meridian locked

[warmare]

I have shaken off my sleep, but something I would have dismissed as a bad dream is apparently all too real.

Allow me to report to you now that the demon going by the name "Sebastian Michaelis", the one who viciously fought against us in the Oracle trials, who gladly schemed with that rat Silco to pollute Kowloon beneath Springstar's feet... That thing has left Zenith for Meridian.

Why, exactly? Apparently he will not be gracing us with those important details.

So for your sake... I will report something now that is no business of any of yours. If I do not, I can already imagine the brainless among you clambering to believe that demon is somehow capable of a change of heart. Do you think that smiles and a polite act are enough to overlook the consumption of souls? Or perhaps you will forgive his twisted violence under the false idea that he only employed it when an Oracle was at stake? Just because it clings to the fringes of Meridian's light in order to keep its power do not think that it is committed in any way to saving our worlds.

[Though she said she would reveal something... It will be clear that Hayame does not want to. Though she tries to contain it, the memories of that day are too strong not to bleed through (if you wanna play it that way), especially to those more sensitive to Communion or of the same Iconoclast aspect.]

Four months ago, that demon ambushed me as I walked alone in Springstar and poisoned me with a drug that stole my consciousness and strength, and when I awoke, it was under his control in Kowloon.

[Fleeting impressions of bound, can't move, can't break free desperation, the sensation of rope and friction burning on fetlocks ankles, arms strapped down, lower spine twisted to the limit.]

Under the guise of "righting the wrong" of removing my eye in a previous battle, the start of our enmity, he cut into my face with a knife and forced an organ he had found into my head with his shadows.

[Pain deep in the back of a scarred socket, because of course there had been no anesthesia, the sick feel of tentacles filling the hole, slipping the eyeball inside--]

I attempted to bite my tongue off and rob the demon of its fun, but even that was denied me in favor of further torture.

[Shame, perfectly targeted and near crippling shame, the stretch of tack meant for horses at the corners of a mouth, teeth cracking on the rubber-wrapped metal of the bit, unable to kill herself, unable to bite, unable to speak, unable to muffle her screams as-]

It forced the eye to connect with my body. An eye bewitched to spy through it.

[Blinding pain courses through the entire body from the flay and pull of the remains of a shriveled optic nerve, the forced connection--]

And once it was done, it healed all my injuries and drugged me again, depositing me back in Springstar whole again so that I would seem a madwoman if I claimed it had taken me. Call me one now if you dare, yet all of that had nothing to do with the Oracles, or acting for a faction. It was its perverse hobby. Some sick little sense of "fairness".

[There was more... But she cannot say it. This much was humiliating enough. There is a long enough silence between finishing her tale and speaking again ... Still she forges forward, harsh and covering weakness with hatred.]

Because the Oracle trials will come again, and Zenith's leaders must pay for their orders, I will tolerate that demon's continued existence and see if it is actually useful and not just pursuing some selfish whim. But just because a dog can be sicced on your enemies does not mean you do not leash and muzzle it between.

So go ahead and do what you will with that demon. Eat its food and play games with it for all I care. But my tolerance ends the moment I see or hear hint of it ready to betray yet another faction, or if I catch a single whiff of its scent on Alenroux.

And any Meridian who calls that demon a friend... is no "friend" of mine.

...

[... Hasn't Hayame said in every single gossip post that she would kill Sebastian Michaelis? Hadn't she advocated shattering him, and condemned demons for their very existence? ... Weird, she must have just changed her mind, she's always come across as easily convincible...]

Now.

The people that were scouted on my behalf before to help remove that cursed eye are dead and gone now. So if any one of you listening can take it out cleanly, speak up. I will pay you if need be.

If its not out of me within the week I am ripping it out myself.

Comments

[warmare]

And there is no reason to consider my "trauma".

I am a warrior.

So you have mistaken me greatly if you think something like a demon who claims he won't even kill me is enough to traumatize me.

[No.

He'd just promised to do every other option that existed to hurt her instead. No biggie.]

[escardos]

[ man, he really doesn't know what to do with these ferocious soldier types from who-knows-when.

though, in reality, her behavior is probably not that much different from the average mage. seeing nothing but the end goal, they blind themselves from even their own emotion.

therefore, flat figures that the best thing to do is to let the emotions roll through the communion without any interference of his own. if she wants to barrel over him with her emotions, then he'll simply allow it and ride the waves as well as he can.

and as he has shown, he's rather good at keeping his cool in front of the more emotionally hot-headed people. when he replies, he is as chipper as always. ]

Alright, sounds good to me! I still do suggest that you should shop around for a second opinion. Maybe we can even have a small team to raise the chances that you're at one-hundred percent.

[warmare]

[Flat, to his credit... makes probably the smartest decision of the few available to him in that moment. When others argue or fight back, Hayame's temper swells accordingly, and in the face of chipper agreement, though she can condemn it or mock it... it makes her look the fool to get angrier over it.

- That doesn't mean she won't bring something else up, though.]

I will need at least one other person to watch you, it seems, lest I wake up with my Discord out of control or with body parts mysteriously in Aetos' possession. Hmmm?

[escardos]

Why would I do that?!

[ for once, hayame seems to get a reaction out of flat, and it’s one of indignation. however, even that doesn’t compare to hers, as it is mostly muted. barely a blip on the radar. ]

Yeah, I agreed to try things out with them, but it’s only because they asked for people’s permission to work with them. You didn’t give him permission to work on you, right? I would never work on someone that didn’t consent to it.

[ he says this matter-of-factly, as if it were a blight on their pride to have his moral conpass questioned. but even with that, flat is more than happy to look at the silver lining of everything. ]

I don’t really mind if you bring someone though. It’ll be fun to have someone rooting for us!

[warmare]

Why would you agree to help a madman who has kidnapped and experimented on unwilling shardbearers?

[Off-kilter from the "sharing" she has already unwittingly done, he might detect glimpses of a monster, a writhing mass of roots and pain and screaming.]

Aetos has proved more than once in the past that permission does not matter to them nearly as much as it seems to matter to you.

private

[escardos]

It does matter to me!

[ flat takes in the flashes of information with, whether surprisingly or not, no significant change in his own attitude. though with the communion now focused on the two of them, perhaps she can tell a few more quirks about his behaviors. the fact is that he doesn't greet the vision with horror or disgust, but a simple sense of acceptance.

of curiosity.

of pity.

as he talks, it's as level as always. ]

They said it themselves, right? They've been using civilians for their experiments. I don't agree with that— it's just too inefficient. Which is why I agreed to help now. Two people agreed to it, right? Then that's fine. If we don't get along, I'll just leave. And if they use me for their own experiments against my will, then that's fine too. It wouldn't be the first time someone's messed around with my soul.

[ it is what it is. when flat speaks next, he does so with resolve in his voice. only a tinge, so small it may be missed— but as bright as a beacon in the void of his communion. ]

But you want to know why I'm choosing to help Aetos. It's because I think that's the first time I'll really get to see the Oblivion. If we don't figure out a way to stop it, I don't think that it'll matter who wins this war— because we'll all be dead and so will every other world after this one. So let me do what I can do best. [ a beat. ] It's for Meridian's sake. I want to restore the worlds too, y'know! But what's the point of restoring them if they're going to be eaten up anyways sooner than later?

[warmare]

[Why? Why do these freaks and strangers and gods and villains not care? Why does learning these horrific things about people not make them change their minds, why do they--

The anger boils, bitter and hot in both of her hearts.

But does it burn hotter than Meridian, half blinding as the sun?]

You don't agree with it because it's inefficient?

[Somewhere in the real world, her fingers curl in to fists. Her nails, thankfully, are cut to the quick.]

Two idiots agreed to it.

[Corrections.]

Why do you fools rush to a thing that, for all the time upon time upon time they have claimed to have had to experiment, still does not have the answer? You cannot turn your mind to something new? You can not use those wondrous skills in thinking so superior to the rest of us who can only act, in order to find something else that isn't fusing shards together into glowing masses that scream?

[... If someone were to think "is this just about me?"... they might be justified. But.]

[escardos]

Idiots are still people, Mrs. Hayame.

[ he's not going to deny that it's a pretty ridiculous proposal to accept. who would willingly submit themselves to experimentation? well, he, to some degree, but that's not the point here—

the point is how hayame's anger continues to boil, flat feels a strange sense of déjà vu. he sees someone scared out of her mind, using anger and force to hide her insecurities of something that she doesn't quite understand. and while he can understand her frustration, there's nothing else that he can do about it; he simply can't sympathize with it.

so he continues, as matter-of-factly as ever. ]

Well, I'm not gonna do double the work if there's someone there that has a bunch of it compiled. [ obviously. do you know how difficult thinking is sometimes? ] If they haven't come up with something, then maybe it's because it needs another pair of eyes to look at it. And I'm not just talking about myself. Every person is capable of innovation!

[warmare]

[Are they????

Hayame can do nothing but continue to boil and burn... or to give in. She can continue to berate this idiot... or she can accept his help, for it seems the most specifically related to her needs, and start planning security to make sure anything he got from her head didn't end back up in Aetos' hands.

There is a long, long gap between Flat speaking and her next reply. One that abandons her arguments for the simple question of,]

What would you need to do what I require?

[- She can just kill him if he tries to give any information about her to that thing. (Right?)]

[escardos]

'Just bring yourself!' is what I'd usually say, but... ah, if I say that there's no strings attached, then you're probably going to suspect me even more, right?

[ he gets it, it's fine. he's sketchy, it's whatever. if there's any hurt feelings, then those are inconsequential. barely a blip in the radar in comparison to the amount of sheer emotion that hayame brings to the equation. he's practically no more than a spectator inside his own communion, like an actor watching his own movie.

there's a silence, contemplative, before he speaks up again. ]

I don't have the correct tools to do it. A couple surgical tools and probably some herbs for medicine, of course. I can either look for them myself and have you pay for them later, or I can give you the list and you can buy them yourself. And then maybe a payment for the services? Let's say thirty percent on top of whatever that costs. How does that sound?

[warmare]

[He is not wrong about that. So she does not bother to say "yes". Silence will be enough agreement on that.]

If it is a medical... "suite" that you require, it can be borrowed.

[Skysong had... hospitals. Places far more advanced than her own world.]

Any tools you require, or herbs, you may procure them yourself, or ask the man D to assist you. I will pay for all of them, and your service.

[She refuses to be in debt to a man who works with the likes of Aetos. - With most anyone, really, but that more so than usual.]

If that is amenable, merely say the date and I will be there.

[escardos]

Then it’s settled! I’ll talk to D and you can ask people to keep an eye on me.

[ he says this with an awful amount of cheer, as if the topic at hand were not eye surgery and as if the jinba were not suspecting him the way that she is.

perhaps, there is no other way that the boy that calls himself flat escardos can act. ]

A week from now, then! It’ll give me enough time to practice. Don’t worry, I’ll give you the best eye surgery that you’ve ever had!

[warmare]

I shall.

[She won’t bother hiding that. It would be the height of foolishness to believe this weirdly chipper sounding possible-traitor- and she’s not letting him leave that suite with her eye or anything extra for his new “scientist” master.]

But keep your platitudes.

[“Don’t worry”? Hah.]

All you have to do is be better than a demon, and you will be paid.