Cao Pi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pure_havoc) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
logsinthenight2019-12-09 01:08 pm
pure_havoc) wrote in logsinthenight2019-12-09 01:08 pm
Round 2 [open]
characters: Cao Pi and everyone who wants to show up
location: town hall
date/time: Dec. 8, starting at moonrise
content: Community meeting, take 2! After the Dreamer/Defender incident, there's a lot to talk about and Cao Pi has encouraged everyone to come and publicly share what they learned while asleep or what ideas they have to make the next massacre less massacre-y. Feel free to handwave catching his post or hearing about it from a friend.
warnings: none likely but lmk if that changes. Threadjacking likely; if you don't want to be threadjacked, make some sort of indication.
As before, Cao Pi arrives ahead of time to ensure the town hall is ready for a session, righting any chairs that might have been thrown about in recent melees and checking the logbook for recent information. When a fair amount of people have arrived and he can see the waxing moon rising through the leafless trees outside, he rises to begin with a short intro.
"By now we know that those who succumbed to the food at the feast had a strange experience - they shared dreams with each other, in which they found themselves seeing Beacon as it was in the past. I encourage all those who dreamed, and remember it well, please tell us all what you saw. There may be considerable clues to our purpose and progress in even the smallest detail.
"The rest of us, well. We managed to make it through and I believe those who were killed are whole again, but for our part we can go over what worked and what didn't. Defending ourselves isn't merely a matter of being trained to use weapons. The spirits which attacked were formidable, powerful. We will need more than just our strength to outlast another attack. Ideas are welcome, as is any new information we have on everything from communications to threats."
That's all he'll ramble about this time, he'll take a seat and allow others to have the floor before he makes any more grandiose speeches.
location: town hall
date/time: Dec. 8, starting at moonrise
content: Community meeting, take 2! After the Dreamer/Defender incident, there's a lot to talk about and Cao Pi has encouraged everyone to come and publicly share what they learned while asleep or what ideas they have to make the next massacre less massacre-y. Feel free to handwave catching his post or hearing about it from a friend.
warnings: none likely but lmk if that changes. Threadjacking likely; if you don't want to be threadjacked, make some sort of indication.
As before, Cao Pi arrives ahead of time to ensure the town hall is ready for a session, righting any chairs that might have been thrown about in recent melees and checking the logbook for recent information. When a fair amount of people have arrived and he can see the waxing moon rising through the leafless trees outside, he rises to begin with a short intro.
"By now we know that those who succumbed to the food at the feast had a strange experience - they shared dreams with each other, in which they found themselves seeing Beacon as it was in the past. I encourage all those who dreamed, and remember it well, please tell us all what you saw. There may be considerable clues to our purpose and progress in even the smallest detail.
"The rest of us, well. We managed to make it through and I believe those who were killed are whole again, but for our part we can go over what worked and what didn't. Defending ourselves isn't merely a matter of being trained to use weapons. The spirits which attacked were formidable, powerful. We will need more than just our strength to outlast another attack. Ideas are welcome, as is any new information we have on everything from communications to threats."
That's all he'll ramble about this time, he'll take a seat and allow others to have the floor before he makes any more grandiose speeches.
no subject
He has his tablet, and for the most part he seems to be here to take notes. Cao Pi addresses the room and then sits. Riku leans back in his chair with his breath gusting out of him in undisguised frustration.
Then he stands up. ]
I'll keep this short.
The reason for all this was the spirits wanted to answer our questions about what happened before we arrived.
They attacked anyone who wasn't going along with it. For now, they've agreed--
[ His voice cracks. Pausing for a long second, he shuts his eyes, stone-faced around the pain in his recently-healed throat, and when he speaks again there's a hoarse unsteadiness. ]
They've agreed to stop killing us. We need to know what you saw and experienced.
[ He says it in a hurry, and by the end, that last word - experienced - is only partially there, like he's already tired out his voice in a few loud sentences. Looking more annoyed (and possibly embarrassed) than anything, Riku sits back down, crossing his arms. ]
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I was with Sarissa and Kol and we were in a radio tower. It seems we were the only ones there since we couldn't find anyone or anything alive.
[ urgh- those dead birds still haunt day. ]
We were still in Beacon but, judging by what we saw and experienced, it was set in the past. When there was still light and before the World Eaters... [ he stops here, an uncomfortable look coming and going across his face before he corrects himself: ] Just as the World Eaters were approaching Beacon.
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There were quite a lot of dead birds, too.
[ ftr, he still enjoys the fact he caused it to rain dead birds. it was the least traumatising thing to occur in the dream.
kol distinctly remembers that radio call—rehousing another's life-force, like his mother had done to him. that crawls beneath his skin and stays there for a few moments. later, he'll get to that later.
arms crossed, he frowns curiously when he looks to day. ] What date did that calendar say? Do you remember that? Wasn't very long ago, was it?
[ well, considering he's from the 2010s… ]
( gag tag! )
>:O
why!!! ]
( FOR REAL... A TAG..... )
The calendar was for 1979. Um... It didn't have any marked dates or stuff, though. I think at least. I was too focused on trying to get the computer to work at the time.
[ but at least day remembered the year: 1979.
which is, like, super old for daylight, who is from the year 2241. he thinks his great-grandpa would have been a teenager at that point...? ]
no subject
1979.]
That marks 9 years after opening the portal and something seeing the scientist through it.
[One answer, ten more questions...]
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[Bruce's voice is very quiet, though perhaps not so quiet as his approach. When did he get here? How long has he been listening? Who knows.]
Most of it was yellowed with age, but it began with 1 and ended in 0.
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And gives Bruce a nod.]
The number is most likely the 1970's. The portal was opened in 1969. The last time it was mentioned was spring, 1970, when something spotted them through the portal.
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[ daylight tilts his helm to the side, considering something. ] That's... nine years then. That's a pretty big gap of time. For, er, you guys, right? The time gap thing, I mean.
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[He justs more down in his notebook.]
It means that the world gradually fell into darkness, instead of flipping it off like a switch. People tried to prepare against them, the things that came crawling through the portal, but in the end, as we see the state of things now, it was useless.
Which is... worrying. They had 9 years to solve the problem and get themselves free from world eaters, and yet they didn't succeed. We have less than 2 years. [They weren't even hindered by lack of light like they are. It feels like the rope around their neck is tighter than Ignis expected.]
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You said, the last time it was mentioned was Spring 1970.
What was said?
no subject
The last coherent entry was "I wasn't fast enough."
There are two more entries after that but they are completely encrypted. The last entry has several words scattered through it, like "fault, know, worth it".
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If by luck and chance and circumstances allowed us to stumble upon the encrypted stuff during our future snooping around, Mr. Ignis, would you be able to tell that its your stuff from the visions if it was presented to you? Like... Super confidently and stuff?
[ daylight had noticed his memories were eerily sharp in terms of remembering the dream if he needed to recall things. especially details and bits he hadn't thought to really commit to memory at the time. ]
no subject
I would be.
I wouldn't be able to decrypt the encrypted files, as my knowledge in technology is mediocre, but I would be able to tell the difference.
[Memorizing important stuff kind of goes with his ex-job.]
For decrypting the rest of the log we will need someone who is tech-savvy.
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He pulls out his tablet and starts writing down in bullet points - the stuff that seems important and the stuff that he wants to ask more about. It's not an easy thing to do, without elbowing the people sitting closest to him and Riku didn't pick seat at the very back of the room, where almost no one would notice something like that.]
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The magician is more of a bookworm than Riku appears to be, but here they are, writing down whatever they can like their lives depend on it. That's how Riku looks at it, anyway, that their lives MAY in fact depend on what they learn here.
Prodded a few times by his elbow, Riku gives up on writing for a moment to blatantly lean over and peek at what he's writing. That's around when he nudges at him, turning the book he's writing in - one of the log books - around so he can glance at the notes. Just some of the stuff he might have missed earlier. ]
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There's a lot of new information and the amusement park? Jesus Christ. And yeah, sure, Brakebills isn't the safest place to be, and yeah, the teachers couldn't give two shits about any of them. But still. A killing machine? For kids? That's-- crazy.
He skims the text Riku holds out, mind still too much on everything everyone sleeping had been through, to properly appreciate it. But he still copies down the important points, in between lulls in conversations and in the brief pauses between speakers.]
Do you really believe that? That it's all just a misunderstanding?
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There's a certain refreshing quality to not being a tool of someone's agenda.
He swaps his writing for his tablet. ]
there's a cultural difference between us.
not sold entirely. some of them obviously enjoy the hunt. the spirits with no taste for it go into hiding.
sometimes you need to make deals with people who dont have your best interests at heart to get what you want
no subject
The big bird-person by the bonfire still freaked Quentin way the fuck out. Not the fact that he was a bird-person, but what the existence of a bird-person might say about this world. Or, about the world Rastus came from. Did he come from an egg? Was he a mammal? And what about the other spirits? Were they made? Born? Wished in to this world on the dying breathes of the children and adults that used to live here?
Quentin nods, answering in a whisper.]
You're not wrong. But. Trusting them, the green eyes ones, that's a risk. They can get inside our heads. I think, I mean, I saw things when they were around. And-- and the Librarian. Maybe it did something to me. But, I get your point.
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[ Riku thoughtfully pauses for a time, until he adds: ]
you seem surprised
no subject
[It's hedging and he knows it, stalling to get his thoughts in the right order and in to something that's not going to sound like he thought Riku was an idiot, because he didn't. Even before the rescue at the docks and by the river, Riku had showed him just how easy it would be to control someone. How dangerous trust could be.
Quentin pulls one leg up on the chair and rests his arms around his bent knee.]
I just didn't think you had it in you. You want them to think of us as irreplaceable. Think it'll work?
no subject
[ Then, about "I just didn't think you had it in you" presumably, he adds: ]
Why?
no subject
[Quentin doesn't want to elaborate on that, the sheer amount of bloodshed only a week ago and the exhaustion that still seems to linger on the faces of the people to stayed awake.
It's not even that obvious, probably. But it's the way someone will glance quickly at the door in the middle of making conversation, or how some sentences just peter off in to nothing, because there's nothing to say or it touches too close to something raw and painful.
He shrugs.]
You're a nice person.
[Like that ever explained anything, but maybe it shouldn't come as a surprise. Not after the things Riku let slip in the quiet between their conversations. About his loss. About his regrets. How Riku has enough reason out of everyone to hate the spirits and he still tries to not give in to the hate. To the darkness.]
no subject
The trait they share is how much can be translated from their eyes; Riku's go away a little, reflecting on the carnage, on what it's like to choke on your own blood or to feel a friend grow lighter and still in your arms.
The terror of being attacked with no warning, the despair of having nowhere to run, the longing for vengeance. Another time, Riku might have been consumed by these things, instead of turning it into strength.
That doesn't mean he doesn't get tired, or sad, or scared, and in truth the long and never-ending dark wears him down for reasons that are entirely human.
There's a lot they don't say but ends up telegraphed in these easily-missed gestures.
Riku shakes his head. ]
One of them said they will try. Hoping that's true isn't the same as counting on it. If we can convince them there's value in not killing us that's one less threat.
[ He adds: ]
Doing nice stuff sometimes doesn't make someone a nice person any more than doing the opposite makes a bad one.
no subject
It's like that with just about every person he knows, with a few but important exceptions and it's no different with Riku. They're building something, a kind of fragile friendship resting squarely on saved lives and whispered confessions in the dark.
The feeling of Riku's strange magic coursing through him, and his cold hands in the woods.]
Bullshit. That's exactly what makes someone a nice person, doing nice things. It's always going to be what you do, and not what you say you'll do that defines who you are.
[Goddamn Harry Potter, and the way it sneaks in to even everyday conversations because it's so simple and Quentin frowns at his notes. The meeting is still buzzing around them, so many voices joining in to tell about what they saw in their dreams and everyone is willing to take it as truth. As if it couldn't be one big lie, designed to make them complacent. To make them let their guard down just long enough for the spirits to murder them all.]
And how do we do that? Make them see that not killing us is better than killing us? Leave food out for them? Some of them eat books.
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