A Rave of Ravens

"Then- If you have a portal then we can go there? Right? I can go back?" There was a desperate edge to their voice. They- They had no home to go to but they at least wanted to go somewhere familiar. Somewhere where they actually knew what things were and how to act and- and could figure out what to do with themself without a whole bunch of new things thrown at them all at once!

Loop just nodded mutely. They were definitely not going to be talking about anything they didn't need to. It was already mortifying enough their slips and near-slips in just the little bit of time that they'd known each other. She didn't need to know just how fragile they felt right now. She didn't need to know how they felt like they were unraveling, that they wouldn't be able to be put back together again. She didn't need to know anything.

Besides. Hopefully they'd get back to their realm soon and none of this would even matter.

"I-" She sighed softly, eyes lowering. "We can but I'm not sure it'll be the same as your realm. Your manner of speech and craft are foreign to me. I just...want to temper your hopes so you don't get too disappointed if it proves not to be your realm."

Revas hopped out of his nest and flew over to Lilith, landing on the counter beside her and nestling his head against her arm. She petted the top of his head and sighed. "We should find out for sure though. I'll send Eda a message and see if she'd mind us using the portal."

They did have access! At this point it just felt par for the course that they had an entire portal. "The human realm, that's- I assume that's like- humans are the main intelligent species there? That might be where I'm from!" Please. Please please please please let this have this simple of a solution. They were glad to be out of Dormont but stars above this was too much.

"I'm sure." If it was anything like theirs then it had to be hard-earned. Anything with a tyrant and near-apocalypse would be, they'd guess.

Given the okay to sit down, they decided to go for the couch. Huh. How long had it been since they'd sat on a couch . . . ? How long since they hadn't been in the brick of the House or on the root and branches of the Favor Tree? How long since they'd had something soft to sit on?

. . . They pulled their legs up and wrapped their arms around them loosely. And breathed.

Revas, huh? It occurred to them that they never actually introduced themself to this historian, nor had they gotten her name from them. But they did not have the energy to bring that up first. They could deal with that later.

". . . It's . . . a lot," they admitted quietly, looking away. That was an understatement, really, but they were not about to go baring their soul to someone they just met.

Stars, they didn't know if they could handle this.

#starsandstarlight #lilith | future #ptsd tw

"Yes, humans are the main intelligent species there." Apex predators might be a better descriptor and she heavily doubted that it was same human realm that this visitor was from. After all, she knew that 'craft' didn't exist where Luz was from. However, she wasn't sure she should try to break that kind of news right now. It didn't...feel right.

"I can tell," she said quietly. "I've never been...displaced, as you seem to be. I've been to the human realm a time or two but, well, I don't fit in very well there. Even if..." She trailed off. That news was still too new, too fresh- to know that somewhere in her bloodline, she too had a human ancestor. Especially because it meant she was related to that self-same tyrant, even distantly. Lilith shook her head. "Just...don't feel obligated to talk about it, even if I bring up my own troubles. After all, if you stay here for any amount of time, you'll start to figure some things out."

After all, despite things being better and the instances being much fewer and farther between, Lilith did have the occasional night terror.

Stars, another stranger, if her son was home. Were they going to regret this? They didn't know how to have a conversation with more than one other person anymore, not without a script to follow.

Wait. Hold on. "Human realm?" That had to be home, right? And they had access to it? Stars please if they could just go there instead . . .

But she kept talking, so they stayed silent and followed.

Sparks flew off their head for a few seconds before they managed to rein in their emotion about defeating a tyrant around a near-apocalyptic event. Way to rub it in right after stardust did it, too! The one thing they were never able to do! Blinding stars.

They turned their head to the side until they could school their expression from a glare into a smile, their hands folding together. "Congrats on your overthrowing! Thank you for letting me know!"

Stars, even that little bit was enough to exhaust them. They did not have the energy to keep up their mask long-term right now.

Loop blinked at the sudden appearance of the cabin. Oh! Fun! Surely the place they were going to being crafted or magicked or whatever to be hidden was for a completely innocuous reason and was not going to spell their doom or anything! Even if her reasoning was not anything automatically dangerous there was no reason she couldn't be lying!

They paused at the doorway.

Stars, they were risking so much with this.

They walked in.

Looking around the place, it at least seemed like her story of being a historian and researcher wasn't a lie. They wondered what exactly she researched.

"Cultures-ology?" A pang of grief hit them like a rock. No no no no no! This wasn't like their Researcher! This wasn't like Odile! They didn't want to be thinking about her right now! They didn't want to think about what they could no longer have!!! They didn't want to think about antique shopping together and they definitely didn't want to think about trying to find some blinding artifacts from some blinding island they couldn't remember with some blinding family they could no longer have!

Breathe in, and out.

Ooooooh they were doing so well with this! HA! HA!

Blinding stars.

They stood in the middle of the room, unsure where they should sit down, or if they were even allowed.

"Oh?" they asked, because they did not have the energy to figure out any more complicated niceties.

Well, at least her son didn't seem to be in this specific room, so that was a plus.

#starsandstarlight #lilith | future #|| like all of her future icons are her being happy so I'm a little limited unless I go with her shorter apocalypse hair so

"Yes. The human realm is...connected to our realm but you need a special portal to get there. Thankfully, my sister is in possession of that portal. So we're able to freely go back and forth. It's quite helpful for my son, my niece and their friends."

At the congratulations, something in Lilith's expression changed; it wasn't alight with triumph or relief. It was something more akin to being haunted or sad. "...thank you. It was...hard earned..."

Being home did help her relax a little and she took a moment to face away and breathe in herself, exhaling slowly, shoulders rising and falling with the motion before she turned to face them. "Feel free to sit anywhere you like. Or, uhm...find a clear spot." Which, really, limited the choices to a chair at the kitchen table or at the only empty cushion on the couch.

Revas croaked softly, causing Lilith to look at him with a sad smile. "I'm ok, Revas." To Loop, she murmured, "Again, I'm...quite sorry. This must be quite disorienting." She leaned against the kitchen counter. "My niece is human. And she's kind of discussed with me how odd it was coming here. Granted, she adapted quite well. She calls the Boiling Isles home now. And she's quite a gifted witch in her own right. Even if she's not a witch biologically."

THE STAFF WAS A CREATURE???

. . .

Okay, fine, sure why not. Why not in a world like this! Everything was weird and different and new and! And they were not used to new!

Breathe in, and out. ". . . Good. That's good." Thank the stars. They did not need any more dealings in time manipulation.

. . . Would accepting her offer be okay? It generally was in Vaugarde - the people there were very welcoming - but this decidedly was not Vaugarde, and seemed pretty dangerous. But she was the first actual person they'd encountered, rather than any of the creatures, so they didn't actually know if their society matched the hostility of the rest of the land.

Did they even have a choice?

Well. It was already proven in their fight with stardust that they could still loop if they died, even if only a few seconds. At least they had that, if worse came to worst.

Besides, what did they even have to lose, anymore?

They averted their gaze and murmured, ". . . I would appreciate that, if you're offering."

#starsandstarlight #lilith | future #|| she got carried away I'm sorry

"I wouldn't have brought it up if I wasn't offering," she said with a surprising gentleness. "My son may or may not be home. He's been splitting time between the human realm and here." She motioned for them to follow.

As they walked, she explained, "The Boiling Isles underwent...a lot of change in the past several years. Historically speaking, it's been the most turbulent time in quite a while. We overthrew a tyrant a few years back after a near apocalyptic event. So we're all still...rebuilding. But I think you'll find that most residents of the Isles are fairly helpful. I can point out ones you should avoid though. While we did tackle a major issue with the ones loyal to the tyrant, there's still a few bad eggs around, so to speak."

Revas flew off of her shoulder and made his way ahead of them, a small line of stones starting to glow blue as he flew by. "Here we are." As each stone lit up, it was like a mirage forming, a little cabin appearing at the end of the path of stones. Revas perched on a little ledge above the door and croaked once before clicking repeatedly. "A little security measure. My family can easily find my home but I like being a bit more secluded. I have a lot of my family's records here and it documents our history here. So I'm quite protective of it." She opened the door and beckoned to Loop. "Come in. Please." Revas flew in after them and landed on the coffee table, settling in a nest that seemed almost comically large for him.

Her living area was an open floor plan connecting to the kitchen with three doors leading off into other rooms. It was littered with stacks of books and papers, some with detailed sketches and others with notes and scribbles of things in the margins. Trinkets that looked distinctly antique were settled on the various shelves and stacks of books. "I apologize for the mess. I recently finished an expedition and started my documentation process so I can preserve it at the museum."

"I mean . . . yeah, it's a game, too, but it's a lot more than that." Imagining a world without Craft was like imagining a world without gravity.

Realm, she called it. Their realm. This realm. What did she say it was called? The . . . Demon Realm? Certainly sounded like an accurate name, with the creatures they'd seen and how they acted so far . . .

Hey, were they dead? Like actually, truly?

. . . Probably not. This sounded more like some fantasy world than an afterlife. Why were they even here? At least being part of stardust's loops made sense, but this . . . ?

They blinked at the sudden appearance of a . . . staff? What, like a wizard's staff?

Stars above- Palisman? Glyphs? Curse? Magic bile sac??? Oooooooh this was a lot. This was a lot and they could hardly retain any of it. They watched the plant suddenly come up out of nowhere and . . . And just. Breathed. They had to breathe. Stars they were overwhelmed. Deeeeeeep breath in . . . and out.

Just breathe. They'd . . . They'd figure this out. Somehow.

They held their arms tightly, but nodded at the things she said as if they had any idea what any of it meant. Stars, they only just started leaving their hideaway and already they were starting to freak out again?

Once more, they let out a breath. "So . . . not likely to just stumble into one?" That was . . . something at least. It sounded like these time pools were just as troublesome as any other form of time manipulation, though. They wanted to stay far, far away from them.

She heard the breath- deep in and out. Lilith paused, realizing she'd gotten ahead of herself and she removed Revas from his staff, allowing him to perch calmly on her shoulder. "Sorry. I know it must be a lot to take in, since you're not from here."

"And no, not likely at all. The chances are astronomically low, really," she assured them.

"I get carried away quite easily, I'm afraid. I'm a historian and a researcher, so when I encounter something new, I get quite excited. We can go back to my place and give you a chance to just...feel safer than out here in the woods. Plus, we're predicted to get rain later and you will not have a fun time with that if you're out in the elements."

Haha yeah they DEFINITELY shouldn't have just shouted that like that ohhhh they did not like not having a script! They couldn't even just- redo it to try again! No more loops!

Could they still loop? They did it after stardust's loops ended. Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it they were FREE.

. . . Maybe it'd be fine? She was continuing to talk like it was fine.

Wait. They didn't know Craft? The - as Tutorial Kid liked to call it - basis of life and battle? "You know . . ." they started awkwardly. "Rock paper scissors?" Their hand formed the shapes as they spoke them. "Protective Craft, Creative Craft, and Piercing Craft?" Once more they motioned through the hand gestures. "It's like. Everywhere? People use it for everything?" How does one explain Craft?

Maybe a demonstration would help? "Like . . ." They pulled a leaf from a nearby branch as they passed and held it up, then held their free hand in a scissors shape right below it. Craft sparked from their fingertips and snipped the leaf in half. "Scissors Craft. Craft doesn't just do that, it can also be used to heal or make shields or change speeds, but um. Yeah?"

Oh stars there was time travel here, too? Ignoring the um. Giant skull that led to more questions than they really wanted answered right now, anyway. ". . . Howww common are time pools?" they asked instead.

"Luz has told me about rock, paper, scissors but it's...just a human game. Often used to decide playful arguments," Lilith explained. "Craft...doesn't exist here. To me, it appears that your realm has Craft while this one has magic." She tapped her chin thoughtfully when she watched Craft be performed. "I will say, it is interesting though."

She summoned her staff with a flourish, Revas' eyes glowing blue. "I can only really cast magic with my palisman or using glyphs anymore. The curse hindered my ability to create magic from my magic bile sac." Drawing a spell circle with Revas, she summoned a plant from the ground, watching with a smile as it blossomed, leaves unfurling. "See? Though, plant magic isn't my strongest suit. I'm not terrible at it though."

"Oh, time pools aren't easy to come across. It took me and my niece several hours to locate some time pools and even then, we had to test several to find out when they led to. Besides that, you have to be very careful about timing. If you don't get back to the time pool you came from, you can get trapped in the other time period until you find your time pool again. It's a very complicated process. But since they're difficult to locate, it isn't very common to encounter them. You're more likely to encounter a friendly slitherbeast than you are a time pool."

"NO???" they blurted out. Stars wait no that was rude- Agh! They didn't have a script! "I mean-" they tried again. "We don't have magic? That's fictional? My healing is through Craft."

Cautiously, they fell into step next to her. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before they could get somewhere safe. "You've encountered worse?" they asked, incredulous.

Their reaction shocked her a bit. Her eyes widened and her ears drooped briefly before she recovered. "Well, perhaps where you're from it's fictional but here, it's quite real." Lilith seemed a bit more guarded as she asked, "What's this 'Craft' you mentioned?"

"Oh, sure. I found a time pool once and almost got killed by a stonesleeper! They wandered freely during the Hecktaceous period but became much less numerous over time. There used to be one that still lived in the Titan's skull back in the Deadwardian era." She pointed casually to the Titans skull in the distance. "Haven't seen one in modern day though. So that's one less prehistoric animal to deal with!"

Loop cringed. Did she really have to say it like that? Blinding stars . . . They knew they weren't exactly human anymore but she didn't have to say it like that.

Wait . . . Witches? Demons? MAGIC?!

WHERE WERE THEY?

They stared at her for a solid several seconds before they even processed the rest of what she said. Then they blinked. All . . . that aside, fire bees did not sound pleasant.

Slowly, they picked themself up off the ground. ". . . I'm not hurt," they muttered, "and my own healing works fine."

"Oh, you have magic? Fascinating! Demons and witches are the only beings around here to naturally have magic. Humans like my niece have to use glyphs or palismen to wield magic," she chimed, clearly excited by the development.

She stepped aside a bit to give them plenty of room to walk beside her. "I'm glad you're not injured. Some of the beasts here on the Isles can catch you off-guard if you're not aware of their existence. Still, they're not as bad as other things I've encountered while exploring other archipelagos..."

Loop just couldn't get a break, could they? The loops, stardust's loops, that final loop, the fight, and now this? Somewhere they didn't recognize at all with creatures they'd never seen before and not a single familiar face. What now? What now? Why couldn't the Universe ever just let them rest?

Frankly, they broke. Just a little! Not like they did in front of stardust! They just . . . went to the nearest somewhat enclosed space they could find and curled up there hiding away from anything and everything just so that they could have some space to break down in peace.

It had, for the most part, worked. They weren't disturbed for the entire time they were actually crying, but apparently the Universe didn't want to allow them rest for too much longer, because only a few minutes after recovering from their little breakdown they were startled by a stranger they could almost mistake as human if not for the . . . pointed ears? Or was that body craft? They couldn't be sure anymore, with how strange a world they seemed to have appeared in.

Oh. They did not know how to function without a script anymore. What do they say?

Don't overthink it. Just answer the question.

". . . You could say that."

The Isles, she said. They were on some Isle then, apparently. Some weird Isle with weird creatures and weird plants. Why not.

Her head tilted thoughtfully at them, mismatched eyes alight with curiosity. "You're certainly not human...at least, you don't look like any I've seen before. And you don't look like a witch...and not like any demon I've seen either." She kept her distance but offered, "I'm Lilith. And this is the Boiling Isles. In the Demon Realm. But you're not the first visitor here. So, uhm, welcome?"

She asked, "Are you injured? Do you need healing? My magic is limited but I can still do some."

"But it might be better if we're not just out here in the middle of the woods. This is an area that fire bees like to frequent and they can spark at the drop of a hat. That's not fun for anyone."