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Auranosa Intrepid / Temple of Auriga
- Thread starter Jackie Cat
- Start date
- Pronoun
- they or she
Shiny Phantump
Through Dream, I Travel
- Pronoun
- She/Her
Gladion took a moment to turn all that over in his head. He knew he couldn't go home now, not with Neo here fucking everything up. Once he'd dealt with his other self, then maybe he could allow himself to go home.
Even though it meant one more offworlder soul straining the bounds of reality, from a point of personal bias Gladion couldn't help but be glad that Leona was gonna stick it out to the bitter end. He shot her a grin that indicated that he was much more pleased with her realization than she was. (And no more than a little amused that it'd taken this for her to realize it, but that was neither here nor there.)
"Guess you really are one of us, then. Wonder if Betel could connect you to their wayfarer network thing once they're back online, you know, make it official? That'd be handy."
He looked back to Auriga. "Say we are compelled by our consciences to stay here, would you at least be able to tell us where Starr and Jesse are, roughly? Seems to me like we ought to track them down, and like you might know."
Even though it meant one more offworlder soul straining the bounds of reality, from a point of personal bias Gladion couldn't help but be glad that Leona was gonna stick it out to the bitter end. He shot her a grin that indicated that he was much more pleased with her realization than she was. (And no more than a little amused that it'd taken this for her to realize it, but that was neither here nor there.)
"Guess you really are one of us, then. Wonder if Betel could connect you to their wayfarer network thing once they're back online, you know, make it official? That'd be handy."
He looked back to Auriga. "Say we are compelled by our consciences to stay here, would you at least be able to tell us where Starr and Jesse are, roughly? Seems to me like we ought to track them down, and like you might know."
Phoenixsong
beep beep coming through
- Pronoun
- she/they/any
Just their luck that even Auriga herself couldn't give a straightforward answer. There... usually isn't one. You're going to have to get used to it. Oh, well. They'd done just fine finding their own way through before. Why stop now?
At least Leona had figured something out. "Nobody asked you to get dragged out here and clean up someone else's mess." Surely Rui would at least understand that much. But there was definitely a sense of resolve somewhere under all that exasperation. "If you really want to stay, though, then hell yeah! The more the merrier. Coven won't know what hit 'em." She inclined her head casually, just sort of a shrug, but couldn't hide the enthusiasm in her tone. "Not like they don't deserve a little payback anyway, right?"
That was that, then. Leona'd resolved to stay after all, and Auriga had... hm. Something she'd said was still eating at the back of Leaf's mind. Hard to focus on just one strange inkling when every sensation of every spark of life was talking to you at once, but the implication had definitely been there...
"Why did you need souls who would be okay with... losing... something?" (Someone.) "What does that have to do with stopping a bunch of other people who are trying to control reality?"
At least Leona had figured something out. "Nobody asked you to get dragged out here and clean up someone else's mess." Surely Rui would at least understand that much. But there was definitely a sense of resolve somewhere under all that exasperation. "If you really want to stay, though, then hell yeah! The more the merrier. Coven won't know what hit 'em." She inclined her head casually, just sort of a shrug, but couldn't hide the enthusiasm in her tone. "Not like they don't deserve a little payback anyway, right?"
That was that, then. Leona'd resolved to stay after all, and Auriga had... hm. Something she'd said was still eating at the back of Leaf's mind. Hard to focus on just one strange inkling when every sensation of every spark of life was talking to you at once, but the implication had definitely been there...
"Why did you need souls who would be okay with... losing... something?" (Someone.) "What does that have to do with stopping a bunch of other people who are trying to control reality?"
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- Pronoun
- they or she
Auriga gave no verbal reaction, but the ever-present impression of pure thought in the back of Nova's mind might tell him that the weltgeist was both amused at the notion of the Wayfarers 'slugging it out' with Powehi, and pained at the mention of him.
And, fainter still,
'tries'? ha,
"Huh. Maybe? Worth asking, I guess."
Auriga's eyes flashed flame and darkness.
"Dark places. The fox, beneath soil you have walked – you will see him soon enough. The tiger, more distant – you will find her, too, not long from now. Others will show the way."
"Okay, but can you, y'know... give us directions?" asked Leona, with a light scoff.
"No... I do not see fact and matter as you do. I see interactions in time and space, coincidences, patterns, possibilities. Starr is more distant not in miles and yards, but in events and connections. Yet, not so very distant, any more..."
Leona shrugged. "Well, I get the gist, at least. It's gonna happen soon enough."
Auriga's face held a poignant expression of sorts.
"Do you ever shy away from what must be done, because you fear pain? Because you do not wish to regret? The child struggles to fend off the stinging swab that cleans his wound. The soldier hesitates with her blade at her enemy's throat, dreading the memory of that face haunting her at nights. The youth finds excuses to delay his going away, not wishing to be sick for home. The hero has a chance to defeat evil, and does not take it, because they love what is good more than they hate what is evil."
"I cannot reap a soul that threatens great ill to the world any more than you can cut your own limbs from your body and flay off your own skin. That is one of the many reasons I call on souls from distant worlds... That they might not stay their hands in the same way."
Ambyssin
Uh oh! Back to the lab again!
- Pronoun
- He/Him
"And yet, look what ended up happening." Nova gestured with a foreleg. "Now there's exponentially more of us here and the world may be even less stable as a result. I get not wanting to burden souls in this world with such hardships... but I'd say a lot of what's happened has put a heavy burden onto people here anyway. And forced both summoned and native souls to make different sorts of difficult decisions."
Thoughts of Lucien crossed Nova's mind. Of Sonora and Brisa. Sierra and the Wandering Light. And those were just a small handful.
Nova sighed. "I guess, as someone who's tried to shoulder the weight of the world in the past and failed, I believe the native souls of this world are strong. And I wish I could lift them up so that you wouldn't feel like you need to rely on those from distant worlds in times of crisis anymore."
Thoughts of Lucien crossed Nova's mind. Of Sonora and Brisa. Sierra and the Wandering Light. And those were just a small handful.
Nova sighed. "I guess, as someone who's tried to shoulder the weight of the world in the past and failed, I believe the native souls of this world are strong. And I wish I could lift them up so that you wouldn't feel like you need to rely on those from distant worlds in times of crisis anymore."
- Pronoun
- they or she
Auriga's lenses warmed, like a dawning sun.
"Every bright soul plays its part. As does every humble one. What you suggest shows a respect for this world – and compassion – and for that I thank you. There is strength in the souls of this world, that much is true. Yet I can no more compel some among them to campaign against others any more than you can compel your own organs and vital fluids to fight cancers of the body. There may be no analogy that reveals this fully to you, but it is as it is."
She glanced eastwards, again. Not to the red star, this time. Something else...
"There is an ambition lurking in the heart of one you have half-met. An ambition to overthrow the heavens, and make them more like the ones he imagines he was born under. His strength will equal any of yours. Any Forlasan soul, too. Your strength in numbers, though...? Perhaps not."
"Every bright soul plays its part. As does every humble one. What you suggest shows a respect for this world – and compassion – and for that I thank you. There is strength in the souls of this world, that much is true. Yet I can no more compel some among them to campaign against others any more than you can compel your own organs and vital fluids to fight cancers of the body. There may be no analogy that reveals this fully to you, but it is as it is."
She glanced eastwards, again. Not to the red star, this time. Something else...
"There is an ambition lurking in the heart of one you have half-met. An ambition to overthrow the heavens, and make them more like the ones he imagines he was born under. His strength will equal any of yours. Any Forlasan soul, too. Your strength in numbers, though...? Perhaps not."
Ambyssin
Uh oh! Back to the lab again!
- Pronoun
- He/Him
More waxing philosophical. Nova supposed that was how it went when one saw the world through the lens of divinity... instead of an lens constructed by others.
"Half-met, huh?" Nova's cheek bolts turned once. "That's cryptic. Though if he's as ambitious as you say, I'm sure we'll bump into him soon enough for real."
He stretched his back. "Anything else? Oh, and you wouldn't mind if we laid down an anchor in a nearby small dungeon, would you? It'd really help us regroup with everyone else faster."
"Half-met, huh?" Nova's cheek bolts turned once. "That's cryptic. Though if he's as ambitious as you say, I'm sure we'll bump into him soon enough for real."
He stretched his back. "Anything else? Oh, and you wouldn't mind if we laid down an anchor in a nearby small dungeon, would you? It'd really help us regroup with everyone else faster."
Shiny Phantump
Through Dream, I Travel
- Pronoun
- She/Her
"Is he..."
He turned over what Auriga'd said like it was a riddle, which in some sense it was. An offworlder guy, that much was obvious. His gut instinct and the subject of his half-formed question was Neo, since it was easy to imagine why a son of his father wouldn't want to die under foreign stars too. But that word, 'imagines,' would mean the riddle's subject didn't know their own skies. So, maybe that was an egocentric bias, and the riddle actually referred to someone younger, or an amnesiac. (Could Neo be an amnesiac himself? Matthias had said he knew Gladion's weaknesses. That would probably require Neo to remember those things about himself.) Could it be Matthias himself? He'd fit the structure of the riddle, and was mostly amnesiac. But did that fit with how she'd described him earlier? Maybe? Or although she seemed to be speaking of this 'him' separately from Lorrel, but was he sure that was the case? Lorrel could also be made out to fit the riddle. Maybe it was a riddle because any number of those conflicts could be avoided or come to pass.
"Is he..." me? That was the wrong question. To even approach asking it made his heart twinge. It was not him, he would not allow it the person responsible to be 'him', even if they shared a name or pieces of their history. Plus, he wasn't quite sure he was ready to ask that question in front of Leona. (Maybe he was wasting his time worrying about that. Maybe she already knew, and that's why she'd thought he could meet another version of himself. But that would require her to have spoken to him after he'd had her imprisoned, to know his role in that happening, and he wasn't ready to broach that subject.)
"..someone who uses the name Neo, at least sometimes? Or is he someone you summoned, or some other faller entirely?"
He stared at Auriga with eyes hungry for an answer he wasn't sure he was going to get. It didn't feel like they were going to be able to get much more from her.
"Or can you not answer that?" he forced himself to add. "It's fine if you can't."
He turned over what Auriga'd said like it was a riddle, which in some sense it was. An offworlder guy, that much was obvious. His gut instinct and the subject of his half-formed question was Neo, since it was easy to imagine why a son of his father wouldn't want to die under foreign stars too. But that word, 'imagines,' would mean the riddle's subject didn't know their own skies. So, maybe that was an egocentric bias, and the riddle actually referred to someone younger, or an amnesiac. (Could Neo be an amnesiac himself? Matthias had said he knew Gladion's weaknesses. That would probably require Neo to remember those things about himself.) Could it be Matthias himself? He'd fit the structure of the riddle, and was mostly amnesiac. But did that fit with how she'd described him earlier? Maybe? Or although she seemed to be speaking of this 'him' separately from Lorrel, but was he sure that was the case? Lorrel could also be made out to fit the riddle. Maybe it was a riddle because any number of those conflicts could be avoided or come to pass.
"Is he..." me? That was the wrong question. To even approach asking it made his heart twinge. It was not him, he would not allow it the person responsible to be 'him', even if they shared a name or pieces of their history. Plus, he wasn't quite sure he was ready to ask that question in front of Leona. (Maybe he was wasting his time worrying about that. Maybe she already knew, and that's why she'd thought he could meet another version of himself. But that would require her to have spoken to him after he'd had her imprisoned, to know his role in that happening, and he wasn't ready to broach that subject.)
"..someone who uses the name Neo, at least sometimes? Or is he someone you summoned, or some other faller entirely?"
He stared at Auriga with eyes hungry for an answer he wasn't sure he was going to get. It didn't feel like they were going to be able to get much more from her.
"Or can you not answer that?" he forced himself to add. "It's fine if you can't."
- Pronoun
- they or she
"It is inevitable. You will seek him out, or he will draw you to himself."
Auriga shook her head, slowly. The soul-of-souls considered its response.
"Gladius is 'you'... you understand that, don't you? You must. His soul may not be part of my gestalt any more than your own, but I can see your souls, I can see their likeness to each other. He seeks what you do. His path has been different to yours, but it does not lead him to seek a crown of stars, even if you fear as much. Would you, Sword-Flower, yoke the heavens to your will? The worst your mirror will do is little worse than you may do yourself – he will wound himself, and think the world has done him ill. He will do others the unkindness of earning their love, before they must watch him either bleed for them, or flee from them."
The dragon sighed, wings flickering and humming a motif.
"You hate yourself too much to rule anyone, Gladion," she whispered, as if it pained her to say. "The king you'll face has no such doubts."
The Flygon smiled wide enough that it almost seemed like a grin.
"No need, stranger. That is one thing I can do for you freely. You need only name your destination."
Phoenixsong
beep beep coming through
- Pronoun
- she/they/any
Leaf took one last look around the star-filled heights. She almost wanted to stay a little longer, to just space out (literally) and soak in the view. Her head was still spinning trying to process everything Auriga had said, or half-said, and all the countless ways she'd said it, all at once—beautiful, moving, like she'd felt each word in her chest, in a way she'd probably never be able to describe, but it was a lot, and frankly she had enough trouble when normal adults managed to never freaking say what they actually meant. The infinite sparkling vastness of heaven was much easier to deal with, yeah.
Someone they'd only "half-met"... how do you even half-meet someone in the first place? Somebody they'd only passed by on the street, or heard about but not seen? Maybe only some of the Wayfarers had met him, but not all of them? At least they could try asking the others about that last one. Which meant it was time to find their way back.
"Thank you, Auriga." Leaf nodded in the world spirit's direction. "For... helping." (Not hesitating because it hadn't been honest help; just trying to understand that the Voice had done the best she could.) "I know you tried, and Starr and Matthias tried, too. But I think maybe together we'll be able to find a way through. I promise we'll do our best."
Without having to sacrifice anybody, if she had anything to say about it.
Someone they'd only "half-met"... how do you even half-meet someone in the first place? Somebody they'd only passed by on the street, or heard about but not seen? Maybe only some of the Wayfarers had met him, but not all of them? At least they could try asking the others about that last one. Which meant it was time to find their way back.
"Thank you, Auriga." Leaf nodded in the world spirit's direction. "For... helping." (Not hesitating because it hadn't been honest help; just trying to understand that the Voice had done the best she could.) "I know you tried, and Starr and Matthias tried, too. But I think maybe together we'll be able to find a way through. I promise we'll do our best."
Without having to sacrifice anybody, if she had anything to say about it.
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