eastbound | Entries tagged with marvel: marc spector

[ There're brief tapping sounds, like someone doing a mic test, and a quiet "is this thing even on?". But then a clear of the throat precedes an ever-awkward: ] Uh... hello. This is Marty. Um...

So I talked. Talked? Shared my brain with? The giant snake guy. Kharil-asuk. Kinda funny, I could never remember his name, but then we had that whole mental connection and now it's all I can think about the past couple of hours. Is that normal?

...anyway.

He wants to get married.

[ A long pause. ]

Uh. He gave me a huge bowl of his... juice... in exchange for me just kinda. Kinda asking around for. If anyone wants to marry him. So now I'm asking you guys if you'd know anyone who'd marry him. For what it's worth, he blesses you with luck and a long life and all that? It sounded like a pretty great deal! Heh.

What's so great about marriage that a magic snake wants it too? Crazy!

inferus

( the video opens on a young man, wearing a fine black suit with gold detail - wrath's colors. he stands in front of a table full of pastries - magic-ed to travel long distances without ruining. it's important to note this video does not come from wrath's device ( un: a civil serpent) but his acolyte. )

Hear ye, hear ye! My name is Ferndando. I have come before you today to spread pastries and most importantly to spread the good word of Master Wrath and his school. Over a year ago, Master Wrath taught me and three of my fellow acolytes the ways of necromancy, the intricacies and strength of magic, and the power and importance of choice. ( shadows appear behind fernando as he speaks, creating a wall that slowly rises as he speaks. Wrath's gaze flashes a brighter gold as he controls those shadows. his expression is unreadable, but inwardly, he is pleased - finally some respect in this world. Fernando shivers as the temperature cools. ) His school in Taravast now numbers sixty acolytes in total, and we plan to expand to the North and here too. I want to spread the good word of Master Wrath to all of Unkharil!

The most important tenant of the School of Wrath is to both greatly and deeply fear and respect Death as we should deeply fear and respect Master Wrath. Necromancy is so much more like the Undead armies raised around this world as slaves to kill people, and let it be known! Our good Master will find and strike down those who are disrespectful of Death.

( the ground shakes beneath Fernando's feet as Wrath merely tilts his head to the side with something predatory in his demonic gaze, and Fernando squeaks before he clears his throat. ) See? Spreading the good word but also a warning. With strength and guidance from those of us who have learned and believe in the ways of Master Wrath, you too can learn to harness your anger, to wield it, to use it to destroy and decapitate your enemies. ( he raises up the zombie-looking pastries with a wave of his hand, the hint of shadow following his palms, before swiping - the shadow cuts through the neck of the pastry and the head falls off - red jam flies off into fernando's face.

Wrath sighs from behind - pastries do not quite sell the point. ) This was just a demonstration. But come, join us. Let Master Wrath change your life as he has changed mine, as I know he'll change the world.

rehandle

I found something in the papers in the sleeping quarters that seems to relate to our host and his guests.

[ ""Guests"" ]

There was a heavily redacted passage on a page amongst those detailing the history of necromancy that spoke of a previously revered necromancer of the court of one Doxe Cosimo at Taravast, a citadel that housed schools of sorcery and necromancy.

Cosimo's Conclave found this necromancer guilty of mass sacrifice. In excess of a hundred people murdered, to their knowledge at the time of sentencing, who were believed killed in pursuit of his work. It seems the bodies were discovered inside his house.

Whoever crossed all this out was pretty upset about it. As I assume one might be if they'd been exiled from reality for all eternity.

[ All this to say... ]

We should be careful when considering giving Lisanther the scroll pieces he seeks.

nachocheese

[ Nacho's face appears on video. He looks stressed. That's not really unusual. He often looks stressed!

What is unusual is the specific way that he looks stressed right now. It's hard to tell because the shift isn't drastic, and his skin is on the tanner side anyway, but if you closely you can see that he's... maybe blushing? A little?

He rubs a hand over the back of his shaved neck and takes a deep breath. He looks away, momentarily, from the screen. Then back. ]

Sooooo.... [ Shit. ] Hey. Uh. There's, like, a lot of kids and shit here, right? Teenagers? People who didn't go to normal school? [ He swallows. ] Wait. Hang on. I didn't mean to swear in front of... uh... in front of all the kids.

[ Nacho pauses. Tries to think about how he wants to word this. He switches tactics. Blunt is better for this. No sense beating around the bush. ]

Hey. Listen up.

I know this might not be a good time for it, but I'm not sure there's gonna ever be, and if you ask me, a lot of you need to hear it. If I don't say it now, I don't think I'm gonna, and some of you really, really should not be parents.

You feel me?

[ He hesitates. Even longer. He can't believe he's doing this. But he has become Concerned (TM). ]

You're all officially enrolled in Nacho Varga School of Sex Ed.

First thing, don't have sex. Don't have sex in the missionary position. Don't have sex standing up. Just... don't have sex. You're gonna get pregnant. And die.

But, if you have sex, wear a condom. If you don't know what a condom is because they don't have anything like that where you're from, it's like a little bag that goes over your [ he whistles, and makes a vulgar hand gesture that a lot of people would probably be able to peg as a symbol for 'boner' ]. It helps make it so you don't have kids. And if you don't know what a condom is because you're too young, then you shouldn't even be listening to this.

Next. You gotta get consent. That means you can't just do things without asking. Not unless you wanna get knifed. Do you wanna get knifed? [ Silence; slightly intimidating, knowing look into the camera. ] Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay. Last thing. Never go ass to mouth. That's how you get diseases. And die. Just don't do it.

That's, uh, yeah. That's it, I think. Peace.

[ There's one final vision of Nacho's bright-red face, and then the screen goes completely dark. ]

thedreamer

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

A moment of your time while we await the next wave of...whatever forces come our way. Let's share our findings, please - there have been many pieces moving on this board.

We know from Wrathion that the Huntress credits the Man in White for her powers, but despises him. Some of us have witnessed her somehow ripping out her heart and cutting it into pieces, and handing it to Miang-Si to bury them around Yancai - she mentioned it would make her powers take root.

A word of warning: do not touch the heart slivers with your bare hands. They hold powerful magic, and we can probably fairly assume this to be necromancy, and may sway you to - well. Eat it. I don't recommend doing this part either.

Red and I healed one of the beasts that hunt for her in the woods, and he (I am unclear if it's a he, but it feels unfair to call it an 'it' when he's been so helpful) took us to the hiding place of one sliver. On the way we unearthed a box that belonged to the Huntress and inside it a lock of hair, black hair - which possibly belonged to her son. It feels odd that she would still hang onto that, considering that she gave him into the care of the House of Ravens. Was this a demand from Matthias in exchange for power, or just zealotry?

Either way, there was a location engraved on the box, Kathul - we can thank Red for cleverly figuring out it was a location. It's south of here, and might yield nothing but also might unravel some mystery so I thought it was worth sharing with the rest of us.

somebadnews

[ Five is walking out of the lighthouse as he addresses the network, since it's generally quieter where ghosts aren't constantly interrupting his thoughts. The beauty of this form of communication is it's not entirely unlike talking to himself, which is really his preference. ]

Okay, listen up. Since we're all sharing, let's see if we can't come up with an actual plan, before we experience the next shift and you all inconveniently forget who you are again.

[ To say nothing of a haunting that has already sent him into a panic attack or how he nearly drowned just to see for himself what he'd already heard second-hand. Nothing but success for Five Hargreeves. ]

Two orders of business. One, Miang-Si is obviously a catalyst, if not the cause of what's happening here. I searched her room one of the nights she was out galavanting with her lake friends. There was correspondence that suggested she was enamored with someone, who I now assume was the Huntress. I also found evidence that the woman in white, and another in red, visited her there. The witches she's involved with also may have dragged in women doing laundry nearby into their lake at some point, judging by what was found with the skeletons at the bottom.

Secondly, these hauntings aren't just some curse. If they are spirits, we need to figure out a way to trap them. There's a woman in white, a man in black, a lumberjack, and another woman in red. Who else has been seen and how often? If we can capture one of them, maybe we can get some answers before whatever triggered this starts again.

[ He has no doubt it'll happen at the worst possible moment.

Just as he's about to continue with his all-important conspiracy theories, he's approached by a young girl with a silver coin in hand. Distantly she can be heard saying she's worried about her family, and asks him to take a donation for Kathoo'lul's blessing. Dumbfounded, he takes it and promptly loses his train of thought as she scurries away. ]

...Amazing how easy it is to start a cult around here.

aprescoup

( The party's second, more elusive, revived witch appears on everyone's devices — enjoying a steaming, bubbling bath, in a sign that comfort is only unattainable for the unattractive. )

...now, aren't you beautiful, my sweets? And so many more than before, and lively, your flesh teeming with... youth.

This one is only an honoured and unworthy servant, so spare a moment, won't you? There's nothing to fear, I hardly bite, unless... have we still... virgins, each way the eye sees? ( Short, knowing laughter. ) We must relish in innocence.

( If her smile were thinner, it would be the ghost of the party's coin purse. )

Of course, this isn't why I would presume to take up your time, no, not your Hatisse. I only wish, with utmost respect, if I may. A humble warning.

( Her voice briefly ices, while she picks up a diminutive sponge to slowly, sloooooowly rinse her right arm. )

Here, in this gods-forsaken quaint little pedestrian village, where husband is uncle and brother and of the same blood as goats, you do not cross paths with... true witches, no matter what they name themselves. 'Ladies' of... 'lakes.' Remember, the clumsiest, easiest sorcery is the elements, and if they rule water, in a land of waters, don't be impressed.

( Briefly disgusted, as if she prepares to spit out a soured thing: ) They're hedge witches. Primitive, barely trained, and of course, your Hatisse is the daughter of a school, and so perhaps there is the lightest... prejudice, but may I say. Time is not the work of witches who, if rumour is to be believed, can do no better than play in puddles. There must be more. Something or someone.

( And now for an interlude where Hatisse raises herself from the bath, and much of the more risque parts of her body are strategically covered in foam. )

Now... we are friends here, all friends, friends of convenience, but friends. And Hatisse has shared what little was hers to give. But this is a land of the dead, and she cannot do more for you, if she is unknowing. Tell me, my sweets: how many of you are mired in death? How did you come to it?

( ooc: threadjack away! Hatisse will be regrettably available. )

lanclan

[ The scene is one of steam and muffled, echoing male voices from elsewhere, tiles covering walls. Xichen's face is in shot, hair unbound and soaked where it falls down his bare shoulders, pink from the hot water (no fear, he has a thin robe shrugged off but tied about his waist out of shot) where he is leaning over the edge of the bath. ]

This is rather unorthodox, in many ways, as first meetings go. Pardon my appearance, robes are somewhat contradictory to my surroundings. [ But he's out of seclusion, in a strange realm, and this is the only way he knows to prove the bathhouse is safe: by using it. ] Some of you already know my younger brother, Lan Wangji. You may call me Lan Xichen.

[ He sighs, nasal and soft. More of an exhale. His smile hitches back up. ]

I now live above the bathhouse. Technically, [ here he glances over blandly to a pair of guffawing sailors in the background, lips pursing as he holds back his real opinion, ] this is a private residence, but it would be rude to deny access to those who wish to use the downstairs, so I would like to invite over anyone who wishes to bathe in something other than cold lake-water — if my housemates wouldn't mind, I should like to meet all of you, too.

There is a separate area for women, of course. Please use the rinsing stations before entering the main baths and wear something discreet, for the sake of others.

[ Xichen glances around as someone calls his name and there is a momentary wider shot of him soaked to the waist as he straightens to nod in answer, raking back his hair so it isn't stuck to his chest ~~you're welcome~~. He looks again to the video and smiles warmly, tilting his head in apology for the break in his attention. ]

It is seemingly busier in the afternoons.

groundrules

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Entries tagged with marvel: marc spector

voice | un: a wheely good time

proclamation (aka devil worship is alive and well) video. un: sinnabon.

audio, un: strange

VIDEO ➤➤➤ UN: OIL CHANGE

( audio ) | un: dollhouse

(text) (un: man's greatest treasure)

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