aionpcs: (regent)
Aion Teleos NPCs ([personal profile] aionpcs) wrote in [community profile] aionchat2022-07-10 02:52 pm
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THE REGENT'S ADDRESS [OPEN TO ALL]

[It comes on fast, once the Regent has your spirit in their hold. Around you, you may see other Aions stumble in the same moment, as if shaken by the same tectonic motion. An inexorable darkness claws at your senses, and you have only a few moments, hard fought, to reposition yourself so that you don't simply drop to the ground when it overtakes you. It has similarities to Communion, to the way another entity's thoughts and words reach out to your mind, but by the same token it's entirely foreign.

This presence is not like another person, it is like a raging, screaming cacophony that drowns out everything else in its path. Whether you be Kenoma or Pleroma, the Regent's presence in this metaphysical realm is staggering. To the Pleroma, though, it also feels caustic, as if the movement of their aura is enough to erode your own, with time.

Gradually, a new world forms. Unlike other Communions, where you are ultimately grounded in reality, here you can been dragged to what seems to be its own distinct psychic realm. A vast, void-filled courtroom, where only the throne at its front has a defined form. Around you, you see shadows of other people, other Aions, that have summoned along with you... but for the moment they seem spectral and unclear, their identities obscured by the realm's aggressive focus on its master.

The Regent sits at their throne, their body swathed in dark fabrics that drift and flutter like smoke. They have no face to be seen, only a faceted silver mask, without any markings or the barest indication of what might be beneath it. Their size is indistinct, maybe a bit taller than you are. They at first sit reclined, but straight up as their 'guests' arrive.]


It's been a long time coming, my subjects.

[At first, they are the only one that can be heard. Though you feel as if you have some physical presence here, a shadowy body of your own, if you attempt to speak no sound emerges.]

To the Pleroma: well done surviving thus far. Granted, I feel as if my Kenoma have made things easy for you. How strange, that most of you were allowed to wander a city within my empire without recourse. Able to summon that wretched creature to your side, even.

I hope you've enjoyed yourself, in the time you've had, because this will be no more. You've spread your infection in Venera, in Godsblood, and it is only necessary that these wounds be cleansed by the touch of the Kenoma. Your presence gives the people ideas... ideas that would disrupt the fragile peace they've come to enjoy, after so many years of suffering. As a kindness, I will only trim the vine, rather than burn the vineyard. What Venerans have taken up your cause, I will see shorn from my empire. And in Godsblood... an example will be made, as of the Sovereign's moon.

My Kenoma will do this for me. Fight them, if you want. But know that I am no longer asking for your fealty. I am demanding it.

[As if opening their court for questions, you will find yourself more able to act. Those that speak or take action will find their physical forms taking shape, standing in the court as people rather than shadows. If you want to question the Regent, now is the time to do so.

OOC: This post is a free for all! We will try to response as the Regent to people who directly engage with them, but you are also allowed to threadjack and interact with each other if you like. Please note that we will not be responding to tag ins done later than the 12th.]
superbshot: <user name=malagraphic> (Gloomy)

[personal profile] superbshot 2022-07-12 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[Inside she is screaming, Ryu...]
sageguidance: (pic#15664971)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-12 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I see.

[ his expression grows taut, mouth pursing into a thin line. ]

You are not the savoir you think yourself to be, your Excellency.
sageguidance: (pic#15665108)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-13 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ you sure won't, homie.

with a scowl, he turns away. ]
locumstudentesquire: (Big concerns...)

[personal profile] locumstudentesquire 2022-07-13 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Wanna talk about it after this, bruh? :/]
superbshot: (Defiant)

[personal profile] superbshot 2022-07-13 12:39 am (UTC)(link)
comelately: (tonight's the night we're gonna)

[personal profile] comelately 2022-07-13 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ johnny, internally: wtf is endothermic ]

Huh? [ the lizard thing threw him off enough that it takes him a second to remember what he was responding to in the first place. ] Oh -- yeah, you were saying it'd be easier if we'd just surrender... You think we're just gonna roll over and die?
comelately: (out of a mile-deep hollow)

[personal profile] comelately 2022-07-13 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
Last I checked, you were the one who started spouting garbage about us. I'm not so much of a pushover that I'm just gonna sit here and take it.
vivificantem: (053. he leadeth me; he leadeth me)

[personal profile] vivificantem 2022-07-13 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
And...I don't have to indulge you? I'm really curious as to how you envisioned this conversation going.
inutilis: (☼ like a fairytale...)

[personal profile] inutilis 2022-07-13 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ made to be a tool...

Abel's face falls further before he finds himself taking a steadying breath; he can feel the heaviness in her gaze as he tries to shake off the creep of dejection. ]


I much rather us fail than to have never tried at all. And... people can surprise you; even those we think far beyond our reach can be capable of drastic change.

Maybe it's naive... or maybe I'm simply seeing what I want to see. But I'll hold out hope, Miss Akua.
inutilis: (✰ miss astha's measurements...?)

[personal profile] inutilis 2022-07-13 01:51 am (UTC)(link)
Well!

[ if Their Majesty is going to be a tad exasperated and annoyed, that only invites Abel to react in kind

and make it worse

because what else would he do. ]


You did say yourself there's no point to trying to dissuade you, right? Talk is cheap, blah blah. [ a dismissive wave of his hand. ]

So what if it isn't dissuading you I'd like to talk about? Are you the sort of person who humors a half-decent conversation with a man forced into a vaguely distressing dreamscape to hear creepy, if not borderline sadistic, ultimatums against his will? ...Ah. Hm. Say, this space isn't real, right? Could I influence it with enough thought? Produce a certain brand of tea from home? Do you fancy tea, or are you more of a coffee person? So many questions, so little time...
comelately: (you brought me home)

[personal profile] comelately 2022-07-13 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Doesn't have to be a conversation, then. I'm fine just telling you off.
inutilis: (✞ empathy.)

[personal profile] inutilis 2022-07-13 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ the even keel of Paul's explanation, the patience and humanity behind it is so at odds with everything the Kenoma stands for in so many ways...

and in others, it is its perfect match.

Abel feels his heart sink to realize the duality of this force of nature. the Kenoma is not inherently evil, and neither are those who follow it; he understands and truthfully believes this. but anything... anything if followed to excess can be detrimental. damaging. can cost one precious things they don't realize they've lost until they're too far gone to even feel the loss.

...the same can be said of the Pleroma, of course. it might not be as immediately evident but it, too, is imperfect and capable of irreparable damage. ]


What you describe... this perfect solace-- this end that is nothing but peace... I can understand why you so fervently wish after it, sir.

[ and if what Paul says is as true as Abel believes it is, then this man's motives for seeking such finality are pure-hearted. but... ]

But suffering is only one part of the human condition, and much as it's a painful one... it's a necessary one as well. How do we learn... grow, if not through pain? How do we learn to treasure what's precious to us if we never know hardship or loss? ...If Venera taught us anything, it is precisely that-- that peace won through such means isn't one we can't accept, can we?
Edited (i am extremely good at typing,) 2022-07-13 02:52 (UTC)
vivificantem: (091. as to love with all my soul)

[personal profile] vivificantem 2022-07-13 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
Please tell me what cancer patients are learning...?

[There's something a little more invested there now, still calm and even but there's an undercurrent of something.]

Those who have died to plague, or war, or simply because a dictator said so - what growth did they get out of that entire situation? I watched a young girl die of polio once. She drowned in her own lungs. She was ten. Tell me, because I would like to know - what, exactly, was the lesson she was supposed to learn from that?

There are lessons, I guess, that humanity learns - about the plagues, from the wars. My question to you, then, is this: how many people are worth the lesson?
inutilis: (✞ softspoken.)

[personal profile] inutilis 2022-07-13 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
...

[ this question is, ironically enough, one Abel asked from the other side of the fence too many times to count himself. it's a little surreal to be on this end of the discussion now - but things have changed, time has passed, and even if he knows better than to suggest he has the answers... because he doesn't, he also knows neither does Paul.

no one does. not a single man on God's green Earth or any world of His creation-- or beyond it. that, Abel believes.

because there is no answer. there is no good answer to this question. ]


If you were to ask me... ask me personally, my answer might not be a satisfying one.

[ it leaves him quietly. Paul has seen what it is for others to suffer in unconscionable ways, and the gravity of that is one Abel can deeply respect and empathize with. this compassion...

is endearing. and heartbreaking. and, sometimes-- blinding. ]


...Because there is no pain I find acceptable, no price I could put on saving someone - even one someone - from that agony.

But I also know that I... I am not capable of passing judgment on how to balance the scales. And I hope you take no offense when I say this, but... I don't believe you are capable either. None of us are-- we can't be.

[ it is no failing of Paul's person. if anything, Abel thinks this man is one he'd quite like, actually - someone whose heart is achingly good at its core, who suffers to see others suffer, who bleeds for the sake of staunching the flow of blood from those around him, but...

this... this is too far. this is too much. they are not gods; they are men - and to summarily pass judgment, to decide the fate of infinite lives, to hinge everything on a mysterious being that has manipulated and abused each one of them to their last--

...Paul. ...please. does any part of him see the flaw in this? does any part of that achingly human heart not feel the twinge of fear he spoke of? ]
aquaveiled: (himeka-420)

your subject says love me but your tag says otherwise

[personal profile] aquaveiled 2022-07-13 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ It comes with the territory as someone who is used to doing a lot of listening and not a lot of talking.

In response to Kaeya's appraisal of Estinien, all she offers is a short hum of acknowledgment in response. That tends to be what happens wherever he goes, doesn't it? Where there's a battle to be fought for the greater good, his lance is ready. ]


It does sound as if they've been disappointed in your performance so far.

[ It's a generic "you" but he can take it as he wishes. ]
vivificantem: (023. nearer to thee)

[personal profile] vivificantem 2022-07-13 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
[There's a reason, in the end, that they share a legacy. It's only the sect that differs - unfortunate, really, because the sect is what makes all the difference.

He can see himself in these answers, in the thought processes that go behind them; it's something he might have agreed with once. But that's before the blessings, and the rituals, and everything else that's gone into him and refused to get out again. Perhaps their differences are irreconcilable; perhaps not. He would have liked this person under different circumstances, he knows that much to be true. Maybe there's a chance he still can.

But this is just...]


No. It's not that you can't make that decision; it's that you refuse to. That's the difference that we're looking at.
wolof: (Always Red and Hearts)

[personal profile] wolof 2022-07-13 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ Even Catherine had known that there were some you could not help. If she'd had her way, the Bard would have been dead -- or destroyed -- if there had been any way possible. Then there had been the Tyrant, or Malicia, or Praes.

But there had been those she'd tried to parlay with. Long shots, like Larat, or the Pilgrim, who wouldn't listen to her no matter how many times she tried. Sve Noc, among many.
]

It might be, but... While I think it's foolish...

Sometimes, the fool wins out, you know. Despite all odds.

Someone has to try, I suppose. Why not you?
inutilis: (✞ back.)

[personal profile] inutilis 2022-07-13 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
...Maybe you're right.

[ for all the threads that might bind him and this man in their beliefs, it seems there aren't enough to cross the maw that lies between them. the bridge will only ever go so far before it leads to an empty, terrible fall. neither can make it to the other side - not while things are like this.

Abel hates to acknowledge this reality, but it is what it is. ]


Maybe refusing to make such a choice is a choice in and of itself.

[ some would surely accuse Abel of being a coward were that the case. he would not blame Paul - so utterly rigid, sure in his conviction - of as much. ]

...Even so, I believe there's another way. And I will pray to find it before you and yours are made to do what you cannot take back.

[ oh. if he only knew... ]
baltimores: (141; (Earth))

[personal profile] baltimores 2022-07-13 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ Mere minutes ago Amos would've taken a step back, upset with himself for evoking that reaction from Yuya. Before all of this came to a head, before he'd become aware of just how deep his commitment goes.

There's a limit to how well he can relate to a person, and turns out — just as Yuya's shared something with him Amos has to think he hasn't shared with anyone else, at least not here — he's hit his limit. What Yuya thinks, what Yuya believes, no longer matters.

He feels everything go cold as that realization hits him. Keeps his gaze on him, everything flat but for an undercurrent of frustration he's doing his damnedest to stamp out. ]


Guess not.

[ This is so hard to reconcile, what the Regent had said with what Amos knows — that Yuya doesn't deserve any of this. Whatever he's said he's done, the fate being served up for him is wrong. And it turns out there's no way for him to make it work, so Amos just. Drops it entirely.

Any semblance of emotion is gone from him when he speaks again. ]


If I'm the one who gets you, then I'll make it quick.

[ He's actually not entirely certain in the present moment about his ability to end Yuya like that, but if the chance ever comes, then yeah, he'll probably have it in him. He'll be sure by then. ]
baltimores: (006; (inhales))

[personal profile] baltimores 2022-07-13 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's like when you're expecting a call at a certain time, and the call never comes, and your irritation just builds up and up until it comes in, and then either you snap at the person you were waiting for or— ]

Hey.

[ —you're just relieved to be hearing from them, though Matt probably has a better understanding of that emotion coming from Amos than he himself does. ]

So, you're not okay. [ He heaves a sigh. ] Where are you?
locumstudentesquire: (Eyes are wont to flick!)

[personal profile] locumstudentesquire 2022-07-13 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
[...Stop making good points, Childe???

Ryunosuke looks conflicted for a moment, his expression flipping through about 6 different emotions before just settling back on irritation. He's muttering to Childe just under his breath now, while Paul continues to proselytize at the other Aions present.]


It's just... Everything he's saying is riddled with absolute contradictions! And he's so annoying about it!
vivificantem: (086.  master grant that i may never seek)

[personal profile] vivificantem 2022-07-13 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Whether he believes Abel to be a coward or not is a point he doesn't seem inclined to pursue either way; he just takes that in, and he tips his head a little in concession for now.]

Like I said before, I don't hate you, and I don't fault you for feeling as you do. I can see where that prayer is a kindness, coming from you, and I appreciate it; I really do.
subsist: (pic#15626853)

wow??? my tag only shows my love for you

[personal profile] subsist 2022-07-13 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ kaeya can only offer a soft laugh. ]

It's quite possible. I'd say we haven't exactly been in a hurry to usher in the death of this particular cosmos.

[ honestly, he feels like a kid who got scolded. it's well deserved considering how ambivalent he's been, but now the regent's words leave no more room for hesistation. ]

... Although I suppose that's about to change real soon.
locumstudentesquire: (his serious listening face)

[personal profile] locumstudentesquire 2022-07-13 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Don't listen to them.

[Ryunosuke's voice cuts in from somewhere off to Johnny's side, where the lawyer is still standing resolutely in place, staring daggers into the Regent, even as their attention turns elsewhere.]

If they possessed any kind of proof at all that they'd done as they claim, they would have shown it to us by now.

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