Real & Half-Real: Iskierka's Notes | OTA

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Who: Illarion's Omen Iskierka and anyone who happens to stumble across her notes.
What: Receiving messages from hell.
When: March 5 onward, after Sayo's full return to the Waking World.
Where: Throughout Trench and the Levels

Content warnings: All of the following are mentioned or discussed obliquely: magical zombies, mind control, emotional manipulation, war-time violence, murder of family members, drug use, cannibalism, suicide, hallucinations/derealization, existential horror, apocalyptic setting, kidnapping, enslavement.



Iskierka has not been idle while her Sleeper is missing from Trench. Somewhere, he's wandering a hell far removed from the Waking World; somewhere, he rehearses to himself the briefing he might give to any would-be rescuers when they arrive, what is necessary to survive and sufficient for Sayo's ritual. When hoping for rescue pales on him, he dictates his thoughts to the air or an animal or a corpse's patient ear, and she hears it.

She hears every word of it, and she cannot respond; she listens faithfully, and the words fill her head to the point of forgetting. When there's no more room for them, she writes. With whatever comes to hand--beg buy borrow or steal--on whatever surface she can find, she writes--scratches out--rewrites. Notes and letters emerge beneath her pen, and she takes them where she thinks they belong. Some she abandons in significant places and others she brings to significant people, urging them to take this fragment of her lost Sleeper.


It may help, when they go to rescue him. If anyone can.

[[ OOC: Real & Half-Real Plot Write-Up and Interest Check, for those just joining us. Even if you haven't left a comment there you're more than welcome to join in on finding notes!

See comments for how to use this post and tasty tasty plot hooks. ]]

Comments

for Iskierka

[laminae]

While Fern isn't a fan of the Patrons (it's hard to be, when he and the Moss King got off on the wrong foot, and Never Mind and the Tower killed him), it's hard to avoid the statues of them when you live in Cassandra. That, and Blodeuwedd for some reason enjoys perching on them. He's asked her about it but all she does is chirp, and secretly he's begun to think she just does it to either sass him or them. Or both.

The Reckoning's statues are especially painful for him, but not because he's ever had a bad encounter with her. No, it's because the sword she always seems to be holding seems so... cool. One he'd love to try using sometime, though he's certain that's never happening.

That's why he's stopped briefly in front of this statue today: his orchid mantis omen has fluttered on up to the top of the Reckoning's head, and while he waits for her to come back down Fern is examining the statue's sword.

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There's a furtive shadow perched on one of the statue's shoulders, one that watches Bloduewedd pass with faceted red eyes as the mantis ascends to the Reckoning's crowned head. Iskierka's been here for--she doesn't know how long, huddled in a place that feels right for want of anything else to do now that the words have stopped. For anything else to do now that she's written the last of them and kept them to her, a feeble little scroll she clutches like a lifeline to her Sleeper.

The sight of an Omen she knows is like another lifeline. Bloduewedd means Fern, and Fern's someone her Sleeper trusted; in the absence of any other directing force, Fern's a direction she can go in and the thought gives her a jolt of energy. She pops out of the hollow she'd tucked herself in and leaps into the air, more falling than flying in her haste to get to Fern. It's only in the last second before she'd collide with his head that she remembers herself and flares her wings to drop to the ground instead.

friend. The not-word's impatient, worried, impassioned. friend. help. read. She waves the rolled note above her head in emphasis.

[laminae]

Blodeuwedd catches the movement of Iskierka's fumbly flight out of the corner of her eye while on the top of the statue, and lets out a little chirp as she turns to watch. The other omen isn't a threat and, well. It's kind of funny to watch her.

Fern looks up at the chirp to see the omen, and blinks in surprise as she very nearly beans him in the head. When she lands on the ground he immediately moves to crouch, the sword forgotten.

"Dude -" Hold on, " - Lady -" There, he should be a little more respectful. Since she's a lady and all. He carefully takes the note as Blodeuwedd flutters down from her perch, landing daintily on Fern's head. "Are you alright?"

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no. Unambiguously, she is not--worse, she's aware now she's not. Her Sleeper is missing; her connection to him is all-but-severed. She doesn't know what's caused it nor whether this means he's beyond hope of rescue.

Fern's taken the note, and that means she can wring her tiny claws together and stare up at him with distressed intensity. no. no. read. help.

Her efforts with the notes have to have been worth something--right?

[laminae]

Ah geez, the poor thing. If she'll let him, Fern will scoop Iskierka up into his hands, petting her head gently in hopes of calming her down a little bit. Once he's done that he'll open up the note and read it over. Blodeuwedd scoots over to read as well, tilting her head.

Twice, because what the heck, man. He looks confused as he tries to work out the meaning in the words, but he's sorely lacking in context.

"I got no idea what any of this means." He shoots Iskierka an apologetic look. "It, uh. It doesn't sound good, though."