driftfleet | +2 nerdchildren

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+2 nerdchildren

Who: Sorey & Mikleo / OPEN
Broadcast: Fleet-wide
Action: Marsiva
When: Now!!

[ACTION]

[It's probably not normal for a lack of something to be the first thing one notices upon waking up, but Mikleo opens his eyes to the realization that there's a serious lack of... weight on his chest, one he'd become resigned to feeling ever since leaving Elysia. Malevolence was everywhere in the world, and only his contract with Sorey and Lailah had kept him from growing sick because of it, or worse.

Here, though, he feels not even an ounce of it. Which immediately brings to mind the question- where...?

Once he's up and on his feet and staring out the nearest window - witnessing the state of the sky, what in the world - it takes him a while to shake off the shock. He feels like his head's been invaded- thoughts, understanding forced into it, making his head hurt. This is space. He doesn't know why he knows this, but he does. Space, a fleet of ships traveling the universe like a fleet of whales in the ocean, prisoners for entertainment...

What does it even mean?

Sorey. I need to find him. Forcing himself away from the glass, he wanders the hallways, drawn to his Shepherd like a lost sheep. He has to be here. This feeling is unmistakable.]

[BROADCAST: VIDEO]

-ink this is how it works? Where’s the part I talk into? Try the top corner, it's flashing. Do you know why? -well because it’s communicating, isn’t it? Don't look at me. Oh! No no, it’s working now. ...yup. Okay! Geez…

Wow, this is so cool! Can everybody really hear me? -oh man, we can make recordings with this! You know, instead of having to lug around parchment all the time? We absolutely have to bring this back home.

Like people need more reasons to fear the Shepherd.

-ah, right! Introductions! I’m Sorey. I’m supposed to be an Engineer? I’m not totally clear on everything involved in that, so please be patient with me! Um, and since it sounds like we’re all in the same boat- I mean, this might’ve been asked before but does anybody know who we can talk to if we really, really need to get back? It’s kind of an emergency. This seems like a kidnapping but we’re not in a cell or anything, so it’s not as bad as it could’ve been, I suppose.

But definitely! Any clarification on how to get back would be really, really helpful.

You should probably stop talking like you're with someone, Sorey. People will think you're more weird than you already are.

Sorry, you’re right. It’s just really hard to pretend you’re not here when you look right at me like that...

[ACTION PART 2]

[Sorey and Mikleo can be found exploring the Marsiva. To those who can see Mikleo (have a look at his permission post please!), they'll both be there, talking animatedly. To those who can't, feel free to call Sorey out on, you know, talking animatedly to himself.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

My friend? [Most people just assume he's being strange instead of assuming there's actually someone there. Can she hear him somehow?]

Oh! My friend! No no, he's right here. He's just a very shy person. [so shy so tsun]

Be careful. I've heard that lying to children can stir up malevolence.

[UTTERLY DEADPAN.

But- seriously, why do people think Sorey's not alone...? That's. Very unusual.]

I am not lying! Don't say things like that, you'll scare her. I'm pretty sure she can hear you.

H-he doesn't seem shy...

[ ...There's that other voice again! It becomes more obvious that she can hear someone once she repeats a word said by the disembodied voice. ]

Muh-lev-oh-lens? [ Malevolence. Malevolence. That's a big word. ] What's that?

[Wait.

Wait.

He's gonna test this.]

Malevolence is the literal embodiment of impurities born from humanity's negative emotions.

I... see? [ With that uncertain tone of voice, only sort of.

Rowen always praised her for being able to memorize and parrot information easily, but understanding it...? She's trying to process that entire sentence with more simpler terms that she understands. Negative emotions with a literal form doesn't sound like it would be anything good. Sounds like it would be some sort of monster.

Now she's frightened. ]

That does sound kind of scary.

[SEE, MIKLEO? geez]

Oh no, it's okay Elize! There's no malevolence here, I promise. And even if there were, Mikleo and I would purify it. That's what we do back home.

[...THIS... IS REALLY WEIRD...]

...R-right. Currently, there's no danger.

Oh... okay. That's good.

[ Even though she doesn't really fully understand it! But she might get back to that later. ]

So your friend's name is Mikleo? Nice to meet you. I get shy being on screen too, it's okay...

[ Assuming he was standing off screen during the earlier video broadcast. ]

[trying not to laugh] He's not used to people hearing or seeing him, so he might say some pretty weird things. Try to be patient with him. [it's deeply satisfying calling mikleo the weird one for once]

[MUMBLE]

It's hardly my fault that I haven't been able to communicate on my own until now.

[ Well, that sounds odd. She's a little awkward around others too, but he doesn't sound like he's a person that was locked away from people like she was. She'll try to be patient though! ]

...He's not used to it? How come?

Mikleo's a seraph. Where we're from, most humans can't see or hear him so he's gotten really used to being ignored during our travels.

It's actually really surprising to find so many people who aren't seraphim able to hear him. -I mean, unless you are? I don't think you are.

I don't think she is, either.

[Which makes this whole thing extremely baffling to him, because- well, what Sorey said. If she's human, why is he able to communicate this easily?]

[ No, she's not a seraphim, but Sorey's description of seraphs sounds something similar to what she's familiar with in Rieze Maxia. Before she can verbally deny she's a seraphim, she sounds a little excited to make some sort of connection to spirits... ]

Oh! Seraphs sound a lot like spirits!

Exactly! They're more or less elemental spirits. Do you know people like that?

[Huh. So maybe seraphim exist on other worlds, too? He remains quiet for the moment, intrigued.]

We can't see them, but humans and spirits have [ Saying the next word that Jude taught her, slowly: ] symbiosis where I'm from.

Unless... you're like Milla. Milla is the spirit Maxwell with a human body.

Mmm...we don't have anything like that back home. Well, that I know of. And for the most part, humans and seraphim don't live together because of how things have gone in the past. But that's something we're also working on fixing.

I'm really glad to hear that your spirits and humans get along though! That must be really nice.

In theory, it's somewhat similar. Symbiosis could be another way to define the armatus, Sorey.

[And seraphim spend plenty of time dwelling in human bodies- when the Shepherd is involved, at least.]

[ She's leaving out the part about the spyrix, the deaths of spirits, and Exodus. But it's also honestly more difficult for her to explain. She mostly repeats word for word what her friends from Rieze Maxia taught her. ]

Yes. Through symbiosis, humans offer their mana to spirits in exchange to cast spirit artes. Is... ar-muh-tis like that too?

Sort of! Armatus is more like a combination that a Shepard and their skillful Squires can do with the seraphim who join up with them. There's pacts and rules and such, but it's more like two people inhabiting the same body. ...which I guess is symbiosis, more or less. Just under stricter conditions.

It's a literal embodiment of humans and seraphim working in tandem. It requires complete trust in one's chosen partner.

[He's not going to go into the nitty-gritty about true names, but.]

In a sense, we accomplish the same thing- a human offers protection against malevolence, and in exchange, the seraph offers their power.

[ Wow, that might be a lot of words for her take in immediately. Inhabiting the same body sounds a little creepy to her, but she's keeping those thoughts to herself. Thank goodness Teepo isn't here to blurt it out.

She repeats a more watered down version of what she just heard, for her own understanding and for them to clarify whether she's saying it incorrectly or not. ]

So when seraphim and humans inhabit the same body, they work together to... purify the mal- [ Pause. Slowly again: ] mal-e-vo-lence.

Yup! Exactly.

Also, stronger seraphim can offer their blessing over certain regions of land. This usually protects the area, makes sure the weather stays normal and the crop is good, etcetera. In return, humans worship their lord seraph and give them strength. Cool, right?

+2 nerdchildren

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