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A Conversation
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?
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?
no subject
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?"
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"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.
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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."
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"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.
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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?
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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?"
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Abel taps his chin thoughtfully, before he gives a vague noise of frustration and a wave of his hand in dismissal.
"A-anyway, it's not important, really. What I mean to say is... I wonder if perhaps there is some value in those pieces you might be missing for looking at the bigger picture, Mr. Emet-Selch. Surely there are wonderful things on those pieces, if when they come together... they create something so beloved?"
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"The whole cannot exist if the pieces remain separate." He reasons firmly. "If the beauty of this world is not enough to make you abandon your former world, then how can you criticize me for thinking the same of mine?"
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Abel tilts his head softly, watching Emet-Selch sidelong as he muses this aloud. This is all just musing, after all; he cannot - would not - presume to understand the situation of his fractured world, nor what it requires to back it whole again. But...
"...I can't accept that my world is gone any more than I can accept the sacrifice of this one to get back there. Do you feel differently?"
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"There are those in every age who passionately advocate for their star's value. They tout its 'beauty' while man besmirches it with their own selfishness - As is their wont." He rolls a hand through the air. "What I intend to do is not only for my sake, but theirs as well." He sighs in outward frustration. How many times has he heard these words?
"It seems that what you cannot truly accept is an answer that does not meet your idealistic expectations."
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He has heard this sort of talk before - though the context had been quite different, back then. Talk of those who didn't deserve what they had, the failings of a people upon the lands they inhabited - the cruelties they visited upon each other and themselves that spoke to their willful ignorance. The way to save, to redeem, these people through renewal - even if it meant immense sacrifice.
It sounds terribly close to the Regent's offer, doesn't it.
"...Maybe this leads us around to the crux of the matter." The Kenoma; the Pleroma. "What you're willing to do, how far you'll go... I want to understand it, Emet-Selch. I do."
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"My motivations have not changed: I want nothing more than to have my people and those I love to return to me. Your Pleroma does not offer that, while the Kenoma may have the means to see that desire through." Simple, forthright, and provided with no hesitation.
"If you wish to convince me further of your cause, then provide me ways to prove the Regent's promises false. Something other than dreams, wishes, and the word of one man."
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If someone were to tell him he could have back all he'd lost, one day - truly promise the return of his kin, his world - would he be strong enough to decline it?
...Abel's shoulders slope a subtle fraction lower before he answers.
"I don't want the Regent's promise to be false. What I want... is to come here one day and offer you an alternative. A better way than the one laying before you, so even if the Regent's words do end up hollow - there is still something left for us. For all of us."
A way back; a way forward. A way to save what was lost and to start anew, perhaps. A happy ending for everyone.
It should be obvious even as he says it, Abel doesn't truly believe such a thing is possible - and just as obvious, he fully plans to keep looking anyway.
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In the face of yet another impractical promise, his hope for any other solution only dwindles. Such hopeful-sounding words are so often empty in what they offer. There would be no such expectations here.
"I have given you what you need aim for to earn my interest. I should ask the same." He motions to Abel with an open palm. "What would it take for you to abandon this world? To admit that its recreation is the best path forward?"
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Abel sees, now.
His gaze trails to the other man where he had been absent-mindedly looking at some point at the shrine entrance. Abel's answer is delivered with gentility, but an undeniable resolution.
"There's no offer you - or any other - could make me, no price I'm willing to pay to sacrifice the lives of all these people and their world. I don't have the right to make such a choice, and I never will."
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Over the years, Emet-Selch found that the simplest solutions were often the best ones. It may have been pointlessly 'hopeful' to get a detailed answer in this case, but it was the most direct path to get what he was looking for. And even if he didn't get an explicit set of instructions it provides him with an answer.
This answer makes the solution clear: they will have to break this one. Break him in every painful and excruciating way until there is nothing left of this person. If it is deemed too much trouble then they would need to crush his very soul. The glance is pitying because empaths like this truly walked the worst path.
He sighs, "That is a shame. I was hoping we could work together toward our mutual betterment."
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Abel understands that there are some distances that words cannot bridge, some gaps that cannot be closed by pretty, fanciful words nor the very best of intentions. He had hoped Emet-Selch might be the sort of man who could see reason - value in the lives around him, and... it isn't as though he has given up on such an endeavor, either. This Kenoma is not the sort to burn the world to the ground for the sake of it. He has a heart that beats, longs, suffers, grieves, burns with an unbridled depth most could not fathom; one who feels so deeply cannot pretend he is incapable of learning to love anew, because love - and loss in that love's wake - is always the source of such passion. Abel truly believes that.
But it will be difficult. And it will take time.
So, until then...
...He stretches his hand outward.
"Please don't give up on me. Even if it can't be today, and even if it might not be all you hope for-- I will give you something worth your while."
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‘Giving up’ on Abel implies that he has any faith in him to begin with.
He asks a question of his own instead. “Shall we consider our business concluded for today? I am sure your comrades are exceedingly anxious to return home.”
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His smile is only slightly more demure as he lets his unaccepted hand fall, and he gives his company a nod of agreement and assent. It's alright, Emet-Selch; even if this man cannot see a path forward that might bridge the gap between them - Abel will.
"I've taken up enough of your time; you're right... ah-- then, allow me to see you off with my thanks for humoring me, would you?"
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This has not been an entirely unproductive conversation. Although as far as strategic value, he would be returning to the Regent nearly empty-handed. Convincing those who were so stalwart in their beliefs would not happen in a few short meetings - he knows this.
And so they inevitably would march onward toward betrayal.