not_the_last (Cassandra de Rolo) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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come_sailaway2023-03-04 10:44 pm
not_the_last) wrote in come_sailaway2023-03-04 10:44 pm
it's a war in there [March OTA, including memshare]
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.]
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.]
-----
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.]
no subject
They do. The carriage takes them through the streets to see what sights there are: the major temples to the Dawnfather and the Lawbearer, the minor shrines to the Matron of Ravens and the Everlight, the old manor houses of the city's minor nobles, the taverns built or refurbished in the past year. Lunch happens at one of those taverns, a place called the Tipsy Quorum: a savory stew accompanied by cheese-and-onion pastries, ale and cider constantly replenished by a pair of servers, a buzz of tense but optimistic chatter through the common room. (Most of the others are sneaking peeks at Erin, curious and fascinated.)
A ride to follow, around a section of the city walls with a beautiful view of the thriving farms outside it and the deep Parchwood Timberlands beyond. Then back up an avenue of the city with rows of newly built houses, and finally a stop at a bakery: The Slayer's Cake, says the fresh-painted sign above its door. Cassandra insists on purchasing a box of assorted pastries, including two of the place's signature Bear Claws.
It's just as they're emerging with their treats that a horseman comes galloping down the road toward them, in the livery of the castle, with news: Lord Percival and his allies of Vox Machina have triumphed, and the threat of the Whispered One is defeated for good and all.
no subject
no subject
"We'll see that you get safely home," she says, with as much assurance as she can muster, "and ease your journey as much as we can. And ... I suppose I'll be waiting there for you?"
Another possibility occurs to her as she says it, and she works hard to keep the thought from showing on her face.
no subject
no subject
It doesn't take very long, as these things go. They return to the castle; Cassandra uses her Sending stone to contact Arcanist Allura Vysoren, with a request to pass a message to Gilmore asking him for transportation; it's less than an hour before everything's arranged. There's the box of pastries to keep Erin occupied in the meantime, as well as the return of the gnome girl Kaylie, who steals a few of them and offers some cheerful friendly barbs in exchange.
And then Gilmore's stepping into the room with something like a quarter of his earlier energy, purple robes smoke-stained and bloodied, lines of weariness around his smile. The day has been beyond exhausting, he declares, but he has enough left to return their benefactor home. (He offers to Kaylie as well, but she declines, saying she wants a word or two with 'the old bastard' first -- though she says it with unmistakable fondness.)
"Master Gilmore," Cassandra puts in at that point, "if you'll be coming back here afterwards, I'd like to go along."
His brows rise the smallest bit, wrinkling the cut through one of them, and he smiles -- but oh, there's such exhaustion behind that smile. Exhaustion and ... sadness? "Certainly, my dear lady."
Purple lines of light sketch through the air and along the stone floor, following Gilmore's gestures, and in a flash the three of them are back in that stone cavern.
no subject
So, when they arrive, Erin merely raises her eyebrows in unspoken inquiry.
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"I said that I would see you safely home," she says. "You came here and saved me from a terrible fate, and I don't understand how ... but I would be remiss if I left you, even in Master Gilmore's capable and reliable hands," this with a nod to him, "before seeing for myself that you were able to return."
She smiles; it's a complicated expression, shot through with wistfulness and an odd tinge of loneliness.
"And I'll look forward to meeting you again."
no subject
On impulse she takes Cass's hand in the barest of grips. "My life is better with you in it. I can only hope to help you be happy, my shy and secretive love. I'll see you in a second."
Out through the rift, before Erin loses the will to leave.