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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!

settingup: (the greatest alive)

[personal profile] settingup 2022-08-13 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ That gets Atsumu to jerk his head up, and though he's doing his best to still look angry, he's never been a boy that's been particular good at hiding his feelings. He's never even been a boy that tries, so the fear and hurt is clear as day on his face.

Amos can say it's fine all he wants, but that isn't true for Atsumu. Not everyone came from tragic, devastating circumstances, and not everyone had learned to expect the worst and let go of their loved ones.

They're definitely not one and the same, and the way that Atsumu is reacting, that much is clear.
]

Don't talk like you know something! My world is great!

[ He refuses to use the past tense, because that means accepting something that shakes him to his very core, and leaves him scared and alone.

Despite his insistence, his words are cut off though, muffled and shortened by their bodies being ripped through space to a new location.
]
salvageable: (pic#15563135)

[personal profile] salvageable 2022-08-13 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ Broh, even Yoo Joonghyuk would have to strangle that information out of him.

But ah, this is a question he can answer, though he does look properly sheepish as she asks. It's fairly conspicuous, isn't it? Especially when no one else in Godsblood seems to be dressed in the same manner. ]


One of the Kenoma Aions outed me a couple of months ago as a fellow Kenoma Aion. [ GEN... ] And before you got here, the Kenoma made a mess of this city, so you can imagine people aren't taking kindly to me.

[ Also just being perceived in general? Having eyes on him at all times? It's not something he can deal with. ]

I was actually in the process of moving out when I stumbled into you.
subsist: (pic#15626809)

[personal profile] subsist 2022-08-13 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
[ it doesn't occur to him that there's a shift that happens, but it's almost impossible to perceive it. right now, all he sees is a woman who nearly lost her consciousness with sludge coating her chin. he is careful not to jostle her when she looks up at him with those eyes.

they seem different, and yet— he can't quite figure out why. ]


Easy now.

[ when she asks for water, it takes some maneuvering to reach the basket he'd brought with him so he can reach in for a small canister filled with water. he changes the way he's holding her to make it easier to drink, but she'll have to lift her head a bit when he presses the rim to her lips. ]

Here— drink slowly.

[ she'll find that the water is cold and refreshing. ]
pyojeol: (pic#15719889)

[personal profile] pyojeol 2022-08-13 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
[at least yjh can reach his NECK]

...Someone actually pulled that shit on you, and it worked? [Sooyoung just gives HIM a look like 'REALLY?' She'd actually think this is funny if she wasn't still overwhelmed by all these silly emotions.

As it is, she thinks it doesn't sound like Dokja at all, to let even the possibility of that happening. Dokja who plans everything meticulously.

...She can see that it's been bad times for him just by looking at his face, but how bad has it been really...?]


...What about the other Pleroma? Where the hell were they? Shouldn't one of them have backed you up?
salvageable: (pic#15652544)

[personal profile] salvageable 2022-08-13 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, Sooyoung... May she never find out just how bad his depression got during his six month stay.

He may have been a meticulous planner but that was back when he had known his world to be that from Ways of Survival. When he'd had companions to protect, to want to reach the end with no matter the cost but not at the cost of their lives. How many sleepless nights had he pored over that story, looking for every finite detail, every decimal of a chance to reach the end of the scenarios?

And what did he have left here? Nothing but a broken shell of a man who had discovered his existence had caused countless amounts of destruction, pain, and lives lost. All for his sake.

Undeserved. ]


I didn't tell them. [ As simple as that. ] I didn't want them to know.
begetter: (Default)

the potion :smirk:

[personal profile] begetter 2022-08-13 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
(to be embraced by the void is nostalgic. having presided over it as its god, lessa, perhaps the most equanimous inductee, bides awhile in his mineral cocoon. returned to nothing, spread like threads of dark matter through the universe, it is perhaps the first time in a millennium he's felt whole. sad, unavoidably; the world ra created, the world he and his son grew to love together, has been yielded once more to the unending cosmos as stardust. there is a great tragedy in shedding these attachments, and there is simultaneously—contrarily, selfishly—an overwhelming relief that the wide canvas of his past mistakes has been gessoed and primed for something new.

unfortunately, deep sleep can never be long enough. there is a struggle happening beyond dreams that seduces him awake once more, too curious to resist. after peeling himself from his crystal to walk unsteadily through the glittering nursery, through the area of the kenoma sect's lodestone, and through throngs of pitiable patients of the black sludge, lessa's slow march brings him to a righteous halt before a man's struggle becomes evident in the hush that's fallen since the aions' arrivals.

it is no business of mine, lessa thinks. what isn't ingested now will be ingested later, as the laws of the world will now apply to them. they will follow or they will perish, a choice that's no more right or wrong than any made before or after. the abuse is, while unwelcome, fleeting and unavoidable.

why he expected his body to obey his mind's fatalism is unclear, but the writhing flame set, restrained and set upon by several men, reminds him of the reason he first sank to the earth. someone in his sphere of influence needs help and no soul present will go to him, preferring to give into the lethargy their despairing brings and watch the spectacle with hollow eyes.
)

Unhand him, (he demands, unable to turn away. a flex of his abilities promises him that they no longer function well, but they haven't ceased to work entirely. in the time it takes the acamite members to respond, their location has been altered by a few simple feet to the adjacent walkway cleared of huddled bodies, space itself seeming to distort to shift them across lessa's horizon.

lessa reaches down for set, offering further aid.
)

Rise, young man; I won't let them harm you.
Edited 2022-08-13 06:10 (UTC)
pyojeol: (pic#15860187)

[personal profile] pyojeol 2022-08-13 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
[Her eyes immediately narrow. She might not be able to read Kim Dokja perfectly, but she's seen this before? Heard this before? There's a moment of silence while Sooyoung struggles to decide what to say in return.

She knows what she would have said if Dokja had chosen not to tell their companions, but who are the Pleroma if not just complete strangers? If she were in Dokja's place, then would she have relied on them?

(Maybe, maybe. Maybe she would tried to use them instead. She doesn't have the same capacity for love as Dokja does,)]


Hah. [she breathes out a long sigh. kim dokja, this guy...] Well, you can't do that anymore. If you pull that shit on me, then I'll kick your ass.

[and then dokja goes camping but whatever this is the PRESENT, she makes a 'come here' motion with her hands.]

Bend your head down a little.
baltimores: (036; you don’t have to test me)

[personal profile] baltimores 2022-08-13 09:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ Reading people has always brought its own mysteries for him. It's less in the facial features, more in their intent. Body language. The sounds they make. In that way, Vader's really not so different.

The mechanical breathing is, but not entirely foreign. Not that he's heard someone with it before; more that the sound of a machine talking is...

It's been a while. ]


Name's Amos.

[ That's an easy enough question to answer. He could ask it in turn, but it's true — Vader is rather unique, so he's got a better question in mind. The kind of curiosity that comes with performing diagnostics, trying to identify the one bit that's just a little out of place. ]

Where'd you come from?
bythelight: (2)

[personal profile] bythelight 2022-08-13 09:45 am (UTC)(link)
More primal than the Light? The Light is a primal force, to Anduin, a source of pure creation. He tilts his head a little, a frown tugging at his expression and his lips pressing together as he thinks. She clearly doesn't agree, and she would know better this place than he does, yet... yet it felt to him as if the Light had called him.

It had, hadn't it?

"We will find proof," he says, with an air of finality that says he's used to having to gently but firmly end a debate. "There has to be a way. What other reason is there for us to be here?"

Surely, their being saved must somehow be related to the fate of their worlds?
heavybreaths: (Sitting)

[personal profile] heavybreaths 2022-08-13 01:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Coruscant.

[Said like it is the most obvious thing in the universe. The crown jewel of the Empire, and the Republic before it. A cityscape that has swallowed an entire planet, gleaming spires and corroded slums.

His hand waves to encompass the stars around them, though.]


But tonight, I find myself among unfamiliar stars. You, however, seem as though you understand what is going on.
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she's insistent, what a wretched little thing that seeks to cling to someone else. someone with power, to offset her lackthereof. it's not a poor tactic, and once it would have been in him to accept her attachment to his being without protest; all gods required followers and their obeisances. he's no god now, though. just a criminal. ]

You're begging me to be responsible for you.

[ while his tone is not cold, there is a natural sense of it being - at the least - perpetually irritated. the redheaded (former) god of storms was as tempestuous as his old domains, made to embody them and rule them. the girl-youth needs something, and had he the wherewithal and ability, he'd have easily swept her into his worship. why turn anyone down? there was no need to be humble, as a god.

Why should I be?
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[ a hissed tch escapes the space between his teeth, lip curling with irritation as the boy continues to speak so insolently. he rises from his bed, bunching the white robe around his waist ( not to be worn 'correctly', ever -- nudity, or as close-to-nude-as-possible, was perfectly fine in egypt ) and securing it with a twisted knot. his fingers curl, testily, though his voice hasn't risen in wrath.

Am I the first or the last to have to listen to your silly little diatribe, hm?

[ moping. WOW!!! he does not MOPE ]

No one forced you to do anything of the sort. You're using your words without purpose.
himbomb: (86)

[personal profile] himbomb 2022-08-13 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Manners? Rex has many a sassy, inane jab in his mental roledex of superhero quips about such a word, but it is the cold disdain in Set's lined eyes that set off a few emotional grenades within the young Guardian. Whereas before, Rex certainly didn't appear as though he was in too great of a mood, seeing as he hardly ever is, he didn't look this off-put. What the hell is this crystal thing made of, anyway... It seems rocky! He could just blow it up, then.

Manners. What's the point of being all cute and polite, when nine times out of ten, people are going to stab you in the back anyway? Leaving your body to bleed and rot in the cold, Chicago winter...
]

You've got a lotta nerve for a fuckin' stranger.

What. You think you deserve my sympathy? I'm not peachy keen on becomin' one of your next disciples, asshole!

[His next words come are particularly rife with business.]

I don't give a shit about God. Or Gods, or whatever.

If you shiny shitheads are soooooooo great, then why're kids still dyin' of starvation on the street, huh? You've got all the power in the world, and yet you still can't do jack shit about that.

[It's crazy for Rex of all people to be accusing Set of such things. He's exactly the same, a superhero with the ability to potentially change things and make the world a better place, and yet he won't.

Because it'd be uncomfortable, and even more thankless of a job than being one of Cecil's Cease and Desist Droneboys.
]

Big news, bub.

It doesn't matter who the fuck you are. You're not in Ramses anymore.

[That was meant to be a play on "Kansas," but um-]

So it's time to crawl on up out of his sandy buttcrack and wake the hell up.

Fine! I'm not gonna help you.

You can run yourself right into the ground.
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

lmfgsdfds LESSA!!!!!

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ indeed, though he may escape the clutches of fingers that attempt to rip open his tightly-clenched jaw and tug on his wrists to keep his claws from finding violent purchase in limbs, it is an inevitability that kenoma will get that potion down his throat and induct him into their rank. all he has now, is a temporary freedom --

but. in it, he is able to meet lessa.

in silence ( the now-aion was too stunned to speak -- ), he watches the achamite gathering agree to return later; their persistence was admirable, in the face of set's own will. part of him would fold, later; the rest of him would follow, as his accursed being was wont to do -- a single doubt would be his downfall, and even though his body would continue to fight, his soul would have already conceded. some divine protector he was.

he reaches up, for the offered hand. utterly confused -- why help him? why fight on his behalf, against what was decreed and fated? what a weird twink! ]


-- young man?

[ THAT'S THE PART HE ACKNOWLEDGES FIRST ]
Edited 2022-08-13 16:58 (UTC)
fallingsand: (27;)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2022-08-13 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
You think?

[ He'd been considering it himself, that they had to pick one way or another, only— ]

I'm not sure I want to go down either path, though?
fallingsand: (15;  we don't talk about bruno)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2022-08-13 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Bruno would as well, that much is certain.

He considers it for all of two seconds before deciding, yes. Let them try the light. He offers Viktor a hand, which might be unexpected but he's never been one to worry about that, to offer something to hold onto as they journey towards something that might be terrifying.
]

Okay. I can't really keep standing here forever, anyway, right?
theorems: (pic#15360569)

[personal profile] theorems 2022-08-13 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
No.

[A fraction of a smile, and then gone just as quickly.

Viktor isn't much for... touching people. Willingly. On purpose. But to spurn holding hands in this delicate moment seems too cruel. Viktor takes Bruno's hand. Gloved as it is, Bruno can probably feel a strange thrum, the smallest sort of vibration pulse under the leather.
]

Time waits for no one.
begetter: (Default)

GOD ON GOD ACTION

[personal profile] begetter 2022-08-13 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
(expecting resistance and receiving none, lessa's guides set off of the ground and onto his feet to stand tall among cowering men. it'd be unwise to hope others will follow his lead to lend their own hand to those in need, human hearts fickle, but his eyes search sullen faces anyway.

nothing.

he looks to set instead for answers of his own.
)

No one possesses the right to force their will on another. If they return, I will stop them again. (a no-frills promise with no room for misinterpretation: set has found, in the unlikeliest of places, a protector. they may need to carry out the will of their sect, but lessa will not allow them to intervene with the natural order; set will flow as he flows.) Drink when you see fit to drink, and I will drink with you.

...

Are you not young?

(???????????)
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ in another time, he'd take rex's tongue from his mouth as repayment for the injury he's attempt to cause one of the ennead. this is no longer that era, nor is he permitted to be that person - it is long past the time he was graciously allowed to run rampant in egypt, filling himself with blood and wine and incense. the other gods let it happen, until someone had the grace to dethrone the evil that had ruled for so long.

pathetic, cringing gods with no eyes for anything other than their own preservation. ra, he could understand the stance of - none stood higher than ra, after all; none could fathom what she saw or what she did, save for ra. even he didn't bother understanding his grandparent's mind, in the way that he now struggled to understand rex.

the anger was gone within him, replaced by the sobering reminder: understand them, was burned into his soul -- and it was with that in mind, that he lifted the hand marked dark with his curse. he held it up, as if to halt rex's onslaught - to command the child take a breath. ]


I caused the world a lot of grief, [ he doesn't refute it, ] but, I know that I'm not responsible for your own.

[ he may have allowed ( and encouraged ) atrocities, but not whatever rex has gone through, witnessed. ]

-- I suppose I'm here to hear you out, regardless. Come back. You're not wrong.
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ they'll be back, when lessa is gone. it's not as if set will allow himself to be guarded - his bird-brained nephew was trying, quite emphatically, and the idea of being protected now, after all that he had done and all he had suffered, felt rotten. a senseless expenditure of empathy, for someone who'd rather die than be stood over.

what lessa says, though - is oddly comforting. it gives set the room to come to terms with the fact that he must properly join with the kenoma, who he chose. imbibing in their dark substance is simply part of that choice -- it was the way they insisted, with their hands holding him and fingers in his hair... that was unappreciated. ]


It's been some time, since anyone bothered to drink with me.

[ drink anything, he means. not just drink the kenoma-cocktail.

as for the rest, he points both fingers to his face and wrinkles his expression like a thug when he utters haa?, rough and absolutely bemused. ]


No divinity has true youth, [ by way of explaining: ] You may be mistaking my divine appearance with something else.
snakeandfangs: (pic#15435843)

[personal profile] snakeandfangs 2022-08-13 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ yeah, that little soul really seems like it can control its body? why does it act like it drank something that's legit two hundred times its size, and now it's trying to bury itself into the ground... the not-ground. the space ground. they're in space... dream space... stuck between one innocuous looking boy wearing a collar that's big enough to cover his mouth and chin and one opinionated red head??? ]

It's... dark. Wrong. It'll feed off your negativity, make it worse. They only want destruction there.

[ and toge sighs, shoulders slumping. ]

The good and just people are held hostage until they're neither of those things any longer. That's what it is, I think.

[ as he looks towards the familiar light, toge huffs. ]

The light is better. I know it is. I've felt it. It's more... it knows what I am.
himbomb: (175)

[personal profile] himbomb 2022-08-13 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[But what if the atrocities have never ceased?

Rex hailed from the kind of household that had not one single sliver of refuge. His parents, negligent and nagging, were so poor and ill that they had forced their malnourished son to steal food for them as soon as he was old enough to understand what was going on, which from what Rex can recollect, was sometime around seven or eight years old. He had missed school often, shunned by his peers for the odd behavior that results when your stomach is empty and don't know the meaning of the word "comfort," and was destined for either a future as an incarcerated criminal or a dead man.

His ticket out had come with a hefty price- Murder, abuse, manipulation.

Even at the tiny, tender age of twelve, Rex had questioned it.

The morality of murder.

But he had wanted so badly to be good.
]

Oh, no?!

[The gymnast spits out each and every word, volatile, venomous.

He's said too much and he knows it. Shit, shit, shit.
]

Well, then! Would you happen to know who's in charge of the "sunny skies" over Chicago?

[The real answer, in Rex's mind, is the government. Specifically, the local branch of the Global Defense Agency, which is more concerned with maintaining the status quo, of which the poor and the starving are an important part.

The wretched have no real saviors. The forces that be aren't in their place, so the unfortunate are left to fend for themselves.
]

It Jesus? Or one of his little lackeys?

'Cause if it is? I'm kickin' that guy square in the 'nads. Screw that "Love thy neighbor," baloney.

[There's no use in giving love away so freely.

Not when there isn't anybody who would ever love you.
]

I put my life out on the line every day for the kinda titty-suckin' turds who can't even get my name right.

That's enough.
regressor: (FLOOR)

[personal profile] regressor 2022-08-13 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[She can sense the careful way she is being held, which could perhaps be identified as kindness. He responds in that way, at any rate, and she takes advantage of the moment to keep thinking, disguising the way she reconsiders her situation in an obvious weakness... and she did actually want the water.

Limp in his arms, she weakly lifts her head to obey his instructions, slowly taking in a mouthful of the water and trying to swirl it over her tongue, remembering to grimace as if offended by the foul taste before she chokes it down. The next gulp is cleaner, the next even more so, until she has finally cleared the coating of sludge from her throat. Her voice is still rather low and raspy for a woman's, apparently that hadn't been caused by the Kenoma, but the next quiet words that slip out are,]


Thank you...

[Men liked to feel like protectors. She lets her head loll against him, breathing shallow for a few moments in her sweat and sludge-stained robe as she seemingly tries to gather her wits for the next thing that needed to be addressed. The next question that needed to be asked,]

Is it over... ?
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he'll give the young man credit, it is a valiant effort to convince him to walk a different path. the threat of the darkness is a real one, and set has no desire to think of toge as a liar. if anything, he seems genuinely concerned, enough to speak with his soul, rather than his mouth -- set removes his foot from the mouth of the dark path, and while he turns his back upon it, there is no sign that he's going to begin walking to the light.

if anything, the way he tilts his head - sleek, red hair falling across his unblemished shoulders - is only an acknowledgement that toge is speaking. pitching the case, he remembers thoth saying one evening, inebriated and excited about the developments of law and wisdom within egypt. he and ma'at would have enjoyed this young man, set thinks. ]


All the better.

[ he doesn't hate himself ( he does ), but the description of the dark path makes it seem a sensible choice for him. ]

I am the divine warlord of Egypt, god of war and destruction. They cannot make me what I already am, and -- the path of the light would. Would it not change me, in ways I may not want to be changed? Ways I cannot be changed.
redsoil: — PLEASE CREDIT! (Default)

[personal profile] redsoil 2022-08-13 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ buddy, jesus doesn't even exist yet where this guy is from. ]

I don't.

[ wherever chicago is, it's not in egypt. it's not even in any of the other nations near him, for he had traveled far and wide to defend the land against invasion. there was no such thing as chicago, which makes him wonder if it's the name of a nomadic family - rex's anger makes sense to him, if he were a transient mortal punished and pummeled. ]

However, if the gods did not cause your suffering - neither are we responsible for fixing it. Look to your fellow human for the root of your pain, and turn your infinite will on them. If you don't like what is happening, do something about it.

[ and he, where he has been the cause of suffering, will take responsibility there. ]

If you want them to get your name right, make them get it right.