Video | Un: Lockwood

[recklessenough]

[OOC: Hey guys, please read this note before responding to this post!

I talked with Ruxi about this, and we're going to try something different here.

Rather than waiting until we finished the thread between the Lumberjack and Lockwood for me to post up the highlights of the conversation, I'm going to put up a network post while Lockwood is still with the Lumberjack.

This is because, while he may insist he's the smartest in the room, Lockwood is feeling out of his depth with all this talk of Time and Magic and he's thinking that maybe someone more experienced with these things, or just this world in general, knows what questions should be asked.

So he's asking for help while he's still ICly with the Lumberjack, rather than trying to make assumptions and hope for the best after the fact.

A few housekeeping details that Ruxi asked me to pass along.

1. The Lumberjack may respond directly on some of these threads, but it will be selective and very brief because he's incredibly shy.

2. After July 15 there will be NO responses from the Lumberjack.

If anyone has any OOC questions, please feel free to hit me up via PM! ]




[ Lockwood was in way over his head and the sinking feeling in his stomach told him as much.

He hated being out of his depth. Hated having to admit that he didn't have all the answers, wasn't the smartest in the room. It was always a blow to his considerable ego and left him feeling sulky for days. That said, ego or no ego, he had at least matured to the point where he could recognize when he was floundering and needed assistance.

This? Was one of those times.

The more 'Jack' talked, the more Lockwood could see the pieces of the puzzle being laid out on the board. He just couldn't see how they all fitted together.

Magic. Obviously

Time manipulation. Well ... that creepy woman Hatisse had said on the network that the ladies of the lake were amateurs. That they needed more significant sources of power, or abilities to perform the feats they were claiming as their own. 'Jack' seemed to fit that bill.

But there were still pieces missing and Lockwood had hit a wall in terms of what he could bluff through in regards to his inexperience with this world and the struggles of the group to this point.

He needed help. He needed help, and perhaps even help that could also help 'Jack'. Speaking calmly to the skittish man, Lockwood spooled up his device. Ensuring that 'Jack' would stay where he stood, the younger man took a step away and as soon as the device began recording, spoke. ]

Hello, everybody.

I understand we're all busy, quite busy but I am hoping that there might be someone available who can help me unwind a bit of a knotty problem. The Lumberjack that some of you might have heard Wrath and Wei Wuxian mention, uh ... back when we were in the future, well I've found him here in the flesh and blood.

He's just as shy, innocent and well honestly quite submissive as his writings suggested. I'm having a bit of a hard time drawing answers out of him, but I have managed to suss out that he is linked, somehow to the way this village is moving back and forth through time.

That his magic is maybe being harnessed some how, maybe? I don't know, I don't know enough about magic, but I remember what Hatisse said about the ladies of the lake needing someone to help with Time.

He was headed into the forest when we met. I've brought him back out of the forest, I didn't want the Huntress to come across him, but he's scared to go back to the village. He keeps saying they'll hurt him there. [ Lockwood glances off towards where the man is standing, arms wrapped around himself and the youth's normally sharp expression softens. ]

He says that there is a curse, and that they are "running in time." I'm not sure what other questions I should ask him, or what I should do with him. Does anyone have any thoughts? Should I let him go back into the forest?

Comments

un: a civil serpent | audio.

[inferus]

The curse refers to the Huntress burying her anchors around the village to stake her claim and cause the dead to rise and overrun it.

The Lumberjack is part of the group of witches who decided the only way to save the village was to do a spell, which causes the village to run continuously through this time loop. I believe the best possible avenue is to convince him he does not need to perform in the ritual, because our group will interrupt the Huntress' claim, which would prevent the dead from rising negating the need for the time spell.

Or you could ask him where they keep the items for the ritual so someone else might disrupt it, or where the spell itself is kept. They may have written the ritual down, and if we gain the book, we could destroy it.

[recklessenough]

Are these anchors like the black mirror shards I keep encountering in the water? [ Sorry, Wrath, Lockwood is still on a pretty steep learning curve.

The youth is quiet for the rest of Wrath's suggestions. It is a solid plan of approach, and the man's words help Lockwood shift around a few more pieces of the puzzle so the whole picture begins to come into place.

There is one question that jumps to the forefront of Lockwood's mind. ]

Are we sure we want to destroy the spell? [ He's lowered his voice so 'Jack' won't easily overhear him. ] Won't that trap them here; in this time?

[inferus]

Not quite, no. We have encountered the black mirrors, the black water previously, and it has been used to do a great deal of different types of magic. The anchors are more likely to be the Huntress' body parts, buried and hidden to maintain her power here and keep the dead rising.

( The black mirror appears to be more associated with the man in white who appears to have his hands in absolutely everything this group runs into. )

Without the spell in place, they would have no way of staying in this time, nothing would keep them here without their using the moon. The moon that does not wish to be wielded in the way they've wielded it. ( His shoulders roll back at this reminder, at how they have forced the moon to do their bidding as if they had any right to ) We do not know what the village will look like when we undo the spell but it will be returned to the present, and it will be the natural order of things.

[recklessenough]

[ Which means ... ] and we have no way of knowing which time we've witnessed is their actual present. [ Or IF they'd even witnessed the village's present.

Regardless. Lockwood looks over at 'Jack', forcing himself to accept that there is a high probability that no matter which timeline is the present timeline, there is a high likelihood that 'Jack' is dead at that point. The youth won't say this aloud, not with 'Jack' close enough to hear, but Lockwood never really had a good poker face, despite wanting to believe otherwise. ]

[inferus]

( Wrath does not have to ask to be able to read the tone of his voice, to read him, and so he will clarify further: ) They have not been allowed to have an actual present. They have been prisoners in five years of time, recurring over and over again.

And if we change their past which is what we intend to do, their present will not look anything like what we've already seen. If we stop the ritual and stop the dead from rising, we cannot anticipate what the village will look like. ( There is an equal chance of Jack being alive as there is of his being dead, but it will not be from the ritual if they stop it from happening. )

audio

[aprescoup]

( The voice that speaks is half-broken, low. The Lumberjack seems untested, young. And he has heard only so little of Wrath's comment. )

He... hello? My name is... he calls me. Hello? Jack. Says the... the gentleman.

[inferus]

( What does this man want? To help, to be accepted, to have control over the magic inside of him- it was clear enough from his journal entries that he is straightforward like that. If there is anything the devil understands, it's what tempts mortals, it's how to focus on what they truly wish for. )

You want to help. It is the reason you and the others with powers like yours are doing this ritual. You want to save the village. Correct?

[aprescoup]

( A pause, a long moment. He bides his time. Then: )

...yes? I... yes. C-correct?

[inferus]

( Wrath thinks this individual could be convinced of everything if told it forcibly enough........ or in the right manner. As if he does not know himself what it is that he wishes for.

Which makes Wrath curious as to what he might answer if asked directly. Could he? )

What is it that you want?

un: taken for granite | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Never mind why he’s using his sister’s device, he needed to hear this. He assumed they’d have to take out a lot more of them to stop the ritual, but one is a hell of a lot easier.

Wrath’s suggestions are good ones, but he’ll still chime in. ]

If he’s alive, keep him there. If he’s key to the ritual, we can’t let him anywhere near it.

Where in the woods are you?

[recklessenough]

[ If Lockwood knew enough to realize that Five had was using his sister's device, there might be some needling in the future. But he doesn't, so Five is safe. This time!

Not to mention they all had much more important things to worry about. ]

We're on the edge of the forest. The village is to our northwest. [ Truth is all this slipping and sliding through time made it hard for Lockwood to maintain his exact bearings. Landmarks kept changing. ]

Any thoughts on how to get him to stay here? Preferably something that doesn't involve traumatizing him further?

[ Because Lockwood knows there are ... ways. But he genuinely feels bad for 'Jack' and doesn't want to hurt him if there is any way to avoid it. ]

[somebadnews]

[ He has to ask. Five wasn’t planning to torture him, but what’s at stake is too important.

He also wasn’t counting on the Lumberjack speaking over the network. Whatever he tells him he’s going to overhear. ]

…Tell him we can make sure nobody finds him. Keep him talking as long as you can, we’ll take it from there.

[recklessenough]

[ Lockwood's ego doesn't exactly like being given marching orders, but he did reach out for help and Five's advice is sound. So Lockwood inwardly tells his ego to sit down, shut up and have a cup of tea. ]

I'll do my best, but he is very nervous and very large. If he gets too anxious, or decides he absolutely must be at that ritual, stopping him could be a problem.

[ He won't say the words aloud, but his expression and tone might help convey the real message. 'Stopping him, without hurting or killing him, could be a problem'.

[aprescoup]

( Here comes the Lumberjack, also, voice thin and meagre. He has heard, it would seem, very little of what is spoken. )

Hello? We're... we're deep. Deep in the... but not so deep. Past where the lotus chains grow, and the first ring of... of mushrooms.

[somebadnews]

[ Helpful landmarks. He’s obviously not hiding from them. ]

Great. You sound like you could use a hand, so why don’t you stay right there for a while and we’ll come up with a plan.

[aprescoup]

( The sound of movement, before the Lumberjack seems to remember to speak, in addition to nodding: )

Th... thank you? I do. Thank you.

un: absterge

[downswing]

Cruel, if they prey on his weakness.

[recklessenough]

They have not impressed me.

[ He's fought beside Lan Wangji a couple of times now and knows him to be a direct speaker in a lot of ways. Lockwood expects the older man will understand that he's agreeing with him.

People in this village have been very cruel to 'Jack' indeed. ]

[downswing]

They ill treat their own.

[recklessenough]

[ Lockwood appreciates that Lan Wangji has kept this to text, even though he is not a text user; despite his age. It allows him to turn his body such that he can shield the words away from 'Jack'. ]

Between the diary sheets, what little he would repeat while a ghost, and how he is/what he says now? He's been ill treated all his life.

I get a sense that no one here has ever looked out for his interests.

[ Lockwood's protective feathers are ruffled. ]

[mashiara]

Light take us, keep the poor man out of the village if he's afraid. Nothing in that curse was good magic, and his life cementing it ensures none of the people he cares for, if he cares for any of them, are any more or less free of the terrors coming than he is right now.

You hear that? Sacrifices are well and good, but this one is shortsighted and harmful. I don't pretend to understand magic of whatever kind ( look she barely's touched the source before, and here it is very, very different ) but I know what good magic and worse magic looks like, and this curse is all the worst kinds.

[recklessenough]

My fear is that they don't appear to care for him. Except in the terms of what his magic can bring to them.

[ And Lockwood is having to settle within himself that they are the same. Needing 'Jack' for their own purposes, not necessarily his good.

Shaking off his emotional thoughts, Lockwood forces himself to focus on the problem facing them all. ]

I believe he's part of whatever these people are doing to try to avoid the curse. But it doesn't seem to be a solution, so much as a stalling technique and hard to tell how long they can keep it up. But I don't know enough about how magic works to make an informed decision on how, or even if we can help them.

[mashiara]

Magic requiring people to die to keep it working doesn't often seem to be magic worth pursuing. Not from where I stand.

( She's frankly frustrated with the whole situation, and expected better out of the washerwomen. They're women! Have some sense! )

So he's saying they have a plan, and it's a terrible one. We should park him where he can be safe, then take care of whatever terrible plan's in the making. You agree?

[recklessenough]

That is what I want to do. [ Lockwood would confirm in a direct tone, but then a breath latter he would amend his words in a more bleak voice. ]

But I'm not sure it is the practical solution for the situation.

[ Meaning, he would give anything to be able to keep 'Jack' safe. Regardless, he recognizes that they (their group) might need to use 'Jack' and the others to further their own goals. ]

[aprescoup]

( Please excuse the Lumberjack, as he recovers his voice with difficulty, with tremors. )

I don't... it's not a - a curse. We don't curse, we. We don't. Curse, we don't.