Magna City Shining Congress – Bar Lounge

[Jackie Cat]

Matthias gave Nova a bemused look, and made a response of his own on the board. Clack. A knight sallied out alone.

"I was speaking figuratively. If I knew it were truly impossible, then I would not be trying to fulfil it."

"If that’s the case, does it really matter?”

Matthias gave a soft, nasal sigh. "You should believe whatever you like about 'fate'. I don't mind what you think about that. What I was really asking about, before... Tsk."

He glanced aside as he considered a different angle on what he was trying to talk about. It didn't seem like he was just being circumspect in case of eavesdropping, but like he found it mentally difficult to be blunt or direct. Perhaps this was one of those 'cultural' things he'd alluded to before – the way he knew to talk about things was to talk around them.

"You know, we heard a rumor out west. Some people were saying that, that there might've been another summoned hero, just last year." More recently than him, in other words. "Have you heard anything about that?"

"What do you imagine the Beacon that summons us is like?" he asked, with an insistent edge to his voice. "Many in the Covenant believe that it must be a wise and noble being – perhaps one with deep insight into destiny, and therefore... This is what lets them believe in 'heroes' like me. If we were summoned, then everything we do will work out like it's meant to. Doesn't that sound... reassuring? Comforting?"

There was no way Matthias held an opinion like that himself. His tone aside, he said he 'wouldn't forgive' Auriga for summoning him. He didn't seem comforted by the notion that he was a chosen one – he was trying to get the Wayfarers to think about this from a different angle to Covenant doctrine about 'destiny'.

He swallowed around his oversized tongue. It looked... uncomfortable.

"Everyone's too polite to say it, but most know I was in another organisation before I joined this society. They don't hold it against me – after all, there must have been a good reason things had to happen that way!"

He laughed lightly. It sparkled. He must have had a lot of practice to sound that way at will.

 

[Namohysip]

"In other words," Mhynt said, "a fallible entity trying to summon help in times of crisis. But sometimes, perhaps the tasks are too great... in your case, for the crisis or task you were assigned. Somewhat of an inferiority to heroes of the past?" She shrugged. "Not sure how we should feel. Whatever we were brought for, it required a whole squadron of 'heroes.' Some not even human." She grunted, thinking about one they'd recently dispatched: "Some hardly Pokemon."

 

[Chibi Pika]

So it was pretty clear from his tone that Matthias didn’t exactly share everyone else’s high opinion of the infallibility of the World-Spirit. Of course, he must have known that the Wayfarers weren’t summoned by Auriga, right? But that probably wasn’t common knowledge… Not safe to talk about openly.

“I can see how people would assume that the Beacon knows best just from having been around a whole lot longer than most people.” Same with the Legendaries. “But I guess there’s some lessons that can only be learned from failure.” Powehi sure would have thought so.

They are chosen ones, chosen by the 'Beacon', or the World-Spirit, or whatever you want to call it. Hmm... I wonder, do you believe that such a thing is true? If so, then that is my destiny, isn't it?"

Jade furrowed her brow. If it was his destiny, then it was also Starr’s.

“I guess, more on the hypothetical side… If there were another hero out there with less experience than you, and you could meet her, what would you say to her?” Had he spoken to her already? Would it be possible to glean that from his response?

 

[Ambyssin]

"Many in the Covenant believe that it must be a wise and noble being – perhaps one with deep insight into destiny, and therefore... This is what lets them believe in 'heroes' like me. If we were summoned, then everything we do will work out like it's meant to. Doesn't that sound... reassuring? Comforting?"

"No." Nova's cheek bolts slowly turned. "It sounds... demoralizing. Why put effort into leading a life or doing anything when the powers that be have dictated a course of events?" He looked at the ceiling. "Besides... if the legends about the Living Sun are to be believed... things often don't work out like they're meant to. For summoned folks. For Forlas."

Hell, some combination of Auriga and Betel led to Alexander's presence here. And the previous summons had weakened the world's barriers enough for Cipher to brute force their way in.

"If anything, it's deeply flawed."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion shrugged. “Based on what I’ve seen from the embodiment of Shadow, I don’t think ‘Beacon’ or, y’know, whatever you call her is all-knowing, just experienced.”

A smirk crossed his face. He was going to enjoy saying this. He lowered his voice to make sure he wasn’t overheard. “And yet I’d say you did have good reasons to be working with the Vanguard, given everything. A shame that fell through.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Matthias nodded with cool approval at the various, similar perspectives the Wayfarers offered. Yes, of course, who could deny that Auriga had made bad calls, that she was surely not all-seeing and wise beyond reproach?

"It sounds like you've thought about this long enough to understand something about it," he said, mildly. "Although, isn't it strange that the Beacon would summon... first me, to resolve a Crisis that was either minor or yet to be discovered... then another, only a few years later— Now all of you, breaking so many conventions. Isn't that odd?"

A rhetorical question, of course. Matthias knew that the Wayfarers weren't summoned by Auriga, but by Betel. Betel, who really didn't seem to know what they were doing...

"Whether you want to think of the Beacon as experienced yet imperfect, or as deeply flawed, you are still seeing things more clearly than someone blinded by the light. Too devoted to see the contradictions... such as how two summoned heroes could end up in conflict with each other..."

“I guess, more on the hypothetical side… If there were another hero out there with less experience than you, and you could meet her, what would you say to her?” Had he spoken to her already? Would it be possible to glean that from his response?

"...that's a situation that would present a real problem to both of us, don't you think?"

Matthias gave Jade a slightly more serious look, narrowing his eyes. The dim electric lighting in the lounge reflected off his damp skin.

"If one hero hasn't been slain, but another is summoned... it implies the first has failed, either by lacking the ability to solve their Crisis, or going about it in a way the Beacon doesn't approve of. The second, then, is naturally in conflict with the first... I expect I'd tell her to think carefully about who to side with, and who to fight against. To not make the wrong choice."

Had Starr made the 'wrong choice'? Had Jesse?

“And yet I’d say you did have good reasons to be working with the Vanguard, given everything. A shame that fell through.”

Matthias dropped his smile, his polite schoolboy veneer peeled away, and the Greninja was cold beneath it. How had he seemed charming, and young, and sheepish? He was an operative, a professional spy and assassin. Always controlled, never sentimental.

(And yet, if he were truly in control, the facade would not have dropped, surely?)

"It really is a tragedy when those that simply want to do the right thing just can't find common ground," said Matthias, in a tepid voice.

He glanced at the chess game, ignored by his hoped-for opponents, and glanced up again. At Betel? (At Auriga?)

"Gladion, I want to let you know... I have a plan in mind, one I've given a lot of thought to. I'm going to see it through. You can count that as a promise."

 

[Namohysip]

"Humility can take someone far in a game of cooperation," Mhynt mused idly, practically observing Matthias like a case study. "I knew of someone in my world who had quite an ego, but also a great deal of skill, knowledge, and luck. He seemed to believe that everything would go just right if everyone simply listened to him. I wonder how such egos are at play here."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Which is why you're probably not gonna tell us," Nova mused. "We do have a reputation as plan demolishers to uphold, after all."

And as if that required demonstration, Nova picked up the king piece nearest him in his beak. Like a dog with a bone. A very tiny bone for a beak his size.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

If Gladion was pleased to have gotten under Matthias’ skin, he didn’t show it. “I would expect nothing less from you.”

He looked sharply and pointedly into Matthias’ eyes. “I do wonder what your idea of the right thing is. Since it would be a shame if… Well, I needn’t repeat you. That’s the catch with trying to work with you: Never can really tell what you want. Or want to do. I’ve met someone who’s been burned by that behaviour before, as you know,” Valere, of course. “So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m leery of allowing the same to befall me.”

That was fine. As long as he kept his guard up and his expectations down, nothing Matthias could do would really hurt him. It was only when his guard was down or he trusted someone that he had cause to be anxious.