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JUNE TDM + SETTING UPDATES
BEARING FRUIT (NEW CHARACTERS ONLY)
It starts out as a pleasant dream. You’re in your favorite place, with your favorite people. It’s a moment of idyllic comfort.
The light starts to fade, but only in time to see as the leaves cradling you immediately start to soften and crumble, and with it comes a torrent of dirt. Soft, loamy soil starts to fill the space around you in the dark as you’re buried. Or, rather, you already were. You reach out through the dirt desperately, and your hands finds a root, so you pull while you clutch that precious crystal so close that it almost feels like it sinks into you (in your panic, you don’t notice that it does). You reach out again, and this time, your hand hits open air and plenty of sturdy roots around to grab.
From a seed you’re born, and like a sprout, you make your way out of the ground.
And once you’ve clawed your way out of the soft earth and the roots, nearby, you see the soil shift. Another hand comes up to grasp desperately for something, anything, just as you had been.
You wake with a start, cradled by soft, velvety plants, and sticky with a sap that smells faintly of honey and iron. You can see the veins of the leaves that hold you, lit warmly and gently by what looks like a crystal embedded above you. Yet, it’s odd, because that crystal calls to you. When you reach out to touch it, it’s warm. Familiar. Important. You don’t know why, but you know you must hold onto this, because now it feels wrong for it to be suspended in these leaves. So, you pull it out.And then, it goes wrong.
The sky turns dark above, and as you look up, you see the black expanse of space spotted with faraway pinprick lights of stars. Yet, they’re not stars. You’re certain. They’re watching you. A billion eyes all looking down, and they spill forth as if sky itself was a dam holding back those dark waters. You reach back to the people you’re with, but they’re frozen in place. Their eyes are black, reflecting only the expanse of dark eyes.
So you run, even though you know you won’t escape it. You glance back and see it not overtaking, but consuming. The landscape around you is being devoured, and you can see it cracking apart. The world itself is breaking, and it cracks under your feet. You fall, and the billion eyes chase after you until the darkness swallows you whole. There’s agony as if you’re being ripped apart, and then—
You cannot see. You cannot feel. You simply are. Yet even so, impossibly, a woman’s voice speaks gently.
I’m sorry it couldn’t be saved. But, come, it’s time to wake.
The light starts to fade, but only in time to see as the leaves cradling you immediately start to soften and crumble, and with it comes a torrent of dirt. Soft, loamy soil starts to fill the space around you in the dark as you’re buried. Or, rather, you already were. You reach out through the dirt desperately, and your hands finds a root, so you pull while you clutch that precious crystal so close that it almost feels like it sinks into you (in your panic, you don’t notice that it does). You reach out again, and this time, your hand hits open air and plenty of sturdy roots around to grab.
From a seed you’re born, and like a sprout, you make your way out of the ground.
And once you’ve clawed your way out of the soft earth and the roots, nearby, you see the soil shift. Another hand comes up to grasp desperately for something, anything, just as you had been.
TWO CITIES, ALIKE IN DIGNITY
With the new Shard-Bearers present or en route, it is Kathova and Cetina that approach the established ones, requesting that they form mentorships with the new souls to assist them with the integration process. To this end, they have both provided a centralized zone in both Highstorm and Springstar for a small, casual meet-and-greet to be held before the new Shard-Bearers are unleashed upon Kenos as a whole.
Additionally, as Springstar and Highstorm are holding their events on different days, it is possible for the knowledge-hungry to participate in both informational sessions -- the tones and opinions held by both cities are doubtless to differ, and some Shard-Bearers who have chosen to harmonize with either faction may even find their way to the opposing faction's session as well.
However, for those who have attended such events in the past, they'll note a marked difference—Only newly arrived Shard-Bearers and members of the faction are welcome. If you're a member of the opposite faction, you'll be questioned and ultimately turned away. If you want to join the party, you'll have to be a little sneakier, it seems.
Tables draped in white-and-gold-trimmed fabrics fare filled with fare typical to Springstar's mild winters-- fruits and wines, savory smoked meats and roasted vegetables, and large bowls of soups like youvarlakia and fasoalda have been lain out to encourage forum participants to snack as they speak. The atmosphere is ambient with informality and friendliness, though topics will inevitably stray towards philosophic or political, Springstar's meeting grounds are decorated with handsome chaise lounges and slouching klismos chairs in small, intimate groupings. This is a forum in the classical sense, where people are encouraged to speak freely, no matter the topic.
However, there’s a little tension in the air at this particular gathering. Whether you’ve recently arrived or you’ve been here nearly a year, it’s not hard to figure out—Meridian has just lost the Iconoclast Oracle, and though the Blight (see below) is improving, letting such an important things slip through their fingers again is painful. Without the Oracles, they’ll never see home again, after all. Yet to make matters worse, Meridian lost an unknown but not insignificant amount of its Shard-Bearers to Zenith’s sway. Even in the Seat of the Tribune, it’s not hard to overhear conversations about “what should be done to ensure they win the next Oracle” or questioning “if Tribune Cyrus is really up to the task.”
There are few places to be seated in the Manor's courtyard, resulting in a milling of bodies as they flow and ebb between smaller gatherings, clustering in small-to-large groups with small platters and shimmering flutes of drink held in their hands. Yet, as you look, you’ll see that the selection is also quite interesting. The foods and drinks on offer are from a multitude of worlds, and so you may find a new favorite! Or something not suited to your palate at all. It’s at least a chance to be adventurous.
The mood of Highstorm is subdued as always, but still seems to be pleasant and joyous thanks to claiming the Iconoclast Oracle. Again, it’s worth noting, as the Oracle was contested and therefore rightfully theirs in the first place. Congratulations are given to more senior Shard-Bearers for their efforts, and those who have just arrived may be regaled with stories of bold heroism at the first battle in the Scorching Isles or stories of wits and cleverness at its reclaiming last month. However, these stories aren’t always true, exactly, as only the Shard-Bearers have been present for either conflict. It seems they’re getting a bit of mythology built around them by the public.
Additionally, as Springstar and Highstorm are holding their events on different days, it is possible for the knowledge-hungry to participate in both informational sessions -- the tones and opinions held by both cities are doubtless to differ, and some Shard-Bearers who have chosen to harmonize with either faction may even find their way to the opposing faction's session as well.
However, for those who have attended such events in the past, they'll note a marked difference—Only newly arrived Shard-Bearers and members of the faction are welcome. If you're a member of the opposite faction, you'll be questioned and ultimately turned away. If you want to join the party, you'll have to be a little sneakier, it seems.
SPRINGSTAR, αιώνιος ήλιος
In Springstar, the Seat of the Tribune becomes available for such a forum. While a section of the building itself has been reserved for the meeting between fresh faces and experienced Shard-Bearers alike, the hustle and bustle of Heliopolis continues around them -- acolytes still gather their robes and tomes, hurrying from their quarters to lessons. A score of young militants march in step across the yard to the training grounds.Tables draped in white-and-gold-trimmed fabrics fare filled with fare typical to Springstar's mild winters-- fruits and wines, savory smoked meats and roasted vegetables, and large bowls of soups like youvarlakia and fasoalda have been lain out to encourage forum participants to snack as they speak. The atmosphere is ambient with informality and friendliness, though topics will inevitably stray towards philosophic or political, Springstar's meeting grounds are decorated with handsome chaise lounges and slouching klismos chairs in small, intimate groupings. This is a forum in the classical sense, where people are encouraged to speak freely, no matter the topic.
However, there’s a little tension in the air at this particular gathering. Whether you’ve recently arrived or you’ve been here nearly a year, it’s not hard to figure out—Meridian has just lost the Iconoclast Oracle, and though the Blight (see below) is improving, letting such an important things slip through their fingers again is painful. Without the Oracles, they’ll never see home again, after all. Yet to make matters worse, Meridian lost an unknown but not insignificant amount of its Shard-Bearers to Zenith’s sway. Even in the Seat of the Tribune, it’s not hard to overhear conversations about “what should be done to ensure they win the next Oracle” or questioning “if Tribune Cyrus is really up to the task.”
HIGHSTORM, луны-близнецы
Eternally in opposition, Highstorm provides the Manor's courtyard as the setting for their informational meeting. Formality is of utmost importance here, with attending Zenith loyalists and residents dressed in beautiful, albeit austere attire -- they are, after all, standing before Lady Yima's home. A buffet-style luncheon is spread alongside one of the largest reflecting pools, wherein you may gaze and find your memories revealed in retrospect upon the water's surface.There are few places to be seated in the Manor's courtyard, resulting in a milling of bodies as they flow and ebb between smaller gatherings, clustering in small-to-large groups with small platters and shimmering flutes of drink held in their hands. Yet, as you look, you’ll see that the selection is also quite interesting. The foods and drinks on offer are from a multitude of worlds, and so you may find a new favorite! Or something not suited to your palate at all. It’s at least a chance to be adventurous.
The mood of Highstorm is subdued as always, but still seems to be pleasant and joyous thanks to claiming the Iconoclast Oracle. Again, it’s worth noting, as the Oracle was contested and therefore rightfully theirs in the first place. Congratulations are given to more senior Shard-Bearers for their efforts, and those who have just arrived may be regaled with stories of bold heroism at the first battle in the Scorching Isles or stories of wits and cleverness at its reclaiming last month. However, these stories aren’t always true, exactly, as only the Shard-Bearers have been present for either conflict. It seems they’re getting a bit of mythology built around them by the public.
SETTING UPDATES
In both locations, information passes between all in a forum, spread and disseminated among the masses - it's a good opportunity for city residents, faction loyalists and interested new parties to share and share alike. Once the meet-and-greet has concluded, twin missives from both faction leads are read out -- invitations for all present to explore the cities to their heart's content, and warnings about stumbling ill-prepared ( or at all ) into the Below, or worse yet, the Beyond. As Shard-Bearers new and old take in their cities, they'll all see it change throughout the month...
OOC, these are all updates to the setting at large that players both new and old are free to interact with as little or as much as they wish! Feel free to use them as prompts on this post, in your characters on-going lives and arcs, or just let them go "that's none of my business" and ignore it. The world of Kenos is shaped by our playerbase, and these are some of the wider reaching effects of various player plots and actions.
OOC, these are all updates to the setting at large that players both new and old are free to interact with as little or as much as they wish! Feel free to use them as prompts on this post, in your characters on-going lives and arcs, or just let them go "that's none of my business" and ignore it. The world of Kenos is shaped by our playerbase, and these are some of the wider reaching effects of various player plots and actions.
THE BLIGHT (CONCLUSION)
The Blight, a strange, time-related disease that had been ravaging Highstorm and Springstar both is finally being addressed concretely thanks to the efforts of a few Shard-Bearers (game-locked log) and unknowingly, of Aetós. While the cities are both still affected by the Blight, it’s now on the mend as the knowledge gained in the Scorching Isles is applied. For living things, a vaccine and medicinal potion has been developed, and for the environment, a technique has been developed to reverse the effects. Efforts are ongoing for each to eliminate the Blight from the cities entirely.FURTHER DETAILS
- Though the two cities are at war over the Oracles, the Blight is an area in which they’re unified because of the level of threat it presents to everyone. As such, the people of Highstorm and Springstar will both gladly accept help in distributing vaccines/potions or purifying the Blight from objects, regardless of their faction.
- Distributing the vaccines and potions is quite standard, should you wish to assist with that effort, but both cities are offering monetary incentives for anyone willing to collect or donate its most important ingredients: gold, silver, or platinum (if you’re willing to kindly donate objects containing these materials to the cause), Turquoise Vitalia (a flower that grows in the highlands of World’s Edge), and Blue Lotus (a flower that’s springing up and growing rapidly near bodies of water in Highstorm).
- You can also assist by purging the Blight from inanimate objects that are under its effects. Any Shard-Bearer who has Harmonized can be taught the process by some of the more senior NPCs that are in the bodies of government, but the basic process is simple. It requires a member of each faction, and similar to the purification of Discord, you’ll both push your faction’s energy into the object. As the process starts, you’ll innately sense that there’s a stronger presence of one energy over the other, and you’ll work together to equalize the energy.
CITIES IN RUINS
As part of the disastrous side effects of the Blight once ravaging the cities, large vines and roots have torn through the cities. This has created zones in them that are now uninhabitable because of collapsed buildings (which can be viewed for Highstorm and Springstar). There are efforts to rebuild both cities that are ongoing, but the unusual weather effects that were witnessed seem to be a bit more intense after a new batch of Shard-Bearers have arrived. This “unusual weather” can be pockets of thunderstorms of flurries, but they always carry additional effects such as (but not limited to) causing one to hear voices from the past or future, visual or auditory hallucinations of themselves from different timelines, pockets of space where old injuries, illnesses, or previously known physical conditions are re-experienced as if their body is going back in time. However, there are some new oddities that are also present...FURTHER DETAILS
- You may see ghostly specters of Shard-Bearers who have come and gone. Sometimes, they seem to notice that you’re there and flee deeper into the districts and disappear. Other times, they just go about what seems to be daily life in the district, though things don’t always match up. They might be leaning against a counter that’s no longer there, for example. Very rarely, you might even find one that you can have a conversation with, though not for long.
- OOC, if your character is one that you’ve dropped, feel free to have them make a cameo reappearance. This is more a chance to give a little hello (or farewell!) to CR and is totally optional. We ask that you not make a toplevel for them (unless you’re planning on reapping them), but we’ve made a toplevel for these kinds of interactions here. We also encourage you to give some friendly (or maybe not so friendly) hauntings to new players!
POLITICAL TURMOIL
After new Shard-Bearers arrive and settle into their new homes (so much as they can), those that frequent Springstar will see that the tension of the welcoming forum wasn’t a one-off. Meridian is a faction with opinions and ideals that are as diverse as the worlds people hail from, and so not all are happy with Tribune Cyrus’s performance in leading the faction to lose the same Oracle twice. Debates spring up in restaurants and bars, but it’s only aided by two notable Springstar residents encouraging such debates. Desmond Ó Ruadháin and Agapitos Voreen both draw crowds in public places as they speak to the people that gather. Their talks are peaceful and encourage people of Springstar to talk amongst themselves… But they’re also distinctly political about the future of Meridian and Springstar.FURTHER DETAILS
- Desmond is the foreman who oversees how the unique architecture of Springstar is made, and as such as a deep connection and investment in peoples’ home worlds. When Desmond speaks, he brings people together and tells stories from his homeland and well as from others that he’s heard. It’s something he encourages for those gathered, though it does make the sting of the loss of the Oracle more worrying. If Meridian doesn’t get the Oracles, then they’ll never see home again. There’s an undercurrent in his speeches that having been born here and to a noble family that’s living in Springstar for generations, Cyrus can’t truly understand the stakes here. He may be a good Tribune during peace, but this is war.
- Voreen is a businessman whose family owns several large shops throughout Springstar, and as such has a deep connection to the city and its people. When Voreen speaks, he brings people together by focusing on how Springstar itself is almost a miracle, and how it’s brought people from all walks of life together. His gatherings encourage people to get to know each other and to learn more about the people and the worlds they come from, since he deeply believes that the diversity of experience and knowledge is Meridian’s strength (…and frequent cause of arguments, it’s true). There’s an undercurrent in his speeches of a deep distrust of Zenith and especially of Yima. Anyone that offers you exactly what you want always has strings attached, right? Cyrus is too conciliatory towards Yima, and it makes Meridian as a whole seem weak. He may be a good Tribune during peace, but this is war.
- This is also a situation that Yima is well aware of, and she’ll send a brief message to Zenite Shard-Bearers to inform them of the unrest brewing in Springstar… And that for those with a deft hand for such matters, it’s a good opportunity to encourage this unrest in whatever way they see fit. She makes it clear that if Springstar is busy with internal politics, it’ll be much easier to stop their occupation of Alenroux as well as ensuring that the city itself may not be able to provide resources or backup to its Shard-Bearers in the fights for the Oracles.
SMALLER CHANGES
PASTORAL PEACE (ALENROUX)
Thanks to the ongoing efforts of both Shard-Bearers and Springstar’s military forces, Alenroux is now a much safer place to stay at night. While the threat of creatures roaming its lands isn’t negligible, the Southern portion of the island (close to the main Cornerstone) is now a place that can be inhabited by those willing to make the effort. Think of living there as being similar to living on the frontier—you have to build your own place to live and once night falls, you’re essentially on your own to protect yourself. Creatures will naturally gravitate towards anyone that chooses to set up a residence there as if they’re drawn to the life force, but so long as a home is well-fortified, it should be safe during the night. However, this does not apply the further North you go.
That said, while the people that work in (or just generally really like) Alenroux may be grateful to Springstar for its help in this regard, it does now seem unnecessary… Which is in large part thanks to Zenite efforts to undermine Springstar’s occupation. As a small town starts to be built around the Cornerstone, Springstar’s military or those that have been seen supporting it are treated with suspicion, if not openly told to leave. While the burgeoning community of Alenroux can’t said to be pro-Zenith (yet?), they’re definitely leaning decidedly anti-Meridian.
THE BALANCE OF POWER (KOWLOON)
For those that have been in Kenos for a while and frequented the underground city of Kowloon, it’s been clear for a while that the drug den and bar Draumahol is under new management. Or, should we say, Draumah👁l? The establishment is now very openly owned by Silco, but anyone who spends enough time in the city to learn about its loose form of governance would also pick up that this means Silco has likely scooped up a position on the city’s “council”, though concrete confirmation of that is still hard information to get.
However, in a definitely unrelated point (it’s not), Meridian characters may find themselves running into more difficulty while in Kowloon. There’s no open hostility or even widespread distaste. It might seem more like bad luck unless Meri talk amongst each other. They may be more likely to be pick-pocketed or mugged, may find that some shops offer an arbitrarily higher price to them, etc. These are all free for players to decide, but should be on the level of being unlucky or a particularly bad day down in Kowloon rather than anything more serious.
OOC NOTES
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kenoslogs.
no subject
I swore myself to Meridian because I am not a fool who thinks all of our worlds can simply vanish in an instant.
[Even as she answers, she wonders how futile this conversation will turn out to be. She has tried to convince several many Unharmonized to join Meridian in her months here... and not a single one had. She does not know why she is bothering.]
And because that witch Yima is a liar who can twist people's hearts, bribing them with shards and promising them some brand new paradise as if a world made by a committee of Zenites would not instead be a hell.
no subject
Having never met anyone who had no familiarity with the concept before, Yuri can't claim to know how he'd respond to such a thing were their positions reversed. ]
What makes you think so, if you don't mind my asking? I've only just arrived, and I've got my impressions of all this, but you've obviously been here longer.
[ It's as diplomatic a way as he can think of to phrase it, finding neither leader figure particularly trustworthy and knowing better than to say as much to her. ]
no subject
Because she tried to twist my heart.
[He wants to know what makes her think what she does? Hayame does not like to share exactly what had happened between her and Yima, not in exact detail, because it revealed more about herself than she liked, but. If it were for the purpose of damning that witch-]
That woman tried to make me feel as if her embracing me was as familiar to me as my own mother doing so. But my mother was Armless, and she never held me a day in her life.
[She says the term "Armless" as if it were simply something people were supposed to recognize, with no explanation provided. But perhaps none is needed.]
She made a mistake, trying to appeal to me in such a way. Others fall for her wiles and let her bribe them with false love and shards.
no subject
He knows this, but as someone who dearly loves his own mother and would do anything to assure her safety and happiness, Yuri can quietly admit to himself that it concerns him. No doubt, she wouldn't want that concern from him, so the only thing he yields is a thin and pensive frown. ]
It sounds cruel.
[ If Yima truly made that attempt. He doesn't know whether it was her intention or not, only that she fashions herself as a matriarch, and it's clearly what this horse woman felt in response. He wouldn't be surprised either way. People in power can be incredibly calculated and view those beneath them as little more than resources, tools at their disposal to use as they saw fit.
It isn't something that Yuri could ever abide, himself. ]
About your mother, or anything to do with her memory. There are things others shouldn't touch if they aren't invited to.
[ Lord of compartmentalization that he is, Yuri says this while recognizing that he has no right to pry into the matter. He knows full well what he'd do if anyone harmed his mother back home or dirtied her memory here. ]
Though I'd say not everyone makes the choices they do because they've been fooled, or drawn in by pretty, impossible lies. I'd wager it's more complicated...at least for some of them.
cw: jinba is dark (slavery, sa)
[It is cruel, he says, but she does not need that, nor want that. Her memory, he says, but the phrase almost makes her sick. The only memories she has of that woman was how pathetic and broken she'd thought she'd looked, with her arms flensed off at the shoulder, her eyes dull and her head bowed but her tail still high every breeding season she was led to the mounting post. She remembers the groom's hand on her hair, caressing even though she hated it, telling her that maybe if you're a good horse you won't end up the same.
She just knows that feeling Yima embrace her, feeling in her hearts that it was just as her mother had always held her even while knowing in her head that she didn't know what an embrace felt like... It had been all the proof she'd needed to know that witch was false and crafty.]
More complicated?
[She won't argue that there are some people in Zenith not because they are fools or taken in by the lies, but for other reasons. But those reasons... ?]
Zenith is home to creatures such as actual demons that devour souls. To bitter ghouls who just want to see the world burn, even if it means every world burning. It is less complicated.
no subject
[ He doesn't expect an answer, viewing it in his own mind as rhetorical. Like most any halfway-decent Faerghan, he expects, of course he knows an injustice for what it is. It isn't his place to ask that she elaborate, but if she meant that bit about arms literally, how could it be anything but cruel?
Besides, she didn't say it wasn't.
Stranger that he is, he doubts there's more he can say on the matter. But even as a crime lord, he has some standards... And he can well imagine what people in power will do to those without, because he'd come from nothing himself. ]
Have people who joined that side actually said that to you?
[ He'd met someone from Zenith who shared his wariness of all this, and he's certain that was genuine. She joined, she'd said, because she wanted to be able to heal people. ]
I hail from a continent at war. It wasn't nearly so tidy as that, even though my nation was being invaded.
no subject
And even if he says it is not sympathy or pity... She did not need him to recognize it. Not when that reminded her to be ashamed of how many years of her life she had spent intentionally not doing that. Lying to herself, letting herself be deceived into thinking that she was better than the Armless, that she was different from the other jinba in the breeding stables.
She wasn't. And it was cruel.]
"Have they actually said that to me"? Now you call me a liar?
[He thinks that's tidy?]
I have battled their demon myself, and the slaver elf confessed to watching him devour a soul.
[It is pure hatred in her voice, and in her eye. Something personal. (As personal, say, as her empty left eye socket covered with a leather eyepatch. The demon had plucked it out so skillfully that there wasn't a single scar on the outside. As personal as a man who has repeatedly insulted her by calling her a "slave" as if he knew, as if he was-)]
For every Zenite who has just sadly come to believe their world is gone, I will show you one who either loves destruction or thinks themselves a god.
cw: yuri's background is dark for a fire emblem
One lent him a handkerchief, the other tried to reassure him about the food in this place. To say he hasn't seen the savagery this horse woman has evidently endured would be wholly accurate, but he doesn't discount the possibility. There are people he considers absolute filth in the world, regardless of allegiances. ]
No, I'm not calling you a liar. I don't mince words with people, it wastes time. You said for every person who is monstrous, there's someone who just picked wrong, yeah? Then half of them may simply have accepted a tragic lie.
[ Yuri himself is a criminal. Simply to survive and support his mother, he's dirtied his hands. Sold himself. Until he managed any real power, he did plenty of low things for which he can't forgive himself. He may not have been cruel, but he has known many a criminal in Abyss who thought themselves irredeemable, incapable of better.
And he knows, elsewhere, there are those who embrace it. Who don't care how much blood they spill, or revel in it. The reasons don't matter: he can agree with her in such cases. Yet he's never seen a case of uniformity in this. ]
I won't argue the case of those who enjoy bloodying their hands. They've made their choices. But decent people who have taken the wrong route are worth helping onto the right one...at least I have to believe so.
[ He speaks from his knowledge of home, of people, and of desperate circumstances. For many, their choices are borne of thinking they have none. In his short tenure, Yuri has only seen a little, but this horse woman has been here longer.
For him, which side is better or worse is difficult to say. He's too new and wary of both. It's not a case he wishes to make with her. ]
Not that I expect to change your mind with my opinion. That'd be a hell of a lot to assume, new as I am.
no subject
“Just picking wrong” is for people who wear the wrong color for the season, or those who go left when they should have gone right.
[Even though a part of her knew she should temper her rage… She can’t. This man has newly arrived, but she has fought for two Oracles, she has been to Horos… and she had given up on the idea that she would be able to convince anyone who wasn’t already the type that they should come to Meridian.]
Zenites “picking wrong” and winning means the death of all of our worlds.
[So pity, compassion, understanding… She has no room for such things. The stakes are too different.
And this man does assume too much.]
You help them then, if you care so much to right their mistakes for them.
no subject
If Zenith truly is all that this woman says it is, given the lack of choice all of them appear to have... It's a coin toss. This is a foreign world, it's not their home. Few want to fight a war they have no proven stakes in, and when simply having access to their abilities is held over their heads, to say nothing of the living circumstances Byleth had mentioned, Yuri can't fault someone for simply signing up unwillingly. ]
If that's the way of it, seems to me the cause only benefits if I do just that.
[ They don't know the truth: that's one thing Yuri's certain of. The other, he knows, is that he has a responsibility to his people. A future isn't worth building if it means forsaking them. Yuri trusts neither side, but he fully intends to get back to his home. ]
If I believed my home was gone, my people were gone... [ He'd be a very different man, certainly not a better one. ] Well, never mind that. I've taken up more of your time than I should have, when I just happened to be in your way, haven't I?
[ He's used to anger, even righteous indignation, from nobles back home. Different contexts entirely, and Yuri wouldn't rush to compare this horse-woman to them, but it means that he isn't at all affected by the attitude. ]
crawls back to wrap this up tsunderely fnewfn
Hayame's only remaining eye, the one not plucked clean from her skull by Zenith's demon, narrows in frustration. In order to survive where she had, to stay sane in this place this long... she has cut from herself most of what could have resembled sympathy for the Zenites. There was little room for it, not when their victories meant the loss of her entire world. The stakes were far too high to afford the risk.
And she hates to see others acting like it isn't. Like she is the strange one, the cruel one, for seeing it like it was. If he believed his home was gone? She refused to allow them to believe it in the first place. Who could? Who could believe that suddenly whole worlds and universes were wiped from the map and only they lucky few somehow saved? It didn't make a lick of sense-
So Hayame lets out a scoff at the stranger with the cloth over his face, tossing her head with a dramatic flick of her fetlock-length mane.]
It seems you have.
[And with such sentimental ideas...
Hayame helps herself to the rest of what she wanted from the tray he'd been blocking, turning to go with a last, somewhat strained,]
Enjoy the welcome festivities.