EVENT LOG 006

[larkers]

WHO: The Displaced
WHERE: Zerzura
WHEN: December 12 (?)
WHAT: A visit to another world.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Loss of autonomy, some psychological horror, references to self-sacrifice (and the inherent implications therein).

> EVENT LOG #006

No matter where a member of the Displaced is, the pull to another world comes at once. One moment the Displaced may be working a job, and the next moment they'll find themselves in a white-walled laboratory, fluorescent lights a constant overhead. There's no transition at all. The only indication of where they are is a metal plaque on the wall next to a door that reads: "Project Spinetail: Arrival Station." Unlike any of the doors in New Amsterdam—or anywhere else in Meadowlark's world—these doors have handles, and a physical lock.

About five minutes later, a nervous woman walks inside carrying a clipboard. She seems to hide her face behind it, and an accompanying guard looms behind her, nearly a whole foot taller. He doesn't give away much of how he feels, expression impassive. The woman begins to speak soon after:

"I'm sorry for the abrupt arrival, but getting you here was urgent. My name is Angelica Crane, and I'm the lead scientist for Project Spinetail. I know that bringing you here with no warning, against your wills is unfair, but this was the only way to speak with you—and to save you. I confess, we seek salvation for ourselves as well. Our world is new and growing; we don't know how we came to be, but we know we're in danger of disappearing. We have studied the world you've come from, and we know that it's dying. There is no helping that world—but ours has a chance to survive. We believe that you may be the key to that. We want to work with you to harness the energy inside of you and find a way to help this world. We've been watching, and we think that energy will be what saves us. Saves our city, our world, and our families.

We won't force you. We can't force you. But please, there's nothing you can do for that other world, and there is so much good you can do here. You can make this world real.

Let us show you our world. After that, we'll make our real pleas. We hope that you'll understand why we went to such extremes."

Soon after, the door opens again, and another set of guards await on the other side. Doctor Crane seems intent to lead this parade of newly re-Displaced individuals through her world, and she marches forward.

Where she leads them is through an open door, beyond which a large sight-seeing double decker bus waits. On the side, there is a splash of orange and gray, with the logo of Project Spinetail at its center. For anyone who visited the spear or the underwater facility in the Dreamscape, the walk outside is undoubtedly eerie. The outside of the building the Displaced arrived at bears many structural similarities to the underwater facility they encountered in the dreamscape. And the bird—the spinetail—is the same type as the four singing birds that were once on the spear.

As the tour proceeds, Doctor Crane will be happy to answer most of the questions headed her way.

How did they transport the Displaced over to Zerzura?
"Well, this is a bit odd, but we found that our world thrums with a quantum signature that we then identified in readings from your world. That's the blue energy, or power, that exists in each of you. We locked on to it and drew you through the barrier."

What do you mean by blue energy? Quantum signature? How do you intend to harness it?
"This is just a theory, of course, but I believe … well, we hope—that by being here, you'll end up helping strengthen our world. By adding more of that power, by having you here and utilizing your abilities, you'll be able to help fortify our world. I'm sorry that it sounds a little—ah, unscientific. Consider this a leap of faith."

If that doesn't work out, what comes next?
"Unfortunately, we can't just—we can't replicate the process here to put you back. It was a one way trip. We hope you can understand the need to get you out of there."

So—what happens next with us?
"We hope you'll make your home here. This is truly a wonderful world—you'll see."

And how do you know that world is dying?
"We get—sometimes the lines between that world and ours … blur? Not as if they are one and the same. Don't misunderstand me! It's—we get readings. Something happened there, very recently. It's … accelerated. We saved who we can."

And what about Governor Henries? He's mentioned time and time again in this tour. Can we meet with him?
"That's—Governor Henries is a private man. And he's often … he has a lab, one that even we don't know the location of. He gets up to his work alone, and demands a great deal of privacy. So … you see—he'll be rather busy. Not with you all. That's … he's leaving that to us. It's just—you see—" Doctor Crane doesn't finish her thought, flushed and awkward. She turns and draws everyone into their next location, speaking loudly to ensure no one can follow up at the moment.

There are sure to be other questions. Any questions about the links between this world and the dreamscape—even if not put in that context—will be met with a blank stare. Clearly, Project Spinetail is not an underwater facility, and no, none of their scientists have recently met an untimely death! There aren't any ghosts—despite the … unique nature of all of this, there isn't anything supernatural going on, at least as far as any of the scientists can tell. Project Spinetail is a scientific institution working for the people of Zerzura! But what day is it? Well, they haven't worked out a calendar yet. Everything is evolving. Everything!

Zerzura itself is a wonder: every building is made out of limestone, with a cross of modern and Greco-Roman architecture. The buildings are never too tall, never too gaudy, and meant to be welcoming. Every place in Zerzura has an open door policy, inviting someone inside at any hour. The people of this world have a universal basic income, and when that's not enough, no-one is stingy about extending credit, or strict about collecting on it.

Despite the weird nature of Zerzura—in many ways, it does seem to be a very, very new world—there are families with multiple children, and the people here thrive in idyllic splendor. Though there is a governor, he doesn't seem to be particularly involved in governing the world beneath his purview. There is no signage with curfews or laws, and though there is a citywide guard, they have limited facilities to keep someone in holding.

Zerzura is a perfect world—an oasis, one that is small in stature but large in ambition. Of course, is it that bold of an ambition if someone simply wants to live?

> WEEK ONE

Once the tour is done, each of the Displaced will be set up with their very own basic universal income, as well as a spot in a dormitory that's connected to Project Spinetail's facilities. They're given free reign over Zerzura, allowed to explore every inch that they may like. The dormitories themselves are like little apartments, with a small kitchenette and bathroom connected to each room. No one is expected to share their room, though there are some that are conjoined for anyone who might be seeking a more intimate experience with a friend. To get these rooms, they need only ask. The beds in each room are full sized beds, giving everyone a little more room to be comfortable.

With the rooms divided among the Displaced, it's time to settle in to Zerzura. After all, as Doctor Crane insisted, there's no way out.

> WORKING IN ZERZURA

Work in Zerzura is done by committee. While there are some people who maintain businesses, they're given leave to take a break when needed. Some people prefer manual labor: construction, planting crops, and even picking up around the city. Others like to run businesses and manage the people under them. There is a good mix of everything that someone might want in Zerzura: noodle shops, plenty of frozen yogurt places (all vegan, of course), and pizza (no one would ever guess that the cheese isn't real cheese). On top of that, anyone looking to buff up their wardrobe will find many of the clothing stores overtly welcoming. "Credit" won't even be mentioned. Come right in and spruce up your wardrobe. Unlike the cyberpunk attire in New Amsterdam, clothing here tends toward bright colors and styles are as widely varied as the number of shops, though materials and cuts tend toward natural and simple.

> PRAISE IN ZERZURA

Before the assimilation truly begins, the people of Zerzura will be all too happy to help the Displaced adjust. Need directions somewhere? Hoping to learn more about Governor Henries? They'll be up for talking about anything. Yes, Governor Henries is a bit … strange, and even rumored to be unethical with his experiments—but that's all conceptual! He doesn't hurt anyone. So, maybe unethical is the wrong word? The only group they'll be less keen to talk about is Nautilus.

> CAUSING PROBLEMS IN ZERZURA

There was always a risk in bringing over a handful of unknown people to Zerzura. However, it doesn't seem as if there is any great punishment in mind for anyone who tries to cause problems. Any property damage—ranging from graffiti to destroying large swathes of grass in public areas—will lead to an arrest. Being arrested here doesn't mean much. No one has a record. They're simply locked away for an overnight and then let go. There's a warning that they'll be locked away for longer. The beds in the jailing unit are comfortable, and the food is great.

> INVESTIGATING PROJECT SPINETAIL

Naturally, being pulled into Zerzura is an unsettling experience, and it makes sense that a good number of savvy Displaced will want to know more about the group that's brought them in. While Doctor Crane will be keen to answer questions early on, being pestered for them will make her irritable and uncomfortable. The people of Zerzura aren't this cynical—there will be the sense that she's unaccustomed to not being taken at her word. Telepathically—in other words, if anyone gets a mental read on her with Doctor Strange's assistance—she may be talking herself into patience, telling herself that it makes sense that they wouldn't trust her. The thing is: she is telling the truth. The only uncertainty will link back to an image of a spear: flickering in and out of existence in an underground part of Zerzura. No one from Project Spinetail will be volunteering information about the spear, or even admitting it exists.

It seems that this spear is the only contradiction to Spinetail's stories. Crane will always be happy to meet with any of the Displaced, and anyone working around her will be eager to answer questions. It seems that Governor Henries is out of reach, which is an oddity in and of itself. They won't be eager—or able—to put anyone in touch with him.

What they'll learn is that the appearance of the spear was the tipping point. It's what drove the scientists to bring over the Displaced. Everything about the spear's location seems to be degrading. A number of scientists have been hurt by the spear while reporting findings, so it's kept hidden away.

The odd thing about the spear is that none of the scientists will be able to pinpoint its location. They know it exists, but almost as if it were a myth, and it seems as if it's never a constant in Zerzura.

Whether it makes sense or not, Project Spinetail seems to be keen to tell the truth. Obscuring the existence of the spear seems to be done for the safety of all Zerzurans—both new and old.

> NAUTILUS: FIRST CONTACT

While no one at Project Spinetail will be keen to point the Displaced toward the rebel organization, Nautilus will make themselves known. Sometimes this will come as a symbol graffitied on a wall. Other times, they'll be working at a business, and keen to reach out and ask for a Displaced to meet up with them later. Their aims and goals are simple: they want to preserve the world where the Blue God came from, and that means that Zerzura needs to die.

However, the deeply self-sacrificing and genocidal tendencies of Nautilus will seem contradictory to their reverence for their god. While the Blue God seems to lord over the sky and water, believing in the mercurial and constantly changing nature of life, Nautilus pushes for self-sacrifice and death. They know that many people will die, but they hold strong to the belief that Zerzura is an unnatural world that needs to be gone so that the world that came before it can survive.

Early on, Nautilus won't be keen to tell the Displaced any of their plans. But for those who pry deeper, they will be able to find some answers. Nautilus aims to seek out four critical points within the design of Zerzura, but they haven't been able to identify them yet. These four points won't be related to the spear, and if asked about that spear, they will respond with confusion and uncertainty. They believe that the Displaced will be able to help them identify the four points, but they don't yet know how to do that.

As for why they know that Zerzura is a false world, they seem to simply know. Their god is an expansive power, and not one that would be confined to such a limited space. In addition, it seems that they have gained access to some contradictory materials from Project Spinetail. A small number of people from Nautilus will be former Spinetail scientists who went on to reject their aims. While Spinetail has research that they believe supports their aims and theory, Nautilus will have seen the contradiction to that, and will believe that the expansion of Zerzura directly correlates with the rapid degradation of the world on the "other side." Whether this research confirms what they know or was sought out to do that, they seem justified in what they believe.

For some, the assimilation to being a part of Zerzura will start in this first week. People may fade in and out of their new versions of their identities, while others will slide into that life and never return. Either way, it doesn't seem as if there is any external trigger to this assimilation.

> WEEKS TWO AND THREE

The odd thing about Zerzura is that little changes from week to week, at least on the surface. People swap jobs and stories, living their perfect lives. Some of the people of Zerzura eagerly welcome the Displaced into their homes, and anyone who's beginning to assimilate will find that these people treat their neighbors the same way. In time, there will be blurred lines between the new arrivals—the Displaced—and the Displaced who have adapted. As the story evolves, Project Spinetail's motivations will evolve with it. The new story will be that they had some people imbued with the quantum signature that is tied to the world of Zerzura, and they became aware of some people on the other side. Using what they knew about their own citizens, they adapted and brought over those new people.

Once the assimilations begin to settle in, it seems as if it's unlikely that Project Spinetail's story will change on this front.

> INCONSISTENT ASSIMILATION

Little about the adaptation of the Displaced to this world is tidy, but one thing is clear: no one—neither Spinetail nor Nautilus—will be aware that they were going to change and become one with their surroundings and their world. On the contrary, they will find it strange that some of the Displaced may insist that their friend or loved one came over with them just a week or two prior. They understand that the quantum signature links them up, but they won't be able to offer an explanation for this evolution.

Further prying won't provide a more satisfactory answer on this front. Whatever is causing the Displaced to adapt and be absorbed into the ecosystem of Zerzura, it doesn't appear to be a part of anyone's plans.

> COMMUNITY MEETINGS

Life will proceed as usual in Zerzura. Hydroponic farmers come together once a week to discuss the future of agriculture in Zerzura, as well as go out and test the soil for nutrients to see if they may be able to expand their reach. When it's suggested that some of the changes in the Displaced may be because of the nutrients in Zerzura, they'll be able to bring their research to Project Spinetail and get access to state of the art facilities to find out if there is anything to support this suspicion.

Otherwise, there are classes at Zerzura College that anyone can attend to expand their knowledge. There is a biweekly meeting at Dante Sparda's music shop that anyone can attend, learning as much about the guitar riffs from other worlds as possible. It seems as if there is some bleedover of other cultures—whether they were there before the Displaced arrived is hard to say, as it seems to be assumed they were there the entire time.

> FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF SPINETAIL

Anyone who's hoping to get more access to Project Spinetail will be able to use the excuse of the community findings around agriculture, or even the work of Gaby Teller-Parker to get inside. Once they're in there, they'll be able to sneak around and peer through windows, trying to find out whatever information they can. They'll be able to find physical findings of the research: that Zerzura is expanding a few inches every day, with the rate of growth increasing once they brought over the Displaced. They'll be able to track the degradation of the world they came from, as well as the sudden uptick of indications that that world is dying. The quantum signature is inconsistent there. The atmosphere is rapidly getting worse, making it so that that Earth won't be able to sustain human life. Humans won't be able to breathe without assistance on the surface, and it appears that the colonies have limited capabilities of managing human life.

As for the spear that came up in the minds of the scientists in week one, they'll have some collected findings on it. The same devolution of the world that the Displaced came from will be present in the spear: a splintering of readings, always inconsistent and unknown. By the end of week three, Doctor Crane will be leading a handful of scientists to a series of three different sites, hoping to identify where the spear is likely to turn up. Using readings gathered from before, they will be trying to investigate when and how the spear will appear, and how to try to keep it in one place.

The entourage on these excursions always includes the Myceneans, who are there to protect the scientists. Any Displaced who hope to tag along will be encouraged to not do that—for their own safety!

> WORLD ADAPTATIONS

As the Displaced settle in and either become consumed by their surroundings or find themselves able to reject what's going on, the world will adapt to their existence. If someone read a book as a child and it wasn't there on week one, they'll be able to find it by week three. Whitney Houston, Black Sabbath, and The Who will be on regular rotation once someone thinks about how much they miss these old artists, and the people of Zerzura won't be able to grasp what's happened.

Pop culture will be a mish-mash of things that exist in various Displaced's worlds. Spider-Man's Christmas album will be available, despite the fact that Christmas doesn't exist. Many of the arcade games from Eos will pop up in various businesses, giving a chance for someone to kill time on them while they wait for their meal to arrive. There will be long pseudo-histories about famous people from the Displaced's worlds, but they'll all be—quite oddly—treated as fiction.

Finally, the internet won't be as expansive as it is today, and many of the searches won't necessarily come up with what people know to be true. Ozzy Osborne, for instance, is a famous Zerzuran citizen in all black who did some very strange things with the Spinetail mascot that earned him infamy. And if anyone searches for Governor Henries, they'll get a biography that describes his long service as a citizen of Zerzura, along with a series of degrees that he (somehow) received from Zerzura College. Strangely, there won't be a picture of the man.

> WHERE IS GOVERNOR HENRIES?

Given his repeated involvement in every aspect of Project Spinetail—and Zerzura itself—it seems odd that Governor Henries would be out of reach. Anyone who's trying to find him will come up empty. None of the scientists at Project Spinetail seem to know where he is, and they've never been in his lab themselves. If anyone pries further—even in their minds—they won't be able to find more satisfactory answers. Just as his website biography lacks a clear image, none of them will seem to know what Governor Henries looks like.

They will have mental descriptions of the man: he's eccentric and loves to talk a lot, and seems to find Nautilus' efforts to be rather hilarious. Some of them think he might be trying to counteract Nautilus' efforts, but it doesn't seem to strike anyone as odd that he wouldn't do it with Project Spinetail.

In every way, Henries is illusive. In fact, some might even begin to wonder if the man is even real.

> MORE ON NAUTILUS

During this time, more and more people are likely to reach out to Nautilus to join their efforts. Some members of Nautilus will begin to bring the Displaced into their plans, but they won't tell them how they intend to pull it off. On the contrary, it seems as if they're afraid that they might be stopped. If asked why they think this could occur, Nautilus' members won't be able to give a clear answer. It all boils down to the importance of saving the world outside, and they always diminish the importance of the people within Zerzura. That includes themselves. They treat themselves as if they're fabrications of people, but there is no basis for or clear and sustained root to this belief.

By midway through week two, Nautilus will eagerly ally with anyone who wants to help them find the four points to end Zerzura. Since they've had little luck themselves, they realize they need the Displaced to help find these points, as being close to them will make their chests glow blue. It doesn't matter if the Displaced individual has been assimilated or not: their chest will respond the same way. By accessing these points, they believe that they'll be able to detonate explosives that will bring down Zerzura, causing it to collapse in on itself. Finding these locations won't be easy, but anyone who's working with Nautilus will find themselves hitting the pavement to locate them.

For as fatalistic as Nautilus is, they're also complete fanatics for their god. If anyone goes to them for answers about the spear, about the power they've been given, or even about the odd blue energy, they'll be ready to launch into how the Displaced happen to be the Blue God's chosen ones. Again, some of this rant and ramble may not make sense, and it will seem as if they are blinded: believing that the Blue God is a figure of the world outside whose resources are being stretched thin and need to be returned to the world outside. In conjunction, the Displaced are simply its avatars in improving the world that the Blue God helped create. Zerzura is not and cannot be that world.

Anyone who supports Nautilus but points out the flaws in the fantasy will, again, find that Nautilus is just as much a result of this world. They're the cynics meant to poke holes in the idyllic life, but it's as if they were shaped from an incomplete cloth.

Anyone who supports Nautilus but rejects the god will be met with irrational anger. If anyone pushes this issue, they'll find themselves to be the enemy of Nautilus. No one can support Nautilus but reject their god. It seems as if in their minds, it is impossible to believe in what Nautilus hopes to accomplish, yet act as if the god they support and revere is meaningless.

By the end of week three, members of Nautilus will promise that the Displaced—even those who reject the god who favors them—won't die if Zerzura does. How they know this won't be clear—and it may turn out that by ending Zerzura, the Displaced may very well be ending themselves. Also by the end of week three, they will have dismissed numerous locations as part of the four, and will begin to narrow in on where they need to be by the end of the month.

> RELEASED FROM A FANTASY

As people slip into their fantasies, there will come the risk of them being unable to return. Anyone who's hoping to bring a friend to their senses and bring them out of the fantasy that's stolen them away may be inclined to reach back into their memories to think of previous problems like this, or they may simply try to grab their friend's hand to try to shake them out of it. Whatever it is, the Displaced will be able to be saved. The task to do that is simple, as least for now: whenever they hold on to their friend, they will see that their chest seems to "open up," offering forth an object to withdraw. Once they pull it out, they can hold on to it and get a sense of their friend's essence, borrow their power, or eventually just hand it over (because that object seems to be their lost friend).

Someone can only be pulled out of their fantasy once—once they're free, they're free.

> WEEK FOUR

By the time the final week of the month rolls around, many people will fight to maintain their fantasies, rejecting any notion of freeing them, while others will be angry that this world absorbed them and stole away their autonomy. Why is it that this was able to happen? No matter where the Displaced look, it will seem as if there is no immediate answer available to them.

Either way, this is the week in which some decisions will have to be made. Should Zerzura survive? Should it end? Or should everything equalize, with everyone given a shot to live on? One of three paths remain for all of the Displaced, and it's up to them to decide.

> A: NAUTILUS: ENDING ZERZURA

With the help of the Displaced, Nautilus will eventually locate the four positions within the city that will end Zerzura's existence. Each of these locations is underground, needing to be reached through the sewage system. Thankfully, much like everything else in Zerzura, it doesn't smell as bad as it possibly could down there.

Each of these locations will be neatly located at four equidistant points in Zerzura, with the spear itself located at the center of them. The way the points look is strange. Reality around them is shifting, evolving, moreso when any of the Displaced are present. The firepower that's meant to destroy these points is massive, as Nautilus doesn't want to risk their plan falling through.

At the entrance for each of these points, Nautilus will ask that the Displaced help stand guard. They're certain that Spinetail and the Myceneans will find them, and they want to be sure that they won't be able to stop their plans. Of course, those very same Displaced could be having second thoughts … Either way, Nautilus seems certain that the Myceneans won't try to hurt the Displaced, so they're there for more than one reason.

> B: PROJECT SPINETAIL: SAVING ONLY ZERZURA

As time passes, Spinetail will begin to track Nautilus' movement, paranoid that too many of the Displaced will wish to follow their plan. The scientists at Spinetail don't believe in a third option. Too grounded in what they believe to be true, it seems as if they reject anything that otherwise presents itself to the world. They believe that the Displaced need to live here and be happy, and will ignore any contradictions to the contrary.

In order for them to carry out their plan, they will need to completely stop Nautilus, and find a way to prevent them from destroying the four points. To do this, they will need at least four Displaced assisting them to maintain the fantasy. They'll need to get in to the four points with the Myceneans, take down the Displaced and Nautilus there, and connect with the fragile point in reality. By interacting with it and asking it to close, they will take away one of the unstable points of Zerzura, and will be choosing to let go of all life on the other side.

No Displaced will be able to close more than one point. When they interact with the fragile point, they will seem to exist in a space between Zerzura and reality. They'll see a large piece of technology, clearly native to the world of 2511. Its shape is hard to make out, as if fatigue obscures it, but as it stabs downward, it seems to be spear-like in nature. The sensation of this technology is painful: and they feel this pain all at once, splintering them in two—and then into thousands upon thousands of pieces. They'll see glimmers of colors in the corner of their eyes that will then fade into nothing. And in that moment, they'll feel a small part of New Amsterdam's world break, and they'll be filled with a flood of blinding grief.

They won't be able to do this accidentally. They will need to make a conscious choice in the process, knowing that their decision at this point will allow billions of people—and the world under their feet—to die.

> C: LOCATING THE SPEAR: THE TRUST FALL

At the heart of everything that's been inconsistent or unknown about Zezura has been a spear. The Spinetail scientists were thinking about it, and some people knew to seek it out, recalling that it had been a centerpiece of the facility from the dreamscape. Its location was unknown, only taking shape as the Displaced managed to help Nautilus find the four locations that would end Zerzura completely. Equidistant from all four points, the spear would take shape above ground, near the center of Zerzura itself.

Anyone from Zerzura won't be able to interact with the spear without feeling themselves fraying at the seams. Only the Displaced—either back to their normal identities, or subsumed by the fantasy of Zerzura—will be able to get close to the spear. In order to protect Zerzuran citizens—and perhaps the spear itself—Spinetail asks that the Myceneans stand guard around the spear. In order to get to it, the Displaced will either have to be very convincing, or up for a fight. Or both—depending on how they go about it.

Once they're within a ten foot radius of the spear, each of the Displaced will be hit with a feeling of grief, betrayal, and sadness. They'll feel as if they're both underwater and not, but easily able to breathe. As they draw closer, they'll have a sense of knowing: knowing that this spear is the source of the pain behind this world and all of its grief, and that Zerzura itself was never meant to exist. But it does exist. The people here have the potential of being real, of being brought to life. No matter the reasons for the conflict between Spinetail and Nautilus, it seems as if that conflict was the source of pain in some way. Someone's pain, at some time, even if it feels nebulous, divided, unclear.

The next step won't be unclear, however. As they get closer, they'll get an image of three individuals trusting the spear and what it offers them: Rey, Kylo Ren, and Cain. Their clear thoughts and hope as they remove the spear will show them the way. But they need to trust and hope; they need to wish to see these two worlds to a better place.

In doing so, any Displaced will know they could die. That they will die. But it could lead to something better, something more whole. It could—should, will—be healing. They just need to trust: trust themselves, trust those who did a similar act before, and give themselves away.

> FINAL OOC NOTES

Please refer to the OOC EVENT POST for this event for all OOC info, including suggestions for directions on how to engage with the event. Any additional questions about the log will be taken below, as we want to keep that in one place, and we used the planning post quite heavily in developing the log itself!

The outcome for this event will depend on character decisions made as the event proceeds. In order to let us know which outcome your character will ultimately choose, reply to the OUTCOMES CHOICE thread below. You will have until SEPTEMBER 7 to reply. Each character gets to have a unique outcome.

In order to play out movement toward these outcomes, players can begin as soon as they want. They can thread out working to help Nautilus find the four points, or even seeking out more information about the spear. For anyone working in conflict for options A and B, we recommend planning anything out together, but characters pursuing and ultimately ending up on option C can end up there however they might like. In addition, characters can take option C even if it isn't the majority outcome.

Please do not begin to thread out any aftermath until September 8th, which is when we will put up the aftermath log and OOC post.

As a reminder, there is one power level up available for this event. This will be granted for a thread of at least 5 action/log comments containing your character saving someone from their fantasy by removing an object or by being saved. They will need to reach the 5 comments required by SEPTEMBER 23 to be eligible. Submission will be handled on the wrap up post.

Our Activity Check will be posted SEPTEMBER 1 at 12 AM UTC. It will run for seven days and close on SEPTEMBER 8 at 12 AM UTC. We will not post a warning list.

> NAVIGATION

Comments

[hierophante]

How poetic also, then, to add this black note to their ledger, to begin to balance unmaking with making. If past destruction was inevitable, then so to is this enlightenment, this pseudo-Damascene, mid-journey conversion. Sniper neutralizes gods, Sniper makes angels.

Nina's hand closes shakily around the book and sweetly, softly, in a moment of absolute grace, she is subsumed. OA's breath leaves her in a rush; tears spring to her eyes. The loss is... all-encompassing. Absolute. All the shining things she could have been, grand and glittering thing that Nina Azarova was, crushed all over again. Year after year of darkness. A dozen, a hundred uneventful deaths. The mundanity of evil. Once again the hands of malicious others, some faceless, some not, fold her up and compress her, dust to diamond. Sniper is only the latest.

"Oh, God." Long ago some child's hand inscribed in marker, in blocky, overlapping letters, on the inside cover of this book a name. She doesn't have to open it to know. Over and over again, she'd practiced, the wet of the marker against her left hand as she'd guided the marker along it. P R A I R I E. A name she'd sign just as clumsily to a note thirteen years later, the day she walked off, the day she vanished.

This is not the cruelest way in which OA has had her potential stripped, clipped, stolen from her. It's near to, but not the worst. It is the first for which she has been, in spite of her abject devastation, in spite of the grand inevitability of mourning, grateful.

"I remember," she says, and her voice is thick with emotion, raw, angry, accusatory, thankful. "I remember all of it."

And then, rage and awe, the sharp edge of wonder: "You came and found me."

She tightens her grip on Sniper's hand, pinning them to the world, that same awful act of mercy returned.

[deicider]

OA's emotions hit hard and fast enough to leave Sniper disoriented; their initial response is simply a mute nod while they scramble to find some mental anchor.

The grip of OA's hand helps orient them back to what needs to be done. Sniper waits—But nothing happens, just the same soft glow holding hands would normally induce. They look down to find nothing weird at all going on with their chest.

"Crap," they say, vehemently.

[hierophante]

'Crap' is an accurate summation. OA is still reeling, sifting desperately through possibilities. Was Nina... real? She felt real -- felt, full stop. Thought. Reasoned. Understood.

"I remember," she says again, dully, though this time it isn't merely a statement of fact. She's making a point. "Why do I remember Nina, but she didn't remember me?"

She leans towards Sniper urgently, looking up into their face. She'd told them to come to her and they had. This needs solving, will be solved; she's not going to give up on them. Not if they were distressed enough to carve those letters into their own arm, as she suspects. Not if they came to her specifically, whether by design or by quirk of fate.

She's no less angry at the broader injustice of it -- the delay from her mission, the lack of choice. Angry that Nina lived, angrier still that she had, as the inevitable result of her unnatural birth, to die young.

Maybe that isn't it. Maybe she still lives in OA, who remembers her. Maybe she can be conjured back, or maybe the burden of two lives is something she'll have to carry forever. Was that not always on the table?

"Have you ever died, Ojiro?" Her expression brooks no argument. There's no threat of a more direct anger, only urgency: failure to answer honestly will only slow them down.

[deicider]

"No??" Not that the point is in question; it's more that Sniper's not sure if she's setting up a rhetorical point or proposing a course of action. They're still off-balance, head above the rush but still being carried along. It's her anger—How tempting it is to plunge into that pure emotion, out of the spiral of their own calculations that had brought this plan to bear.

But they don't, with the same uncompromising self-control they had used to keep their arm perfectly still while they wrote.

[hierophante]

That's the expected answer. Most people haven't. OA squeezes her eyes shut for a long few seconds, as though blocking out the world might help her think; there are a thousand questions she could ask, most of them unanswerable, useless. None of them would make any of this hurt any less, make it any less confusing.

What she needs to do is breathe. If none of this felt so terribly final, it would all be so much easier. Nina had some tools; remembering them is useful. Remembering Khatun is more useful still: to exist is to survive unfair choices.

She hears it, feels it, knows it as viscerally as the day she said goodbye to Papa. It helps to know what's beyond her.

"Did you do that to yourself?" she asks, opening her eyes again and nodding down at those two symbols carved into Sniper's arm. "I would have. I did. Do you remember?"

[deicider]

OA's up to something; Sniper just can't figure out what. But they can trust her, even if they have the feeling they're not going to like where this is going. "I remember doing it, yeah."

[hierophante]

"Are you afraid?" Beneath the urgency is empathy. Nina might not have known what death was like, but OA does, with perfect intimacy. She knows exactly how crushingly terrifying it is to stand at the precipice of the most absolute finality life can create, not knowing what lies beyond, not knowing if it could have been prevented, not knowing if it can be escaped.

It can't. Not forever.

"Is that why you did it? You've had these lapses, in and out; you remember, your counterpart doesn't. So much of who you are, what made you, stripped away -- without your control, half the time without your knowledge. It's a kind of death, isn't it?" Her grip on Sniper's hand... adjusts. Gentles. She understands, or she thinks she does, to the greatest extent it's possible to understand.

"Nina is me. She's me in another life, me given other chances, other choices." Choices OA ruined, deliberately and consciously, the moment she took that sharpened scrap of copper and began to carve the code into her own flesh. Sniper may have killed Nina, but OA orchestrated that end a long time ago. The fact that she hadn't been fully aware of the consequences doesn't absolve her of guilt.

"I remember, so I carry her. Not all of her fears were mine, but some were. You remember, so you know: would you be ready to die? Would your counterpart?" The pained compassion on her face suggests she already knows the answer: nobody ever is. But there are degrees. "I don't know what just happened to me. I don't know if we can find a way to do it to you. If we do, you'll carry it."

[deicider]

"I can handle it," Sniper says, firm with conviction despite Nina's urgency and pain rattling. Ojiro Juniper wasn't different than the other lives Sniper had taken in the name of duty just because they had some things in common. Sniper could mourn their double as the loss of a bright life—Like they would mourn Jehovah when it came time to kill him again.

But that wouldn't stop them. There was everything at stake.

[hierophante]

"Can you?" OA's voice is uncharacteristically flat, almost cold. She doesn't doubt Sniper's conviction. She doesn't even necessarily doubt that they're right, that this much at least they can carry. She just wonders how long it takes until something new shakes that conviction. How long it will take, for instance, that in coming to her they're making her complicit in this too.

She can't really claim a moral high ground. Even before she came to believe absolutely in the strange transmigration her own soul has already undertaken, to believe that death is a transition rather than an absolute termination, she had already attempted murder twice.

That's the source of the chill. She's well aware that the fact she's never successfully committed that particular crime is a matter of luck -- whose she still isn't sure.

"Can both of you?" This one sounds tender. There's a rush of profound sadness. OA has to wonder if it's really necessary, any of this, though she holds no illusions: whichever version of her friend (companion, confidant) she spares, the other will suffer. Both, in fact, will suffer if she doesn't do this. Ojiro's fear is still fresh with her.

OA closes her eyes and lets out a long sigh, tongue darting out to wet her lips.

"I'll help you. Just--" Her brow furrows; she shakes her head. "Is this what the world needs?"

It's an unanswerable question. She can't feel whether or not they're saving or breaking it. Maybe both. Maybe neither. "I need you to tell me what it is you want. Both of you. One is a contract, the other one's a courtesy. I deserve to know what I'm going to be stealing."

[deicider]

Ojiro Juniper doesn't get a choice. It hurts to think of it like that, but isn't what they had talked about before? Sometimes you do everything right, but it's just not the right circumstances. Sniper blinks, letting the gathered tears fall.

"Ojiro wants to save Zerzura. At any cost. I—I need to get back to New Amsterdam. My world needs me." And there's a surge of ferocious determination, unshakeable loyalty and love.

Maybe The OA would take up Ojiro's wish, to save Zerzura while Sniper tried to destroy it. That's how it should be—An equal fight.

[hierophante]

OA can't fault that feeling. The loyalty, the love, the determination. She recognises it, knows it intimately, rejoices in it, fears it. She'd thought before that Sniper was a counterpart, an echo, a sibling of the soul, like Rachel or Scott or Renata. Like Steve. Now she has to wonder if she hadn't misinterpreted, if Sniper isn't something closer to her shadow.

She's tried to kill her shadow before. She's tried to reason with it, to feed it, to beg, cajole, spite, escape. In the end it was the shadow that cut her loose, not the other way around. She can't help but feel the resonance now, the unfurling of something dark: an old loathing, not directed at Sniper but at someone else who is, for a moment, conceptually adjacent.

It was not Sniper atop her as she lay in the dirt on that roadside, pressing a knife to her throat.

"Both," OA says, soft and with certainty. "If we can find a way, both."

A deep breath. She doesn't like this, but she likes the alternatives less. A reminder seems in order before she proceeds, all the same: "I have a mission too."

She squeezes Sniper's hand, signs the contract. "How do we bring them back? When you fade, is there a pattern?"