[OPEN TO KENOMA] EXECUTION OF THE INNOCENT

[aionpcs]

WHO: The Regent and Interested Kenoma
WHAT: As promised, the Regent is carrying out the Innocence Entity's invite-only execution.
WHERE: The Regent's Throne Room.
WHEN: Firaseri 22nd, after dissipated Kenoma have emerged.
WARNINGS: Disturbing imagery, gore, limb loss, general unpleasantness.

It's the evening of the 22nd when the call goes out: it is time for the execution. This is purely an event for the willing and or eager, and besides being informed of it, no Kenoma will be pressured into attending. Those that are interested, however, will be led to the Regent's throne room for what promises to be a very special occasion.

Upon entry, the set up of the throne room will seem quite familiar to those that have been there before. A cavernous room filled with nothing but the throne itself, its emptiness seems an intentional call to the void. Several stairs lead to the dais where the throne sits, currently occupied by a the Regent. As usual, any details about the Regent are obscured behind flowing robes and a faceted mask. Presently, they are swirling around a glass of what is presumably wine, but drinking absolutely none of it. Any Kenoma that seem interested will be offered a drink by one of the Citadel servants on duty.

It's not just the Regent present, however. Off to the right side of the room, an arrangement of familiar void-dark spears have been fused into the wall and floor, with their prisoner still held at their center, pierced from all sides. Estinien Wyrmblood appears as little more than a shadow of his former self at this stage, every ounce of color stripped from him, in sharp contrast to the black ichor that bubbles and drips from a cruel assortment of wounds. One eye is swollen with infection, oozing void, while the other is completely blank with whiteness. Each limb has been shorn down to a stub, as if burned by a dark fire from the outside in; all except a set of ragged, broken wings strung up being him. His torso, pierced as it is, seems to be barely holding onto form.

If he reacts to the arrival of 'guests', it isn't apparent. Instead, he seems practically comatose, all except for that open eye and the shallow movements of his breath. His shard is exposed, resting beneath his collar bones, an eye-like shape that has become similarly colorless. The usual sheen of color that all shards hold has faded away, now showing nothing but the gray of the stone beneath it. Those with True Sight will see that he has fallen to the first tier of Pleroma, and even that he is only tenuously hanging on to.

At their throne, the Regent lifts their glass.

"Welcome, kindred."

Comments

[cutlery]

[ There's no wine in Sebastian's hand, nor any particular sense that he holds a strong feeling for events they're about to witness. His smile is an even, placid calm and little more. He is taking in everyone with interest, though, since other than exchanging glances or brief conversation while fighting in the city a few days prior, there's a fair amount of people where this would be their first time seeing each other in person. What an introduction.

Of course, he and Amos had also exchanged blows a few days prior as well. It's clearly not something he's bothered by in the slightest, since as their gazes meet, Sebastian nods back with a pleasant smile. ]

Welcome back.

[ That first, he decides. He's heard that Amos had been one of the ones to fall and had ventured down to the basement once or twice to witness just what revival looked like here, but there's little more than that. If "death" wasn't quite so permanent here, Sebastian was hardly inclined to call it death at all. ]

[baltimores]

[ This is already off to a good start; his good day just keeps trucking along. ]

Thanks.

[ Amos doesn't exactly smile himself, but he's certainly amicable... Although. It's not like he wants to keep the elephant in the room, so with a slightly sheepish scratch at the back of his neck with his free hand, ] Sorry about the whole trying to kill you thing. It's not exactly something I usually do with people on our side.

[ His bad. ]

[cutlery]

[ He waves a hand half-dismissively, but it comes with an easy laugh. ]

Oh, apology accepted, but it is of no consequence. I did not get the impression that you had changed alliances, after all.

[ Not that Sebastian really knows what happened, exactly, but he's at least heard of similar enough things before. The rage of the bersærkergang had been a bit infamous for a reason, though a man donning a beast's furs and eating things they shouldn't was a bit different than the claws Amos had been sporting. ]

I must admit, I was quite surprised! You are exceptionally strong, at least in that state. I believe it was good luck that I came when I did.

[baltimores]

[ He lets his hand fall back to his side and returns that laugh with a soft huff of his own, more like a vaguely amused exhalation than anything else. ]

Yeah, probably. [ It was good luck. No offence to Liem but... well... Maybe a little offence. ] I'm pretty strong normally, but that's the first time that's happened... [ A beat as he trails off, thoughtful. ] That was a good thing you did, though. Getting my attention on a Pleroma like that.

[ He doesn't actually know if he'd killed Ernesto or not (he hadn't), but point is, Sebastian had found a way to turn his failings into something beneficial, so Amos is highly appreciative of that. He takes a sip of his wine, comfortable now that they're just talking shop. ]

Wouldn't mind being like that again if I was only attacking the right people.

[cutlery]

I am glad it worked out well, to be honest. I was not sure how it would go over with you, in truth, since I did have to abandon you to tend to Mr. Talbott... [ or just mr. liem if that's how he would have introduced himself, ~timelines~ ]

[ Though he does have a few guess at how Amos had ended up getting dissipated, once of which is correct. It's the solution Sebastian would have personally gone for himself, since he wouldn't have known how to stop that rage either, but. This, he keeps to himself, naturally. ]

What did cause it, do you know?

[baltimores]

Nah. You did the right thing.

[ He really, really can't complain about how things turned out, all things considered. Everyone mostly intact. The battle ultimately won, no matter how small his part in it had actually been. The fact that he'd essentially gotten a fantastic nap out of all of this. There were parts that he could've done without, but there's also no sense in complaining about them now. What's done is done.

As for what caused it... Amos takes a sip of his wine first. He really does need to wash down everything he's eaten today. Reviving had left him with a hell of an appetite. ]

I think it's part of being an Aion. We can develop abilities based on self-perception, so... I developed that. Guess that's just part of who I am. [ It's not the greatest thought; it's also very easy to move past it, especially when in good company. ] I felt it a couple of times about a month ago, but didn't know what it was then. I'd get hurt bad enough that it just stopped. This time it didn't.

[ And he's going to have to figure out how to mitigate that, though he already has an idea, as Amos looks over in Silco's direction. The man's easy to spot, what with how dressed up he is for the occasion and all. ]

Shimmer said he had a power that'd make me better equipped to fight the thing, and he was right. He also said part of it would be me losing my mental faculties, and he was right there, too. Which I think gave whatever's in me the opening it needed to let loose.

[ A beat. ]

I'm gonna have to tell him we probably shouldn't use me for that again. Not without a contingency plan, anyway.

[ Look, as long as someone's in position to murder him the second he goes out of control again, then it'll be fine. But he also knows the people who had had to murder him had not taken to it particularly well; had felt it as they'd carried his shard back to Achamoth's place of power.

So it'd be better to avoid all of that again. ]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian nods as he brings a hand to his chin thoughtfully while he listens. He's heard a bit about this as well, but Amos is explaining the actual process of it a bit better. The self-perception portion of it is something notable in itself, since the bit of psychoanalysis for Amos himself is hard to ignore... But he at least passes by it without comment. ]

Interesting. I had heard a bit about how one... develops, as it were, but your explanation makes it a bit clearer to me.

[ He does have to wonder if and how it might effect him as well. Self-perception was something a little more complicated for him, if only because his "self" was extremely malleable. Normally, at least. It's significantly limited here, but compared to other facets, that portion isn't something he minds nearly as much. ]

The state you were in did remind me of something I had heard of, at least. It is an old tactic, but not one without merit, since, well, you were strong, certainly. Though to not be able to distinguish between enemy and ally does present an issue... But it is a useful option in case of an emergency or a particularly dense battle, perhaps. I would not discard it completely.

[ He makes a thoughtful noise, but then shrugs ]

Well, if you find yourself in need of a contingency plan to use it, feel free to contact me. There is likely a more elegant solution, but if all else fails, I can kill you quickly so that this strength is not turned on our own?

[ It's offered so politely and easily that it's definitely ill-fitting... ]

[baltimores]

Yeah. I couldn't do anything like that back where I'm from. I wasn't this strong. Magic wasn't a thing. I've kinda been adjusting to it on the fly.

[ And doing a half-decent job, but this whole thing feels like kind of a setback, if he's just going to end up putting the people he cares about in danger. Hurting them no matter what he does. He's always known he's capable of that, has lost his temper at inopportune times before, lashed out like an asshole. But this is that turned up to eleven. This is worse.

He's always known he has to keep himself under control, though. This is just more of that — but talking it out plainly with Sebastian is a great way to work through it, turns out. The fact that it's something Sebastian had heard of before. The offer to have a guy he'd really only just met rather recently be on call to kill him, break glass in case of emergency...

Amos searches his eyes, and it doesn't take long for him to come to a conclusion. The politeness and frank matter of their discussion certainly helps keep things simple, which he appreciates. ]

If you wouldn't mind. [ If you wouldn't mind picking up milk on your way home, if you wouldn't mind taking the trash out on your way out, if you wouldn't mind killing me when it's become clear I need to be put down. ] I'm probably more useful the way I am right now in a fight, but if it happens again and things are bad enough I've gotta be killed, then there probably isn't time for a more elegant solution. So yeah. You held your own against me, you could probably take me out if you're there.

[ There are a lot of ifs involved here, but it's not like Amos knows when it's going to happen again, never mind the fact that if it happens again things might be too chaotic to be able to follow a plan. He's probably going to need to rack up multiple contingency options, just in case.

He shoots a glance towards Misa, towards Kaeya. Gen isn't here. There's something very bad about that, but it isn't anything he has the time or willingness to go into. Just... Misa and Kaeya had both helped kill him, and they'd been shaken up from it. Physically. Mentally.

He looks back at Sebastian. ]

I know not everyone here has the strength or stomach to do it. If you got both, then yeah. I might need you one day.

[ By all means, feel free to kill him when he needs to be killed. It really would be doing Amos a favour — him, and those he cares about, to ensure they don't have to go through the experience he'd put them through ever again. ]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian breathes out a little laugh at that with a helpless sort of shrug and a nod of agreement. ]

I believe that is the best we can all do, really. Magic was... I shall say not as present where I am from. Existent, but so rare that it may as well not.

[ Ironic, considering what he was and that it was magic that would summon him and bind him in a Covenant, but they almost didn't count by his measure. Those were such specific, circumstantial uses, and also rare in their own right too.

Yet it's easy to skip right over those details, which he does. The rest of the conversation is more important, and there's a bit of measuring going on for Sebastian's part of this. He's well aware that he's offered some callous and cold. He spends enough time among humanity to know that the immediate reaction would be one of horror.

And indeed, perhaps he might be inclined to agree with it in part, were death something that had a stronger hold on Aions. As is, it's a practical, if ruthless, calculus. ]

I would not mind. And it would be a last resort, mind you. Hopefully you may find a way to lessen the grip of such rage before it should be needed.

[ That part he can't help with, really... ]

But if you shall entrust me with the responsibility, I shall take it seriously.