katoomba ♔ while I formulate denials of your effect on me

[moonheart]

♬ Watching You Go - Ghosts

WHO || Alanna, Jaime, Faith, Fiona, Jordan, Adi [Closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a shady temple of Mystra.
WHERE || Katoomba, Australia
WHEN || July 24th [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

The Knights take off for Katoomba, Australia, to investigate a tale of a temple to the goddess of magic Mystra that was erected very suddenly and mysteriously, seemingly unknown to other Mystran clergy in the world.  A bizarre tale of a cleric being chased out with gunfire, and a missing bookseller with a connection to the church have left Wynn worried about what might be going on within the walls of the temple.  It is constructed a short distance from the actual city proper, up the river.  

Comments

[trebond]

Shackles, some might say.

[ nat 20 knowledge check??? i guess she paid attention during aladdin ????? ]

[wishuponadjinn]

Yeah, that's... pretty close. [his shoulders shrug as he looks around at them, landing on first faith, then fiona. ]

It's more a curse than anything.

[lionbrave]

[Jaime looks over at Alanna, clearly surprised that she... knows what these things are. Then turns back to Jordan. His expression has a surprising amount of sympathy in it for once.]

What sort of curse?

[trebond]

They're bound to servitude. [ Specifically, as she understands it: ] To the Grand Caliph, and to whatever mortal possesses their lamp.

[ Her eyes fall on Jordan's pillow. ]

But you've your own. Because of Wynn?

[ It seems like a valid reason to pledge their fealty willingly. ]

[missindependent]

More because we're kinda royalty around there ... Well, not kinda, we actually are the offspring-ish of the Djinn king or whatever. I guess the Grand Caliph must be his other name or something? Honestly, I don't know much about genies, though I'm sure I must have researched them a million times. [ she looks down at her hands bewildered for a moment, but shakes her head and grins again ] I forget a lot, so no surprise there!

[wishuponadjinn]

[there is such a pained look on his face as he watches Fiona speak it's hard to tell if the emotion is from her words or from the conversation.]

My sister and I are bound by different rules than those the other Djinn must follow, but yes that is the general idea. [ it's clear he's speaking about Fiona as he answers Jaime, though the two of them look nothing alike. Whereas Fiona is very clearly a drow, Jordan looks like a normal human, aside from the unnatural brightness to his eyes and the bands binding his wrists. ]

Seeing as though our father is The Jareth means no man nor woman has possessed our lamps. Not that it can't happen, but most young Djinn have been in servitude to a mortal for some years by the time they are our age.

[trebond]

That seems like the sort of thing you ought to remember ...

[ She looks concerned and confused for Fiona. ]

[moonheart]

It has to do with wishes our parents made, before we were even born. Fiona's mom wanted her to be happy. [ she shrugs, looking over at her friend ] So she doesn't really dwell on stuff that's not.

It's just how she is.

[missindependent]

[ fiona shrugs, meeting faith's gaze for a moment ] Pretty much.

Could be worse, right? [ ignorance is bliss~ ]

[trebond]

[ Alanna looks alarmed and uncomfortable, but she says no more on the subject, turning away and climbing onto her bed. It's too upsetting to touch when there's nothing that can be done for it. ]

[lionbrave]

[Jaime's also looking on in horror, but he's not nearly as tactful as Alanna.]

I don't see how. Is it impossible for you not to be happy?

[moonheart]

No. She just doesn't remember it when she's not.

[missindependent]

Yeah, I guess that's how it works. [ oh no, memories of this conversation are fading fast ] I don't even remember not being happy, so best I can assume, I live a pretty awesome life!

[mining]

[ Adi looks more thoughtful than alarmed, but he does chip in with the tactless questioning. ]

And these wishes, they can never be broken?

[ Not that dropping a lifetime of unhappy memories on Fiona all at once would be much of a rescue, but for curiosity's sake. ]

[missindependent]

That's a good question. [ for someone like you, jordan, who she is now opening staring at ]

[moonheart]

As far as I know, none of them ever have. I mean Dylan's been mute his whole life and I think Mom and Dad looked for ways to change it at first.

[lionbrave]

[Jaime somehow doubts her life has been as awesome as she says. If everything was happy, she'd remember it all. And besides, it sounds so... shallow.

Not that he has all that many happy memories himself that he can compare.

He looks over at Faith because clearly Fiona's useless when it comes to information.]

So what's wrong with you? And him?

[He jabs his thumb towards Jordan.]

[wishuponadjinn]

[jordan rubs the back of his neck, eyes fixed on fiona as he speaks.]

These wishes...it's not a matter of breaking them, really. They weren't originally meant as curses, but as they've unfolded they've become as such. It's more a matter of overcoming the wishes and their consequences, the effects that they have on Fiona and Faith individually. But it's up to them to want that to happen.

The way my father designed the wishes to work meant that the effects varied with each affected child of the wishing parents, so that way it would be harder for a solution to be found. But it's not impossible, I've seen wishes nullified before, for lack of a better word.

[moonheart]

I'm not cursed. [ faith says it blithely, completely oblivious, clearly. ] My brother and sister got my parents' wish, but in totally different ways. And they're still fine, anyway.

[missindependent]

I guess I never really thought of it as a curse, but... [ she looks to jordan, a painful curiosity behind her eyes ] There's a way to break it? To finally... end this?

[trebond]

It wouldn't undo the rest of the wish, would it? What is it that your parents were trying to get that they'd toss their own children under the wagon for it?

[ The tone on 'get' sounds an awful lot like 'cheat their way into with magic.' Not a lot of respect for wishing coming from Alanna's corner. ]

[missindependent]

Uhh. [ yeah, she knows nothing about any of this. she wouldn't have even known the wishes had existed if she hadn't met jordan and, more recently, the jareth. even then, those aren't particularly good memories, so she's floundering on the details. ]

[moonheart]

There was this psycho tiefling of Malar, right? Who built a machine that would turn everyone in New York City into Shadowkind. Our parents stopped him.

[wishuponadjinn]

[ Jordan nods, eyes fixed on Fiona still.] Yes, the wishes were originally intended to stop him from that, while persevering as many lives as possible, including the tiefling's life.

Their parent's were able to stop him and his followers quite peacefully through the use of a magic dagger that turned Fionas father into a Djinn. Incidentally, his conversion stole my father's own powers for the duration of the wishes, which is partly why it was all so successful.

Most of the rest of the parties wishes were intended for nothing but good, like F ionas mothers wish that she always be happy, which had resulted in how she is now. Not able to remember anything but that which makes her happy.

[missindependent]

[ her mother?? yeah, that figures.

fiona rolls her eyes. ] Seems too good to be true, probably is.