Abraxis Wren (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sharnsgreatestinquisitive) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2013-11-03 08:13 pm
sharnsgreatestinquisitive) wrote in bakerstreet2013-11-03 08:13 pm
(no subject)
What will happen when you pull a card from this stack?
Take chance and see!
How to play:
1. Post with your character and fandom (and preferences) in the subject line
3. Roll the RNG. And since it is a meme about fortune, it might be best to actually roll it instead of pick. But it’s not required.
3. Go crazy! But watch your fate in the cards.
Major Arcana Tarot Meme.
0. The Fool: Starting on a journey. Doing something foolish and taking it on faith that it will turn out alright. Whether or not it does is up in the air. This is the beginning of something new. You’re going on a journey and you don’t know what’s out there. But don’t worry, it’ll be fine.
1. The Magician: Tricksters and Shysters, this is their card. It’s also the card that embodies the you can do anything, might as well show the world what you’ve got spirit. What you will and what you desire are all obtainable.
2. The High Priestess: Choice: Two roads diverge and which one do you want to take? One is bad and one good, but it’s hard to tell which is which.
3 The Empress: Abundance and fertility. Be fruitful and multiply. Or at least, go at it.
4. The Emperor: Responsibility. It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.
5. The Hierophant: Seeking guidance. Find that mentor figure. Learn something new or figuring out how to do something out that you couldn’t do before.
6. The Lovers: Confusion. Indecision. Id, Ego and Super-Ego. Making a choice between love and the rest of the world.
7. The Chariot: Drive and getting things done. Also opposites attract. Probably they’re driven together. In any case time waits for no one.
8. Strength: Strength to win. Power and control. Overcoming passions. Taming the wild beast. .
9. The Hermit: Introspection. Taking time to think about problems. A wise and inspirational friend who can help you work things out.
10. The Wheel of Fortune: Change in fortune. Action. Luck. Not good luck mind you, but luck.
11. Justice: Cause and effect. Well something’s either coming back to bite you in the ass your give you flowers. Karma’s a bitch sometimes. Unless you’ve been really good to someone then you’ll be quite happen with your return. Otherwise, maybe you should be nicer to people the next time around.
12. The Hanged Man: Acceptance of Reversals. Something about your life isn’t that great, but you have to put on a smile, grit your teeth and deal with it anyway. Make lemonade out of lemons.
13. Death: Rebirth. Not quite reincarnation - though that would be entertaining. Instead you’re restarting. Everything is behind you. That bad relationship? That evil boss? Gone. Start something new. Begin again. The past is the past. Try something different. Or come back as a honey badger.
14. Temperance: Balancing You’ve got two things going on and you need to keep them on the level. Job and love? Two girl/boy/girl and boy friends? If you don’t keep it on an even keel you’re going to get screwed up so badly it’s not even funny. Better hope you can walk that line...
15. The Devil: Emotions. All those nasty thoughts, the feelings you felt when someone said something you didn’t like, they get said because the brain to mouth filter has turned off. . The biting your tongue when someone said something stupid? That filter between your brain and your mouth? Gone. You’re angry. You’re tired. You’re frustrated and you’re going to speak your mind. Damn be the consequences (until you sober up and realize what the fuck you said...)
16. The Tower: Catastrophic Events. Something unexpected has happened and it’s not good. It’s worse than not good. It’s down right hideously awful, and then even worse.
17. The Star: Knowledge given. Go and find yourself a student Obi-Wan. It’s time you taught what you know.
18. The Moon: Watch motives. Yes. They are out to get you. Insanity darkness and yet genius and creativity. Mad Scientists and Trust No One. It’s not Paranoia if there really is a flesh eating demon waiting to eat you.
19. The Sun: Growth, Reward, Truth and progress. It’s all good. Everything is wonderful, sunshine and daisies. Go and share it with others. You know the truth. You know what is going to happen and it’s great. Party. Go on a date. Be happy and spread it.
20. Judgement: Atonement. Repent and forgive. Or ask someone for forgiveness.
21. The World: Attainment. You’ve got it. Everything you’ve always wanted, is there in your hands. The girl. The house. The 3.5 kids. But is it really what you wanted? Are you really happy? You think you are. And it does feel like it. But... maybe... somewhere inside of you, you’re not.
Feel free to tack on a side-thread if you want to dabble in the planning with Even or Yosuke?
What is surprising, however, and very alarming, is the news Even brings back with him. Ienzo is in the TV world? How? Why? He's about ready to jump up and leave to find him straight away, even before Even makes his request--but in the end, Aeleus has to admit that Even is right. Even the two of them, powerful as they are, might not be able to take on something of Ienzo's calibre alone.
The arrangements are made quickly and efficiently; Even will go ahead of him, and meet him in the TV so he can keep an eye on Ienzo's condition and try to hopefully forestall any..... unfortunate incidents. He, on the other hand, will call for backup, and join him as quickly as he can. Calling Yukiko comes first, as an obvious choice--chances are they're going to get hurt, and they'll need a good, solid healer behind them.
Yu would be a natural next option, but alas, an untenable one at the moment. Chie and Kanji were both busy with their own affairs, as well--and even if they weren't, heavy physical fighters like them probably wouldn't be the best choices to face off against an illusionist, anyway. Some other magic user, then..... Someone who might not be fooled, who has a chance of striking hard and fast and true.....
Someone who could maybe even understand Ienzo's issues as well as any of the others could. Yosuke will do. He can bring Teddie with him, to round out their numbers; five people should be plenty.
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By the time Aeleus and Even finish making their plans, Ienzo has made his way to area that Even had previously noted. He's not quite certain of what to make of it, to be honest, especially given that it's not quite The World That Never Was that he remembers, but he makes his way to castle well enough, even if he probably shouldn't want to. But morbid curiosity is still curiosity and if Vexen's rooms are still intact he's fairly certain that Even wouldn't actually mind having those notes to say nothing of whatever he might be able to rescue out of the library. Honestly, the only surprising thing so far is the complete lack of any sort of enemy at all, but perhaps the Heartless had only been drawn to Kingdom Hearts?
(The lack of Nobodies, on the other hand, is significantly easier to explain, and so it hardly bothers Ienzo.)
Main thread, keeping it moving:
Not his first choices, perhaps, a couple of them - but he knows perfectly well that his first choices are occupied elsewhere. As such, he can understand why Aeleus made the selections he did. And as much as he might not have any time for Hanamura as a person, as someone who's no longer that... he can empathise as much as with anyone, and make the time. (Although he does wish the boy would stop taking after certain members of their old group where his relation to gravity's concerned.)
Teddie seems a little distressed - and as much as Even might not care for the sentient Shadow, he does at least respect why that might be the case. He'd probably been able to start to relax, after so long without a new arrival finding their way into this world... why did it have to be who it did?
"I trust you all understand the situation," he says, as he looks the group over. "I've placed Ienzo's location at the following coordinates-" but as he reads out the numbers, he realises he's lost the less precision-inclined members of the group, and sighs.
"Perhaps you'd prefer it if I just pointed that way."
Re: Main thread, keeping it moving:
He doesn't need to lecture most of them--Yosuke has some idea of the terrible toll being a Nobody can take on a person, after all, and they all understand very well the grave danger posed by being exposed to the TV world unprepared, even if it has calmed down for the most part now. Teddie looks worried enough, wringing his paws and swaying from side to side; even Yukiko looks grim, nodding her understanding. Aeleus has filled all three of them in as best he could over the phone while keeping it brief; a dear friend of both of theirs has found himself in the TV, probably under his own power but by accident, a man who used to be a Nobody and who wields the power of illusions.
An explanation like that is the best he can do, under the circumstances. And while he appreciates and grasps the coordinates--how could he not, when the two of them had spearheaded creating the coordinate system for navigating the Dark Corridors and traveling to different worlds?--, their younger friends obviously don't have quite the same level of spatial awareness. Yukiko, at least, has the grace to look a little sheepish. "Yes, please....."
Aeleus rests a hand on her shoulder briefly. "It's farther than the other areas you all have been to; it will take a bit of time to reach there. You'll probably know it when you see it." He glances at Yosuke meaningfully, at that; he may not know what shape the Darkness Ienzo harbors in his heart will take, but chances are good it might have something to do with The World That Never Was.
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By the time the rescue party arrives at the location in question they will find that it isfamiliar - The World That Never Was in all it's empty glory, complete with the castle standing guard over the city. It is however, not precisely the same layout as before. While Ienzo has not been to the Realm of Dreams and doesn't mean to, the city bears far more resemblance to that version of Never Was than the one that anyone who's been to the real version before will recognize. Still, it's a fairly straight shot to the castle, although that too is warped to something closer to the dreaming self of the Castle.
It is, however, not entirely impassable, and there's enough of it that's familiar to expect that Ienzo hasn't had any trouble with it. The library is still as it once was, and apart from the hallways occasionally connecting in strange ways, it's reasonable straightforward, but for one fact. Ienzo isn't in the library.
Instead, by the time the rescue party arrives, he's up at the very top of the castle, and while he can't say what has really drawn him to the Altar of Naught, he knows that something has, and it's the sort of something that he can't ignore.
(Once the rescue team finally makes it up to the Altar, they'll find, that as is generally customary Ienzo is not alone, although it's likely only those who have known Ienzo the longest who will be able to tell that the other being is Zexion as opposed to simply Ienzo in the customary coat of the Organization.)
no subject
However, it doesn't mean that what he's seeing is any more welcome. Seeing it with what pass for his own eyes? It's not a surprise in the least, but it's still an unpleasant vision. Their one-time home, so twisted, so distorted - but the city was always wrong regardless. The distortions in the scene are enough to confuse the issue, conflicting data flickering into his mind, but it's not enough to stop their progress.
He pushes his thoughts aside and leads the way on through, his Persona scouting slightly ahead.
As they head in, Yosuke finds himself sticking close to the others, and especially to Yukiko. Why here? Dammit, he'd thought he'd escaped! He might know it's not the real thing: but that never made going through these places more pleasant. It's a reflection of a real thing, every bit as much as Saki's voice had been when it all began. It'd be a good time to be glad about the fact he came in his school uniform... it's helping him remember who and where he is.
Still, when Even's asking him to take off to get an aerial view of the situation in the city, he can't ignore the truth. This is part of who he is now, too. This is why he was asked to come - and he knows how much he'd hate the thought.
They push on through, heading into the castle. The sights here are no improvement, either. Best check the obvious locations where Ienzo might visit - but no. That's not where Even's scans are indicating they should be going.
To the Altar it is, then. To Ienzo - and to see the subtle indications in the Shadow that imply just whose form it's taken, from when.
Have they made it in time? Is Ienzo to be spared a fate like his own, or spared the tortures Aeleus underwent?
They came as fast as they could, though. And that's all they could do.
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It is wrong, somehow. She doesn't know how, and she doesn't know how she knows..... but it's an indisputable fact. Even Aeleus can tell that it's wrong, though he's never been to the dream world, either--he knows the layout of their once-home. He knows how not only the city itself, but especially the Castle has been twisted.
They check the library first, of course, but it's bare of anyone, Ienzo or the other members alike. Aeleus would have suggested checking the labs next, or perhaps Zexion's old room..... but no, Even's scanners were pointing them up and up, to a place Zexion had seldom ever gone, and a place where Ienzo really had no business being. The Altar of Naught? Why would he be up there, when that was Xemnas' domain? Some symbolic reason, perhaps? The reason hardly matters, as long as they hurry--none of them want him to suffer any more than they can help prevent, no matter how traumatizing the experience is by default.
It's a relief, once they finally run into the room, to see that Ienzo seems to be unharmed. Yukiko hangs back, looking from one to the other uncertainly; not knowing either of them, it seems safer to let Ienzo's friends do the talking. Aeleus, meanwhile, approaches the pair cautiously. He realizes it's probably too much to hope for, to escape this situation without a fight..... but that doesn't mean he won't try, for Ienzo's sake. And that means, if nothing else, trying to subtly highlight the truth and hope Ienzo took the cue to heart.
"Ienzo, Zexion..... are you alright?" Two names, two faces, two lifetimes..... but still, he's addressing them as one.
no subject
The Shadow, at least, does flick its gaze over at Even and Aeleus as they arrive, revealing eyes that - for now - don't appear to be the standard yellow. But then again, given that Ienzo himself uses illusionry, perhaps that is hardly any surprise.
(Ienzo, for his part, doesn't turn to answer Aeleus' question although he does hear it and perhaps he can't be blamed, given the tone the conversation seems taking.)
"Wouldn't it be better this way?" the Shadow argues. "Unity and cohesion are surely far more preferable than these old broken chains. You worry so very much about trust and betrayal already. Doesn't it ache, to know that you can be left behind so very easily?"
"No," Ienzo counters, although his voice doesn't sound nearly as certain as he would like.
"Oh?" the image of Zexion retorts. "How many lives did you destroy, convincing the man who was once a king to make the labs that housed darkness? How many times did you bemoan the lack of unity among your fellows in the darkness?"
"That was a different time!" Ienzo snaps back, and the fact the he is snapping says something about the conversation that must have gone on before the others arrived.
The Shadow, however merely laughs at that - the kind of laughter that had been ever rare from Zexion, but boded ill for those it was directed at. "You are lost already!" he answers, raising a hand to point at Ienzo, the spitting image of how he must have appeared to Riku, so long ago in Castle Oblivion. "A betrayer of worlds, clinging foolishly to the last remnants of misplaced unity. Did you think that alone could save you? You, who would betray again?
"Don't lie to yourself. You cling to unity because it is all you have. You are more Shadow than I, lost under that which you have done! Better to surrender to the darkness than cling to your lost light!"
Silence falls then, tense and uncomfortable.
"No," Ienzo answers again, louder this time than the first time. "You're wrong. That's not who I am! That's not who Zexion was!"
He says it all in a rush, before anyone even has time to so much as warn him away from the words, and the response is entirely predictable - Ienzo drops, as the Shadow gears up for the fight to come. Hopefully the rescue team are ready for what is going to be one hell of a bossfight.
no subject
He can't respond to it either. He can't find the words.
After all, what the Shadow's accusing Ienzo of - he could equally be accusing all of them of. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Yosuke glancing between them: the boy'd never known the first Organization, of course. The real one. Never known how things once were... just the scraps of a group divided and betrayed.
Because it had been real once, hadn't it? So long ago... and he'd thought it was real once more. That they'd found what they lost, that they could put that behind them, work onwards towards a new goal and new understanding.
But what secrets can ever remain hidden, these days? What can ever be ignored?
Right now, he can't tell Ienzo not to deny the Shadow's claims - because he can't make himself accept them so easily either. And as the speech ticks on, he finds himself almost wanting to lash out at the Shadow in the same way - Zexion couldn't have thought that way...
But he can't say a thing. It plays out the same sick way it's done so many times before.
He's failed. And what's more, he was part of the cause.
It's like a stab through the chest.
Darkness blasts past him as the Shadow starts its power-up, playing off both his natural and artificial senses, sending his scans screaming off the scale until he can focus enough to recalibrate them.
It at least brings him back to the moment. Back to the task at hand. Focus, Even, focus...
"It's a powerful one. Prepare yourselves."