03 [video]

[topslug]

Name: Yako Katsuragi (un: katsuragi)
Date: Septeril 1st, after Mhairi & Nessie's address and Sokie's post.
Format: Video

For those who are considering going to Dorchacht: someone brought up the idea of sharing what information we've been able to find out about how the compulsion to obey witches works in the city. From previous experience with these dreams, they don't often represent an accurate version of reality, so we should be cautious in our assumptions of what will actually be there.

From what I was able to find out, the enchantment to force Monsters to obey witches is built into the walls of the city itself -- along with a spell to keep the Cwyld out, though it's not the same as the one used by Aefenglom.

That being said ... if it works the way it does in the dream, then we know there are ways to protect ourselves. The resistance was distributing enchanted paper with runes that can be used to lift the compulsion. The witches were willing to teach me -- I assume I'm not the only one who learned. If there are enough of us willing to work on it, we could work together and take a look at that spell, see if we can strengthen it and distribute those spells to those who can't cast them. We don't have much time before we leave, but I think it's worth trying.

[ She pauses. Up to now, she hasn't looked very uncertain or worried, only concerned, but she's more tentative about what she says next. ]

One more thing ... we may still not know exactly where these dreams come from, or why, but I think it could be just as significant who isn't getting the dreams as much as who is. I spoke to some of the people who live outside Aefenglom's walls earlier last month -- and they told me they didn't experience anything like we did after Litha, that dream with the dragon and red skies.

But people who were infected by the Cwyld -- they did dream about something strange. They said they had the same nightmare of being trapped in darkness, hearing something or someone in pain, and a great heart beating in the distance. And they think they remember seeing some sort of cocoon, like a caterpillar's? It didn't seem like they were in the same place, but their accounts were very similar.

... I don't know if it has any significance, but if you're staying behind, please be careful, too.

[ ooc; Yako's referring to investigation results from here and here respectively, if you were curious. ]

Comments

[usurpers]

[ amazing how stress can make you look so much older!! ]

I wouldn’t mind talking with you.

[ it’s not that it’s needed— but, resources. ]

[topslug]

I'd like to see you, too.

Where do you want to meet?

[usurpers]

Where you gave me meat and cooked vegetables.

[ there’s something fondly said about that— and whenever yako’s ready, eren is already there. the coven’s garden, somewhere, where he quietly keeps to himself on a bench. ]

[topslug]

[ This time, sadly, Yako won't have food in hand when she turns up, looking a little tired and somber but still smiling when she catches sight of Eren. He's certainly changed, but she can still see the man she knows there. ]

Sorry to keep you waiting.

[usurpers]

[ eren’s got a different sort of somber to him— the type that doesn’t always leave so easily, and hangs on you when your thoughts run empty. he’s always been good at pushing through each and every time, though.

fear not, he’s got snacks. it’s: a crispy, rigid thing in the shape of a frog. there’re three, and he offers them out to her, palm up while eating legs himself. ]

I’ve got time. [ which is ironic af. oh, and his tats— he lifts his wingspan in the process, ] How’s it look?

[topslug]

[ Yako looks them over, not bothering to hide the astonishment on her face; even with as many monsters as she's seen in Aefenglom by now, there aren't that many dragons, so it's still surprising to see the different configurations bodies can take every time. ]

It's impressive. [ She answers, honestly, taking the offered frogs graciously. ] Do you keep them in your dragon form?

[ Assuming that's a real thing and not just the product of a dream... she takes a bite of the crispy frog thing, curious. ]

[usurpers]

That’s the plan. [ meaning . . . he doesn’t quite know for a fact, but!!! ] If it’s the same body, it should stay.

[ he knows he’ll shift, eventually. he just doesn’t have to worry about clothes, or rain anymore. though why he actually called her— ]

We still have contact with our homes.

[topslug]

Is that where you've been? [ Yako asks tentatively, looking to him curiously.

She very deliberately doesn't add, it looks like it was a rough trip. ]

[usurpers]

. . . In a way. I was still here. [ aha, he wouldn't deny the rough trip. ] What happens back home plays in the mirror, and it's like your mind goes with it.

[ ..... he doesn't know how to explain his hair and build, though. ]

[topslug]

[ Like whaaat. Yako blinks in surprise, cocking her head. ]

So you never actually left? [ She feels a bit better about not having missed his disappearance, at least. But no, that doesn't explain his altered appearance at all, and she taps her fingers against a cheek, considering. ]

The mirrors do more than just bring us here, then ... were you doing anything that might have triggered it?

[usurpers]

I was sleeping.

[ so, nothing. ]

. . . It was the call to go there that woke me up.

[topslug]

You heard something? [ Yako asks to clarify, curious. ] Or was it something more ... unconscious?

[ Her hand curls over her chest, instinctively. ]

... like a Bond?

[usurpers]

. . . I didn’t think of it that way. [ thinking back . . . ] Yeah. Like someone calling you.

[topslug]

I suppose they're right to call us the mirrorbound, after all...

[ She pauses. She's been wondering what happens back home, as it were, and this is the first real chance she's had to answer that. ]

Did you remember being in Aefenglom at all? Had any time passed back home, or was it like you never left?

[usurpers]

[ there's something mildly upset about the way eren answers. like he didn't like the fact. it's obvious no one would like the fact if it were true. ]

I didn't think about Aefenglom at all during the memories. [ the thought that he had memories that could be taken from him didn't actually sit well. ] But it's hard to tell when I was still sitting here.

[topslug]

[ Yako exhales, quietly. ]

So the Looking-Glass House can pull us from other worlds and still keep us connected to them ... it really makes you wonder who made it in the first place, doesn't it? And why...

[ She pauses. ]

How do you feel?

[usurpers]

I've heard stories.

[ that mostly have to do with faes. and how he actually feels is something no one has asked, neither did he think anyone would to the point that he's mildly off guard. perhaps not for show, he just takes it in as a moment of quiet. ]

. . . A little weary. [ came back maybe 80% dead and didn't get much sleep, so. that! ] But I'm still me.

[ a tough call, because that's hard to keep going! but he does look a little worn, like he's aged more than what's actually visible. ]