kingdoms_of_auradon | There are many things I've never done... (Forward-Dating to 4/10)

Open/locked?: Open...?
Who: Nita and you!
What: Someone is doubting reality, and is being flighty (literally) as a result. This is going as well as you'd expect.
Warnings: an unwell mind, a sense of urgency... possibly some destruction of property, depending on how things go. Not anticipating violence towards other persons at this time, but if that does change all actions will only go as far as the rules/thread partners allow.

Oh, look, a wizard! A rather plain-clothed wizard, holding a book and with an odd watch sort of thing on her wrist.

... What is she doing?

Well, on some of the more elevated parts of the campus, she is climbing, using a spell that solidifies air. But no matter where she tries, she cannot get higher off the ground than anyone else has. (Side note: she does also try having a word with gravity to lessen its pull on her, but this only achieves the same result, with fewer steps and greater energy drain.)

Or she may be using the Mason's Word, trying to walk through walls (successfully) or sink into the earth (... less so), anything to try and get out.

She hasn't bothered talking to the barrier, but anyone listening will hear her whispering something, in a language they can barely make out.

She speaks with increasing desperation, with tears in her eyes - even anger, some of the time.

She does not look in a mood for conversation, in other words. But perhaps the others here think she needs one?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh," was all Lea said at first. "It... probably says a lot about my life that that's not something I really thought of. I know that the people who got unparadoxed in the end were being given help to get resettled, and the same is true for the victims of... other disasters that we and and the Ministry stepped in to help with together, if they didn't have anywhere to go. But as for mental help... I dunno. It's not really my area, so I didn't look into it much. Though maybe I should've."

"I dunno if it would have been destroyed or even exactly when it happened, though it was definitely the World Eaters that did it. And the world was called Diagad. I know because the entity made a fake copy of it in some kind of pocket dimension, pulled a bunch of us and a bunch of random other people in there and altered our memories to believe it was real and that we'd always lived there. But I guess even it had its limits, cause the illusion started to break down after a few days. At the end, there wasn't much left, and most of us were all more preoccupied with evacuating ourselves and others while there was still something to evacuate from, and trying to avoid being killed by the random monsters and stuff that it summoned up to try and stop us."

"As I understand it someone managed to... talk it down, kinda. I'm honestly not sure we'd have all made it out alive if they hadn't and the thing was still actively trying to stop us at that point. And honestly when I was able to sit down and think about it, I kinda felt sorry for it. But well... Chaos is what it named itself, and the name fits. Even if you can talk to it and empathize with it, it's not really.... all there, if an entity made up of the bits of millions of dead people's minds could even have been all there to start with. However sad its backstory might be, it's basically a destructive force of nature, and has to stay where it is."

"I remember there being meditation exercises," Nita said.

"But not much more... sophisticated methods, I suppose, beyond that."

Maybe when it came to balancing a voidcraft against the void, all that mattered was being able to activate the right coping mechanisms for you?

Nita absorbed the explanation of Diagad's story as Lea moved about the kitchen, a frown fixed on her face as she tried to imagine it.

Like the Pullulus, but under its own command? Only able to cause destruction, but not to fix a place-

She put that thought aside; she'd had it before about the void, and she hadn't gotten to ask anyone about her questions then either.

"Even for immortals, omnipotence isn't as common as you'd think. And power comes with one hell of a price."

In Chaos's case, it was their sanity and their entire world.

"You weren't all just dealing with Chaos after I left, though, you said? Were there more, uh, 'regular' missions? Ever find out more context for those missing memories?"

Lea nodded. "Was never really the 'meditation' type myself, at least not the 'sitting quietly' kind of meditation," he said as he got down mugs for tea. "I prefer to keep moving. Though I'm learning that I can't do that all the time." Sometimes, it was necessary to actually sit down and process thing and attempt to work through them, no matter how hard it may be.

"And no it wasn't just Chaos," he said. "One place that springs to mind is the world with islands floating in the sky. Something about the place was incompatible with most of our powers. The people there had their own powers but trying to make them interact was uncomfortable and draining, if you could manage it at all. We were there dealing with a sort of two-pronged natural disaster that was unbalancing things for the world's inhabitants. They didn't trust us very much at first, but once we got to know each other a bit they were pretty cool. Even gave us some extra supplies when we left."

"It is possible to meditate and walk at the same time," Nita pointed out. "Or do yoga, if you want to find out how much your bones hate you.

But they could get into that later.

Nita's expression turned thoughtful again as Lea went on.

"So the place was... maybe effected by the state of the void itself?" Like a proverbial canary in a coal-mine.

"Was that world the only one with that sort of problem?" Much as their missions before had been unique, it made sense that trend would continue.

"Oh I already learned how much my bones hate me," he said with a bit of a wry smile. "I got myself a new Keyblade teacher here; Aqua. She's really good but also... let's say a bit more gung-ho about training than I've ever been. I swear, I've run more laps with her than I did in several years worth of gym class..."

"As for that world, I guess it's possible. Like with most places, we didn't really stick around long enough for the sciencey types to really study things in detail. I do know that that was the only world where those kind of power problems seemed to be part of the normal state of things. I think everywhere else we stopped where we had issues with our powers- before or after that- it was always connected to whatever problem we were there to handle. We fixed the problem, our powers went back to normal. Not there though; whatever was causing the incompatibility, it was natural."

Edited 2023-06-05 23:20 (UTC)

Nita snorted. The name seemed like it should be familiar, not in the sense that she'd met her here, but she couldn't say why.

"Trust me, that's never a bad thing, having an instructor that'll push you."

But besides that...

"So such a place wouldn't have needed the Voidtrecker's help, normally?"

That seemed a reasonable conclusion, to her.

There are many things I've never done... (Forward-Dating to 4/10)

no subject

Fun fact: Dairine was part of that first contingent to calm Chaos! Not sure how Lea'd know, though.

Nah Lea was pretty distracted. X3 Cool to know though.

no subject

Sorry for super late tag. orz Feel free to ignore if you'd rather not continue.

Aw, it's fine! I was looking forward to this thread, so I'm glad to continue it!