lachtara: (Souls)
๐•ฐ๐–’๐–Š๐–™-๐•พ๐–Š๐–‘๐–ˆ๐– ([personal profile] lachtara) wrote in [community profile] aionlogs2022-05-09 01:46 pm

A Conversation

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



The time has come to meet with a few individuals on the opposing side. Theirย 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.
ย 
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.ย 

Would they be true to their word and entertain speaking to one another? Or would this all have been for nothing?
coerthantorment: (39)

[personal profile] coerthantorment 2022-05-16 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
"I know not what I'll do," he admits. "Mayhap circumstances will conspire to force my hand... but in the meantime, I have offered Howl another chance."

He'd sensed enough doubt and despair in the man that it felt unlikely that he was entirely in control of himself, but he isn't going to tell Emet-Selch about Howl's fragile loyalties. He'd offered mercy only because he had the luxury of doing so, and because he thought there was a chance it'd be more constructive than the alternative.

"Make no mistake... unlike some of my comrades, I do not intend to prioritize the Kenoma's redemption over the Pleroma's survival. If you intend to scold me for my sentimentality, you've found the wrong man."
coerthantorment: (75)

[personal profile] coerthantorment 2022-05-23 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
Estinien quirks an eyebrow. It's an odd situation to find himself in, given Emet-Selch's history with his world. Despite having seen a softer side of the man, he still had little emotional context for all of it. The only thing he has to go off of is the stories he's hurt.

And so, he asks: "Which would you prefer?"

After all, it seems as if Emet-Selch is annoyed by the latter. Though, if so, he wonders why on the earth the man would be attempting to form a gathering such as this, where seemingly the only purpose is to discuss each other's sentimentalities.
coerthantorment: (70)

[personal profile] coerthantorment 2022-06-01 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Easy words from a man that has little to lose," Estinien says. "Much as before, this new world of yours will lack all of what I hold dear. Surely you cannot expect that we would surrender our homes so easily... as if you would have, were yours not already destroyed."

It's honestly why Estinien can't imagine any kind of philosophical discussion with Emet-Selch to ever bear fruit, no matter how many Pleroma he fulls in to debate with him over it.

"In truth, you seem incapable of appreciating the worth of any world or people that are not your own."
coerthantorment: (69)

[personal profile] coerthantorment 2022-06-08 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
"And how are you so certain that this new incarnation of the world won't also be lacking?"

That's what he can't quite understand. If this cosmos ends, it won't truly be the same, will it? Whatever world he creates will be no more the home he loved than the one Alphinaud described him creating in the First.

"Whatever beings you create there... they will not be your friends. Your loved ones. What remained of them will be gone with the cosmos you destroyed to create it."
coerthantorment: (65)

[personal profile] coerthantorment 2022-06-20 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
Estinien has little reason to stop him, and makes no retort. Instead, he simply watches as Emet-Selch departs. If Abel couldn't convince him in matters of faith, there's no way he'll be able to - after all, he hadn't actually been here to participate, as informative as this has been.

So it goes.