songerein | Player Event: "Imbalance" [OPEN]

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Player Event: "Imbalance" [OPEN]

Who: Everyone! Even the newcomers! What a time to jump in, huh?
Which: OPEN Dreamscape
What: On the night of the 10th a strange dreamscape appears, dividing some dreamers into two, each bearing just half of themselves... how will they pull themselves together?
Warnings: Probably a lot. I trust you fine people to please mark your content appropriately should your threads make mention of anything triggering. I'm watching you.

Quiet nights never seem to stay quiet. It began with the slightest flicker within the crystal lanterns, a ripple, perhaps the sound of coins clinking together.

Then, with a distant scream, there was a torrent of blue and orange flame. It's hot but it doesn't burn, swirling and dancing with the frenzy of a desperate dancer. It blinds to familiar surroundings, twin colors that seemingly never end...

Until one's feet touches sand-dusted stone and marble. The air is hot and arid, ripe with burning kindling in myriad torches that line walkways. The flames rhythmically sway, catching the glimmer of golden archways and decor that embed the city... palace...? That lay before you.

Something is wrong. Really wrong. Something in you feels... different. Blank. But before you can comprehend it much further, something is running down the pathway in the distance to enter the palace like the devil was on its heels. That something looks just like you...

You pursue this weird other you... or, you don't. Perhaps you were drawn to the palace's splendor and decided to explore, maybe find some sweet treasure while you're here. Whatever the case, nothing about this place smells dusty or aged. It feels brand new... lined with statues and tapestries of what appeared to be great warriors, all humanoid and bearing twisted horns atop their heads and long, craggy tails covered in scales. But some of them have been altered in some way... some are missing their heads, and one or two "lucky" ones have simply had large claw marks ripped across their face. What would put claw marks in stone was anyone's guess.

Those who tire of the architecture may find some doors are unlocked. Yes, such a lavish place seems all too eager to lay itself bare for you, perhaps bearing a sparkly trinket or two to your liking. (Note: Unfortunately, any treasures obtained in the palace will only come back with you in the form of candies shaped as said jewels, crowns made of shortbread, tapestries spun from candy floss, etc. It's all food. Enjoy!)

Deeper and deeper you delve, either arms full of treasure or having bumped into friends who don't exactly act like your friends normally would, you find more motifs of the warriors, more intact the further you head through this weird city-palace. Near the center are statues depicting two... figures... each holding a pair of scales.

Yet no matter how much you wait and watch them, the scales continue to sway from one side to the other. There's nothing on their respective plates, however... what could be throwing them off?

If you place anything on the plates and mend the swaying scales, you are given a single shard of a strange crystal rife with dreamotion energy with a sense of wholeness and connection. It shifts colors as you turn it this way and that in your hand. Maybe that'll help put some of these people back together if fighting or talking to them won't do it...

[ooc: Information and Plotting post is here for easy review. The shards are meant to simplify putting people back together if needed, but are the only thing that can be taken into the semi-waking world as a pretty bauble. Also, a reminder that this is optional. Enjoy!]

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If he had been drinking something, there would have been a spittake with the last line. He'd never heard anyone say that before, especially to his face, or even in rumors...But, he couldn't deny that what she said was true, even if that phrasing was... interesting.

"Well, you aren't wrong, but I wouldn't phrase it exactly like that."

It was awkward coming from her, considering her relationship with one of his fellow Scions. But, this was a Dreamscape, and she was different from outside the Dreamscape.

"Maybe I should clarify my question, Why are you destroying statues of Magnai?"

She propped a hand on her hip. The smirk implored him without a word to, by all means, rephrase things for her.

But he had to go and ask obnoxious questions instead. Phooey. Her arms sank into a careless shrug.

"Who wouldn't, among those who know of the Little Sun? My Nhaama, my Nhaama, I need to find my Nhaama...! Pathetic. He needed to lead instead of going on some idiotic quest for a warm body to stick his wick into! It's no wonder the Warrior whipped the everliving shit out of him in the Naadam!"

She brought her hands together, her smile tight venom as her eyes glimmered in newfound steel.

"Like chowing on a plate of buuz, pieces of shit like HIM decide they want to keep picking and peeling and plucking each until they find one with the right filling, tossing aside ones with even a small seam, a crinkle, maybe not enough meat. Such a romantic quest...! Makes me all warm n' fuzzy-wuzzy inside!"

Well, that was an opinion to have of Magnai. Sure, his search for his Nhaama had been... interesting... to say the least. (Especially after talking to Y'shtola about her run in with the man.) But, he wouldn't have put it like that.

"So, someone looking for love doesn't fit in your description of a Khatun. I see." He moves to look at one of the broken statues, taking in the broken face of the former Khatun who sat upon the throne.

"What would you do instead, then?"

"Something significantly more respectful! It's the WAY he goes about it! Women of the Steppe are treasures all, experts in their chosen weapons, archers, hunters, warriors. A simple refusal would have sufficed! We are not so brittle, despite our smaller statures."

She spat to the side, and hit a broken statue.

"'Too skinny'. 'Not graceful enough'." A pause, and she tapped her chin as if to recall something.

"Ah, yes... I remember now: 'Nothing. Get her out of my sight.'"

Her smile was serene as she turned her gaze back to Thancred.

"My first great feast. So much anger burned inside for so long, but it was never enough! I was starving... Gods, I was such a happy Beast that day, but my happiness could do nothing against the sorrow of a humiliated, foolish heart."

She made long strides to approach him, hands coyly entwined behind her back.

"Instead I soothed that heart. I told it, no, no... that shit-for-brains has no worth to you. Let him wallow in his self-made loneliness. We will forever hate him for the humiliation he caused. We have worked too hard to be nothing."

She raised her hands and grabbed fistfuls of his clothing. With surprising force, she backed him against a wall and held him solid.

"I would rule with passion, Ser Thancred! Ferocity! I would make men and women of all races shiver in awe... in envy. Songs of my victories would be sung for generations amid the Qalli tribe, how one of THEM finally held the throne!"

Her laugh was low and soft, honey and silk. She leaned closer.

"...I would take lovers in my bed, all shapes and sizes, and praise them for their prowess. Their vigor. But I would choose only one in the end... one whose children I would in turn be honored to carry."

Thancred stood and watched, arms crossed, as she went on her rant. She wasn't wrong, really. The women of the Steppe were warriors in their own rights, he knew this for a fact, having met a few of them through his travels when the Warrior went through. The Dotharl for one. (For a moment, he wondered where Sadu fit in this story. But he wouldn't ask for the moment.)

He was trying to keep a bit of space between them, because he wasn't sure what this Madhuri would do at any given time. And it was probably best that that he did, considering she closed the distance and pressed him into the wall.

"An interesting goal for the Steppe, considering. Do you think G'raha would take well to living here?"

She wagered Sadu would have a lot to say about Madhuri stepping in, but she may be in too many waves of bliss from Magnai's sheer erasure to really pay it much heed. Besides, warring against Sadu would please both of them.

"I like to think so, curled up with a good book in a yurt. He's also quite capable with a blade and would likely breeze through Bardam's Mettle should he choose to do so, and should anyone question my choice of mate, perhaps I should remind them that we've a tribe that weds horses."

"An interesting question, nevertheless... why? Would you think of him as trapped there, Ser Thancred...?"

Oh yes, the tribe that weds horses. How could he forget that section of the Steppe. But, no commentary there.

"Call it curiosity." He pauses, looking down at her hands, as if asking to be let go. The wall isn't comfortable, you know.

"I doubt he would be trapped at all. I wouldn't think of him as such either. He cares for you, and would go to the ends of the earth for you. So, no. I wouldn't think of him trapped, unless you were to put him in some sort of a cage.

...Even a gilded one."

But, would she try.

They say there ain't no party like a Goro Tribe party, but she'll say 'neigh' to that.

Aw. He's uncomfy. She gave his chest an obliging pat and backed off. Her shoulders raised in a shrug, she frowned thoughtfully.

"You're quite sweet, looking after your friend... but I'm afraid I'm not into caging. That sounds more like that blood-soaked Empire that was too scared to set foot in our lands."

She put her hands to her cheeks and looked blissful.

"His adoration for exploration and adventure is but one thing I adore about him. It makes the world feel a little less like a shithole... like something that ought be explored, rather than resented! To think he never lost faith, even trapped in that tower for so long... it must have been so lonely..."

"Thank you." He adjusts the collar of his coat and takes a step away from the wall. He listens to her answer and just smiles. It's kinda cute to see the 'violent' side of Madhuri be so soft over her catboy.

"Well, that was one smart thing the Empire did. Even if it would have made it easier on the rest of us if the Steppe took care of the Empire." But, that was one of the smarter decisions the Empire did. Just, not messing with the Xaela at all.

"Yes. I never did get a straight answer on how long he was stuck in there before he ended up in the First. Then summoned the rest of us there. But, being stuck there and the Crystarium probably wasn't the most social experience. Especially since he was considered a leader after he was finally free of the Tower."

"...He takes us through dreamscape tours of the Crystarium. 'Tis a beautiful city, but it appears I was not overthinking in my concern over his status as leader after his trials. The people seem to have loved him dearly, but the man seems to have a nasty habit of shouldering far too much and thinking little of his own state."

She turned her head sharply at the sound of metal grinding. The scales swayed, seeming to begin to right themselves, if only slightly.

"My experiment here may have drawn him in. I see too many companions here, shattered." She paused.

"It isn't what I wanted out of this. Are you shattered too? ...Are the others?"

"Mmm. A lot of us, us being the Scions, tend to do that. Although he was pretty bad when he in his position as the Exarch."

He glances at the scales.

"What experiment? And also, what do you mean by shattered?"

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Player Event: "Imbalance" [OPEN]

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