open | a merry meri mingle

[sterngaze]

Who: Meridians new & old!
What: Cookout mingle
Where: Alenroux
When: Mid-March, after Vander's rescue
Warnings: Potentially alcohol consumption and violence, for the rowdy

After the initiation of Springstar's invasion plans for Alenroux, tensions among the Meridian-aligned might be a bit strained. The move comes as a surprise even for many of the shard-bearers within the faction itself, to say nothing of those whose livelihoods depend on the farms here. It's not yet clear what Highstorm's response will be, but one will certainly be coming; when that happens, someone is going to come out on the bottom, and their blood will be at least partially on Meridian's hands.

At times like this, the importance of maintaining morale can't be understated. A call goes out to the newest generation of those harmonized with Meridian's light: it's time to have a party!

PREPARATION:

Those who can are invited to help with the set-up. There are drinks to procure, foodstuffs to acquire and prepare, canopies to erect for shade, entertainments to organize. It's not meant to be a grand affair — the gathering is private, intended to foster camaraderie among the shard-bearers after long days and nights of work — but it will be a comfortable one, with edibles and enjoyments to offer to those taking solace in the company of their fellows.

It takes one of Alenroux's long days to make all the necessary arrangements — and then, late the following morning, after the night's monsters have slunk back into the woods, things are made ready. All that's left is for the guests to arrive.

THE EVENT:

Spring is still in the midst of taking hold over Alenroux, so a tall bonfire at the centre of the gathering place offers a toasty place to linger and chat throughout the day. Hot drinks and a variety of fire-roasted foods are on offer, including an entire deer helpfully supplied and prepared by Liem. Logs and stumps provide simple seating, and nearby canopies provide shade around the tables of food and drink. A little further away, sturdy tents provide more private gathering places for those wishing for a break from the hubbub.

And there will be hubbub. To break the ice between unfamiliar faces, a variety of contests have been set up over the course of the gathering. These range from simple arm-wrestling competitions, to three-legged races, to friendly sparring matches for those so-inclined. Gathered Meris are encouraged to spectate and bet amongst themselves on contest outcomes — and better yet, to volunteer to participate themselves during the next round.

For those who have already had a chance to relax and let off some steam, the gathering is a perfect opportunity to get to know one's fellow sect-mates a little better, and to reaffirm why Meridian called to them in the first place. Those gathered are encouraged to take the chance to tell a few tales about the place they came from, and to share the visions inside their Sunbeam with those from other worlds. A favourite place, a cherished person, an unkept promise, even an old enemy: all could be worth revisiting for a moment with new comrades in arms.

Comments

CLOSED | VANDER.

[redsoil]

[ Of no help at all, during the retrieval arc, was Set. Busy with his own machinations, frustrated by the way he had ( once again ) been rejected by people who he was meant to work with — to make himself lesser for, to communicate with, to understand while they offered nothing in return — it takes him time to recognize that Vander has been successfully returned to them. Worse for wear, but returned. Meridian had not lost him, and Set had not been vital to the process. All the better, then. Had he gone to Aetós's hideaway, it was just as likely that he would have been a hindrance. Not a help, as it could never be in his nature not to cause turmoil and strife, even among allies.

Still, it is to Vander he walks. Noting how large he is, broad of shoulder and hand, with one of those uncultured "beards" upon his jaw and — well, Set must admit he'd probably look worse without it. In his hands, he holds the only olive branch he's able to bring: a pair of grilled kebabs, vegetable-only, wrapped in a cloth but still steaming. Fresh off the heat, it seems. On bare feet, he approaches, and sets them alongside the man. ]

They could not bear to imagine Meridian without you, Vander.

[ He speaks of the ones who had saved him, of everyone who had stormed the outpost for him — not for the ones who had gone for their own self-serving motives. Important motives all the same. ]

You must be an inspirational man, to evoke such sentiments.

[exhound]

[Set is an interesting man, in Vander’s estimation. They’ve had little opportunities to talk, and even fewer to even cross paths, it feels like. But the glimpses of the man he’s gotten thus far and the way others spoke of him paint an interesting picture nonetheless. Like a wild and untamable force of nature personified.

It’s something of a surprise to find his approach here. It shouldn’t be, though—the entire point of this gathering is to foster camaraderie amongst their people, to give an excuse to bond and perhaps forge new connections with comrades new and old alike. Vander is finding it a bit hard to commit to that for the entire time he’s here, though. Gatherings like these are usually right up his alley, as someone who has always been dedicated to making sure he knew his people and knew them well. But he’s tired and uneasy, still feeling off after his over a week long sojourn in a cell and what came after it.

So he takes time for himself every so often, detaching from the gathered crowds and the games people have struck up to take it in from a distance. Let his thoughts wander a bit. When Set comes to join him with food in hand to offer, it startles him out of one such reverie.

His words should be heartening. And they are, for the most part. But mostly it reminds him of what a fool he’d been to get into such a mess. To drag other people into it just to get him out of trouble.

He eyes Set with a tired, half-hearted smile.]

Think they’d do the same for any one of our people. Gotta have each other’s backs.

[It’s easier to think of it that way.]

[redsoil]

[ What he knows of Vander could fill a sentence; for such a powerful-looking man, being reduced to the role of a damsel is undeniably interesting. What he knows of Vander, but has yet to realize is about Vander is much more than that. After all, Set fraternizes with Silco from time to time, though the nature of their could truly be anything — a range, from cigar band collections to the fate of worlds. What he knows, is that Vander is well-loved by some, regardless of faction.

He is an older human, Set thinks. The graying in his beard and hair indicative of his age. He has always been poor at discerning human developmental stages, as an entity that sprang into life as a storm, an animal and a man all at once. Grown, but not ascended. ]

Mm, I doubt that. There are some of us who would be better to cut loose, should they get into trouble.

[ Like him, honestly.

He does reach for Vander's hand, closing his own around the side of it in order to elevate the man's palm. The platter of food goes into it. It's a little bit like feeding a stray dog, to him — mortals need so much food, and every day! It's incessant, how do they find time to do anything else? ]

Was it because of your work with Manon, that you were targeted? [ wow set you're not even gonna let him eat ]

[exhound]

[It’s a response he half-expects. Most might see Vander brushing off the attention with such lines as merely deflection or simple platitudes. But he does genuinely mean it. To him, there’s nothing more important that looking out for his people, and in a situation like this it’s all the more important to make sure they stand firm together. Including the troublemakers, as much of a gamble as that can sometimes be.

The troublemaker before him grabs his hand and Vander lets him with simply a raised eyebrow until the food is handed over. He accepts it with an amused huff and a grateful nod.

And as much as he appreciates the food, he’s not so sure about his appetite at the moment. So Set’s immediate move to continue the conversation is frankly welcome—at least partially. The topic at hand perhaps could be better, but Vander can’t exactly fault anyone for wanting to know more about what had happened.

He picks up one of the kebabs Set had brought over, letting it hold his attention in the thoughtful moment of silence between the question and his own answer.]

I expect that’s part of it. I did a lot of digging, trying to find our mysterious scientist ever since we learned about them from Manon.

[He shrugs a shoulder, gaze turning back to Set.]

And folks who have things to hide don’t exactly take kindly to people sticking their noses in their business.

[redsoil]

[ Oh, certainly. The man feigns at humility, but Set knows of him - knows what he did, to Silco. A traitorous man, one who had attempted to fell another he had called 'brother' - the delicacy in which Set approaches is punctuated only by the bright heat of his body, the Discord that wraps around him, vibrant and angry as he fights his very need to lay hand to him. Instead, he gives him food. Instead, he engages.

He cannot allow himself to be lead by others, nor their experiences. It is just, that the Vander-Silco situation reminds him of a painful experience of his own; one he must set aside, force aside, for the moment. He can let it lie for the moment, because he is infinitely curious and should he lean upon that aspect of himself, he can stave off the effects of disobeying the rest of it. ]

Aetós. They seem to be very interested in strange subjects. Time, souls. We located information pertaining to 'cybernetics' and my own kin, as well. I wonder about them, and what they are planning.

[ Honestly, he knows what he would do, were he Aetós and could haul another Egyptian god through the Timestream. Make one helluva' boss monster, that's for sure. Something utterly horrendous and unstoppable, save for by himself. Perhaps Quetzalcoatl, too. ]

I hope your experience did not dissuade you from, being nosy?

[exhound]

[Vander wonders how all these disparate pieces of Aetós’s research connect. Time and souls, he’d got to learn a bit about that firsthand. But the rest—in particular looking into someone’s kin? Could be Aetós sees another Shard-bearer with "potential." Could be they simply prefer to be in the know about any potential Bearer who might butt into their business… or prove useful to it. Despite spending a week down there, Vander still only got so much insight into what might be spurring them and their research on.

But did the experience dissuade him? If he was a smarter man, maybe it should. He came out of there marked, changed—though he still doesn’t know how, exactly—and wouldn’t he just be better off folding now before he lost more in this proverbial gamble?]

On the contrary. They’ve gone and made this personal, and they’re still a threat. I’m not going to simply roll over and let this continue unchecked.

[Still, he needs to recover first. Find out exactly what had been done to him, find out more clues to where they might be lurking and what their next move might be. He can’t be caught unawares again.

As for what they’re ultimately planning? He only has one small bit of insight into it.]

Aetós claimed to be interested in trying to puzzle out how to create souls.

[redsoil]

[ Time, and souls. Time, and souls. The Blight on the Isles affected time itself.

What a curious array of elements, and the Shard-bearers currently unable to connect them to form a cohesive design, an answer to their network of questions. He assumes Aetós to be a third party, functioning independent of Meridian and Zenith, for their own ends; a threat that unites both factions, and will continue to do so until such a time that they are dealt with. ]

Creating souls.

[ The topic is a haunting one. It rises in Set's chest like revulsion, like sickness — a memory that overtakes him briefly and has him turning pale and grey, casting his expression in shivering, faint horror before he must duck his head and compose himself. Sweeping his fingers through his hair, carding through it as if looking for non-existent knots ( some guys have all the luck ). ]

Only goddesses have the ability to create souls, where I hail from. I have come to realize this is not the same for other worlds, but it is what I know. Souls can be — destroyed, changed, moved from form to form, though. I am less interested in the how of Aetós's work, as I am more interested in the why. Why would they want to create souls?

[ He thinks. ]

Why would creating souls benefit them? Or anyone? Perhaps they lost someone. Perhaps, they seek to create weapons of these souls — untethered souls are easier to apply. Nobody would miss them, or seek them.

[exhound]

[It truly is an unsettling thought, one that seems to affect even a wildcard like Set. That expression of his before he averts his gaze to recover himself is somewhat surprising, and Vander knows to give him that moment he needs without further scrutiny. So he busies himself with pulling a morsel off one of the kebabs, chewing thoughtfully as Set begins thinking through the important question out loud.

Why. It really is the key to this whole thing, and perhaps the one question they know so little of how to answer. There were clues about what Aetós is up to, both given freely and inferred from what people have stumbled upon. (Or gone through.) But if they could figure out why they were going to all this trouble to find an answer to such a typically out of reach question…]

My first assumption is that it’s a power grab. [So, weaponizing the souls fits that.] Nothing about their approach to this, at least from what I saw first-hand, made it seem like there were personal stakes. Calm and clinical.

[Could be that Aetós is just good at compartmentalizing, especially if they’ve been at this as long as they implied. But it still feels off.]

But if that’s true, that leads to the question of what they would need such power for.

[To make a move against either or both Zenith and Meridian personally? To use it as a stepping-stone to reach the Oracles’ power, as nebulous as that seems to be?]

[redsoil]

[ Souls are a cornerstone of Egyptian culture, after all. He is bound to them, as a self-styled psychopomp in Kenos and a ( former? ) corruptor of the natural order to life and death; thousands of souls still rest within the curse, born upon his wrist in the form of a dark, miasmatic bracelet made of heavy beads. Sometimes, they even scream!

So. Why? How could creating souls benefit Aetós? For what purpose, would they create and manipulate them? If souls were formed from the Tree of Life ( or captured, brought forth to the world of Kenos ), then... ]

To create them independent of the Tree of Life, could be a method of fashioning a third "faction" — souls, that do not resonate with either Meridian or Zenith forces, but instead a third. Perhaps Aetós has uncovered information that has lead them to seek a different way of obtaining what they want. If we knew what they wanted, it would inform much of what they are doing.

[ This is why Set enjoys learning about people's convictions! It informs how and why they do things, and helps him interpret and pre-empt their next actions. ]

[exhound]

[The idea of another faction springing up is a troubling one. Not so much just on the surface, but things are contentious enough with two sides vying for a singular power to fuel two very opposing goals. Maybe it would provide the opportunity for more than just outright strife between the existing forces, but… there’s really no way to guarantee it. Especially when, as Set concludes, it’s hard to know what their plans are without knowing what they want in the first place.]

I doubt they’d be sloppy enough to leave anything too revealing behind in that lab of theirs after seeming to willingly give it up, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s anything to find in there that might give us an idea of it.

[At least it’s a place to start from, even if it might not be a very fruitful search. But whatever is motivating Aetós to dig into this sort of work, it’s gotta be something big.]

Otherwise, we’re stuck sniffing out any hints to where they’ve gone with no idea of what they’re really after.

[Which would be the case regardless, but it just feels all the worse to come out of this with even more questions to replace the incredibly few answers they might have gained.]