open to all | questions and apologies

[tresemme]

[ if you’re lucky, you’ve never heard this voice before. if you have, you’ll probably notice that he seems considerably less grouchy than he did making his greeting rounds in springstar and highstorm. tony has had time to settle in, and more importantly, he’s made some big decisions about what side he wants to support here.

…for now, at least, which is the quiet motivation behind his demanding communion. he seems utterly at home invading people’s minds, and there’s the sense of him stretching out like he’s been here the whole time and was just waiting for you to get home. ]

People here are from all different worlds, right?

[ rhetorical question, and he continues. ]

I want to hear from whoever’s been to Terra. The third planet in the Sol System. I know some of you call it Earth—the fact that you have a name for it means that you know about it. [ a pause. ] I’ll torture the knowledge out of you if I have to, but it’s easier for everyone if you just cough it up.

[ that seems to be the end of that, unless you’re a zenite, to which he then narrows his focus. ]

…sorry if you heard me say I want all the humans to die. I know we have to work together.

Comments

[lockedon]

[ torture???? hello?? ]

Is there a reason you need to know so badly?

[tresemme]

I’ve never been. I want to know if it’s really as good as people say it is.

[ which is the truth, but not the whole truth. he’s just not going to spill his whole emotional backstory to some rando, you see… ]

[escardos]

[ look who’s here, tony! the weird guy that told you that killing humans is wasteful. ]

Oh, torture! That’s better than murder, if you know how to keep them from dying. Good progress, good progress!

[ he sounds genuinely happy about this. ]

I come from there— what do you wanna know? Geography? History? Winner of Best Picture in the Oscars? Let me know!

[lockedon]

[ what the fuck is wrong with you, flat ]

[tresemme]

[ thanks bud. he absolutely knows how to keep them from dying since he’s been doing fucked up evil things since he was literally, physically a toddler. ]

Huh… so people really were born there. [ he’s quietly contemplative, but then there’s sort of a frustrated turn in his thoughts. ] I don’t care about all that stuff. What does it look like?

[epiprocta]

[ Sorry Tony ... he's just gonna laugh in your (metaphorical) face for a hot second. And once he's done with his little bout of hoarse, wolfish snickering: ]

Y'know, most of the nutjobs here at least pretend to be kinda normal at first.

[ It's almost refreshing having some fucknut come waltzing in waving a huge 'I AM INSANE' sign over their head right off the bat. ]

[tresemme]

[ tony should probably be offended by being called a nutjob, but he’s honestly more offended that gen is laughing like this is funny. ]

“Normal” doesn’t mean anything to me. I haven’t been normal since I was born.

[ said with complete and utter sincerity. ]

help. still,

[cutlery]

[ wow there sure is a lot here in every respect. let's just ignore it. ]

Ah, I have been to it, technically speaking. It is where I was before coming here... But there is no need to torture the information out of me or anyone else, I might add. I am perfectly willing to tell you anything you would like to know. I know... Well, quite a lot about it.

[ Understatement, but we'll get to that. No need to lead with "I'm an ancient demon that's been watching Earth for eons" ]

[tresemme]

So there are people living on Terra?

[ remembering the tentative worldview he’s supposed to have taken in harmonizing to zenith, he pauses and amends his statement. ]

There were people living on Terra? What year was it?

[redsoil]

I hail from it. From Egypt, more specifically. What does it matter to you?

[ He flows, indolently approaching Tony's Communion as a massive presence; a desert stretching into oblivion, hair streaked with sunshine and starlight, as he props his chin up in his hands and smiles ferociously. ]

I think you should torture others anyways. Why not do what you really want?

[tresemme]

[ well, because, deep down… he doesn’t really want to torture people who have done nothing to him. as buried a truth as that is, though, he just ignores the reality of the question and answers as flippantly as he thinks set is approaching him. ]

If you’re just going to tell me, why would I bother torturing you?

[corvidant]

[ Wow, Akechi hasn't met anyone this openly unhinged since... well, himself. and even he has the common sense to play nice when necessary. ]

I fail to see how that is relevant information with our worlds gone.

More importantly, there is enough open hostility between factions as it is. If you're going to resort to threats, I should hope you have the means to stand up for yourself against a vast magnitude of powerful foes.

[ Akechi could even be a Zenite by now barring his player getting off her ass and submitting a form but regardless, he is going to be Difficult for the sake of it. You don't threaten Akechi, Akechi threatens you!! ]

[tresemme]

I do.

[ not a beat missed, since that’s not something he’s worried about. he’s already blown up several people, and because he hasn’t been brought low here in kenos just yet, he feels confident that he could blow up several more. ]

Anyway, it’s relevant because I want to know. Have you been to Terra or not?

[kinaesthesia]

Y'know, you wouldn't have to go around threatening torture if you just asked nicely in the first place.

[She'll humor you anyway. She doesn't know anything about this 'Earth' or 'Sol system' nonsense, but—]

But I'm from Terra. What do you wanna know so badly? Got the twin moons and the sky dome, mobile cities dodging catastrophes out in the barenlands, whatever the hell is going on with the seaborn...

[The eldritch horrors up in the northern reaches... Y'know, normal things.

They are NOT talking about the same Terra.]

[tresemme]

[ this is… very different from the terra in the hearts of the mu. the rest of it he actually can’t say completely for sure, but he’s pretty sure there’s only one moon circling the planet. ]

Huh? Are you joking?

[ humans left terra for a reason, but… ]

[annmorous]

[Even without the benefit of their shared Aspect, Ann's not bothering to hide the whip-sharp spike in her anger.]

Ugh, shut up. You talk like a villain from a cheap sci-fi movie.

[Does he even know what that is? Whatever.]

[tresemme]

[ unfortunately, they don’t have movies on the shangri-la, but he can tell he’s being insulted. ]

I didn’t ask you!

[ and yet, he literally did. ]

[baltimores]

[ Oh, shit, he hasn't heard anyone else refer to it as the Sol System in... well, probably since he last was there.

Since he has now decided to be nice to Tony, who he is now realizing is maybe always going to sound like a child, Amos' response is cheery as he bypasses all of the other unpleasantries in the message. Like he's sure Tony doesn't mean them! Bygones are bygones. ]

Yeah, I'm from Baltimore.

[ journal username baltimores simply expects tony to understand exactly what this means ]

[tresemme]

Baltimore?

[ at least tony has enough context clues to assume baltimore is part of terra—maybe a satellite, or possibly a city on the surface. he really has no clue what the daily life of terrans is or was like, even if there are some surviving books in the mu’s collection. ]

Is that the capital?

[kaientai]

[ ryouma considers what he's hearing — third planet, sol system — and recognises that he's dealing with a person from space. in that case, he directs the full force of his delighted curiosity at tony. ]

Ooh, you call it "Terra", huh? Interesting! What planet do you come from then? Do you have a huge spaceship?

[ obviously, everyone from space must have spaceships because it's the future??? ]

I'm happy to tell you whatever you like about Earth! No need for any of that.

[ the torture, he means. ]

[tresemme]

[ well, good news for ryoma, ]

Yeah, we have a ship. It’s called the Shangri-la.

[ they did have a planet, but it’s been reduced to space dust—and he’s a little bit tired of mentioning that. he never thought he would feel so exhausted, reliving the memory of the death of his people over and over. ]

Does Terra use ships, too?

zenites only

[zauneyete]

Oh, did someone show you the error of your ways, or did you simply decide that being disliked was too much for you?

[ asks the most unliked person in zenith. ]

[tresemme]

Neither, you old geezer! I just thought that if we’re going to win, I need people to back me up.

[ he instantly remembers how much he hates this guy… but also, being hated in kind doesn’t bother him in the least. ]

SORRY MARY................

[wolof]

Oh? [ She. She has no clue what Terra is. Or the Sol system. But she's interested all the same. ]

How would you torture it out of someone, if they were going to withhold it from you?

[ Never say Torture around a Praesi. ]

HI QUEEN

[tresemme]

[ tony knows how he would do it, but he doesn’t really have the way with words that akua might be looking for. ]

I dunno. Maybe I’d choke them… or drown them, or something.

[youngprodigy]

I'm afraid I haven't heard of either of those worlds. Terra, or Earth.

My star had only very recently developed the means to travel to other worlds, though, and that was under desperate circumstances.

[Perhaps it's obvious from context that by "star" he means "planet", or maybe that was just the most incomprehensible sentence Tony has ever heard uttered.

And he's got absolutely nothing to say to that last part, because what even. He's clearly not pleased by it though.]

[tresemme]

Only recently? You must be pretty far behind us, then!

[ tony has managed to gather that just because the world they’re all currently on is dated doesn’t mean the people who are living on it are… but in this case, recent planetary travel seems so quaint. ]

[clockpunk]

Dude, what the hell is wrong with you.

[ with the tone of someone not taking that threat at all seriously. ]

I've been here like five minutes and know there's a whole bunch of us from Earth. You can just ask normally.

[tresemme]

Like I would know that!

[ he’s never been to earth, he doesn’t know what it’s supposed to be like, it’s weird that there are so many terrans here. ]

[alliterating]

Hey, I'm not human, no point in apologizing to me.

[ She's a little gleeful, though. She likes the fact she blew his mind a little. ]

But maybe ease off on the torture threats, most people here ain't gonna listen to that kind of thing.

[tresemme]

Yeah, I figured that out.

[ he should’ve just left his questions with her… ]

[eightfoldfiend]

[Something like a thousand oily tentacles reach into the communion.]

Threats of torture so soon?

Impressive.

[tresemme]

[ this feels bad. tony’s mental defenses are immediately up, and he can’t even take pleasure in the fact he’s not being scolded. ]

You’re the only one who feels that way.