voyagers [OPEN]

[sighsheavily]

🧙 WHO: Cecelia Ardenbury, open
⚔️️ WHAT: open prompts for May -- including passage to the end of the world & the "Holo, Goodbye" quest
🕒 WHEN: May (pre-whatever-the-event)
🗺️ WHERE: Camelot, the end of the world, the road to and from the "Holo, Goodbye" quest area
⚠️ WARNINGS: None in open prompts; marked in comment subjects as needed



o1. camelot: the ambassador's office, under construction
early-early may -- like, before these other prompts ok

Now that she has received all the formal approvals and keys, Cecelia Ardenbury is beginning to set up shop, as it were. It's not the standard for-profit venture, of course, but she still has a job to do -- namely, escorting various members of the fledgling outworlder community to the viewpoint of the calamity far, far to the unreachable north of Avalon. She's given it a few goes around with a small number of people and has decided...she no longer wants to stand in a field to do this. So! Space is acquired.

Next thing to do? Get this small office space into decent shape.

Cecelia can be found during these early, early days of May sweeping out the interior, wiping down the front window, finagling with drapes, struggling with furniture... all tasks she's passable at (for the most part), but certainly leave plenty of room for helping hands, should one be so inclined!

Of course, when her ears pick up footsteps drawing near enough to her, she'll call over her shoulder in the middle of whatever chore:

"Yes, good day, sorry--no ferrying service today. Not yet, thank you. Unless you are another solicitor? In which case, not ever, no thank you."




o2. camelot: the ambassador's office, open for business

Once things are more or less in working order, some signage has been posted at the window just beside the 'OPEN' sign:

OUTWORLDER AMBASSADOR
C. ARDENBURY
CALAMITY BUSINESS ONLY

She's hoping to get something a bet more formal and final etched out atop the door, but...it'll do. Hopefully; she's not sure about window shoppers are in this part of town, so she's really just rolling the dice to see whether or not she needs to be more specific or not.

In any case, should one venture inside, they are first greeted by the gentle tinkling of a crystal bell over the door. Inside is simple, but tastefully furnished: Comfortable chairs face each other by the window, with a small tea table between them adorned with lace and some flowers. A writing desk rests beside a bare wall, and upon it is a leather-bound ledger, accompanied by quill and inkwell. A small sign just above the desk requests for guests to sign in, be they walk-ins or coming with an appointment. Names and dates. It's just good bookkeeping!

At the furthest end of the room, just before the doorway to somewhere unknown, is a more robust desk and chair -- Cecelia's workstation, somewhat reminiscent of, say, something Ebenezer Scrooge would've worked at in chillier times. She's not currently at that desk, but that little bell's sound carries, and she can be heard from behind the door:

"Sign in at the right, please! I will be with you in just a moment."




o3. the road northwest (holo, goodbye)

As important as her ambassador work, is Cecelia also needs to make actual coin to survive. It's why she's rented a horse and is currently riding one of the farm roads out toward the river to respond to the request for glittering stones. It's...innocuous enough a request, she supposes, and the outdoors gives her chance to play around with her magic development along the way, and the slow, easy pace she sets for herself leaves her plenty of time for that.

...And plenty of time to be beset by wild animals at some point, too.

So it is that at this particular junction of the journey, she's trying to calm her horse, as the sound of wolves has spooked it. She's ridden horses before, but she's not what anyone could call a master rider, so she's actually having a really hard time here!

"Peace, please!" she cries, pulling on the reins and ducking a little, fearful that the beast will try to buck her off. Instead, it seems to be ready to bolt regardless of her whims. With a scream, Cecelia finds her on a runaway horse. Help???




o4. the riverbank (holo, goodbye)

Harrowing horse problems aside, this little quest is starting to wind down and be something far less life-threatening, but...

But maybe she should've brought a gold mining pan? The glittering of the water's surface, beautiful and ethereal as it is in the twilight hours, means Cecelia finds herself plucking just as many simple stones as she does the shimmering trinkets she needs to finish this job. Her eyes gleam and reflect some of the water near her feet for a time before she gets the idea to exercise some of her power to push some of the water away from the bank and give her a chance to sift through the stones that remain and set them in her basket.

Diverting her attention like this is good exercise, but also exhausting, compounded with all the work she's done teleporting people. After a few minutes, she straightens back up, wiping her brow, craning her head up to peer at the array of starlight starting to appear as the sky darkens -- stars still and silent as the calamity itself.

Comments

[forgeabettertomorrow]

It takes a few minutes before Darin finds his senses. He steps back, clearly mentally floored by what he's looking at.

"...I'm living proof that gods exist. That someone can have the power to destroy an entire world. And even I can't believe what I'm looking at..."

He turns to Cecelia, clearly alarmed but...at the same time? There's an unusual fire behind his emerald green eyes. Like he's already made a decision.

Cecelia can probably guess what that decision is.

"What do you know about it? You have notes? Can I see them?"

[sighsheavily]

She knows the look. She's seen it many, many times -- not only in him, but in many others. She's in the business of guiding the sorts of people who must wear those expressions, pointing them in directions that best suit the needs of their realms.

This, at least, is a more comfortable feeling of familiarity, even if it is tainted by having known those eyes beforehand at all.

"You can," she says, "but you'll find them of no use to you as they are. My shorthand isn't made to be read by anyone but myself, and I've yet had the time to transcribe them in their entirety.

"Ask your questions all the same."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"I can't. I can't ask questions until I have even the slightest inkling about what we're dealing with. The scope. Whatever factors are known."

He cross his arms, almost impatiently.

"What good is coding your notes over something like this?"

[sighsheavily]

"What good would reading pages of stream-of-consciousness do for you?" she counters, looking mildly displeased. "You would only grow frustrated trying to follow the flow. Better I collect and compose things to the point, yes? And that doesn't happen on a first draft."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"...Okay, okay. You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just..."

He huffs and then gestures wildly at the Calamity.

"How can you be so calm with that??"

[sighsheavily]

"Because my fear will do little to change things." Her head lifts a bit, tone turning a touch dry. "And because I already had my first-impression panic."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Right...well. If you're already over your panic, can you at least give me what you've managed to ascertain so far? Just...something quick. Are we all doomed or do you think this can be stopped?"

[sighsheavily]

"If we were doomed, I'd not bother with this enterprise at all," she points out, arching her eyebrow briefly before her eyes flicker down to the pages she'd already opened to, giving them a thoughtful look before turning back a few.

"My observations are still preliminary, but I can say that there is truth in the statement that things are indeed frozen; I've detected no changes in the handful of times I've been out here to observe. No visible signs of fragmentation or decay upon the barrier, either. That doesn't account for minute changes, but..."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin takes out his own pocket notebook and becomes jotting down some notes. Then, he takes a seat and begins to sketch the phenomenon before him. For once, Darin doesn't seem like such a goofball. While his eyes are on his notebook as he works, it's evident that his mind and thoughts are much further out.

"So, our familiars are the ones bringing us here. In doing so, they give us magic...and this magic is supposed to...?"

He trails off as he speaks absently.

"What is mastering our magic supposed to do? Do we just...become grandmasters of our magics and hope for a spell to counter this? Siphoning energy into it seems dangerous..."

Another beat.

"I'm assuming you've talked to the Archivist? Done a run through his archives?"

[sighsheavily]

"Not since that nonsense with the elevator, unfortunately." Her eyes wince for a second. "I haven't the spare coin to hire transport yet, and until I can get my footing with my primary task here, the rest will have to wait and fall into place thereafter.

"As for that matter of magic? If I did have the spare coin, I would put it on the sustainability of the barrier." She nods out toward the expanse. "A spell that large comes at a cost, and doubtless refueling the magics of Avalon as a whole will help offset those costs."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"But just keeping the barrier in place is just...it's a bandage on a gaping wound. That doesn't solve anything. Containment can't be the answer otherwise we'll just be in a perpetual stalemate..."

No, there had to be another way. Something they weren't seeing. Maybe a way to diffuse the energy? Channel it someplace else? But the sheer scope of it all...

"Damn...seeing something like that...makes me really wish I'd still had some of my powers from back home..."

[sighsheavily]

"Considering how most everyone here with magic is still learning control, sustaining the barrier is the answer until we are collectively capable of more." She lifts her head to look at him. He'd been antsy to do things already, but this will only make it worse. That's just the type of person he is.

"This just makes the safe and secure cultivation of power all the more imperative."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Control..."

Something about her choice of words seems to ping something and he turns back to look at the Cataclysm.

"...Maybe that's it. Maybe that's what we need to focus on!"

He turns to Cecelia excitedly.

"Okay, hear me out. That kind of devastation must have a huge source of energy fueling it, right? Like...like the sun! Well, what if we could figure out a way to control the flow of that energy? And if we could, what if we reversed the flow?"

Hurriedly, he takes out his notebook and begins scribbling and writing.

"If time is frozen in all of these realities...then to jumpstart the flow of time in the proper direction it stands to reason an equally powerful force will be needed! We use the energy of the Cataclysm to fuel that event!"

[sighsheavily]

Her brow pinches slightly out of concern and...sympathy, honestly. She wishes she could share some of that excitement, but it's far too soon for that, even if she was apt to showing such things.

"Where do you mean to reverse and redirect it, Darin?" she asks. "It won't simply dissipate if you send it backward."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"We send it to all of the worlds that are frozen! All of the worlds we all came from and all of the others still out there!"

He gestures to the sky, to everything.

"You mean to tell me that it's impossible when what was already seemingly impossible is taking place? All of that energy...hell, it could be used to create entire other worlds!"

[sighsheavily]

"I won't tell you it's impossible," she says levelly, "but I will tell you that sheer speculation alone can't guarantee anything. Overloading worlds with a surplus of destructive force they weren't previously able to house is akin to trying to reuse and overfill an old wineskin."

She holds up a finger to pause the conversation while she takes a moment to scratch a few things down. Once she's got enough, she keeps going, but finally carries on with what she was saying.

"Mark it down, yes, but don't marry yourself to the idea right here and now. It's still too soon for that."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Isn't there a way to convert the destructive nature into something else? I mean...alchemy magic is a thing here. Maybe we can start there."

[sighsheavily]

"I can't speak to how feasible it is point-blank, unfortunately," she replies, her quill coming to a stop. She lifts her head to look at him. "But I wouldn't write it out, either."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"It's a start though, right? Something to look into?"

He grins in his eternally optimistic way.

"That's something to smile about at least!"

[sighsheavily]

Smile, then. Cecelia doesn't, but she'll not put him down for doing so himself. Instead she just returns to writing, making note to follow up on alchemic limitations for later.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin nonchalantly moves around to her back and cranes his head to try and spy on her notes, despite knowing full well he likely won't be able to read them.

"What are you jotting down? Is it anything about how cool and right I am?"

[sighsheavily]

"Oh, of course," she replies blandly. "Lest I ever forget. No...following up on the alchemical resources of this realm is a worthwhile avenue; should I not be able to find the time and energy to do it myself, I may as well note it as something others can explore in the meanwhile."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Worthwhile..." He repeats her words to himself.

"So...you're saying I was helpful, huh~"

[sighsheavily]

"I am." And she doesn't sound annoyed about it, either! "This is part of why doing these trips is important: Pooling other perspectives for useful avenues of action is necessary for us to succeed."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

He laughs a bit but seems to give a small sigh of relief.

"...Good. To be honest...I always wanted to study magic but...I was always afraid I never had the head for it..."