LOCKED TO MERIDIAN

[leicesters]

[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.

Comments

Very Private

[warmare]

[SHE DEFINITELY DID NOT SMILE. You're crazy if you think she smiled.

But also.]

... I am in need.

A Private Return

[damnpire]

[HAYAME... He's surprised a bit, even if he probably shouldn't be.]

What do you need?

[warmare]

I cannot-

[How can she say it? That rather than grow used to the eye in her head over time, that each day she grows more hateful and resentful? That she is beginning to think... that it is poisoning her hearts? That she is-

That she is in love, and it is killing her to be so afraid of betraying that precious feeling to some unknown enemy that she can never look at that man with two eyes? Or even one, without anxiety over the threat of the other?]

I cannot be like this any more.

I know it is a difficult thing I asked of you, but-

You may lower the standards.

I do not care if it is someone less skilled, or riskier, or experimental. I just...

I want the eye out. I know there may not be enough time before this Oracle, but-

I need it out.

[damnpire]

[Ah.

The chilly, stoic air of his mind abates ever so slightly with understanding and, even if she'd hate it, a little sympathy. SWEET HAYAME. After a long moment of considering silence:]

The boy Gray knows may be able to try. Flat. I can assist him, if it makes you more comfortable. I have never been a surgeon.

[Just a warning.]

But I'm confident in the skills I do possess.

[warmare]

[... She will simply have to deal with it. Sympathy. If he does not say it out loud, she does not have to say it out loud. Even if she maybe should. ... Perhaps after.]

If Gray trusts him, and you are confident, then I will make that enough for me.

I will.

[damnpire]

[Lucky for her, D will also not acknowledge any of it, so she can continue to pretend like there is no sympathy there. And since it's private, it's just the sympathy and both of them :man_standing: between.]

I'll speak to Gray, and then I'll speak to him.

[...]

Do you want to attempt before or after the next Oracle?

[warmare]

[Yeah... that... it's cool... She won't breakdown or show vulnerability at the actual event or anything.]

...

[That is a good question. If the Oracle could appear any day now, though... What if the procedure failed? Being handicapped in that way might be worse than anything the Hag's Eye could potentially do, so if she must choose...]

After.

[She will not say why. It is rude, an inauspicious as well, to speak of failure.]

[damnpire]

[There is movement in his mind almost like a nod of understanding.]

Alright. I'll see if he's interested and what he's capable of doing.

[Time for the eyeball to come outta that head.]

[warmare]

Thank you.

[... Cause yeah, once she finds out a certain demon is in Meridian, uh.

Out.

Out out!]