cultmirror | 2 Dead Gary's

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2 Dead Gary's - Pre-Event

[The waves of Ash's emotion bubble, roil, and crash across the murmur in a more frantic and disjointed feeling than the last time. When she speaks up she sounds dazed and tired, but she tries to force that down as much as she can.]

Yeh. s'ti hu Hsa

[Okay. That came out backwards. Cool and normal. Don't mind her. She gives her head a shake.]

So about those subway tunnels. Ozpin and I went down to investigate- And I think we can safely say Don't go down there. They're infested with hosts- Not safe.

We managed to get out of there- I might have gotten a little beat up, but we got out.

[She might be dealing with the after effects of that now.]

But since we got out I’ve been seeing flashes and memories from when… I guess when all this happened- I saw flashes of so many different people, and they were all so scared- Then they looked up at the moon, and they started to change.

I don’t know if some of this is on the murmur- One of the messages I heard was the same as the one Jayce found - It kept repeating I am the teeth of god, I ma eht theeet fo dog…

[And the wave of her emotions suddenly rile up again. They buzz like that for a moment, and there's a sensation like they're being soothed, or even muffled.

After a moment a different voice cuts in: Ozpin. He sounds weary, slightly strained, but his words come through steady and clear. ]

... As Ash said, the unground areas are extremely dangerous. The hosts in the subway stations awoke before we traveled more than a few meters from the stairs. They were single-minded in their pursuit of us, and there was no clear limit to their numbers.

I can't recommend that anyone else venture into the subway. But for whoever inevitably chooses to explore them regardless, know that the hosts did stop pursuing us after we retreated back up the stairs.

[OOC: The vision Ash saw can be found if people go searching through the murmur.here. Note ooc chatter about elements of succumbence and hosts if they go looking for it.]

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"Grimm" are what you fight, then.

What are they?

Monsters.

[ His tone is blunt and to the point, bordering on flat. He pauses for a moment to share a few distinct images: a bear, a sabertooth tiger, and a manticore, all of them with ink-black fur, blood-red eyes, and bone-white masks, armor, and spikes.

He keeps that trio of images pretty clear, but there's flickers of alternative examples as well, all of which give an impression of white-on-black with red eyes in many different forms; some of those forms are decidedly humanoid. ]

They're drawn to negative emotions, and their only instinct is to destroy. Since they're both drawn to fear and easily inspire it, a Grimm attack can easily cause a feedback loop that draws in more Grimm.

Huntsmen and Huntresses are trained to both seek out and destroy Grimm before they become a problem, and to protect civilians once they do.

Drawn to negative emotions... [ Hm. ] Not created by them, though?

[ The entire arrangement has enough in common with curses and sorcerers that he can't help but ask. ]

...the curses we fight are born from negative emotions. It's one of the reasons we keep the existence of curses and sorcerers secret from human society at large. [ Because boy, he knows exactly what Ozpin's talking about with feedback loops. If people knew what was lurking just beyond their ability to sense... ]

Not created by them, no.

[ Where they come from is a subject for another conversation, however. ]

Grimm are too widespread to be easily kept a secret, and some of them can be massive. Otherwise, I'm certain secrecy would be attempted.

However, there are certain types of Grimm that are much more dangerous than others. Often, information about them is held only by professional Huntsmen in order to prevent civilians from panicking.

[ Too widespread. Ha. If he ever sees home again, they're probably about to burn that bridge; there's no way the extent of the destruction in Shibuya can be written off with the usual cover stories. ]

How well is that working out for you?

[ There's actually a substantial gap before Ozpin responds, since he has to have an a conversation with Ash first. When he does finally respond, he simply sounds tired. ]

Well, the world has continued turning up until now, but secrecy has gone out of style in that regard as of late.

I said that Grimm weren't created by negative emotions, but that doesn't mean they reproduce through natural means. The most commonly held belief is that one of the two gods that created Remnant created the Grimm; that may be true, but it was recently discovered that a woman named Salem has been responsible for creating and directing them for the past several thousand years.

....

Why?

[ It's not unlike the reaction all of them had, to Gojo's news that special grade curses able to communicate and coordinate were starting to surface back home. Grimm don't exactly sound like the kind of force one wants for organized conquest, so a lot of the easy guesses don't apply. ]

[ 'Why?' is an incredibly simple question, but it's one that Ozpin hasn't found an answer to for thousands of years. ]

I'm afraid she's never bothered to explain why.

But... we know that she's immortal, and that this is a state of existence she doesn't care for. I believe that she's trying to end her own life by ending the world as a whole.

...I see.

[ Megumi is hardly in a position to judge anyone else's self-destructive urges. ]

[ Yeah, 'I see' is about the only response there is to that sort of news. ]

... Regardless, I've yet to see any Grimm, or even anything that might be a Grimm, since arriving here. I'm more concerned that the Hosts here might have a similar sort of leader guiding them.

They seem like they're mostly acting on instinct, not direction.

...but that used to be how curses acted back home and then someone started coordinating them, so who knows.

[It's one of those flickers that catches Ash's attention. It's subtle but with their newly formed tether she's catching some vibes of bubbling sass that he's keeping on the inside. She steps over and gives him a little tap on the shoulder.

She let's her magic flow a little more freely turning her eyes black like they would she reached into the powers she didn't have anymore.]

Hey...

I don't want to want to pry or anything. I was just trying to finish reading a book over there.

But you got some vibes rolling off you, buddy.

Feels like someone just cut down the Last Truffala tree over here. There's some real weird UST between you and the hot goth mommy you keep trying to not think about.

[She's been reading the Lorax.]

[ Ozpin is not expecting to be interrupted. He doesn't jump or jerk in surprise, but when he turns and pushes up his veil (which comes in the form of a blindfold) he's blinking and his expression is one of polite confusion. Ash informs him of his vibes and Ozpin immediately clamps down on the Tether between them—or tries to, at least. It's not as easy as pulling back from the Murmur, but he manages to dampen things a little.

Then Ash continues and it all goes out the window. Ozpin's expression morphs into something that could best be described as baffled, affronted, and horrified. That's most of what's surging through the Tether as well, though it's accompanied by a strong undercurrent of mortification. He just stares at Ash for a moment, outwardly still but inwardly flailing.

Finally, he lifts a hand to scrub it over his face, dislodging his glasses and pushing his blindfold further up into his hair. Well. It was only a matter of time before he had to explain this to someone. If he'd taken the time to really think about it, he probably could have realized it would be Ash. She already saw the the dog plushie, after all. Ozpin heaves a sigh, then replaces his glasses on his nose and looks up to meet Ash's gaze again. ]

Do you remember the conversation we had when we first met in the dream?

[ His expression has melted back into slightly-chagrined neutrality, but emotionally he's more exhausted than anything. ]

[It's kind of wild to see the sheer change in Ozpin's demeanor both physically, and emotionally through the tether. She had been making a pretty large effort to hold herself back, but seeing how much this has made someone who she generally considered unflappable... well flap, she was suddenly a lot more concerned about managing to keep her own secrets.

She lets him run though it until he's actually ready to talk, propping herself up on a bookshelf on a shorter bookshelf when he does.

She feels the exhaustion, and she's not sure if it helps but she lets a little of her own leak through the tether. She's not sure if mutual feelings will help him out, but it's an attempt.

She takes a moment to think on the question.]

...Yeah. About your daughter?

Wait.

Was she the one who killed her? Because you said it wasn't you.

Or- Wait. Did I get the whole mommy thing, right?

Because damn dude. You got game.

[ The thread of exhaustion that Ash lets creep through the Tether isn't exactly appreciated, but it is grounding. It's a reminder that neither of them are in an ideal situation right now, and Ash is not intentionally trying to nettle him. It lets him grab hold of that affronted reaction before it has a chance to mutate into genuine annoyance.

Which is a good thing, because Ash guesses that Salem is the one responsible for his daughter's death, and then guesses that she's the mother of said daughter, and then informs Ozpin that he has 'game'. Somehow, the only real emotional reaction had has to this initially is baffled despair. Why was she able to guess so easily, and why did she word it like that?

But the bafflement and despair are quick to fade away. He doesn't think about his first four children or his marriage to Salem often. Those memory are universally tainted with grief and bitterness, and both of those emotions are bubbling up inside him now—both of them tinged with guilt. He's realized that this isn't a situation where he can tell a half truth and except to get away with it.

And sure, he'd apologized to Ruby and her friends with the implicit promise to be more honest with them going forward. But being honest about the threats and stakes in a situation isn't quite the same as being honest about his long-ended romantic engagements with an immortal witch trying to destroy the world. ]

Her name is Salem, and you're correct: she's the mother of my daughter, as well as all three of her sisters. And...

[ The guilt and grief surge here for a moment. Then Ozpin draws in a deep breath and the emotions settle. ]

... It wouldn't be accurate to say that she murdered them. But she is responsible for their death.

[For all of Ash's jokes about brutal beatings, and terrible murders she did actually have a lot of experience when it came to family betrayals. They were guesses for the most part, but they were based on bits of feelings that she could relate to. She didn't exactly like admitting these feelings, that she could definitely relate to.

And that's the sort of emotion she lets slip through the tether at the moment. Things that match or go hand in hand.

She had her fair share of secrets that she wanted to keep herself, but that didn't mean she was looking for a one sided engagement here.]

Yeesh. That's rough, dude. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Hehehe. Butts.

[Look. She couldn't help herself. But there is a moment where she passes on some of her own grief.]

That would do it for sure.

My mom tried to sacrifice me, and my sister to Werthrent. It didn't stick for me. But my sister, Harp, she wasn't so lucky.

[ Ozpin is not someone that tends to laugh off his own grief, nor the type of person to appreciate it when someone else does the same. The losses are always just a little too recent, the sting of betrayal always just a little too fresh, and each new loss and betrayal drags forward memories of ones long past.

But Ash let's that little trickle of he own experiences with betrayal slip through the Tether, that admission that she's experienced her own sort of loss. So when she giggles about butts, Ozpin lets out his own exhausted huff of laughter in return. It's not actually funny, but Ash is trying. He can be grateful for that much.

Her follow-up admission just seals the deal for him. It doesn't come as a surprise—Ash isn't the only one that can make reasonably accurate guesses based on her own experiences—but it is sobering and the amusement is quick to fade from his expression. She might appreciate it if he also makes a joke, but... that's not really him. ]

I'm sorry that happened to you. Parents should try to prepare their children for future hardships, not add to those hardships themselves.

[ That's not something Ozpin is always very good at, but he does try. ]

[She's only known Ozpin for a little, but in that time she's learned that he isn't really the type of person to crack jokes. It wasn't going to stop her from doing it, it was partially how she coped with the loss. She wasn't going to get into the other ways she did it just yet.

Either she is a little surprised that he did give what laugh he did bring to the table. And he'd get a point of respect for it. She isn't surprised when it fades and he gets all serious again, the least she can do is that match this time around.]

They should- But not everyone is perfect, and some people make serious mistakes on purpose.

I just- Wanted you to know that you aren't the only one going through it, you know?

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2 Dead Gary's - Pre-Event

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cw: suicidal ideation mention

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