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goneawayworld2021-06-28 07:23 pm
goneawaymod) wrote in goneawayworld2021-06-28 07:23 pm
FROM DUST TO DUST - Plot Post 1
FROM DUST TO DUST
LINKS
WORLD INFO/WORKSHOPPING
BRIEFING
They're briefed on the situation. It's a full-scale incursion, where it's not a section overlapping the Gone-Away worl, the incursion zone allows access to an entire alternate universe. Full-scale incursions like this need to be resolved before reality breaks down entirely due to the two worlds overlapping.
They're told that Jorgmund has determined the objective is to gain something useful from this world, and that a simple diplomatic mission will procure it. They must make contact with the upper crust and some members of the clergy, who are fascinated by the prospect of their world folding into another. These aristocrats have a relationship with the Church, who has a powerful artifact in their possession. The New Hires will receive a special knife in exchange for some mingling, one that might be able to close up some of the holes in the reality of the Gone-Away World.
Their sponsors in this world are going to give them a few nights in a very classy hotel, and take them on a shopping trip to treat them to glamorous clothes and finery for the gala they're expected to go to.
That's it, that's the mission. Or so they've been tol.
The New Hires are also told about daemons. That everyone in this world has one. That there are different interpretations of what they are: the human soul externalized, or maybe something else, something alien and bad. Jorgmund tells them that they'll likely stick out, due to not having daemons.
This is a lie, of course. They suspect that the mechanics of this universe will rectify the lack of daemons the second they enter.
EQUIPMENT
- The New Hires will be sent over wearing clothing appropriate to the world they're entering, though for now it's plain and casual. (They'll be taken shopping later by their guides for their formal evening wear.)
- They'll only be allowed weapons and gear appropriate to the world, so most of their technology will be gone. The only guns they'll be allowed are revolvers and bolt-action rifles. They'll all have been given substitute weapons, for those that carry them.
- They'll be allowed a more stealthy version of their comms, that look like bracelets or leather cuffs. These have all the functions of normal comms. They project small holographic screens and holographic keyboards, instead of having physical ones.
- They will still have their powers, but will be warned to keep them under wraps, as no one in this world has any.
- Non-humans or people with other-than-baseline physical traits will get holographic image inducers styled as discreet world-appropriate jewelry. Or other accessories to hide what makes them look different.
CROSSING THE BARRIER
They cross over the shimmering barrier between worlds, and walk into a small park that's been cleared of people by their sponsors. All the buildings nearby are in an Edwardian style, with light brick, slightly baroque masonry, and arched openings. In the distance, they can see a college that seems to have even older architecture.
For a half second after they walk through the shimmering barrier they seem fine.
And then there is pain, like an iron hand gripping their insides and pulling something out between their ribs. For a moment, it feels like something vital is spilling out of them, like a big enough hole as been made for their heart and lungs and organs to spill onto the ground. It feels like something secret and private is being dragged into the open, where it doesn't want to be.
And yet, there is a sense of relief, like they've all suddenly had a splinter deep in their bodies that's worked itself out. There is no sense of emptiness left behind. It's not that they've lost something, it's that it's separated out - but remained connected. By some kind of invisible umbilical cord.
It's been externalized, not ripped away.
They're suddenly all there beside them, forming out of the ether. Daemons. Each New Hire can immediately sense which is their own. When they start talking, the daemons are sure in their knowledge that they were always there all along, just hidden away, and are delighted to interact with their other halves more directly.
no subject
And that means Phil is right because neither half of the super-genius corrects her. The wiggling largely stops but the silence radiates complete and total glee. Science is dirty, and she needs some labby puns and onomatopoeia, stat.
Robbie does his best to ignore the attention whore in repose. makes a face at the hypothetical Coluan delegation, who would probably be proud of being stereotyped that this way and would say it was a feature, not a bug. “Phil only works beach towns, ski chalets, and Paris. You’re going to have to curate your speaking engagements better.”
“Farking Pretense,” says Phil, who is sprawling like a lazy pillow pet under Krel’s snuggles, but there’s a keen glint in her eyes. The daemon lets the space between that and what’s next drag on to the absolute limit of believing they’re connected. “That’s the band name.”
no subject
Brainy's far more prone to just smirk or smile when amused or show his amusement by engaging in some patter back. He rarely laughs loud or openly or joyously, unless he's been surprised into it, like when Robbie brought him his celery "bouquet."
Apparently he's feeling it more often than he does it.
"You're ridiculous, do you know that?" Krel says to Phil.
"Lamentable quality," Brainy puts in.
"Utterly tragic," says Krel.
"They are quite hopeless in that respect."
"Extremely," says the daemon, happily, even as he snuggles the bun-bun.
no subject
Robbie blinks and laughs in spite of himself, but there’s a touch of annoyance in his voice. “Hey! I’ve been saving that one for months.”
“And now we used it,” Phil chirps.
Robbie doesn’t miss that it’s the second time his daemon has used we instead of I. “Right. You’re me.”
A free-spirited me that is out of his control in a strange overlap in the multiverse with Querl and his daemon as a willing audience to amuse and bemuse.
“Can you be a little less me?” Phil responds with a loud sigh with flapping lips that Robbie immediately dubs a raspbunny in his head, and Phil giggles immediately like she knows what he just did. He looks at Brainy, a little nervous. “We’re going to get put back together, right? They didn’t mention that we had daemons, and - what if Phil’s some part of me that I need?”
no subject
"I don't actually know. They didn't give me my omnicom for this mission because it was too advanced. Without equipment, I have no way of verifying if this is magic or just a quirk in the metaphysical laws, and that means I don't know if the effect is localized or if our presence here has induced a more permanent change."
His brows furrow at that.
"Something that's a bit of an alarming prospect given our lifestyle. Having an externalized part of the self vulnerable to attack is... alarming."
"Hmm," says Krel a little more seriously, looking up from the snuggling, though still chilling with Phil. "Your shield powers would mitigate the issue, especially if you could fashion carriers that kept us close to you, but you might have to eventually devise a way to put us back, for our safety."
"...was what I was about to say." Brainy looks appraisingly at his daemon for articulating it, then crouches down to gently brush his fingers against Krel's head. "But I don't think they've been removed from us as something actually separate. We're still connected to them. Krel and I have already done some experimentation."
Of course they had.
"We don't need to speak to communicate, even though we're accustomed to it. We can't even move that far apart or it causes emotional and physical - and perhaps even spiritual anguish," says Brainy. "I think it's more likely that a part of ourselves has been externalized but remained solidly tethered to us, as deeply connected as if it was internal - but more vulnerable to outside attack."
"Even in our worlds there is magic that can harm the metaphysical - or magical, bleh -" Krel says it like a snotty teenager dissing something "- component of the self that's usually contextualized as the soul. It's just much more difficult when it's internal, requiring certain metapowers or offensive magic."
"Indeed." Brainy shakes his head, still petting Krel as he kneels there. "I still feel...complete, like this. In fact, while it's unnerving to be so vulnerable there's admittedly something fascinating - and dare I say it, spiritually revealing - about this process. To see oneself from outside oneself."
no subject
But that’s not the normal definition of charming.
Robbie’s got a dopey little grin watching Krel laugh again - it’s such a sugar high to get any part of Querl ruffled. But listening to them discuss the ins and outs of daemonity quickly fades how charmed he is. “Maybe shielding them would work. We haven’t tried being more than a few feet apart, so I can’t give corroborating evidence on all that. But I’d rather keep Phil in my pocket anyway, even without the anguish.”
Phil tenses at this and physically draws under Krel to avoid any threat of being scooped up and secreted away forever. Robbie looks away from both daemons then. “Because I don’t want to want to extro-introspective where everyone can see it, especially when Phil acts like me bu-ut not quite.”
He’s uncomfortable with having a visible, effervescent soul that’s a happier, freer, better version of the whole. “It’s like a fever dream therapy exercise. Picture your soul as an animal, and explain why it’s whole and hale and small and fragile. Phil isn’t anything I would’ve pictured. Is your daemon what you would’ve expected, if you knew you were going to be spiritually revealed today?”
“Tell him it’s okay to be confused about me,” Phil says with all the tact of a door knob. “Or he’s going to mope.”