thedreamer: (0566)
The Doctor ([personal profile] thedreamer) wrote in [community profile] eastbound2023-07-22 12:46 pm

( audio ) | un: dollhouse

No doubt you woke up and before absolutely anything else at all, you thought, what's this Merchant on about anyway? What's this time loop business? Territories existing beyond everything? If we break the flow of time, will there be dire consequences? What's the meaning of life? Does this jumper match my eyes? Chocolate for breakfast?

Important questions!

So, let's share. The Merchant answered very few of my questions, but that's okay! Too much transparency and he'd break form with the enigmatic persona he's carefully constructed.

Time is already broken, though. It was broken long before Yancai, I suspect. If pockets of time, space, and energy here exist outside of everything, they were already there long ago. It's entirely possible those exist because of the flow of time being broken in Yancai, in which case we're living through a boot-strap paradox, where things play out in such a way that events ultimately cause themselves as a result of backwards causation and time travel. How did that happen? The source is still unknown, though it doesn't help those meddling with time here in Yancai seem unconcerned with the consequences. They were desperate and afraid, I understand it, but the moment time is tampered with, it creates tiny fissures like a hairline fracture in a piece of glass. If it's not set to rights by someone who knows what they're doing, the tiny fissures splinter off and what are we left with? Precisely what the Merchant's mentioned — pockets of time beyond everything.

If we break the flow of time, are we helping or hurting?

The answer is always a question.

Time was already broken. The more that it loops, the more unstable it all becomes. Time will always attempt to correct itself, once it's been manipulated and forced to bend to the will of others. Not to mention, it's not the most pleasant life to live out, the villagers here, trapped in the same cycle.

Outside of those questions — yes, the jumper does match your eyes, lovely as they are. Chocolate for breakfast is a given, obviously, or you're not doing it right.

[ Somewhere in there, he pauses. Briefly. ]

Back! Sorry. There was a thing —

Right. Spoke with the Man in Black. Called me nephew? He lost his family long ago to storms or sickness, he couldn't or wouldn't say. He mentioned mastering the secrets of the universe but he couldn't do anything to stop a cough. Sound at all familiar? I certainly thought so. Immortality was a theme of our conversation. He said it was a joke, but then also that one day he would absolutely be immortal. Make up your mind! Lovely fellow. Looking forward to being followed by him in the future.

I do wonder if the Man in Black isn't perhaps our White Wanderer, come to the end of his life. A manifestation that's traveled through time. Or an alternate universe. No harm in a theory.

Oh, and many thanks to all who helped with rehabilitating the beast that Lan Wangji and I found in the forest. Returning it back, it led to something of the Huntress' in the forest as well. A tablet with her sigil on it, along with a map and a destination she'd circled that said: Hawevasthan, in the east. She'd marked and inscribed it, THE PLEDGED LAND. The Merchant spoke of it being a sanctuary of sorts. He mentioned priests and cults, mirrors and shadows. An improvement over Yancai from the sound of it, perhaps they've taken my complaints to heart.

One last thing — there's a lot going on so, do call upon me anytime for a chat, I'm here to help.
reparo: (n.e.w.t.)

voice this time 1/3

[personal profile] reparo 2023-07-22 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
There should be a club of people who have experience with time travel. You can all sit in a room and discuss why you're the only one right about the way to do it.
reparo: (astronomy)

voice this time 2/3

[personal profile] reparo 2023-07-22 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Mirrors hold some special place in this world, when it comes to power. The mirrors in the Lighthouse, the mirror shards here, and I can swear I remember mirrors in Taravast... It might be a red herring, but maybe we break the time loop and we try to make our way to the Pledged Land? It is still east, and I should like to see what has become of it since Anui last had it in her plans to go.

And also, why.
reparo: (Default)

voice this time 3/3

[personal profile] reparo 2023-07-22 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[finally after a pause, she comes back with:]

I'm debating between Ridgeback or Ironbelly.

[Codenames.]
downswing: (dandelion)

[personal profile] downswing 2023-07-22 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I question their understanding of pledges.
redhourglass: chitchatty (pic#8135336)

voice, i promise she’s getting to the real plot eventually

[personal profile] redhourglass 2023-07-22 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
( ordinarily, she just listens. lurks, if you will. but… she recognizes that voice, which means — )

Sorry I punched you in the face.

( she probably owes him this apology — it’s actually probably overdue. )
vestments: (Default)

audio, un: dam it to hell

[personal profile] vestments 2023-07-22 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
( do you ever get the feeling that you will never quite understand everything that's going on? marc has that feeling all the time.

this is why he tends not to work with anyone—.

(but he's somewhat pleased to know that this is just how the doctor is.) )


You consider cults an improvement?
Edited (i can type i promise) 2023-07-22 19:16 (UTC)
datapoint: (pic#11939085)

un: such a waterful girl; audio

[personal profile] datapoint 2023-07-22 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't understand. If we stop the time loop, we're helping. How would that be hurting?
recklessenough: (pic#16336864)

un: lockwood

[personal profile] recklessenough 2023-07-23 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
Chocolate is always an acceptable breakfast food.

[ Was he listening to the rest of what the Doctor said? Yes, he was and he's working on processing it. It may take him a bit of time and at least two cups of tea. ]
weifinder: (focus | here stands a man)

[personal profile] weifinder 2023-07-23 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
How much do you know of our Merchant, our Master Scorpion's, broken Ellethia? Time flowed incorrectly there in cycles of life and death, endless resurrection, until it was broken; Ellethia interfering with the flow of time as part of their exploration of mirrors and immortality might not be so inconceivable, ah?
scrapgege: (001-03)

un : deft hand of little deaths (voice)

[personal profile] scrapgege 2023-07-24 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think the Man in Black was or is Matthias. He feels like he's from... here, if you know what I mean. The reason why he was able to help the dead is because he has roots here. And Matthias doesn't.
Edited 2023-07-24 16:15 (UTC)