WHEN: 1943 JUNE 15th, afternoon - evening
WHERE: Khymeia Academy, the Astral Plane
WHO: Dinah, Alex, and Niles
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[10:59] Dinah (dollihead) had arrived early to prepare the room. For one, there were sigils painted on the door frame that would effectively barricade it once she gave the signal, so there wouldn't be any awkward, and potentially dangerous interruptions. The complicated signs were drawn onto the floor and marked out, and she was meticulously measuring herbs, plant extracts and assorted bits of green matter into a glass teapot of water. She was notably not in her trueform, choosing to be her more 'human' extreme from back when she was learning her hermetic arts to help focus her. She muttered and hummed, her almost sweet appearance totally at odds with the rest of the classroom surrounding her. She had to be ready for anything.
[11:03] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) arrived at the Academy itself beforehand but had taken some time to do a cursory little loop around the grounds. He didn't need to have eyes on the Dean or his little protege but he did want to have a general idea of where they were. Something had changed in the last couple of days and the Sidhe was wary. When he finally came to the hermetics room to meet Dinah he was without his Glamour, dressed as he was when he'd conducted her surgery. He did not enter the room right away, unsure of the sort of Warding Dinah would have erected. Instead he knocked on the door, clearing his throat. "Hope I'm not intruding on your preparations?" he called.
[11:06] Dinah (dollihead) added three dark, dried berries to the teapot when the door knocked and she turned, smiling towards the door and opening it with a little tug of telekinesis without stepping away from her preparations.
"Nothing that you can't be here for. I hope you have a high tolerance for bitterness. this is going to taste foul" she warned him with a smile, setting the lid on the pot. "Not really the sort of tea that I offer to people regularly. My hostessing will be awful today." she held it by the handle and the spout, setting it gingerly beside the circle.
"Are you nervous?" she asked curiously, peering up towards him. "I don't think there has been a time really when you've needed to come to me for something of a magical nature. Normally it is me ingratiating myself onto your studies"
[11:11] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) bent a little, folding his wings in to step through the doorway into the Hermetics classroom and shut the door behind him with his own little telekinetic tug. He smiled at Dinah, eyebrows raising at the sight of her blonde hair. "Back to more familiar ground I see," he remarked and took a few steps closer, leaning against the side of one of the desks as he studied the markings and preparations she'd made. The scent of the tea made him wrinkle his nose but he did not lose his smile. "I've been the guinea pig of one or two imaginative bartenders at the Cabaret," he answered. "I can stand an offensive beverage or two."
[11:16] Dinah (dollihead) smiled and reached her hand up to the blonde of her hair. "The essence of hermeticism as I was taught it was that you are ever in pursuit of the idealized form of your humanity. Looking as I did before... or how I do... would distract from that" she picked up two shallow glass bowls and set them beside the teapot.
"the tea is henbane, mandrake, belladonna and thorn apple. Not in any sort of dose strong enough to kill a person. But henbane and mandrake contain hyoscine,, a hallucinagen, and bella donna and thorn apple are muscle relaxants. just to help you get off the ground" she smiled almost shyly "...but they might make you sick. And we can't add sweeteners because that would disrupt the balance of the elemental spirits therein, and...." she waved a hand almost dismissively. "I do have a few...ground rules, as it were" she slipped the large emerald ring from her finger, offering it to him on his palm. "Firstly, you're wearing this. Provided that it fits you, of course. it is protection warded. The circle will help too, of course.. you'll be sat in the middle of that, on the center diamond" she gestured with her free hand "and secondly... when we start to lift. When we find the astral plane.. no real names."
[11:24] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) nodded to signal that he understood. There was a tiny little sigh at the mention of the ingredients of the tea but he shrugged and stepped over to linger at the edge of the circle until invivted to take a place within. "Hardly the worst thing I've imbibed in the name of furthering... well I suppose magic, in this case. I'll be alright." He considered himself and his form for a moment. "My humanity - human curiosity, innovation, willingness to step outside the neat little box of Seelie rules and decorum - is what earned me this form. My Glamoured self would hardly count, I wouldn't think but you're far more practiced than I." Niles tilted his head to consider the emerald, frowning as she offered it to him. "Will there be no danger to you? It is your ring. I'd rather not strip you of anything that could, through its loss, compromise your safety. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you while assisting me and neither would your brothers. Keep the ring. I understand the precaution with names, of course."
[11:28] Dinah (dollihead) gave him an almost impish smile. "if i can't navigate and spot the risks of the astral realm without my charms, I don't deserve to. Besides.." she reached up to touch the glittering elemental symbols around her throat. "I've got this. i will be perfectly fine. Trust me, as fond as I am of you, Niles, I am not in the habit of risking my life for strangers who I dont, and this friend of yours is a stranger to me" she admitted frankly, stooping to pour the tea into the little bowls.
"once we...lift off, as it were, you will be the one that needs to steer. I don't know them, so I won't know what to look for. I am mostly here to be your training wings, I suppose, or your emergency 'get you out' system. If you get flustered or stressed when you are There, it can affect the landscape, so... it's better that we try collaboratively until you find your feet" she settled herself at the center of the triangle, offering him a bowl from the ground. "do you have any questions? reservations? immediate regrets?" she tittered "it's better to get anything out of your mind before we start"
[11:36] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) "Fine, fine. Yes, Professor," he tutted and took the ring, slipping it onto a pinky finger and raising the hand to show he was wearing it. From the back of his hand one of his newer eyes stared out at her, red and bloodshot and intense. "I understand it's a monumental favor you're doing for me. I'll be paying back my debt to you for time immemorial, my dear." His lips twisted into a wry smile before looking away to contemplate the room and responses to her questions. "Hm. Questions. Our physical bodies - they'll remain inert here. Will we be able to interact with anything in the physical world or only things in the astral plane? And if things happen to our astral selves... will the damage be reflected here?" he asked, gesturing at their corporeal forms in general.
[11:42] Dinah (dollihead) grinned and preened, flicking her hair at his deference and she tittered again. "ah the rare blessing of a student that will listen" she picked up her own cup, taking a sip and pulling a face.
"you have done me plenty of favours, Niles." she chided quietly. She listened to his questions, nodding.
"our bodies will remain inert here. We can only interact with the astral plane until we reinhabit our corporeal self, but the astral plane is not often beholden to the physics of the waking world" she explained. His last question had her looking thoughtful.
"not...as such. it will affect you, but if something were to bite you, for instance, you would not bleed in the waking world. you would feel it as keenly as if you were hurt, and it would remain hurting as long as it would take you to heal. That being said...it would be a very poor thing to die there" she warned, closing her fingers around her cup.
"it's also worth mentioning that it would be wise to remain speaking vocally when we ascend. psychic connection is likely to be unwise.. it might be difficult to traverse back from, layering unto layers"
[11:46] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) dipped his head in a bow. "Would hardly do wonders for this being a work call for me to not address you as Professor, hm? Students are particularly gossipy things. I imagine they'll have plenty to say about the gentleman their Hermetics instructor hosted in private this afternoon." He chuckled quietly before stepping to the middle of the circle and settling down in it, taking the bowl that she had offered so he could peer down into the contents. "Well. We shall, both of us, have to endeavor not to die. Or be so mentally entangled that we're inextricable. I'm sure poor Dorian would have a fit." He was joking, certainly... Niles did not seem to think that was a pressing danger. "Ready when you are."
[11:51] Dinah (dollihead) grinned and she knocked back the rest of her tea with a shudder.
"oh, they will certainly be gossiping. Unless they try to spy and then they will be woefully disappointed" she admitted. She looked up towards his wings, looking thoughtful, but she laughed at his words.
"Dying is not on my list of preferred afternoon activities, I can assure you. And I would rather you didn't too. Let's not" she toasted with her tea cup and reached for another little bowl on the dresser of supplies.
"dorian would have a fit if he knew I were here doing this with you regardless" she dipped her fingers in the white powder, reaching through the circle to paint the same elemental symbols on her necklace across his chest. All except for 'air', which was meticulously daubed onto his brow. "I didn't tell him" she added, setting the bowl down. "drink your tea. it doesn't kick in right away, and you'll need it." she picked herself up again, humming as she reached for an elegant looking dagger, crystals and constellations embedded across the blade.
[11:58] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) smiled at that, shaking his head. There were students around, of course... their footsteps back and forth in the hallway to and from the other classrooms were audible, as was the murmur of chatter among them. Niles toasted back before downing his tea in one go, licking his lips and shuddering a bit at the taste. He handed the cup back to her before pressing the back of his wrist to his mouth for a moment as the bitterness triggered reflexes in his throat - reflexes he luckily was able to suppress. "...That is particularly bracing," he said after he could manage to speak again. "And I appreciate your assistance to day. I hope the secrecy causes no further grief with your brother." Niles was quiet and still as she painted her symbols, shutting the eyes in his head as she marked his brow as the red ones in the backs of his hands watched her movements with the dagger.
[12:08] Dinah (dollihead) gave a wry smile and she nudged away the pot with her toes. "...it's horrid, isnt it? count yourself lucky, this one is the weaker one. I didn't want to hit you with the powders and incenses too" she shrugged her shoulder with a faint ghost of a smile. "Dorian doesn't need to know all things" she said softly, though when she'd finished she took a deep breath. the dagger was lifted, pointed to each of the cardinal directions in turn.
"Ateh, Malkuth, Ve Geburah, Ve gedulah. Olahm, amen" she recited the words as she had a million times before, before reaching the tip of the dagger to touch first one, then the other of his shoulders before bringing the point to the symbol at his brow.
"Adni. Ahih. Agla. Before me, Gabriel. Behind me, Raphael. On my right hand, Michael, on my left hand. Auriel. For about me are the flames of the pentagram, I walk the rays of the six pointed star"
She carefully lowered herself to sit again, the knife beside her right hand, and she reached for Roeslers' fingers.
"Now the hard part. Believe yourself lifting from your vessel, and you shall"
[12:23] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) looked as if he might have something to say about that but rather than doing so he simply shut his eyes, quieting down to listen to her recitations. He repeated the words in his head, committing them to memory, then focused on the task at hand. He could feel the effects of the tea starting to seep into his body, the pain in a knot in his stomach from what remained of the toxins in those plants, the shudder of creeping nausea. When he opened his eyes his environment was blurred, her voice coming to him in an increasing haze. "Already feels like it is," he replied and focused on his consciousness lifting from the physical form, separating briefly from the corporeal body.
The Astral plane of Callisto was an odd and ever-shifting place. It was similar everywhere of course but the heavy presence of Aether and the crush of trapped dead made it particularly chaotic. There were phantasms that drifted in and out of existence, wisps of spirits that had lost even the idea of their human form. Somewhere, of course... the Hydra lurked, its presence felt always to those that traipsed about its domain.
[12:27] Dinah (dollihead) gave his hands a squeeze and she smiled but she didn't speak again, settling herself into a more comfortable kneeling position and bowing her head. Phasing out of herself came far easier now she'd had a little practice, uncoiling from her own back like a butterfly from a cocoon, a dinah- shape of flickering light. She waited, watching to make sure he was safe.
"Are you lifted?" she said softly, her words echoing and whispery. "try to move, if you can. it might take a little practice before you can start ignoring the rules of physics until your logical mind detaches and your spirit finds it's feet" she demonstrated, kicking her feet a little to propel herself an inch or two into the air, hanging there as if treading water.
"let me know if you feel anything unpleasant. beyond the tea, I mean. and if you see anything that looks like a mass of snapping, maddened heads...and I will take us home"
[12:34] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) beat his wings and the act of doing so helped, lifting the glowing silhouette of the Sidhe from his physical self. He pulled himself from his body with a few more sweeps of those wings before peering down at it and laughing. "...well I'd say so. And yes, takes some getting used to." Tentatively he pulled a leg up, bending and straightening it before doing the same with his arms. When he was confident he could move his limbs he attempted to drift himself sideways, succeeding at first in simply tipping and beginning to rotate in a circle in the air, "...well. At the moment I am supremely dizzy," he complained with a scrunch of his face as he righted himself and swam with arms and legs both to keep himself upright properly.
[12:39] Dinah (dollihead) laughed again, watching with her head tilted. even in the astral plane, she flowed and swayed as if underwater.
"I'd say some of that might be the tea, but... the spinning likely doesn't help. it does take a little to align yourself" she said quietly, clasping her hand behind her back. "it's easier on the ground. you can restrict yourself to the 'physical' if it's easier" she offered. "flying will be different here too. you certainly won't have to worry about exerting yourself at least" she smiled.
"now. try to keep your thoughts clear and your emotions stable. we will need to try and find your friend, but we need to get you established first"
[12:47] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) settled down onto the floor with force of will. He sank into it at first before righting himself and settling, finally, in some semblance of stillness. It was lucky he had taken his little walk around the Academy... he'd manage to clear his head a bit, keeping his mind relatively clean of wayward thought. Every so often there were beats, pulses of intruding memory - a face speaking in the wall, a flicker of lights from halls that were not the Academy's - but he banished them quickly.
Slowly he turned in a circle, looking not at the room but at the world beyond. "There's no pattern to it but... there's no mistake that whoever is controlling them is searching for something. And I've marked down where, generally, they have already looked. Could stand to reason they might try somewhere they haven't yet searched, hm?" He said, lining himself up with the docs and the bay. "I don't suppose dropping from the Academy to the mainland will be an actual -drop- will it?"
[12:51] Dinah (dollihead) kept her eyes on their surroundings as Roesler got himself more steadied in the incorporeal. She was used to clearing her mind, but even then, occaisionally there would be a faint whisper of some indistinct words that would echo from around her, and on one brief occaision, some of her hair detached to become a butterfly before melting into the ether.
"if they are looking for something, it makes more sense" she agreed. "but that is, of course, assuming that the perpetrator has sense. it could be a mindless thing. powerful, but mindless" she suggested, her steps slow as if wading through syrup as she ventured in the direction he had turned.
"A drop? only if you want it to be. You can control the descent." she beamed, standing on the edge. "or you could just keep walking through the empty air. Not that I recommend that. There isnt much to see but clouds and your thoughts"
[12:56] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) went to follow her, walking until he phased straight through the wall and came to where she stood. Things came to greet them there on the edges of the floating island, outlines of trees, wisps of light and flitting things that buzzed in to inspect briefly before moving to leave them be. "You know, there were rumors that something would keep the students from jumping off," he mused but shook his head, trying not to get too caught up in figuring out the Academy's secrets. They had things to do. He beat his wings and lifted into the air, assuring himself of his own ability to not simply fall before drifting over the edge. "Well. Down we go. I'd like to see about searching the harbor area, if you don't mind," he explained before beginning to slowly lower himself through the clouds.
[13:00] Dinah (dollihead) reached her fingers out towards the insects, but stopped before making contact. she smiled and nodded.
"I've always wanted to. Part of me is curious if I would recover from the fall" she said idly, stepping into the open air and lingering there. "The harbour? of course" she started drifting downwards, lazily from one side to the next like a floating petal.
"you might find, by the by, that some things can see you. those who are psychic and actively looking. Some cats. but they will likely not know what they see" she explained as she tumbled. Slowly. "It can be interesting to explore things in this world. The harbour though... might be somewhat darker. be ready"
[13:13] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) looked up at the shrinking image of the Academy's islands as they descended to ground level. "I think you would though it would certainly be a jarring and painful experience. Blunt trauma to the brain, to the spine. Depending on how you landed, of course - " though as they thought on it the faster he dropped until he consciously slowed himself, lowering to the cloudy haze that clung to the island proper at a more careful pace. "Is the harbor particularly dreadful?" he asked, alighting somewhere along the crossroads and peering down the road that led to the pier. "That sounds like you speak from personal experience."
She was right of course. The water churned with things. Those waves swelled with something thicker than water, faces visible in the surf as they drifted, tossed by the waves. There were creatures of the sea itself too aside from the dead that still inhabited its waters and shadows of those that could reach this plane or at least see into it passed on occasion in and out of their view.
[13:18] Dinah (dollihead) pondered his words as she fell. "...as long as I didn't land on my face" she decided on after a few moments contemplation. "though I suppose someone would likely have to scrape me into a pile that could reform with ease, otherwise it would be somewhat awkward"
the moment they neared the harbor, she lifted herself into the air.
"the water is always a dreadful place, darling. that is why so many of the old gods hold it dear. Unpredictable, crushing. A place of death and yet life flourishes. And of course, those" she gestured a luminescent hand towards the faces.
"We saw them, the corpses. There's a tunnel there, and a gate, and a cave full of aetherite crystals. Giant red glowing stones...it was like being inside a heart. There was a guardian made of blood and corruption, and a tree that was feeding on one of my vassals, made of flesh. I would have thought it were a nightmare, if not for the second card she gave me" she approached the water, mindful to stay out of it's grasp.
"have you ever seen anywhere like that?" she turned to look towards him again "I might go back there one day. Without the others, i suspect it would be safer"
[13:31] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) contemplated the sea and the figures he saw within. It was unsettling. A roll of despair, of hunger, of aggression and anger and defensiveness rolled through the fae like a wave. "Certainly harder to close off from one's surroundings in this place," he said with a grimace. The environment grew noticeably darker, clouds rolling, parts of the paint on the nearby harbor shops peeling. It was near impossible to shake the feeling that seeped from the water; it was pervasive being in its vicinity in the astral plane. "Not exactly like that , no," came the distant answer. He was preoccupied, it seemed.
It was unfortunate timing. There was a spike of recognition from the fae that highlighted a figure wandering along the pier. Slender and androgynous, dressed in sleeping clothes, the blonde figure walked with an ungainly gait. They listed to one side then the other, wobbling when they stopped, turning slowly, then stepping again. One of their arms was oddly colored - darker than the rest of the body. In this plane it seemed disjointed, as if not quite connected.
"...well. I suppose we'll have to get closer to the sea," Niles mused as Alex's projection turned and began to walk along toward the end of the pier.
[13:36] Dinah (dollihead) turned as Niles started to affect their surroundings and she reached for him.
"Cad, look. focus. Adni. Ahih. Agla. ground yourself to yourself and control your surroundings" she recited slowly, if nothing else, trying to distract him from whatever thoughts were roiling in reaction to the sea. Distressing as it was, Dinah didn't seem to be too affected by the dead floating in the waves, even as a familiar, decomposing face that looked like charles windgrace roiled near to the surface for a few moments before shrinking and sucked down once more. if anything, it almost seemed to cheer her a little.
"your friend?" she turned to look towards the figure and she offered her hand. "it's alright. we'll be careful. And if it gets too dangerous we will have to pull the plug. I will not be able to help them though, so lets try to not let it get too dangerous, mm?"
[13:42] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) reached for her hand and took it, that eye in the back of his staring up at Dinah as she spoke. There was no deepening of the shadows that had coalesced around them but it only slightly cleared. "My ward," Niles corrected, taking slow and careful steps down the road. "Alexander Arbeit, budding psychic, hopeful technomancer and, at the moment... target of something unknown." He paused a few paces in, reaching out a hand as if to stop Dinah from approaching closer. The shadows were moving. Shadows of the buildings around them seemed to lengthen as if the sun were moving in its position across the sky. They stretched toward them, creeping across the cobblestones slowly.
[13:46] Dinah (dollihead) gave his hand a squeeze, or at least, the sensation of one, incorporeal as they were. she turned to look towards the Stranger they had been looking for.
"a budding psychic who can wander the astral plane accidentally is awaiting trouble. remind me when we are physical. I will make them something" she murmured, looking up towards the shadows as they moved.
"... is that you? Or Alexander? or something altogether else?" she remained where she was, though watched the shadows. She dulled herself,retracting her presence so she was naught more than a scattering of stars in a dinah-shaped spot in the air, though the sensation of her hand remained.
"I won't leave you but if that is the hunter, we have to be very careful" she said hesitantly. "be mindful. it is likely curious of us too. but...not aggressive. not yet. if it becomes so, I will pull us back"
[13:51] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) returned that sensation. There was a pulse of gratitude from the Fae but he pulled back from her after that, not wanting to complicate the matters of 'pulling the plug' in the event they needed to anytime soon. "That is not me," he answered, beating his wings to pull back and into the air. He did not yet have enough of a handle on projection to change his shape or make himself less than what he was. The shadows met where they had just been standing and seemed to form into something, popping out of the ground into a growing mass between them and Alex's wandering figure. Each of their minds felt a knock. It was soft, quiet. Polite.
[13:55] Dinah (dollihead) frowned in thought as she watched Alex's back, though as Niles took to the air, she followed. The humanoid shape that stood where they had stood caused her to tilt her head and her frown deepened at the 'knock'.
"be careful" she murmured. "we don't know what it is. Keep a hold of my hand. if i start to act..strangely," she made a vague gesture with her free hand and managed a hesitant chuckle "...do something unpleasant" She was confident at least in the power of her emerald.
She answered the knock, though remained guarded. not quite opening without hesitation as she would with some of her normal psychic companions, but not entirely unreceptive, either.
[14:00] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) frowned as well and the glowing silhouette of his form flickered as he bristled from the attempted connection. He did not answer that knock, the trepidation in the Sidhe more than palpable. "Dinah, wait - " he warned, but she answered. There was nothing alarming that came through in the wake of that; in fact the presence she felt was warm and soothing. It questioned intention, projected concern. "What do you feel, Dinah?" Niles asked as he watched the motes of light that she'd become curiously.
[14:06] Dinah (dollihead) squeezed his hand tightly as he used her name, but the fact it wasn't an immediate assault was reassuring. She exhaled slowly.
"i'm fine. It's concerned. or seems it" she said quietly. Hand still in his, she leaned down towards the shadow stranger.
"we are looking for our friend" she didn't answer psychically, watching the shadow, equally as curious as it was. "who are you?"
[14:14] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) seemed confused at the squeeze. He looked at her in concern, as if he didn't quite realize what he'd done until it sank in. There was no assault, true but that shadow coiled around like a serpent, a slow ascending twist that seemed to be trying to curl around them both. It did not answer in words but there was a brief clearing in the shadow that allowed them to see Alex standing at the end of the pier. They'd stopped moving and simply stood there staring down at the waters.
To Alex, it was like coming awake in a lucid dream. The world around them was a hazy representation of the real world, accurate enough except for the churn of spirits in the sea that were much more visible in the astral plane than in the physical one. A towering shadowy coil seemed to be reaching around the familiar figure of Dr. Roesler in his unglamoured form, a smattering of vaguely woman-shaped stars nearby him appearing to speak.
And though Dinah was speaking to the shadow... it certainly seemed to Alex as if she were speaking to them.
[14:28] Alex stood there at the edge of the pier, staring off into the astral approximation of the ocean with a distant, thoughtful expression, pale lips thinned and brows knit tightly. "Could it be... the same place that... woman with the cards..." they seemed to be mumbling to themselves, but the sound of a voice from behind seemed to snap them out of their own haze. Blinking, their head and torso swiveled to regard the two figures standing not far away, though they seemed to have a mixed, uncertain reaction to the sight of Roesler. "I'm... Alex... Who are you?" They answered hesitantly with a narrowed eye, gaze flicking from the stars to the fae next to her then. "Are you the real Dr. Roesler... or the dream one?" The one that had only just finished torturing them, again, as every night.
[14:31] Dinah (dollihead) tensed a little as the shadow serpent coil grew up around them and the squeeze remained tight. The good doctor was probably lucky that the astral form of dinah didn't have her usual pointed fingernails otherwise they would be embedding their way into the back of his knuckles.
"I would prefer it if you didn't do that" she directed at the serpent-coil, though it was less of an instruction, less stern and more just... a slightly firm request. When Alex seemed to be looking out towards the water, she drifted closer the slight fraction she could before she would touch the shadow.
at least if Alex was talking to them, they weren't getting so close to the water. Another squeeze when the doctor's name was mentioned.
"come away from the edge, please" she lifted her free hand towards them. "I am astraea. the water is not safe."
[14:40] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) The shadow coil slackened a little, falling away to let them go towards the figure by the pier. It crept along the ground and sat in a loose lop that encircled them, parts of it sitting across the water. The faces of the dead that lingered in those waves cleared from beneath the shadow - either calmed by it or afraid of it.
Niles, as they approached, adopted a look of concern. While he was a bit of a glowy silhouette his features were still discernible enough to read facial tone. He'd had hints of course of what happened in Alex's dreams but hadn't quite had the opportunity to delve into details. The narrow stare from the youth seemed to hurt him though and he frowned. "Neither. This is an astral projection of me," he answered, careful about his wording. "What are you looking for, mein lieber freund?"
Alex could certainly see the dead that were in those waves. Faces, warped and contorted drifted in the depths, glimpses of limbs visible outside of the dark swath that loop of shadow cast. Beneath it there were no such sights.
[14:52] Alex's expression shifted slowly deeper into confusion and concern as Dinah spoke again, seemingly oblivious that she might be talking to the odd shadow curling around her at any point. "Didn't do what?" They wondered, then tilted their head when she encouraged them away from the supposedly dangerous water. "But... that's where I need to go... And yes... I know it is... I've been there before." Their gaze flicked back to the water and the dead swirling beneath it. "They tried to grab me last time..." The glanced back up to Astraea and Niles when the pair moved closer, taking a cautious step back with an anxious frown so they were standing on the very edge of the wooden planks now. "Neither? My head is already durcheinander. I do not know if I can handle a third... but I am looking for what I told the real you. What the fake you told me to seek. The center. It feels... close now." out of the corner of their eye they noticed that the wall of the dead beneath the waves seemed to have parted around the shadow, and in one swift motion, unless stopped, they turned to dive down directly into the gap.
[14:55] Dinah (dollihead) solidified herself, at least just a little, as the shadow serpent relaxed a little. She glanced again towards the water, long enough to see a familiar face or two, and she grimaced. Faces in the astral plane made her uneasy, though not because they were the faces of the dead. the serpent looping through the water gave her pause, though, following it to try and see where it began, or ended.
When Alex spoke again, she tilted her head.
"I have been there too. it is dangerous, friend. They will try to grab you. they might even succeed. There are worse things than dead faces on the astral plane-"
When Alex dove towards the water she jolted and tensed, glancing towards the good doctor once more.
" I am here because you wanted to find them, Cad. what do you want to do?" she asked though her voice was a little rushed. The decision would have to be swift, though there was a flutter of frustration from the woman-shaped stars.
[15:03] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) was not pleased with that. He scowled and flitted forward to the edge of the pier, hovering over it to look down and try to spot the swimming figure. There was only a moment or two of thought before he turned back to Dinah looking grim. "...go back. You'll be able to tell, I'm sure, if something goes awry. Pull me out if you see signs of that. I'll follow them from here... as you said, you shouldn't be risking your life for stranger," he reasoned with a wry smile. Niles wasn't terribly sure how stable he would stay or easily he could wake from the astral walk without Dinah's assistance but he wasn't about to give her much time to protest either. A minute or two of shifting and he was plunging down into the water himself - less like a dive and more like flight downward considering the odd lack of physical reasoning in the astral plane.
Alex likely found it difficult to breathe at first, if only because their brain told them they should be holding their breath. Once they gave up on it they'd realize they could simply exist there under the water without worrying about such things, and movement was less taxing than it would be if they were truly swimming. Bodies and shapes swam around them outside the band of shadow, which seemed to be bending to curl along the rockface that ran underneath the pier, forming the outer boundary of the island. It ran until it was dispersed by the light of a few glowing crystals near what looked like a cave mouth - an opening much like the area they'd gone into to find the fortune teller.
[15:11] Dinah (dollihead) seemed just as displeased, remaining close to Roeslers' shoulder as he moved over the water.
"I am not here because of a stranger, I am here because of you" she said a touch sharply, as if somewhat offended at the thought. "I do not want you at risk. This...is definitely a risk" she sighed in some frustration, glancing once more at the shadowy shape.
"if they are heading for where I was, there is a gate that will need a price. I gave my eye, last time. but on this plane, I am not sure if it will be there, much less what it will ask for if it is. if it asks for heads or servitude, I will pull you and your ward can sacrifice their own skull to the hydra"
she drifted along beside him into the water. As soon as she entered where the water would be, the mass around her thickened with darkness, like mists of blood and shapes beyond it. she remained perfectly comfortable, though the constellations that made her shape shifted and changed.
[15:17] Alex just nodded slowly back to Astraea again at her second warning, though their eyes never left the sea below them. "Ich weiss." And then they were gone beneath the roiling, phantasmal waves. they watched the dead lurking around the edge of the shadow warily for a moment as they struggled with both breath and movement, only to slowly recognize that neither bothered them quite as much as it should have if they were in their physical body. After that realization hit them, they drifted downwards more easily, following the shadow into the cave, which did feel quite familiar, if not exactly the same as the one before. The lack of a gatekeeper this time, for instance, was a great relief to them, considering they had nothing left to offer this time. They continued onward, ever deeper through the tunnel, driven by a mix of curiosity, compulsion, exhaustion, and fear, their eye glancing between each glowing orb and listening closely to try and catch anything intelligible among the whispers as they passed.
[15:30] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently) seemed taken aback. He paused to look at the woman for a moment before a smile spread across his face. He did not speak to the issue however; there was quite a bit to say or argue and too little time. Down they went instead, following Alex to the mouth of the underwater cavern as the dead swirled around them. The Sidhe was not a fan of dealing with the dead. He felt the tug of their grip, the incessant and gnawing desparation of the spirits that sought to move on and found themselves unable. His form shimmered and trembled with each swipe and grasp of ghoulish limbs until he made it to the seeming sanctity of the cavemouth, needing some time to reconstitute and refocus himself amid the dark swirl of dead and Eldritch influence around them.
The water was warmer there. As with the other cavern the walls seemed to throb and pulse like an artery and each crystal's emmited light throbbed along with that rhythm. It was like a heartbeat and it quickened as Alex wandered deeper in. As they passed near one of the orbs it swiveled to stare at them, looking like a raven's eye. The gaze lingered before drifting to the guiding shadow that seemed attached to Alex and when it saw that its pupil blew wide. The cavern rumbled and shook, the ground beneath their feet seeming to swell. The crystal nearest Alex seemed to shatter into a flock of flying, winged creatures that rushed their astral self like a flock of birds, surrounding them in a cacophany of noise, pecking beaks, scratching talons
.
There was the distinct feeling to all the psychics involved, that the island did not want them - or at least something among them - crawling about its insides.
[15:34] Dinah (dollihead) remained close, though the constellations of her shape were becoming more of a mass of dark and slithery, shapeless things in amongst the stars. it wasn't fear that was congealing around her.
"if there is any blood...do not touch it" she said softly, drifting through the dead as if she didn't even see them. Her rotting father drifted by her, reached out towards her, and was lost in the cloud of dark that trailed after her.
When the crystal shattered, Di flinched and reached a hand to shield her face even from so far back. Sadly, too far back to see it had been the shadow that had caused the reaction.
"Alex, if you are hurt here, you will be hurt in the waking world. if you die here, you will never wake" she called down the cave. "you do not want to be here unprepared."
[15:44] Alex paused for a moment as one of the orbs turned to regard them with the dark eye of a raven, staring back into the deep pupil obliviously. Oblivious to what it was and where exactly they were, and oblivious to the nature of the shadow that seemed to be clinging to them this time. But it seemed the island itself was not, and their own eye went wide with fear as the crystals burst, shards like white blood cells swarming around to attack them. They screamed out, echoing down the tunnel as they turned to run deeper into the cavern as cuts and slices were torn into the spectral fascimile of their clothing and pale blood began to trickly and drip from the cuts forming across the exposed skin on their face and arms which rose to try and protect their face and neck. "N-NO! I CAN'T STOP NOW! I CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS!" They shouted back to the voice of the starry woman behind them as they fled, arms flailing and swatting at the swarm of bird-like creatures.
[15:52] Niles Roesler (ohsoincoherently): Alex's desperation brought with it images - sharp and biting, of the torture they felt at the hands of the 'dream' version of Niles. Pain tore through each of the other psychics' heads, making Niles reel in surprise as he and Dinah both received a vision of the lucid dream Alex had been experiencing. It was, quite possibly, enough to jar a person from their astral reverie.
[15:58] Dinah (dollihead) grit her teeth in some irritation when Alex continued to charge into the tunnel towards the guarded center of the cavern, whilst being assailed by the crystal birds.
"You'll lbe torn to pieces unless you take proper precautions, i-"
The vision made her jerk back and gasp, the shape flickering and recoiling in on itself for a moment. Blood and torture and pain, both 'remembered' and felt... and as potent as she was, the plane around her would react.
It wouldn't be safe for her to stay here, risking the grasping, soap-soft flesh of the dead that were gathering around where she stepped being turned on the others.
"I'll wake you if you are in danger" she said hurriedly to Niles, before the scattering of stars turned itself into a ball, then compressed, then burst like a soap bubble.
In the waking world, dinah gasped back in her restrictive shell once more, clammy and fretful.
Still... she couldn't leave yet. She would keep vigil.
(( To Be Continued - ))