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Stones of Farspeak

[Shion takes the opportunity whilst Aster is resting to 'accidentally' gather up her farspeak stone whilst tidying. So that he can make this announcement out of her hearing.]

Hello everyone, it's Shion. Firstly it's Aster's birthday on the nineteenth of this month for those that know her! She won't want to do anything big but I'm going to make her a birthday meal. I think I know most of her friends but if you know her and not me let me know and you can come for tea.

Secondly I've been thinking about something. I know there are people here from worlds were magic and special powers exist. I was wondering if those with such magic found anything strange about it here. If there are any places on the islands where your magic hasn't worked or has worked in a way that you did not expect it to. Also if there are any other oddities about using it. If you don't want to talk over these stones feel free to come and find me. I live in the southernmost hut of the North-Western Islet.

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If you would like me to make anything, let me know. Cooking is one of the few things I have a talent at. Or at least a lot of experience.

That would be nice! I'd be happy for the help. [Shion is a decent cook but having company is always better and Dagger might know some food that Shion doesn't.]

Anything specific you know she likes? Even basic ingredients. If I have one I can probably come up with a dish that uses it.

Edited 2018-11-12 02:48 (UTC)

She likes most things. She really likes sweet things. The only thing she doesn't like is pumpkin.

[He's seen some around so it's worth noting. The last thing Aster needs on her birthday is unpleasant reminders.]

I'll see if I can come up with a dessert of some sort then.

That would be kind of you. She will like that.

[There will be some dried and candied fruit showing up without any other explanation outside their home pretty soon.]

I will be quite hurt if you don't allow me to cook something for her.

[Plot with him, Shion. He needs something happy to get his mind off the pain being caused by his death penalty.]

As for our magic, there are a few oddities I've noticed--times when the power has acted oddly--but it's hard to tell if that is because of this place or because our connection to Noctis and the Crystal is being strained. I daresay from what I've learned talking to others who have magic on their worlds, Eos' magic use limitations are quite unique.

Of course Ignis. I don't think I could stop you cooking for her. [Nor would he want to, Ignis was a good friend.

He began taking notes about the magic.] Your power is linked to Noctis? [Did it even work at all with Noctis on a different world?]

[Ignis laughs.]

Sure you could. You could not tell me what she likes, or barring that, what you need.

[Despite the fact Shion can't see him, Ignis finds himself nodding in response.]

The Crystal is the source of our magic and Noctis' family has been assigned its guardians since it was gifted to us by the Astrals.

[Some gift it was, though now isn't the time to muddle the explanation with emotion.]

To protect both it and themselves, they are able to grant those they trust use of that magic. While there are some on our world who are more attuned to magic than others, without being granted access--without that link--they can do nothing. For example, while Noctis was here I was able to heal. Now that he's gone, that ability is lost to me.

[Though, he can still enchant his daggers. Ignis suspects this is due to how strong his own magical attunement is and how long he's been at Noctis' side.]

I'm certain the link between us hasn't actually been broken, but without Noctis here, it's not strong enough to allow me access to the magic.

I wouldn't do that. [He would never prevent anyone doing something nice for Aster.

He is scribbling notes as Ignis talks.]

That is interesting. Did Noctis have the crystal here or was that something that was still on his world?

[Even more interesting since he knew that Gladio and Ignis were from different worlds at least, one's that were at different time points. So the power worked with any Noctis, the bond was that strong? If the crystal was still on their world did that mean there was still an essential link between here and there?]

Oh, the Crystal was certainly not here. It's not exactly something one can hide in their pocket.

[For now, Ignis lets the talk of cooking for Xion's birthday drop. He can always follow up with Shion later. It's not like he doesn't know where the boy lives.]

Why? What are you thinking?

I'm not sure yet. But... Knowing how much of a link we still have to our worlds is important and how much we are in control.

In the Tower we wore collars, or more we could see the metal of our necks and the liquid that kept our souls stable. It was different colours dependant on many factors, a lot to do with powers but also to do with our souls... We don't have anything like that here. [Or if they did it was unseen. Shion had no idea why they had ever been able to see the collars, was it to make them feel more trapped? They could have easily been glamoured like everything else.]

Was Noctis... Were they definitely from your world. Same frozen time point, same remembered events? [He had never met Noctis but actually...] Wait there's been more than one Noctis here, right?

[Sorry Ignis, he's babbling as he's writing down thoughts.]

[Fortunately, Ignis has been a sounding board many times and has used others as sounding boards in a similar matter just as many times. As a result, he's not thrown by the rambling nature of Shion's words at all. He merely does his best to bring order to the information as it is given to him.]

Yes, there have been two here so far, but they were from vastly different time points. In fact, none of us have been from exactly the same points in time, though the events we've all lived through have matched up so far.

[There is a moment of silence as Ignis quickly arranges all their last memories of home into a rough timeline.]

I have always been the farthest back, first from during the battle in Altissia, then a few days afterward. Next is Prompto, coming from a time just a week or two after. The first Noctis--the one who arrived with us--was from a week or two after that.

[As least, that is the closet Ignis can estimate. Noctis had not been sure how long he'd been within the Crystal when he was brought to the island.]

Gladio is the next, though he is a full ten years out from that time. Ardyn's time frame follows just after; he is a few hours at most beyond Gladio. Finally, the second Noctis that was here beat us all out by coming from a time after the battle with Ardyn was over and the light returned to Eos.

[Which, by all they knew, shouldn't have been possible. At this point, though, Ignis has all but given up on anything really being impossible.]

[He flips to another page and begins a time line. He knows only a little of their world but to his knowledge they are the biggest group of people here who are all from the same set of worlds.

Something catches his ear though and he frowns, but waits until Ignis finishes his explanation before asking.] You were from during a battle but then a few days afterwards? I thought you had been here from the beginning? [This Ignis, not two different Ignis' and as far as Shion knew there had never been two.

Actually now that he thinks about it there are no people who seem to be the same here at least, different versions coming at different times like Noctis yes but not two at the same time...]

I have been aside from about two weeks shortly before the sun died.

[Ignis pauses then, suddenly struck by the horrible irony behind that timing. There had been so little time between his return and the time the sun set for good that he didn't have time to think about it then. Not on top of processing all he'd remembered.

A soft sigh slips from his lips and then he shakes his head, pushing away the pain the thought brings. This isn't the time to think about it either.]

I don't remember being gone that long. I only know I was because I was told. What I do remember is suddenly having full memory of how I lost my vision and the few days that followed. You see, when I arrived here, it was right after the injury and my memory of the events was less than trustworthy. I remembered only a few details and I've come to realize those details were very much out of context, warped by my own fear and pain.

So you disappeared for two weeks and when you returned you had more memories. Or more clear memories. [Had his memories been played with before? Warped by whatever brought them here? Or just by his own mind by the trauma that caused him to lose his sight.]

When... I've disappeared twice now, never for more than a week. I gained no memories, I don't remember anything but... I had strange dreams that seemed... Like more.

They are more. Of this I am sure.

[There's a sudden biting bitterness in Ignis' words. He has been graced with visions of the future twice now and that's two times too many.]

When I returned I too had a strange dream, one that proved frighteningly accurate once I had context for it.

[He presses his lips together, taking a deep breath to drive back the fear that still spikes in his mind when he thinks of that dream.]

I saw Ai'tuoh's blessed Water, Shion, though I had no idea what it was then. All I knew was that seeing it terrified me beyond words.

[Shion paled at that. He had seen the water, a future? Or had he been there? There's no way to know but both are as terrifying as each other.]

I'm sorry Ignis, I'm sorry they keep making you see things... [Especially that. The Water was a terrifying thing.] My visions were strange, one I was on a mountain side. Everything was... vibrant. Orange, green. I was testing something but I don't know what it was and then I closed my eyes and decided that the real test was what I felt and I was warm.

[It still made no sense.] The second... Someone was weeping. Someone was leaving them and they were begging for them to stay. The person left leaving behind someone wailing. And I did nothing. I didn't move or try to help.

[It might... If it was a vision of the future it might have been their ghosts... But it doesn't quite fit.]

It's been proven we can see parts of our futures. So it is hard to know if these are visions or things that are actually happening to us.

[Ignis is quiet for several moments as he attempts to apply Shion's dreams to recent events. He is as clueless about the first one as his friend is, but the second pulls a couple of thoughts to mind and it is those thoughts he focuses on instead of his own visions.

The apology is appreciated, but it goes by without being commented on.]

The second memory. Do you think it may have been tied to people being taken to Umui because they got the flower sickness? The one leaving might not have known they would not return, but the one being left could have.

[Not being able to do something even though he wanted to. Another villager, but one who knew the person had to go so they didn't all die? Or, perhaps he was merely himself unable to act on a past event that would have far too much relevance to their future.]

If I had to make a guess based solely on my own vision? I suspect they are of a more generalized future, a warning perhaps. In my dream, I was led captive to the Water, but that didn't happen as you well know. I was there fighting to free those who were led there.

So a possible future rather than a definite future. And perhaps visions of the past as well...

[Nothing is impossible, they know so little about this place. About why they are here, what the motivations are of those who brought them. Even who brought them. In many ways they know so much less than they ever did in the Tower.]

After my first dream I thought... In the Tower there was a... glitch in the system one night. I came to awareness in a medical library with books covered in blood. It turned out that during a period of suspended animation we were often taken to work... behind the scenes as it were. I was not the only one who came to awareness that night but the conclusion we came to was that it happened regularly, but we had no memories of that time.

I feared it was like that, that in that week I was gone I'd been taken somewhere and my memories removed, that that dream was all I remembered. My second dream was stranger and seemed more like a vision and now I've heard yours...

[He hopes his theory is disproved. But strange visions of possible futures or long ago pasts doesn't explain why they had disappeared to or where they had gone.

Edited 2018-12-07 06:09 (UTC)

I wish there was a way I could say for certain that isn't happening.

[Because, boy does that idea make him feel all kinds of uncomfortable. Unfortunately, all he has is logic to use against something that rests firmly in the realm of the illogical.]

I'm not certain what the Storyteller would gain from using us in such a manner. They gain power from our stories and we have to be able to remember those stories if we are to tell them. They also struggle to return us from the dead as it is beyond their usual skill set and power level. This seem like it would be the same.

[Of course, the glaring flaw behind Ignis' argument--one he is very aware of--is that he's assuming the Storyteller is behind them vanishing during those time periods. This is a dangerous assumption considering the Storyteller is just as confused about their presence on the island as they are. If they are not responsible for their arrivals, then why would they have anything to do with their departures, temporary as they may be?]

Edited (Oops! Wrong format!) 2018-12-11 01:56 (UTC)

The Storyteller has always claimed to have nothing to do with bringing us here. I believe them. They have nothing to gain from lying except perhaps to win our cooperation but they could force that if they needed.

[The Storyteller might be helpful and frequently kind but they are also a god, they have power over them and using it to ensure the islanders obedience would not be difficult.]

I... What if there is another force? Responsible for bringing us here. More powerful than the gods we have met...

[Ignis sighs and closes his eyes, both grateful that Shion saw that rather large flaw in his logic, but also displeased that he's going to have to actually open this particular can of worms when he really doesn't want to.]

The implications of my earlier statements aside, I believe it is wiser for us to assume there are other forces. All of the island gods we have encountered so far seem much like the Storyteller.

[Small, limited in power and scope of influence, and perhaps most importantly, able to be killed.]

There has to be more at work here. Just look at Mu and how it reacted while the Storyteller was gone even for a short time.

[There's so much. It's hard to even know where to start unravelling it all.]

That was worrying. It's as if the islands themselves were a force and one that the Story Teller is holding back. Or at least Mu is... But if the islands began to flood when the story teller wept... that suggests a connection rather than something they are fighting against...

I just... I don't even know where to begin. It's daunting.

[It's extremely daunting, and that's a big part of the reason Ignis has been so hesitant to think about it as out of character for him as that is. He can't see what path they need to take, and he will fully admit that frightens him. It's not even that he has no ideas where to start; it's that he has too many and nothing to narrow them down with.]

I see no reason why it can't be both. Things can be connected and still need to be fought, especially if those connections weren't always there or recently changed for some reason.

[And Mu. Mu is such a mystery. So very, very different from everything else.]

That's true. Things can change and can be changed. Things can turn against you and be turned against you.

It seems like a lot happened in the past here. Not just on Unmi... Where there other inhabited islands? What happened to the people?

Were there other people who went elsewhere and not to Ai'Tuoh and though we discovered a lot about the people we never learned why they disliked the Story Teller so much, what part they had in that history. It just seems we keep finding questions and no answers.

[Literally. His notebook is almost full and he is going to have to ask for a new one from the Story Teller soon because he the one Ceej gave him is too beautiful for his scribblings. An entire notebook and no answers. It's frustrating.]

So my world definitely doesn't have magic except for, like...card tricks. But I'd really like to hear about whatever magic other people have in their world? It could definitely help us out with figuring out how we got here.

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Stones of Farspeak

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