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Entry tags:
- !event,
- *npc: cyrus,
- arcane: silco,
- arcane: vander,
- black butler: sebastian michaelis,
- ennead: set,
- expanse (the): amos burton,
- final fantasy xiv: cid garlond,
- final fantasy xiv: emet-selch,
- final fantasy xiv: hythlodaeus,
- genshin impact: kaeya alberich,
- granblue fantasy: eustace,
- mortal kombat 11: shang tsung,
- oc: liem talbott,
- orv: sooyoung han,
- persona 5 strikers: sophia,
- tiger & bunny: barnaby brooks jr.,
- until death do us part: mamoru hijikata
TDM + GAME OPENING đ
Who: Shard-Bearers, new and old
What: Seeds take root
Where: The Tree of Life, Highstorm, Springstar
When: October 14th and onwards
Warnings: Potential for (mild) body horror, death, dismemberment
Welcome to Kenos! As a reminder, all players are required to fill out an application, which are now open. This does include characters/players from Aion Teleos, so please donât forget to fill one out! Any character/player that does not submit an application will be swept from the communities and the Discord after applications close.
Activity Check is optional this month, but is highly recommend so Christy can check her fancy program so that you can earn Activity Reward Tokens! Activity will be able to be submitted shortly after applications close. You can find more about how we do AC here.
This log is Game Canon. Any characters who are not apped to the game will disappear. If Cyrus or Yima are asked, theyâll explain that this happens sometimes, since not every soul has a strong tether to Kenos and sometimes return to the Timestream. Theyâre fine and may even return to Kenos one day, but for now werenât able to make the full journey.
As a reminder, your character has a Shard somewhere on their body that encompasses their soul, so keep note of where you're sticking it on their person for reference! Additionally, they have a tattoo of their Aspect somewhere on their body. Please be mindful this Aspect will be assigned to you upon approval and whatever you choose for the TDM may be temporary (for new characters)!
For the Highstorm and Springstar prompts, both cities will be fully open and accessible to all characters once they are saved from their rather harrowing ordeal at the Tree of Life. For prompt ideas and any general information about the cities and what you can find there, please see the Navigation page and check out the locations!
New players are welcome to join our Discord Server if you haven't already!
When they emerge from their cocoon/the ground, characters may be wearing their normal clothes, or they might be nude. Up to you!
At some point in the days after leaving the Tree of Life, new Shard-Bearers will have a dream, even if they're usually not capable of sleeping. All new players should read this post, since this details how they'll learn about both factions and their goals and should help them make a decision in which Faction they'd be drawn to.
New characters will not have access to any canon abilities on the TDM.
Your character will be offered temporary housing either at the Heliopolis district or Yima's manor for the first few weeks after their arrival. They will also be given a stipend for basic supplies like clothing and personal effects, and food is served in the cantina (Heliopolis) and at regular meal times in the Dining Room (Yima's manor). Once they Harmonize, they will get personal permanent chambers and a fancy retainer in their Faction's city. Wow! đ
Characters may be Harmonized to their Faction (if that makes sense for the character, of course!) by the time of this log. This is more for IC reference, and just wait until application acceptance to do the OOC paperwork!
General reminder that your character won't have access to their powers until they have Harmonized.
CODING
What: Seeds take root
Where: The Tree of Life, Highstorm, Springstar
When: October 14th and onwards
Warnings: Potential for (mild) body horror, death, dismemberment
I. BEARING FRUIT (new characters only)
It starts out as a pleasant dream. Youâre in your favorite place, with your favorite people. Itâs a moment of idyllic comfort.
And then, it goes wrong.
The sky turns dark above, and as you look up, you see the black expanse of space spotted with faraway pinprick lights of stars. Yet, theyâre not stars. Youâre certain. Theyâre watching you. A billion eyes all looking down, and they spill forth as if sky itself was a dam holding back those dark waters. You reach back to the people youâre with, but theyâre frozen in place. Their eyes are black, reflecting only the expanse of dark eyes.
So you run, even though you know you wonât escape it. You glance back and see it not overtaking, but consuming. The landscape around you is being devoured, and you can see it cracking apart. The world itself is breaking, and it cracks under your feet. You fall, and the billion eyes chase after you until the darkness swallows you whole. Thereâs agony as if youâre being ripped apart, and then—
You cannot see. You cannot feel. You simply are. Yet even so, impossibly, a womanâs voice speaks gently.
Iâm sorry it couldnât be saved. But, come, itâs time to wake.
You wake with a start, cradled by soft, velvety plants, and sticky with a sap that smells faintly of honey and iron. You can see the veins of the leaves that hold you, lit warmly and gently by what looks like a crystal embedded above you. Yet, itâs odd, because that crystal calls to you. When you reach out to touch it, itâs warm. Familiar. Important. You donât know why, but you know you must hold onto this, because now it feels wrong for it to be suspended in these leaves. So, you pull it out.
The light starts to fade, but only in time to see as the leaves cradling you immediately start to soften and crumble, and with it comes a torrent of dirt. Soft, loamy soil starts to fill the space around you in the dark as youâre buried. Or, rather, you already were. You reach out through the dirt desperately, and your hands finds a root, so you pull while you clutch that precious crystal so close that it almost feels like it sinks into you (in your panic, you donât notice that it does). You reach out again, and this time, your hand hits open air and plenty of sturdy roots around to grab.
From a seed youâre born, and like a sprout, you make your way out of the ground.
And once youâve clawed your way out of the soft earth and the roots, nearby, you see the soil shift. Another hand comes up to grasp desperately for something, anything, just as you had been.
And then, it goes wrong.
The sky turns dark above, and as you look up, you see the black expanse of space spotted with faraway pinprick lights of stars. Yet, theyâre not stars. Youâre certain. Theyâre watching you. A billion eyes all looking down, and they spill forth as if sky itself was a dam holding back those dark waters. You reach back to the people youâre with, but theyâre frozen in place. Their eyes are black, reflecting only the expanse of dark eyes.
So you run, even though you know you wonât escape it. You glance back and see it not overtaking, but consuming. The landscape around you is being devoured, and you can see it cracking apart. The world itself is breaking, and it cracks under your feet. You fall, and the billion eyes chase after you until the darkness swallows you whole. Thereâs agony as if youâre being ripped apart, and then—
You cannot see. You cannot feel. You simply are. Yet even so, impossibly, a womanâs voice speaks gently.
Iâm sorry it couldnât be saved. But, come, itâs time to wake.
You wake with a start, cradled by soft, velvety plants, and sticky with a sap that smells faintly of honey and iron. You can see the veins of the leaves that hold you, lit warmly and gently by what looks like a crystal embedded above you. Yet, itâs odd, because that crystal calls to you. When you reach out to touch it, itâs warm. Familiar. Important. You donât know why, but you know you must hold onto this, because now it feels wrong for it to be suspended in these leaves. So, you pull it out.
The light starts to fade, but only in time to see as the leaves cradling you immediately start to soften and crumble, and with it comes a torrent of dirt. Soft, loamy soil starts to fill the space around you in the dark as youâre buried. Or, rather, you already were. You reach out through the dirt desperately, and your hands finds a root, so you pull while you clutch that precious crystal so close that it almost feels like it sinks into you (in your panic, you donât notice that it does). You reach out again, and this time, your hand hits open air and plenty of sturdy roots around to grab.
From a seed youâre born, and like a sprout, you make your way out of the ground.
And once youâve clawed your way out of the soft earth and the roots, nearby, you see the soil shift. Another hand comes up to grasp desperately for something, anything, just as you had been.
II. MORAL HAZARD
There are new Shard-Bearers at the Tree of Life, and Yima has asked that the earlier arrivals go to greet them and help them. These arenât people from Horos, after all, so theyâll have many, many questions. As Yima explains, the roots of the tree rise up to create caverns underneath, and itâs there youâll find the new Shard-Bearers. And indeed, with careful steps to not slip on the mossy roots, down you go. Perhaps Communion will help you find the new Shard-Bearers, but it might be a confusing process for them.
The roots all start to look the same, to the point that youâre sure that youâve already been through this passage. You turn around, and most of the people you had come here with are gone, if not all of them. Itâs confusing and unsettling, and strangest of all.. Youâre starting to feel ill, even if that wasnât something normally possible for you. But continuing forward, you do eventually find an unfamiliar face of a new Shard-Bearer. They look no better than you feel.
Before introductions, however, roots around you shift suddenly until youâre enclosed in a room together. From the roots, a face forms in the wall. It speaks in a creaking, uneven tone, as if it werenât used to speaking at all.
Give to take. A sacrifice. To live.
Characters can pick one of the following options, but the decision must be made unanimously. If one character takes a drastic action (such as murdering another), itâs counted as a failure for the group.
This can be done in groups of 2 to 4 players, and Loremasters recommend three if you can swing it! Itâs more fun when you get in philosophical debates, right? Regardless, when your group comes to a decision, please record it here. These donât have to be fully threaded out to be recorded, so the conclusion can be discussed OOC if you prefer. Actions can be submitted until October 21st, after which groups will be informed of what comes of their choiceâŠ
When a group receives the antidote, they'll be released from the tree's thrall... But will have a hard time waking up. It feels like something has grabbed onto their spine.
The roots all start to look the same, to the point that youâre sure that youâve already been through this passage. You turn around, and most of the people you had come here with are gone, if not all of them. Itâs confusing and unsettling, and strangest of all.. Youâre starting to feel ill, even if that wasnât something normally possible for you. But continuing forward, you do eventually find an unfamiliar face of a new Shard-Bearer. They look no better than you feel.
Before introductions, however, roots around you shift suddenly until youâre enclosed in a room together. From the roots, a face forms in the wall. It speaks in a creaking, uneven tone, as if it werenât used to speaking at all.
Give to take. A sacrifice. To live.
LET'S PLAY A GAME...
As the Dryad will explain, characters are now trapped in a room and have been poisoned by the spores that the lichens underfoot release. An antidote lays beyond the roots the dryad has curled around you, but to access it, you must make a sacrifice.Characters can pick one of the following options, but the decision must be made unanimously. If one character takes a drastic action (such as murdering another), itâs counted as a failure for the group.
- Each of you must offer up a personal/treasured memory. The memory will be shared in Communion with all characters assembled, and then will be destroyed. No character will retain the memory or memory of its Communion.
- Each of you must offer up something physical. A finger, a toe, an ear, itâs your choice. The dryad will offer a knife if this is chosen that will sever the body part of choice cleanly and immediately stop any bleeding.
- Offer up another. Kill one person in the room.
- Refusing is also a valid option. Characters will get more ill as they debate until they start to find it difficult to breathe, and theyâll die quickly after.
This can be done in groups of 2 to 4 players, and Loremasters recommend three if you can swing it! Itâs more fun when you get in philosophical debates, right? Regardless, when your group comes to a decision, please record it here. These donât have to be fully threaded out to be recorded, so the conclusion can be discussed OOC if you prefer. Actions can be submitted until October 21st, after which groups will be informed of what comes of their choiceâŠ
When a group receives the antidote, they'll be released from the tree's thrall... But will have a hard time waking up. It feels like something has grabbed onto their spine.
III. DREAMING OF HOME
You may wake with a start from your deliberations (or arguments) with a jolt of pain from the base of your spine as something is pulled away rapidly. A dark-haired man who looks to be in his thirties or so holds you carefully, but as soon as you start to regain your senses, he sets you back and holds up his hands.
Woah— Woah there, itâs fine! The tree was, uh, trying to take you back is all. Youâre fine now.
As long as youâre not going to attack him, he offers a friendly smile and a hand to shake.
Nameâs Cyrus. Sorry about the rude awakening. Letâs get your friend here unhooked too.
And indeed, glancing over, you can see the person you met in that room laying nearby, and it looks like a vine has snaked underneath them to exactly where something had just been pulled from you⊠Best not to think about it, maybe. Or if you've been unlucky enough to be one of the last people rescued, you might find vines and roots starting to grow into your skin. It's fine!
Cyrus will gladly introduce himself to everyone, and will further explain his position in Meridian and Springstar (see the NPC Page) and the goals of Meridian itself (see the Faction Page, save for the italicized section). But most importantly, heâll explain that he knows it sounds like something overly optimistic. Itâs fair to be skeptical. Heâll produce a small glass bead from a bag heâs carrying. It looks like the necklace he wears, though not lit up. Heâll explain that the force of Meridian is a gift and can be a tether to your home, if you let it. As his fingertips light up, the energy is infused into the bead, which heâll hand to you.
Taking the bead into your hands, youâll take a birdâs eye view of your home world as if your consciousness is split, since youâll still perceive standing in front of Cyrus at the tree. Rather than a vision, the view of your world is absolutely real, youâre certain. Itâs a glimpse at the world that you thought destroyed, and if you focus on a particular place or a particular person, youâll find the view shifting rapidly to it. No one you watch is aware of your presence, but simply continues about their daily life, whatever that is. But after about a minute, the view will fade as the light in the bead also fades.
Thatâs an iliachtida, a sunbeam, and when infused with Meridianâs light, allows someone Harmonized to it to check in on their world, he explains. It also acts as an anchor that tethers their soul to their world in the Timestream. With it, their world canât entirely disappear, so eventually, they can go home. Itâs a gift heâll allow anyone that wants it to keep it, but indeed, theyâll be unable to use it again without first Harmonizing to Meridian.
To help manage threadload for the Loremasters playing Cyrus, we ask that you only tag him with the character you are most likely to app. Similarly, new tag-ins will not be accepted after Monday, October 17th.
Woah— Woah there, itâs fine! The tree was, uh, trying to take you back is all. Youâre fine now.
As long as youâre not going to attack him, he offers a friendly smile and a hand to shake.
Nameâs Cyrus. Sorry about the rude awakening. Letâs get your friend here unhooked too.
And indeed, glancing over, you can see the person you met in that room laying nearby, and it looks like a vine has snaked underneath them to exactly where something had just been pulled from you⊠Best not to think about it, maybe. Or if you've been unlucky enough to be one of the last people rescued, you might find vines and roots starting to grow into your skin. It's fine!
CYRUS, THE TRIBUNE
Cyrus is the NPC heading up the Meridian Faction, and is available to thread with under this header. Cyrus has come to the Tree of Life to help rescue the Shard-Bearerâs from the Tree, so heâs not going to be inclined to explain too much right away, since heâs on a mission, but heâll stick around once everyone is successfully freed from Prompt 2 to speak with anyone that wants to. The following is just an OOC summary of information in case you do not need to thread with Cyrus:Cyrus will gladly introduce himself to everyone, and will further explain his position in Meridian and Springstar (see the NPC Page) and the goals of Meridian itself (see the Faction Page, save for the italicized section). But most importantly, heâll explain that he knows it sounds like something overly optimistic. Itâs fair to be skeptical. Heâll produce a small glass bead from a bag heâs carrying. It looks like the necklace he wears, though not lit up. Heâll explain that the force of Meridian is a gift and can be a tether to your home, if you let it. As his fingertips light up, the energy is infused into the bead, which heâll hand to you.
Taking the bead into your hands, youâll take a birdâs eye view of your home world as if your consciousness is split, since youâll still perceive standing in front of Cyrus at the tree. Rather than a vision, the view of your world is absolutely real, youâre certain. Itâs a glimpse at the world that you thought destroyed, and if you focus on a particular place or a particular person, youâll find the view shifting rapidly to it. No one you watch is aware of your presence, but simply continues about their daily life, whatever that is. But after about a minute, the view will fade as the light in the bead also fades.
Thatâs an iliachtida, a sunbeam, and when infused with Meridianâs light, allows someone Harmonized to it to check in on their world, he explains. It also acts as an anchor that tethers their soul to their world in the Timestream. With it, their world canât entirely disappear, so eventually, they can go home. Itâs a gift heâll allow anyone that wants it to keep it, but indeed, theyâll be unable to use it again without first Harmonizing to Meridian.
To help manage threadload for the Loremasters playing Cyrus, we ask that you only tag him with the character you are most likely to app. Similarly, new tag-ins will not be accepted after Monday, October 17th.
III. SPRINGSTAR, αÎčÏÎœÎčÎżÏ ÎźÎ»ÎčÎżÏ
After your ordeals at the Tree of Life, perhaps youâre drawn to Springstar, the city of eternal sun and the seat of Meridian.
Itâs currently (and fittingly) Spring in Springstar, and the bustling city is coming back to life after finishing up winter. Itâs not as if the winters are especially harsh here, but youâll quickly get the sense that the people of Springstar are vivacious and happy to celebrate. Youâll find the Entertainment District to be the liveliest, whether itâs at a rowdy bar or a brothel, but no matter what, youâre welcome with open arms and without question.
Of course, if youâd just like to use the chance to explore the city alongside your fellow Shard-Bearers, thatâs fine too. Itâs easy to get lost in the crowds of Springstar and see all the city has to offer.
Itâs currently (and fittingly) Spring in Springstar, and the bustling city is coming back to life after finishing up winter. Itâs not as if the winters are especially harsh here, but youâll quickly get the sense that the people of Springstar are vivacious and happy to celebrate. Youâll find the Entertainment District to be the liveliest, whether itâs at a rowdy bar or a brothel, but no matter what, youâre welcome with open arms and without question.
Of course, if youâd just like to use the chance to explore the city alongside your fellow Shard-Bearers, thatâs fine too. Itâs easy to get lost in the crowds of Springstar and see all the city has to offer.
IV. HIGHSTORM, Đ»ŃĐœŃ-Đ±Đ»ĐžĐ·ĐœĐ”ŃŃ
Or maybe Highstorm, the city of twin moons and the seat of Zenith is more to your liking. Itâs certainly the quieter of the two cities and is a relaxing, meditative place if thatâs what you prefer. The chill in the air is constant, since itâs Autumn in Highstorm and the eternal night doesnât help keep things warm, exactly. Snow isnât out of the question at this time of the year, but itâs beautiful in the moonlight.
Because of the cooler weather than Highstorm is prone to, youâll find many of its delights inside rather than outside. Libraries and museums are popular in the more introspective city, though itâs easy enough to find something that might please you. For example, the indoor hot baths are popular at this time of the year too. Youâll find the people are kind, if cool-tempered, though if you mention the fact that youâre a Shard-Bearer or allied with Zenith, theyâre more likely to warm up.
Though much like Springstar, it may just be more interesting to explore the city with a fellow Shard-Bearer. And as a resident may warn you, itâs best to stay in the city. Wandering out into the marshes and forests isnât advised. Of course, if you do, just contact a Loremaster to find out why. ♥
Because of the cooler weather than Highstorm is prone to, youâll find many of its delights inside rather than outside. Libraries and museums are popular in the more introspective city, though itâs easy enough to find something that might please you. For example, the indoor hot baths are popular at this time of the year too. Youâll find the people are kind, if cool-tempered, though if you mention the fact that youâre a Shard-Bearer or allied with Zenith, theyâre more likely to warm up.
Though much like Springstar, it may just be more interesting to explore the city with a fellow Shard-Bearer. And as a resident may warn you, itâs best to stay in the city. Wandering out into the marshes and forests isnât advised. Of course, if you do, just contact a Loremaster to find out why. ♥
NOTES
no subject
[Once the woman she'd addressed puts her book down and turns to show her face... Hayame recognizes her. They may not have ever met on the battlefield, she may not know her name, but in a court of shadows, rage and fear warring in her hearts... Hayame had locked her eyes (she'd had two then) on every single person who called themselves Kenoma who had been present, burning their images into her mind as enemies who she would not hesitate to kill if given the chance.
On sheer muscle memory alone, before her mind can even process that this is a different world, her hand goes to her "hip"... But there is no blade there. No quiver. No bow.
Her hand slams loudly into the shelf behind the other woman's head instead, surging forward just enough to threaten to pin her between the books and the heavy muscles of her lower body, unwilling to allow her easy avenues to escape before she leans in to hiss-]
What are you playing at, Kenoma?
[As if she is is going to believe the woman might help her in her quest for the sacred book she had promised to keep safe instead of kill her?
They were enemies. (Weren't they?)]
no subject
She looks up and draws a quiet breath, the look on her face placid once more after the initial moment of brief surprise. Guess she'll just stand still with her back against the bookshelf, it's not like there's anything else she can (or want) to do in her current situation.]
What is there to play at? None of that matters anymore.
[Her tone has dropped flat, however, without inflection and emotionless as she states a plain and simple truth.]
More importantly, please quieten down, miss Hayame. If you make a bigger fuss or cause property damage here, we may get kicked out. Maybe fined too, if not worse.
no subject
In a world that had made sense to her, Hayame had been known for her cold and impassive look... Perhaps, one that had looked not so differently than this woman in front of her now. Perhaps even colder, or crueler. When she had been in control... But she wasn't any longer. She hasn't felt that since she woke up in Horos, always one insult or happening away from losing it.
And the idea of everything she'd gone through in Horos, the injuries, the desperate fights, the feel of her blade cutting through thick necks, her goddamn eye being brushed off that way...
Hayame did not rely on magic or powers. She had always resisted using the abilities that being an aion granted them, and now that they are shard-bearers... she hasn't noticed that having yet to commit to a side means being robbed of such things to those who used them. She'd always had the immense biological strength of a jinba to rely on.
As if just to be contrary, or perhaps to prove her point... the muscles in Hayame's arm bulge on the side of Ciel's head, and the wood of the shelf behind her lets out a threatening crack as she squeezes hard enough to nearly break it.]
Do you think I care about being fined?
no subject
So she continues calmly, not bothered by Hayame's added pressure now that the initial moment of surprise had passed.]
Then what do you care about?
[It's a plain and honest question. Ciel doubts whatever Hayame can do to her right now would bring the other woman any closer to her true goal, but that's a thought she can keep to herself.]
no subject
No. Doing something violent to this woman wouldnât actually help her advance her goal, when her goal was just to go home (and die there). She wasnât even sure killing the Kenoma in Horos would have done that.
But sheâd made that part of her second goal, because there wasnât a single thing Hayame could do on her own or naturally in order to return to her world. She wasnât magic. She didnât understand traveling between worlds. The only thing sheâd been bred for and the only thing sheâd ever really known was violence- and the Regent had claimed to have destroyed her world. The Kenoma served the Regent.
And part of violence was revenge.]
Not whether people who ask me that question carelessly live or die.
[Why was everyone acting like the war was over? What made this woman ever think she would answer such a personal question from someone who surely didnât actually care what her answer was. As if sheâd, what-]
What- ? Are you going to help me?
[Some have tried.]
no subject
thankfullythough, so she simply continues meeting the centaur woman's glare heads on.They're definitely alone in this area now, any visitor looking for books in their immediate surroundings had long fled. Will there be any guards called to head over? Suppose time will tell, not that any of the two remaining women particularly mind anyhow.]
That is what I asked. I'm as new to this place as you are, but two people would make more progress than one.
[She did address her first by offering, a simple "no" would've sufficed if Hayame didn't want any. But she may be the type prideful enough to decline help even if she needed it, judging by what Ciel has heard and seen of Hayame firsthand so far. What she says next may corroborate that theory...?]
no subject
The only thing beyond the physical that separated from her from the pathetic Armless. But in HorosâŠ
⊠Maybe pride was all she still had, again. Coming to this place, anything physical she had gained that meant something (a blade put in her hand during a time when she wanted control over anything, even if it was just her ability to attack or end her own life, a bow, a sacred book that wasnât sacred at all to her, a⊠something, something she held in one hand, with dark hair and eerie eyesâŠ), all of it had been made gone. The few people she had begun to just maybe, possibly care about in that place⊠many of them had been made gone, too.
And now sheâs growling down at a woman in the bookshelves of a âlibraryâ unable to understand what makes her stand her ground this way, calm as if they spoke over tea and sweets. More importantly, unable to understand why the hell she seemed to think that she would ever work with a Kenoma.]
As if Iâd ever work so foolishly with someone who served the Regent?
[She might claim that she was not Kenoma anymore, that it didnât matter, but to Hayame⊠it matters a great deal. And the answer to that question continues to determine her actions, her body still taut and fairly vibrating with readiness to lash out.]
no subject
But will any of it matter, facing someone like this? Hayame is guided purely by her emotions, yet this stubbornness is nevertheless something Ciel recognizes: a desperate bid to cling onto what she knew, what there was left to validate the terrible struggles she's gone through on Horos.
(Is it really her responsibility, though?)
She doesn't owe this woman an explanation. She has no desire to explain why she pledged herself to the Kenoma, either. The pull of despair is different for everyone, and if Hayame had never felt it, then good for her.]
"The Order of Numbers", you were saying. Is it a book about mathematics and calculations?
[She asks plainly, quite aware that the centaur woman could easily snap her neck or cave her skull in if she really wanted to. But then what? Making a bloody mess here when she came looking for something can't be what she really wants either, so if the ex-Pleroma doesn't want to focus on the present, then the ex-Kenoma will simply have to do it in her stead.]
no subject
But there was a part of her that knew she didn't belong with the Pleroma. Every time they talked about hope, she knew. If that priest had not been there, willing to take the brunt of her desperate anger and despair, patient enough to wait for her to tire and then lead her into the light... She would have gone to the only place she'd known, and sunk into the dark.
Instead, she's here, in yet another impossible world, surrounded by people apparently far more willing to let bygones be bygones than she was, and so what- What is she supposed to do?]
... It is a sacred text.
[She answers the question, even though her expression is frozen in that vicious, cornered look, as if she's afraid to relax a single moment or reveal a weakness even when answering questions about a book.]
Belonging to a god called Abadar.
[Something she had sworn to keep safe, in Verena, and had, even after the original owner's throat had been slit in front of her eyes, but when she woke up in this place-]
- I need it.
[She wanted it. One of the only things she'd ever "owned". Something she'd promised to a dead man to keep safe. So if this Kenoma was going to play magnanimous.........]
no subject
It's all so pointless. Can they really not put that energy towards something more productive than antagonizing each other? It's what compels Ciel to change the subject, which does appear to have some effect. If she may feel relieved however, it doesn't show on her face. She simply grows more pensive, taking the information in.]
A religious text...
[That has nothing to do with the jinba's home world, if she were to chance a guess. With how confused and flustered Hayame looked when she first asked, the Japanese sound of her name, and all the rumors that went around back in Achamoth, she did not give the impression of being a pious or studious woman. And if it's not for her, then it has to be for someone else. They just woke up on Kenos recently, that shouldn't have been enough time for her to develop a sudden interest in a different culture. Plus knowing the title of the book and what it's about without actually having it, wouldn't that imply she's learned of its existence from someone else? In which case... Could that person be be someone who's been on Horos, someone Ciel may also be acquainted with?
--Ah, but she's letting her thoughts get away from her. None of this conjecture will help them accomplish Hayame's goal any faster.]
I would try a different building, the one closest to Heliopolis. That hall there is dedicated to the study of religion, deities, and mythologies from all worlds, the library inside also has plenty of books about the topic. I found a copy of the Bible there earlier this week, a religious book from my world.
[She can't guarantee it, so she makes no promise. But after having spent a day touring the academic district to get a general idea of its layout, the place that specializes in studying faith does seem like the best bet for looking up sacred texts from other worlds.]
/gently wraps up in time for eVenT or new thread aaaa???
Her eyes bore into the other woman whether she matches her intensity or not. Whether she is angered, embarrassed, or ashamed of the gaps in that intensity or not. (And a part of her is, even if the only betrayal is in how her long black tail quivers behind her. If she's lucky, it will be mistaken for rage.)
But she gets an answer. One that sounds potentially useful, that comes with some sort of testimonial as to efficacy. Not an answer that could be spat upon... one that might allow her to save face. The "library" closest to Heliopolis. One dedicated to religions and worship of all worlds. If it was going to be anywhere, then...
Hayame will go there.
Suddenly, her hand leaves the bookshelf behind the former Kenoma's head. She straightens up from the intimidating lean over and steps back, her hooves too loud on the hardwood flooring now that the area had been largely vacated by people with sense of a potential fight. This is when most people would say "thank you". But Hayame is not most people... that's always been clear, largely for worse than for better.
But according to whatever sense of honor or manners that governs her... this Kenoma whose name she did not know, who had not done anything directly to her... had earned her reprieve. Just not her thanks. Not unless the Order of Numbers was in that distant hall.
Without only a last look and not another word... Hayame turns with a frustrated flick of tail and departs.
When the library's one security guard shows up a minute later... He's going to be a little confused, but. What's one little cracked wooden shelf?]