<El-Cideon> The huts you occupy overnight are plain, simple and small, just one-room dwellings with the minimum of furnishings. You share one with Erin, each of you taking a separate futons. The town is quiet, only the sound of insects chirping outside and wind through the trees as you fall asleep. Sometime later...(more)
<El-Cideon> You wake up somewhere else. You're not sure where. It's not somewhere you've been before--oh, you recognize the *type* of room, at least. Benches, mirrors ringed with lights, chests full of costumes--it looks like a dressing room. You might've seen the like when studying with your acrobat friends, you think. (more)
<El-Cideon> The room is strangely proportioned, all the walls set at odd angles so that they seem to lean in on the interior. You are also no longer wearing your "Natsu" disguise--at some point you exchanged it for a leotard, brilliantly eye-catching red with gold thread woven through along the sleeves.
* Nadia_Chekova is not in the habit of talking to herself, so she doesn't comment on the strange situation she's found herself in, instead climbing to her feet and after marking the change of attire and lack of makeup, she looks for her travel bag that she left by the futon.
<Nadia_Chekova> The telepathy orb would help her figure out what's going on with her friends, and of course there is that little shiny trinket she travelled halfway across the world to recover even though she has no clue what to do with it...
<El-Cideon> Your possessions are not in sight. You begin to notice a great hum of noise through the walls, the sound of a great many voices blurring into one.
* Nadia_Chekova mulls over calling out or adopting a stealthy approach. Well, first thing's first... is there any way out of here?
<El-Cideon> There's one door; it's open and looks to lead out into a hallway. You can see the start of a ramp outside. Someone is walking down it, towards the dressing room.
<Nadia_Chekova> Then perhaps she'll get some explanations. Making no attempt to conceal herself, Nadia stands in the centre of the room and faces out the door towards the new arrival.
<El-Cideon> A man sweeps into the room with an imperious manner. Or he looks like a man--there is something unfinished about him, as though he were made of soft clay. Everything is there, but face is too smooth, the eyes are blank. The figure is wearing an elaborate red suit and coattails. The mouth moves clumsily and words come out. "What are you doing waiting here?! You are on now! Get on out and perform before they burn this place down!"
<Nadia_Chekova> "What..." now she's very confused. "Are you a demon?" she asks, peering at the freakish figure that would have terrified her once but now seems almost passe. "Why did you bring me here?"
<El-Cideon> He blinks, the eyelids just lumps lazily moving over the eyes. "You are Nadia Chekova, world famous acrobat, are you not? You know why you are here!" He strides forwards and grabs your arm, trying to lead you out. His grip is cold and moist. "Let's go, let's go!"
* Nadia_Chekova shudders at the clammy contact, deciding to follow along and see what's outside this room. "I'm not world famous anything," she insists nonetheless, not knowing at all why she's here!
<El-Cideon> "Of course you are! Nadia Chekova, fearless tightrope walker! That is what they paid to see, that is what they are going to see!" He leads you out and up the ramp, which twists and angles sideways in a manner that should defy architecture, and you emerge into a great tent. It's huge--you could fit skyscrapers in here. A crowd of similarly vague people populate the stands circling you. (more)
<El-Cideon> The man holding you gestures to a ladder ascending a pole--you don't know how high, hundreds of feet for sure. "Come along, come along, get moving!"
<Nadia_Chekova> "You have to be joking!" Nadia quails, feet scrabbling on the ground as she tries to stop herself and pull her arm free. "I'm no tightrope walker!"
<El-Cideon> He doesn't want to let you go, and gestures for a couple beefy, steel-gray men to assist him if you continue trying to scramble away. "Don't give me that! These people will tear you to pieces if they don't get their show! Besides, you have to climb up to bring back the fair maiden! Natalya can't get down on her own!"
<Nadia_Chekova> "Natalya?" Nadia only knows one Natalya, and is distracted from her futile escape attempt by looking up to try and see. She saw her mother die, but... magic.
<El-Cideon> "Yes, Natalya! She is counting on you, so get up there!" The crowd's monotonous roar is starting to sound menacing. Bins of popcorn and peanuts start to fly in your direction.
<Nadia_Chekova> This is scary, but she doesn't think he's being hyperbolic when he speaks of the crowd tearing her apart, and there don't appear to be any visible escape routes. "Okay... I'll do it," she says in a small voice, waiting for them to let go of her so she can climb the ladder. She's light-footed, but this isn't something she's ever trained for...
<El-Cideon> "Good, good. Earn your pay, earn your fame!" He turns to the crowd and gestures in your direction. "The jewel of Monaco, ladies and gentlemen!"
<Nadia_Chekova> "Why are you doing this to me?" Nadia asks quietly as she takes hold of the ladder, waiting just long enough for his reply which she doesn't even expect to be helpful before she starts climbing up. At least she's good at climbing. That's a useful life skill, unlike tightrope walking.
<El-Cideon> He doesn't respond; he's too busy raving at the crowd about the death-defying feats of bravery about to be performed. The ladder, at least, is *made* to be easy to deal with. The same can't be said for the rope, you see, when you reach the top. It's all of an inch in width. (more)
<El-Cideon> From the small platform at the top of the ladder, it extends perhaps a hundred feet across the void--no, not a void. There's something down there. A vast patch of sucking mud. Shapes move through it, ever out of clear sight. Across the rope, you can see someone on the other platform. (more)
<El-Cideon> It...it looks like her. It's hard to be sure from here. On your platform is a pole for balancing; that might help a little, at least.
* Nadia_Chekova looks down and immediately wishes she hadn't turning to the side and closing her eyes as she doubles over and gasps for breath. She's not normally vertiginous, but the unwholesome pit at the bottom does her state of mind no favours at all. As she sucks in great gulps of air, she attains some semblance of composure and raises her gaze before her eyes open once more, studiously not looking down and peering across to the other platform. "Mother?
<Nadia_Chekova> the other platform. "Mother? Is that you?" she calls loudly over.
<El-Cideon> Her voice echoes back, piteously small amidst the roar of the crowd. "Nadia! They tied me up here! Please help!"
<Nadia_Chekova> There's so much to question, but what's the point? Who will answer? Bereft of other options, Nadia takes hold of the pole as she's seen other circus performers do, taking a single very hesitant step onto the rope, forcing herself to look down so she can aim her foot and trying not to focus on anything beyond that...
<El-Cideon> OOC: roll balance, +2 for the stabilizing prop
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+5 halp i am not good with balanses
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+5 halp i am not good with balanses and gets 11."12 [1d20=6]
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 2d6 action!
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 2d6 action! and gets 9."12 [2d6=6, 3]
<El-Cideon> Nadia's efforts are awkward, unskilled despite her (apparently) vaunted reputation! She wobbles a few feet along, unable to make any real progress--but at least she hasn't fallen yet! It's a long way to go still, though...
<Nadia_Chekova> She can't do this! Nadia quickly steps back onto the platform, breathing heavily and savouring the feel of something solid and wider than an inch below her feet!
<El-Cideon> OOC: roll will.
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+2
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+2 and gets 4."12 [1d20=2]
<El-Cideon> A terrible roar of disappointment swells throughout the tent, crashing into you with almost physical force! Everything bends and twists in its wake, the tent fluttering above, the pole you ascended bending in the gale, toppling towards the pool! It crashes down, with you on it! (more)
<El-Cideon> The shapes races towards you, bubbling and roiling beneath the surface. The rope is near your hand--you might be able to climb, though there are few handholds to help and the mud has splashed over it at the bottom.
* Nadia_Chekova doesn't delay, this is something she's good at now! Taking hold of the rope in both hands, she hauls herself up and hooks her legs around it! Then with a determined yet frantic speed she starts working her arms one after the other to climb up the tightrope which has now become a far more agreeable climbing rope!
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+13 climb
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+13 climb and gets 14."12 [1d20=1]
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 2d6 action damn you
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 2d6 action damn you and gets 6."12 [2d6=2, 4]
<El-Cideon> Your hands slip over the slicked rope, scrabbling for purchase but only just keeping your head above the surface of the mud. As you struggle, the shapes reach you--the surface of the pool rises in a wave, crashing over your head. Rough hands grab you all around, drag you down. The mud pours down your throat, choking you, pressing in all around as you descend! You feel yourself dragged down faster, as though through a tunnel. (more)
<El-Cideon> Then it ends--you drop down into open air, land on a chair in a dark room. Not totally dark--there's faint light, from footlamps...you're in a row of similar seats. A movie theater? Behind you a voice speaks, dark and smooth like good wine. You've heard the voice before. In Ivo's lab. "You'll never hit the big time with reflexes like that."
* Nadia_Chekova lands with a thump, taking a moment to collect herself before she pushes herself up on the chair and turns around to confirm her suspicion as to the identity of that voice. "How did you bring me here? Why are you doing this to me?" she plaintively asks the two most immediate questions.
<El-Cideon> It's him--in human form, thankfully. He's just as striking as before, this time wearing a tuxedo. "Madame, my presence here is as much a mystery to myself as it is to you. Usually people only seek me out when they need help accomplishing some grand ambition. I couldn't guess what yours might be." With a blink, he's in the seat next to you. "Shall we find out?"
* Nadia_Chekova whirls to face his new position, sad reflexes or no. "What do you mean? I don't want to be here!" she insists. "Was that really my mother up there?" So many questions, so little time!
<El-Cideon> "I'm sure I don't know. But maybe I can help you find out." He snaps his fingers. Off to one side of the theater, unseen before, a machine whirs to life. A withered old man winds a crank; you hear water rushing, bellows pumping, a complicated set of clockwork clicking away, something that sounds like a box of rodents squeaking--and a projector shines light on the screen.
<Nadia_Chekova> Lost and confused, Nadia looks at the screen to see if it will provide any answers for her...
<El-Cideon> You see a bedroom--it has the bland uniformity of a hotel room. A man and woman are buttoning trousers and dress; they look flustered, disheveled. The man hands an array of bills to the woman, who pockets them and exits to a hall outside. The view shifts. You see her walking forward. It's Natalya. (more)
<El-Cideon> She enters another room, closes the door behind her. She pauses before a cradle, speaks. A placard appears with her thoughts: "I do this for you. I hope you know someday, I did everything for you!" The demon grunts. "Ah, this is the wrong one. Excuse me a second." The movie stops.
<Nadia_Chekova> Nadia's eyes widen in recognition and horror after her mother appears in the context of her 'work'. "Stop it..." she says in a small voice, shrinking into her chair.
<El-Cideon> "Reginald! You put on the wrong movie!" The old man wheezes in response, switching reels. "I do apologize," the demon says. "Maybe something more current will be of more use to us."
<Nadia_Chekova> He's not sorry at all, Nadia's sure of that. "Why are you doing this?"
<El-Cideon> "My dear, if I knew what I was doing here, I'd be done already. Let's see if we can figure out what you *want*, if you don't already know. Maybe that will clarify things for both of us." Numbers count down on the screen. Four, three, two...
* Nadia_Chekova wants to get out of here, she's sure of that much...
<El-Cideon> Action! Words flare across the screen, elegant italics on a black background bringing the viewer up to date on some ongoing story: "NADIA CHEKOVA, international master criminal, jewel of Monaco, traces her nemesis, the dastardly COUNTESS KONSTANTINOVA, to a Paris casino! Will this confrontation finally result in vengeance for our dashing heroine?"
<El-Cideon> "Hm," the demon muses. "Is this one better?"
* Nadia_Chekova is ambivalent. It sounds like it could be a good movie but she doesn't really want to be here anyway. "It doesn't take much," she admits, anything being better than being confronted with her mother prostituting herself.
<El-Cideon> The screen flashes to a roulette table. Masha is there, betting jewelry you can recognize as your mother's, not to mention wearing the aurora. She turns to the camera and cackles in grandiose fashion. A placard flashes the following: "That little fool will never find me. I will fund my counter-revolution with her inheritance!"
<El-Cideon> "What *will* you do when you meet her?" the demon wonders.
<Nadia_Chekova> That's a very good question, Nadia thinks. She'd always personified Elgin as the figure responsible for her mother's death, despite him not being the one to fire the gun that took her life. Yet was he not acting on Masha's behest? She hadn't really considered it... the chapter was closed when she killed Elgin, but now here this demon comes and re-opens it.
<Nadia_Chekova> There's also the fact that Masha is in deep with the Nazi city-destroying plan, indeed she could be said to be the keystone in the whole thing now that Ivo's dead. And yet... she doesn't consider herself a bloodthirsty person. She was relieved after killing Elgin that it was over with, that she wouldn't have to carry those dark feelings in her heart any longer.
<Nadia_Chekova> "I don't know," she confesses, weak stirrings of homicidal vengeance felt but not strong enough to overcome her natural inclinations. Masha's just too impersonal.
<El-Cideon> "Then let's find out. Concentrate, please. Focus on the scenario. I believe our circumstances afford us a certain degree of control over our surroundings, if ir can only be exercised."
<El-Cideon> OOC: will.
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+2
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+2 and gets 14."12 [1d20=12]
<El-Cideon> The theater flickers around you. For a split-second you feel...elsewhere, as though your spirit were split between two places, but then you're back in the theater. "Ah. Almost. A valiant effort. Perhaps this requires my assistance. If you'll take my hand?"
<Nadia_Chekova> "If you know so much about our circumstances, how do you not know how you got here?" Nadia asks suspiciously, keeping her hands to herself.
<El-Cideon> "It's only conjecture--though I am quite clever, if I do say so myself. Come now, I won't steal your soul through simple touch. We've not signed a contract or anything."
<Nadia_Chekova> "Clever enough to figure out who is behind this?" Nadia prods.
<El-Cideon> "Oh, I assumed it was you, my dear. I've not seen anything to contradict that."
<Nadia_Chekova> "No... I'm not the one with magic," Nadia points out, wondering if Wakahisa is responsible. She likes him a lot less if so. Nonetheless, seeing no other help here, she holds the demon's hand.
<El-Cideon> "Very good. This may feel strange. We'll know soon enough." Instantly, you are...inside the movie? You recognize the casino from the screen, great crystal chandeliers and patrons in elegant dress. There is no color, only shades of gray--here and there runs a streak of distortion, as though the negative were blurred. (more)
<El-Cideon> The footsteps, chatter, and rejoicing of the gamblers around you makes no sound. There's only a jaunty piano melody in the background. The demon is nowhere in sight.
<Nadia_Chekova> Oh it just keeps getting better and better... well, Is Masha around being her cackling self? Would she see little placards with speech or would her entire vision be consumed by them whenever someone talks?
<El-Cideon> The revelers around you all pause for the appearance of black placards any time they speak. No one seems bothered by this. Masha is not immediately in evidence, but it is a big room. The most notable crowd of people is glob surrounding something in front of a large window that overlooks the Seinne.
* Nadia_Chekova decides to approach the big crowd in that case, hoping her muddy leotard isn't going to be a big deal.
<El-Cideon> No one seems to notice it--actually, now that you look, you're wearing quite an elegant little number yourself. A (presumably) white strapless dress. You fit right in. The crowd before you is cheering on some manner of disturbance--it's hard to make out details over the storm of placards. From behind the crowd, you can just make out limbs flail against each other.
<Nadia_Chekova> Perhaps it's 'movie-Nadia' fighting Masha? She's sure she could take that old woman any day... Easily weaving through the crowd, Nadia gets close enough to properly see what's going on.
<El-Cideon> It's Masha, but she's grappling with a robot, a spindly man made of gleaming metal. As you watch, she bowls it over with a decidedly unwomanly charge, then stomps its head in with a tinny crunch that defies the general lack of sound. It ceases moving. Masha looks beaten and tired, but raises a fist in the air, announcing with a placard, "SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!"
* Nadia_Chekova blinks and stares. This... is not what she expected. She's supposed to learn something from it? She's just confused.
<El-Cideon> She sits down, using the robot as an impromptu bench. She seems to notice you. "Ah. You. What do you want?"
<Nadia_Chekova> I want my mother back, you bitch! The thought rises up a little at some dramatic impulse but not sufficiently for Nadia to give it voice. "I want... to wake up." Yes. This is clearly a dream. She really should have seen it long before. Even with magic there are limits to her credulity. "But while I'm asking, I want you to stop ruining people's lives on your insane schemes!" she adds for the hell of it.
<El-Cideon> She shrugs. "I don't blame you. Perhaps you will understand when I am finished. But in the meantime I can only tell you that any change you want to see in this world, you must be strong enough to make it yourself."
<El-Cideon> OOC: another will roll would go here. Can make that next time I guess, if we're pausing here.
<Nadia_Chekova> roll 1d20+2 I feel lucky right now!
* Hatbot --> "Nadia_Chekova rolls 1d20+2 I feel lucky right now! and gets 15."12 [1d20=13]
<El-Cideon> Everything around you cracks like glass, the casino falling away in shards. The jaunty musical accompaniment grinds to a halt. Sounds comes back; when Masha speaks again, it's without the aid of placards. "That is a start," she says with some approval, as she too tumbles into a pile of sand and blows away. You're surrounded by darkness for a moment. Then--
<El-Cideon> "Nadia?" It's your mother's voice. It comes from all around you, inside you.
<Nadia_Chekova> "But I didn't do anything..." Nadia protests in response to Masha's comment, before looking around vainly at her mother's voice. "Mother? Where are you?"
<El-Cideon> There's no obvious source. You just seem to feel it around you. "Where you can't reach me," she says sadly. "You don't need to worry about me any more. But I--I still worry about you."
<Nadia_Chekova> "You don't have to! I've met the most interesting people, and I'm seeing the world!" Nadia reassures her mother. It's not like she *has* to keep traipsing along with Yomi, Erin, and Rena. She has what she set out to get.
<El-Cideon> "You have no idea how good that is to hear! I would hate to see you staying in Monaco being sad on my behalf. You are still young! You *should* be roaming the world, doing things your mother could not! As long as you are happy..."
* Nadia_Chekova is glad for such approval, even if she isn't quite sure that it's real. She could ask, but why would a dream necessarily be truthful? Besides, when has she ever had this much focus in a dream? "I am!" she reassures. "I avenged you and got back what was stolen, and now I'm living my life for myself!"
<El-Cideon> "And that is for the best! Maybe one day you will find someone else to live for, but for now I rejoice knowing that you can as well. So many people do not have the opportunity to live the life they desire. Take advantage of it while you can! I will never look unkindly on what you do with your life, Nadia, as long as what you do is your choice."
<Nadia_Chekova> It always has been. While she's here... "I love you, mother. I know I didn't always show it, but I always did." Taking a deep breath she adds in a more hesitant voice, "What's it like?"
<El-Cideon> "It is difficult to describe. Sometimes I feel as though it has only been moments, other times I am sure I have been alone with my thoughts for years. I don't mind. There were many things I taught myself not to think about, not to notice, when I was alive. When I feel I know what my life meant, perhaps I will go...somewhere else. I am not sure. But speaking to you makes me sure, whatever else I did, giving you life was my triumph. It may have been the only thing I gave you, but I can rest well knowing you will not waste it!"
<El-Cideon> whatever else I did, giving you life was my triumph. It may have been the only thing I gave you, but I can rest well knowing you will not waste it!"
<Nadia_Chekova> That's the nicest thing a mother can say. A pity she had to be dead to say it. Also it rather disproves all that church mumbo jumbo. She doesn't quite understand Erin's dogma enough to say if it's disproved, though. "You did the best you could, and I turned out well," Nadia replies before another question occurs. "Mother, why did you never sell the Aurora? What's so special about it?"
<El-Cideon> A sigh echoes. "It was the only thing I had left. All my family, everyone I knew, I lost them when I fled the old country. I sold the other things I brought with me to survive, but if I let go that last piece, it would be as though I had never existed before coming to Monaco. Before living as the hotel tramp." The admission obviously pains her. (more)
<El-Cideon> "It was the last piece of majesty I had. I could pretend, sometimes, that things would be better one day, as they used to be, as long as I had it. I think sometimes that I was very foolish to keep it."
<Nadia_Chekova> Perhaps she would still be alive, Nadia thinks. Swallowing a lump in her throat, "I'll bury it with you. When I go back to Monaco, I'll put it in your grave," she promises. Let the remnants of Imperial Russia be forgotten, she doesn't care for them or the communists. It mattered to her mother, and she matters more than their frustrated dreams ever will.
<El-Cideon> "...Thank you, Nadia. You are right, it should rest as well, all of it. It is the best thing. No one can rebuild the past. It only causes pain to try." There's a long silence. Then: "I can no longer shed tears, Nadia, but I would do so in happiness now if I could. Go back to your life now. Go and be happy, for me!"
<Nadia_Chekova> She just has to wake up, right? "I will, mother. Do Svidanya!" she says goodbye in the language that was only ever spoken between the two of them at home, and less and less as time went by.
<El-Cideon> "Do Svidanya, yes! Farewell, my love!" You feel her voice retreat, somehow--everything does. A palpable sense of relief, of comfort, washes over you, the sense that for now, at least for this moment, everything is as it should be. Then blissful sleep takes you.
<El-Cideon> ~