they'll leave you speechless

[peacockherald]

Who: SS Starstruck & Anyone visiting!
Broadcast: y/n/m - up to the mingle peeps
Action: SS Starstruck
When: Uh, any time this month?

[ It's a mingle post for the SS Starstruck! We've lost a few and we've gained a few +1 gay mage, yeah!, so now's a time to get to know each other, deal with the results of the Iskaulit, or just general crew and visitor shenanigans! ]

Comments

[lord_wizard]

[He watched his reflection in the glass as he smiled thinly] Not my own. My unfinished tasks are hardly so urgent. But I have heard quite a few stories like that from others I was trapped with before.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Before...?

[lord_wizard]

[He lets out a wry laugh, aimed at himself] I don't mean to be mysterious, it's just difficult to explain. The fleet isn't the first place that's taken me from my home.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Where were you before then? A different world?

[lord_wizard]

Precisely. It was similar to this, in that it brought in people from countless other worlds for it's own purpose.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Purposes like this one?

[lord_wizard]

No... [He shook his head. Explaining the nature of Paradisa still felt strange to say out loud, as if giving it words made him doubt those years for a nightmare]

As far as we had discovered, the castle used our emotions as its food, in exchange for room and board and nearly anything else we wanted. Besides going back to our own universe, naturally.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Your emotions? That didn't have any sort of negative side effects on people?

[It's not like it was sucking them dry and making it hard to feel anything, was it?]

[lord_wizard]

[Not in the way she might be imagining]

Of course. While I can't pretend to know the motivations, it did seem to be fond of putting us in situations that would provoke the strongest emotions - and not always the negative kind. But that kind of instability takes a toll. Outside of the prices it already demanded.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Prices such as...?

[lord_wizard]

Pieces of ourselves. It was different for everyone. Treasured objects, memories, skills...nearly anything, really. There was a loss for each resident, and sometimes more than one, if they had the misfortune to die while they were there.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Oh. I...I'm sorry.

[She doesn't want to pry. She is, however, a little curious as to what his loss had been. Elena runs a hand through her hair.]

No one got those things back?

[lord_wizard]

[The sad truth is that it all seems rather normal to him by now]

Generally no. I heard accounts of the loss switching from one thing to another, but there was no way to get it back. I haven't asked if anyone else here who also came from the castle still has their loss.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

Do you still have yours?

[lord_wizard]

[Felix paused to fidget with his rings, running this thumb over the metal on the opposite hand]

Yes. Though...I imagine it's because I didn't have a chance to gain it back. My loss was a powerful set of divining cards. But as they weren't on me when I left...[He gestured helplessly]

[forgetyourusedtobe]

What exactly do you mean by divining cards? Like tarot?

[lord_wizard]

In essence. Tarot decks are just symbols. I can't speak to the power of any mundane deck, but in thaumaturgical terms - that is, as it relates to magic - symbols can be very powerful anchors. The deck I owned had been in the possession of so many wizards that they developed an abnormally strong pull on the threads of fate, so to speak. Even not being trained in the art of divining, I found them particularly helpful in the years before I left.

[forgetyourusedtobe]

I had a friend who used to get premonitions. It was usually really vague though and hard to figure out what she was seeing before it happened. But I take it you could get a pretty clear picture?

[lord_wizard]

Not exactly. [He makes a face, mostly at himself. There's something about explaining divination that feels a little like he's trespassing on someone else's territory] They're...more accurate, but they're still just symbols. It's not like opening a book or turning on a television, but they can guide you towards the right answers - assuming you ask the right questions. I found it worked much better to search for things that are rather than things that will be. The future has too many possible paths to read so distinctly.