EVENT #3: THE COST OF INNOCENCE

[aionmods]

The Cost of Innocence

INVESTIGATION

As the Aions arrive in Venera, they will find the natural beauty of the city in sharp contrast to its uncomfortable aura. Though the sun still shines and flowers still bloom in a place filled with physical vibrancy and life, the air itself is impossibly still, as if wind no longer blows. You can taste the stagnancy of it when you breathe, and the pleasant sights only make that feeling of absence more haunting. The streets are mostly empty, with most of the city's residents hiding away in their homes, fearing the touch of whatever illness has caused this. That is, all the citizens besides those most affected, who wander the streets in a lifeless and painless daze.

Normally, Venera would be occupied by both Hylician and Achamite soldiers, but it quickly becomes apparent that both have abandoned the city, only guarding its furthest outskirts. Their reasons vary: the Achamite soldiers seem to take religious objection to the feeling of the city, believing it to be some trickery of the Innocent, while the Hylicians simply see it as a plague they have no interest in catching or spreading. Because of this, it will be easy for Aions of both sects to explore with little pushback from any form of law enforcement. The Kenoma will be directed into the city with warnings about the potential physical and spiritual danger while Pleroma will be able to sneak in mostly unbothered. After all, no one is eager to follow you.

Most shops and businesses are currently closed, though some uninfected individuals still nervously keep watch over their workplaces, fearing potential looting. It's difficult, but not impossible, to find people to talk to, and while the most plentiful wanderers are the infected, the reactions from those with their minds still intact will vary. Some will be eager to speak to anyone who looks like they're trying to do something about their situation, desperate for any source of outside help. If revealed you are an Aion, this may either entice them even further or cause them to retreat, as if fearing that you are somehow to blame for their plight. For those that are enticed, it will become clear that they hold onto faith that Aions are in Horos to save them, and will tell these new arrivals whatever they can without discriminating between sects.

The base level information that can be found is thus: the infection began at the same levels it has been in the rest of Horos, only for the numbers of the afflicted to rapidly accelerate upon the coming of the Innocent's Moon. Some see it as a form of divine punishment for their cooperation with the Regent, while the less cooperative citizens see it as a malady brought about by the Aions themselves, their only hope being that they will be able to clean up the mess they made. Some citizen have managed to corral their inflicted loves ones into their rooms and will be willing to introduce you; most of these individuals are past the point of conversation, and seem fully lost to whatever fantasy world they are experiencing. They are disinterested in eating or drinking and it seems like, without help, they are destined for a slow death of starvation and atrophy. That is, if their apathetic state doesn't result in a severe accident, as it has in many cases already.

Any other clues will take more dogged investigation. It will be a day or so after the majority of Aions have arrived in the city that the first signs of their own infections become clear.

HEAVENLY BODIES

The first to feel its effects will be the Innocents, Lovers, and Celebrants; like a voice has fully awakening to them, whispering of how their touch can be the cure to the others' pain. It bids them to take their fellow Aions into their loving embrace, to share this gift, as only suffering lies ahead. It expresses without words that it will be a shield for their Aion kindred, and that those that accept will become their outstretched hands to a cosmos that craves peace. Any form of physical contact with those three Legacies will either introduce or rapidly accelerate the infections experienced by the others, this effect only becoming more intense if the wielder intentionally forces the power of this strange entity into their victims.

Even without that accelerating touch, however, other Aions are not necessarily safe; the infection will still seep in, albeit more slowly. All Aions may experience a growing feeling of connection to the infected Venerans, as if the energy within them is being drawn into their their own bodies. As the Aion's symptoms worsen, the the ones suffered by the Venerans will gradually lessen, though not go away entirely. It seems that the Aions soaking up this strange power is enough to take the edge off of what is happening to the citizens: but at what cost?

Various symptoms will manifest in afflicted Aions with outcomes far more diverse and devastating than what the Veneran civilians have experienced. Visionaries, Firebrands, and Artisans will suffer the most catastrophic symptoms, the clash between their spiritual natures and that of the Innocence being the most extreme. This malady is characterized by its innate desire to quell its victims of their resistance, smothering them in artificial peace, even if it has to deprive them of their bodies and minds to do so.

It is not without treatment, however. It will gradually become apparent that feelings of intense suffering or upset are capable of purging the infection, that clash with painful reality seeming to wake them up from their trance and reduce or eliminate physical symptoms. The more intense the distress, the more effective it will be. Fortunately, this heightening of Aion spiritual energy has the added consequence of making empathic communion connections far more acute. Instead of just transmitting and receiving emotions and thoughts, Aions will find themselves more easily able to enter the delusions and memories of their kindred, drawing them out and manipulating them for this purpose. The catch is that they will only be able to access what is on the surface of the other Aion's mind.

When an infection is reduced or expelled this way, the energy causing it seems to be dispelled from the city, lowering the intensity of its ambient effects. While similar can be done to Veneran citizens to help treat them, the energy will not leave, and will either go into the Aion casting it out or return to the nebulous source of Innocence and eventually infect someone else. Something about going through the Aions specifically seems to act as a filter, as unpleasant of a way as it is to help.

IN THE SILENCE

For those unlucky enough to develop complete, or near complete, infections (IE. a full Innocence petrification) a presence will awaken within them regardless of their Legacy. It will urge them to join with it, to embrace the peace it offers, and to become the extensions of their will in this ravaged world. With an infection of this intensity, there will be little they can do but to hear its call. What exactly this would ultimately entail is unclear, but there is the sense that his entity is looking to join with you on a spiritual level. If your character becomes infected to this degree please let us know under the Committed Actions toplevel below along with the context of that transformation and whether or not they are being cured from it. You may receive some additional information in return!

QUESTIONS

What is the best way for Aions to travel to Venera?
The quickest travel paths are for Kenoma to take a boat from Achamoth, which will take about a day, and for Pleroma to teleport to the Celebrant's shrine and take either a carriage or river boat to the city (there are offshoot rivers not marked on the setting map). The riverboats would be the faster option option of the two, and would also take about a day. The carriages/delivery carts would be slower and take a couple days, but have relay access to horses and therefore could keep going overnight. Characters with flight are also able to use that, though flying right into the city might cause a bit of spectacle. Then again, none of the local law enforcement is eager to chase you at the moment.

Are Veneran civilians experiencing the same symptoms as the Aions?
Veneran civilians are only experiencing apathy/loss of self/daydreaming and maybe the loss of pigments/color for advanced cases. The more body horror orientated effects are Aion only and are being caused by their body's spiritual makeup.

Can 'cured' Aions be reinfected?
Yes! Even if cured or treated, symptoms can return or worsen again. This will keep happening until the build up of Innocence energy in Venera is entirely expunged, at which point the illness will fade away across the continent. Whether or not the Aions mere presence will be enough to trigger that is yet unknown, but it does seem to be helping lessen the effects suffered by the civilians, at least.

How long does the infection period last in Aions?
Chronologically, we are considering the infection period of the plot to last 2-3 days.

Comments

[zauneyete]

[ Silco blinked, or rather, one eye blinked. ]

Might?

[ He asked, incredulous. Even his daughter, Jinx -- so desperate for anyone to acknowledge her talents, tell her that she wouldn't be abandoned, or thrown aside -- wouldn't be that desperate. ]

Do you mean he doesn't currently love you? [ What a waste. Silco doesn't really understand it, romantic love, he's never felt the inclination -- as if anyone can in Zaun. Anyone could betray him, after all. He has no frame of reference for this, but his opinion of Misa slowly, slowly fell. ]

What could you possibly do, that would earn it, if you don't already have it?

[lifespanned]

[ She wilts when asked that, a bit of color draining back into her face. Yes, she's thought about this before— the prospect that there isn't anything she could do that would ever win Light over. She could tell herself that that's fine, that it doesn't bother her, but deep down, the gnawing, stubborn fear of never being loved is a constant threat on her will to go on.

When she blinks a few more times, there's a bit more clarity to her previously glassy gaze, brows furrowing with concentration. ]

Well, see, I was just about to earn it...

[ At last, she sits up, still fiddling with her little page, suddenly sounding insistently hopeful despite the brief feeling of despair she'd felt. Her Legacy has made her especially prone to resisting treatment to the disease— that much is obvious in how she delves back so easily into the comfort of her fantasies. His question seems to evoke some kind of memory from her, the scenery around them warping from the old, tattered house they've made refuge in to an empty forest at midday. The page in her hand changes from the book's page to a regular piece of paper— and around them, clear evidence that she'd just dug it up from the ground. ]

If I just do what he asked me to here... then he will love me for sure!

[zauneyete]

[ He looked around, and then back to Misa. She'd dug up a piece of paper.

Truly, that was the thing that was going to make someone love her? ]

And what is it he wants you to do?

[ He was curious. Misa clearly didn't think enough of herself to have a self beyond this person she cared so deeply for -- a person Silco would call pathetic on any other day -- but if she cared for him, then why was she not fighting to preserve their world? Was it because this Light wasn't in it? Silco could understand that, at least, given that a universe without Zaun or his daughter was one he could hardly care about. ]

What could you do for this Light, that would make him care about you, if he doesn't already?

[ Silco wondered, of course, if perhaps he would get along better with Light, in this moment. At least he wouldn't be talking about "love", or some fantasy. ]

[lifespanned]

It's complicated...

[ Her expression recovers, a mischievous smile returning to it - though, the feeling is markedly different from her usual aura of playfulness. There's a rare focus underneath it all, like she might actually take whatever memory has been conjured aroud them seriously for once. With them both now sitting on the ground, she kneels over, placing her hands (and the paper with it) flat down on the ground as she hangs her head to think, really think.

If Silco is any good at reading upside down, he'll see the text upon the page, perfectly preserved by Misa's memory:

By the time you read this letter, you should have remembered something.

Do you remember my friend you met when you came to visit me at To-oh University? He called himself Hideki Ryuga, but you saw his name as something else. I want you to write his name in this notebook and kill him. But if you do it right after reading this letter, it will be immediately after you and I are given our freedom. So don't kill him until I give you the order to do so.

Please burn this letter immediately and only take with you a number of notebook pages that you can get rid of quickly. Hide the pages on you and rebury the notebook here. And when you see me again, touch me with a piece of the notebook, and make it look casual.

If you do this, I will love you forever. ]

I just need to remember Hideki Ryuga's name... and I'll be so useful to him. [ Her fingers curl against the page, obscuring most of the text. The notebook the letter speaks about, it's actually there, right below the page she'd been cradling— a total figment of her imagination. But it's there, a black notebook, both its covers concealed by the letter and the dirt below them alike. ] I'm so close to it!

[ And the fervent devotion that had been so palpable before is all but reinvigorated here, feeling strangely close to hope, and strangely close to excitement, even when juxtaposed so near orders to kill someone. If the Innocence brings the most pleasant memories to forefront of the mind, then of course at the forefront is her one chance to win Light over— her one chance to prove herself. ]

[zauneyete]

[ Silco wasn't able to read most of the letter, but the word "kill" stood out, he was fast enough -- or perhaps naturally drawn -- to a word that held significance. Now, being from Zaun, having someone killed was... somewhat routine. He'd had plenty of assassination attempts from the day he'd tried to work his way out of the mines, to the day his best friend tried to drown him, and choke the life out of him, to the day he'd arrived, he'd been fighting off a threat from his daughter's sister and her little enforcer friend.

Killing was normal, asking people to kill for you, was normal. In Zaun, though, you were expected a little more than... "love". ]

So close to killing him? [ He asked. ]

That's it? That's what he's asking for? [ Sure, in Piltover it was frowned upon, maybe she was from a place like there, for how grave it sounded. ]

If he can ask for it, he could do it himself, couldn't he? Why bother asking you? [ Or... ]

Or why don't you just kill someone you want offed, instead of doing his dirty work?

cw: allusions to suicidal ideation

[lifespanned]

[ To be fair, she truly never thinks about this that deeply. Maybe that's why she struggles to think of a reply, and why that struggle drains more of the Innocence out ofh er. She follows Light because she loves him, does whatever he says because she loves him. It never needed to be more complicated than that. It's all so tangled up, her desires and Light's desires— with the latter absolutely consuming the former. There were times, of course, when she wanted to kill for herself and for herself only, but she'd just never acted on it. Because— ]

He asks me because I'm the only one who can help him! I'm irreplaceable to him.

[ But even that doesn't sound so sure, it's more as though she's trying to speak that into truth. ]

He's the only thing I have left to live for... so helping him is the only thing I care about. Helping him is what I want. Don't you get it?

[ If she had people she wanted offed herself, she stayed her hand, because her power existed only to serve Light. The implication is clear: her own wants have become, at least to her, indistinguishable from the wants of her "boyfriend," seeing herself nearly as a loyal, dedicated actor of his will and his ideals.

Having that loyalty called into question, to have it insinuated as foolish— it's threatening to make the whole house of cards fall down. And inwardly, the first faint rings of alarm bells are going off in her head, due to the fact that she's even uttering a word of this to anyone. It hadn't dawned on her that she was even doing it, due to the Innocence's effects, but ever so slowly, the realization that she's just spoke of the secret she most wants to keep is enough to cause her that necessary distress. ]

You just don't understand me.

[zauneyete]

[ The worst part was, Silco did understand, in a way. He had his own goals, of course. Zaun had forever been his goal, since he'd climbed his way out of the mines and into smuggling, he'd been trying to build a foundation for the City of Steel And Glass, instead of letting it sit in squalor beneath Piltover's boot. Even so -- and as he would find out eventually -- he did have someone more important than even that.

He didn't think he would go so far as to throwing away everything (but he would), but... ]

You think I don't? [ He snapped, a little too fast, and a little too automatic to be totally a lie.

He ground his teeth, to the response. Too close for comfort, letting out one of his own secrets like that. Silco hadn't, after all, mentioned his daughter to a single soul here. He was more like he imagined this Light would be, rather than Misa.

He paused, and finally: ]

You sound like his servant, more than his girlfriend. If he were here, and you weren't, would we even know you exist?

[lifespanned]

[ Misa is just lucid enough to hear that quick-witted response - not that she's in the right mindset to make anything of it at present. No, she's far more focused on defending her pride, or defending what pride of hers is left.

Can she say in good conscience that Light would ever mention her to anyone else? Not really, as she has evidence to the contrary in her home world. A roiling, volatile jealousy bubbles up in her, pushing her stand in a jolt, along with cracks of porcelain chipping away from her on the ascent. ]

It's... it's complicated!

[ Which is, notably, not an answer to his question, and also notably, the excuse she's already used about two minutes ago. The truth is, she doesn't have an answer or an excuse. Deep inside, she knows Light wouldn't ever mention her. On the surface level, she can pretend that it can be explained away by Light not wanting anyone to know about her and her relations to his "crimes." But somewhere, some slippery, incessant bit of doubt gnaws at her, as she can only deny the truth for so long, even from herself. The irritation, combined with the sobering fact that any of this had spilled free at all, keeps her lips tight from explaining it further. Perhaps to the point of suspicion. ]

Whatever he chose to do would probably be a good idea. So, I don't need to think about it. He needs me, even if he doesn't talk about me... [ She crosses her arms petulantly, sticking her nose in the air, and begins turning the cogs in her mind of what ways she can deflect this conversation to something else. Because she has a sense Silco will just continue trying to blow the case open if she continues to engage. ] I mean, I heard that little comment! If you really do get it, then you'd leave me alone.

[ Does she know that for certain... not really, but she's just pathetically grasping at straws to shift focus away from herself. ]

[zauneyete]

[ She was moving, and Silco took that as a boon. He'd cut her, at least verbally. He crossed his arms, barely moved by the way she swung up, and only offered a glance. She was trying to distract him from herself, obviously. Silco knew it, he could see it from the way she was trying to draw back to the person he hadn't even mentioned. ]

Right. He needs you? He doesn't do anything on his own? [ His real eyebrow rose. Even in the low light of the room, his entire face is bifurcated by the scar across his eye -- no makeup in Venera to keep it clean, or hidden. It's ugly, and it stretched with the curl of his lip. ] I wonder if the Regent knows how worthless you are, to link yourself to someone so incapable of doing anything on their own.

[ Silco shrugged. He wouldn't -- or perhaps in some corner of his mind, he thought he couldn't -- talk directly about the person so important to him that he did understand giving everything up for. If he thought there was even a chance of Jinx still being alive, he would burn down the Regent themselves to make sure she would still live. ]

Perhaps, when we return, I can explain that to them. I'm sure they'd be delighted to know there's someone you prioritize over our shared goals.

[lifespanned]

[ Funnily enough, the more he eggs her on, the more he talks down to her, the more clarity of the situation she gets— the fury at being belittled like this, combined with the overwhelming fear that she just exposed some of her darkest secrets to someone she barely knows warding off the last bits of the Innocence. Slowly, but surely, the vision around them fades, her sour expression now tinted with all the right hues.

A taunt like this.... it's so hard for her not to rise to it. To not say, Light and the Regent share the same goals. The way she sees it, at least. But that would be too far, she realizes. Silco may know that she had at least been asked to kill someone once, but he still doesn't know about her and Light's shared efforts to change the world for the better. And she must keep it that way. No matter how big an issue she takes with being called worthless. ]

Hmph! Go right ahead. I'm sure the Regent understands me.

[ She turns up her nose, actually feeling very confident of her assessment of their glorious leader's opinion of her. Whether or not this is misplaced remains to be seen, but at present, she thinks only of how the Regent had applauded her loyalty to the cause. They must know many things about them all, in addition.... she wouldn't be surprised if the Regent already knew about her powers, about her Death Note, and all the people she'd killed with it. A part of her hopes Silco goes snitching, just so he could possibly get set straight. Clearly, there's no part of her that feels threatened by his proposal - on top of her arrogance in her standing, she's also one of the only Kenoma who seems to address the Regent in a casual, friendly manner, feeling both unintimidated by them and assured that she won't do anything to get on their bad side. ]

Who knew you were such a tattle tale? What are you, five?

[ What she needs to do is divert, act like a brat. It's believable behavior from someone so immature as herself, anyway, and with her return to clarity, it's all the more like her to treat the matter with a nearly comical level of childish drama. ]

[zauneyete]

[ Silco didn't offer a laugh in her face, although he felt it. No matter his opinion on whatever this...love of hers was -- something useless she should cut herself clean of before he betrayed her, certainly -- the fact of the matter was that Misa was moving, she wasn't trapped to the couch, and as he looked around the room, they were back into, without a shred of Misa's projections, he lifted his real eyebrow. ]

At least that seemed to pull you back to the real world.

[ He said, a touch derisively, but he forced the disdain out of his voice. Silco, after all, was good at playing the magnanimous industrialist, for all that he hated and mistrusted most people, he knew what they wanted, and how to get what he wanted in return. What he'd learned about Misa was that she didn't like what he'd said. Whoever this "Light" was, Misa was clearly devoted to him, and while Silco didn't understand...why, he understood what it was to have one person whom you could rely on. ]

I thought you were never going to come out of that.

[ Silco wouldn't apologize, but he could be the "good" teammate, after all. ]

[lifespanned]

[ There are several long moments where she stares hard at him, as if wondering if the other shoe is gonna drop. This is the first time any replay of her memories have genuinely felt like getting the floor swept out from under her - made worse by how frazzled she is from Silco's poking holes in all of her lovey-dovey fantasies. ]

Oh, so that's it? I get it...

[ Her irritated expression gradually falters to something more thoughtful, at least pretending to go along with the notion that he'd only said all that to make her upset enough to break out of her contagion. It worked, anyway - doubt that she's usually able to keep at bay from delusions alone have finally crept in, as though water seeping through cracks in a dam. It's not something that can be so easily swept aside... but she should act like it.

Even Misa knows that it'd be the dumbest move in the world to let the conversation stray back to Light, back to the matter of his letter, so she feigns realizing that all he'd done was just to heal her, for her sake, and begins to starts to turn on the waterworks, letting her aggression fade away very naturally. ]

Thanks for helping me... I mean... I guess... [ She wipes at her eyes daintily, sniffling once, playing the part of being conflicted about being grateful. ] I don't know what I would've done if someone hadn't come...

[zauneyete]

[ Silco looked at her for just a moment. He's suspicious, as always -- perhaps moreso now that he's seen the person Misa is. Completely sworn to someone else, perhaps, but also... just willing to do anything, if it meant that one person would be happy. There have been some individuals that have arrived later, and Silco filtered that name away -- on the offchance that he would need to use it later, or on the offchance that he would need to be...friendly.

As it is, he only offered a crooked, fake smile. He almost clasped his hands together, before he remembered --

Ah, well. He waved a hand, instead, as if dismissive. ]

I am sure that the Regent themselves would have descended from Achamoth to ensure your survival, I only quickened it.

[ He said it, though it's blithe. He knows now that there's someone Misa thinks is more important than the Regent, but he certainly doesn't doubt that she would do grave things. He'd somewhat dismissed her, before. Not quite so much now, if she'd been given orders to kill, and was willing to do so. ]

I would, however, suggest avoiding that again. Unless you want... someone else to get a good look inside your head. Personally, I found it distasteful, at best.