What You Take With You part II: Reflections In The Fog

[unpocoloco]

Who: All those on the What You Take With You mission and everyone else (who OOCly wishes to join in)
What: An important artifact is brought back only to immedaitely activate. Further details are here.
When: November 10th
Where: Daybreak Campus and around Soliel
Warning: Warn in headers as appropriate

On November 10th the recovery team sent into the Outlands makes their return with the obsidian mirror. Thus far it hasn't seemed any different than any other obsidian mirror, nothing spectacular about it beyond its age and where it came from. But Daybreak was only called to retrieve it, not anything more. The spell is worked to open the path between the Outlands and Daybreak, allowing them back. But as this happens, the mists rise up as they often do when the two worlds intersect. The team might even see it ghosting over the mirror before catching their own reflections in it. A light flashes over its surface and in that instant, the mirror activates.

Just one look in any reflective surface throughout Soliel-- a mirror, a window, a bit still water-- and people will be struck with sudden dizziness, a feeling of being knocked back, and then darkness. You'll find, on waking, a dark and desolate landscape full of smoke and fog. It'll be hard to tell where one is going. You won't be alone. People all over the academy have been brought into this vision. You may run into them, but even more likely, you'll run into the spots of color that cut through the fog.

And dwelling with this color? Why it's you. But better. Or maybe, much, much worse. It seems the mirror has something to show you. But is that something a promise? Or a threat...? Learn its lesson and you may escape both the shadowy realm and a terrible fate in your future. What image will you leave on the world?

Comments

Grimm | OTA

[fireindreams]

A - Send the fire down

[In the fog, in the darkness, is simultaneously the past and future.

Grimm knows who he sees the moment they walk out of the color. A teenager wearing an old hoodie too big for him, tattered jeans and messy black hair. By the time that Grimm had met his predecessor, he had been lucky enough to find shoes that fit. And that is what this is.

Alderic Lavoie. Eyes that no longer glowed with the power of the Troupe Master but still touched by the long, long nightmare. A vampire with no memory of what he became nor has achieved. Forgotten, the Ritual complete. The child grown with love and memory.

And an envelope in hand, his own memories written down. Grimm passing on into history in his own way.

He knows what his reflection asks of him but in turn asks for some time. And so the reflection of what was and will be wanders. There may be some recognition in Alderic's eyes when he approaches others, there may not be. But he has a letter and some pictures.]

...excuse me? Can I ask you something?


B -The sun consumes the ground

[When the colors break, what comes next is an explosion of red and heat.

Flames dance wildly and unpredictably, a chaotic mess that forces people away least they get burned. Strangely there seems to be no actual source for these flames beyond the madness. It whips at those who come close, attacking anyone and everything even if there's nothing there for it to fight.

And a voice on the wind.]

Go...away...go away...


[ooc: Prompt A's Grimm is him post-ritual, meaning Alderic has lost his memory of Daybreak and his CR. He'll have vague knowledge of people, but if it has to do with the Grimm Troupe then he won't remember. As a warning, those who tag into Prompt B will be attacked on the spot.]

A

[spelleton]

...Certainly. [ He's nothing if not polite, even if he's not sure what all this darkness means yet. ] How can I be of service?

[fireindreams]

[Right, the letter said he was polite. Maybe...?]

Are you Ekkehardt Gehring? This person?

[He holds up a few pictures that came with the letter. One is, unsurprisingly, the picture of Grimm and Ekkehardt's terrible adventure in ugly sweaters but there's a few others even if Ekkehardt himself probably won't recognize when they were taken.

It's been quite some time, after all.]

This letter says you can answer a lot of questions I might have.

[spelleton]

It depends, of course, on what those questions are - but I'll certainly try my best.

[ He thinks he understands, of a sort, what this is, especially when he sees those photos.

(It makes his chest ache in a way he's biologically incapable of.) ]

What is it you wish to ask?

[fireindreams]

[That part of Grimm that was observant enough to pick up on little bits of what Ekkehardt doesn't talk about isn't there. Alderic didn't have that - this is their first meeting as far as he knew.

(But looking at Ekkehardt brings a sense of warm familiarity. Three years and more, gone but not totally forgotten. A dear...friend?)]

There's...a lot. [Unsurprisingly.] What I'm now, Daybreak, and you too. He wrote a lot about you.

[A lot about the people Alderic may meet, who'd have memories of someone named "Grimm". A school filled with magic and a great thing they'd all have to do. He thinks that Grimm may have run out of room at some point and it still wasn't enough.]

Can you tell me about yourself? Please?

[spelleton]

Hm, well...I don't talk very much about myself.

So you've put me into a bit of a difficult position...or should I say, Grimm has. But he always liked doing things like that - making my life harder, that is - so I can't say I'm surprised.

[ Even in this dream of a future that may or may not come to pass, Grimm insists on making his life more complicated. Isn't that just like him? ]

But I can offer you some basic information, at least. My name is Ekkehardt Gehring, and my profession is as a healer and surgeon.

[ He pauses, but only for a moment. ]

And I was very fond of the person you once were. He was a dear friend to me, in fact.

[fireindreams]

[The letter mentions that, and that there were somethings Grimm wouldn't write down about Ekkehardt because it should be his choice to talk about those things. He can pick up on the air of mystery around this person - he really doesn't look like a healer - but there's still that nostalgic feeling.

A feeling that seems to be right.]

I met him a little bit here, in this darkness. [It was strange to see, a future (a past?) he'd never experience. A disconnect.] He seems like the kind of guy who'd make life hard for a friend and laugh. In a nice but really weird way.

[Grimm had no reason to let people see Alderic and it wasn't hard at all to accept this was his fate. He could have left pretty much within minutes of meeting. But he didn't.

A choice to let Alderic exist a little longer. And the desire to let people make those choices still resonates within them.]

But I guess knowing a little about you means I can get to know you again. I-if you want.

[Alderic and Grimm are not the same person. And it sounds like Ekkehardt was really fond of Grimm. He couldn't give that back.]

[spelleton]

He is. [ He will be, he was. But he doesn't want to speak of things in past tense, not yet.

He'll be a memory, one day. But he's not unused to that; the Ekkehardt who Grimm had met before this is a memory too, a ghost of someone who no longer exists, who stopped existing a decade and more past. ]

If you'd like to get to know me, I'm not against it. [ His smile is faint, and a little vulnerable. ] I'm not terribly interesting, but I won't deny you. I admit I'm curious about you, as well.

[fireindreams]

[The letter is a gift from the past to the now and future. Alderic has to take Ekkehardt's word about Grimm and what little he knows from meeting him briefly.

Grimm had written about his friends, his family, and Daybreak. He wrote and wrote, and never once talked about himself.]

I don't think I'm that interesting either. [But he smiles anyway.] Maybe together we could make one interesting person?

[It's a bad joke, an echo of Grimm's own terrible sense of humor. That endures despite the gap between the two of them.]

[spelleton]

Oh, everyone's interesting eventually. That's what I believe, in any case. But perhaps you're right.

What else would you like to ask? About me, or about the man I knew before, related to you. [ He tilts his head a little, eyes curious. He wants to see what else Alderic feels important to ask. ]

[fireindreams]

Let's see...

[There's a lot here. Grimm himself explained a lot but Alderic had a feeling he left some things out too. A friend he may hear about that Grimm knew but couldn't explain. His (their?) choice to become a vampire.

Why he kept using the term nightmare when one would think dream would sound nicer.]

When did you meet him? He says it here but it's...weird.

['Flowery' is a better term but Alderic didn't exactly have the same flare that Grimm did, at least outside of his shows.]

[spelleton]

A while ago. [ His voice is wry. ] I'm not surprised he wrote that down. He likes - liked - teasing me about it.

I'd been formally recognised as a mage, then, by my family. I had the proper training, and I was ready to undertake missions. I believe it was on one of my first ones that we required the cooperation of a vampire for.

So, I met him then. [ ......He rubs the back of his neck after a moment, grimacing a bit in what's clearly a small amount of embarrassment. ] And I immediately, ah...thought he was quite handsome. And he noticed. So I suppose he considered that significant.

[fireindreams]

[Well. That goes as far as explaining why Grimm seemed highly entertained when Alderic got to that part in the letter. In a good, but weird way.]

Y-yeah, that explains it. Not that it's a bad thing! He really liked you and you're pretty--ah.

[Just going to...smack himself with the letter to make himself shut up. Possessive of Grimm's grace, Alderic is not.]

Also you need to confess to someone. It's been five hundred years now.

[Which feels like an exaggerating. But maybe it's enough to put a timeline to when Grimm passes on.]

A

[unpocoloco]

[Ay, this place is really starting to get to him. How are they supposed to get out? What about the living with him who couldn't survive in total desolation? Why was everyone... not quite right?

Grimm is no exception.]

Grimm?

[He's got questions of his owns ready to spill. He opens his mouth but thinks better.]

...Sure, of course. You okay, amigo?

[fireindreams]

I'm...not Grimm. Or maybe I was? It's kind of confusing.

[He smiles reassuringly (or so he hopes) before looking at the letter in his hands.]

You're Héctor, right? This guy?

[They've got a picture. The one from Halloween and terrible fashion choices.]

[unpocoloco]

[The smile might be reassuring but he's meeting it with a look of concern, brows furrowed. He knows there was... something going on there. A spirit Grimm spoke to, that carried with him.

He opens his mouth to speak only to stop when he's met with the face of Frida Kahlo with a goatee. His face.

Wow, that's a lot more embarrassing than he thought it'd be for someone who "doesn't know him" to see. He laughs and colors.]

Ah, ha, yeah, that's... that's me.

[fireindreams]

[Alderic, while not someone who had Grimm's uncanny ability to read peoples' moods, doesn't miss the awkward laughter.]

He did, um, do a sketch of you. But I thought a photograph is easier to recognize. Sorry.

[He shuffles through the papers in his back pocket before pulling it out. It's a simple sketch, nothing over-done. But it's of Héctor and the Grimmchild playing together. Perhaps something the vampire drew in his downtime.

A friend and a father is how Grimm wanted Héctor to be remembered as.]

I'm Alderic, by the way. Alderic Lavoie.

[A name Héctor has heard before when he saw that memory of the Nightmare King. It had been what he called Grimm.]

[unpocoloco]

[He waves a hand.]

No, no, it's fine! It's funny! I just wasn't expecting-- oh.

[He wasn't expecting the drawing either. He reaches out for it, wanting to take it in his hands and look it over. To realize the way he was seen. To worry for a few people now.

His gaze lifts. After a moment, he sticks out a hand, smile weak but there.]

Mucho gusto, Alderic. I'm afraid I haven't heard nearly as much about you as it seems you have of me.

[fireindreams]

[He lets the man take it. There's something there that Alderic doesn't know but feels familiar. For a little while he wondered if the child was Héctor's, but there were far too many differences.

And a feeling of love and loss he just cannot shake.]

I don't know much, actually. [But he returns the handshake.] There's some memories but they're really blurry. But he wrote this letter for me and it talks about you and everyone else. And Daybreak.

[Nothing about himself. Bar meeting Grimm for a minute, there was nothing about the man. Or vampire? That's apparently what Alderic was too? It's a little confusing.

But not unwelcome. Not at all.]

[unpocoloco]

Does it?

[Grimm wrote of him. And Grimm was not Alderic, but was.

The man is lost. What he needs is something to ground him, not more questions and swimming out to see. But he's got to ask.]

Alderic... do you know what happened to Grimm? And to this child, here, in the picture?

[He passes that drawing back.]

[fireindreams]

I don't. We talked a little bit, here.

[He gestures towards the darkness around them. Alderic had found Grimm easily, to the point he has to wonder if the man wasn't just waiting for him from the start. He had the letter already but Grimm asked for a little more time in the darkness.

A little more time that benefits Alderic alone.]

The letter says the kid's safe and happy. But I don't know anything about Grimm himself. He didn't....I don't think he thought he was important enough to write about.

[He wrote that Alderic was a vampire now, and that he could go to Daybreak for help. And about his friends and that they could help too. But nothing about who Grimm was.]

[unpocoloco]

[I don't think he thought he was important enough to write about. He doesn't know much about Grimm. He doesn't know enough to determine whether that's the normal thought process for him or if it genuinely didn't cross his mind. But in the end, it doesn't matter. It's a statement that brings his expression to twist and he's got to look away from Alderic for a moment before he can get that under control.

Alderic had gestured to the fog. Grimm is still out there. But this is important right now.]

I'm going to shake him until bats fall out of his ears.

[The muttered statement isn't for Alderic but it sure is audible.]

I guess what I should be asking then is if you have any questions for me.

[fireindreams]

[Busted. Alderic came into existence knowing the contents of the letter and let Grimm read it when he requested. But he didn't seem surprised by the contents of it.

And maybe he didn't think it'd have this sort of reaction from people.]

I'm...um, sorry?

[Bats, though? Can't say he heard of that one.]

Oh...well, can you tell me about yourself? He goes into it here but I'd like to know more.

[He also wants to know about what he is. But that can wait. Perhaps the 'focusing on others' part is not unique to Grimm alone.]

[unpocoloco]

[He waves off the apology. Alderic isn't the one who should be apologizing anyway.

Nor is he, perhaps, the only one who ought to.]

If I'm being honest, I never told too much. To anyone, if I could help it.

[Just the little things, here and there, until something tumbled out without intention.]

You know my name. Héctor Rivera. My wife is from the Rivera mage family. They're known technically as necromancers but what they summon are guides of spirits-- no resurrections or things like that. Our daughter is a half mage. I was just ordinary.

I was a musician. Professionally. I wrote songs and sang and played them. Over a decade ago, I went on tour with a friend. I wound up in the outlands by accident. I'm not entirely human anymore.

I've been out for nearly two years, one on the street, and one taken in by Daybreak. I'm not here to save the world like the others. I'm here to learn what I can so I can go home to my daughter. She's what's pushed me on and got me this far.

I met Grimm at a party. He was talking to himself. I can see the dead now and I know that being stared at isn't the greatest. I thought I'd cover for him. But he might have told you that part.

That's... that's me, I guess.

[fireindreams]

[That's a lot. He did know Héctor's name from the letter and that he made Grimm's child pretty happy from playing with them. Yet Alderic pays rapid attention to what Héctor says because he wants to learn about Grimm's friends. They seem like really nice people from the letter and...he misses the company.

But his eyes go a little wide when Héctor says he can see the dead.]

...you can see the dead? Um, how long past can you...?

[Maybe...would it be asking too much from someone Alderic just met?]