alchemenace | prologue, friday, post investigation w/ fane

[ Without any prompting whatsoever, Fane pulls out the napkin that he had delicately taken a rough copy of the footprint with out of his coat. ]

Blast— I thought paper was bad, but to be reduced to having to use this! This place is so gausy and full of false opulence that you would think there would be paper...

[ It's almost like he's speaking to himself and ignoring Varian as he heads over to a short dresser and sets the napkin to one side before starting to dig into the inner pockets of his jackets. Out come several napkins, almost all of them stained with ink, followed by the quill and ink they were given with their parchment of rules. It's only once his pockets are emptied of their strange contents that he acknowledges Varian, and it's clearer that he was actually listening. It's just hard to tell sometimes with Fane. ]

I agree completely, of course. I would not have wasted one of these flimsy sheets of not-paper on it otherwise.

[ he's used to being bowled over or ignored, so Varian just looks at Fane as he does his thing, an odd mixture of bewildered patience. he moves closer to look at the napkin mess once it's over ]

It'd be nice if they gave us more parchment than just our rules. [ that's him agreeing with fane's rant as best he can. ] If we had the full print, we might've been able to compare them to everyone's feet... but we should still be able to narrow it down a little even with only half.

[ It is definitely a mess of napkins. There's not a huge amount of them, but it's definitely enough to be weird. But Varian can probably figure out just why Fane has them at all, since there are notes scribbled on them all. They're very hard to read with how the ink is absorbed into the napkin, but he'll be able to make out some words easier than others: "village", "illusion", "festival". It seems like these might be Fane's notes on the festival? But any more than that will take more intense study to figure out what he had written. No wonder he's annoyed by the napkins considering the fact that he's been trying to use them for this... ]

Precisely my idea. It will only be rough, since even this is not accurate, but... [ He taps the napkin with the partial footprint ] At least this is something that needn't be precise. As long as it is generally that size, then it should suffice.

[ since without knowing anything else I'm going to take a guess that his is an average sized partial print, so it'd probably eliminate the Cinderellas and Big Foot (Feet???). That's what Fane is roughly thinking, at least. ]

I almost long for the simplicity of Fort Joy. Why, if you were to be murdered there, it's perfectly straightforward!

[ Varian looks at the mess of notes for a spell, squinting. He hasn't been taking notes just yet because of the lack of available parchment, but he has been considering an alternative, which he shares: ]

Have you considered trying to take your notes on some cloth from the tailor? That might leak a little less than this.

[ that said, he's going to regret asking, but he has to ask: ]

And, uh. How was it... straightforward?

[ He actually pauses in his fussy ranting and looks at Varian. It's hard to tell why when he doesn't have expressions, but at least once he speaks, it's much clearer. ]

That... could work. Depending on the weave of the fabric and its quality, naturally, but— [ He trails off with a thoughtful hum, but his tone is definitely lighter and less scathing. It might almost be praising. Almost.

But with his napkins set aside, he turns back to face Varian fully as he crosses his arms. He shrugs. ]

How else? You either get stabbed by a fellow inmate—which is entirely a waste of time in my case, but they're largely imbeciles—or a Magister remembers their deeply held and quite wrong belief that Source will end the world and thinks themselves to be doing the world a favor by ending your life. Or worse, to end up one of those wretched monks... [ He waves a hand ] All and all, exceptionally straightforward. There's no question of who wants to kill you and why.

[ he smiles awkwardly at the change in tone (he's pretty sure it's a positive thing, but it feels weird to smile when there is a corpse in a glass case hanging out on a lower floor? hm), but it falls away just as fast at the description. why doesn't fane ever have nice stories. ]

I get the feeling Fort Joy was not particularly joyous. [ wry joking aside, varian continues to be endlessly curious, so: ] It was some kind of prison, right? How did you end up there? And-- and why would Source end the world?

[ that sounds dumb and he knows exactly 2 things about Source ]

Oh, no. Not in the slightest. Why, the happiest thing about it is that we left!

[ Though this is also the first time he's referred to his situation with "we". Despite how he talked about it, it seems like he might not be completely alone in his quest. ]

It's a prison, yes. It's a place to contain Sourcerers, since these Magisters have the rather ill-informed opinion that our very presence draws the Voidwoken. [ And he's learning that he's likely the only person from his world here at least, so he doesn't pause before explaining that. ] As the name partially implies, they're creature from the Void. The Magisters aren't completely baseless in their assumption, I will give them that, since the Voidwoken do feed off Source, so a Sourcerer could certainly draw their attention, but it's hardly as simple a solution as to gather them all up and lock them away until they rot! It's absolute barbarism, yet that seems frightfully normal in these times.

[ A pause, and then he adds: ]

Well, those times. I am starting to believe that theory that this is not my world at all, which is quite curious. A pocket dimension, perhaps, but that hardly explains such a variety of people.

[ once more varian finds himself listening with rapt attention to his skeletal partner. he's curious, yes, but there's something about the way fane speaks that makes him want to pay closer attention so as to not miss any detail. still, the summary of it is... ]

Sounds a bit like how Corona deals with its problems.

[ it's reflexive and bitter, and unlike fane, varian doesn't expand on it, simply laughing himself off awkwardly and concentrating on the world theory ]

Yes, they-- they seem to have moved people from different worlds into this place. It's what this place is exactly that's escaping me. That village-- you noticed it too, right? It was... wrong. The people were. They seemed almost brainwashed?

I'm hardly surprised. Even in quite far-flung locales, mortals remain the same. Even if you're quite different in personality, the way you organize yourselves is— Ah, well.

[ He waves a hand, since he's getting off topic. His postulations about the nature of mortals is a broad topic, and it's one that's not entirely related to their current situation. Because when it comes to how he expects mortals to behave, well. The villagers were a bit too subtle for him... ]

...Were they? I just thought they were incredibly daft.

[ for some reason that just makes him snort out a laugh, despite everything, which he tries to smother. He can't hide the grin though. ]

Have you ever considered the possibility that you're a bit too dismissive of others?

Never.

[ That doesn't sound like sarcasm at all, and it's probably not that hard to believe that it's actually true, but luckily, he continues after a sigh. ]

It is... complicated. To say that I have little understanding of your ways is an understatement, and as I've something quite important I need to accomplish, I've little time to suffer ignorance and fools. I've never much cared for the posturing that comes with social niceties.

And I, I get that, believe me. [ he does and he doesn't-- Varian is far more often dismissed than dismissive, himself, but he understands the impatience with dealing with people's opinions when there's something far more important on the line. still. ] But for the people and events here, that kind of thinking might be dangerous. You don't know who here could be downplaying what they're capable of.

[ like. murder ]

[ He makes a pshaw noise, but when he speaks, his tone isn't actually dismissive. It's hard to tell why, exactly, but there's at least a sense that he is actually taking it seriously despite his words. ]

Why, anyone here, dangerous? Perhaps. But I've met and bested far more dangerous! Undead driven quite insane by their servitude to a dead king, demons, Voidwoken— I hardly fear any person here compared to such dangers.

[ varian isn't 100% sure how to take the change of tone coupled with the words, but he decides to just roll with it. fane can probably take care of himself anyway? ]

You've... been on a lot of adventures, huh? I can see why no one here would be that scary.

[ to a skeleton, he doesn't add, but barely. ]

Almost too many to count, and somehow I've only been in this world for a short time! As it turns out, things become quite... complicated when you are a Sourcerer and Godwoken.

[ He shrugs ]

Well, no matter. It's all steps on the path to divinity. It may not be the exact details I anticipated, but I hardly thought it would be easy.

[

what ]

The... path to divinity? [ between that and godwoken he can, sort of guess, but: ] So you're, you're trying to become a god?

Oh, yes. [ He says... extremely casually... ] Did I not mention that?

Edited 2018-06-13 05:00 (UTC)

[ fANE ]

You did not.

Hm. Well, in that case, I'm going to become Divine.

[ so there you go!!!

but no, thankfully, he does explain slightly more ]

It's not what I expected in pursuing answers, but... If it leads me to them, it's well enough. Lady Amadia laid out the plight of the world and begged me to fix it. So conveniently for both myself and well, all mortals, I'll do just that.

[ actually maybe that explanation is worse than none ]

[ he feels like he somehow understands less than when he asked ]

Um. So, so wait, you're just going to become God for everyone and that will...save the world? How?

[ He laughs, which is probably a surprising reaction ]

Ah, yes, I had the very same question! It's just proof of how badly mortals have fouled things up that this would even happen, as it would certainly never have been so for the Eternals, but... There is our world, and there is the Void, and they're separated by the Veil—which was my discovery, I'd like to note. Apparently in the time since I was cast to sleep, that barrier has weakened considerably, and creatures from the Void have been crossing over. As they consume Source, that's quite bad news, since it is life itself. Not even the Gods of this era are immune to that.

[ He nods ]

So one of them chose me to be her Champion. The Divine has a unique position in that when they ascend, they can properly battle the Void and repair the damage done to the Veil, most likely. As I am the one that discovered it, and I imagine it was my former King that started this mess... It is quite fitting that I be the one to ascend.

[ two details stood out to him in there, so, first, very important: ]

Heh. Kings, amirite? [ it's said with a bit of a scoff but then he moves on to the actual important details for REAL MOBILE LET ME LIVE ] If only one of them chose you, what, um, what are the rest of them doing?

Edited 2018-06-13 20:59 (UTC)

Kings...

[ He sighs out the word with annoyance, but it's definitely one of camaraderie. fuck the system!! ]

Oh, choosing their own champions. The rest of them are all gods affiliated with particular races of this world, so they've all picked accordingly. I don't know all of them, but I am—was—traveling with the other Godwoken.

[ Which would seem like a conflict waiting to happen, since presumably, there can only be one Divine, and yet Fane doesn't seem to be bothered by their presence. ]

They're... mortal, which says a lot in itself, but they're not bad companions to travel with. More importantly, they're all quite capable fighters. Even I could hardly take on a horde of Voidwoken single-handed. [ translation: they're friends ]

[ awwww, fane. Varian smirks a bit ]

So, so you guys are all working together on this adventure? I guess you can get along with some mortals.

Well, surviving a ship being torn apart by a massive sea creature and escaping a prison whose ultimate sentence may as well be death does bolster one's camaraderie.

[ He crosses his arms and shrugs ]

Though it's short-lived, I'm sure. When it comes time for us to ascend, there will be the somewhat... awkward problem that it can only be one of us. [ He sighs ] Why, I fully expect them to not realize that I'm the ideal choice, and we shall have to fight to the death.

[ well. that's a bummer. ]

Do you really think so? I guess I can see the appeal in trying to become Divine, and I don't know the rest of them, but it seems an obvious choice for it to be you, since you're [ a skeleton ] ... since you've got more, more experience? And you know Source more than anyone.

That's my argument.

[ But he's also definitely not presenting everyone else's. This is at least partially because he doesn't fully understand all of them, since especially in the Prince's case, it's steeped in a culture that he doesn't understand. ]

Ah, well. Time well tell on that matter, since first, I must escape this prison. Considering I can't even hear Lady Amadia's voice or feel her presence, I can hardly ascend so long as I'm here.

How did they manage that, anyway? Everyone with any kind of special ability has had their power taken, but the source of those is different for everyone. Blocking all of that at once is... Well, impressive, if not for the fact that the ones doing it kidnapped like forty people for this.

I've no idea.

[ He says with a heavy sigh, since he does find that quite frustrating. ]

Clearly, they're quite powerful, but using such talent for this... It's nonsensical.

They're powerful enough they shouldn't need us for, for whatever this is.

[ Varian goes off to pace the room as he talks ]

It's, I don't understand what they could get out of this. We can't have been picked at random, but there's no discernable pattern I can see. They say it's a battle of good vs evil, but how do they tell if it's just-- killing people and then catching them or not? What are they trying to prove?

Or they're so powerful that this is simply entertainment. That seems to be a common theme with mortals that have too much power. They go absolutely batty with it.

[ Fane watches the pacing, but doesn't comment on it, since, like, mood ]

...Personally, I believe it's all an inane farce. It's a wholly unsatisfying answer, but it's the one that makes most sense.

[ deadpan: ]

They do own a castle.

[ is. is that commentary on something. a mystery. varian gives up on pacing to just sit on the bed. ]

... You're right, but it's... it's messed up, that that's what someone here killed for. That that's what they expect all of us to kill for.

...Ah, well. That part doesn't surprise me nearly as much. I've seen people murdered for far less.

[ ...And also killed people himself for far less, but. He'll keep that bit to himself.

ha ha jk he doesn't even consider it they were so inconsequential w h o o p s ]

... I guess people die all the time. [ :/ ] But. But it's not like they'd get anything out of it here, that's what I don't understand. We're all stuck in the same situation right now. Was Gi-gan really killed just for... for fun?

prologue, friday, post investigation w/ fane

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