♥ September (Ohnir) Event Log

[hugtopiamods]

September (Ohnir) Event Log
The month of Ohnir brings with it a slow but steady relief from the heat, as summer gives way to autumn and the city begins to change with it. Plants are slowly deflowering, leaves are starting to fade and fall, and while the season is not yet in full swing, all the signs are there if you know where to look. The city is abuzz with new energy as the residents realize that for the first time in centuries, they have some actual nature clean-up ahead of them: raking leaves, pruning branches, protecting young wildlife and fresh plants from the incoming chills of winter. Such work used to be relegated to those who cared for the botanical gardens and zoos, but now everyone who's been enjoying this year's garden harvest has to learn how to future-proof their treasured flowers. Offworlders are encouraged to do the same, lest all of the growth be lost over the winter.

---

❥ PROMPT I: A Clean Getaway

With all of the work to be done, it's no surprise that some are looking for new ways to refresh themselves and relax, and what better time would there be to open up the Public Baths! All the volunteer work cleaning the place has paid off, and the facilities are officially open and available for use. It is technically free to use, as a public facility, but those visiting are encouraged to tithe a small donation once in a while to pay for upkeep and freshen up the place, provide new soaps, etc. No judgment if you can't! It'll just make everything that much nicer in the long run.

The baths are separated into a few sections: oil baths for the native residents, and water baths for the offworlders. For obvious reasons, offworlders are encouraged not to enter the robot-residential sections! Though they are not strictly forbidden... it would be quite messy and bad for your health.

The offworlder half has additional separated sections that may interest characters when they visit:

1) Hot Springs Style - Clothed or Unclothed: there are 3 available rooms for each, one for separate presented genders, and a shared bath for those comfortable with the concept or don't wish to use either male or female. Each room has one larger pool and a few smaller sets, so you can sit by yourself or with others as you please.

2) Pool: a shared public pool! The water is nice and cool, which should be a comfort to those still struggling with the lingering summer heat. There is some water game equipment available for open use if people want to play and get their sports on.

3) Sauna: similar to the springs, once again, there are 3 rooms for gender splits so everyone can enjoy the place at their own comfort level.

It all seems very nice and relaxing for everyone, but this wouldn't be a proper event without some shenanigans now, would it? There are a few effects that may occur within the baths, and these effects are somewhat random. Some characters may experience them to a powerful degree, while others feel nothing at all. Players can decide for themselves who and where these will affect, so feel free to mix, match, and go wild. The effects are:

• The spring water is so relaxing that you feel free and more willing to talk about yourself, or share your feelings more openly.


• The swimming pool is cool and energizing, making you want to horse around and play with others nearby. You may also feel inclined to drape yourself onto others, like a cool, comfy pillow.


• The sauna has you dishing up spicy hot takes, releasing negative emotions or complaints, and makes you a little more inclined to gossip.

All effects can either be nullified or emphasized according to player discretion by physical contact. For some characters, holding hands or something will stop the effects, but for others it'll intensify them - it should keep characters guessing!

❥ PROMPT II: REM Stands for Realistic Emotional Memory in These Parts

Characters who were around last year might remember a bout of strange and sporadic dreams that plagued the town around this season, along with the sensation that they were being followed. This year, dreams once more enter uninvited to one's mind, but this time, it occurs as a random daydream while they are awake, and it is very different from person to person- instead encouraging you to do the following. All visions start out hazy, like a grainy old movie where details and figures are difficult to make out, but there is something both familiar and alien about it. It feels like a memory… but it is not your memory. Over time, the visual begins to clear the more often the dream repeats, until slowly the images grow more distinct, offering clearer faces, the addition of voices, discernable quotes or expressions. The memory will provide hints as to who it might belong to, though the subtlety of those hints will likely vary. Before too long, if you have not found a way to rid yourself of the dream, you will experience an entire memory of another person in town as if you were witnessing it from their perspective!

Now, how does one rid themselves of these strange visions? You could wait it out, if you're patient enough and not inclined to seek the answer, but those who've been here long enough can wager a guess: you must find the source of that memory and "send" it back to them through physical interaction of some kind. Some memories may take longer to transfer than others, and it may depend on the person, the memory itself, how clear the memory has become in the time you carried it… no two experiences are likely to be the same.

There are a few specifics about these memories that are worth noting:

• the memory should be of a single event, not a series of events that span a long period of time. For example, you could witness the stretch of someone's day at a wedding or long party (sped up to skip insignificant moments so it doesn't play in real time), but not a memory of an entire war that goes for months. How long the memory goes for is up to the player that the memory belongs to, as long as it falls within these guidelines.


• you are not limited to a single memory from a single person. Once you have solved one vision, after a certain amount of time, you may find yourself plagued with another.


• you will not necessarily end up having the same memory partner! You won't always have the memory of the person who has your memory. Characters are encouraged to pair up and try to piece together clues that might lead you to your intended partner. Help each other out and guide one another in the right direction if you can.


• those whose memory has been borrowed may find it difficult to recall it; it can seem fuzzy and indistinct, missing entirely or simply missing choice details. Through physical contact, that memory will fully return to them and both participants can experience it together.


• you can find your partner accidentally! If you're still searching for clues and happen to touch your partner through other circumstances - such as shake their hand at first meeting, or hug a friend - you may find both of you are suddenly experiencing a memory together as it is transferred! Aren't you lucky, to have found your partner so easily?

!!! IMPORTANT !!! The contents of the memory shared is up to you, but please be mindful of harmful subjects and tag/mark your comments and toplevels accordingly! Triggering memories should be noted with content warnings. Be kind to your fellow players! If someone asks you to tag something and you have not done so, please correct it as soon as possible. Untagged comments that aren't adjusted and are reported to us may be subject to mod screening until the issue is resolved.

❥ PROMPT III: I Shall Fight With My Bear Hands

Closer to the tail end of the month, one of the research facilities distributes a "Help Wanted" advertisement through the network, requesting the aid of offworlders. The advertisement reads:

"Calling all offworlders! Havenwell Research and Development is seeking volunteers for both physical prowess and supernatural ability testing. All are welcome! Even if you have no combat skills and feel only a desire to learn, we have a job for you. Those who already possess some form of self-defense or combative powers will be partnered and asked to "spar" in a partially digitized facility, or proceed with a simulation that will gauge destructive capabilities. And for those who possess neither, don't worry! Our program is specially designed to help you discover just where your talents lie.

No harm should come to any volunteers, as this is strictly simulation-based, similar to the virtual reality technology already widely used throughout the city. However, in case of any accidents, medical staff is on site to treat injuries as needed. Additionally, there is no need for you to wear any of the VR headgear typically required in our cafes, so if these devices cause you discomfort, this may be a simulation that better meets your needs.

Please contact us ASAP if you are willing and able to help. A monetary commission will be awarded upon completion of each session."

Any volunteers or inquiries will be provided with more information, and invited to one of the research towers located in town. They are guided to a floor that is abuzz with activity, partnered with whoever happens to be scheduled at the same time or a partner they themselves opted to bring with them, and taken to a room akin to Star Trek's holodeck. There, they can input "powers" or "no powers", and a simulation will be created for them based on their selected guidelines.

With Powers:
The console invites characters to select one of two options- their own abilities, or temporarily gain access to the elemental powers offered via AC Rewards (point levels 50, 100, and 200). They are able to choose a particular power level for the duration of the simulation, which can either dampen their natural abilities to a more fair level for the test you're undertaking, or remain normal. While in the simulation room, rather than actually using any real abilities, the room will materialize whatever ability you choose without causing true damage to either the room or your opponent. Science, or magic? It's probably both. Feel free to go wild and have fun, maybe try some powers you've never experienced before or vent your frustrations on being stuck here!

Without Powers:
The console invites characters to select a type of weapon and skill level, and said weapon will materialize in a basic form; while held inside the room it moves and feels real, but it cannot be removed from the facility. Those who are skilled in utilizing said weapon are free to wield it as if it were the genuine article in their chosen simulation. Those without much or any skill will be walked through a tutorial on basic techniques from a variety of styles, old or new, most unfamiliar but well suited to the body type of the person using the program. It's quite intuitive, though it is by no means perfect, so characters might end up being guided through a stranger workout than intended.

For versus mode, each participant has an HP bar displayed above their heads, and everyone has the same HP unless both players select an unbalanced mode, and the goal is to force your opponent to hit zero HP. Characters can also choose how realistic the simulated violence is and how the process feels: in low realism, it's similar to laser tag, where characters flash a colour when hit and take damage without feeling anything more than some uncomfortable vibration. In high realism, pain is genuine to a certain degree depending on how high a level they choose, though it is artificial and will fade as soon as the program ends. Hitting zero HP will not result in a knock-out, but characters will feel dizzy and be forced to sit down, unable to rise again until they surrender. All effects wear off as soon as the simulation ends.

For demonstration mode, participants are given a selection of virtual targets to practice on using whatever method of combat they've chosen. It could be moving targets, such as creatures that have invaded the barrier previously (via the Wild Wild prompt), or simulations of the more dangerous beasts in the museum/zoo areas of town. It could be simple targets built to take a beating without providing much challenge in return. It could be a collection of buildings that characters can break or explode as they please. This mode is designed to gauge just how strong a person's destructive potential is, either with their own powers or with powers granted to those who have been blessed by their patron god.

Characters are welcome to volunteer as many times as there are available partners and/or slots! So feel free to try a few times using different options.

❥ PROMPT IV: A Bonus Trip Down Memory Lane

Last year, some offworlders might remember the tradition of sharing stories in the temple of Ohma, to offer small tributes to the god on their first month of devotion. It is that time of the year again, and everyone is welcome to return and share more stories, or perhaps retell an old favourite to a new audience. Here is the event as described previously:

Ohma's temple is particularly lively during Ohnir and the priests are busy cleaning and sweeping, decorating it with rolls of parchment and digital inkwells and quills that write as if they were actually fountain pens. The natives, especially adherents of Ohma, start to make pilgrimages to the temple in little processions, some playing music, others flying banners.

Anyone who chooses to follow can observe the natives going up to the altar and sharing stories with one another. They talk about things they did over the past year or things that are far, far in their past. Some of the stories are happy and result in the procession laughing and some are...well, not everyone returns safely from certain disasters that befall the city throughout the year. The priests diligently write every story down on those parchment rolls and deposit them onto the waiting altar, where they're summarily lit on fire to the cheers of those present. The more emotional the story it seems, the brighter and bluer the flame that it emits and the louder the procession cheers.

As the file out, they notice you watching and urge you to go up with someone else in the temple to clear your heart and offer up your own stories. They can be stories of home, information about your worlds, or stories about your life.

---

This event will run from September 14th to 30th. Click on each prompt's title to see the text. If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread.

Comments

[iustaegis]

[ To Pyra, the rift itself was brilliant. Even now she can still feel its magnificence shower through her. Its stream had been a braid of three, of all of the knowledge of the universe, of all the memory of the universe, and all of its energy. As Honerva, she had felt the whispers and torment, the lure and temptation as a mortal (or something akin to it). As herself, now removed from that memory, she feels as if she had basked in infinity not unlike the greater power to which she owes her own.

 However, it was her husband, her son, and the love she had felt for both that spoke more powerfully to her.  ] I... did.


The whispers... Is that why you need someone to sing to you?

[shroudedsecrets]

... yes.

[ The darkness... who could say what it was, and where it had come from? And yet it had survived there, called to them and isolated them, as time had gone on. Yet it might have used her own voice, used her thoughts against her. It very well became her, when she had no one else to be.

She could recognize that now but not for how long it had been. ]

I have learned that it helps me to not get lost among them. That is why the last time we were here together, it... was difficult to endure them otherwise.

[iustaegis]

[ And Pyra hadn't been effective enough to distract her with her own singing, not until Lup calmed her down, stabilizing her.

If she still hears those whispers, she wonders this: ]

...Do you... still feel as if you're attached to that rift?

[shroudedsecrets]

Not-- exactly, but... it is... complicated, you know. I do not know enough to say for certain. I studied it for a long time, before... those events. It was near impossible to pry me away from work.

[ Until she'd fallen ill and could not keep to her feet for how her vitality had been all but sapped. The vision that Pyra holds, that she can't quite grasp until it is shared, but she knows what it entails. ]

After those events... his planet was destroyed, and so seemingly, was that rift. My knowledge of those events were gone as well... but it had changed me. It is why I can sense energy as I do.

[iustaegis]

[ A whole planet destroyed afterwards... The scale of it isn't difficult to imagine, but it does put her own circumstances in perspective. There is little greater in tragedy than losing all of those lives.

Honerva has chosen to speak more of the rift more than of her husband and son. Perhaps it's easier to recall being doused in that unforgiving energy than talking about her lost family.... which is quite telling as to which aspect of the memory is far more harrowing to relive. ]

It changed you-- [ She acknowledges quietly, nodding. ] But that change didn't stop. [ There have been forces greater than the rift that had continued to influence her. Friends, family, the love found in both. The memory of this particular change was one point in her long life. She's continue to grow since then. ]

Honerva... you're really strong, you know.

[shroudedsecrets]

[ It changed her. It had taken advantage of her once curious nature and had all but used that against her, robbed her of love, robbed her son of everything he should have had.

It is why she refuses to return to a universe without friends, family or care. To go back to being so cold, so ruthless, so oblivious, even with how powerful she would yet become upon breaking free of it, when only the pain of those losses would remain. ]

... It may have given me power, but that is all that it did. It changed me, and took me away from myself and those that I loved had suffered for it, because I was not strong enough.

[iustaegis]

[ Her lips press together, and she shakes her head. Strong in the power sense hadn't been what she meant, so she shakes her head. ]

...Ah, no. [ She wishes she could move closer to her, to take her hands into hers, to squeeze them to emphasize her words and show her appreciation, how what Honerva stands for, how far she's come, truly means something. ] I meant.... look at where you are now. You're standing here, you're speaking with me. Someone who hadn't been as strong as you may have perished in that stream or would not have changed.

[ She lifts a hand to her chest, over where her heart would be. ]

There are forces greater than, or at least equal to, Quintessence, I think. And... it's here. [ The heart, or rather, what it symbolizes. ]

Love.

And I think allowing yourself to love... and accept the love of others, is that force. You have that strength.

[shroudedsecrets]

Pyra...

[ In some way, she does understand what the other woman is saying. This other, whom she far suspected was far more than she wanted to appear, than she wanted to divulge to others. Pyra had her secrets. ]

It has been over ten thousand years since those events. I was not capable of changing on my own. It was only an accident that led to my realizations... that I had been someone else the entire time. Do not mistake that for strength.

[ Though in a way, had that too, been some form of love? Her bone deep loyalty to the emperor that pushed her to such a means to revive him, only to encounter the truth? Even that occurrence felt so long ago compared to where she was now, because she had... come so much further away from it, through the unknown forces of being pulled to other universes such as this. ]

[iustaegis]

Whether ten thousand is a long time or not to you-- [ She is been under the impression that Honerva is long-lived, but she doesn't know exactly what to expect, what is long to them versus what is not. Ten thousand is an epoch to humans, but perhaps to some other species out there, it's a nap. ]-- that others were with you to help that change doesn't make you any weaker.

[ Pyra is baffled at that ten thousand years, regardless. That's ten thousand years in delirium. To be in a state like that makes it all the more profound that she's building herself up from it in such a short amount of time, relatively speaking. ]

I think, Honerva, you... do not give yourself enough credit. [ For how long has she been looking down on herself, or otherwise dismissing all that she's overcome, she wonders. ] ...Meet with me, half-way? It wasn't just them, or their love to you. It's your love to them as well.

[shroudedsecrets]

... time means little to me now, but know that it was not a natural lived life by any means, Pyra. Only continued existence. That... is because of what you have seen. You know this.

[ Existence, much like the robots here. Which is why she had emphasized the amount of years at all, even if she did not truly know how many had come before, and that little mattered. Had she not been taken to that rift, she may well have soon passed otherwise, or if it was the child she bore that drained her limited vitality to see him born at all.

The choice was life... but little could they know it would be at the cost of all else that mattered.

Perhaps she had never been meant to raise him, and instead of one way she left him bereft in another. Try as she might, the reminders would all turn to that. Pyra reminds her of credit, and she's not the first, but it's always the first to lose sight of, too. Her own efforts, when they weren't so damaging. ]

... and ... perhaps I will give you that. It was the love I felt for my son that made me want to change, once I was able to realize the truth after all that time. But had I not met Taako, or Lup, or Prompto, I may not have been able to do so much -- no, I would not have been capable on my own, hurt that I was.

[iustaegis]

[ Pyra blinks as she speaks of a unnaturally lived existence, leaning away for a moment. An not-lived life, a perpetual state of existence is something to which she can relate. She knows what it is like. Merely existing, performing a duty and nothing more. Observing, watching the world as it formed, as life began anew after it had been destroyed. And waiting, waiting, waiting for something to happen, for another prompt, a command, a sign to undo and redo the world again, if this version failed...

However, she comes from an opposite path: Pyra had only existed as a crystal for untold millennia, then she was finally given life. Honerva was living, then she transitioned to merely 'existing', only after all those years to return to that living state. This makes her far more resilient. Pyra has only shifted once. Honerva has had that metaphorical life, lost it, then wrestled for it back to construct a new one along with others. It's beautiful. ]

...And that's okay.

[ She reassures her. ] But-- don't forget. They love you because you're loveable, and that loveableness is on you. [ Her, too, she almost wants to add. Pyra loves her as well, and that love doesn't come from feeling obligated to help her or see her well, but because it simply is.

She shifts closer, keeping her voice firm with conviction. ]

So... you're not going back to that state, Honerva. You've... escaped it. You're going to keep on living and loving.

[shroudedsecrets]

[ The fact that Pyra is being sure to reassure of her of this even before the memory is shared also... says volumes. Because she well knows. Memory was unpredictable, whether it would be overwhelming or not, and she had come so far.

There is a future she wants and it is ahead and not back. The fear of separation, of losing what she has now, this self that she is that is perpetual; when one has already lost one can't help but fear loss; but it is love she relies on now. The connections she has, that she was not able to maintain before. People to check in on her, if she feared or faltered.

Pyra was a friend, so she too was among them, even if she does not say, here. ]

... I always say you are too kind, you know.

[ There is a smile in her words though, for the weight of all there is to consider. She knew that Pyra had hesitated to think she would want the memory at all, but it was her own burden much as all else. ]

We are here in these circumstances and... I cannot lose sight of how important that is, even if these memories should try to imply otherwise.

[iustaegis]

[ Pyra does not wish to harm Honerva. Returning these memories to her might do just that.

...But Honerva has proven that she's able to overcome her past, and those around her are able to keep her within the present, or bring her back to it if need be. Pyra will do do as much as she can to help. ] If.... it helps reassure you, we'll be holding hands the entire time. [ --For the entire flashback of that memory, which had felt far longer than just the short clips of memories she'd have expected. ]

I'll be here for you.

[shroudedsecrets]

[ Honerva is quiet for a moment, as she takes a breath, exhales softly. ]

... I know.

[ She does not know how this memory would truly feel when returned, when she could only guess at it. What it might reveal, or make her feel. Such things cannot be accounted for. But it was not without warning. Some things could be accounted for. She was not alone here, and Pyra would still be holding her hand.

There was value in that. She just had to trust, too. Trust in Pyra while she could still not trust herself. Slowly, she holds out her hand in the space between them, smiling softly. ]

I am ready. Please... sit closer as well. If something should happen, you know what to do now.

[iustaegis]

[ Their conversation thus far reminds her of a pep talk, the kinds sometimes one would make before a particularly tough fiend. She recalls that Ad-- well, it doesn't matter.

With the invention given, Pyra moves closer. ] No matter what, Honerva. We're here.

[ She extends her hand. ]

warnings for illness/death

[shroudedsecrets]

...yes.

[ Sometimes you're the one who needs the pep talk, sometimes you're the fiend people are rallying against. In Honerva's case, she's both at once.

No sense in delaying further, now that they were already at the brink. She doesn't often hesitate so much once a purpose is set.

And so she takes Pyra's hand. Together they wait, for the seconds to pass, for the memory to stir between them once more.

Her last encounter with this memory had not been from her own perspective and already, she's almost thrown by how overpowering everything else is in it. The emotions... her own delirium, the sheer desperation. All that she's expected and worse... her hand trembles in Pyra's even as she holds on.

It was not yet over. It had barely begun. ]

[iustaegis]

[ As soon as she feels her hand tremble in hers, Pyra brings up her other to reinforce the clasp. She slides closer to her upon the couch, not saying a word as she does so, and pulls her in. Forehead to forehead, she at first waits in silence. She does not know how long this vision will last for her, or at what point of it Honerva is currently experiencing. All she knows is that Honerva is vulnerable to it...

And so she begins to sing. Just as last time, the melody is an unimportant hymn from her world, both somber and pure as a snowfield. ]

[shroudedsecrets]

[ The memory was new to her, as the person she had been while it had taken place, was similar and yet so far removed from who she was now. It is not something she can view from a distance, or as something separate from herself, not while it immerses her. It takes... moments, but it seems longer, and for the longest time Honerva remains still as it takes hold, is dragged into the heart of it's revelations, the desperation of all of it.

The reminder of her husband's arms, a man so driven to put friend and planet at risk to save the ones he loved, only to lose them all and conquer all that remained. But here was the last time he'd held her, with such care, with such concern, and it would be his last. How could I have forgotten, she'd thought, when she'd first came close to this brush of truth, all of this love. The child she'd been so desperate for she'd given her all so he might but live.

A whisper stirs, the dark undercurrent to memory. There all along, even as hope seemed so bright. Quintessence was life and it had flooded them, leaving them vulnerable even as it nurtured, the whispering dark, give in, give in give in --

and then nothing, it's won, it's cold and dark, all snatched away...


And yet there's a voice, outside of it all, a melody that pushes at the edges of darkness. She's... not lost? ... No, someone is... holding her hand, sitting so close that there is warmth. Her head, too? Her trembling is not quite limited to her fingers, a dampness around her eyes. The present... was here? But it was so difficult to emerge. ]

[iustaegis]

[ She continues to sing to her, making her voice as guiding and soothing as possible, interweaving her fingers in hers, giving her hands a small tug towards her. Come back, she wants to interject into the lyrics, come back.

Memories can weigh more than Titans. They can crush, they can paralyze, but here Honerva is not static. Her fingers are strained, trembling within Pyra's hold; it as if she's fighting still. Pyra will fight with her, singing to her to bring her back to the present, and hoping her voice reaches her through the consuming fog of memories. ]

[shroudedsecrets]

[ Finally, her shoulders slump forward, but her eyes are able to open, fluttering slowly, adjusting, though her ears remain lowered. The end of that memory had been so cold, but here it was not.

... Her friend was singing. She had borne all this and shared it and now waited for her return. This memory had not been of a potential future but of an unforgiving past, and yet it was already behind her. Still, it stung, for all it had symbolized. ]

... Pyra?

[ Her voice is a murmur and near caught in her throat but she must say something, do better to adhere herself to the present. ]

[iustaegis]

Honerva... I'm here.

[ She can't help but think this is all too sad. Everything Honerva's been through, everything she has endured, how she gave so much of herself only to lose that part of her, to merely exist for ten thousand years, then to lose even more...

The past hurts Honerva. Pyra can see that clearly, and she sorely wishes that she hadn't needed to endure reliving it. How exhausting it must feel to crawl out of such shackles again.

Her hands leave hers to lift to her shoulders, bringing the woman into an embrace, one as warm, comforting, and secure as she can make it to ground her. Her eyes shut tightly as she holds her, one arm around her back and the other pressing into her hair, cradling the back of her head. Her home is where that warmth is, and so is her present.

Architect, she's glad she hadn't been lost. She wouldn't have been able to forgive herself otherwise. ] Welcome back. [ She continues on to say, keeping her voice quiet. ] You did good.

[shroudedsecrets]

[ To exist without love, to be loyal to the one person who could not utter her true name in all of that time and yet to serve at his command... and to even have rationalized it so well that she sees his hurt before her own.

The past... is gone. It's slipped away. She needs to be here in this present because any further, too, would be just as awful. Reminders. But Pyra is here, welcoming her, holding her and not letting her slip away into the dark.

It aches to speak, but she tries again, after another moment passes, even if the tremble has not quite abated. ]

... I could... hear you this time. Thank you.

[iustaegis]

[ She giggles softly, petting the back of Honerva's head softly, as if it could soothe those trembles. ] It's no bother at all. [ That Honerva is able to tolerate her world's hymns speaks to her patience. To Pyra, for the longest time they had meaningless chants mortals came up with to praise a deity by which they only have a name. Now they have a purpose: a thread to throw to a loved one, for if she hadn't remembered them, she wouldn't have been able to bring her friend back from a terribly harrowing memory. ]

Or should I say... "welcome back"?

[shroudedsecrets]

[ It is not so much the words of the hymns themselves than the melody and the person to whom they belonged being able to weave through a convoluted haze of whispers. A gentle light through the curtain of dark.

How odd it had been, to traverse through memory of other lives long past. This embrace, too, is important, now that she is no longer drowning. ]

... yes, this is the present. You did well. It was... much for you to carry.

[iustaegis]

[ She pulls back some, blinking at her in. ] Wh.... me? [ She stammers, looking at her in shock before she breaks into another smile. ]

There you go again, not giving yourself enough credit. [ It wasn't her memories originally, to say nothing of not being tempted by the call of Quintessence. That had been Honerva, and that had all been what Honerva has overcome yet again. All Pyra did was sing and hold her.

Playfully, ]

You're really bad at that, you know.