Descent into Darkness

[bravenewmods]

As the characters arrive, they will find what appears to be a rather deep cavern. Upon entering, the caverns are quite narrow, with twists and turns everywhere and different tunnels that all seem to be interconnected. As characters travel deeper within the caverns, reality around them will start to warp, they will start to see and hear things that aren’t necessarily there - images of old enemies, past failures, voices of condemnation, visions that strike at the soul and core of the characters. Once this begins, it will only increase in power and volume, demanding it be confronted, lest they be trapped within these caves forever.

[OOC: This event will run for a week. All characters who enter the caves will be subject to some of their deepest fears, darkest demons, and most abject failures. To overcome them, characters must help each other out, finding their purpose through strength of character and resolve to move forward. In general, these visions should require characters to come to grips with themselves. Illusory images and voices can and will appear and can take any number of forms, depending on what is most appropriate to a character. Additionally, characters may thread with each other and are encouraged to help each other out to overcome these personal demons. For those who wish to take part, they are able and encouraged to narrate their own personal demons, which will be on display for everyone who enters their thread. IC threads may be made in this post.]

Comments

OPEN

[nippy]

[ so much for this being fun. Jack had started to feel claustrophobic the longer the tunnels went on, soles of his bare feet itching for open space, every inch of his skin prickling with the effort it took to keep his innate coldness reigned it before he ended up giving everyone else hypothermia. he's hardly going to turn tail and run because of a little discomfort, though. and when the voices started - indistinguishable whispers accompanied by shadows flitting across his peripheral vision - it only makes him more determined to see this through to the end.

that will only last for so long, though. ]

Jack Frost.

[ this new voice rings clear in the caves, and Jack goes unnaturally still - everything about him stops, he doesn't blink, doesn't breathe, looking for all the world like a statue. that man's voice is one he couldn't possibly forget. it's the first voice he ever heard. those are the first words he ever heard. but he's never heard that voice since, not outside of nightmares (is he just asleep? no no he can't be, but the thought sits in his mind nonetheless) and he feels torn between fear and anger, an urge to pursue and an urge to flee.

the voice goes on, different in some implacable way: ] Oh, I'm sorry - that isn't actually your name, of course. But then... you don't have a name. Not one that you know.

[ Jack shakes himself free of whatever had come over him, and he twirls his staff in his hands so that it is held out like a weapon - or a defence. there is already frost creeping along the wood, spreading across the rock under his feet. his breath leaves curls of icy mist in the air. ]

Har har. I get it, very funny. [ he paces like a cornered animal, turning sharply every time he sees a shadow. ] I know you're not him.

Do you? I don't think you know much of anything. [ Jack inhales sharply. ] How old are you, Jack? Where do you come from, Jack? Why you, Jack?

[imprudens]

[ There isn't a lot someone like Totsuka can do against this cold. He's lucky he brought a jacket, and he's doubly lucky for the pokémon accompanying him lending him a little additional warmth - a Talonflame perched on one shoulder, a Zubat laying across the other, listening. Once in a while his sneakers scrape across the rough stone floor.

There's a faint glow that accompanies him, like parts of the walls have turned to embers that are almost gone out, but no heat comes with it. ]

You know, that's pretty rude for someone to ask just like that. Someone who isn't even here, besides.

[nippy]

[ Jack startles a little, remembers he isn't alone - when he hears that man's voice it's like the whole world narrows down to this tiny thread that goes straight from himself to the Moon Man. but there are other people here, people that would— would help him if the Mage tried anything. people that he has to be careful not to hurt. Baby and Duskull are here, too, and he had even forgotten them. he needs to be more aware of his surroundings, or all of his efforts at self-control will be for naught.

pulling himself together under a veneer of bravado, Jack scoffs. ]

Yeah, and someone that's meant to have those answers. If he was the real deal, anyway. [ he raises his voice to the tunnels: ] If I'm so stupid, why don't you just tell me, huh? Enlighten me!

[ a man steps out of the shadows off to the side, and Jack whirls around, scrambling back so quickly that he nearly trips over his own feet. ]

Enlighten you? That seems a poor choice of words.

[ there is something wrong about the man as soon as he is given more than a cursory glance; he lacks... detail. he is dressed in white, draping material with a hood that obscures his face - but it shouldn't be that obscured. everything unique that a person would be able to use to identify the man with is absent. it's hard to pin down anything about him, a visual effect similar to trying to catch smoke with your bare hands; whatever observations the eye tries to make simply slip away before they can register with the mind. even his clothes are bizarrely plain, nondescript. it is a reconstruction torn from the most vague of pain-addled memories, after all.

this doesn't seem to matter at all to Jack, who takes a breath of air so harsh it seems like the gasp of someone who has narrowly escaped drowning. ]

It's not him, [ Jack insists, frantic and croaky. he backs up until he hits the cave wall, staff clutched like a lifeline. ] It's not, there's no way. So what the hell is happening here?!

[imprudens]

[ Totsuka likewise startles as the stranger takes shape, but he's got no reason to be as frantic as Jack. Kotori flaps her wings and screeches at the figure, which might translate as You better stay away from them!, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Totsuka looks from Jack to the man in white, and steps toward the stranger, tilts his head to see a little further under the hood. ]

It's not. I'm not even sure he's got a... a real face under there. [ And any seriousness evaporates for a moment. ] You know, you actually look a little ridiculous dressed like that.

[nippy]

[ Jack's smile is strained, tension in every line of his body, but he appreciates the humour. ] Mages, man. I guess nobody told him that the whole "mysterious" look isn't really in.

Ah, and here come the jokes. Avoidant as ever. But let's not get distracted, hm? Tell me, Jack, are your answers going to save you? Really. [ the man tilts his head with a smile. ] Why would a puppet need any sense of self?

[ just like that, it doesn't matter if this man is the real thing or not; the line between them disappears. any questioning about what is really happening here stops dead. Jack gives a full-body jerk and makes a wounded noise in the back of his throat, as if the words are a physical blow. it isn't the reminder of what he could have been, a puppet. it is the sense of self. it is the gaping hole inside of him that he has always turned his mind away from because it's too much, if he looks at that it will swallow him whole. there's a high-pitched splintering sound, like ice cracking underfoot, and then Jack lunges, throwing ice spikes and freezing wind at the Mage. ]

Shut up! If you hadn't taken it— [ but he can get it back, he can get everything back, it's right there ] GIVE THEM BACK!

[ the Mage retreats down the tunnels and Jack runs after him, heedless of his companions' cries. ]

[imprudens]

[ Totsuka is lucky, very, very lucky that his pokémon friends have the sense to drag him back. He still falls, cuts his hands open as he does and lands gracelessly on his behind, but it's the far better option than ... well, ice spikes and freezing wind. Kotori screeches at him what he was thinking, but he doesn't pay her much mind. Instead, he looks off in the direction where he can still hear Jack shouting at... well, nothing but a memory, probably.

He picks himself up off the floor, asks Lady, his zubat, to follow after the homunculus if she can. He's trying as well, but... he's getting a feeling this place isn't going to help him much.

... That could've gone better. ]

[nippy]

[ although the caves may not have much intention of Totsuka being there to defend Jack from whatever is tormenting him, it's easier to follow than he would expect; there is a glowing trail of frost and ice clusters left to indicate Jack's path through the tunnel, occasionally in bursts on the walls where he has thrown an attack at his spectre. however long it takes Totsuka to reach the cavern where Jack has stopped, he will hear the argument echoing in the caves, and eventually he will find Jack and the illusory Mage circling the cavern.

each of Jack's steps is a careful mirror of the Mage's, to keep his distance, but occasionally he will make a swipe at the Mage and there is a scuffle - Jack hurling ice shards, making jabs with his wooden staff, and the Mage simply dodging each of his attacks with ease like he's leading Jack along. ]

Tell me how to get my life back! My memory!

[ the Mage's voice is gentler than it was at first, no longer mocking but genuinely inquisitive: ] You can't stop being a Homunculus, even if you remember. Why do you need them, Jack?

What the hell do you mean, why?! Because I want to know! [ for all that Jack's rage is a storm, there is also a desperate edge to it; something lost and frantic, a strain in his voice that rises as he goes on. ] You created me and I don't know what for! I don't have anything, I don't even know how to be a person now!

Do you really want to be a person? [ Jack's anger gives way to confusion and horror with a high-pitched, strangled noise in the back of his throat and he goes still, his bare feet scrambling against the rock as his legs buckle mid-lunge. ] Don't you get so angry when they try to treat you like one? When they pretend that everything is okay?

[ everything in the chamber is still for a moment. Jack and the Mage stare at each other across their distance, the Mage impassive and Jack shocked, wavering on some thin edge between panic and outrage. his breaths come out in puffs, thick with frost, and his hands clench uselessly. the tipping point comes slowly, but it comes through the ice at Jack's feet, which begins to spike up around him. Jack brings his staff across his chest, clutched in two hands like a lifeline, a last defence, and he says with quiet conviction (but still that taut thread of desperation, something in him that is close to snapping and fraying more and more with every one of the Mage's words)— ]

Everything will be okay when I get my memories back.

[ the Mage tilts his head and gives Jack a sad look, almost like a disappointed father. despite the mildness of his expression, the calm and passive stance... both Totsuka and Jack will be aware of a definite feeling that Jack gave the wrong answer there. it is something more than intuition; it is heavy, dark, foreboding. ]

[imprudens]

[ Lady arrives in the cavern before Totsuka does, fluttering around the pair before returning to her partner. She doesn't entirely understand what's going on, but she can tell it's bad, and it doesn't take the concern she can feel from her trainer to drive the point home.

Totsuka stays on the sidelines. He's no fit for a fight, and there's no good time to interject here before... before such a solid sense of unease sets in over something that's not even his choice or his life. Never the less it's that clear pit-of-his-stomach feeling of oh, no.

He steps closer. Makes himself known by the scuff of his sneakers on the stone, perhaps, and he doesn't want to be the naysayer here. Doesn't want to point out the obvious. If he were to find out, he'd still be who and what he is. ]

[punchesyu]

Who is this creep, dude?

[Yosuke asks as the voice rings throughout the cavern. He's had enough of a lot of the shit that's been going on in here. This pisses him off even more, let's irritate the homunculus, good idea.]

Hey! How about you show yourself! [He yells at the voice. If it's going to talk some serious shit, they should at least come out of hiding.]

[nippy]

He's not real. There's no way.

[ Jack scrubs a hand over his face, trying to ground himself, to concentrate. that voice drags him in like a magnet, and when it's talking about his memories— but Yosuke is here, there are other people wandering through these tunnels, and if he forgets that then someone is going to get hurt. ]

Whatever it is, it's pretending to be the Mage that created me.

You poor thing. You've spent your whole life looking for me, and you won't even accept it when I'm finally here.

[ the man that steps into sight is old, dressed in an overwhelming amount of white, his face shrouded by a hood - but beyond that, he is difficult to describe. everything about him is somehow vague, in a way that is only seen in dreams; like the mind is rejecting anything the eye attempts to process. still, he smiles. ]

Of course, your "whole life" has only been three years.

[ despite how obvious it is that something is wrong with this picture, Jack has gone absolutely still, terrified. there is something wild in his fear, a frightened creature waiting to bolt or to lunge at the next sign of movement. the frost that usually spreads over his skin is crystallising into solid chunks of ice. ]

[punchesyu]

[He glances over to Jack, knowing full well after what he's already seen of the guy that this might end badly. The ice on his skin is a telltale sign, and Yosuke's teeth grit. This cave is seriously messed up, and it's only going to get worse from here. His hands fall near the handles of his kunai, though they stay sheathed and hidden under his jacket.

He doesn't know how to diffuse this, but he at least makes an assumption-]

Well, if he's been looking for you, I bet he's got some questions to ask you. And you're sure as hell gunna answer them. [He demands of the mage, poised and ready to move at any second. He doesn't know if this guy is going to attack, or if Jack was going to lose his mind.]

[nippy]

Let me guess: "Why me?"

[ the Mage folds his hands behind his back and paces the cave. his first step snaps Jack out of his frozen stupor, who scrambles to mirror the Mage's movements, to maintain that same amount of distance. ] That would be a good start, sure.

Why were you chosen to be like this? What did you do to deserve such a wretched existence? I could always save the trouble and tell you what you really want to know. [ the Mage stops and regards Jack with a calm stare, his eyes pale. ] No, Jack. Those answers won't fill that big scary void inside of you.

[ Jack's breath hitches, stutters on the exhale. there is the hollowness that he feels in his chest as a result of the Ghost-typing forced on him, and for a moment, he thinks to play off the Mage's words with that. but now that it's been brought up, he does think about the real thing. how he feels incomplete, shattered. everything he tries to fit in has a jagged edge and he is always aware of it. the gaping chasm that he can feel every time he thinks about his identity, his existence. too much. it's like staring into a black hole, like it latches onto him and drags every part of him down, darkness creeping into the edges of his vision and cold down to his bones, the kind of cold that hurts, and he sinks deeper and deeper, can't see can't move can't even think, everything presses down around him and the water fills his lungs—

he takes a sharp, hoarse breath, as if he has come up from drowning. ] What? I don't have any—

Pretending it isn't there won't make it go away. All that flippancy, those jokes, just so you don't have to think about it.

i'm so sorry for the delay, work kicked my ass

[punchesyu]

Yo, Jack. [He dares a step forward, keeping an eye on the older man as he approached.] This dude's a real creep, don't let him get to you. So what if that's the truth anyway? It's not like you don't have every reason to feel that way. The least he could do is tell you what you need to know. Now's your chance.

And if he tries anything funny, I got your back. [He grins.]

[But what was it that Jack really wanted? A plethora of questions could be asked, and would the guy even give up the information?]

Hey! Stop beating around the bush already! [He shouts at the Magi, pissed off. It wasn't any surprise that Jack might actually feel the way he does- if the guy was telling the truth that is- so the teen turns his mouth up, irritated.] Answer it, dammit!

no worries! as you can see i am much much later

[nippy]

[ if this Mage were the real thing, the Moon Man in the flesh, then there would be nothing that either of them could do. and yet even knowing that, Yosuke's support means the world to him. years of nightmares, of wondering about a confrontation like this even in his waking hours, and it had always been him standing alone. there had never been anyone else, and he had never thought that there would be. Jack's smile is wan, the corners of his mouth tense and his body language all wrong, but it is still there in return of Yosuke's grin.

at least, until the Moon Man starts to speak again. ]

Alright, then. The answer to all of your questions is this: It doesn't matter. [ Jack starts angrily at that, moves to shout or to attack, but the Mage's next words stop him like a blow to the gut and he cringes back instead: ] "How can I know who I am until I find out who I was?" Who you were isn't going to save you from what you've become.

[ it hurts to have his own words thrown back at him by this construct - this fake, and still a nightmarish vision nonetheless. every night alone that he had spent asking the forest about his existence, his identity, twisted with agony over the unknown life that he had lost. what he was, what he is, how the two could ever be reconciled. how can I know who I am until I find out who I was? it had come up often, and it had become the easy lynchpin of Jack's questioning. it's more than just another question that no one will ever give him the answer to, though. that is the most honest, open, raw thing that Jack has ever said. to hear it from the Moon Man, plucked straight from Jack's mind and memory as if it is nothing, makes him feel ill. it doesn't matter whether this is the real thing or not.

but Jack can't turn away from that obvious pull, not with so many questions and so much desperation for any answers, so he asks, hesitant, cautious: ] ... What I've become?

[ the Moon Man's pale eyes fixate on Jack with icy intensity. ]

Damaged. [ Jack recoils in horror. ] Regardless of what came before you, Jack Frost is a broken thing. Jack Frost flinches when he's touched, because he has lived alone for so long and he can barely remember what it was like to know touch. Jack Frost is terrified that everything in his life is temporary, because he has never known permanence.

And you want to think that finding your answers will fix all of it, because you can't bear to think anything else.

[ there is silence in the cavern for a long moment, and it rings. the Moon Man draws himself up, and yet he seems to relax at the same time; his gaze is still luminous and bearing down on Jack with too much weight, but his expression softens at the edges. that cold, harsh cruelty drops away, and he speaks to Jack like a father to his child. ]

Jack— [ his voice gentles. ] You cannot continue this way.

[ Jack snaps out of the terror and dismay that had held him in place, kept him silent this long. he shakes his head, trembling all over - with rage or fear or both - and there is a high splintering sound, like a great crack through a shelf of ice. like a frozen sheet about to collapse, like the too-thin ice on a river about to give way beneath someone's weight to the cold black depths below. it is something dawning and dangerous.

it is the sound of Jack losing his control. ]

Shut up! Gods, you are so full of it. [ he doesn't even hear his Pokémon friends crying and clambering for his attention. ] You don't know me. You don't know anything about me.

[punchesyu]

[His eyes blink a few times at the words spoken to Jack- though it seems like information that Yosuke already knew, to a certain extent. He knew that Jack was a Homunculus, he knew that he'd been experimented on and lived in the woods by himself. He knew that he had trouble controlling his powers, and that he lived a life that must of been damned because of what he was- not that it made it any better. This isn't the first encounter he's had in this cave, and it was all too clear what this was. The anger he feels for the other man isn't because of what the magus is saying, but rather the fact that Jack has had to live this live and deal with it. It's not right that the boy who controlled the frost went through the horror that he did.

His head turns to look around, the sound of ice starting to crack startling him into a state of fear. This was looking bad, and he scrambles to think of what to do. There's no one here to tell him to calm down now, and he shouts.]

Stop! Get a hold of yourself, dude! [Yosuke takes another breath, panicking but attempting to stay calm. He knows Jack has to come to realize what's going on, and deal with the information presented to him by this phantom.]

It's true though, isn't it?

[He says, solidly.]

That guy isn't lying. But just because this asshole really screwed up your life like this doesn't mean you aren't trying to move forward, right? Living your life like that...it's gotta be totally rough. But pushing people away and acting like it doesn't exist isn't helping either.

[He pauses, before continuing on.]

And there's a lot of people who'll help you now.

You don't know Jack? /had to/

[divine_braid]

[Creepy...]

So... disembodied voices are all the rage in this place, huh?

[Duo had his hands in his pockets, but he was far from relaxed.]

I wouldn't call that real until I see something.

i have had to resist so many jack puns

[nippy]

Even if I did see something, I dunno if I'd believe it. There's no way the real thing would be here now.

Why would you think that?

[ a figure steps out of one of the tunnels, an old man dressed finely in white aristocratic clothes. his face is obscured by a hood, but his eyes are pale - and beyond that, there is nothing. there are no details that can be made out of his appearance, and even while there's no way to explain what exactly is missing, a close look at him just comes up lacking somehow. trying to describe him to someone else would be almost impossible. despite his sudden entrance, he stands still with his hands folded behind his back, face impassive and calm.

Jack, on the other hand, reacts to him like some wild, startled creature. he scrambles backwards and there is a CRACK of frost lightning across his skin, a thin sheet of ice shooting out across the ground from his bare feet. the breaths he draws are shallow, hitching, they shudder on every exhale. ]

Is it because nothing good could ever happen in your life? [ the Mage tilts his head, considering. something about his gaze calls to mind the aloof scientist, the man who looks at his specimen with interest but cold regard. ] Or are you too afraid of finally getting what you've wanted ever since Jack Frost was born?

I can only imagine :)

[divine_braid]

[Duo's expression darkened at the man's approach, suddenly on the defensive at the sudden appearance. Disembodied voices were one thing, but this was someone who hadn't been there moments before.]

Who are you?

[ladyofluminosity]

[ Managing to wrest her from her own nightmare, Lux stayed with Jack out of convenience, not wanting to travel alone. These caves weren't all that they seemed, and there was no telling when she would be once again pulled into her own mind. There was safety in numbers.

Watching the taller boy, Lux stopped along with him, brow furrowed. She held her staff close, the gems on either end glowing slightly. Something must have been following them, and she quickly moved to his side, pressing her back gently against his. Physical contact might keep him grounded, and she would be able to guard his back at the same time. ]

Don't listen, Jack. Who or whatever is doing this is trying to get us to react.

[ She listened, closely, glancing at her companion from over her shoulder. If these illusions were somehow feeding on their subconscious--which she was beginning to believe more and more... Why did their conversation a few weeks earlier come to mind? ]

We aren't interested in what you have to say. Unless you want to come out and say it plain.

[nippy]

[ physical contact doesn't just keep him grounded - it draws his attention like a magnet, and he's embarrassed by how his breathing stutters. there must have been things like this in his old life, but he can't remember them. all he's ever known is small flashes of touch, a child's hand in his own while he leads them along. the support of Lux's back pressed to his, prolonged, would be dizzying if it weren't for the fear that the Mage stirs up.

as it is, the contact draws Jack out of his shock and terror enough to breathe, to be focused rather than in a state of panicked alertness. ]

Right. The guy he's pretending to be wouldn't be down here, not in a million years. This is just a trick.

Do you have so little faith in yourself that you won't even believe your own eyes? [ a man dressed in white steps into view from one of the tunnels, his clothes formal and aristocratic, face hidden by a hooded white cloak. Jack stumbles away, his arm thrown out to shield Lux and usher her back too, even though the Mage's hands are folded behind his back and he shows no signs of aggression. ] Well, she asks me to be plain, and I suppose I should. Gods know Jack never would.

Stop it. [ Jack's voice is thin with stress. the hand he has held out across Lux is shaking. ] He's not here, this isn't real.

[ and it clearly isn't. unlike the convincing illusion that Lux's haunting had boasted, the Mage's features are indistinguishable, and it's a jarring thing to look at. as if there is something there that the eye simply refuses to see. the harder one tries to look at him, the more confusing it becomes. he is the kind of figure that is only ever meant to be glimpsed, the details of him lost by Jack's vague memory. still, Jack doesn't seem to be any less affected by his presence. it's not clear whether Jack has even noticed the incongruities of his spectre. ]

Does she know what you are? You've been vocal enough about that, at least.

[ladyofluminosity]

[ A smile and a nod. Feeling how stiff and panicked he was only a few seconds before, it was good to see him react. He was still with her. That was good. She could work with this. Lux gives him a reassuring smirk.

Let her be your light this time. She's good at that. ]

It's a rather rotten one if you ask me. Let's teach him a lesson.

[ His clothes, his posture, even his demeanor; Lux had met men like him before, and ready to give this arrogant apparition a piece of her mind, she opens her mouth to speak, before being quickly pushed back.

For a brief fleeing moment, she looks surprised, but quickly hides it away. Seeing the taller boy in the state he's in worries her, and she reaches out a hand, resting it on his before giving it a tight squeeze. She's here, friend, and she won't be going anywhere.

As for their rude guest, she stares him down coldly, her eyes glowing an intense, icy blue. She was certain there was nothing there to see with her Analyst Eyes, but perhaps she could see--or intimidate--whoever might be behind this. A god would have them prostrate. She was confident it was something else entirely.

Her voice is quiet, controlled, and poised. Commanding. She's had nearly eighteen years of practice dealing with nobles who were too big for their britches, and is rather done with this cave's shenanigans. ]

He's Jack Frost, my friend. [ She gave her hand another squeeze. ]And I don't care what you have to say. You threaten my friend, you threaten me, and I can assure you, you don't want to cross me.

[nippy]

My intent isn't to threaten. What trouble is a Homunculus to the Mage that created it?

[ some wild, high-pitched noise catches in Jack's throat, and he clutches Lux's hand tightly, a point of anchorage. if this really is the Moon Man, if he really can control Jack, then holding onto her won't help at all, there won't be anything he can do - but he wants to think that maybe, maybe he could somehow stop it from happening. maybe he wouldn't lose Jack Frost the way he lost whoever he was before. he desperately wants it to be true. ]

What's the point of all this? [ it comes out as a shout. he feels like he's on the verge of tearing his hair out here, choking on a tangle of fear and anger, confusion and frustration. ] Why?! Why any of it?

Of course. "Say it plain", yes? Then here it is, Jack: no matter how much you ignore it, you're broken.

[ the words strike hard, and it's the familiarity that drives them deep. he hadn't been aware of how much of an outsider he is until he started trying to settle down in Union, and it had suddenly seemed ridiculous how many things he couldn't cope with. everyone tries to treat him like a person, which should be a good thing, but instead it grates at him like they're brushing against an exposed nerve. even as a Homunculus he isn't right, he wasn't made with the others, he was just abandoned on a table in some lab with no idea why, so he doesn't understand anything and he can't help and he doesn't fit. and the arguments over Sanctuary - people had been scared of him, his lack of control and his cold rage, Waver had said rehabilitation and something in Jack had panicked, not at the thought of being rehabilitated but the possibility that he might actually need it because maybe everything wasn't okay, maybe he was—

it had been impossible for the word "broken" not to come to mind when he thought about it all at once.

still, he affects an air of flippancy, of casual disinterest despite his shallow breaths of frost and his shaking, icy hands when he asks the Mage: ] Seriously, that's it? That's all you have to say?

[ladyofluminosity]

[ It clicked. It finally clicked. His insistence, his evasiveness at the questions she asked. Why hadn't she figured it out before? Despite herself, it was hard to mask her surprise at the Moon Man's words, and her sudden look of concern at Jack. Concern not for what he was, not at the idea that he could--easily--hurt her, but at how much he himself must have been hurting. As far as Lux was concerned, she didn't matter in this equation at all.

She did her best to fix that, but the blond knew; the damage had likely already been done. ]

Jack.

[ It wasn't a scolding tone of voice, nor a fearful one, but deep concern that rang true. She didn't understand, couldn't understand. They were two completely different people. And that was it, despite what he might have been, she wouldn't be able to see him any different. He was a person, dammit. He was her friend. She was a bleeding heart Unionite through and through, and was thoroughly done with this shadow of the past trying to rip that apart.

And if this person--this thing--tried to threaten that? She would end it, no matter what it took, no questions asked. ]

Shut up.

[ Her words were colder than the ice that pulsed through Jack's veins. Her hand stung through the cold, fingers stiff, but she doubled down, lacing her fingers between his and holding on to him as tightly as she could. Staring down the shadow of his past, she didn't waver, not once. ]

I don't care what he is, or what power you seem to think your words might have over him. I don't care about what you have to say. You're not real. You're a terror that comes lurking in the night, and if you so much as touch him, my light will pierce through you so quickly, so thoroughly, that not even your hollow words will be left.

Leave. Now.

[nippy]

[ the Moon Man regards her for a moment, his face impassive, and then he turns his pale eyes on Jack. he says nothing. there is no frown, no irritation that furrows his brow, just smooth patience and silence. what exactly he is waiting for seems unclear, until Jack starts to speak, and the Mage's eyes light up with attention, interest. ]

No. No, I have to... I want to hear him. I've been waiting all this time, and for what? Even if you are fake, just tell me. You know what I want!

Look at you. You're so desperate for answers, because you think that will magically fix all of your problems. Part of you must know how broken you are, given that you seem to think getting back your memories will save you. What is that question you always ask yourself? "How can I know who I am..."

... until I find out who I was. [ his voice is small, and his grip on Lux's hand goes slack. ] That's— That has nothing to do with—

It does. You won't think about that scary dark hole inside of you, or what's going to happen if what you find doesn't solve everything. You only see a goal. All you want is an easy way out.

That's not true! [ it's not. he knows that deep down to his bones, it's not true, he doesn't just want his memories to fix himself, to make the hurt go away - he so so desperately wants to find out who he was, what life he led, if there is anyone left behind and missing him. where did he come from, why did this happen to him— it isn't just about healing the hurts caused by the gaps in him. even if he can't explain it, it's more than that. (and Lux disappears under all of this thought, under the weight of the vision's words; there are no caves, no illusions, nothing else exists because there is the Moon Man, the memories, there is the only thing that matters—)

but it isn't a complete lie, either. the thought that all his answers might only meliorate his wounds, not remove them from him completely, that things might be... not okay even after trying for so long to recover what he had lost... it's terrifying. it's the kind of thing he could have nightmares about.

that he might never get his answers at all is not something he can even confront. ]

You made me! You took my whole life away, you did this to me! I had something, I-I was a person, and—

And who are you now?

[ as he throws out that question, the Moon Man disappears down one of the tunnels. rather than give an answer, Jack gives a shattered yell and tears his hand out of Lux's hold, lunges into the shadows to chase the spectre with desperation; his footsteps leave clumps of solid ice behind, and a freezing wind howls after him. ]

[morituri_nolumus_mori]

[ Good question. The same kind of question rang through Rincewind's mind: Why me? Why does this always happen to me? One minute he was loitering outside the cave, determined not to go in, the second, here he was. Everything was a blur. That's how it usually went, anyway. ]

[ Rincewind skidded around a corner and nearly lost his balance on ... ice? In a maddened flail, he lashed his arms out and desperately clung to a frost-touched stalagmite. Bloody hell, caves didn't normally do this, did they? He thought freezing temperatures were an attribute if the great outdoors. Caves, he'd read, were usually consistent. And this wasn't consistent. He watched his breath puff and frowned. No, definitely not right. ]

[ He looked up and caught a leading tendril of the conversation. He wondered who it was. One of the voices sounded familiar enough. Maybe they knew the way out? Rincewind beckoned the Luggage over and cautiously picked his way towards the sounds. He even hazarded a word. The one magical word that always sat in the back of someone's mind, especially when lost. ]

Hallo?