Conversation Space II.

[powersthatbe]

As Thorne shared with the network, Travelers who vanish find themselves alone in a small room. But it doesn’t look quite as described last time. Paper lanterns hang in the corners, and a lemniscate of live, spicily scented blue roses traces a figure eight on the floor. A little marble plinth sits beside the looping roses, with a champagne flute balanced on it, pink, fizzy liquid quietly effervescing within. In place of the throne that was there before, each half of the loop holds a brown leather sphere - a yoga meditation-ball chair. They’re a little tricky to balance on.


The walls, floors, and ceiling are tiled, a prismatic fade from one color to another, each tile unique, just slightly different in hue than those around it, each colored line giving a sense that it belongs to a bigger pattern, but never revealing enough to allow anyone certainty about what that pattern might be. It is only a glimpse of a larger world… in this small, quiet space.

Comments

[fearinahandfulof]

Cassandra has seen beings with multiple arms before. She has, in fact, been one, albeit briefly. So that aspect of the woman's - the Arcana's? - appearance doesn't particularly alarm her. The spear might be a concern, except that she shows no sign of attacking (and Cassandra's not sure she'd even need the spear to do so anyway). The sudden appearance, though... that's slightly unnerving.

The other notable thing, of course, is that she doesn't look like a lion at all. "Is this what you look like normally?" she asks... and then cringes inwardly because what kind of greeting is that?

[callmemeibe]

"Indeed. But lions are part of my symbology," she explains, her many hands resting at her sides. "Does it trouble you? I could perhaps borrow..."

She pauses, frowning, and explains, "... no, that spirit lion is gone. A shame."

[fearinahandfulof]

"Is that why...?" She taps the mark on her left forearm, the lioness head and twisted halo covered by cloth and vambrace. Then she shakes her head. "It doesn't trouble me. Your form, I mean."

There are a great many things that do trouble her, of course, but she's not sure how many of them could be specifically laid at the woman's feet, and she'd rather know for certain before she starts blaming her for things that aren't actually her doing.

[callmemeibe]

She nods, slowly, as her answer.

"You have questions. I'll answer what I can."

[fearinahandfulof]

She does have questions - many of them. She's just not sure where to begin with them. "There is... much that I still do not understand of all this. I don't understand how you choose to take the Travelers you do. I don't understand how you bring us here even when some of us are dead."

She'd been finished. Her ordeal was over. And then she'd found herself brought back yet again, in a nightmare landscape full of hostile creatures that shattered when she hit them, to serve new masters who act like a more powerful version of the ones she'd finally left behind.

"Someone told me once that we might not even be who we think we are - that we're just copies. But if that's true, then you'd have to do to her what the Organization did to me, and... would you truly be so cruel?"

[callmemeibe]

"Fortuna won last cycle. She made the Traveler selection process this round." Strength seems to consider something for a moment, absently shifting her spear between her right hands, then adding, "Those without impetus are removed from candidacy. Then, possible Travelers are chosen at random. But there is some luck involved. Those who show up, and when, varies wildly. Fortuna made sure of that."

That is all she seems interested in saying in the matter, as her expression falls upon mentioning Wheel of Fortune's death. So the question of reviving the dead will remain unanswered from Strength's lips.

"That is not my way. I would never be cruel." Durga pauses again, trying to explain herself further, but failing to come up with the appropriate words. "The Cassandra who stands here, in this room? She is real. You are not a copy."

[fearinahandfulof]

"Would the winner of this round determine how Travelers are selected next round?" Assuming there is a next round, but Cassandra has no idea how that would be decided and Strength's obvious sorrow makes her hesitant to pry further. Cassandra is no stranger to grief herself, after all.

It's somewhat comforting to hear that she is real and not a copy - she wouldn't wish her fate or her memories on anyone, even another version of herself - but it raises many more questions that she's not sure she can articulate properly. "Do you... know anything of the different worlds you take us from? Or are those chosen at random as well?"

[callmemeibe]

"Indeed. We would also determine what happens to you. I would send you back to your worlds. In your case, I would let you remain." The woman thinks for a minute, before leaning against her spear just a little, studying Cassandra. "That is, if you wished it."

[fearinahandfulof]

Cassandra notices that Strength hasn't answered her second question, but she'll wait to see if she circles back to it before she asks again. "What happens if we stay?"

[callmemeibe]

"Then you would stay, naturally." She seems rather confused by the question, and so she attempts to clarify, "If I win... nothing more will be expected. You'll stay in Liminal Space, as you requested. I'd ensure you're mostly undisturbed in future cycles."

[fearinahandfulof]

Cassandra isn't sure how she feels about that. Most of her friends aren't dead; they have homes to return to, and people to reunite with. Cassandra does not, and the thought of staying here without them is... disturbing. "We... people who stayed would not be expected to participate in those?"

[callmemeibe]

"No." ... well that answers that. She really is a woman of few words.

"Have you further questions?"

[fearinahandfulof]

She does, but now that she's here, she's having difficulty articulating them. Words never have been her strong point.

There is at least one thing she can ask, though. Needs to ask. She needs to know if they have any kind of contingencies in place for someone like her. "You... know what would happen if I were to lose control, don't you? To me, and to everyone else."

[callmemeibe]

"I know what would happen. But I believe in your inner strength. I trust you not to lose control."

She pauses, understanding that is not enough. "If you would lose yourself. I would ensure you wouldn't destroy the Travelers. As my Chosen, I'd grant you that much."