[PQ] Quality Assurance Testing

The misunderstanding over Jigano's instructions and how the alchemist was meant to comply went unnoticed. However as he struggled and tried to pull Arche away from the barrier, he did find the utter lack of assitance from anyone shocking. Given Vai's reaction to the Acsended's offer he could perhaps understand her position—and Ashe's by extension—but Kalt? Edy? Jigano? Luckily it seemed the ascended was made of sterner stuff, but even so Remi gave the man a tentatively disapproving look. "I said to go near to it. Not to touch it." He reprimanded softly, shaking his head gently with his eyes washing over the man to make sure that he was alright. Or, at least as alright as any of them could reasonably expect him to be. "Perhaps you should sit?" So saying, a chair of earth would rise behind the ascended, offering him a place to rest should he choose to accept. As Ashetta 's water raced towards the barrier, something interesting happened. It stopped. Humming  just inches from the barrier itself, the watery-spear dispersed, the molecules humming like a blanket that could get no closer. When Ashe released her hold, the water would drop harmlessly to the ground. Fluttering his lashes, Remi quickly scribbled down this interesting effect. "Alright. As we have all deduced by now, fire seems to be the most effective. Everyone with fire magic, please attack together. Try to keep your attacks as focused as you can" He looked at Edrei, Zariah, and Ashetta expectantly. As the trio stood together, their concerted efforts creating a blazing streak of fire towards the barrier, the magnetic resonance indeed appeared to weaken. Bright cracks of blue and brown peeled outwards from where their blow struck and for perhaps just a moment, the barrier looked slightly less opaque. But the mages would not be able to hold up their assault forever, and it was clear that they would require much more firepower (literally) in order to make a meaningful attack. 'Alright." Remi called, raising a hand to signal that they could stop. Despite this 'failure', the alchemist had a bright grin on his face. "I think we all though fire would be our strongest weapon. But it is good to know for sure." Moving towards his bag, Remi reached in and pulled out something swaddled in cloth. Turning towards the group—though eyeing Vervain specifically—he began to unwrap it. Within was the bone-white mask Ludo had given him. Holding it up slightly, Remi frowned uncertainly. "As I mentioned in our meeting...Ludo gave me this just after I asked about the barrier. It is entirely possible that it is unrelated, or even quite dangerous. But...I would like to put it on. If any of you wish to leave, please do so now. For those of you who stay—" Another pointed look towards Vai, "—please be prepared to do whatever is needed should the situation go awry. Even if that means harming me." Taking a breath, Remi moved a good few metres away from the group. Glancing up to ensure that those who had stayed were ready for...well, anything really, Remi took a breath and put on the mask. REMI Where do you go when you're right next to me?

random event Not a mask. The mask. Ludo's mask. As the alchemist slipped it on it would feel almost as though he wasn't wearing it at all, but for a strange humming in his ears that might have been voices. Just because he could not feel it, however, did not mean that the changes were not apparent. Remi would be able to look straight through the barrier. Where once the almost intangible line between the Hollowed Ground and the world beyond was marked by a blur of wilderness beyond the Outskirts... now a gorgeous forest stood in its place. A wall of trees filled the landscape beyond the barren snowfields, a mixture of evergreens and deciduous sprinkled with snow and hoarfrost. It brimmed, too, with life. Small orbs of light danced through the branches and there was movement in the woods, revealing for a moment the flick of a tail or a twitch of ears from some mammal passing by. That was not all, however. The humming would grow louder, more persistent, and if Remi turned then around him he would see, clogging the air around his companions, a swathe of memories ripe for the plucking. Some sparked and leapt with joy or nostalgia; others settled over the person like a veil of mourning. Should he focus for too long on any one of them he risked being plunged, body and soul, into the experience.

Remi's fingertips ghosted over his face where he knew that the mask lay against his skin, though he could not longer precisely feel it. The whispers though, that he could feel. Like spider legs inside of his mind, the alchemist mentally recoiled but found that there was no where for him to hide. His fingers danced around his face as he blinked his eyes closed and then open, wondering if the sound would remain persistent. It did, but already the humming was so pervasive that it insidiously settled into his thoughts as if it had always been there, and Remi's mind, quite shockingly, was happy to ignore it. Blinking, he held up his hands to indicate that he was alright, but that those gathered should not come closer. Looking at them, there seemed to be a hazy swath of images floating around them. Too far away to make it out clearly, the alchemist's eyelashes fluttered beneath the mask as he spun around, wondering if it was just humans that caused this phenomena or if— —the barrier was gone. The BARRIER was GONE. "I can see—" The alchemist cried, taking a shaky step forward. His hands were stretched out before him as if expecting to collide with an invisible barrier at any moment. After only a moment though, he felt the familiar hum in his bones and stopped. Placing a hand to his chest Remi rubbed absently, wishing desperately it was just some sort of itch and not—but no. Pulling the mask up and blinking into the brightness, Remi could quite clearly see that the barrier remained intact. But with the mask on? Slipping it back over his eyes, the alchemist inhaled a rush of air. "I can see through the barrier." He called over his shoulder. "It is all so...so alive." The trees, snow laden as they were, were still a green more vivid than anything he'd seen since arriving here. Strange lights danced along the boughs of them, and a bright patch of red was— —was... "Ianto?" Remi whispered, forgetting himself and taking a step forward only to reflexively leap back as his bones started to gyrate in his body. "IANTO!" He called more loudly, waving his arms frantically to try and get the foxes attention. REMI Where do you go when you're right next to me?

VAI The huntress It would be a filthy lie to say that Vervain didn't watch Archebold's encounter with the barrier with something like satisfaction, but she had the courtesy not to actively sneer at the Ascended. She was warmed by the way so many had rallied around her, and without question, but Remi still seemed... strangely attached to the cold-hearted captain - it was something she would ask about at another time, surely. Then her daughter lanced a spear of water at the barrier, and moments later others joined with a swathe of fire; the same sparks danced in Vai's blood, but she was far from ruffled by not being asked to contribute. She was here to follow instruction in whatever tests Remi wanted to make - not to show off. The sight of the mask had her blue eyes widening considerably, and Vai had stepped forward just as the alchemist slipped the thing on and warned them to stay back. What on earth was he doing? "Remi," she began quietly, but then he was speaking about seeing... through the barrier and... and... "Remi, no! Be careful!" The huntress's voice rang out clearly as he leapt back from it, and she stepped across the snow to stand a short distance behind him, knowing better than to proceed forward given Archebold's comment about her... condition. "Please, just step back."

Zariah Be dangerous darling, for the world rises and falls at your feet. Zariah watched passively as the drama unfolded around them. Though she did quirk a brow at the reverence Remi showed her. Why? Her title meant nothing here. As much as it was appreciated, it was unnecessary…and she again wondered how he seemed to know her yet she did not have a clue who he was. She was more preoccupied with that than arguing her point. If he really wanted to shoot water at it that bad, so be it she supposed. As instructed she manipulated the fire once more to assault the barrier, pleased to see it momentarily wane under the effort of her and the other mages. Fire was definitely the answer here. Hazel eyes watched as Remi argued with a few others, people who were less helpful than was fair. Why did they even show up if they weren’t going to do what was asked of them? Idiots. The mask intrigued her though. She didn’t know who Ludo was, but perhaps one of these deities everyone kept talking about. Either way the thing could possibly be dangerous it seemed, so she kept a close eye on Remi to assess if action needed to be taken against him. And of course it did. As the young man moved forward, Zariah’s hand shot out, grabbing the back of Remi’s coat rather like a mother grabbing a toddler that was trying to run into the road. ”What are you doing, you will actually die if you get close to the barrier!” Zariah snapped at him in a tone Beatrix and Jace were likely all too familiar with. Ianto… Who the heck was that. ”Do you recognize someone out there? Were more Northaveners on the other side of the barrier? Was Neron there?

The Ascended made it back alive, for better or – most likely – for worse, thanks to Remi’s assistance – and no thanks at all to the numerous other people whose enmity he had earned, no doubt how he’d earned Jigano’s ambivalence to whether he lived or died. Still Remi gently chided the predator, showing him fondness for some reason, in spite of all of his friends (and family?) treating the vampire like, well, a dangerous beast.

Suppressing a sigh, the bard turned his attention instead to the assassin’s watery attack. That was a fascinating response, and he jotted down how the water seemed to be repelled. Would it do even more damage than fire, if it hit the shield? He opened his mouth to ask Remi about what controls he was using for his experiment when instead the boy moved blithely onwards, leaving the lorekeeper blinking in surprise. But of course, the rest of the mages obeyed him without hesitation, following his orders without a thought for what was missing.

Jigano grit his teeth, but witnessed the effects of the group attack, determined to gather as much information as he could. The cracks were new, but the shield had weakened and grown less opaque under the assault of just one earlier. One or three, the Barrier didn’t seem to mind in the long run as it held firm in the face of the attack.

For a moment he thought that they were done, but Remi pulled something else from his bag instead. At first it seemed like it might be an invention – at last, the controls! – but… no, it just a—

--mask?

”Oh… fuck,” the lorekeeper breathed. Remi had said he’d gotten a mask from Ludo as a gift, and having seen the god for himself there was no doubt that this was what it was. Remi explained to the rest exactly why what he was doing was a bad idea, and then went ahead and did it anyway – something that Jigano felt was probably a distressingly common occurrence with him. He took a step closer, worried in earnest now, and not just for Remi’s sake.

What the young man said would have been more interesting if what he did wasn’t so foolish. Three quick strides and Jigano still would have been too late if the haughty princess hadn’t been standing close enough to grab him. The bard stopped beside Vervain, looking from Remi to her and back again, blue eyes bright and hard with a bleak frustration. ”This is the second time,” he growled. ”He told me Ludo tricked him this exact same way before he gave him the mask – tried to get him to kill himself against the barrier by making him think he saw a friend there. The third time now that I know of that that mask has nearly been his end. Twice on the god’s face and now this.” His hands clenched around his journal, white-knuckled as he struggled with his helplessness – and more than a smidgen of misplaced guilt.

While her water's apparent repulsion of the barrier was something she never encountered, struggling to shove it forward until she was to release.. it was her fire assault alongside the others that was promising, at least. It was definitely time to put more work into her fire, to bring it back to where it had been before arriving here. Her lightning's effects were interesting, but fire appeared to be the real key here - with the barrier and with the spire demon, too.    Ashe turned her attention fully to her friend as he began to speak, pulling something from his bag. She narrowed her eyes and.. a mask from Ludo. A full faced, expressionless mask. No, she thought with dread, her heart began thudding at an erratic rhythm. It's just Remi, just Remi, just Remi, she desperately told herself as his face vanished beyond the mask. ”Fuck,” she breathed trying to focus on what was happening, mentally grasping for her tether to Kalt like a lifeline, but she couldn't turn her eyes from the masked man as he began moving to the barrier. Masks, what the fuck was it with everyone and wearing a fucking mask? At first she didn't register that her feet were moving after him, but the others followed after him too, stopped him. He had to be okay, it was Remi, her friend, like her brother - he was fine, he was fine.    She knew he was saying something about seeing through the barrier, and he saw someone important. She knew she was moving after the group, but she stopped several yards behind her mother and Jigano, unable to make herself go further. She struggled for air, staring at Remi like he was someone else entirely. A mask, why did it have to be a fucking mask? As she blinked rapidly, she swore the bone-white surface of it had become a steely gray, sunken eye sockets black and staring back.    It was that dark mask swimming in her vision, the very same one worn by the man Ludo had conjured at the festival. She could see it tilted down at her, leather-clad hand holding her face so hard it hurt. She tried to focus on what was immediately happening. Zariah grabbed for his collar. Vervain and Jigano stood behind him, warning him away from the barrier. Remi himself had been.. Trying to get someone’s attention. He saw something, that was important. More important than the claws of ice and fear sinking deeply in her chest.    Can’t breathe. He was dead. She reminded herself three times, he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead. Ashe’s hands clenched and unclenched at her sides, but she stopped feeling them sometime around when the alchemist had shown the mask. She didn't let herself leave this behind - what was happening with Remi, with the barrier, far surpassed her struggle just then. Still... Her breath was shallow, painful. She wanted to say her friend’s name, but she stood frozen behind the group, bloodless lips pressed into a thin line. She swore that her very bones trembled.    It’s just Remi, breathe, it’s just Remi, she kept repeating, using the thoughts like some kind of flimsy and battered shield against the assault of the dark things the mask pulled to the surface.

Vai's voice, worried and maternal. Zariah, sharp and no-nonsense. He thought he heard Jigano, but the words were muffled by the buzzing in his ears, in his bones. And Ashe? Was she— "My—" Remi tried to say as the choir of whispers in his mind frothed like a wave. Squeezing his eyes shut, he waved a hand towards his bag, where his leather-bound notebook and a stick of charcoal suddenly appeared and drifted towards him. Grabbing at them with an uncharacteristic hastiness, Remi dropped to his knees and began to sketch in earnest, like a man trying to pin down a dream before it disappeared. With hasty glances up to the world outside, an image began to appear on the page drawn in Remi's characteristic precise-style. Grabbing at the snow around him, he added some to his finger to smudge and blur the charcoal to indicate where the orbs of light were, adding gigantic trees, and even digging beneath the snow to the dying grass beneath to smudge colour into them. The air was a brilliant blue and the flora was vibrant and full of life in a way that nothing inside the barrier was. And there, nestled in the snow, was a sight that made Remi's heart clench and flutter. Ianto. He'd know that foxy-smile anywhere. In that moment, Remi had the overwhelming urge to fly as fast as he could to Rory, to place the mask on his friend's face and let him see. Instead, as if suddenly exhausted, Remi pulled the mask off panting slightly as his heart beat wildly in his chest. Holding up the notebook for those around him, he looked at the barrier without the mask, feeling suddenly as though he wanted to cry at the sight of it. Okay the PQ portion is over! Thanks everyone <3 ! REMI Where do you go when you're right next to me?

VAI The huntress That Zariah managed to pull Remi back from where it was so obviously dangerous was more than good enough for Vai. As the alchemist summoned his notebook and charcoal and feverishly began to sketch in the snow, she stepped forward to lean down beside him, a hand resting on his shoulder to watch the scene unfold on the parchment. As Jigano spoke she glanced up, frowning gently. "I know," she said. "But knowing it doesn't stop it from happening." That was another story, though - she would speak with Remi herself about his continued closeness to the god that had tormented him, and his reckless behaviour here today. When he pulled off the mask and showed them all the world beyond the barrier she seemed awed - a real forest, not like the dead and ghostly woods she resided in now, filled with life and colour and with a small red fox nosing its way through it. It could have been any fox, and she wanted to tell Remi that, but the words remained frozen in her throat. "Was there anything more you wanted from the experiment?" she asked him gently. If not, she'd prefer to put some distance between herself and the barrier.

Exhausted and unraveled at the sight of Ianto so close, Remi gave a shaky look in Vai's direction. "No..I...I think that is all for now. " He murmured, his face having gone quite pale despite the roses of colour high on his cheeks. He'd seen outside the barrier. He'd seen Ianto. And he'd seen their memories. Swallowing hard, Remi rose and looked to Vai with another uneasy smile as he took a deep breath. 'Thank you all for coming, and for using your magic and energy for this. I think we all knew fire would have some effect on the barrier, but the other reactions were interesting as well. I may call on you again for another experiment, but for today, I think I have all I need." Trying to glance around and catch their gazes—though feeling quite dizzy for it—Remi smiled, nodded, and then leaned heavily on Vai, his face buried in her dark hair. REMI Where do you go when you're right next to me?