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Entry tags:
- arknights: gavial,
- culture (the): demeisen,
- enderal: jade the prophetess,
- ennead: set,
- expanse (the): amos burton,
- fate/: flat escardos,
- fate/: sakamoto ryouma,
- fate/: tezcatlipoca,
- legend of zelda (the): link,
- life is strange: chloe price,
- practical guide to evil: akua sahelian,
- pumpkin scissors: alice l. malvin,
- suikoden: yuber,
- zone-00: kiritsubo
techalaniani. [cw: dr...ugs...]
[ It’s about two weeks after the chaos that’s hit Highstorm and Springstar both. The dust has had time to settle and people have started to pick themselves back up. And in that busy time, the Shard-Bearers of Kenos are touched by someone new. It’s a mind that gives the impression of vastness in the way that other gods and similarly supernatural creatures have. There’s dark, fragrant smoke of copal, and the humid heat of a rainforest. It probably feels faintly familiar to some, since there’s just a hint of that warmth that feels similar to a certain sun god(dess)…
But as it focuses, that warmth seems to be coming from a campfire, perhaps oddly. The logs around it offer you a “seat”, whether proverbial or not, and it’s only if you take one that the speak themselves will come into more focus. But the introduction that comes with it is much cooler (in both senses of the word) than the bubbly Quetzalcoatl. ]
Yo.
[ …Is that how the newest god is greeting the masses? Yep. Apparently so. ]
I talked to enough people when Kenos was jerking me around [ no, that was me, the player, ] that Communion is just more efficient. So, for those I’ve met and for those I haven’t, consider this a more formal greeting. You’ve removed my brother Quetzalcoatl and allowed me to descend in his stead.
[ And even though he’s identified Quetzalcoatl as his brother… The smirk in that statement is unmistakable. He’s pleased that Quetzalcoatl is dead. For those that know the mythology of the Aztec pantheon even faintly, this wouldn’t be a surprise at all, since Quetzalcoatl only has one enemy that would be glad to see the feathered serpent fall. ]
Name’s Tezcatlipoca. Tloque nahuaque. [ The Nahuatl is spoken with a sense of power that’s subtle, but still raw, even though there’s no one that would understand it. Still, it conveys the idea well enough—this is no minor god of that pantheon. ] If you know me, great, and if you don’t, well. Met your god Set one of the times I was stoppin’ by, and our whole deal is similar enough. I am conflict, so in the spirit of fairness, I’ve thrown my lot in with Zenith. Can’t have two gods that oversee war and conflict on the same side, yeah?
[ There’s humor in his tone that makes it seem like it’s a joke, but… No. It’s not. That’s a pretty significant part of his rationale for picking Zenith. Thanks Set!/Don’t worry about. ]
Anyways. All that formal shit aside, easy one to follow it all up. Ain’t often that I got a human body to enjoy getting fucked up. So, if you’ve got a preference for weed, hit me up. Workin’ on somethin’ artisanal there, but I wanna know the poisons of preference for the locals. Let me know what you get fucked up on, and I might even make it worth your while.
[ …So. You know. That’s one way to introduce yourself. ]
But as it focuses, that warmth seems to be coming from a campfire, perhaps oddly. The logs around it offer you a “seat”, whether proverbial or not, and it’s only if you take one that the speak themselves will come into more focus. But the introduction that comes with it is much cooler (in both senses of the word) than the bubbly Quetzalcoatl. ]
Yo.
[ …Is that how the newest god is greeting the masses? Yep. Apparently so. ]
I talked to enough people when Kenos was jerking me around [ no, that was me, the player, ] that Communion is just more efficient. So, for those I’ve met and for those I haven’t, consider this a more formal greeting. You’ve removed my brother Quetzalcoatl and allowed me to descend in his stead.
[ And even though he’s identified Quetzalcoatl as his brother… The smirk in that statement is unmistakable. He’s pleased that Quetzalcoatl is dead. For those that know the mythology of the Aztec pantheon even faintly, this wouldn’t be a surprise at all, since Quetzalcoatl only has one enemy that would be glad to see the feathered serpent fall. ]
Name’s Tezcatlipoca. Tloque nahuaque. [ The Nahuatl is spoken with a sense of power that’s subtle, but still raw, even though there’s no one that would understand it. Still, it conveys the idea well enough—this is no minor god of that pantheon. ] If you know me, great, and if you don’t, well. Met your god Set one of the times I was stoppin’ by, and our whole deal is similar enough. I am conflict, so in the spirit of fairness, I’ve thrown my lot in with Zenith. Can’t have two gods that oversee war and conflict on the same side, yeah?
[ There’s humor in his tone that makes it seem like it’s a joke, but… No. It’s not. That’s a pretty significant part of his rationale for picking Zenith. Thanks Set!/Don’t worry about. ]
Anyways. All that formal shit aside, easy one to follow it all up. Ain’t often that I got a human body to enjoy getting fucked up. So, if you’ve got a preference for weed, hit me up. Workin’ on somethin’ artisanal there, but I wanna know the poisons of preference for the locals. Let me know what you get fucked up on, and I might even make it worth your while.
[ …So. You know. That’s one way to introduce yourself. ]
no subject
Yeah, kinda get that sense from you. You ain't human, that's for sure, but I've never run into anything like ya. You've got some immensity goin' on, but not the divine sort. But, guess it doesn't matter for the point here. You wanna get fucked up? I'm sure there's gotta be somethin' that'll do the trick here. Might just be a bitch and a half to find, but y'know, I love a challenge.
no subject
[Demeisen has to think about this for a moment: not whether he'd like to get fucked up, but if there's anything in Kenos capable of getting him that way.]
Not human, no. And I'd say "there won't be," but this place does operate on its own rules. Might be there's something capable of doing the job.
[Beside the god, the image of Demeisen gives a careless shrug.]
Not that that's a challenge, really. Got food at home, as it were. Even most humans where I'm from could say the same; drug glands built in, to use whenever they'd like. I'd have to mess with my software manually, but the result would be the same.
no subject
[ Well. That explains the not human part for sure, but otherwise... That's pretty solidly outside of Tezcatlipoca's experience. He knows about stuff, but only in vague ways more than practical ones. It's like reading about the modern world through books rather than getting to experience it yourself, but still, there's nothing advanced enough to be this, uh. Chatty. ]
So, you a robot or something? [ His interest sparks a little as he remembers a movie he'd watched with Daybit, and secretly he's like please be that, it would be so cool, but he keeps his composure. ] Terminator, maybe?
no subject
[Casually crushes Tezca's dreams without even realizing. He assumes "Terminator" is a model of android, which isn't technically wrong, but the cultural reference is definitely lost on him.]
I'm the passing-for-human face of the Culture warship Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints. Though not directly right now, obviously. From what I've gathered, the Tree isn't in the business of squeezing out entire starships alongside people.
[He raises his eyebrows.]
Given the restrictions placed on the people who show up, this scenario likely couldn't survive having it here.
[He doesn't bother to sound smug about this; nothing to be smug about really, considering everyone in Kenos would be quick to tell him the ship has been destroyed with everything else. But it's also obvious to him that, if his full self were here, it would immediately start cracking open Kenos's long-held secrets like delicious little eggs, and that would probably suck the wind out of somebody's sails behind the scenes.]
no subject
Woah, no shit, a warship? Man, fuck Terminators, that's way fuckin' cooler!! And what a fuckin' name, too! Bet you've done all kinds of tasty war crimes.
[ He is now over the moon levels of delighted, because Tezcatlipoca is a modernist, but he adores weaponry especially. It's why he manifests with a gun even though he's terrible at using them. It's the sheer potential of casualties they hold that calls to him like a siren's song, and Demeisen himself is on another level.
(And, because he knows Set is almost certainly nosily listening, he's sending him a bit of a ping in Communion as if to invite him over to the campfire too. A true "bro look at this shit" ]
Ha, so people eventually give their weaponry personalities? Fucked up. I love it.
no subject
But he’s been in Kenos for weeks and weeks, now. He’s had time to come to grips with that new kind of loneliness.]
Oh? [He smiles indulgently, apparently not offended by Tezca’s assessment of an entire ship as someone’s weaponry. Though he does immediately ask,] And whose weapon are you?
no subject
...Uh, no one. Don't exactly take sides that way.
[ Like, sure, he kind of is now for Zenith, but that's just circumstance. He still wouldn't consider himself as belonging to it. ]
no subject
[Demeisen nods, not surprised at all by this answer.]
God, right? Bet you're not keen on letting anyone hold your leash.
[And if this guy can really back up a puffed-up title like that, surely no one actually could.]
Same here. Warship is what I'm an avatar for—Culture is just the civ I hail from.
no subject
[ That's a bit weird to him, but not in any objectionable way. It's more just surprising that it would be... allowed, essentially. It gets him into a few trains of thought all at once about how his kind came to be, in that case, or even just how they operate, but those he pushes to the side. After all, it's not strictly relevant here, like Demeisen said. He's thinking of him as some kind of super jacked Storm Border, so the truth is probably quite different. ]
So, you think of yourself more like an independent contractor, in that case? Or like an arms dealer?
no subject
Nah, you're still not getting it. No one hires me.
My other half is a Picket Ship. It'd hang around waiting for trouble, that's all. Keeping its metaphorical ear to the ground on the off chance that something worthy of teeth-bared, claws-out engagement blows up in its particular patch of the galaxy—so it could make the fuckers who started the whole thing regret every choice that led them there.
[He levels an assessing look the god's way, considering the things he's heard from Tezcatlipoca's introduction and from other conversations going on as a result of it. This god, he decides, would hate to know the extent of the ship's power, and how little of it actually ever gets used for anything at all.]
It's boring, mostly. The Culture hasn't gone to war for the better part of 1500 years, and the last time it did, casualties numbered in the hundreds of billions. Presence of myself and my peers was meant to prevent any overly feisty shit-kickers from resurrecting the idea of war as a conflict-resolution method.
no subject
...Well! Not his problem, at least! ]
no subject
What?! No fuckin' way, 1500 years? You're shitting me, there's no way any civilization can go that long without kicking each other's teeth in.
[ ??? ]
And that does sound boring as fuck for you! Why even have something that cool if you ain't gonna let it do cool shit?!
[ "Have", of course, being on a cosmic, civilization-level scale. He at least gets that Demeisen has has own thing going on here. ]
no subject
[This isn’t to say there hadn’t been any smaller-scale conflicts in that span of time, but when the civilizations involved span entire branches of the galaxy and tens of trillions of people, the consequences of officially declaring war get pretty dire. At that point, the cost–benefit assessment gets pretty spicy.]
Believe me, I’d have loved to be around back when the main event was kicking off—though obviously, every ship that was is an antique now, if it’s still around.
[And the Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints is very much not an antique. Demeisen sighs, frustrated.]
Irony is, things were fucking finally getting interesting when I got dropped here. Fascinating though this particular little drama is, it really is like splashing around in the kiddie pool compared to a real fight between big, grown-up ships.
[He sighs again, but this time in wistful recollection. The ship had quite literally been having the time of its life when Demeisen was with it last—and no matter how much he might distract himself in Kenos, no pleasure he can find here could truly match it.
… Maybe he really should get high, after all.]
no subject
Man... No kidding, from the sounds of it. I kinda get it, since shit was about to kick off where I came from too, big, final battle, world-ending kinda shit! But considering I was on the world-ending side, I just end up annoyed I didn't get to actually duke it out.
[ A pause. Then: ]
You sure you don't wanna get high? Sounds like you deserve it as a consolation prize at least.
no subject
You looking for company? I've been around long enough now; familiar with the local haunts, topside and otherwise.
[He may have mostly visited Kenos's plethora of drug dens to gather information more than anything else, but he's not averse to the idea of doing so recreationally.]
no subject
[ It's true! He loves talking to people. He just also has a pretty cynical view of them and their mortality, you know how it goes. ]
Why get high by myself when I can drag from poor other fucker into it with me? So, yeah, let's hit the town! There's gotta be some kinda something that we can hook you up with.
no subject
Why indeed?
[Heck, that’s half the reason he hasn’t spent much time addled since he arrived—though the other reason is, of course, that he’s been far more motivated to collect information than to get high. Unlike the random mortals he’s run into in various clubs around Kenos, however, Tezcatlipoca is likely worth getting to know a little better. At the very least, he doesn’t seem boring.]
Guessing Kowloon’s the place to hunt for something like that. Better atmosphere, too.
[By “better,” does he mean “more violent”...?]
no subject
[ He's pretty quickly learned about them because of how high his preference is for Kowloon... ]
So, yeah. If you ain't busy, meet me outside of Draumahol. I assume you've been? Can't miss it, since it's got the big fuckin' eye in the sign.
no subject
[He does indeed know the drug den with the big fuckin’ eye on the sign. As Tezcatlipoca mentioned, Discord is hardly a pressing enough issue to persuade Demeisen to avoid spending time away from Highstorm. Issue’s easy enough to take care of, anyway. One of the quirks of being a ship avatar is that he’s not attached enough to his body to have any issues about letting total strangers touch it.]
I’m Demeisen, by the way. [If he’s meeting this chap in person, he may as well introduce himself fully.] Be there in a few.
no subject
See ya soon, in that case. Luckily Communion makes it easy, so you should recognize me.
[ And indeed! By the time Demeisen makes it there, he’ll find Tezcatlipoca leisurely waiting outside and smoking, looking exactly the same as he did in Communion, save for one detail saved for sharper eyes. Under his jacket is a conspicuous lump that can immediately be assumed to be a gun. He’s not trying to hide the fact that he’s carrying, just keeping it out of view, so a sharp attention (and experience) would be able to pick it out easily.
That’s just part of Kowloon though, as far as Tezcatlipoca is concerned. When he catches sight of Demeisen, he raises a hand in greeting. ]
Yo. Made your way down here pretty quick. Take it that means you’re already pretty familiar with the place, yeah?
no subject
You did not mention that to me when we fought before! That is so cool! What is a warship!
[ i'm gonna say set was too focused on gnawing demeisen at the coliseum to ask for particulars, since that's kind of who he is as a person ]
no subject
What it sounds like. [Raising an eyebrow, he splits streams effortlessly to speak with both gods simultaneously, his projected image tailored specifically to each.] A ship armed for war. In the case of my better half, and every other Culture ship, that means a ship body and an AI Mind.