it's a war in there [March OTA, including memshare]

[not_the_last]

Who: Cassandra de Rolo & those visiting her memories / OTA
When: March
Where: Around the Serena Eterna; also Whitestone, at various points in the past
What: Things are beginning to crack
Warnings: Game-typical angst; in memshares, murder, torture, vampirism, mindfuckery both magical and mundane, and potentially noncon/dubcon; other warnings to be added in reply headers as needed

A. you're just like them, you're unprepared

Cassandra's noticed the cracks, of course. Before she brushes against one, they seem alarming and inexplicable; are they a trick, a trap, a sign that this whole little artificial plane is starting to come apart?

(The thought she barely lets herself contemplate: a way out?)

After her first few encounters with them, the nature of them seems more apparent -- although there's no guarantee they aren't also any of her previous thoughts. The first time her own memories double on her, with faces she knows from here appearing in them, she locks herself in her cabin's bathroom and curls up on the floor of the shower, arms wrapped around her knees, struggling not to begin screaming for fear that she might never stop.

[This prompt is for interacting with Cassandra in the present setting! Feel free to run into her anywhere on board, either before or after memshares begin, or PM/ping me on discord to discuss a more specific prompt.]

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B. cause you don't know the terrain

Several cracks about the ship, as it turns out, lead to a world called Exandria and a little city-state called Whitestone. Those who tumble into them will encounter a younger Cassandra at some point in her past.

[Specific pre-discussed prompts are below! If you would like a different one, see the plotting post here or PM/ping me to discuss.]

Comments

[not_the_last]

Yes, she could use the assistance; when Erin reaches over, she's trying to balance two bracers and a pauldron without dropping any of them. Her breath hitches as she realizes she's being offered help, and her whispered "Thank you" comes near catching in her throat.

Between the two of them, they can carry it all.

[crushed_pearls]

"Think nothing of it," Erin murmurs back, before rejoining the circle herself.

It's time. She's gonna be there in Whitestone.

She should put on eyes when she gets there.

[not_the_last]

Gilmore reaches out an encircling arm to Cassandra as she rejoins them. "Hold tight," he says, "and we're off --"

A swift mutter of something else, and a flash of white light envelops everything.

And what takes its place is a vaulted hall of pale stone with a night sky showing through tall windows, brightly lit with candles and lamps, and a good half-dozen uniformed guards starting back in alarm and reaching for weapons.

"Stand down," calls out Cassandra, "it's me. I need one of you to go up to my rooms and find Bell, see if they're safe, and another to wake up the Realmseer. I need to send some messages to my brother immediately."

[crushed_pearls]

In a low voice, mainly for Cass but Erin doesn't particularly care if the others hear it: "I'm gonna put some eyes on here, try not to freak out too hard. It's a bit of a whole thing."

Thankfully she killed her Mantle for stealth earlier, so the first sign that Erin has chosen to install some owl eyes is when she slips her blindfold off and pockets it, revealing them.

There's things to get done here before she can see Cass's home. Erin can wait. She has all the time in the world now; so far from the rift where she entered, her only exit is to die or get kicked out.

[not_the_last]

There's a bustle of activity as the guards recognize Cassandra and leap to follow her orders. She's only been gone about an hour and change, it turns out; since she'd just gone to bed, not enough time for anyone to notice she was missing, or to find her unconscious bodyguard Bell in her chambers.

More people are summoned and sent on a barrage of errands. The Realmseer, an old man in heavy blue robes, looks downright sour to be awakened but more sober when the situation is explained, and sends the arcane messages Cassandra gives him. Word comes back from her brother acknowledging it, and asking if Gilmore can join them in the impending final assault. In the end he goes, Kaylie is guided to a guest room for the night, and Cassandra ...

... finds herself abruptly at a loss for what to do next, blinking at the floor and swaying a little.

"You ought to get back to bed, m'lady," says the older woman who's been directing about half of her orders.

"Yes," says Cassandra blankly, then "In a moment," and she looks to Erin.

[crushed_pearls]

On reflex Erin opens a wing for bird hug. "We've got nowhere to be until morning at least but honestly lass, take a bit to wind down first somewhere quiet. You don't want to go to bed keyed up."

[not_the_last]

Cassandra doesn't seem to recognize the gesture as an invitation to a hug. "I," she says, "I should get you a guest room too. Something more than that, I -- you saved us, and I don't even --"

She clasps her hands together tightly, knuckles whitening, and inhales as she visibly regains some self-control. "I owe you, my House owes you, a great debt. I don't know where the world is going to be in the next few hours, but ... if it is at all within my power I will see you rewarded."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin waves a hand. "Don't worry about material anything, I can't take it with me whenever I get pulled back home. But for right now an escort to the guest room wouldn't go amiss..."

Erin pauses.

"...Hey uh, not to put too fine a point on it but who do you have guarding you? Not to impugn their skill or anything but I'm good to go on coffee and hate, and if I'm a betting woman that wizard is gonna be slightly pissed that I killed her."

[not_the_last]

"Someone's gone to rouse my day-shift guard," she says. "They'll be here any moment. Assuming nothing's been done to them, but since Bell was only knocked out I wouldn't expect it ... Coffee? Arla, is there any coffee brewing?"

This to the older woman, who nods. "I'll have some brought to your rooms, my lady. And to yours?", turning to Erin. "Do you take sugar?"

[crushed_pearls]

Erin looks for a metaphor that feudal nobles might understand. Hummingbirds might not be around - there we go.

"You know how beekeepers will make a simple syrup for the hive? That's about the level of sugar."

[not_the_last]

Arla snorts, but she's smiling. "I'll have them leave the bowl then, madam."

There's a rapid clatter of bootheels in the nearby corridor, and a young man bursts into view, tugging his uniform tunic straight as he comes to a halt. Despite said uniform, and the sword and pistol at his sides, he doesn't quite look like a professional soldier; his ash-blond hair is a little too long and shaggy, and his dark brown eyes a little too wide at the moment, fixed on Cassandra.

"My lady, you're all right?" he says in a rush. "I heard -- they said Bell was injured, and you --"

"I'm quite all right, Captain Leore," she reassures him. "Thanks to this brave woman here."

[crushed_pearls]

"Oh, y'all just have guns now." Erin blinks her bird eyes, surprised but not displeased. "That's handy - ah, fuck my manners." She gives the boy a bow, theatrical but earnest all the same. "Erin Peters, at your service. I do believe we were just about to go hunt down a guest room to play 'do I die in my sleep', the fun game everyone plays every night."

[not_the_last]

He returns the bow, every bit as sincere. "Captain Kynan Leore, at yours. We'll see to it that your sleep is safe, madam. After you brought back our Lady, we could do no less."

"And while I appreciate your offer to add to the guard," Cassandra says, "truly, I couldn't ask you to do any more. The Realmseer has put one of his assistants to watching for any other magical incursions, and for everything else I trust my own guard completely."

(It's hard to miss the way Kynan's shoulders straighten at that, with both pride and determination.)

"Though ... you do make a good point about not going to sleep keyed up. If you'd like to take your coffee with me in my sitting room?"

[crushed_pearls]

Erin brightens up visibly. "I'd be delighted."

A real castle. Erin's been in them before, but only as what they've become in the modern age.

Not looking awestruck will be a challenge.

[not_the_last]

Castle Whitestone is everything she could have hoped for, with the possible exception of vats of boiling oil standing ready on the parapets to pour on attackers. (There are murder holes visible in some of the corridor ceilings, suggesting that there might at least be places for such vats to be set up at need.)

As they climb a broad staircase to the second floor, Kynan turns to Erin. "If I might ask ... how did you know Lady Cassandra was in danger? We had no warning here."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin doesn't miss a beat, she's got the truth on her side: "I fell through a hole between dimensions, right behind Delilah, and the distress was pretty obvious from there. Lady Briarwood has a bit of a reputation but the evil monologue she was serving up definitely helped clinch it."

[not_the_last]

"A hole between dimensions?" His eyes go round. "You came from another plane? Like the Feywild?"

Cassandra glances over her shoulder, listening, and waits to hear Erin's response.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's poker face doesn't survive the word 'Feywild'; her expression becomes a mask of terror that is rapidly converting to rage in self-defense, and Erin has to close her eyes and take in a deep breath as she reminds herself that this is somewhere else, They're not here, that's not what this young man is talking about.

In a low and even tone: "No. Not like the fairest of lands. It's a pocket, really, not very big at all. Whitestone the city is bigger, let alone Whitestone the demense."

[not_the_last]

He shies back at the look on her face, missing a step and quickly recovering.

"You were only there to kill her, then," says Cassandra -- facing forward this time, ahead of Erin and Kynan. "Not to aid ... any of us?"

[crushed_pearls]

"I'm here to help you, Cass. Killing Delilah was an enjoyable bonus. Not as enthused about it seemingly being a repeatable bonus, but I take my wins where I find them." The careful questions and mistrust hurt on an irrational level; of course this Cass is still being careful, she doesn't know Erin and her life is in active danger.

Still...

[not_the_last]

They've nearly reached the top of the stairs. Cassandra, a few steps higher, turns to look into Erin's face -- for once at eye level.

Softly: "Who are you?"

[crushed_pearls]

Erin sighs. To say or to not...

She settles on something in the middle. "If you ask again, I'll tell you."

An offer.

A threat.

[not_the_last]

There's a long pause. Cassandra's eyes flick past Erin, very briefly, to where Kynan is standing behind her with one hand on the butt of his pistol -- not drawing, but ready to draw.

"I hope so," she says finally, and makes a sweeping gesture to invite Erin to continue down the hall with her.

The sitting room, near her bedchamber but not directly connected, isn't empty when they arrive; a young woman is building up the fire, and lights a couple of lamps before she slips out, brightening the room with a warm glow. It's beautifully furnished, mostly in shades of green and warm brown, with a couple of delicate armchairs and one soft-looking couch.

[crushed_pearls]

"...Yeah, y'all definitely ain't rolling out the pearl-studded hammocks," Erin murmurs to herself. She hasn't been invited to sit, and after that interaction she doesn't want to assume; presumably the coffee will be here soon.

Erin sighs. Cass's answer hadn't been a no, not that she expected to get an outright refusal. "If you intend on asking that question again, you're going to want reasonable privacy."

[not_the_last]

"Oh, yes," she agrees, mildly. "The coffee should be here quite soon; won't you sit down?"

And indeed, it isn't more than another minute or two before the coffee arrives in the hands of a man in the gray castle livery: a large pot of it on a tray with three mugs, more substantial than delicate, along with a sugar bowl and a smaller jug of cream. And a second tray, borne by a younger servant, on which the only thing visible is a linen tea towel -- clearly covering a tall heap of something, and emitting a strong scent of fresh baked goods.

The offerings are deposited on a low central table, the two servants bow themselves out of the room, and Cassandra leans forward to pour. Perhaps unexpectedly, the first mug -- no sugar or cream added -- goes to Kynan, who receives it with a murmur of thanks and takes up a position by the door.