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exsiliumlogs2012-05-15 06:44 pm
noble_nate) wrote in exsiliumlogs2012-05-15 06:44 pm
[Open]
Date & Time: 5/15, morning
Location: Outside the library
Characters: Nathaniel and ?
Summary: The hallucinations are starting to get to Nathaniel
Warnings: None at the moment
Nathaniel sat on a bench outside the library, certain that he'd lost his mind. One of his biggest fears had come to pass: the Masked had invaded the city again. Only this time they didn't seem content to just hold people down and put microchips in them, this time they were actually assaulting the helpless and unarmed denizens. He'd been chasing them all day, to no avail. He saw the first group of them just after breakfast, beating on an old man. Nathaniel, ignoring the fact that he knew they were nigh unbeatable, had run towards them to offer his help. But as soon as he arrived at the place they were, they'd already vanished.
It had happened several more times throughout the day. Each time he'd see a group of Masked attacking one or more people and each time he'd run to them, only to have them not be there. Magic, he assumed, but he never actually saw them vanish. It wasn't as if they were there and transported themselves away from the area, it was almost as if they'd never been there at all.
He was starting to believe that none of this was real, that he was stuck inside some sort of horrible nightmare. Not only was he seeing enemies where he suspected there were none, he was also hearing voices. Disembodied voices whispering over his shoulder, telling him that he was safe in Exsilium. Telling him that he was grateful to be here, that he could trust the Initiative. They had been visiting his dreams for the last few days, telling him all of the benefits of living here, and how happy he was now. He had a strong suspicion that they were lying. He hadn't bothered sleeping at all last night; he'd lain in bed until Anders had fallen asleep, then went out to the living room to pace up and down. He must have fallen asleep sometime this morning, but he couldn't remember actually doing so. With a deep frown, he placed his head in his hand, clutching at it, willing himself to wake up.
Location: Outside the library
Characters: Nathaniel and ?
Summary: The hallucinations are starting to get to Nathaniel
Warnings: None at the moment
Nathaniel sat on a bench outside the library, certain that he'd lost his mind. One of his biggest fears had come to pass: the Masked had invaded the city again. Only this time they didn't seem content to just hold people down and put microchips in them, this time they were actually assaulting the helpless and unarmed denizens. He'd been chasing them all day, to no avail. He saw the first group of them just after breakfast, beating on an old man. Nathaniel, ignoring the fact that he knew they were nigh unbeatable, had run towards them to offer his help. But as soon as he arrived at the place they were, they'd already vanished.
It had happened several more times throughout the day. Each time he'd see a group of Masked attacking one or more people and each time he'd run to them, only to have them not be there. Magic, he assumed, but he never actually saw them vanish. It wasn't as if they were there and transported themselves away from the area, it was almost as if they'd never been there at all.
He was starting to believe that none of this was real, that he was stuck inside some sort of horrible nightmare. Not only was he seeing enemies where he suspected there were none, he was also hearing voices. Disembodied voices whispering over his shoulder, telling him that he was safe in Exsilium. Telling him that he was grateful to be here, that he could trust the Initiative. They had been visiting his dreams for the last few days, telling him all of the benefits of living here, and how happy he was now. He had a strong suspicion that they were lying. He hadn't bothered sleeping at all last night; he'd lain in bed until Anders had fallen asleep, then went out to the living room to pace up and down. He must have fallen asleep sometime this morning, but he couldn't remember actually doing so. With a deep frown, he placed his head in his hand, clutching at it, willing himself to wake up.
[fast-forwarding to ...]
They have a smallish supply of necessities, drawn from a cache Anders had made in a storage locker at the one subway station he first found — the only one he's ever visited before this informal two-person expedition. Apostate logic, stashing things in odd places you might need to find later, never quite trusting the place you've been calling home. It's nice to have a change of socks and smallclothes. Nice, too, to have these handy battery-powered torches, so Anders doesn't need to tap his mana continually for a spell wisp to light the way. Their water is bottled, supplemented by drinks they buy when they happen to find a station egress that isn't blocked and permits them to surface briefly. For food, they've got dried fruit and crackers and such, all of which (by sheer luck, with some help from Anders' hoarding tendencies) happened to be bought either outside the Initiative Hold or else well before the food supply's contamination had begun.
It's an odd little excursion, this, undertaken not quite on the spur of the moment, but certainly unplanned for this duration or this particular time. It should have lasted only a few hours. In those few hours, though, Anders started noticing some things that troubled him. Things Nathaniel would say, or the way he'd stare into empty air as if watching some very real tableau visible only to himself. When Anders asks questions about these wholly atypical behaviors, Nathaniel won't give him a straight answer. (Later he'll learn why, and he'll have to admit Nathaniel's misgivings aren't unfounded. Anders does not react well to anything that smacks of blood magic.)
Anders leaps to exactly the wrong conclusion: that the microchip glued to Nathaniel's spine is making him ill. But from this conclusion, he reasons out a course of treatment that turns out the best possible: keep Nathaniel underground, away from the vibrations that travel through the air and bounce off the microchip or whatever. (People have tried to explain the microchips and the wireless network and other such technology to Anders. It's safe to say that Anders is Unclear on the Concept.) Being underground means being away from home, which means not drinking or bathing in the water (though they don't yet know the water at home is contaminated) and not eating things in the Initiative Hold (though they don't yet know the food there is contaminated).
Thus the treatment works despite Anders' utter misapprehension of the disorder he's trying to treat. Once the last of the chemical has passed from Nathaniel's body, he stops acting so jumpy. He also stops praising the Initiative so much, which is good because they've had a couple of minor squabbles on the subject their first day underground.
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And despite being down in the dark for so many days, without fresh air or water for bathing (and thankfully Anders smells infinitely better than the corpse Justice once occupied), Nathaniel's feeling better than he has in days. His dreams have settled down for the most part -- or as settled down as any Warden's dreams are -- and he's fairly certain that everything he sees now are things that are really there. The occasional voice still whispers over his shoulder, but it's more of an echo now than a shout.
He's also starting to participate more in the situation around him rather than just moving in the direction he's been pointed.
"Why exactly are we down here again?" Nathaniel asks as they stop for a water break.
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It is safe to say there will be zero makeouts in this thread."Why are we here?" Distracted, Anders is making notes on his crumpled map by the light of a hovering spell wisp. "A few reasons." He finishes and wads the map into a rough oblong far from its original crisp pleats. "One, I wanted to get a good start on learning which passages are still usable, and I didn't want to do it alone." He looks Nathaniel right in the eye, so he'll know that really is a true statement. "I can't count the times that knowing Kirkwall's underground tunnels saved my life. Two ..." Anders frowns. He is so very, very tempted to say something stupid he thinks is funny, and he knows that would be a horrible idea. Fine, then, time for the unvarnished truth. "I thought it would be good for your health. And I think I was right. You're feeling better, aren't you?"
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He still doesn't understand how they could stand against Justice. Yet they did.
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"I don't want to live underground... I quite like fresh air and sunlight."
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Nathaniel may not be conversant with the ins and outs of Kirkwall's literal undercity, but the name is likely recognizable.
"Sunlight and fresh air are to be preferred, but ... I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe."
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"I appreciate the sentiment, love." He grasps Anders' hand and squeezes it.
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He trails off. Justice is a tricky subject.
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