lifeaftr | Exploration Event: Neverwere

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Exploration Event: Neverwere

EXPLORATION EVENT: NEVERWERE

Who: Everyone!
What: Your wildest dreams come true!
When: May 15th to May 18th
Where: Ziziphus, those still on Ensō...and Mu
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Then Know That My Life Was Just a Killer Dream
You can find most of the information you need in the OOC info post! In the meantime, feel free to use this log as a catch-all for your dream worlds, as well as detailing your efforts to free one another. Whether they're on Ziziphus or Ensō at the time of the dreams' capture, your character is free to access as many dreams as you like, as the interlocking mental landscape allows for that sort of crossing over apropos of nothing. And time, of course, is very fluid in dreams - many days, months, and years can transpire in a matter of mere minutes.

Will you fight your way free from Ziziphus's vines or Mu's thrall, or are you content to die in your sleep?

Remember to let us know if your character dies during this event!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] May 15th: The vines make their move, ensnaring characters in ideal fantasy worlds
[ ♆ ] May 17th: The Storyteller will make contact with those they can, as well as issue information and a potential solution
[ ♆ ] May 18th: Those that have not freed themselves from the vines or from Mu will suffer a death

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's Ignis' first visit to Andaria, and while learning about his friend's home fills him with excitement, he can't help but also feel oddly unsettled. At first he tried to ignore it and just focus on the guard who was sent to pick him up as he rambles about the city and the royal family, but each time his friend's name comes up, he has to bite his tongue not to correct the guard.

Dagger. The name should be Dagger. Why isn't that what the guard calls him?

It's almost a relief when Ignis recognizes his friend's footsteps coming down the hall. He smiles, bowing his head politely and somehow manages to keep his smile from faltering even as he hears the guard beside him bow and address his friend as 'Prince.'

"My apologies for the wait. It seems no matter what place one visits, accidents are still as much a delay as ever."

Jullien's eyebrows lift in surprise. His eyes shift briefly to the guard, who gives him no indication of what "accident" Ignis is talking about, and turns back to his friend.

"Accidents? I certainly hope there wasn't any issue with your ship. The main Andarian port hasn't had any crashes in... well, ever."

There's something about that statement that sets off alarm bells. No spaceport is without accidents, even minor ones, and yet he can't honestly think of the last time there was any issue with one of the ships using the Andarion port.

"No, the issue wasn't with mine, fortunately. It was..." Ignis' forehead furrows then as he tries hard to remember the details of the incident. They should be there. After all, it wasn't long enough it was happening...wasn't it? "It was another craft. Not that serious either. Just enough to be an annoyance."

That has to be the answer. He'd certainly remember more details if the accident had been a serious one.

"Come now. Lets not worry about such unimportant things. I'm dying to learn more about this wonderful home of yours. Your man has been most helpful, but I'm afraid he's no where near as used to describing things for a blind man's benefit as you are."

"Which is still not the way to start a visit. I apologize."

Jullien offers a tiny bow, not that Ignis can see it. Habit dictates that action more than anything else.

"Shall we start within the palace? I'm sure the royal art gallery would be a wonderful place for someone of your nature."

He almost manages to pull off that sentence in a completely neutral tone, but a teasing glimmer sneaks out at the end. Jullien just can't help himself.

Ignis waves a hand dismissively, "Not your fault and it all ended up okay in the end. Now show me this art gallery you speak so highly off. I have a feeling it will fit your nature as well. After all, anything that will let you talking as much as you wish, correct?"

But...that's not correct is it? Ignis is smiling as he speaks and his tone is amused--after all, he's teasing back--but his eyes narrow slightly as if he's trying to catch hold of something that just keeps eluding his grasp.

Jullien simply laughs as if Ignis is 100% correct since his statement is more than obvious. Internally warning bells are going off though he just can't pinpoint why. He talks rather often. Of course he does. He's a prince after all, and princes had a right to be somewhat self obsessed. It's that thought that wipes the smile completely off his face. It was so screamingly wrong. For a while he simply stands there, trying to understand what's happening.

"Dagger?" Ignis stops walking the moment he hears his friend's footsteps pause. His first response, as it so often is, is concern.

"Is something wrong? You've seemed uneasy ever since I arrived."

"Dagger?"

It's clearly a name, but why would Ignis be calling him that? It's certainly not a name a prince would ever go by.

"My name is Jullien eton Anatole."

Speaking that name gave him a seriously queasy feeling that simply wouldn't go away. It felt so wrong. Some part of him wanted to reject that name. It should be an honor to bear it, and yet... it made him feel like he was the trash of the universe instead.

"No... I..."

"You're Dagger."

Despite his friend's insistence otherwise, deep down there is something in Ignis that knows for certain he is right. He doesn't know how or why, but he knows he's right. Honestly, it makes his head hurt, he's so certain, and he raises a hand to rub at his forehead as if it will help relieve the pain somehow.

"I don't know why they are all calling you that. It's not your name. It's not you."

"Dagger Ixur is just my call sign."

Wasn't it? Saying those words should sound so right, but they didn't. It sounded so much like a lie. Why would it though? Why would he ever give up the eton Anatole name?

"Isn't... it?"

"I've only ever known you as 'Dagger.' This prince business is...new?" Ignis sounds so confused and eventually almost snarls in frustration, "What the bloody hell is going on here? This is all too peaceful and perfect!"

Perfect if he ignores the wrong feeling. Peaceful if he forgets the confusion.

That's not going to happen.

"I've always been a prince."

Which was completely true. He was positive of that. But...

Ignis' comment about everything being too peaceful and perfect sends shock waves through Jullien. His life has never been peaceful or perfect, and the worse part was his family. Then the last piece clicks into place.

"Jules Dagger Samari..."

It's what he had gone by ever since his dear family had disowned him. What he was experiencing now wasn't real. It was what families were supposed to be like, but his hadn't been that way. This was everything he had ever dreamed of, but it was a lie. And it hurt.

Ignis pauses when he hears his friend--no wait, he can't really call Dagger that, can he? They are acquaintances at best. Trading...what?...here and there. Trust is a tenuous thing at best most days. The name, though, and the way he says it. Somehow, it feels right.

"You've put something together," Ignis tilts his head curiously as he speaks. "This place isn't right. It's not real, is it?"

"No."

Jules is confident of that now. There is nothing about this place that is right. Not beyond technically at least. The palace itself is right. Jullien's rank is right. The relationships between people were very, very wrong though. The timing was all twisted too.

This world is what his life should have been. But his life hadn't gone this way. Not at all.

"And there are reasons I only know you as 'Dagger,'" Ignis nods as he speaks, the sentence a statement, not a question. It feels like things are starting to click together, and oddly enough, this leads to him laughing softly.

"You're going to be so angry when we get back to where we're suppose to be. I think I've learned more about you in the last few minutes than I have over the course of several months."

"I'm already angry. Tipping more toward flying off the fucking handle as we speak. And you don't know what part of this whole minsid mess is real."

Which is a damn good thing or Jullien would be far beyond flying off the handle. Nobody here would know anything about his family background or him for that matter, but he still likes to keep his past and family hidden. People have enough reason to hate his guts without that.

"Perhaps not, but I've spent my fair share of time around royals. I can make a few guesses," Ignis says this in a way not meant to raise Dagger's ire even farther, but in a contemplative manner instead.

"The only way out of here may be to continue separating truth from fiction to the point there is so little left of this illusory dream world that it falls away."

Well that is just what Jullien wants to hear. Wonderful. So much for keeping that a secret. Not that he had really expected it to work.

His lip curls in irritation.

"There's nothing about this that's truth."

Really, about 90% of it, if not more, was all a complete lie.

Ignis can't help but snort softly at that answer. Ah, now this is how the relationship between them is really suppose to be. It feels so right as opposed to feeling happy but empty.

"As much as I hate to point out how false that is, I'm afraid I must."

Oh, he sounds so sorry. Really, he does.

~~No, he doesn't.~~

"'Dagger' is in fact your name in the real world or at least the one you have given me, which leads me to believe 'Jules Dagger Samari' is either your birth name or a name that you have gone by for some time. One real detail in the mess of this that is false."

"Yeah, and if you didn't notice it isn't the one I've been going by here so it doesn't prove your point. If anything it does the opposite."

Which is actually rather amusing since the name his trying to pawn off as not real is actually his birth name. Dagger is simply an assumed name, though at least Jules Dagger Samari is somewhat legitimate. In many ways it feels more legitimate than eton Anatole. At least the head of the Samari house wanted him as part of the bloodline.

Ignis holds his hands out in front of him helplessly, an amused look on his face, "All right, if you wish to not count that as part of 'this world' who am I to argue," he will just file the name away in his mind for later once they are out of this false world and have dealt with the cause of it.

"Were you or were you not born a prince then?"

"Of two different empires, of two different races, on two different planets."

Which was exactly what he was in the dream. The big difference was that here he lived the way a prince should live. The vorgate probably didn't even exist here.

Ignis hums thoughtfully for a moment before he speaks, "And not a one of them gave you the respect or fair treatment you deserved, I'd wager."

Not with the trust issues Dagger has. Not with the way he's isolated himself from others on the island. Survival training isn't generally high on a prince's training list, either. Just look at Noctis. He has Gladio to take care of that kind of thing for him.

No, things went wrong at some point for Prince Dagger. Very, very wrong.

"Depends on your definition of deserved. Some of the treatment I totally deserved."

Because he'd been mistreated long enough to know that no matter what he did everyone would hate him and treat him terribly. If that was the case, then he might as well do something worth being treated that way. There had definitely been times later in his life when he'd deserved what he'd gotten. Even so many years later he still believed that he could spend his entire life doing good and it would never make up for what he'd done in the past. What his family had done.

As one dear to him is fond of saying 'Monsters are not born; they are made.' The blame falls to many, not just to one. Ignis might not agree with acting out when someone wrongs him, but he's not going to hold it against Dagger, especially if things are as bad as they sound like they may have been.

"My definition of 'deserved' has been in flux since a short time after I arrived on the island. We'll just leave that up in the air for now." Out of habit, he looks around them, though he certainly can't tell if the world seems any different for them starting to pick it apart, "Any change?"

Let me know if I need to change anything! :-)

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