Look upon my works, ye mighty...

[invisibleheir]

I. Camping is fun for the whole family

[ The refuge of the library is a welcome one after the wearying battle on Weathertop. Arturia feels tired in a way that she cannot place--she hasn't felt this bone tired in years. The troubles of incarnating into a human body, she supposes. Once the group has found its way into the library, she can be found helping to set up camp and making the more seriously injured comfortable, collecting wood for fires, moving book-cases and other furniture to help fortify the camp, or simply sitting at a fire staring into the flames with an intense look that suggests she is thinking of something far away. Her demeanor is... a bit harsh, but she seems open to chatting with anyone who comes by. As long as they're respecful, anyway.

Alternatively, Arturia seems to have a hard time knowing her limits and she'll push herself helping with the camp until she literally collapses from exhaustion. It's an unfortunate thing, since it means helping her into a bedroll so she can try and rest after the exhausting phsyical demands of the last few days. ]

II. ... and despair

[ One thing that doesn't happen when you're a Heroic Spirit is dreaming. She's been in a waking state for so long that sleep has become strange to her and having simply collapsed into a deep sleep, she sleeps like the dead. For a while. In her dreams, the Battle of Camlann plays over again. She struggles against Mordred and his army until she stands over a battlefield of broken bodies and tattered banners, Mordred glaring up at her. Then, they clash and in one instant she drives her spear through the traitor's body at the same instant as his blade catches her side.

The shock of the pain in her dreams jolts her into wakefulness and she sits up, panting and in a cold sweat--it could be the middle of the night or just early morning, but her cry is probably loud enough to wake any one else still sleeping. She takes a few deep breaths, seeming only now to realize that she's not, in fact, at Camlann or that strange place between life and death where she had waited to be summoned. She slumps over, sweat trickling down her bro, tries her best to get her breathing under control. ]


III. Exploring

[ After resting, Arturia takes time to delve into the library, following the stacks deeper and deeper into a strange realm that seems almost dreamlike. Once or twice, she catches a glimpse of the owl or the orangutan but never seems to get close enough to investigate further. The fox spirits intrigue her and she watches them from a distance, shushing anyone who tries to interfere with them.

She can be found perusing books taken from the shelves, reading over strange tomes in lost languages and occasionally flipping through an extremely damaged encylopedia. Once, it's even a battered copy Le Morte d'Arthur. She shakes her head as she reads it, though whether it's amusement or consternation is hard to tell. Arturia keeps her cards close to her chest. ]

Comments

I

[likeits1999]

[ Kevin's been helping Arturia lug wood. He's been mostly quiet, they've been close enough to yell if something happens but not enough to chat. Getting back to camp, he stops a ways off from the circle of the group's fire. ]

I shouldn't get any closer than this, yo.

Re: I

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia glances at Kevin with a tilt of her head and an upraised eyebrow. ]

Why not? You're part of our little band, aren't you?

[likeits1999]

Oh, yeah. It's just like...

[ He shifts the bulk of the weight from one arm to the other. ]

I got this thing? About fire? Kinda wigs me out a bit.

ii

[therevanchist]

[It's not the cry that disturbs Revan--it's the pain echoing through the Force. She bolts upright along with Arturia, gasping from the secondhand sensation and uncertain if they're under attack until the initial shock wears off.

Just someone's nightmare, then.]

Arturia?

[Not a hard deduction, really.]

Re: ii

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia is bent over, head in her hands. She takes a breath or two, trying to calm her still racing heart. She hasn't had a nightmare in a longer period of time than she cares to remember and it takes a long moment for her to come to herself. She looks up, looking towards Revan. ]

...Yes, I'm here. I'm sorry if I woke you.

[ Just gonna apologize and try not to think about it. ]

[therevanchist]

The dream woke me. Not your fault.

[The perils of being Force sensitive. Usually the she's the one giving other people her bad dreams.]

You okay?

[She sure doesn't look okay.]

[the_hit_list]

[ Philadelphia randomly crossing their path is strange, but Tim isn't sure if it's strange because they were recently attacked by ringwraiths or if it's just the part of the journey that was medieval and populated by ringwraiths that's strange. A deserted city of Brotherly Love would ordinarily be an alarming, all-hands-on-deck situation. This... seems curious in comparison to the camp's attack and promise of Rivendell.

The library seemed like the best place to look for answers to questions he didn't even know yet. After looking around the Emerald City and the temple they'd camped in for answers and finding none, he's taking a different approach with the library. He wants to spot the things that are odd, like a book he's never heard of. Something that seems amiss is the goal, and that could be anything.

He's meandering through the fiction section when he spots Arturia shaking her head at Thomas Malory. ]

T.H. White tells it better.

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia is flipping through the book quietly scoffing to herself. The basics are right, the outline of her total failure are all there--but none of the truth of it has survived aside from the fact that yes, she was king. Yes, Mordred was her child. Yes, her kingdom did collapse in blood and war because of her failures... But it seems so strange and removed from the reality she knew. Arturia glances up as she hears a footfall, then gives a faint smile. ]

I do not know who T.H. White is, but perhaps he did do a better job than whoever compiled this collection of half-truths.

[the_hit_list]

Probably not.

[ Tim gives her a small smile and a light shrug. History, if the term applies to Arthurian legend, is questionable at best in the absence of contemporaneous documents. To the best of his knowledge, that doesn’t exist. If Sir Justin, the Shining Knight, hadn’t been an associate of the Justice League, Tim isn’t sure he would believe any account of King Arthur’s court. ]

I think White based his work on Mallory’s. Maybe he included some of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but medieval literature isn’t my specialty. What makes you say its half-truths?

II

[makinuscream]

[ While others sleep, Urahara remains awake and hunched over the cobbled together desk. Books fan out in front of him and into their words he falls (but still with a keen ear for trouble). The cry jolts him out of the land of theory and knowledge and back to the here and now.

For a moment he remains still, listening to the sound through the library before relaxing slightly. Glancing in the woman's direction, he covers a yawn then flashes a half smile. ]

You okay?

Re: II

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia takes a few deep breaths to cam her pounding heart. It's too much. This is all a bit too much. She closes her eyes and focuses, drawing in on herself for a moment to center and calm as much as she can before she looks over to Urahara. Inhale. Exhale. ]

I.. Will be. I apologize if I disturbed you.

II

[wherenoonegoes]

[Hiccup bolts up from where his body is awkwardly draped over Toothless's. The dragon also bolts up, causing Hiccup to yelp as he rolls off with a thump. He scrambles to his feet, using Toothless as leverage.]

I'm up! I'm up! What's happening? Is someone attacking us again?

Re: II

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia winces and waves a hand towards Hiccup in an attempt to ward off his concern. ]

No--no. I'm sorry. I had a nightmare, that's all.

Re: II

[wherenoonegoes]

[Toothless rolls his eyes, and lays back down. Hiccup himself sighs in relief and sits, using his friend as a backrest.]

Okay good, That's good.

...well, not good, nightmares aren't good, but it's better than us being attacked.

[Hiccup adjust his position into something slightly more comfortable, and gives up on the idea of getting back to sleep any time soon.]

You want to talk about it, or should I just find something else to do while I'm up?

III

[greyerrant]

[ A tall figure watches her, leaning heavily against a bookshelf as she pages through Le Morte D'Arthur, and comments, ]

A father striking down his son, and a son striking down a father. It sounds remarkably similar to the tale of my times, truth be told.

[ He smiles, though there's little humor in it. ]

Garviel Loken.

Re: III

[invisibleheir]

I'm amazed the tale lasted into this era. How fitting that such a failure should still be remembered.

[ She closes the book and reaches out to take Gavriel's hand. Yes, he's huge, but she's seen bigger. She thinks. ]

Re: III

[greyerrant]

A pleasure, mamzel.

[ He raises an eyebrow. ]

It was real then? I was always given to understand it was simply a legend of ancient Albia, much like Saint Georgios.

I

[awfulcer]

[It's not like Dixon's getting the most restful nights either. It's less nightmares than everything else; his brain's like an IMAX of guilt and self-hatred. He replays just about every moment he regrets, which is a lengthy and growing list, on repeat before he sleeps, and that's even if he gets that far, given that pain and exhaustion seem to be working against him by leaving him in that half-awake, shivering, definitely not-in-REM state.

So when he hears Arturia cry out, he doesn't have to waste much time rousing himself. He wasn't even truly under anyway. Keeping his blanket pulled over him, separate from the others due to a combination of unpopularity and shame-fueled reclusiveness, he gets up and wipes away the barest semblance of sleep from his face.

He goes over and very delicately nudges her, staying away from where she could attack him, remembering pretty keenly how she straight-up mowed through Nazgul back on the hill. He'd rather not be on the receiving end of her panic. As soon as she rouses he scoots back.]

You too, huh?

Re: I

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia jolts into full wakefulness almost as soon as she's touched. She's panting, trying to calm the pounding of her heart. A hand gropes for her side, touching the spot where her wound should be. She should be knelt on Camlann, bleeding to death--

No. That's the past. It is done already and cannot be altered. She takes a breath, lets it go, then another. She does her best to calm and center herself, but it doesn't seem to be taking immediately. ]

...I had an uneasy sleep.

[ That's kind of agreeing. ]

Memories.

[awfulcer]

[When she reaches for the phantom wound, Dixon jerks back further, assuming she's going for a weapon - and his own hand does the same, instantly jumping towards a holster that isn't there, ready to pull a gun he hasn't had in weeks. When she just sits up and steadies herself, he has a moment of feeling a little bit stupid. Justified, but stupid.]

Sounds like all us out here. Except the ones that can't sleep at all.

[He's noticed how few of them have been snoring.]

III

[coiledscales]

[ Alacruun has also taken to exploring the stacks, looking through books to see if there's anything that interests him. Much of it seems to be knowledge from another world. Interesting and maybe a little useful, but nothing immediately pertinent. He still collects an armful for his own perusal, happy to at least have something to do that isn't sitting around and staring into space. He comes around the corner and finds here flipping through a book - Le Morte d'Arthur - and he arches a brow.

She might recognize his voice. ]

Finding anything interesting? Or just browsing?

Re: III

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia looks up from her book and closes with with a small puff of dust and mold spores. Cough cough. She shakes her head, then gives Alacruun a small smile. Of course he changed shape. ]

...A book to do with my old life, actually.

[coiledscales]

Really? A book to do with... you? Fascinating. I hadn't realized they had information about us here. Or is it just you? I haven't seen anything about me, but...

[ Alacruun shrugs. ]

Is it accurate or just hearsay?

ii

[ofnovalue]

-The cry most certainly wakes Ovelia, who'd hardly been sleeping herself despite the comfort of knowing her knight was near. Unlike Arturia, she was far more used to nightmares since arriving here, of mutually assured death, of betrayal and heartache. As if in some strange empathic way, she felt the scar on her chest burn, just slightly, as she looked over at the panicked king, unable to think of anything to say.-

Ah... -It was meek, it was tired, but... sympathetic. She hadn't known what was in the other's mind, but the idea of the mind preying on them in their sleep, well... That she knew well enough without having to hear the details.-

Re: ii

[invisibleheir]

[ Arturia flinches slightly, then rubs at her eyes, trying to chase away sleep and the fleeting memories of dreams. She doesn't like it. Doesn't want it. But here she is. She glances over at Ovelia and gives a slight, apologetic smile. ]

...I am sorry if I disturbed your rest.