locked to meridian + ota

[warmare]

[Hayame had plenty to say about this disgraceful farce the moment she had regained consciousness... But she waited. She waited, so that her emotions would be as locked down and as under control as she could manage. Until only harsh anger and the burn of judgement come through- at least, for now.

First, she addresses only Meridian.]

I hope you are proud of yourself.

Those of you who have been too weak to commit properly to this cause, content to let those with drive and will do the winning of Oracles on your and your world's behalf.

Those of you who claim allegiance to Meridian but have been content to play "neutral" and hide like a weak little bug in the shadow of those more powerful than you.

Those of you who could not draw a single line in the sand and loved playing friend or whore too much to break off relations with people working to ensure that the lives of everyone in your world are snuffed out permanently.

Those of you who have refused to shatter the shards of our enemies, whining about the sanctity of a soul, even though that is the only way to kill someone properly in this twisted world.

Mourn that sun goddess for the power she possessed that our faction has lost. Mourn the kindness she showed you, if you so wish. But I will impart a lesson unto you- If someone is kind to everyone, then their kindness means absolutely nothing. That empty-headed fool of a woman had her shard shattered by the very man whose shard she protected, after I and another killed him in the labyrinth of the Harbinger Oracle trial. If she had given that foul thing back to us so that I might crush it beneath my hoof, then she would be alive today.

That is what kindness of that nature will reap you. A disgraceful public execution at the hands of a wizened, corpse-gnawing gaki barely managing the veneer of a man.

If you wish to dedicate yourself further to the actual cause you claim to serve, or if you wish to train and empower yourself, I will gladly help you. It would be my honor.

But if your plan is to continue living the sort of shameful existence that helped allow for the assassination of Springstar's Tribune at his own godsdamned home, then either purge yourself of that treacherous weakness... or I will try to find the time in my days to do it for you.

[Maybe this is where she could stop, take a breath... But she does not. The rest, cold and hateful and roiling with anger, is said to everyone, Zenite and Unharmonized alike.]

To all those who still claim allegiance to Zenith... I will not waste breath trying to convince you of anything at all, let alone now, after what your faction has wrought upon countless innocents. Whether you are a poor thing who would abandon every life in your world simply because you were treated badly, whether you are a pathetic thing who cannot muster the will to hope for anything but that sacred bitch on high and a committee of degenerates making a new world for you to exist in, or whether you are a sick thing who delights in watching worlds burn and people die... I, Hayame of Echigo, do not care, and I will not show mercy to one any more than the other.

Unlike, it seems, the many dishonorable among you, I say this to you plainly and clearly.

I will disable you if I see you step foot in Springstar.

I will hunt down your cornerstones and smash them to pieces.

And I will kill you if you put yourself between me and the possibility of returning to my world and my duty.




... Ah, yes. To those of you who have still not chosen a side, even after seeing what has occurred this moon... My advice to you is to stay Unharmonized, to pick up a hoe, and to go tend crops in Alenroux. You obviously lack the determination required for this conflict... and the people require food. Go on.

If you need a recommendation for a farmer looking for labor, I know plenty. Do you fancy turnips, or buckwheat?

Comments

[warmare]

And I am not a filly who believes in dibs.

[He asked first? Just that small phrase is enough to make her anger flare. She is his senior, and more importantly-]

If you have chosen Zenith, then you are my enemy.

Yet you claim to stand against Zenith's actions, to regret them, and to wish to purge it of those who are deranged in its ranks.

So I'll allow you the opportunity to answer one more question.

If all that is true, if you expect me to trust that you would even do something with the names I provided that was not just using them against me or some Meridian in turn...

Then why the hell are you with Zenith?

[twohand]

[ Answering a question with a question is RUDE, but. Considering her entire personality, he sidesteps it and moves ahead agreeably. ]

Because I believed Oblivion is real. We have now seen evidence of it that none of us can deny.

In knowing that, and knowing that it took our worlds in the first place... I cannot allow Meridian to succeed. You will be returning to Oblivion's grasp, likely not to escape it a second time. And as the last of your kind — we all need you, your experience and wisdom to live on.

1/2

[warmare]

[Not when you can't trust the man who asked the question!]

Who are you to say that Meridian's victory, whatever power the Oracles have, cannot be used to purge this "Oblivion" just as well in order to bring our worlds back?

[warmare]

If you need me, then allow me to warn you in advance. Do not count upon my experience and wisdom living on anywhere but where I belong.

If Zenith wins, I will slit my own belly open and die before I step foot in to some "new world".

I would rather die cursing those that damned my world and every jinba in it than be the last.

[twohand]

Because Meridian has won before, have they not? Zenith has, as well. And Oblivion is still here, worse than ever. You cannot guarantee your words beyond your faith, either. Do not press an advantage you do not hold.

[ She may come at him, loathing and wrathful, but he lifts his chin. Meets her burning eye, and though every inch of him wants to demand she think better of her position and importance to the future, he says instead: ]

I would honor your wish to die, then. Will you answer my question now?

[warmare]

Have they? I certainly did not see it.

[What do they have? Vague memories? Records with no provenance? She would ask the Tribune... But he is gone. If she could trust his every word in the first place.]

If you want so badly to know what deplorables you have decided to ally yourself with, I will give you your list.

But only if you by "handle" you mean "dispose of".

[twohand]

I will say the same of your assertion, then. Until I see Oblivion burn, I cannot trust your faith and will devote myself to opposing Meridian's suicide mission.

[ If she will only believe in factual information, she offers none herself. While he will not accuse, nor rise to meet her with wrath, he is equally steady in his stance. Soft-spoken, and not harsh about what he says. The morals he stands by are his own, and no others'. ]

That is my intent. Those who would burn a world for pleasure and massacre for enjoyment have no right to touch a world we must all inhabit. I do not suffer evil to live, nor have I ever.

[warmare]

Your focus on Oblivion is nothing to do with which faction is more righteous in their quest. Zenith winning, or Meridian winning... you cannot promise either might not purge that force, or not.

[It's not like she doesn't hate that she cannot speak with any facts or proof either. But neither can he, so-]

So what? If you can burn "Oblivion", then you will turn your faith properly to Meridian, then?

Or not?

[The answer to that question matters to her.]

[twohand]

Hayame.

[ Against her, he stands firm. The accusations she leverages are built in her rooted beliefs, are simultaneously "if, then" queries he cannot answer and something he is trying to understand about her. However, she continues to demand long after he has been accommodating. ]

Are you going to answer my question, so that I may attend to my Faction's disreputable and dishonorable? Or am I wasting my time?

[ His voice dips, growing quieter and more honed. An arrow, nocked against the memory of the Heartseeker. ]

I have evil to purge. Please do not keep me from this duty.

[warmare]

Drizzt.

[She says his name like spitting, because she did not give her enemy permission to use her name so casually as that.]

I need to know what you hold holy first.

And hear you swear upon it that by "handle" and "purge" you mean things like "kill" and "dispose of" not "rehabilitate" or "coddle".

[twohand]

[ Something ugly and frustrated flickers in his heart. He wants to protest, to validate himself by claiming his acts: slaughtering monsters and addicts from Kowloon, standing against Shard-Bearers where he could find them, and pitting myself against Highstorm's house-armies hunting your civilians.

He won't though. Words are cheap. ]

Rather than dictating words I use to describe my intent, I expect you to name them. Failing to do so appears as though you prefer to harbor them because you are not hearing what you want.

[ Hearing her demand he affix certain terms to his intentions is what causes his mind to slip, to tremble to one side and leave conscious thought stumbling. To reduce him further to base instinct, as if she is in the way of his hunt. And for what? Words. ]

If you do not name them, I will hold you in contempt of justice long-overdue among Zenites. For words mean nothing, in the end. Only action will guarantee anything.

[warmare]

[Hayame certainly had not seen him do any of that. Why should she trust him? She couldn’t count on her own Meridian allies to kill Zenites, so how can he even begin to think she will trust a Zenite to?

(Especially with that weird vibe in her Fane corner of her communion, cough!!!!)]

If I kill you for anything beyond standing between me and returning to where I belong, it will be for daring to slander my name with the implication I would ever shelter an enemy.

What I brook issue with is handing my enemies information when they cannot even clearly articulate what they will actually do with it.

But very well, Drizzt. I will give you a list of names of the worst Zenites you share a faction with so that I may start holding you responsible for every death and sick act they perpetrate from here on out.

Silco.

Sebastian Michaelis.

Minegishi Gen.

And apparently you have a new “god”.

All of them fight and kill not for a true desire for a new world or for honor and what is right, but instead from bitterness and lust to see the universe burn. That, or sheer apathy about the countless lives lost in the process, like this is just some fucking game and they do not truly care who wins.

So go with those then, and show me your actions.

[There’s more names that maybe deserve to be on that list, but… look, she can’t know everyone.]

[faceripper]

[ LOOK HE'S NOT THRILLED ABOUT IT EITHER ]

[warmare]

[Be even less thrilled!!!!]

[twohand]

Then, do not split hairs over language when I came to ask for your intelligence.

[ He still bites his tongue, lifting his chin in the join of their minds with the solid footing of a warrior. Of someone who believes in justice and morality, and will not rise to her goading and vitriol. She is a difficult woman to talk to, nearly impossible, but he is here not for himself — he is here for a good future, and that means submitting to such treatment. As he had said, words mean nothing. Only actions do. Receiving the names from her means more to him than any abuse he receives, for it means he can do something for Zenith.

One of the names, he recognizes. Silco, the one who had killed and crushed Quetzalcoatl's Shard and then boasted about it. The other two he doesn't know of, and will need to look into to determine whether Hayame has named them out of personal spite, or because they are actually detrimental towards Zenith. Right now, based on her opinions of the other Faction, he cannot guarantee she is not just throwing names at him to test him. ]

We may be enemies, but I will not show you any disrespect because of it. I have known those I must kill or be killed by, and I truly hope we can meet one another honorably. I may have only just arrived, but... I do intend to right the wrongs within my Faction.

[ originally i had him lose his shit but lbh he's not that type ]

If that means I must kill, I will. If it means I must imprison, I will. Yes, I will rehabilitate as well — I must see for myself which form of justice suits the crime. However, Hayame... your longevity and vision will not be discounted. What you say of them is — it is unforgivable, disreputable behavior to me.

[ Hopefully, she understands he has to do his due diligence, because just obeying an "enemy" is poor form and naive. ]

I will begin with Silco, though. What he did... [ A flicker of cold hatred burns through him. There's no need to look beyond a public admission of guilt! :) ]

[warmare]

I split hairs over your lack of transparency.

[As angry as she is in general, she is keeping her cool despite how frustrating she finds this all. The idea that a Zenite would simply demand names from her without any real promise, as if she could trust one even if it came from the mouth of a man who believed something so insane as he did.]

How good that you find some of it.

Unfortunately for you, whether you "right the wrongs within your Faction" will matter little in the end. I will not allow Zenith to reach victory and find themselves in the position to create a new world, whether or not it be one made by less soul-eaters, babbling god-shatterers, bitter trash intent on burning the world down with them, or deranged "gods of conflict".

But if you actually show yourself as honorable and I see news of Silco's demise... Then it would be my honor to meet you upon a fair battlefield.