"One of many." Somnus echos, "How fun! How fun indeed! Hmmm, then I suppose I shall accept my wrongdoings in this land of far. What's next? Do I at least get a tour of the land? Or is it straight off to prison for lil ol' me?"

"Well the easiest way to get someone to not do something is to convince them to not do it." Patil says, a bit condescendingly, "And to do that, you'd obviously need to lie. It'll have to be a really good lie though. Our other options are tying him up some where and hope there's a time limit on that task or injure him enough that he's effectively disqualified. Although judging by the state he was in, I suspect that injuries might not be enough to disqualify him..."

Marsh is a little creeped out by the way Alethea was expecting their arrival but also kind of understands their task a little more now. "Hi, I'm Marsh, technically a contestant but you don't have to worry about me being competition since I'm already, y'know, a deity. Um..." They sort of freeze, it's clear they haven't thought of a question ask, but eventually settle on "So what's your task? If you don't mind sharing."

Marsh: So how old are you?

Somnus: 13

Marsh: ...and how long have you been 13?

Somnus: *staring into their soul* a while.

Time wrote:

Oh snap B day? bruh???

oh my birthday was last month, i just forgot to update my signature lol. Officially can't use the "i'm a minor" card on internet arguments anymore 

(( "the bands placed upon your body prevent you from using any magics or abilities that are tied to you" Som is a shapeshifter and is currently (as always) not in his original form so is that something that'd be dispelled? Also, how strict are we on the no magics situation, like absolutely nada, zero, zilch, or is it similar to Haze's deal where his magic is new to forengard so he was able to partially bypass the dof's magic shield? ))

Somnus finally focuses on the people around him, taking in each one and looking for anything notable until he stops at the purple eyed man. He doesn't look afraid, or even panicked, just a little confused, "So you've names for these places? How quaint. I fail to see where I'm fault here. Trespassing is, after all, a fake crime you know. Although I'm fairly certain kidnapping is real. Are you kidnapping me?" 

Curious, yes how curious indeed. Never before had Somnus encountered something like this on his travels, something so...tangible. There's this nagging, human, part of his brain that bubbles up with fear, and maybe he ought to be afraid of the unknown. Maybe what's left of his mortality is correct, the itch that tells him to run is ever persistent, but Somnus hasn't cared about that in centuries.

No, what he cares about is far simpler. This is new, yes, very new, and new is exciting. New places and people and times to explore. Though these new people seems to have him bound which is terribly inconvenient and a bit humorous. What's the point of keeping his appearances as meek and unintimidating as possible if he's still going to get tied up anyways! But on the other hand, he does see where they're coming from. Perhaps an introduction is in order.

"That is my name you speak of, yes." Somnus' expression is blank, but his eyes dart around with curiosity, taking in every piece of information provided, "Tell me, the time, place, and reason for which I have been plucked from my wanderings." 

Nemesis returns with two shopping baskets, one in each hand. The empty one she hands over to Ruin while the other is filled with grocery bags. "The um," She hesitates, clears her throat, then continues, "The flour is still on the ground. I'd love to get that for you but I'd rather not knock a shelf over on accident..."

Oh no, I wrote a Nemesis character study? Who woulda guessed...

(cw: very mild gore? (idk if it really counts as gore but just to be safe))

Loud, painful, screams echo through the abandoned warehouse like death bells. It doesn’t matter, there’s no civilization in miles and there’s not a soul who’d dare condemn her. He won’t walk out alive.

Violence hangs heavy in the air, and after every cut a brilliant cascade of blood follows, yet never flies far enough to stain a surface. She tries to keep the floor clean, despite the gruesome method of murder, but control is a fickle thing and her head is full of clouds. No one can blame her for leaving a few drops behind. She’s high off the taste of death on her tongue, something metallic and tangy and much too salty, like tears. Practically vibrating with anger as she tears into the man’s flesh, watches his muscles fall away in ribbons. It’s not like she enjoys the act, no more than mortals enjoy breathing. (That’s to say, killing simply comes naturally, and death has always been her birthright.) It does, however, feel dangerously close to coming home, to being alive. She doesn’t know what to do with that. She doesn’t need to know.

The deed’s been done, the poor girl’s prayers fulfilled, and as Nemesis calms back down she realizes she’s not sure what to do with the gallon of blood she has. It’s just there. Sort of hovering, three feet off the ground in an undulating orb and she figures she must’ve just been subconsciously siphoning all of this guy’s blood into a ball because she can’t remember anything but a haze of red. Something shifts in her peripheral that reminds her she has an audience. Internally chastising herself for getting her priorities mixed up, Nemesis turns to face her newest follower. That’s when she realizes she’s forgotten her lines, it's been a few centuries since she was properly active and now all her social skills are rusty.

The poor girl ([i]Dan

…

Love when I finish art and then realize there’s a second part I also need to work on before I can show anyone anything

anyways, I almost missed class because I was rereading a cablepool fic which means they've officially passed the hyperfixation rite of passage for me

Patil goes quiet for a few seconds. He seems to be actually considering sharing his task then, "It's- your task is beneficial to me. We have similar goals. That's all I can share, sorry." He does genuinely look apologetic, "Look, I'm not doing this just to get more information out of you. There's some things no one should go through Arcan, killing the person who spared your life is one of them. The guilt can ruin even the strongest of minds."


Marsh is very, very intimidated by now so they take a step back from the giant metal box. "Oh uh I- um it's related to my task, I need to get to know her. I swear I mean her no harm." They put their hands up in a surrendering pose, "Alethea is here right? Just a conversation will do." Though they doubt one conversation will be enough for someone to give up their secret, either way Marsh wants to at least talk to Alethea once. They wonder if the flowers give out participation trophies.

((Pat's just a big softie once you get over his willingness to solve most problems with murder))

Another writing bc it seems the more stressed I am with homework, the more my brain wants to procrastinate and think about my little guys. This time with a drabble on Somnus' backstory! Ofc he wasn't born with the name Somnus, who names their child that?

 For as long as he could remember, Neil had always felt weak, tired. The doctors said it was some kind of disease, something non-contagious but genetic. With a long fancy name and everything. He didn’t really understand their words, just knew that it wasn’t good. The doctors said he wouldn’t make it to twelve, maybe thirteen if he was lucky. 

When he’d asked mama what they meant, she said he had the same thing as his father but worse. That he understood. His father had passed away before Neil was born. 

Living life on a time-limit wasn’t so bad once he got used to it. Neil was glad for his family. Mama was a little fussy but always took good care of him. Sierra, Linda, and Malvis were the best siblings Neil could hope for. They let him tag along on days he felt better and when he was bedridden for weeks they’d often sit by his side and share their day with him so he didn’t feel left out. 

[color=#000000]Sierra was a reader, her books piled high in the living room once their library had run out of space. She’d read him bedtime stories for as long as he could remember. Every night a new tale from her collections. They were never really close, which came as no surprise to anyone since Sierra was the oldest of the Waldersons and Neil, the youngest. He remembers her often talking about legacies, wanting to follow in their father’s footsteps of being a poet. She said she’d make the Walderson name famous, she’d do what her father never had the time to do. Neil believed her too, she had just recently gotten a deal from a big fancy publishing company. If all went well, her first book would’ve been released in Decembe

…

Gay people real

Time wrote:

Arcan smiles. It's a genuine one, "Thank you. It means a lot. It's just..." She sniffles a bit, before looking over to the medical building, quickly dropping the smile, "...It's just that Crimson spared my life once. If I kill him, then it makes his act of mercy his biggest mistake... and... well I don't really know what it means for me."

---

Our two guard friends are standing outside still, holding a soft conversation. Something overall indistinct.

((oh btw, should we do a time skip at some point? Lycaon left for a bit, and we're just waiting for time to past so things are in chronological order))

"Oh." Patil says, "Well, that complicates things... Hmm how bout this, you tell me exactly what you can remember of your task, let's see if we can find a way around it yeah?" It seems he's had a sudden change of heart, for what reason is anyone's guess.

Marsh slows to a brisk walk, going up to the guards in what they hope is a calm and trustworthy manner, "Um, hello! I'm looking for someone named Alethea, I heard she's in the building so... It's uh totally fine if I'm not allowed inside, I can wait outside for her, just, could you pass a message for me? Tell her I want to meet her."

hehe plot time plot time, wanna start with how much arinthnia you wanna share? Or how Som ends up being found out while in arinthnia? I know you mentioned a character that has some powers that'd make it possible to actually see Som...