DUNGEON - BELLMARE ENCLAVE (BELLMARE MOUNTAINS, PT 2)

[phantasmods]

The shadows are starting to grow very long as you crest his particular ridge - it's not night yet, but it will be soon. In the shadows of the afternoon, with a tall mountain already blocking the sun, lies a snow-covered valley that is different from the ones you've come across thus far in your investigation.

This valley is home to a town, and unlike all the settlements you've seen so far - Incendia, the Telovia mining town, and the manor - it's very much active. There are actual people in the streets, visible from above, going through their days on snow-free streets, bundled up against the cold.

Those of you who asked were told of the handful of people who didn't go into the slumber of stasis as the Fissure conditions of the world grew worse and worse, instead isolating themselves and trying to continue living their lives as they could. Now, it seems, you've found exactly such a group.

Welcome to the Bellmare Enclave, and enjoy your stay.

[[OOC: Welcome to part 2 of the dungeon! For the most part, interaction with the town's NPCs can be handwaved as described on the main information post. Worth noting are the following major things: The Bellmare Enclave isn't expecting visitors, though the people are generally friendly to the new arrivals. They don't know about the time dilation effect of their Fissure - to them, it's only been about eighteen years since the Slumber Plan was put in place and they withdrew from the world. And finally, by a similar token, they have no idea how far the Fissures outside of their own have grown - while it's not uncommon for them to find odd objects from time to time, they'll assume that the characters are just arrivals from other places within their own world, rather than outsiders, until told otherwise.]]

Comments

[windowsexplorer]

It seems like it's usually the other around. Being with them makes it easier to be like them.

[Wait.]

Unless you mean... existing with them? In the same reality?

[foolishjustice]

[With the assurance, Crow removes a glove and also presses his hand to the crystal. If the Fragment is paying deep enough attention, it might be able to note six other splinters of a psyche leaning in with varying responses, though King Frost's excited curiosity would be at the front.]

It's familiarity, I think. How easy it is to recognize that a being is another person.

[thefragment]

[ There's another flurry of indecipherable chatter. Yes. Existing with them. Not just communicating through dim flashes of feeling and understanding. Whatever emotion and sentiment might mean – surely it would be easier than this, yes?

Didn't you all promise you were going to help?

Do you still promise that? ]

[burninglight]

[Ardyn glanced back to his own hand, suddenly very aware it was still glowing with active magic meant for transferral of wounds and ailments.]

[...He pushed down a deep and terrifying sense of dread at the concept of history repeating itself, keeping his touch steady on the crystal. It needed help, they had come this far, he'd promised-]

...We want to help you.

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama reaches up and flicks off his personal stabilizer before scanning again. It's easier to get the right wavelengths without it.

Yes. He still promises to help.

There are good points and bad to existing among humans in a form that looks like them, but he can't deny it makes some things easier. Whatever the fragment chooses, Kurama will do his best for it.]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[He slowly looks Meredith over, up and down, eyes narrowing in concentration. Surely it would be easier. Surely?]

It's not easy. [To be human, to exist--god, existing is the hardest thing in the universe, isn't it? He's clearly not talking to her, of course.] And it'll change you. [Maybe not for the better. Maybe not for the worse. But a change will happen.]

You have to be sure. You have to be sure, cuz you might not be able to go back.

[He thinks of Mina, of being very honest with her, that restoring Wilhelmina was her choice, but it might make her different. They might lose her. Her as they knew her.]

This might not be the answer you're looking for...

[windowsexplorer]

[Meredith knows there are a million ways this could end badly, but... it hasn't been long since she learned what she really was.]

I think... yes. It's easier for something like a human to exist the way a human does. But that can be hard, too.

[Beard man who keeps staring at her seems to be thinking along similar lines. Thank you, beard man.]

But if I can help, I will.

[thefragment]

[ There's a very long moment of... let's call it stillness, since there's no talking going on exactly. Their presence is still there, just dimmed slightly as if it's drawn back into itself to thing.

But then the answer comes back; yes. This is the answer they've decided on. It might not be a perfect solution. But it's better than this.

Just one more request:

Try... not to freak out for a second. ]

[burninglight]

Easier said than done.

[Ardyn had gone just a little too tense, but at this point turning off the pseudo-Oracle shit or moving his hand was clearly out of the question.]

[windowsexplorer]

[Meredith nods.

And absolutely keeps those recordings going. Whatever's about to happen, it's important.

She absolutely is not nervously vibrating that's your imagination.]

[foolishjustice]

I promise, I'll be fine.

[He turns off his own personal stabilizer, then does his best to send across a feeling of both being used to the unusual, and taking interest in the sorts of things most people find scary or unnerving. If his reaction to Shadows is just to want to learn more about them, he doubts this will freak him out.]

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama is pretty calm, actually. There's a subdued tension to him, but it's the tension of waiting, as much anticipation as nerves. He reaches out to rest his own fingertips gently against the crystal.

Everything he offers the fragment is encouragement and welcome.]

1/2

[thefragment]

[ The crystal's light suddenly dims, as if being pointed inwards and away from the cavern. It doesn't seem to have gone, just been pointed elsewhere. And those of you who are observant will notice that the extra reflection in the crystal's surface has suddenly vanished.

You don't have long to contemplate that though. There's a sudden lurching sensation, less physical and more... magical. Like someone's suddenly reached into your chest and given the weird spiritual organ you've just now been made aware you have a sharp twist. At the same instant, all of that missing light begins to pour out of the crystal again, painfully bright. You might want to shield your eyes.

Once the brightness reaches its apex, just before it becomes painful to observe even with closed eyes, an impossible, intangible force explodes out from the crystal. There's nothing physical occurring, but it throws you all back a good few feet, away from the crystal. In that moment, the painful light dies down.

Once you've recovered and adjusted to the once again dim light of the cavern, two things become clear. The first is that the crystal seems to have lost whatever unusual properties it had only moments ago. Now it just looks like... well, crystal. And second of all... there's an extra person here.

They're in a little heap just in front of the crystal, their face hidden by a curtain of sleek, red hair. After a few moments, they manage to push themselves up onto their feet and start climbing onto their feet. You can see now that they're tall and slender, a bit more slight of build than you'd expect from someone of that height.

It takes them a moment or two to find their balance on their feet – they have to stagger and lean back against the crystal to do it – but once they have, they carefully sweep all that crimson hair back from their face and turn their gaze up to the group.

They blink once. Twice. Then they open their mouth and say– ]

[thefragment]

It is so fucking cold down here, dudes!

[ oh, ]

[burninglight]

[What.]

Do you...want a coat?

[the fuck can he do but pull one out of the armiger, man. the fuck is this.]

[foolishjustice]

That would be why most of us either have a way to resist the cold or warm clothes.

[Here, Fragment-kun...have a heavy coat.]

Aside from that, how do you feel?

[thefragment]

[ they take both fuckin coats. w a r m t h. ]

Right now? Less cold! Apart from the neck up and the ass down, that's still pretty cold.

[ they're wearing kneesocks. fucking kneesocks. god is going to die of hypothermia before you even get them back to the enclave.

And then before he can say anything else, they! point! right at Akechi's face! ]

Oh! You! It's– you're the– it's birdface! [ THEY SOUND SO EXCITED ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Oh. My god.

Dude, that's what you get when you wear a fucking skirt! It's cold! You're in the middle of, like, the tallest mountain around!

...You want a snack? [Cuz Church'll offer up some offbrand cheetos from the armiger, nbd.]

[burninglight]

Fucking hell, do I have pants in here?

[You know what he's just going to produce a pile of clothes that may or may not include one or more kigurumis. Why do you have those, Ardyn.]

Here, there must be something that'll work...

[foolishjustice]

B-birdface?

[He blinks a bit, surprised by the sudden pointing.]

It's...a mask. The only bird traits I actually have are optional wings.

[byanyother_name]

Corvus Cantus.

[It's lightly teasing, yes.]

[thefragment]

[ THEY TURN THEIR POINTING FINGER TO CHURCH!!! ] Blue Team! [ AND THEN ARDYN ] Dad Guy!

[ and then they s w i p e those cheetos from Church, tuck the bag under one arm and start digging through the Pile O' Clothes to find a suitable outfit for cold weather. ]

Where's Toot and Crime Lady?

[stavros]

Bird... well, I suppose he does look like one.

[That's not giggling, she is dignified. Okay, it is.]

[foolishjustice]

[Now he really looks like one.]

[windowsexplorer]

[Oh no.

They're hot.]