TDM #3

[aionmods]

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!

Comments

[regressor]

[That's what it feels like. What it had felt like, when she stood at the fence around the perimeter of Hell's Gate and tried to answer it's call, hoping that she might be strong enough to answer it's call while still remaining herself... the herself of only five years, the part that still remained somewhat human. The abyss of darkness, a night sky full of false stars, and something distant and consuming reaching out to her.

Within it... there was only the cold, rational motions of a Contractor. Even if she had moved through her years as a Regressor slow and awkward... the idea of giving up those tiny, precious moments, those hints of caring and wanting and feeling something warm flickering to life...

Is that what a soul was? This man asks, and all she can think to say is-]

I don't think... I have one...

[She has heard "soulless" used to describe her more than once, whether it was someone clutching the body of a dead loved one or the government handlers who'd once issued her orders.

Did Contractors, who did not dream and did not feel and did not care for anything but their own life... did they have any more of a soul than a Doll did? If she did...]

[cutlery]

[ It's not a sentiment that's unfamiliar to him, since at least for humans, matters of the soul were something that were distinctly abstract. He had read centuries of writing meditating on the the topic of the soul, of what it was or what it meant, and the way humanity wrestled with it was always interesting. To him, it would be the same as questioning whether blood went through their veins. So far as he knows, you simply could not be if you did not.

But to be so straightforward and answer isn't as interesting. ]

Why, if you would like to know, I could tell you.

[ Sebastian shrugs, almost lazily, but his voice stays gentle. While not quite there, it tilts on the edge of being comforting, which is a bit ill-fitting with the conversation. ]

But only if you would like to know, of course.

[regressor]

[Had she ever really wondered? As a Contractor, it had been the last thing she'd cared about. As a Regressor, she was so overwhelmed by the ability to feel emotions suppressed for so many years that it had been just within her power to care about the present...

She'd known death would come for her eventually, that it likely would not be one that arrived in her old age in her bed, but what came after...

Desperate for anything that wasn't the pain, the call of Hell's Gate... she doesn't ask how it was he would be able to know such a thing. If this was a "different world"... maybe he could. Maybe-]

... Do I... ?

[cutlery]

[ His smile increases by just a hair as she asks, since he’s quite glad she did. It would be a bit boring of her not to, he thinks. But as he looks, his round pupil suddenly narrows into a slit, and amber irises turn a deep, bloody red that’s lit up not completely unlike a Contractor. It’s quite short-lived, though, since he ends up closing his eyes in a smile. ]

You do.

[ It’s said simply and confidently, with no more weight to it than if he had just confirmed the color of her hair. He lets the answer linger with a pause, since usually that tended to be quite a bit for someone who had just questioned it’s existence to swallow, but he does end up adding with more lightness in his tone: ]

It would be quite unusual if you did not, I should note. I have only ever encountered one creature who possessed reason and did not.

[ …A fact that still bothers him, though he doesn’t let it show. It strikes him as a shame to now not be able to learn just how the Undertaker had managed such a feat. ]

[regressor]

[For a moment... it looks like the Lancelnopt Synchrotron radiation alternately pulsing in her eyes have reflected in his own. She thinks she might be seeing things, the strain of resisting the call of both Kenoma and Hell's Gate messing with her mind... but perhaps she isn't. Perhaps this really was another world, and this man who spoke so confidently of being able to tell if she has a soul was something beyond human, beyond Contractor...

But she doesn't have time to consider it. She doesn't have time to figure out how she feels, to be told she had a soul. Should she feel glad... ? Relieved? ]

Oh...

[Before she can manage anything else... Hell's Gate calls again. Her body is wracked with pain, and her grip on the man she has reached for slips. Both hands pull back to her bony chest and she forces her broken fingers to curl, trying still to use the pain as a focus... but this time, it doesn't take as easily. Her teeth grit and her spine arches as she writhes upon the cold slab, gasping for breath, desperate to resist the despair clawing at her heart and mind...

And it leaves her exhausted, panting in a heap on the stone with her eyes dull and distant, unsure... unsure of how many more times she can stave it off. How many more times before she lost this battle... and died in everything but name.

She can't lift her head. She can barely move her mouth, though a trickle of black sludge spills from the corner and drips down her chin. But she can just manage a whisper, broken and barely audible.]

Is that why... you won't let me die... ?

[Because she has a soul... ?]

[cutlery]

Hardly.

[ His answer is immediate and easy. Even as he watches her contort with the effort of trying to stave off the return of her powers, his expression doesn’t change, but it’s hardly stony. It’s more like a cat watching a mouse than anything else. ]

We may as well call it a professional interest.

[ It’s a joke, but really only for him… Even if she had the context to understand why he phrases it that way, she wouldn’t exactly find it as amusing as he does. ]

Actually, if I did not have a healthy level of apprehension at the consequences, I would gladly grant your wish, Miss. [ And he would. From the glance he’s taken, he can tell that it may not be Ciel, but it would be a meal he would enjoy well enough. ] I do apologize for that. It would be a conclusion that we would both be glad for, I think.

[regressor]

[For a moment, it almost looks as if she may have expired, she is so still. After releasing a short, barely audible sigh and closing her eyes in exhaustion, her breath is frozen in her lungs, the sludge trickles from her half-open lips... but she is not so lucky as that. Eventually, she does draw a ragged breath.

How many more times can she do this? She doesn't know. ... But he won't grant her wish, which means she has only one request left.]

Then, please...

[If she regained her powers here, if she became the Contractor who had been Havoc and Carmine and however many more names she had lost to the M.E... There'd be no telling what choice she might make in this place, what she might judge as a threat to be eliminated without qualm, without emotion or morals. And in that case...]

Please go. Far from here...

[From her.]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian nods, though it's slow and languid. He doesn't seem overly inclined to go, but there's also technically no reason for him to stay beyond a base sadistic pleasure. ]

Well, I do not know just how far I am able to go... But I take your point, Miss.

[ Though there's one small thing he feels he still needs to do. In the event they meet again (and he rather hopes so), it would be quite rude to leave without an introduction, wouldn't it. He places a hand to his chest as if in a gesture of sincerity, but it amounts to little more than habit at this point. ]

But should we meet again— I am Sebastian Michaelis. I wish you luck or that another is able to deliver your desire.

[regressor]

[Sebastian Michaelis. What a gentlemanly name.

She has none to give him. Not a proper one. Whatever her name had been once... she'd lost it somewhere along the way, between switching allegiances and governments and jobs, being run through the Memory Extractor whenever required. The one Laura and her family had called her... it is too precious a memory, and she leaves it for just herself. "Carmine" was a Contractor who worked for the Syndicate. "Havoc" was a freelancer who any government who wanted a job done right would hire.

So all she does... is let go of him. Even if he doesn't grant her what she asks...]

... Thank you.

[She mutters the words around another gurgle of the black sludge that spills from the corner of her mouth before she falls back onto the stone clab, curling her broken fingers tight and just... preparing herself for the next wave. The next fight she will have to struggle through, to survive one more pulse of power as a woman who could feel. Maybe not as strongly as a normal person, maybe everything was so new and so overwhelming that she could only bear to take on a fraction of it...

But it was real. And she loved it.

If the man named Sebastian Michaelis does not take her advice, however... If he returns later to those unhallow halls... He will find that she is still there.

But this time... she is sitting up, with little trace of the turmoil or desperation marring her face. It is undoubtedly the same woman, petite and malnourished, bony with her chest splashed with large scars, red hair and green eyes that would be vibrant if she'd lived a better life... but the look in her eyes is different.

Perhaps "cold" is the word... for how she stares down at the broken fingers of her hand, carefully realigning the bone and using a strip from her robe to tie them tightly together.]

[cutlery]

[ It's advice not taken at all.

It's a combination of ignorance and arrogance, since as Sebastian will surely learn eventually, he's not by and far the most powerful creature here. There's some token of that he believes he knows, since even as his natural ability trickles back to him, it does feel like it's slowing, and he knows well that there's a ways to go. He's disappointed by that, though it's mostly directed at this Regent that he's heard of for being foolish in not returning all of it. But even so, he's still to arrogant to have heeded her warning, and especially not when there were such interesting happenings taking place here.

While Havoc had been adjusting (accepting), he's certainly spoken to more people. Some had similarly struggled, but most that drew his interest had not. Like finds like, he supposes.

It's about when he's thinking of finally leaving that he spots Havoc again, and the change in her demeanor is immediately apparent. He watches from afar for a moment as she works at resetting her fingers back in place, but he's drawn back. As he approaches, he gives a polite incline of his head. ]

Hello again, miss. [ The coldness in her eyes is noted, but reflected by an easy, false warmth in his. ] Would you like assistance, perhaps?

[ He nods to her fingers lightly. At least after caring for a human for a few years, he's now not so bad at tending to their injuries. ]

[regressor]

[Despite the effort that had gone into remaining a Regressor, all of the sweat and fight and writhing... in the end, when she had grown too tired to do anything but embrace the sink into darkness and let the call of Hell's Gate come rushing back with it... it had gone with a whimper and not a bang.

For one last, aching instant, she had been the woman that Hei had called "Carmine". She had been afraid, desperate to be saved from the fate of rationality and selfishness, from a life without dreams and without hopes beyond the cold calculations of survival, the weighting of cost and benefit. She hadn't wanted to kill anyone again, the blood she knew stained her hands had been a source of deep, uncleansible guilt-

And then it simply wasn't.

The memories (the ones that hadn't been extracted) came rushing back, the glow of radiation surges and this time doesn't putter out and die. Somewhere, in some patch of space, a false star called FN-067 reactivates... and the emotions she'd valued dim away to nearly nothing, leaving her concerned only with the physical truths of her situation.

Her body was weak. Hungry. Not in fit physical condition. She had two broken fingers.

That can be most easily addressed. And when someone who she had "met" before makes himself known... She turns to look at him, dead-eyed for a moment as the calculations run... and then her lips curl up in the corners just slightly, mimicking the look of a slightly awkward smile for "Mr. Michaelis".]

... Yes, thank you.

[It was difficult to do one-handed. Helpfully, she holds out her hand with the half-tied, makeshift bandage wrapped around the broken middle and ring finger.]

[cutlery]

[ He watches her reactions more intently than it might seem. After all, how can he not watch and compare what he sees now to what he had seen before? That dead-eyed stare and the pause strikes him as somewhat familiar. Demons unfamiliar with interacting with humans tended to do something similar, and so surely, he had been the same, at some point. Conveying emotions you don't feel is a process that's learned. It's only a guess, but he happens to be quite close. ]

Of course.

[ He approaches and either kneels before her or sits next to her (whichever ends up being more convenient), and takes her hand with a gentility that might be surprising from a man that had apologized for not killing her earlier. And in fact, he speaks to that with the lightest humor in his voice: ]

Consider it an apology for not answering your wish, perhaps?

[ Before he finishes up the wrapping, he does delicately feel at the bones to see if any are further out of place and need to be realigned. He's quite delicate, so the pain should be minimal, at least, but he does hold a bit of conversation to attempt to distract her from it just in case. Though considering she was taking care of it herself quite neutrally, he's not sure if it's necessary. ]

Fingers aside, how are you feeling now?

[regressor]

[No one who had known this woman as "Havoc" would ever have said that she was a good actress. Admittedly, she had not really been trying- there hadn't been a need. Her reputation had proceeded her, and there had been little need to waste the effort on blending when her specialty had been assassinations and acts of terrorism from a distance, and she had hardly ever been dispatched for spywork or information retrieval. This, though... is not her world. This place is not one with the same power balances, rules, cultures, or people-

And it is safer here, until she can investigate further... to blend. It's the rational, logical choice. And with life as a Regressor so fresh in her memories... her smile is a more convincing than it had been five years ago. To a demon, though, to someone observant... there is that thing that isn't quite right. Something not quite natural in how the muscles in her face move, something lacking in the natural warmth and realness she'd seemed to possess the last time they had met.

But as if there was no difference or anything to notice at all-]

I'm sorry about that...

[She surrenders his hand to him once he takes a seat beside her on the stone slab, as if she could possibly be something like trusting. The breaks in her two fingers are clean and sharp, intentional snaps and not the twist or rend of an accident. She doesn't bother trying to hide that it is painful when they're examined, but she also isn't loud about it either.]

I shouldn't have asked that of you in the first place.

[For a Contractor, telling lies is not much different from breathing air, and seeing as she hadn't died... she makes her fingers twitch slightly where he tends to them, drops her gaze slightly as if in thought.]

... I was just scared.

[... Though that actually wasn't a lie. She had been a Regressor a few minutes ago, and as a Regressor... she had been perfectly capable of feeling something like fear, sadness, or regret. She still remembers feeling it... she just no longer has the capacity to connect with it, viewing it more like she was watching a movie rather than recalling something she herself had actually done or thought.

How risky and pointless it seemed now, the behavior of a Regressor.]

[cutlery]

[ As Havoc offers her apology, Sebastian does look up to meet her eyes. Though his expression is still generally a placid, pleasant neutral, there's a note to it that's probably not wholly unfamiliar to her. His gaze is hardly idle, but instead watching. Searching for something, maybe. It's an expression that would be perfectly at home on one of the more social Contractors' faces.

(There's some irony that they're both certainly missing about a Contractor being so similar to a demon.)

But his gaze drops back down to his work, and feeling that there's no need to reset bone, he takes up the task of bandaging up her fingers. He's still just as careful, but dutiful in wrapping up her fingers tightly so that the adjacent, unbroken ones essentially act as splints. ]

There is no need to apologize. It is quite a thing, the Kenoma.

[ An understatement for her, but perfectly accurate for him. As soon as he had drunk it down, he understood why it had been bestowed the name it had. In the kenoma resides deceptive, transitory things, the abyss that swallows all, as Valentinus had described it. It was a metaphor, then. Here, it's metaphor given form. Of course any creature that wasn't already a resident of that abyss would struggle with it.

It's why he's curious. Though it wasn't something he was capable of feeling, he understood human emotion well enough, but especially their dark, fearful feelings. She admits she was scared, which he knows is true, but he doesn't get the sense now that this calm acceptance is the sort that comes naturally, so to speak. She "won't care at all", wasn't it? ]

Are you scared now?

[regressor]

[There is something in his gaze that is searching, that she feels burn on the back of her neck in the same way she had when an enemy Contractor or agent was on her tail. But… there is no guarantee that is what was happening. In a place like this, there was no telling who to trust and who might be an ally… not yet. And only a fool would make an accusation they didn’t know the answer to.]

Mmm… I didn’t expect it at all…

[So the answer she gives is, for now, as vague as she can be without arousing suspicion. She passes it off as distraction, watching his smooth and confidant motions as he binds her fingers. As for now, well…]

A little…

[Now that was a lie. She was paranoid, feeling exposed, ready to secure a more defensible position for herself, proper clothing and supplies… but she puts on the face of a woman who is worried, brows slightly furrowed and lips slightly pursed.]

Do you know what’s going to happen next… ?

[cutlery]

[ A lie, he knows, but a predictable one. If there was a single human emotion he was particularly tuned to sniff out, it was fear. He doesn't catch even a hint of it now, but he won't call her out for it. He can understand feeling the need to hide that lack, after all. ]

I admit, I did not quite expect it either. It would do well of our hosts to at least be more honest about the process, I would say. Unless they enjoy watching the struggle, I suppose...

[ Which, perhaps. Lingering here was hardly benevolent on his part. ]

As for what is next, only in generalities, I am afraid... Well, if what I heard is to be believed, at least, but I have no particular reason to question it.

[ One finger is securely wrapped and tied up, so he moves onto the other with the same sort of deft care. ]

Before you, ah, hatched, I suppose it would be... Did you also have a dream of a choice?

[regressor]

[How strange it would be, if these so-called Kenoma did this for enjoyment. It wasn't as if she was completely ignorant to the concept. Humans were ruled by their emotions, sometimes to the point of ruin and waste, but in this instance... it seemed especially pointless.]

... I suppose they wouldn't have many people willing to drink otherwise.

[Even if they believed in the cause... it was a bit more painful than most people were willing to endure for a run-of-the-mill initiation ritual. Or perhaps... that had just been because she had fought it. "She". The foolishness of a Regressor had fought it. The woman she had been a few minutes ago, and yet could not begin to understand now even if she bothered to look back on it.

Obediently, she shifts her hand slightly to allow him to access her remaining finger a bit easier. There was no reason to keep information like that a secret, so-]

I dreamed, yes.

[Something she likely wouldn't do again, now that her Contract had stabilized. But it was useful enough to use for now, until she had a better idea of the workings of this place... the ruse of a woman who knew what dreaming was like.]

I don't remember much... But there were silhouettes of people... and a light. A warm light.

[cutlery]

[ Her choice surprises him, though it doesn't show on his face. It makes her struggle to accept the Kenoma much less surprising, certainly, though it's also as she says, a bit. Choosing the abyss is the stranger choice, and indeed, everything leading up to accepting the Kenoma would be viscerally unpleasant for a human. From the despair the ichor brought forth to the much more instinctual fear of the unknown in the dark, why would the pick it? And yet, he'd met a few who had.

It's something he notes as a question to pose to any of his other new "coworkers". It's probably something more enlightening to their nature than how struggling with the Kenoma went. ]

I suppose not. Perhaps that is my own pragmatic nature speaking... [ He laughs lightly, but it's a gentle one ] But I am surprised. I did not dream of the light, so I had guessed that would be the case for others here. Did you choose to come here?

[ The other finger is also secure at this point, so he nods lightly as he pulls his hands away. ]

And there we are. That should at least do well enough for now, though I would advise finding a proper doctor once we are allowed to leave.

[regressor]

You didn't... ?

[She makes it sound like just a conversational question, just trading tales of how they had ended up in this situation, and yet... Havoc is taking notes. If it became advantageous at any point to change her story... it was better to know sooner rather than later.]

I did come here voluntarily... the woman who found me made it... Well, she didn't say it would be easy, but... She said there could be a place for me here...

[And that had been enough for a Regressor... or a former one, who now looks at her fingers and moves her hand carefully, examining from above and below. It looked well done by her standards.]

Are you some sort of doctor, Mr. Michaelis... ?

[cutlery]

I did not. Nor did I need much in the way of convincing to come here.

[ His answer comes straightforwardly and with a note that might imply that he won't elaborate further, but he gives it easily after a small pause. ]

Though I admit, I would also guess that I am something of an outlier, so I would not take too much from my experience. I am somewhat more naturally attuned to the Kenoma and its desires. Though I doubt that is much of a surprise.

[ Since, well. He may not be quite so explicit about what he is, but taking a peek at her soul and only showing her a "mercy" that was cruel because of being concerned with consequences... Whatever she might think of that, Sebastian has a guess that she's probably not far off from reality. ]

But I am no one so esteemed as a doctor, no. [ He smiles a bit more, though now it's tilting towards one that's warmer and friendlier. It's mostly just amusement at referring to himself in such a way. ] I have some interest in medicine, but really only in a scholarly sense... I am simply a former butler that knows a bit of first aid, as my master was a bit prone to getting into trouble, shall we say.

i couldn't resist

[regressor]

[It's a tone she knows, even if she herself hadn't used to bother with things like tones. She'd barely bothered with inflections or putting much emotion into her voice at all, because in those days... Well, the work she'd been doing hadn't required it. "Havoc" was hired for her sheer destructive capabilities, she got in and she got out, and that was the end of it. When she'd gone on missions, most anyone she'd needed to speak to, or who'd spoken to her, had ended up dead.

But this time... She hasn't decided yet whether it's better to be "Havoc", "Carmine"... or maybe even someone else. Until she does-]

Hmmm...

[She gives a noncommittal sound at first, watching his face as he works. Though she'd practically been a different woman as a Regressor, she still remembered everything she had done, clogged with nonsensical emotional markers or not, and his eyes... the talk of souls...]

... You must have been one hell of a butler.

[So she doesn't doesn't ask so directly as that. Not yet. Instead, she admires his work again. It's good, it will do perfectly well for now until she can see a more proper doctor.]

I heard there were people who would take care of us, here... Will that be strange for you... ?

gOD

[cutlery]

[ There's a moment where he looks at her with open surprise, since suddenly hearing the phrase he had been quite fond of catches him offguard, if only briefly. It leads into an easy laugh, and it's probably the most genuine one he's given in... quite a while. ]

Ha, that is certainly one way to put it, yes. [ his favorite way... ] You know what they say about idle hands... I have used mine to become skilled at a great many things.

[ His laugh dies down, though he's certainly smiling considerably more. It's just too funny, in his (bad) opinion. ]

But yes indeed, it will. If possible, I imagine I will dismiss them, to be honest. I have want for little and enjoy domestic tasks, so their time may very well be wasted serving me.

[regressor]

[... Huh. Something about that amused him. Very well. It's filed away with the rest, including each word and nuance within it that she hears.

There are only so many things a person can accomplish in their lifetime. This man is what... Thirty something? Not that how someone looked was reliable at all, she's heard of Contractors with power of illusion, with abilities to stop the aging process... so in this foreign land, who knew. But she wonders... he had been oddly calm since his arrival, with an air of having seen it all before...]

I thought it might be kind of nice... I've never had a servant...

[If only because it would put a native at her disposal, theoretically... Someone to use for errands, for information... If they were a suitable one. She'd see. ... She'd see a lot, it seemed. And since this man was being so helpful...]

I don't suppose you know where there's food...

[Fighting the Kenoma had left her exhausted... and thanks to the changes in her brain left in their wake... It had also left her completely unable to sympathize with the desires she'd had to put up a fight at all.]

[cutlery]

[ He nods, though the wry humor is definitely staying in place on his face at this point. ]

Oh, I imagine it is, certainly. The people I have served have certainly enjoyed it, I would say? It is quite convenient, especially if you end up with competent help. It is just something I do not see for myself, really, unless they are perhaps willing to be something of a research assistant... That is all I could see myself needing.

[ Since at this point, Sebastian is definitely thinking ahead. He's in a strange new realm with rules and customs that he doesn't understand. Ideally, he'd like to be quite well-versed in it all within a month. Ambitious, certainly, but it's a good thing he doesn't sleep... Though speaking of such needs: ]

Ah... I have not seen any, no. Hopefully when we are released, there will be some? It has been quite a while since I have eaten as well. [ :/ ] With any luck, I hope we are given lodging or something of the sort. Besides everything else, it would be quite nice to cook, to be honest.