Aion Teleos Network

[With Howl's revival, Barnaby can turn his attention to another pressing issue: Makoto's whereabouts. It's somewhat ironic that Barnaby would be helping the demons who dragged him back to Achamoth against his will, but as he understands it now, they were simply doing him a favour in doing so. On top of which, J had helped rescue him from the battlefield when he was gravely wounded in the battle against the Sanctifier, and he is one to repay his debts.

So with that warped logic in mind, he begins by investigating Achamoth, and after a few days, has made enough progress to report his findings via communion.]

This is Barnaby. I've been investigating M's disappearance, and I have a clear idea now of who took him.

[He sounds weary. He's had little room for respite in well over a month, and current events mean he won't for a while yet.]

There were eyewitnesses who described a half-horse woman, carrying a head while fleeing the city after the raid. I haven't found any evidence of any mutilated Achamite corpses, so I think it is safe to assume the head belonged to M. The culprit, of course, could only be Hayame.

My leads ran out there, so she must have teleported or used a portal to get away. But I hope, at least, that some of you may be able to use this information to narrow down the search.

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[ Howl's psychic voice is familiar in the way it sounds, but not in the way it feels. There is no mirth, no haughty playfulness, no usual thread of flippancy to his words. He is exhausted, on edge, and anxious, and it leaks into his message. Although "leaks" is not even the right word — he is making no real attempt at hiding his misery right now. ]

Aions have arrived in this world twice so far. The second batch appeared in the Shrines about three months after the first.

Tomorrow... marks another three months.

[ it's much too early to say there is any kind of pattern to it all, but... ]

Those of you whole enough to travel to the Shrines and check for new Aions must do so. We cannot afford to let the Pleroma strengthen their numbers.

[ And for now, he leaves it at that. No indication of what he is planning to do with his weekend, and definitely, conspicuously no mention of the mission failures, the traitors, or the prisoners. ]

[ This takes place the evening after the first event described in the Event Wrap Up post, the entity having withdrawn its influence from Venera.

Binghe is in a bit of a bad mood, having had to haul Makoto's unconscious body out of the street when he would have preferred to drop him in the ocean, and as things are currently he can't really be bothered to pretend that he's not. There's some attempt to be polite, but mostly he sounds kind of tired and cranky. ]

My apologies for the interruption. I am Luo Binghe. No doubt many of you have heard at least a little of what has happened lately in Venera. I was there for the event at the heart of it, so I thought perhaps it would be of some use to share a few of the details.

I am sure it will not come as any great shock to learn it seems to have been the fault of that dog Estinien Wyrmblood. The spirit that seems to have been responsible for what has been happening was so angered by his death that it appeared to smite anyone who tried to keep it from... I don't know, I think it wanted his shard. I don't know what it would have done with it. Kept him as a pet, perhaps, in one of its illusions.

If I am honest, whatever this thing was it seemed rather simple, like the ghost of a child, but it clearly possessed immense power. The Aions of Pleroma who were there, their unconvincing promises about—taking care of him in its stead, that kind of thing. That was enough to convince it to retreat.

I think it did something to them, though. I'll show you.

[ He shares his memory of this moment, when the mass of wings demanded that those gathered keep their promise, grasping onto those closest to it with its ethereal hands.

The image fades and Binghe's voice resumes: ]

So the problem has been solved, but only temporarily. The spirit was not destroyed, and it seems if these Aions fail to fulfil its whims it may return with something worse. It might not be so easy to persuade next time.

[ Hello everybody, are you ready for the wildest thing to hit your brain this afternoon? It's Lottie! This time not giving in and resorting to text, and post giving herself the pep talk of her life to introduce this idea to all her fellow baddies™ (literally). ]

Hii! Hope I'm not interrupting anything by posting this since I know we're all busy adjusting. I'm Lottie Person, and I was thinking over some things about the war and all that stuff..

We really need to start working on our image. If we want to make sure people don't leave and join the other side, or think we're bad people, we have to rebrand. Thankfully, I'm pretty experienced in PR [ she isn't ] so I'm putting this thing together for the Regent.

Soo, send me your best selfie!

Thanks. TTYL!

[ Yes, you WILL hear a kissie sound at the end of this post. ]

[ Hello resident Kenomies, guess who???

Actually if you have no idea who this asshole is, that's okay, because rest assured he doesn't want to get to know most of you either. Unfortunately, business calls, and for the sake of not looking like an absolute gaggle of buffoons in front of the Regent a second time, everyone's neighborhood-(un)friendly furry is here to begrudgingly use Mind Twitter™ to make a public briefing.

It's largely voice only, because Eustace prefers to keep things impersonal, and shot through with an undercurrent of business-like terseness. ]

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