hexarchate_rpg | on the nature of oaths

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moves: chapter 2

on the nature of oaths

[In the current move, Sasha has just accepted an oath of service from Jedao, a relationship Reshad believes is coercive. I'm not sure whether this properly counts as character rp or a new half-move, but I think we all need some new space to deal with the fallout!]

Sasha is waiting outside the antechamber. She has tied her scarf again, and looks as put-together as she ever does. "Are we having this conversation in my office?" she asks Reshad. "Or over tea, with everyone?"

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Gerae stirs. "I know I'm very junior in this organization," he says, "and that I certainly don't speak for the other Rahal, but I would strongly recommend doing that scan, Ione, if you can secure his agreement. If he's unstable, we really need to know how deep it goes." He flushes and lapses back into silence, ostentatiously petting the hatchling that he's currently feeding.

"My commitment to the Cantata is the only tie that isn't obvious," Sasha tells Reshad. She doesn't like speaking of this openly: she feels exposed in a way that isn't logical, not when the chain of oaths is nearly military in its directness. Jedao's oath hooks into her own promise to Ashari, and that's almost all there is, that single line.

She's half-grateful to Gerae, therefore, for the distraction. She suspects he has not understood the cost to Ione of reading people, so she still leads with "You don't want to scry him thoroughly yourself?" But her sarcasm lacks bite.

Sulen moves over to Gerae, ostensibly to admire the hatchling he's feeding, but also putting themself between him and Sasha. "Ione's ability sounds more effective than ours, at least in these circumstances." They're not sure they'd really want to scry Jedao even with a full hept. There's something unsettling about his signifier, though Crowned With Eyes isn't one they've had any bad associations with before.

Sasha bites her lip. "What do you really expect to gain, from an active scan? We already know Jedao is dangerous. Ione can monitor passively now, without putting him on alert. If you want a full psych profile, and he's cooperative, we'd be better off asking Remi."

[We're having this conversation in the common room, which means the Cantata can listen in if it wants to.

Also, Sasha's running on levels of stress high enough that her exotic effects might activate again--I don't think it's inevitable, but do feel free to invoke them against her if that seems interesting?]

[Noted--will get to this tomorrow as I am fried tonight. I appreciate the help!]

[Sorry I'm late responding--I'm sick with what may or may not be the flu, or may be something else entirely, will try not to fall behind again...]

There's a rattling noise in the cupboard as Sasha's powers threaten to activate--and then a teacup shatters.

There's a sudden interruption from the grid, translating for the Cantata. "Excuse me!" it says. The grid somehow manages to convey friendly cheer on its behalf. "Is there a reason the cups are shaking? I asked the other voidmoths in the area if it's any of them and they say they haven't messed with our gravity! Since I am your transportation I thought I should bring this potential safety issue to your attention."

"The disturbance is my fault. It should be temporary." Sasha thinks she sounds admirably calm, considering that she is a few millimeters away from reconfiguring the common room layout so she can sink into the floor. "Ione, this is not mine to dictate, not in any way, but... If you could keep the hatchling away from your hair, I would appreciate that very much."

She gives Chahle another bite of squashed banana. They're so sweet. All the hatchlings are. There's one curled against Reshad now, probably--only the Prophet can guess what will smash next, if Sasha contemplates that apparent softness--so she watches the Rahal, wondering when they will shift from confusion to hostility.

Strangely, Gerae looks really, really excited. "You can break things without touching them?" he asks. "Does it work on locks, too?"

"You might have noticed my control is not ideal." Sasha's smile initially involves a lot of pointy teeth, but she shifts quickly to something more genuine: Gerae is asking just the sort of question she would have asked. "If I could reliably move a deadbolt, growing up would have been a lot easier. I have pretty good luck with electronic locks, though."

"Obvious to wh-" Reshad's in mid-question, tone carefully curious, when the teacups rattle. Ears open for the sound of a siren, she visibly flinches, hand curling protective around the red pseudodragon. The Cantata's voice gives her enough time to settle, and by then the conversation has moved on

Not, she thinks, that she's finished with it.

She looks curious once the rattling is done. "You can- but how?" It's perhaps impolitic, Sasha showing a surprising amount of teeth to Gerae.

"I don't know."

Reshad has her hair pulled away from her face, at least, in some vague semblance of decency. Sasha is still aware of the way it falls against her shoulders. This would be just another part of the constant buzzy distractingness of life in the heptarchate, if it wasn't for Ione twisting a lock around her finger, and the weird lightness of Sasha's own head under her scarf, and the promise she has given. And the fact that she was sitting almost exactly here when Ashari reached out and petted her, as if she was a pseudo-dragon asking for treats.

Eight hells. Ione already knows. Sasha might as well tell the truth. It's a pity, almost: if she had prepared a lie, it would probably make more sense. "This level of disturbance is unusual. Ordinarily, I'm just very lucky. Or very unlucky. I win at cards, I win at darts, if you draw a name out of a fishbowl it will probably be mine. There was--an incident, with one of Ashari's daggers. I don't know how it works, or how to make it stop. It's not Naxorian. That is--I regret the necessity of this language--it is not in the writings of the Prophet. My best guess is, this is like one of my nurse's stories, and I should have gone on a journey, out onto the steppe, and hoped for advice from some mysterious being. Who probably doesn't even exist."

Ione and Alaric are, perhaps, the next best thing.

The Cantata speaks again. "As long as it's not a gravity malfunction, then. Sorry for prying!"

Gerae, on the other hand--"Is this kind of thing common among your nurse's people? Have you ever tested the range?"

The Cantata thrums. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it?"

"Thanks. It's all right." For values of "all right" that mean "Let's get this over with." Sasha lets Chahle curl close against her, and explains: "My nurse was Kirrish, like Yehan. I--I have some of that heritage, myself. But the heptarchate doesn't have a fucking monopoly on suppressing other people's calendars. I don't know what was true and what was only stories. I can affect things I can see or hear or interact with, including through the grid, but it's not predictable and it's not reliable. Ione had some ideas about tests, but we haven't run them yet."

This is fascinating, but it's also a magnificent distraction. Chalk one more onto the list of things she's thought of that Sasha might be able to do with that power.

And that sends her thoughts skipping back to Sasha's revelation in the hallway, and wondering how connected they are. It's a difficult situation - this is important, but the situation with Jedao is important, also. As is the matter of Sasha's ties, left still unexplained. Her hands occupied, Reshad pets the hatchling rather than finding any other way to fidget. Mimicking its silver cohort, perhaps, it stretches its neck toward her hair. Gently, she pulls it away, a few black strands coming forward of her shoulder courtesy of the curious hatchling.

"That's very kind of you, Cantata, but in this case there are things we need to know."

"Calendar... normalization, is what they called it, where I came from. But it was suppression, none the less." It's a small verbal circuit, a bow to what Sasha's already said. "As far as I know, exotics from the calendars subsumed failed to work under the true calendar, but I'm no mathematician. Perhaps Remi might be able to help with your testing?" Aware that she's pulling yet further off topic, Reshad tries to bring it back.

Two exotic abilities functioning under some version of the high calendar, though, is enough to distract anybody.

"Ione, does using your ability put you at risk in ways that wouldn't apply to any one of us?" It's an inelegant phrasing, but the question looms suddenly large.

Sasha cannot do this, she can't, it doesn't matter if Reshad will not control her hair or her hatchling, she's not going to break another cup. There's nowhere safe to look, so she closes her eyes and thinks about snow.

The girl looked north, and everything there was flat and white. She looked south, and everything there was flat and white. She looked east, and saw mist rising up, rising as high as she could see, opaque and white. She looked west, and saw the footprints of the person who was also a wolf.

The girl walked west. With her steps, snow fell; from her footprints, snow fell on the world below.

When everything feels still, Sasha opens her eyes and says, "Any human can shift the calendar, over a short distance. With all of us together, from different times and places, maybe the shift is greater. Is that the risk you mean? Or do you want to know more about why Ione wears gloves?"

Ione's hatchling has been relocated to her lap, and doesn't seem to be against it now that she's sitting in one place; it can stay settled there without causing any more issues. Even if Ione doesn't understand why it's an issue, there's been more than enough attention placed on Sasha. Better to ask in private, if she even remembers.

Instead, and instead of offering up that one of her siblings is much more destructive with his breaking things without touching them than Sasha is, which was also tempting, she just tries to answer the question:

"Yes, though to a limited extent. I can get overwhelmed and pass out. I don't just read feelings, I'm actually feeling them, so it's very--tiring, and I sometimes have to work hard to remind myself the feelings aren't mine." She wiggles a gloved hand, in case that was the question. "Skin-to-skin contact turns into getting everything the other person is feeling fed into my head and I find it extremely unpleasant to have happen by mistake. Because of the risk of losing consciousness I prefer to be guarded by someone I can trust when doing it intentionally. I have," with that same hand she touches her hair again, but this time it's just the top of her head, "something in here to prevent being like that around everyone all the time. What we are calling an ability is thought of as a disability by some in my home world."

Sasha's cheeks burn, but she thinks, snow. It's like snowshoes: she has to let the weight of her attention settle evenly. And just as when snowshoeing, everything seems harder than it should.

"So. We have some transit time, before we reach our rendezvous with Ashari. Ione, you are likely to spend much of that time with Jedao and Reshad or me, but please be clear about your limits. This isn't a short-term process. We need as much information as we can get about this Nirai collaborator: how he thinks, what his resources are."

[Maybe the next person to respond should start a new comment thread?]

New thread here!

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on the nature of oaths

Re: tea and dragons improve all sorts of moods - paging everyone

Re: tea and dragons improve all sorts of moods - paging everyone

Re: tea and dragons improve all sorts of moods - paging everyone

Re: tea and dragons improve all sorts of moods - paging everyone

[a couple of possible GM threads]

Re: [a couple of possible GM threads]

Re: [a couple of possible GM threads]

Re: tea and dragons improve all sorts of moods - paging everyone

stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Ione & Sulen

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Ione & Sulen

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Ione & Sulen

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Ione & Sulen

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Alaric and Reshad

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Alaric and Reshad

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Alaric and Reshad

Re: stray hatchlings, stray wolves, stray teacups - paging everyone, esp. Alaric and Reshad

trying not to break things

Re: trying not to break things

Re: trying not to break things

Re: trying not to break things