voidtreckernet | Merriment 15 ; Video

Entry tags:

Merriment 15 ; Video

[ Jade looks tired, broadcasting from his room. Even still, he smiles through his whole message, his voice cheerful. ]

So, we can all agree that last mission was exhausting, can't we? For some of us more than others.

Which brings me to: Some of us were too busy anchoring to pay attention to anything else - we didn't miss anything too fun, did we? Did anyone learn anything exciting about our foe?

[ He could ask people individually, but opening it up to the floor just seems more efficient, in the end. After all... ]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who hates being out of the loop, either. If anyone else has any questions, feel free to chime in! The point of this is to get us all on the same page, after all.

((OOC: free-for-all place for anyone to share information they feel relevant about the previous mission and/or ask questions for other people to answer! feel free to tag others!!))

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I was one of the teams fighting Chaos... and, well, it turns out "fighting" him wasn't the way to win.

LIke Della, I was one of those who were fighting that illusion-creating entity, whom Della refers to as Chaos. I started out with my usual attitude in a battle, which is that I hurl myself into it and quickly assess the enemy's weaknesses and then use them against him.

But it turned out that wasn't the right approach at all. Others in that battle turned it into a conversation and tried to find common ground with the creature and invite it to join with us in trying for mutual goals. And I suddenly percieved that that was the right approach, so I joined in the effort. It became obvious that Chaos's world was destroyed by the same world-eating shadow beings that we Voidtreckers encountered in a previous mission, but that Chaos believed that we Voidtreckers had done the destroying. However, I think Chaos was convinced by us that that was not the case.

Chaos ended that conversation with what sounded like a blessing on us. I think we'll meet it again somewhere, and I'm looking forward to continuing that conversation.

Mah, this makes me third chiming in, ah? I'll stick with Chaos, that's a simple way to refer to them. I know there were multiple places Chaos was being fought; I happened to be on another side of it, playing music.

( Which... sounds ludicrous, but to his credit, he does little more than off a half smile and cross his arms as he leans back against whatever's nearest. From the look of things, he might be in the spa car, presently not filled with persons making use of the space, though a head might poke in through the doors, or someone might have been seen leaving. )

They were there for the destruction of Diagad. They survived it, felt all that death and dying, had been reeling with the grief. Latching on to us as a culprit was easier than understanding the shapes that pushed down through the skies to rain horror on the world... there was an illusion of what that looked like, that Chaos called down on us.

( Keeping it factual, but not smiling anymore. )

Don't know if it's been the same for the rest, but I've been dreaming of Diagad's ending every night since. Starts the same way, a contentedness I feel as so real, it's surprising. Laying back and basking in that, looking skyward, and then the shapes arrive. They push down through the skies, everything starts to dissolve into chaos without the sense of it being a name, and the fear, the grief, the loss, and falling like it'll never stop.

( Here, he shrugs. )

But back to Chaos, they did seem to be fond of my music. Guess I have at least one fan out there in the greater collection of cosmos.

( Grin's back. Doesn't make it to his eyes, but does it need to? )

So it seems. That's probably for the best - but how did you figure that out, anyway?

Fascinating. And good to know, besides - I suppose its actions make sense in when put in that light. If I thought someone responsible for destroying everything I knew and loved...

[ The way he trails off is suggestive, but he doesn't conclude the thought. ]

Part of me hopes we do get to see it again, because I think I'd like the chance to speak to it, myself.

As for that "blessing"... Can you share anything about the specifics? If you know them.

[ Jade nods along as he listens, understanding. He hesitates before he speaks. ]

Grief is a terrible thing, isn't it? And when you cannot do anything about the source of it, it certainly is easier to lash out at others...

[ It's clear he's just musing, thinking aloud, especially from his distant look. He snaps out of it after a moment. ]

I admit I've been having strange dreams, as well, but nothing of that sort. Lucky me.

[ It's said with a smile, but the smile is more wry than genuine. He's starting to see the picture, though. ]

...your dream. Do you think that's what Chaos themself experienced?

It overwhelms. Channeling that for a while... ( he doesn't clarify, but it was channeling Chaos's grief, and everything else. So immense. )

I... think it could be. Could be a hundred interpretations of what it looked like. Could be seeing it through the eyes of every soul that was looking skyward when the world collapsed. Could be Chaos, remembering. It was all from Chaos, one way or another. Those dreams to me read like memory as much as half-remembered horrors.

( He uncrosses his arms to proffer up the empty palms of both hands. )

The world destroying shapes that descend from the sky are the consistent things. The world caving in, the falling. Other specific details change, but not those things. Chaos wanted to blame us for it, and I wonder if it's not because we come out of the Void as much as whatever swallowed their system did. Or if they latched onto something that tried, then left, seeing what was going on. Diagad was Void active, and newer to it, from what I understand.

( Lowering his palms, surrendering how much of that knowing is or isn't factual. )

Indeed. I, too, would react with anger if I believed someone had destroyed everything I knew and loved.

And I hope you do get a chance to speak with that entity yourself. I think it's worth doing.

As for the blessing, the entity spoke some significant words shortly before that conversation ended and we Voidtreckers SCA'd out of there. The entity said, "Peace. An Ending is not an ending. ALOHA GOODBYE. AH YOU. YOU." And a few minutes later, it added, "THE OCEAN. A TORRENT THAT CHANGES ALL IN IT'S PATH AND THEN VANISHES. THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE. BEAUTIFUL OCEANS. I SHALL NOT FORGET THIS. GO NOW. GO MY BEAUTIFUL OCEANS. MOLD EVERY WORLD TO YOUR HEARTS."

Edited 2021-08-07 05:27 (UTC)

I didn't. It was one of the... Non-Trekkers, I guess? Pulled from another world. They kept trying to talk to him, only fighting in defense.

I'm glad it worked out, for their sake. And for ours.

Oh, I see why you didn't sound entirely certain about calling it a blessing, now. "Beautiful oceans," hm? Not the comparison I would have drawn, but to each their own.

At least it definitely didn't part as our foe, if it thinks that fondly of us.

I guess that entity really did mean it as a blessing. I thought it was rather poetic, comparing us to oceans. But I think it was including its own values in the blessing, since it spoke of an ocean changing all in its path and then vanishing. These days, I'd rather not change anything that doesn't have to be changed to help others survive. I wouldn't do it just for my own satisfaction. But maybe that entity would.

What would you say to it, if we ever encounter it again?

When you put it like that, its understandable that they blamed us - lashing out in their grief, a misunderstanding taking root and festering in the wake of all that loss... Never mind that trauma doesn't necessarily discriminate between something that's actually a threat and something that merely looks like one. ...But now I'm straying away from the point.

[ He shrugs and shakes his head, before he sighs. ]

Do you think - and I realize you're no more likely to know than I do - that Diagad was destroyed because it was so new to Void travel? Or perhaps something else?

It's mostly just idle musing... But if there is a pattern in what worlds are being destroyed, I would like to know of it.

I don't know. The shapes from the sky, are they attracted to new connection points, do they travel at whim, are they a guided consuming hunger? Are they even linked to the Void Ministry?

( He lifts up his hands, shrugging, showing empty palms again. )

I don't know. Anything I say will be supposition, but that we're running into the evidence and presence of whatever is devouring systems. Which... I lack context for, and I think that question's better for the people here who know more. Figuring out basics the last few months has been preoccupying enough.

I can't say much about the Rainbow guy, but the stuff that took out Diagad? Those shapes? For the newer people - [ and heck, even people who've been around as long as himself, even ] --those've come up before. They're the same as what took out the train's world, and one of the past missions.

People landed for a mission, those shape things showed in the sky, and then the train evac'd everyone back inside and got out of there, high speeds.

But, I think there's one thing different about that world and the train and Jinnjar's worlds. [ He taps the wall next to the screen, the sound coming through a few clicks. ] --It wasn't void active. It was some old-time world. No tech.

I'll say! At first, I was ready to give him the thrashing of a lifetime! Who knows how badly it could have gone if I didn't calm down?

I suppose that's the bonus of working in groups, isn't it? Multiple ideas, multiple solutions... people to catch us when we're not giving a problem the care it deserves.

What would I say to it? I think first of all I would ask if there's any reason it went with the ocean metaphor - mostly just because I'm nosy.

...But really, if it could be an ally to us in the future, then I'd like to get to know it a little better. If I'm honest, I regret not being there to see its change of heart, when you all talked it around. I'd like the chance to see it for myself.

[ Jade's smile is tired, but understanding. ]

Fair enough.

And agreed. Even having been here the two months I have, I still feel like there's so much I don't know... But I'm getting the sense that, at this point, all the things I have questions about are the same things everyone else has questions about.

The train's world... You know, I don't think I was aware the train had even lost its world. But in hindsight, I feel like that should have been obvious.

Either way, I appreciate knowing that this isn't a new phenomenon. And knowing that it has nothing to do with a world being void active is important... even if it doesn't exactly give us any leads or bring us any closer to understanding it.

[ He could stop there. He has every reason to. But he can't help himself from stating the obvious--it's the same damn number, after all. ]

So that makes three worlds lost that we know about, and probably several more that we don't.

Yeah... it reminded me of back home. It was my family that kept me grounded and prevented me from doing the super dumb stuff.

There's one more world - I don't remember the details too well, but we've got a recording. A woman, Halo; we met her on one of the missions. Or, a couple of us did, [ he amends. ]

She was out in her craft, when I think...something happened? Don't remember if something did, but next thing she knew, no one recognised her. Her planet didn't exist, no one'd heard of it, nothing.

She thought she ended up in another... [ He waves his hands a bit, like a box shaped. ] Another time, kind of thing? Like how there's different versions of people, like that.

Mm, or those who know have too much else on minds to say if this or that is particularly relevant. How about—I learn anything of note, I'll let you know, ah?

( He doesn't mind networking, no matter who has been here for how long. )

[ Curufin chuckles. ] You may be nosy, but so am I. I'd love to know why the entity used the ocean metaphor.

Really, I think that's a good idea -- getting to know the entity better. I'd like to have it as a ally in the future, especially if we ever again encounter those shadow-beings who ate the entity's world and one of our mission worlds. And yes, it's too bad you weren't there to be a part of that effort to talk it around. I think you'd have been very effective. But maybe you'll have that chance to see for yourself who the entity is and how it thinks.

Edited 2021-08-12 22:15 (UTC)

I was anchoring too, but before that, midway through the mission, I was in a group with Elidibus, Roland Crane, and Wei Wuxian to try and talk to the entity. I'm not sure how to explain what happened, but during the encounter we asked to see what happened to Diagad, and...

[Here she pauses, taking a moment to get her thoughts together on what happened.]

...They showed us. We were put into the roles of some people putting on a stage play outdoors, everything was normal, there was no warning. Then the things in the sky showed up and darkened the sky, everyone panicked, and everything went black.

Then...I think we were shown what the entity went through after that? There were void colours everywhere, voices, it felt like I was being torn apart by the whole experience and that the void was a sort of prison, and there was the feeling of anger at the worlds that continue to exist while Diagad didn't.

[In other words, she's been through a lot on that mission.]

That would be appreciated. I'll be sure to do the same for you.

[ Jade laughs. ] Well that's what family's good for, isn't it? I say, as if I'm not usually the one doing the grounding.

[ This is mostly true, but don't let him fool you. He isn't completely immune from needing someone to keep him from going stupid.

Parallel universe? [ Jade suggests, though it's really one of several names for the same thing. ] Either way, I know what you mean.

...that is worrying, though, if the result of her world getting destroyed was that it simply ceased to exist in memory as well as everything else. [ He sounds troubled; even he's only so good at masking. ] I wonder if the same is true of Diagad? We only know about it from someone who survived its destruction, after all.

You can get a book on Diagad... I don't know what that means though. [ That is- ] I think Captain Halo's planet was something like... Enara?

[ Hrmm. ] There's a write-up about meeting her in the library somewhere. I'm foggy on the details though; I never read it. We had a meeting about a bunch of stuff, including her.

[ There was something confusing going on around in the void, that much Tidus could keep track of, a slope to the frown where his mouth twists in thought. ]

In that case, I'm extra glad you're aboard with us.

Someone has to be the voice of reason around here!

Hmm.

[ It takes him a moment to speek, which is unusual for him. Some puzzles are not easily solved, though, and this one... ]

I'll have to check the library, later. Even if we're apparently no closer to solving this mess, every clue is important.

You know, the more I learn, the less I like about this world-destroying nonsense.

[ It sounds like a horrible way to die, and Jade thought he was already familiar with most of the worst ways someone could die. Apparently not.

He hates the idea of staying here any longer than he has to, but he hates the idea of something like that happening to his home even more. ]

Now if only we could figure out how to stop it.

Good luck. [ And he means it! ] Maybe some of you will get an idea, or figure something out.

It'd be good to know something around here.

[ And that should be that, but ah- Tidus's brows raise, a thought recalled. ]

Oh yeah, and... if you wanna try asking the train, through the feedback - about the world-eating stuff, or its crew? It... kinda reacts. Someone else got it to say something -- 'Find them', I think. But expect a lot of the same message. The standard one, [ he clarifies, waving a hand.

'Thank you for your feedback!', or whatever. ]

But it might be worth a shot if more people tried talking to it.

[ Who knows? That was always the issue - no one ever did. ]

I’m not sure how. Based on what I know, when those things show up it happens quick, within moments and we don’t know where they go when they’re not destroying worlds.

[That’s not to say it’s impossible. There probably is a way, it’s just that there isn’t enough info on what they’re up against at the moment.]

We need more info on what those things are and how they can be stopped, unfortunately. I wish we could do something soon, but…

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Merriment 15 ; Video

video

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject