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]

[If she had her way... No one would see or feel or hear any of it. She hadn't meant to cry out for help when it had been happening to her, and she didn't mean to let anything bleed out now. That's why she didn't talk about it. It's why when Yuri had visited, she had "let" Claude tell the story for her.

Because she can't pretend to be fine when she does.]

He doesn't make the cut. I will still kill him the moment he falls back on his true nature.

[So it's not-

... Not what?]

🔒 for Hayame only

[wolfish]

I mean, how can he even harmonize with Meridian? I tried harmonizing with Zenith to get some intel on their forces when I first got here and I failed.

[ He believed too strongly in home. In it being there. He needed it to be there and still does. ]

So how's some demon who's been working for that side swing it...

[ Perplexing. His busy mind is busier still as he thinks about it. ]

Well, in any case...call backup when that time comes, yeah? You've got people in your corner.

[warmare]

I don't know!

[The response is more explosive than she had intended, her emotions raging and off-kilter from the raw, uncomfortable feeling of exposure she has intentionally forced herself into for the sake of these ungrateful, ignorant little--]

As if I will believe that thing has somehow found it in its heart to care whether it returns to its world or not? It obviously did not give a damn for it before- !

[Her understanding of it all, it just didn't make--

No. It must make sense. Just because she didn't understand...]

🔒 staying Hayame only for the duration

[wolfish]

Maybe there's something that demon would reclaim if possible. Doesn't seem like enough, but maybe a creature like that can game the system.

[ How? He doesn't know, but Yuri's mind remains calm, aside his simmering resentment of the injustices visited upon Hayame. Did she evidently poke a bear? Yes. Was the bear incredibly sadistic? Also yes.

Besides, Yuri fully embraces his loyalties when it comes to his people. Hayame's as much one of his own as one could be in this place, their time together warrants that. ]

Regardless, we'll have to mind what we say. What we share. That one's in bed with Silco, on top of everything else wrong with this.

[warmare]

Whatever its motives are, they could only be selfish.

[He's a demon, why does no one-

... No. Perhaps the problem is that everyone understands that.]

Whether it is doing something here or retrieving something there...

And you are right. There is no guarantee they are not still feeding literally everything they glean here to that fucking rat.

Someone needs to take him out, before he sinks his claws into Kowloon again.

[wolfish]

Oh, no doubt this is entirely self-interest.

[ Yuri does not know Sebastian. The actions tell him enough, he thinks. He's known people, known of people, who may as well be demons. They were so much easier to be rid of in his world.

Here...well. They'll just have to do what they can as they can. ]

The best case scenario's one in which we neutralize both threats. That'll take some careful plotting though, considering what they are and what they've managed thus far.

[warmare]

He is a demon.

[It always goes back to that. Time and again. There are things that Hayame believes are nuanced, and capable of change or goodness... and there are things she does not. And demons are nothing but self-interest.]

We must first find out if they yet scheme together, or if that thing's movement to Meridian has severed his ties. After all... the rat has made even more a name of himself as a Zenite, has he not?

[She'd had little love for that so-called sun goddess, but even still... To die in such a humiliating way...]

[wolfish]

So he has...that damned long nap hasn't dulled the memory any.

[ Over a century had felt more like an overlong nap. Yuri may never have met Quetzalcoatl, but that changes nothing about the cruel hand she had been dealt in the end. It changes nothing about the kind of person Silco had proudly shown himself to be, just as it changes nothing about Yuri's desire to prevent such a travesty from occurring twice.

Besides, he's also a crime lord who carries knives. The firstborn son of Gautier pillaging and savaging was bad enough, back home. Yuri doesn't want to be weighted against people whose standards are nothing like his own. When you're basically Robin Hood with a sad, dark backstory... ]

Begs the question of how we can gather that intel. One strikes me as paranoid, the other isn't even human.

[ Hayame knows by now that when Yuri says human, he's counting her among them. She truly is, in all the ways that matter. ]

[warmare]

I am capable now of navigating Kowloon... But because I am new to the ability, I know nothing at all of the place with my own eyes, save The Last Dance... but that is on the outskirts.

I suppose that rat's headquarters would be a far deeper place.

My contacts are primarily in the Legionary... so they know precious little to tell me, either.

Who amongst us is the sort who delves there?

[wolfish]

Let's see now... When Ryouma and I were just dipping our toes in, Liem informed us he had some familiarity, especially with the markets. He recommended Set for additional information.

[warmare]

Liem is a trustworthy man.

If you can rely on him, I would do it.

Set possesses a wealth of knowledge.

If you need something others in Meridian might not touch, he may have.

[wolfish]

From my lesser experiences, I'd say you're right about that.

[ Though Set has an air of mystery about him that always has Yuri on his toes...more so than he usually is. ]

So they may be the best resources to turn to, though I'm sure much has changed this last age.

[warmare]

... Much has changed.

[She bites into her lip as if to silence herself from saying more, but in the end...]

But those two may not have. So they will still be the sort to acquaint themselves with information that needs knowing.

[wolfish]

Some consistency beats none, in times like these.

[ He suspects there's something more, something else, but he refrains from asking for now. ]

[warmare]

Ah.

[There is so much more. But she is raw from exposing what had happened to her for what feels like nothing, she feels like a fool, she can't even kill that demon because he was useful to Meridian, and--]

We take the scraps we are given. For what we must achieve.

[wolfish]

That we do. Clawing our way on through's familiar territory, at least.

[ He notices the way the fire has died down, but he doesn't comment upon it. Even in bending his thoughts toward Hayame alone, he doesn't ever wholly trust Communion. ]

Let's do what we can and ensure we're prepared.

[warmare]

That is all we can do.

[Because... Because-]

- I will need to move our lesson back, to deal with this eye. I look forward to hosting you again when it is done.

[wolfish]

Of course. Let me know if you can use anything afterward, yeah?

[ It seems she's in good hands, so he spares her much inquiry on the matter. ]

[warmare]

... I shall. Yes.

[... He had seen her in the aftermath of "gaining" the eye in the first place. There is little else to hide from him.]

[wolfish]

So I'll see you then.

[ While she's perfectly capable of telling him their conversation is concluded and he knows it, he also knows the polite thing is not to linger.

He truly hopes all goes well, especially after all she's been through. ]