kenoslogs | 2023 catch-all

[Several days after the end of the Exalt Oracle trial, when news of Meridian’s victory has made Springstar merry and Highstorm’s residents more dour than ever, there is an incident on one of Springstar’s quieter roads. First-hand witnesses are in short supply, but news nonetheless gets around quickly enough: A dog-eared Zenite was arrested for attacking the esteemed Meridian Decurion, Liem Talbott, in a public street. It takes little time at all for the rumour to proliferate all over the city, branching out into speculation about why Lord Talbott was targeted, and just what exactly really happened.

For Liem, who would much rather go about his business with a minimum of fuss and recognition, the production quickly becomes tiring indeed.

On this particular evening — or as close to “evening” as there ever is in Springstar — Liem’s search for a bit of peace leads him to a quiet establishment in an idyllic part of the city’s entertainment district. Part relaxed bar, part evening café, the drinking establishment features cushioned seats and low tables; finger foods, served alongside steaming cups of wine and hard teas; and curtains draped throughout for quiet and privacy. He has come here before, on occasions when he’d wished to simply down a drink or two in peaceful, pleasant surroundings, instead of get himself blackout drunk and stumble home in Highstorm’s sombre gloom.

So it is here where he sequesters himself, lurking at a small table in one of his customary bespoke suits, a cup of wine resting half-drunk between his hands. Even in the shade of the building’s interior, he’s kept his sunglasses on. Eyes like his are rather distinctive.]

[ the atmosphere has drawn john here for similar reasons. he's already spent more than enough time in a state of perpetual mourning back home to go inviting the feeling by being in highstorm right now. since the mood is also partly, directly his fault: probably for the best.

he had also swung by the jail to see the Zenith dog in question — because he certainly hasn't gotten any less vindictive with age — and his desire for a drink before he returns to the lab has brought him here.

john is aware of liem as soon as he enters the space, having been around him long enough by now to recognise the unique things that allow john to tell people apart by their biology.

he orders a drink, and once he has it in hand, he makes his way over. ]

Trying to keep a low profile? You're so popular lately I don't blame you.

[ that's what the sunglasses indoors are saying. ]

[Sunglasses indoors do give off a bit of a “don’t look at me” kind of vibe, but in fairness, Liem radiates that vibe fairly often, just as he wears sunglasses indoors fairly often. Now is simply one of the times when he definitely doesn’t want to take them off.

When John wanders over, Liem looks up and notes the familiar figure making his way through the space. His first reaction is to be a little annoyed, but given John’s unique status given his relationship to both factions, his face is probably the least worrying one Liem could end up seeing right now. An ally might feel like interrogating him; an enemy might want to cause trouble. But John? He’s probably just here to drink whatever’s in that cup he’s holding.]

Fame is a pernicious affliction, [he agrees dryly. Freeing one hand from his cup, he gestures at the other seat at his table; since John came all the way over to talk to him, he may as well sit.]

Please, feel free to join me. As long as you aren’t also here to congratulate me for taking a light beating from a teenager.

[ john can sympathise. there were plenty of times he had wished he wasn't God so he could simply be without scrutiny or the uncomfortable awareness that he would always need to keep everyone else at a distance.

that was very much a problem of his own making — so not quite the same — but in terms of relatable things he's willing to drink to, it counts. ]

No, I wouldn't congratulate you on that, but I can't pretend I'm not glad to see some consequences.

[ ~~consequences specifically for annoying people who aren't john.~~ he very much intends to drink what he has and takes the offered seat. john supposes he must be doing better, and it only took some light sabotage and a dry cleaning bill to manage it. considering his past experiences (where everyone just hated him more over time), that's an improvement. ]

I doubt he'll learn, but at least he knows he didn't get away with it.

[ which, if nothing else, makes john happy. ]

[Liem lets out a sigh as John takes his seat and offers his own commentary on the situation with Gen — because of course he has commentary. Their mutual dislike hadn’t exactly been subtle, when Liem had observed them at the ambassador meeting.

Fortunately for John, Liem is probably among the least vindictive people he could ever wrong. He has no qualms whatsoever about drinking with the man just because of some unfortunate business that stopped being relevant months ago.]

No, I don’t think he’ll learn anything from this. I don’t think… he cares about the risk of consequences, when it comes to deeply personal matters.

[He’s sure Gen isn’t glad to be in jail because of this, but if anything, he suspects the young man blames Liem for his predicament, rather than himself. And even if that weren’t the case, he doubts even full knowledge of the consequences he’d end up suffering would have been enough to deflect his rage from finding the target it wanted.

Looking at John sidelong, he considers the other man, considers how he’s never seen John look ashamed of anything at all, and he thinks that this is not a problem he ever would have had.]

You know, I found him so I could apologize to him, for something I did when I was out-of-sorts towards the end of the Oracle trial. I get the impression he’s used to having bad relationships with older people. But… well. You can guess how it went over.

[ that's the benefit of sunk cost; he's done too many things to too many people, and his hands are much too dirty to bother with shame. of course, that comes with a degree of self-loathing, but some people already have that and get a lot less in return to make up for it.

as liem describes his intentions, john is aware of the fact that his own actions may have indirectly contributed to this, but it's not like admitting that will change anything, so he sips his drink and listens. ]

Well, he is a teenager. It's in their nature to feel that way. He doesn't like that older people aren't required to tolerate him as he is and can disagree any time they want, but I suppose that's immaturity for you.

[ funny he should say that when john doesn't like it that people aren't required to tolerate him and can disagree any time they want, but obviously the difference here is that john always thinks he's right.

in contrast, john is also an incredibly vindictive person who never lets anything go, so gen will always be the enemy in his eyes, even if he's already acknowledged he's dealing with a kid. old enough to know better. ]

I don’t think it’s just that.

[He supposes this is the kind of take he would expect from John, who seems to have no sympathy for Gen whatsoever. It’s easy to assume that someone who always acts like a rude punk just wants licence to run rampant without consequences — but that isn’t the impression Liem has ever gotten from Gen.]

He seemed so ready to believe that I was looking down on him, or that I thought little of him.

[He sips contemplatively at his drink, thinking of the times, even before then, that Gen had chafed against the idea of Liem taking pity on him, or that he himself had intimated that Liem was better than him. It spoke to some hidden insecurity lurking large just beneath the surface, and that had to have come from somewhere.]

I don’t know if people back home made him feel that way or if it’s just something he thinks about himself, but he’s always had a lot of anger in him, and it must come from somewhere.

[ it's true that he has no sympathy whatsoever. any chance of that died when gen decided to mock him and double down on it ever since.

john could never forgive such blatant disrespect, although he would say that he is capable of being a merciful sort of God and, therefore, would at least toss gen a few points for effort if he managed to grovel sufficiently.

he leans his chin on one hand and swirls his drink around in his glass with the other as he listens, frowning as he stares down into it unpleasantly. stubborn as ever, john doesn't want to find any sympathy either. ]

Don't we all?

[ a sigh and another sip. ]

I get what you're saying, but name one person here who doesn't have something. Everyone needs an abundance of professional help and medication, but instead, we're all stuck deciding the fate of everything and everyone.

[ and he already knows none of that is as fun as it sounds. ]

Where exactly do you draw the line?

[ maybe he should be encouraging this kind of open thinking and willingness to understand one another instead of shooting it down because it's better overall for maintaining the peace, but john has always been too willing to sacrifice what he ought to do in favour of something entirely self-serving because he has a grudge. ]

Or maybe you don't, otherwise we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.

[ did liem ever think it through and imagine his behaviour comes from somewhere, he wonders. not that it matters, but he can't help but think it's a waste of time. ]

[Liem frowns a little at the mention of professional help and medication, though he imagines John is probably right. Even those of them who might have been well-off to begin with can’t have remained so after being plucked from their homes and brought here to be thrust into the midst of some grand, existence-spanning war.]

No, you’re not wrong. There has to be a line somewhere, and I certainly don’t intend to keep hounding him with reparations he doesn’t even want.

[What a waste of time that would be — just as trying to apologize had been a waste of time, for all his earnest hopes. He hadn’t expected Gen to forgive him, but he also hadn’t realized that his attempt at an apology would only make him angrier.

He buries his frown in his drink for a long moment, then lowers his glass with a soft breath.]

It’s not really about me, though I can’t say I’m indifferent about what he did.

[Though he’s sympathetic to the hurt that he knows must lie somewhere at the heart of that anger, he also knows he doesn’t want to volunteer as someone on whom Gen might simply vent whatever frustrations he likes. Nor does he think it’s appropriate for Gen to have involved Set in the way that he did.]

But we were… if not good friends, then at least friendly, before. I knew him before either of us were even brought to this world. I’d just hoped it wouldn’t all be poisoned the way it was, and that even if he was angry, maybe he would want to understand.

Quest Info

[When the Church reaches out to Liem about some trouble with a monster roaming about the undercroft beneath its main structure, he seeks the assistance of other Meridian shard-bearers who might wish to delve with him to address the problem. It has been some time since he has explored a place like this; he thinks of Aetós’s facility primarily, with its magical traps and its strange, dangerous creatures. If the dangers beneath the church are anything like that, he doesn’t wish to venture down there alone.

So it is with a pair of tall, strong companions at his side that he hears the priestess’s brief description of the basement they’re to scour, and then passes through the magic door to begin the hunt. Liem is dressed for work in long, sturdy vestments of charcoal grey, embroidered and accented with gold, with the shining gold key of his divine patron hanging about his neck. It is garb that has served him well everywhere from bandit-riddled forests to subterranean cult hideouts, and he is confident as they move through the tunnels in search of their quarry.

But he cannot say that he enjoys the prospect of getting his garb being entirely soaked through, as it quickly threatens to become when they arrive at the maze’s flooded portion. With no way around unless they backtrack all the way to the beginning, he presently finds himself scuttling along the corridor’s ceiling like a dark, priestly spider, with only a few scant feet of room between him and the chest-high water that almost entirely fills this region of the basement.

Sticking to the ceiling does at least prevent him from getting soaked, but the activity demands both of his hands, so he’s hoping they don’t run into any dangerous creatures just yet. He won’t be able to so much as load his crossbow unless he consents to dunking himself in the water with his companions.]

[Deep within the labyrinth, past seemingly-endless flooded sections, past infestations of mushrooms and dangerous vermin, the section of the basement in which they now find themselves resembles a natural cave network more than a church’s lower levels. Liem’s boots scuff gently over bare rock and earth as they progress, and he increasingly finds himself stepping cautiously over twining roots that threaten to choke the passage entirely.

At this point, he has to wonder what the Church is hiding down here, to have need of such extensive tunnels beneath their holy place. Surely no organization with nothing to hide would have something like this beneath it.]

When we return, I must have a conversation with the clergy who asked this of us, [he observes dryly. A thick root plunging from the tunnel ceiling obliges him to duck his head to pass beneath it, his eyes still scanning the tunnel for any signs of hostility.] I would not previously have dreamed that the complex beneath the church was anywhere near this extensive, or this wild.

[ Karlach is having a great time, as far as she's concerned. This sort of work, if you can call it that, is right up her alley--and she's doing it of her own accord to actually help people. No one holding a knife to her throat saying that she'd better fight or there are worse fates. She's taken something of the lead, a long handled axe in one hand and a light in the other to forge forward through the water, sloshing and splashing.

The fact that she's soaked up to her chest doesn't seem to bother her. In fact, she's humming softly to herself. Some sort of cheery, half-remembered drinking song. She glances up at Liem on the ceiling with a wry grin. ]

It's just a bit of water.

[ Dimitri picks his way along behind Karlach, his lance in hand, and wet up to the chest just like she is. He's stepping carefully and probing with the butt end of his spear to make sure he doesn't suddenly step into any hidden pools or falls. His eye is fixed forward, into the dim light. Although he does glance up at Liem as Karlach speaks. ]

Honestly, he might have the right idea.

[ Although he can cope with this just fine. ]

Agreed...

[ Dimitri is, at least, not too much the worse for wear. Although like Liem he's a little mystified at how deep this place seems to go. ]

One wonders if this system extends under the rest of the city. Or where it does actually lead - and how long people have known of it.

[ He ducks under the same root. ]

This feels... far too big to have simply been ignored until now.

I mean, if they built the catacombs and just sorta... knocked into a natural cave system, it could just be luck?

[ Karlach has run into several of these in her brief time with Tav, okay? ]

I do agree that if people have just been ignoring it, that's a bit weird yeah.

[If Liem knows that he looks a little strange crawling along on the ceiling instead of wading through the flooded corridors like a normal person, he doesn’t outwardly acknowledge it. He only glances at Karlach as she splashes through the water ahead of him, his expression utterly sober. Sometimes you are a tall, burly warrior with a big hefty weapon; sometimes you are a little priest with terrible circulation and an antique crossbow that shouldn’t get wet.]

It’s more than a bit, and I don’t want to have to deal with a soaked bowstring unless I absolutely must.

[He’s not tall enough to keep his crossbow above water while he’s on his feet, not unless he holds the damn thing level with his head. Glancing ahead, where the glow cast by Karlach’s light is thrown down the tunnel, Liem frowns consideringly. At the edge of the light, beyond the range at which a human would still be able to pick out details in the gloom, the stonework looks odd.]

The tunnel looks unusual up ahead. Like natural stone.

I can always put you on my shoulders.

[ Karlach chuckles softly. She glances up at Liem again, then glances back towards Dmitri. As Liem speaks up again, though, she turns and squints into the dimness beyond the light for a moment at Liem's words. ]

You're right.

[ She sloshes forward through the water again, closing the distance. ]

Looks like there's something glowing?

It shouldn’t all just be connected like this, [Liem agrees. He wonders if even the Church knows how far these tunnels go — if they’ve mapped out the entire complex, or if it stretches down and down, all the way to the Below.]

I’d think the Church would want to wall this part off — unless there’s a reason to keep a creature-filled labyrinth stretching beneath Heliopolis. It’s clearly not uninhabited.

[Case in point; the swarms that had tried to lunch on them earlier in the maze, when they’d discovered those blankets of mushrooms. It seems like the entire basement is unsafe to wander, and that makes Liem rather wonder what the point of it even is.

And these roots are getting thicker, too. He’s still able to squeak through and duck underneath, but quarters are getting increasingly close. If things keep on this way, they’re going to need to start cutting their way through just to make forward progress.]

Your eyes are better than mine.

[ Dimitri is (mostly) human and his abilities don't extend to seeing well in the dark. Plus he's down an eye already. He glances up at Liem and then at Karlach as he continues, following in her wake. ]

I can't see it just yet. What do you think it is? Maybe it opens into a cave or something that isn't man-made... but the priestess didn't mention that, did she?

[ Not that he remembers at any rate. ]

Yes. Even if they'd stumbled into it by accident, I can't imagine they'd want to leave their building open to whatever might want to wander in. Especially if some of it is dangerous.

[ He's larger than Liem, so he really has to squeeze through as well. He's quietly thankful he left his cloak behind - it would have been a detriment down here. He turns his lance to get it to fit, careful not to poke either of his companions. ]

...I wonder if they didn't tell us something.

Wouldn't be surprised.

[ Karlach grunts, trying to wriggle herself through in the wake of her companions. She's quite possibly the largest in general, which makes the whole thing a chore. She hefts her axe as she manages to get out into a small, clear space. ]

Maybe it used to get used more but just kinda fell into disuse? Happens sometimes.

[Liem makes a short hum of agreement at Dimitri and Karlach’s comments, not wanting to jump to conclusions about why something like this might be down here beneath the church. Assuming guilt won’t get them anywhere.]

Let’s continue to keep our eyes open while we’re down here. Maybe we’ll discover something illuminating.

[For instance: this thicket of roots that only gets thicker the further in they go. Past a dense screen of roots that Liem has to weave through like he’s navigating a maze, he comes to a wall of roots so dense that not even he could possibly wriggle through. But the thing that catches his eye is — the wall of roots seems quite clearly to form a large face.]

Now this is… strange. [He is immediately reminded of the dryad that had lived in the Tree of Life, and frowns warily at the face blocking the way.] How did this get here…?

I’m fine up here, [Liem says dryly. Sitting on someone’s shoulders probably wouldn’t be any less dignified than clinging to the ceiling, but it would be needlessly cumbersome.

As Liem stares down the tunnel, he spots the little specks of pale illumination that Karlach mentioned. The corridor seems to open up a little bit further on, but in an irregular, winding way. And the flooding doesn’t seem to ease up any, as far as he can see.]

Her description of the labyrinth was very brief. I’d be willing to believe that it includes sections of natural maze as well, and she simply didn’t feel the need to mention it. Or maybe she didn’t have that level of detail to share in the first place.

[She had seemed rather vague about the entire thing, he’d thought. Perhaps the clergy don’t tend to actually venture down here, and lack a detailed idea of what the basement even entails anymore.]

It looks like natural tunnels up ahead — perhaps a cave network the maze intersects with.

[ he rolls his glass between his palms idly as he considers this, getting the feeling this is a far more tangled web than he thought when he sat down. john is hardly the guy for this sort of topic, given his history of personal relationships, but he also can't help but be nosy. ]

"Poisoned" is a curious way to describe it, but then I don't know the history.

[ but it's a strong word either way. ]

Maybe the surest way to ensure his feelings don't get hurt again is to blow up the relationship.

[ john wouldn't happen to know anything at all about that strategy or anything. ]

Maybe he wants to see how many times he can hit you before you stop trying.

2023 catch-all

for John — what is life if not a series of increasingly creative fuckups

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for Dimitri & Karlach — A Quest of Brilliance

The Appetizer

The Main Course

Re: The Appetizer

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