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 ]

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[semicharmed]

Oh. [ Matt's eyebrows lift in surprise. The soft, wistful look gains light and heat, as well as a touch of bashfulness--like Liem's just given him an unexpected compliment, or asked him out for coffee. Matt you're getting coffee right now ... ]

If you feel comfortable sharing that-- [ Matt was spitting up dirt for what felt like hours after he arrived here. He can't imagine how the process of reforming would feel if you knew it was because you'd received a mortal injury. He imagines it might be personal. ] --then yes. I'd love to see it.

[ He's not as confident in dream interpretation as he is in some of his other occult skills. But at least he has a decent mental rolodex of symbolism. ]

[sterngaze]

All right.

[Liem is very much not going to share the reason for why he had to be regrown at the Tree on that occasion, or discuss what had been going on with him around that time in general, but he is willing enough to share his dream. He sets down his coffee when Matt agrees, interlacing his fingers on the table while he delves back to retrieve his memory of that particular vision.

It’s not quite as clear as it had been in the days immediately after his revival. Mostly it’s the broad strokes that come through: The night sky and the glassy water reflecting it. The sense of peaceful detachment as he regards the twinkling tapestry above. The sight of his physical form continuing on across the water without him, and the gut-lurching certainty that something else now dwelled within it. The terror as the black between the stars swallows him whole.

He’d had his own questions, his own fears in the wake of that dream, but he’ll let Matt come to his own conclusions. That is, after all, the point of sharing.]

[semicharmed]

[ It's a pleasant vision, to start. Matt smiles thoughtfully at the impressions of night and water. The stars gleam like gemstones set in black glass, and then--

Liem's body continues without him.

The dark eats.

Matt's shoulders tighten in a brief shudder. His magic has been so intertwined with his body for so long that the idea of something else walking around in it--it's why he got the tattoo on his back, the diagram to prevent demonic possession. He thinks about the voices he'd heard in Alenroux, the shadows he saw in Yima's pool. About the wendigo, with its talent for ravenous mimicry. ]

Are they anglerfish? [ he says, letting the words rush out before his self-consciousness can stop them. That's how you have to be with portents: turn off your editor, let instinct drive. ] Are they practicing?

[sterngaze]

[When Matt floats his impressions, all Liem can do is spread his hands slightly in a brief suggestion of a shrug. He’d wanted a second opinion—or third opinion, really, given he’s already shared this dream with Set—but he’s still at a loss as to how close to the truth any of them might actually be.]

Perhaps. If this phenomenon is related to the destruction of our existences, I don’t know what the connection is. Perhaps it is how the entity arrives, gains a little footing, so it can break everything open.

[The idea that the thing swallowing the sky and the thing to “take” his body in the dream would be the same is relatively new for Liem. He’s only just begun to consider things from that angle.]

During the previous Oracle trial, some shard-bearers were dissipated by shadows in the form of people, and then their shards possessed so the shadows could mimic them instead. As far as I know all of these people had their shards retrieved before the trial was over, but it is a worrying thing—and perhaps related.

[semicharmed]

[ Finally, someone's telling Matt what the hell happened in one of these Oracle contests. The knowledge does nothing to diminish his horror, however. He turns over gain a little footing and break everything open, wondering--could that have been happening back at home, and he had no idea? People being overtaken by stretching shadows?

Undoubtedly. The world is such a big place--or at least it was. Plenty was going on, including mystically, that Matt's awareness didn't touch at all. ]

Yeah, [ he murmurs. ] I mean, whatever the mechanism might be exactly ... there's shadows, this feeling of familiarity, a desire to overtake in some way. People have been disappearing, I heard. I know there's plenty of monsters out there, however you define them ... but I don't know, Occam's razor would say that the explanation with the fewest pieces is most likely to be the right one.

[sterngaze]

It feels significant, [Liem agrees.

He doesn’t know what Occam’s razor is, but he certainly feels like the appearance of these creeping shadows throughout Kenos is unlikely to be unrelated to the hungry force that seems to have swallowed up their worlds, and is now seeking the leftovers here.]

I know others have had concerning visions as well. Those who were dissipated during the last trial reported a dream where that vast, hungry blackness was stalking them: following them through the cosmos, like a hound with a scent.

[As though it was seeking them even here, at the very ends of existence.]

[semicharmed]

[ Matt pulls a face, a bit of nngh. That certainly sounds familiar. And of a piece with all the rest they've discussed so far. Matt probably has more to say that's smart and incisive--for instance, that there are some malign creatures who require invitation before they can enter--but at the moment, the reply that swells up is a little less polished. ]

Liem, this is so bad. [ Even after hearing all these terrible things, there's a hint of wonder in his tone. Like isn't it wild that the two of them should be in the same place at the same time to turn these portents over, both of them with cold cups of coffee? It's a miracle, in its way. ] How many people know about this? I feel like everything so far has been very slanted towards like, the Zenith and Meridian of it all, and I've gotta believe at least a few people would rather focus on this first.

[sterngaze]

[How much do other people know about this? It occurs to Liem that, although some of this information should be well-known among other shard-bearers, and has probably found its way into the hands of the leadership, he very much doubts the citizenry at large have any idea about these portents. Would it be better if they did? Or would it just cause needless panic as the world around them grows steadily more hostile?]

That dream, at least, should be common knowledge among this generation’s shard-bearers, [he finally says.] It was shared publicly over communion. The rest… it likely varies.

[Some shard-bearers, like him, are keen to get their hands on any new scrap of information about the strangeness underpinning this war. But he knows that others feel either too ignorant, too helpless, or simply too single-minded to make the effort.]

One of the shard-bearers who is no longer here actually had a dream of a shadowy cabal controlling things from behind the scenes, before Aetós ever spoke to me of such a thing. That dream did seem to indicate that both Zenith and Meridian’s energies were necessary for… something. Perhaps simply in the same way that law and chaos must both exist, to oppose each other.

[This is one of the things that led Liem to pledge himself to Meridian over Zenith: the idea of creating a “perfect” world without chaos seemed preposterous to him.]

I heard this secondhand, though. Set might be able to tell you more.

[semicharmed]

[ Matt nods slowly, trying to figure out how to voice what he thinks is missing. A meta-analysis, of sorts? Laying all these dreams and portents and scraps of experience in a single place, for Bearers new and old to make sense of? Like, Liem just brought up his dream from the previous summer now, because of what they've been discussing. But if they hadn't been talking about it, would he have had any reason to remember? Between all the talk of tension, the Oracles and effigies, even that carnival thing Yuri mentioned, this place seems to abound with distractions.

(Matt makes another face at shadowy cabal as the words flow by. It's just ... never a phrase you want to hear.) ]

To oppose each other ... or to balance each other out, [ Matt considers. ] Which is kind of semantical. But I guess to think of it in the simplest, stupidest terms imaginable, as a guy who just landed here--

[ He smiles at Liem, a hint of sheepish good humor on his face. ]

They want us to fight. And to channel these energies to do it.

I know there are deities and things who are kind of locked in eternal opposition, but that's like, an explanation of the natural world. It's not so engineered. And in all the religious stories I've ever read, those entities know what they are.

[ They're not, say, battling for the promise of a distant carrot. ]

[sterngaze]

[Liem doesn’t consider Matt’s interpretation to be any more or any less informed than his own thoughts about these things, but at his suggestion, Liem can only shake his head at how in the dark they truly are.]

I don’t know what their intentions might be. But given what I’ve heard of this group, I don’t trust anything about them.

[But this has not stopped him from harmonizing increasingly deeper with Meridian. It is not the energy he distrusts, so much as whatever schemes this cabal has wrapped Kenos up in.]

They’ve covered their tracks well, though.

[semicharmed]

[ Matt agrees with Liem about Zenith and Meridian. Energies like these strike him as the lifeblood of the cosmos, and in that sense, they're incorruptible. It's all the architecture around them, all the backroom deals, that make him uneasy.

After a long moment, he breathes out. Whew! ]

Well. Thank you so much for all this. [ He looks to Liem's face, trying to peer into his eyes through dark lenses, and smiles. ] I know we've just met--or, you've just met this version of me--but if there's anything I can do to help, or if you get some other dream or portent that doesn't make sense--I wanna know.

[ He looks down for a moment, fingertip tracing the rim of his mug. ]

Everyone I've met here seems like they really wanna do the right thing. [ Terms and exclusions apply. ] And I'd just ... hate to see us stuck serving something else's agenda.

[sterngaze]

[Once again Liem has to attribute Matt’s sentiment to either not meeting many shard-bearers just yet, or being too softhearted to condemn any of them. He has a feeling it may be more the latter, given that he knows for a fact now that Matt has encountered Silco already. That man doesn’t give a single damn about what “the right thing” even is… and he is not the only shard-bearer with such feelings. Not even the only shard-bearer who knows Matt to feel that way.

But Liem didn’t meet with Matt to criticize his judgments, even if he does find them concerning.]

I will keep you in mind, Matthew.

[When he isn’t busy with one of the dozen other things that always end up cropping up to take his time.]

All we can do is keep our eyes open and address ourselves to what’s important, yes?

[semicharmed]

[ "I'll keep you in mind" sounds like what someone might tell him after a job interview he didn't land, but Matt can't blame Liem. Not after those depressing tidbits he shared about the world he and other-Matt experienced before. He'll just have to prove he can handle himself around here. That he can be trusted.

So he nods, squaring his shoulders slightly. Musters another smile. ]

That and take copious notes.

[ A quick shake of his head: joke. Though equally, Matt's being totally serious. He smiles to himself as he lifts his mug for another, tepid sip. ]