IC INTRO - JUNE '18

[phantasmods]

After the fight with the siren has settled, those characters with phones hooked to the KEystone network will get a text -

Okay, everyone, you had better come back in. There's a storm brewing just off the coast.

Even given Up's usual professionalism, it seems rather... subdued?

----

For once, there are no androids at all to greet you upon your return, or arrival, as the case may be. A shelter has been set up for the boats on the shoreline of Glitterstone, however. By the time you tromp up the lighthouse stairs to the level of the Station itself, the sky is beginning to grey with the promised storm.

There's not the typical feast outside, but there is a fairly extensive taco bar set up in the common room, left unattended as well. The room sign-up sheet and boxes of freebies are also there, complete with the Braille versions, and a note at the bottom of both room sheets reads "If all rooms are full, space has been made in the meeting rooms on the top floor. We'll have additional rooms available as soon as possible."

It does appear that someone has updated the murder counter while you were away, however, for the turning of the week. It now reads 15 weeks without murder.

Other than that, you're free to explore, including in the newly finished sections of the Annex (should you be willing to brave the storm to get between buildings). However, wherever you go, the androids are almost conspicuously absent - even in the medical bay and Down's workstation in the command center.

The meeting room they have for their own private use is securely closed and locked.

Comments

[founderinglight]

Perhaps some might consider it so. But, to put it most simply, my opinion of gods and religion in general is "fuck the lot."

[coagmentatio]

I don't consider that an unfair opinion to have.

[ Really, he thinks any gods of Daeseon can all go fuck themselves. ]

Most gods I've heard of are awful.

[founderinglight]

Add another handful to however long your existing list is, then. We've six and I'm not sure there's a single one of them I'd not take a tilt at.

[coagmentatio]

[ He has no clue what "take a tilt at" means, but he can gather from the context that it's something bad. He's assuming violence. ]

I've heard a few things about at least ten, but I'm not sure how much of what I heard is true. All I know is that, if they are real, they've left us all to live in darkness.

[founderinglight]

[Not his fault you don't speak archaic human, Aiden.]

Ours are very real, and - well. Gods have something of a habit of doing exactly that, in my experience. Literal or figurative?

[coagmentatio]

[ Of course. He should get right on learning that.

Anyway, that sure is a question that gets the hint of a smirk. ]

Both. My first time seeing real sunlight was the world I was in just before arriving here.

[founderinglight]

The final stage of our particular god-induced bullshit was ten years of eternal night due to thick clouds of light-absorbing particles in the air, among other things. Extremely unpleasant when you add in the daemons that previously only came out at night.

[coagmentatio]

Ten years, huh? Sorry to hear that...

[ The same amount of time since he lost his memories, huh? ]

That's... surprisingly familiar, though. Our reasons for not having light is because the clouds are too thick and our sun is dying. Most people believe we only have a handful of years left before the sun finally kicks the bucket. How long we have left before the planet freezes over is another story.

And we don't have demons, but we have monsters that used to be human.

[founderinglight]

"Daemon" on Eos refers to a transmuted, berserk victim of a magical plague known as the Starscourge - usually humans, but it's possible for animals to be infected as well. Generally the scourge is photophobic and daemons are destroyed by sunlight, but in high enough concentrations, their blood creates the material that blocks out the sun... Which, as you can imagine, leads to a rather dreadful feedback loop after a certain point.

[coagmentatio]

[ ... Oh. ]

That's-...

[ Magical plague... Their blood functions as a defense...

Does he look a tiny bit pale as he thinks these words over? Ahaha... ha. He has to look away, clear discomfort on his face. Fuck. He's not even on that shitty planet anymore, and yet it feels as though he's trapped there all over again. Hell, there's no telling what magic could even do to him here - he still has it, he knows, thanks to... the jellied freaks? ]

... Heh. [ breathing unsteady, he has to avert his gaze before finally just holding a blink for a second ] I guess you could say I know a thing, or two, about dreadful feedback loops...

[ But it's probably obvious - the painful sort of obvious - that he does not want to go into detail right this second. ]

[founderinglight]

[Izunia is used enough to the faint feeling of panic when he considers the scourge too long that he can recognize it in someone else, even if Aiden is looking away to try and hide it.]

...Take a breath. There's naught that will harm you here.

cw: no super fine detail, but talk of eating people with mention of some people being kids

[coagmentatio]

[ Even without fully considering it, he does, in fact, take a breath. He takes a couple of slightly deeper breaths, a wry sort of smirk ghosting over his lips. ]

... Guess there's no point trying to pretend.

[ After all... what if one of those things do manage to show up here? ]

Those monsters don't care about anything except their next meal, and age doesn't matter. I've seen perfectly innocent kids get jumped by an entire hoard of them.

[ Those are the kinds of screams that never leave. ]

And when they aren't devouring human flesh, they're using Death magic to absorb what life force remains after they're done with them. Because doing that extends their own shreds of humanity for just a little longer. They change more and more into monsters with each passing day, either because the magic itself is tainted... or because the gods are enjoying the show. [ lips drawing together tightly ] Or both.

[ He's going to somewhat shift the subject now - not only because he doesn't want to talk about those things anymore, but also because he has to make sure there's not much of a chance of any appearing at this station: ]

Do creatures from other worlds only appear inside those Fissures...?

[founderinglight]

[Izunia isn't greatly comfortable with the subject, either, though he maintains his expression a bit better than Aiden. Only a quickness to the way his eyes move betrays his nervousness.

Still, he'll answer the last question first - ]

That's correct. And even if one of those were to appear here, you needn't worry; there are more than enough of us who are combat capable to resist such a threat.

[coagmentatio]

[ Nervousness is a difficult thing to hide from an empath, but he doesn't dwell on it. Besides, his own nervousness is distracting. ]

I'm not worried for my own safety...

[ Because if there's anything he's good at, it's killing... haha...ha. ]

Unfortunately, most of the time, they appear at least mostly human. And a lot of them are becoming more and more capable of blending in.

[founderinglight]

Perhaps true. But there's few enough of us here that we'll notice before long if anyone goes missing, and we also have a murder of people quite experienced in investigating murders. I have full confidence in them if anything happens.

[And that's absolutely true; there's no nervousness about that statement at all. A lowkey affection, on the other hand...]

[coagmentatio]

[ His eyebrows lift a little. The hint of a whimsical smirk appears. ]

You almost sound like what I'd imagine a coach would, when talking about his own team.

[ Team... Murder Investigation, apparently... ]

Are there detectives here, then? [ a hint of hesitance ] Or is this referring to the people forced into situations of killing one another?

[founderinglight]

[Honestly not the weirdest thing he could be team captain of around here. After all, he's already undisputed president of the nap club.]

Ah - I suppose with that sign word would tend to get around, now. The latter, though I wouldn't rule out the former, considering we've several royalty and a newspaper reporter.

[coagmentatio]

[ h e s i t a n c e . . . ]

... Actually, I learned about it because I talked to one of the people, and we learned that we came from... similar situations.

[ Aiden, there are probably other, simpler ways you could have worded that. But... whatever; he figures this guy is smart enough to figure out what he means. ]

[founderinglight]

...Ah.

[He certainly can figure that one out, yes.]

I'll not judge you for anything you may have done, especially in such a situation. So whatever you're worried about, you can relax.

[coagmentatio]

[ He manages to keep his expression perfectly steady, somehow; with a slow breath, he holds a blink and shakes his head. ]

Isn't that deciding a little early? You don't even know the first thing about the kinds of crimes I've committed, Izunia...

[founderinglight]

To be blunt, neither do you know of mine.

[He smiles faintly.]

I've seen a great deal of human nature at my age; enough to know that there are few in the world worthy of complete condemnation. At least, among those human and otherwise mortal.

[coagmentatio]

[ . . . . . . . ]

And what age... would that be?

[founderinglight]

Over two thousand, less than twenty-one hundred. It's hard to get precise at that kind of timescale, I think it's somewhere around the middle between those, though.

1/2

[coagmentatio]

........

[ Yeah, enjoy the fact that he's looking you up and down in a clearly shocked manner? ]

[coagmentatio]

[ You know what, he's just gonna play this off. It's fine. ]

You look fantastic for your age.