Scene Archives

: “Ah, yeah, this DOES seem like a place significantly less likely to catch fire. Glad I asked.”

is glad that she was able to recall the correct place. Sometimes the amount of memories get tangled up and messy. “Yes. Please continue to ask, and generally leave the fire to Wolf.” She wonders if on Aurelius’ world they have so little green and growing life that he hasn’t yet realized it tends to not catch fire so easily, if the only trees he knows are the dead-dry twigs that burn almost with a simple thought. Or maybe with just a simple thought, considering.

bounds a few steps into the grove, and corkscrew spins downward into a cross-legged sit on a smooth patch of grass, leaning back with his arms to support him, a booted foot wiggling in curiosity. “So… what’cha gonna make, Aurelius?”

: “Our first project for the night is building a Cartogrix.”

places a hand into his pocket, then casually pulls out a single sheet of paper, a vial of ink, another vial of incense, a small pouch of sulfur and a paint brush out of it in a single gesture. He then squats down and spreads the paper out in front of himself.

joins the Awoken on the smooth patch of grass, drawing her knees up to her chest and cocking her head to the side. “How many projects do we have?”

: “At least two, maybe a third or fourth depending on how the second goes.”

dumps a few pinches of sulfur into the center of the paper, followed by a few drops of ink. This is then followed by the entire vial of incense - smells like fresh sage! - before he dabs the paintbrush into it a few times and begins to mix it together.

: “That was a really neat trick you pulled off back at the marketplace, too! Liminal gnoisis going heck-knows-where. You’re full of surprises.”

: “Oh, yeah. It’s honestly baffling everyone doesn’t do it. Carrying stuff is annoying.” After the mixture had blended together, he uses the paintbrush to draw a large circle around the page.

: “It’s given me an idea or two, if nothing else.”

thinks oh no**

: “what kind of things can you make?”

flicks his hand to the side and the paintbrush is gone. He then picks up the piece of paper and gives it a shake, making sure nothing comes loose. “With fiendcraft, you mean?”

: “yes. we have fiendcraft here but I don’t think it’s used as extensively as you seem to.”

: “Ah. Yeah we got fiends for everything back home. Place is lousy with ‘em, though stands to reason what with it housing the Fiend Engine and all. Me, personally, I don’t use ‘em for combat which is still the MOST common use. Instead I like ‘em to do kind of tedious or stamina intensive tasks. Like this one I’m making now? It’ll generate maps of the area as I walk around, provided I keep feeding it ink and new paper. And I bought materials for a different one that can make people float in the air for a while.”

then slowly beings to fold the paper. And fold the paper. And fold the paper… It takes a number of folds and tugs in spots, but it eventually starts to take the shape of some kind of creature. Bird? Yeah, definitely a bird.

: “You can do just about anything with ‘em though, if you figure out the right researcher to ask.”

: “Do you remember the researchers, or is this craft engraved on your soul?” He’s staring again.

: “Hmm… good question!”

: “Any Hunter worth their salt is going to know how to build a cartogrix. Be embarrassing if you couldn’t remember it, really. As for the other thing… Hmm.” Aurelius gentle sets the paper crane down on the stone a little bit of a ways away from the other two. “I don’t think I remember them in the heat of the moment, but if I concentrate on it real hard I can.”

stands up and brushes his hands off, then points a finger at the crane. “Boom.” The tig of his finger sparks, and then it launches itself into the paper and begins to burn it to ash.

seems satisfied with that answer, blinking and nodding, and turns his attention to the crane.

Performs A Summoning.

: “…Oh got it in one, that was easy. Was expecting to need a few rolls.”

holds a container of ink out to the fiend with one hand in offering, while also extending his other hand out much more casually to pluck up something else that spawns with the fiend.

raises an eyebrow at the coin, rolling it around across his fingers a few times before palming it and moving to pick up the pamphlet.

has been watching all this, understanding very little of it but trying to commit as much of it to memory as possible.

: “Perrrrfect.”

slowly leans forward, his eyes squinting, and he cocks his head slightly to the side.

: “They put a lot of work into this, I was expecting like, bare plane text, maybe a water color picture or three, hah.”

: “They?”

: “Who’s…they?” he asks, haltingly.

scratches the fiend’s head for a few moments, before putting the cap back on the ink container and handing it over to the fiend along with a few blank sheets of paper.

: “You know. They.”

waves his now free hand, very vaguely.

scratches the back of his head with a hand. “Nope, I don’t know!” he says, goodnaturedly.

looks at the Awoken like he’s saying he doesn’t know what a sword is. “Those that bestow upon you strange and wondrous esoteric gifts when you brush up against the cracks in reality…?*

‘s eyes open at hearing that. “We can get gifts for doing that?”

: “People often tell you they’ve misjudged you, don’t they?” she asks, feeling the words out carefully. “Or, not often, but sometimes. When it really matters.”

: “I mean, I can. I assumed you could. Maybe not?” Aurelius shrugs, then turns to Daine with a raise eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

has an answer on his lips, but catches it and turns to look at Daina with a grin that dips upwards slightly in the middle.

: “Hmm. What do I mean?” frowning. “You affect a careless air. But you aren’t careless at all.” She waves her hand. “Ignore me. Go on talking about the cracks in reality.”

smiles from behind the welding glasses, and the smile does go all the way up to his eyes.

laughs, rocking back on his arms again.

: “Well, what is there to say about the flaws in crystal that hasn’t already been said, really?”

opens the pamphlet and begins to scan through it.

: “That someone exists there, for one!”

: “Yeah, we met a couple of them even.”

turns to the entry on The Sanctuary and shows it to the Awoken and Daina.

: “Yeah but those two didn’t give us this. The Architect could use a countertop with a few stacks of these!”

does a long. Long pauses as he realizes the pages is, in fact, on an entry labeled ‘The Ziggurat In The Void’ and not, in fact, ‘The Sanctuary’.

: “Ember did help us get here, so point granted.”

: “…Oh this must be an updated edition.”

: “Guess that’s why it’s fancier.”

: “Before this, had you traveled between the worlds? Or did you know there were worlds?”

scrambles up from his seat and hops over to Aurelius, attempting to read from the pages.

taps at his lips a few times, scrunches up his face, thinking very hard about the question.

feels like she’s trying to put together a puzzle of which she only has a third of the pieces. It is very irritating!

seems to be thinking very hard about this question for a frankly uncomfortable length of time, but he does open the pamphlet as wide as it goes and opens up the ‘Almachadta’ entry.

notes the lack of answer, and stands up slowly to go read over Aurelius’ shoulder as well.

: “The best way to put it is that… when I woke up on the slab, I had a very strong hunch there were multiple worlds, and we were in a space between space. I don’t… believe my body has been to any world other than The Beast and here, Sanctuary and Void shenanigans aside.”

crosses his arms, closes his eyes, and cranes his head up… taps a foot twice, thrice… then sets his head forward again and nods. “Yeah, makes sense.”

: “Right, you get it. Of course you get it.”

: “Do you often have very strong hunches?”

: “It feels like a pretty core part of my identity, I think.”

: “It’s a good trait to have! Follow your instincts.”

: “Hmm don’t see any mention of the Tangle in here, maybe that’s why it knocked Wolf for such a loop.”

frowns at that, but Aurelius is clearly different from her. Maybe his instincts are better. “This is accurate, insofar as I can speak to it,” nodding to the entry on Almachadta.

: “Hey quick question: why do you think they capitalized ‘your Earth’ in here?”

: “Oh. No. The Tangle is what it’s referencing when it talks about the Centrelight touching the world. It knocked Wolf for a loop because people generally don’t go there.”

: “Because… it’s a proper noun?”

: “Aaah.”

snaps his fingers. “Ahh, that’s the Tangle, then.”

: “Why would it be a proper noun? And who’s earth?”

shrugs. “Why else would you randomly capitalize a thing like that, other than dramatic flair or odd manner of writing?”

: “Strange choice in either case.”

: “I take it there’s no entry on ‘Earth’?”

: “And ‘its moon’? What is a moon?”

: “The Beast… Samudra… Mu… Valis… Alethia… bunch of People of Note and Star Constellations…”

: “Oh that’s easy, a moon is like, a giant chunk of really bright rock that hangs in the sky and reflects the light of The Engine back down onto the Beast.”

flips over to the entry on The Beast.

: “Oh. That’s what you meant, about our world being inside out. And the sky–that’s how it was on Sanctuary, but yours had things … in it. Moons.”

: “…Weird I could of sworn the Engine or the Forge was mentioned in more detail here. Hm.”

rocks his head back and forth, arms crossed, and then nods again. “Makes sense!”

: “Yeah.”

: “I think that’s actually the norm - Constellations generally refer to distinct patterns of stars that hang in the sky.”

will have to chew on that later, but she nods

looks up at Aurelius with a bit of a smile. “Are you in the people of note? Or you?” flicking her gaze to the Awoken.

: “Absolutely, along with Unua and that dumb ass bitch.”

thoughtfully nods. “That’s a fun question, are we?”

points towards the listings for The Hunter, Clockwork Knight, and The Dreamer.

: “Not that they say anything really, but I do remember her face. Her stupid snide face, and that laugh.”

grins. “We’re noteworthy! How about that.”

: “Actually I guess mine has my old name. And uh. Another note…?”

: “Guess someone liked me a bit more than the others.”

: “It reads like you wrote it.”

: “Of course. Though I notice it says Aurelius is your name, not an alias.” She nods at the Awoken. “That too.”

: “I don’t remember writing it, at least.”

: “Well yeah, it’s my new name, not an alias.”

flips over to Samudra, “Anyway… Oh, this explains why Archie got so freaked out about not wanting to talk about the mana mud, hah. What a weird world.”

: “I’d trust him with it, though yeah, maybe he wouldn’t trust himself with it.”

: “The person who wrote this–people–Them–writes as if all our worlds are weird.”

: “But we can worry about that when we get there. It sure doesn’t read like any of these places were destroyed, but after landing on solid ground here, I think we collectively get that ‘destroyed’ was kind of dramatic.”

: “Unless it’s like… a really, really slow destruction, on the timeline of epochs and gods.”

: “Oh yeah it’s crystal clear the Architect was feeding us some Grade A Horseshit.”

: “Oh, I wouldn’t write it off as impossible, just currently negligibly imperceptible.”

: “They aren’t dead yet, even if they might be in the process. And… well, honestly looking over the entries they do seem pretty different, so stands to reason whoever wrote it thinks they’re all weird.”

pages over the Valis. “I note you don’t have as many People of Interest from your world as ours…”

: “…Guess it’s confirming you don’t remember it though?”

reads over the Valais entry…

perks up at seeing the Valais entry.

closes his eyes, and then scrunches them, as though thinking really, really hard.

: “…nope, not a thing! But…”

: “Since it keeps coming up, I guess I did notice this, maybe Aurelius did too, I bet.”

also smirks slightly at the text under the Awoken’s entry in a ‘see i told you’ sort of way.

: “(I still think you wrote this, somehow. But that’s not the point I was getting at!)”

: “You both keep talking about how things are weird and strange, but everything… ‘makes sense.’”

: “I don’t remember if I’ve ever been to Almachadta, or the Beast, or Valais, or any of these places.”

: “Hmm… I guess you’re really far on the amnesia part of the scale, huh?”

: “I can’t say they’re familiar neccessarily, but I walked under the canopies and felt the warmth of the Centerlight, heard of the Beast’s moons, saw the bit on Samudra about stray thoughts destroying everything, and…”

: “Everything just feels right, like that’s how it’s supposed to be, like how you breathe without thinking about it.”

casually flips over to the last world entry - Mu - as the Awoken talks.

: “Yeah, I suppose that’s fair. A lot of the weirdness doesn’t really seem that weird until you start thinking about it.”

asks the Awoken, “if you could remember your past–whatever past you had–would you?”

: “Or have stronger memories of one particular world to compare others to, I suppose.”

looks to Daina, and for once there’s a hint of hesitation.

puts his hands on his hips after a pause. “Y’know… to be honest, the lack of memories doesn’t really bug me.”

: “It really doesn’t seem like it does, no.”

: “(Oh boy desert world run by a church dedicated to a dead god, that’s gunna be fun…)” Mumbles, just barely audible.

: “I am who I am, and I take the universe as it comes. I will write the future however I see fit. There is no fire too hot, no depth of cold to slow me, no void that could entrap me from casting a light!” He seems to be finding his footing.

considers the Awoken for a long moment, staring at him, like she’s trying to categorize him, or understand something about him, and then says, “limitless potential, right? You can be anything or anyone. Choose any name, or none at all”

: “Yes! Anything is possible, and if you stay true to yourself, so shall you be happy.”

: “Oh, yeah, no we’re gunna have Words about that actually.”

: “I am NOT gunna keep called you The Awoken, it is QUITE silly and makes me feel a bit ridiculous. If you won’t pick one, I will.”

: “What is really neccessary in the universe other than existing? Names, forms, abilities… what is neccessary? Possibly a lot less than you’d think.”

slants a smile at Aurelius. “Wakey is still an option.”

: “But there is… are, two things I remember.”

turns his attention away from the pamphlet and fully to the Awoken at that.

focuses completely on the Awoken

: “One, is a song.”

: “Sung by… one person? Multiple people? I’m uncertain, to be honest.”

: “And along with the song… an all-encompassing, overwhelming feeling of love. Fully and completely. The kind of love at a kept home, a bright, warm feeling, loud but not clamorous, enough to comfort every nerve and vein that pulses within, among those who love you and want you to live.”

: “It is… not altogether unlike the feeling we had while adrift in creation, but so much more intense.”

: “They call for me to remember. And I cannot.”

: “And in nine thousand, nine hundred, ninety-nine worlds, being unable to remember would not bother me a blip.”

: “But, for this feeling…”

glances from the Awoken to Daina, one eyebrow raised behind his glasses with a ‘damn that’s kind heavy isn’t it’ look on his face.

doesn’t notice. She is intent on the Awoken, caught not just on every word, but every syllable, every breath.

: “All things change. Nothing is forever. Who I am has already changed thanks to everyone, and I accept that wholly and lovingly. Even if I know not where it would lead and who I would become.”

reaches down and touches his newly tailored cuffs.

: “Even if I were to turn into a righteous god-beast, or a bizarre little gremlin, I’m sure anyone could recognize me.”

: “But for them, I feel… it’s hard to explain. Like I have to leave a stake in the past, as they remember.”

: “So that, maybe I too, could.”

finally meets their gazes. “That’s everything I am.”

rolls that over in his head a few times, then nods with a bit more empathy than might have been expected. “Yeah, I get you.”

: “I don’t, but–I think that’s fine. Good, even.” There’s something in her expression, though she couldn’t even tell you what it is. Like she felt every word he said, but can’t articulate any of them.

: “I do think we would know you, even if you were a righteous god-beast or a bizarre little gremlin,” she adds, a little more lightly.

: “Thank you both.” He blinks once… twice. “Truly.”

: “Like I said, we’re in this together now.” He nods again, before turning his eyes back to the pamphlet, and laughs. “Oh… oh Goddess, it updates itself.” He’s got his own entry open again.

almost unthinkingly reaches out a gives the Awoken’s hand a squeeze. She gives Aurelius’ hand a squeeze if he has a hand free, otherwise claps him on his shoulder quickly, then pulls her hands back to herself, sort of embarrassed, and peeks at his entry. “Oh, so the coin wasn’t part of it?”

: “No, that was a fun bonus, presumably to fuck with me since I was reasonably confident the Guide itself was inbound.”

does NOT tease her about the gesture, this time, politely ignoring it instead since she pulls away so fast.

squeezes her hand in response, but also doesn’t linger as she pulls it away. “We’ve got to keep an eye on this tricky pamphet from time to time.”

: “Ah yeah, the flaws in the crystal thing!” Flip, flip, flip. Aletheia entry. “This one.”

: “And… I think that’s more or less all the really interesting bits in here, for now. Well, it’s kind of interesting that the defacto leaders have a bit more to their entries than… the others, myself excluded, but no clue what’s going on there.”

: “…Oh yeah, and there’s space but no entry for the Empty Space In The Sky, that’s kinda funny too now that I think about.”

: “We gotta find it and tell the writers to update properly!”

: “Why would you note the absence of something?”

: “Umm…”

: “You’d think they’d write something like, ‘there was something here, it’s gone now.’”

: “But not even noting it is an odd omission, yeah?”

: “Hmm… Don’t actually know the answer to that, just that our astronomers swear up and down there should be a constellation in that completely empty part of the sky, but there is not one.”

: “Oh, you mean–yes. The gap in the pattern.”

: “Yeah. … Probably.”

: “Probably,” she echoes, but–fondly?

flips back to the cover of the pamphlet, then the inside of the cover… then the back, curious if there’s any author or anything indicating who might’ve written or put it together. Not expecting to find anything, but, y’know. Should check anyway.

stares extremely intently at the smear, searing its shape into his mind before relaxing with the shake of his head.

: “…So, I imagine Archie’s gunna have a field day with this. Either of you want the honor of handing it over?”

: “Aw, you made it, and I already surprised him with the pure essense. We can keep his head on a swivel if we spread it around a bit.”

: “Then when we get to Samudra we can run in three separate directions and really throw things off.”

laughs.

laughs, delighted

folds it back up and tucks it away.

: “Now, how bemused will you be when I say that was just the first project?”

: “Not, because you said two to four and I can count?”

: “(It did go EXTREMELY well though so we only need to hit two of them.)”

: “Ah I see someone has found her sass again.”

: “Aurelius, I am STILL sitting on tenterhooks waiting for you to tell us about the deepest, darkest secrets of the worlds.”

: “Oh, did you really want to know about that?”

exaggeratedly shrugs at him. “Uh, YEAH? You can’t just leave something juicy like that hanging before it falls from the tree and splats on our faces.”

: “…Actually I think you could handle it. I. Really. Do not think the others should know yet, though.”

: “Do you need a private moment?” she asks. Sassily.

taps his fingertips together. “I mean, we’re plenty private here…”

rocks his head back and forth a moment, considering. He shrugs, then after a moment his eyes begin to glow purple from behind the welding glasses, as to the tips of his finger nails. He then takes a few steps away from the Awoken and Daina, takes a deep breath, then thus his hand into the air at a bizarre angle.

grits his teeth as his fingers strain against something in the air.

watches, holding his breath.

is also watching with bated breath

slips off the nothing, but catches himself before he hit the ground. He frowns and the glow in his eyes intensifies, the darkened glasses doing little to hold it back. “- Right there. Just a little - ugh. But to redo it. … Time? A tool? I could …”

: “… A totem. Now? Later…?” His face scrunches up.

hops forward a few steps to the stumbled Aurelius. He claps him on the shoulder. “Aw, don’t worry big guy. You look like you were really putting your back into it.”

blinks once, twice, thrice. The intense glow dies down to the ‘normal’ level it does when they glow, and then with a shake of his head it’s gone. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure there was a smarter way to go about that that would have made it easier… but I’m pretty sure I can do it now, which I guess is enough.”

feels like she saw something, and feels like it almost made sense, almost fit together, but not quite.

: “…?”

: “…!”

: “…Hope you don’t regret that.”

takes a deep breath and thinks, and then stops thinking and decides. “Aurelius-who-was-Annarr,” she says, and she’s half Sword-Saint and half herself when she says, “tell me about who walks beside you. Someday, if not today.” She’s searching his face, looking into his eyes with a kind of almost overbright, pointed sincerity. And then she smiles and she says, “no, I don’t regret it at all.”

slowly has a sly grin crawling across his face.

: “Everyone’s full of surprises,” he says, endearingly.

: “Since it happened twice now, I feel that I should mention.”

stares into Daina’s eyes for a while, not… really sure how to respond. Genuinely at a loss for words, perhaps for the first time since you’ve known him.

: “Did anyone else notice a… for lack of a better term, ‘ripple’ just now?”

: “The flourishing gnosis? Yes.”

: “Did you notice it before, with Archie?”

: “Yes.”

: “With Archie? Yes.”

: “Okay, good. Then… yes, a similar affect here.”

: “Oh, but from me?”

nods.

seems to shake off a little of whatever it was that’s got him shook up as the Awoken talks. “It was a lot of concentrated gnosis for a newly awoken, yeah, so…”

She finally, finally blinks and looks away from Aurelius. “Hm. I was trying to … understand something. Not in the way Archie seems to understand things, but. Like a taproot, reaching for the water, but.”

: “That was purely instinctual?”

shrugs helplessly. “For a definition of instinct? I’ve used gnosis before, but not … quite like that. It’s mostly small things, here.”

: “Hm… then, I guess that makes it the third time…”

stretches his arms out in front of himself while leaning forward. He then lets out a breath and slowly sits back up, opening his hands which now hold a small, obsidian statue of some kind of… bird metahuman? It’s got larger wings than you’ve ever seen on one.

He then puts a finger to his head as he looks back over at Daina. “You can feel it though, right? The connection you made, and the things you … not saw, but felt?”

nods. “Yes. Though it was. A lot? I’m not sure I processed much of it at all.”

: “A lot. Hahah.”

: “Yeah I bet.”

: “You handled it well, positively glowing afterwards.”

: “Well, if that didn’t fray your edges I guess you got some real potential to dive deep into the deeply liminal as we go from here.” A slightly smile.

: “Probably.” She looks at that statue in Aurelius’ hand. “Is that…?” but again, she lacks the words for it.

: “Hmm.”

considers for a moment… “Actually yeah you made the connection, even if you only saw surface level… yeah.”

: “Ah… I hadn’t perceived much, but I definitely got the impression of something larger with you… as you? It’s hard to say.”

: “Within. Separate from, but part of. A watcher. Impossible and sad but not … part of you and this and everything.”

lets out a small laugh as she uses the word sad.

: “The statue, is it a representation?” He leans in to inspect it.

: “A totem.” It’s not particularly well detailed, like all the finer features were smoothed down. The wings are about as big as the person depicted, though.

: “Who are they?” She reaches out as if to touch it, but then stops, not wanting to be rude.

glances from Daina to the Awoken twice, considers, then rolls a shrug. “Me, more or less.”

huffs a laugh. “And who are you?”

: “Hm… I’m… Aurelius, The Hunter. They’re me, and I’m me.”

: “Both, one and the same!” He claps him on the back again.

: “Right, I definitely… wouldn’t be me, otherwise.”

: “No, I imagine you wouldn’t be.”

rocks back and forth on his heels, then pops back up onto his feet, flicking his hand and vanishing the totem. “And… while this is a safe place for fire and ash, I’m still not sure it’s a good place for The Truth That Burns, so… I don’t know, maybe we’ll circle back to this later.”

nods in understanding. “It’s a date!”

: “It is.” And then, after a moment’s hesitation. “I like all of you, for what it’s worth. Or, well, all of you that isn’t threatening to make a scene in the middle of town, but no one is perfect.”

laughs behind a hand. “And that one wasn’t even me!”

: “Ah, yeah, no it’s fine. The…” He taps his head, “just caught me really off guard, is all. Also unsure how much SK’s gunna flip her shit if I spill the beans first, honestly. But. Yeah.”

waves a hand. “Pah! She’ll just have to deal. We’re your partners.”

: “Sometimes the world takes a surprising turn. If she hasn’t yet learned to deal with that she’ll need the remedial lesson anyway.”

laughs really hard.

: “Let’s head on back and grab a drink, meet up with the others, see how they’re faring! But having been in Kesset only one day, I know they’ll be great.”

starts to take a few hops on his way out of the grass field and stops, turning around, putting his fists on his hips, planting his feet in a Pose. “Oh, and… I do like Awoken as a name, currently, but… if Wakey makes you happy, it’s okay if it’s you two.” He smiles conspiritorially.

: “What?”

: “Oh! Right. I was just gunna call you Awa, shorten it more or less.”

winks and sticks out his tongue before spinning back around and skipping out.

: “Light, can you imagine genuinely calling him Wakey geninely?” giving Aurelius’ shoulder a friendly bump as she follows the Awoken.

: “…Supremely tempted to do so now, just to see the look on Wolf’s face.” A nudge in return.

: “Oh, please do. His eyebrows will be fascinating. And I trust you to drop it at precisely the worst possible moment.”