prologue ♔ we're all stories in the end

[moonheart]

WHO || Sydney, Faith, Anastacia
WHAT || Sydney arrives in this world
WHERE || The Phillipines
WHEN || Backdated to sometime in late April
HOW || Actionspam

As the Veil fog parts around her, Sydney finds herself surrounded by warm air weighted with humidity. The dissipating mist seems strangely out of place, even without its sudden coming and going, when she gets a view of the tropical scene before her. She appears to be looking out over some kind of small pool of water that flows into a cove, and there are small boats up against the shore, into which several men are loading crates, shouting to one another in Filipino.

Comments

[celerystick]

It's, um, nice to meet you guys.

[That's what she's supposed to say, right? And if they hadn't been here, well, she'd be stuck. And probably dead. So.]

[moonheart]

No, it's nice to meet you. I mean you're the one who signed up for heroics like two seconds after stumbling through the Veil. That takes some real cajones.

[celerystick]

But...I don't have...

[Balls. (Wisdom 5, Sydney is the worst at social things oh my god.)]

But thanks.

[moonheart]

Don't thank us, we're doing our job. Helping people like you, who show up here with no clue what's going on... [ oh hey, boat! with crates! faith hops out into it with ease ]

[celerystick]

[Sydney gets into the boat behind her with grace, despite her injury, and manages to settle herself onto the seat, all while hopping delicately on one foot (dex 19).]

You help people like me? You mean, people that fall through the...I think you called it the Veil?

[moonheart]

Yep! There's lots of you. Like my mom.

[celerystick]

[She looks to the other woman, surprise on her face.]

You too?

[silvermaid]

A very, very long time ago. Over a century now. [ like it ain't no thang, that she still looks in her 30s. setting the boat off... ]

[celerystick]

[Oh look, watch her tense up again. Not very many things live that long, though she doesn't look like a Strigoi.]

A century? But how?

[At least curiosity won over fear.]

[moonheart]

[ as they head down the river, faith perches on a crate ] Mom's grandparents were goddesses. On both sides. [ nbd ]

[celerystick]

[She blinks a few times, her hand coming up to encircle around the gold cross around her neck.]

...Oh.

[Whut?]

[moonheart]

Yeah, like her mother was the daughter of Lurue, the unicorn goddess, and some human or other. And her dad - my grandpa - was the son of a moon goddess.

[celerystick]

[Wow, um. She doesn't now whether to laugh or cry.]

But...unicorns aren't real. And even if they were, why would they have their own...goddess?

[silvermaid]

They're very rare, and very elusive, but certainly real! And Lurue is more than just their goddess - she's the patron of all intelligent talking animals.

[celerystick]

...Talking animals. So not only are there unicorns, but they talk too?

[What the actual fuck.]

[moonheart]

They're smarter than a whole lotta people.

[celerystick]

[She puts a hand to her head.]

I'm sorry. This is just a lot to take in all at once.

[silvermaid]

Oh, of course! You poor thing, I'm sorry. You see, until very recently, people only arrived here from a world where magic was very common. But there have been more and more cases where people are showing up from perfectly mundane worlds.

[celerystick]

We have magic, but only Moroi are capable of it. Vampires.

[She says the word as if it's the worst thing in the world.]

It's unnatural.

[silvermaid]

Vampires do magic in your world? [ she seems to pale a bit at the mention ]

[celerystick]

The Moroi do. They're living vampires, and they each specialize in one of five elements. If they become Strigoi, they lose their magic and gain immortality instead, along with the loss of their soul and morality.

[She practically shudders.]

But they're all unnatural. Moroi are only the lesser of two evils.

[silvermaid]

I've never heard of anything like that. But I've only ever met... one vampire in this world. And she wasn't like most of them.

[celerystick]

[She doesn't want to agree, because that makes her sound like a vampire sympathizer, which would have gotten her thrown into re-education in a heartbeat back home.

So something else comes out instead.]

How would you know that if you've only met one?

[Open mouth, insert foot.]

[silvermaid]

Well, she hunted vampires. That was rather unusual in itself.

[celerystick]

Not really. Moroi have the Dhampirs trained to protect them from and sometimes hunt Strigoi. And it's not unusual to have to clean up after a Strigoi killed another Strigoi.

[They fought a lot. Because they were evil.]