journal 🔶 shadows; backdated to early june

[noblegarnet]

Sender: Ferran

Has anyone felt like something was lingering around or watching you while you've been here? Maybe just before having nightmares or unsettling dreams you can't remember?

[As much as he's willing to try to solve the Ice Queen's problems on his own, he knows he won't get anywhere without help.]

Comments

Sender: Anonymous

[empyreancatastrophe]

I've personally encountered less the shadow of a lingering presence and more of a calling. A pull towards a promise that is vague, nebulous, wordless, yet nigh irresistible.

It has only been recently that ominous dreams have followed.

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran isn't sure if that's the same phenomenon, but it definitely sounds concerning!

...Actually, he recalls a similar feeling near the end of his stay in a previous world, and his concern only deepens. That pull had led him to the entity that nearly rotted that world from the inside out.]

Have you followed this pull anywhere?

[empyreancatastrophe]

[Everything is concerning! It's awful great!]

Orkili. Both in the city proper and the surrounding territories.

What do you know of their work with nostilium?

[noblegarnet]

I know it's caused us more trouble than it's worth.

[oops he has orkili opinions.]

I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that anything that pulls you to that place in that way isn't good news.

[Fae! Magic! Is! Evil!!!]

[empyreancatastrophe]

[What a coincidence! He has Orkili Opinions, too!]

You're right. I'm well aware of the danger.

However, I would disagree on the worthiness of the associated trouble. Without their knowledge, our avenues for treatment of exposure would be limited.

Sender: Anonymous

[your_best_friend]

[Crap, has Flowey been seen when randomly stalking people?]

What do you mean, exactly? You think someone is stalking you? Why would anyone here do that?

[noblegarnet]

[Oh... he guesses it does just sound like a "happening to him" thing, doesn't it. ... not that he doesn't also have that, but he knows what that is. Oh well.]

Maybe less of a who and more of a what? But I'm not ruling out a person, I guess. I talked to the Ice Queen and I'm trying to figure out what's causing all the nightmare things she's been stuck in.

[Don't worry, Flowey, your secret is still safe.]

[your_best_friend]

Oh. I see. I'm pretty sure I was one of the people exploring this mirror world timeline or realm or universe or whatever it was. What exactly did the Queen say and is there anything I can do to assist?

[noblegarnet]

Yeah, I had an annoying time in there, myself.

[I guess that's one way to describe trying to murder your past self, Ferran.]

She said her last memories before falling into her nightmare coma or whatever you want to call it was when Jack Frost stopped coming to see her. After that, she had trouble sleeping because it felt like something was lingering around her. She couldn't remember the dreams she did have after that, only that they were disturbing.

I'm trying to gather information, mostly, so I'd appreciate anything you have. I don't have a sense for nightmare things that aren't my own, so I'm not sure how to find whatever this lingering thing is.

[your_best_friend]

Unfortunately, I don't think I have much information to say about any of that. The magic I'm used to is entirely different than the dreamotion and magic in this realm.

[There was a pause before "realm" was written if Ferran noticed that.]

But I'm sure someone with a lot of scientific knowledge and endless curiosity could attempt to make a collaboration with you. I've heard a living, talking flower somewhere here is good with that type of stuff.

Sender: Ryu

[amnesiadragon]

yes i have it was really bad until i figured out what it was and



wait you said here

sorry

[noblegarnet]

[Someone eager to help, looks like. He appreciates the attempt, anyway.]

I'm glad you figured it out. Do you want to talk about it?

[amnesiadragon]

oh well im kind of a weird case because i was summoned to the world i was in last

but it went wrong so i got split nto two people and the pull and presence i felt was my other half

like what are they called again

[There's some ink splotches while he dots the paper.]

magnets?

[noblegarnet]

Magnets, yeah. It makes sense you'd feel the urge to pull yourself back together.

[Can't relate. Ferran would much rather throw certain parts of himself away.]

So did you manage to find the other half?

[amnesiadragon]

not yet but were getting close

though one of us is probably going to absorb the other

[There's a pause, and then a doodle appears. It looks almost like two streams or rivers combining... and one is clearly dominant.]

the stronger stream absorbs the weaker one

sender: eustace // [ private ]

[flamekthunder]

I have...and had the misfortune of experiencing such a case recently.

sender: Ferran // [private]

[noblegarnet]

[all you people and your SECRETS... Ferran lets out a sigh.]

Details?

[flamekthunder]

[WELL IT WAS MOSTLY RECENT OKOK.]

Had a nightmare and in it there was some strange entity within it that felt more than just a construct of my own subconscious. Tifa was able to drive it back, but I have this sense it's not completely gone.

[noblegarnet]

The same kind of thing as the Ice Queen, then. [Which makes his concerns that the previous nonsense might affect the rest of them valid... Sometimes he hates being right.]

Was there anything unusual leading up to it? Did you go somewhere new, fight something you hadn't seen before, anything like that?

[flamekthunder]

[Ah...so he also went to try and help the Ice Queen. That actually makes Eustace pause for a moment because he never made the connection before, but...]

My current guess is my encounter with the noctaere that was roaming through the Orkilin tunnels. I was with Joshua and Clive Rosfield when we fought and defeated it, but there was an enormous amount of nostilium in the area and released by the noctaere. Not to mention my own use of it.

I was treated in Orkili and felt no adverse effects until roughly a week later when the nightmare occurred.

Sender: Aerith Gainsborough

[inheritedearth]

Hmm.

I have felt like I've been watched while I'm here, but to be honest, I feel that a lot of the time.

[For good reason, but...]

I think I know what you mean about nightmares, though. Sometimes it feels like the nightmare itself is just lingering, but it feels like... I'm not alone.

sender: Ferran // private

[noblegarnet]

[Hm. That's concerning.]

You mean more than that gray-haired guy?

[More than the stalking, though, there's the possibility this is more widespread than he thought. It's not like he... hasn't felt similar things himself, but he also figured out what his "lingering feeling" was a long time ago. It makes itself known fairly clearly, and he doesn't have to guess.]

private

[inheritedearth]

Yeah, though you're not wrong. He's part of it.

[Then there was the fact that she had spent her entire life being monitored, and some of the people responsible were here now, but it is more than that.

It's something about this place, she thinks.]

I'm not sure if what I've felt lately is a person, if that makes sense? What is it that you've been feeling?

private

[noblegarnet]

More of a presence? That is sort of the thing I'm talking about.

It's not me, though. [...] And I do actually mean that. The Ice Queen told me about some of her experiences before her nightmare coma started messing with all of us.

[Man. Nightmare coma. He does not envy her. He doesn't have as much sympathy as he should, maybe, but he's allowed to be a little miffed about being trapped in a board game as a Fae.]

[inheritedearth]

Interesting. Do you mind sharing a little bit of what she told you? Do you think it's something we need to be on the alert for?

[That nightmare coma and its effects have kept them all fairly busy for awhile, but it wouldn't be right to let it blindside them...]