[PRP] Bad Dreams [Jeremiah/Cass]

[azuredreams]

"Generally? Best way to go about things. Don't ignore it but don't chase it, bad things can and will happen when magic is involved." Jeremiah paused, a sigh escaping. "Not to dissuade you, because magic is something quite wonderful, but sometimes it has a mind of it's own and likewise, so do people."

As in the ones that had magic.

"... because that history doesn't exist for this world because magic rewrote it and it was hidden away, in a manner of speaking."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Oh, I know that people suck already. I've met some really bad ones and they didn't need any magic to be that way." In fact, she was pretty sure if they'd lived closer to Ashdown they would have had more hate for their magical community than the fanfare she'd grown up with from them. "So magic is a different level of wild animal, approach with as much caution. Got it."

Cass squinted at Jeremiah's answer. "IiiIIii've heard this story. Something about resetting the world because of other people's mistakes and now you're not the you that the world thinks you are because your presence kicked that you out and..." Cass pinched the bridge of her nose. Marcus had really tried to explain it.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Approach with an open mind but be prepared for anything. Also don't make deals unless you can guarantee you absolutely know what the outcome will be." Jeremiah's head tilted and he looked around as he narrowed his eyes at what was a destroyed building before he looked to her.

"Not quite but that is part of it, yes. More like a man once tried to do something, something that would have helped the world but also might have caused great harm at the same time. People came together and caged this man, him and all his magic, and that started all of this. It created a cycle of rebirth, wherein we live out lives over and over again - not always the same ones, sometimes quite radically different - through different times and find ourselves drawn to this place and it's magic."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

And with the fuses carefully tacked into place, a lightbulb finally lit up in Cassandra's head. "Okay, that explanation makes much more sense than what I was trying to work with." Marcus was right - Jeremiah could explain it better! It was all Part 6 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

"I don't make deals with anybody anymore unless it's in writing." She'd learned that lesson the hard way. Her life was riddled with the mistake of being in the position to make bad bargains for a good reason. "Is there anything I should note on sight as being something I run for the hills from?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I'm glad,"Jeremiah said, genuinely meaning it. "There have, before this cycle, been eighteen iterations. Not every time does someone find their way to this place but it continues all the same. This place is a constant but what's outside? That changes."

He let out a huff, a near breath of laughter.

"You're welcome to try but ... most likely will not." His shoulders rolled, Jeremiah trying to ease the ache between them. "There is nothing that I can immediately say, aside from if you see something that looks odd to you? Like it is, for a lack of a word, glitching? Go the other way immediately."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Honestly, everything in this place sort of felt like it was trying really hard to hold onto it's physical appearance as something she'd recognize to her. "I think I can handle those instructions." the problem would have been if nobody had told her those instructions. Cassandra experienced discomfort. She didn't exactly feel fear.

Her fear was broken.

"Oh, I'm very much not interested in making any deals. The last one left a bitter taste in my mouth," and an enormous gaping void in her life. "Eighteen though? That...how do you find a record of that sort of a number?" Cassandra squinted slightly, "Unless you know someone with a memory across the cycle who has kept track of that?" Somehow, that seemed likely to her.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It's a good instruction for most of this place. If, for any reason, you feel uncomfortable with something you see or run into? Going the other direction is best." Jeremiah's head tilted, a faint quizzical expression flickering across it before it faded away.

Clearly she was someone who had a wealth of stories to tell but he was not the person to judge or pry.

"It's like you said, though not quite memory across the cycles so much as it was that they have lived through all of them. The memories are not alway intact, due to just how long this has been going on and the mind being what it is, but there are a small collection of those who are not part of the cycle of rebirth."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

She wouldn't have told him even if he had asked, so that saved her from having to redirect the conversation.

Win-win.

"So more like feelings of deja-vu for most people?" Clearly they were in the Matrix. Only with reboots instead of weird technologic takeovers. "Are the people who are outside of the rebirth cycle people we should...avoid or do I run for the hills away from them and hope for the best?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"You might experience deja-vu and someone who has memories of the other cycles may simply forget details of things in the same way we do not remember things from when we were younger." Jeremiah's attention flicked towards the street, eyes brighter momentarily before he looked back to Cass.

A wry smirk was on his face and he shook his head. "Those people are much like anyone else. Some you want to avoid, some you don't want to. In most cases, they are part of the Court and can be of assistance."

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

It would be obvious that Jeremiah said something she didn't know anything about, squinting and tilting her head slightly. " 'The Court'?" her tone had an inquisitive tone to it as she crossed her arms thoughtfully. "Like magic politics court?"

azuredreams

Enjoy the shortest post.

 

[azuredreams]

"Essentially. You could say it is like the government of the US, if you wanted. In the line of thought that goes: government was created to do for the people what they could not do for themselves. You could talk to a Noble of the Court and ask for assistance and they may be able to help you or point you where you need to go.

"It also helps deal with the affairs of the other beings and creatures that make this place home." Jeremiah could, at length, talk about this. Mostly because he had thoughts about the entire thing but, again, neither the time or the place for his personal feelings on a matter.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

"Oh." While Jeremiah had decided to keep his thoughts to himself, in one word Cassandra's tone had said far more about her opinions about that comparison to the government (or perhaps her feelings about said US government) than she'd probably actually say in detail about it.

"I'll....I'll try to not need to ask for help then."

Cassandra respected the hell out of the government in idea, but on a personal level wanted to stay as far away from it all as possible.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was, not so surprisingly, used to hearing that kind of oh. The kind that was attached to people who were not, as a whole, particularly fond of the government for one reason or another (and they were valid reasons from people who understood and respected the government but wanted it far, far away).

"It is mostly courtly intrigue," as she said, "right down to the holding masquerade balls, and not a group that can tell you what to do anymore than someone you run into on the street," he continued. "Nobles simply have more ties to magic here than others. I suppose I should phrase more as ... you're just starting out in a game and a Noble is that character that can help you learn the ropes."

... not that he did not have a secret MMO habit. Not at all.

demon_pachabel

 

[demon_pachabel]

Don't think vampires, don't think vampires, Cass was totally thinking vampires right then.

"So basically my quest NPC that says 'Have fun' but if I get really lost somewhere I can track back to them and they go 'Well this was happening over here, maybe you should go look at it' only with less worldchanging consequences?' Cass definitely didn't have any MMO habits, but she'd played enough games to know that sometimes to know where you needed to go you needed to interrogate everybody.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Not that kind of masquerade, Cass.

"Essentially, yes. They've more ties to this place, as I said, and while not all will help - some simply wish to have a life - most do." Jeremiah's lips twitched just a little. Mirth was visible in his eyes.

"The world changing consequences tend to get ... everyone involved."

demon_pachabel