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]

That sorrow stirs ... not an ache, really, but a twinge in her heart.

"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.

[crushed_pearls]

"I should hope so. It'll only be seconds in that world, if something has managed to happen to you in that short a time I'll eat my dress." Erin flashes a goblin grin. "I'll devastate the bear claws while you get things ready, can't take anything with me. I've tried."

[not_the_last]

She smiles. "Do try the Sun Treats as well; I understand the shop is very proud of those."

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.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin's surprised that Cass wants to come, but she doesn't object. She suspects that her lady love wants actual privacy for something important.

So, when they arrive, Erin merely raises her eyebrows in unspoken inquiry.

[not_the_last]

Cassandra meets that look with a steady gaze.

"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."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin nods, a small gesture. There's a tightness in her throat that won't leave no matter how many times she tells herself she's being absurd.

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.