youngtimer | Felfri Part 1 Overflow

He definitely knows shock when he sees it. At least the rooms have sinks, little bathrooms. Doors that can either close or be left open, whichever feels more safe. Gently, he guides the kid back into his own room.

"Come on, sit down. What's your name? I'm Horatio."

(from here)

Half is pretty good, honestly, I'll take it. Felfri is an alternate version of reality, built by a person collectively known as Elias, or the Fourth God. He built it to have a place where he has power over the world, instead of the god he's been trying to overthrow for years: the Fog God. The real world he's from - or at least, the part of it we're all familiar with here, is called Ryslig. But even that's its own dimension and reality in itself. The Fog God pulls people to Her from different worlds to try and rebuild Hers after it was almost destroyed by war.

[as he explains, he's watching Joker's face to see how he's processing and handling all of this = well, or not at all]

Basically you're in a nesting doll of worlds right now, a layer or two deeper than you should be. I got pulled into Ryslig two years ago, and I've only ever been here in Felfri once before.

"Mmmmmmkay, story time. I'll make it brief as I can. Long, long time ago on this peninsula, there used to be three gods: Day, Night, Fog. They got in a massive fight - Day vs. Night - and Fog tried to mediate them, creating monsters to keep th peace, but it just got worse and worse. Eventually Day and Night both died and the Fog was the only one left. Monsters evolved so that they had to feed on humans, like we do now, and the humans fought back. One of them found a way to steal a bunch of Her power and give it to his own son: a boy named Elias. Now that part of the Fog God's power was part of him, he became the Fourth God. Only, his power came partially from that stolen piece of the Fog God, and mostly from technology. And now Elias' goal is to completely obliterate the Fog God, and vice versa. Still with me?"

He glanced around. "The Fourth God does a lot of technological illusions. He's got a building where you can make the inside look like whatever you want. But he also found a way to create an alternate dimension where he's in charge, not the Fog. That's where we are now. He calls it Felfri. And if we're here, it means something big has happened back in Ryslig. Something that's going to have an effect on it all by the time we get back."

[he's counting as they all come out to the rendezvous point - okay, check, good, good, almost there - wait. wait, who's missi--]

Shit.

[immediately, Horatio Blinks to the building, to the exit point they'd all agreed to at the rundown. there she is, stumbling through the door. he clenches his fists and bends time around them, buying her an extra thirty seconds, maybe a minute, by taking the last couple of conscripts and Blinking them to the getaway vehicle - some bus or van that was hollowed out and repurposed to be tactical in the most rudimentary ways possible.

once that's done, he heads back to her, Blinking in beside her, and claps her on the shoulder with a grin]

Got you covered. I can either get you out of here now or I can cover you, whichever works, but pick fast, they'll be here in about twenty seconds.

Me? Yeah, I'm fine. It'll take a lot more than that to get me down for the count, you know that.

[he paused, realizing that might not be the case]

Wait, do you remember me?

Weak language was never quite my strong suit.

[he flashes Kaito his usual sarcastic smirk]

I'm fine. But yeah, Elias is - he calls himself the Fourth God, but only because his hack scientist father stole some of the Fog God's power a long time ago and siphoned it into his body. This place is a virtual world he made - I've been here once before. Though, granted, last time wasn't nearly as much of a pain in the ass.

Edited 2022-10-25 22:27 (UTC)

"Not my fault the asshole had two sets of metal claws down the back of their forearm like something out of a bad 80s dystopia movie," Horatio says through gritted teeth, using his wit and anger to cover up the sting of the syringe.

He doesn't flinch at the makeshift rig Gabe sets up, or the prospect of the glowing-hot iron, but his thin chest heaves high before he tenses every single muscle in his body in preparation for what's to come. Horatio ducks his head for a moment to grab the lip of his cotton hood between his teeth, something to bite down on rather than accidentally finding his tongue in his jaws. He doesn't move his head after that, simply cuts his gaze over to Gabe with resolve, nostrils flaring.

"Do it."

The pain of metal against the severed artery is white-hot, all-consuming, and he grinds his heels into the floor, gripping the chair with his good arm as tight as he can, stomach clenching, even as he stares straight ahead at a fixed point - a water stain? or is it rust? - on the wall ahead of him. Horatio's jaw shakes, the fringe of hair along one side of his brow flopping a little into his face as he rides out the agony. Only a few seconds, if that, but it feels like an eternity before he's letting out the breath he'd held in a groan.

"It's a start," Horatio concurs with his quip, popping one shoulder in something that almost counts as a shrug.

"This is definitely not the way I remember Felfri being, the last time I was here. For whatever that might be worth."

We can definitely do that. There was a heat vent right over my cot in my room, if you don't mind sitting around in there for a little bit. Might help.

[oh. oh, having a damp cookie in your hand is a weird feeling, and he has to fight the subliminal urge to pull a Taylor Swift and just shake him off, shake shake shake him off, as he starts to carry him back toward his room]

And you were too little to be able to pick up the tiny computer-phone thing, so you've got no clue where we are, I'm guessing. It's ... an alternate dimension the Fourth God made. He calls it Felfri, and from what little I remember of the last time I was here, it's ... very different.

With, as they say, extreme prejudice.

[he frowns]

But being a target never stopped me before. If this is, as I'm guessing, a safe house for Fog followers, at least some of them have to know where Elias' weak points are. If they're all under attack, they have a counterattack or a defense planned, and wherever that is, that's where I need to be. So I can talk to the people who know the score and find out how to get out of here.

Had it since last November, you just never got to see it, I guess. Bought it back from Mana.

[never left. of course he would think that. it tracks.]

You may not have left, but you still missed a lot. No one's seen you in months.

[he may have lowered the pipe, but he's not loosing his grip on it, not when he can see just how tense Monty is, how the other man's grip on the rock hasn't gotten any more relaxed either. something's got him still locked into fight mode, and whatever it is, Horatio might have to contend with that any moment now. it wouldn't be the first time he'd had to fight family. he's certain it wouldn't be the last.]

What's the last weird Fog shit you remember dealing with?

For Emporio

For Joker

For Bucky

For Chiaki

For Emmet

For Kaito

For Gabe - CW: cauterization, wound detail, surgery, etc

For Richard

For Sparkling

For Saint-Germain

For Monty