kenoscomm | locked to zenith

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locked to zenith

[ 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?

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You've got Geneva Conventions in your world too?

[ Hey! Mark down one more who actually knows what that is at least!

Not that those laws do any good in this world. ]

Oh, yeah! [ Matt enthuses. ] They're the only international law I know, honestly.

So we've got the concept of war crimes, high school, and volleyball in common, at least. [ A sheepish laugh comes over the connection. ] I shouldn't sound so surprised. Like I said, a lot of gods around here, not so many ... worlds much like mine.

[ When his world does come up, it tends to be in unflattering contexts. Like when he was explaining to Gavial how people tend to view magic. ]

You don't gotta tell me twice. Do you know how many people I even had to explain what volleyball was too?

[ Painful. Absolutely painful when one of your favorite things gets a blank reaction and a confused "what" from most people. Atsumu would pettily hope that the gods got that thrown back in their face the same way whenever someone didn't recognize them--

... Except one of them died not too long ago, so it feels kind of dogshit to feel that way. You get a pass for now, gods... ]

[ A sympathetic wince. ]

I'm gonna guess more people than I've had to explain magic to?

[ Matt would add "vampires" or something, but since there's a good deal of established Kenosian vampire culture, it doesn't actually occur to him that vampirism might be a useful point of differentiation between worlds.

There's tons of magic here too, of course. But Matt's had a few conversations by now with people who don't know a lot about it, so it's made it to his radar. ]

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. ]

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. ]

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. ]

[ 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.

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.

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 ]

[ There's a notable brightening in the mood feedback at the mention of Gavial's name. It's clear someone is a fan of the gator lady. ]

Gavial I could see, but you really think that stuffy demon is gonna wanna play?

[ Nothing against Sebastian (at the moment), but the man doesn't strike him as the type to relax and have fun. ]

[ The gator lady is the BEST. Matt's mood brightens in answer to Atsumu's. A moment of psychically going, Okay. Okay! OKAY! ]

Well, he's proper for sure. But I don't know about stuffy. [ Matt feels a bit of a protective urge here. Sebastian's a demon from the depths of hell who doesn't feel human emotions or scruples, but one thing you gotta say for him (in Matt's opinion): He's fun. Anyway, all that passes through his mind in an instant. He concludes, ] I think I might be able to sweet-talk him into it.

[ Admittedly, Matt's mental image of Sebastian playing volleyball still involves the demon in gloves, black jacket, and impeccably starched shirt. ]

[ Just two guys mentally high-fiving over the coolest gator lady. ]

If you can talk him into a game, I ain't gonna complain. I got some bites like half a year ago when playin' beach volleyball. Though uh...

[ He pauses here. So many of the people who had agreed to be taught by him were Meridian, which meant they were OUT when it came to organizing team meetings. He might not want to get stab happy on all of them the way some people here do, but that doesn't mean he wants to fraternize with them after everything that's happened. ]

Most ain't people I could rope into a game at this point.

[ Matt frowns. ]

So you've been here awhile, then.

[ A pause. Then, with a sense of weighing and balancing, like a server carrying one too many plates, ] I hear things used to be different for the Shard-Bearers. I mean, obviously they're different now, but ...

[ Yuri mentioning that pan-faction vacation still looms large in his mind. What a plummet from there to political assassinations. ]

[ For a long while... since the first round of Shard-bearers were brought over from another doomed world. Long enough to know that while the rivalry between the factions had always been there, things hadn't taken the nastier turn it's taken at this point until more recent months. ]

Long enough to know exactly what people mean when they say that, yeah.

It seems like a lot to adjust to, on top of everything else.

[ Being friendly enough with people to hit them up for beach volleyball, then ending up where they are now. Trying frantically to minimize future war crimes, debating how much murder they need to do.

Matt thinks something fleeting about the way people bond under trauma. About how much it would hurt to have those bonds taken away. Being destabilized once can suck, but twice can be deadly. ]

No kiddin'. I didn't exactly come from a place with demons, and gods, and magic and all that either.

[ He had to build himself from the ground up compared to everyone else, who seemed to be decades into their magical combat training, even if they weren't that much older than him. ]

[ There's a sense of gentle nodding, of an affirming mmhmm. Then a bit of a pause. ]

Well ... just in my experience, even coming from someplace with magic, it didn't necessarily prepare me for this magic. And knowing about demons didn't prepare me for these demons either.

Not to say there's no advantage in my background. Just ...

I don't know. We all have things to learn from each other, I think.

[ Though of course, if people aren't talking to each other because of Zenith-Meridian rivalries, that learning will start to run dry. ]

[ Maybe the Meris shouldn't have attacked their home if they didn't want that to run dry!

... Maybe the Zenites shouldn't have attacked their leader, but Atsumu's not feeling reasonable enough to be fair on this one. ]

Not like I'm gonna really argue with that when I went and got myself a magic teacher here.

[ Though he has no idea she'll be disappearing in the near, or, frozen in time shenanigans considering, far future. ]

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