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[itsjustabaddream]

INBOX OF NEIL WEST

Neil would be happy to hear from you. Leave a comment below to reach out. You can pay him a visit at home, or send him a letter any time.

GAME NAV ✦ THE OCULARUM

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[witheredpeonies]

"Nor would I. There's...it's a lot to hold onto, the memory of that time and that life. And I do wonder if there was a particular reason for it to be that day. If there's something specific we were meant to witness."

Annabel gives Neil a long, quiet look.

"What does 'happily ever after' look like, for you? If the barrier lowers, and this island becomes possible to leave, would you?"

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil can't help but blink in surprise. "Why, that's a question, isn't it? I don't think often about things like that." The idea gives him pause, and he takes a moment to think. "I suppose that would start with Jon. I don't know his plans... I assume he wants to go back to London. But if he stayed here, I might see if he wants to go with me back to Providence, or continue living here... If not, though, I suppose it would depend on other factors. Who's left at the end of everything being chief among them."

"Frankly, as it stands, I'd love to get the fuck out of here." The foul language sounds foreign coming from him, emphasizing the sentiment.

[witheredpeonies]

"You ought to talk to Jon about his plans." Says the woman who hasn't yet talked to Jon about their dream, hypocrite supreme. "But...I don't blame you for wanting to leave. This is as cursed a place as I can imagine."

[itsjustabaddream]

"Frankly, it's not even that. It's the tension here. I experience constant alienation and disrespect for my work. This place ended my business, my marriage--- I came here to help people and became a pariah. If I had a way out, it would be well past the point that I'd cut my losses and go elsewhere." Neil rubs his face. "Honestly, this is the first time I've felt like I could be part of anything here in a long time. Since you all started arriving."

[witheredpeonies]

Annabel purses her lips. "I do feel like I'm missing part of the story, here, but I don't want to dredge up old pains. But. You're not wrong, us newcomers have brought open minds with us."

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil pauses, then sighs.

"...No, you're not wrong. There are--- things I haven't been able to share, for a number of different reasons. Part of it is just that I play things close to the chest because I've been burned before. I know things I wasn't meant to know, about people who have already made it clear that they can destroy me for being too candid. But also I didn't want to jeopardize your relationships the way I jeopardized my own."

[witheredpeonies]

"My relationships are things I will manage, Neil. It is hardly the first time I've had to deal with an asymmetry of information." Even if she isn't proud of the past occasions. "Look, I don't mean to push you to share what you're not ready to. But trust extends both ways."

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil opens his mouth, then closes it again and holds up a finger.

He turns to his desk, grumbling and rummaging through his somewhat disorganized personal effects. "I bought this from Calloway a while back, when Jon told me that it had been found... Oh, for heaven's sake, where is it? It's got to be in---- Aha!" Triumphant, he at last produces something from the drawer. An ornate dagger, encrusted with gemstones and what appears to be anodized metal detailing all in blue. Pulling it out of its sheath, a word can be seen carved into the blade. DEVORAMUS.

"When I had gotten my doctorate, I could have easily started my practice back home in Providence. Or anywhere, really. But then I heard about an island that had simply appeared one day in a blank patch of sea where strange things were happening, founded by a man named Japhet Leeds. I was younger then. Insatiable. I had to know what the connection was, how it all came to be. So I came to Pumpkin Hollow to traverse the dreams of denizens of an accursed island that shouldn't exist."

"Now, Dahlia's galas weren't the first occasion in which the Leeds family invited the general populace into their home, so I'd seen it before. I'd always wondered what the significance of that blue was to them. I'd been studying demonology for a while before that, but it wasn't until much later that I'd put the pieces together. In the mind of Jasper Leeds I saw that he'd been having a recurring dream about his family, including the ones who had died, seated around a table that Jasper was laying on. They were chanting in Infernal, and when the prayer ended, Japhet carved into Jasper with a ceremonial blade. This ceremonial blade. That same blue. One of the colors of the Dark Feast, emblazoned with the word of invocation belonging to Aster. Devoramus. 'We devour, we consume.' He had the nightmare thirteen times. And then, the next day, he died."

Neil hands the blade to Annabel to inspect.

"I started to sniff around. Tried to investigate the dreams of the rest of the Leeds family, and poke around their estate looking for proof of what I was seeing. They noticed. I don't know how they did it, but overnight my clientele disappeared, and I was forced to close my original clinic."

"That was when my marriage with Elias began to fall apart. I was--- stressed. Insufferable. And when I confided in him that I believe the Leeds family to be a cult of Aster's devotees, he didn't believe me. But now--- now I have proof. The blade is real, and somehow all of these things circle back to them. I know it! I have a physical object now--- and I have support!"

For a moment he's emphatic, but he quickly deflates. "I knew that this--- wouldn't be easy to believe, and I know how much you love River. And that River is close to Dahlia, as is her other partner, apparently. But I have reason to believe that Japhet Leeds sold his soul to Aster for wealth and power and a place where he could be the king of his own castle, and that they silenced me by isolating and disenfranchising me, and that Dahlia is still connected to it somehow."

[witheredpeonies]

"Which other partner?" That comes out carelessly, thoughtlessly while her eyes remain locked on the dagger. Because there's more than just the one now, isn't there? Still, there's a lot to take in here. Annabel holds the dagger in both hands carefully, the way one might hold the body of a dead skunk that might still have stink-juice in it.

There's a pause, Annabel closes her eyes, remembering. "The Leeds family takes the blue from their heraldry. Which isn't to say it's not tied to the Dark Feast and Aster, but if it's been part of their colors for a long time, it might have started before Japhet. Royal blue and navy, as Linette favored purples."

[itsjustabaddream]

"Erik, I think? I don't know him."

It's not important.

"The colors of the Dark Feast and of Aster are deep blue, black, and gold. Think back. The house. The antlers above the fireplace. Dahlia’s gala dress. Her jewelry. Japhet's gold and sapphire ring."

The backdrop of Dahlia’s journal.

"Harriet had the same dreams. Thirteen nightmares about thirteen relatives killing and eating her with this knife. Invoking Aster with this word. Devoramus."

[witheredpeonies]

"Erik is a gentleman. Which isn't to say I think he's perfect, but he's been very fair to me, even under the current circumstances."

Even after she was a bitch to him.

Annabel twirls a curl around a finger. "I see the evidence you're presenting, I'm just not ready to stand firm on a conclusion regarding that matter, yet. It's a lot to think about, and I'm not willing to be hasty about it. That isn't me saying I doubt your observations, though."

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil immediately looks defeated. He was so, so hoping to be believed for once. Alas.

"Just--- be careful. And don't trust her."

[witheredpeonies]

Annabel offers the knife back, hilt-first.

"I never do trust any woman as polished as myself. But tell me, if I took everything at face value without doing a little research and investigation on my own, would you have been happy? To have blind followers who don't think for themselves? Neil, you're building an Ocularum, a group that sees, and knows what is seen."

[itsjustabaddream]

"No, my dear, you're quite right. This situation is just... tiring and stressful. And while it may be a bit too optimistic, I can't help but feel like removing her from her power would finally get us closer to putting an end to this mess. And as I've said, I have had this information bite me before." Neil sighs. "I just... have to hope this wasn't a mistake."

He doesn't sound particularly confident. For all he wants to trust Annabel, he's nervous.