leicesters: (112)
Claude von Riegan ([personal profile] leicesters) wrote in [community profile] kenoscomm2024-03-08 01:40 pm

LOCKED TO MERIDIAN

[Claude's communion prescence has always been like a summer breeze; warm, easygoing, albeit difficult to read before it moves on. Now it has more of a brittle, bitter quality, like a looming dust-cloud he has to hold at a distance. There's no going back from this point when he knows things will only escalate from here, and so now seems like an important time to address his fellow Meri.]

The fight for the next Oracle will be on us soon. The Tribune may have been slain, but he entrusted the future of the worlds to us. Though he won't be able to help us see this through, we can still fight for him, and all the others we've lost along the way. We can fight for Springstar... and we can fight for Quetzalcoatl.

[There's a brief pause on this point. Her death deserves respect and acknowledgement, and she may not be the last to meet such a fate before the fighting is over.]

...We'll fight for your homes, too. After all, our worlds aren't that different, right? They might be flawed in their own ways, and there might even be some of you who would rather stay here when this is done. But every world and the life on it is precious, and it beats whatever phony world Yima and her followers come up with.

Speaking of Yima: I've discussed this with a few people already, but I suspect she's still alive. When the Blight almost destroyed Kenos, somehow she was still around. When I asked her about it, she said she wasn't bound by time like a normal person is. She can exist in different times and different places simultaneously; I don't know how it works, but maybe she even foresaw this attempt on her life before it even happened.

That said, it's just speculation, so we might as well play dumb and behave towards Zenith as if we're convinced she's dead for now. It'll be easier for us that way.

[Others have probably arrived at a similar conclusion, perhaps people among Zenith's ranks too, but it bears saying, particularly for those newly arrived to the conflict.]

Anyway, enough about her -- how about we use this opportunity for a little strategy get-together? We have a few new faces around, so feel free to introduce yourself and your capabilities.

For those of us who have been around longer, feel free to toss in an introduction too. More importantly, share what you know about Zenith and its current capabilities, in combat or otherwise. Any insight into their current thinking would be useful right now, too. What's their morale like? We know by now that some of them really hate our guts, and I wonder how much their desire for revenge is going to play into the next battle...

[He sounds casual, almost flippant, but there's a serious point in there he's sure he doesn't need to overstate: the more loyal Zenites are going to have some serious motivation in the next battle to get back at them, whether they believe Yima is gone or not.]

Let's not let our own judgement be clouded by revenge, even if we've sustained losses. We need to go into this with a clear head, looking toward the future.

Oh-- on that note, Hayame wants to speak with some of you about some further strategising either before or after the Oracle. Sorry that's a little vague, but I'm sure she'll talk to you about it properly when the time comes. For now, let's just focus on one thing at a time.
dreamflowers: (bloody hell)

[personal profile] dreamflowers 2024-03-11 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
I agree, but I've seen how many situations like those get "handled".

For now, I think I might still be enough of a nobody that I'd probably have a good chance of not getting recognized by the people down there... unless they have a way of somehow knowing I'm with Meridian now.

[Wouldn't surprise her.]

Alternatively, I can do reconnaissance pretty well without being noticed. Just a thought.
warmare: (叫び)

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-11 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
We don't even know that!

[At least, she did not. Did others?]

We have vague dreams of darkness and reports of shadows, but what the hell even is "Oblivion"?! What even could exist that is somehow so powerful that it swallows countless worlds and cannot be defeated by gods?

Nothing! There should be nothing!

[If it sounds like she's snapping because she's desperate and genuinely struggles to comprehend that scale of thing...]

Go find me evidence that is real if you expect me to stop doing everything that I can to assure Meridian claims the Oracles. That, now, is the only thing I can do to try and get back to my world.

[And if she can't do that...

Then what use is she at all?]
warmare: (追うもの)

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-11 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
So we stake him to the ground in the Heliopolis courtyard and we see what happens.
warmare: (pic#16524843)

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-11 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
I wonder if you might be able to detect that Yima's thoughts. If she were truly dead.

... or the shadows that are presenting, now.
warmare: (死ぬ)

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-11 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
You know what I mean.

[Not Praesi "good-natured". Which. Answers her question, she supposes.]

So it seems my opinion on devils and demons, and their nature, still holds.
hauntedking: (05)

[personal profile] hauntedking 2024-03-11 05:56 am (UTC)(link)
They might be able to tell... but in either case any information we can get is welcome. I believe some of us are already working on the issue... Although I admit I don't know much about such things. Spcraft is not my specialty...
warmare: (軽蔑)

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-11 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
About twenty feet, between ground and air.

[Stupid... Exalt oracle trial wings.]

And now Set claims he has an even strong ability available. One that can crush.

[First "gravity", now a "black hole"?]
clockpunk: (035)

[personal profile] clockpunk 2024-03-11 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ savants: we are Normal! ]

What the hell. If that can happen, then...

[ oh, he wants just like ten minutes more of his own memories so bad. just a little bit. ]

How did you, like, experience them? All at once, or slowly?
redsoil: (pic#16220578)

[personal profile] redsoil 2024-03-11 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Then, our worlds are not gone — just "misplaced".

[ Maybe they are Schrödinger's worlds?! ]

I experienced them as if I had been living them, day by day, moment by moment. It felt like... I was home. Back in my world, which was safe and whole as if Kenos were the dream I was waking from and not my world a temporary reprieve from it.

It was indeed real, is what I mean to say.
Edited 2024-03-11 14:48 (UTC)
sterngaze: (neutral: dry)

[personal profile] sterngaze 2024-03-11 03:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Casting it causes a significant degree of discord buildup... but, perhaps more significantly [for a man who is a little careless with his own well-being,] the spell takes a full day and night of focus to complete. It is not something I could do in great quantity.

But for significant locations, I can make the time, as long as the space is safe from interference.
faceripper: (pic#12349049)

[personal profile] faceripper 2024-03-11 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I would be interested to learn for the academics of it at least, but teaching isn't strictly necessary. If it works and you're willing to cast it, that would be quite helpful.

[ Since truly just dumping a bottle of poison on yourself isn't ideal ]

It's promising at least, so I'm glad you asked for clarification.
sterngaze: (neutral: commish)

[personal profile] sterngaze 2024-03-11 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Then sometime soon, when you are available, I will demonstrate it for you.

[He can even use it on himself if Fane wants to see how it works before volunteering as guinea pig; that is why he learned it, after all.]

As I mentioned, it can also be used to harm the living, but since it is not especially powerful, and requires physical touch, I don’t tend to use it for that purpose.
fishfearme: (deadpan)

[personal profile] fishfearme 2024-03-12 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Some bards become very defensive over their craft. I have seen knives drawn. A lute, as well, can be a very dangerous weapon in the right hands....
escardos: (pic#16851443)

[personal profile] escardos 2024-03-12 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
She's my classmate in the future. Does that count?
dreamflowers: if there's something to be gained (i won't lie)

[personal profile] dreamflowers 2024-03-12 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I figured there'd probably be efforts for something like that, if it hasn't been done already. I assume attempts at actually infiltrating Zenith itself have been done before?
hauntedking: (02)

[personal profile] hauntedking 2024-03-12 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
Infiltration is difficult, if not impossible... The attunement requires a genuine pledge of allegiance.
dreamflowers: that you can eat your young (seven new ways)

[personal profile] dreamflowers 2024-03-12 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
Thought as much. I can probably play spy among the common rabble, but I'm guessing trying to get into the group itself is unlikely. Not to mention there are a couple folks over there who know which side I was inclined towards now, even if they didn't seem like rats.

[She just had "business" down in Kowloon with its local establishments, so.]
escardos: (pic#13489836)

1/2

[personal profile] escardos 2024-03-12 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ cheerfully ]

A black hole was exactly what I was talking about when I was talking about noodles and crushing, yup!
escardos: (pic#13770504)

2/2

[personal profile] escardos 2024-03-12 04:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ wait hold up— ]

Wait, he can do what?! That's not fair, that's super overpowered! You definitely don't want to get caught in that!
escardos: (pic#16851443)

[personal profile] escardos 2024-03-12 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
That's true...

[ hmm... ]

What about only transforming parts of your body? Kind of like...a partial transformation? Have you tried that?
warmare: (流される)

1/2

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-12 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Wh-

I know that! If it killed Set, of course I do not wish to be caught up in it?

[This sudden tension is not what she expected?!]
warmare: (茹だる)

[personal profile] warmare 2024-03-12 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Breathe, he's probably not calling you stupid. Maybe.]

The issue is avoiding it. If he can just will it into existence at any time, with little warning...

Then there is only long-range to deal with him. The longest possible, perhaps.
wolof: (Akua's Folly)

[personal profile] wolof 2024-03-12 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
Does it?

What separates me from Tikoloshe?

Power? The ability to seduce men? [ He was an incubus. ]

He was able to learn and change, something that is quite different than some beings that were once human.

The fact that he came from the hells? [ The mental equivalent of a shrug. ]

Just as a Jinba has different impulses, beliefs, and drives than I, so do devils. Tikoloshe could have returned to his ways at any time. Devils often do not walk our world without their contracts. That he did... shows that they can change. They are not so static. Hells, he was married, and it's unheard of, and yet he did it.
hauntedking: (02)

[personal profile] hauntedking 2024-03-12 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, that is also an issue - shard bearers are a relatively small population. Eventually we know one another, if only because we've spent time around each other... still, any information gleaned is useful.
escardos: (pic#13770497)

[personal profile] escardos 2024-03-12 04:35 am (UTC)(link)
Long range attacks are just gonna get sucked into the black hole if he's near it. It's kinda like being in a whirlpool that sucks in everything near it.

[ damn, he really doesn't want to be amos' enemy at any point in his life. ]

Maybe start the battle by using that power that you said you had? That way he can't do anything to you or anyone fighting with you.

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