_one]

I see. I hadn't realized.

[Dragons weren't exactly common where he's from and they weren't, to his knowledge, like that. But different worlds, different dragons.]

You would know the best way to handle him. [After all, Drogon did arrive with her.

One of the dragon lifted its head and looked at Chu Wanning. In response he frowned back at it. Why is he being stared at...?]

[wooden_one]

[He nodded in the way of someone who assumes earthly desires refers to like, greed and gluttony and nothing more.]

There is no point. That sort of cultivation isn't worth studying.

[winscenario]

[ Of course, Jim knows he's not to blame for what happened to Finn, not being even remotely connected to it. He's not apologizing to him, he's showing empathy for what he's gone through, because Finn can say it's fine all he wants, that it doesn't bother him at all, but something like that leaves a mark, especially on a child.

He doesn't mind letting the hug linger for a little longer, staying right there and rubbing his hands in idle circles against Finn's back for as long as he hugs him tighter. Only once that hold eases does Jim pull away, hands still on Finn's arms. ]

Maybe. But if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here to listen. Okay?