HAYAME ➳ PLEROMA (VOICE) [backdated to 8/18-19]

[warmare]

[The feelings and visions that come through the communion, rattled and uncontrolled, are samples of something dark and painful. Scenes from the raid on Achamoth, the towering black walls, blood, the Sanctifier in the sky, pain, more pain— Finally, a voice wrestles control and comes into audible focus, strained and slow. The few who have spoken with her might recognize it as the centaur (jinba) Hayame.]

I have... a prisoner. The shard of the Kenoma called "M".

Someone- Someone ask that Tehri woman... If she knows of a place safe from the Regent's eyes. Or if one of the... "magic" users know a way...

If there is none... I will just move. I will keep moving.

I will need supplies. Food and... bandages, and--

[Suddenly, there is a surge of... something, a combination of panic, genuine shock, disgust, rage, and a weird bleed-through sense of... more than one person? Very briefly, it feels like there's more than one consciousness involved, but Hayame's voice returns.]

A bit.

Blinders.

Earplugs.

That is what I need.

Bring them... and I will tell you where to find me.

[OOC: Content warnings for mention of beheadings/an-animated-severed-head that may crop up in comments. This is the IC kick-off for a player plot, with more details and options for others to get involved coming soon to an OOC comm near you!]

Comments

[wolof]

If you're looking for a magic user... You need only ask.

1/2

[warmare]

[this woman… for all their distasteful beginnings, she had provided the written word required in Venera… and she was. Strong. Magic-wise. As far as someone like Hayame could tell, at any rate, so—

Another chaotic jumble of pain, dark, blood raining from the sky, a hail of scales to follow, a winged demon—]

[warmare]

Akua.

[It sounds like she’s… wrestling with something?]

Do you know if a way to hide from eyes that see through hearts?

[wolof]

See through hearts?

[ She's curious, that flash of darkness even more curious, and there's the impression through communion of her leaning closer, as if she's trying to suss out what Hayame means. ]

Do you mean those who can see...if we are Pleroma or Kenoma, or do you mean something else?

[warmare]

That and more.

[She doesn’t know quite how to describe the fear she feels… but her stubborn, continued inexperience with communion manifests it well enough.

She had been in communion with Estinien… or perhaps, the beast that he had become… when Makoto had called on the Regent’s gifted abyss to burst through the Sanctifier’s chest. The burn and pain and the overwhelming power she’d felt through their connection then before it had been cut-

A hint of it is echoed now, in this connection.]

I fear-

[She will admit to that, as shameful as it is-]

I fear the reach of the Regent’s eye. The reach of a thing that can call us all to shadows in an instant.

[passio]

[ this— she has—

despite his best intentions to keep a hold on his own feelings, a sick sense of dread washes through the bond of communion. no more prisoners, he thinks. no more of this. and certainly not a prisoner of makoto, no matter how much he may deserve it.

with anyone else, he might protest on emotional grounds, but he’s learned a little bit about hayame. she doesn’t care. ]

I… I can help.

[ his voice sounds so very faint, but there’s a steadiness to it as he tries to dig deep and call on his worst experiences to ground him. ]

[warmare]

[Who is this? In her current state (and… current mouthy distraction she’s trying to wrangle mid-communion), Hayame can’t place a feeling or name. Not surprising, probably, but also-]

Help how?

[There are options.., and she has preferences.]

[passio]

I have supplies.

[ it’s not a lie, even if it isn’t completely the truth either. he’s only stretching the reality a little bit—he does have various supplies, collected as he’s needed them, but it’s probably not everything that hayame is looking for. ]

And… food.

[warmare]

[he claims he has supplies, fine, but—]

Who even are you?

[comelately]

[ ???

this is an unpleasant communion to receive, and its unpleasantness is compounded by the fact that Johnny's been anxiously waiting to hear back from anyone who went to Achamoth. At least Hayame isn't dead, but she's clearly not doing well, and the information she shares is confusing at best. If she's got someone's shard, that person should be dead... right? ]

What the hell did you do now, lady? [ sort of a mutter, however that translates through communion; a beat, and he continues. ] I got some of that stuff, or - I know where to get it, anyway. Where are you right now?

[ he's hesitant to invite her to Greentruth if she does have an actual live Kenoma with her... ]

1/2

[warmare]

My duty.

[it might just have been a mutter, but Hayame had heard it… and that snap comes back first, before-]

cw: ableist language

[warmare]

[Of course the cripple would be the one to offer to bring her supplies. She almost laughs-

If she remembered how to laugh. Right now there is only… something dark there, in her hearts. Something festering.]

I will not say until it is necessary, but consider me far from Greentruth. Not far yet from Achamoth.

I doubt you will be able to reach me.

[Not until she can get someone to ask that Tehri woman something for her, anyway.]

[comelately]

[ he entered this conversation prepared for her to yell at him, so the mental lash doesn't particularly bother him. Her duty, as he sees it, was to rescue Himeka and Abel, not take prisoners, but whatever - Johnny's not too twisted up by the ethics of it all.

She is correct that he won't be able to reach her anytime soon, though. ]

Careful what you say.

[ do the Kenoma even know the name "Greentruth?" The name alone wouldn't help them place it; still, he's hesitant for them to get even a sniff of their location. ]

... But you're not wrong. I guess I can't help much right now. [ he sounds a little annoyed about it. stupid body! ] What do you need all that shit for? If you got his shard, isn't he just a rock now?

[emblazer]

[ aww shit here we go again ]

Are you planning on negotiating an exchange with the shard?

[warmare]

An exchange? What could they possibly have that I want?

[… He’s dead.

He has to be dead. A true death. Or else-]

[emblazer]

We could offer to exchange it for Estinien, although I don’t see the Regent complying easily. Depends on how important he might view the …guy that head belonged to.

[ Thoma can’t make that judgment call since he’s unfamiliar with the beheaded. ]

[leicesters]

...A bit and blinders? You sure you're keeping a prisoner, or a horse?

[warmare]

[She hadn’t quite realized that she’d defaulted to the items used to restrain her own kind, not humans.

She’s never had a human(-like) captive before. But-]

I said what I said! You want I should give him a golden leash?

[leicesters]

[Weird, and admittedly a little chilling, that those are the first things she thought of. But he tactfully opts not to point out any implications he might be realising here.]

Obviously not, but just make make a blindfold and gag out of cloth or something? That seems a lot more accessible.

[goldendeceiver]

[ Wha--

Ah....

Those are interesting requests on top of the usual lists of supplies there. ]

I can get anything you need, Hayame, but when Mr. M revives you might need more restraints than just those...

[ He doesn't know bless him. ]

[warmare]

[He doesn't know... He's gonna know...]

I do not need more restraints than that.

He cannot move.

[goldendeceiver]

[ Huh... ]

Any chance I can I ask what state he happens to be in?

[rosethorns]

[The familiar voice seizes her attention immediately and the cacophony of feelings swirling at the start of the communion only serves reignite her lingering worry from the battlefield. From her limited experience with Hayame, she knows her to commendably stubborn, but still, she has to know—]

How are you holding up?

[warmare]

[... The healer woman. Hayame waits until things have settled down elsewhere (elsewhere in her... mind????) before coming back to respond.]

In what way?

[She can't think of any possible positive answer to that question.]

[rosethorns]

[There’s the briefest flash of frustration; Dorothea may be adept at keeping a straight face in person, but she’s not quite mastered the skill when it comes to communion just yet.]

Your injury. I know it’s not an easy one to adjust to.