[open] some Kenoma come up to Godsblood the other day...

[baltimores]

WHO: Amos, Gen, Eustace, Childe, any Pleroma
WHAT: Amos wants a gun, Eustace wants to make a portal, and in order to make it happen they go to...
WHERE: Godsblood.
WHEN: Towards the end of Visoseri/start of Soviseri
WARNINGS: None, unless you count bullying of various Pleroma; will add as necessary


The content of this entry is intended to be an OOC explanation of what's going on to keep everyone up to speed; any characters who may be in Godsblood during this time period are free to top level or tag out. This is not an event and simply a unique instance that some characters are kinda sorta technically in enemy territory, which opens itself up to thread opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.

Basically: four Kenoma are journeying up to Godsblood, albeit not all together and through different means.

Amos and Gen will be arriving via a boat directly from Achamoth, and accordingly, will be outed as Kenoma Aions right from the get-go — the populace should know who they are, and word of their arrival would likely get around. Amos is there because he wants to build a higher quality gun than what they have in Achamoth and Godsblood is the place to do it; Gen is there to serve as backup/moral support/because they're friends, okay. Story plotting link here for more details.

Eustace and Childe will be sneaking in via carriage from the Artisan shrine/a portal and will therefore not be known as Kenoma Aions upon entry to Godsblood — unless there are characters there who already know who they are, that is. Eustace is setting up a portal to facilitate travel between Achamoth and Godsblood. This is not public knowledge and non-Kenoma Aions/NPCs are unlikely to know about this. Story plotting link here for more details.

The mods have also provided some guidelines for how interactions could go between characters so that any Pleroma wouldn't necessarily have to out themselves as Aions when it comes to interacting with Amos or Gen, who are publicly declared as such. Highlighting what was said further down in Amos' plotting comment:

It wouldn't be unreasonable for a visiting Aion to be chatting up people within Godsblood so sharing a meal ... wouldn't be a dead give away, but it might tie them to the Aions on the rumor network if they do it in public. Whether they are just strangers Gen and Amos are dining with or whether they are connected to Achamoth won't be clear, but it would definitely have implications ... It's definitely a risk, at any rate.

As for meeting in a busy street or a public park the connection is still possible but a lot less likely, since the odds of them chatting up some rando in the park is a lot more likely than sitting down for dinner with them. It'd also be a lot more obvious if someone was spying on them, unlike a closed environment like a pub or eatery, so that'd probably be the safest option without going somewhere deserted or private.

Comments

[dragonmount]

[ rand had never flattered himself into assuming amos went to the martyr shrine knowing he'd be there — how could he? but he had clocked that amos was willing to take anyone he found back with him, that amos had probably done the same at other shrines. but he'd never really considered that amos might've had someone he was hoping to see. least of all a person like the one amos describes. someone determined to do the right thing, no matter the cost to himself.

it's easy to forget that there are people with the kenoma who think they are doing the right thing. (dextera's question over communion after they returned from venera comes to mind; and he ruthlessly quashes that memory.) it's easy to forget that amos is one. why shouldn't any of them have had lives, friends, that weren't...spooky?

there isn't a flicker of pain when amos reaches his second point. he isn't newly unhappy when amos makes his case about self-sacrifice. there's no being reminded, any more than rand could remind amos about the air they're both breathing. leaving everyone he ever loved to face his fate is one of the most painful things he's ever done. on the days when he chooses to believe that his world is alive, he very carefully doesn't think of the grieving his friends and family must be doing.

there wasn't another way. that doesn't make it better.

but he does shudder, eyes cutting away, until amos returns to the point of making their own choices. wanting their own choices. he can understand that; he really, really does. ]

There's no one who'd miss me like that in Horos.

[ comes to his lips easily. he's never said something like this aloud, but he's thought it, if not in so many words. there's nothing of self-pity in his tone. this is just a simple fact, as far as he's concerned. what does he have with anyone besides a couple of months' acquaintance at best? he's deliberately tried to keep a safe distance between himself and the others.

but that's not the point. it's definitely not a point he wants to dwell on, either. so he breathes out, watching amos as he slots these pieces of information into his understanding of the man. ]

Did you really go to the Kenoma of your own free will? [ this could be combative. but that isn't his intent. ] I've heard about what it was like for all of you who got here first. How was going with them a choice? I don't understand it.

[ even misa had said she hated the experience. it just doesn't add up to rand, this being taken and tortured and then talking about destroying anyone who'd compromise his ability to choose. he's not trying to pick a fight, or even convince amos of anything. it's as he said: he just doesn't understand how both of these sentiments can live in one person, who is with the kenoma, and so ferociously. ]

[baltimores]

[ There's something to that shudder. He hit on something there. Has no way of telling what, but... he hit on something there.

And that tone Rand uses, that nobody here would miss him — Amos feels as though he could be speaking to himself. He gives Rand a look at that, flat and factual as his voice, like, you might be surprised. Amos sure as shit had been a couple of weeks ago.

But that really does take a backseat to what Rand asks him next. Nothing about Amos' gaze changes: flat, factual, obvious, like Rand's asked him a truly simple question, the kind that's hardly even worth answering. But he did ask it. And he will answer. Maybe it'll help in the long run; at the very least, he figures Rand deserves this much considering Amos would have inflicted it on him. Still would. ]

I did. And I'd make that choice every time. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I liked it. But I think it was necessary. Like we all needed a reminder of just how bad things can get, so that we could commit, do what needs to be done. [ End this iteration of reality. He's certainly committed. ] Clearly not everyone chose that, [ something of a derisive scoff there, like, how, ] but as soon as I did a whole new world opened up to me. Everything just made sense. The Kenoma gave me that.

[ A beat. ]

Been trying to find that my whole life. I think there was always a part of me that recognized what the Kenoma had to offer, so I went with it. Couldn't deny it. Didn't want to. Rough as it was, I'm grateful for it. Anything else wouldn't have been right.

[ And that's all he wants for Rand; for other Pleroma he would've called a friend except, well. Just so they can see what he sees, so they can understand, and then they can all get to work instead of fighting each other in some nonsense. ]

[dragonmount]

[ there's a part of him that thinks, finally, a straight answer. it's not that talking to misa hadn't been illuminating — it really had, and he's begun to understand why the kenoma's goals are appealing to some people. some of the possibilities even appeal to him, if he's honest with himself. but it's been so difficult to understand why anyone, no matter what promises, would go back with soldiers that had them tortured, serve the person who'd ordered it. ernesto and moiraine and estinien had shed some light on what the kenoma did to their minds and bodies, but it — is so hard to hold in his mind, talking to otherwise normal people like amos and gen and misa.

but here it is. the world opened up to me. everything just made sense. this is what the kenoma did, why following the regent's goals seems rational to them. it's not that he assumes mind control, exactly. it's more like

he knows how a high like that feels.

when he channels, he can feel his death coming. he can feel the poison seeping through his veins, soaking into his bones. but there's something just as potent: when he channels, when he's flooded with the Light, he feels complete and whole and right. the way any channeler does, should, feel when touching the True Source. it's simple: channelers were born to channel. the dragon reborn more than anyone.

the Power seems to blaze, just out of view, humming at the tips of his fingers. it would be so, so easy to reach out and take it in his fist now.

he breathes out, and he pushes it back.

(he doesn't want to think about the look amos gave him to his earlier assertion. he doesn't want to think about yuuta's cheerful encouragement while teaching him swordplay; ernesto's uncharacteristically obvious show of distress upon learning about the end coming for rand; abel's gentle insistence on saving him in venera; akua's matter-of-fact decision to guide him with channeling; proud and powerful hayame's decision to trust him in some measure. and there's more, of course there is.) ]

I get it. [ he does, actually, at least in part. some of what amos said is absolutely insane, but...you know. he feels like he understands their footing better. he feels clarity. ] I do. So you should know that I will never go back with you. I will never choose that. The Wheel spun me out to destroy people like the Regent. People like you.

[ amos isn't here to fight, he knows. amos has reasons to be here, and it'd be inconvenient to be thrown out for causing trouble, he knows. that might mean it's safe to say this, right now. that might not. he doesn't visibly do anything, not beyond straightening his spine, not beyond a tightening of his jaw. but the Power seems to roar in his ears, seems so close he can taste it. ]

And I accept that.

[baltimores]

[ Amos inclines his chin when Rand says he gets it, but it's so short-lived. As he continues, he lowers it again, looking at Rand head on, a rueful almost-smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

There's a lot of ways he could respond to that, to this little show of defiance in service of something else entirely. Then no, you don't actually get it. Because if Rand did, then he would come back with him. Or, You won't actually know until you try it. Amos isn't even entirely certain if he would have without that crucial step of having the Kenoma forcibly administered to him, or if he would've just latched onto people like Abel or Moiraine. People who had showed him kindness before; one who still is, even though he knows they're in the wrong.

But he knows Rand's just gonna give him some bullshit in response — same as this, just with different words. Some insistence that he does get it for reasons that are going to be beyond Amos' comprehension, if his reasoning even rings true. Or some bullshit about why would he try it.

(Rand's never taken in any of the Kenoma. The first Pleroma he'd met had fended it off, but Rand doesn't actually know what it's like; doesn't know if he's capable of fending it off. Only one way to find out, except that way isn't feasible right now.)

So instead, he just has a question. ]

If the wheel spun you out, then did it spin me out, too?

[ If his whole thing has been pre-determined to stop people like Amos, then it would've had to have made people like Amos to begin with, wouldn't it? Otherwise they'd just have a fucked up kid without a cause. ]

[dragonmount]

[ or maybe he'd been spun out in response to people like amos?? and — honestly, that probably is what moiraine would say. that and, yes, every person is a thread in the pattern. but rand just shakes his head. he doesn't exactly deflate, but the lack of immediate anger to that blatant defiance makes the tension unwind out of his shoulders just that much. ]

Light, I don't know. Maybe it's different for you, from another world.

[ it is necessarily different for amos, as far as rand's understanding of the world and the pattern works. there's only one dragon spun out in an age, a signal of the coming of the end, the Last Battle. but if rand isn't inclined to tell amos about the channeling, he absolutely isn't going to talk about being the dragon reborn. not today, anyway. ]

[baltimores]

[ Rand can playact defiance all he wants. As far as Amos is concerned he has the upper hand here; if Rand tries to make a move, he'll quash it, and justifiably at that.

Kind of a shame he clearly isn't going to do anything today though, judging by how his body slackens just enough to be an indicator. Amos blinks, his expression reverting to something neutral, his voice casual and just pointing out the obvious. ]

Sure put a lot of faith into something you don't know a whole lot about, don't you.

[ Like... get some standards, Martyr. ]

[dragonmount]

I know enough,

[ is said wearily. no, he's not picking a fight today. not anymore than he has already, at least. if amos didn't rise to that earlier provocation, then rand isn't going to push his luck any further. and besides, he really did get something out of this conversation, so

there's that. ]

Do you need anything else?

[ pitched louder than the conversation they've had so far. not loud, exactly, just more audible to anyone bustling around nearby who might be paying attention. slipping back into the act of being (1) random godsblood local who had the bad luck to pull the interest of one of these aions from achamoth. ]

[baltimores]

[ A raising of his eyebrows, a tilt of his head, an open and questioning expression. Sure you do. Know enough. Except from where Amos is standing, Rand just seems like a lost kid clinging to the one thing that'll keep him straight.

Which is actually incredibly relatable. It really is a shame he wasn't able to nab him the first time around. He really could've helped.

The crack of a smile as Rand raises his voice just enough, widening as he finishes his question. ]

Nope. All good here. [ Amos keeps his tone the same, reaching up to give Rand a couple of little friendly pats on the shoulder, some light jostling in companionship. ] Still gonna be here another few days, I reckon. Maybe I'll run into you again. Maybe it'll be some place you'll be able to show me that sword after all.

[ Just keeping up pretences. He gives Rand one last look, nods, and makes his way elsewhere down port, to where his own ship from Achamoth is docked. ]