closed to select individuals: intel obtained

[wolfish]

[ For Yuri, opening Communion has always been like cautiously cracking a door open on a stormy day. He's never wholly prepared for what may come in, but if he doesn't open that door to begin with, they'll get nowhere.

And now that the research they'd worked to hunt down is in his hands, there's the small matter of what to do with it. Coalbrand had cautioned him against attempting to release the information publicly. Sain-Breq had died trying. He'd also suggested leveraging this knowledge against those in power. Against those who have kept them in the dark, used them... And if the dreams are truly memories as the research suggests, they've spent and broken them too.

It begins with opening the door. ]

I've alluded to a certain pursuit with some of you, carried it out with others... Some, I can't reach anymore.

[ Cid, Sentience, Midna... He drifts off for a moment, the lingering question of what became of them giving him pause. Then he spurs himself to proceed. ]

We've got it now: Sain-Breq's research. There's just the one copy, so now that my guest has taken his leave, I'll go over that with you.

[ The others will have to forgive the little extra nudge of Yuri's mind, like a playful elbow to the side, before he shares a first-person view of the documents, page by page. It's a slow process, allowing for differences in reading speeds, before at last they reach the end. ]

So, that's...a lot to take in, I realize. And a little bird tells me Shardbearers stopped being capable of dreams long ago, so those visions we saw after our power-nap? They'd be explained by all this. The cycles that preceded this one... And the content of mine, more than the warning that came with these documents, is why I'm starting with all of you.

[ There's a pause, and the distinct sense of him gathering himself. For his fellow Harbingers, it comes with the air of a shaky sigh. ]

This information was threat enough to those in power to kill. If my dream wasn't a dream at all, they'll bend and break us for less. Shave away what makes us who we are until what remains is so brittle it snaps one day. I have reason to suspect the higher we harmonize, the easier that is to achieve.

[ Hence notable high-harmonization exclusions he does typically trust. It could make things harder or more dangerous for them... In all this time, it's the most he has ever spoken of his terrible dream. ]

We need to play our cards right on this. It can be leveraged against those in power and our people deserve to know. Damned if I know the best way, given our position — so I want to open a discussion. How we use this, how we avoid making anyone a convenient target for them. Between us, I know we're capable.

[ He leaves it at that, another mental nudge suggesting the metaphorical floor is wide open for any takers. ]

[ ooc: This Communion is open to those involved in the Wheel of Fortune questline: Shez, rip Joshua, Byleth, and Gavial as well as Ryouma, Dimitri, Claude, and Jade. Please feel free to assume Yuri failed to reach your character if you want to opt out, the list is just who he tried to reach out to for this initial discussion. Thread hop/jack and respond to one another as desired! ]

Comments

[hauntedking]

And we still have to worry about Oracles. This whole affair gets worse the more we look into it.

[wolfish]

On the one hand, it's not surprising. Why hide something good? On the other...two Oracles are left, and if this is the last cycle, what happens next?

[hauntedking]

...someone wins. But I don't know how if neither of us have all six.

🔒 Dimitri only

[wolfish]

The leadership claims it's all or nothing.

Wouldn't put it past Zenith to do something desperate, considering their track record. There're decent people there, but the leadership and more...devoted members...

[ In which "devoted" is very much a euphemism. ]

[hauntedking]

If it's all or nothing, they don't seem too bothered at having lost some of that "all". Why is that?

[wolfish]

I do wonder what we'll be expected to do about that, exactly... And still based on their word and nothing else.

Best to stay on our toes, especially in light of all this. Who knows what else we'll learn about our place in all this?

[hauntedking]

True. But we do need more information, regardless. We just need to figure out how to get it...

[wolfish]

I'm with you on that. I was lucky, getting a lead on this...but whatever's next may require that we make our own luck.

[hauntedking]

Well, we've done that before. We can certainly do it again.

[wolfish]

That we can... Just a matter of where to begin, now that we've got this.

[hauntedking]

How do we use this to our advantage? That's the question. If the powers that be don't want people learning about this, there must be a reason for that fear.

[wolfish]

Indeed. Seems like the sort of thing that bears some discussion, if we could find quiet, neutral ground for Gavial's sake... There's got to be an angle here that we just don't see, for lack of information.

[ His words halt for a collection of moments, though the feeling that his mind is quite busy remains still yet. Before he communicates his thoughts, his hesitation ripples between them first. ]

...Loath as I am to mention the guy, Aetos claims to have been here from the start, yeah? And at the time, wouldn't explain that word he was using to refer to our "generation". Wonder why.

[hauntedking]

There's always Alenroux. It still seems... neutral. At least for now.

[ He sighs. ]

I have no desire to interact with Aetos more than necessary. The man deserves to die for his crimes.

[wolfish]

That's true. It'd serve our purposes, for the time being.

[ They can't know how long that will last, but even so, it's something. ]

I agree with you there, though I do wonder whether we might glean something useful before justice finds him.

[hauntedking]

Nothing unsavory... but I wonder if we could get him to tell us all he knows.

[wolfish]

Even a tidbit or two would be a start. I wonder whether what we know now would interest him, given his...field of study.

[ His tone suggests this is an extreme euphemism. He trusts Dimitri knows what he really means. ]

Though he is working with those in power and won't necessarily exercise discretion. Something to consider if all else fails.

[hauntedking]

He might already know.

[ Dimitri sighs. ]

I'd like to simply be done with all of them, but that's not an approach that will likely see us get any closer to what we want.

[wolfish]

There's that possibility too.

[ If they hadn't jumped forward in time, he likes to thinks they could have managed something with Cyrus. As it stands, those in power are largely unknown entities to them. ]

It'd be lovely if we could sweep it all off the table and still come out on top, but it's as you say. We're going to have to pick which devils we deal with, once we determine how.

[hauntedking]

It's all a mess. And the prize - well. We can't afford to lose, can we?

[wolfish]

We've got to play to win... And expect there are people on the other side just as committed to the same.

[hauntedking]

Such is the nature of war.

But we will have to overcome. And this I think we can do, if we stick together.

[wolfish]

I'd wager we've all got incentive for that. What we could use is some organization though.

[hauntedking]

Well, there are probably more than a few of us who would like to make use of this. Perhaps we can do something about that.

[wolfish]

That'd be a fine start. Got something in mind?

[hauntedking]

Well, I think we should let in everyone else in Meridian as well. At least the Shardbearers, anyway. See what they make of it. Or... at least everyone who isn't highly attuned.