faderift | OPEN | Messages from broken bottles fall on black sandy beaches

WHO: Allumin and YOU!
WHAT: A fresh new rifter arrival & Quarantine time (+ A little bit after)
WHEN: ~~Backdated to early-to-mid August (so he can partake in tourney time)~~ just the WHOLE MONTH, really
WHERE: Vinmark Mountains, Gallows
NOTES: info page here and permissions/opt-out here - some spiciness happening in the bene thread

i. Arrival / early in the month (this ended up so long, i thank anyone who reads this) - to skip dream segment, go to (@)

It would come as no surprise to Allumin that his dreams would lean the way they do considering the events leading up to sleep, and it's a welcome break from his usual nightmares. It's actually probably better it wasn't his usual nightmares that brought him here filled with black sand and being hunted, but that doesn't mean the dream doesn't give him a measure of anxiousness regardless. Instead he unfortunately gets to relive the greatest hits of his Embarrassing Moments with Diabhall Minett, famous arcane architect and long-time crush. Learning that his curiosity and attraction to the man predated his void vacation and resulting amnesia from his brother's weary sigh as they saw each other again for the first time in 13 years is part of this wonderful collection as well. Great!

There's the lovely moment where he was pranked into drinking blood from a wine glass at a masquerade party... Finding the sketch he'd done of Diabhall from a lecture at the Observatory and how it had been tucked until the rug of his room and then later hearing from Diabhall himself that he'd investigated the room after Allumin's disappearance and saw the sketch. Of course, offering the man a funnel cake after a spontaneous encounter during the attempt to liberate his falsely imprisoned friend and fumbling in such a way that Diabhall ended up wearing powdered sugar and funnel cake as a result of his clumsiness. And then… the family dinner.

His brother's offhand joke about spilling mashed potatoes all over Diabhall, who happened to be a guest at the reunion dinner with his family haunted him that whole day and he'd hoped against hope that there would be none at dinner (there were). He did not, in fact, accidentally spill anything all over the object of his attraction but the fear he'd felt was so strong that now he gets to live with his brain being like "hey, but what if you had?"

He could be having nightmares about almost being killed by a professional hitman or the newly learned implication that he's probably a living tether of the void plane to the material plane and that may end up destroying him from the inside, but no. No… It's funnel cake and mashed potatoes, and his unfortunate butterfingers dropping them as he tries to give them to Diabhall Minett…

(@) And then it's not - or it is, and isn't - as something unsettles him from outside of the dream, like waking up to a spider crawling on your arm or something akin to it. The deep roar and rumbling of heavy footsteps on the earth beneath him however is definitely not a spider, and he snaps awake on the sandy ground of somewhere completely foreign to him with a plate of mashed potatoes to one side and a funnel cake on the other.

His little drawing of Diabhall is also here, drifting on the wind in an almost lackadaisical fashion, until… it lands on the chest of the source of what pulled him out of his dream. If it were anything other than what it was, he would be grateful. Unfortunately, whatever it is is big, very intimidating, and like no demon of the seven hells he's ever seen in books. Overhead, a green glowing mass(?) of some kind shifts and crackles with energy, and if he were of a mind to simply not panic he might theorize that it was a portal responsible for bringing him wherever he is.

He is not, in fact, of another mind at the moment though, terror plain on his face as he scrambles to his feet and starts to run from the towering horned creature and the foods of his embarrassment. He tries to pat himself down as he runs (thankfully dressed but not in what he'd worn to bed…?), trying to find his wand on his person in his panic before his hand meets the bag hanging from the belts on his waist. Oh, right, in his bag! He fumbles with getting it open to reach inside and fetch it while running, made worse by the way the ground shakes under the footfalls of the demon(??) behind him, the pain in his left hand (which has some Concerns of their own he can't think about right now), and enough sand to make traction on the more solid ground underneath tricky to find. After managing to get his wand out from his bag, he tries to stop and turn to cast something to distract, maybe slow the creature chasing him down for enough time he can at least find somewhere to hide until it's safe. What ends up happening is not so graceful as he'd hoped, sliding along the sand and falling over somewhat on his knees.

Oh boy, that thing is so close and so big and could probably crush him in one hand -- there's no time to scramble to his feet he thinks, so instead he just tries to cast something from his awkward and undignified position. He focuses on Snowball Swarm - maybe it would also kick up some of the sand in its flurry of snow and be enough to keep the imminent danger occupied to escape - and follows through with the incantation in Sylvan, raising his wand to gesture out in practiced fluidity the movements to cast it.

...

Nothing happens.

Oh no.

ii. Courtyard, night

[The insomnia isn't new. He's not sure if that should be a relief or not, that it's consistent and familiar or that he should be bothered that he can't sleep. But, rather than dwell on it, he decides to borrow a couple of books from the library and go out to the courtyard to read under the night sky. The cool air helps him to feel calm at least, and reading is something productive he can do with his time if he's going to be awake anyway.

He gets rather into it too, his attention fully on the book for about an hour until he hears the cracking of loose bits of rock underfoot on the stone ground of the courtyard break the silence that he had become acclimated to that everything outside himself and the book was briefly oblivion. His head snaps up in alarm at the sound, staring directly up at whoever is the source of the sound. And then he sighs, an "oh" of relief carried on it out of his lungs.]

You startled me - sorry, is it too late for me to be out here? I can go back to bed, I just couldn't sleep, so...

[ If you prefer brackets over prose or vice versa and a starter is written the opposite of your preference, please feel free to switch to that! I have no problem following suit. Also, if you'd like a custom starter please let me know! I can be reached through this journal, at

assbanditkirk, or discord at subjectredacted#6534. I had intended to also have a Training starter but this ended up longer than I planned. If you'd still like to do that though, I'd be happy to write one up for you! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Glimmer tilts her head, waiting as Allumin starts to work on... something? She listens as he incants and makes the appropriate gestures and then--then the scent fills her nose, as if she'd entered the kitchens in the midst of the baking. Glimmer gasps softly and covers her mouth with her hands, eyes shining. ]

Oh my gosh. That... That's amazing.

[ It's a simple thing, and yet... ]

It's very sweet of you to do that for me.

[This is one of those moments where he struggles with how to receive the compliment - the validation feels nice but he also doesn't want to ruin the sincerity of the gesture by accepting it the wrong way.]

I definitely understand how you feel right now.

The scent of lemon and vanilla together remind me of my mother so they help me feel better when I'm stressed or upset, so I hoped I might be able to do the same for you.

Yeah. That scent reminds me of the kitchens back home. Raiding them at night when I really had a cake craving.

[ Glimmer laughs. ]

It did help. What sort of magic is that?

[The laugh brings a smile to his own face.] I'm glad.

It's a simple transmutation spell - usually one of the first a wizard learns in their studies because it teaches you how to comprehend changing one thing into another different thing on a small scale. It can be very useful despite its limitations if you can think creatively about its applications. [He gets really excited about any opportunity to discuss magic with people, and it shows.]

Oh, that's really cool!

[ Glimmer is excited by this, obviously. ]

I have like, my own magic which came from the Moon Stone but I've learned a few other spells. Shields, a truth spell, that kind of thing. I wonder if it's possible to learn new magic here...?

[ She trails off thoughtfully, then hurriedly snaps back to the conversation at hand. ]

It's really nice to be somewhere with real magic again.

That's amazing! How does it work? Is it like a family heirloom passed down containing magic, or?

Also I've actually been wondering the same thing myself - it would be wonderful if rifters could teach the people here their magic and vice versa...

Not really? It's a giant gemstone and it kind of... naturally channels the magic of Etheria and the Queens of Bright Moon have a magical connection to the stone. That's how we have our magic. Otherwise we'd have to learn it.

[ Glimmer smiles as she describes home. ]

Right? Learning new stuff would make this a little less... awful?

Ahhh. [Allumin nods, reflecting on that. It's interesting to him how there are similar but different enough things to his own world present both here in Thedas and also in its Rifters.]

I agree. But - I'm also an academic when it comes to magic, so I may be biased. [He laughs a bit.]

My dad was an academic when it came to magic, too.

[ Glimmer laughs again, then seems to realize something. ]

Oh my gosh, I never told you my name--!

[ She gives an awkward, sitting little bow in her hurry to introduce herself. ]

I'm Glimmer of Bright Moon. Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon, but... that rank doesn't really mean much. Here I'm just another Rifter.

[That gets a heartier laugh than the previous one and he stifles it with a hand held to his mouth as he catches himself. He returns the bow before he speaks.]

I'm Allumin - sorry, I've never been bowed to by royalty. As far as I know, anyway.

Well, I mean. Technically I'm royalty but no one here needs to care about it, right?

[ Glimmer shrugs. ]

Here I'm just Glimmer. And you're really kind and thoughtful. And smart. Someone should bow to you now and then, shouldn't they?

Oh, wow - [He's speechless a moment, cheeks reddening under the dim glow of the moonlight alongside a small bashful chuckle.]

That's - that's very kind of you to say, thank you. You're quite gracious yourself.

It doesn't anything to be kind, so I think that it's better to do that then anything else. Though it helps that what I said is true.

[ Glimmer laughs softly. ]

All I can do is my best.

[There is a briefly invasive cynicism in his thoughts: that there are some would not think the same of him, and that there are those who would likely take advantage of her kindness - but those aren't things she needs to hear. They exist unspoken within a slight melancholy in his face as he smiles and nods.]

No one can ask more from you than that. [He then looks at the books he has set aside and then up at the sky.]

I should probably get these returned to the library first, but - if you're still feeling too awake to head back to bed, would you like to get a cup of tea together?

A cup of tea sounds really nice, honestly. Do you want a hand carrying your books?

[ Kindness is what separates her from others, as far as Glimmer is concerned. You can be kind or you can be cruel and to be kind is no weakness, no matter what anyone says to her. She has to believe it, otherwise what's the point? ]

OPEN | Messages from broken bottles fall on black sandy beaches

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