sixthiterationlogs | Taste the color of the light

WHO: Steve McGarrett
WHERE: Near Path and House 114 in 7I / Canyon Wall
WHEN: March 17 / 18
OPEN TO: OTA / Starter for Clary
WARNINGS: Violence - Death, Family member being murdered

[ OTA – Flashes of Home ]

It felt good to be working outdoors again. The weather was finally starting to ease into something more resembling spring and Steve was eager to be out of the house and doing something physical. He’d borrowed the ax from the Inn once more and was in the process of bringing down and chopping up some trees for firewood.

Currently he’s working on a felled tree not far off the path and his house in the second village. He’s got a good rhythm going. Body, mind and tool all in synch and in tune.
And then the tree is gone. He tries to pull his swing, stop the ax from passing through nothing but air and taking a chunk out of his leg. Knowing that isn't going to work, he releases the ax as it's coming into the ground. It lands a foot in front of him, wedged deep in the sand... Sand?

Crisis over, he straightens to look around him. He'd recognize this beach and the body of water in front of him anywhere. He's home. In his backyard. A look behind him, confirms it. There are the aerodeck chairs just behind him on the grass and his house in Hawaii just beyond. There is just enough time to fill his lungs of the hot and salty ocean air when it's over.
Stumbling a step as the scenery changes in front of him and he's back in the woods. Gone is his house and the beach along with the sound of the waves upon the shore, although he can still hear the echo of it in his ears. He blinks. The ax is in the ground just beyond the tree.

Noticed, but immediately forgotten, he leaves the ax in the forest floor and stumbles out to the road. What the hell!? Where did the beach go? It had been just here, that he's sure of and he wants it back.

[ Locked to Clary ]

On a different day, Steve is once again in the forest. This time, as he is at least a few times a week, out checking the canyon walls. Major had told him that they change from time to time, and Steve unbelievably has found that to be true. Being true, Steve reasons that there has to be a time when the wall makes it changes and perhaps during that time he can gain some insight as to what’s going on.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"What do you think we'll find?"

Clary had run into Steve and then decided to tag along as he mapped a path along the canyon wall. She didn't think they'd run into anything new but there wasn't much else to do around the village besides explore and she was enjoying the company.

Bright emerald eyes looked up at the canyon wall, her brow furrowing together as she squinted to see the top of the cliff face. "Do you think we can climb that?" She's waiting for him to tell her no.

Steve shrugs with one shoulder. "At most for the wall to be slightly different than it was before. I'd like to be there sometime when it changes but..." He shrugged again. "I walked the wall when I first arrived, was out here for damn near a month and didn't see anything happen." If the wall can change then there's a good chance it programmed not to do so when they're around. Doesn't mean he doesn't keep coming out to see however.

Looking up to the top of the cliff, he then turns to give Clary an assessing look. "Do you know how to free climb?"

Clary considered what Steve was looking for and tried to see the wall like it was one of her paintings. She began to strip away the small details and focus on the larger ones. The only problem was that she wasn't sure what the wall looked like before. "How can you tell? I mean, how do you know that it's a new piece of wall?"

As an artist, she had an eye for details but it all depended on what kind of change she was looking for. Was it magical? Like something that Magnus had done. If so, she should be able to see it, then again, her tattoos are visible here too. There was no guarantee she had access to her abilities here.

Clary chewed on her lower lip, trying not to feel annoyed.

Looking at the wall, Steve shrugged. "Mostly it doesn't match the way I remember it to be. Honestly, I might have questioned my memory or thought I'd found myself in the wrong place but others in the village have mentioned it as well. Now I make sure to come out to the same place to track the changes. Whatever is doing it knows what it's doing."

Steve was an experienced tracker and highly trained in wilderness survival. He knew how to spot differences in the environment and how to map out landmarks to chart his way. Whatever was adjusting the features was seamless and certainly not something that was done by man. Not only did the rock move, but everything else also adjusted with it - distance to the tree line, the earth and other vegetation.

"Okay. I haven't heard of walls moving or rocks rearranging themselves before." That was half true but there was a lot about Clary's life that she hadn't bothered to explain; like being a Shadow Hunter or her involvement with fighting demons and being the decedent of an angel. How exactly do you tell someone that anyway?

She exhaled a slow steady breath.

"What does it mean? Well, okay, what do you think it means? It's like someone is controlling everything about our surroundings."

"No. Neither had I. At least not until I came here."

It didn't make sense to Steve. Canyon walls didn't just adjust themselves without any signs of cause or effect. At least not in the world he knew, but then so much of being here was beyond his 'normal' world knowledge.

"I'd say I was dreaming, but this really doesn't feel like a dream." He shook his head. Nothing he'd thought of had lined up to provide him with any possible answers. "But I'd have to agree. It's like someone or something is controlling our surroundings... Or maybe we're hallucinating." Tilting his head he looks back at her. "Mass hallucinations? Is that a thing? Or perhaps we're being brainwashed and/or drugged." The last actually would explain a lot, but Steve doesn't feel drugged.

"It might be."

She studied the wall for a few seconds before looking over at Steve. "You don't see the type who'd believe it but it could he magic. I've met a mage who could do things like this. That is, they can alter the surrounding so that we're pretty much trapped. If not that then we're like rats in a cage and they randomly change the cage because they think its fun."

Neither of her theories sat well with her.

Steve shook his head. "I've always believed that magic is only an illusion until you understand what's actually happening. Then it's either trickery or science, or perhaps a bit of both."

Since coming here though his beliefs have been put to the test and he's open-minded enough to accept alternatives. "That being said, while some in the world I come from believe in things that are supernatural in essence there is no proof to support it. There are no true mages. As there are others, like yourself, who come from places with such things, I'd be a fool to dismiss them outright though. Could this mage do something as elaborate as this place with so many involved?"

The idea doesn't sit well with him either.

Taste the color of the light

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