JUMP TO MONTHLY PROMPT ↓
A TRAIN COMES INTO THE STATION.
You wake up on a train.
Your phone is buzzing. It's in your pocket, in your hand, on the seat next to you. It's a normal phone, and you're on a normal train car. One of the lights flickers, a little further down. The world is very quiet. It feels like you're right where you're meant to be. On the phone's surface is a white screen and the words—
WELCOME TO THE CITY. BEGIN ORIENTATION?
▶ NO
Please take a moment to complete your orientation.
Once you're finished, the subway doors slide open to let you out onto the train platform. To your right, the platform continues on and eventually ends; to the left is a set of stairs that will lead you up into the station itself. The platform is quiet, clean, empty—there's no one else around, and the only sounds you can hear are your own footsteps, your own breaths, and the occasional faraway sound of a creaking pipe or rush of air. The train you disembarked will stay there as long as you do, its doors still open, until you finally decide to venture up into this new locale.
As you make your way up the stairs to your left, you find yourself in the belly of City Hall station. The station is large, a sprawling underground mini-metropolis of corridors and storefronts. Here, you may find others like you, freshly-arrived city residents from other realms (or even your own). There is also a subway map, which will give you an idea of the layout of the neighborhood, and ticketing machines, which can currently only be used to buy tickets to a handful of stations located on lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9.
If you're hungry or in need of any kind of supplies, there are plenty of storefronts inside the subway station as well—snack stands, convenience stores, restaurants, clothing stores, a pharmacy, and a variety of empty shops that may or may not have ever been in use. Everything is unlocked, and you can take whatever you need.
Characters may stay on the train platform indefinitely, and may re-board and re-disembark from the subway as many times as they like, but the train will not depart nor will the doors close. Once they go up the stairs into the train station, they may hear the train doors closing and the train departing. Another train will not arrive, no matter how long the character waits. Only once they come up the stairs into the station itself may characters encounter their fellow newly-arrived residents and take advantage of what the city has to offer.
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WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
The station is located in the city center. It has three major exits that lead to areas of interest in the district, but there are several other smaller exits that lead in other directions around the neighborhood. You are welcome to use any of them, but may find the north, southwest, and east exits to be the most welcoming.
TO THE NORTH
The northern entrance to the station leads up into the sunlight and puts you out in a brickwork plaza. There's a modest building in front of you, three or four stories of stone with a welcoming facade. There's a sign above the entryway—it says City Hall. You may be tempted to explore, if you're interested in learning more about the city and how it functions, but prepare to find yourself disappointed—the folders in the records rooms are full of empty, blank sheets of paper, and the logbooks and balance sheets are similarly devoid of information.
Immediately to the southwest of City Hall, you will find a small building that houses the tourist information center. It looks welcoming, with an inviting glass facade and a sign above the entryway announcing it as the "TOURIST CENTER." It's a humble building with a receptionist's desk on the back wall opposite the entrance, empty magazine shelves lining the side walls, and a few spinning brochure racks full of blank pamphlets. Anyone is welcome to peruse the tourist literature, though they won't offer much information, being primarily filled with pictures of the surrounding area—City Hall, the park, a statue garden, and the surprisingly heavily-featured cemetery. There are a few sentences sprinkled throughout about basic offerings of the city, such as apartment complexes and office buildings, as well as a few maps with the same limited scope as the larger version on the wall behind the receptionist's desk.
TO THE SOUTHWEST
The western exit of the station takes you up into a city park, lush and green with a very light fog still hanging about the trees. There are lampposts on the walkways and benches where you could rest, and plenty of flora, although you can neither see nor hear any signs of animal life. You walk the paths that meander idly through the verdant grass and you feel a sense of peace, some of your unease about this place easing into a pleasant calm. The air smells fresh, like it's recently rained, and you'll find the grass ever so slightly damp should you decide to take a seat.
As you make your way deeper into the park, the trees grow denser and the smell of soil and plant life grows stronger. This is the older part of the park, very nearly a forest, with ivy climbing the trunks of the trees and plants and shrubs growing riotously around their bases. As you turn a corner, you find yourself first in the statue garden, although the statues are harder to see now, choked as they are with ivy. There are many statues, some partially obscured, some fully—very few of them still stand free of the vines and clinging roots. (It doesn't feel quite as peaceful here.) If a statue's face looks a little bit familiar, you may not want to look at it too long.
Continue down the path and you will find yourself in a graveyard, one that seems centuries old. Most of the headstones are worn away by time and covered in moss, rendering them impossible to read. The few that are free of moss are blank, or bear only suggestions of names too faint to be understood. (Was that the name of—no, it couldn't have been. Could it?) Many of the headstones stand at an angle or are toppled over completely, having been subjected to either strong winds or the roots of the trees that grow up from some of the graves, spreading branches toward the sky.
TO THE EAST
The final exit of the station, to the east, puts you out on a quiet surface street. Are you hungry? Or are you paralyzed by choice? There are plenty of restaurants, offering options of almost any food you can imagine. You could try a convenience store—it's well stocked, and the items there seem free for the taking. How about a restaurant? There's no one to take your order, but when you look in the kitchen, there's something on the stove, and it's just what you've been craving. Imagine that.
A few blocks down, you come in through the lobby of a tall building and find yourself in a corporate office. The fluorescent lights are steady and unforgiving, and the cubicles and offices are empty. There are a few pieces of paper on desks, a few folders left in organizers, but everything is perfectly blank. Despite how empty and quiet the office is, it nonetheless gives you the feeling that just a few minutes ago, this place was bustling with workers going about their daily business.
You enter another building and find yourself in the lobby of an apartment complex—finally, a place to rest. The first door you try opens easily into a completely empty living room, freshly vacuumed but without a single piece of furniture. It's a nice apartment, quiet, but with a little too much echo for your taste, maybe. Still, and perhaps oddly, you have no trouble envisioning what life here would be like.
The second door you open leads to an apartment that feels lived-in. Why does it feel lived-in? It's fully furnished with items that seem to go together perfectly, true, but the feeling is more than that—the room feels like someone was just here, maybe standing right in the kitchen only moments before you swung the door open. The air is a perfectly comfortable temperature, and it somehow smells like home despite that you've never once set foot here before. The refrigerator is stocked, and the cabinets are full of spices and flatware and kitchen utensils.
As you look around the living room, you find that there are pictures in frames on the walls and some of the flat surfaces—a seascape, a field, a shot of a city park bench. In each of the photos there's something just slightly wrong with the angle, as though the photographer were aiming for a subject that can no longer be seen.
Characters are welcome to explore the district around the City Hall subway station to their heart's content. The City Hall building itself contains several floors of offices and file rooms, but none of them contain any particularly interesting information. Nonetheless, characters may wish to team up with other newcomers and try to find some hints about the nature of the city. They can also spend a while in the park, the statue garden, or the graveyard. In the blocks surrounding the station there are plenty of options for food and housing, as well as office buildings, storefronts, and alleyways to look around. There are no workers in any of the buildings, and there does not seem to be an honor system for payment, nor any consequences for taking food from the stores or setting up camp in an apartment or office building.
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IT IS THE ULTIMATE SHADOW, THE DEFEAT OF CREATION.
In one section of the newly accessible portion of the city, nestled in among normal looking residential and commercial buildings, is a wide and relatively short and industrial-looking building with no windows and only one grand set of black glass doors set into one side. Above the entrance is a neon sign that plainly states ART. with smaller letters sm added to the front in metallic paint. Hopefully, this simple signage will give passersby the impression that this is an art exhibit of some kind, with a twist.
DO NOT TOUCH THE ART…
Once stepping through the front doors, guests will be greeted with a lobby with walls covered in vertical neon lighting that pulses in a rotating rainbow, and mirrored ceilings that make the space feel surprisingly small. To one side is a bar where various cocktails await pickup. They don't have any special effects, but being a bit tipsy might help enhance the experiences waiting for you beyond. There's also a rack of bottles behind it, stocked with the typical liquors and mixers, if you'd like to play bartender for a while. Thanks to the disorienting amount of colored lighting and dark corners, it may be easy to get lost and turned around in the large building, and guests may be surprised to find that they're unable to locate the exit (or entrance) while alone.
After leaving behind the lobby and stepping into the exhibit proper, you'll find yourself walking through a central winding hallway with large rooms branching off from it in both directions at regular intervals. Some of them are more interactive than others, but all of them are dimly lit except for the "art" that guests will find themselves in the middle of, encouraged to touch and participate in creative collaboration. A few of the simpler rooms include:
Hanging ropes that will light up where touched, changing color with the amount of kinetic force applied: purple for a brush of the fingers, red for a crushing grip. These pulses of light will travel out to either end of the ropes the longer touch is applied, and considering that the room is pitch black and seemingly endless thanks to the mirrored walls, you may want to find some help in lighting up the dark.
A sunken floor filled to the brim with translucent plastic balls. This ball pit is a literal bath of color with every-changing light shining up from the floor of the ball pit and diffusing through the balls. A wall of cubbies at the room's entrance awaits belongings and shoes that are asked to be removed by a polite sign at the top of the stairs that descend into the ball pit. Be careful, for the pit is deep and it's easy to sink beneath the surface if you sit or lie down; you may see some shadows of people a ways away from you, but if you wade through the balls to their rescue, you won't find anyone tangible there.
A small theater of benches all facing the back wall that is a single large screen. The display is a moving series of lines on a black background that give the audience the sensation that the room is moving, or they themselves are traveling through the space. Atmospheric music—mostly heavy bass and noise that's been timed with the movement on the screen—hums through the room and adds to the sense of immersion.
... IT MIGHT TOUCH BACK.
One of the more interesting rooms is actually divided into three smaller rooms, each with a heavy, sound-dampening door that only has a small square window set into the top of it. Through the window, you can see that there is a red room, a green room, and a blue room. Stepping into any of them will be a different experience where guests will be entirely immersed in the color—even the window is a one-way mirror from the inside, blocking out any sights from beyond. The longer guests stay in these isolating rooms, the more disoriented they'll become, and it's entirely possible that moods will shift from the experience. Be careful stepping back out into the exhibit itself, your eyes and ears may need time to adjust.
In the green room, guests may feel like they've stepped into a concentrated and unfiltered essence of nature. The speakers play a variety of animal noises layered with leaves rustling and branches creaking as they move as well as wind, rain, and other kinds of weather. Looking at yourself, or your companions if someone stepped inside with you, you see their eyes and teeth pop clearly in the bath of green, somehow more obviously animal than ever.
In the red room, the temperature is higher than the rest of the exhibit, not uncomfortably so but noticeable all the same. Looking down at your skin, you can see more of the blemishes, the dark spots or pale scar tissue that contrasts much more starkly. From hidden speakers in the ceiling comes a mixture of sounds that are hard to place as they're so layered over one another, but the overall noise is inorganic, discordant, unsettling. It's hard to focus, let alone look at anyone else you might be sharing the room with.
In the blue room, there is almost an absence of experience. The only sound is a low, steady hum that vibrates through you as you stand and close your eyes almost on instinct. Everything gets erased in the layer of blue that covers everyone and everything in the room, skin looking almost gray from the lack of any other colors that are so often associated with life.
The last room of note is completely black and empty except for three massive umbrellas of flowers and other plants that are suspended from the tall ceiling, illuminated by lights shining on them from above. Each umbrella is about as high off the ground as the average human and varying by a few feet or so, so that it's possible to stand or crouch beneath them. Once standing in their shadows below, guests will be able to hear whispers coming from above…
These whispers tell real secrets of city residents—past, present, and future—though names are never included. The secrets are told in their own voices, though, almost like confessionals to a confidant or their pillow in the dark of night. These secrets can be positive, negative, or simple fact. Some may be shocking revelations of guilt, or shy mutterings of love, or secrets spilled as if the speaker has never thought of this part of themselves before. There is a hush throughout the room, and if guests were to whisper to each other beneath the umbrellas, conversations would not be easily overheard.
Residents are encouraged to meet up in the bar with friends, grab some drinks, and then head into the art exhibit. It's also a great place to meet someone new as there will be plenty of interactions happening as everyone hopefully discovers a bit of their inner child. There's no right or wrong order to exploring the rooms, but residents will not be able to find the exit without the presence of another with them—even if you came alone, you're leaving with a friend!
For the Secret Garden whispers, players are encouraged to make up something scandalous to discuss with others or even have their own character's voices whisper to them from the flowers. Please remember to discuss with other players before including any information about existing and potential characters that may affect their gameplay.
Inspiration for this location includes 9 Lights in 9 Rooms as well as Hopscotch. Title is from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
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WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There are even some places that other residents have created! There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations. We highly recommend checking out the Character-Run Locations as well - they might be great places for new characters to get started!
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citycenter) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
citylogs2023-11-01 09:00 pm
no subject
I was too, for the first few days.
[With a sigh, he decides upon empathy, despite feeling like there are probably people here much better suited to walking a new person through this place. He resigns himself to answering questions as best he can with the near-complete lack of information they've been given about this place so far.
But the man's first question isn't about the city. It's about Onni himself, and where he comes from, and that throws Onni off a little. He glances back up to the statue, and then back to the golden-haired man.]
No. I don't know what Fjerdan means, but I'm not that. I'm Finnish.
[The first question that comes to Onni's own mind is to ask why that statue bothers the other man so much, but that seems too intrusive. So he just shrugs.]
If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer.
no subject
[ ...Not entirely unlike Nikolai, himself. Just his bad luck, that he was born the spitting image of his father. If he had been darker, maybe the
truerumors about him being a bastard wouldn't have been so widespread all his life. ]I'm afraid I've never heard of Finn. Our worlds must be different, after all.
[ He hadn't payed that much mind, when he overheard someone talking about the city drawing in people from different worlds. Nikolai had dismissed it as another incoherent piece of the dream's narrative. If he really is awake, and all this is real, that means... that could be true, too. ]
To be honest, I don't even know what to ask first.
[ He steals a glance back over his shoulder at the statue, a visible shudder running through him. The question he wants to ask, down to his bones, is why does that statue have my face? Nikolai tears his eyes away, tucking a stray bit of hair behind his ear. Best not to draw attention to it. He doesn't know this man or how he might react, if he were to notice the similarity. ]
Would you... give me the basics, ah...?
[ Nikolai realizes then that he hasn't asked the man his name, yet. ]
Perhaps starting with your name? I'm Nikolai. [ After a fraction of a pause, he adds: ] Lantsov.
[ If that doesn't earn some kind of a double take, then this is most definitely not his own world. ]
no subject
[A little nod, without any bitterness at someone getting the name of his homeland wrong. He's gotten used to this, to people being from places that have never heard of Finland or which are very, very different from his own world.]
Yes. You'll find most people here are from different worlds. Some people know each other but it's less common than people being from completely different places.
[Onni can see that he keeps staring at the statue, and he's starting to notice a sort of resemblance. The statue is like a monster version of the man in front of him, and Onni wonders what that's about but doesn't ask. Not just yet. Instead, he hums in his throat and watches as the man tucks back some of his hair and tries not to look anymore.
Onni is definitely going to ask about that. Later.]
I'm Onni Hotakainen.
[He says it without a blink of an eye, a moment of recognition of that name. To him, this man is just another man who's come to this place and doesn't know what's going on. Nothing particularly special, that he knows of yet. But you can't judge what's special about people until you know them, as far as Onni's concerned, though you can tell what's annoying right off the bat. So far though, this man isn't annoying at all.]
As for the basics, it's pretty simple. We were brought here for an unknown reason, but probably some social experiment, judging by the papers we found at the university. The food is mostly safe to eat, but some of it gives weird effects, mostly if it's in the part of the city that opens up every month. There is real danger here.
[He gestures to the healing scratch wounds across his face.]
But it's not as dangerous as home was for me. I don't know if it'll be the same for you. I don't know your world! But we weren't told why we're here or what for, or how we got here, they've told us nearly nothing, if there is a 'them' to do any telling. There's only a small part of the city we're allowed to look at. If you hit the edge, you end up going back into the part we're allowed to look at. People have been setting up in the houses and apartments, wherever is fine so long as people haven't already decided to live there. Sometimes a new part of the city opens up, and that area tends to be where the danger is, or weird things, like ghosts or people from home chasing you and hallucinations about killing or being killed, so I've been told.
[A pause.]
I think that's all. There might be more. If I think of it, I'll tell you!
no subject
Nikolai tucks that melancholy realization away for later, focusing on Onni. Either this man is a fantastic actor (always a possibility) or he has never heard of Nikolai. He generously takes the time to explain, giving the facts in a clear and straightforward way that makes Nikolai wonder if he has a military background. A social experiment... Nikolai isn't opposed to that on principle, but he isn't sure he likes being thrown into something like that without being asked.
...Especially if this place is as perilous as Onni makes it sound. Whatever had left those scratches on Onni's face must have been big. A tiger? When Onni says there is danger here, Nikolai replies with a subdued: ]
I can see that.
[ The wounds don't look deep enough to scar, at least. That's some mercy for Onni. Nikolai only realizes at that moment that he doesn't have his gloves, that his own scarred hands are visible. He flexes them self-consciously. He'll have to look into purchasing some... not that he has any money with him. ]
Ghosts and hallucinations? How tempting.
[ From the sound of it, he should be doing everything he can to avoid newly-opened parts of the city. The last thing he wants is for whatever weirdness is present there to draw out the demon.
...which is when it occurs to him that if he is stuck here, he will need to sleep here. He doesn't have his chains, he doesn't have his sleeping tonic, he doesn't have his friends to find him if he flies off who knows where in the night.
That is a much more urgent problem than the need for gloves. For now, he has no resources to draw upon to solve it. The only way to possibly begin to get those resources is to have allies. So Nikolai focuses, pushing the eerie statue far to the back of his mind and smiling at Onni. He has already demonstrated himself to be a helpful person who is willing to educate a new arrival. A useful sort of man to know.
Diplomacy is second nature to Nikolai. In a way it's soothing, to be able to fall back on such a deeply-ingrained skill. ]
What made your home so dangerous? A war?
[ In a way, he's revealing a bit about himself by making that assumption. ]
no subject
If you find ghosts and hallucinations tempting, maybe you'll like it here.
[Is there a distinct tone of judgement in that? Yes, yes there is.]
Though be careful, the ghosts are what did this to my face!
[Besides that, they'd reminded him of how the ghosts that had menaced Lalli and Tuuri and the others on the mission had been described, something unlike most other creatures out in the Silent World. It had been...particularly traumatic for him, because of that. Seeing those ghosts. Thinking about what they'd done to his sister and how she'd been injured. How she'd died.
For a moment, his eyes go red around the edges, because he's thinking of it too much, dwelling on it too much. Without a mission here, without something to occupy his time beyond making sure Brook doesn't kill himself, it's been almost impossible not to dwell on it.
If Nikolai is revealing anything about himself by making the assumption that it's a war at home making it dangerous, Onni doesn't get it, doesn't assume anything about Nikolai himself. Maybe about his world, but not him himself.]
No, it's not war. It's a disease called the Rash, which ended the Old World and corrupts the bodies and souls of the people who get it.
[His mouth tightens as he talks about it, his eyes flicking away from Nikolai, his even, steady gaze shifting for the first time.]
I only hope they decontaminated me well enough to make sure it didn't come here on my clothes.
no subject
Then again, maybe it's only fitting that he ended up in this place. He may not be a ghost, but he is without question a monster. What is that phrase Zoya sometimes says? Like calls to like.
Nikolai is not one to dismiss a warning lightly, but the intense look on Onni's face after he stops speaking seals it. In this place, ghosts are real and tangible and not to be trifled with. ]
How long have you been here? Surely if you had brought a disease with you, you'd know fairly quickly, wouldn't you?
[ It's half a reassurance, because the fact is that Nikolai isn't all that knowledgeable about diseases even in his own world, much less a different one.
A disease that ended a whole world... such a thing is unthinkable to Nikolai. He had been to university in Ketterdam and heard local tales, horror stories about outbreaks of plague. Such events were tragedies, but the world went on regardless. ]
How did you make your living, back in Finland?
[ See, he learns! Nikolai is starting from zero information, here, but he's found that men often enjoy discussing their work, whatever it may be. ]
no subject
When he asks how long Onni has been here, it takes a moment for Onni to calculate.]
Three weeks, maybe a little more.
[The question of whether the disease would've spread is something else, and Onni considers what he knows of the Rash. It's true that if there was an outbreak here, they probably would've known by now, people would've been falling ill already, or noticed the rash popping up on their bodies.]
You're probably right. It's probably fine. I did a sort of rudimentary decontamination when I arrived, maybe that was enough. But it might be worthwhile to ask if anyone's had symptoms shown up. Ah. That reminds me. Do you know what this is already?
[He pulls his communication device out of his pocket and shows it to Nikolai, a brow raised with curiosity. But Nikolai had asked him a question, and he takes a moment to answer.]
Ah, I was a mage in the military, in Keuruu, before I left there.
no subject
In the blur of everything that happened after, Nikolai forgot all about the strange gadget he found on the train. When Onni pulls his out and asks if Nikolai knows what it is, there is no point in dissembling. ]
Not in the slightest. I found one just like that when I woke up. I've never seen anything like it before.
[ ...Aaaaand in hindsight, if he'd realized he wasn't dreaming, he might have given different answers to the questions it asked him. He had been unusually candid and open. Nikolai is regretting that, now. Who knows what that information might be used for. ]
Ah ha, so I was right. I was guessing you were a military man. Takes one to know one.
[ This, finally, is something familiar. Something he can work with. Nikolai had enlisted in the infantry when he was only 16. He had spent years living the life of a common soldier, insistent on being treated no differently even though he was the prince. If the military in Onni's world is anything at all like his own, he will have some footing on which he can relate to this man. ]
A mage? So... magic, then. Is there a separate army for mages, or are they integrated with the rest? Or... is the army all mages? Can everyone do magic in your world?
[ The terminology might be different, but the idea of 'magic' isn't a foreign one to Nikolai. It's not the language that people use anymore, to talk about grisha and their powers. The small science.
He had started asking Onni questions about himself in the hopes of charming him and making an ally, but Nikolai finds himself more and more to be fascinated by the answers. It is sinking in properly, now, that he's speaking to a man from a wholly different world. He finds himself brimming with questions, eager to learn and enjoying having a conversation that isn't for once about his terrible nighttime affliction, or about Zoya's attempts to arrange his marriage, or about Ravka's debts, or about the looming war with Fjerda, or about new cults worshipping the man who'd made Nikolai's life a living hell. It is so nice to just... make a new friend. ]
no subject
[It only seems fair, after Daniel had been kind enough to show him how to use it early on. When Nikolai says he'd guessed he was a military man, Onni raises an eyebrow slightly. Military, in the style of the Finnish Silent World, is probably more laid back than what this man might be used to, less regimented, but it is the military nonetheless.]
You're military too, then? What's your occupation, in the military?
[He finds himself genuinely curious, in spite of himself, because this man has been pleasant enough, not annoying or stupid, like he'd be a waste of time to talk to. There seem to be a lot more people like that in this place than there had been at home. People who don't overreact to everything or assume things they shouldn't or can't think straight enough to formulate a proper plan. He does seem to want to know a lot about Onni, though, which...isn't unwelcome, but is a little bit of a surprise. That's something else that goes on here that doesn't so much at home. People almost never check in with him or want to know what's going on with him, back home, besides one or two friends he has.]
Yes, magic. The mages are integrated with the rest of the army, but not everyone is a mage. Most people can do small spells but not everyone has a strong enough luonto, or the ability to hear trolls and beasts, which is where the borderline of actually being a mage is.
[At least he's not one of those people who doesn't believe in magic, like the Danes and Swedes, and a few people he's run into here. In fact, he seems pretty familiar with the concept of magic.]
So you have mages where you come from?
no subject
[ Nikolai doesn't know yet which of his skills might be useful in this place, but he is mindful of how much Onni is helping him. He ought to be able to make that debt right. Everyone has some favor that they need. Firewood to be cut, errands to be run...
When Onni asks his occupation in the military, Nikolai has to stifle the impulse to laugh. It's going to take some getting used to, being in a place where no one knows him. He debates telling Onni that he is King of Ravka, and as such the leader of both the First and Second Armies... but perhaps there is a way to avoid getting into all that, without outright lying. He's enjoying the break from being a monarch, for just a little while. It reminds him of his days living as Sturmhond - but even then he'd been captain of his ship. The man giving the orders and making the decisions. ]
I started in the infantry. I rose in the ranks to Major, before my service was over.
[ All of it is the truth. He just... leaves out some of the later details.
Nikolai listens with genuine fascination, wishing that David were here. He commits what Onni is saying to memory - he'll just have to tell David all the details when he gets home. Whenever that might be. ]
Trolls? What is a troll?
[ There must be some magic in this place allowing them to communicate - since Nikolai doubts very much that Onni can speak Ravkan - but it doesn't seem to work on terms he has never heard before. ]
Yes and no. There are some people with powers - they're called Grisha, though, not mages. And it isn't really magic, what they do. Some see it as miracles, but most of the Grisha I know think of it as a science. They can manipulate matter in a way that others can't. Some of them control the elements - fire, water, wind. Some of them control the human body - heal a broken arm, drop your heart-rate until you faint. Some of them control material things - metals, chemicals, all that.
[ He spreads his hands and adds with a shrug: ]
But I haven't got a drop of Grisha power in me.
[ There is a very different answer to Onni's question, of course. Grisha power is not magic because it exists within certain scientific bounds. It can't create matter, can't create life where there was none, can't transgress against certain fundamental laws. But of course, there was the Darkling and his merzost. It is the word for both 'magic' and 'abomination'. The power he had drawn on during the civil war had been an aberration against the natural order of the world.
And he had made Nikolai an abomination, with it. ]
no subject
[If there's one thing Onni will probably never understand, it's these people who ask him what they can do to repay him for the simplest things. Cooking a stew first, and now this. It seems like the most basic thing, to simply tell someone else what's going on in this place. To make someone something to eat when they're starving. And yet people insist on asking him how to repay him.]
There's no need for repayment. Why do people keep asking me that? Anyway, Major sounds impressive.
[It's said without much intonation one way or another.]
A troll is something that used to be human, before it was infected by the Rash and became something else. A misshapen, mutated creature that seeks only to infect those who haven't been infected yet. Or to eat them.
[He listens with interest to what Nikolai has to say about Grisha and how they manipulate things. Elements. The body. Materials. It's interesting to say the least, and he makes a little 'hm' of acknowledgement here and there while he listens, trying to understand how it works. Somehow, it sounds both simpler and much more complex than his own style of working magic.]
For my magic, I call upon the gods with runo spoken in Kalevala metre. We can't be too far from Finland because somehow the gods still hear me here, even if it's only a little.
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Nikolai isn't sure, but he's curious to find out. ]
That's...
[ He is lost for words. Onni's description of trolls - something infected by a force that mutated them, made them mindless and inclined to eat humans - caught him by surprise. It's not the same. Nikolai is sure it's not the same as what the Darkling did to him. But it still hits too close to home. It cracks his composure, and the glossy charm is gone when he finds his voice: ]
That's so. Awful. I've never heard of a disease that could-
[ Nikolai breaks off, shaking his head. It makes sense, now, how a single disease could be cataclysmic in the way Onni described. If it is a transmissible disease that turns people into monsters who seek to infect or consume other humans - that would be fairly world-ending, wouldn't it?
At least his own affliction is not contagious. One thing he'd never thought to be grateful for. ]
And they can't be cured?
[ He phrases it as a question, but something about the way Onni had spoken... Nikolai is pretty sure he already knows the answer. He feels like his stomach has turned to lead. No hope for those poor monsters, and likely no hope for him, either. But he can't afford to think about that. Not right now.
He doesn't recognize some of the words Onni uses, but context gives him a general idea. Onni's magic comes from gods, or so Onni believes. ]
So you use your magic to - to fight these trolls?
[ A seed of an idea is planting itself, somewhere in the back of Nikolai's mind. Maybe it is a piece of luck, that Onni is the one he ran into today. If Onni has experience with holding his own against monsters... maybe... ]
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It is awful.
[He frowns, thinking back to the photos he'd found at the university, of the Rash and its progression. Tries not to think about the same disease and what it had driven his sister to.]
No. There's no cure. We've been trying for 90 years to cure it, and nothing works. I think once they get to that point, the only thing to do for them is kill them and guide their spirits to Tuonela.
[He looks at the other man thoughtfully, noting that he's looking...affected. It seems he's either exceptionally empathetic or it reminds him of something that hits closer to home. That's about the extent of Onni's ability to read other people, and he's not sure which it is, compassion or familiarity.
When he asks about whether Onni uses his magic to fight the trolls, Onni frowns a little bit, thinking about the times he's used his magic to fight trolls. How useless it had been to protect his sister, despite what a show of powerful magic it was. He also remembers times in the Silent World that he'd killed monsters, with Tuuri guiding him towards the ones he could kill safely.]
Yes. Sometimes. Usually I used my magic to protect and defend the place I lived. In the Silent World, I more often used my spear or bow and arrows to take care of monsters. But I can use my magic for that...it's weak here, though, compared to home.
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But Nikolai has never been one for just accepting things. No matter how insurmountable the odds, he has always believed that change could happen. Even if he had to fight and claw and toil for it his whole life. He believed that Ravka could be better.
He speaks carefully, measuring the words, not wanting to give offense. ]
In my world, there was a place called the Shadow Fold. It split my country in two, and crossings were very dangerous - the Fold was full of creatures called Volcra that were drawn to noise and light. They would kill any traveler who was careless or unlucky. For 400 years it was a scar, splitting Ravka down the middle. But it was finally destroyed. Just three years ago, someone finally found a way. I was there when it happened.
[ Nikolai gives a small shrug. He doesn't know if the same could be true for Onni and his world. If they would ever have a Sun Summoner of their own, or whatever equivalent might put an end to that horrible disease. But he does know that 90 years is not long enough to give up. ]
All I mean is... I do hope someone finds a way, someday.
[ So he is a fighter - not just with magic, but conventional weapons as well. Interesting, that he didn't mention guns. But perhaps they don't exist, in Onni's world. And this is the second time he's mentioned his magic is weaker. Nikolai wonders how a Grisha's abilities would function, here. Perhaps it is best Zoya is not here. Nikolai doesn't imagine she'd be very pleased with anything tampering with her power.
Fascinated as he is learning about Onni - what was that he'd mentioned, about guiding spirits? - Nikolai is interrupted by a rather rude growl from his stomach. He set a hand on it, an apologetic look on his face. Come to think of it... he hasn't eaten since yesterday. Zoya had interrupted him before the monster could find any prey, and now that he knows he's awake and trapped in this place he's realizing that he's actually quite famished. ]
I don't suppose you know somewhere I could buy a meal, in this place?
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He listens with interest as Nikolai explains the Shadow Fold and the creatures in it. It sounds like a small slice of the Silent World in an otherwise normal world, and Onni thinks for a moment that they were lucky the Volcra couldn't escape the Fold. Couldn't get out to wreak the havoc that trolls and beasts had wreaked on the Old World. It existed for 400 years, and had only just been destroyed, finally.
For a moment, Onni tries to consider what the point of the story is. Perhaps, that things can change. That type of optimism is foreign to him, and when Nikolai states his point at the end, Onni makes a sound in his throat of acknowledgement.]
I suppose you're right. I know they'll keep trying to cure it, and eventually, maybe someone will. But I doubt it'll be in my lifetime, so what's the point in hoping too much for it right now?
[A wry sort of expression, and he shrugs his shoulders. The truth is, Onni doesn't like something tampering with his power either. Severing his connection to the gods, either through distance or some other form of power. He hates it, frankly. But there's nothing to be done about that either.
It's then that he hears Nikolai's stomach growl, and makes a little 'hn' of something like amusement.]
I could cook you something. Stew or something like that, over the fire. Or there are restaurants here, where there's prepared food in the kitchens but no one to cook it. I haven't tried that type yet, because I worry it could be contaminated or have strange effects. There are also grocery stores and such that we could go to, for ingredients. Take your pick, I can show you where they are.
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Hope can be a useful tool in the right hands.
[ He says it casually, but the words are anything but. It's a little admission - that he is not necessarily someone who is inherently hopeful, but that he's someone who thinks a great deal about how hope can be used to achieve a desired effect. Nikolai doesn't often let it slip, this instrumental way he has of thinking.
Nikolai isn't picky, and a stew sounds perfectly good to him. But if Onni cooks for him now, he'll be no better off when it comes time to find food for himself the next day. So he says: ]
If you show me where the stores are, I'd be delighted to help you cook a meal. Though... I'm afraid I have nothing got to pay with.
[ The king didn't exactly walk around the palace with money in his pockets - and besides, whatever powers had brought him here had snatched him up from his bedroom. He's lucky he even arrived with shoes! ]
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It's interesting, though, how he says that hope can be an interesting tool.]
Oh? A tool?
[It sounds like a technique for manipulating people, the way he says it, and Onni regards Nikolai for a moment with his head tilted to the side, considering him in a slightly new light.]
Ah, yes. There's no need to pay. Nothing here costs money.
[He shrugs.]
You can just take things. They come back, after a few days.
[With that, Onni starts walking toward the big grocery store he frequents, his mouth already watering as he considers trying something new from the 'snack' aisles. Being here, he's already acquiring a taste for new and unique sweets.]
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There are some people who will keep on fighting to the bitter end, even knowing that the odds are stacked against them, because they are committed. But in my experience, a lot of people aren't like that. Most people. They need hope in order to keep them going, when things are difficult. They need someone to tell them a story with a happy ending, or else they'll give up.
[ Nikolai looks away from Onni, down at his hands. Nikolai loves people. He loves getting to know them, learning them like puzzle boxes. He likes meeting people from far-off lands and common people from the heart of Ravka. But he also understands people, very well. He knows how his people would react, for instance, if they found out about his affliction. The superstition. The fear. The disgust and hate.
His voice is lower as he adds, still staring at his scarred and black-stained fingers: ]
Without hope, people turn on each other. They target whoever they see as weak or different and are cruel to them in order to feel powerful. If people don't have hope, they will chose what's familiar and easy instead of what is right. So... yes. Giving them hope can be a tool. Even if it is sometimes more than half a lie.
[ He looks up finally, his hazel eyes on Onni, assessing. Gauging his reaction. Would he understand?
Nikolai gets to his feet, following in the direction that Onni leads. Now that he knows this place is not a dream, he pays much more attention to where he's going. He points out various things on the way there, asking their function. The idea that this place does not run on money is so absurd to him that he can't entirely process it right away.
The store is both similar and dissimilar to the markets that Nikolai is used to. Some things - mostly the fruits, vegetables, and staples like bread and rice - are familiar to him. But many other things are incomprehensible. He holds up one strange package, asking with incredulity: ]
This is food?
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Onni's eyes follow Nikolai's to his hands and for the first time he notices the scars and discolouration there. Wonders about it, and what it might have to do with the statue that had resembled a messed up monstrous version of the man in front of him. He doesn't ask, though, not yet, doesn't feel like he knows Nikolai well enough to pry on that level. Not yet. He finds himself inclined to get to know Nikolai, though, which is unique in and of itself.]
I see. It sounds like you're a leader, back home where you come from.
[An observation stated without much emotion one way or another. Leaders are useful. Onni himself is not a leader, and he knows it, though he's not exactly a follower either. He's something else, a lone wolf, someone who keeps his own counsel and follows his own rules. He wonders what Nikolai would make of a person like that.
As they move through the city, Onni answers Nikolai's questions as best he can. Some of his answers are a guess, and he makes sure to make it clear to the other man when he is just guessing. The idea that the place doesn't run on money is counter to his expectations too, but maybe a little less surprising. There had been a lot of barter and exchange rather than use of money in his little village.
When they get to the store, Onni picks up one of the handy baskets near the entrance and puts it over his arm.]
What do you want to eat?
[Best to know that before wandering aimlessly, though Onni finds his steps directing him to the snack aisle before long. When Nikolai shows him the bag and asks if it's food, Onni's brow raises.]
I think so. If it's food, it'll have one of these on it...
[He picks up another of the bags and turns it, pointing to the nutrition information box on the back.]
That's something I learned recently.
[A pause, as he reads the description of the food in the bag, and then he puts one into the basket, picking up another to open it.]
Let's try it. If it's in this aisle, it's bound to taste good.
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But just hearing him speak, Onni said he sounded like a leader. A pleasant warmth spreads through Nikolai's chest. He could tell Onni, now. It's a good opportunity to do so. Not mentioning that he's a king will indeed be close to a lie of omission. At the same time... Nikolai finds that he wants to go on like this. Just a while longer.
So, with a hint of humor in his voice, he says: ]
Something like that.
[ At the store, Nikolai copies Onni and takes a basket, tucking it into the crook of his elbow. He finds himself drawn to the displays of fruits and vegetables. After a moment's meditation, he starts picking up one of everything he's never seen before and tucking it into the basket. ]
I'm not going to know which of these are good until I try them.
[ But a random assortment of oddly-colored fruits does not a meal make, and so he admits: ]
I have to admit, my cooking skills are... rudimentary. You mentioned stew. I would be happy to help make that?
[ Just the thought of it is enough to make his stomach growl again, and Nikolai thinks of the monster. When it had first started to emerge, he'd had a few days when he hoped that going to bed on a full stomach would be enough to keep it at bay. It had, of course, not helped one bit.
On the walk over, Onni had mentioned that there are no animals here. No farms with geese, no cows in fields. No prey for the monster to go after, apart from people. The weight of it hits him, then. Nikolai just sort of... stops, that bag of bright-colored edible fluff in one hand, his shoulders slumping.
He doesn't know what makes him decide. Maybe it's desperation, or maybe it is the impression he has gotten of Onni as they walked and spoke together. ]
Onni. There's a problem.
[ Nikolai swallows, feeling uncharacteristically small, and lost. He doesn't look up from that bag. There is a possibility, he knows, that Onni will take this news very badly. Hell, Nikolai might end up needing to run for his life. This is someone who was skilled at killing monsters, in his own world. But it's the only option Nikolai has, right now. ]
I have a problem, and I need help.
[ Nikolai feels light-headed and oddly disconnected from himself. How is he even going to begin to explain? ]
If I'm going to be stuck in this place, I'm eventually going to need to sleep. Only, the thing is... it's very important, for everyone's safety, that when I go to sleep I be... contained. Restrained, ideally, but if there is a windowless room with a very sturdy door you can barricade, that might do in a pinch.
[ Nikolai is fairly sure that if he isn't tied down, the monster will batter itself against the door and walls trying to escape, but he could deal with a few bruises. Better that than waking up over some innocent person's half-eaten corpse. ]
After we eat, could you- would you help me find somewhere safe, and- and make sure I can't get out?
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Ah. Well, you'll have to tell me about it sometime.
[While Nikolai is investigating the fruits and taking one of each that he's never seen, Onni heads over to the vegetables and picks out potatoes and turnips and onions, some celery, before he goes back over to where Nikolai is still picking at the fruit. He chooses a few favourites of his own, having already done what Nikolai is doing quite some time ago. Fruit, after all, is an expensive delicacy where he's from, and one he'd wanted to try to its fullest. He selects a pineapple (a pain to peel, but perfectly sour-sweet) and grapes and oranges, putting them in the basket.]
They're worth trying. And as for the stew, sure. You can help me make it if you like. I can teach you how, too, if you want.
[He's about to open that little bag of cotton candy and try some when Nikolai seems to sober suddenly, his shoulders slumping as he says that there's a problem. That he has a problem, and he needs help. Onni listens him out and then is silent for a few moments. He tucks the open bag of candy into his cart and frowns a little at the other man.]
What happens when you sleep? Are you a werewolf or something?
[A pause, as he considers that final question, his expression tightening. He's not going to do any of those things Nikolai fears, shout or curse or threaten him or draw weapon. Nikolai seems like a reasonable man, someone with a good head on his shoulders, which is something Onni doesn't think about many people. Whatever it is, something can be figured out.]
A place where you can be restrained and contained. I can think of a few options.
cw: cannibalism
Nikolai is silent for a long time, bottom lip drawn between his teeth. He turns over the words in his mind. What he needs to say, what can be left out. How to make Onni understand that he is very dangerous in a way that won't get him killed on the spot. ]
It's a very long story. I'm not going to bore you with most of it.
[ He sets down the shiny bag and holds his hand out, fingers splayed. Nikolai turns it over in the air, looking at the scars running from his fingertips up over his knuckles and along his hand, up to the wrist. ]
A few years ago, I was infected with living darkness. It made me into a monster. I was... mindless. I could barely think or remember who I was. And it made me. Hungry.
[ Nikolai swallows, but keeps talking, merciless to himself. He ignores the crawling horror that leaves him breathless and shaky whenever he thinks about that period of his life. He can't afford the luxury of not wanting to talk about it. ]
For people, specifically. I tried to control it, but- I don't remember that time very well.
[ He isn't sure what he might have done, during that period. How many people he could have killed, and eaten. Nikolai forces himself to breathe out, slowly, eyes still locked on his scarred hands. ]
When... the person who did this to me died, I became human again. I thought I was cured. But a few months ago, the monster started coming back when I went to sleep. At first it was only every few weeks, then every week. It's every night, now. It only lasts until I wake up. But-
[ Nikolai breaks off with a desperate sort of swallowed laugh: ]
I can't be awake forever. Back home, I had a system. I had a sleeping tonic to make the monster sluggish, and steel chains to keep me in my bed, and- and a friend who would come back every morning and to let me free.
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It reminds him of trolls in the worst way possible, especially when he looks at Nikolai's hands, dark-stained and scarred. It's not the same as the lumps of flesh that trolls become, but it's certainly not exactly human. The hairs at the back of his neck stand up, but he reminds himself that this is different than the Rash. This isn't the Rash. Nikolai had been a monster, for a time, one that hunted and ate people, and the horror of that settles into Onni's soul for a moment. It looks like the horror is getting to Nikolai as well. Onni can see him shake, can hear the breathlessness in his voice.
It occurs to Onni that this can't be easy, telling someone about this. Talking about it. Explaining it to a stranger. He then goes on to explain that the affliction has been coming back when he sleeps, that every night he turns into this creature that hungers for human flesh and needs to be restrained, contained, to keep him from getting out and hurting people. Killing them.
For a few moments after Nikolai is done, he's quiet, and then he exhales, eyes sinking shut and then opening again as he looks at the other man.]
It seems you might be one of the more dangerous things here. But you're trying to mitigate the danger, and I appreciate that. I'm sure everyone would.
[A pause, while he tries to get his thoughts together, going over the precautions that Nikolai had taken when he was at home and trying to work out how to duplicate those things here.]
I think we can do it. We could ask the doctor if there's anything in the pharmacies like your sleeping tonic, we could find chains at a hardware store, and I could come to let you free in the morning.
[He takes a deep breath. This is scary. It's a lot of responsibility. But he'd destroyed the kade to keep people safe and he's not going to just ignore the safety of everyone in this place now. What if the monster eats Brook, or someone else?
No. It has to be taken care of.]
Our powers here are weakened. I hope that means that this monster is, too.
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He keeps his voice steady with effort, forcing himself to look up and meet Onni's pale blue eyes. ]
I don't want to hurt anyone. And although I'm confident we can find some way to neutralize the threat, I want you to know that... if it all fails. If things go so badly that there's truly no other option, I'd rather be put down than prey on innocent people.
[ His jaw is set, a hardness in his expression that hasn't been there up until this point. Nikolai doesn't want to die. He needs to make it back home. There are so many people relying on him. But he would rather be dead than trapped as the monster again. And Onni seems like a good option, to trust as his fail-safe. ]
That sounds like a plan of action. I'll confess, when you first told me your magic is weakened, here, I hoped... but there's only one way to find out.
[ For all he knows, there will be some sick twist of fate and the monster will be twice as strong here as it was back home. No way of knowing in advance. Nikolai hates how little he understands his own affliction. If only it were something he could study and analyze, perhaps it wouldn't terrify him so much. But all logic and experimental process seems to go out the window, when it comes to his uninvited guest.
Speaking of windows... ]
Something to make me sleep deeply, and chains, and a room with no windows.
[ Grimacing, Nikolai shrugs and admits: ]
The monster has wings and no compunctions about a little broken glass. Even though I'm the one who wakes up to all the cuts.
[ It's scary for Nikolai, too. He doesn't see any alternative, but even so... this is a man he met only a short time ago. A total stranger to him. And he's telling this man information that he has worked desperately to keep secret for years, and asking him to chain him up and leave him completely defenseless overnight. It would be so easy for Onni to just kill him once he's bound. Or to forget him and leave him like that. Or- who even knows what other nightmare scenario.
At home, it had at least been his own bedroom, in his own palace. It had been Zoya who came every night and every morning to lock him up. They had known each other for years, had fought together in the civil war. She was his trusted general, his second in command. Onni seems like a good and generous man... but people can seem to be so many things they are not.
His voice is tinged with regret as he goes on speaking: ]
I know I'm putting a lot on you by asking for this, Onni. This doesn't have to be a permanent arrangement. Just... until I get my bearings here.
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But on the subject of dying...]
I've been told death isn't permanent here, so that's something. If worst comes to worst and you can't be controlled, and I have to kill you, you'll come back. Or so I've been told. So we'll need to learn to control this, either way.
[The sinking feeling in his gut remains. Onni has never killed a person before, not someone who wasn't a troll. He's interacted with the dead, he's guided spirits home to Tuonela, but he's never killed a man, and the idea sits badly in his gut. The idea of doing it is repugnant, something he would never want to do, something he isn't sure he'd have the guts to do.
They'll have to keep this under control somehow.]
I hope it's weakened as well. It would only be fair, but this place is not exactly fair in how it treats us.
[Feeling suddenly exhausted, Onni lifts a hand and pushes it back through his hair, closing his eyes and sighing deeply. It has wings. That just makes it all the better, doesn't it?]
Alright. There are buildings with basements here, maybe a basement room would be best. And I'll ask the doctor about something to make you sleep. It might be good for you to get in touch with him as well. His name is Daan and his username is "loveless," I believe. You can find him by looking on the communication device.
[There seems to be so much to do, to think about now. They'll have to sort it out before the nighttime, before Nikolai has to sleep. Onni feels tired and there's a sick pit in his gut at the thought of all of this, what rides on it, and the dangers.]
It's fine.
[He says it a few moments after Nikolai says that he knows it's a lot to put on someone, that it doesn't have to be permanent.]
At home, I did protective and defensive spells for the place I lived. I can do a few of those as well.
cw: alcohol
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cw: alcohol [ongoing from here]
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