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Aion Mods ([personal profile] aionmods) wrote in [community profile] aionooc2022-07-30 12:18 pm
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TDM #3

TDM #3
DREAMING (new characters)
At first, there is nothing. You are nothing. Whatever existed before ceases to be if for a moment. Then, bit by bit, you start to become aware. Where there was not even darkness now is a dim haze, gentle and almost mist-like. You have limbs again and beneath your feet lays a path of light reaching out like limbs of a great tree beneath you, twisting and climbing out into the horizon.

You take a step forward for what else is there to do? As you walk you begin to remember what it was you were doing before the nothingness; maybe something as simple as chatting with a loved one or close friend. Maybe you were just beginning a great journey or facing off against an old foe. Whatever it was, you get the distinct feeling that wherever and whenever that was, it is not here. Not now.

The path of light twists off into different directions. When you look up you can see that it is not a sky above you but the sky of everything, a grand cosmic tapestry littered with not mere stars but galaxies and clusters of galaxies that gleam like crystals against the velvety backdrop of space. Admire it for a moment, if you will. You don't know how long you will drift here, but you are not alone. Other wanderers will come and go as you bask together in the vastness of creation.

It seems to you that there are two paths to walk in this place, the light and dark beckoning in turn.

THE LIGHT AT THE CENTER
One leads you to the center, splintered fragments folding together and colliding until only one thing remains: a light that speaks to you with the voice of all there is and has ever been. It greets you simultaneously as an old friend and as a lost child, both rejoicing in and mourning your arrival. You remember it too, somehow, with a feeling of complex nostalgia, as if returning to a place recalled from your distant childhood.

You’ll feel the same of the other wanderers that join you in the light; you know their faces, their voices, and as you reflect upon the world of your birth, you may witness fragments of theirs as well. You feel a comradery, then, a synchronicity of thought and emotion. Are the lives of others truly so different from your own? Or are you simply two hands of the same, greater being? Though some individualistic part of you may resist, the longer you spend in the light, the more you will find yourself becoming one with it.

Despite this welcoming call, no matter how eagerly your pursue its embrace, before you can fully submerge yourself in this oneness you will find yourself being torn away. As if seized by the impossibly long, cold arm of a creature unseen, you are plucked from the edge of fulfillment. The last thing you will remember is the sensation of your world, and all the others your experienced here, collapsing into nothingness.

THE DARK OUTSIDE (CW: deep despair, ego death)
The other leads towards the outside, where the splintering becomes so great that the vestiges of reality can do nothing but collapse back into the abyss at the end of everything. As you wander to these barren outskirts, your thoughts will not be drawn to familiarity and oneness, but instead to memories of discontent and waste. The darker the path becomes, the more you find yourself dwelling on life’s disappointments and injustices, of the things about yourself and your world you find wanting.

If you see others here, at first they will feel frightening or contemptible, as if representing to you the worst experiences in your life. Even if they are someone you’re certain you know, that familiarity and affection will be stripped away in the face of the great emptiness before you. In the end, you were all the same. In the end, none of this was worth it. If you approach the end together, you may even form a kind of kinship around this acknowledgment, as the need for paranoia and hatred fades.

Slowly, the darkness encroaches, and you can see it devouring all the things you once knew. Memories of your home, of those you loved, dissolve into nothing, and you can only reflect on the barren emptiness in your heart as you see it happen. In your final moments, though, you feel peace with it all, knowing that there was no other way. You step from the edge of the last dwindling fragment of being and are greeted by silence.

THE END
No matter which way you go, you are left with a single impression: you feel the world you came from die. It's a realization that transcends logic or sense; it weighs on your heart and leaves the vestiges of dark memories dancing in your thoughts like motes of ash. It's a memory of your home crumbling away into nothing as if consumed from within by rot. Returned to the void, all that's left to you is to be reborn.

REBIRTH (new characters)
In a new time and place, you awaken. Stirring within a capsule of warmth and isolation your senses will slowly return, only to observe that you are trapped. Your body, as it wakes, is tangled in close, yours eyes unable to open, as if still within the womb. You are held tight in the embrace of something unyielding, so smothering that at first you only have the strength to struggle for moments at a time. Yet, as you persist, the pressure begins to relent in turn; it may take hours, but eventually you will find the purchase to push, to claw, to fight, and it will all give way.

The chrysalis surrounding you bends like flesh and cracks like glass. It tears as you force your fingers through, finding liberation one inch at a time, until finally you have emerged. As if having undergone metamorphosis, you feel old and new all at once. You are weak, piteously so, but the markings and scars of your previous life remain. As you slump down upon the smooth cavern stone, you realize that you've just wrenched yourself free of gigantic crystal, though its hollow, shimmering form is now in pieces on account of your passing. Somewhere on your body, a shard of similar material remains embedded.

The cave itself looks almost like the inside of a geode, the walls and ceiling bedazzled with greyish crystal that shines with all the colors of the rainbow. While they vary wildly in size and shape, only a few have grown large enough to hold a form like yours, and you can see the one you just escaped isn't the only one bearing a passenger within. They may have already hatched, or they may still be lingering in stasis. Either way, there's enough time that you may have a chance to speak to yours unexpected peers, or to perhaps to struggle to find something to cover your naked body with. You feel the chill of the open air against your moisture laden skin, a distant light trickling in through the cavern's opening.

Make the most of this time. It won't be long before you're interrupted.

[Mod Note: If you don't want to deal with your character being naked in front of the others at that location, feel free to assume they emerge at a different time than the others of their legacy. Characters will be 'hatching' over a period of several hours.]

DREAMING (OLD CHARACTERS)
For those already in Horos, they will find themselves in the same dreamscape as the new arrivals, only, this time, it's familiar. You'll feel more cognizant of your surroundings as you reawaken in this psychedelic realm, more in control of your emotions. What's more, you recognize that light at the center and the darkness at the edge: it's the Pleroma and Kenoma respectively. The one you are attuned to will call our to your soul, and though you are technically free to wander as you please, the closer you get to the force of your opposite sect, the more it will grate against you spiritually. Pleroma attuned nearing the Kenoma will feel as if its presence is desperately trying to tear them apart, and Kenoma attuned nearing the Pleroma will feel as if its light is burning them from the inside out.

More importantly, you notice that entirely new souls are wandering here with faces you didn't see in the cavern. It gradually becomes clear that they are Aions in the same state you were prior to your rebirth, lost and wandering this stretch of the cosmos with no idea what's to come. Maybe this is your chance to ease the confusion of their arrival, or maybe you'd simply like to scope out what kind of people are on their way. It's also possible for you to run into Aions already in Horos, wandering just like you are. Unfortunately, things are a lot less neutral than they are the last time you shared this realm.

No matter what you do, eventually the cosmos above will begin to burn out, just as it did the first time you were here. As darkness swallows reality itself, you will wake with the visceral memory of your world corrupting and breaking apart.

SEARCHING (OLD CHARACTERS)
Soon after the dreams begin, it will become clear that the Aion NPCs of either sect are also aware of what's happening. For those in Achamoth and Greentruth, the imminent arrival of new Aions will become a matter of official discussion. All able Aions will be called upon for their aid, in whatever way they can offer. Getting to the shrines themselves will be easily accomplished via teleportation. What's would be more complicated is ferrying any new arrivals back to a secure location. Thankfully, this is something both sects have already prepared for.

All characters will have the opportunity to acquire a 'returning stone' if they don't already have one. In all cases, this will amount to an amulet made of the same shimmering material as the shrine monuments, though the stylization differs between the Pleroma and the Kenoma. While regular Aion teleportation can bring you to any of the shrines you know the sigil and location of, a returning stone is magically programmed to bring its wearer back to a specific destination to which it is attuned. Normally, these stones will only be able to store enough energy for one 'return' a month, but it turns out that the ambient power created by the shrines being active will temporarily super charge them. Though it's not guaranteed, this means they may generate enough energy to perform multiple returns for TDM purposes. More information about returning stones can be found on the powers page.

Spare returning stones will be issued to all Aions so that they can be used to bring back anyone they collect, as it's possible to bring someone alongside you if they are also wearing a returning stone. Where your stone leads will depend on your sect.

PLEROMA
Tehri will be the one to supply returning stones, based out of Greentruth. She will not travel to Godsblood to deliver returning stones to those that have not visited Greentruth, but it can be assumed that Greentruth's visitors can pass them along to anyone who has been staying in the city. The returning stones are set to bring them to a secure location beneath the water of Godsblood's coast. From there, new arrivals will have to be allowed to rest and then brought up into the city when they're ready.

Greentruth is limited in its resources, but it will attempt to send troops to the Innocent, Seeker, Wanderer, and Firebrand shrines, all of which are close to the forest. Compared to the last attempt, these troops are a bit better armored. Meanwhile, bolstered by recent events in Godsblood, bands of Resistance members and guerrilla fighters will turn up at the Artisan and Sovereign shrines. The Resistance members will work willingly alongside with the Pleroma Aions, but the guerrilla fighters seem to have their own priorities and that is mostly that they have a beef with the Achamites. These reinforcements will struggle against powered Aions, but they might be able to delay any troops sent by Achamoth or Hylici.

KENOMA
Xishen will be handing out returning stones to all Kenoma the day after the dreams begin for the Aions that don't already have one. She'll explain how to use them, and state that the Regent expects for them to head to the shrines once they become fully active. The Kenoma will have whatever mundane weapons or supplies they need at their disposal for this mission, along with minimal Achamite reinforcements. Due to injuries and death in both Godsblood and Venera, many are in recovery or on their return to Achamoth. She'll reiterate not to rely too heavily on them; after all, only the Aions are able to quickly move between the shrines and at the Citadel. The regular troops will have to be deployed by river or by land, and mobilizing them will take time. They will feasible be able to reach all of the shrines to some degree or another, but will more easily populate the shrines of the Martyr, Celebrant, Lover, Champion, Visionary, Sovereign, and Firebrand.

The Hylicians will be called to fill in the ranks of the diminished Achamite troops. They follow the orders that they are given but are very standoffish otherwise, even more than usual for them. Xishen herself says she will be traveling to the shrines and the Kenoma will be expected to communicate their movements to her as they work. Dionys remains in Achamoth to 'keep watch'. All Kenoma Aions will be given a familiar vial of black sludge, and are instructed to feed it to any Aions they capture at the shrines. It will cause the same effects it did in the cavern, though it will resolve in a few days rather than a week.

RETURNED (ALL CHARACTERS)
New characters that are found a the shrines will be brought back to one of two lodestones, depending on which sect they are taken by. This will be accomplished by their escort putting a 'returning stone' around their neck that will enable them to be teleported to a secure area in their sect's territory. It is advised for your character to be taken by whichever sect you'd like them to end up in.

TO THE PLEROMA
In a dazzling flash of psychedelic light, you will find yourself brought to the Pleroma's lodestone: a monolithic rock set in the center of temple-like ruins. The entire cavern is hidden away beneath the ocean waves, just outside of Godsblood, and the ceiling itself is comprised of nothing but a barrier of water, as if held back from filling the space by some unknown force. The waters surrounding the lodestone are exactly body temperature, with swarms of tiny, violently iridescent fish darting through it. Crabs that look as if they're made of pure, clear crystal wander the sparkling, sandy shores.

There isn't much here in the way of accommodations, but it's comfortable enough that the new arrivals brought in by the Pleroma can take a moment to catch their breath. Some relatively plain but assorted new clothing will have been brought to the cavern to make sure they are actually clothed, as well as blankets and basic food items. It's a good time to ask your questions, or if you are an established Pleroma, to help out your freshly arrived peers. After all, their welcome at the shrine may have been a confusing one.

New arrivals will be permitted to leave the lodestone's temple when they are ready. Unfortunately, the only ways out of these place are through your choice of either swimming through pockets of water that eventually lead to the surface, or by spelunking through a series of tunnels to make your way the cliff faces near the city of Godsblood. More information about the city itself can be found on the setting page, though it would be preferable to keep TDM interactions to the lodestone area. As characters emerging from the shrines will start our as Untouched (more info about attunements here) they will not be permitted entry into Greentruth until they have attuned to Pleroma.

TO THE KENOMA
As your returning stone activates, you will feel yourself thrust into a suffocating void, only to emerge just as quickly somewhere else. The most pressing thing on the minds of anyone taken by the Kenoma will be the vial of pitch black sludge they are forced to drink, whether it is before or after their arrival. Maybe their 'escort' from the shrine gave it to them, or perhaps another Kenoma does soon after they arrive. If not, one of the Achamite cultists wandering around definitely will. Dedicated servants to the Regent's will as they are, they are not afraid to gang up on the vulnerable new arrivals and force it down their throats.

Once in your mouth, the potion will slither down your throat as if it's a living thing. The effect takes hold quickly: as this darkness creeps through your insides, it will embolden your darkest and most despair inducing emotions, plaguing your thoughts with the worst sorrows of your life. What's worst, it simultaneously seems to awaken some form of enhanced psychic empathy within you, both projecting your thoughts for others to hear, and allowing you to receive those of the others around you in kind. Black ooze will begin to seep from orifices, or the space around your shard. The effects of this contamination bring out your worst, and its recipients will be forced to live with these effects until they accept the force corrupting them into their souls.

This world is not good enough, a voice speaks to your through the Kenoma. This suffering you feel, the cruelty that has birthed this darkness in you... it is simply the rot that is consuming this existence. A better universe awaits, one forged by your own hand, and all you need do is first bring about this broken reality's end.

How long this goes on will depend on how long the characters is able to fight it. Acceptance of the Kenoma can come as quickly as immediately, if your character is inclined towards it, or it could be drawn out to take a few days. In the meantime, they will have to stay in the barren halls surrounding the Regent's lodestone, and will not be permitted to exit into the greater Citadel as the current Kenoma are. All that will immediately be offered to them down there are stone slabs that can be used as beds and formless white robes that reach down past their knees.

Of course, that doesn't mean the characters that are already of the Kenoma can't do something about that. If they desire it, they will be able to bring food or other supplies to those suffering with their Kenoma infections, and it will be equally within their power to try anything from bullying them into accepting to lovebombing them. Once a character accepts the Kenoma and attunes to it, they will be permitted to leave, but for the sake of the TDM interactions should be kept to the lodestone area.

QUESTIONS
Is this TDM canon?
Mostly! It's part of an in-game event. However, only threads with new players that app and are accepted will be considered game canon. Threads between old characters will all be canon, but threads involving new characters that don't apply or aren't accepted will either need to be tweaked to remove their involvement or made non-canon. New characters will also be able to decide TDM threads aren't canon if they end up changing directions.

Who can toplevel on this post?
Anyone, whether they are a new character or a current one. However, we do ask for current players to do their best to tag new characters. If you are bringing in a new character and want a current character to bring them into your sect of choice, post your request here! ICly, current characters are fighting to claim new arrivals, but it's up to the player of new characters where they ultimately end up going.

When is this TDM taking place chronologically?
The beginning of August. The shrines will be active and forming Aions during that time. The dreams will start around the 29th of July. All current Aions will be able to sense when it's time for the new arrivals to start emerging.

What are the shrines like?
Every shrine is comprised of the crystal-filled cavern character emerge inside and then the massive statue symbolizing the relevant Legacy built on top. More information about each shrine can be found in the "Aion Shrine" section of the setting page.

Are everyone's homeworlds really gone?
That's a complicated issue, and while the fate of their world is not without hope, they may certainly get the impression its been destroyed from the dream they had. Alternatively, they may refuse to believe what they felt and attempt to dismiss it as only a vision. More about this situation will be revealed as the game goes on.

Can I only experience one end of the dream sequence prompt?
New characters may experience one ending, both endings, or neither. If they experience both they will struggle to recall which came first or which feels the most 'true' to them, as both will simultaneously be the thought they are reborn with. If your character refuses to pursue either path they can simply linger in the middle until the infinite worlds above them start being extinguished one by one, eventually expelling them into darkness in a similar style to the light prompt. Which dreams they experience will not dictate their initial sect affiliation.

Is it possible to pull another character back from the end of the light or darkness dreams?
Yes! If your character is able to resist the pull of either end, they will have the chance to try to pull another character back from the edge of the abyss or the edge of oneness. Whether or not they succeed is entirely up to the other character, though.

Do you come out of the chrysalis wet?
For most intents and purposes it's the same experience as hatching out of a real butterfly chrysalis, so yes, a bit.

How does attunement to the Pleroma or Kenoma work for new characters?
More information about sect attunements can be read on their dedicated info page, but in summary: when new characters are brought to Horos, they will be in the state of being "Untouched" meaning they are not attuned to either sect. By the end of their first month in game it is expected they will either attune to Pleroma or Kenoma, though for those taken by the Kenoma's forces, the transition will be forced within the first few days. If taken in by the Pleroma, it may take then some time to attune to Pleroma, depending on the strength of their spirit, but it could also happen almost instantly if they are allowed to. How quickly it happens will depend on how strongly they align with the Pleroma's traits. Characters who have been taken by the Pleroma but that remain Untouched will not be allowed into Greentruth until their attunement to Pleroma is complete.

Can a character taken by one side end up attuning to the sect of the opposite one?
This is theoretically possible, yes: a person taken by the Kenoma could potentially resist the Kenoma's call, and someone taken by the Pleroma could end up falling to the Kenoma while staying with them. Generally, though, we recommend that you have your character be taken by whichever sect you want to end up in, as doing a switcheroo will cause narrative complications that might bog their introduction down in plotting that will need to be done with the mods. It can happen, but it is not to be done lightly!

bloomforyou: (💎3)

you know i had to do it to em

[personal profile] bloomforyou 2022-07-31 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ there had been no other fairies when ranmaru awoke. nor were there fairies when the soldiers and other aions came to collect him from the shrines. he had kept his eyes out for anyone like him, but although he’d found all sorts and even people who weren’t human, none of them have resembled ranmaru or the people he’s lived among.

maybe it’s only right that when he finally does find a fairy, it’s one he’s utterly incapable of handling. those wings, that slender, statuesque form—not even the robe given to them, shapeless and unflattering, is capable of obscuring the features that have indelibly etched themselves over ranmaru’s thoughts. his true memories are buried deep, locked behind his personal darkness and the nihilism now implanted in them by the soldiers surrounding them, but he’s seen this fairy recently enough to recognize him in an instant.

the lodestone beneath the citadel holds a number of newly-hatched aions, but the world feels as if it narrows to just the two of them. ]


Chilka.

[ he feels like there’s more to say, but he comes up empty of any substance. outside of a battle, with no one to protect, ranmaru feels some little crack in his own armor.

he just doesn’t know why. ]


…You’re here too.
dendritic: (i'm glad i came here)

1

[personal profile] dendritic 2022-07-31 09:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ at first, she thinks this is her own recollection. she thinks this is a house she's ransacked before, and she remembers something distantly about taking only what she needed. she thinks of people whose voices she still doesn't remember, and she thinks of not giving a damn about what goes on after that. it's dog eat dog out there, after all. it's a nice porch, really, probably home to a well-to-do family with a dog. she imagines there's a good meal to steal inside, that there's maybe a nice outfit to pilfer, too, and she imagines that maybe the people inside aren't all that combat familiar. it'd be a one and done ordeal. in and out, as she remembers. she remembers a great deal about a lot of things she's done in one second, approaching with a purposeful gait. an intruder's gait, one might say.

the katana, however, is not familiar to zero's eye.

she doesn't wait for him to stop lingering over it. she walks right up behind him, rocking horse style shoes crushing grass beneath her, and rips it from the porch with all the confidence of a well-practiced thief. (which she is.) ]


Not enough deadbeat siblings running around for you? [ with a grunt, she tests out the katana. she's practiced with a sword, holds it purposefully and with confidence. her test swing isn't even bad, all things considered: she's used to picking things up and making do, in truth. after that, zero decides it feels good in her grip, and decides to... hold it.

...

nah, finder's keepers. ]
regressor: (URGE)

cw: prostitution

[personal profile] regressor 2022-07-31 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Even if she wanted to resist any which way another tried to move her body… at this point, there’s no way she would have been able to. Just reaching out to grasp at a passing leg, just clutching at her robe and using the flares of pain from her broken fingers to try and keep her mind in the present rather than left behind in Heaven’s Gate… that’s all the physical control she has left. Even if she wasn’t the sallow skin and bone of years spent living hand to mouth, fighting the black sludge’s corruption and the call of the Gate has left her drained and weak.

And it’s not like she doesn’t want it. This man? is warm, his touch is gentle, and her memory-hazed vision can’t see anything to fear in his face or hear it in his voice. In fact… she sees white instead. Soft, large white wings like the cheap paintings hung in Laura’s home, depicting the angels of her faith that guarded over humankind… Even if she had never believed…

Beggars can’t be choosers. Surely an angel would grant her mercy.

Maybe it already was. In her five years of memory, she had never been held like this. She has been awkwardly embraced, she has turned her head to the side to try and avoid the stench of alcohol and tobacco panted heavy against her lips, she has closed her eyes and let fingers tighten in her hair and push her face into the pillow, but no one had ever touched her like this. Yet rather than deep bitterness or hatred for such a life-]


No… I loved it… I did…

[A life with feeling, when she had eaten because she liked the taste of food, slept because she wanted to, did things for others for no reason at all, and learned how to laugh. She doesn’t want to die because her life has been miserable, even if any other person might label it so.]

But I don’t want to go back… I don’t want to kill anymore, so please

[Held tenderly in strong arms, her body limp and exhausted in between the pained writhing of a glow and a power attempting to take over her body and mind while the Kenoma attempted to worm into her heart, she gropes weakly for a hand, tries to tug it up, up past the three large pierce scars on her torso that should have left her dead on the concrete, up to her throat.

She’d asked Hei, pulled his hand to her neck in this same way, but he… he wasn’t a proper Contractor at all. He’d been naive enough to want her to survive despite the odds, told her could live, run far away, go back to those quiet days she had loved…

But that life bleeding out in an alley with three spears of ice in her chest is worlds away.

And now, any hand will do.]
Edited 2022-07-31 10:08 (UTC)
leicesters: academy (098)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 10:06 am (UTC)(link)
Oh good. Maybe I could try to...

[He walks towards Wrathion with the intention of squeezing past the dragon's legs and leaving the cave, but he only manages a few steps towards the great outdoors before he stumbles and falls to one knee, an arm braced against the wall of the cavern for support. He's still horribly weak, and visibly frustrated by that fact.]

Seriously, what's wrong with me? [With his head bowed from this angle, Wrathion will be able to see the Shard embedded in the back of his neck, a golden colour and shaped like a crescent moon.]
mygig: (52)

ARE YOU VACCINATED?

[personal profile] mygig 2022-07-31 10:11 am (UTC)(link)
["Sir"? Well, that's a new one.

The large man blinks blearily, silver eyebrow arching as he looks up. He stretches - his whole 6'3” of him - with a yawn. Basically looks like an old big beast who is too lazy to even care about his surroundings.
]

Please. [Dante, at least cover your mouth while you're yawning. That's gross.] "Sir" is my father.

[He scratches at the hinge of his jaw, crossing them legs at the ankle. Style over comfort, baby.] 'You need something?
ricordi: (006)

[personal profile] ricordi 2022-07-31 10:14 am (UTC)(link)
[cassius gives a nod-- as long as someone is actually willing to watch him as he attempts a reboot... that's fine. they may be strangers, but needs must, and finding someone to guard him right now is more important and efficient than finding a familiar face who he is certain of.]

I just need to reboot. It shouldn't take longer than a couple of hours. [or so he thinks. he hasn't actually crashed, so this should still be quick.

or so he thinks.]


Do you know how to support someone who is unconscious?
leicesters: academy (099)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 10:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Claude eats the rice ball ravenously -- it's good! -- pausing only to take a drink of the water provided while he listens. He's already starting to feel a little better with something in his stomach, which helps him gather his thoughts a bit.]

Oookay... 'Help the locals'? Can you be a bit more specific? Who's the Regent?

[Then he pulls a face at Thoma's description of himself.] And come on, don't talk like you're not important. I mean, you're out here basically saving my life. Plus your cooking is amazing!

[It smacks a bit too much like all the nobles and commoners talk back in Fódlan, and he's never been wild about that.]
mygig: (61)

I shall attempt to provide (no promises, though)

[personal profile] mygig 2022-07-31 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
[Time is a social construct, yadda, yadda, so this is technically the second time someone is nudging him with their foot or boot.

What's next, someone stepping on him? What in the Wattpad…

He scoffs. Of course sleeping people do that straight upon waking up. Sure.
] You think I would be better inside? All those manifestation rocks are splintered on the floor there.
leicesters: academy (002)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 10:24 am (UTC)(link)
[Mercifully, he doesn't hold it over her head... but he does yank it just out of reach before she can make the grab.]

Hey, hey, didn't your parents ever tell you it's rude to snatch? Say 'please'.

[Then he winks at her and drops the rock in her hand.]

Kidding. Go on, show me your stuff.
mygig: (53)

[personal profile] mygig 2022-07-31 10:27 am (UTC)(link)
[He's someone who keeps getting shoved (or willingly shoves himself; gotta get that bag, after all) into scenarios that tend to either be just plain demonic or —if they're really good or especially, ah, let's say high end,— well-attuned into his own personal trauma. Because of that he almost lets Lottie pass by ignored.

Nothing about this smells infernal, though.

And add that to the girl scratching her nose, and she has his attention.

It's a familiar gesture, after all. Especially when this one kid tends to do that when he finds himself flustered or awkward.
] You live here or something?

[He kind of knows the answer to that. He's just testing.]
mygig: (56)

[personal profile] mygig 2022-07-31 10:38 am (UTC)(link)
[For the number of times this guy had fought for that sword, against that sword, or someone who held that sword that was not his brother, he doesn't exactly get a visceral reaction at how she just so easily snatches it from its perch.

Which is, in and of itself, intriguing.

The Yamato tends to sing to him. If by singing, you mean the guttural pull of his own blood begging to surface into the outmost layer of his skin, at least. This, however, is a lot more cerebral, tickles at his brain more than his heart, and that.

That is weird. Even in this person's grasp, the sword materializes into something unsteady and fickle to his eyes.

It looks like the Yamato. It sounds like the Yamato when it swings to and fro. But it's… not.

He's not sure that's a good thing.
] Siblings? [How come that felt like a bullseye?] Thought the end of the world came with horsemen or something? A lot more pizzazz?
leicesters: academy (006)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 10:40 am (UTC)(link)
'Look out' is generally considered a warning, you know.

[He looks exasperated but lets her go, looking to where the stone clattered uselessly to the ground.] Well, that was a failure. I don't suppose you've seen anyone around here with a bow I can borrow?

[Or maybe he could pester one of the dragons to help with his experiment... There are still options!]
leicesters: academy (124)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 10:52 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it's... it's like I belong here, and so do you.

[It's hard to explain such a complex, abstract feeling, but that warmth and feeling of peace and acceptance is unlike anything he's ever felt in his life. Of course he wants to keep going toward it, to embrace it wholeheartedly. It's like everything he ever dreamed of.]

It also feels like you and I have met before. Don't you think I feel familiar, too? [He's never met this man before in his life, he knows that, but that feeling is undeniable.]
leicesters: academy (002)

iii

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
[Claude had been distracted gazing up at the ocean above himself, his back turned, when he's startled by a familiar voice. Sure, they didn't share the same class, but it's hard to mistake a fellow student of the Officer's Academy. So he turns and offers her a quip--]

Yes, but it pales in comparison to your beauty, my lady.

[He's serious for... all of a couple of seconds, before he breaks character and winks.] Sorry, didn't want to break the fairy tale immersion.
bloomforyou: (💎13)

[personal profile] bloomforyou 2022-07-31 11:17 am (UTC)(link)
[ ranmaru sort of knows a lot of things, and his cool, unbothered appearance makes him look considerably more competent in a number of areas than he actually is. he excels at fighting, as a member of the lux clan, and… not so much else.

his answer is at first a firm nod, but he privately acknowledges that maybe he should clarify what is meant by rebooting. ]


…I know how to support unconscious humans.

[ humans, being the operative word. ]
ricordi: (002)

[personal profile] ricordi 2022-07-31 11:25 am (UTC)(link)
Hm.

It is illogical. [a statement which, in itself, is neither an agreement nor a denial. but then, if one were to read in between the lines, it's practically affirmation.

he's just saying that the feeling is illogical.]


My memory is clear-- I have never met you before and I don't know your name, but I do not know why you seem familiar.
leicesters: academy (003)

iib

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 11:25 am (UTC)(link)
Claude has been observing Tsunami for a while now, and he's wondering just what kind of crazy turn his life has taken to see dragons everywhere he goes. First, what he can only assume was the Immaculate One back at the battle for Garreg Mach, then Wrathion had shown up at the Seeker shrine with him, and now this.

He doesn't actually expect her to look over and address him where he's sitting on a crumbled column nearby, and he blinks.

"Oh-- probably? I don't know if they'd taste good, though."
leicesters: academy (145)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 11:36 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Feelings can't always be explained away with logic.

[So he agrees, though it's not necessarily a bad thing.]

My name's... [For a fleeting moment he wonders, if in this light in the cosmos, he should offer his real name. False pretences don't need any place here where he can be himself, can't he? But perhaps a part of him is still a little afraid, bridles against it a little, because he shakes his head.] ...not important. Still, I don't usually believe in things like fate, but I get this feeling we were meant to meet here.
ricordi: (012)

[personal profile] ricordi 2022-07-31 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
Hmmn, humans. [he is not surprised, so he should not be disappointed. he's become accustomed to taking care of his own maintenance since leaving the moon.

then again, some methods that work for humans still work for him, do they not?]


What procedures do you know?
warmare: (キモイ)

[personal profile] warmare 2022-07-31 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
[A little too tall, a little too powerful to be a normal woman, to be honest... And the new arrival (or, for all she knew, someone who had been in Horus for months, she was hardly social) will soon find out why there's something a bit off about her proportions, because she hasn't actually stopped moving to talk to him, her comment dismissive and said with a flick of her long ebon hair... But that question?]

No.

[That is decidedly a lie, but-]

Because I am a warrior, not a filly.

[What did he think was happening here? A daydream? Some cute little romp in the fields? She sucks her lip a bit instead of taking the rock... and then a equine foreleg appears from behind the wall, then another, and then an entire equine lower half, with a six foot long bow and quiver slung along the withers.]
ricordi: (012)

[personal profile] ricordi 2022-07-31 11:57 am (UTC)(link)
[cassius tilts his head like a little bird. he has to wonder why this man has refused to give his name-- his curiosity is piqued now, and will not be brushed off easily.

even if it's waylaid a little bit by the man's next words.]


What do you mean, meant to meet? You identified that all from a feeling?

Highly illogical, but fascinating.
leicesters: academy (139)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 12:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Suddenly, that explains why he was sure he could hear hooves, not to mention her large proportions, and he blinks, surprised, as her lower half comes into view. But his dragon encounters and all the other crazy things that have happened today have him taking this in stride by now, so he recovers quickly enough. Sure, horse lady (albeit one decidedly less fluffy than Fódlan's horses), why not.]

Duly noted... Er, in that case, can I borrow those?

[His eyes go to the bow and quiver she carries with her.]

Seems like it'd be more effective than throwing a rock.
leicesters: academy (137)

[personal profile] leicesters 2022-07-31 12:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Claude shrugs. It does sound a little crazy, but that light, whatever it is, just isn't normal, and he can't think of any better way to explain his gut instincts.]

Don't overthink it too much. You know, you remind me of a friend of mine... She doesn't always get emotional stuff, either.

[It's not a complaint. If anything, thinking about Byleth just endears Claude to this guy more.] Aha! Maybe that's one reason you seem familiar.
ricordi: (011)

[personal profile] ricordi 2022-07-31 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Is that so... [cassius contemplates on that one for a second.]

But if that explains your sense of familiarity with me, when what would explain mine with you? [he's not expecting an immediate response, when they've established that this entire place is illogical. though cassius does tilt his head to examine the person in front of him, then looks around at their surroundings.

and then back again at his companion, parsing his manner, his attire, his overall features. nothing strikes him as familiar... and thus the illogical feeling and his confusion over it continues.]


Perhaps my memory has been tampered with, and I have not realized.
vapour: (pic#15073530)

[personal profile] vapour 2022-07-31 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I can have Childe harass her for craziness. We'll just need a Pleroma to help her out if you're up for it.