[PRP] Tetraktys Spread (Leila & Horace)

[cibarium]

"Well, I could talk you through it, but that takes forever." Which Leila normally was fine with -- she was a professor, for goodness sakes -- but this was a different scenario, and she wasn't paid to sit down and chat. "There's another way though, don't worry." With a confident smile, she said, "I can zap it straight into your brain."

Psychic, remember?

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace looked at Leila dubiously. "That won't.... fry my brain, would it?" He most definitely wanted to know, but also did not want a crispy head.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila tilted her head to the side ambiguously after setting her water glass back down on the table. With a small laugh, she shook her head and answered, "Haven't fried any brains yet, and I'm still getting used to some aspects of controlling it." Being psychic wasn't something she could look at or otherwise interact with physically. That made things frustrating.

"Sometimes there's been side effects, but nothing too bad," Leila admitted. "It's because I wouldn't be giving you an objective retelling of events, just my memories... makes sense, right? It's my mind.""

The Seblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Sounds kind of really awesome, to be honest." Brain-frying or not, the entire concept was cool. "And that makes sense. Like if you don't mind mind-o beaming me, go for it! I'd love to get a sense of whatall happened." Horace wiggled his fingers spookily at Leila.

"Mind meld, go."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

With a shrug and a nod, Leila said, "Alright."

Like she was just offered a taste of his chai and decided to take him up on it. On the inside she was feeling much less nonchalant about the whole thing, though. Horace was almost a complete stranger. The people who'd been on the recieving end of her telepathy were all people she felt close to: Jeremiah; her wife; her son. It felt disquieting to reach out to a random person in a way that felt so intimate and personal to her. Even though she had offered.

< No mind meld though, sorry. This is strictly one way. >

Eve had told her that her telepathic 'voice' was like the sun and wind at springtime. She wondered if that was only Eve, or if it felt the same way to everybody -- but that wasn't the topic, dammit, she needed to focus.

Leila looked straight into Horace's eyes and there was a background noise of mystery and terror as details crept in. Most of them didn't make much sense, snippets of dialog, but some shakily assembled together into a base understanding of why there was an alternate universe for Leila and others to be from.

the old seal, the crown and sword and stars,
made with ink and blood but filled into people

the cage, another name for the same, but
describing its purpose: to entrap someone
powerful and
dangerous

"These three kids... were killed, to break the cage, which also kind of broke reality," Leila said, pausing to drink some water and rub her forehead with her fingertips.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

If he'd had to describe it any one way, Horace would say that her eyes opened up and swallowed him whole. It felt like falling with a breeze supporting him, the air her words, like light. He felt into the jumble of her memories, all saran-wrapped with a layer of apprehension. The old, the old, broken and breaking. The sword was more than a sword, the stars were knowledge and the crown - trapped more than it saved, if any. Everything was tainted with her knowledge of things, her feeling about the seal, the cage.

"T-they," he paused, blinking harshly. "Who killed them, and who were they trying to trap?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"******** wasn't an answer, just a prolonged headache from having activated the mind-o-beam. Leila was pinching the top of the bridge of her nose, her eyes squinted shut, as she answered. "The 'Enemy' these kids caged is named Renard LeRoux. He's an extremely skilled magic user who lost friends and family to the AIDS crisis." No sense in being indirect about it. "You can't cure disease or resurrect the dead with magic, if I remember right... so I think he was trying to work around the rules with time travel s**t instead. My wife says his goal was to eliminate the virus decades beforehand."

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Mr. LaRoux?" Horace's voice was tinged by shock. Everyone who was anyone in town knew of the man. Big into art or something, if he remembered correctly. "I... Isn't that a good goal? Why was he caged up...?" Also, Horace was pretty sure this couldn't a physical cage because he'd seen the man probably about a month or so ago.

He rubbed the stubble on his head. "Hey, are you okay?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila waved away Horace's concern with another gulp of water. "Nah, I just overestimated what I could pull off, there. Being psychic is a pain in the a**. Anyway... that's something we're still confused on," she admitted. "Renard's pretty confident the kids didn't know about his time travel plan, so we can't say it's because they were scared of the potential consequences."

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Is there... anyone left alive who created the original cage thinga-ma-bob?" Though he was reasonably sure someone had asked them why, maybe even while they were still alive. He hoped. It just seemed like a lot of big changes with not enough information.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"No," Leila plainly answered. "Not as far as I know. But that's how the alternate universe thing started. The sigil trapped Renard and created this reset cycle as an unintended consequence."

Unintended Consequences was pretty much the theme of everything going on, as far as the psychic could tell.

the semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"If we... if we don't know why he was caged up, aren't we doomed to repeat their mistakes?" He frowned heavily. Everyone was running on less knowledge than ideal - it was like asking an IT guy to come fix your plumbing.

"It seems kind of hopeless." He rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses for a moment. "But thank you for sharing. I needed to know."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila shook her head slowly and frowned. "I dunno. It feels mostly like we're having to undo the damage all these other people did. Sorry I can't end this on a brighter note... magic isn't fun a lot of the time."

She stood up from the table, and gave Horace a professional smile and nod. She had to get back to work.

the semblance of unity

if u like this can be a closer :3

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"It's fine," he said automatically. "Thank you for the psychic info." Horace smiled as she stood. He had so many questions, but he couldn't keep her. Especially when he had yet to form them into coherent sentences.

cibarim

ty c:

WC: 1,005