Clocktowers Beneath the Sea (Open)

[hattersgonnahat]

Who: Open
What: Time Rift Detected (Plot details here)
When: December 14th
Where: Aube(First Floor), ???
Warnings: Could vary by thread, N/A currently


With the final preparations completed, Puella was ready. Part of her wondered if she should have others come in to see it, but then again if the hourglass didn't do anything at all, it was going to be a let down right? She was only basing everything on some dreams she had, after all...

...Why not just test it out first, just to be sure?



Early that morning the base of the Aube dormitory would have felt something unusual. The sound of something whirling and a somewhat dizzy feeling after. It was very brief but noticeable enough. Kind of like a tiny blue portal that was now floating there motionlessly in the middle of the common room. Getting close enough to touch it made anyone feel like they were being pulled in. Torn and dragged through...something. The fabric of time itself?

All who enter to the other side are met with a vast world in fog, stain glass islands and clocktowers that seem to strut out endlessly; given sort of a sense that this had maybe once been a city but now feels completely abandoned. And slowly fading away.

The mist is so thick, it produces a water effect when moving around in it and refracts what little light there is. Doesn't seem to impede breathing in any way though, but might take some time getting used to. And eventually some might no longer notice the water at all, as the clocktowers and glass start to fade and reveal something more...familiar. Places that were much more recognizable, places that might've felt more nostalgic. Stepping into them sure did feel like walking into a dream...but there is certainly a sort of 'realness' to it.

There doesn't seem to be any way 'out' of this world when going 'in', so why not make the best of it for awhile? One of your own memories could have materialized, you could have wandered into someone else's, or you could look for where Puella disappeared to. She never returned back either and has been missing the longest out of everyone.

Comments

A

[unpocoloco]

Valvatorez.

[He calls out as carefully as he can. He knows he's bound to startle. It can't be helped.

His eyes dart to the distant mist the woman had walked off to and back to the man before him.]

Discúlpame. I did not mean to eavesdrop. I didn't want to interrupt.

[Unlike his own nightmares, this didn't seem to be a moment one would want ruined.]

Are you alright?

[arcadianvampire]

[Ah... well. He's somehow not surprised that someone from the Academy saw that. He hesitates for a moment, and then nods once, before turning to face Hector.]

Yes. I'm fine. And it's okay that you saw that, Hector.

[It was a private moment, sure, but... it really wasn't in him to be upset about it right now.]

Just... remembering a bygone age.

[unpocoloco]

[His mouth presses. He's not sure he'd call it okay, but nevertheless. He looks again to that horizon.

He's silent for a moment.]

That's a long time, to have to mourn someone. The most any human bears is a century. But even that's too much.

[arcadianvampire]

[He nods, respectfully. He appreciates what Hector's getting at, though... he's not quite in agreement. But that was okay.]

Remember, my friend, that time's quite a different concept for me. I am over twenty-five hundred years old, and that's still quite young, as far as how old powerful daemons can get.

She died four hundred years ago. Which... it's true. She would long be dead now even if... [He shook his head.] But I do not hold onto this memory for the purposes of mourning alone.

[unpocoloco]

[It's true. He does forget that. He doesn't understand immortality. He's never seen the appeal. Not even these days, wishing he had more time, does he want so much. Eventually, that's just getting stuck on the other side of the same problems he has now, he thinks.

But his head lifts as Valvatorez goes on.]

... You preserve her. Her memory.

[That he could understand better than most.]

Or is it something else?

[arcadianvampire]

Yes. Especially when history has seen fit to miscast her. I don't know if you've ever heard of the legends of the Great Witch, or die Grosse Hexen, but... That was her. Who she actually was.

[The stories about the Great Witch were... never kind to her. Frequently calling her a warmongering, blackhearted traitor, who beguiled people and walked with daemons. ...The last one was true, as it turned out, but not for the reasons the stories laid out.]

I keep that memory alive because someone should. ...And it reminds me the heights humankind is capable of. What it's all for.

[unpocoloco]

I never did, no. México is a long way from Germany.

[It's said in a tone of apology. Though, from the sounds of things, it's better that he doesn't know. His mouth presses. He considers his words, looking out over the field.]

... When I died, my family did not know. The way things went, it looked like I had simply walked out on them. I left a lot of pain for many years. My... partner at the time, who played with me, he took my songs. And so, after that, I wasn't seen as much more than a scoundrel and a deadbeat who amounted to nothing.

These days, a lot of people still think that. And I still don't have my songs. But, I've found I don't really care so much. What matters is that my family knows. They know my wishes and they know I love them. That's good enough.

I'm sorry her tale's been twisted. But I think, based on what I can tell of her, she'd be happy just to know she was remembered well by someone beloved, who loved her too.

[arcadianvampire]

...That's for the best. The stories are. Dreadful.

[And something of a sore point for him, as the lessons earlier in the year showed off.

Still, once Hector starts looking out over the field and starts speaking, he opens his ears and listens. He had a feeling Hector's story in life, or more accurately death, would be a sad one... and boy, was that on the nose. And that, in his own way, he lived an experience quite like hers. Vilified by circumstances after death in ways he didn't deserve.

Still, before he could comment on that, Valvatorez's red eyes widened a bit at being so brutally called out like that. He kinda looked stunned, which might be the first time Hector's really seen him so taken aback. But, once the vampire recovers he closes his eyes again, and turns about 90 degrees to the side.]

...And now I'm wondering what your head is stuffed with, Hector.

[Like when he spoke to the woman before, there was absolutely zero bite in the statement; he didn't even look angry or upset. And even then, there was a hint of fondness to it, even if Valvatorez probably hadn't intended it.]

[unpocoloco]

[He sees the way those eyes widen. He also notes that Valvatorez tries to hide. It's that fond yet disregarding remark that has him snort and shake his head. He smirks, amused, and fixes a look at Valvatorez's back.]

You think it is not obvious? You made a promise to her, noted a difference so wonderful with her in the world, claimed an existence for her that would challenge death and here you are remembering her still.

[What fills his head? Love is what he keeps with him more than anything. It's what drives him, what brought his music forth and let it bloom, what let him rise from the grave. He will always know love, even with as little wits as he has sometimes.]

I don't know if it is romantic, but with due respect my friend, I'd have to be a much bigger fool to not know that it is love.

[arcadianvampire]

[Valvatorez remains quiet once more, gaze off into the distance, as if still seeing her there, even with her long gone. He's... oddly motionless, stock still, again, as if lost in thought. But his silence doesn't actually feel like a particularly uncomfortable one.]

...I've never really put a word to it, my friend. [...Which probably sounds more profound than it really is.] Love... is not something you typically hear about from daemons. For many various reasons, many of which I am quite confident you would call quite stupid.

[He's heard the human spiel about love a bunch of times over the years, as was probably evident. Not that he was feeling particularly spiteful about it; though this may be one of the first times anything's gotten through his thick skull about it.]

And at this point... putting a word to it simply feels like an afterthought.

[Not that it's ever stopped him from thinking about her. What it would've been like if he hadn't failed her. Where the world might be now. ...What she would think if she saw him now.

...He hated that Hector was right. Deep down, he hated that fact, and that it was easier just to ignore that. But it was also Hector simply calling a spade a spade, and... telling Valvatorez something he probably knew for centuries and just didn't want to face.]

You've probably already figured it out. ...She is why I am no longer a Tyrant, though the fault of it was never hers. I failed to keep her safe, and so never got to keep my end of the promise.

[unpocoloco]

[He looks sympathetic. No, he doesn't imagine that it is a common phrase among daemons. And, with a bit of a rueful smile, he has to say he agrees, he does think many of those reasons stupid.

He stays quiet, letting Valvatorez explain himself. Only when the man is done does he speak.]

I know that it does not help your grief, my friend, but there are more ways to keep a person safe than just the physical sense. Our memories... our beliefs... taking care of the things we love. That, too, is something.

[He steps closer, daring to reach out and lay a hand on Val's shoulder.]

And yet, ironically, sometimes humans are just as bad. Love is painful. It is easy for many to deny it because to know that pain takes strength. That is what I think, at least.

What I mean to say is, don't be ashamed. You are doing well just as you are.