[ abraxas - ic contact ]

[thoughts]

text ✹ action

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[magicalarchaeologist]

Hello River, it's Istredd.

I was wondering if you had any interest in training with me in our similar powers. I've been using them a long time, I think I can help you.

[thoughts]

really? is it okay?

early april

[diametrically]

are you done classes for the day?

[thoughts]

i can be

[ and then a few minutes later, without waiting for a response ]

yes

Telepathic convo, right after they get back

[magicalarchaeologist]

[ Istredd is in a state of depression and locked away for the time being, but that doesn't change his relevant charges or responsibilities. And also, maybe for his own state.

He knocks on her head telepathically, which gives her the option to let him in to talk or not. It's polite. ]

[thoughts]

[ she doesn't respond at first. for days, there is only silence as she struggles to process 800 years of things that never really happened. she doesn't have the wherewithal to keep him out; if he prods, there will only be the sound of thunder and storms raging across her mind.

but she remembers. she remembers too much, but she knows istredd was there. her heart squeezes to think of it... so it takes a couple of days after that first knock before he will hear a very shy tapping on the glass in return. ]

[ushiri]

[ He will have at least checked with others to make sure she is up and about and eating at some point. But at her door he will leave a little box, inside is a note and a deck of Arcana cards. Not the fines ones they sell with gold leaf and gem dust, this deck is simple and plain. The note reads:

Thank you for pointing the way.
I will keep her safe this time.

-Kyle

p.s. she says you can come visit her any time ]

[thoughts]

[ several days pass before she opens the box. cassian brought it into her room and placed it on her nightstand, where it sat untouched as she stared at it in silent contemplation of all that she remembers about kyle-kahlil-yasi'halaun.

when she finally looks inside, after carefully tracing every letter he wrote and each arcana sign with her fingertips, a short message will appear on the surface closest to him. ]

are you home?

[ does she mean in the castle? or maybe in the horizon? or is she asking if anywhere in abraxas "home?" it is a mystery. ]

— forward dated a couple of hours before the coup

[diametrically]

[ As soon as Istredd messages him, Cassian sends a message to River. ]

there's a coup happening in the castle but i don't have many details
i'm coming to your room - i'll knock four times to let you know it's me
do not let anyone else in

[thoughts]

[ normally river's messages are fairly straightforward, but now cassian will receive a flood of sparkly words that appear all around him as a million thoughts cross her mind. ]

what
what coup
where are you
what's happening
how do you know
are you okay
are we in danger
is someone coming for us
kassa
where are you???

god au aftermath

[rookvision]

It’s Jacob. I think you know me, sort of.

Do you actually go by Serenity or have you got another name I should call you by?

[thoughts]

i know you

[ sort of. it's complicated. ]

her name is river

event 19 dream sharing~

[thedreamer]

[ It's rarer for the Doctor's body to need sleep, and rarer still for his chaotic mind to settle long enough to drift towards anything at all resembling actual restorative slumber. But when he does sleep, he dreams. And those dreams are vivid, interwoven tapestries — sometimes memories, things or people lost, places he wants to go and things he wants to do.

More often than not, though, he dreams of the stars that have always called him home. He's not only looking for River (Serenity) when he comes here and perches on a star, but he hopes he'll find her, that their dreams might align. That for a moment, they might meet again, after years upon years of knowing each other that weren't real (but were).

He'll wait a while and keep the stars on until she comes. If she comes. ]

i'm so sorry this is so late ;;;;;

[thoughts]

[ river hasn't been sleeping well since - well, since they woke up from the dream. it's been hard for her to come back to this timeline, her thoughts and memories lingering in a life she never lived. they call this "reality" but they have no proof, no way to say for sure that this world made of magic is not just another fiction that they're trapped within.

it's been hard. through it all, what she misses most is the stars. not just her domain, what was a place of comfort and solace in the madness, but her 'verse altogether, where serenity is a ship and not a god and her brother ( simon, not cassian, and oh how much shame she carries for conflating the two ) is there with her.

she seeks comfort in the stars, and perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that this is where she finds the doctor. they've met here before a thousand times - or perhaps this is the first time, really, a dream outside of the dream. the ground ripples like water beneath her feet as she walks toward him, but there is only empty space and the universe expanding in all directions around them. ]

Doctor.

[ or is it starman? she never did take to calling him that, after all. ]

July 1st

[magicalarchaeologist]

[This is on the network not in their minds]

River. I don't want you to worry or hear about this from someone else.
Kyle and I are being brought to the dungeons for questioning.
We may be there a few days, but I'm sure we'll be fine.

[thoughts]

[ the fact that it's not through their minds is alarming all on its own; maybe istredd can still feel her panic when all he gets in return is one very very large word: ]

WHAT

after the attack on the castle.

[gynvael]

Are you okay?

[thoughts]

"okay" is a subjective assessment. i'm not injured.

[carmesi]

River. Would you like to help me with some gardening?

[thoughts]

Yes. What's in season right now?

octoby delivery

[ushiri]

[ The welcome party for the new arrivals is smaller this time, and missing some familiar faces. Later in the evening he will pop by her new home in Nott to leave a couple of leftover tarts and legally purchased a piece of silverware. No note. ]

several days later

[thoughts]

[ a few days after his own sneaky delivery, kyle will receive a package with a return address that leads to a random fishing supply store in nott. the box rattles a little bit, and there are a few items inside when he opens it:

• a dense, lightly charred brick of what might be bread or a biscuit? whatever it's supposed to be, it's definitely homemade and mostly edible
• a small piece of paper with the chinese characters for "thank you" taking up almost the entire page: 谢谢
• a fork, spoon, and knife, along with an unfolded cloth napkin that are all of a nice enough quality that the only place you might find them is in the castle...

thank you uncle, she misses you too :c ]

post the great territory shuffle

[ordinar]

River?

Where are you?

I ended up in Cadens. We keep getting farther away from each other.

[thoughts]

we're lost in the woods

but there are goats and apples and istredd so it's not bad

[ solvunn, then ]

do you feel free?

some time into the territory shuffle

[satanicpanics]

hey
river
how's goat city treating you?
you wanna go on a small quest for me?