EVENT #5: SOVEREIGN CITIZENS (VENERA)

[aionmods]

Sovereign Citizens

VENERA

In contrast the Aion's last visit, they now arrive in Venera on a completely average day... or so it seems. Unlike Godsblood, Venera has been given no warning as to what's about to befall it; the Kenoma are simply authorized to arrive and begin their bloody work without fanfare. Even their entourage of Achamite soldier don't stick out that much; in the time since the plague left, the city has refilled with occupying forces. Notably, the Hylician ones seem to be keeping out of the way, almost as if they've heard some things and would rather not be involved too closely in what's to come.

As opposed to the ghost town it was during the plague, Venera is now reasonably active, with most attending to their usual business. Shops are open, and its people are withdrawn but superficially friendly when meeting strangers. Initially, the targets of the Kenoma hit list will have no way of knowing what's coming for them, but after the first couple attacks word will begin to spread. Those that have recently been engaging in seditious behavior will become harder to find, leaving their usual homes and workplaces to stay elsewhere, and making other attempts to escape the Regent's attention.

Once those alerts have been raised, the Kenoma will have to engage in more detective work to find their targets, questioning other Venerans and seeking out fugitives in the homes of their family and friends. In the meantime, some of those who believe they are in danger may become desperately enough to seek out the Pleroma directly, imploring them for aid. Unfortunately, seeking out one sect may just as easily draw the attention of the other. Most uninvolved Venerans will be too terrified to intervene one way or another, reluctant to aid in the persecution of their neighbors but fearful of consequences. If your Aion travels openly, it will take some effort to pin them down long enough to hold a conversation.

SEEDS OF DESPAIR

Several days into the culling of Venera, the Aions will have witnessed the city gradually withdraw into itself. The streets become vacant as more and more people decide it isn't worth the risk to be seen outside, abandoning work and play alike to hide out in their homes, refusing to answer their doors to all except the most desperate pleading. Those that can't avoid their daily obligations are quiet and morose, trying their best to remain unseen and unremarked upon.

If your character has been observed as a Kenoma, either now or in their previous visits to the city, the citizens will look upon them as if they are the messengers of death. If you are seen as a Pleroma, they will resist your gaze, as if fearing your presence alone might leave them marked. In rarer cases, you will see those with stronger spirits, with glares of hatred or determination. They are powerless now, but seeds have been sewn, and whether they are the seeds of despair or of action are yet unclear.

By the time the Kenoma's hit list has been fully addressed, several have been killed and several more have been rushed from their homes to flee the city entirely. There have been holes left in the tapestry of the community they were once part of. One way or another, their absence will be felt keenly by those they left behind.

QUESTIONS

What is the best way for Aions to travel to Venera?
Estinien has plans to get an early start for the Pleroma by teleporting to the Lover's shrine and flying somewhere closer to set up a portal from the ocean caves near the Godsblood Lodestone to a spot of farmland closer to Venera. Paul will be setting up a portal directly from Achamoth to one of the Achamite outposts in Venera.

How much force can the Kenoma use while interrogating Venerans?
While they are generally not permitted to kill Venerans who haven't tried to physically fight them, they will be permitted to apply both physical and mental pressure upon those that refuse to provide them with information regarding the whereabouts of their targets. This duress should be proportional to the resistance the Veneran is offering. The Regent is not inviting them to terrorize Venera on a level to a level they cannot reasonably blaim themselves for.

Comments

[coerthantorment]

They might have hit, if Estinien wasn't anticipating just such an attack. His flight path bends abruptly, in defiance of regular physics, sending him rocketing in a sharp arc from an angle that would make no sense at all for a creature relying entirely on traditional flight. As a dragoon, the sky was his playground even before he had wings, and this is no exception. They fold to his sides, body spiraling, a build-up of fire aether around him forming a natural shield against ice.

It flows seamlessly into a Dragonfire Dive, his body striking the ground at Kaeya's feet and erupting into a halo of concussive flame. Whether or not Kaeya stays there long enough to find out, it will surely leave a crater behind.

[subsist]

Fire. Why does it always have to be fire.

Kaeya doesn't have a whole lot of time to focus on that so much when Estinien plummeting from the air above leaves him no other option but to dodge and get the hell out of the way. The ground crumbles right at the center of Estinien's dive, licks of flames circling around the immediate area. It's not long before they start to freeze up. The cryo energy starts from where Estinien stands as it makes its way outward, wanting to trap the dragoon within while Kaeya draws out his sword.

He strikes the blade forward, combining it with another frigid blast. Right now he just wants to see what else Estinien can do so limiting the other Aion's movement is only going to help him out in the long run.

[coerthantorment]

As soon as Estinien strikes his blow against the earth, he's leaping up into the air again, not needing the time wings often would to gain altitude. Instead, he is flipping through the air before the cryo can completely convalesce, drawing his spear from his back as he dives back down towards Kaeya.

The second blast of ice crashed over him, but doesn't stop his descent. He swings his spear in an honest attempt to bisect his opponent, following up with a lash of his cruelly spiked tail.

[subsist]

Estinien is quicker, which is something he should have accounted for, but that's fine. It's not entirely a problem just yet. He watches as his foe escapes the frozen prison with ease, plummeting right at him from above yet again. While he's able to pivot away from the dive, he doesn't expect the tail to strike against the side of his body soon after.

It knocks him off-balance, spikes digging into his skin. There's blood drawn but not enough to stop him from following through with a sweep of his sword, meant to divert the tail away. A mobile opponent means there are way too many chances to catch him off guard so he has to beat him to the act, manifesting a pillar of ice from underneath Estinien as a distraction while larger shards strike from behind.

[coerthantorment]

If there's one weakness to this new form of his, it's that he historically hasn't had to account for what a set of wings are doing along with the rest of his body. He has three extra limbs to worry about, and while the wings carry obvious advantages, they also have their setbacks. Namely, in the way they tend to get hit by things the rest of his body is seasoned to expertly dodge.

After the first time it happened, Estinien is already teaching himself to anticipate attacks from beneath, so again he leaves the ground a moment after striking his blow with his tail. That doesn't necessarily help with the spikes coming from behind. He notices them in time to shift his body out of the way, but not enough to prevent one of them from piercing his wing. The feeling of cold bites at his scales.

He swings his spear low, slicing the ground beneath him, hurling three blasts of destructive raw energy towards Kaeya, as if the earth is being shorn by a giant, invisible claw. Without waiting a beat, he leaps back, and lets a second blast of energy erupt from his body, in the form of an illusory dragon that rises into the air and descends upon him mercilessly.

[subsist]

It's something that Kaeya is slowly beginning to realize too. Everything else about the way Estinien fights is effortless, but it seems accommodating for the additional limbs is taking some time to get used to. Alright. He can work with that. With a quick snap of his fingers, cryo energy flows from the shard that dug into one of Estinien's wings, threatening frostbite.

Doing so is what distracts him from the incoming attacks. He barely has enough time to bring up a block of ice in front to protect him from the onslaught of raw power. It cracks under the pressure but ultimately holds up— only to shatter under the force of the second strike. The dragon's shape is the last thing he sees before he takes the full brunt of the attack, sending him staggering.

Whatever damage it left behind is ignored for the time being even if the strain of keeping it together is starting to show. A sharp intake of air is all he can manage before he scrambles to bring his sword up, preparing to block Estinien while he rethinks his next move. At least the dragoon is sticking to what he said many weeks ago: now that he has a chance to strike, he isn't holding back.

[coerthantorment]

Estinien can see that his opponent has been staggered, but because of this, he cannot afford to hesitate. He's spotted the doors of the storehouse behind them, big enough to unload onto a cart to take into town. Yet, he suspects that produce is not what it holds now, because why would a Kenoma defend it so determinedly?

He decides to dispense two birds with one stone. He leaps, straight forwards this time, using his body as a missile with which to strike the man. He brings up his spear across his body, using it as a shield against that sword and a tool with which to bludgeon him, forcing the bar of it across Kaeya's body as they meet. The brutal strength of his wings and legs keep his momentum going, taking advantage of his opponent's loss of balance, tackling him back first through the store house's doors.

Whatever lock there may have been shatters beneath their combined weight. He slides across the floor with Kaeya beneath him.

[subsist]

Estinien barrels straight into Kaeya head-on, their combined momentum sending them both crashing against the door. There wasn't much reinforcement beyond the usual locks so it breaks easily enough, not at all capable of stopping them from sliding across the floor and into the building. Kaeya's immediate instinct is to hold onto his opponent by the shoulders while he tries to regain his balance. The temperature around them drops almost immediately, and the floor — once made of wood — is now covered in slippery ice.

It's not exactly his brightest idea, but when you're in a pinch, sometimes you just need to go for the first thing that comes to mind. He makes use of the frozen floor to grapple against his foe, using their momentum against Estinien to flip their positions around. Whether or not it works hardly matters when there's another thing he has to worry about. They've got prisoners in here, and—

All without missing a beat, another wall of ice comes up straight ahead, effectively blocking their careening trajectory. He expects it to break as soon as they collide with it, but at least it isn't going to be Ryunosuke or Thoma.

[coerthantorment]

Unfortunately, Kaeya is running into a situation where Estinien's new limbs give him a major advantage: it's pretty hard to flip someone when they have a massive pair of wings at their sides, and a tail they can stabilize themselves with. As the wall of ice approaches, he beats his wings, slowing their slide, pressing down on the shaft of his spear in an effort to choke Kaeya out.

A growl radiates through his chest, flames licking between his teeth. Something seems to glow bright orange and hot beneath the scales of his neck, rising from his lungs to the back of his mouth. If Kaeya has any familiarity with dragons, he may realize he is about to have fire spat in his face.

[subsist]

With his sword left behind somewhere, Kaeya has very few options left in terms of retaliation. Their momentum is gone, no longer able to use that against Estinien, and now there are the telltale signs of fire brewing from deep within the half-dragon's chest. Fire— it always, always has to come right back to fire, doesn't it? It was a punishment that he already had to contend with many years ago for something that he is yet to be forgiven for, so it really doesn't surprise him that this is going to be his reckoning here as well.

But he isn't willing to accept this as the end. Not yet. Not when he's still willing to fight.

The spear digs into his throat, making it much harder to breathe the longer he lets it go on, so that's what he focuses on first. His hands move from Estinien's shoulder to grasp at the spear, summoning forth cryo energy to begin freezing his opponent's hands onto the weapon. And with every ounce of strength he has left, he attempts to push Estinien off him, wanting to prevent his face from getting straight up melted.

[coerthantorment]

The pain of the metal in his hands freezing is enough to distract him from his attack, the spew of flame coming forth in an unfocused cloud along with his yell of discomfort. It's enough to singe, but not enough to melt, the heat causes the air to twist and his white hair lift in a halo around him.

He does use that heat to rip his claws away from the spear, sending the weapon clattering across the floor before it can do any more damage to his skin. Instead, he comes upon Kaeya with natural weapons, one set of claws closing around his neck as a sound of fury builds within him.

What ends up shattering that wall of ice behind them, at last, is the way that Estinien roars. Kaeya will have nowhere to escape as it rips through him, threatening to break apart both his body and his mind, vibrations surging through floor and sending cracks through the ice. Estinien's lashing tail takes advantage of the shock, coiling around Kaeya's legs and torso, the brutal grain of the spikes digging into Kaeya's flesh as it tightens.

[subsist]

For a moment, Kaeya can only hear the loud thundering of his own heart. It's erratic in the way it beats wildly inside his chest, as if threatening to leap right out because he has no idea if he's going to die right here and now. And while his attempt to rattle Estinien's focus is enough to spare him from a fiery end, he knows that this isn't over. He still has to break free of the dragoon's grasp, and—

Sharp claws descend upon his neck, strangling out any noise that he could ever make. He doesn't have much time to deal with that, because the next thing he knows, Estinien's roar cuts right through to him like a blast he has no way of avoiding. Everything hurts. His mind feels like it's being spliced into two. He feels the coil of Estinien's tail tighten around him, making this much worse than it already is.

There's no escape. Not for him, but he's going to make sure that Estinien has nowhere to go either.

It takes a great deal of effort to hold onto the Pleroma's arm, gripping him tightly with his hands and with every little bit of strength he has left, he begins to freeze them both in place. There's barely any finesse to this attempt given that his emotions are going haywire, so it happens quick and desperately fast. Spikes of bitter cold ice branch out from where he's holding on and spread outwards, gradually increasing in size as it tries to encase the two of them in a wintery prison.

(And if Estinien cares to look, amidst the chaos, there's Kaeya's shard peaking from underneath the eyepatch.)

[coerthantorment]

Estinien only realizes at a delay, as his victory becomes assured, how satisfying this has been. Kaeya is one of them, after all - one of the Kenoma that had dragged him earthward, who had used the fragile peace he'd offered against him. However Kaeya saw it at the time, to Estinien the perception of his slight has been magnified far beyond simply aiding another of his sect in a chance encounter.

Gen had practically said it himself. That he was a threat to them. He'd been taunted. Humiliated.. They'd wanted to take him down all along, hadn't they? To break him, to capture him, to drag him back to their Regent to be flayed of everything that held him together. Is this not justice?

His tail wraps tighter, its spines piercing flesh. His claws bite flesh at Kaeya's throat as he squeezes, rivulets of blood breaking free at each tip. He could, he should end it here, he realizes. He came here for his comrades, after all, and Kaeya could be handled at their leisure if he's captured.

It's that desperate burst of ice that tells Estinien that victory is not yet assured. He feels the cold of it claw at his limbs, threatening to trap him with his opponent. It hurts, but that isn't the primary concern. He will not allow himself to be bound, to be forced into stillness. Not again.

The flash of a shard beneath that eyepatch is all that he needs. He knows that without a shard, an Aion is nothing. If he claims it, every other part of Kaeya will be superfluous.

With a snarl, digs his claws deep into Kaeya's eyesocket, wrenching his shard free.