ohmyarceus | March - April Test Drive Meme

[Boy it's a good thing Estinien isn't particularly fussed by what you think of him or he might get offended.

Ergh, a contest of wits with a bored millenia-old conquering bastard who lives to sow chaos. What life choices brought him here?]

A question for a question. Neither of us can ask exactly what the other was doing.

[Would that be tantalizing enough for this demon? He's not sure. It's not like he knows many Ishgardian state secrets worth mentioning, or aught about the inner workings of the Scions that no one else does.]

[Honestly, it's for the best. There's no impressing Emet, well, that is unless you're the Warrior of Light, apparently.]

Sounds reasonable.

[Lowering his hand from his chin, he lets his arms settle into a proper cross over his chest, a slight tilt of his head.]

I'll even go first: my standards of a world fully formed is when one encompasses the likeness to that of our own when it wasn't the fragmented disaster it is now.

[Purposefully leaving that vague.]

Now, then...who was in your company when you made your trip to Garlemald?

[He might be able to surmise the goal if he knows his companions at the time. If he had any at all, that is.]

[And even that didn't last.]

Hm.

[The world is certainly a mess, but as far as he's aware it's the Calamity that made it so, and that certainly hasn't been long enough to be what he means. He files that away for later.

There's a few ways he can answer that question. He was alone for the first part of the trip, but hadn't been truly bound for Garlemald until he and Gaius's paths had crossed. The other man had styled himself as Shadowhunter, another name he could give. But in the end, Estinien decides to just use his true name.]

Gaius Baelsar.

[And others, but you wouldn't know their names.]

How are you to know that this world isn't whole?

[Whatever that means.]

Edited 2020-04-30 03:49 (UTC)

[As Alisaie said, he's got some lofty standards!]

Gaius?

[That surprises him, though maybe it shouldn't. After all, he knew he wasn't dead (he didn't sense his soul enter the lifestream, after all), and there had been quite a number done to their, well, numbers. Emet narrows his eyes appraisingly at Estinien, perhaps trying to discern whether or not Estinien's lying. It adds up, except for the fact he would not assume a man as proud in his Garlean heritage as Gaius to partner up with an Ishgardian renegade.]

Hmm... How very interesting.

[His expression resumes its casual nonchalance after that thoughtful moment, moving on to the question.]

A world whole would not be this wanting in development—though I admit it is far more advanced than what someone of your ilk might be familiar. However, I am one who has known our star in its true and complete state, and while I highly doubt this world has suffered what ours has, 'tis far from the perfection I know.

[Which is why he won't even consider the idea that it's a fully formed world. Merely some underdeveloped and pathetic afterthought of a star, nothing more.]

Why would Gaius van Baelsar suffer your company?

Edited 2020-04-30 04:11 (UTC)

Just so.

[His expression is fairly neutral, but he's not lying. It had been a surprise for Estinien too, you can be assured. Not necessarily an unwelcome one, he did have some respect for the man despite his insistence on believing that the nations they conquered were better off for it.]

And what, pray tell, did our star suffer?

[Aside from all the calamities you see fit to inflict upon it.]

Our goals were aligned with one another. Thus it was decided that we each would be best served by cooperation. I had a guide through your lands, he had use of my skill in combat.

[It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. And Gaius is not nearly as prone to subterfuge as you are.]

[Emet's quiet for once, letting Estinien's answer and his question linger for a moment as he contemplates answering him. Sure, this is the metric of the game they're playing, a question for a question, an answer for an answer, he cannot say he knows for sure this man is worthy of knowing the burden of truth. He had shared such knowledge freely with the Scions, but that was for a greater purpose, one Estinien was not a part of. At least, not back on the First.

After a long moment of deliberating, he finally settles:]

The sundering—though the privilege of knowing further details will require much more than you answering myriad questions. 'Tis a burden for those worthy, and I have yet to take your measure.

[His expression darkens slightly as his grin widens. Thinking on the pieces that have been laid before him, the connection that Estinien has with the Source's dear sweet hero, and why he and Gaius' goals would align...]

You were after Black Rose, weren't you? [He cannot help himself, getting into his typical theatrics. Arms unfolding as he gestures widely as he speaks, before finally ending with his finger pointed straight at Estinien's chest.]

Oooh, how truly, deeply touching! Playing hero for the hero! Braving unknown and hostile territories, taking on an unlikely alliance with a former enemy, all for the sake of mankind's savior! How right I was about that warmth inside your breast.

[Letting out a dramatic, contented sigh:] Such camaraderie and devotion could fair bring a tear to the eye!

[Someone had to hold down the fort while everyone was gallivanting around the First, and other someones had decided it would be him.

Though he had sworn to use his lance in the service of man and dragon, and Black Rose was a weapon he could not ignore once he was told of it. A weapon capable of such widespread destruction could not be allowed to come to use.

His arms uncross, hands fall to his sides, and he shrugs.]

A weapon such as that cannot be suffered to exist. Aye, destroying it was my aim.

[Even Gaius agreed with him on that count.]

You found the Warrior worthy, did you?

How noble! What an inspiration you are—you are a credit to mortals everywhere!

[This salty bitch could not get any saltier, though the higher pitch of his voice isn't quite implying such. Except for a second later, his own arms drop to his sides like dead weight, that usual hunch returning as well. Like Estinien, he shrugs, lacking the energy he had just moments ago.]

To a degree, though the final decision is still being deliberated. I have indeed given them and their merry band of misfits information most valuable as a reward for their progress thus far.

Edited 2020-04-30 05:33 (UTC)

[Estinien scoffs. Laying it on a bit thick, you are.]

Their progress would be to your detriment. And yet you're rewarding them for it.

[Well, as much as cryptic information from you is a reward.]

Or so you say, at any rate. Truly, what do you stand to lose? Even should they prevail, the most you shall have to do is bide your time.

[Even as he says it, the confirmation that the Warrior and Alphinaud are alive and relatively well is heartening. Seeing the boy unconscious, unable to be stirred, was disturbing to him in ways he hadn't predicted.

He might be showing just a bit of that relief on his face.]

Well, aren't you astute. I dare say when I had mentioned the very same, they seemed rather surprised. Mayhap I judged you far too quickly.

As for why I still reward them, well...that is a talk for another time.

[He lets that settle as he examines Estinien, the other seemingly getting lost in his thoughts. Works for him, because while he otherwise would be able to get a glimpse of the emotions swirling around in the heads of others via his own complete version of the echo, he is without it here. What reads he gets from people is completely reliant on his own deducing skills.]

Careful now—that icy exterior seems to be cracking. What is it—warmed by the news of your long lost companions' success?

Careful, lest you sound insincere.

[He thinks he knows something of how you immortal sort operates. Nidhogg's hatred and his patience is still knocking about in his skull, the wyrm's thoughts on the scale of centuries instead of years.]

Shall you ever tire of the ice metaphors?

[He is Rethinking this temporary ceasefire.]

We certainly wouldn't want that, now would we?

[Nidhogg is a baby compared to him, and the rules of immortals vary. Don't go lumping him with some grief-stricken lizard!]

Would you rather stone? Here I thought you might prefer the former due to its familiarity. Either way, both are quite fitting for the mummery you seem fit to sell.

[He shrugs.]

Regardless, indeed our friends are in good health. You need not worry.

Edited 2020-04-30 06:42 (UTC)

[You both are just going to be sarcastic at each other until the sun explodes. Wonderful.

Are you not also a grief-stricken lizard?]

I owe them my life. Of course I am concerned for their well-being.

[He'd be dead at best, still being puppeted about by Nidhogg at worst, without the Warrior and Alphinaud stubbornly clinging to the hope that he could be saved.]

Tis by their efforts that the war was ended. All of Ishgard owes them a debt of gratitude for that.

[We both know the answer to that.

Excuse you, he's more like a bird. Have you seen his nose? Let alone that shoebill...]

Yes, yes. They are so very heroic and had sense enough to end a war that perpetuated for a millennia, all because mortals refuse to see the larger picture. 'Tis a tale as old as time, and a mistake your lot refuses to correct. Ere long, another will take its place, as is your wont.

[He's really tired of hearing their praise, it's bad enough that he's found himself giving it to them.]

Anyroad—I meant to ask: did you succeed in your mission? Is Black Rose no more?

[Birds, lizards, what is the difference truly.

...did...did you manage to body-jump into that shoebill?]

I feel the situation tis more complicated than that.

[For one, only half the people involved were mortal? Dude, just because dragons came from another star and are generally aligned with Hydaelyn...]

Though you are correct that another conflict did take its place, as we are defending our homeland against your people.

[He means the Imperial armies, not the Ascians necessarily. Though...that too really!]

Aye.

[What his and Gaius's alliance might not have gotten rid of, Zenos surely soon will. Your great-grandson's...preoccupation with hunting people for sport pays off...? ~~Madness must run strong in this family.~~]

[Well one has feathers and a beak...

As for the shoebill, that's a mystery, isn't it?]

Complicated for a mortal, perhaps, but I see it for its simple and true nature: man's frail and fleeting life continues to rob him of history, therefore perpetuating the sins of the past again, and again.

[He's well aware of this battle between mankind and the Dravanians, and the immortal nature of the latter. He's just putting the blame onto man, not the dragons. Honestly, he can't blame Nidhogg for his scorge against them.]

If not Garlemald, 'twould be another. At least there's purpose behind this war, where as your benign petty squabbles otherwise have no meaning at all.

[But the news of Black Rose has him irritated, something he attempts to hide, but the scowl that surfaces on his features makes it a little too plain.

Fuck it.]

I...see. Yet another set back at the behest of man! I'd say your determination in prolonging the inevitable would be admirable if it weren't so deeply infuriating.

Edited 2020-04-30 17:59 (UTC)

Hn.

[See the thing is...Estinien can't either? Not really? He's certainly glad the war is over, and he wishes it hadn't lasted so long and come with so much needless death, but being Nidhogg's meat puppet came with some...perspective. He could still feel echoes of the wyrm's deep grief over Ratatoskr's death, even now. And his fury at man's betrayal.

But he doesn't really want to debate human nature with you. Something tells him he's not going to be changing your mind. Probably the same instinct that said changing Nidhogg's mind was pointless, and look how right he was about that.]

Your purpose, I presume. Garlemald's insistence on expanding its territory and subjugating others seems fair petty to those on the other side of the field.

[Estinien smirks ~~like the asshole he is~~ and shrugs.]

If we are truly as insignificant as you say, I wonder how it is such a small thing can derail your plotting.

Though I cannot say we were the only group working to remove Black Rose from the field.

Edited (broken coding oops) 2020-04-30 19:52 (UTC)

Our purpose, yes, but I dare say you lack the scope to know how petty it isn't. Again, you worry only about what's directly before your nose, and naught else. Your perspective is far too small to truly grasp the enormity of it all.

[The grin almost surprises him, but he doesn't react as such. Merely shaking his head with a dismissive wave.]

Ants--insignificant though they may be on their own--can still make quite an impact in numbers. But just like their lives, the change they bring is tragically ephemeral.

[Now he's grinning.]

So, by all means, continue to build your ant hills, believe their structures strong enough to hold off the impending calamities, but they will crumble as did all the others before them.

Black Rose is far from the last of our schemes--though you have piqued my curiosity. Whom else besides you and yours would know of it, let alone risk so much to remove it?

Mayhap the future would look brighter should we not have to worry about impending destruction.

[He gets it--people think about their lives, maybe their children's lives, but after that the view narrows. And then you have people like him--he didn't expect to outlive his quest for vengeance, and now has to see beyond that.

He wonders--Solus died, of course, and this man standing before him--even the same, had to have been away for some time. Presumably with the Warrior and the Scions, if he didn't have his fingers in happenings in Garlemald.

(Which Estinien spares a brief moment to thank the Fury for, because if he had, he suspects that it would not have been so simple to remove Black Rose from the playing field.)

After he spends a few moments working through those thoughts:]

What news hear you of your great-grandson of late?

'Tis all a means to an end.

[He says it coldly and dismissively. It's not like he enjoys this bloodshed, even if he doesn't view their lives in equal measure of his or those he wishes to save. The moral decline of mortals is largely what keeps him going, his disgust at their broken and sickly souls, constantly reminding him of their pathetic and tragic existence being unworthy of what Amaurot left behind.

Incapable of taking the torch--though, he feels that small gleamer of hope in his breast. Watching those like-minded souls fast at work with the Talos, how the Warrior of Light brought the Eulmorans to heel with kindness and compassion... It was as impressive as it was frustrating.]

My great-grandson? [He pauses, then mentally corrects that: Solus' great-grandson.] I knew of his return from death--for all you mortals are most familiar with it, you certainly never seem to know when it truly takes, do you?

[Of course he's more referring to Elidibus' puppetry, than Zenos himself. While he cannot recall feeling Zenos' soul entering the lifestream, he also cared little to keep track. A mistake in arrogance, most likely.]

Why--what of him?

Of course.

[The impression he's getting from you so far is not a man possessed by the desire to sow chaos strictly for chaos's sake. He doesn't know what you intend, but if it were as simple as that, there would be far easier ways to go about it.

And did you not introduce yourself as Solus? ~~Not that Estinien would want to claim Zenos as family either if he could help it.~~]

Oh, the Scions were full aware that whomever returned his body to Garlemald, twas not actually Zenos. Not that it mattered. He was not long behind.

Zenos lives--in truth. He rode some other poor bastard back to Garlemald to take back his body. Twas him that took umbrage with the plan to release Black Rose. Said it made for 'poor sport'.

[Hey, don't go putting the pieces together! Just keep believing they're villains, it's easier that way. Sure, he wanted the Scions to know the truth, for he planned to take them on as possible allies, but for others? It works far better to believe their fronting.

Sure, he did indeed introduce himself as Solus, the name he will continue to use till he finds its use obscelete, but that did not mean he's not still trying to distance himself emotionally from its ties with the mortals. ~~Also, yeah Zenos is fucking terrible~~.

The news surprises him, not only that Zenos was able to return in such a way, but that he likewise sought to take out Black Rose. What has become of that deranged child? Does everything have to fall apart every time he steps away? It certainly seems so.

Leaves Loghrif to the first, that ends in failure and thus he comes to clean up the mess. Leaves The Source to Elidibus, and now Black Rose is compromised, and his--that body's--great grandson has returned in a fashion that's almost Ascian in nature... Here he was the architect of nations, yet now he was feeling much more the janitor of his cohort's incompetencies.

For a moment, he's left staring at Estinien with widened eyes, blinking a few times as he processes the immeasurable derailment this plan has suffered. So much has gone awry, when it should have been perfect, he was so close to retirement! It should not have come to this.]

...That is...most unexpected.

[And here he is, stuck in this world, incapable to return and right the course! What a horrible feeling of helplessness this is, one that's left him speechless.]

Edited 2020-04-30 23:21 (UTC)

[Oh, you can be a villain and have an understandable, even sympathetic motivation. It's the way you go about it that determines whether or not you're the villain.

Look, no one can predict Zenos apparently. He has made himself a cozy refuge in audacity and does not seem keen to leave it anytime soon.]

Aye, it was. If I had not seen it with my own eyes...

[He shrugs.]

...he killed his father in cold blood. My condolences.

[And...surprisingly he does actually sound apologetic? Granted, he doesn't know you hate Varis.]

[The news of Varis' death likewise leaves him feeling...odd, yet he finds it the piece of the tale hardest to believe. Mayhap he was too involved with the going ons of the First to notice that particular soul joining once more with the lifestream, yet at the same time he finds that hard to believe.

Yet, he believes him. As he keeps his eyes on Estinien, the genuine and stoic way he delivers the news speaks not of falsehood. How troubling.

He and Varis did not have a close relationship, though arguably closer than he had with most mortals. A wall of contention and negligence built between them once his son had passed, strengthened by the look of him, that robust and large body naught but a reminder of his foolish lapse. A painful, necessary lesson he tells himself. Still, there's a twinge in his chest he cannot put words to, one that he pushes himself to ignore.]

I need not your sympathies, Varis reaped what he sowed with that boy of his. He was but a pawn, one that believed his purpose far greater than what it was, and through his hubris he brought about his own demise.

[Recollecting himself, he sighs with a shake of his head and a wide gesturing of his arms. His deeper tone of voice growing light, and far less serious. As if trying to cast off the weight of the news, and what impact it truly has.]

You mortals certainly enjoy making a mess of everything, but it matters not. We will but start again--but I thank you for this most valuable information. Gives me much to think on.

[Estinien doesn't quite understand that feeling--that the loss of a family member just doesn't do anything to you. He still has the occasional nightmare of finding his parents and brother.

That reaction is colder than a winter wind. Though there might still be something there. He's not going to dig at it though.]

Mm. And I thank you, for the news of the others. Lest you think my only concern is for our hero, tis not.

[Well, he is concerned for them, they're one of the few friends he has.]

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