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15strangers2019-08-04 10:27 pm
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2019-08-04 10:27 pm
WEEK 4
[After the meeting, Lilac gives everyone a small vial of something red. Those who left the meeting receive it from the rats on the crew. She gives instructions as to how to take it. Take in a drink, preferably tea. Drink it slowly. Make sure you can get to your bed once you finish. The headache will come quickly.
Nevertheless, even as everyone slips into sleep, they are visited once more by the Conductor in what must have been a dream. Or was it? It's not clear.
She is quiet as she speaks, looking out the windows, even though the view is obscured by the glass.
"I know you think me as a monster. Maybe I am after all these years. I have no illusions. But I cannot regret the things I've done.
"Nor can I regret the Bazaar...it was so wonderful. It opened my eyes to the truth of things and opened doors I never could have seen on my own. It was the first time I felt true love for another. I wasn't the only one-my daughter, too, passed through the Wicket. Saw the sea more sunless within the Bazaar's body. Learned as I learned. She sought to rival me in symbols, in marking skin."
She closes her eyes.
"She is dead now, of course. Everyone I knew in the Neath-on our Earth-is. Well. Almost everyone. London endures, naturally. But the Echo Bazaar...it's beautiful promise...it's gone. The Seventh City will never fall, and it's Message will forever remain undelivered. Of all the creatures in the universe who might remember it, I am alone in honoring it.
"Perhaps it's noble. Perhaps it's foolish. In any case, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe it's the thought that's important. As long as I am here, there is yet a possibility that the deed may be finished, somehow.
"Still, I wonder. Maybe you have the answer.
What happens to a Message, when neither the sender and receiver exist anymore?"
As the day dawns, everyone wakes up to the sound of howling winds and darkness. Their head hurts, but they do have a new memory to accompany the ache. They are also at a new port. It is a dark place, teetering on the edge of safe space and the unknown in between void, where those who enter rarely return. Or, so you have to assume, right? Either way, that blackness on the deep horizon doesn't look particularly fun to try to drive through.
There is a legitimate fear in Lilac's expression that betrays her for the first time, as she lets everyone disembark, including the unicorn and the young man, who quickly jump onto another train to get away from this place. She also refuses to leave the train. She does leave you with a fair warning.
The Synod of Carcels is dangerous, in its own way, and everyone can feel it. Everyone can feel something hanging in the air. It's not natural. It's bending reality. It's also not something that started with you or your arrival. Yet it threatens to become that way, to become part of you. You can feel the temptation gnaw at you. You can hear the winds whisper of it. There is a hunger here-and knowledge as well.
The question, of course, is whether the price to uncover those things is worth it-and what will be found here with the price that is paid. But as the Conductor said-a reckoning cannot be postponed. Not forever.
There are eleven strangers left in this place.]
((IMPORTANT OOC NOTE: This week and it's investigations involve major Fallen London spoilers, in particular spoilers regarding Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name and one of it's endings. If you, as a player here, are playing Fallen London and do not wish to be spoiled, let us know, and we will make sure you are not given any ending spoilers to the best of our ability. We will also be marking spoiler-filled comments with tags, and we request that our players do likewise, in consideration for those who might look through this post in the future.
With that said, have fun, and remember-all shall be well.))
no subject
Am I meant to be asking you questions, or... that one lying down there?
[She's survived two betrayals, if this counts. There were seven stations, though, weren't there? It's that thought and the wariness it brought with it that keeps her back out of easy reach of the figure.]
[1/2]
[2/2]
No. Her eyes are blue. Her hair is jet black. Her clothing is a somber black. She is nothing like the woman on the train, even though this is...so very clearly, at the same time, the Conductor.]
(You can ask me anything you want, Charlotte.
That's why you're here, isn't it?)
no subject
[She doesn't wait for an answer, because God only knows how much time she's going to have.
She wasn't kidding when she spoke to the priest, though. There's one question that will answer every other in some fashion, if she only gets an answer to it.]
Can I - [and she pauses, thoughts of everyone giving her pause.
Caleb, who wants to be a good man and can't believe it might be possible at the same time. McBurn, who has lost even more than she has and still regards this place with bored disdain. Towa, who refuses to lose hope, who looks after everyone, and who spoke in his defense when she could have stayed silent. Ris, who just wants to learn and still has so much to teach. King, who wields his kindness like a shield and defiance like a spear. Zack, who refuses to stop fighting even when that seems like the smartest option to anyone else. Tali, embodiment of the quiet strength she's always hoped to grow into, with whom she can pretend this is just someplace to trade songs and stories. RGB, who for all his strangeness is one of the most human beings she's ever met. Mithos, who has to be either hunter-trained or holding his cards far too close to his vest for some other reason, a worrying boy, really… but not quite so worrying as Minato, who came after them, who would readily give up everything for any of their lives.
Those they've lost, too, Beatrice and Atsushi and Eliza and Proto Man, none of whom deserved this, no matter what Beatrice said of herself. All of those dragged into this because they were tied to those taken prisoner; families, friends, an enemy.
Even when death comes again - and she knows, now, that it will, it is inevitable - these are her people, now. That's what makes her pause for the few heartbeats it takes for all of this to strike. They aren't alone, none of them, not even her.
To hell with betrayal. To expect it at every turn is to be more bitter and paranoid than she ever wants to be. Two down, five to go - maybe - she's not afraid.]
- no, that's not right. Can we destroy that horrible green "sun"? What do we need to destroy it? And…
If I manage to pull the Weft from the warp, and sort it all out, can I leave the Empress here with just a pile of threads?
no subject
Once they are seated, she speaks.]
(Do heed that I am not infallible with what I know. The Clockwork Sun can be destroyed. The heart is destiny's engine. But the Clockwork Sun's heart is not the same as a Judgment's. It is not made with the Sequence of Law, but by an impossible and imperfect New Sequence. It is not unkillable by mortal means. And one day...it will perish.)
[She pauses.]
(...and it well knows this. It knows what is going to happen to it, whether anyone comes to confront it or not. And the price of its death will be a high one.
Tell me.
What happens to time when a clock stops working property?)
no subject
[She frowns, her eyes narrowing. A high price... and it hasn't escaped her notice that this woman dodged right by speaking of the Empress and the woven worlds.]
If it needs a sacrifice to work, however this thing can be killed, well... stopping this from happening ever again is worth dying for. But I didn't just ask about the sun.
Can the worlds that have been torn apart be picked out of this one and put back together?
no subject
[She sighs.]
(That is a question that has plagued everyone since the Weftlands appeared. So far, the answer seems to be no. No one who has tried to go to these other clusters through the wefts have yet to return.
It does not mean it cannot happen. Simply put, if there is an answer, no one in this universe currently possesses it. All that can be presently done is to prevent the opening of future wefts-which will be come more impossible as time goes by.)
no subject
[She sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose, and closes her eyes for a moment. Even without the purple, she's starting to get a headache.]
Fine, I'll bite. What is "a Judgement"?
no subject
But they are more than that. Their light can determine how reality is in their area, and larger groups of suns can decide how things are to be for everyone beneath them in the Chain. Many inhabit the Thrones, which allow them to control specific aspects of reality on a higher level than other Judgments as well.
Thus, they control Law, and with it the universe.)
no subject
What are the Thrones, then?
no subject
no subject
[She's drifting from her initial point. It's a belated realization, but it happens, at least.]
What happens if a Throne is left empty?
SUNLESS SKIES SPOILERS
The Amaranthine Conjunction decides Time, absent a Throne holder.)
no subject
[Deep breaths. Several of them. She cannot afford to waste time getting angry.]
What is the Amaranthine Conjunction?
SUNLESS SKIES SPOILERS
A congregation. A board. A group of stars who are in agreement on something, on how things should be. The Amaranthine believe in ends. Namely, the ends of the lesser beings, and their souls.
Their hypocrisy decrees no mortal shall seek to be immortal, that life must end and the souls must come to the Sapphir'd King for their end.)
no subject
[Christ. This isn't Howard, it's Lovecraft.]
But if the green sun can die, they're able to be killed too, then, right?
SUNLESS SKIES SPOILERS
Generally, also using the Courtesy. Illegal killings are...highly frowned upon. But still done, sometimes.)
WHY DID NOTIFS SCREW UP AUGH
SUNLESS SKIES SPOILERS
You are lucky to learn it here, where stars do not hear or see, lest you would be burnt up from the inside by fire.)
no subject
[It's like every answer brings about another question... dizzying, almost.]