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

[thisisamazing]

[Wow. Hiccup hasn't been the shorter person in at least a few years. This is wild. The comment about braids gets a wry smile out of him.] That too. The braids still suit you.

[Aaand there's a topic he'd rather not discuss.] I've slept. [For a couple hours, slumped over the workbench, seventeen hours ago.] C'mon, I've got ink, I'll get a brush and we'll get those runes painted.

[usurpers]

[ stares

though, he can’t say much. hiccup’s a man who could take care of himself, there’s no room for worried nagging. eren hates when people do that to him. the dragon agrees, sitting down on a nearby stool and spreading his legs so that he’s actually. not be uncomfortable when he sits. something tells him that he’ll be growing extra as the month goes by, if the growing pains in his feet and legs alarm him of anything. once seating, he kneads at the inside of his talons, pads— try to soothe the ache. ]

It’s hard to sleep much with the dreams.

[ especially one he’s almost certain they died in that i just realized gmail ate the notif and i’m so upset ]

[thisisamazing]

...Yeah, it is. [He thinks of both the Dreams here, and the nightmares that followed it. Hiccup busies himself getting ink and brushes from one of the wooden boxes lining the work bench, sheds his apron for ease of movement, and rolls up his sleeves.

He pulls up a stool, and studies the designs already in place.] So, what- what happened?

[usurpers]

[ what happened . . . what happened indeed. eren's eyes are a little far away as he talks now. elsewhere. ]

I stood in front of the mirrors. It felt like I'd fall right back in. [ but, to his dismay, he hadn't. ] My mind felt like it did— went home. A year sprung by for me in a blink.

[thisisamazing]

[Hiccup's frown only deepens.] Newt said something like that happened to him too. That it was like he went home, except he didn't. He didn't... look different, though, after it happened, at least not enough to really notice.

[usurpers]

Maybe not too much time passed for him.

[ or . . . what he keeps hearing everyone tell him, despite his own opinion that he’s always, always been this way inside. ]

Or I just changed more than most.

[ outside was different, at least. that, he actually changed a lot. ]

[thisisamazing]

I guess that's possible. [He isn't sure exactly how long it was for Newt, but the whole thing seems strange.] How weird, that it- changes you physically, too... [He manages a little laugh.] I don't know if I'll ever really get used to magic.

[usurpers]

Might be for the best.

[ even though they’ll be a little more . . . desensitized, one way or another, but getting used to it as something ordinary? well— if he were younger, he’d think it’d take away from the wonder of its existence. now, though. he holds his arm out, to give the tattoos a stretch with his wings. might be easier for hiccup to scribble on the rest of him and find the available spaces. ]

It means we’ll never stop exploring what it can do.

[thisisamazing]

[He lets out a tired laugh, accepting the extra space that comes from Eren stretching out his wings (dragon's wings, and it's still strange to see them on a person, but how incredible it must be to have them-). Even if Hiccup seems distracted, his brush is accurate, gliding over skin, always one for the small details.]

Yeah. There's always another surprise around the corner in this world. [A few moments of quiet as he paints, and then he says, suddenly,] We should go flying sometime.

[usurpers]

[ fly . . . he says. it was not unheard of! he flew in his dreams, he told kaede to try her hand at flying after she gained her wings— but he’s only experienced such winds when he was a full dragon.

he isn’t doubtful, though the way his eyes don’t blink at the suggestion marks his sharp curiosity. ]

I haven’t tried when I’m like this. [ . . . ] Think it’d work?