aionlogs | [Closed] June Catch-All

Cid doesn't know the first thing about art, but the strangely rendered figure is what his eyes are drawn to after a long moment of taking in the airships. "Do you suppose this is supposed to represent a historical event as well?"

He might not notice the similarities between the image and Venera, but that person's distress is far too notable for him to believe it's supposed to be depicting a metaphor. They certainly look like they're in agony, even as abstractly represented as they are. "It looks like it's supposed to represent a death, to me."

"...It's Helico."

Ryunosuke says it softly, his eyes still fixed on the depiction of that tragic scene. Maybe he doesn't have any proof that's who it is, but with everything he's managed to learn so far, he feels pretty confident in his assessment.

"...Venera's former patron," he adds by way of explanation, glancing at his companions. "An Aion of the Artisan legacy. I'm told they were... Assassinated. By the Kenoma. Several decades ago, mind you..."

He reaches out to lightly brush his fingers over the surface of the mural, almost as though he's hoping that touch might provide him with an even deeper understanding... If only that abstracted figure could reach back to him, to tell him more of what lead to all this.

"I'd heard their death lead to the last great escalation of the war, but... For the incident to be depicted all the way out here in Godsblood..."

His attention drifts to the fleet depicted around the scene. Tehri had said the cities were mostly Pleroma aligned at that time... Had Godsblood sent reinforcements by sea to help defend their ally from Achamoth, perhaps?

Ernesto's mouth feels dry as he looks at the intentionally rendered cracks around the figure, tearing his gaze off the painting to look at Ryunosuke give his history lesson, and humming in agreement. He'd learned some about the patron Aion when traveling with Kaeya around Venera. They'd initially been looking for an origin to the strange disease that was affecting people there when they'd stumbled over the story and taken interest in it, but...

"Godsblood's made no bones about not loving being under the Regent's thumb. Even if they're technically still one of the cities that pay their dues, it makes sense they'd be a final holdout, and even have been there to help some of the other cities up until the end."

Cid's hand goes to the rendering of Helico, his mouth dry as well. An Artisan... they'd been like him, then. He doesn't know about the Kenoma side, but he's the only Artisan among the Pleroma. "We have to help the Venerans," he says quietly. How, he doesn't know.

He's no fool; they'll be risking the same fate as Helico if they're caught. Or worse. "I'm certain the other cities were similarly crushed by the Regent." How the Pleroma will find the means to confront them, Cid doesn't know. The situation is not one they'll be turning the tides on anytime soon, but he doesn't plan on giving up. "I suppose the people of Godsblood created this mural to remind themselves of everything that has happened, all that they're up against."

Ryunosuke glances at Cid in surprise when he expresses a desire to help the Venerans, a soft smile spreading across his face. He feels exactly the same way, and nods in agreement with the sentiment. The look fades quickly though, once his attention goes back to the desperate scene depicted in the mural.

"Venera fell to the Regent not long after Helico did... And now most of the people there don't even remember their former patron's name. It's... It's horrible, honestly. And it's all because the Regent had them entirely wiped from the public record. I had to ask our, ah, eldest friend back in Greentruth, to find out more about them."

His description of the Regent's actions is said with particular disgust; HE makes no bones about how he feels about misinformation, and oppression, and name sullying. Sighing, his eyes flick to the Bloodite fleet included in the scene; the one that, if he remembers correctly from what Tehri had told him, should have been allied with Venera around the time of the incident.

"...They're all frightened, and hopeless. I think... They'll need to be shown that they won't be alone, before they'd be willing to try standing up once again."

Ernesto has been standing quietly as he observes the mural, trying to decide just how much importance to give the fact that the people of Godsblood have decided to maintain this particular bit of their history. The Bloodites will bristle faster than the rest of the Regent's subjects.

But at the end of the day, they're still their subjects.

"It might take more than just that..."

He glances at Ryunosuke first, before looking to Cid.

"Things are tense, and information isn't exactly freely allowed to flow, but it's not like your average person living their day to day life is in any kind of immediate danger that would make them want to take up arms."

He wishes he could agree with Ryunosuke, but he's already shaking his head before the other man even finishes speaking. "I agree with Ernesto." Though Himeka had been able to inspire rebellion in two provinces, that had been under incredible circumstances.

And the people of Horos are living under very different circumstances than the peoples of Ala Mhigo and Doma.

"If we're to win over the people of Venera, we'll need to make miraculously enormous strides in their city." It's not impossible, but people are understandably prone to doing whatever they can to survive even when living under totalitarian regimes. "And even then, the reality is that most are not the sort to take up arms, and we cannot fault them for that."

To even have the citizens openly defy the Regent is like to put them all in very real danger, after all.

Ryunosuke flushes and kind of withers, just eeeever so slightly in embarrassment.

"I... It's not as if I was suggesting we literally go down there and inspire the whole city into revolution through positive thinking or something," he grumbles. Sheesh, you guys.

Ah well. Shake it off, Ryunosuke. He huffs out a breath, straightening up again.

"They will be in imminent danger, though, if the Regent has their way... Everyone in Horos will be. Do you think they understand that? Not just in Venera, but here, and elsewhere... Do they really know what's at stake?"

As much as it sucks to be a realist sometimes, it's all Ernesto can do but solemnly nod a couple of times while Cid expands on his thoughts. It takes a long time to brew a rebellion, and you need to work hard in order to win people's loyalty.

And even when you do, most people aren't looking to put themselves in immediate danger, though he can appreciate Ryunosuke's point.

"I get the sense that this whole thing has been going on so long that the people probably don't think the Regent is that close to ending things like that."

He gestures to the mural to silently illustrate his point.

Cid nods in agreement. "In my world, the Ascians had goals not unlike the Regent, and they'd been working towards it for twelve thousand years— though admittedly, they were secretive, and hadn't made their goals common knowledge to the masses. Even if they had, the sheer amount of time involved would render that knowledge lost within a generation or two."

But, of course, by the usage of past tense something important can be gleaned from what he's saying: the Ascians are all dead. "Just as the people of my world didn't know the apocalyptic Calamities were deliberately triggered, I doubt anyone going about their day-to-day lives would consider that the Regent is actively seeking to destabilize what's let of the world."

After all, the events on the mural depict something that occurred a century ago.

Ryunosuke makes a frustrated noise. It all makes sense, he hears what they're both saying. But where does that leave them, then?

"There must be some way we can convince them," he says helplessly. "Not just in Venera, but in Godsblood as well. Though it baffles me that safeguarding the future of their own kin and country isn't motivation enough for them to act... They think they won't be around to see it happen, therefore it doesn't affect them? Is that the idea?"

That's so... Wrong!

That 'twelve thousand years' earns an impressed, low whistle from Ernesto. Some people really know how to play the long game, even if that game isn't worth playing in the first place. The Regent's game and the goal of all of the Kenoma? That definitely isn't worth working towards in Ernesto's opinion, but despite how doom and gloom he and Cid might sound right now, there's apparently enough optimism left in Ernesto that he thinks current existence is still worth saving.

"Something like that. Most people aren't thinking about what seems like years off in the future when they have worries that will impact their lives tomorrow or the day after that."

He glances at Ryunosuke now, giving him an easy-going smile.

"It doesn't mean there aren't ways to convince people the threat matters to those tomorrows and those days after that though, but it'll take some work."

Cid glances at Ernesto for a moment after he adds his thoughts, before he turns his attention fully back to Ryunosuke. "The entire known world now knows of the Ascians." He hopes the implications are obvious: they will have the chance to let the people of Horos know the truth.

"We must needs find a way to convince them of the truth, it'll be the only way we have any chance of convincing those who would otherwise refuse to take up arms."

They still won't get everyone to fight, but there's more to a rebellion than the amount of freedom fighters. "Unfortunately, knowing what we must do and how to do it are two completely different things."

While they both talk, Ryunosuke crosses his arms and stands there with his eyes closed, like he's trying to will himself into having some kind of brainstorm right then and there.

Of course, it doesn't work like that. He's got absolutely nothing.

"That is the trouble, isn't it," he agrees, slumping his shoulders again with a sigh. "The people here might be easier to convince, to start with... I've little to offer beyond that."

As the two of them sit there pondering this, one corner of Ernesto's mouth twitches up, giving his smile a lopsided quality. While he doesn't have a fully baked plan here himself, he does have a small way to kick this off while they think of bigger and better plans.

"You know... they get a bad reputation, but as often as the information is fault, sometimes rumors have a grain of truth to them."

He looks between the two of them slowly.

"And if a really interesting rumor starts spreading, it can really get people talking. It just has to be murmured into the ear of the right person."

He crosses his own arms now, but there's something comfortable and casual about his stance.

"It's not going to get people to take up arms, but it doesn't hurt to start getting them ready and receptive to the idea."

Cid can't help the way he brightens at Ernesto's suggestion. "Precisely," he agrees. "They'll need a push in the right direction." By itself, a well-placed rumor or two will only serve to get people thinking.

But in locations where mayhap people are already prone to to thinking, it might very well get more people thinking, and then talking. "What's vital is giving people a reason to hope."

There's a little smile on his face as he says it. "We may give them the spark, but it will be their plans, their choices that decide what happens next."

[Closed] June Catch-All

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