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TRANQUILIZERS ([personal profile] robbies) wrote in [community profile] memesville2021-03-10 05:07 pm
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TDM - MARCH/APRIL 2021


TEST DRIVE MEME - MARCH/APRIL 2021

It's the day the devil in us gets released.


“Help me. Please, help me…”

A child’s voice, calling out for aid. There’s no rhyme or reason for when it comes to you. It’s so quiet, a whisper in the deepest, darkest corners of your mind. Were it not for the sharp, stabbing pain it pulls out of you, you could ignore it. You could even pretend it’s just your imagination.

It all happens so quickly and powerfully. Left in the dust, your brain struggles to process it all. Blacking out is the least it can do, but it’s also all it can do, and it does so before you even have a chance to fully register just how young the voice is, and how deeply, heartbreakingly lost it sounds.

When you finally awaken with your bare feet tangled in soft sheets, a layer of fuzzy fleece or slinky silk clinging to your body like another layer of skin, the sunlight pouring in from the window next to your bed momentarily blinding you, and the cries of happy children playing outside of it carrying faintly, it all becomes very clear—

Something is horribly wrong.

MARCH 1st.

It becomes very clear very quickly that this isn’t a simple kidnapping.
  • If you’re twenty years old or older, the bedroom you wake up in is very clearly a couple’s bedroom — with separate beds like a modest, modern couple of course! A similarly lost and confused stranger is in the other. They are your counterpart, for everything in this room has a matching counterpart — the nightstand and lamp each of you have beside your beds, the framed pictures on the wall, even your pajamas.

  • If you’re under twenty years old, your room is smaller but more personalized, filled with comic books, model kits, stray baseball cards littered around the floor. Dolls, fashion magazines of people dressed from a bygone era, stacks of vinyl records neatly arranged next to a record player.
And then there are the pictures. They’re everywhere in the house — in a frame on your nightstand, hung on the walls, stuck in the photo albums and scrapbooks lying on your desk or tucked away in drawers. Here you are on your wedding day, exchanging vows with your partner. Here’s you sitting in a fishing boat with one of the younger members of your house. Here’s a picture of you at ten years old getting ready for the first day of school. All of the photographs are aged, sepia, even yellowed and dusty in frames hung for a long, long time.

By the time you make it down to the living room, you’ll notice that the television is on; someone must have forgotten to turn it off before they went to bed. On it, the morning news is playing.

With their charity luncheon a rousing success, the Happy Home Association later donated all of their proceeds to the Santa Rosita Planning Commission. Debra, a member of the HHA, said the amount they donated more than ensures that 1961 will be an eventful year for us here in our fair town…

GETTING TO KNOW THE NEIGHBORS.

As you get acclimated, you gradually begin to learn more about this strange new world you’ve found yourself in. You’re in a neighborhood on the east side of a town called Santa Rosita located… somewhere in California (wherever or whatever that might be). The year is 1961.

If it wasn’t clear enough, your neighbors are more than willing to humor you if you ask. Even if you accost them with questions and demands. Sure, you and your family are a little kooky, and you have a very overactive imagination, but the key to any good joke is playing along! And how could something like “I’m from the future, from another world” be anything but a joke?

A. DRINK UP.

With March incoming, spring is in the air and everybody seems to be excited to get out of their house and enjoy the good weather. Birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and guys and gals alike are out to take a brisk walk and socialize! Wanting to make sure you’re feeling truly welcome to the town, whether you’re brand new or went through such a wild winter with them, your neighbors will be on their way with gifts aplenty. Delicacies such as tomato aspic and potato salad and bologna cake will ensure that your fridge is full to bursting, and no matter how you try to demur, they’re insistent that you accept their offerings.

March also brings with it St. Patrick’s Day, and some of your neighbors are feeling festive! A knock at the door, and you’ll find yourself confronted with a plate full of 7-Up Cheese Aspic, wiggling and bright. “I saw this recipe and just knew I had to try it!” the beaming cook says, pushing it into your hands. “And with St. Patrick’s Day coming up, we should all be getting in the spirit, right?”

The combination of cheese cubes, raw onions, and green olives in a mixture of lime jello and fizzy 7-Up might be a bit off-putting to some. But you never know until you try! Go on, give it a whirl!

B. SPRING CLEANING.

It’s a beautiful, picturesque Saturday in the neighborhood—the sun rising, banishing the dark shadows of night, the birds beginning to peep and tweet, the morning dew sparkling on the grass…

“Morning, neighbor!”

“Hello, pal!”

“Time to brush off the cobwebs, huh, fellows?”

“You said it!”

And as one, several lawn mowers come to life with a synchronized roar, breaking the peace of your quiet Saturday morning.

All over the neighborhood, windows are being thrown wide and the mops and brooms, hedge clippers and lawn mowers, gardening and carpentry tools alike are being brought out as the townsfolk set to combing every inch of their house and yard (and in Mr. Martin’s case, literally!) to bring it to order after a long winter. Everybody has a job, from the oldest old man to the youngest child, and everybody’s pitching in to do their part and ensure Santa Rosita enjoys another beautiful year.

And don’t think they’ll leave you, their new neighbor and best friend, out of the picture! You might emerge from your house one day to pick up the paper and find there’s a Robbie in your front yard, whistling cheerfully as he prunes your front hedges. One of your neighbors might make a cracking joke about how they can’t have you feeling left out as he rolls his lawn mower into your yard, or you might receive some new gifts in the form of seedlings and sprouts all ready to be hardened off and planted (you do know what that means and how to do it, don’t you?). Careful—if you let that salt linger too long on your car, one of the well-meaning neighbor kids might take some initiative and wash it for you! Watch out—first they’ll come for you with the hose for a laugh, but then they’ll come for your wallet when they beam and hint that, “Oh, it was nothing… I was happy to do it…”


HAPPY FAMILIES.

It becomes very clear very quickly that this isn’t a simple kidnapping…

Hey, hold on a second—haven’t we been through this already?

When your eyes open to the sound of your alarm, there’s something pinging at the back of your mind—you might not be able to place what it is right away, but something’s wrong. Maybe it’s the feeling of your pajamas, or maybe the sheets are a slightly greener shade of blue, or maybe your alarm is a tiny bit shriller than it usually is… but whatever it is, it’s got all your senses on alert. Getting up and out of bed, it may become immediately obvious—or maybe not, if your “spouse” has already woken up and gone downstairs for the day.

But sooner or later, you’ll find that your loving family is no longer your loving family.

Something weird is going on with Santa Rosita, and whatever force brought you here seems to be on the fritz. Your “family” can change by the day—you might go to bed in your home on Mockingbird Lane and wake up in an entirely new family on Loomis Drive. Curiously, your belongings seem to travel with you… most of the time. Sometimes they’ll be lost in transit, and that lovely little black dress you bought at Honeybee’s has somehow ended up in one of your neighbors’ closets. Hopefully you’re on good terms with your neighbors so that you can get your stuff back!

Your neighbors seem entirely nonplussed by the frequent swapping of households. Ask any of them and they’ll say you’ve always lived there, that your son has always been your son, and you’ve never had a daughter, silly! As all the photos in your house seem to change along with them, it’ll be hard to find anything that might prove them wrong.

TOPSY-TURVY.

While your families are constantly shifting, that doesn’t seem to be the only thing going sideways. The entire city of Santa Rosita seems to be in a state of flux—days might go from mild at dawn to scorching by noon and back to December snow by dusk. Winds howl in single gusts before dying down, and rain falls such that you can stand on one side of the curtain of rain and stay dry while you stick your hand into the deluge two feet away.

Doors in your home cannot be trusted; similar to December, it’s possible for them to open up to entirely different locations. However, unlike December, the doors don’t all lead to a singular place—where they’ll lead at any given moment is anyone’s guess! You might find yourself on the other side of town, back at the site of the now-gone Christmas village, or even in one of your neighbors’ houses. Maybe you can use your bedroom for a quick commute to work or school if you get lucky or are persistent enough? Curiously, locations like city hall and the police department never pop up when you find somewhere new on the other side of your door; neither will NPC households.

As if that wasn’t enough, ghosts and goblins seem to appear and disappear with the changing of the hour. Paranormal activity of all types run rampant, ranging from innocuous to intense. You may return home to find that everything in your kitchen has been shifted by two inches… or you may wake up to find your dresser floating midair and coming back down to the ground with a resounding crash! Ghosts appear, dressed in any style and fashion up through those of 1961 (or sometimes, strangely, in clothing that’s odd and futuristic for Santa Rosita’s quaint streets), and it might be possible to find other mythical creatures around the town from time to time, though the storybook unicorns and witches seem to disappear whenever you get too close. Further, there’s something that seems to have taken up residence under your bed, though it’s never there when you try to look or catch it. But how else do you explain its cold, withered, knobbly fingers as they lock around your ankle if your leg hangs off the bed at night? Its sharp nails scratching at your heels as it tries to grab you when you get out of bed in the middle of the night? The sound of breathing that fills your room at night and the faint clammy breath on your face in the instant before you open your eyes?

Wandering packs of zombie children may show up in your neighborhoods in the night—surely you’ve stocked up on pumpkins to make a new jack-o’-lantern, right? Doppelgangers and ferthurs appear and disappear in shifts; you may be looking out the window when it happens: A slight shift in the air, almost like a video ripping, and they’re gone, transported back to wherever they came from. Maybe they were chasing you when they disappeared; you might turn around to find that nothing is there (was it ever?).

Still other are the mysterious figures you might see around town. You’ll find that no matter how often you see them, you’ll never be able to describe them to someone else; the words will escape you every time. Are they short? Tall? Stout? Petite? Dark hair? Light hair? Smiling? Frowning? Nobody who sees them can agree, but one thing is for sure: They’re watching you, and they’ll appear at random, whether that’s standing in your corner watching you sleep or trailing after you through the grocer’s. None of the NPCs will notice these figures, though they do seem to give them a wide berth if possible—almost like they can unconsciously sense the prospect of danger.

The only respite from the chaos seems to be that not everything happens at once, and at other times of the month the city is downright peaceful. There’s no reason or rhyme to the starts and stops of the monsters, the figures, the doors or the weather; check the almanacs and mark the night skies (when it isn’t hidden behind snowfall or turbulent clouds), but try as you might, you won’t be able to find a pattern.

All you can do is hope that this passes quickly.


OOC INFO

Hello, and welcome to We're Still Here's third TDM! Here's a few things we'd like you to keep in mind:

We’re Still Here is taking a short pause for the months of March and April. This TDM will span both months and we encourage everybody to tag out, tag in, backtag, and start new threads as you please! Apps will reopen in May.

The TDM is canon. You can treat this as a real game-wide event and pick and choose what threads you would like your character to remember when they enter the game. For characters who app into the game, the events of the TDM will be treated like a dream.

Please note that there is a lot going on in this TDM — this is intentional! We wanted to give you, the players, a full world and event to play with that could last beyond the usual event or TDM cycle. You may cherry-pick from the above prompts as you please and take reasonable liberties as you would like; if you have any questions, you may use the mod top-level below to ask them.

For current players, the Housing page has been updated with new assignments! These assignments are temporary and will be subject to shuffling once more at the end of the pause. As detailed in the above prompts, you may play with shifting housing as often as you would please; for those of you who do not want to make use of this prompt, the new Housing assignments are there for your convenience.

There is no Network prompt listed, but feel free to wildcard one for your characters anyway.

Please be sure to label any threads with relevant content warnings as necessary. Any questions for the mods can be asked in the mod top-level below (please note that due to the pause, these questions may be answered more slowly than normal!). For new and prospective players, please make use of the Prospective Rolodex!

▶ NAVIGATION ◀
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OOC INFO premise | rules | faq | taken | applications | hiatus/drop/canon updates | reserves | mod contact
SETTING INFO calendar | setting | housing | npcs | death and tranquilizing | the story so far | event suggestions/engagements

crystaltower: gpose from <user name="darthsuki" site="tumblr.com"> (calm)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-09 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[The anxious flicks of the tail are noted, but it feels like it would be rude to ask. Likely it is simply that there is a stranger in his home that worries him.]

My home would be the Crystarium.
hoshikiri: (jinpu.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-09 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I see. [While still steady, his voice hushed very slightly. A stranger would make the situation easier. Knowing he was from the Crystarium, Takame wasn't sure how he felt. He wanted to keep dismissing it as coincidence, much like when he first encountered the Exarch.

It couldn't possibly be G'raha Tia. The kami are not that kind.]


... I've called the Crystarium home myself. [But his face and his voice. And the smallest sliver of home Takame hasn't felt in months. Desperation for the familiar made him take the next step. Literally as he shuffled a tiny bit closer.]

I pray you'll forgive my boldness but... have we met before?
crystaltower: gpose from <user name="darthsuki" site="tumblr.com"> (sympathy)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-09 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I...

[Have they met? There are plenty of drahn in the Crystarium, and while he knows many people there, the Exarch knows there are many people he simply would not recognise. As for himself being recognised, it would not be for his face but for his voice and (unfortunately) his (lack of) height.]

I cannot say. I meet many people, day in and day out... though I would like to think I have a good memory, I cannot recall every face.

Should you recognise my voice, however, it would not surprise me.
hoshikiri: (oka.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-10 12:30 am (UTC)(link)
[... Coincidence indeed. Takame shut his eyes, but if his tail were a few ilms longer it would have dropped against the floor. The most it did was start to curl inward as if wanting to fall between his legs, but he willed it to just remain stiff as a board.

The kami aren't that kind. He let out a breath through his nose, inaudible and undetectable save for how his bangs shifted.]


Indeed. One cannot expect to remember the face of every person they've ever met. [He understood in a way, as the Warrior of Light... or Darkness. He's silent for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should continue or leave the once-Mystel on his way.]

... I do. [He ran a hand through his hair, averting his eyes briefly before looking forward again. It was the definition of a contradiction, his tone and expression verses his body language.] Ah, recognize your voice, that is. I think. [Another pause.] You sound like... someone I know and deeply respect.
crystaltower: gpose from <user name="darthsuki" site="tumblr.com"> (bookworm)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-10 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
I see...

[Suddenly feeling a little awkward and reminded once again just how exposed he is, the Exarch shuffles his feet a little. He does not really feel worthy of respect, but he knows well how many hold him in high regard - more likely than not, this drahn knows exactly who he is.

Still, if he has been recognised as the Exarch, the stranger seems to be acting a bit oddly about it. As though he is wary of asking him outright.
]

I'm sorry. Like this, even transformed in such a way, I cannot help but feel exposed... if you think I might be the Exarch, you would be correct.

[He does not even look like himself right now, so he still has some of the anonymity of the cowl, right? Even his eyes have changed from their vivid and impossible red to the blue-green his right once was.]

However... I fear I still cannot quite recall seeing you before.
hoshikiri: (jinpu.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-10 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
... So I thought. [No. It wasn't a coincidence. That would be too easy. The kami aren't kind, they are cruel to have him recognize his friend, but not be recognized himself.

He hid his hand behind his leg as it clenched into a loose fist and he swallowed down the uncomfortable sensation he couldn't peg as disappointment. Another breath through his nose as he remembered his composure that never faded but at the same time tumbled down.

He was conflicted. To not be recognized made his chest tighten, but to see someone, a friend no less, in this realm made him feel like he could breathe again. What was he supposed to feel? What was the right thing to feel? Hells take him.]


You needn't worry. [Another long pause as he tried to find his voice again, choosing to be vague but still truthful as he can in at least one aspect of his feelings.]

My name is Takame. Despite the circumstances... it is a relief to see you again, Exarch.
crystaltower: gpose from <user name="darthsuki" site="tumblr.com"> (soft)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-10 03:30 am (UTC)(link)
[Takame... interesting. That sounds more like the name of a Source Raen.

He offers Takame a smile, small but genuine, for even if he does not know him they still have thay connection of a shared world. And, oddly, there is something that feels just a tiny bit familiar...
]

It seems my ventures through mysterious doorways have not been meaningless, then! Circumstances aside, I am glad to meet you.

If it is not too much of an imposition, perhaps you could tell me a little more of here?
hoshikiri: (yaten.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-10 04:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm. And you as well. [Takame would follow courtesy despite knowing the Exarch very well. With a small dip of his head in lied of a bow, he could help but calm a little seeing the Exarch hale and whole and with his typical attitude.

The sad feeling didn't dissipate, but his tail did return to a natural sway as he shoved the discomfort into the furthest reaches of his mind. Knowing what he had to share now though, he could feel the stress creep back in.]


Of course. There is much to divulge. [His voice shifted from somber to grim, almost foreboding.] Might I ask what you last recall before awakening in this town? Was there a voice?
crystaltower: (concern)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-10 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[The Exarch glances aside for a moment, raising a hand to his chin in thought as he tries to recall. A voice...?]

...now that I think more on it, yes, there was.
hoshikiri: (meikyo shisui.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-10 07:52 pm (UTC)(link)
... 'Twas the same for me, as well as others like us. [A single shake of his head.] Unfortunately, no one has been able to determine its source as of yet. Nor the reason why we've been brought here.

[He crossed his arms.] But every other month some new horror makes itself known in Santa Rosita, all the while the residents go about their lives without a care. Sometimes enabling the events. There were a series of kidnappings last month and, as stated earlier, people going through doors into unexpected, perhaps even dangerous locations isn't a first time occurrence. [The memory caused the first notable shift in his expression, a scowl.]

Make no mistake, the town's veil of peace is a farce. And if one doesn't comply with it, they will be forced to.
crystaltower: (considering)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-11 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
[The Exarch is quiet as he takes in the explanation, though his brow furrows deeper as he considers each new piece of information. This is going to be a troublesome situation indeed, to put it lightly. Not something to be resolved swiftly, which is going to be a problem for him considering the urgency of his own mission - at this rate, his efforts to call upon his old friend will fail, and everything he’s worked for...

Realising he’s clenching his fists far too tightly, he forces himself to ease, and lets out a small sigh. Why him? Why now?
]

So we have quite the mystery on our hands. Are the natives entirely unaffected by these events, or do they simply ignore them?

[Are they, perhaps, also victims here?]
hoshikiri: (third eye.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-11 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[Takame would feel guilty at such brutal honesty normally, but it was better that the Exarch knew now. This was not something he could rightly sugarcoat. Seeing the clenched fist, Takame couldn't help but be reminded of what he left behind and what Elidibus could possibly be planning as he was stuck here...

He nodded while his tail flicked once again.]
The vast majority are unaware there is anything amiss and deny anything out of the ordinary. Often with a smile. [An eerie one. He felt himself draw a certain comparison again.] They act much like Eulmorans under Vauthry's rule.
crystaltower: (thoughtful)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-12 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm...

[The full extent and nature of Vauthry’s influence over the Eulmorans remain unknown to the Exarch at this point, and he can’t help but wonder what Takame knows that he does not. That’s going to be a question to return to in a moment.]

That may be worth further investigation... is there any indication of why we have been, for lack of a better word, targeted? I assume this is another star entirely, everything being so unfamiliar.

[Assuming there is a television in the room, his eyes drift towards it for a moment. That, or some other 60s convenience or other.]
hoshikiri: (guren.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-12 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[There is indeed a TV a bit behind Takame. It was off, he could only handle the noise and propaganda for so long on his own, but it was there. He shook his head again.]

I've yet to find a common thread between non-natives. Whoever called us here has hailed anyone from seasoned veterans to untrained children for help. [His mind flashed to the likes of Peter and Monika, and while the former knew of some kind of burden, the latter had obviously never seen any combat.] Indeed, this star is far removed from any of Hydaelyn's shards.
crystaltower: gpose from <user name="darthsuki" site="tumblr.com"> (curious)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-14 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Surely there must be some commonality! Even if it is one we have yet to identify. Perhaps I ought speak more with our fellow non-natives and learn something of their homes...

[Based on his personal experiences trying to call just one person across the rift, each person he had mistakenly called was still personally connected to his true target in some way! Not that he's about to mention his efforts in other-wordly summonings at this particular juncture.

Then, however, his brow furrows and he gives Takame another once-over. Now, that's interesting, especially from someone who he had assumed to be from the First.
]

The existence of Hydaelyn's shards is not common knowledge.
hoshikiri: (yukikaze.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-14 06:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Most are willing to share what they know. [He could say that much, though his trust laid with very few. Maybe the Exarch will discover what he could not.

Takame stiffened when he realized what he let slip. Shite. An voiceless exhale could be heard as he pursed his lips and he went quiet. He averted his eyes again, trying to come up with some reason he possessed such knowledge.]


Ah, that... I... [He got too comfortable, godsdammit. He didn't want to lie, but if the Exarch didn't know him it would spark an uncomfortable amount of confusion. There's a long, long silence he let linger, the only sound being the flicks of his tail tip against the floor.]
crystaltower: (maybe if...)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-14 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[G'raha doesn't know quite what to make of the silence - his curiosity was piqued by Takame's apparent knowledge of the Shards, but the awkward drop into silence is like someone caught in a lie. Furthermore, the casual way in which he mentioned the Shards suggests he expected the Exarch to know about them too.

Clearly, Takame is not an average drahn.
]

...I can't help but feel that I am missing something.
hoshikiri: (jinpu.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-14 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[Caught red handed. But how in the hells is he going to explain himself now? Try as he might, there was no way he could come up with something to get around this. He sighed, resigned. Praying the Exarch wouldn't be angry or offended. Or worse think him some sort of madman and avoid him.]

I know of Hydaelyn's shards because you explained them to me. [Another long pause.] ... when you summoned me to the First.
crystaltower: (concern)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-14 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I explained -

[When he summoned - now hold on just a moment here! While he is admittedly guilty of summoning people to the First, even if he hasn't quite managed to reach his actual target yet, Takame is not one of those people. He's quite sure he's never seen the man before in his life!

Quiet for a long moment as he tries to process it, shaking his head and avoiding eye contact as he tries to just think, the Exarch fumbles for words that make sense.
]

So... you must be from the Source...?

[That would explain exactly nothing, but seems a logical assessment!]

I... fear I do not recall... could you perhaps elaborate?
hoshikiri: (yukikaze.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-14 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I am... [Said with a nod and the second shift in his expression so far, a frown and furrowed brow and a downcast. Sheer guilt and resurfaced pain at not being recognized.

There was nothing more he could do at this point but share the whole truth, wasn't there? Coming up with a cover story at this rate would take too long, and more time spent trying would put it under more and more scrutiny.]


When you summoned me to bring the First back from the brink of destruction, you explained that it was one of Hydaelyn's thirteen reflections, or shards. And informed me that saving the First shall bring salvation to the Source as well. To that end, you sought the Warrior of Light. [Another long pause.]

You sought me.
crystaltower: (worry)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-14 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I see.

[No, he doesn't, and the blank confusion of someone who can't even figure out how to react to that probably makes that obvious.

While Takame's account of what he has been trying to do is more or less correct - summon the Warrior of Light to save the First - there are two major problems with his explanation. The first is that while he has been trying to summon the Warrior of Light, he has yet to actually succeed in doing so. The second, and the one he hesitantly focuses on after a very long moment of silent confusion, is:
]

Ah, except... the Warrior of Light... I am quite certain she is a woman.
hoshikiri: (kaiten.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-14 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that right... [That explained why the Exarch didn't know him, but brought on a lot more quesions. His head tilted. The idea of someone besides him being the Warrior of Light made more apprehension bubble in his chest. But not only that, how could there be another in the first place? He knew several women more worthy of being the Warrior of Light than him, but.

None held the title. At least none in his lifetime.]
... To my knowledge, I am the only one who has been called the Warrior of Light on the Source. In recent memory. [He shook his head, baffled.] I do not doubt your claim, but... how can this be?
crystaltower: gpose from <user name="darthsuki" site="tumblr.com"> (contemplation)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-14 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
An excellent question. I would hazard a guess that it relates somehow to the nature of this realm, but that would be pure conjecture.

[He really has no idea, and is not sure how to find out more without giving away too much about himself. It is already concerning enough that a man who should by all rights be a stranger to him is fully aware of his summoning efforts, even if it seems from his perspective he was the target of them.]

I should likely also mention that while I have indeed made efforts to bring the Warrior of Light to the First, I have yet to succeed. Had you been her, I might have attributed that to the temporal discrepancies between the Source, the First and likely this realm as well, but...

[He gives a small, helpless little shrug.]

I... truly do not even know where to begin understanding this situation. Though there have been many Warriors of Light throughout history, it was a very particular one I had hoped to call upon.
hoshikiri: (yaten.)

[personal profile] hoshikiri 2021-04-14 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Takame went quiet again, a small scowl returning as he brought a hand to his chin. His mind went back to his conversation with Daylight about this town being caught in some kind of time loop. He recalled how the year stood stuck on 1961 despite the "New Year's" celebrations.

And the fact that the Exarch hasn't even summoned his Warrior of Light, let alone knew who he was, only weighed in the favor of the theory that there were temporal disturbances afoot. Though because of that, he made a mental note to not reveal anything that may cause him to disappear into the rift.]


Given what I've seen of this realm, it would not be surprising. Though much of it is conjecture on my end as well. Matters of temporal structure and other such magicks are beyond my expertise. [He's a Samurai, not a Black Mage dammit. And he wasn't a man to go on guesses too strongly. He shook his head, fearing that his lack of evidence disappointed the Exarch more than not being his Warrior of Light has.]

My apologies, Exarch... Not only am I not the Warrior of Light you know, but I can offer little more than theories for an explanation.
crystaltower: (worried considering)

[personal profile] crystaltower 2021-04-15 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
Given that is well outside your control, there is no need for apologies. I cannot well claim any expertise on such matters either, after all.

[Maybe a better understanding than most he knows, but not expertise. Hells, even his magical talents are attributable almost in their entirety to the Tower and not to his learning.

There’s another silence as he considers further. One possibility that came up when discussing what would happen to the post-calamity Hydaelyn should his mission succeed does occur to him, though he refrains from sharing aloud. A theory which suggested that instead of the altered past erasing the world they knew, it instead would branch off into a seperate timeline. If time could take more than one path, and those paths could exist concurrently, then...

He shakes his head. No, that would make little sense. But then, this situation also makes little sense.
]

This might sound strange, but could you perhaps enlighten me as to your accomplishments? Not in any great detail, of course, as now is hardly the time to be asking for tales of adventure, but... if you claim yourself to be the Warrior of Light, then comparing your tale to hers might help us understand.

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