sixthiterationlogs | Arrival; Do you oppose a greeting, pulling the rug beneath their feet?

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Arrival; Do you oppose a greeting, pulling the rug beneath their feet?

WHO: Kalen
WHERE: The Inn or The Fountain
WHEN: Feb 2
OPEN TO: Open to all
WARNINGS: No warnings anticipated

It was cold. That was all he could think about at the moment. It was cold and he still had on wet clothes.

Kalen had first thought it was a dream. Some sort of hyper-real (and strange) dream. At first, it seemed to him that he was swimming in a fountain but judging from the fact that his feet did not touch the bottom it was deeper than any fountain he was familiar with. It did not take that much effort to swim to the edge and once he was out he noticed the clothes he had on were not the ones he went to sleep in. They were a strange sort of purple. And much more alarming than that his hearts glass was missing. At first, he had thought that it must have come off in the water - which should not be possible anyway - and turned back to look into the fountain as his fingers stretched a quick 'seeking' rune.

Nothing happened.

His frown deepened as he looked up to stare directly at his hand. Kalen tried a simple 'light' rune. Again nothing. Not even the connected lines around his fingers that showed the magic. Wards he thought, though how something was warded so absolutely when it was outside was another mystery. Well since he could not see it and could not use a rune for finding it Kalen had no choice but to leave his hearts glass behind.

Now as he trudged along he was starting to shiver. He was cold and wet which meant he was fast going from bewildered and angry to just plain angry.

The Inn;

This was the first place with light so there must be someone, somewhere that was keeping the lamps lit. Kalen did not pay them any attention yet, he was more interested in standing by the fire in hopes of getting the feeling back in his fingers.

As he uncrossed his arms and held his numb hands out to get warm, Kalen looked around and tried to guess where he was. Triseya maybe? He had no idea how he had gotten all the way there. Nor why he was wearing such bizarre clothes but magic was not banned there so that did not explain the wards?

With his fingers starting to thaw out he flexed them experimentally. He tried to sketch out another 'light' rune but it was just his fingers moving in the air. Grimacing, he huffed in exasperation.

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Things had been a mess since that morning he'd woken up and found himself in the mountains. But upon arrival back he'd found himself ready to deal with some of the things that had happened, including making sure he wouldn't feel so powerless again. In fact, he was planning to head on down to the bunker soon to see about some of these powers he'd been found were available there.

But talk about luck. How did Reeve manage to show up for this so often? He was heading toward the inn, intending to check if there might be a few more blankets he could wrap his gear in for the trip south, and there was a person by the fountain. That sort of dazed and lost look that came with a new arrival.

"Excuse me," he said as he approached. "If I might? The building across the way is the inn. There's a nice warm fire there. If you come with me I can get you some food and I can try and explain what is going on."

Kalen was already freezing, so he was already in a foul mood. If being spirited away to an unknown land with his hearts glass missing wasn't reason enough. He did not like the idea of trusting the first person he saw but had to at the moment.

On reflex, he looked down at the man's heart's glass. But he did not have one. Not an empty heart case, just nothing. This caused Kalen to frown deeper. It wasn't unknown for people to go without them but it was more likely he wouldn't know enough to do anything about the wards.

"It looks like I don't have any choice in the matter."

"There are always choices, but I never found pneumonia to be one someone might want," Reeve shrugged. He got the hostile ones when he found them at the fountain, didn't he? Well, Reeve put on his best polite smile as he regarded this new man, offering his hand out to him.

"Reeve Tuesti. I've been here about a month now."

"Kalen."

Kalen just shivered and looked at the outstretched hand but made no move to do the same. He looked back up at Reeve's eyes, expression betraying nothing.

"I'd ask where 'here' is but I would rather find dry clothes first."

"Reasonable enough," Reeve agreed, gesturing briefly for Kalen to follow him. He actually takes no offense at a lack of shaking his hand. There are plenty of people who didn't seem to care for that or who have different gestures.

What he does is tucks his hands behind his back as he walks toward the inn.

"There are dry clothes in the pack on your back, but there is a closet with extra materials stored here. I recommend not pulling out the clean, dry things just yet."

"I'm not an idiot."

Kalen does follow Reeve obediently though. Once inside he wastes no time changing clothes, leaving the strange, sodden, purple ones balled up at the top of the bag as he had no other idea of where to put them. Only when he has clean and blessedly dry (if oddly made) clothes on and is standing close enough to the fire to warm his fingers does he return to that question.

"Alright, now I would like to know where I am."

Not that he was suggesting that Kalen was. Would that people here were willing to offer a modicum of civility once in a while. But he remembers how jarring arrival was, so he will take it as much in stride as he might manage. And he is content to leave Kalen to find a place to change. He waits by the fire for Kalen to speak, and when he does, he merely nods.

"First, there is a dryer here in the inn I think. Second, you're in the South Village. Beyond that no one is precisely certain where we are. No amount of study of the stars reveals things that are similar to the planet of any person who has arrived here. People arrive at times, we live here and attempt to survive."

He wasn't sure what 'a dryer' was but right now there is a long silence as Kalen stares at Reeve.

"... I am trying to decide if you have a head injury or are just mad."

Kalen sighs though and rubs the bridge of his nose.

"However my watery arrival suggests that you are not mad and you are very articulate which suggests you aren't suffering from a head injury either."

Dropping his hand he looked at Reeve again. Only Kalen could insult someone and praise them in the same breath.

"How extensive are the wards then? Is it only offensive and defensive magic they are meant to inhibit?"

"If one of those is the choice, then the answer is mad," Reeve shrugged off, completely unbothered by the question. He's asked it a few times since his arrival, and has chosen not to bother with it at this point.

At least he gets credit for being articulate. As for the other comments, well... Reeve gets some things now. He moves to take a seat and frowns at Kalen.

"Not everyone here was capable of magic before they arrived. Those of us who did, it's far more than that. While there are ways to acquire 'powers' as it were, including control over elements, they manage to suppress everything. I cannot even use my inspire magic."

Kalen blinked at that.

"But if everything is suppressed, why do I see evidence of magic in use?"

He pointed at the lamps as he said it.

"And you are a spellbinder? Then where is your hearts glass?"

Wait, the lights? Oh. Oh dear. One of those. So far Reeve had been lucky to interact with people of greater or equal technological levels when they arrived. Those who were from less advanced peoples were those who had come before, or someone else had spoken to before. Well, not fully, there was Alistair, but that was another matter.

"I was a natural user of magic on my world. A mage if you will. I don't know what you mean by a hearts glass though. I have found that when I learn of the magics of others they seem to exist upon different systems. Different means to an end if you will. As for this..."

He gestures to the lights briefly.

"This is electricity. Technology creating power. In this case, a controlled form along the lines of lightning, used to super-heat a tiny bit of metal called a filament, to provoke it into shedding ample amounts of light, in part by minimizing the amount of heat output from that super heating."

"I understand conductivity, and how lightning behaves, but you say this is created through technology..."

Kalen shook his head, frowning as he looked at a lamp.

"To my way of thinking the creation of that initial charge should come from a spellbinder - or at the least someone with a purple hearts glass."

Which brings Kalen to another point. He looks back at Reeve warily.

"...but you have not heard of hearts glass at all. Which answers some questions and raises others. "

He sets his jaw.

"Then that leaves practical things; how to get food, water, and shelter."

If Reeve is to be believed that is. But without the use of magic at all that was going to be difficult.

"Actually, the initial charge, I believe, is purely a mechanical process. I theorize that there is likely a subterranean means by which the river is being harnessed for energy. Simple enough to make a dynamo, and I have assume our captors are more then capable of doing so. Frankly the thing we're lacking to make something along those lines is merely..."

Wait, no. He takes a deep breath and stops himself. There is no need to get into mechanical energy forms and the like. That isn't what the man is after. Hearts glass. Still makes no sense, that term.

"There are a number of empty houses of which you can make use. In the root cellars there are wood burning furnaces. Most all of them have beds, bedding, the like. All you would require. The majority are not in possession of power. There are communally prepared and shared lunches here in the afternoons, but there are places such as storehouses where food is kept, and butcher who processes meat brought in by hunters. Water is available from all facets. If you will join me in the kitchen I will show you what I mean."

Funny enough, it is that first thing that interests Kalen much more. He gestures for Reeve to precede him but asks then;

"Merely what? If there is a way to harness energy without having to use a rune, then I very much want to know more about it. I also have to ask if all heating is meant to be done by flame when we are not able to use another rune to douse it should it go out of control."

Kalen did not know what Reeve meant by 'power'in that case, either. In fact, he only knew what about half of the terms that Reeve was using meant.

"Trust me, You don't wish me to go into a two-hour lecture on the merits of hydroelectric power and how the systems work. My engineering degrees are as much in electrical systems as in architecture."

He doesn't know that the man wouldn't as easily understand what he is saying. Just considers the magic based perception of the world.

"Heating is done either by fireplace or wood-burning furnace. We keep buckets of water for dousing."

The frigid air, and the lack of warmth to be found in this place is certainly something that Ashley can understand. After making the hike back to the village, days in the wilderness with minimum fire and little protection, she feels like she hasn't gotten warm yet. Maybe she should move to the Inn, but she's still uncertain about both those that brought them here as well as her familial ties, and so she sleeps in front of the fire place in the house a friend who is gone claimed, and then makes her way to the inn early most days.

So when she sees another trying to warm themselves by the fire as she curls up in a chair nearby with a blanket wrapped about her, she can understand the sentiment. The moment he makes though, makes her head cant, considering the motions but curious as she arches a brow.

"Does that help with the cold or something? You don't have arthritis, do you?" She tries to imagine someone with that zapped up to the shrine as they had been, and it's fairly frightening.

Kalen turns that grimace on to the woman in the chair. His eyes dropped reflexively to her chest, but it looked like she was missing her hearts glass too. It was always harder to get an accurate perception of people when they did not have them. He looked away though, back at his hand.

"No, I was just trying to make a light rune."

Still cold, he inspected the contents of the bag that had been taken off and laid by his feet.

"I don't suppose that you know how far the wards extend here."

Worn and tired and upset in ways that she hasn't known before, not until the recent events of this place, and trying to ignore it all. Just to keep going. Yet those words, they make her frown, her brow furrowing as she shifts, canting her head to look at him. Her gaze goes from his face to his hands and back.

Slowly she shifts, sitting up straighter in the chair.

"Before you came here, you had the ability to make light from runes?" Her expression is pained, hating to be the one to tell him the details of this place. "You... you likely won't be able to use them in this place. Others that I know who had certain abilities before this place, they don't have them now. They're replaced with other ones," she says.

"Though, I hadn't thought about that, about them being wards," she says, thinking about the ones that surrounded the Sanctuary and kept them safe there. "If we could find the source, we might be able to find a way back to where we should be."

Kalen had found a second and thankfully dry set of clothes in the bag. But at the woman's statement, he looks up with a definite frown. She had not thought about wards? What does 'abilities' mean? What she was saying was raising more questions than it was answering.

"And what is that supposed to mean? 'Replaced' how?"

And why? But that is not a question that Kalen is asking yet.

This is likely to either get her one of those looks she gets from people right before her mom shows them the mermaid living in their "basement", or actually scoffed at. Either way, it's worth trying.

"Look, so before you came here, you did magic through sigils? I've known some that do the same thing, but here any of those abilities or magical skills you had before this place? Somehow they take them away. Yet, you end up with something else, even if you didn't have any before. It's based on the colors you were in," she says, holding up her hand to show the orange device she wears.

Kalen is wearing the scrubs he showed up in - magenta - but he had not noticed the device that was attached to his wrist yet. He looked at it and frowned having not seen a contraption like this before.

It is a good thing that deathseekers are trained and inherently difficult to surprise, so this is shock after shock but Kalen is at least able to keep functioning. First order of business is to get out at these wet clothes.

He does not look up from the device as he answers.

"I'd rather not strip right here but I am not a fan of hypothermia. Is there somewhere I can at least change."

"It will let you communicate with others, and means you have a means of contacting others if there's an emergency as well," she admits, though she offers a smile and a jerk of her head. "Come on. This way. There's rooms you can snag, and if you want to keep them, there may be one permanently open too," she says, knowing it was what she did when she first got there.

Having already investigated the bag, Kalen follows. When he is again wearing dry clothes, he balls up the wet scrubs in his hand and returns with Ashley.

"You said something about wards. Namely that no one has thought of that before."

He doesn't mention anything about a room at the inn. Or even that this is an inn.

"If the magic is suppressed here, it has to be with wards."

She takes them, putting them in a pillow case she snagged from another room, and it might have been someone's, and then ties a knot in it. "For now you mostly have these, and there's places to dry them by the fire, or you can give up on them and see what you can scrounge," she says, figuring at least they can help others here when they're starting out.

"Where I grew up? We had a lot of wards that blocked a lot of things that some would call magic. Mostly science based, though the lines between science and magic are thin," she says, shrugging. "Or it's something they did to us when we were out and they changed us into scrubs. I haven't figured out which."

He was following her until she mentioned science-based magic. As far as Kalen knew there were already several studies made on runes, both combat runes and support runes, so that could not be right. He was outright frowning now.

"... you just put words together in a pleasing but nonsensical way. And since you don't have a hearts glass I can't tell if you are a spellbinder."

He used one hand to rub at his eyes.

"Maybe I should start with something simple; where are we? Triseya?"

She rolls her eyes, huffing a sigh as she shakes her head. "Funny, you got that pleasing nonsensical thing down pat. Wanna know why?" She figures it doesn't get easier, but it might in the long run. "Your world? It's not mine. In mine? Runes don't do a lot, far as I know, but vampire blood can do everything. Not to mention werewolves, mermaids, and Bigfoot," she says, shrugging.

"Me? I'm just a trained hunter that tries to keep the peace on the streets. Definitely no spellbinder," she says, nose wrinkling.

"You hit on the hardest thing of all. None of us know, but it's likely no where you know. You can test it if you know anything about the stars and skies in your world. Mine? Nothing like the skies here."

Vampires, werewolves, and mermaids he does recognize but what's a big foot? He did not know anything about stars or star charts either. Like it or not he was forced to accept what she was saying. He was not sure if he believed it yet, though.

"... so. People are brought here for no apparent reason."

And tossed into a surprisingly deep fountain.

"Not apparent, no," she says, at least sounding reluctant to be the bearer of that bad news. "Far as I can tell, the village and it's houses and all are semi new. Like in the last year maybe? Though some were here before that. But it kind of appeared like this. All fifties style bungalows and central village. Like it was set up for something or someone, and then repurposed for us."

She sighs, shaking her head. "That purpose though? No one knows. If I had to guess? Something big to someone. Most I've talked to? They're like seriously skilled in one way or another. A lot of them in physical skills like soldiers. Seems like they're being oddly selective, and there's got to be a reason for that, right?"

Rosa's only just arrived herself. A day, maybe? Something like that? She hadn't noticed the thing on her wrist when she'd first come through — or, if she had, she hadn't registered the date and time and all of that bullshit — so it's all a vague guessing game. She's claimed an empty cabin in what seems to be the more remote North Village, but she's wandered her way back to the Inn.

Even if she doesn't want to necessarily talk to anyone, being around the wanderers and residents of the Inn is better than being completely alone. At least for now.

She's tucking into her second bowl of stew of the day (fuck, what has she become? Soup's the fucking worst!) when she can't help but notice a guy nearby making all sorts of ... interesting gesticulations in the air. Like some hopped up wannabe Gandalf or some shit. Did Gandalf do that? No, it's more like some knock-off Harry Potter shit, and she's not Amy, so she doesn't have the requisite nerd wealth of knowledge to draw upon here. She's been told that all sorts of people and creatures wind up in this fucked up village, and this guy seems to be one of them.

"Hey, Malfoy, whatever you're trying won't work. This place is fucked."

The pop culture reference goes right over Kalen's head. He doesn't know what Rosa means anyway.

"Yes, I can see that making runes will not work."

He is snapping because he has already had a bad day. Being next to a fire has helped but Kalen is still wearing wet magenta scrubs. So he is still pretty cold. Cold enough to be angry about... Well about everything. From his watery arrival to (what Kalen could only assume was) an insult of some sort. He also did not bother to look at Rosa when he replied to her.

"'Making runes,'" Rosa half-snorts. "What're you, a dwarf?" A brief pause before she elaborates with, "like the mystical kind, the kinds found in all those nerd books." Just in case she's gonna and offended someone unnecessarily. She's a bad ass, not an anarchist, and she's not about completely shitting on other people. There are some things she won't make fun of people for, and that's one of them.

She takes stock of his situation: wet clothes, obnoxious af magenta color, Harry Potter hand gestures, pissed off attitude. Normally, she'd roll her eyes or shrug it all off, but maybe it's all the kindness she'd been shown when she'd first arrived that's weighing on her shoulders. She can't just ignore the guy.

"That backpack you've got," she says, flicking her chin in its direction, "It's got dry clothes. It's all the same bullshit as what you've got on — with the magenta and shit — but the shit's dry. There are empty rooms upstairs that you can use to change. Doesn't make the rest of this place suck any less, but it'll at least warm you up some."

Kalen doesn't respond at first. Instead, he does open the bag and find the aforementioned clothes. It did not occur to him to take the bag with him, though, so it's left there for now.

When Kalen does come back he has a ball of wet scrubs in hand. He is still wearing the strange purple color he first found himself here in.

"Alright. Since you know more than I do, why can't I use magic?"

Way to say thank you, Kalen.

In the guy's absence, Rosa's taken the opportunity to grab him a bowl full of the day's stew. She's set it down on a small end table, which is next to the arm chair where his bag's been placed. She debated whether she wanted to eat any soup herself, because who the fuck eats so much god damned soup (she does, and she has since arriving, and she hates it), but eventually, her hunger wins out, and when Kalen returns, she's also sitting nearby with a bowl for herself.

Rosa ditched her red scrubs for the overalls, pairing them with the white, long-sleeved undershirt she'd found in her own pack. It makes her feel like a fucking farmer, and she hates this almost as much as she hates eating soup. Which is to say: a lot.

"Fuck if I know, man," Rosa replies with a shrug of one of her shoulders. "I didn't have magic shit before I came here, but apparently other people did, and everyone's in the same boat as you. Can't do shit now. You're human like the rest of us dopes."

Edited 2019-02-14 00:25 (UTC)

Kalen frowned at Rosa. There was nothing special about him.

"I've always been human."

He looked at her chest reflexively but she did not have a hearts glass either. It was going to be hard to get a read on how she felt without one. He was still cold but it was much better to be in dry clothes. He still had yet to say thank you either and does not even sit. Instead, he looms beside the chair Rosa is sitting in like a creep. The stew on the end table is ignored for the moment too.

"Are you saying I have been taken for no apparent reason?"

It had not occurred to him yet to layer clothes. Heck his hair was still wet so that chill would have remained anyway.

"Without powers and whatever," Rosa explains further with a biting tone to her voice. "You know. With you doing all that Harry Potter bullshit you were just doing." She uses one hand, the one holding her spoon, to mimic the gestures he'd been making in the air moments earlier. "That shit. None of that's gonna work, far as I can tell."

She rolls her eyes and sighs again, heavily.

"Dude, just sit the fuck down, eat some food. We're all here for some unknown god damned reason that no one can figure out, and fuck if I understand it any better than you do. You're welcome, by the way."

Kalen wasn't feeling very hungry but he did sit down at least. The pop culture reference still passed him by but he understood the gesture. He scowled at Rosa. It had already been a weird and trying day so this really wasn't helping.

"I'm assuming you aren't a spellbinder but since you don't have a heart's glass I can't tell for sure."

Kalen's scowl had a touch of wariness added to it.

"What's your name?"

"Look," Rosa starts, finishing off the last of her stew and pointing at him with her spoon. "I've got no fucking idea what you're talking about. Okay? Spellbinder, heart's glass, all that bullshit. No idea. I'm from Earth — and if you are, too, apparently it's some .. other version of it, because all of that just sounded like a whole lotta nerd speak straight outta one of those nerd books Jake and Sarge and Amy like."

She can appreciate the fact that the kid's only recently arrived, and it's a fucking harrowing experience, but — she's never been known for her endless patience.

"Why don't you go first, since you're so curious."

It is a good thing that deathseekers are inherently hard to surprise and that they have been trained to deal with it. So while this has been shock after shock, Kalen is able to keep functioning at least.

The narrow-eyed wariness remains (what does 'Earth' mean? What's a nerd book? Is he talking with a crazy person?) but Kalen did answer.

"Kalen"

Rosa nods, like she's tucked away that bit of information somewhere in her mind. It's not an all-together strange name — not as strange as his weird hand gestures earlier would've suggested, at least — but it isn't run-of-the-mill, either. It reminds her of all the weird ass names people in Brooklyn have been naming their kids these days. Echinacea Juniper Berry and all that shit.

"Rosa." She's glad he didn't bother with the last name, because she sure as fuck wasn't going to. "If you don't want it, that's fine," she starts, gesturing to the stew on the table. "But then go dump it back in the pot so it gets warm again and someone else can eat it."

Actually, Kalen doesn't have a last name. Technically he is the Duke of Holsgrath now that his father is dead, but that is not really a name more like a title.

The narrow-eyed wariness dissipates to instead be replaced with his default scowl. He looks at the bowl then looked back at Rosa.

"... I take it that there are more people here."

A lot more, he's guessing.

"Enough, yeah," Rosa confirms with a singular nod. "Enough that there's a fucking communal pot of stew that gets made every day that apparently anyone who can contributes to. I don't have a full count, but from what I've been told, the number of people's pushing 80." She shrugs a shoulder and stands from the chair, her empty bowl in hand. She goes to take the other, then flicks her eyes towards him. "You make a decision yet?"

Kalen sighs.

"I don't want to eat anything right now."

He stands up too, then picks up the bowl from the table. Almost as though he expects her to say something about it, Kalen looks Rosa in the eye.

"If I can't use runes, then I'll have to do it by hand. Show me where to go so that I can wash this bowl."

If he had to be stuck here then he had to do something that didn't require skill. A lot of people meant a lot of eyes. He needed to talk to them all to start getting answers. And since everyone ate, everyone needed dishes.

Rosa shrugs a shoulder, both eyebrows lifting in disinterested acceptance. She's not going to force-feed the guy, after all. He's a big boy; he'll figure it out himself, and she's not exactly "maternal," anyway.

With a vague gesture suggesting he follow her, Rosa turns on her heel with her own bowl in hand and leads him towards the kitchen. The amenities are bare, but they're enough.

"Might as well dump what's in there back in the pot," she says, gesturing to the stove. "Don't waste shit."

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Arrival; Do you oppose a greeting, pulling the rug beneath their feet?

Fountain

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The Inn

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Inn

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