pop rocks

[cutlery]

[ By the time Sebastian reaches out in Communion, he’s already felt the fullness of his rage and taken it out. Viciously. It’s an occasion where he’s grateful for what Ryad provides, lest he had to express it in a more troublesome way.

Sebastian’s usual affect is warm and friendly, if with a polite distance, but today, it’s ice cold. His Communion is always expressed as something dark, but there’s a secondary sensation that comes today as well. It’s the unsettling sensation of being watched that makes someone’s hair raise. After all, there’s uncountable eyes in that abyssal dark. ]

I shall be brief. Someone broke into my home a few days ago and left a “gift” most unwelcome. A Shard belonging to someone from my home. Yet, though I kept it isolated to inspect it further, that did not seem to matter. It infected the Shard that Lady Yima gave me. A Shard that is now no more, for it burst. The soul that was in that little rock is no more.

[ His voice becomes more tense at that last sentence. It’s clear he’s very intentionally holding back his temper significantly. ]

I make this announcement for my fellow Zenites’ sake that they might destroy any they come upon immediately. Also to inform them that there is a way for these Shards to be tampered with that has been exploited. But let me also be clear.

I will find whoever was unwise enough to step into my home and play with my pet. I went through great lengths to obtain that soul, and I do not take kindly to being robbed of it. But there is no need for threats beyond that, is there?

[ So he says, but it’s crystal clear—Whoever it was, they’re in grave danger if they’re discovered. ]

Comments

[eightfoldfiend]

[Through the Communion Yuber has a presence like black oil and curling smoke; thick and oppressive.]

Are you saying one Shard can infect another? Has that happened before?

[cutlery]

No.

[ He's sharp and definitive. ]

There was something strange about the one that was left in my home. But I did not have a chance to decipher what it was, precisely.

[redsoil]

[ oh boy! they just got finished in ryad too, i swear set is still standing next to the demon as he capitalizes on this knowledge ]

You mean, a Shard more fragile than our own is just as easily endangered? What a rope Yima provided her own to hang themselves with for Zenith's promises!

ASSHOLE (fond?)

[cutlery]

[ He'd also clearly been just standing there, trying to not lose his temper and totally unmask his anger for everyone to see. Yet Set digs into the very sore spot (as Sebastian would, to be fair), and he's mad all over again... So, Sebastian lunges at him in reality, but his response is in Communion. ]

Your mockery is ill-timed.

[ At least it's a rare case where Sebastian's anger is white hot instead of the cool neutral he prefers. Clearly, that Shard really was important to him! ]

It should have been safe. I let no one even see it.

[ ...Technically, not true, but Sieglinde was long gone now. For anyone he didn't know, he was much more protective of the Shard. ]

Not commenting

[zauneyete]

[ But Sebastian, you know that moment when the pie gets set in the window sill, and the smell lines start weaving their way towards your nose like a cartoon character? That's what's happening right now, because even though one meal might be gone, there's another one in kenos just cooking away.

And if there's one advantage to this communion, other than warning whoever did do it, is that it increases the paranoia of his current master like ten fold. Silco doesn't even let people know Jinx exists let alone let anyone know where she is (except set) but that doesn't mean he isn't going to come up with six different ways to hide her and come up with seven or eight plans to prevent it for good measure.

But he isn't commenting. Nope. He isn't even here. He even CAREFULLY keeps it out of harbinger brain space, but he can't hide from Sebastian as easily, especially when Sebastian knows what threatening her would do.

So just consider this an appetizer! 🙂 For later this month! ]

Ok more seriously (??) now

[narsinssist]

[ Damn what kind of soul would make sebastian this mad? ]

Isn't that particularly cruel? Creative, though, I can appreciate the dedication to inflicting unique suffering. To dangle something so...[this word is offered with weight] precious, only to snatch it away?

I wonder if there is a way to replicate this attack? [ On the one hand, he's thinking zenith to Meridian, but also, just any old meridian doing it on their own.]

Well, I suppose it does not matter until you find the target, but inflicting that on an enemy might be worth the trouble of finding out.

[ Probably not the time but! He figured Sebastian will be fine. They don't actually care about anyone anyway. ]

private

[cutlery]

[ He got messy at Set for two whole seconds there, so Raphael gets the private treatment. ♥ How nice for him. ]

I do not care to replicate it, Raphael. My enemies do not deserve the mercy of being shattered.

[ that’s a yikes, ]

That soul was mine. It does not matter whether it was precious or not. It was the fruits of my labors, and the prize I was owed. It will be paid for. Surely I do not need to justify that to you.

[bakedapple]

[ Whatever uneasiness Link might have felt from the unnerving tone of Sebastian's mental voice is immediately forgotten by the content of his message. Link responds with alarm, with the distinct sound of a strong, chilly wind blowing around him — the same sound surrounding him where he stands in the physical world, leaking into Communion space in his unfocused shock. ]

What?

It — it burst? That... who would do such a thing??

[ That means the person is gone. Forever. A Shard retrieved from the Timestream, destroyed forever. ]

H-How is that even possible? What do you mean, infected? Where did you keep it — how far away was it from the bad Shard? It took a few days, you said? And it — what, it exploded?

[ He needs all the details, now. ]

[cutlery]

[ The rush of questions and the implications that Sebastian uncharitably hears in them are met with a spike of hostile irritation, but it is only a spike. He’s worked out his aggression twice over now (thanks Set), so there’s a sense of Sebastian intentionally finding his calm again. The unsettling feeling retreats somewhat as well, though not fully. ]

—I do not know. I have my suspicions, but they are only that.

[ Honestly, Silco was at the top of the list. But even if no one else had, Sebastian had felt his reaction to this revelation… And Silco was a wretched thing. He wouldn’t be able to resist gloating about this if he had done it. ]

I found the Shard in my home, but I could tell immediately that it was off, in a way. Something had latched onto the soul inside it. I kept it in my wine cellar to study it. Mine was— [ He pauses and makes a sound of irritation, because this wasn’t something he wanted to reveal. Now it doesn’t matter, though. ] The third story of my home, in my study.

[hauntedking]

I must admit, I find this deeply troubling.

[ But he has suspicions about who might have arranged it - or at least the possibility of it. After all, he's been party to conversations about taking shards hostage - or smashing them. ]

There's so much to this - to our presence here that remains unanswered. And now this...

NOT HERE.

[redsoil]

[ DIMITRI?????

PLEASE BLAME HIM OH MY GOD ]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian scoffs first, since deeply troubling is an understatement, but this is also more personal for him. ]

Then I would hope you support finding the culprit. One can only assume that it was a Meridian, after all.

[erbe]

[Rin, too, had expelled most of her despair by now. Any distress she felt during the initial realization that Sakura's shard had been damaged is now buried deeper than almost anything else she seeks to keep hidden. For now she's icy too — frosted like an empty glass left in the freezer for chilled wine. Brittle, too.

Though she does make note of how he speaks about "that soul," now and how he commented on his, "young master" before. There's no surprise. Only confirmation. However Rin has no room left in her heart for condemning him. At least not in the moment where Sakura's shard is still cracked and vulnerable.]

Was it gradual, or immediate?

[cutlery]

Gradual. It took a few days' time.

[ How many exactly, uh, waves hand vaguely. Enough. ]

I did not keep them close to each other. They were never even in the same room.

not here

[sterngaze]

private af

[tattooism]

Sebastian Michaelis.

[Kiritsubo has never been anything straying far from sensual, casual, or flirtatious in her interactions with him. With anyone, really. Perhaps "mysterious" is the closest she has come to hinting that she was far more than she appeared to be.

But there is something deathly serious in her "voice" now. Something as cold as the shard embedded in her tongue tasted.]

Precisely how long did it take for the shard to burst after you discovered the other... ?

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian's reception to Kiritsubo at least isn't so chilly. She asks a direct question, and considering that rare, serious tone in her voice, he's serious in turn. She asks for precise, and boy, does she get it. His perception of time is much more precise than he lets on in general, so she gets an exact number of hours that he then restates in days. ]

Why?

[ His voice is serious too—insistent. ]

Did you also find one?

[kaientai]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[ whatever ryouma chooses to believe, a soul may have been wiped from existence forever, which is worth recognising even if sebastian chooses to call it a pet. within communion, he is content to linger at the edges of that abyss, and there is a strong impression of something large and covered in scales coiled around him protectively but also somewhat possessively. ]

It's interesting that it was possible to do this without the same happening to your Shard. All things considered, I guess we should be thankful it wasn't a worse outcome.

[ he doesn't have much to add to this, but he knows it's worth keeping an eye on. ]

[cutlery]

[ Normally, Sebastian would be interested in how Ryouma's Communion presents itself, or rather, what's coiled around him so protectively. It is strange, but whatever curiosity feels is dampened by—

...Well, he's not sure. Sympathy isn't something he expected to receive. It doesn't make sense to him, in a way, so there's simply nothing in response. No particular bite, no gratefulness, just a void of emotion, however brief. So, he moves on. ]

Mine is fine. I did have a thought that it could spread. [ Briefly, anyways. Between the unholy anger. ] But it was visually distinct, at least to my eyes. I see nothing of it left.

[punkisntdead]

[Oh, this is not a great thing to hear after just barely getting her hands on a precious Shard herself. She is practically bristling in this mental space—out of anger, primarily, but there's fear there too.]

What the fuck? These things can break that easily?

[This is why souls should stay in the body! Chloe is beginning to feel like she can't be trusted to hold onto anything as important as this.]

I'm gonna smash any weird rocks I find. Screw taking chances.

[cutlery]

[ This is someone he doesn't recognize, and there's a little spark of curiosity in response, though it's brief. He's at least calming down by this point (thankfully), but he's still not happy in any sense of the word. Unsurprisingly. ]

I did not think so, though I never checked. Considering the risks, testing their material strength did not seem worth it.

[ He absolutely would have to someone else's Shard, but to his Happy Meal? No way. ]

...Regardless. That is what I would recommend. Either that or toss it over the edge of the island entirely.

[epiprocta]

[ They've gotten along poorly at the best of times -- even setting aside the matter of Sebastian's interference when it comes to Silco-killing, Gen finds him fucking insufferable and annoying to be around. But that's that, and this is this. Gen's always been good at compartmentalizing his distaste for people, forcing himself to cooperate with people he finds loathesome, especially when the stakes are high enough.

So despite everything that's happened between them, Gen's 'tone of voice' across Communion is a flat neutral. Whatever traces of his natural, shitty, irate personality come through are only because of his nature, not because he's picking a fight. (This time.) ]

Your shard, the one that was destroyed. What was it like, when it was getting damaged. Before it [ died ] ... broke.

[ Is it the same sort of thing that happened when Reiji's shard had grown cold after his own death? Are the two things related, maybe? ]

[cutlery]

[ This is probably the first time that Sebastian has ever heard this tone of voice from Gen, wow… Which is notable, because at the first connection, he assumes that the young man is going to be a little shit and gloat, but that’s not what comes. He pauses, almost uncertain in that surprise, but he answers straightforwardly. ]

I cannot give a full certainty for all the “symptoms” it may have had, since I do not—did not interact with it regularly. But it was notably cold when I checked on it last.

[escardos]

I’m sorry for your loss.

[ it’s a… genuine?statement? like a stock phrase that might be programmed on a talking doll or automaton: perhaps empty and soulless to some, but certainly without any falsehoods. innocent, even.

in reality, flat’s not sure what it is that sebastian lost: a pet? human or animal or something else? but he understood the feeling behind the message: whatever it was that he lost, it was important. therefore, this is definitely the phrase that he must use in this moment.

there is also, behind all that, the curiosity to find out what could have caused this. he figured these shards were fragile, but this is far from “oops i dropped a shard and it broke”. ]

Are there no magical traces that you could follow? Even after days, human scent can still be traceable by dogs, and same with magical ones— but this place has so much magical energy that it might be a bit more difficult to follow…

[cutlery]

[ Again, sympathy. It’s strange, almost unwelcome, especially with the confusing set of feelings that surround it. Sebastian isn’t at all sure how to take this one either, but for completely different reasons… Like many, he’s immediately thrown off by Flat. Gold star for Flat! ]

If there were, it is not something I would be able to do.

[ He’ll at least admit that without a fuss, since it doesn’t feel like any particular weakness to him. His affinity for magic is low, probably owing to what he is, or so he’s always assumed. ]

There was a sort of taint that I could see in the Shard that appeared in my home, but I could only see it because I am able to see souls if I so choose. [ at least it’s not by default ] Once they were both destroyed, there was nothing left to see.

[leicesters]

[Claude really doesn't want to respond to this, not least because he'd rather fly under the radar than become a potential suspect. But it's hard to avoid, being a Stargazer, so he clamps down on the flare of anger he lets slip through the connection (about the Shard? about Sebastian? both?) to give an answer of feigned nonchalance.]

Hey, maybe a friend of Aetós' did it. That charmer will do just about anything when it comes to Shard experimentation.

[Is that likely? Who knows, but Let Them Fight.]

[cutlery]

[ too late buddy, you were already towards the top and the glib answer isn't helping,,, ]

Perhaps. [ Absolutely not, and Sebastian knows it personally. Aetós would never encounter Sveinn and make a mess if they didn't want to. ] Or perhaps it was a Shard-Bearer with a bit of a grudge and given means. I would not think Aetós to be so sloppy as to leave a mess.

[corvidant]

[ His presence in communion is cold and calculated, though something rattles in his mind, agitation peeking through the surface calm. ]

I had imagined these gifted Shards were more delicate than our own, without a physical body to guard them, but to think they could simply explode... You have my sympathy.

[ Not so much in the sense that one offers condolences, though, and more so for being robbed of something that belongs to them exclusively. ]

If you don't mind, it would be in Zenith's best interest to conduct a thorough investigation-- and my own, as well. Whoever is responsible for this may have a larger scale target, after all.

[cutlery]

[ There it is again, but— No, the feeling that comes with it is different and much more familiar to Sebastian. This brand of sympathy is the one that resonates, because that’s precisely how Sebastian feels. Yet, how odd. He wouldn’t have expected anyone else to feel that way about their gifted Shard. ]

It was not a risk I was ever made aware of. Nor anyone else, to my knowledge.

[ At least when it comes to the request, Sebastian acquiesces to this one much more easily than Flat’s… ]

I do not mind. I had to step out, as my feelings were so high [ putting it lightly ], but I am on my way back to my home now if that is acceptable.

[ he doesn't mention that someone else is also coming, ]

[alliterating]

[ Man, she wishes she could block this out. But... ]

...that's kinda disturbing. Just some random new shard shows up and the next thing you know the other one blows itself up? Sounds like someone enjoys fucking with you.

[ Is she worried about Fu Hua's shard now? Maybe a little. ]

[cutlery]

Not just me, apparently.

[ He won’t say who the other two are, since that’s kind of up to them, he figures. They’re both exceptionally private, so if they want to share, they will. ]

Someone—or multiple people—saw fit to escalate things intensely.

[youngprodigy]

[That is rather terrifying.]

How in the hells did someone come across the ability to do something like that?

[It makes him want to hide his own very, very well.]

[cutlery]

I have no idea. If that were something I knew, I would have included it from the start.

[ He knows that this is probably a rhetorical question, but forgive him, he’s just salty and angry. ]

But it does not matter how they obtained it. Only that they have it now.

[diegeticmusic]

[Ooh, that feeling is... unpleasant in every way. Makes Grace shiver.

By contrast, Grace's presence is much lighter, a smoothness like the vibe of a late night at a jazz bar, but something troubled underneath it all. She hasn't been able to fully divorce shards and Eidolons in her mind, even though they are ultimately different things.]

Wait, so... it just exploded? Isn't that almost like murder?

[If the soul is gone forever, that's death, isn't it?]

[cutlery]

[ Ah… The pleasant musician. Sebastian’s displeasure is clear, but there’s a sound like a sigh, and it’s clear that he composes himself from his strong feelings. The dark lessens in its intensity, and Sebastian’s voice is calmer, at least. ]

…Yes, it would be. The soul in it is no more, of that I am sure.