[He smiles for him and nods. Then he lays back down, careful to lay back on his back. Better not to piss off his ribs while they're healing.]
Whether it does or doesn't, I can't tell you. I know very little about your primals. As a gesture of goodwill and necessary action to arm your people I'll compile an intelligence report of all my findings of the Abyss Order.
I will be upfront that there are some threads I'm letting play out. I don't know where they're leading just yet, but if we hunt them now... [He tips his head and a serious expression claims his face. There is something in the Abyss he has never seen before. Something dangerous on a level they haven't been just yet. He can't permit them to run free. Pretending his guard is down is the best offensive.]
[In the same light, Takame knew little of the Abyss Order. But as much as inactivity bothered him, he knew it to be necessary. He worked in subterfuge before.]
I understand. Let them proceed under the assumption all is going according to their plan as data is collected on them. [He crossed one leg over the other, a stance more casual than he's shown so far. As if he's finally speaking about a subject he was confident in.]
Likewise, I'll collect what I can on the trade of crystals throughout Eorzea, documented or otherwise. Regardless of whether primals are related or not, vast amounts of crystals are necessary to amass power.
I’d like to touch crystals myself. [He says as he draws his hair together and lets it rest over one side of his chest. It’s a little more composed than he has been. It makes him feel a little better.]
But I would also check places that Primals have left their mark. Any place with corrupted crystal as well. I haven’t located their outposts in this world yet, but with greater resources we can find them.
Tell me more about Dalamund. Is there a map of the places parts of it struck?
The beast tribe's strongholds. U'Ghamaro Mines in Outer La Noscea. Zaha'rak in Southern Thanalan, Natalan in Coerthas. [Said for Kaeya's reference, words for him to keep in the back of his mind. But where Dalamud fell would be a prime location indeed. Would that it didn't bring about anxiety that silenced him briefly.]
... A fragment of Dalamud still lies within Castrum Occidens in Eastern La Noscea. Corrupted crystal runs rampant throughout and it is rife with abandoned Allagan technology.
Indeed. They act as homes as well as places of worship. Past the beastmen's Aetherytes are domains where crystals are stored and summonings are carried out.
I have a suspicion but until I examine more about how energy flows here and get a look at the places they're striking...I can't build a solid theory.
[Kaeya says with his eye on the ceiling. In his minds eye the threads are twisting together, one tied to the next until they're a web spread out. But he can't see the patterns yet. He needs the reports. He needs to see.
If he can convince this alliance to give him these things he still doesn't have the biggest answers. A reckless idea sparks like the glimmer of the sun through ice. It's crazy.
It's got all the makings of a bad idea. He just said he would need watched if he got near cryo energy and yet.]
....I know one way to find out. Where did a cryo- ice primal strike?
[There's a long silence. Not only did Takame's mind go straight to Ysayle, but even pushing that painful memory back he recalled what Kaeya alluded to about losing himself in places with a lot of "cryo" energy.
Nonetheless:] ... Snowcloak. Akh Afah Amphitheatre. The primal of Ice, Shiva, was summoned there.
[He sits up.] This is a terrible idea but, the Abyss Order is moving on a vast scale. I've been chasing them for months. This is the only way I can see to gain the bigger answer.
[He wouldn't even be this upfront about it but, Takame's ability will strip the truth out. Or well, it could. If the pants of his soul are going to be ripped off he would rather be the one sliding them off.
So to speak.]
I'll explain on the way. You need to be prepared if it all goes horribly wrong. Your Primals and our Gods are nothing alike.
Takame willed his tail to be still despite apprehension building. Was it wise, he thought, to throw this man who warned him against such right into his literal element? Especially when he admitted to it being a bad idea?
Perhaps... it didn't matter. No, it certainly didn't. He was no mage, nor did he have deep knowledge of the Abyss Order. But the rate at which rifts keep spawning and the probability of people being hurt by them was high. He must prevent that at all costs. As a hero does.]
I've subdued beings beyond primals before. [Said matter-of-factly with willingness to face the danger. Lack of full awareness, maybe, but willingness.] We'll need to secure passage to Coerthas.
[Coetheras is cold like the Cryo Archon's heart. He can feel a pull the moment he follows Takame's bird with his own. It's like a hook in his heart, tugging him northwest.
He grits his teeth. The dread only grows and his dreams lately have been nothing but Diluc telling him to turn back.
'This is reckless even for you. What the hell are you trying to prove?'
He doesn't have an answer for him. It has to be really foolish for the man he is pretty sure is full of wrath at Mondstadt and himself to be in his dreams. Well if this turns out terrible, maybe that wrath will ebb without him around.
He takes out the map they were given and checks where Snowcloak is. His heart goes cold. Far to the northwest is that little mark. He shuts the book and picks up the place, crooning to the bird that already loves him. Then he subsides.]
Long before my time, gods roamed the continent. There's little known about that time. The world was a different place.
[Those who have Visions are chosen by gods and can ascend.]
For some reason, they started warring and killing each other. Seven emerged from this war and claimed the divine seats. We know them as the Seven. Of those original seven, only one remains. Barbatos.
Each reshaped the continent for the sake of their people. their people thrived in these lands and become the nations we know today.
The gods hand those they see worth of power a device called a Vision. In the moments in their lives that prove...who they are. It comes at a price. But those who use them often become great figures in history.
It is said they have the ability to ascend. Those of the Abyss Order just use magic as they please. Weaving it. Yet to draw out the gods and throw them down they reach for those old gods buried in the war. Or sealed away.
...my theories of what they're doing here I can only answer if I risk it all.
[Months in Ishgard haven't made Takame used to the cold. It didn't mix with his scales, nor with the climates he was used to. As with everything, it wasn't his place to complain. Not a soldier's, nor a hero's.
He knew the ley of the land well, he assured his allies when he armed with his Gunblade, though keeping his soul of the samurai should he need to act as executioner again. He led the charge to Snowcloak with Kaeya. He didn't speak much along the way, only listening to Kaeya's tale of his realm's history without any noteworthy reaction save for hums and glances indicating he was still listening.
So even gods aren't immune to wars. If they fall into the same trappings as man, can they be called gods, he wondered? Was it wise for a God to grant the power of ascension to humans when not even they can avoid temptation to war and raze the land?
All questions he kept to himself. Takame was not a devout man, less so recently given revelations learned of Hydaelyn, but that reminder just stirred anxiety in his chest that he locked behind layers of steel. Focus on the mission.]
I don't know. [He admits out loud.] Technically I'm treading into blasphemous territory here.
If I figure out how they make us ascend...Well, let's say I'm going to be hiding the truth behind layers of lies for the rest of my very long life. I don't wish to war with anyone and never have.
[Speaking that truth feels so liberating it makes his chest feel tight. He doesn't have to worry about the past haunting him if he could just let go like this all the time. He sighs.] And if I die, there's a series of journals in my bags. I made translations of everything you need to know. You won't be left without knowledge to make our worlds safer.
[He stares straight ahead as the call feels like hands wrapping around his neck. Sweat runs down his temple and slides down into the edge of his cloak.] I don't think I'm wrong.
Those sinners and fools from the rifts know it too, I think. Or how to manipulate the energy. Still courting with what made it all come crashing down.
... [Not comforting, but not unexpected. Hope for the best, expect the worst. Takame lived by half that mindset, often disregarding the former half. Takame could relate to the weight of needing to hide the painful truth and for the air that Kaeya gave off, Takame didn't sense that he was lying when he said he didn't wish for war.
He was of the same mind. War was for people like him, not for those caught in between who knew how to live. Would that he could learn how.
But so long as he could protect what was dear to him, that was what mattered. Though killing a man not even native to this shard, one who doubtless had family and friends like the ones he saw in the vision. Takame was glad at times that he could actually feel regret for the lives he took, but no one ever told him it would make him falter.]
I'll do what I must. [His tone was grim and heavy, showing just how far he would go. This wasn't a man who acted halfway.]
I know you will. [The eyes never lie. The cryo energy in the air within Snowcloak feels stifling as he stands against it. It only makes him sure he's right on track. Halfway through he catches a glimpse of himself in the ice. The streaks in his hair are gone. He lifts the long tail of his hair and blinks at the gradient it has taken.
He plays it off as a nervous fiddling with his hair. But he doubts he's fooling Takame. As they approach the place Shiva was summoned he grabs his arm and pulls, hoping he'll stop at the mouth of the tunnel.
He feels like he's on the edge of something. One more step and nothing will be the same ever again.] If the worst happens, there are letters in my bags too.
You'll find one with a seal. Make sure it survives if none of the others do.
[Sometimes one finds words that should have been said years ago on the eve of what could be your death, he supposes. The man it would go to would get the other letter tucked inside the first to where it needed to go.
Should the last ember of hope fade. He's such a terrible son. He walks into the tunnel and doesn't look back.]
[Takame had good eyes. Blank though they were, they were honest. And they haven't led him astray yet as he felt and saw Kaeya's aether strengthen the further through the region they got. It was reacting to him, or maybe the other way around.
He wasn't sure. It was unfamiliar territory from here on out, but the goal was the same. That kept him steady.] I understand.
[A statement with layers spoken as he watched Kaeya move forward. And his arm lifted to take the Gunblade off his back.]
[What little tiredness he has fades as he plunges into the unknown. A cold wind hits him in the face as he emerges into a wide amphitheater.
He descends the stairs towards the stage. A strange kind of gentle serenity steals over him as he climbs onto the stone stage. He can feel the currents of Cryo spinning in the air.
He walks to the center of the stage and turns to face Takame. He presses his hand to his chest and bows as he finally lets the energy flood into him.
A blizzard rips through the amphitheater drowning everything in white. A light sparks in the depths of the storm as shards of ice rip through the air. And inside it, Kaeya sinks to his knees.
It feels like he’s burning up inside. Letting it out as a howl as lonely as his soul has ever felt is like freedom.
The stone around them is altered with a flick of his fingers and a thought. It’s time to stop hiding. The cut of the stone has to be right. The words he has stopped pretending he can’t understand mark themselves into the sky and the walls.
The very air temperature plummets faster and faster, until everything is blanketed in ice. The storm clears and Kaeya stands at the center of the arena with a long, narrow sword made of ice shaping itself at chest height.
He takes it and sweeps it to the side. Panels of ice sweep around him and build a maze of ice. Panels hanging in the air. The better to give him a field advantage.
His cloak has expanded to cover both shoulders. It splits down the middle like the petals of a deadly flower. His feet are bare and his arms wrapped in symbols and fabric. His hair falls over his back as he drums the changed stage with his foot and sways to the side. He twists to the side with a stamp of his foot.
His eyepatch slips off and hits the floor. His left eye burns like a light in a dark night. Or a father’s hopes for a nation he loved and hated.
He kicks it aside and charges forward, closing the distance without slipping or sliding. The ice is his. The cold is his. He is the cold of the Abyss. The ice between. Winter’s his domain and his howl every lonely soul in the wilderness.]
[The bow was met with Takame taking his offensive stance.
Not a moment too soon as even through his strong will the onslaught of snow blinded him and the scream pierced his senses as it echoed against the halls of the theatre. He didn't need his eyes to sense the surge of ice aether coalescing within Kaeya.
Trigger pulled on his blade, Takame unleashed a cartridge from it to envelop him in a shield from the wind and frost magic as he held the blade in front of him. The air itself became hard to breathe the further the temperature dipped but he forced himself to breathe it. His tail stuck out to maintain his balance and his heels dug into the floor. A mistake he'd soon rectify as the ground turned to slippery ice.
The runes that decorated the arena he vaguely recalled from Kaeya's notebook, but that was far from his mind. The wind cleared and the stage was set for battle.
Takame met charge with charge, using the ice and recoil from another fired round to propel himself towards Kaeya with a wide, forward slash to strike sword against sword.]
So this is what you meant. [Said mostly to himself. Perhaps the quiet side of him that hoped expected his voice to come through.]
[The cold emanates from his sword. From him. Frost threatens to creep over the blade pressed against his own. He leans forward with inhuman strength then abruptly leaps back, sliding back.
He leaps straight up and races up a panel of ice, leaping to the next one. Power builds in the panels facing Takame on the left side.
He can't think. There's only the need to fight to survive. To defend himself so he can make it home. Home.
He spins like a beautiful glimmering shard of ice. Jerking his hand up on the right. Freezing cold wind and ice howls out of the left panels, cleaving the space over the stage leaving only the right half safe as Kaeya racing up the right side.
The panels are arranged with good ricochet or climbing skills one can follow.]
[For all the strength Takame possessed, keeping Kaeya at bay drunk with power as he was proved to be difficult. The fact that he could at all spoke volumes of his own, but had Kaeya not lept away Takame may not have lasted.
He swiped his sword again, trying but not expecting to nick Kaeya in his wide leap. Heat from the cartridges of his weapon prevented frost from taking hold onto it and from his opponent did he draw more power to reignite them.
He saw the aether building, despite the right hand being risen energy built on the left end. Before it could blast that side, Takame strafed right building speed along the ice and launched ahead again, this time jumping onto the side of the panel and driving his sword into it and climbing the rest of the way.
He pushed the offensive, charged and blade surging. A circle of light and levin aether pulsed in a massive circle around him far enough to reach Kaeya. Try to weaken him, he thought... the battle high has yet to intoxicate him.]
[He perches on top of the right panels and flips the blade just before Takame catches him. The electro energy pulses and he gasps, falling from the panels as sparks of electric arc over him. It seems electric energy doesn't get along with him.
He hits the stage on his stomach as fragments of memory drift up. A ruin guard looming. A glorious city he calls home. His father speaking words that would cause him so much turmoil. He presses his face to the stage and forces himself up with both hands. He turns onto his back and breathes in. The icy energy dissipates.
The chill in the returns to what it was before he changed and Kaeya twists his fingers. His patch is slid across the ice before all the panels and ice on the stage vanishes. He pulls it on and lays there a little longer, his unbound hair spilled across the stone stage like a burst of color in winter's long darkness.]
Thanks. Forgot myself for a moment there. [The words in the air fade as he sits up and plants a sword of ice into the stone. He uses it to pull himself up. Even the fur on his ears and tail have taken on the gradient. The later shifts to give him better balance.]
We can leave. Or you can take swings at me again. I'm fine with either. Sounds like a good time. [He twitches as the lightning arcs over his back down to his tail. He leans all his weight on the blade. His hair falls over his face like a long curtain as he breathes.] On second thought, let's sit here until this wears off.
I'm not into pain. [Another zap and his ears flick as his tail jerks in agitation.]
[It was a shot in the dark. Takame didn't even think about what elemental reaction his Bow Shock would cause, he just wanted to attack.
When Kaeya fell flat on the stage, Takame kept his stance with his weapon pointed straight at him. He didn't trust this to not be a ruse, something to make him let his guard down. It was with teeth bared and clenched that he approached the Miqo'te warily.
Hearing his voice sounding comparatively normal and the runes fade from the sky his expression shifted from violent to cautious. It wasn't until several long moments after Kaeya pulled himself up that Takame lowered his weapon. Lowered, not sheathed.
Standing right next to Kaeya, the power still surged in him. When a primal was unleashed, the energy dispersed and in some cases, the vessel fell. But not here, hence his apprehension.
It's his reaction to the spark that had Takame relax his stance. He had advantage.]
... Noted, I suppose. [He almost sounded resigned, finally putting his weapon away and crossing his arms.] Tell me. What in the kami's name was that?
[He lowers his ears. Putting it as he became a god would be the absolute worse way to put it. He has to approach this from a point to drive home the difference between a Primal and an Ascended Vision User.]
I don't entirely understand the process of ascension. Supposedly when one is taken to Celestia...this happens. Having undergone this process I think we evolve.
Not everything in our world that evolves is human or humans stay as they were. The Falcon of the West was a human woman in her mortal life. Why this is and why Celestia controls the process, [He sits down as another spark makes him twitch. Damn it. This is annoying. Technically he could fight on through it but he doesn't have the desire to fight right now.] I don't know.
But what you explained about a primal and about what just happened? Do you feel excess Cryo energy here?
[It's all gone. There's only the low-grade cryo energy of Coetheras.] But I am not an Archon. There must be something else involved with that. I bet it has something to do with Celestia and the Archon War. Nothing that helps us right now.
[Evolve, he says. A human ascending to become a god was so wrong. To be human was to be free. Flawed and fumbling but free to feel and live, was it not? So Takame once heard from someone more human than him.
What reason could this Celestia have to steal that from people? To have more thralls to enact their will unquestioned?
His tail flicked and a shiver went down his spine. He brushed it off as the cold setting in, hiding the brief image of the Mothercrystal in his mind far away. While he looked calm on the surface his tail kept twitching and he dropped his arms, clenching one fist behind his leg even as he spoke.]
The energy is as it once was. You seem to have taken it into yourself. [A pause.] You are fortunate to have only lost yourself for a moment. I would rather not have had to kill you if we knew we would learn nothing.
[Takame sat down as well, breathing deep of the cold air through his nose, exhaling slowly through his mouth where a cloud followed.] ... Forgive me. I mustn't say such things. [He's quiet again as he racked his brain to try and come up with something more... optimistic to day. What would Hina do...]
... 'Tis better the energy lies within you than within the Abyss Order.
[He lays down on his side. Kaeya glances around. The chamber looks like the old ruins back home. He did this. A spark hits him again and he grits his teeth against it.]
There's nothing wrong with saying the unspoken out loud. I expected you to kill me if I was too big of a threat. I'd have killed you if it were the reverse. [His ears twitch and he reaches down, petting his own tail. It's soothing.]
...when I was lost I was focused on survival. My duty to return home. [His left ear pops up and swivels as he listens for a moment. Nothing coming.] We've learned a great deal in one really foolish plan. I'd say mission accomplished. I'll be able to break it all down after we get out of here.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Whether it does or doesn't, I can't tell you. I know very little about your primals. As a gesture of goodwill and necessary action to arm your people I'll compile an intelligence report of all my findings of the Abyss Order.
I will be upfront that there are some threads I'm letting play out. I don't know where they're leading just yet, but if we hunt them now... [He tips his head and a serious expression claims his face. There is something in the Abyss he has never seen before. Something dangerous on a level they haven't been just yet. He can't permit them to run free. Pretending his guard is down is the best offensive.]
We'll learn nothing.
no subject
I understand. Let them proceed under the assumption all is going according to their plan as data is collected on them. [He crossed one leg over the other, a stance more casual than he's shown so far. As if he's finally speaking about a subject he was confident in.]
Likewise, I'll collect what I can on the trade of crystals throughout Eorzea, documented or otherwise. Regardless of whether primals are related or not, vast amounts of crystals are necessary to amass power.
no subject
But I would also check places that Primals have left their mark. Any place with corrupted crystal as well. I haven’t located their outposts in this world yet, but with greater resources we can find them.
Tell me more about Dalamund. Is there a map of the places parts of it struck?
no subject
... A fragment of Dalamud still lies within Castrum Occidens in Eastern La Noscea. Corrupted crystal runs rampant throughout and it is rife with abandoned Allagan technology.
no subject
But the energy of the crystals...]
I want to check that fragment. They don’t care much for technology. It’s energy and creatures they can corrupt and use, possibly even gods.
[If a primal could be taken under binding...he closes his eye. This is not good.] Hold on.
The strongholds. Are these...cities dedicated to their primals?
no subject
[A head tilt. It's too early to be sure, but.]
Do you believe that is their target?
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[Kaeya says with his eye on the ceiling. In his minds eye the threads are twisting together, one tied to the next until they're a web spread out. But he can't see the patterns yet. He needs the reports. He needs to see.
If he can convince this alliance to give him these things he still doesn't have the biggest answers. A reckless idea sparks like the glimmer of the sun through ice. It's crazy.
It's got all the makings of a bad idea. He just said he would need watched if he got near cryo energy and yet.]
....I know one way to find out. Where did a cryo- ice primal strike?
no subject
Nonetheless:] ... Snowcloak. Akh Afah Amphitheatre. The primal of Ice, Shiva, was summoned there.
no subject
[He wouldn't even be this upfront about it but, Takame's ability will strip the truth out. Or well, it could. If the pants of his soul are going to be ripped off he would rather be the one sliding them off.
So to speak.]
I'll explain on the way. You need to be prepared if it all goes horribly wrong. Your Primals and our Gods are nothing alike.
no subject
god at least buy him a few drinks firstTakame willed his tail to be still despite apprehension building. Was it wise, he thought, to throw this man who warned him against such right into his literal element? Especially when he admitted to it being a bad idea?
Perhaps... it didn't matter. No, it certainly didn't. He was no mage, nor did he have deep knowledge of the Abyss Order. But the rate at which rifts keep spawning and the probability of people being hurt by them was high. He must prevent that at all costs. As a hero does.]
I've subdued beings beyond primals before. [Said matter-of-factly with willingness to face the danger. Lack of full awareness, maybe, but willingness.] We'll need to secure passage to Coerthas.
no subject
He grits his teeth. The dread only grows and his dreams lately have been nothing but Diluc telling him to turn back.
'This is reckless even for you. What the hell are you trying to prove?'
He doesn't have an answer for him. It has to be really foolish for the man he is pretty sure is full of wrath at Mondstadt and himself to be in his dreams. Well if this turns out terrible, maybe that wrath will ebb without him around.
He takes out the map they were given and checks where Snowcloak is. His heart goes cold. Far to the northwest is that little mark. He shuts the book and picks up the place, crooning to the bird that already loves him. Then he subsides.]
Long before my time, gods roamed the continent. There's little known about that time. The world was a different place.
[Those who have Visions are chosen by gods and can ascend.]
For some reason, they started warring and killing each other. Seven emerged from this war and claimed the divine seats. We know them as the Seven. Of those original seven, only one remains. Barbatos.
Each reshaped the continent for the sake of their people. their people thrived in these lands and become the nations we know today.
The gods hand those they see worth of power a device called a Vision. In the moments in their lives that prove...who they are. It comes at a price. But those who use them often become great figures in history.
It is said they have the ability to ascend. Those of the Abyss Order just use magic as they please. Weaving it. Yet to draw out the gods and throw them down they reach for those old gods buried in the war. Or sealed away.
...my theories of what they're doing here I can only answer if I risk it all.
[Becoming a god.]
no subject
He knew the ley of the land well, he assured his allies when he armed with his Gunblade, though keeping his soul of the samurai should he need to act as executioner again. He led the charge to Snowcloak with Kaeya. He didn't speak much along the way, only listening to Kaeya's tale of his realm's history without any noteworthy reaction save for hums and glances indicating he was still listening.
So even gods aren't immune to wars. If they fall into the same trappings as man, can they be called gods, he wondered? Was it wise for a God to grant the power of ascension to humans when not even they can avoid temptation to war and raze the land?
All questions he kept to himself. Takame was not a devout man, less so recently given revelations learned of Hydaelyn, but that reminder just stirred anxiety in his chest that he locked behind layers of steel. Focus on the mission.]
What will happen to you?
no subject
If I figure out how they make us ascend...Well, let's say I'm going to be hiding the truth behind layers of lies for the rest of my very long life. I don't wish to war with anyone and never have.
[Speaking that truth feels so liberating it makes his chest feel tight. He doesn't have to worry about the past haunting him if he could just let go like this all the time. He sighs.] And if I die, there's a series of journals in my bags. I made translations of everything you need to know. You won't be left without knowledge to make our worlds safer.
[He stares straight ahead as the call feels like hands wrapping around his neck. Sweat runs down his temple and slides down into the edge of his cloak.] I don't think I'm wrong.
Those sinners and fools from the rifts know it too, I think. Or how to manipulate the energy. Still courting with what made it all come crashing down.
no subject
He was of the same mind. War was for people like him, not for those caught in between who knew how to live. Would that he could learn how.
But so long as he could protect what was dear to him, that was what mattered. Though killing a man not even native to this shard, one who doubtless had family and friends like the ones he saw in the vision. Takame was glad at times that he could actually feel regret for the lives he took, but no one ever told him it would make him falter.]
I'll do what I must. [His tone was grim and heavy, showing just how far he would go. This wasn't a man who acted halfway.]
no subject
He plays it off as a nervous fiddling with his hair. But he doubts he's fooling Takame. As they approach the place Shiva was summoned he grabs his arm and pulls, hoping he'll stop at the mouth of the tunnel.
He feels like he's on the edge of something. One more step and nothing will be the same ever again.] If the worst happens, there are letters in my bags too.
You'll find one with a seal. Make sure it survives if none of the others do.
[Sometimes one finds words that should have been said years ago on the eve of what could be your death, he supposes. The man it would go to would get the other letter tucked inside the first to where it needed to go.
Should the last ember of hope fade. He's such a terrible son. He walks into the tunnel and doesn't look back.]
no subject
He wasn't sure. It was unfamiliar territory from here on out, but the goal was the same. That kept him steady.] I understand.
[A statement with layers spoken as he watched Kaeya move forward. And his arm lifted to take the Gunblade off his back.]
no subject
He descends the stairs towards the stage. A strange kind of gentle serenity steals over him as he climbs onto the stone stage. He can feel the currents of Cryo spinning in the air.
He walks to the center of the stage and turns to face Takame. He presses his hand to his chest and bows as he finally lets the energy flood into him.
A blizzard rips through the amphitheater drowning everything in white. A light sparks in the depths of the storm as shards of ice rip through the air. And inside it, Kaeya sinks to his knees.
It feels like he’s burning up inside. Letting it out as a howl as lonely as his soul has ever felt is like freedom.
The stone around them is altered with a flick of his fingers and a thought. It’s time to stop hiding. The cut of the stone has to be right. The words he has stopped pretending he can’t understand mark themselves into the sky and the walls.
The very air temperature plummets faster and faster, until everything is blanketed in ice. The storm clears and Kaeya stands at the center of the arena with a long, narrow sword made of ice shaping itself at chest height.
He takes it and sweeps it to the side. Panels of ice sweep around him and build a maze of ice. Panels hanging in the air. The better to give him a field advantage.
His cloak has expanded to cover both shoulders. It splits down the middle like the petals of a deadly flower. His feet are bare and his arms wrapped in symbols and fabric. His hair falls over his back as he drums the changed stage with his foot and sways to the side. He twists to the side with a stamp of his foot.
His eyepatch slips off and hits the floor. His left eye burns like a light in a dark night. Or a father’s hopes for a nation he loved and hated.
He kicks it aside and charges forward, closing the distance without slipping or sliding. The ice is his. The cold is his. He is the cold of the Abyss. The ice between. Winter’s his domain and his howl every lonely soul in the wilderness.]
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Not a moment too soon as even through his strong will the onslaught of snow blinded him and the scream pierced his senses as it echoed against the halls of the theatre. He didn't need his eyes to sense the surge of ice aether coalescing within Kaeya.
Trigger pulled on his blade, Takame unleashed a cartridge from it to envelop him in a shield from the wind and frost magic as he held the blade in front of him. The air itself became hard to breathe the further the temperature dipped but he forced himself to breathe it. His tail stuck out to maintain his balance and his heels dug into the floor. A mistake he'd soon rectify as the ground turned to slippery ice.
The runes that decorated the arena he vaguely recalled from Kaeya's notebook, but that was far from his mind. The wind cleared and the stage was set for battle.
Takame met charge with charge, using the ice and recoil from another fired round to propel himself towards Kaeya with a wide, forward slash to strike sword against sword.]
So this is what you meant. [Said mostly to himself. Perhaps the quiet side of him that hoped expected his voice to come through.]
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He leaps straight up and races up a panel of ice, leaping to the next one. Power builds in the panels facing Takame on the left side.
He can't think. There's only the need to fight to survive. To defend himself so he can make it home. Home.
He spins like a beautiful glimmering shard of ice. Jerking his hand up on the right. Freezing cold wind and ice howls out of the left panels, cleaving the space over the stage leaving only the right half safe as Kaeya racing up the right side.
The panels are arranged with good ricochet or climbing skills one can follow.]
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He swiped his sword again, trying but not expecting to nick Kaeya in his wide leap. Heat from the cartridges of his weapon prevented frost from taking hold onto it and from his opponent did he draw more power to reignite them.
He saw the aether building, despite the right hand being risen energy built on the left end. Before it could blast that side, Takame strafed right building speed along the ice and launched ahead again, this time jumping onto the side of the panel and driving his sword into it and climbing the rest of the way.
He pushed the offensive, charged and blade surging. A circle of light and levin aether pulsed in a massive circle around him far enough to reach Kaeya. Try to weaken him, he thought... the battle high has yet to intoxicate him.]
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He hits the stage on his stomach as fragments of memory drift up. A ruin guard looming. A glorious city he calls home. His father speaking words that would cause him so much turmoil. He presses his face to the stage and forces himself up with both hands. He turns onto his back and breathes in. The icy energy dissipates.
The chill in the returns to what it was before he changed and Kaeya twists his fingers. His patch is slid across the ice before all the panels and ice on the stage vanishes. He pulls it on and lays there a little longer, his unbound hair spilled across the stone stage like a burst of color in winter's long darkness.]
Thanks. Forgot myself for a moment there. [The words in the air fade as he sits up and plants a sword of ice into the stone. He uses it to pull himself up. Even the fur on his ears and tail have taken on the gradient. The later shifts to give him better balance.]
We can leave. Or you can take swings at me again. I'm fine with either. Sounds like a good time. [He twitches as the lightning arcs over his back down to his tail. He leans all his weight on the blade. His hair falls over his face like a long curtain as he breathes.] On second thought, let's sit here until this wears off.
I'm not into pain. [Another zap and his ears flick as his tail jerks in agitation.]
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When Kaeya fell flat on the stage, Takame kept his stance with his weapon pointed straight at him. He didn't trust this to not be a ruse, something to make him let his guard down. It was with teeth bared and clenched that he approached the Miqo'te warily.
Hearing his voice sounding comparatively normal and the runes fade from the sky his expression shifted from violent to cautious. It wasn't until several long moments after Kaeya pulled himself up that Takame lowered his weapon. Lowered, not sheathed.
Standing right next to Kaeya, the power still surged in him. When a primal was unleashed, the energy dispersed and in some cases, the vessel fell. But not here, hence his apprehension.
It's his reaction to the spark that had Takame relax his stance. He had advantage.]
... Noted, I suppose. [He almost sounded resigned, finally putting his weapon away and crossing his arms.] Tell me. What in the kami's name was that?
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I don't entirely understand the process of ascension. Supposedly when one is taken to Celestia...this happens. Having undergone this process I think we evolve.
Not everything in our world that evolves is human or humans stay as they were. The Falcon of the West was a human woman in her mortal life. Why this is and why Celestia controls the process, [He sits down as another spark makes him twitch. Damn it. This is annoying. Technically he could fight on through it but he doesn't have the desire to fight right now.] I don't know.
But what you explained about a primal and about what just happened? Do you feel excess Cryo energy here?
[It's all gone. There's only the low-grade cryo energy of Coetheras.] But I am not an Archon. There must be something else involved with that. I bet it has something to do with Celestia and the Archon War. Nothing that helps us right now.
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What reason could this Celestia have to steal that from people? To have more thralls to enact their will unquestioned?
His tail flicked and a shiver went down his spine. He brushed it off as the cold setting in, hiding the brief image of the Mothercrystal in his mind far away. While he looked calm on the surface his tail kept twitching and he dropped his arms, clenching one fist behind his leg even as he spoke.]
The energy is as it once was. You seem to have taken it into yourself. [A pause.] You are fortunate to have only lost yourself for a moment. I would rather not have had to kill you if we knew we would learn nothing.
[Takame sat down as well, breathing deep of the cold air through his nose, exhaling slowly through his mouth where a cloud followed.] ... Forgive me. I mustn't say such things. [He's quiet again as he racked his brain to try and come up with something more... optimistic to day. What would Hina do...]
... 'Tis better the energy lies within you than within the Abyss Order.
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There's nothing wrong with saying the unspoken out loud. I expected you to kill me if I was too big of a threat. I'd have killed you if it were the reverse. [His ears twitch and he reaches down, petting his own tail. It's soothing.]
...when I was lost I was focused on survival. My duty to return home. [His left ear pops up and swivels as he listens for a moment. Nothing coming.] We've learned a great deal in one really foolish plan. I'd say mission accomplished. I'll be able to break it all down after we get out of here.
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