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

[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."

[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."

[inferus]

"Correct. If someone attempted to teleport within, they would be blocked from making the attempt. A more advanced spell could potentially have you teleporting to the wrong room instead without any indication that that was the wrong room," Wrath says quietly, but the ingredients required for that are not so easily found within this world unfortunately, and it is unlikely that it is even necessary to go that far.

He doesn't know many who are capable of teleportation like Five is.

He looks over at him and then nods.

"I won't work on the ward for the alcove until after you've introduced us, but there should be sufficient protection for the time being," Wrath says and then after a moment, scanning the area. "Has anyone else indicated they wished to study it?" Some did so on the network post itself, but he imagines even more messages got back to Five now that he's been revealed as the one to carry it.

[somebadnews]

Five's eyes narrow minutely when he mentions redirecting a teleport. Something like what happened at the lighthouse, when any attempt to teleport sent him back to that hall of mirrors. That shouldn't be possible, but Wrath would know how. Maybe there's a way around it, if he showed him.

He seems agreeable to that, to introducing them after he's tracked her down. When the conversation shifts back to the tongue, he lifts the glass and downs half in a couple of swallows, then sniffs and nods.

"Wei Wuxian has been the most persistent. He's also wants me to run all my decisions through Allison." He suggested it, more than once, on account of her being more capable of being rational. From his tone, Wrath can guess how well he took that. It was bad enough when they openly talked about using his family to persuade them.

"Someone else approached me privately, but unlike most of them, he backed off once I said I had it under control." He shakes his head and finishes the glass. "I thought being here, they'd have other things to worry about."

[inferus]

"You must have hated that," Wrath says with ease. Even without Five's tone, Wrath knows Five well enough to understand how much both would rankle him. His family is obviously Five's achilles' heel, and they are also what he cares about most in this world. Often the two are intertwined. He would not react positively to anyone using them in any way to persuade or control him.

He takes a long drink from the glass in front of him and then hands the bottle over to Five when he finishes his.

"One would think. They certainly did not supervise those who made the mistake with the weapons so closely," he says after a moment. "Perhaps it is your charming personality. ...Moran seemed to especially hate that you'd called him an idiot."

Mortals. As if being called an idiot by anyone matters. Of course, Wrath has been called any number of terrible things throughout centuries. He simply does not care what people think of him - except Emilia, which is why he was so... afraid for her to learn the truth about him.

[somebadnews]

Wrath hones in on the key difference between other people's terrible plans and their reaction to Five's perfectly reasonable one. It's personal, and that example is the clearest comparison. Five regrets what happened with the mirror, but anyone else wouldn't be hounded like this. They still expect him to turn on them, so he's the only one not allowed to keep any secrets.

Five doesn't need to be appreciated, but that doesn't stop him from being annoyed that they were blatantly trying to teach him a lesson. Like he's an impressionable teen and not an old man set in his ways. They forget that he knows better.

"He was being an idiot." A lot of them were, but Moran especially for thinking he'd trust him more for trying to blackmail him.

He reaches to refill his glass, and frowns at the edge of his new tattoo glaring back at him. If it hadn't been for Moran and the others, maybe they wouldn't have been so quick to brand Five as 'obsessively paranoid'. He's kept from showing it to anyone, but since Wrath seems to agree with what he sees, he lifts his palm for him to read the insult etched just above his umbrella tattoo.

"I was starting to think it was just me."

[inferus]

Wrath takes a long drink from his own glass as he cannot disagree. There was no reason for the network post in particular, because the information was already available to anyone who cared to know it. The Pride of it all reminded him too much of one of his least favorite brothers. He cradles the glass within his hand before his gaze falls down to the tattoo upon his own hand.

It's unsurprising that is what they would write upon it, but Five at least has been given reason to feel that way especially recently.

"Obsessive paranoia can rot a person."

It is no way to live or to survive - total utter fear can overwhelm someone as easily as anger can. In the end, it is all paranoia is ( a form of fear and caution manifested and taking root and lashing out). Out of hand, it can result in seeing what isn't there, which makes it more difficult to see and prepare for the threats that are there.

"But it does not need to be that way. It is about being cautious but not consumed."

[somebadnews]

That wasn't exactly saying they were wrong, but he can see he's trying to be polite, which is probably more than most would be. The way Five's sees it, they were more or less calling him crazy. One look at him and they played right into what everyone keeps saying about him. Easier to dismiss him if he's just some lunatic who doesn't know what he's talking about. Even if he's been right more often than not.

Five finishes pouring another glass and leans back. The truth is, as much as he hates being called paranoid, he can't contest it either. Even he's aware that he's suspicious of everyone and everything. He knows that's not normal, but he doesn't know how to be any other way. He's never spent a day when he wasn't thinking about the fate of the world, or how to keep his death-prone family from ending the way they have three times now.

Being cautious doesn't feel like enough. Just look at what happened the one time he slipped up.

"Well, they picked a hell of a way to break me of it." This city breaths paranoia. He watches Wrath in silence for a while, just drinking and letting his thoughts stew. Watches as the droid that's been following him around swaps his candle for another and disappear into the next room. The glass is near finished when he decides Wrath is someone who might understand. He's only shared bits and pieces about his past, but he'll find out soon enough living with him, so he might as well get it out of the way.

"Do you know what I did, the moment I was plucked out of the apocalypse? I became an assassin. I've killed hundreds, all throughout time. After forty-five years of solitude, that was my reintroduction to humanity." Humanity that was stripped away from him. He feels nothing about the people he killed, at least not enough to say he regrets it, but he resents what they made him into.

"All the while, I was trying to get back to my family, to stop the world from ending without ever knowing what caused it. I got back to them two weeks before I came here, and watched the world end twice." He still can't be sure if they prevented it, after this prolonged detour kept them from traveling back, but knowing his luck... He scoffs and finishes the last swallow of bourbon. "Of course I'm paranoid. But they're fooling themselves if they think a few hugs are going to make me any more sane."

[inferus]

Wrath drinks with him in silence, finding he agrees with that as well. This half of the city breeds paranoia. There appears to be eyes everywhere, and most citizens seem intent on reporting anything that goes beyond the norm. It forces them into a difficult position. He thinks often about destroying the city as a whole at least ever since it forced his tongue in the way it did. The thoughts swirl in his mind, but he is aware they will not make progress that way - and he is aware of the last time he allowed his wrath to get the better of him.

All of Hell remains frozen because of it.

He lets Five's story settle with him as he stares into the glass in front of his hand. There is no particular judgement from him. Five is not dying, not a soul Wrath has to lead on. In all honesty if they were within his world where he does reign in Hell, he would likely have treated Five like Anir, offered him a place into his House, shown him how to wield that paranoia and anger and even pride. He thinks at least Five wouldn't admonish Wrath's tactics even when they cause a mortal to piss themselves in fear.

The story, in general, is an example of one he does not quite understand. He is no mortal. His family has never been a family to him in the sense mortals have families who they grow up with, who they are raised with, who they have some love and caring to. Wrath does understand the reality of an apocalypse. He understands having laid siege and war countless times before.

He fills his glass and then Five's, and then turns to look at him.

"Your paranoia is valid. I do not believe it has to be obsessive so long as it does not control you." Then he tilts his head to the side and shakes his head. "Hugs are certainly no fix. Grounding of some kind would be. Rational would combat it far more."

[somebadnews]

Five only returns his gaze fleetingly, then lets it settle on the glass. He isn't sure what he wanted to hear after that unprompted spurt of honesty. It's been a long day, and maybe it's enough that Wrath doesn't try to console him. He drinks again and tastes the bourbon on his lips. Between the alcohol and the candle, it's an odd sensation. Usually he might be getting tired, but he's very aware of his thoughts at the moment.

"It doesn’t matter," he finally says after a long silence, without a hint of inflection. He doesn't like how concerned Wrath sounds, even if he sees where he's coming from. His family is supposed to be what keeps him grounded, keeps him focused. But there's no stability here to be found, and it's been decades since he had anything close to it. He wants that for his siblings, but it's impossible for him to imagine what it might feel like.

"People like me don’t change.” Like there’s anyone like him. He’s barely a person. “You might not need to worry about it, but it’s what I have to do to stay alive. Just long enough to get my family home.”

[inferus]

"...I know what people are like." He has known people since their inception. He knew the first. He has ushered many of their souls onward. He has kept the balance between worlds for a long time. "Witches, demons, people are all capable of change. Adaptability is the most vital part of survival. You do yourself a disservice by saying you cannot."

Wrath's voice is sharp now though it isn't angry but more ancient and knowing. Some part of him resisting the very idea of 'cannot'. Even limited choice is more than cannot. There is a reason he offers a choice to enter into his House like he did with Anir with time to make a decision either way.

Choice is the most powerful move of all, and Anir, like others, chose to be in his House, to learn how to wield his anger in another way, to gain purpose for all of his anger.

"And change may be what you ultimately need to meet your goals. You did with the tongue. You can again if you so choose."

[somebadnews]

Five is silent as he drinks. He honestly doesn't know what to do with the advice he gives him. It isn't often that he cares to explain where he's coming from, especially in light of what happened, but for once he did. For whatever reason. Part of it is probably the alcohol. The other is that Wrath has never questioned his familiarity with killing, and he knew he wouldn't judge him for what he had to do. It allows him to get it off his chest, and acknowledge that he's aware of his shortcomings that he can't do anything about.

Ultimately, his story holds surprisingly little sway in Wrath's opinion that what he's doing isn't working. It's hard to argue when nothing has gone particularly well for him, more or less since he was thirteen and jumped into the apocalypse. Most of it his fault. Then coming here, he's been constantly on the wrong side of magic. His lack of understanding left him cursed and without any memory of one of his siblings.

That doesn't mean he can't learn from his mistakes. He likes to believe that when he's thinking rationally, he doesn't go out of his way to be reckless. With the mirror he was desperate. After weeks of studying them and month of being eaten from the inside with anguish, when his last ditch resort didn't work, he snapped. Wrath might be referring to what he can sense creeping back up in him, but even that he's managed to adjust. Build up a tolerance to the feeling, so he can ignore it the way he did when he was starving and alone in the apocalypse. Pretend he's not as tired as he is, and his sanity hasn't been hanging on by a thread. Like he isn't actively working towards the one solution he has left.

"You know, I really thought it'd be over by now." He thought five days was enough time to figure out how to stop the end of the world, and since then he's only gotten further and further away. He rubs the words on his palm and shakes his head. Wrath is asking a lot out of an old man. "It's not going very well, is it? Sometimes I wonder if staying with the group was really the right decision when you see where it's gotten us."

[inferus]

Wrath is aware that Five has learned from his mistakes. It is why he stood up for him when it came to the tongue. He was put in an unfair position - not once but twice. In general, Wrath would not be giving such advice if he did not believe in Five, if he did not care. He would not waste his time at all unless he did, and he knows Five does not reveal so much to anyone else.

He appreciates the reveal, and he expects more because he knows Five is capable of it. He does not see him as others within the group do, and if they were within his world, he would offer him a place in his House even if he suspects he might feel more at home in Pride's.

"How long have you been here?"

Five had been here for some time before Wrath arrived. He slides the drink around within his glass.

"Unfortunately, I do not know that there was any alternative. We need the beacons to return, and the Merchant knows where they are. I do understand the urge."

[somebadnews]

He thinks for a moment, like he isn't acutely aware of the passage of time. Either it's a habit he developed in the apocalypse, or something to do with his powers, but he keeps a relentlessly accurate internal clock.

"It's been one year, four months, and seventeen days." And what does he have to show for it? He'd feel more optimistic if he hadn't found and lost two of his siblings already. If he knew they were just scattered through time again, and not very possibly dead. They've got worse habits than him.

"The beacons aren't the only option." Five swore he wouldn't use them until he gathered all of his siblings, and even then he doesn't trust them. Just look at how faulty they've been so far. What if only half of his family got through? "I think I could do it, if I can figure out the math, but I'm not much closer to it than I was over a year ago."

[inferus]

Wrath's gaze remains on him as Five answers with such precision. Days, months, even years are generally difficult for him to notice. They're simply too short to be noticed by someone who has existed since the start of time. However, this past year has been an exception in many ways even before he fell into this world.

He's more aware of how long he has been here, how he appreciates it for the extra time it gives him with Emilia when he still does not know what will happen in his own world.

They could spend centuries here together. If not- If not for the question he knows lingers still in her mind- the answer she will hate receiving, the one he cannot give to her.

It's not the first time Five has brought up another option for returning. The Beacons have not been reliable - some people do disappear, others disappear and return. There's no guarantee. "...how reliable is your briefcase when you have the... math down?"

[somebadnews]

It's times like these that he remembers how different they are. Even the word 'math' sounds strange coming from Wrath. The same as it would if Five started trying to talk about magic with his limited mystical vocabulary. But he doesn't fault him for not understanding when he doesn't go out of his way to discredit him for saying he could do it.

"The briefcases are idiot-proof. All you had to do is open them." Even Klaus set one off and he didn't have any idea what he was doing. "They didn't really want anyone tampering with the timeline without approval, so they were pre-set and monitored through time and space. I never had an opportunity to dismantle one before coming here."

He watches him for a moment before he decides he can break it down a little further than that.

"Trouble is, they're only built for time travel, and what we have have here is more complicated. Not to mention the briefcase I have is still broken." He won't mention how the first thing he did with it was beat it to hell when he arrived without his family. It'd been a long few days and in the moment he didn't have anything else to take it out on.

"I can do the same thing with my powers, it's just like... the difference between putting on a pair of socks and finding the exact thread of reality to pull that won't unravel the entire universe. With time travel, I just have to calculate how to project consciousness across every instance of time. Crossing into another dimension altogether involves reverse engineering reality." The math gets convoluted easily, but he's put that problem on the back burner while he working on the simpler time-related math... that he's still managed to screw up two out of three times.

He takes another sip. "I'm working on it."

[inferus]

Wrath grows quiet as he listens, and Five does speak on many subjects that he does not understand though he does recognize the potential dangers of using a briefcase in a world without them. He takes a long drink from the glass in his hand until he has finished it, allowing the human alcohol to settle in his stomach though he does not feel its effects.

He fills another glass, appreciating the explanation even if some of it is beyond his understanding.

"I would assume you have also accounted for the fact this world may react differently to your briefcase than your own would, especially given the magic within it and its abilities already to cross between dimensions."

There is a great deal of potential for much to go wrong. He would hope he did not have to tell Five that, however.

He is also aware the beacons alone have not been the answer to returning them all to where they have come from. Nothing is gained without risk, but Wrath has concerns about Five's focus on using a non-magical item with time in a world where magic is so infused, where curses lie around every corner.

[somebadnews]

Five would like to say the briefcases are more reliable exactly because they aren't magic. They operate on logic that he can understand. But so do his powers, and magic has managed to mess with those before. He's been been magically compelled more times than he cares to remember. He's still cursed, twice over. Wrath has been around him long enough to doubt.

And yet Five has the audacity to be offended.

"Are you asking if I've never thought about the consequences?" He's a living and breathing consequence of time travel, and people still don't think he understands the risks. If it weren't for the multiple apocalypses he's lived through, he might ask how much worse it could get, but they're headed in a very obvious direction as far as he can see.

"Trust me, I wish I didn't have to think about it." Someday he'd like to imagine that he can hang it all up. No more messing with time, no more killing, no apocalypse. Which begs the question of where that would leave him, but he tries not to focus on that part. He swirls his drink and finishes it off, relenting somewhat.

"I suppose it's been a while since I tested it. I could run an experiment and see how it goes."

[inferus]

Wrath's gaze narrows at the offense.

"Did I say that? I would ask that you focus on the words I do say instead of filling them in with something else. I understand the rest of the group treats you like someone who cannot be trusted, but I have not nor do I believe I have acted in a way which would make it difficult to trust me in turn."

Wrath will not be treated in the same way as the rest of the group - not when he stood up for Five, not when he has shown belief and trust in Five. He takes a long drink from the liquid in his glass, and he finally feels the hint of a burn- nearly forgotten at the back of his throat.

He closes his eyes.

"...we could do so together when we are not in the middle of drinking and enjoying the alcove we've managed to acquire. You can account for the... math. I can account for the magic." A pause. "You wish you can never think about it again? So what do you hope for when you return to your world?"

[somebadnews]

It hadn't felt like that big of a leap, but after Wrath's reaction, Five tilts his head in an uncharacteristic acknowledgement that he may have misinterpreted. It's a sensitive subject, and Wrath has always been exacting with his words. Part of making deals and being certain that he's understood. He's quiet until he suggests helping him again.

"...Fine. We'll do it together." Five's way of saying that he trusts him more than the others who may have tried to stop him. It isn't a terrible idea to have someone there, to see if magic impacts his abilities to time travel, and he only intends to go back a few seconds to check that everything is working as it should. He hasn't done that in over a year, when he should have been practicing all along.

His questions are harder to answer. With the alcohol in his system, he may be misreading again, but it's something he's been forced to think about once before. That brief time when he thought they really had succeeded.

"After I get my family there alive and the apocalypse doesn't happen?" That was always his one goal, and it's still the only one that matters. "Personally, I have no idea. They all have lives to get back to, but I've been missing for seventeen years in that world."

Not to mention that he's nearing sixty and looks like a teenager. He doesn't fit.

"I'll have to figure it out." He shrugs. "Not exactly the high stakes of Hell. I'm sure you've got bigger things to get back to."

[inferus]

"Thank you," Wrath says in response both to his acknowledgement that he may have misinterpreted and the acceptance of working at this experiment together. He knows both are rare for Five, and so Wrath takes neither lightly but expresses his appreciation for Five doing both in this instance.

He cradles the glass within his hand, looking into the alcohol.

His head tilts to one side in thought.

"You have been focused on survival for too long to plan for much beyond survival." It is half question, half acknowledgement. He takes another long drink from the glass in front of him, seeking the burn from the liquor, letting it ride down his throat briefly at the mention of the high stakes of Hell.

"...a curse to break in a limited amount of time." Or his House crumbles. Hell is always a battle in and of itself - maneuvering it with careful precision. "Among the rest Hell requires."

But he does wish to marry Emilia if that is indeed what she chooses, if she truly chooses him.

[somebadnews]

Five says nothing when he thanks him, like it isn't highly unusual to accept the help he's offered. Unlike his longer jumps, he's confident that he can recreate what he did in the barn and pull time back under a minute without causing any major issues. If anything, it should be easier to do when he's not bleeding to death.

He nods just slightly as Wrath preceptively guesses why he hasn't made plans beyond the only thing he's been working towards for decades. Klaus seemed to think that meant he was addicted to the apocalypse, but he didn't understand what it was like. None of them did. Survival is all he knows how to do. He doesn't want to dwell on what happens after, because he can't imagine what it's like to live in a world that isn't doomed.

"Your curse?" He observes Wrath, openly curious about what Hell is like, but not pushing him to reveal more than he wants. If it weren't for the tattoo, Five still wouldn't know anything about his curse, so he assumes it's not something he would have chosen to share otherwise. "Are you the one that has to maintain it?"