01 - Week 4 (November)

[hongtian]

[ The Murmur flares to life with the sensation of flint and steel, sparks catching on dry tinder that leaps rather than eases its way into existence. Ruhong does not hesitate: there is a point to this, and she does not much like riding the waves of a connection that she does not control. ]

I have news of One, and an important warning to go along with it.

What has happened this month cannot be allowed to repeat itself—not in any form. Not just for our own lives or for the world here, but for the very places we call our homes.

Our gracious host may choose to listen, or She may not, but I will be waiting to speak of it near the fountain terrace in the park should you wish to know more. The crucial thing is this: She cannot be allowed to have him. And we must find the other numbers before it is too late.

[ She will respond to questions, but she will also be waiting as promised at the location she mentioned in Central Park. Her presence reduces to the low embers of a dying fire, but it does not fade. ]

Comments

[sorte]

[ ... wait their homes?

Their tether bristles between them like the hair on a spooked cat at this even as he speaks directly through the murmur rather than only through their connection. ]

Oh, lovely. Just what I always wanted to do with my life: get dragged against my will into a garbage dump, or what's left of one, and then also need be required to baby-leash a grown ass man to keep him safe from himself as much as the predatory woman he's being pursued by.

Again? She sure likes playing with her food if she doesn't already have him. But all right, I'll be there.

[dethangel]

[Toki has, of course, been committed to protecting One basically since he helped him out with getting a guitar early on in his time here. He considers him to be one of his friends, after all. That's important. So of course he's going to show up.]

I'm coming, [he says, determination in his voice.

He's there about as soon as he can, which is faster than he used to get places now that he's mostly got the hang of his wings. He moves close, looking around nervously.]

Hello?

[hongtian]

I am certain we've all dreamed of this moment our whole lives.

[ There is a dryness to her humor that makes it almost humorless, but the humor is there. Barely. ]

Few dark entities ever set their sights on conquering just one world alone. It was a near miss this time, I think. But what Espera shared may make both his actions and Hers somewhat clearer.

[hongtian]

[ Ruhong is waiting precisely where she promised she'd be, half-sitting against the fountain at Bethesda Terrace where she stares into the middle distance. Ruhong is not the most patient of people, for all she's practiced sitting still her whole life; she nearly vibrates with energy, the air around her shimmering with heat.

Though they haven't spoken in some time, she recognizes Toki's voice and the body that comes with it. Ruhong blinks, refocusing her eyes on the present, and stands up straight to greet him. He looks nervous; she instantly begins checking to see if there is something behind him. ]

You're here. Has something frightened you?

[markingnight]

[ Truth be told, when it came to team meetings, Ironeye much preferred aura farming in a shadowy corner. But when someone was offering up such dire warnings practically on his front doorstep, would he not be remiss in failing to appear? ]

Miss Ruhong[ , he said, giving her a quick dip of his head in greeting. ] Your tidings sounded dire.

[hongtian]

Sir Ironeye. [ She returns the greeting with the addition of a simple salute, fist to palm. ] Perhaps more illuminating than dire, I hope, though dire would not be wholly inappropriate.

I'll get right to it. Last we spoke, we spoke of Espera and her nature. I have now spoken with her of the same thing.

It seems understanding her comes with understanding quite a lot.

[dethangel]

[Toki offers a friendly wave, his nervousness ebbing a bit when he realizes everything seems perfectly fine. It's nice to see Ruhong again, at least.]

Not... really. I'm just kind of worried about stuff?

[A lot of stuff. He's been having quite the time this month.]

Have... have you seen One? Is he okay?

[markingnight]

[ Hmm. The gesture called to mind the spurrings of the Fire Monks. Unusually formal amongst the others here. ]

She does seem intimately connected with One and his companions. If there is another of us 'siblings' who can track Two or Three, I do not know of it.

What had she to say, then?

[hongtian]

[ Well, she can't blame him for that. There is plenty of reason to be worried. She doesn't quite relax but does at least sink back into her partial sitting position on the fountain's edge. ]

I've not seen him. I'm sorry. [ She does mean this genuinely. ] I've just learned the reason Sleep is so very interested in him.

What do you already know of One?

[opheliac]

Woah, scary stuff. This sounds like a job for a hero.

[hongtian]

[ She shakes her head. ]

She called herself Nymphai: a companion, a guide. According to Espera, she and the others slumbered beneath the earth until they were awakened by a mortal who came into contact with the Seeds of the Mother Moon and ascended to something more. She called this Lunar Exaltation.

[ Ruhong waits before she continues, watching Ironeye for his reaction. He might draw the connection sooner than she did herself. ]

[dethangel]

Well... he's my friend. I made him some stuff, but I haven't heard from him yet. I know he's got to be alive, though. Because... I believe it.

[That doesn't exactly help as information to know, though, so he keeps going.]

He's been here a while, and he had friends... And he's got... weird blood. Powerful blood? Or something. And Sleep likes to keep him where she wants in the dreams.

[markingnight]

[ This more or less made sense to Ironeye, for whom it was not unheard of for a mortal creature to become a god. They had to come from somewhere, after all, especially when one was needed to enact the will of some greater power. ]

Do you speak of One? This mortal who ascended.

[ Everything seemed to revolve around him, after all. The man who'd sacrificed himself to Sleep. ]

[hongtian]

And it's heroics you wish to achieve, then?

[hongtian]

[ This tugs at something in her chest, the same feeling of sorrow Ruhong had experienced watching Jaskier weep for One outside the cathedral. Once again she sees the fallacy in her own refusal to speak with One prior, and she doesn't like that feeling. ]

Yes. Powerful blood indeed.

Once a mortal, now ascended. For this Sleep wants his body, his mind—would have his godhood at Her fingertips for her to use as She wishes. That is why she wants to keep him bound to Herself and to Her whims.

[hongtian]

[ As expected. Ruhong nods in confirmation. ]

I do. He ascended, a mortal who had never known such divinity, and Sleep sees a tool. She is already powerful, but if She can take control of him, that will multiply.

We already knew we needed to find Two, Three, and Four. It sounds as though they are his guides who may yet have the power to protect him and return him to himself. But at least the reason for Sleep's fixation with him is somewhat clearer.

[dethangel]

Oh, wowee.

[He'd figured One was just something like them, something more powerful than human, but not like... an entire god. That explains a lot.

Toki has his own experience dealing with god-like beings trying to use him for their own purposes, and he makes a face at the idea of what Sleep could do.]

I really fuckin' hate Sleep. So what do we do?

[He's always got a bit of rage towards her simmering under the surface, and he tries not to let it consume him.]

[hallowedly]

( A gentleman and a bad idea walk into a terrace-side fountain, under the long spears of shadow shot by winter's anemic foliage. He has the decency to wear the long streak of last month's paling cuts and bruises, like something a cat on psychedelic drug's beaten against the walls, while dragging in.

In short, a costly presidential wave. These shoulder bones aren't grateful. )

I suppose it's ungentlemanly to say I'll show you mine, if you show me yours. But start anyway.

[hongtian]

[ Ruhong, on the other hand, quite often allows rage to consume her—almost enjoys it. She has rarely lacked in fury, and that is evident enough when she speaks. ]

You are not alone in your hatred. Not by any means.

First, I think, any who would oppose Her, or who cares for One, or who finds themselves on the edge of a decision of what they ought to do here should know the importance of it. As powerful as She is, claiming his godhood would render her nearly unstoppable.

Second, Espera made it very clear how crucial it is to find the other numbers. They were birthed as his guardians, meant to guide him through what she called Lunar Exaltation. We already knew to find them, I think, but she said they are the key. Perhaps finding them will do more than simply save him.

And third—my people have long fought the war against darkness and nightmares. Where we can fight, we fight. And where cannot, we ensure that light is shed to keep Her away.

[dethangel]

Yeah... we need to get his friends back.

[Guardians or no guardians, he saw those memories that people saw when they sent them into the Murmur. His friends, his band. Toki knows what it's like to need your band back.]

I'm gonna help, [he says with a determined nod.] I'm gonna do what I can. Anything we have to do... just tell me. I'll be there.

[Not just for the sake of this world, or his own, or whatever. Not just to hurt Sleep. Because One is his friend, and he cares. He cares so goddamn much.]

I promise.

[hongtian]

[ She has forgotten neither their meeting in the cathedral nor her uncontrollable and unseemly emotions of the time, but Ruhong is rather good at pretending, usually, that there is nothing of note to remember of her own actions. Instead, she focuses on the now: on his fading injuries, the labored wave. An urge to rehabilitate both his body and her own self-image.

She frowns at him as her greeting. ]

Are you in need of healing, before I do?

[hongtian]

[ Ruhong hesitates for just a moment before she offers a gesture she rarely offers: a clasp of Toki's shoulder, should he allow her. It lasts only for a second, but for the second that it does, she grips him with a sincerity that she does not often show. ]

You were privy to Three's hints, were you not?

[dethangel]

[Of course he allows her, and he offers her another determined nod.]

Sort of, yeah. He said... I had to say his name, but he disappeared. So... I tried saying his name to some other birds with three eyes but I think they were just... regular birds who got messed up.

[Luckily, he wasn't the only one who ran into Three.]

I saw the stuff people put about him in the Murmur too.

[sculptedash]

[Oh. Doesn't this sound familiar]

Hey hey hey.

Tell them to knock it off.

I already doomed the multiverse before I got here.

It doesn't need to get more doomed.

[hallowedly]

( There's a look a man gives, when incredulity, diet-charm and sheer revulsion at an intervention on your person generally, and your magical pathways particularly, all combine.

It can be summed in one (left) eyebrow's desperate fugitive trek, northbound. Keep going, little brow caterpillar. You'll make it yet. )

No. ( But he will do them both the kindness of starting himself a cigarette. ) Moving on?