[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

[inutilis]

[ Gen drains the last of his whiskey and, notably, does not pour for himself again. Abel can see that the boy is reaching his limitations - both for what he can stomach of the alcohol and of this conversation, but...

of course, Abel is not ready to leave the matter be until his point is made. ]

If I had made the right one when it was offered to me, then... I don't know I'd be sitting here right now.

[ it isn't self-deprecating, nor does his voice carry any sort of ire or imbalance. it is as calm and matter-of-fact as it has been prior. Abel's life certainly would've taken a much different course had he listened to any number of the warning signs, taken any of the forks in the road that had been offered to him. he has no one but himself to blame for that decision, and he will lay it out thusly. ]

But I didn't.

I didn't choose... anything. Time and time again, I could've-- could have stopped, could've turned around, could've made a better choice, any choice, but I didn't. I felt like I had no option, no agency of my own, until it was too late.

[ Gen feels like he is trapped.

obligation; love; a misguided sense of duty; a twisted desire to protect those precious to him - Abel sees all of those things in this boy standing behind the bar, his already dark eyes so shadowed and burdened despite his short life. he has been made to do, to see, things no one his age should. he has been pushed so far into a corner that every opportunity to flee looks like a trap, and is that surprising? how many times had he been beaten back down for attempting to detangle himself from his circumstances, to try anything other than the defense mechanisms that he'd learned?

...Abel cannot help but feel an intense need to pull him out of there, to stop this cycle before it continues to perpetuate and pushes this child to do something that will irrevocably shatter him forever. that's where he's headed, isn't it? on a road that leads to a painful, tragic end - for everything he loves and then himself. ]

I thought that, after Venera, maybe you might understand that feeling better than most. I don't understand how you got to where you are, but-- I don't want to see what happens next if something doesn't change.

I don't want to see where this ends for you. I want you to have a future. I think... you could, if you wanted one. One of your own choosing.

[epiprocta]

[ Gen leans back against the counter behind the bar, studying the tiny beads of liquid left in his empty cup. When he speaks, his voice is low and listless, almost like he's speaking more to himself, than to Abel. ]

It's not like everyone gets to have a future like that.

[ A future of their own choosing, one where freedom is even an option. Some people are granted that good fortune, but Gen knows he's not one of them. Even if he might have been able to make a choice like that back when he was much younger ... it's too many years now that he's spent as a creature boxed in by duties and obligations. And having given up on the option of freedom for years now, all he'd wanted in return were promises of loyalty from the people he loved.

Turns out he really should know better than to have any expectations. He's learned that lesson now. And he's reluctant to let Abel sway him into making the same mistake again.

There's a heavy pause before he looks away to screw the whiskey bottle's top back on. Not because he cares about the state of the bottles in this bar, but simply to keep his hands occupied, to make it clear he's reaching his limits regarding how much of this conversation he can take. ]

And you're not making sense. You're saying you didn't make any choice, you didn't do the right thing, you've hurt people -- but you're here like this, aren't you. You seem fine anyway to me.

[ Or as fine as anyone can be in this wretched place. It hasn't escaped his notice that everyone brought to Horos seems to be fucked up in one way or another, and he doesn't doubt that Abel probably has his own damage. But if he's capable of freely acting like a dunce when the mood strikes him, he can't be that damaged, right? (But for some reason, he can't feel fully at ease with that conclusion, despite having reached it himself.)

There's the thunk of glass as he roughly sets the bottle back where he'd found it, digging through his pockets for a few more jools; the last thing he wants is to cause trouble for Amos because he didn't pay enough at some sketchy backalley bar and have that fuss follow him back to the Machining guild. Not to mention, that motion gives him a further excuse to look away from Abel as he continues, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. ]

... you were the one who insisted on butting into my business. You're free to look away whenever you want. [ 'You can abandon me whenever you'd like.' ] I [ can't ] didn't promise you anything. Change, or whatever. ... it's all easier said than done.

[ Though maybe Abel can find some solace in the fact that Gen even bothers making that comparison. 'Easier said than done.' Because he can't completely shut out the nauseating thought that -- maybe there's the tiny sliver of a chance, somewhere, that he'll be able to make a choice. Sometime, somewhere, he'll have an opportunity to change things. And maybe at that time, the outcome will depend on how hard he claws and fights for that chance. Maybe. ]