[Imprisonment is an option she would accept, but... She understands the logistics to be somewhat difficult. The shards could likely be traced, in both magical ways and perhaps through harmonization... and if it was one thing she learned during the Manon debates, it was that factions would argue anything to get "their" member back into their custody somehow. It was troublesome-
She would rather just shatter enemies of that level of foulness and be done with it.]
It is not as if I know much about them either. Their nature anyway. Such things were just legends and children's scary stories, in my world. And I doubt the "rules" are the same. But I can confirm he at least seems to use false names- perhaps for the reason you mention. I am learning here.
[Just like magic... she did not believe spirits or demons existed, no matter how many people told stories of them. After all, they had once told stories of jinba, and they turned out to be real. Over the centuries, how could people have failed to produce more concrete proof of their existence?
- She actually misses the "lessers" things, because she doesn't realize he's... you know, talking about humans or elves or whatever races his world has.
Hold on, though. "Raphael". That one that had introduced himself to her and begun asking all sorts of strange questions?]
Indeed. Of course, he’ll very much insist that he’s a devil, not a demon, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s little difference. They’re still fiends. Whether they possess people or so very kindly offer their “help”, they’re untrustworthy louts at absolute best.
[ Granted, demons in Divinity are also a lot more monstrous and freaky, save for the one that possessing Lohse, but. In some things, Fane will seek nuance, but the finer points of demons aren’t one of them. Kill them, move on. Simple. ]
But Drizzt confirmed it for me, since they’re from the same world. [ …And Drizzt is pretty famous, apparently? ] He’d mentioned it offhand when I’d spoken to everyone before the Oracle, so I followed up on it.
[Hayame repeats it out loud, as if she is trying to suss out how those words are different. Translated into her own tongue... they're kind of really not that different. They're the same word, actually, so.]
But he operates the same as Zenith's, then, you think? Hiding his true name, making "contracts" with people?
using the same icon twice... but my options are so limited... GRITS TEETH
[ There's at least a feeling of hearty agreement as Hayame doubtfully repeats the word(s). He knows, Hayame. He thinks so too. ]
Hm... I don't know about his name. The only demon whose name I ever actually learned was "Mhordkan", so it doesn't sound like that at all, but... Who knows about their naming conventions. That's likely a better question for Drizzt.
[ There's an impression of Fane making a sort of mental note to ask, but he moves on without missing a beat. ]
As for contracts, that's the impression I got, yes. Before we went down below, I found him lazing about and refusing to get involved because no one had asked. [ An annoyed click of his tongue ] Bloody blighter. I prefer him on our side than the opposite, of course, but he's incredibly annoying.
i have been there... i feel ur pain... hold my hand...
[... Wow, "Mhordkan" is a dumb name. But then again, this information is coming from a man whose name sounds like a lisped sound effect, so. Maybe that is just what they do in that land.]
... Well, if he has Harmonized to Meridian and stays loyal to Meridian, I am willing to overlook what his species is, even if I may pity his world for why he wishes to return to it. I save my scorn for those who fight against us, betray us, or act as hobbles on our fetlocks with their weakness.
[Er, our "feet", whatever.]
But I suppose we will need to keep an eye on him, if being asked is what he needs. A Zenith could just as easily ask.
We already have enough Meridians who think it beneficial to treat with and play with our enemies. We do not need another one.
one day i'll get an expression sheet commission but not yet 😔
Those were my thoughts as well. I wouldn't trust a demon, devil, whatever he'd call himself, but my impression is that they're creatures that are wholly self-interested. So, as long as he wishes to return to his world, fine. I'll not slay him simply for existing. [ Then, muttered: ] I know that trouble all too well.
[ Since, for SOME REASON people just attacked a walking, talking skeleton as soon as they saw it! How rude! ]
—Ah. Yes. I did hear of Lord Dagoth's... copulation.
[ Which is a very weird way to put it, but that's just a Fane Thing (TM), don't worry about it. He sighs, but it's definitely not because Voryn is fucking around (literal) so much as being forced to hear it thanks to the Savant connection and the fact that this other demon was a Zenite. Despite the impression he gives off, Fane isn't a prude at all, actually. ]
But by how you say it, I assume that's not as isolated of a case as I was hoping.
[Self-interested. Her disdain for that word... is doubled, because she knows that once... She had been something like the same. She knows exactly what it leads to... and she- She had changed, had she not? So she has the right to hate it more bitterly than anyone, because she knows for a fact that it does not have to be that way, nor stay that way.]
That seems to be the case. And as long as it is, he and those like him cannot be trusted not to betray our cause to Zenith or simply go over to their side, should the tides of war or their fickle interests change.
[... She actually appreciates the word "copulation", whatever the motive. Fane is talking to a woman who normally refers to consensual sex as "sharing a pillow" or "embracing", so. Thanks, skeleton buddy. She saves her crude words for jinba treatment and insulting traitor whores.]
His copulation with one of the strongest Zenites that strands between us and our goal.
[Just! So it's clear! That man can fuck as many Meris and Springstar citizens as he wants and she wouldn't care!!!]
One who poisoned and ki-
[... No one heard that, right??? Moving on!!!]
- But no, it is not. There are several Meridian members who claim loyalty to the cause yet maintain... close relationships with Zenites that risk compromising us or allowing themselves to be manipulated or weakened.
And for some reason, [I] we are supposed to simply overlook or stomach this.
That, I don’t know. Raphael at least seemed like he thought Meridian’s goal necessary, but further than that? Who knows. He’s worth keeping an eye on is the best I can say to that.
[ He personally will be, but that’s at least partially because he also had taken Raphael’s (annoying) lack of help personally. If he can direct that creature into working for Meridian’s benefit, so be it, he figures. However, it also gets into the sort of topics that he doesn’t know well, so he focuses more on the latter half. He’ll have plenty of demon/devil research in his future, though. ]
Hm. I suppose I should have expected as much, yet still, how disappointing. I would hope my allies would have stronger resolve than that, but I suppose weakness of will is difficult to escape. Either that, or that pleasures of the flesh override good sense. Unfortunate, either way.
[ However, you thought you escaped that utterance, Hayame? No such luck. ]
Poisoned, though? I hadn’t heard of that. Are Zenites really poisoning our own?
[They seemed to try and impress their usefulness and strength upon her in that communion, so maybe she can use that to keep an eye on them. But there is no fooling herself that she isn't focused far more on... a different demon. The one that had actually-
...
... It feels too early. Like if she tells him, he will think- It will destroy the image she had been able to present in front of him so far, that of the strong and resolute warrior. But if she obfuscates it, she will seem weak in a different way, she will appear a liar if it comes out later-]
... Not en masse, no.
But I have experience with it. Zenites who are brazen enough to come into Springstar outside of the trials and use such cowardly tactics.
…I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, especially if it’s their demon.
[ Since the implication was only barely an implication. At the very least, Hayame can get some validation with how Fane also seems to refuse to use his name. So far as he’s concerned, using its false one is essentially being the butt of a joke, at least with the assumption that names worked similarly between the demons he knows and the ones here. So, he won’t participate, thank you. ]
Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you went through that. I’m quite familiar with poisons, though it’s by necessity, I’ll note. It’s an unusual part of my condition.
[ Presumably he means undead, but that also doesn’t make sense…?? This is video game logic at work and an especially funny one, I fear. ]
But it seems painful. I made more than a few potions to resist it for my friends, but I can’t offer the same here. Or, not immediately, I suppose? The flora here is different, so I would have to do research into how I might craft something similar.
[It is, she wants to scream. It is their demon, of course it was, and he- He-
... But she cannot. She had barely been able to show the anguish and humiliation that incident had left in her to those closest to her. She sometimes wished she hadn't even told those guarded few, that she had been able to hide all of it away and pretend it never happened and just rip the gods damned eye out of her head instead of caving in to her lover's plea to stay her hands. So the idea of telling anyone else in any way that implied she was anything but full of rage and soon-to-come revenge... Those were the only things-]
It happened. Now it is over.
[She wasn't still having nightmares. She wasn't still wrestling with doubts over whether she could trust those she had once thought closest to her.]
It was not. ... The poison was a means to an end, not an attempt to kill me. And I do not know what the ingredients were, to tell you what to combat, anyway.
[......................... Wait, skeletons use potions on themselves?]
Well, resistance potions are a bit of a catchall, at least. So far as I know, they resist all poisons equally, but that’s not the sort of thing to tempt fate about, I suppose… It makes far more sense with those that resist the elements, such as fire.
[ He’d honestly never thought about it before, but resisting poisons had never been something he was concerned with either. Ifan would at least know better about that, but ah, well. He at least has the idea to look into it now, so he’ll be adding potion crafting to his ever-lengthening to-do list. ]
Regardless… It is contemptible that they would stoop to such methods, but from all I’ve learned about them, that’s perfectly in line with the foul creatures. The smarter ones, at least.
[ Though that’s said with displeasure, since the smarter ones were also much harder to fight. Not that he’s put off by that prospect, though. ]
Has anything been done about it? Or… No, is anything done about it is the question I mean, I think. What happens when there’s conflicts outside of these trials?
[... Okay, those potions sound more useful than she had been imagining. But.
But.
The moment is right there, the perfect invitation to rage and bitterly spit about what has been done to her. She wants to. She wants to so badly. But every time she has attempted to decry another shardbearer... rarely has it been that she felt heard and not dismissed, or written off as too cruel, too hardline, too medieval in her thinking. And that had been others, not Sebastian Michaelis, not the demon who seemed to take sadistic pleasure in making sure half the people who supposedly cared about her... cared about him just as much, or more.
She's afraid, in some pathetic part of herself, that even though this man decries demons now... That the time will come when he too comes to think that the demonic beast that had forced an eye into her head was just too interesting to give up--]
Zenites have been arrested before, when they overstepped in Springstar. Some for attempting undoubtedly foul business with the Heliopolis Tree, another for beating a Meri in the street.
[She will never understand why Liem let him do that. Another disgusting Zenite that far too many so-called Meridians extended pity and coddling to.]
Yet for reasons unknown to me, they find themselves free soon enough.
[She certainly would never authorize their release. But she is not in charge.]
So what would you have me do? He assured I was made too weak to prevent my own taking, that no one saw it happen... and he had his accomplice heal every single injury I incurred in his presence before he was done.
There is no proof.
[Gee, Hayame, what about the fact that supposedly she could attempt to testify via Communion and show, visually, everything that happened to the Legionary or the Tribune? ... She doesn't seem to consider that an option somehow. Weirdly.]
[ Fane listens seriously, but his displeasure is sharp when he hears that these Zenites were released. He doesn’t know what to think about that except for this city’s idea of punishment being wholly too lenient and ineffective, but that sharpness does ebb away as Hayame continues. What she explains is clever of the demon, he’d have to admit, but cruel. There’s no sense of approval for that cleverness that comes through, only a mild anger on her behalf. ]
Is Communion not considered proof?
[ It’s an earnest question, since the legal system of Springstar isn’t something he was aware of at all yet. He’s too blunt and often overly rational to even consider that there might be an emotional reason why she might not want to share such a thing. It’s why he also expects the question to have a simple answer, so he continues. ]
…But to be honest, I wouldn’t give a demon the decency of law. It’s not as if it would respect it. We weren’t pursuing Lohse’s demon to ask it nicely to free her.
[ But he also assumes that Hayame had already thought of this, since he feels it’s obvious, and they’re of similar enough minds, it seems. So logically, there must be a reason why that’s not possible. He’s yet to encounter the opposition to crushing Shards personally, so that doesn’t occur to him, but just thinking about his personal experience… ]
If not execution, then neutralization. That- [ He pauses, and there’s a complicated, difficult emotion, though it’s brief because of how he clamps down on it purposefully. ] That is how my people dealt with those that betrayed the will of our King. My people do not die, so the most extreme of punishments could not be death.
[They are not the same Aspect, so perhaps she will be saved from the potential bleed of actual images or memories. But the spike of painful humiliation when he asks the very sensible and simple question... that likely comes through, even if just in impression. Maybe Communion would be proof. But she had barely managed to admit in words what had happened to her to her lover, to those who claimed to be her friends, so how-
How could she ever survive showing what had happened to her to strangers? Letting them see her so weak, so utterly without control, trussed up like a unbroken mare with a bit in her fucking mouth unable to stop the screams as her enemy smugly did with her what he liked? She can't- She can't let anyone see, she can't believe for a second anyone who told her it wasn't her fault, that she shouldn't be ashamed, that it would not ruin her in the eyes of ally and enemy alike.
It takes her a second too long. She doesn't even answer. Like she didn't... like she didn't even hear that part of what he had said.]
At least neutralization, yes. The demon is one of the strongest Zenites, and he is...
[She hates saying it. She hates knowing it.]
He is "beloved". If we simply held his shard, I have no doubt people would attempt to free him. Members of our own faction, even, might in their misguided desire for mercy and kindness enable him to escape somehow.
So he should be shattered. Or "bound". Apparently... that can be done with demons.
[Akua said it was possible, but she wants-
She does not know how she will ever rest until she has found out what Sebastian Michaelis' shard shattering under her hoof sounds like.]
[ The humiliation is met with surprise, but it’s quickly followed by his own embarrassed recognition. He quickly realizes the mistake of the question, even if not the extent. Of course she’d already thought about that, surely, and though her silence is a bit too long, he’s fairly quick to fill it. ]
—Excuse me if that was an obvious question. I did not mean…
[ It’s his turn to trail off, and as she gets to business, he returns to it too with a awkward clear of his throat. He won’t intrude upon her feelings, since he’s also not the best at dealing with them. ]
Beloved?
[ At least his incredulity and distaste will likely offer as good of an apology as anything. ]
Idiots, then, all of them. Demons will say anything to get what they want, and they won’t mean a word of it. That’s the whole point of them, at least so far as what Jahan explained. He didn’t even want us talking to the one he caged.
[ Which, on that note. He clicks his tongue, but turns thoughtful. ]
It’s too bad that there’s not something like the Souce Collars but for demons. I guess that would be the same thing as Binding a demon, I assume, where you’re declawing it… But killing it outright is better.
[ Another thing to consider… He’s no expert like Jahan, but surely there’s literature on demons, common and insidious as they are. And if he’s able to create something from Source…
It’s something to consider, he decides. But, for now, he doesn’t have a serious option to offer. So in lieu of that, he defaults to joking sarcasm. ]
[What if we just didn't do any emotions!!!! ... It. Definitely doesn't make things worse. ... And its easier to just let it be replaced by rage and bitterness.]
I know they are idiots. Half of them just believe any handsome smile, like they are a gaggle of besotted maidens, and the other half just delight in his depravity, because-
[She chokes on it a minute, because she doesn't want to admit it even to herself for what it means about her own bonds, but-]
Because they themselves are.
[She doesn't have to swallow in Communion.]
- Slicing the vocal cords will not work. I stabbed out its eye to revenge myself and it grew back in an instant.
[At least, that is what Sebastian had said. And Liem Talbott had confirmed he could regenerate.]
[ Fane scoffs at the assessment. He’s no more impressed with it than Hayame, though of course it’s not as personal for him. He’s judging them largely based on the latter criteria over the first, though. When it comes to physical attractiveness… Fane isn’t the best judge, honestly. Nearly every person he’s met looks so terribly dull by Eternal tastes, after all. ]
Wonderful. I suppose it was too much to hope that my new allies would be focused on the task at hand. I hope they’re you’re exaggerating about the numbers, lest anyone sensible have to redouble their efforts to make up for a lack.
[ Anyways. ]
…Though I was largely suggesting the vocal cords in jest, that’s inconvenient. I suppose it wouldn’t be easy either.
[That's right, Fane! They're all dull! Dull and ugly! Don't even think about it! ... Unless it's a Meridian and you can bang them without being a traitor, that's Hayame's super chill advice!]
I have been praying they will find the task for a year. ... The numbers are few, but. Those numbers contain both our weakest and our most powerful.
[And obviously, it's the latter she cares most about. But.
But.
...]
No. It will not be easy. That is the only sure thing.
Unless we can recreate the effect of the Iconoclast Oracle's trial once again, and render shardbearers powerless, strip him of those unnatural demon abilities.
[She won't let Akua convince her not to shatter him. Not again. (Hah.)]
[ Fane makes a soft, neutral noise as he listens. He’s not a tactician by nature, but he’s a man that looks at things rationally. Often, overly so. He may not have the depth of Hayame’s grudge or the very painful thing that she’d gone through, but what she explains is straightforward, so far as he sees it.
This demon is a threat. Not just for his danger, which seems to be considerable, but for how he misleads people and pulls them astray. That’s what they’re meant to do, apparently, but where Fane might just let others make their mistakes, he can’t here. If Meridian can’t be trusted to do their own work, then it affects them all.
So. With that in mind, he asks gently: ]
I cannot promise anything, mind. But perhaps something of the sort could be made. Is that something you’d like for me to work on?
[Hayame won't let herself feel hopeful when she hears Fane say that. She won't. Even if the man seemed capable, and able to do all sorts of magic... No, she won't-
She doesn't even think she'll understand the answer, but-]
Well, as I said, I cannot promise it, for I've not made anything of the like...
[ But he turns thoughtful as he starts to explain the theory, working through the idea as he explains it. ]
I do not know its intimate workings, but I had a collar placed on me by Magisters that prevented me from using Source, and I would follow a similar theory with this. Far better, of course, since I have Eternal engineering on my side, but nevermind you that. There's much that can be made with Source Orbs, and I'm at least no slouch with that even if I'm not an expert.
[ A thoughtful noise, then: ]
But the collars continuously drained the innate well of Source, and this could do something similar. The demon may call it something different, but from my studies, it is the same. Magic and strength both come from the well of life energy, so stem the flow and it will not die outright from the placement, but it should not be able to draw upon it so readily.
[... So he has at least a base from which to work, an idea modified on something that he had experienced before. Is the demon's power something that can be cut off in the same way as that "Source"?
Unless it was tried...]
If you could make me such a thing as that...
There is little I would not do for you in turn, though I know not what I can offer a man capable of that type of feat.
[It wasn't something like idly teaching a magic amateur how to use their Meridian spells. She cannot easily imagine him doing it for free, or for something like archery instruction.]
[ But there’s a gentle sense that it’s not something that Fane is worried about. He understands not wanting to feel indebted to people though, since he’s the same way. It feels right to him to offer something in return for good work, no matter what it is, but he’s also admittedly not sure what he’d want… But he doesn’t want to say that, since he can’t think of a way to phrase it without sounding entirely dismissive. ]
If it’s any comfort, this is partially my own curiosity. I would have examined the Source collar that I was fitted with if I’d had the chance, but I simply didn’t.
[ He gives a dramatic sigh as he steps to sarcasm, but it’s joking… Mostly. This really did happen, but, ]
Being beset upon by a gaping maw and tentacles has a way of getting in the way of research. So. All of that was left behind at the Joy, though good riddance for it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
She would rather just shatter enemies of that level of foulness and be done with it.]
It is not as if I know much about them either. Their nature anyway. Such things were just legends and children's scary stories, in my world. And I doubt the "rules" are the same. But I can confirm he at least seems to use false names- perhaps for the reason you mention. I am learning here.
[Just like magic... she did not believe spirits or demons existed, no matter how many people told stories of them. After all, they had once told stories of jinba, and they turned out to be real. Over the centuries, how could people have failed to produce more concrete proof of their existence?
- She actually misses the "lessers" things, because she doesn't realize he's... you know, talking about humans or elves or whatever races his world has.
Hold on, though. "Raphael". That one that had introduced himself to her and begun asking all sorts of strange questions?]
Raphael... the new Meridian?
no subject
[ Granted, demons in Divinity are also a lot more monstrous and freaky, save for the one that possessing Lohse, but. In some things, Fane will seek nuance, but the finer points of demons aren’t one of them. Kill them, move on. Simple. ]
But Drizzt confirmed it for me, since they’re from the same world. [ …And Drizzt is pretty famous, apparently? ] He’d mentioned it offhand when I’d spoken to everyone before the Oracle, so I followed up on it.
no subject
[Hayame repeats it out loud, as if she is trying to suss out how those words are different. Translated into her own tongue... they're kind of really not that different. They're the same word, actually, so.]
But he operates the same as Zenith's, then, you think? Hiding his true name, making "contracts" with people?
using the same icon twice... but my options are so limited... GRITS TEETH
Hm... I don't know about his name. The only demon whose name I ever actually learned was "Mhordkan", so it doesn't sound like that at all, but... Who knows about their naming conventions. That's likely a better question for Drizzt.
[ There's an impression of Fane making a sort of mental note to ask, but he moves on without missing a beat. ]
As for contracts, that's the impression I got, yes. Before we went down below, I found him lazing about and refusing to get involved because no one had asked. [ An annoyed click of his tongue ] Bloody blighter. I prefer him on our side than the opposite, of course, but he's incredibly annoying.
i have been there... i feel ur pain... hold my hand...
... Well, if he has Harmonized to Meridian and stays loyal to Meridian, I am willing to overlook what his species is, even if I may pity his world for why he wishes to return to it. I save my scorn for those who fight against us, betray us, or act as hobbles on our fetlocks with their weakness.
[Er, our "feet", whatever.]
But I suppose we will need to keep an eye on him, if being asked is what he needs. A Zenith could just as easily ask.
We already have enough Meridians who think it beneficial to treat with and play with our enemies. We do not need another one.
one day i'll get an expression sheet commission but not yet 😔
[ Since, for SOME REASON people just attacked a walking, talking skeleton as soon as they saw it! How rude! ]
—Ah. Yes. I did hear of Lord Dagoth's... copulation.
[ Which is a very weird way to put it, but that's just a Fane Thing (TM), don't worry about it. He sighs, but it's definitely not because Voryn is fucking around (literal) so much as being forced to hear it thanks to the Savant connection and the fact that this other demon was a Zenite. Despite the impression he gives off, Fane isn't a prude at all, actually. ]
But by how you say it, I assume that's not as isolated of a case as I was hoping.
one day!!!
That seems to be the case. And as long as it is, he and those like him cannot be trusted not to betray our cause to Zenith or simply go over to their side, should the tides of war or their fickle interests change.
[... She actually appreciates the word "copulation", whatever the motive. Fane is talking to a woman who normally refers to consensual sex as "sharing a pillow" or "embracing", so. Thanks, skeleton buddy. She saves her crude words for jinba treatment and insulting traitor whores.]
His copulation with one of the strongest Zenites that strands between us and our goal.
[Just! So it's clear! That man can fuck as many Meris and Springstar citizens as he wants and she wouldn't care!!!]
One who poisoned and ki-
[... No one heard that, right??? Moving on!!!]
- But no, it is not. There are several Meridian members who claim loyalty to the cause yet maintain... close relationships with Zenites that risk compromising us or allowing themselves to be manipulated or weakened.
And for some reason, [I] we are supposed to simply overlook or stomach this.
no subject
[ He personally will be, but that’s at least partially because he also had taken Raphael’s (annoying) lack of help personally. If he can direct that creature into working for Meridian’s benefit, so be it, he figures. However, it also gets into the sort of topics that he doesn’t know well, so he focuses more on the latter half. He’ll have plenty of demon/devil research in his future, though. ]
Hm. I suppose I should have expected as much, yet still, how disappointing. I would hope my allies would have stronger resolve than that, but I suppose weakness of will is difficult to escape. Either that, or that pleasures of the flesh override good sense. Unfortunate, either way.
[ However, you thought you escaped that utterance, Hayame? No such luck. ]
Poisoned, though? I hadn’t heard of that. Are Zenites really poisoning our own?
no subject
[They seemed to try and impress their usefulness and strength upon her in that communion, so maybe she can use that to keep an eye on them. But there is no fooling herself that she isn't focused far more on... a different demon. The one that had actually-
...
... It feels too early. Like if she tells him, he will think- It will destroy the image she had been able to present in front of him so far, that of the strong and resolute warrior. But if she obfuscates it, she will seem weak in a different way, she will appear a liar if it comes out later-]
... Not en masse, no.
But I have experience with it. Zenites who are brazen enough to come into Springstar outside of the trials and use such cowardly tactics.
no subject
[ Since the implication was only barely an implication. At the very least, Hayame can get some validation with how Fane also seems to refuse to use his name. So far as he’s concerned, using its false one is essentially being the butt of a joke, at least with the assumption that names worked similarly between the demons he knows and the ones here. So, he won’t participate, thank you. ]
Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you went through that. I’m quite familiar with poisons, though it’s by necessity, I’ll note. It’s an unusual part of my condition.
[ Presumably he means undead, but that also doesn’t make sense…?? This is video game logic at work and an especially funny one, I fear. ]
But it seems painful. I made more than a few potions to resist it for my friends, but I can’t offer the same here. Or, not immediately, I suppose? The flora here is different, so I would have to do research into how I might craft something similar.
no subject
... But she cannot. She had barely been able to show the anguish and humiliation that incident had left in her to those closest to her. She sometimes wished she hadn't even told those guarded few, that she had been able to hide all of it away and pretend it never happened and just rip the gods damned eye out of her head instead of caving in to her lover's plea to stay her hands. So the idea of telling anyone else in any way that implied she was anything but full of rage and soon-to-come revenge... Those were the only things-]
It happened. Now it is over.
[She wasn't still having nightmares. She wasn't still wrestling with doubts over whether she could trust those she had once thought closest to her.]
It was not. ... The poison was a means to an end, not an attempt to kill me. And I do not know what the ingredients were, to tell you what to combat, anyway.
[......................... Wait, skeletons use potions on themselves?]
no subject
[ He’d honestly never thought about it before, but resisting poisons had never been something he was concerned with either. Ifan would at least know better about that, but ah, well. He at least has the idea to look into it now, so he’ll be adding potion crafting to his ever-lengthening to-do list. ]
Regardless… It is contemptible that they would stoop to such methods, but from all I’ve learned about them, that’s perfectly in line with the foul creatures. The smarter ones, at least.
[ Though that’s said with displeasure, since the smarter ones were also much harder to fight. Not that he’s put off by that prospect, though. ]
Has anything been done about it? Or… No, is anything done about it is the question I mean, I think. What happens when there’s conflicts outside of these trials?
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But.
The moment is right there, the perfect invitation to rage and bitterly spit about what has been done to her. She wants to. She wants to so badly. But every time she has attempted to decry another shardbearer... rarely has it been that she felt heard and not dismissed, or written off as too cruel, too hardline, too medieval in her thinking. And that had been others, not Sebastian Michaelis, not the demon who seemed to take sadistic pleasure in making sure half the people who supposedly cared about her... cared about him just as much, or more.
She's afraid, in some pathetic part of herself, that even though this man decries demons now... That the time will come when he too comes to think that the demonic beast that had forced an eye into her head was just too interesting to give up--]
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Zenites have been arrested before, when they overstepped in Springstar. Some for attempting undoubtedly foul business with the Heliopolis Tree, another for beating a Meri in the street.
[She will never understand why Liem let him do that. Another disgusting Zenite that far too many so-called Meridians extended pity and coddling to.]
Yet for reasons unknown to me, they find themselves free soon enough.
[She certainly would never authorize their release. But she is not in charge.]
So what would you have me do? He assured I was made too weak to prevent my own taking, that no one saw it happen... and he had his accomplice heal every single injury I incurred in his presence before he was done.
There is no proof.
[Gee, Hayame, what about the fact that supposedly she could attempt to testify via Communion and show, visually, everything that happened to the Legionary or the Tribune? ... She doesn't seem to consider that an option somehow. Weirdly.]
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Is Communion not considered proof?
[ It’s an earnest question, since the legal system of Springstar isn’t something he was aware of at all yet. He’s too blunt and often overly rational to even consider that there might be an emotional reason why she might not want to share such a thing. It’s why he also expects the question to have a simple answer, so he continues. ]
…But to be honest, I wouldn’t give a demon the decency of law. It’s not as if it would respect it. We weren’t pursuing Lohse’s demon to ask it nicely to free her.
[ But he also assumes that Hayame had already thought of this, since he feels it’s obvious, and they’re of similar enough minds, it seems. So logically, there must be a reason why that’s not possible. He’s yet to encounter the opposition to crushing Shards personally, so that doesn’t occur to him, but just thinking about his personal experience… ]
If not execution, then neutralization. That- [ He pauses, and there’s a complicated, difficult emotion, though it’s brief because of how he clamps down on it purposefully. ] That is how my people dealt with those that betrayed the will of our King. My people do not die, so the most extreme of punishments could not be death.
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How could she ever survive showing what had happened to her to strangers? Letting them see her so weak, so utterly without control, trussed up like a unbroken mare with a bit in her fucking mouth unable to stop the screams as her enemy smugly did with her what he liked? She can't- She can't let anyone see, she can't believe for a second anyone who told her it wasn't her fault, that she shouldn't be ashamed, that it would not ruin her in the eyes of ally and enemy alike.
It takes her a second too long. She doesn't even answer. Like she didn't... like she didn't even hear that part of what he had said.]
At least neutralization, yes. The demon is one of the strongest Zenites, and he is...
[She hates saying it. She hates knowing it.]
He is "beloved". If we simply held his shard, I have no doubt people would attempt to free him. Members of our own faction, even, might in their misguided desire for mercy and kindness enable him to escape somehow.
So he should be shattered. Or "bound". Apparently... that can be done with demons.
[Akua said it was possible, but she wants-
She does not know how she will ever rest until she has found out what Sebastian Michaelis' shard shattering under her hoof sounds like.]
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—Excuse me if that was an obvious question. I did not mean…
[ It’s his turn to trail off, and as she gets to business, he returns to it too with a awkward clear of his throat. He won’t intrude upon her feelings, since he’s also not the best at dealing with them. ]
Beloved?
[ At least his incredulity and distaste will likely offer as good of an apology as anything. ]
Idiots, then, all of them. Demons will say anything to get what they want, and they won’t mean a word of it. That’s the whole point of them, at least so far as what Jahan explained. He didn’t even want us talking to the one he caged.
[ Which, on that note. He clicks his tongue, but turns thoughtful. ]
It’s too bad that there’s not something like the Souce Collars but for demons. I guess that would be the same thing as Binding a demon, I assume, where you’re declawing it… But killing it outright is better.
[ Another thing to consider… He’s no expert like Jahan, but surely there’s literature on demons, common and insidious as they are. And if he’s able to create something from Source…
It’s something to consider, he decides. But, for now, he doesn’t have a serious option to offer. So in lieu of that, he defaults to joking sarcasm. ]
Well, there’s always slicing the vocal cords.
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I know they are idiots. Half of them just believe any handsome smile, like they are a gaggle of besotted maidens, and the other half just delight in his depravity, because-
[She chokes on it a minute, because she doesn't want to admit it even to herself for what it means about her own bonds, but-]
Because they themselves are.
[She doesn't have to swallow in Communion.]
- Slicing the vocal cords will not work. I stabbed out its eye to revenge myself and it grew back in an instant.
[At least, that is what Sebastian had said. And Liem Talbott had confirmed he could regenerate.]
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Wonderful. I suppose it was too much to hope that my new allies would be focused on the task at hand. I hope they’re you’re exaggerating about the numbers, lest anyone sensible have to redouble their efforts to make up for a lack.
[ Anyways. ]
…Though I was largely suggesting the vocal cords in jest, that’s inconvenient. I suppose it wouldn’t be easy either.
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I have been praying they will find the task for a year. ... The numbers are few, but. Those numbers contain both our weakest and our most powerful.
[And obviously, it's the latter she cares most about. But.
But.
...]
No. It will not be easy. That is the only sure thing.
Unless we can recreate the effect of the Iconoclast Oracle's trial once again, and render shardbearers powerless, strip him of those unnatural demon abilities.
[She won't let Akua convince her not to shatter him. Not again. (Hah.)]
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This demon is a threat. Not just for his danger, which seems to be considerable, but for how he misleads people and pulls them astray. That’s what they’re meant to do, apparently, but where Fane might just let others make their mistakes, he can’t here. If Meridian can’t be trusted to do their own work, then it affects them all.
So. With that in mind, he asks gently: ]
I cannot promise anything, mind. But perhaps something of the sort could be made. Is that something you’d like for me to work on?
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She doesn't even think she'll understand the answer, but-]
... How. How could such a thing be made?
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[ But he turns thoughtful as he starts to explain the theory, working through the idea as he explains it. ]
I do not know its intimate workings, but I had a collar placed on me by Magisters that prevented me from using Source, and I would follow a similar theory with this. Far better, of course, since I have Eternal engineering on my side, but nevermind you that. There's much that can be made with Source Orbs, and I'm at least no slouch with that even if I'm not an expert.
[ A thoughtful noise, then: ]
But the collars continuously drained the innate well of Source, and this could do something similar. The demon may call it something different, but from my studies, it is the same. Magic and strength both come from the well of life energy, so stem the flow and it will not die outright from the placement, but it should not be able to draw upon it so readily.
omg so sorry this one got lost in the inbox sauce
Unless it was tried...]
If you could make me such a thing as that...
There is little I would not do for you in turn, though I know not what I can offer a man capable of that type of feat.
[It wasn't something like idly teaching a magic amateur how to use their Meridian spells. She cannot easily imagine him doing it for free, or for something like archery instruction.]
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[ But there’s a gentle sense that it’s not something that Fane is worried about. He understands not wanting to feel indebted to people though, since he’s the same way. It feels right to him to offer something in return for good work, no matter what it is, but he’s also admittedly not sure what he’d want… But he doesn’t want to say that, since he can’t think of a way to phrase it without sounding entirely dismissive. ]
If it’s any comfort, this is partially my own curiosity. I would have examined the Source collar that I was fitted with if I’d had the chance, but I simply didn’t.
[ He gives a dramatic sigh as he steps to sarcasm, but it’s joking… Mostly. This really did happen, but, ]
Being beset upon by a gaping maw and tentacles has a way of getting in the way of research. So. All of that was left behind at the Joy, though good riddance for it.
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