[Written / ANON] - 001 ☼

[relinquishing]

[To wake up in the middle of the night wasn't the issue at all. His sleep hadn't been restful at all, considering what their travelling party was getting ready to do once the sun had risen. Even after all this time, having to fight Van was a tricky thing to try and think about.

But when he opens his eyes to the sounds of woods, the crackle of leaves and branches and rushing of water, he instantly knows something is wrong. The air against the bare skin of his chest is confusing enough, but it's the ache against his shoulders that makes this seem... familiar.

Too familiar.

Memories of months that he didn't even know existed were flowing back, all muddled and cloudy and hard to make out without giving himself a headache. He knew... he knew he had been here before. He knew this was Luceti. He knew he wasn't the first Guy Cecil to have been here.

And he knew Luke had been here as well. A flash of swords, of red hair, of split blood...

Luke lying in the grass, engulfed in a golden light, a dark-haired girl weeping at his side.

Guy jolts up, nearly tripping over the pile that contained his clothes. Without a light source, the only resort he is left to is fumbling around for what's on the ground, doing his best to change from his garments and look for the one item that he needed the most: his journal.

It's as he's groping for his other boot that he finds it, and he quickly pulls his footwear on before wandering to find an adequate light source. He had to send a message.]

PRIVATE - LOCKED TO Luke fon Fabre (!FAILED!)

Luke. It's Guy. If you're awake, I need to talk to you.

[...Wait.

Failed?

Guy can feel his heart pound in his neck. Next best thing - the girl that was, more or less, attached to Luke at the hip.]

PRIVATE - LOCKED TO Xion (!FAILED!)

Xion, it's Guy - Guy Cecil. Hey, I know it's late, but I need to know where you and Luke are.

[...

Failed.

He slams the book shut, jaw tight with fingers pressed firmly to the bridge of his nose. It was too late and his memories are too much of a mess. Had they still been here? He could have sworn... But the idea of Luke having never come back fro that previous memory is enough to make him sick. There was already plenty of suspicion for the Luke he remembered back home. For this one, who he'd watched vanish into thin air---

Screw that. Forget about asking around. Something had happened while he was gone. Perhaps too much. So he presses forward through the muddy ground, trying to find the river he knows he hears, all the while prepping his journal for another set of writing.

He'll just... start with the basics. There wasn't any need to lose his cool just yet.

Right.

...]

[Even with the sun already set, this author doesn't intend to be seen at all. The camera is intentionally covered as the text slowly appears on the journal's page.

First comes a foreign script, written hastily in a language that the writer knows only a handful of people will be able to understand. Whether they respond is a different matter.]

[Underneath it, another message, this time in the more common tongue. Might as well play dumb until he knows exactly what's going here. His mind is a little too muddled to try anything else, anyway.]

I guess we'll start with some basic questions -

Is anyone else here?

What year is it?

What direction is civilization from the river?

And what should someone be expecting to see in the woods this late at night? Can't really say I'm in the mood to get pounced on.


((ooc: For Abyss Cast's convenience: Anyone from Auldrant: Age, rank, background, really just your name will do. Respond if you can.))

Comments

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

[Such a bleeding heart would be awkward if this were a total stranger. But this isn't a total stranger.

He's not sure whether to chuckle or just feel incredibly uneasy. Maybe both. Both sounds appropriate.]

< Hey, everyone has their weaknesses. It takes a certain kind of person to be so honest and good-natured about it, though. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< Of course. Most lesser men would choose to hide their insecurities and weaknesses behind flimsy disguises, such as anonymous filters. Or something as simple as a charming smile and a light-hearted attitude. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< So does that make you one to go with the flow of the foolish men? Or is tonight just a night of poor choices? >

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< Poor choices are enough of a constant in any individual's life to not be able to constrained to just one night. > [Example: The entire game.] < Perhaps I simply prefer to hold a mirror up to another's foolishness. It's an unhealthy pleasure of mine. >

[Written, Anonymous] "kind of like bros" as they keep on insulting one another

[relinquishing]

< You could always just leave the fools to learn from their own mistakes. It's pretty sad, but not everyone is as ashamed of their own reflection as they could be. >

[Written, Anonymous] sounds about right

[yourfononsarewhack]

< It's a fair point. One's own reflection often tends to look unexpectedly handsome. You don't even seem to be disappointed by how awry your own attempt at an interrogation has gone. >

[When he did the anon trick upon first arrival, he tried relying on shock tactics to draw everyone out of the woodwork. And to ensure that they truly weren't memory-less replicas.]

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< If this was an interrogation, I'm sure we'd both be put to shame eventually. Neither of us seem very good at it. >

[Not right now, at least. It would be stupid to imply that Jade Curtiss did not know how to interrogate. It's like saying water doesn't know how to be wet.]

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< To be fair, I have not necessarily been trying. In that case, what exactly do you consider this conversation to be? >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< Nothing that special. Some interesting first impressions, to be sure. Maybe just a giant misunderstanding or two. >

[Not to mention another check on his mental headcount. Really, it could be anything.]

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< It sounds like business as usual. And here I thought I was special. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< Sure you are. Although I'm thinking you don't need someone like me fluffing up your ego. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< You sound quite confident that this is an ego that you're familiar with. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< I wouldn't say I'm that confident. Maybe I'm just someone who gets lucky sometimes. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< Perhaps you do, on some extraordinarily rare occasions. >

[Written, Anonymous] writing this on a ds. never again.

[relinquishing]

< Perhaps? Not sure whether I should be flattered or just call you cruel. >

[Written, Anonymous] haha i have mastered the art of ds tags

[yourfononsarewhack]

< It's possible that both can be equally fitting, so you should feel no need to limit yourself. >

[Written, Anonymous] teach me the ways of the stylus, gore-senpai

[relinquishing]

< The possibility of a possibility, huh? What a way to start making this confusing.

Thanks, though. >

[Written, Anonymous] it is a mystical art

[yourfononsarewhack]

< If you are only now starting to feel confused, then I must not be doing my job right.

Even beyond me, this place itself should be confusing enough for a newcomer. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

[Oh snap.]

< I've picked up a few things. Not enough to make much sense right now, but at least it's something. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< Enough to find your way out of the forest? Such a daring adventurer you must be. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< Nope, just lucky. A generous little guide told me easy directions to town.

No one's said much about these crazy wings, though. >

[Not that they're new to him.]

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< That might be because one pinch of a feather would be enough from which to infer the general basics of the wings. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

< You mean besides the fact that they're probably not going to come off anytime soon? >

[Written, Anonymous]

[yourfononsarewhack]

< Yes. There's also the pain accompanying just that, which should be reason enough to guess at why removing them entirely would rank among your worst ideas. >

[Written, Anonymous]

[relinquishing]

[It takes him a second to respond, only because that information gives him an uncomfortable flashback. Back to that sword, that flash of blood... and a shower of red and grey feathers.

...]

< I'll keep that in mind. Any idea why they're here, though? Seems like an awful lot of work just to give people a new set of appendages. >