Title: FFXIV Write 2022 - 4. Free Day 1
Characters: Venat, Karasawa, Atraxae
Rating: Teen
Summary: What if a failed would-be Azem made it all the way to the modern era? These are the Misadventures of Karasawa Atraxae.
Notes: So a theme I am leaning into for FFXIV Write 2022 is that of focusing on the Scions of the Seventh Dawn; I decided, however, to use my Free Days to focus on other possibilities. Warrior of Light concepts I have thought of, but will never use, since the game is so alt-unfriendly. These are not any kind of canon, and in fact, I am feeling free to be kind of nonsense with them.
Atraxae paced on the stage as she ranted about her thesis to those Ancient fellows who had seen fit to make an appearance at her little one-woman conference.
"Our world is being improved all the time," she said, "by the hard work of our compatriots, who are striving ever forward to improve our star. And when their hard work is done, of course, it is the done thing to retire, job done, go back to the lifestream, give the energy back and pay it forward to the next iteration of who we might be, and hopefully maybe learning something ineffable in the process. Well, swive that, I say! Look, we think we're going for perfection, but hey, maybe we don't know what perfection really is, right? Maybe someone somewhere will come up with some paradigm-shifting Etheirys-shattering paradigm shift, and then what? You're asleep in the lifestream, unable to appreciate the changes that have been made. Maybe you could've found something new to improve! Maybe you could've learned more! But no, you checked out early, and so you don't have squat to do with the brave new world that may have been made.
"That's why I'm proposing something completely different! Instead of just checking out of existence, why not simply take a little sidestep? Sure, go to the lifestream, but instead of getting all your life experience flushed gone and away, just hang out there for a bit, and come back in, oh, I don't know, maybe a century or something? Maybe something will have changed while you were gone, and when you come back and learn about it, you'll go hey, look at that! There's more work for me to do now! You can find new purpose without having to do the whole retirement gig, and you'll be smarter for having done it.
"That's why I'm presenting today the culmination of my personal life's work. A way for any one of us to immerse ourselves fully into the lifestream, and then, at a predetermined time, come back up, just as we are! I mean, there's probably a few more things to work out, and it hasn't been tested, but just think of it! Instead of returning to the lifestream fully and pretty much getting erased, you can take a bit of a break, come back, uh, hopefully refreshed, and then, boom! Learn about how much more awesome our world has gotten in your absence, and then use that to springboard yourself into a new life with new discoveries! Wouldn't it be grand!"
Atraxae stopped at this point, throwing her arms wide and grinning at her assembled audience. Most of them looked back, their expressions unreadable behind their masks, but their body language was... well, if she was to be honest, it was less than interested. Only Karasawa, her good friend standing in the back, seemed enthusiastic at all as he threw a fist up in the air and pumped it a few times in support.
Well, one was better than none, even if she knew that the one would always be there for her. She grinned back at him, and gave a bow as she moved on to the next part of her presentation.
"So that's why today I'm revealing to you, dear friends, the IDEA engine and the SWORD device, as well as the FOCUS chamber!"
The assembled Ancients looked back and forth at each other. One of them shook his head - no, wait, that was a her- and raised her hand. Atraxae pointed at her.
"...I am certain I am going to regret asking this, but what could those acronyms for these concepts you are proposing possibly stand for?"
Oops, it was a him. Oh well, not like she was planning on any formal relationships with anyone present. She hated how well the robes hid the forms of those under them, and how the masks hide their faces from one another. Better to go bare faced and naked, she thought.
Where was she?
Oh right.
"Well, here is the IDEA engine," she said, holding up what appeared to be a gem. "And uh, the acronym, let's call it a work in progress. But! It's the bit that keeps you, you. At least in spirit. See, we all are capable of pretty impressive shape changing, and what form is in vogue now may not be in vogue when you come out, so it's designed to help shift and adapt your spirit to a new vessel so that you'll fit in whenever you come out! The SWORD," she said, and here she hefted what appeared to be a sword in the air, "Stands for the Soul Wave Omega Reinforcement Device. Spending so much time in the lifestream may make you a little bit thin, and the SWORD draws on ambient aether to reinforce your form, no matter how long you've been gone. It also makes a pretty good focus for magic and, uhm, well, it's... it's an actual weapon. You can stab people with it if you like. Its form is mutable, though, so it can appear to be practically any weapon you need it to be! And that over there, that bed like chamber with a lid that you can close, well, that's what'll help reconstitute - uh, reinvigorate - uh, it's... it's what helps to bring you back. It stands for the Final Oculus for Constraining the Universe of Spirit. You store your pattern in it, and set a time. When the time comes, it looks for your pattern in the lifestream, and activates your IDEA engine, as well as attuning your SWORD to your new, old, reborn self!"
She grinned wildly at the assembled few, and waited patiently.
Finally, one of them with a sigh, raised their hand. Atraxae pointed at them. She decided to stop guessing at the kind of person that might be in those robes. If pressed, however, she was certain this one was male.
"Did you pick those names just to make the acronyms work? Also, have any of these concepts been passed by review?"
Drat. Wrong again.
"One, yes, of course I did. Two, no, shut up, I don't need to, as I still haven't even tested them. Which I just need a bit of help with, and then, sure, we can punt them up for concept review." Atraxae saw another hand go up. "Oh! What's your question?" she asked cheerfully.
The owner of this question stood up, and she was positive this one was a man. "Atraxae. Is this just a pathetic attempt to see if you can outwait the current Azem, and when they are done with their job, make another bid for their seat? Are you that upset about losing the bid for that convocation seat?
Okay, ouch, that was rude, she thought. But at least she got his gender right.
"What? No," she said breezily, "and I'm insulted that you would think that. I mean, yeah, I do plan on outlasting the current Azem. But if my work is good and I've done the math right, I won't just outlive this Azem. I'll outlast a dozen Azems! And then when I come back, hopefully we'll have changed as a civilization enough that maybe I'll find some new purpose! I won't even want to be an Azem, you know. I'll have something even better to aspire to, I'm sure!"
She clapped her hands. "That's enough questions for now though! Please come back tomorrow if you're willing to help, we can use all the hands we can muster!"
"Who's we?" said the same man, dryly, clearly not expecting an answer as he headed for the door. As did the other six people present. Which was everyone in the room except for Karasawa.
The room had been reserved and able to seat a hundred. Atraxae had to admit, she might have set her expectations a bit high. Still, she was more than a little disappointed at the small turnout.
"Well, it's me and Karasawa, that's technically two people, that's enough for a we," muttered Atraxae under her breath as Karasawa walked up front to her.
"Enthusiastic as always," said Karasawa. "You continue to be a light upon this star, as bright as any."
"Yeah, well," said Atraxae. "Wish others saw it the same way." She sighed, and gathered up her equipment and gear, shoving them into her robes where they vanished into an ethereal other space that she used for storage, like many ancients did. At least, those who didn't just use their creation magics to collapse and rebuild their belongings as they needed. "Oh well," she said. "Could've gone worse." She looked to the door, and sighed, her shoulders slumping.
"Wish Venat would've shown up," she said.
Karasawa crossed his arms, and nodded. "I'm just glad that she has continued her work, despite relinquishing the seat of Azem. We could use more people like her."
"Yeah," said Atraxae, despondent. "Well, that's that, I guess. There's a place that makes a killer food concept not too far from here, they call 'em chupaquesos. Let's go snag a bite."
Karasawa nodded as Atraxae finished gathering up her equipment, and they headed out.
-*-
The next day found Atraxae and Karasawa working. Once it had become clearly obvious that nobody was coming to help them, they had shed their masks. Atraxae hated having to wear one, and while it Karasawa pretended to be reluctant about the matter, secretly, it gave him a quiet thrill to push into such a taboo.
"Was what that one man said yesterday correct? About the seat of Azem?" asked Karasawa. It was a topic they had not talked about at all since Atraxae had lost her bid for the seat, as he did not want to unduly distress his friend.
"Oh, hells no," said Atraxae. "I mean, yeah, I wanted the seat, but I see now I had it all backwards. I wanted to become Azem so I could go out and see the world and do all that cool shite and explore and whatnot. If I was really suited to the seat, though, I would've done what Venat's protege did, which is to say, already have been doing all that. No, I swived it up, and the better Azem got the seat. The Convocation made the right call."
Atraxae held up a lattice of crystal work, and let it go, allowing it to hover in the air as she held a hand up to it, and pushed aether into it. "Besides, look at us! This is a way better use of my talents. Just you wait, Karasawa. I'll show them. I'll show them all!"
"You know, you talking like that is why people are wary of you," said Karasawa, who nevertheless moved to the side to peer closely at Atraxae's work, and help make small adjustments of it.
"Pft. Whatever. Maybe I'll just zipper a few hundred years into the future and they'll appreciate me more then."
"I think you misestimate how slowly our society moves."
"Is this the workshop for the Future Technologies Symposium?" said a voice, and Atraxae and Karasawa both scrambled to put their masks back on.
"Yes! Hello! Welcome to our workshop! We're currently calibrating the IDEA engine, but we're happy to - VENAT!" said Atraxae animatedly, and Karasawa looked up from adjusting his mask to see her standing in the doorway.
"I didn't expect you to drop by! I thought you were busy out exploring the star or whatever!" Atraxae continued, babbling now.
Venat's robe was white, as befit her role as an advisor, and her mask unmistakeable, with its fine filigree. One of the few methods of personal expression allowable in their society. Karasawa gave her a bow, which she returned in kind.
"Well, I cannot stay for long," said Venat. "But I have heard very interesting things about what you are working, and I wished to see for myself. But wherever are my manners? It sounds like I was interrupting a conversation about our fair society."
Karasawa looked to Atraxae, and shook his head slightly, worried. Atraxae frowned at him, and he thought for just a moment that she would be able to contain herself.
"Aw, we're just griping about how slowly anything ever changes around here," said Atraxae, and Karasawa groaned. He -had- meant to spin her up into a good rant, as she was entertaining to listen to, but he had meant it to happen in private, and not in front of a former member of the convocation.
"Do go on," said Venat, and Karasawa moved to pretend to work on the crystal lattice.
"Well, look, all the work we do, everything we are, we're supposed to be stewards of the star, right? Aiming for perfection? But what the bloody hell is perfection? I'll tell you, what we're making, we ain't making perfect. We're making stagnation is what we're doing. I was at the Concept House the other day -"
"That's not what it's called," said Karasawa, exasperated. At least she could not slag off on beloved public works institutions if she was going to rant in front of others.
"-whatever, and you know what I saw?"
"What, pray tell?" asked Venat.
"SHARKS."
Venat's expression was unreadable behind her mask, but Karasawa certainly felt bewildered. This was a part of the rant he had not heard yet.
"And the time before that, and the time before that. I don't go there nearly often enough for it to have been just a fad or something. Sharks! Nothing but sharks. Nobody coming up with anything new, just a dozen variations on bloody sharks. And you know what? That's a symptom, that's what it is. That's just part of the whole thing. Nobody has any new bloody ideas anymore. No, you go down to the Concept Store-"
"Also not what it's called."
"-and you pick up someone else's ideas, and you drop off your ideas, but they ain't new. Ain't -nothing- new. Karasawa here was just reminding me of how slow our society moves, and you know what? He's right. It's just about moved itself to a dead stop! Perfection, my perfectly pert round -arse-."
"Atraxae!" gasped Karasawa.
"Well it is, I made it myself."
Karasawa looked in horror at Venat, and was relieved when she reached up a hand to hide a laugh.
"And so I'm working on this," said Atraxae, grumpily. "Between the FOCUS and the IDEA and the SWORD, I'm gonna send people into the future. Maybe someone, somewhere, will come up some Etheirys-shattering idea that'll change everything, and when we come back out, the whole bloody star won't be so backwards anymore. It'll be something new." she turned to Venat, and grinned at her. "...I bet you can imagine, can't you? Look at you, all white-robed and still working after you were done with the convocation. Just itching at the bit. Imagine never returning to the star, but instead just jumping forward a bit whenever you think it's time. Just infinitely into the future. Never leaving."
Atraxae had grown quiet towards the end, and Karasawa looked at her quizzically. Venat shook her head.
"It is the duty of all of us to return to the star once we feel our work is done, Atraxae. I'm just not done yet, that's all, but I do intend to return one day."
"Right. Right. Of course, of course," said Atraxae, rubbing her arm. Karasawa tilted his head at her. To say she was a chaotic personality would be an understatement, and this was a side of her he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before.
"Wait. Infinite. Oh, that's a good word! Hang on, hang on, let me think about it. Okay. Okay. Infinite Diversity Etheric Attuner! Yeah, that's a great name for it! Oh, oh, Karasawa, write that down."
Karasawa dutifully fetched his notebook out from his robes, and wrote down the device's name next to its entry that he already had mostly filled out.
"What is that, I wonder?" asked Venat.
"Oh right you weren't at the presentation yesterday. Right! The three fold devices. It's how I'm going to help people skip into the future. The IDEA engine takes your pattern and keeps it for you while you're in the lifestream, and then when it's time for you to come back, it'll put you in a new vessel appropriate to whenever you are, neat as you please. The SWORD is actually kind of an aetheric converter engine. Like if the IDEA makes sure you're you, the SWORD makes sure you stay, reinforcing you and shoring you up and stuff, and, uh, well, it's also legitimately a weapon. And the FOCUS, well, that's what calls you back when the time is right. Boom! Just relax into the FOCUS, let yourself drift down to the lifestream, and you'll wake up just like coming up from a nap when the time is right, ready to get back to work.
"It's genius, if I do say so myself. Say, while you're here... would you mind helping calibrate the IDEA engine? I've tested it with me and Karasawa, but as you know, one time's just an event, doing it twice is just coincidence, we really need three patterns to make sure we've got a pattern. A pattern of patterns. Of working! Yeah."
Venat tilted her head at Atraxae, and Atraxae grinned back.
"It's okay. It'll just record parts of your pattern, nothing more, and once we check that it looks okay, we'll wipe it right here, don't you worry. Karasawa will monitor from there, and I'll be right here to help calibrate it as you go. All you need to do is hold your hand out to this crystal lattice we've got floating right here, and we'll do the rest."
"...intriguing," said Venat, and after a moment's hesitation, she held her hand out to the crystal lattice, and began to pour aether into it. Karasawa quickly moved to watch while Atraxae fiddled with the crystals.
Venat's aether work was beautiful, he had to admit, and as he saw the 'signature' of who she was started to form, he thought that beautiful as well. Venat's was a pretty shade of light blue. Atraxae had been a purple, while his own had been orangish.
"And you say the intent is to preserve a soul into the future, that it may come back to our star, as itself, intact and hale and whole?" asked Venat as they worked.
"Yeah! You get it! Genius, right?" said Atraxae.
"...perhaps." said Venat.
"I think we have enough, Atraxae," said Karasawa. Atraxae fiddled with the crystals one last time, and then after a moment, she nodded to Venat, and Venat withdrew her hand. The gentle aether flow stopped, and Atraxae took the crystal lattice down, and she worked with it for a bit.
"...I think that's it. Yeah, that's - look at this pattern, Karasawa," she said, handing the crystals over.
Karasawa took it, and looked it over, and nodded. "...your pattern is quite lovely, if I do say so, Venat."
Venat smiled and shrugged. "I shall have to take your word for it. I trust, however, that you are not going to be plucking me from the lifestream at a moment's notice?"
"Oh, no no no, not with this alone," said Atraxae. "You've confirmed our work, though, but no. Here, I'll release your pattern from the crystals in a moment, but for this to work - we need a bigger crystal, and you'd have to commit your whole self to it. Basically this serves as a prism for your soul, and you push yourself through it on your way to the lifestream, and it remembers enough of it as you do so to call you back later. This is part of the IDEA engine. The other part's the resonator, over there - I think I'll make it into a necklace, I can get it small enough - and the crystal as its main stone. When it's time, you get called back, and the resonator's what's responsible for finding you a new form to inhabit, while the crystal busies itself making you, well, you once more."
Venat crossed her arms, and looked thoughtful, and when she spoke, Karasawa got the feeling she wasn't really talking to anyone in the room. "A spark thrown into the future." she said. "...but who?"
Atraxae and Karasawa looked at one another.
"What?" asked Atraxae.
Venat smiled, and shook her head. "Nothing. Just idle musings. I think... you should continue you work, Atraxae. You have my support, should you ask for it. I think... perhaps it will make for a good alternative, perhaps to - ah. To, ah... other plans one might make for the rest of their life. In service to the star, of course."
It would've been hard for someone else to tell, because of the mask, but Karasawa had long been friends with Atraxae, and could tell she was lighting up.
"Oh yes! Of course! I'm so glad you approve! Maybe with your word, we can get more help here. I mean, if you want to give it, but really, your support alone is enough, and I think we're pretty close to testing anyway!"
Venat smiled, and bowed. "Thank you for sharing your work with me, Atraxae, Karasawa. I am afraid, however, that my visit, by necessity, must be a short one. I have other matters to look after. Kindly keep me appraised of your progress, however."
"Oh yes. Absolutely. Have a good day. Hey! Tell the new Azem I said hello! No, tell them I said congratulations!"
Venat nodded as she glided out of the workshop, and Atraxae grinned giddily at the door as she left. Karasawa slowly turned to her.
"...it's not for the seat of Azem," he said. "It's for her."
"What? Huh? Sorry. What?" said Atraxae, shaking her head clear.
"All of this that you're working on. All that you're doing. You were thinking about her. You were thinking of a way to keep her around on the star, and instead of talking to her like a well-adjusted being, you decided to throw yourself into this project," he said. "You care deeply for her."
"Everyone who's ever met her cares deeply for her, are you kidding? She's one of like five people who are interesting at all on this planet. It's like, you, me, her, the new Azem, and iunno I'm sure there's a fifth somewhere."
Karasawa smiled gently, and Atraxae grinned back at him. "I am certain there are more than five," he said. "Sheer statistics alone-"
"Yeah yeah by the numbers, sure, I know, I know," said Atraxae, rolling her eyes. She held the crystal lattice between her hands, and shrunk it down to be the size of a gem. "And I'm not going to tell HER any of this though, what kind of idiot do you think I am?"
Karasawa looked around the room. "The kind of idiot to forward some of the most heterodox research our star has seen in an age in the pursuit of violating one of our society's most dearly held taboos. This sort of thing might be why you have so few friends, now."
"I will have you know I was quite popular in my youth," she huffed.
"You were so popular because you were such an iconoclast, running around with your mask off and almost as frequently without your robes. They saw you as a punk, if not a bit daft. They thought you were interesting. But most of us grew out of that phase, Atraxae."
"Yeah. They had better things to do. Saw to their duties, fulfilled their goals, settled down into an existence of mediocrity complacency and fitting in or flitting off once the job was done and dissolving into stardust," she grumbled. "Venat's the only real one around here. She knows what she's about."
She focused her creation magics, and began to form a necklace in her hands. Across the room, the resonator she had mentioned earlier floated up, and came to rest in the middle of the band, and in front of it, she placed the gem. She frowned as the energies came together, and looked up at Karasawa over them.
"...you're not gonna leave me too, are you, Karasawa?" she asked, her voice quiet. "Wouldn't blame you if you did. I'm a disaster. You know it. I know it. It's a fair miracle I haven't been censured yet."
Karasawa grinned at her. "I am your entire conscience and half of your impulse control. No, Atraxae, you will not be rid of me that easily."
Atraxae smiled as the IDEA engine formed, finished at last, in her hand, and she looped it around her neck.
"...chupaquesos before we test this thing?" she said.
"Absolutely," he said.
-*-
The world had gone mad.
The world, for Karasawa, had long been mad. Not due to any special circumstance, other than the close orbit he had insisted upon living his life around Atraxae's gravitational pull.
But now she was gone, and he was here, and the sky was literally falling, and monsters roamed the world.
Overhead, meteors and fireballs fell lazily towards the ground, a rain of fire that had left devastation in its wake. Around him, monsters from nightmares and worse rose up out of the firmament, razing entire cities and robbing the star of thousands of lives.
The convocation was supposedly convening with a plan, but Karasawa had no interest in waiting around to see what it might be. He held in his mind a singular purpose, and with that purpose he strode through rubble strewn city street and past burning plants and trees.
He had met the monsters, of course. There were so many of them, and they seemed unavoidable. He noticed they seemed to go after those who were most panicked first. He supposed, whatever they were or wherever they came from, that they were inclined to go after easier prey first, but he had no intention of making himself be easy prey, much less appear to be any.
So when they met, he held tight in his mind's eye that he would be the victor. Determination poured through his veins and sheer stubborn will powered his every step.
He could not save this world. He could not fix it. That would be a problem for the convocation to solve.
But there was one thing he could do, and he would do it.
He made his way to a small nondescript building tucked away in an unremarkable corner of an unnotable city. One of the most boring places on Etheirys, someone had once complained to him. The perfect place to set up shop and shake the star, he had been told.
Well. The star was shaking now, but it certainly was not from his own work or that of his friend.
He looked behind him just once as he crossed the threshold, and saw a mighty monstrous entity tear down an entire building, towering over its rubble, and he ducked inside.
This was a long shot, he knew, but it had a chance of working, which was more than the star had at the moment.
He found what he was looking for.
The FOCUS, its panel blinking plaintively in the dark.
He knelt next to it. It was a largish rectangular box, fit to hold a body. And though it did not appear to be holding a body at the moment, he knew the truth of it, as he wiped away its display, and checked its settings.
Ten years.
A short test.
A short test, and then they would celebrate, and toast one another's accomplishments, and at last submit their concept to -
He laughed to himself, despite everything.
"To the concept house store," he said, and he laughed, shaking his head.
His friend had always been just shy of insane, and he was certain they would have been both censured had any of these concepts gotten as far as being submitted, but oh would in not have been worth it? To be the first minds in an age to be censured?
She would've celebrated the occasion, and probably would have wanted to see if getting double censured was a possibility.
A possibility she would not get to enjoy.
Well, not yet, anyway.
He checked the other settings and was mollified to find that the IDEA engine and the SWORD device were both tucked into the FOCUS, and apparently working correctly.
He bowed his head, and thought for a moment of the sky burning high above him.
The convocation might rescue the star, but how long would that take, he wondered.
He looked at the display once more.
Ten years seemed very optimistic.
He sighed, and reached into his robes, and pulled out his notebook. He scribbled a quick note down, and wished desperately that he had more time, to leave more notes behind, not just for his own benefit, but for those who would come after.
But he did not have enough time, and what time he had was just about up.
He opened a panel on the FOCUS, and slipped his single note down into its side, then closed it again. And then he lifted another panel, the aetheric siphon that was used to power the FOCUS. The more power it had, the longer it could keep track of a person's pattern for recall.
He wondered how long he would need, and shook his head with a sigh.
Well, gambling was more her thing than his. In this, he would not gamble.
He held his hand to the siphon, and he pushed. He pushed, and he saw the display indicating how long it would wait for the future start to tick up. It went up slowly at first. Eleven years, twelve years, thirteen, fourteen.
He pushed harder, and it began to tick upwards faster and faster, and as he got a feel for it, he felt something shift, and he smiled.
"Goodbye, Atraxae, you mad woman," he said. "May the future to be everything you hoped it would be."
Karasawa closed his eyes, and he pushed the remainder of all that he was into the device, even as the building crashed down around him, burying the FOCUS and all that it contained underneath a pile of rubble.
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Endwalker Story: Meeting Venat...
First Elpis Replay post, Previous to this part 2.
Post is what the title says. Yuri under the cut. Don't like? don't read
Leaving the transporter, Nemi asked what the hell was the bizarre Shark man in the distance. She probably had felled one of this before but to see someone deliberately created that was... icky. She heard Hyth start to rant about receiving more fads of this concept with no real thought for practicality of sense of an about to be living thing, when she tried to shake her arms and make him move away from the beast plunging at him, and then... A woman in white and a sword that, singed with familiar energy knocked out the Sharknado. Nemi knew who this is, but seeing her just swoop in like that...
"Oh wow... she's strong," escaped her mouth.
"Heh, excus me?"
("Shit, I said that out loud," was regretted in her mind.)
That her first word was to bully Emet and expose him as a young piece of shit? And he wasn't retorting. Incredible. She must be a knockout at bars and parties but ah... what is she doing thinking this of the one fated to become something as distant and irrelevant as Hydaelyn? They were so, different.
"She sounds fun- AH SHE IS LOOKING AT ME"
She should have known Venat would recognize her own magic in the Blessing of Light. There was no point in denying it, much as she smiled courteously and swallowed. At least the fact Venat's acceptance of uncertainty meant that, she was taking this well. Others would likely freak out and attack her or something like that.
When Hades scolded her for keeping secrets of the fate of the star, she just crossed her arms and explained she couldn't have an impact, stipulating it was one of their own who said this before sending her here. Venat enthusiastically remarked they were "meant to meet" then, and she was looking forward to knowing more the person bearing her "mark." Nemi might have exploded.
She recovered quickly and helped her search for the lost concept, commenting "You sound like you prank people like that often." How exactly? Venat wondered and Nemi pointed to the idea of her, marking someone. Like what did that mean in this context? Venat explained it's really to find lives again in the great expanse of the world, be a small bee she gave water to or a traveler from another biome. She'd even begun fashioning a way to try to find this traveler magick for other people to use to find each other, but others were vexed by its complexity. This made Nemi surprised later, at the dinner in Venat's chambers, that botomless bags seemingly were not invented yet.
With the time come to tell everything... she concluded she might as well come clear and take the sash off her eyes, but keeps her hair tucked underneath. Venat was awed by her eye tattoo, warmed by its family inheritance meaning that Nemi shared with a smile. There wasn't such a sense of family permeance in Amaurot, and carrying something form your origin through your life was such a beautiful way to live the nature that made you. making her smile and say it's passed down and mixed in her clan of family.
Hythlo kindly intervened they needed to get talking, pointing to Emet sitting grumpily. He saw Thanatos' lesbianism bleed way worse from Nemi. And though he didn't want to believe what she would tell, it'd at least mean he didn't have to fear his colleague secretly hated him.
Nemi joined her hands and gave a heavy sigh. Her face was now stern with a heavy frown. "Well, form the beginning? be warned, you won't like what you hear... or maybe not, from what I've gathered here."
After she's done speaking, she just sits back with irreverent air, but does lean when Venat is vexed by Hydaelyn's decision to cause the sundering. That she finds odd opposing the 14th.. is she happy with society as it is then?
As they try to figure, Nemi just looks away, feeling mixed about pushing them to guess to themselves, wanting to argue with Venat that it's been millenia and people change over time drastically. "You don't have to fit yourself to this mold of the future. You are you right now." But Venat stresses she knows herself. It's just an exercise to find answers and logic to help the future.
Then Hades' interjection made her jaw drop and need to cover her face. Never would she think she'd feel second hand embarrassment for this guy. If only the Scions could hear this...
"Hmm, you do sound like the asshole I killed, I gotta say."
"Neirmer! You said yourself we're not like the after!"
"Sorry, I'm not gonna lie about what I did. You will come to threaten all I hold dear as well, and such fate can't be changed."
"Even if your ridiculous story was true, I would not hurt you just for having an insufferable mouth! I'm a civilized man!"
"True... it's just hard when you're not that different in personality of disrespect, you know? But let's move on."
"..."
When saying she feels Hermes and Meteion seem center of the mystery, she expresses their grievances feel natural to any person of the future. She tries to ask who started the philosophy of "the will of the star" and if there were other rituals to deal with the grief of elected passing, and everyone looked lost for an answer. Nemi incquired if anyone ever passed away to disease or accidents, and they said even murders are inconceivable. Then Nemi wondered if they're truly so good warders of the stars if they can't understand the creatures who are mortal, specially the ones they create. Only Venat could respond that, she came to love them in their travels, and didn't neglect one detail to ensure her concepts' happiness... but she stopped creating after Argos. She didn't find the vastness of the world lacking of more life. At this, Nemi smiled and said they should search clues together.
They were surprised by how well they flowed with inquiries. Nemi got to make people open with casuality of their interests, letting Venat get to the heart of the matter in an unsuspecting way. Nemi wondered if Venat's travels made it so, since not everywhere can be like Amaurot's cushy walls. Venat said there are many people outside of these walls of all kinds, even some who don't like the Ancients, but people in the city rarely do acknowledge they exist unless they're to be saved of natural phenomena. Nemi recalled the volcano situation with Thanatos... but didn't ask about it.
Nemi drops the fact Meteion has more sisters casually, making Venat wishes she mentioned it earlier. Nemi apologized for this flaw, too used to filling reports that filled everyone up to speed. Venat squinted at her and she admitted it was more regular than that. Venat laughed and patted her back, saying she's so earnestly sincere and honest then. Nemi blushed as they walked closer to their next inquiry.
When the archivist lament Venat hasn't returned, Nemi is shocked. She almost yelled at them if not for Venat side hugging her and replying too briefly. way from them, Nemi asks baffled if everyone says they look forward to watching you her die, why do they think death is rest when they know it erases their self, not even taking breaks in their lives! No one sounds like they take a break in their actual lives! "This, this is bonkers! And I can tell you're not happy with it either. Don't throw that honor bullshit at me as well."
Venat looked at her transfixed, then admitted she, wished that people understood her choices. That walking with her makes her wonder if a future of mortals would think differently... Then asks her, how beautiful is the future?
Nemi says the future is more beautiful, that everything is free to take its own shape and form. There are always new discoveries, and... There are customs and beliefs, shaped by the nature one lives in, and traditions and beautiful art that would not flourish in this past.
When Venat asks of her adventures... she would tell her of the avdenturer guilds, of finding the crystals, of the floating city of Nymnh, of the many minerals that fortified her craft, of her village's ways of survival, of the rivers of Doma... every person she weeped for in her imprisonment in the lightwarden, the joy of Ala Mhigo' back's flag flying, the Winds of the Churning Mists, seeing the Night bloom in the First, what she has treasured with the scions and her friends.
When Venat responds with her speech about life, Nemi is totally awed, intertwining her own fingers and taking them to her heart. She asks why she talks of needing to help humans stand.To her, it just sounds like she just wants to behold life's beauty.
"That is alright... you have done a lot already."
"What is it with you and this talk of winding down?"
"Well, I heard you all don't know how to play but, you don't seem that lame. Surely this is a rest for you too inbetween?"
"Hmm, maybe I'm as shaped by this rhythm of life you find so monotone."
Venat took Nemi's wringing fingers and interlocked them with her own.
"Maybe, you could stop me."
Nemi gasped with heated cheeks.
"B-because others don't appreciate the world how we do?"
Venat smiled and lowered their hands.
"Because you may hold answers I seek... tell me, has your journey been good has it been worthwhile?
Venat's question makes tears spring, but she rasps her breath and nods determinedly. , or well was going to. she is irritated by the interruption, wanting to talk to Venat more and her passion, and a measure of concern. But this moves her to think of the next possibility, and that is when she excitedly points at Argos. She is amazed by how much gruffier he is now, then fucking, questions why in the goddamn is the dog picky about fighting skills.
Nemi is intimidated by Venat's sagacious air, but she takes courage and takes her hair cover off. "If this is what it is, then I won't censure myself any further. You'll see my kicks fully!"
After Nemi endured Venat's last blast to one knee, Venat held her up and checked over her robes. Nemi gestures her to stop fretting even as she struggles to stand, giggling in her hold. "You should know... my real name is Nemi, Nemi Norxares. That's who endured your ravaging today." She smiled so wide that Venat's face burned up.
This only didn't continue cause Argos jumped on them, making them go witness the flight of the Meteia through the echo. Nemi would connect the tree nearby to the forms of those at Ghyr Abania,but colors of Lakeland. Venat wondered if she could gaze them through her mind, if she allowed of course... Nemi batted the hand caressing her hair away playfully, saying they really need to focus.
When they walked back to the others, Hythlo perked at seeing Nemi's face fully uncovered, and for what reason this time? When Venat teased Nemi to be civil, Hythlo grinned at Nemi knowingly. She could not hide, specially when Venat grabbed her hand strongly after she returned from the morbol gardens.
At the garden, she claimed to Hermes that she felt more safe to unveil in this world, now that she met someone like Venat. Hermes is puzzled, and Nemi explains she sees nature more freely than she thought. Something told her to, ask Hermes if it's alright, and give Meteion a hug and carry her on her shoulders. Hermes had to scold her the morbols were still around.
Nemi looks downtrodden when Hermes says "even you Venat." Guess she overstimated her a little or, assumed too much of her lives experiences, but it's not what she wanted to imply. Nemi stressed that "Despite everyone's lack of tact,"she really thought there was more to this they had to find out, for the sake of everyone's safety. This relaxed Hermes while Emet glared, continuing to formulate why the blasphemies were formed as they were.
Emet gruffed that she has capacity of better behavior and, well.I think there is no more to say lol.
Then when Meteion was invaded by the doom of necrospace, Nemi tried to reach her to calm her even as she too was twisting in pain and agony on the floor. She teared up when Meteion begged to be left alone, screaming into the nothingness to please not bottle up her hurt. She needed both Venat and Hermes to get her up and settle, struggling to explain what even just happened. Whatever it really was, they needed to find her fast. Who knows how a small mind like hers would decide to, make it stop.
Nemi tried but failed to counter Emet's insistence to take Meteion into the city, knowing stopping this would just be denial of what inmerse hurt had just occured. Hermes thanked her kindness, lamenting this society would not listern to her either. And so, he had to take flight to the top of Ktisis Hyperboeia. Though she fought to the top, she was the first to approach Hermes and beg to let her be present, at least to find a way. Hermes smiles sincerely at her before trapping them all in chains, putting her too distant to pass Meteion's last words before losing herself: "Please, protect all..."
When chaos unfolded at the escape, Nemi concentrated and broke her chains with her claws, hissing with her tongue and scaring Hermes off into losing concentration. She argued her presence meant to be the steps of humans of a different kind, who deserved to know the physical step to what their kind struggled with emotion. She recited Matsya's prayer, and showed her claws and tongue as evidence of the torture she'd endured for survival, and coming out of the other side with friends and love. Hermes looked up at Nemi's tearful gaze, and weeped as the Death of his kind acknowledged his suffering. He peacefully let her and Venat go, begging her to give Meteion a kinder fate.
Once they descended, Nemi asked Venat if she's okay. She asked if Nemi was okay, with all the twisting and corrupting she claimed to go through. Nemi sighed and shook her head, saying that was just for Hermes to hear really. Venat gasped and asked if she didn't trust her. that she too was horrified at the idea this world might be the last to love life. Nemi said it was not about that, but how she seemed to not be concerned to limit Emet and Hythlodaeus' pushing. She said they were just doing their duty as convocation members, and Nemi waved her hand exasperatedly.
"Exactly that! In your travels you've never learned how to treat people who are unwell? Maybe if I didn't show up, this calamity would have started way worse....."
Venat took a deep breath, and said they had to check on the others. Nemi sighed and followed, weirded but not opposed to Argos' mode of espionage. Nemi scoffed offended being called a manner of creation by someone else. "it's not my fault I got transmogrified!"
Venat begged her again to tell her what exactly happened to her, and Nemi questions her interest. Did she look at her like another bizarre creature like everyone else here? Was that why she was coming off so strongly on her? Venat stepped back like slapped,
"In that case, what do you think of Meteion? Do you think we have to simply stop her, or save her from the cacophony neither she nor the world that created her could bear?"
What is Venat's Answer?
I'll make that post, soon hopefully...
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