Roseline Jones

The end of the Clock Party was a great relief for Roseline. The storm of connections in her head burst into a hurricane of changing possibilities. Much of it made no sense to her, but the moon-eyed girl had come to understand some things. Through Mana, she was connected to the shifting possibilities of the future. As a choice was made, everything in her head shifted to take it into account. It was simply too vast for her to fully grasp yet. Through meditation, she was trying to gain ground on what had invaded her mind.

The key was to filter out the impossible. A marble rolling down a hill had infinite ways to go, but the most likely path was narrow. It was technically possible for something to interfere and cause the marble to go up the hill. Comparing paths to find out how likely was the key to seeing clearly. The unlikely was only static. Those were discarded, ignored. Roseline organized herself to see only the most likely paths. A breakthrough had been to use the Heartsong so that the subconscious would do the filtering. Unfortunately, it only worked when she was meditating. Any other time brought her to near madness as everything sparked up in her head. The moon-eyed woman spent a lot of her time in quiet contemplation to keep the mania at bay.

The party was cataclysmic to that uneasy calm. All of the Sixty coming together meant so many more interactions than normal. Roseline knew the moment the party would start before anyone would be awake for the day. She woke to a headache that came with scrambled visions of a party. Of laughing and smiles. Seeing everyone momentarily distracted from weight over their hearts. The party drew Roseline even though people induced the mania out of her control. The Pit was a lonely life since the visions. The craving to take a look at social activity was overwhelming.

The moon-eyed woman left her room hiding deeply in her pale blue cloak. Proximity to others was a factor, but seeing them was a major trigger of the mania. She wasn't willing to risk touch, but it seemed an easy assumption that it would have the worst effect. At the edge of the crowd, she listened to Malachi’s declaration. The moment his words rang out, Roseline gasped and was lost. The world around her disappeared. A tapestry of radiant colors became visible to her in the void. Behind her, the colors were one line, choices written and unchanging. Ahead it was a gnarl of threads like the thousand streams of a delta before being lost in the ocean of the infinite. Futures beyond her sight.

The path that the Sixty would take after the party was narrowing in possibilities. Roseline could see that Clock Party was a conflux of choices that would set up several events. The Dysphoria from the first death shifted constantly, pulling closer or pushed further in time as more choices were made. She stared in awe as the flux of the future was made more certain with every passing second. When the world came back to her, the party had already begun. Several people had already collected their cores and informed Julia of their values.

Ok, ok, thought Roseline as she tried to steady her heart. Waves of euphoria and terror conflicted against each other. Her thoughts were absent in the face of that vision. Everything took a moment to recollect after the shock slipped away. This is a rare moment… I need to make use of this opportunity. This power kinda sucks, but control is possible. I have gained… well, some control… so I just need to know more about what I am dealing with. That last vision showed me that a lot is about to happen. I should stay on the edge and watch… I keep an eye on the Tapestry… I can learn how it works by the reaction. She took a couple of deep breaths and prepared herself to get close to the others. Like a mouse expecting the pounce, she darted in for her own share of the refreshments and cores.

Fugitively, the cores were put away and cookies were procured. Quietly to the side, she watched. Roseline sat perfectly still. Outside the party looking in. The cookies that were so hungered for before, were forgotten after a few bites. Her attention was on the flow of the party as her mental fingers traced the threads of chance. It was all happening like a dance to her. Malachi approaches Julia and a thousand threads fall away while thousands more hum brighter. The tiny brunette smiles over the drink as the bearded man talks, futures are lost while others become more sure. Molly hesitates, but does then speak to the flare of a future that aligns with Warner’s. The moon-eyed acolyte watched and her insight rose. Understanding was one step closer.

The hours rolled past and the Tapestry wove. Roseline began to trace possibilities to predict which would become the future. She began to grasp what should happen or what factors were necessary to make them happen. All of it was largely still by feel. Instinctive understanding is easier than knowing insight, thought Roseline. Sighing she added to herself, This is going to take more than a single night to control… Why couldn’t I have just gotten spells?

She bemoaned her fate, but didn’t slacken on observing the Clock Party. For the most part, what she saw was friendships forming and new attractions lit. Some would be temporary and others would last deep into the ocean ahead. Roseline didn’t interfere except for once. As the party began to slow down, people began to scatter. She traced Molly’s future and saw a danger should things continue to progress with Warner this evening. Guards were down on both, it was a dangerous mix. A warmth of courage welled up from the insight that her hand was needed to assure a better future. Like a breeze of wind, Roseline slipped through the thinning crowd. She timed her approach by the Tapestry to arrive as Warner left to bring more drinks. Molly stood alone with a blushing smile. There was real joy glowing from that face. It hurt her soul to counteract this, but the right future would pay out better.

This is fleeting, the moon-eyed acolyte felt. I do them both a favor. Acting with confidence that came from deeper inside, she whispered into the cool-eyed woman’s ear. “Being quite indulgent aren’t you Molly St Clair.” She wasn’t sure of where the knowledge came from. A bright surety that brought the words to her lips, “Is this how you guide the Sixty to unity?” The other woman froze. Roseline didn’t need to see her face to know the smile was gone. Before a conversation could begin, she fled back to the edge.

Her heartbeat dangerously with the rush of altering the future. It had happened before with Harken, but that had been more the mania than her. This alternation had been picked out by her own will. There was a thrill running through her. A burst of hope that the visions were something she could control rather than be controlled by. Be a master rather than a vessel.

The party ended and Roseline sought her bed to escape the inflamed headache that had been brewing. The next day she spent in meditation going over the Tapestry to see how everything had gone. The future as always was a flutter, but it no longer was as imposing. Now, she felt more comfortable reading what events were coming. What path various people would be taking. In the back of her head, the moon-eyed acolyte looked for futures to hold or divert.

Hanging over her head like a black cloud was the Dysphoria. It was still in constant flux, but it was solid as before. Harken had lessened the impact of the blow, but it was still coming. Roseline wished she was wrong about the certainty of the moment. She began to trace the moment to see what caused it. The task was a laborious one due to this event moving around so much. It was very hard to home in on the cause. Beyond getting a sense of death, Roseline couldn't narrow it down any further. Sometime in the near future, the Sixty would take a huge morale blow.

Suspecting that a lack of knowledge was the source of her failure, the moon-eyed acolyte went out to observe the Sixty more. When keeping close to the present, the Tapestry felt like playing a sixty-string harp. Her mental fingers strumming a string to see its path. Playing a song without a tune, she darted about The Pit to see what everyone was up to. There is an event to prevent! declared Roseline, feeling energized. I just need more information and the Tapestry should become clearer to me!

The seventh day they awoke in The Pit was inadvertently one of rest. Most slept in, and Roseline didn’t find many to observe until well past noon. Even then it seemed most prefer to rest in their rooms. By the Tapestry, she could see activity, but not the details. The few that left their rooms grabbed a seat in the lounge. A few hushed conversations were the best she got to work with. The future barely trembled to her mind’s eyes, everyone focused on recharging.

During the evening, she got lucky when the Council met. Malachi presided over planning their next steps. Wrapped in her cloak, Roseline sat close by listening. Only Harken took note of her. The priestly man gave her an evaluating look, but didn’t engage. The conversation at the table drew his attention back, to her relief. Being so close to those leading the Sixty was stirring up the mania violently. She felt nauseous as nonsense tried to boil free from her mouth. Only through struggle did the moon-eyed acolyte stick around. With so many far-reaching decisions being made it was invaluable to stay near. Allowing her to see what caused the big reactions in the Tapestry.

Roseline now understood why oracles and seers hid in distant places. If there was any truth and connection between her and Earth’s augurs, then it was torture to be near others. Cloistered in the wilds or among other monks would be the only way to find peace as the future raged in your mind. She had sixty threads snarling together and there was no escape from them.

Trembling under the robe, she listened as they agreed that starting tomorrow they would raid into the dungeon. Take over the open area for a while and retreat with more cores. There was some grumbling from Warner to push further, but Roseline knew he wouldn’t get his way before the rest cut him off. Malachi proposed instead that they would focus on collecting cores for equipment and an emergency stockpile. This was accepted with Molly agreeing to take on researching equipment so the SIxty would have a good place to begin for the best price. Vincent was assigned to offer his knowledge of medieval armory. The swordsman absently agreed.

The Council meeting turned next to the question of training. Roseline perked up at this, as she was technically part of the group that wasn’t considered ready to pass through the Doors. To the surprise of many, Warner was put in charge of their training against the Ratsins. Malachi explained that the brawler’s party had the strongest frontline and would offer a great deal of protection for the less experienced. The moon-eyed acolyte shifted her attention to see if the Tapestry would jerk from the big man getting this opportunity. From the look on most people’s faces, she expected it to move despite the still threads. Instead, Malachi confirmed Warner’s acceptance and moved on to putting aside time every evening for the raider to look in on the others. Malachi’s path narrowed when he declared, “The sooner we are all rising together, the sooner we all see the sky again.”

That night Roseline went to her bed tracing the effect of those words. It had a ripple effect overall sixty threads blazing in her mind. The words had come from a decision that the chosen leader had made and those words meant something to the Council. Their boosted morale affected the interactions with the rest of the Sixty. Soon all their futures were narrowed and the ocean of chaos pushed further into the future.

The eighth day became the temp plate for the next several. The raiders were gathered at nine o’clock DST and then off they went. They returned laden with cores at one o’clock and by two o’clock everyone was gathered for a split of the loot. After that, the supervised training began. Harken had found her and somehow convinced her to at least learn how to use the staff she had gotten. Roseline was further amused/annoyed when she had to search diligently to find where it was. After tracking people’s timelines, it felt unfair that finding the staff had turned out to be difficult. It did, however, make her realize tracking some items might help. If it was possible. Efforts on that front didn’t present good results.

When another day rolled around, Roseline spent the morning trying to track the raiders from afar. Going so far as to purchase a notebook to write out predictions for how many cores were brought back. The moon-eyed acolyte had tried writing out a person’s timeline, but the only attempt looked like a madman’s conspiracy chart. The cores were a smaller and safer option to practice her skills. She was uncomfortable upon reflection to realize her best uses of it were run-on feelings. Even tracing a thread back to the moment didn’t reveal why she acted for those moments.

That’s how her days went. She worked out a prediction to compare to the actual haul. Worked with various raiders to not look foolish with her staff. The hardest part of the day came from avoiding Damian. If she could have been able to stay sane near him, Roseline would have been excited to discuss her Mana abilities with him. For seemingly no reason, the obsidian man was the worst of the Sixty to be near. Her mania was completely uncontrollable when he was around. It was bad enough that she almost foamed at the mouth holding back the nonsense.

The days passed and she got better at predicting the number of cores that came back. Her skill with the staff even got to be reasonable. It was a fun way to exercise and pass the time. Roseline didn’t expect to spend much time using the skill. Without spells, there seemed little purpose in going out into the dungeon. At the moment, her mania was likely to get her killed out there. Being so close to the Sixty when risky choices were being made would be a nightmare. It wasn’t a risk she wasn’t willing to put herself and others under yet.

It didn’t seem like Roseline was needed out there anyway. The number of the SIxty that went on the raids got larger and hauls got bigger as well. The raids began to take longer too. They became less about cores and more about allowing the less experienced safe conditions to fight. This made for some interesting twitches in the Tapestry as people’s mettle was tested. Several threads narrowed as they buckled or rose over the stress of a Ratsin. She had to give it to the Council though, the Sixty were gaining confidence out there.

Even those that had bad days, went back out. If not the next day, then the day after. Perhaps it was that there was nothing else to do, but Roseline believed that was mostly her own boredom speaking. Days staring inwards burned at you. Looking at threads, she believed it was most wanted to be good. To live up to their dreams of being an adventurer. The Sixty pushed because they wanted to be dungeon crawlers for real.

Enough of the Sixty proved their worth that Malachi sanctioned the forming of more parties. Six solid groups had formed out so far. Most of the remaining were either still in training or part of several nebulous groups. Those were parties that formed temporarily while everyone found comfortable members. Those created quite the tangle reactions for her. Watching the Tapestry made Roseline wish she felt safe going out there. It was lonely in her madness. That desire drove her to find control. A little voice whispered, If I had active understanding then I could be out there maybe. I bet I could see danger coming before it strikes. As it stands now… I would just start screaming gibberish and bring all the monsters down on us...

As another week and a half came to pass, the Sixty went out to raid fully outfitted. Molly had scoured the screen to see what armors were available. A very bored Vincent lounged next to her in a dragged-over chair, offering his expertise. A compiled list was given out to everyone with suggestions. Roseline gave it a cursory look. It was an impressive list taking various styles into account. She didn’t buy anything. Going through the Doors was too terrifying a concept to even seriously consider. Purchasing armor was way off in the future.

While some hesitated like her, most of the SIxty at this point had taken at least one venture out into the Dungeon. They had grown confident in the open area and dubbed it the Vile Field. Raids often stretched on for the entire day. The council watched over as everyone was brought up to the same speed. The Sixty were getting comfortable in the dungeon.

On the twenty-first day, since they awoke, Malachi declared that the Sixty were ready to push past the Vile Field. Roseline listened to the Council making plans with a cold heart. They spoke of the upper tunnels, but she stared at the Tapestry with horror. The Dysphoria had become fixed. She traced every thread that entered the conflux to understand it. To see how it had come to be. Also why now it was fixed. The more she studied the knot of fate, the worse the dread soaked in. It couldn’t be avoided. Every action she considered would spin the Sixty into a worse fate.

Roseline wrung her hands trying to decide if there was anything to do. She considered telling them. Warning them, but the Tapestry made it clear that any action was a dead end. A warning would send everything spinning into chaos. There was nothing to do. The moon-eyed acolyte stared forward. The Dysphoria was coming and it was unavoidable. Better if it wasn’t avoided really, trembled Roseline. I can’t change this one… So… I’ll be ready to help guide them on the other side. Her pale blue eyes flashed as she dove into the Tapestry. There were plans to make.