🏝️ dulces sueños group excursion! 🏝️

[hearthwarming]

🏝️ who: intrepid adventurers (vacationers?) and more!
🏝️ what: ori organized (origanized?) a group trip to the resort! mass memshare ensues.
🏝️ when: fall 9-10
🏝️ where: dulces sueños resort
🏝️ warnings: threads will be marked as needed for memshares.

[ Hopefully everyone had fun on the Arco Lunar! The morning after the boat departs from the docks, a letter arrives to your mailbox: ]

Hello, intrepid adventurer!

I am excited to have you along for a group excursion to the mysterious new island! In two days' time, let us gather in the town square and set off from there! Please be prepared to stay the night. It will be so fulfilling and memorable for everyone to spend a night on an adventure together!

If you have any questions or concerns, please come find me at my flower shop in town or at the forest farm where I live!

Sincerely,
Oriphi

[ If she accidentally delivered it to a few wrong mailboxes, then... Oops!

On the promised day, once everyone (and likely a few surprise tag-alongs) has gathered or been gathered, Ori distributes little paper bags of snacks to everyone. Inside are cookies, oat snacks, and a freshly-picked apple from her and M-21's orchard. Do with them as you please... Just don't let her catch you throwing it into the sea or something. 🥺 ]

Alright. I think we should head out, then! Thanks for coming along, everyone! I hope it'll be a great time. Oh, and please don't forget to drink plenty of water and use this incredible ointment I discovered on this island! It's called "sunscreen!" Tieflings don't really get sunburnt, but you should use it!

[ And with that our intrepid adventurers set off to the mysterious, dangerous, unknowable... resort island! ]

( This is the ill-fated mass extinction memshare event. Please refer to the event for details on the resort and the plotting post for any specific details for characters' memshares! There are toplevels for each area of the resort (and for the memshare). Enjoy! )

Comments

[pactmarshal]

[ Before Trahearne even sees Kaspar, he knows who this memory belongs to.

The glowing soldiers, the darkness--who would he if he could not piece together his roommate's, his dear friend's world from what information he's been told alone? He is attentive, if anything, and at once many things he's come to learn slot into place.

If Kaspar towers over the rest, then so does Trahearne. He glows like the rest, conspicuously fuchsia, but decides to hang back, putting a respectful distance between himself and the activity. Whatever is going on, it must be important.

Though it is almost immediately clear that Kaspar is in charge. His eyes remain fixed on him, evaluating him for the first time in a professional manner. Trahearne is impressed. He carries himself in a way he has never seen before, and if it weren't for the familiar glow he might not have recognized him.

It's a good thing, however, that he keeps an eye on his roommate, then. Kaspar has always been one for his whims, hasn't he?

As he leaps, and the yells start, Trahearne's gaze whips back and forth between the closing darkness and the hole before him. It takes a split second before he makes his decision: he runs towards the edge and leaps off after him. ]

[bluminescence]

[ Kaspar's glow shifts in the distance as Kaspar swings around, spying Trahearne's streak of fuschia following him. Sparks fly from the metal soles of his shoes. He lets one arm fall, hand open under him as he angles himself to catch the other man with the other arm.

It's instinct to save him from hitting the ground best he can, even though the safer option for Kaspar would be to let him fall. But the decision is made on impulse, unsure at a distance which of his men he thinks it is. And even once be realizes it isn't, he is committed to it.

More faint sparks, from feet and cable, he only slows enough without stopping as he reaches out for the man he still doesn't recognize. Two coming together as gently as possible at this velocity as he tries to loop him in with a grunt. Though a normal human might suffer, Kaspar pools his light for the collision. There is still a ways to descend before the cable even begins to noticeably slow their joined speed. ]

[pactmarshal]

[ In his impulse to catch up with Kaspar, to escape the impending dark, Trahearne does not remember that he cannot deal with the sensation of falling anymore.

As he falls, panic and fear take over his being, and he instantly wishes he could take back his decision. But it is too late for that. His eyes roam, eventually settling on Kaspar's familiar glow, his only lifeline.

He angles himself to fall into Kaspar's extended arm. Luckily, being made of mostly leaf and wood, Trahearne is not very heavy, and the excess momentum should not pull too hard on Kaspar's limbs. Easily he is caught, looped in; he grabs onto Kaspar, whatever Kaspar holds onto. Best hold tight if there's still a ways to go. ]

Thank you, I--

[ --should have thought before jumping. ]

[bluminescence]

[ The second their speeds align, Kaspar allows his feet to fall out of contact with the walls even as they push off back near the center. But this is no Groscian, he seems to have realized. Kaspar's hold is not idle, as he aims to put as much strength as necessary into forcing Trahearne's arms behind his back with loops of leather. ]

Quiet.

[ Kaspar's command is clipped, Groscian that they both seem to understand here. He rolls them, forcing Trahearne to face the depths strapped haphazardly to his harness by a few straps, the very same binding his wrists, and one strong arm around him. The other stretches out into the pitch black like a lifeline.

His heart pounds at Trahearne's back despite the apparent calm. For some time, besides that and the stale air fighting against them, there is silence. Below them, nothing. Until a pin prick of light gradually becomes more visible. Kaspar grits his teeth. The cable starts to spark again and Kaspar finally makes a sound.

He whistles, his body noticeably shifting in the air without any other effort on his part. Soles connect, sparking and forcing him to grab at Trahearne's knees if he isn't quick enough to protect his feet. Then his hand falls again, fingers snapping. The distant light begins its ascent.

It crashes into them, a crater of late in Kaspar's palm, just in time to shove them back. The force is enough that Kaspar's feet connect with the rocky surface without shattering. The movement is almost graceful, from landing to shoving Trahearne against the nearest wall with his next fluid motion. His eyes glow hot behind goggles, breathing even. He isn't overly rough, considering the obvious military operation, but it isn't exactly gentle either. ]

Who are you?

[pactmarshal]

[ Bewildered, both by the sudden command and how his arms have been tied behind his back, Trahearne's mouth only gapes silently. He scarcely has time to collect his thoughts, about how different Kaspar seems in this situation. Perhaps he might feel the same way if he ever saw him in action as marshal--

Those thoughts don't finish, though, when they flip, and he is met immediately with another strike of panic in his chest as he stares into the darkness below. Every blink brings a flash in his mind's eye of a burning jungle, of blighted vines whipping through the air straight at him, of comrades falling to their death, of the ever-nearing ground. Fear chokes him, and if it weren't for the command to keep quiet and the way Kaspar keeps him held close, he would have screamed.

This all happens so quickly--he scarcely notices how Kaspar grabs his legs. All he knows is that he is abruptly pinned to the wall, the air almost knocked out of him. His mind hasn't even caught up yet. ]

I--I am Trahearne. [ His voice is cracked, bewildered, his own fear from the descent still rattling loudly in his gut and in his mind. Bright yellow eyes search Kaspar's, trying to find a hint of recognition in his eyes. ] Your roommate. Your friend.

[bluminescence]

Take a deep breath.

[ Kaspar does not let up, unless his captive decides to pull breath in as instructed. He only eases just enough to allow it. Othwrwise, Kaspar keeps him pinned with the strength of his light, so rarely used outside of farmwork. His other gloved hand searches for any weapons with a nearly clinical touch over chest and hips and legs.

But these are clearly leaves. And Trahearne is not in any uniform. Nor does he look like anyone he's ever seen. So tall, too tall for any deep dweller. But who else would have the gall to resist the Groscians than the fae? It would also explain the fall from nowhere.

His voice still demands an answer, yet the question itself is more curious than threatening. ]

Why are you here?

[pactmarshal]

[ This is...not a side of Kaspar Trahearne ever expected to see. He is usually so docile, so gentle, so loving, and so in tune with his whims. He had understood logically, yes, that he was a military captain; he thinks that may have been partially why they'd gotten so along so well together as living partners. But to actually see him in action is...it's very different.

Trahearne is, needless to say, bewildered. He finds himself gulping before he takes a shallow, shaky breath. Eyes unblinking, remaining fixed on Kaspar's. A part of him trusts that Kaspar would never harm him willingly, but...who knows in this dream. ]

I don't know. [ His tone remains even, trying to keep himself composed. It's hard to hide the bewilderment in his face, though. ] We all fell asleep together at the resort, and I think this must be--I must be in a dream of yours.

[ It probably sounds ridiculous, but he is nothing if not honest. ]

[bluminescence]

[ It does sound ridiculous.

Now Kaspar is fairly certain this fae is just mad. But Trahearne's shown no aggression, and there are no other eyes on them yet. So he eases the pressure. But he keeps a firm hand where Trahearne's arms are bound and a sharper eye on his movements. ]

Leave, before my men finish their repel.

[ But he pushes against him one more time, a show of strength more than anything. The threat is cold. ]

Do not interfere.

[ Kaspar says it just as deft fingers drop to untie him and he takes a few steps back to keep his pistol aimed a him. He gestures his head in the direction of one of the slivers of cracks in the stone around them. More than one leads to an off shoot of a tunnel. He will keep his weapon trained on him wherever he chooses.

A little quieter, a littler more of the him Trahearne knows without losing any firmness-- ]

Find a grove we won't, fae.

[pactmarshal]

[ Trahearne instinctively rubs his wrists when let free, but doesn't immediately act. His eyes trail up to Kaspar--younger looking than he knows him--and his lips draw into a thin line.

He has so many questions. He does not know what a fae is, namely. But quickly, he's pulled out of his thoughts, not given too much time to dwell on the whole situation. He brings his hands up to show he means no harm, and he steps back slightly. What Kaspar says in the end--it's a small reminder that he is in there somewhere.

He nods, but says nothing else. His eyes dart around to take in the cracks and picks one at random, into which he slips through and vanishes. ]

[bluminescence]

[ Recognition flickers in Kaspar too late, the shift in him immediate once begun. There is the sound of metal claps, leather on leather, and swift steps following him into the dark. Goggles gone, illuminated expression in the dark full of concern across his younger face.

Reaching out blindly for a hold on him by his glow, Kaspar calls out in his normal voice, lifted by rare worry. ]

Tra!

[pactmarshal]

[ Luckily, even in the dark, Trahearne's glow makes him an easy spot.

And so when Kaspar reaches for him, and when he feels the hand on his arm, and the one and only nickname he has ever been given, he pauses. He turns to look at his roommate, understandably cautious, and perhaps a little confused. ]

Kaspar?

[ He keeps his voice low in a whisper, unsure if the warnings given to him moments earlier still counted. ]

[bluminescence]

[ They certainly don't count anymore, not when he pulls Trahearne into a tight embrace in the dark. A white glow greeting fuschia. He will hold him like the fear of losing him was something real. Knowing it is a dream keeps his focus here instead of the imaginary men that have likely already begun their descent after him.

His voice is warm again, familiar. ]

I'm sorry.

[pactmarshal]

[ Ah, Kaspar--the Kaspar he knows--is back. The gesture is immediately familiar to Trahearne, and he returns the hug readily. The tightness of it, the quiet fear in the gesture, is unusual; a little frown, unseen, crosses his face before he holds back tighter in reassurance. ]

It's all right. [ Trahearne's is soft, understanding. ] You were reliving a memory. You didn't know it was me.

[bluminescence]

[ Kaspar remains, the rugged dark walls shifting as the memory around them fades to pitch black, save for their respective glows. He keeps his hold so he can feel where his eyes might fail. ]

... did you jump?

[ Is all he asks, tone going just as soft. ]

[pactmarshal]

[ Trahearne relaxes a touch as everything goes black--this means no one can find them, they are not in danger of being found by the men that followed in Kaspar's suit. ]

I did.

[ It's an answer that comes readily, because he did so without second thought. Even if he did regret it in the moments that followed. ]