lifeaftr | Islander meeting!

Entry tags:

Islander meeting!

Who: Everyone!
What: An information gathering meeting, mingle log style!
When: 13th as advertised Here!
Where: Big tent, islet 4 (sorry Ardyn!)
Warnings: Keep an eye on subject lines for warnings!

[The tent is a good place to have this. It's sheltered at least. Shion has collected strawberries and also water. He hopes that people will turn up, there's a lot to discuss. About this place, how they are here and how to leave. But also surviving here. Helping each other make the most of being here.

They had done such things in the Tower and it was a good way to get things organised. He knows he has questions and he thinks other people probably do as well. If it's anything like the Tower then people all have different bits of information that will fit together eventually.

He greats people as they enter and will encourage anyone who looks less than certain to enter and offer them strawberries.]

((OOC: So I'll put up a subthread for mingling before the meeting, then discussion points can be posted as a reply to this main thread. I'll do a few for things Shion will bring up but feel free to post your own points as well! Tag around, do breakout threads, discuss all the things. Don't worry if things go off topic. Have fun!)

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[Laurent? A soul? Sounds fake.

For a long moment he's silent and still, because he's in public and to betray his indecision is foolish. Another magi could confidently say that they still have their personality, their personhood, but he doesn't have that luxury. ]

I'm not sure. Magi have artifacts that stand in for the soul, and if that's corrupted they… do lose their sense of self. My group had no way to reverse that.

[He remembers Hoshiko Ohka, screaming as their transmission shattered. Yamashita telling Kakyoin you would make an excellent Witch.]

I doubt I'm human any longer, that's as far as I can say.

An artifact that is your soul? [It's so strange, so... terrifying but he is still focussed. It's no stranger than a soul housed in a wireframe. Just different.

A corrupted soul meant losing their sense of self.] Those whose soul... artifact was corrupted... they became monsters too? Or were they just... were blank? [He's imagining the retrieval units, no personality or person hood.

He doesn't comment on the last. Being human is... Shion's not sure exactly what he would class as being human, it's complicated]

....

The Standing Water is a reflection of the city, yes? It's along those lines. A Witch keeps superficial mementos of the magi they were- similar abilities, or their Labyrinth reflects what they valued in life. But ultimately it's a Standing Water that has to be put down.

[Breathing, his hand tightens around his pen at the comparison. The Standing water, a reflection that was wrong. A person who was a mere shadow of the person they should be. That was what happened when a soul was corrupted.

Destroying a soul was worse than death, because death didn't mean anything in the Tower, apparently it meant nothing here either. Corrupted souls became... Witches?

It was the word Laurent had used, Shion figured it meant something different than the kind of witch Akko was.] Their Labyrinth? [His voice is quiet, but he's focusing on writing]

[he notices the breathing.]

Are you sure you want to learn about this?

[Red eyes flicker up to Laurent's for a moment and maybe if Laurent was not... Laurent then Shion might have shook his head. Asked for a moment. But... it is Laurent and he already believes Shion a monster, Shion can't control that. Isn't capable of controlling that. But he can control being ignorant. Awful terrible things exist, Laurent has seen and experienced awful things. Sheltering himself in ignorance... He didn't do that anymore. He had done enough of that in his life. He was no longer than naive child who knew nothing of suffering.]

Yes. [He nodded] As long... as long as it is not too hard for you to talk about.

Oh, it's not.

[Don't worry, he has cordial dealings with lots of monsters.

He steps to the side to have a more private conversation, because unlike many people he's well aware that the whole tent could be listening.]

It's… structurally, it's more like a Storytelling. A Witch extends its influence over an area, which manifests like the campfire or the Water. Thus, a Labyrinth. Destroying the source destroys it.

[wryly,] Supposedly it's a magi’s duty to rid the world of such monsters.

[He steps aside as well, if Laurent is more comfortable speaking without everyone listening in then that's fine.

A witch extended their influence over an area creating a labyrinth, they had to destroy the source. Meaning the witch, who was a corrupted soul.]

Witches are made from people who had given a creature their soul, and then fallen into despair. The people who have given away their souls have a duty to destroy the witches... But there would be no witches if there were no people who gave their soul to the creature. Or are witches made another way too?

But if there are no new magi, then existing Witches would run amok, no? Yet even if every existing Witch is taken down, the remaining magi would starve. It's a finely tuned cycle, when you realise the intricacies. A magi’s true duty might just be to one day sustain their descendants.

[He can respect a good scheme even if it's out for his life. Laurent tilts his head, his eyes settling somewhere beyond Shion.]

Like I said, there could be other ways, and certainly people are experimenting to find out. [On us, he doesn't say. He doesn't say that he believes the fate of Nyoi-cho would have been an eventual succumbing, one way or the other, that if not for his evacuation here he would have unfolded like spring into a hoary nightmare. Is… is Nyoi-cho still standing?]

But I'd best stop, I think your sister is plotting my murder.

[Like a life cycle. A horrifying one but Laurent is right, once the cycle was started the only way it ended was tragedy. He noted down that there were people experimenting to change things, experimenting could be good or bad. But changing such a cycle seemed like a good thing.

He blinked as Laurent spoke again, and turned to see Aster watching them, he gave her a slightly shaky, hopefully reassuring smile. He was fine, this was fine.]

She doesn't like it when I die or get hurt... [He would be the same, if the tables were turned, he would be worse.] She won't... [A shrug] Aster doesn't murder people.

[He doesn't doubt that she is capable of it. But she's not a monster.]

You'd be surprised at how people change when their loved ones get hurt.

[But realtalk. Hell hath no fury like a sibling whose brother you stabbed, and he's not eager to test it. He'd rather not underestimate anyone of imaginative cruelty, he's gone much too soft already. ]

Do you have any other questions?

[Shion lets out a laugh, a bitter self deprecating laugh at Laurent's words. They were true, he became someone he didn't recognise when those he loved got hurt. Aster had more self control than him, but he had seen her fury. At Laurent, at Riki.

Killing Riki didn't count as murder, he was a monster himself. But... questions. He had other questions. Shion always had more questions. He's gotten distracted though, he breathes again.]

Did... did you escape there and then get pulled here. Or did this world pull you from there?

[He huffs in response, his lips twitching up. It looks like the boy gets it.

Still, Aster continues to be There, and the blonde turns his face towards the other announcements being made. His voice continues to be totally casual, but it's his hope Shion might get the body language- he probably won't suffer if the boy keeps pushing, though. So ehh.]

I didn't get out. I'm never that lucky~.

[He didn't get out, he had been stolen from one world to another. Shion wrote that down as well. Same as Tim. Shion is not the best at noticing body language and knowing when he is pushing things too far, but he is getting better and he's already aware that he's the last person Laurent actually wants to speak to.

Also not the best subject, because if Laurent hadn't escaped, if he had been pulled away to this world that meant those he knew were still in the other world where despair created monsters. At least Shion and Aster knew that there was no one left in the Tower.

So he just nodded, looking awkward and glancing back at Aster.] Thank you for telling me...

Find me later if you have other questions. With your sister’s blessing, that is. The last time someone hurt my brother I flayed the skin off his back.

[Just. Putting it out there. If Shion connects this to the scarring on Damen's back, well, he's done a better job than Damen did.

He doesn't know why this guy is still being polite to him when he's slammed the guy’s head into a wall multiple times- but he's not going to deny the other things he's done. And Shion should already know the kind of person he is. Shion of all people should know better.]

I will [He's not sure if that's a threat. It is horrifying of course but Shion is in no position to judge. He was capable of the same probably. If someone hurt Aster... he had proven he would kill for her.

He'd hope Aster would not do the same for him. She was capable of rage as well, he had seen it. But she was also capable of control.] Thank you.

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Islander meeting!

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