IC INBOX ( KENOS ).

[redsoil]

█ To Commune with Set is to stand barefoot in an endless, scorching desert. The sun illuminates all, scalding the shadows themselves out from underneath whomever enters his dominion; the arch of gentle, distant, waves of sand mask the precarious chasms, towering dunes akin to mountains. The sense of vastness, timelessness, is of particular notice, lending itself to the alien, eldritch quality of his mind. There is a dark storm in the distance, and you know intimately that this divine being is far from benign. You cannot bargain with a force of nature. You can only survive it. COMPATIBLE WITH: Exalt, Iconoclast REPELLED BY: Advocate

♠

Comments

new year's delivery

[warmare]

[On the first day of the new year by the Kenosian calendar, Hayame seeks out the god of war. She has a delivery to make for the sorceress in that home, as well, so... she brings both. There is a certain formality to her visit at first, not just the fact she has come dressed in her one formal dress (which he may recognize from a certain masquerade), the shorn short remains of her hair styled as best they could. There is ritual to the greetings she is attempting to recreate in this world- the ones she had grown up emulating and learning so that one day she might perform them. A low bow, gratitude expressed for the care in which she has been held the past year...

But eventually she softens from the rigid (though sincere) motions, in order to present what she has brought. Somewhat embarrassed, inexperienced in being in any sort of position to give actual gifts to people, she manages to explain that in her world it is customary to present new clothing on the occasion of the new year, so...

She has brought this- a sheer, red-tinged black haori that resembles the fashions she is used to from her own world. Close enough, anyway. Set had been a difficult man to procure clothing for considering he... wore so little of it, but she thinks this much might still be to his liking. It is not restrictive, and it is light and flowing. As she puts it in his hands...

She manages to say that she hopes he likes it. That it would honor her if he were to wear it. And that they will be in each other's care for the next year as well.]

communion

[wolfish]

[ Yuri is always a little furtive when reaching out via Communion, borne of a given caution and a need to feel his mind is his own... To whatever degree this world allows. This leads to a quiet sense of presence before greeting, like a guest hesitating before knocking on one's door.

But it is necessary, in this case, for Yuri does reach out with purpose. It's what pushes him to at last break that anticipatory silence. ]

When you've the time to spare, could I pick your brain about something? Liem said you'd be the man to ask.

[ Man. Deity. Either way. ]

[redsoil]

[ Set's presence in Communion is sprawling, carelessly strewn about as though he hasn't anything to hide; as if everything he is is there, in the form of dry sand and suffocating power. When someone comes for him, he seems to never deliberate, throwing his doors open wide and inviting someone in —

everything he is, is a act to convince others of something. A mask to wear. Even greeting Yuri, he's still in that mask and has been since their meeting in the Church. ]

Liem would be correct.

[ A little pride slips into his tone, both to be recommended by Liem as well as to hear that someone has finally acknowledged his utility! ]

I know a great many things, you only need to ask the questions. How might I enlighten you?

[wolfish]

[ It's a peculiar thing, to feel like some small shadow in the presence of something vast. Is it owed to what Set is, a deity of some distant world? Or perhaps it's ego. He's hardly the sort to know exactly what he ought to call it, but as he's here on business, he easily shelves the thought. ]

In particular, I'd like to know whether you've heard anything about a gang in Kowloon that's fallen on hard times. Liem called them the Jade Crows.

[ There's something akin to curiosity there, of the decidedly professional sort. Yuri knows gangs well enough, familiarity accompanies the word itself, but he says nothing of why. The attachment is effectively held back.

By now, Yuri suspects Set prefers it that way, a little puzzle to toy with at his leisure. ]

If not, perhaps you'd direct me to someone familiar with them.

kenotebook, late december

[bakedapple]

[ Communing with Set is like being dropped in the middle of the Gerudo Desert on the hottest day of the year with no equipment and no supplies — and then having to argue with a cactus while a whole herd of sand seals honk and wheeze in both your ears. Thankfully, Link doesn't have to engage in any of that to pass along a special omen of bad luck prior to enjoying a date with Shez jumping off cliffs. ]



you've been spotted by the $ MONEY GOO$E $

send the $ MONEY GOO$E $ to 3 other people or you get scorched with fire (not money)

[redsoil]

[redsoil]

[ he's going to forward this to some folks just to uh,

not fuck around with Omens and Bad Luck

'cause shit like that is Real for egyptian gods ( yikes ) ]

re: the factory and such;

[kaientai]

[ ryouma isn't surprised to discover that Communion with set is not like he's experienced with others who are not gods. he's had contact with other vague eldritch entities in the past, so this is just par for the course. the arrival of his own presence is heralded by a gust of wind that smells of the sea, even in this arid desert.

he can't help but manifest a form in this place, standing upon the sand and feeling the heat. ryouma has a strangely draconic quality about him, but it feels hazy and out of focus; two Shards make this weird. ]

Set?

[ it feels silly to ask when you reach out to someone else's soul and seem unsure that you've got the right guy, but there is a part of ryouma that remains awkward after their previous encounter ended up filling a slot on their respective bingo cards. ]

Ah—... Yuri passed along a bit of information to me, and I intend to look into it, but he also said it had come from you so I wanted to ask you directly.

[ he likes to have an idea of what he's getting into. ]

The strange factory in Springstar? What can you tell me about it? I'm already trying to play catch-up with Zenith in Kowloon; I want to get ahead of this one while we have the chance.

enjoy ur info dump, ryouma

[redsoil]

[ nothing makes him happier, than in this very moment — when someone ( an ally, even ) comes to him for information. ]

Hello Ryouma, [ yeah they smooched, it's fine..............

In a flow of sand and storm, he manifests from endless desert to human-in-shape, stepping forth to greet the shipwright, the curious soul with the scent of something old and powerful within him. But, not quite him. ]

Even though it is reactionary, I am pleased to see the matter of Kowloon being given its due. The factory itself is located in Springstar. If you look to the industrial district, you will see it easily: it is the building that is taller than all the rest. During the Iconoclast Oracle, we were locked in a time where Kenos had met an end to the Blight, and the warehouse was unprotected. Myself, alongside prominent Zenites Silco and Sebastian Michaelis, investigated it.

Inside of the warehouse, there is a grand machine. Massive, Ryouma. A labyrinth of pipes and valves connect the machine to the world below — and all of them join into one enormous, massive glass tube that sinks beneath the ground. Into the Below, perhaps somewhere in Kowloon. Sebastian's nose discerned that the machine smelled of burning flesh and "something else" he could not recognize. Furthermore, within the foreman's office — documents revealed fragments of a correspondence between the Church of Helios and someone who's name could not be read, due to magical interference.

We have had that issue before, with unreadable names. The world we were in was not a true one, but one we were able to prevent from occuring by correcting the Blight. The documents did mention "recycling material", though. Whatever powers Springstar, it begins in the Below. Silco and Sebastian have, to my knowledge, not mentioned this to Zenith. But, as you now see the situation in Kowloon... you know why we need to retain control of that factory and what powers it. No matter what it is.

thank u set he's very pleased

[kaientai]

[ he smiles when set assumes a human shape because now he has something to smile at. ryouma can't help but have a sense of set's power and vastness in this place, but he's also a simple man and prefers a face over talking at the landscape. ]

Well, we're doing our best with what we have. We're lucky the folks in Kowloon really don't care too much about what's going on on the surface, so we'll just have to prove that we're better for business than Zenith.

[ he sounds confident even though he is under no illusion about the difficulty of the work he's taking on. he's never been deterred from doing anything just because it was hard. it also seems that ryouma is doomed to find himself in opposition to silco and sebastian no matter where he turns. he's sure that with those two gaining favour in Kowloon, it's only a matter of time before they go looking to uncover those secrets. ]

As for this factory business, it sure sounds like a challenge...

[ and once again: not a dealbreaker. ]

Still, if this thing goes down into the Below and potentially Kowloon, someone down there knows about it. I would guess they don't bother guarding it nearly as well down there because the location serves as its own protection.

Maybe we can find a way in that way? Or, a way to discover what it's all for, in any case. If you have any connections that might know somebody like that, send them my way. Otherwise, that information will probably cost us, but it's a worthy investment.

[ he knows money isn't the only currency that works in the Below, so he's hoping the price won't be too steep if he has to go that route. ]

two days before Cyrus' assassination

[bakedapple]

[ Something suddenly presses against your mind. It is not someone reaching out to you with Communion, but not entirely unlike it either — perhaps more akin to the wake of a large ship tossing smaller boats around as it turns into larger and larger waves. After a few seconds, it starts to sting and burn, unpleasant but possibly familiar. Have you died before, whether at home or as a Shard-Bearer? Then you might recognize this feeling: the panicked terror of being cornered, of looking certain death in the eyes and knowing you have nowhere left to run. A horrible, piercing pain, like being stabbed, and the realization of failure.

And something more than that, too. A hand that is not yours touches the side of your chest to clutch at a small pouch that isn't there, with determined desperation and a deep sadness. The image of a young woman flashes through your mind, but this is not an imprint of whatever this unlucky person is facing down in this moment — this is who he's thinking of, who he's clutching at, as he dies. Big green eyes, hair the color of dandelions, and a warm trusting smile.

...and then, it's gone. The echo fades almost as quickly as it reached you, and your mind is still again, back to whatever baseline it was at before this imprint pressed in. ]

[muchalucha]

[ She’d had a thought. So, before it’s too late and she truly can’t—

Set’s brash villainy is interrupted by the familiar connection of the other god, but there’s a sharp urgency to how she reaches out to him. There’s a sense that she would have absolutely bowled through any attempt to block her out, though she doesn’t imagine that he’d do so. It’s just important that this message gets through, brief as it may be.

She may have been weakened by her Noble Phantasm when they parted ways, but her strength in Communion is no less radiant. She pushes every piece of it towards Set. He is enveloped by the light, embraced by the sun but spared its burns, and strong arms hold him tight in a protective, loving embrace. It’s a push of things all at once that would dizzy a human brain for the strength of divinity behind it, but she just wants Set to know her sincerity with the certainty that comes from something akin to a divine proclamation. ]

Don’t hate mortals because they’re short-sighted. Guide them and love them. Forgive them.

You never deserved your destiny. Don’t kill the kind parts of you to fit into it.

You're my dear brother. I love you, Set.

[ But after that, the Communion cuts abruptly, leaving only the lingering, fading feeling of her warmth. ]

[redsoil]

[ — in the dying embers of her existence, Set reaches for her warmth. In his mind, he thinks: please, let me hold onto some part of her, as grief and horror begin to rise within him. She'll be gone. She'll be forgotten. She'll never exist again, now. One of his worst nightmares has come to pass, it is real and possible. Death of the deathless, an end to the eternal. He'd hoped ( asked, in his own way ) for Silco to think otherwise, to escape the fate he was so determined to shoulder with no thought for an alternative.

She's fading so fast, there's no hope for her to hear him. There's nothing but the cooling memory of her, and he tries so hard to snag her light and shove it into his mouth, to hold it against his Shard as if somehow, some way, he can capture part of her and save her. ( She won't return to the cosmic sea, he feels. This is a complete termination, an erasure of a cycle, and it is unforgivable. Bitterness and rage spark within him, as he scoops up the fragile Shard he'd taken moments ago from Silco's rooms.

He thinks, for a moment, to renege on his promise to someone who understood him, and still chose this. It would be his just desserts, to announce that he would mourn Silco, and let the last thing he see be the crux of Zenith's promise: absolute destruction of hope. He ought to do it, ought to smash Jinx in front of his eyes and let that carry him, too, into his end. )

Queztalcoatl's soft warmth is gone, and all she is will be a memory that he carries. Beyond life, beyond death, beyond anyone else in Kenos who knew her, back to a world that will never have her again. An empty space, where once she shone. ]

Wenen pet wenen.etj kher.

[ A god of the earth and sky, he is. The embodiment of discord and chaos, warring externally and internally — never allowed to get what he wants, as his beloved sister's last motes of light trickle away between his fingers.

And he decides, he is owed for this. The pain of the divine is greater than any mortal's in their minds, and they hold vengeance and remuneration for theft in the highest of regards. ( He will chase the sun higher, throw himself into it soon enough, and rise among Meridian in Quetzalcoatl's image and memory. ) ]

surprise

[fursuit]

Yo, cuz.

[ There's absolutely no preamble to the other god reaching out, just the usual impression of dark smoke, but today, there's also excitement in it. It's a toothy grin just from feeling alone, and it's the sort where Set might be able to guess what this is about just from the kind of familiarity that comes with it. It's a bloodthirsty sort. ]

Felt like fair's fair, so wanted to let you know in case you didn't. Can practically smell it in the air, by which I mean try as it might, this World can't totally cut me off from my omniscience. If it's not one of those Oracles comin' up soon, then something real hot's about to kick off. But, considering the timing, figured the former more than the latter, but either is great, yeah? I'm thinkin' the next week. Maybe two.

[ But of course he's not warning him out of the goodness of his heart! No! He's here to do a little pre-gossip post gossip! ]

So! Got a question for ya! This is the first time I'm gonna be pittin' myself against your people... So, who's needin' a good wake-up call the most?

[redsoil]

[ Dark smoke ( tendrils of shadow ) happens to be something that Set responds to quite well; a god of evil things, however young and unwilling he'd been to take on that mantle, he's embraced the freedom in being a lot less moral than the rest of his family. Operating on a different wavelength, calling into the depths of darkness and chaos for companionship — though he stands in Meridian's light, it is only so that he casts a greater shadow upon the world. As Tezcatlipoca's smoke invades his mindscape, he slips his hands through the scent of it and gives it a little cupping-waft toward his nose.

The other god is familiar to him, but also very different. Quetzalcoatl and he are of the same root, but their godhood was at odds; still, Set feels an immediately kinship toward the deities of the Azteca, for he was invited into their by their slain hero-god as "family". Which means he dives right into that smoke to try and grapple Tezca's core in a delighted embrace. To rub his cheek along it like a cat scenting at a favored herb. ]

Mm, that would put it right on schedule! They tend to wake up after we're all relaxed and ready, but this time? It's great to hear that an Oracle might be rousing based on how much we've shaken the world!

[ Actually, he hates Oracles. They tended to stray towards contests of will, and Set was a creature who's willpower had been crushed into dust long, long ago; his mind is sharp, his ability to stand against erosion? Nonexistent. ]

I keep track mostly of the Zenites I wish to see targeted, to inspire them to do more than just concede their rights to their leader, but. Among my chosen side, I would say there are a number of unblooded [ the new hires among Meridian ] who would benefit from a good challenge. Some others still cultivate a mentality that "innocents are innocents" in this world, as well. I suppose then, you must tell me what kind of people you give this wake-up call to!

communion!!!!!!!!11

[escardos]

[ the communion comes to set the way it did before. the dark, lonely, and ever expanding void. there is no life. there are no planets. there are no stars in the sky.

well, there is just one. bright, blonde and bushy-tailed flat, as effective as any curse or blessing. ]

Hellooooo, you've reached Flat Escardos. Please leave your message after the beep. Beep.

[ yes, he is trying to imitate a voicemail. ]

[redsoil]

[ flat, set is ancient egyptian and also believes in cursed chain "emails" what the fuck is this

He immediately whacks Flat upside the head in retaliation. THOUGHT HE HEARD YOU TALKING SHIT ABOUT WAR, YOU WEIRDO ]

Flat, we are ASPECTED TOGETHER. There is no such thing as leaving a message! You will explain why I felt the idea of you being dismissive of
me!

Sorry... This is stupid

[zauneyete]

I have something of a curious question.

[ and because this is really going to come out of left field...]

Our Zenites are speaking about you, by the way. I am sure it is with less vitriol than the way your companions speak about me, when they do. They did, however, come up with a ludicrous weakness.

[redsoil]

If they were not speaking of me, I would point out how worthless your choice in Zenith really was — with allies like that.

[ it sounds nasty but really this is how they've always been <3 ]

What are they saying of "weakness", hm?

immediately post-timeskip; cw for suicidal ideation + pseudo-incest this whole thread

[appeale]

[ Rudbeckia wakes in a bed of feathers and fur, but her first thought is: Ah, I don't want to do this again. she doesn't want to go about living for another pointless day. how can she go out there and sit beside Cesare, as though he didn't just take everything good she had managed to hold in her hands and turn it to poison all at once? how can Iske possibly look at her without drawing his sword to kill her? he's going to kill her. he should kill her. she should never have—

there's no feeling of relief once the realisation trickles in that this is Kenos, not Arundel. it doesn't matter. those things that she once thought she could leave behind her have now rotted her from the inside out, and no amount of distance can change that. no, worse than that – this is a curse that follows her. it must be. something about her is so fundamentally awful and wrong that it corrupts all she comes in contact with. she was a fool all along to have even tried.

and because she is a wretched, selfish, cruel thing, her mind reaches out. ]

Set?

[ even at the first brush of her mind against his, Rudbeckia hardly resembles her old self. she is more lost ghost than girl. so many vital pieces of her are missing: her fear, her warmth, her burning desire to survive, even the deep lake of her sorrows. everything has been scraped out of her, leaving behind something hollow and cavernous, pitted and ugly. nothing can take root in the barrenness of her heart. every emotion passes through her without leaving a mark at all.

her love for him remains. the red desert sands still cover her bare feet. but the sands are cold, now, and she cannot bring herself to touch them. ]

I'm here. I'm sorry I went away.

[redsoil]

[ Her waking mind, haze from the passage of time and the amassing of experiences, seeks his — and of course, of course he chooses to embrace it. To gather her too-small form into his arms and tug her off her feet, wrapping her spine and the back of her blonde head in his hands to cradle her close. What has happened to her? How is it that she is so emptied out and hollow, now? ]

You came back, is what matters.

[ To him, of course. To this place, which is still a hellscape, but at least they are together in it — able to rely on one another for validation and meaning, comfort. He'd gone away once, too. Soon after firing the weapon upon Highstorm, soon after dying to Amos's hands, he'd found himself far away in Egypt again, living out memories he had yet to experience as if he were there. And he had been there. Time was a strange ocean, for a god, after all. ]

What happened, Ruby? You have lost so much of yourself. Who, or what, took it away?

[fursuit]

[ The touch of Tezcatlipoca’s mind is probably familiar by now. It’s a smoke of campfire and copal, the humidity of the deep jungle, but as cool as the night. It’s also like a smack on the shoulder that an older brother would give the little brother… ]

Yo, cuz.

[ cuz is just a better nickname than “bro” for their relationship though ]

Got two things for ya. One’s a delayed answer, other’s a request. But both are god-to-god kinda things.

punches his arm

[redsoil]

[ Set relishes in the scent of deep jungle and shadow, the way he had once rolled and entwined his mind with the warmth of Quetzalcoatl's vibrant attentions. Tezcatlipoca is much more like him: a wild thing made of heady scents, a force of nature that doesn't wear a mantle of heroism. Even still, Tezca isn't an evil god — he can feel that much from him.

Part of him, poisoned in Meridian, thinks to decline — "god-to-god" means little, it whispers, when one god has sided with the enemy. He strangles it to the best of his ability, cultivates it with rationale that dictates maintaining relations with that "enemy" is for the best. After all — look at how it paid off with one of Zenith's own. They're hard to convince to Meridian's side, in the way that Meridian's were not hard to sway from their position.

So, he flicks arid sands across the wet jungles and drapes himself in patches and layers along Tezcatlipoca's own mind. Cozies right on up with a warm little sigh and a bright hunger for the answer more than the request: ] Oh? For free?

[ He teases a little. With some, he might ask for a face to face meeting, but minds are as real as bodies to gods. ]

Ψ(￣∀￣)Ψ

[zauneyete]

[ It isn't exactly infrequent that Silco reaches out to Set via communion, though while Set receives more than most, it's also true that it is still sparing in comparison to other bearers, but it's still novel, simply because it is Silco, perhaps, and doubly so because it is Set. There is an odd line in communion, between the two of them, and it had always felt odd, the longer they were near each other, the more it becomes... odder.

The request, though, is only two words, though there's no lack of... consideration in them. As if there was a decision being made, a choice.

A distinct one, and it is as if there is a test against a barrier when he does it, as if there is an attempt to see if it is allowed, putting intent into the communion. Something, and Set would know it as similar to when those he knows speak of Weight that this is similar. ]

Come by?

[ Though the meaning is... difficult to tell from the impression. Plenty left unsaid, but so is the question of where, he doesn't tell Set where he is, just assuming that he'd know when he says it. Which to be fair: where else would Silco be? ]

[redsoil]

[ There is no response that Set can give Silco, save to go. His presence has been requested ( how can his presence be requested, when it should simply be there? ), and thus it means he has no protest. No will to resist it, to slip from Cornerstone in Skysong to the still-dark depths of Kowloon-a-century-later, feeling a little smug about the state of it — torn into two camps with two distinct ideas of what "freedom" and "acknowledgement" mean, Yura gone, Aetós in control of Silco's own Shimmer — and his ability to enter Silco's office in Dramahol via his personal Cornerstone.

He alights through the stone, and immediately finds his way to the other man. His strange friend, a man who — for all intents and purposes, has always been similar to him. Painfully similar, to the point where Set has willingly and knowingly impressed his own responses to pain upon him, thought that their will was identical ( and was losing, on that end ). Still, he goes to Silco and isn't shy about ensuring he is seen, before he reaches his hand out and touches it to the scars on the man's face. A brief pass of his fingers, as he visibly sniffs the air like an animal.

Picks up on it, the way he had with Amos. And pulls back, sharp and thoughtful to go for the throat and learn. ]

And what does Jinx mean to you, now?

[ Has he changed beyond recognition? Does he prioritize someone else, now? Himself? Yima? ]