pluviosa | SO BELOW

Entry tags:

*event

SO BELOW - EVENT LOG

SO BELOW

With a slightly bump that can be felt throughout the ship, progress levels out. The skies above are threatening rain, but there aren't any drops falling from the sky... Yet.

Not that you'd know it, looking out the windows. A foreign ocean stands outside, on the other side of the glass - the ghost of an ocean, long gone from the truth of this world.

Just like so many other things, which have become visible to those who are willing to pay attention.

This is the event log for SO BELOW. Information for the first part of the Event (days 15 and 16) can be found here, along with sign-up options for the second part of the event.

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Information assembles itself in Aurelia's thoughts as she goes still. Her breath stops, her eyes dim, for all intents and purposes she might be a statue... or a corpse. Clinging atop Aventurine as her mind freezes and she casts what she knows against a great wall of ice. The visions, the loss of control, the haze of green... she's afraid. That's impossible. She can't be afraid so someone else must be afraid in her body

But if that's true, it would have to be true of Aventurine as well. So he makes a good control subject. She emerges from her thoughts, eyes flashing back to luminescence as she intones. "Aventurine. Do not flinch" before she raises her hands and traces an arcane sigil in the air. The colors of it indescribable to a normal eye, but seeping across the air in a hazy vortex of black and white, sucking away at the colors of the room as the symbol bends towards Aventurine. His vision flashing, the colors of the room losing all substance for a long second before they return with Aurelia frowning at him.

"Aventurine. You're under influence. As am I. We've been possessed."

Aurelia's eyes go dim in a way that sets off some alarm bells for Aventurine. And then she stiffens; he's almost worried she'll suddenly fall--

So he reaches for her now, placing steadying hands on her shoulders, just in case. "Are you alright? Are you getting more hallucinations or-"

Red eyes flash. Do not flinch.

That is such a comforting thing to hear to make someone not flinch. Great. What?

And suddenly she's drawing something in the air, and color seems to bleed away around it, around him, blacking out his vision with a chill. "You're not...marking me like the coin, are you?" he asks, laughing softly to push down nerves, to do as she says and not flinch.

A flash, black and white, a sigil being all he can see and--he blinks, rapid and dazed when it ends. "Maybe explain a bit more before you cast magic on me next time?" he chuckles. Still, he may have stiffened but he didn't flinch. She's frowning...

"I...you. What? Possessed? As in. Ghosts in our heads??" he asks, baffled. He'd assumed ghosts were a cause, but not the cause here...

"Ghosts in our heads" she confirms, brushing past Aventurine's request for more explanation before she casts magic on him again. She'll try, obviously, but there's no need to belabor the point right?

Right.

"The one ... puppeting me seems to react to the idea of research." And even that causes a surge of fear, green haze crawling across her eyes until she takes a deep breath and forces her thoughts down another track. Swallowing as much of the fear as she can while she focuses on the coloration of Aventurine's eyes, memorizing them as a distraction. She continues after a second of panic appearing on her face before she shoves it away. "It wants me to think of anything else. I do not know what I was saying to convince you to speak. The only thoughts i can recall clearly are 'I am next'"

She pauses, giving Aventurine a chance to respond while she mulls it over. What are they going to do about this. "I believe the ghost may be have been a... scientist on the ship."

Aventurine stares for a beat, processing. "....Huh. You know what, that explains...alot actually. Glad I'm not just going insane every time the ship hits a bump in the road," he huffs, letting go of her shoulders and scrubbing a hand through his hair instead. "I had my bets on ghosts, but not that directly..."

He can see the panic bleed across her face even as she so much as utters the word 'research'. Ah. He takes her hand as she rides it out. In the meantime, he supplies some inane chatter about how he likes sweets but likes the less sweet doughnuts they put in the cafeteria actually. Boring stuff, but a distraction if she needs it.

"You're next? ....huh. Must be really bad to affect you that much. And don't worry, you were pretty much just denying there was anything going on and that I shouldn't speak of it..."

He thinks it over, absently tapping at her fingers. A scientist.... "Are you able to...talk to them? Do you have a power that allows that kind of thing?"

Aurelia’s eyes flick down towards Aventurine’s hand on her with a hint of confusion.. She’s sure there’s some meaning behind it but she can’t figure it out. His hand is much warmer than her own, a touch warmer than she’d expect a human of his health and energy levels? She recalls the burning from before, she supposes he must be blessed. She squashes the anger rising in her at the thought, of the divine having it’s claws in one of her own.

She moves on, his ramblings are more than sufficient for her train of thought to derail and consider the new topic infront of her. Can she reach the ghost? She closes her eyes, the first time Aventurine has seen her do so, and reaches into her mind with will. She knows it’s there, the wellspring of green fear. She scrabbles and scrapes for even a fraction or fragment of their thoughts. Pinpricks of information, like shards of ice, appear in her mental hands and she relates them to aventurine slowly. “Human experimentation. She dosen’t want to do it. He dosen’t want to be chosen next” she can’t nail anything down. She opens her eyes and shakes her head with frustration. “I can’t get to them. They’re hiding too deep, or are too fragmented to be more than a set of reactions.”

Her shoulders slump with disappointment. “I’d have less success with yours. I suspect.” She chews it over for a long moment before admitting bitterly. “I might be able to suppress the reactions, if the ghost is close enough to the surface. But as things are there’s nothing I can do. Even an exorcism could do more harm then good”

And it stings, it hurts, the beast of her hunger howls in the back of her mind. Failure. This is her specialty, her art, and the most she can do is damage control.

He catches a brief flash of confusion and- anger? Unsure if this is the ghost or not. He doesn't...feel in danger for it, however.

And then her eyes close as she seems to wrestle with something. The ghost? It does seem very emotionally tied, maybe she can actually see it? He squeezes her hand lightly, trying to be reassuring. He sucks in a breath at her answer, the air hissing through clenched teeth. "Human experimentation...as in she experimented on someone? On the risk of being next..." He releases that breath. "Sounds awful. Every day I wonder more and more what this ship had hiding behind the curtains..."

She's frustrated. He offers a smile for reassurance. "Well, these people have likely been dead for a very long time. It would make sense only the most...traumatic pieces would manage to survive that long. And since when did emotions make sense anyway?" he adds, shrugging.

She mentions his own ghost, and he shakes his head. "Don't worry about it, lady Aurelia. While I'm not...thrilled to have a mental roommate, it is good to know what's actually going on. Information is key in a waiting game like this," he says with a playful grin. "And normally in ghost stories, you'd think we'd need to do something to help them move on, but I don't think that's the case here. It's...good to get as much information out of them as possible, hm? Like...any thoughts as to what those experiments were about?" He hopes that the topic isn't too close to her trigger...

Aurelia shakes her head slowly, sighing and sliding out of Aventurine's app and righting herself with a small expression of displeasure. "I hate to admit it. But we should consult the other passengers. They don't respond to necromancy. I need more information".

Each of her statements is all but bitten off, her expression flatter than usual as she gazes at the exit of the room. Trying to sort through her own thoughts as they bounce against the walls of her mind. What is she supposed to do with ghosts who defy the rules of her art. She needs to learn more.

And yet. "I do not know how well I can obtain information from the rest. Please provide me your skills and assistance." She asks, quietly. A verbal hand extended to Aventurine.

"Oh? You're proposing more socializing? I didn't know you had it in you, my lady," Aventurine teases. She slides off his lap, and it's...a bit funny it took her that long to do so. Did they really just hold a whole conversation like that?

Even more interesting is that it didn't...bother him. You'd think it would, considering...well. He's not going to think too hard about past memories. This now was odd, yes, but not...bad. And didn't that sum up interacting with Aurelia in general? He doesn't...mind that.

Aurelia, however, sure seems to mind the situation. The fact that she's unable to speak with the dead? They can figure it out.

"Oh, you want my help? Of course, how could I refuse when you ask so nicely~" he chirps, putting away his abandoned game of solitaire and standing. He's being flippant, but he...knows he won't be able to hide how genuinely pleased he is to be asked for help. Aurelia doesn't believe in debt, but for him...it eases his nerves, to help give back when she'd helped him so much. His smile isn't forced in the least.

"I have seen some fliers for an information meeting on a later date. We should definitely go to that. But for now, we'll see who we can find to talk to, hm?" He gestures to the door with a flourish. "Lead the way, Lady Aurelia~!"

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SO BELOW - EVENT LOG

Time for Magic! Creepy magic

Oh boy!! Taking it as well as he can!!

THEY'RE IN OUR HEADS

IN OUR HEADS IN THE WALLS IN THE WALLS-

Re: IN OUR HEADS IN THE WALLS IN THE WALLS-

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