wakey wakey [ @all ]

[kenosnpcs]

This is a post where you'll find a header in the comments for Aetós, Agapitos Voreen, and Florence Deshayes respectively.

As a reminder from our course correction, your OOC understanding of their places in their factions should not influence IC reactions, especially to Agapitos and Florence. Aggressive threats and demands are likely to be ignored, because this would be very out of the blue to them! ( You can be mean to Aetós, though. They're a dick, and they just won't respond. )

Timewise, Agapitos and Florence's posts are shortly after Shard-Bearers awake after the repose (roughly a day to give people a chance to get their bearings/go get a haircut/etc), and Aetós's portion is later in the month.


Please note, new tag-ins will not be responded to after April 23rd. However, tagging each other throughout this post is welcome. Threadjack to your heart's content!

Comments

aetós

[kenosnpcs]

[ A mind reaches out to yours, and for some of you, it's familiar. The connection comes with a sense of color, of teal, but also of a void. The emotional resonance you might have also come to expect is absent. But the voice is clear and calm. It too feels more like an absence. ]

Hello again, Generation Sessu.

It has been some time since we last spoke. At least, by my perception. Your sleep must have been restful.

As you can see, a century’s time has changed things. Elevated things. Pruned others. These are not strictly relevant, depending on your view. Meridian and Zenith still fight on, but you are unlike the previous Generations. You are the one that is meant to be complete.

It is why I have continued my research in your absence. Both for my personal goal and for understanding Oblivion. I have found some success. More failures. But I desire volunteers. Lessa and Xiao provided some answers. But their connection was too tenuous.

So. Let us begin.

[escardos]

Volunteers for?

[kenosnpcs]

My work.

Shard-Bearers are more useful than the general populace. The Shards are foci. Rather, they can be. They also make you more durable.

There are a few areas of interest. The soul and Oblivion are the primary ones. Which you are suited for depends on you.

[escardos]

[ ……? ]

Have you been using the population to test the effects of the void?

[ beyond disgusted, or even afraid, flat just sounds straight up curious. ]

[semicharmed]

[ Okay, this is interesting.

It's several minutes before Matt answers. There's a meditative routine he now undertakes before fraught communion conversations, just to make sure he doesn't let someone else's secrets slip, and that takes him a few moments. But he also goes through his technically-century-old notes for references to experiments, or anyone named "Lessa" or "Xiao."

He comes up blank, which is no reason not to engage. In his book, at least. ]

Volunteers?

What do you need them to be connected to?

[kenosnpcs]

I assume you are referring to my comment about Lessa and Xiao? That is not something you need to worry about. People come and go in Kenos. Their connection weakens, and then they are gone. This is the phenomenon I am referring to in their regard. They are long gone.

[semicharmed]

In that case, what qualifications are you looking for in volunteers?

And-or, what's the purpose of the experiment, assuming you can tell me that. [ Matt doesn't sound challenging. He's purely curious. Maybe a bit pleased to be back on academic terrain, which is an emotion he never thought he'd feel. ] Where I come from, sometimes there's a worry that knowing an experiment's purpose can bias participants, but that's usually like ... sociological stuff.

[bakedapple]

[ Aetós' mental voice is met with a sharp, reactive anger. Link would think they'd recognize him — but then again, considering how callous they are, maybe not. Maybe they've already forgotten what they did to him and what Link vowed to do last time they spoke.

...but. Noticeably, Link's anger is not quite so biting as it was before. It arose as an involuntary response to sensing them in his mind once again, but it is pointedly less merciless and vindictive as before. ]

You're asking for volunteers now?

[ A rhetorical question, asked numbly and flatly, before he continues on. ]

I saw a vision after the Oracle's trial was over. It was another version of myself... one that I saw before, in the Timestream. And he was in Kenos.

What do you make of that?

[kenosnpcs]

Ah. How interesting.

[ And yet. They don't seem surprised. There's a pause as they seem to mull something over thoughtfully, but they continue. ]

This is something the Generations usually do not learn about. It took until the third for me to discover it.

[bakedapple]

[ An uneasy silence follows this statement. Maybe Link is waiting for them to continue, but judging from the uncomfortable tension, maybe he's just trying to parse whatever that's supposed to mean.

He huffs, giving up. ]

Explain.

[holonethero]

You're researching to understand Oblivion? For what purpose?

[Anakin's thoughts are somewhat hurried, rushed, like this is a topic he's genuinely interested in. He's not sure he should trust the individual speaking given their unfamiliarity, but he's at least hit on a point of interest.]

[kenosnpcs]

To stave it off.

It cannot be stopped, exactly. It is too large for that. But I believe it can be kept away from the future of this world. Whatever outcome that may be.

[holonethero]

What do you need from us? I'm willing to help.

[He internally sighs, knowing he's being impulsive. But at the same time, this is exactly what he's concerned with. Not fighting other people, but fighting whatever this thing is.]

I feel like Oblivion is the more pressing issue, not this conflict. Any sort of security that can be given to the future is more important.

[damnpire]

[There is still a great deal of bizarre, dark, sensual energy rattling around unfettered in the sidelines of his Communion because of the thirst; however, there is still an overlay in the front of the imposed restraint, the stoicism, the dam.]

How thoroughly have you researched the Oblivion?

[kenosnpcs]

[ sensual???? you promise???? 😳 ]

Less than I would have liked, admittedly. Other matters have kept me busy in decades. Raising Skysong, for one. Annoying.

[ It's incredibly faint and mild, but the distaste is clear. ]

But enough. Progression of symptoms. Effects on physical objects. Rudimentary wards and vacuums. Research and innovation in Kenos does not go quickly. But I do not lack time or patience.

[damnpire]

[IT'S JUST OUT THERE WHETHER D LIKES IT OR NOT. Aetós having to babysit the rise of an entirely new foundation is so funny.]

I found it inside the former Tribune after his death. He had something like a Shard before, but no soul at that time. The Oblivion in him spoke to me.

[He had kept a chunk of this between himself and Meridian at the time until they maybe learned more in the wake of Zenith's assassination attempt. But it's been a long time. May as well dump the can of already opened worms out.]

[sheezit]

Volunteers for your soul research, huh? Your... experiments.

[ There's a pause at that word, more hesitant than it is accusatory. He remembers feeling concerned for Lessa at the time, and the guy's disappearance not long after that whole ordeal is still reason for suspicion, but-- ]

In that case, how about you start by sharing some answers, y'know, as a sign of good faith and all? Like, how much do you know so far about this Oblivion deal, and what are you planning to do with the extra knowledge?

[kenosnpcs]

Not only that. As stated, also Oblivion.

Also as stated, enough. Progression of symptoms. Effects on physical objects. Rudimentary wards and vacuums. Research and innovation in Kenos does not go quickly. But I do not lack time or patience.

[sheezit]

Yeah, I'll say. You sure have been up and about in that hundred or so years we've been out of commission.

[ And up to no good-- or at least some questionable good, as Aetos is wont to do, it seems. Which, Shez realizes, makes engaging with them all the more ill-advised, so a measure of caution is necessary. ]

In any case, figuring out a way to stop Oblivion is what really matters right now. Anything in your research so far pointing that way? Or, any particulars you're looking for in those [ tributes ] volunteers?

[kaientai]

I wasn't around to know the specifics, but it sounds like you're not winning any popularity contests.

[ He says it jokingly because, at this point, he hasn't formed his own opinion. ]

In any case, I figure it's my duty to try and keep something like Oblivion from happening as best I can, and I get the feeling we don't have the luxury of being too picky these days.

[ Honestly, Ryouma doesn't have any reason to object to volunteering himself, and he considers the possibility of getting an answer to the question of what his weird Zenith symbol is all about if he did, but first, he has a more pressing question. ]

You say our Generation is meant to be "complete", but you don't mean one side winning the Oracles, do you?

[ He's been sceptical of the Oracles this entire time, so it would not surprise him. ]

[kenosnpcs]

Correct.

Each previous generation was doomed to fail. It was not possible for them. They did not have the potential that was necessary.

[kaientai]

That makes sense, I guess.

[ He's always believed that some things will only succeed at the right time, so that tracks, but he's still unsure what to make of Aetós. There is a lot going on in this Communion, including what he's picking up from others, and it's not all concepts he understands very easily, even with his experience. ]

In that case, did the previous Generations repeat the cycle to power up the Oracles? Is that why we have the potential now?

There are a few things in this world that remind me of my own, but I can't claim to be an expert on magic, so all I have are hunches.

[ But enough to make him wonder if either side would actually be able to pull off saving anything given the poor track record of magical, wish-granting wells of power ever turning out to be a good thing. ]

slides in last minute oop...

[warmare]

[Again-- Again, she must listen to idiots leap to all but volunteer for this freak or try to find some way to forgive what he does? What he has done? Hayame's voice is like a whip crack, burning and unforgiving.

Not just of him.]

You have a lot of fucking nerve showing yourself like this again.

Are you making it a practice to thank those you torture now, in the hopes that will get more idiots clambering to volunteer?

[She will start a list. The Meridians on it, well...]

[dreamflowers]

[And there it is. Jade had been keeping back, only listening in on the threads of information sifting through her mind after the ask for "volunteers" came in. Heck if she was going to chomp at the bit offering such a thing to someone she doesn't know... and the dream of that mask still fresh in her memory.]

I take it we're not exactly a fan of this person.

[She can tell just based on some of the responses.]

[kenosnpcs]

It seems to have been successful. So, yes.