journal 🔶 psa from a former fairy

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran isn't unaware of how these journals work, but he's still working out what pages are "public" and which are for his own private use.

Thus, one evening, a sketch of a building slowly comes together, distinguished by its tall stone towers, walls topped with battlements, wrought iron fences, and a large courtyard. The artist pays special attention to the detailing in the texture, making it easy to imagine what materials the imposing place might be made of. To those familiar with the city of Aefenglom, it's clearly a representation of the Coven.

After he's done, he writes in neat print:]

Don't trust the Fae. Whatever else I've forgotten, I know that much.

Comments

[noblegarnet]

If yours is mundane at all, it is more so than mine, yes.

[His, he's almost entirely sure, is magical in nature.]

It's not short term. Specific moments and time periods were obscured.

[allegedprisoner]

I understand that much, sir. I meant did you have short term as well as long term, but it seems that's not the case.

At any rate, you can look at it this way: Whatever you lost might come back to you one day. Perhaps there might be a dream or event that seems oddly familiar to you. Try to investigate that and see if it reminds you of something you forgot. That method's been helping me a little, I think.

[noblegarnet]

[Does he want to remember, though?

... no, there are certainly things he does want to recall. That apparent friend he'd only half-remembered, and who knows how many others... and yet, there's clearly some deep resentment that's come from those missing experiences, a misery that threatens to overcome him when he casts his thoughts in that direction. Would it be easier to leave it be, for the most part?

Ferran's response comes after a minute or two of this musing.]

I guess I'll see.

Do you know how long you've had memory problems?

[A change of subject is still a reliable tactic.]

[allegedprisoner]

[ Luca thinks he might have hit a sore spot... Ah well, moving on. ]

A few years now, I think. It's hard to keep track of time these days.

[ Especially since much of that time was spent rotting in prison, waiting for the executioner... At least he's definitely been spared from that somehow. ]

Doesn't help that there doesn't seem to be a reliable calendar anywhere. Can you guess what day it is?

[noblegarnet]

[Unfortunate... it must be so frustrating. Ferran knows he'd probably be taking a stupid amount of notes if his short term memory wasn't working properly.]

I haven't seen anything either. It feels like autumn, maybe.

[But who knows what seasons this place has.]

Other than that, I can only tell you what day it was in my own world before I got here, and I don't know how much help that would be to you.

[allegedprisoner]

[ Exactly! That's why journals like these are a blessing. ]

Still worth a shot. At least you'd have some form of reference in case someone came in from after you left.

[noblegarnet]

[Despite this not being his first out-of-time otherworldly rodeo, the issue of others coming in from his future or past never happened to him—it only ever came up as a theoretical concept. As a result, it doesn't come back to him now, and he has no idea what this person might be referring to.]

What do you mean by that?

[allegedprisoner]

[ Unfortunately, it's happened to Luca... Once. Now. Personally. ]

Let me explain with an example. I met someone here who knew me from somewhere I don't recall visiting. I thought my memory was getting worse until I realized I was taken to another world before I should have met this person.

And this isn't the first time something like this has happened, as far as I'm aware.

[ He can't remember all the details... It was a young woman, he knows that. ]

[noblegarnet]

[... well, it is a dream world. He has no reason to disbelieve Luca, even if it sounds incredible. More than taking them from different spaces, different times as well? Honestly... it makes him a little anxious. He doesn't think he wants to know the future.]

As if all of this wasn't complicated enough. It must have been very confusing for you.

[allegedprisoner]

It was, though I suppose going to alternate worlds twice now made it easier to comprehend.

[noblegarnet]

That would lower the standards for what's believable, wouldn't it.

[Maybe that's why he hardly questioned any of what was going on here, himself. Sure, it's a dream world—why not?]

Was that other world anything like this one, from what you can tell?

[allegedprisoner]

[ Why not, indeed. ]

It's too early to tell, but the journals are similar.

[noblegarnet]

It's not a bad similarity to have, even if they're going to take some getting used to.

[He's still a little suspect of them, and won't be writing his name in it anytime soon, but it's not the worst thing to be able to communicate with...]

I guess it's true that we don't know much about this place yet. Maybe I'll ask you again later, if you don't mind?