005 | Video

[clickclickbang]

Name: Prompto Argentum
Date: 2/8
Format: video

[In the background of this video, there's the (relatively) hushed sounds of a certain Sun King's voice, trying to get someone to stop and rest, as she should. He's being met with growls of "I'm busy!" along with some pots and pans clanging and chopping as she’s clearly trying to make Something. It might be a stew? There's still the remains of a varied breakfast and food packages that were just set on the table. Pointing this out does not appear to be much of a deterrent.

While all that’s going on, Prompto just sort of. Gives the camera a Look.]

So, I was going to let everyone know that hey, I'm back, Insomniac Delivery is back up and running, please do not try to eat my chocobo, photos will be back soonish, et cetera et cetera, but Caren dropped some interesting information at breakfast this morning and that takes priority. So.

[Pause for effect. An effect that is likely somewhat spoiled as more extreme measures of putting things on higher shelves is met with highly vocal protests decrying it as an unfair move.]

Apparently Dorchacht used to be a monster city.

[Yet another pause for further effect. And also a drink of coffee because boy, does Prompto need the (sugary, creamy, mostly everything but coffee) caffeine this morning.]

So, according to Caren's...contact? Before Drummond or whoever came around, witches lived in a separate part of the city because they were considered the dangerous ones. They said they treated the witches fairly and I'm pretty sure it'd be hard to treat people worse than how Dorch was when we got there, but, uh, maybe take that part with a grain of salt?

[And of course, in the midst of Prompto trying to explain, he’s interrupted by the menace in the background.]

This also could have been centuries ago so- no, I don't want tea. I don't feel like being drugged today, thank you!

That's not what-- [He lets it go. It's not that important right now. He plucks a ladle away from Caren.] It sounds as though they avoided the consequences of full moons without Bonds, but still engaging with one another.

[Prompto is just gonna ignore all that going on in the background. This is important. And also Ozy can handle Caren better than he can, let’s be real.]

They also told Caren about where Monsters and Witches came from, according to Dorchacht's lore, and what the Cwyld is...sort of. At least why it's a thing.

It's different from what they tell us here. According to their story, the Sisters freed the monsters from the True Fae and...Ozymandias! Don't put my knives there!

[And there she goes, back into the background. Specifically, onto the counter to save her knives. Her efforts are near-immediately spoiled as Ozymandias loops an arm around her middle and tosses her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.]

You're only going to confuse everyone worrying about something like that right now. If you’re not going to rest, at least focus. [He brings Caren back into view, setting her down, but keeping a firm arm wrapped around her. It would probably be a very nice hug under other circumstances.] What Caren was trying to say is that the True Fae then angered the Sisters by teaching humans magic. Thus, they created the Cwyld as punishment for their insolence.

Prompto, I trust you can manage from here. I'm going to remove the temptation to continue trying to cook.

[He barely waits for an answer before opting this time to at least princess carry Caren.

Prompto, meanwhile, stares in utter bafflement as they go off because that sure is a Witch princess carrying a freaking Chimera. Just for a moment, though, before he turns back to the watch.]

Yeah, what Ozy said. Anyway, uh. That was a lot, but there were other things Caren’s contact mentioned, but this is already pretty nuts so...any questions?

[[Prompto, Ozymandias, Caren. All three are available for questions!]]

Comments

voice, un: momo-chan~♥

[yesdoubt]

[Here is a very confused sounding man on the line, because this is...a lot when he only just got here, but he can't help but be curious.]

So is that dream thing some of us had before arriving this month the first contact anyone's had with the "true Fae"? I'm new, so I don't really get a lot of what's going on here yet, but if a curse against them is still going then surely they've gotta still be around somewhere, right?

[Probably hidden, if this horrific sickness thing they're contending with is gunning for them, but he doesn't know what kind of exploration has happened before he got here.]

[clickclickbang]

I didn't have that dream, but what I've heard has me thinking "yes" to the first, and "I dunno" to the second. Sometimes things get outta hand, y'know?

[yesdoubt]

To be fair, you weren't missing much with the fae themselves. [Momo usually tries to be nice in public, but there's a strained element to that remark that says he found dealing with them a bit trying.] I guess it's true things might've gotten out of control, but I can't say I know how curses usually work, either. Sounds like if that story's true, the options are it got out of hand or they burnt down a forest to spite one tree.

[clickclickbang]

It has me wondering why Aefenglom's story is different, too. Was it just, like, drift or whatever it's called?

[yesdoubt]

If it's seriously different, it's hard to tell when it's just two...if there was a third where we could at least say "this is closer to one of the ones we know than the other", then maybe we'd be getting somewhere.

[clickclickbang]

Yeah. It's so dangerous to go traveling, though, so no one's gonna just go looking for a third city.

[yesdoubt]

Makes sense. Doesn't this city trade with other places, though? Have any of the people at the harbour ever mentioned other stories?

[clickclickbang]

...you know, I've never asked.

[yesdoubt]

Might be worth looking into. There's always a chance they'll fall in line with the story here since it'd be the biggest place they trade with, but it's hard to know without asking.

[fulgency]

There's no telling whether or not the True Fae are still alive. If one assumes them to still exist, where their court lies is far beyond what anyone has been able to successfully travel to and investigate.

It seems more likely that they were wiped out by the Cwyld, but I myself would never eliminate the possibility that they survived if what we witnessed in that dream were the True Fae.

[Self-preservation and cruelty go to some extreme lengths.]

[yesdoubt]

How far out of the city has anyone gotten? Out of curiosity. [Momo's working on thinking with magic brain here, which is getting easier the more he does it, but it's still a big leap coming from a world like his.] But yeah, they really didn't seem the types to let themselves get wiped out, did they? Might've ruined their good time. Though...

[Unfortunate magic brain thought has occurred to him.] ...this Cwyld thing, it corrupts stuff, right? Is it possible they could be infected, but still alive? If we're talking some sort of higher power creating it, I could buy a "make them live in suffering" kind of approach instead of a "kill them all" one.

[He hasn't seen the Cwyld's effects personally yet, so he doesn't know how accurate a picture he has of how it works.]

[fulgency]

If the infection progresses far enough, it is difficult to tell if the infected is even still alive. [Which, quite frankly, Ozymandias hopes for their sake that they are not. It seems a terrible existence to have any sort of awareness of what is happening to them at that point.] We also don't know exactly how the Cwyld might affect True Fae. So, I suppose in that regard, anything is possible.

As to your other question, I'm admittedly not the best person to ask as far as how far anyone in the city has traveled. I've not looked into expeditions prior to my arrival and it seems these efforts have been going on for a while.

[yesdoubt]

Well, it's not a nice thought, but it's a thought. [He's not feeling very sympathetic towards the true fae after that dream, but that'd be a pretty nightmarish existence based on what he's heard so far.]

That's fair, I might have to do some reading about that myself or ask around. Still, I haven't heard much about the travels after people started arriving, so if you know more about how those have gone, it'd be good to hear just so I know what's been going on.

[fulgency]

I have not been involved in those expeditions directly, but from my observations, they appear to be yielding more results and allowed for more territory to be reclaimed from the Cwyld.

[And while not necessarily without risk or some injury, but nothing like what has been described about some of the attempts prior to the Mirrorbound. Cost-benefit has been on the side of benefit.]

[yesdoubt]

So there's been progress there? [Good to know that they didn't get pitched into a completely hopeless situation, at the very least. He can work with this.] I'd like to see what's actually going on for myself sometime, so maybe I'll go the next time an opportunity comes up. Seems smarter than heading out on my own to see the state of things.

[He's curious, but he's not reckless about this sort of thing.]

[fulgency]

I'm sure you will have plenty of opportunities. Their expeditions are quite frequent and they never turn anyone willing to help away.

[They need as many skilled individuals on the trip that are willing and able after all.]

[yesdoubt]

Good to know. I'll keep my ear to the ground, then. [He's pretty adventurous, so honestly, the prospect of going on an expedition outside the city sounds like fun to him. Besides the sickness part.] Thanks for answering my questions. I'm trying to make sure I know what's what since I'm still pretty new.

[showsnopiety]

It's certainly possible. But, there is much that we still don't know about the Cwyld, and how it works.

In this city, from what I've heard, it was a human curse that went out of control, and this was the result-a magic infection. Which...would make sense, in a way. That it was bio magical warfare that went horribly wrong.

Now, I'm even less sure of its nature. But...before the dream, I didn't even know there were True and lesser fae.

[yesdoubt]

So it's one of those things where everyone has a different story, but nobody can seem to agree on how it actually happened? [Momo sounds rather thoughtful about that, because that definitely complicates things a whole lot more.] That's a problem...is it just here and Dorchacht you've heard stories of how it got started from? At least the true and lesser fae thing seems kinda straightforward once you get past nobody knowing about it until now.

[showsnopiety]

Likely. We've only been to the two cities. If it wasn't for the ah...unexpected incident we had a few months ago, I'm certain we wouldn't have even known about Dorchacht.

That was...more or less accidental. Has anyone told you about how as a group, we have dreams? Not as a flowery expression.

Lucid dreams we suddenly have late at night.

[yesdoubt]

"Unexpected incident"? [Momo's mostly heard about more recent events, so he won't turn down a chance to brush up on knowledge about things from a few more months ago.] I had a lucid dream before I came here, so are you saying those are a regular thing? It does kinda seem like they're being treated like real events.

[showsnopiety]

They were a little more real then we expected.

[A grimace, then:]

Before, we had dreams where we were more or less the only ones. This wasn't true in this dream-what we called the Black City. It was...horrid, especially for monsters.

Which caused us, in our anger, to lash out, and kill some of the people in the dream. And that's when the witch in charge, Morgana, came to let us know that we had put some of her people in a coma.

And that is how we found out it was a real city, not simply a possible future, or something from the past.

[yesdoubt]

[Yeah, he can see how that would've gone pear-shaped very quickly.] So that's the only time it's been something from the present? I guess I should be happier nobody managed to pick a fight with the true fae, then, something might've gotten messed up.

[If things from dreams of the present could affect reality, he feels like it'd be more likely to also happen with dreams of the past than future. But then, this kind of thinking is still pretty confusing.] ...What were they actually doing to the monsters? I heard things got bad here last month, but I haven't heard much about anything before that.

Cw: just...all the abuse

[showsnopiety]

It was still worse then what it was, but otherwise- the only present dream we know of.

[The question has her sigh, and close her eyes briefly.]

They took away their minds and wills. They used collars, the bright wall to ensure that they would have the compulsion to obey any witch- and all humans were witches.

They harvested without consent. They breed monsters like cattle, and separated children from their parents at age four- when you could see what monster traits set in.

They also were making a monster army. They also had them fight in the pits.

[yesdoubt]

[There's a bit of a weighty pause after she explains that, because...yeah, Momo can see why people lashed out getting thrown into the middle of all that.]

That's... [Screwed up? Unimaginably cruel? It's hard to find words that cover it, so he just lets out a hefty hiss though his teeth.] Honestly, it sounds like a worse evolution of what the true fae were doing in that dream. They had the pits and the selective breeding already, and enslaving people without the mind control. I have to wonder if that's where they got their ideas from.

[Though apparently they weren't listening to the story too well if a higher power had to intervene last time and ultimately led to all this Cwyld business.]