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?

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[faceripper]

[ …He knows what it means. He’d known it the moment he’d thought to say it in support, and it’s not as if he doesn’t meant it. He does. From the bottom of his heart, he truly does, because he needs to return to Rivellon so desperately that it overpowers all. But… it doesn’t make it easier. He’s not a warrior, after all. He’s a soft-hearted man better suited to libraries than battlefields, so he’d simply hoped that his words wouldn’t reach that far. His words aren’t that important, surely. So— ]

…Drizzt.

[ That “Ah”, simple as it is, has all the feeling it needs. He reaches out in Communion before he can withdraw completely, but it’s not the sort of skin on skin that he craves in such a somber way. It’s the equivalent of just grabbing his sleeve before he withdraws completely. It holds him there, maybe, but… He’s also not sure what to say. He can’t apologize for his words. He means them, truly.

…But he’s also the sort of man that would sacrifice himself for his people. His own conflicts are nothing compared to saving his people. He could sacrifice his heart for them. He would, knowing it’s the greatest good he can give them. Or, it’s what he thinks.

He still holds that little bit tight, though. It’s like he doesn’t want the other man to pull away. ]

Don’t just “ah” me. [ He’s as prickly as ever, but the feeling of it leaks through more. Through that sarcasm, there’s more feeling behind it, but he’s careful to protect it. ] …I assume you wouldn’t have wanted the Tribune to die.

[ He pauses. Considers. And Fane’s voice softens just a little. ]

…But if you did, I couldn’t hold it against you.

[ …He’d done just as much, he thinks, though he has trouble admitting it. Can he regret the weapon he’d helped make? …No. Not truly. He thought of it as necessary. But it weighed as heavily on him as delivering a tainted Shard to a young girl that didn’t deserve it. Even if he doesn’t say it, that kind of weight sits like a rot in the mental space he’s carved for himself. ]

[twohand]

[ Being of opposing aspects means, that if he wanted to, he could close the connection between them; terminate it, and leave Fane unmoored and empty-handed. And Drizzt would never. He simply is not that callous a person, and his emotions tend to bleed away when he dissociated rather than be overlooked or ignored. When he's halted, he stops and turns back within their minds, hesitantly reforging their connection. ]

I didn't want that. Even now, I never would want that.

[ He'd never want anyone to die. That was different than understanding that sometimes, death happened. Someone would fall in battle, even to him, because his will to survive was greater, and he was unwilling to lay down and die simply because he thought life a sacred thing. Carefully, he rests his hand atop Fane's — as if caught between pressing him away or holding onto him. ]

That, [ he bites his lip, and forges ahead. ] That isn't what this is about.

[ Drizzt elects to slip his fingers into the curve of Fane's palm, instead of leaving. ]

I don't want you to feel compromised, by... [ "our friendship"? ] A relationship with a Zenite. Because, that is what I chose. Hayame speaks correctly, in that I oppose you because of that.

[faceripper]

[ …He knows that’s what it was about. Of course it would be, because it’s not as if Fane really cared about Cyrus’s death, not really. How could he? He’d explained once in Rivellon that the nature of mortality made their history seem so… pointless. One man dies, another replaces them, and their names are only footnotes. There is no progress. It’s something he hated about that world, and he sees it here too.

But that’s easier for him to say than the alternate. What is he supposed to feel? It’s exactly the same as the determination he had first felt when Lady Amadia had given him his task, but with each day he got to know the other Godwoken more, that determination… He couldn’t say it faltered. That too is the same as it is now. He feels an unshakeable, stubborn devotion to the world he’d left behind. But it changed.

It's a turmoil that he can’t hide in Communion, though he’s not sure he would anyways. Instead, he sighs, and there’s a weight in the sound that carries that turmoil too. He speaks blithely and bitterly, but he curls his fingers inward to grip back Drizzt’s fingers with more gentility than his words. ]

Well, it is a state of affairs I am well used to at this point. My duty will pit me against my friends. That seems to be the burden of the title of “Godwoken”.

[ That may be a conflict whose resolution is a world away, but he can’t forget it. It’s the same fundamental problem, after all. Everyone has their own ideas of what it means to save the world. And only one decision can be made. The only compromise is to concede. ]

I wish we could be allies. [ That’s gentler, though. Sincere. ] That may be selfish of me.

[ It’s what it feels like to him, sometimes. When he thinks of his goal and of trying to save his people from the Void that had swallowed them up, every doubt feels selfish. What do his desires matter against the souls of all his people? But he has a softer heart than that. He’s a scholar, not a sycophantic soldier. ]

But I would still call you a friend, even in our opposition. I cannot help my heart for that, illogical as it may be.