White Chain (
peace_keeper) wrote in
daybreakacademy2019-02-04 11:01 am
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I will see you in Samura
Who: 82 White Chain and the Outlands Cosmology Class
What: Field trip!
Where: Dead Kingdom of Samura, The Outlands.
When: Early February
Warning: I hope you got a signed consent form from your legal guardian.
After weeks of talking about the voices of gods and the void between worlds and the King's Road and other such esoteric topics, it would not be surprising for even a studious student to still not have a good grip on what The Outlands were. They were a big place, after all. Far larger than the Earth, and far stranger.
Eventually, you had to just go there.
White Chain had been reminding her class of the upcoming trip for the last week, but it might still be surprising to see a large stone archway set up in the front of the classroom. It was covered in carefully carved runes, and would not have looked out of place in a wizard's tower or a crumbling dungeon full of goblins and beholders. It definitely looked out of place in a classroom.
Once the class was gathered, White Chain addressed them all with her hands clasped behind her back. "Once active, this gateway will lead to the dead kingdom of Samura. Samura was once a land dedicated to peace. A land of philosophers and poets. Such things rarely last, but Samura's end was not what you might assume. No one conquered it. No, Samura fell because of wars in neighboring regions. Refugees, seeking peace, continually fled to Samura until eventually there was not enough food and shelter for anyone. The result: Famine, riots, and collapse. Now, only ruins and bones remain. It is a somber place. It is also safe, and so an ideal place to first experience the outlands."
Each student was offered an emergency kit that included a signal flare, should they get lost, a lightweight emergency blanket, and a water bottle. She touched a rune on the gateway and a portal of shimmering light swirled into being before turning clear, and suddenly instead of seeing the blackboard behind the gate, you could see a starlit desert. "Are there any questions before we go?"
The Ruins of Samura
The first thing anyone noticed on stepping into the Outlands was that Samura was COLD. Breath fogged the near freezing air. The second thing anyone noticed that this was like no place on Earth. A desert of vividly purple stand stretched out to the horizon. Strange, alien trees remained here and there, stunted, twisted, and dead from centuries of drought and famine. Above, a sky impossibly dense with starts of a thousand vibrant colors lit the land almost as bright as daylight. The portal stood in the middle of what must have once been a beautiful plaza lined by building that looked to be almost as much sculptures of art as they were homes and businesses. Now, most of them were falling apart or just rubble, but a few remained upright.
The main street led away from the plaza towards a large cliff which appeared to have a waterfall flowing down it and the shapes of more buildings along the top. On closer examination, however, it became obvious that the "waterfall" was actually a sandflow, and that it was flowing up the cliff face. Indeed, there appeared to be an entire river of shifting sand that wound through the ruins of canals that criss crossed the ruined town.
Here and there, one could find bones. Human bones. Nothing lived here. Not anymore.
"Be cautious with the ruins. Some of them are quite fragile, and could collapse. We leave in three hours time. I will set of a signal flare by the gateway half an hour before we leave, and will leave the gate open until all students are accounted for. If you get lost, set off your flare and I will come for you as fast as I can."
What: Field trip!
Where: Dead Kingdom of Samura, The Outlands.
When: Early February
Warning: I hope you got a signed consent form from your legal guardian.
After weeks of talking about the voices of gods and the void between worlds and the King's Road and other such esoteric topics, it would not be surprising for even a studious student to still not have a good grip on what The Outlands were. They were a big place, after all. Far larger than the Earth, and far stranger.
Eventually, you had to just go there.
White Chain had been reminding her class of the upcoming trip for the last week, but it might still be surprising to see a large stone archway set up in the front of the classroom. It was covered in carefully carved runes, and would not have looked out of place in a wizard's tower or a crumbling dungeon full of goblins and beholders. It definitely looked out of place in a classroom.
Once the class was gathered, White Chain addressed them all with her hands clasped behind her back. "Once active, this gateway will lead to the dead kingdom of Samura. Samura was once a land dedicated to peace. A land of philosophers and poets. Such things rarely last, but Samura's end was not what you might assume. No one conquered it. No, Samura fell because of wars in neighboring regions. Refugees, seeking peace, continually fled to Samura until eventually there was not enough food and shelter for anyone. The result: Famine, riots, and collapse. Now, only ruins and bones remain. It is a somber place. It is also safe, and so an ideal place to first experience the outlands."
Each student was offered an emergency kit that included a signal flare, should they get lost, a lightweight emergency blanket, and a water bottle. She touched a rune on the gateway and a portal of shimmering light swirled into being before turning clear, and suddenly instead of seeing the blackboard behind the gate, you could see a starlit desert. "Are there any questions before we go?"
The Ruins of Samura
The first thing anyone noticed on stepping into the Outlands was that Samura was COLD. Breath fogged the near freezing air. The second thing anyone noticed that this was like no place on Earth. A desert of vividly purple stand stretched out to the horizon. Strange, alien trees remained here and there, stunted, twisted, and dead from centuries of drought and famine. Above, a sky impossibly dense with starts of a thousand vibrant colors lit the land almost as bright as daylight. The portal stood in the middle of what must have once been a beautiful plaza lined by building that looked to be almost as much sculptures of art as they were homes and businesses. Now, most of them were falling apart or just rubble, but a few remained upright.
The main street led away from the plaza towards a large cliff which appeared to have a waterfall flowing down it and the shapes of more buildings along the top. On closer examination, however, it became obvious that the "waterfall" was actually a sandflow, and that it was flowing up the cliff face. Indeed, there appeared to be an entire river of shifting sand that wound through the ruins of canals that criss crossed the ruined town.
Here and there, one could find bones. Human bones. Nothing lived here. Not anymore.
"Be cautious with the ruins. Some of them are quite fragile, and could collapse. We leave in three hours time. I will set of a signal flare by the gateway half an hour before we leave, and will leave the gate open until all students are accounted for. If you get lost, set off your flare and I will come for you as fast as I can."
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[ This is basic logic, Toki. Or paranoia.
Despite Toki's request to head up, Rex spends a moment staring at the symbols with a hand raised in a 'hold on a sec' manner. He flicks through his phone to compare to the others he's seen and...
He pokes it.
'FWUMP' is the sound of a series of torches igniting up the spiral staircase to the tower top. ]
Lightswitch.
[ He looks up- seems the stairs have broken in a few spots, but a long step- he glances at Toki's legs, then his own. A long step or a short hop should clear them. ]
Very well. Please don't run, you might die.
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See? It was something to be touched~!
[Toki has no intention of running up the stairs, and he's starting to get annoyed with Rex's precautionary admonishments. He's actually pretty slow ascending the staircase after clearing the initial broken steps. New sets of stairs are still hard with the depth issue from one blind eye, and this particular staircase is curving and completely open to the room on one side for half of it. Further up it becomes enclosed and spirals up the length of the tower. There's a couple of triangular windows where the stars can be seen through. It would likely be a decent view.
There's a door at the top of the staircase. It swings open easily when he pushes on it. There isn't a bell, but there used to be. The pulley system and ropes are still there. It's a typical castle tower; rafters and several large openings in the walls to look out over Samura.]
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[ If it helps any, it's not a Toki specific thing. He's come to feel overly protective of anyone who hasn't been living in the 'real world', which is what he calls knowing about magic, for long. They run around and poke things and ask about things that it's not okay to ask about, or want to cuddle his horrible spirit beast.
It's his job to keep them alive and unfortunately, Rex sees death lurking everywhere. He stays behind Toki, climbing much easier for him for a variety of reasons. He can clear two steps at a time and has two working eyes, step right over gaps. ]
The bell wasn't on the ground floor...
[ Rex checks a rafter's sturdiness before he holds onto it to lean ever so slightly out into the gap, looking down. ]
Someone must have taken it. Perhaps the metal was valuable.
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Maybe~!
[It strikes him as odd that who/whatever lived in the Outlands would be scrounging for scrap metal like people... in their dimension? On Earth?... He admittedly doesn't know where they are in relation to where they came from. Toki hadn't been paying attention whatsoever to any of the prefacing for the field trip.
He looks out over the desert from one of the openings. It's facing the opposite direction from where they started. He can't see any students or really anything but a long stretch of purple sand and gnarled trees spreading out until they seemed to curve into the sky. There's not really a horizon line; it's more vague and just... weird.]
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[ Indrik is absolutely adorable in appearance if you're into baby rhinos with lion manes and cow faces. He just has a garbage personality. That's mostly due to the fact he's linked to Rex's own trash soul, so don't blame it on the baby.
Rex gives Toki a moment to gaze out into the alien landscape, examining the tower and evaluating its suitability for his self-imposed task. Seems a good choice. Nowhere to run- correction. He gently closes the door. Nowhere to run, Rex knows he can survive jumping out at this height, doesn't seem anyone is looking from the side they can be seen...
Time to bite the bullet. He takes a deep breath, steadying his nerves. Calm and collected. ]
Toki.
[ His low tone is heavier than even it normally is. Even his reminders that Toki might die any second, which didn't seem to bum him out anyway, were lighter. ]
Does the name Ginshu mean anything to you?
[Being Rex, he's equally ready to defend himself if the mere mention has Toki attack him... or catch him if the name makes him slip. ]
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What!? I didn't do any-
[Rex's question makes him stop mid-sentence. Ginshu. He starts breathing too heavily and he can't do this here, not in some ruins in the Outlands on a field trip. Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't scream. He shoves his hand in his mouth and bites down hard; he needs to stay in the present. It's kind of working... he's still seeing the tower and Rex and not the shrine and a werewolf, but he's pretty sure that horrible keening noise is him. He's focusing too much on trying not to completely lose it, he's not even thinking about how Rex could possibly know anything about his sister.]
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He doesn't rush over or try to console him, pressing his back to the door and slowly sliding down, sitting on the rough, dusty floor. Watching carefully, but with more concern in his eyes than he realises. He's waiting to make sure Toki doesn't do something to hurt himself, more than anything. And he thinks distance is probably best- he's hardly the most comforting figure and a respectful silence is more appropriate. ]
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H-how do... She...
[He's wrong. He can't form a sentence yet. He sits down too; it's a good idea, before he blacks out and falls off the tower. That's a distinct possibility depending on what Rex has to say. He tries again after a moment, looking at the floor and not Rex.]
D-do... did... Did you know her?
[Toki can't tell how old Rex is, and maybe he did know Ginshu at some point. He didn't know all of his sister's acquaintances. He's hoping it's some innocent connection, but there's dread in the pit of his stomach telling him it's not.]
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I did not. I recently... encountered her.
[ Even the pause is deliberate, having designed it to give the impression it's all a lot more off the cuff than it is. The way he pinches the bridge of his nose is perfectly natural though. ]
And I promised to pass on a message from her, to you.
[ He doesn't say 'final message' or 'last words.' He fully intends to give the impression she passed on to some peaceful afterlife. For all he knows, she did! It's not entirely a lie. ]
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[She only died in December, but somehow he thinks Rex means even more recently than that. Which is somewhat confirmed by his next sentence. Toki's trying not to panic again. He wants to know what's going on.]
When did you see her!? Is she a ghost!? Orihime said there was a ghost! Was it her!? Is she still here!? What does she want!?
[He's desperately trying to picture ghost Ginshu as whole and beautiful and not some animated zombie-like cobbled together spirit with dead glassy eyes. It's not working.]
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In the end, it seems that actually delivering the message will answer most of the questions at once. ]
She said there was nothing you could have done, and she is at peace.
[ He does continue though, one hand over his face, blocking an eye. There were only a few questions left. ]
I think whatever was influencing her behaviour wanted her to harm you- when I removed that influence, she could not stay to deliver the message herself.
[ Technically none of this is a lie, if you look at it from the perspective of someone who desperately does not want it to be a lie and can fool themselves. ]
I'll remember the beautiful face behind that mask for the rest of my life.
[ That one is completely earnest, though perhaps not for the reasons he implies. ]
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Wait, if-if she was like possessed?
[Could a ghost even be possessed?]
Influenced, and you stopped or removed or exorcised or whatever you did, why wouldn't she stay!?
[Why would she leave? Why wouldn't she tell him herself?]
What mask!?
[He's extremely confused now, but he's fixated on the fact Rex did something to her and now she's gone again. He's feeling so many things at once, some he can't name, but primarily anger and hurt and it's coming through in his voice, even if he's still crying.]
D-did you kill her? I know she's dead! But did you like- did you... What did you do!?
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[ He shakes his head softly. Exactly as quiet and calm as Toki is agitated and loud. This is how he's dealt with negative feelings (and aren't they all, now?) for such a long time he struggles with other ways. Just... be worn out by them. ]
Spirits are vulnerable to outside influences and it's difficult for them to stay in our world under their own power unless they're especially strong.
[ All true, as far as he knows. The spirits he's encountered have all drawn power from some external force to keep themselves on Earth. ]
Something I have not encountered before has some sort of ability to manipulate spirits- your sister was not the only victim of it. It creates a mask and drives them to act to harm those they loved in life.
[ He holds up his hands, palms up. A grey, smokey sphere forms between them and as he moves his hands apart, it separates into two- one black and one white. That might illustrate what he didn't do, but he's not saying it's what he did. So where's the lie? ]
I know what a human spirit should be- that is enough to do what I did. But... I'm sorry, I wasn't strong enough to keep her here long enough to speak to you. Or wise enough to tell you where she went.
[ Where's the lie? He wasn't strong enough to preserve the specimen. And where does a destroyed spirit go? Surely a soul is something more durable than a mere fool like Rex could ever end? ]
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He doesn't know what kind of magic Rex is capable of, but Toki knows he won't win a fight against him, and he's still blocking the door. He knows he's going to die right here after, but he's at least going to try and warn White Chain something's happening. She might figure out Rex's plans, or what hes done, or at least like arrest him for murder. Toki jumps up from the floor and leans out of the tower opening, screaming as loudly as he can.]
WHITE CHAIN!
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JUST DO SOMETHING YOU USELESS DESPICABLE HUMAN REFUSE ]
Don't move so-
[ He gets that far into the sentence as he stands, using the same motion of his hands pushing him up to cast a spell. One hand reduces the friction at the base of the tower, almost the only thing holding it up. The other uses telekinesis to pull out a stone he'd made a note of earlier for this exact purpose.
The crack that comes immediately before the whole thing tilts is deafening, rocking towards the open desert. He wasn't about to dump the thing on any other students, after all. Magic is Rex's forte, but he's fairly athletic- he could pretty easily carry a guy Toki's size and leap out a gap this size, float gently down and land very elegantly... if that guy Toki's size was cooperating with him.
Which he probably won't be. It's hard to keep someone in a bridal carry when they think you murdered their dead sister, no matter how tall you are. ]
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A part of her wondered why it was only starting to collapse NOW if Toki had already yelled for help. But she didn't have time to follow that thought through right now.
Let's see. The building was collapsing. Toki and Rex were falling. If she angled her approach like SO and jumped HERE...
For Rex and Toki both, there was a sense of being hit by a large stone, which was none too comfortable. Then a sense of almost weightless motion while being clamped under strong, cold arms. Then a second impact as the three of them landed, a good sixty feet past the chapel.]
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White Chain! Rex killed my sister! She was already dead, but he like disintegrated her spirit or something and he's going to do it to more of them! He said something was possessing her and he tried to stop it, but he killed her instead and what if she could have been saved!? He's says there's more of them and they're probably going to attack people when they're possessed by whatever!
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Oof.
[ Rex doesn't say a word and just lets Toki get it all out, dusting himself off, patting himself down- okay, no damage to his music player. That's all that matters, despite the bruises he's sure he has.
In the end, his full rebuke to Toki's accusations is just an incredibly tired look that is remarkably similar to an elder sibling too used to their kid brother lying in an attempt to get him into trouble and two words. ]
He's confused.
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[And then a wave of words washed over her. She looked back and forth between them.]
I am...aware of the ghost problem on campus. Rex is this true what he said about his sister?
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I encountered his sister and was able to remove the influence of whatever entity made her aggressive. I am unsure what happened to her spirit following that, as she left the Earthly plane swiftly- but I had promised to deliver a message to Toki in her stead.
[ That much he has planned to say, not that it sounds much different to his casual conversation. Or as casual as Rex ever gets.
The next part is a little more strained- clearly, a painful memory attached to it.
The memory is disintegrating Toki's sister though so. ]
I don't break promises.
[ And then, apparently embarrassed at his poker face slipping, he sniffs and reasserts it. ]
Unfortunately, my message was misinterpreted, leading to Toki's current emotional state. Subsequently, his attempts to escape my presence caused the tower to collapse.
[ He rubs his upper arm slightly and shrugs with one shoulder. ]
...I'd also like to know the answers to his questions.
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As for Toki's sister...
[She didn't sound VERY sympathetic by normal standards, but by angel standards she was doing pretty good.]
The dead do not belong in this world. They cannot stay here unless something is holding them here. There is likely little that could be done to stop a ghost from staying on Earth once any corrupting influence was removed.
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tahnk you Whiat Chunn he's home free you fuckig nidtiotsDespite the fact that this is ostensibly good for him, Rex doesn't feel the smallest thrill or relief. Part of him, a very loud part with large teeth that sink deeper into him every day, wants him to pay for everything he's done- although what is included in 'everything' he'd struggle to tell you beyond this. Just being alive in general counts.
The sigh he lets out, the customary 'goosh', is one of complete defeat.
He nods at White Chain- ]
Thank you for your assistance.
[ In helping him, more than saving them.
He really should consider himself fantastically fortunate and run off now, never talk to Toki again. Instead, he has to lay seeds for the future, hands on his knees as he leans a little towards Toki. ]
I promised her I'd protect you, too. That's why I've been so worried about you since we met.
[ He reiterates probably the biggest lie he'll ever tell. ]
I don't break promises.
[ He really, really hopes that one works, he needs people to know he's a creepy, grim, fearsome looking giant who is basically a good guy. Not just a. Whatever He Is. ]
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