locked to zenith

[bakedapple]

[ Link's mental space feels like being outside, so depending on where you are, you might not realize that someone has started Communion with you. Since joining the Zenith, the landscape of Link's mind has gone from idyllic, sunny forests to icy, overcast mountains. A frigid wind blows against your face, carrying the scent of firewood and meat roasting over an open flame. The diminutive Hylian is not sitting by the fire, but standing at the edge of a rocky ledge, his back turned. ]

There's going to be another Oracle soon. I can feel it. The rest of you can feel it too, right? That... pulling feeling.

[ He sighs. ]

If we lose this one, it's over. The Meridian isn't going to go easy on us. I know them... I know how badly they want to win. To them, the stakes couldn't be higher.

So let's talk. About what we're going to be up against, and... well, planning ahead isn't really something we can do, but at least we can warn each other of the dangers that individual Meri pose.

And I... I want to say something, too.

[ He sits down where he stands, his feet hanging off the cliff. There's a sense that he knows this isn't going to go over well, but it's important enough to him to say it anyway. ]

Killing the other guy before they kill you is what war is. That's normal. But Kenos is different. Death doesn't work the way it should here. We don't die permanently. You can neutralize someone threatening you by just dissipating them. There's nothing to gain by destroying their soul after you're no longer in danger.

So, I don't think any of us should shatter anyone ever again.

If you claim someone's Shard, you should protect it. If you feel that you can't do that, give it to someone else.

...I'm not stupid. I know a lot of you aren't gonna agree to this. And the Meris probably won't either. I'm sure they want revenge for what happened to Quetzalcoatl, and those of you who lost the Shards Yima gave you probably aren't feeling very merciful right now either...

But if we don't come to some kinda agreement now, that's going to become normal. Things are gonna get really bad. I don't want that. So... can we talk about it, at least?

Comments

[tattooism]

What I do cannot shield you once you have made yourself truly known, such as if you touch another or, say, plunged a knife into them...

But until then, I could make that body of yours vanish from normal eyes.

[tattooism]

[She smiles- or at least, the sense of her in communion seems to smile.]

I know that I can. Yes. ♡

[baltimores]

[ Definitely no reason to make a big deal out of it.

Or out of what Akechi says next, which takes Amos by surprise. He'd just been relaying a fact, something simple. An intrinsic truth. That it would strike Akechi in that way... ]

No. No, not a lapse in my words. I mean like... [ It's suddenly kind of difficult to figure out how to put this, not wanting to word it wrong, but the experience of being fully bonded to a force is so specific it's hard to describe. ] It doesn't want to lose me, so if it can shield me in some way... keep me from dying... it will. I think. That make sense?

[ But along with the explanation, a realization: even if Zenith did have him a hostage in some way, he doesn't want to leave. He'd surrendered himself over fully, with no intention of ever going back. This is who he is now, inseparable and all the better for it. ]

[punkisntdead]

Well, I'm not gonna say no to that! Sneaking around invisible-style? Cool as hell.

...And something I'm sure comes with a huge price tag, am I right?

[eightfoldfiend]

"Fear"?

I don't fear anything!

[A complete lie, but he feels sure that the things he fears most can't find him in Kenos. He hopes they can't find him...]

But that doesn't mean I don't need protection from... from...

Tsk!

[There is a sense of him waving his hands in frustration.]

What's the proper term? "Charms?"

[settingup]

Probably. Doesn't seem like a whole lotta people have trouble understandin' that one.

[ Hell, he's the weird one for not having magic in his world, though even he at least understood the concept of it from books and movies.

Admittedly it gave him a pretty warped view of how it was supposed to work that didn't always seem to match up with the way magic worked in all worlds, but he still knew about it. ]

[settingup]

Yeah, I really ain't lookin' forward to dealin' with that.

[ Thanks for aggressively poking the hornet's nest, guys. Sure, he played his part by helping with the assassination, but he's deluding himself into thinking if they just hadn't attacked the civilians that this all would have been fine and dandy by the Meridians.

Like murder wasn't still murder. ]

[settingup]

Alright. I'm takin' you up on that offer then.

[semicharmed]

If only there was time to start a whole volleyball league, [ Matt says. ] Or at least a regular scrimmage. It'd bring everybody up to speed, and I bet you could make a decent argument for it being team-building or martial readiness or something.

[ He's mostly kidding? But he can't help feeling moved by the things people love. Back home, not too many people truly understood or accepted magic, and that sucked on a constant basis. ]

[tattooism]

In that case... Well, you know where my studio is now, do you not?

I have to hear you clomping about upstairs all the time, after all.

[Is she genuinely annoyed by their presence at Amos' or still teasing? Who! knows!]

[tattooism]

Oh, of course not~ Men are known for being fearless.

[She... does not bother to sound terribly convincing, but. Semantics~ Like-]

Charms that affect you in various ways... or charms that charm you?

[tattooism]

"Cool as hell" indeed.

[For a thousand year old youkai, she's decently up on her lingo, okay. But...]

The price tag isn't so expensive. I have reason to wish ill upon Meridian for their actions, myself, you know... So perhaps you can simply do me a favor with what I gift you, and we would be even ♡

[erbe]

That's something I would like to know too. I didn't press D for that information, but he gave the impression that it wasn't as much of a discussion as it was a one-sided contact upon trying to revive Cyrus.

[She trusts D not to hold back any information when it comes to a mutual enemy. Gray and D may be her little exceptions, her biased and favored Advocates, but that's because she knows they're much too soft to let another suffer when there's no immediate damage relaying the information could bring.]

In any case, with a threat like this it's possible we have bigger problems than the ones people were complaining about.

[Why didn't she tell everyone about it? Well, she feels people like Silco and whoever Silco's little defender was might try to trivialize the third party threat.]

[punkisntdead]

Alright, sure. [She laughs.] Sounds like a pretty sweet bargain to me.

[The girl with a horrendous track record when it comes to paying off her debts isn't worried about owing magical strangers a favor? Say it ain't so.]

[bakedapple]

[ A heavy silence descends into the room as Link looks down into his teacup. On the surface of the steaming brown liquid, he can see his reflection staring back at him, his eyes blackened by Discord. ]

Oblivion's trying to get to us, then.

[ Speaking softly, his tone numb and neutral. ]

I don't know why, but... I've been thinking all this time that we were safe from it here in Kenos, somehow. That it couldn't get to us here.

[ He looks up to Rin again, his expression stern and unemotional. ]

People need to know. We need to tell everyone.

[settingup]

I got some of these scrubs to play beach volleyball awhile back, but people are at each other's throats too much for it to amount to much. Besides, I played court, and there ain't any chance I'm gettin' enough of them to calm down long enough to form two teams of six, much less enough for a real league.

[ He has apparently thought about this before. ]

[settingup]

[ He's bristling slightly despite her offer to help here. ]

I don't clomp... you're thinkin' about one of the others.

[ If she's actually hearing noises, it's almost certainly him. He's probably the heaviest of the boys that happen to be staying with Amos. ]

[tattooism]

Call it a group "you" then, if you would prefer I consider you more delicate in the step.

[The mental equivalent... of a gentle exhale of fragrant tobacco smoke. Teasing.]

[tattooism]

[Smart girl~]

Oh, I promise that it shall be.

My Highstorm studio is at Amos' workshop. I trust you can find it?

[semicharmed]

[ Matt's surprised into laughter at the word "scrubs," though it feathers away quickly. ]

That makes sense, [ he sighs. ] Kind of goes to show how much we need a little team cohesion, even if it's just to survive this place. [ And its shadows. ] But that just brings us back to square one.

[ Matt's quiet for a moment, contemplative. Then he gives the mental impression of squaring his shoulders. ]

Well. If you ever want to give scrimmaging another try, I'll do my best to help. And, ah--if you ever need anything. Spells, a nonjudgmental third party ...

[ Matt remembers being a teenager with way too much power and way too few concerned adults. He got out of it with just the scar on his face, but this place is unquestionably more dangerous than the Bay Area suburbs. ]

I'm around.

[eightfoldfiend]

Charms that bind.

I need to move.

[Physically, spiritually, mentally...]

If I'm to be useful to Zenith then I cannot allow myself to be sealed, now, can I?

[settingup]

You oughta keep me outta the "you"s altogether.

[settingup]

You know how to play?

[ Knowing the sport and playing the sport are two different things, and "do my best to help" doesn't fill Atsumu with a lot of confidence that Matt falls into the second category. ]

I'm pretty good on spells and stuff though. You stick around this place for long enough, and you kinda pick stuff up whether you mean to or not.

[semicharmed]

I'm getting that sense, [ Matt muses. His overall psychic vibe is still pleasant, but slightly dimmed as he considers the kinds of things one might pick up here. The way he's heard harmonizing can change you.

He brightens, though sheepishly, as he admits: ]

I might need a refresher on the rules. Honestly I was thinking more like who I might be able to enlist. I think Gavial and Tezcatlipoca could be on board if I asked. Sebastian too.

[ RIP zenith's volleyball team, the demon butler switched sides ]

[tattooism]

Whyever?

[Weirdly, he seems to have her attention on this almost as much as he had about actual work.]

Did you move out? Have my ears and nose deceived me... ?