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 🎉
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 don’t 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, they’ll explain that this happens sometimes, since not every soul has a strong tether to Kenos and sometimes return to the Timestream. They’re fine and may even return to Kenos one day, but for now weren’t 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! 🌈
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. You’re in your favorite place, with your favorite people. It’s 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, they’re not stars. You’re certain. They’re 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 you’re with, but they’re frozen in place. Their eyes are black, reflecting only the expanse of dark eyes.
So you run, even though you know you won’t 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. There’s agony as if you’re being ripped apart, and then—
You cannot see. You cannot feel. You simply are. Yet even so, impossibly, a woman’s voice speaks gently.
I’m sorry it couldn’t be saved. But, come, it’s 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, it’s odd, because that crystal calls to you. When you reach out to touch it, it’s warm. Familiar. Important. You don’t 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 you’re 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 don’t 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 you’re born, and like a sprout, you make your way out of the ground.
And once you’ve 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, they’re not stars. You’re certain. They’re 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 you’re with, but they’re frozen in place. Their eyes are black, reflecting only the expanse of dark eyes.
So you run, even though you know you won’t 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. There’s agony as if you’re being ripped apart, and then—
You cannot see. You cannot feel. You simply are. Yet even so, impossibly, a woman’s voice speaks gently.
I’m sorry it couldn’t be saved. But, come, it’s 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, it’s odd, because that crystal calls to you. When you reach out to touch it, it’s warm. Familiar. Important. You don’t 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 you’re 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 don’t 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 you’re born, and like a sprout, you make your way out of the ground.
And once you’ve 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 aren’t people from Horos, after all, so they’ll have many, many questions. As Yima explains, the roots of the tree rise up to create caverns underneath, and it’s there you’ll 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 you’re sure that you’ve 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. It’s confusing and unsettling, and strangest of all.. You’re starting to feel ill, even if that wasn’t 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 you’re enclosed in a room together. From the roots, a face forms in the wall. It speaks in a creaking, uneven tone, as if it weren’t 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), it’s 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! It’s more fun when you get in philosophical debates, right? Regardless, when your group comes to a decision, please record it here. These don’t 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 choice…
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 you’re sure that you’ve 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. It’s confusing and unsettling, and strangest of all.. You’re starting to feel ill, even if that wasn’t 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 you’re enclosed in a room together. From the roots, a face forms in the wall. It speaks in a creaking, uneven tone, as if it weren’t 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), it’s 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, it’s 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 they’ll die quickly after.
This can be done in groups of 2 to 4 players, and Loremasters recommend three if you can swing it! It’s more fun when you get in philosophical debates, right? Regardless, when your group comes to a decision, please record it here. These don’t 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 choice…
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, it’s fine! The tree was, uh, trying to take you back is all. You’re fine now.
As long as you’re not going to attack him, he offers a friendly smile and a hand to shake.
Name’s Cyrus. Sorry about the rude awakening. Let’s 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, he’ll explain that he knows it sounds like something overly optimistic. It’s fair to be skeptical. He’ll produce a small glass bead from a bag he’s carrying. It looks like the necklace he wears, though not lit up. He’ll 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 he’ll hand to you.
Taking the bead into your hands, you’ll take a bird’s eye view of your home world as if your consciousness is split, since you’ll still perceive standing in front of Cyrus at the tree. Rather than a vision, the view of your world is absolutely real, you’re certain. It’s a glimpse at the world that you thought destroyed, and if you focus on a particular place or a particular person, you’ll 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.
That’s an iliachtida, a sunbeam, and when infused with Meridian’s 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 can’t entirely disappear, so eventually, they can go home. It’s a gift he’ll allow anyone that wants it to keep it, but indeed, they’ll 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, it’s fine! The tree was, uh, trying to take you back is all. You’re fine now.
As long as you’re not going to attack him, he offers a friendly smile and a hand to shake.
Name’s Cyrus. Sorry about the rude awakening. Let’s 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-Bearer’s from the Tree, so he’s not going to be inclined to explain too much right away, since he’s on a mission, but he’ll 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, he’ll explain that he knows it sounds like something overly optimistic. It’s fair to be skeptical. He’ll produce a small glass bead from a bag he’s carrying. It looks like the necklace he wears, though not lit up. He’ll 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 he’ll hand to you.
Taking the bead into your hands, you’ll take a bird’s eye view of your home world as if your consciousness is split, since you’ll still perceive standing in front of Cyrus at the tree. Rather than a vision, the view of your world is absolutely real, you’re certain. It’s a glimpse at the world that you thought destroyed, and if you focus on a particular place or a particular person, you’ll 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.
That’s an iliachtida, a sunbeam, and when infused with Meridian’s 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 can’t entirely disappear, so eventually, they can go home. It’s a gift he’ll allow anyone that wants it to keep it, but indeed, they’ll 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, αιώνιος ήλιος
After your ordeals at the Tree of Life, perhaps you’re drawn to Springstar, the city of eternal sun and the seat of Meridian.
It’s currently (and fittingly) Spring in Springstar, and the bustling city is coming back to life after finishing up winter. It’s not as if the winters are especially harsh here, but you’ll quickly get the sense that the people of Springstar are vivacious and happy to celebrate. You’ll find the Entertainment District to be the liveliest, whether it’s at a rowdy bar or a brothel, but no matter what, you’re welcome with open arms and without question.
Of course, if you’d just like to use the chance to explore the city alongside your fellow Shard-Bearers, that’s fine too. It’s easy to get lost in the crowds of Springstar and see all the city has to offer.
It’s currently (and fittingly) Spring in Springstar, and the bustling city is coming back to life after finishing up winter. It’s not as if the winters are especially harsh here, but you’ll quickly get the sense that the people of Springstar are vivacious and happy to celebrate. You’ll find the Entertainment District to be the liveliest, whether it’s at a rowdy bar or a brothel, but no matter what, you’re welcome with open arms and without question.
Of course, if you’d just like to use the chance to explore the city alongside your fellow Shard-Bearers, that’s fine too. It’s easy to get lost in the crowds of Springstar and see all the city has to offer.
IV. HIGHSTORM, луны-близнецы
Or maybe Highstorm, the city of twin moons and the seat of Zenith is more to your liking. It’s certainly the quieter of the two cities and is a relaxing, meditative place if that’s what you prefer. The chill in the air is constant, since it’s Autumn in Highstorm and the eternal night doesn’t help keep things warm, exactly. Snow isn’t out of the question at this time of the year, but it’s beautiful in the moonlight.
Because of the cooler weather than Highstorm is prone to, you’ll find many of its delights inside rather than outside. Libraries and museums are popular in the more introspective city, though it’s easy enough to find something that might please you. For example, the indoor hot baths are popular at this time of the year too. You’ll find the people are kind, if cool-tempered, though if you mention the fact that you’re a Shard-Bearer or allied with Zenith, they’re 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, it’s best to stay in the city. Wandering out into the marshes and forests isn’t advised. Of course, if you do, just contact a Loremaster to find out why. ♥
Because of the cooler weather than Highstorm is prone to, you’ll find many of its delights inside rather than outside. Libraries and museums are popular in the more introspective city, though it’s easy enough to find something that might please you. For example, the indoor hot baths are popular at this time of the year too. You’ll find the people are kind, if cool-tempered, though if you mention the fact that you’re a Shard-Bearer or allied with Zenith, they’re 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, it’s best to stay in the city. Wandering out into the marshes and forests isn’t advised. Of course, if you do, just contact a Loremaster to find out why. ♥
NOTES
PRETZELS YOU
Anyway this isn't even an 18th of how dramatic his ass can get, so he just takes the comment placidly.]
I don't think that it's very dramatic. It's just the way that it feels. Like something has reached inside and is grabbing hold tightly...
[IS THIS NOT DRAMATIC. Apparently not. He pats his chest again, frowning in consideration. Love or loathing, huh?]
Why are love and loathing both painful things to feel?
[Why is it philosophy hour in this cafe??]
IM A KNOT
Sooyoung squints as Matsui feels up his chest.]
The more powerful the emotion, the more of an effect it has on you. Like the squeezing... [squints harder?]
...Is this literal squeezing? You're not dying, are you?
DONT JUST CALL YOURSELF A KNOT
It might be literal squeezing. [He can't tell!! He's not an expert on human anatomy!! He doesn't know how bodies are supposed to work or feel or how they do what they do, man. Still, he seems extremely unperturbed about the possibility that he's dying, so maybe it's fine?]
I don't believe that I am dying, at least. [G...GOOD??] But do powerful emotions really have such an effect on the body?
BUT U PRETZELED ME?
Sooyoung just makes sure that Matsui isn't about to keel over into his cup of 50 espresso shot coffee, then considers his question.]
Sure they do. Have you ever hated someone so much that you wanted to kill them?
[swords: no? then again, this is not a normal emotion regular humans probably experience]
yeah and ill do it again
For now, Matsui just glances into his half-full cup. Some swords feel intense murderous rage! Actually quite a few of them do because they're all normal in this Citadel. Matsui seems to have to consider whether or not he has, though.]
...I don't believe that I have.
[HE ISN'T SURE?? Look he can barely tell anger and hatred apart, of course he's not going to have an answer to this.]
Have you?
forced to become a goofy knot....
Of course! Loads of times.
[WHY DOES SHE SOUND SO PROUD,]
Sometimes, my face gets really hot and my heart beats so loud in my chest that I think I might die. And sometimes, I feel so cold that I can't feel anything at all. Like the world around me kind of fades away, and it only comes back after I kill them.
goofy pretzel.. goofzel
Ah, I have felt that before. The first part, that is... Though even then, I didn't want to kill that person.
[Sometimes your rage trauma fuels you but not to murderous lengths... Not that he's apparently judging her for her stint in murdertown. The look he gives her is just quietly curious.]
Does it help? Do the unpleasant feelings go away after you kill the person that angers you?
THAT'S JUST GOOFY WITH RAPUNZEL HAIR
[you know what that's a good question. Sooyoung tilts back in her chair, arms crossed as she thinks... her chair teeters, wobbles, and then lands back on the floor with a thump.]
Yeah, I guess. [...] It's complicated.
[hilariously, she can't really remember how she felt after mcmurdering? maybe she lost those memories???? she feels a little foolish considering how confident she seemed .5 seconds ago,]
Anyway, you don't always want to have to kill them. You can just hate. I shouldn't have brought up killing...
GOOFY RAPUNZEL HELP I HATE THIS your next digivolved form
Is it complicated?? He seems to accept this. Yeah, sure. Human things appear to be complicated in general, he can give her that much.]
Emotions seem to be complicated to many, in most situations. [CAN'T IMAGINE WHY.] And killing is often a result of those emotions, so I don't think it was remiss to mention it.
[Like. He's not wrong.]
yeah im a princess now and ur Prince
I could have thought of a better example...
[grumbling....]
But it's not like I'm an emotional person to begin with. [she is actually] Are you?
DONT JUST MAKE ME PRINCE
Anyway he's terrible at reassuring people over anything ever at all, so he simply lets her have her moment of grumbling. As for the question, though... Hm.]
...I feel many emotions. [TOO MANY!! But he also rarely shows them outwardly except in a few dramatic bursts, choosing instead to manifest his feelings by singing under the red moon and also punching Tsurumaru.] I don't know that I feel any less or more than any other...person.
[Aw yeah he's blending in so well. ANYWAY more importantly:] Why do you say that you aren't? [This smells like a LIE.]
ur both the same kind of chaos
I'm just not! [LET HER LIE?] I feel just the same amount as you do.
[except for hating someone so much she wanted to kill them. she points the eraser end of her pencil at him, quick a distraction]
Name an emotion that you feel.
i am an angel and brince is the debil
You express it well.
[Is. Is that a compliment? It's hard to tell, he says everything with such neutrality. Oh, the pokerface of it all. ANYWAY he places a hand against his chest as she gestures at him with her eraser-end, as if to be like "ME? MATSUI??" before he ponders his answer to her question...]
...Dwelling within this body is anguish, pain and worry.
[THANKS SASUKE.]
But I have also felt happiness and comfort before, and the feeling of "having fun" and "belonging to something".
UR BOTH THE SAME SLICE OF APPLE PIE
Sooyoung shoots A LOOK AT Matsui for the "compliment" that she feels is an insult. This is because Sooyoung has hostile pomeranian energy.
That immediately turns into entertained pomeranian energy.]
I feel the same way too, for all of those things.
[SHE WRITES THAT LINE DOWN]
Not bad. Still dramatic, but I can use that. 'Within this body' is an interesting turn of phrase... Are you a ghost or something?
DONT GOVERNMENT ASSIGN ME APPLE PIE EITHER prince can be tho
HOSTILE POMERANIAN ENERGY. Glad she's entertained though, someone should get something out of interacting with Matsui and it's not Matsui.]
"Use that"? [FOR WHAT. Also he looks a little furtive for a second when asked that question because even though it's clear that this isn't home and people aren't bound by the same rules, he's still like, "BUT THE MISSION???"]
I am not a dead human, no. [HE'S NOT A GHOST. Spirit, yeah! Lesser god, yeah! NOT A GHOST.] How would you phrase something like that, then?
aki-shaped apple...
She points at him again with her pencil. Sussy. It's sussy pomeranian energy hours now. SHE WAS FOCUSED ON THE WAY HE USES HIS WORDS AND HE JUST CONTINUES TO BE PICK WEIRD ONES, that and Sooyoung is a born liar and would also absolutely use words to weasel out of probing questions.]
How about... 'this mortal existence has caused me much suffering, and yet, there are times when I feel so much warmth... those emotions buoy me, happiness and despair in equal measures'...
[She scribbles that down on the corner of the page, rips the piece off, and then moves over to Matsui's table so she can thwap it down.]
Here. How's that sound?
[THAT'S JUST AS WEIRD AS WHAT MATSUI SAID]
WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN HELP ME
Clearly, considering she just wrote the first page to the Darkness Dementia sequel. Matsui will lean over to peer at the paper once it's smacked down, though, canting his head to the side a little.]
Hm... [Why does this require any thought at all...] --It sounds like something that you could read in a book. It does feel like what I know to be true of the human experience, as well.
HELP I MEANT APPLE SHAPED AKI
Of course! There's a reason I'm an amazing genius world famous writer, you know. And what kind of amazing genius world famous writer [SHE SAID IT AGAIN] would I be if I didn't know how to write about the emotions humans -- and whatever you are -- feel?
[WHATEVER MATSUI IS]
Aren't you grateful that you met me today?
THATS NOT ANY BETTER
I am. Even if you were not an amazing genius world famous writer [WHY DID HE SAY IT TOO] I would still have enjoyed coming to make your acquaintance today. [BUT ALSO???] ...Do I not seem human to you?
[The way he says this in a tone that sounds genuine but with a face that looks like this.]
crawls to u aki please accept me goofy
Sooyoung continues to find this hilarious and great, especially the part where Matsui repeats her words like it's not the stupidest phrase a person could say. She could get used to this?]
Yeah.
[JUST 'YEAH']
It's not like I'm freaked out or anything if you aren't. I've met loads of non-humans before, and also humans who are bad at being ordinary.
[can she pat Matsui on the elbow, there there]
HELP i always accept u goofy
Anyway, this is - well. Not surprising?! Like, kind of surprising since he personally isn't used to it, but not surprising in that they're at the literal end of all of creation apparently, so there's surely bound to be a lot of weirdass beings here.
She can pat his elbow all she wants, he doesn't seem to react much one way or another. Instead, curiously:]
Are you human, yourself?
smiles and gooferizes u
The fact that Sooyoung clearly pauses to think about Matsui's question is probably telling enough, but look, maybe she's just have a momentary human mid-life crisis...]
Eh... I guess?
[SHE JUST GUESSES]
I was born human, but I changed into something else. Which doesn't really matter here, because I feel human again. Most of my powers are gone and the ones I have are useless, so...
[she starts grumbling like she's beyond offended that she's no longer an edgelord]
THIS IS THE THANKS I GET
ALSO THAT'S A WEIRD FUCKIN ANSWER HELLO. Matsui's brow furrows just barely, just for a brief moment.]
I see... So many of us have lost things, then. [Their powers! Their true bodies! What a time.] ...I can't say that I've ever met a human who became something different later, though.
[He just meets things that weren't human that then become human(shaped).]
i meant it with love....
she does not hug matsui, unfortunately. She continues looking entertained with this individual she just met who validates her position as an author despite having never read any of her work, and also apparently validates her. Is it a low bar??? She'll take what she can get okay, she's normally surrounded by people who dunk on her.]
You're welcome. [WHY DOES SHE TAKE THIS AS ANOTHER COMPLIMENT] Isn't it nice when you get to learn new things from someone you've just met? You should tell me something, so I can learn too.
[SHAMELESS..... But she thinks it's a fair suggestion to make? Matsui can say something like 'my vampire goth clothes' and she'd have to unfortunately accept it.]
What's something you've lost?
DONT GOOFERIZE ME WITH LOVE
"YOU'RE WELCOME" SHE'S A FUCKING WEIRDO HELP. She truly would fit right in with swords, probably. A nosy sword.]
I can't say that I disagree with that. Learning new things... It's been a benefit in many ways. [He's also a fucking weirdo who phrases things freakishly, so it's fine, it's fine. He GUESSES she's right about equal trade, too. Fortunately(??) he won't mourn the loss of his vampire goth clothes wardrobe; since she's admitted to no longer being a human, she no longer falls into the category of people (just regularass humans) that he feels most wary around.]
I have lost my sword.
i wil...... i must......
pretzels you with great exhaustion
I CARE U TOO AKI
HELP!!!!
DONT JUST SHOUT FOR HELP
YEAH HELP IM STUCK IN HELL WITH GOOFY
WHY ARE WE IN HELL NOW
we always were...
soots u
SOOTS U FIRST
oh whatchu say....
(gun foot emoji)
FOOT?
foot