[Open] There's a Point Where It Tips, There's a Point Where It Breaks

[zerotohiro]

Who: Everyone in Cerealia who figured out the code words for this meeting
When: Evening of IC 5/31, after Hawke's network post
Where: Sanctuary
What: "A pizza party" aka a meeting about the new masked figure that appeared.
Warnings: N/A, maybe some talks about what Alien-kun had to say, etc.


[It's evening by the time Hiro gets to the Sanctuary. Anyone who had seen him this morning will have spotted him with Baymax, both of them sans their normal armor and Baymax carrying what looks like a giant box. They had preparations to make, after all. He makes his way in and out of the building a few times but by the time the first of their guests arrive, everything's set up.

Upon entering the Sanctuary, Baymax moves to stand guard and collect your CereVice in a box at the door. Please don't cheat, he doesn't like when people aren't playing fair. In exchange for the CereVice, you will receive a form and a pencil before Baymax cheerfully waves you away.

Hiro's sitting on a table at the head of the lounge watching people come in. Hawke had promised these people pizza and cake (Hawke why) and he's delivering on that promise. The stack is about as tall as he is, more than enough to feed everyone who's shown up. He waits until a majority of the people show up before he clears his throat to gather attention.]

...uh, hey! [Well. That's a great, confident start.] I know this was sort of last minute and everything, but I really appreciate all of you coming by and actually listening to Hawke. [Sorry Hawke. But there's a grin which says he's more than appreciative.] I know you're probably here for free food, but there's a couple of things you should know. [Sliding off of the table, he moves to stand in front of what looks like a small mechanical box.]

When we all got back a few days ago, I started thinking about the fact that CERES can watch us from...pretty much anywhere. So I took some plans for something else I've been working on, improvised a little bit and created this thing. It'll deflect the signal from our implants and block them out completely as long as we're in this room. I've tested it out a couple of time already, the whole thing gets thrown off. It's...why I wanted to meet here! Because that sort of leads right to my next point.

[There's a small sigh as he paces the room, Baymax waddling after him. He moves back to the table he'd been sitting on to pull up the mask he'd been given a while ago.]

All of you probably received one of these either from that fortune teller, Aria, or it just showed up. And while we were out there? Some of you probably found the terminal like I did and spoke with a masked figure. [A beat.] I'm starting to realize that it told all of us something different, but the most important part is that it's with the Flamine Federation. You know. The guys who supposedly destroyed our planets. Baymax gave all of you a form--um. [And here he pauses, unsure if it's really appropriate to be ordering people to share information but then again that's what they all need. He's always believed everybody needs to be aware of what's happening.] Basically I guess just...answer what you can and tack it up on the board--[A gesture to a large bulletin board he pulled from who knows where.]--and talk amongst yourselves about what happened out there? Alien...the monsters, that weird altar? A bunch of you saw that, right? What was that about?

[Dear god somebody help him.] ...look, I tried. There's free food. This is about all I could throw together so fast before something else happens here. So...yeah. Let's just start figuring out what's really happening here, okay?

[Vague hand gestures? Vague hand gestures. He shuts up after that and sort of shrinks back into his hoodie, jumping back up on the table to hand out food and keep an eye on the room. All right, colonists. You know what to do.]

[ooc: Welcome to the info-sharing mingle! The idea behind this is for characters to ICly fill out this form (coded by the wonderful Fidgey/Katsura-mun) and have it displayed for everyone to view that information. You can post your sheet in your comment or link it to a post elsewhere in your journal, or even post it in the post I made that the form's posted into. HOWEVER this is open to everyone even if your character didn't speak to the alien and just wants to check stuff out! As a note: characters will start to feel sick after about two hours in the Sanctuary due to the frequency deflector. Sorry about that! Any questions hit me up via PM or plurk at alternatively]

Master List of Forms

Comments

[adornmental]

Mm, I didn't know anyone like that, but it's— well, I mean. It's not good to know. But, y'know.

[It's good to be more informed.]

...It might have something to do with the whole energy-selling business CERES is in, then. That might be totally unrelated too, but still.

[faithfulflame]

I understand.

[Rei frowns a little...]

That theory's come up, but I don't think I agree with it. It seems awfully inefficient of them to want us solely for energy, but then give us free reign in this colony. Honestly, I'd be more inclined to think of them drawing on our emotional energy, psychic vampirism. Or simply geothermal power or something on Tellus.

[adornmental]

Psychic vampirism? I've never heard of that...

[It sounds pretty unpleasant, though... Drawing from their emotional energy could tie into why they make everyone so damn emotional all of the time, though, but he doesn't appreciate the idea of being used as a living battery.]

I dunno what else it could really be if it's not that, though. I mean, specifically gunning after spirits or mages or onmyouji and all that makes it really weird.

[faithfulflame]

Stealing energy via emotions, the way a Vampire might draw on blood for life.

[It's a creepy idea, honestly.]

Again, if offered in sacrifice? I can see magically charged beings having the most to offer.

[adornmental]

Ew! [AN IMMEDIATE REACTION FROM A PUNK.] D'you think that's why they're always doing stuff to piss us off? That's super gross.

[And really creepy... Though the mention of sacrifices has his expression shifting again, this time into a frown.]

Yeah... I mean, that did look like an altar. Some kinda religious thing... And that whole place was totally empty of any life, y'know? But I dunno what CERES would be sacrificing anything to.

[faithfulflame]

I'd believe so. Just a theory. But it tracks with the rest of their behavior.

[Rei frowns in turn, drumming her fingertips on the table.]

What beings do we know about that already accept sacrifice? The local spirits certainly seem fond of it, and that tracks as well. Primal beings like that often delight in such things.

[adornmental]

[There's a little hum of acknowledgment at that, since Kashuu doesn't really know enough about corporate behavior to agree or disagree.

The second part has his brow furrowing a little, though.]

Like... what, the senses guys, or...? [...Well. Blood sacrifices to gods aren't anything new, but. The game kind of changes when it's colonist blood being spilled by a group that he views as the closest thing to "ally' they have.]

[faithfulflame]

The elementals. Maris and the other four.

[She takes a breath.]

The sense-stealing apparitions were the beings who came to me with the information and requests in the first place. They're also the source of the mark on my forearm. I spoke to Caeli about the mark, and it's response was that the mark was from something...unnatural, which is exactly what the sense-spirits said about the altar and that whole area.

[adornmental]

[His expressions screws up a little with confusion then, since this is all a bit difficult to parse.]

So... those guys - the sense-stealing ghosts, they're not related at all to the god spirits? And you think that the altar down there is tied to those god spirits and not the sense-ghosts...? But if the sense-spirits were the ones who marked you, why would that mark also be "unnatural"?

[faithfulflame]

They are not. Caeli said they were "other" and unrelated to the five elementals.

[She frowns deeply, wondering about his confusion.]

The ghosts were afraid of that place, they said what was down in there was unnatural, and they warned me about it. What we're looking at, sir, is two different groups. The elementals and the ghosts. They are not one and the same collective unit. And they see one another as unnatural.

I believe that the altar may have been the source of the ghosts. And that the beings who were those ghosts were sacrificed on that altar. It certainly doesn't seem like anything was sacrificed to them, does it? The reason I suspect the elemental spirits is they masquerade as primal gods, who revel in sacrifice. They request offerings be given at their shrines, what's to say they wouldn't want more. An offering is a form of sacrifice, is it not?

[adornmental]

[That much he gets, at least; he nods as she explains. So the ghosts - vengeful spirits and sense-stealing ghosts alike, he'd imagine - are separate entirely from the gods. It's not uncommon for factions to exist among spirits, of course. Just being from the same plane of existence doesn't mean anything else will be shared.

It's just harder for him to grasp the rest of that. Kashuu is a spirit, and he understands that gods are often given sacrifices, or even demand them. Blood sacrifices aren't strange to him either, even though the practice has long since died out. But... somehow, with how much he'd come to like Ardeo, it feels like a sharp betrayal.

He'll go talk to Ardeo himself later, even though he probably shouldn't. For now, he just nods once more when she's done talking.]

I get what you're saying. Thanks for letting us know. Any possibility should be looked into closely, right? That's the only way to figure out what's true.

[faithfulflame]

[He's not the only spirit in the room. She's more the other half of the equation though, the divine. The emotions rolling off him, evident confusion and something else, are a bit like a psychic cup of water to the face. Sometimes she hates that she can feel other's feelings, especially when she's delivering bad news.]

Any possibility should be. I may be wrong. But I don't trust those beings. Others might, but...their behavior is too primal. They are their elements, and I don't think they truly care for us. Not the way we'd like. I just want residents to be careful, because we know so little about all four factions in play here.

[She looks up at him.]

I'm sorry, I don't know your name and all I've done is deliver poor tidings.

[adornmental]

[He'd certainly feel bad if he knew she had to deal with that, especially considering he does his best to not let those unpleasant emotions show in the first place. Nothing good comes from bad feelings like that.]

...Mm. Well! I mean, in the end, I'd side with other colonists before anyone else. We're all in the same boat and most of us are working toward the same endgoal, yeah? [His quick trust often gets him into trouble, but it's pretty fragile, all the same.

He looks a little surprised by the shift in topic though, and even though he's still distressed, the smile that he offers is genuine.]

Sorry! I'm Kashuu - Kashuu Kiyomitsu. [And then, since he figures she can probably sense the fact that he isn't human in the same way he can sense her spiritual connection:] I'm a tsukumogami.

[faithfulflame]

[A nod, and she smiles a bit more brightly than before. That much she had expected, but confirmation of his loyalties was right. No need to dwell.

And his identity...that gives her a pause. Okita had mentioned...]

That would make you one of those sword tsukumonogami, then, yes? Okita-san's?

[Her historical knowledge of swords was pretty limited, but she had a passing interest in the Shinsengumi, after having befriended one here.]

My name is Rei Hino, as you might have guessed, I'm a miko. I tend one of the Hikawa-branch temples in Tokyo. What you'd still call Edo.

[adornmental]

Ah— [Surprise, then - and maybe something a little bitter. The Okita that he had been closest to had vanished, after all, but at least he didn't have any spiritual ties.]

Mm, yeah. I used to serve that guy before Haruji summoned me. [A nod!]

Edo, huh? Or— um, Tokyo. [He knows all of the modern city names, of course, being from 2205, but it's still a little hard to actually remember them. Tokyo had still been Edo, back before he was summoned.] Sorry to meet you over something like this, but I hope we can be friends, anyway. Y'know- [Now that he's thinking about it...] -I don't think I've actually met a miko before.

[faithfulflame]

[A nod. She uh...figures he's from a long time in the past or something. But hey.]

It's perfectly alright. There are worse circumstances to meet. [A bow of her head.] And I'd be glad to talk with you another time. I've met relatively few tsukumonogami myself. Just Kousetsu-san.

[adornmental]

[The idea of making a new friend seems to cheer him up, if nothing else! He's like an aspiring pokemon master of friendships, gotta catch 'em all.]

Kousetsu's a really good guy. Super easy to get along with! You guys must work together then, yeah? There are still eleven others that you haven't met yet, so I'll try to gather some of 'em up sometime so they can meet you, too.

[faithfulflame]

[It's hard to make friends with Rei but he has a huge point in his favor, being a spirit and all.]

We don't exactly, but we've spent some time together. I like him. [And huh.]

That's actually quite a lot of you. I'd like that, certainly, Kashuu-san.

[adornmental]

[He'll take his advantages where he can get them... Heck yes, spirit points.]

I'm glad! He could use more friends. He's nice, but kinda... mmm, quiet? [Putting it lightly, dang.]

But yeah, there's always been a lot of us here. There were almost twenty once! But my comrades leave and come back all the time. [Which is what makes the altar such a sticking point for him, since it's awful on many levels but also incredibly personal.]

They'd totally like to say hi, though.

[faithfulflame]

Well, I'd happily meet them. Just...let me know the time and the place?

[She really has zero objections, surprisingly. Even if he had a male form, she'd forgive him that for being a tsukumonogami. He presumably wouldn't hit on her]

[adornmental]

[HE WOULDN'T if only because he's pretty much married to Haru...]

Sure, sure! Any time's fine, and I'll write down our address for you. We take up three apartments in a row so someone's always around.

[And he'll jot down the address!]

[faithfulflame]

[Which she will take! It's probably not all that far from her place. So, she'll definitely stop by!]