A Conversation

[lachtara]

WHO: Abel, Eleven, Emet (And 1 looming Estinien)
WHAT: Meeting across enemy lines
WHERE: The Visionary Shrine
WHEN: 5/10, After the New Arrivals
WARNINGS: Attempted Manipulation?



The time has come to meet with a few individuals on the opposing side. Their meeting during the chaos that the new arrivals brought had been purposefully brief, spurred by the fighting at the shrines around them. Today they could speak with one another without the added burden of potentially being involved in a squabble. At least, one could hope.

He proceeds to the Visionary Shrine - an easily accessible halfway point between their two territories. It's the most amicable are for such a meeting to take place.
 
Slipping out of Achamoth with the added commotion of new arrivals is simple enough, while covering the distance between the city and the Shrine is somewhat more difficult. Emet-Selch arrives there while the shrine is still quiet and abandoned. He finds a comfortable bloom of shadows off to the side where he could wait... and carefully observe who approached. 

Would they be true to their word and entertain speaking to one another? Or would this all have been for nothing?

Comments

[lachtara]

"I will not say that being here was without its obstacles," Namely having to divulge information to the Regent and having to come all the way out here on his own. "but let no man say that I did not try."

Emet-Selch motions to his company with a hand. In a brighter tone ads with a smirk in his voice, "May I say that you look well. I see that being outside the walls of Achamoth has not dampened your spirits."

[inutilis]

"Ah, well... there is no use crying over spilt milk, is there? Not all of us can be afforded the luxuries of Achamoth, legendary though they may be, but... Perhaps the sight of you has brightened my spirits, mm~?"

Abel gives a dryly amused scoff; he knows Emet-Selch would be quicker to balk at that sentiment than most. But there is some hint of truth in it; though the priest certainly is cheerful and energetic enough to annoy most, this arrangement - and Emet's part in it - definitely has put him in a brighter mood for the occasion.

"And what of you, hm? How has the city been treating you...?"

Blue eyes rest on those of his companion, a light tilt of his head conveying the underlying niggle of something... concerned. Abel had certainly swallowed the bait of his Brand hook line and sinker after they had last met; he's been worried about the other man's standing with the Regent ever since.

[lachtara]

Indeed he does scoff out loud at such a sentiment, far be it for others to have their spirits lifted at the sight of him.

"Not nearly with as much ardor as you afford me with. Two short conversations and yet here I am brightening your day with my presence. Dare I say that I have not felt such an eager reception since my halcyon days." It is woefully facetiousness.

His expression evens itself out. "It is as you say. Achamoth is a spectacle of luxury and wealth. We are provided all we need and some besides." Granted they earned it, he carefully omits. "For all that the city offers, I find that I prefer the quiet of its Library."

[inutilis]

"A man of literature, I see...! You do strike me as the sort to be well-read, Mr. Emet-Selch."

And while Abel is intensely curious about what sort of knowledge is holed away in the Regent's shelves, he doubts that this is a topic of discussion his company would care to humor, presently - nor why they're here. Their time is limited, and they ought to make the best of it.

So Abel gently fidgets with his glasses again before casting his gaze about the Shrine, eyes cast toward where the chrysalis lie below.

"...I suppose what you're here for isn't something you'll find in those tomes. I don't think I might find what I'm looking for there either, much as I enjoy a good read on a rainy afternoon."

[lachtara]

"Indeed. I did not ask you to come here with the intention of discussing my tastes in reading material. I asked you here because I want to know: why." To the matter at hand, then.

He takes a few gracious steps forward and then throws his arms wide to the area that surrounds them. "Why do you find that this world - " Emet-Selch steps in a gracious circle to indicate the shrine around them. " - is fit be saved?"

[inutilis]

Goodness, but doesn't this man have a flare for the dramatic?

Abel cannot help but find Emet-Selch intriguing; there is something enigmatic about him, though it has little to do with his enthusiasm for putting on a good show. The priest finds himself instead drawn to what lies beneath; there were hints of something genuinely pained and aching in this Aion, a man yearning to be reunited with all that he had lost, the weight of time only having made that gnawing pit in his stomach hunger all the harder for what had been beyond his reach.

He is still in juxtaposition to Emet-Selch's animation; his smile remains at his lips, for now.

"The better question might be why I wouldn't, don't you think?"

The preservation of this world - of any world - seems natural to him. Wanting to end everything... to summarily write off every life on this planet and so many others... No; Abel cannot claim he can't fathom why anyone might wish for such a thing. But even so...

"...I, for one, have found a great many things I enjoy about Horos. Places I'm beginning to fancy-- people I'd quite like to call friends, and maybe some I already do. Is it strange to want to protect those things?"

[lachtara]

"It is strange to receive such a dispassionate answer." The scowl on his face deepens. "Those you once cared for are no more and the gods you serve have seen their end, and that is all the explanation you offer why this world is so deserving?" Spoken with the intent of someone with a personal motive.

"Would you not find something else to be 'fond' of in a new world? I am sure that there would be some new marvel to 'fancy' that could be much improved when compared to Horos."

[inutilis]

"They aren't gone."

Abel corrects the other man gently; perhaps he could have let the point go, but it feels important that he does not. The priest is firm in this affirmation but patient; he knows not all share his point of view on the subject.

"I fully intend to go back to those waiting for me back at home, and I believe they are waiting for me. But... even if they weren't, it wouldn't change what I've said at all."

Whether his earth, his people, live or die does not change the fate of all the rest in his eyes.

"The people living in this world are no less deserving of life than any others. None of us have the right to pass summary judgment on whether or not others should live or die... and even if we did-- who is to say the world the Regent wants is better than this one...? This person, this... entity... could you tell me you trust them and their vision, Mr. Emet-Selch?"

[lachtara]

"I am not so blind as to trust someone based on their word alone." Emet-Selch snaps in response. A dangerous thing to admit to, for certain, but never the one to shy away from risk. "However, we share a commonality in our thinking and methods. What they offer I can not simply ignore."

That is all he cares to indulge at that moment.

His harsh tone subsides and his expression eases. "You said that they were not gone. What do you mean." It was said with a certainty that was not present before.

[inutilis]

Abel didn't expect Emet-Selch to be the sort to follow another blindly, but hearing the other man affirm this aloud is a reassurance all the same. He's had some... worries... about how far the Kenoma might influence those who had ingested it without inevitably purging it as well. Was it possible its host were under some form of manipulation...? Considering how some of their Aion brethren had spoken so freely and with great acceptance after the ritual in the cavern, the priest has his suspicions.

He puts that thought aside, for now; instead, Abel is focusing on the conversation at hand. Emet-Selch is motivated to follow the Regent in hopes of seeing some personal goal fulfilled; it doesn't take much to puzzle out its involvement with his world, his home, lost to him.

"I mean that our worlds are precisely where we left them," Abel replies. "The dreams we shared are the only proof we have to the contrary. Beside that... there have been some-- oddities, ones I don't think I can explain if everything were truly gone. It isn't that I have irrefutable proof one way or the other - but... it's what I believe, for whatever that's worth."

[lachtara]

Hearing that everything is still in its place - as much as he does not want to acknowledge the feeling within him - eases some lingering sadness in his heart. Until now he only had his own words and determination to affirm that.

Though just as the feeling rises he is sure to smother it with reason. There is no point to hoping for what could be if it is certain to lead to his heart being broken once more.

"We all must believe in something, mustn't we?" Emet-Selch says with a motion of his hand that implies a dismissive shrug. "What manner of 'oddities' have you supposedly found?"

[inutilis]

It was inevitable this would come up in conversation - especially with those of the Kenoma, most of whom Abel had spoken to thoroughly believed their worlds had fallen to ruin. The priest has no issue speaking candidly about this; if anything, perhaps he is a little eager - his only trepidation in instilling false hope in case what he's surmised was incorrect on the matter. But hope is hope... and if it were to help, to offer comfort, then...

"Someone said that he... returned, for a time. Back to his home, and then... awoke here in Horos, again."

[lachtara]

Emet-Selch's expression fades into thinly veiled irritation. To have such promising words said to him only to be given a pittance of actual proof is more frustrating than he would have thought.

"I fail to see how blindly trusting the account of one person would be any different than 'blindly' trusting the Regent's word. It sounds to me like you are clinging to hope wherever you may find it." It would gamble everything on their singular word either way. "So. Which one of you 'supposedly' visited their ruined world?"

[inutilis]

"To be completely truthful with you, I would've said our homes are safe and sound regardless of this person's tale."

Abel has enough self-awareness to look vaguely sheepish; he is well aware that not many among them share his... optimism on the subject, but his faith holds strong regardless.

"Looking for hope, having faith-- there are worse things a man could possess than either. Maybe you think it is blind, and maybe it is-- but I do believe they're still there, my friend. My world and yours. But... I don't think debating that matter will get either of us very far, will it? We can't prove or disprove their fates any more than we can escape Horos, I'm afraid."

[lachtara]

"I, myself, would have settled on the word 'delusional' to describe such notions," Emet-Selch says with a hint of lightheartedness in his tone. It seems that his company is aware of how that sounds judging from his meek expression. "Though as you are one of faith, I assume you are more accustomed to trusting that which you can not put to prove."

[inutilis]

"Delusional, you say? Oh, please! You flatterer, you," Abel replies with a light, dismissive wave of his hand. He doesn't take it personally; he had, indeed, anticipated how that one might go over.

But onward they go, as it were!

"I'm choosing to believe we've something to return to. And if we don't, then... we'll simply have to find a way to rectify that, won't we? A great deal of 'impossible' things have happened since awakening in Horos, so I can't rule out 'cosmic reconstruction from the list of those I might yet experience before returning home, mm?"

Perhaps having faith and carrying hope comes easy to him. Or, perhaps he simply refuses to give weight to the alternative. Either way-- it is what it is, isn't it?

"...Failure simply isn't an option. Getting 'home,' and doing what we have to in order to see that through... it is a point you can relate to, isn't it? Maybe you understand my wishes better than most."

[lachtara]

"That is a mentality I cannot fault." It is a notion that he shares with all his heart; He would not accept that his world is simply gone. He had not accepted it over several thousand years and here is much of the same.

However, Emet-Selch looks on with a sliver of curiosity. "Be that as it may, You have told me remarkably little about the place that you so ardently wish to return to."

[inutilis]

"Is this your almost-roundabout way of asking me about home? Ah, ah. I see! Well."

Abel has already gathered a bit about the world Emet-Selch belongs to through the liberty of conversing with him, with Estinien, with Himeka; he knows enough to know they are... very different.

"My home is a planet called earth - a planet that might seem rather boring in comparison to your star, Mr. Emet-Selch. There's no such thing as 'magic' there, um... like Miss Himeka can perform?" Her healing magic had been exceptional to witness when she had tended to Dokja, simple as it must be in the grand scheme of things. "But... it's truly beautiful, all the same. I work for the church-- the Vatican, that is, as a touring priest-- so I've had the opportunity to do quite a bit of traveling! Seen much of it and its people. It's wonderful... and sometimes frightening for that wonder, but... it truly is remarkable, filled with all manner of folk from all walks of life, some of which I've had the great pleasure of calling my friends." It is impossible to miss the fondness, affection, longing in his eyes.

"--That is a pretty general way to put it, but... how does one summarize the grand total of their world, you know?"

[lachtara]

There is a reproachful look given in return. Nothing to do with what he is given, but what it reminded him of. Someone who traveled the world, seeing its people, helping them - It is difficult not to draw certain comparisons in intent alone.

"One's world may be described in the sum of your experiences." He explains casually. "I will give you a more guided question, then." Emet-Selch puts a hand to his chin and considers. "Tell me of whom you miss most?" Tell him something he can use.

[inutilis]

Something about Emet-Selch's expression is unusual, curious; did he find something in Abel's account of Earth distasteful...? Suppose it was sentimental and flowered with his rose-tinted way of looking at it; it makes a fair bit of sense.

But the question has him tilt his head in thought, and he gives it a brief pause - some due consideration - before finding his response.

"...I miss my colleagues, I suppose! That is-- they've become like a family to me, I guess you could say."

There is a complicated deepening of the nostalgia in his eyes as his mind wanders, no doubt, to the faces of those left behind.

"I spent a good time abroad already, so it isn't as though I'm not used to being away, but... it's different this time. Knowing that I could always find my way back... I suppose it was a source of comfort I had taken for granted."

...He had not taken them for granted. He never would; he understands the priceless treasure having a 'family' is, even if it isn't quite the same as one's blood. The words come easy despite it.

"And what of you...? I know it's a bit bittersweet a subject, but... I'd like to hear what you find yourself missing most as well if you'd humor me."

[lachtara]

A delightful yet unspecific response. Did this priest purposefully not want to mention anyone by name?

"There is nothing that I do not miss. The people, the city, the laughter that filled the streets each day." There's a momentary flicker of reminiscence as he begins to speak about his home, which is quickly reigned in. "My home disappeared long before we arrived here. Even if we all returned to our so-called 'homes' just as we left them, I would only regain their broken pieces." And he would continue to miss it all the same.

[inutilis]

"...and what of the world you came from?"

Abel wonders; Emet-Selch had said he was a long-lived man, that his world had fallen long, long ago. If that were the case -- it's been some time since he had been 'home,' is that right? So, since then... what had he formed attachments to?

[lachtara]

"As I said, they are broken pieces." He presses. "Pieces which I have made my lives work to make whole again."

[inutilis]

Broken pieces.

Considering what Abel has heard from Himeka and Estinien, he is beginning to get a clearer picture on how Emet-Selch's vision of their world differs from those of the Pleroma. Hmm...

"Is that truly all they are to you...? That world, even if broken, holds parts of the things you once loved in it, doesn't it?"

[lachtara]

"Parts of a whole, yes." He says, unwavering. "Each piece is important to me for what they can create, but the pieces alone provide me with no comfort." He would never truly call them home. "Is there more you are expecting of that answer?"