October open log

[jadus]

WHO: Darth Jadus and whoever
WHERE: Jeopardy, other places at request
WHEN: End of October
WHAT: low-key hatred, like y'do
WARNINGS: none yet, maybe body horror flashback?

In the dreams, he saw a better world.

Years of hatred and suffocation, blooming in an instant. His body unraveling.

He clung to those dreams, and he loathed it. And he hated what the dreams meant for this reality.

He remained quiet, observing the rest from afar, piecing together what had happened. Some would remember what the other him had done. They would remain wary, but much of the rest would simply forget, as they had forgotten so many things. As in the Empire, many retained their sanity by virtue of their willful ignorance. Their efforts to maintain a normal life, whatever that might mean to them.

How different was he from them now?

[ooc: prompts in the comments below, hmu at PaleAntiquarian if you want something custom!]

Comments

Desert Outside of Jeopardy: For Luke, but open to whoever for separate threads!

[jadus]

[cw: tryptophobia in the cactus link]

His place of meditation on the outskirts of Jeopardy was less hidden than others, but eventually he took his place within it. Over many months, it had developed from a moment of lost control into a sprawling work of art in the desert.

The rocky earth had slowly been nudged by his meditating mind into odd patterns and gradients of stones and sand. At its center, a half-sphere of organic metal laticework served as his meditation chamber, the inorganic skeletons of aberrant cacti that he had grown and snuffed out for this purpose. Beneath their slowly rusting boughs, the ground had been liquified and reformed into solid glass.

And in the space beyond, a field of withered stalks that had never lived. Tubes of lightning-glass, thousands of them. A memorial to an anomaly that had broken his control.

Many had fallen and shattered now, their fragments crunching beneath the feet of any who approached him.

[bifroster]

Jane was not one to wander about in nature. She tended to go directly from point A to point B, usually with a telescope in her arms. But, after coming back to this world, she found herself needing to clear her head more frequently. That led to walks and hikes, because she could only pace around in her apartment for so long before she got bored and she couldn’t do that in public.

So, stumbling upon a place like this was something.

“Fulgurite?” she murmured, picking up a piece. There was too much around for this to be a natural occurrence.

[jadus]

Darth Jadus meditated, mind suspended in a trance state. Drawn out of himself for examination and dissection. A painful process, but a necessary one. And comforting, if he allowed himself that concept. There was no true Force here, and yet the principles of his philosophy still gave him power over himself, no matter how this planet sought to undo him.

Dimly, he became aware of a presence approaching. One without threatening intent, only curiosity. He responded in kind.

The fulgurite shards hissed quietly as a low vibration passed through the ground, bringing with it a radiating cold from the center of the zone. Patterns in the sand shifted just slightly. Whoever this interloper was, they might clearly feel that they were being observed.

[bifroster]

That self-reflection was why Jane did not tend to mediate much herself. She found it easier to mentally note to herself not to do or say something again, or just stick to her lab more. It was hardly the best way to cope or improve herself.

As soon as the sand and fulgurite shards started moving, Jane crouched down to observe them better. The hairs on the back of her neck were beginning to stand, but she ignored the feeling. If someone was watching her, they could. She wasn't doing anything wrong.

"Huh," she said aloud, looking at the patterns. Then she stood and began following to where the epicenter seemed to be, scribbling some notes in her notebook.

Jeopardy Residence #002

[jadus]

For now, his assigned quarters had little use for him. He would not make a truly concerted attempt to disappear, but he would remain discrete, and separate himself from other imPorts. For a month, the few beings he saw were nearly all among his followers.

Tonight, he briefly returned to the house. There was no grand purpose for his presence. No plan at work.

He was simply there, considering the space, and what it represented. Standing in the dark, unmoving besides slow, even breaths.

[recommendations]

Momo has barely been back to Jeopardy ever since Ochako said she could stay with her upon her arrival back in this world. But now the time comes to finish packing and actually move her belongings to Heropa. One last night spent in the house, one last night spent working about running into the scary man in the mask.

So far he seems to be gone. Momo doesn't see him all day. It's not until night, when she leaves her room to fetch a glass of water that she runs into him, standing in the dark living room, nearly giving her a heart attack.

"Oh! Y-you... You surprised me!"

[jadus]

Momo Yaoyorozu. ImPort from another Earth. 'Hero' in training. Competent, organized, earnest, ideologically incompatible with his principles.

"You are leaving." It was not a question. "Soon, others will arrive on Earth to take your place." Many would disappear from the planet within months. Others would stay longer, some like her would flicker in and out of sight from this world.

By the local calendar's reckoning, he had been on Earth for two years, seven months. Despite all his analyses, he had yet to understand why.

[recommendations]

"Ah...ha." He knew. Somehow, without her saying anything, he knew she was leaving. Is he just that observant? Did he notice her packing up her things earlier in the day, even though she was sure he wasn't home then?

"Y-yes, I am. I'm leaving to move in with a friend in Heropa." The words he continues on with are somewhat disturbing, but then... Everything about this man is disturbing in one way or another.

"I'm sure another imPort will move in soon."

[jadus]

"One cycle among many." He had recorded imPort demographics, analyzed them, found the trends. A low-level churn of individuals, a slower turnover of source worlds, and so very little change in overall character. The inevitable unmaking of anomalies was even more monotonous.

"I aided Aegis when Atropos threatened all. But her thwarting has changed little." The recent changes following the lost month held promise, but he would not hope.

"What is your worth, hero, when the world's fabric itself rejects progress?"

[recommendations]

For a moment, Momo's eyebrows raise with interest. She had not known that Jadus-san had been present for the showdown with the Fates that Momo had only heard about. She had been present for much of the build up, but not the actual culmination of events. She has half a mind to ask him about it, to try to complete her understanding of what really happened...

But then her worth is called into question, and she can't help but huff, offended.

"Whether this world sees progress or stagnation, there will always be people who need help, who need saving." That is the worth of a hero. To be there to support the people who need them. To face injustice in the world and work to correct it.