Logs:Eyes of the Mask: Unexpected Outcomes

From From Dusk till Jawn
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Content Warning

Mummification, kidnapping, captivity

Cast

Lux, Vasya and Spider as ST

Setting

The Oligarch's Aerie, The Firebirds Sanctum - Part of The Eyes Of The Mask

Log

When Lux comes calling, Vasya replies that he'll be there to let Lux in. And he is. With the wheat it, there's not much to do out at the farm. So he's got plenty of it to kill around the apartment. It also means he doesn't smell like a farm, which is a bonus. His beard is trimmed, hair cut, and it looks as though he intends to live among the Americans for the time being. Blending in, and all that. He opens the door and sees Lux in, offering to take their coat once inside. "I wasn't sure if you'd have eaten, so there's some fruits and cheeses and such set out, as well as some drinks. If you'd like something more substantial, I can have Oontz Oontz cook you up something."

Let Lux in? When has Lux ever used the door? Well, technically a door needs to be opened, but it's not the front door--it's the balcony door, as Lux just... appears on the railing of the balcony, then hops down. But they do slide out of their coat and offer it up to Vasya with a grin. "Thanks. No, cooking isn't necessary, snacks and drinks will do fine. How are you?" (edited)

"Honestly, I don't really know how to answer that question any longer. So I'll say that under the present circumstances, I am doing surprisingly well." Vasya's expression is so flat and deadpan that it can be hard to tell if he's joking at times. Or, more accurately, how much of the joke is also true. "My recovery is going well. I've been enjoying becoming engaged in the village I help look after. Trying to claim territory in Philadelphia seemed presumptuous and perhaps too ambitious. So I started with a little village near our farm. I've formed a spiritual bond with it, which... it's sort of like I'm also the village now. After a fashion." He wags a hand, dismissing his own life's journey as an unimportant tangent. "What can we do for you?"

"Not sure if I've heard about a... village." Their brow perks. "Oh, I think Fox mentioned a farm." They blink as Vasya continues. "...Sound trippy. But good? Trippy." They rock on their heels, bouncing with energy. "Doing alright. A lot of dreaming. Have you had any more weird dreams lately?"

"It's hard to explain. And a bit beside the point. But trippy is very accurate, and so I'm not entirely sure how to answer the question. I'm stuck in a war for reality fought across multiple timelines working with beings and powers I wasn't even aware existed a few years ago. It's a bit like tap dancing on a tight rope, this life." Vasya brings Lux's jacket to the nearest closet and hangs it up. If you don't want your coat hung in a broom closet, don't come in the balcony though. This, too, is probably intended as one of his jokes, since he just plays it all off as perfectly normal. "I haven't. Other than the ones I've told you of. Though if I am being honest, I have been guarding my dreams somewhat. I think you are more cavalier in your mind's eye than I am. You've had another?"

Lux doesn't seem bothered about having their jacket tucked away into a broom closet. "I have." They look up at him with wide eyes, then digs into a pocket to pull out a piece of paper. They unfold it, then holds it up, showing a strange pattern. Angular shapes, almost fractal, like you'd see in a subway map or an electrical diagram. But there's holes in it, pieces missing. "I dreamed of this. It's a map, Vasya. A map that will lead us where we need to go, into the dream."

Vasya examines the diagram, his eyes growing a bit glassy there for several seconds. His brain is Doing Things In There no doubt. When his eyes regain focus, his head shakes just a touch. "It matches no cypher or cryptography I know of for certain. Having only a node point diagram to work from makes comparing to actual geography difficult. But I don't... think I know of any node point matches, either. This is not, for example, a game map from an obscure Japanese adventure title released for the Famicom or something of the sort." He taps the missing spot indicatively. "The piece that's missing. There was a piece missing in your dream? Can you remember what it looked like in your dream? Was it torn? Cut? Ripped? Was this... printed on soemthing? Written? Chiseled in stone?"

"It's no place in the real world, I don't think. I think it will lead us out of the Dreaming Roads and into the Oneiros. I've already confirmed it by reading my dreams." They set the paper down on a table. "This is all of it. That was in my dream... I think there are pieces in other people's dreams. Maybe yours?"

They shrug. "It showed up a couple different times. First, in water from a fountain. Then it was on the street, all silvery. I ended up spray painting it on a wall, then plucked it out of the dream so I could make sure I remembered it exactly."

"I had a dream once. I told you about it. Where I found myself on roads I did not recognize, and where I found a strip of fabric shredded on a piece of thorns. I didn't recover it. I think we might go back there-- I am certain I could get us there again easily enough. And if your hunch is correct-- and the dream kept insisting you wanted to know where I was --then it might contain the missing bit of your map on it. And if not, I suppose we can simply begin scouting your map and see what lies in the missing area. Perhaps we can figure it out ourselves, if needs be. Either way, you've convinced me that the only way forward is through our dreams." He doesn't seem at all thrilled about it, to be honest, a fact that has him dropping down into his smoking chair.

Lux blinks for a moment, then their hands wave. "Wait! When I pulled it off of the wall, it turned from a framed painting into cloth! A long strip of linen with the pattern on it. That does sound like it's a piece of the map. We need to find it!"

Vasya, sunk into his chair, grows silent and still. He might be mistaken for cold, possibly angry. His body language can be hard to parse, especially with resting bitch face that hardcore. He doesn't look to Lux for several moments, and doesn't speak. After about six seconds he takes in a breath and lets it out, focus finally turning to Lux, "I could confirm some things for us, if you liked. If you have some questions you'd like answered, you ought to collect some. I think we should confirm our hypotheses and build a decent plan for how to proceed. And then get on it promptly. I hope you'll agree. I know both our groups typically prefer to operate with maximal discretion, but I also think we can both agree that dispensing with some of that formality in lieu of the importance of the matter is in order. Also, at some point we're going to need to start acting like we all trust one another fully. If only in this particular matter."

"I trust Fox with my life. She trusts you with hers." Their shoulders lift. "It's enough angular trust to get the job done, for me." They hook their hands onto their hips, head tilting. "I asked a couple of questions of my dreams, too. I asked if this map is leading us to something that wishes to do us harm. My dreams said no. I also asked if this Exarch CIty of Mirrors is working with the True Fae City of Mirrors..." They grimace. "The dreams said maybe." (edited)

Vasya pulls out his pistol, and makes a show of removing the magazine and emptying the chamber, showing it to Lux to make it absolutely plain he's not using it as a weapon or holding it with that purpose. That done, he begins to gesture with it, forming those strange gestures the wizards get up to when doing their magic. Like it's his wand, or something. He sets it down and reaches into his pocket, fishing for some pocket change. He carefully selects silver coins out of the bunch, then flips one into the air asking, "Was the cloth in my dream part of the map from Lux's dream?" The coins spins and falls with a clatter.

"Oh, that's helpful. We can build from that. Shall I ask if they're one and the same? We're all wondering it, aren't we?"

Their weight shifts between their feet anxiously at the thought. "...Yeah. We should ask if they're the same. Or if one created the other, if not." They watch the coin curiously.

The coin flip-flip-flips, lands spinning, and displays heads.

"That's a yes." Vasya looks up, deadpan, eyes like a fish. "Magic." He does the wiggle fingers.

"I mean, I figured. Magic is your whole... thing."

"Really?" He chuffs with amusement, "It used to be drinking! I'm getting better." Another coin is plucked out and tossed upwards, "Is the Exarch Panopticon the same entity as the Gentry known as the City of Mirrors?"

"General your. Mages." They chuckle, but keep a close eye on the coin as it falls.

How does a coin tossed so casually land balanced perfectly on its edge?

Oh, right. Magic.

"...Fuck that."

"I fucking hate this stupid cosmos!" Vasya shouts at the coin, throwing a bullet at it to knock it over. "Stupid fucking dogshit ass universe with your bullshit godlike---" It's not productive, but he's gonna feel better here in a bit.

He throws the bullet at the coin... and it spins... and refuses to fall over.

Lux's arms cross tightly, frowning. "...It might be that they're not the same, but... mirrors of each other. True Fae do that, sometimes. They see things out in the world and want to copy it. There's a True Fae that copied Odin, like the god, twisted his domain into the worst of the culture that's spawned from that faith in modern history. It might be that the Queen of Mirrors... was... birthed from Panopticon, somehow." (edited)

Vasya counts out eight coins, enough to form a full byte of information. These coins he tosses into the air, stubbornly ignoring the spinning coin. "How many pieces of Lux's map remain extant for discovery?" Once they fall, he gestures at the pile and says, "Binary byte." Figuring Lux will understand the methodology.

This seems to be sort of a variable answer -- the coins wobble before falling -- indicating a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5.

"There's a very pretentious theory we have that I have always despised, but does seem to be bearing out that suggests all of the worlds are just emanations from a higher, truer plain of existence. This one. The spirit world. The underworld. Your hedge. Your Arcadia. All of it. The oneiros, even. It's all some strange layer cake of reality with a coherent cosmology just waiting to be sussed out. So. Why not so with our arch enemies? The Panopticon isn't a person anymore, in any way that matters. It's a concept, a force of reality. It's possible I just don't even know how to frame the right question." Vasya rubs at his brow ridge and then notes, "We're looking for maybe four other pieces after mine. Do you have more questions?"

He considers. "We know that the thing we're trying to find doesn't mean us any harm. But does it know we're coming? Is it the thing that is giving us these dreams? The map? Are there things we will run into on the way to this thing that will try to stop us?"

"We don't even really know if the destination is a person, place, or thing. Made doubly more difficult since in the Oneiros most everything is technically a thing. Even our personal manifestations aren't really us. Back to the confines of human thought and language." Vasya drums his fingers, trying to think of how to phrase Lux's questions in a manner his magic will not pick apart. He's still and quiet for several seconds, finally ending with a shake of the head. Finally, he flips the coin and asks one of the questions, still trying to work out how best to ask the others. "I need a way to widen the framework from yes and no or numeric answers. Which I'm not often a fan of, since it's much harder for you to interpret strange esoteric shit visited upon me. These sorts of methods are much more... other people trust them better. But. If you're willing to let me be your oracle, I can ask some of these questions. There's going to be a lot of 'you'll have to trust me' about it, though. You in?"

Lux gives Vasya a somewhat skeptical look, but is listening. "I think I'm too far into this to not be in. And I'm no stranger to oracles. Do what you need to do... I don't really have any other questions, at this time."

"Give me a moment." Vasya rises from his seat and looks about the room, squinting at a point in the near distance. Eventually, a little ball of blue-white light appears, sparking in the air, bobbing and buzzing with energy. "Oontz-Oontz, Lux. Lux, Oontz-Oontz. As he normally appears. I believe you will have met him in his mortal mask." The entity crackles pleasantly at Lux. "He says hello."

Vasya walks over to his Familiar and begins noodling at its corpus with a finger. "There." He steps back and explains, "Oontz Oontz and I share a connection on the soul level. We touch. And where we touch I'm him and he's me. Metaphysically speaking. I can use that connection as a conduit for my thoughts and magic, which I will do. He, being a little ball of energy, can sample all bands of the FM band, acting like a little miniature squack box, collecting and aggregating minute samples of each channel, blending them together into a random signal for audio broadcast. Sort of like grabbing the dial and wagging it back and forth, but on a quantum level. Anyway. Lay some divination over the top of that, and Oontz Oontz should be able to squack the answers my soul is asking."

Vasya reclaims his seat and assures, "Trust me, this all makes sense. Oontz Oontz? Begin."

The air is suddenly filled with a hissing buzz of noise, like a hundred channels of radio rushing in at once.

"Bit quieter, buddy."

And so it is.

"Good. Now. What conscious opposition will we face in attempting to gather all remaining pieces of Lux's map?"

Lux... seems to roll with all of this surprisingly well. At least there's no outward reaction as they just look at the ball of floating light with a little grin. "Oh, fun. Nice to see you again, Oontz Oontz."

Crackle -- pop! Hiss, hiss. "KeepersTenders." It's hard to understand if you're just listening, because it's a weird scattering of sound, an untuned radio. There's something deeply unsettling about it for Lux, something that crackles up their spine, like they're hearing broadcasts in the City again. "RippedTornThorns. Yes, and."

Lux sits very, very still, eyes locked on the ball of energy as it... broadcasts.

"Are the conscious forces that oppose us aware of the existence of the map that we are seeking to complete?" Vasya glances aside to Lux, both to check in to see how they're holding up and to make it clear he's asking Lux's questions. Just rephrased for the needs of his own magical understanding of things.

Sizzle. The distorted sounds of something like a car dealership's advertising sting. That may just be Oontz Oontz messing around. "Yes. Andno."

"In what way are the conscious forces opposing us aware of the map we are seeking to complete?" Vasya plucks up a grape and throws it through Oontz Oontz harmlessly, a warning to stop messing around with the fate of space time.

"And no?" Their eyes narrow in thought. "Maybe they know of it, but not it's specifics? Where it's found? We can hope, at least." They sigh.

"Or that it exists, but not that we have it," Vasya hazards with his own strain of slavic optimism. In a 'Don't worry, Yuri, you're tall and when you get shot it's bound to be in the head!' kind of way.

"Not." comes the buzzing, and the bobbing light swings back and forth a bit, not dodging the thrown grape but sort of reacting indignantly to it. "And missing pieces. Sacrifice come again. History."

Lux frowns in thought at this answer.

"What kind of Battlestar Galactica answer is that," Vasya asks in a world with policing robots and AI starfighters. "What entity caused the dream that Lux had recently from which they drew this map?" He asides to Lux, "Starting small, seeing if I can get one fucking clear answer to one fucking discrete thing, here. Usually best to start there and build out, in my experience."

"Makes sense." Does it? Fuck no. Lux is just rolling with it, at this point.

"6 Adar." Oontz Oontz buzzes, once twice. "Dreaming Michael all spun up. Wrong parts, unexpected outcomes."

"Oops."

"...Michael," Lux whispers under their breath. There's a brief flicker of horror before it gets hidden under their many layers of Winter-powered mask, going back to thoughtfully inquisitive. "Michael Zloof. The King of Winter, before our present Queen. I thought he died..."

"Or... was Taken Back."

"Sixth day of the sixth month of the Jewish calendar?" Vasya makes a bit of a face. His wife's Jewish, and he definitely feels like he's failing some kind of test, here, on a cosmic level. Bad husband. Be better. "This seems to be suggesting one of the Grigori is causing your particular dream, which... makes sense. Given what we found in them. The linens, I mean. I'll spare you ever having to meet a Grigori face to bandages, I hope. Though. This seems to be suggesting we may be finding one at the end of all of this, too. Which I can seek to confirm."

"Wait. Is Michael Zloof a grigori now?" Vasya asks of Lux aloud, but also aloud near an open divinatory device and he'll either be kicking himself shortly or saying 'I meant to do that and am very smart'.

"6 Adar is the day that Marjorie lights a candle for Michael. Every year." Their arms cross tighter.

"Yes," buzzes the open divination device, when Vasya asks sixth day of the sixth month, because that was a yes-or-no question that he asked.

"Yes." Another buzz buzz, and sometimes you get information you wish you hadn't. "Crowns fail at boundaries. All wrapped up. Candles eat up fuel, burn away." (edited)

"What the fuck is a grigori?" Lux asks Vasya, looking at him hard now.

The way that all the color goes out of Vasya's face suggests that a grigori is something that is not at all good to be. He can't actually bring himself to look Lux in the eyes as he tries to formulate an explanation. "His still living body has been rendered asleep and wrapped in powerful magical dressings. Like a mummy, if you like. Persons so prepared act as scouts and spies for the Seers of the Throne of the Panopticon Exarch. And others, too. They travel the astral paths. They travel in twilight, too. If he were here, I could see him. My soul is modified to see in twilight now. But... it seems. It seems he may be trying to leave you clues, Lux. Perhaps subconsciously. Perhaps consciously. Now that I know his name, though, I can locate his body and his soul. Find the Pylon using him, and help you to recover him if it's possible to do so. Whatever justice you demand of those responsible, I will try to see carried out." He adds after a moment of silence, "Candidly, Lux, I didn't even know if such a thing was possible. Your souls are..." Vasya's eyes narrow. Then gleam. Then he grins. "Your souls aren't like everyone else's."

Oontz Oontz buzzes nervously, repeats himself: "Wrong parts, unexpected outcomes." Vasya, at least, knows this is the conscious Oontz Oontz chiming in. "Oops."

And then, rather nervously, perhaps, at having chimed in when he shouldn't have, the little spirit plays out part of Doot With the Sickness.

Lux glances to Oontz as they chime in, then goes back to focusing their very intent stare on Vasya. "My dreams told me that what we're going towards means us no harm. If that's him, than he's not... He doesn't want to hurt us. Is that possible? To be that but not under their control? Is there a way to fix him?"

Ooh, ooh! Open divination device and yes/no questions!

"Yes." Buzz buzz buzz. "Yes, somewhat. Costs and costs and costs."

Crackle pop WHINE. The little spirit gets louder and louder and brighter and brighter. "LIMITED TIME ONLY!" breaks through, and then the tiniest whisper on the edge of hearing, these are the words that the voice is repeating:

"Time running out."

Vasya snaps his fingers and points at his familiar, "Hubristic bastards mixed their Lego and NuBrix and thought space time wouldn't notice. It did. Unexpected fucking outcomes!" Vasya beams at this word, spreading his arms wide as only an Acanthus may when uttering such a declaration. Bring on the unexpected outcomes! Deities never know what to do with them. His good cheer is immediately checked by the seriousness of Lux's tone, and he at once remembers himself and sobers back to his usual dourness. It is perhaps too late that he realizes Lux just machine gunned the last of his questions. CptMalHandGesture.gif He's not upset, though. That's how his magic works, after all. It gives, it takes. It works well, then not. It's fate, after all. Not fucking physics.

"Frankly, Lux, it's a miracle that the answer to that last one wasn't no. I know of no way to repair a Grigori. I've got some in custody, and I've been meaning to start experimentation on them, but as you can imagine the ethical and moral implications of that sort of thing are monstrous. I don't know where to begin, frankly. But knowing we have a willing participant out there in wrappings conspiring to work with us? If I can help your Michael, maybe I can help the others, too. Maybe he can willingly lead me to where I'd have to make them go."

Lux's fingers curl against themself, a lot of... very complicated emotions on their face, and not any of them truly decipherable. "We need to find the rest of the map. As soon as possible."

"Yes," he agrees, "I'll get started on that immediately. You and I can get to dreaming at your convenience. Likely, I can recover my own piece tonight with a bit of guided meditation. I have augurs and workings I can perform to lead us to the other persons with time. Consider it brute forcing a cypher while others try to find the code sheet. For now, let's put the question out at Maddy's, surely other people are out there."

Then he pauses and shifts gears slightly, "Do you want me to try and locate Michael's body and spirit? Soul? Thing? Or do you want me to leave it be and try to limit contact to what he's established with us so far? I didn't know he was yours, obviously, or I wouldn't have been acting as though I had unilateral authority all this time. So. Now I can't just do that, so. I need your approval to act."

They nod. "I had planned on putting up a notice, asking if I could search people's dreams. I'll do that as soon as I leave here."

They considers the question. "It seems like Michael's control of himself isn't absolute. Do you think they will notice, if you cast a spell to find him? If he is sending us a map to him, then surely we can find him that way, right? Your magic could help us do that, but if it's going to tip them off and... and make them... press the reset switch on him or something, it might be all for nothing. Is that a risk you can judge right now?"

"I would say I can't conscience a risk trying to just locate his body. That's likely to be in a secret location, heavily warded, possibly even defended. I can, however, construct a spell such that I cross paths with him when he's out on an errand. At which point I can essentially tag him and he can carry my tag with him back to his body for us. I can construct it so that the spell drops when it encounters wards, and they ought to be none the wiser. Unless they're thinking to examine the souls of their Grigori for such things, which they obviously aren't doing, since the one in question is malfunctioning because of the condition of its soul. All that to say-- risky if I'm silly about it, but I'm a clever little bastard and I can make it safe as... most... safe as a properly constructed timber frame house on a good, solid foundation, built to code, in a flood zone X, 250 miles away from the nearest fault line." He waggles a hand a bit, "Give or take."

"If this map is leading us into the Oneiros, to him, why would he just be... out walking around?"

"If I had to guess, Lux? He's leading us to the part of his oneiros that's holding out against the Throne. Awakened Magic does not function as it usually does around your own. I've experienced this myself. It's quite possible he's in a ... Mind Palace. Do you sort have that? Which is why our time is running out. I'll poke at those questions another day, because double dipping in the well of fate is never advisable." Vasya rises to his feet and states, "Let's meet here again as soon as we can, compare our notes, and go from there."

"The mind is not the soul is not the body," he tries to further elaborate, "so. It's genuinely a question of what part of him is doing the reaching out."

Lux nods slowly, pushing up to their feet. "That... makes more sense. Okay. Yes, if you can find his body... that would be good. Then we can... find his mind and free it." They take a deep breath. "I'll work on searching for more pieces." They move to grab their coat, shrugging it on quickly and moving for the balcony. "Thanks. For the help. We're going to free him, somehow."

And then they're pushing open the balcony door and just... disappearing.