communion | stargazer-focused but ota

[semicharmed]

[ The psychic presence is tactile, first. Like a hand fumbling in the dark, knowing his fingers could brush up against someone at any moment and trying to avoid unwelcome contact.

Then: ]

Oh.

[ Or whatever passes for oh in Matt's mind. In this case, it's something like if a stray puff of air managed to light a candle, rather than extinguish it. The eureka moment is followed by a laugh, soda-fizz of endorphins that rises and feathers away. ]

Holy shit, you're right there, aren't you?

I mean--I think I can hear you.

Hello?

[ ooc: As noted here, Matt is reset! So if you knew him in AT, you are more than welcome to recognize him; he just won't remember you. PM or hit up artistformerlyknownas to ask questions or throw ideas around. :3 :3 :3 ]

Comments

[wolfish]

[ And so it's Yuri's turn to be both surprised and confused. It can't be helped, not when faced with the perplexing notion of seeing anything from space.

Space travel is purely notional to a medieval man. ]

Why would there be so much?

[semicharmed]

Greed, I guess. [ It's hard to tell what Matt's feeling beyond the words themselves. Regret? ] It got really cheap to make things, so people started making more than people could ever realistically need or use ... and the materials they discovered, like plastic, don't really rejoin the earth easily. So instead of breaking down, it all just stays.

[wolfish]

[ The explanation gives rise to something akin to a muffled conversation behind closed doors. Yuri has difficulty conceptualizing such a thing, when his world doesn't even have mass literacy.

Excess has degrees and forms Fódlan has never known. ]

Is there no solution then, or are your people trying to find one?

[ He can't help his concern, clear as a small bell in a dark room. ]

[semicharmed]

[ Matt feels guilty for bringing down the conversation. Everyone here has pressing concerns--they don't need to add his to the pile. Yuri's concern is kind of him, though. Sweet. ]

Some people are, [ he says, aiming for a lighter tone. ] We know what to do, in a lot of ways. It's actually doing it that's the harder part.

[wolfish]

Recognition's a start... Just have to get people to act on it.

[ Recognizing a problem and acting on it always trump ignorance and inaction. Still, what must it be like, to have so much neon plastic it can be seen from such a very great distance...?

Here, the "mall" had bordered on too much for him. ]

Only way you change the world, yeah?

[semicharmed]

[ Matt chuckles, which seems to be where a sparkle of endorphins and tinge of overwhelm average out on the psychic plane. ]

I think I know more about changing the world than changing people, [ he sighs. That admission seems like it's going to invite more questions, he realizes. ] Anyway--thanks for talking to me, Yuri. Letting me experiment on you with this whole phone straight to your brain thing.

And thanks for that memory. [ Warm. ] It was really special.

[wolfish]

[ There follows a knot of something messy there, impossible to unravel and difficult to read. ]

I'd like to consider it more practice than experiment.

[ The stiffness about his response, though slight, is difficult to miss given the intimacy of Communion. Yet Yuri doesn't explain why the phrasing matters, moving right along from it briskly. ]

But hey, anytime. Takes some getting used to, all of this. People with the same aspect are a whole other matter, so be mindful with them.

[semicharmed]

[ Matt can understand having bad associations with the term, even without context. His own world's history is bad enough. He feels briefly guilty, embarrassed. But at least the path forward is clear. ]

Practice, [ he echoes back, trying to keep his thoughts light. ] ... And okay, I have to ask, what's up with people who have the same Aspect?

[wolfish]

It's far more difficult to keep your emotions from them. That weird background noise in your head — stray feelings you can't divine a cause for? Those'd be the others of your aspect.

[ Yuri knows it well. Harbingers are a largely repressed little bunch, but they can't quite keep all that from each other. It took him months to figure out who the hell the constant low-simmering resentment at the edge of his awareness was coming from. ]

The more they are, the more crowded that party gets. Not so much mind-reading as strong impressions, but it can get pretty damn distracting.

[semicharmed]

Oh, [ Matt says. It has the timbre of puzzle pieces slotting into place. He felt like he was getting an unusually good read on Demeisen ... maybe that explains it.

At the same time, the way Yuri describes this phenomenon, it reminds him of his own strange abilities that are also not mind-reading. Also distracting. Matt laughs. ] Okay, I appreciate the warning. That sounds tailor made to embarrass the shit out of me, but at least I can't say nobody told me.

[wolfish]

There's a wealth of information we just find out through experience or others relating theirs... Honestly, I'd rather have known in advance, myself.

[ But harbingers are a complicated little can of worms, oops all messes. Excepting Hiiro. Maybe. ]

Last Oracle, I had a guy doing his damndest to pry in and see what I was hiding. I can safely say I'd rather not have that kind of ardent attention from another of my aspect again.

[ It was, in a word, exhausting. ]

[semicharmed]

[ Matt's mindscape, every bit as expressive as his face would be if not more so, writhes with an emotion that seems to boil down to: ew. ]

Yeah, I don't blame you. I think this kind of insight is fascinating, and like--beautiful--but only if you choose it, obviously.

[ A pause. ]

I could make you something, if you like. To try and keep other people out, or other--Aspect sharers. I mean, I don't know when I'll get my powers back. [ A piece of him cherishes the hope that he can do it without having to harmonize. ] But if I do, I could.

[wolfish]

I suspect it boiled down to a difference in how we thought. Fascination, of a sort.

[ Childe did relent, eventually, but it was obvious that Yuri's guarded nature and strict compartmentalization were curiosities to the man. He can't quite imagine being that interested, himself, but that too is a difference.

For his part, when it came to personal interactions, Yuri much prefers it when he learns something about someone because they chose to disclose it to him. ]

But people can make things like that?

[semicharmed]

I can relate to fascination. [ Dryly. An understatement: Matt's curiosity is the secret behind at least 85% of his problems. ] But come on ... manners.

[ He brightens when Yuri asks a follow-up question. Talking shop is a rare pleasure for him, since it wasn't particularly safe to just launch into it back home. ]

Enchanted items? Definitely. There'd be some trial and error involved, since I emphatically don't understand how this form of communication works yet, but I think ... shields against psychic and magical interference, is what I'd be looking to do.

[wolfish]

Guess he was just that taken with my charms.

[ A jest, to be certain — the words are accompanied by a ripple of decidedly wry humor. It wasn't the worst of intrusions he's experienced, but a uniquely difficult one to rebuff at the time. ]

So you're a mage then? I know someone back home who was very creative with her magical innovations...deranged as some of them were. [ Said with a certain quiet fondness, because Constance is one of his people, and the fact that she's never discouraged even by his flippant responses or the disastrous results of her experiments is admirable. ] But you think that sort of thing could work?

[semicharmed]

[ Matt chuckles. ]

I try not to be deranged when I can help it, but I'd never knock another practitioner for their vibe. [ It'd be the height of hypocrisy, given how he got started in magic. Matt warms slightly to the topic, unfurling a few of his mental petals. He's realizing quickly that for Kenos and its Shard-Bearers, magic isn't a taboo subject at all. It's even ... normal. ] Full disclosure, I have no idea how well it would work. But in principle? If you carry the right enchanted item, usually something with a reflective property, when these psychic communiques come in--they'd either be blocked out or dulled.

[wolfish]

I suspect there're people here who'd pay a pretty penny for that. It gets to a point where it's difficult to imagine silence.

[ Difficult to recall the unobstructed privacy of one's own mind. It's almost a wistful thought now. Yuri has had time to marshal his own mental defenses, to fashion for himself a fortress not unlike the Silver Maiden only he knew the inner workings of... But Childe had proven others could lay siege to that.

Fending off such encroachment was tiring, though Yuri always was strongest on the defensive. ]

We're a mixed lot here, after all.

[semicharmed]

Yeah ... I'm getting that sense. [ Sympathetic. ] And hell, I need my own space for sure.

[ He's an introvert, shock of shocks. ]

Maybe if I can rig up something that works, I'll try making more. You can be first in line for the prototype.

[wolfish]

I'd be curious to see how it works. Someone back home devised all manner of things, but they often went in unintended directions.

[ Yet there's a measure of amusement tied to the memory. Constance came up with the strangest things and they never did go quite as intended. ]

Not really the craft-with-magic sort myself, but it's always struck me as interesting.

[semicharmed]

I love it, [ Matt enthuses immediately. His passion for the subject would be just as evident in person, but his mind carries a palpable buoyancy and curiosity, followed by dismay that he doesn't currently have access to his favorite facet of existence. ] I can't say nothing I make ever goes in unintended directions, but it's kind of the nature of trying new things. And on the whole, I've gotten to do some cool stuff, so--

Yeah. I'll let you know when I get that going again.

[ He can't bring himself to say "if," even in his mind. ]

[wolfish]

Sounds like a plan. Take whatever time you need though — getting adjusted to all this takes time.

[ Matt obviously is passionate about his magical pursuits, but this place is a lot to take in. Going at his own pace, at least in the areas that he can, is for the best. ]