[The day dawns as it always does - sun shining bright and clear, gleaming on the spires of the city and echoing across her streets. They have been blessed with another beautiful day, even if he can't shake the feeling that it should be raining.
He can't say why. Merely that it does and the odd half-wrongness of it lingers as he walks through the streets, manifesting itself as tendrils of shadow that cling to his robes and drip slowly into the gleaming streets. It should be the first warning sign, a signal that something is wrong. It is not, and he doesn't notice as the shadows grow teeth and claws before scuttling away into the corners. He simply moves on, the streets blurring into each other until between one moment and the next he's standing in what looks like it might be a professorial office, albeit writ a fair deal larger and in the brass and steel of Amaurot, though it nonetheless manages to feel comfortable.
(It is, perhaps, a little messier than it might typically be, the gleaming crystal of a few spare concept matrices tucked away in a corner, and the desk dusted with paperwork besides, but no one had ever claimed holding the seat he does to be easy.)
There's a moment of silence, and then a sigh as he turns away from the paperwork and reaches for the first of the concept matrices.
His fingers have barely brushed the surface of the crystal when it keens, high and shrill and unearthly, the sound rising in both pitch and volume until becomes unbearable, all-consuming. All-ending, and he flees the room as the papers ignite behind him.
He flees into chaos. The once-calm streets are filled with the sounds of screams; the smell of burning metal and ash as buildings burn, battered by a storm not of water, but stone as meteors streak down out of a blackened sky.]
Hemera makes herself at home in Hades' quarters, curled up in the centre of his bed, wrapped in her brand new fur cloak that all but dwarfs her current form. She has her cheek pressed against the fur she's enchanted to smell faintly of Hythlodaeus, and her hands laying near eye level as she toys absentmindedly with the delicate, golden charm bracelet her dear friend had made for her before he died.
[For all that it might have been nice to see Gaius relax in his presence, it's not any particular surprise that he wouldn't. To say nothing of the fact that even were it not for the situation at hand, Gaius likely wouldn't have been completely relaxed in his presence. At ease, certainly, but the ease of a soldier in the presence of his commanding rather than anything that could be considered more casual. Still, he can absolutely read the gratitude in Gaius' eyes and - for now - that will do.
(Will have to do, given that if he pushes too hard, the fragile deception he's been building could well come crumbling down around him.)]
Such as they are. There have been few enough answers given to how we have arrived, save that it is Navi's doing. Presumably either to assist Navi in their attempts to escape some manner of captivity or as a side-effect of same.
[Neither of which are particularly comforting answers. They're better than nothing at all, certainly, but given there has to be any direct indication of how long 'assisting' will take nor whether or not there is actually truth to the suggestion that they will simply be able to return home once all is said and done... he can't say that he's entirely thrilled about it. Least of all for the fact that he had rather been in the middle of something prior to finding himself suddenly pulled away to a living spaceship.]
And should it not be something that is under anyone's direct control it could be possible.
[It's no less concerning, of course. Not least of all for the fact that while he is no longer acting as Garlemald's emperor, that someone was able to successfully pull him away from his work - and without his absence being noticed - is still deeply concerning. Especially given that it almost certainly means that Elidibus will be left to his own devices, if he hasn't already. But that is something that is more his concern than Gaius' - and will remain so, if he has any sort of say in the matter.
Instead, he turns to Gaius' questions. He might not be able to tell what, yet, to make of the expression that seems to come with them. But the questions themselves are simple enough to answer.]
Not a one. Until you arrived, I was the only one of our people here.
[There is, of course, another of his people on board the ship. But though he might be cleaving very close to the exact truth of Gaius' words, he knows - assumes, rather, though likely correctly - that Gaius had meant to ask after Garleans. Not any other people he might happen to share kinship with.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Dream event; cw fires, apocalyptic imagery
He can't say why. Merely that it does and the odd half-wrongness of it lingers as he walks through the streets, manifesting itself as tendrils of shadow that cling to his robes and drip slowly into the gleaming streets. It should be the first warning sign, a signal that something is wrong. It is not, and he doesn't notice as the shadows grow teeth and claws before scuttling away into the corners. He simply moves on, the streets blurring into each other until between one moment and the next he's standing in what looks like it might be a professorial office, albeit writ a fair deal larger and in the brass and steel of Amaurot, though it nonetheless manages to feel comfortable.
(It is, perhaps, a little messier than it might typically be, the gleaming crystal of a few spare concept matrices tucked away in a corner, and the desk dusted with paperwork besides, but no one had ever claimed holding the seat he does to be easy.)
There's a moment of silence, and then a sigh as he turns away from the paperwork and reaches for the first of the concept matrices.
His fingers have barely brushed the surface of the crystal when it keens, high and shrill and unearthly, the sound rising in both pitch and volume until becomes unbearable, all-consuming. All-ending, and he flees the room as the papers ignite behind him.
He flees into chaos. The once-calm streets are filled with the sounds of screams; the smell of burning metal and ash as buildings burn, battered by a storm not of water, but stone as meteors streak down out of a blackened sky.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
sometime after her generous purchase
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
thread continuation
[For all that it might have been nice to see Gaius relax in his presence, it's not any particular surprise that he wouldn't. To say nothing of the fact that even were it not for the situation at hand, Gaius likely wouldn't have been completely relaxed in his presence. At ease, certainly, but the ease of a soldier in the presence of his commanding rather than anything that could be considered more casual. Still, he can absolutely read the gratitude in Gaius' eyes and - for now - that will do.
(Will have to do, given that if he pushes too hard, the fragile deception he's been building could well come crumbling down around him.)]
Such as they are. There have been few enough answers given to how we have arrived, save that it is Navi's doing. Presumably either to assist Navi in their attempts to escape some manner of captivity or as a side-effect of same.
[Neither of which are particularly comforting answers. They're better than nothing at all, certainly, but given there has to be any direct indication of how long 'assisting' will take nor whether or not there is actually truth to the suggestion that they will simply be able to return home once all is said and done... he can't say that he's entirely thrilled about it. Least of all for the fact that he had rather been in the middle of something prior to finding himself suddenly pulled away to a living spaceship.]
And should it not be something that is under anyone's direct control it could be possible.
[It's no less concerning, of course. Not least of all for the fact that while he is no longer acting as Garlemald's emperor, that someone was able to successfully pull him away from his work - and without his absence being noticed - is still deeply concerning. Especially given that it almost certainly means that Elidibus will be left to his own devices, if he hasn't already. But that is something that is more his concern than Gaius' - and will remain so, if he has any sort of say in the matter.
Instead, he turns to Gaius' questions. He might not be able to tell what, yet, to make of the expression that seems to come with them. But the questions themselves are simple enough to answer.]
Not a one. Until you arrived, I was the only one of our people here.
[There is, of course, another of his people on board the ship. But though he might be cleaving very close to the exact truth of Gaius' words, he knows - assumes, rather, though likely correctly - that Gaius had meant to ask after Garleans. Not any other people he might happen to share kinship with.]