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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.
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He starts moving and South's back shoots ramrod straight, like she's been caught doing something she shouldn't have been. Immediately, she tears her eyes away from him and suddenly seems to find the floor very interesting, and she realises with a humourless amusement that she's doing exactly what she just called Anja on. Hiding.
"What is he doing...?" she hisses under her breath and Anja says nothing, just curls up tighter around South's shoulders and keeps her face hidden against her throat. It may almost look like she's being strangled, but no. Anja just hides. "Fuck, I shouldn't have even looked... I-I'm meant to be giving him space."
"You are. All you did was look."
South snorts, an empty sound, and keeps her eyes away from North's vague approach. Bracing herself for— she's not quite sure what. Something.
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"You all right?" He gestures a little toward Randi. "After the whole...?"
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The line of South’s shoulders pulls tighter, tenser, and for a moment she isn’t even entirely sure he’s talking to her, rather than someone nearby. Why would he break the silence now?
And then she remembers how he’d called to check on her after the Price thing, when they still weren’t talking then. He really can’t help himself, can he? She doesn’t know how well this bodes for anything to have changed.
“I’m fine,” she says, trying and mostly failing to sound less tense than she is. “‘ve had worse.” A beat, then, “...you?”
Goddammit. She folds her arms tight under her chest. Anja’s head peeks out from the coil wrapped around South’s shoulders and throat, barely noticeable, to do something between glare protectively and watch uneasily.
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He glances over at Randi.
"We'll have to talk soon, sometime."
But now isn't the time. They have a mission to prepare for.
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Air hisses between her teeth like she's in pain. No, now isn't the time to talk, but it's also a hell of a time to plant the idea in her head, to make her hyper-aware that soon, the torture of waiting will be over, one way or another.
They're going to be here for days. Fuck, how is this fair?
(Not that she deserves 'fair', she supposes.)
But she forces something resembling composure and just nods. "...okay, yeah. Just— lemme know."
Her eyes flick down to Randi before she looks back at her brother's face, but she can't look at him for too long, either, so she just looks vaguely past him.
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"Okay."
He starts to continue on past, but eventually can't help angling his head back in her direction.
"You sure it's okay?"
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Anja's coiled even tighter around South's shoulders and neck; it's a gesture that's just as much about comforting South as it is about hiding, at this point. South can't say she isn't grateful, it's kind of grounding.
She forces herself to actually look at him. "It's fine, North. I'm fine. We talk when you're ready."
Until then, she just has to try and focus on this stupid mission and not get all caught up in her own head wondering what he's going to say to her.
no subject