STATIC
You need to find a way to move forwards, otherwise you will never change. There are too many desires that you are keeping locked away. The world around you is closing in and you need to push back. Remember what you wanted and make it happen. It is never too late. You are more powerful than you think.
>> Take the test here. <<
Tagged by: @little-purple-thundercloud. <3
Anafenza stared up at the tree and shivered. She pulled away from the Commander’s comforting embrace. “I…I don’t know what else,” she began, shaking her head.
Stormy interrupted. “You mentioned a curse. The vines choking out your tree. They’re red vines, bloodred vines; what is this curse?”
Ana shook her head. “When I killed her – the other Jessika – I wasn’t in control of myself. I was under the control of these…other mages that call themselves ‘Nemesis.’ I was trying to parley with them; I didn’t want more of my friends to get hurt, and so I approached them using an amulet of theirs we had confiscated.”
Stormy blinked in disbelief. “Nemesis.” She shook her head. “It’s always a Nemesis plot…”
The Commander looked over at her. “You recognize the name?”
Stormy laughed once, humorless. “Yeah,” was all she said, and left it at that.
Anafenza continued. “I just wanted peace…and they rewarded me for my troubles by using magicks to gain control of my mind, convince me the only way to peace was to silence my friends, starting with Lyta. I was attacking her when Jessika got in my way and I…” Ana trailed off – they’d heard this part already. “I was still trying to kill Lyta when Jessika expired; this cloud of dark aether erupted from her body and surrounded me, subduing me and breaking the magicks that were driving me. I woke up later in the infirmary…I knew what had happened, I was aware of everything.” She wiped her eyes – she hadn’t noticed she’d started to cry – and continued. “I woke up with this scar on my body, the same scar Jessika had born. Her ‘bloodvine,’ as it were. Since then, I’ve…heard a strange song…I’ve seen her memories…I’ve begun to use strange abilities she could use…and I’d swear I could feel her presence with me.”
The Commander tilted her head. “What is aether?”
Anafenza nodded towards the tree. “That dark fog rolling off the tree? That is aether. It’s…what everything is made of. Aether flows through everything, everyone. It channels to us from the lifestream.”
The older Jessica furrowed her brow. “That would explain the strange energy readings, then. This aether, do you have your own signature of it? A pool of aether that is unique to you?”
Anafenza nodded. “That’s how I understand it.”
The other woman nodded. “Ana, this strange energy reading everywhere, this ‘aether.’ It is very similar to your own. That makes sense; you likened the tree to your own life force.” She pulled out her scanning device, waving it near Ana. She held it over the girl’s scar; the steady beeping and whistling of the device suddenly increased in frequency. “And the scar you ‘inherited,’ it’s practically leaking this aether into the chamber.”
Stormy snapped her fingers. “She inherited that bloodvine curse from her world’s Jessika!”
“Exactly. And with it, it would seem, a very large chunk of that Jessika’s aether pool…which would then help anchor us all to this pocket dimension.”
Anafenza looked stunned. “You mean…I really have had a piece of her with me this entire time? I thought I was going insane…”
“And it was that piece that allowed you to come here and join us,” Commander St. Peter continued. “Whatever this aether and lifestream are, they must have reached out to similar aetheric signatures and pulled us all together.”
Stormy shook her head. “Like the stars just aligned just right?”
The Commander shrugged. “Maybe? But now…we know it’s that ambient aether signature that is sustaining this bubble. Maybe we can use that to lock on to and get out of here…”
“But how do we get out? We’re somewhat limited on the resources available in here,” Stormy pointed out.
“We are, yes. But I think I know a way.” She tapped the arrowhead on her chest, and the small brooch chirped. “St. Peter to Rafale, come in…”
There was static, before the three women began to just barely hear another sound cutting through. “…ter, this…have you…and unread…are you?”
The three women looked at one another, their faces immediately reflecting the same emotion: hope.
“A tavern…on the ship. I’m not sure the ships of Limsa have a dedicated area to drink. Granted, pirates tend to just drink wherever…”
The Commander chuckled and took a sip of her drink. “Do you always talk so much when you’re nervous?”
Stormy giggled, while Anafenza just tilted her head. “I’m…I’m sorry?”
“You’re in an unknown place, drinking after your life was in danger, on the eve of your life either being in more danger or the threat of you being stranded. It’s ok to be scared.” She took another drink. “We are too…”
Ana just shook her head. “I think I’m more just overwhelmed. I’d imagined other worlds, and I’ve heard stories but…this experience? Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d meet other aspects of myself. Or, rather…” She paused, frowning and looking away. “You’re not me.”
The women looked at each other with concerned expressions. Stormy finally reached forward, putting a hand softly on Ana’s back. “I…don’t think that’s true.”
“I’m not Jessika. Jessielle. Whatever her name was, she was the missing aspect of you, not me.” Anafenza shook her head. “I feel…guilty that I denied you the opportunity to meet her.”
The Commander shook her head. “That may be…but you’re you. And you still have that piece of her inside you that connects you to us. You’re one of us now.”
Stormy smiled and nodded, then wrapped her arms around the smaller auri and hugged her tight. “And we’re going to miss you a lot. I wish we could have gotten to know each other better.” She let go of Anafenza with a small giggle. “Without the threat of looming erasure from existence hanging over our heads.”
Anafenza and the Commander rolled their eyes. Ana continued. “I’m serious though…”
“It happened a long time ago,” the Commander countered. “And you weren’t in control. It’s sad, and I won’t lie, we both didn’t want to trust you initially. But, what you did? The connection you have to us, to your Jessika? It helped save us.”
Anafenza took a drink. “I wish I knew how to control it all better.” She shook her head. “She was a warrior. She could use these powers. And then the two of you.” She nodded to the Commander. “Captain of a…a ship in space. A leader, in the middle of a war, protecting your people. And you,” she put her hands on top of Stormy’s wrapped around her and squeezed. “You can make it rain wherever you please. You’re a hero, protecting the innocent.” She shook her head. “I bake sweets and cook breakfasts. The last time I tried to pick up a sword, I no longer felt as if it were an extension of me. I feel off balance…”
“What, that large sword you were holding in the cave?”
Anafenza glanced over her shoulder at the blue woman. “I beg your pardon?”
“When you allowed more aether to flow out of you,” the Commander continued for Stormy. “A large sword appeared from nowhere in your hands. We assumed it was part of this aether you store, connected to your Jess.”
Anafenza shook her head. “If I did…I didn’t do it by trying. This is news to me.”
The other two women glanced at each other in some confusion. Finally, Stormy gave the auri girl another quick squeeze, and Ana felt her plant a kiss on the back of her head. “Maybe it’s this ‘bloodvine’ power you received? Maybe that’s why normal weapons don’t feel right anymore; because you have a weapon inside you now instead.” She let Anafenza go so the woman could sit back up, before wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her into a side embrace. “I’m sure you could learn to use that to help…”
The Commander nodded. “I didn’t exactly earn my command in a traditional sense; I was selfish, trying to protect another ship that had my friends on it. The rest of the command crew was dead – they’d been killed by, well…it’s hard to explain what they are.” She blushed apologetically. “Unless you can imagine zombie-like creatures that are part man, part machine?”
Ana shook her head. “Not really…”
“The Borg. It’s not too important; what matters is that, when another ship was in danger, a ship I knew had my two closest friends on it, I risked my ship and the survivors on board to defend my friends.” She shook her head. “It was stupid, and it went against all sound judgement…but I was rewarded for rescuing that ship. And I was given the Rafale.” She sighed. “Sometimes, when we don’t expect to or maybe for the worst of reasons…we find that we have that strength, that power, inside us. I’m sure you have the same, Anafenza of the Ejinn.” She smiled encouragingly, raising her glass. Stormy did the same, and Ana joined after a moment. “To your future adventures, Ana. We know you’ll do amazing things.”
Anafenza smiled, grateful. The women tapped their glasses together and then downed the drinks. Stormy giggled as she put her glass down, then tugged on Anafenza’s hands. “Let’s go dance, c’mon!”
The Commander watched as they left the quiet confines of the Captain’s “VIP section” of the ship’s bar, otherwise known as “Hurricane Hal’s”. As the doors opened to let them out, the bass and high notes of the electronic music blared in from the outside bar, and she watched the two women join the small gathering of crew on the floor of the Category 7 club.
I am not sure if I should be reading more books about Allag, or any of the fictions that are in our stores concerning allag technology.
First, it was a room this time; smaller than my apartment by far, but not cramped. There was a couch off to one side, next to a window. On the other side of that was a small desk. The desk had
It was thin and rectangular. It had words and pictures on it, that kept changing, rewriting I guess. I didn’t recognize the words – whatever language it was, I didn’t know it. There were similar glass rectangles with words and pictures flashing and rewriting on the far wall as well, next to a door that I assume led out to another room. The window showed a vast night sky, with stars far more immeasurable than any sky I’ve ever seen.
There was a small hiss, and the doors opened. A woman walked in, face down and studying what looked like one of those allagan tomestones, though it was larger than ones I’ve seen. She was wearing black pants, and a top that was black but with white shoulders and a red stripe separating the black from the white. There was a arrowhead pinned on her chest, silver. She had blue skin, and short blue hair and piercing blue eyes – I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to have that much blue on them naturally
She rounded the corner of the desk and sat down. After a moment of reading the device she dropped it on the desk and reached for a white ball that she had sitting on it. She tossed it into the air and then, as it came back down, bumped it back up with both hands. She did this a few times, oblivious to me – I think I was a ghost, watching this dream.
And then she dropped the ball, and stared right at me. Her eyes blinked a few times, her mouth hanging open. I didn’t know what to do either. We just stared at one another. And then she laughed a little and said the oddest thing.
“It’s you!”
I woke up then. I don’t know what that dream was, and I certainly didn’t recognize her. Who was she? What was that place?
Was I even dreaming?
It’s been a while since the events that made me want to pick up paper and quill and start this diary. The scar is still there still seared to my side scales and all like i was born with it. it burns, sometimes. I react to events unfolding around me and it stings like it knows what is happening or --- more frieghtening, it remembers ---- events the blind elezen was exposed to
the dreams are less frequent now, thank the gods. the dark tree in the aether sea --- should I tell Lyta or Kerin??? other dreams come now, Nice dreams. Memories, they seem like, of another persons life. I dream about things about teri that i can’t remember ever knowing or doing -- surely theyre dreams yeah? of course they are
I want to tell Lyta I want to take the pledge and earn my mage name. Something with the water, of course. Aqua sounds nice...
Sometimes suffering is just suffering. It doesn’t make you stronger. It doesn’t build character. It only hurts.
Kate Jacobs (via quotemadness)
Ana secretly wants to stay in Il Mheg and live with the fae folk...
He said “what if you’re dreaming of someone you used to be?” And the damn scar burned like it knew!
What if it’s not someone I used to be What if it’s someone she was?
I need to find a way to Idylshire, for the library there. Or Ishgard, to research her house
Seven hells, I hope this gives me answers…