15strangers | ...we came in?

POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS

[There's no doubt that those who wake up will vaguely remember a dream.

In that dream, at least for most people, there are two figures, informing them each that they had a Title. With that title came a power. More than that, they were being given rooms, as if they were meant to stay in the dark and gloomy place where their dreams placed them. The Strangers might have found this to be a ridiculous proposition. Unless they have been through this before, then were probably not surprised in the least.

All of this, of course, ended with a sense of inexplicable dread for everyone. Especially when they woke up to find themselves in long, thin, cramped rooms, with only candlelight to give them any illumination.

Yes. Unfortunately, that dream had not been a dream at all, much as you might have hoped. You are here, now, inside an old, decrepit house where you have been given what appears to be a permanent residency. While you apparently have a power to aid you, it's no comfort. You have no option to leave, you have no way to escape, and the rules hammered to your door doesn't help the creeping sense of doom pooling in your stomach.

...

Now.

Where are those two figures that had greeted you to begin with?]

((OOC: Please remember to comment on the Mansion Guests and the Guest Profiles pages if you haven't yet!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Etria's a town, right at the foot of Yggdrasil, it's really not known for anything else...

[He doesn't catch her muttered words, and he trails off in his own rambling as his worries grow. Time. Sleeping. How much time did they lose? And with the battle... It wasn't going well.]

It....might be too late... If we ran out of time, then Etria is--

We... we don't know that.

[She takes a deep breath, trying to steel herself. Someone needs to hold themselves together right now. If she failed them, then the least she can do here is...]

We might not even be in our own world right now, if I'm understanding things correctly. If we're dealing with different worlds, time streams are something else entirely... we can't even be sure time is even passing without us.

Once we find a way out, [because even if it seems hopeless right now, what are they supposed to do, lay down and die?] we can worry about what's become of where we came from once we have all the facts. For now... we just need to focus.

Other- Other worlds? No way, I thought that stuff was just legends and stories!

You really think time might've stopped? [He's desperate. Just this one ray of hope....please. Please. Because if this isn't true, if time did pass, if they ran out - then Arthur won't have anywhere to return to.]

...I've been dealing with stuff like that a lot, lately.

[UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY.]

It's... it's just a theory, but I wouldn't rule anything out at this point.

....The Library would've heard of anything that big getting uncovered... Unless it's been since I got sent to Etria...

If- If there's still time, then I need to get back as soon as possible. We can't lose that fight.

...Let me put it this way. Not a single word of what you're saying sounds familiar to me.

And I suppose if I told you where I'm from – The Erebonian Empire of Zemuria – that would mean nothing to you, too?

I understand what you mean. I need to get back to my friends, as well. But panicking now won't get us any closer.

You've never heard of the Midgard Library?! [Now that is unheard of.] I've never heard of a Zemuria, no...but it's not like we know everywhere in the world. Even the Library doesn't have a complete map.

[This other worlds thing is pretty hard to wrap his head around, considering he doesn't even know all of his own.]

Right...

Not even once.

[She shakes her head a little.]

That confirms it for me, at least. Zemuria is an entire continent, and the Empire a large and powerful force within it. If your Library doesn't even know of us and I know nothing of your Library, then I can only conclude that our worlds are mutually exclusive.

[But she realizes she's knocking him down a peg, so her voice gets much gentler as she continues.]

That doesn't mean you should stop fighting. We just need to slow down, get a lay of the land, and formulate a plan.

Continent- wait. Is there a giant tree called Yggdrasil anywhere in Zemuria? Or did there used to be?

If not then either you're right, or you're from at least a thousand years ago.

[Which doesn't explain how either of them got here, but one step at a time. Understanding if it's time or space shenanigans in play could only help.]

[She shakes her head "no."]

If it helps you pinpoint either, where I came from, it was year 1204 in the Septian calendar.

Uh... Not really. It was the year 462 by the Midgard Standard, the sixteenth of Taurus.

But a lot of stuff got wiped out a thousand years ago. There's a lot we don't know. Even at the Library.

For us, many of our records were wiped out during the Dark ages, about 700 years ago.

So either history repeats very strangely, or...

I don't just mean records. From the sounds of it, it's amazing humanity bounced back as well as it has. There's ruins full of advanced technology everywhere, tons of blank areas on the world map, and more stuff gets discovered every day.

That's why the Midgard Library sends out investigators like me. We're trying to collect and preserve all kinds of knowledge.

That sounds rather like our Dark Ages, actually. 1200 years ago, there was a cataclysm — the Great Collapse. The next five hundred years or so of our history isn't very well documented... most of our ancient relics come from that period, but there are still some remnants of life from before the Septian Calendar, before the Great Collapse.

But you're an investigator? That sounds fascinating. I can't say I do quite the same thing, but my family does... shall we say, keep up the old traditions. It's my duty to do so as well.

That does sound the same. But there's no Yggdrasil, for you?

[So it couldn't be the same thing. Or at least not solved in the same way. Hmmm.]

Yeah. The Library makes a point of taking in and raising any orphans who reach its doors, so most of us stick around and study or discover stuff.

Not so far as I know, no. What is Yggdrasil?

[She sounds genuinely interested, at least...]

Ah... I see. I was taken in by my grandmother, so even if it wasn't the way of our clan, I would have felt indebted to her in the same way.

...we came in?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Makes up random year and calendar because atlus didn't give us worldbuilding

unfortunately my canon gave me ALL OF IT, but not like, canon heights or birthdays

EO gives super little anything, we're lucky to get ages for the non-Arthur characters

no subject

no subject

no subject