heartofthestar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heartofthestar) wrote2024-01-09 08:37 pm
heartofthestar) wrote2024-01-09 08:37 pm
Labyrinthium Inbox
Feel.
Think.
Call.
Message.
Feel.
Think.
Call.
Message.
Only the rarest of men would not. Whether or not that desire shall drive him further than curiosity, I cannot say. [Venat lowers her head slightly, breathes a sigh.] I told him one thing I felt necessary, given his last memories of our world and time, for I suspect the question of Zodiark's success would plague him had he no answer. The rest I declined, but I have told so many others candidly and without deception that I cannot think he will avoid discovering the full tale overlong, will he or no.
[She cannot undo the past, nor would she if given the chance, but this is quite the troublesome outcome. But, after that somber moment, Venat perks up again slightly.]
However, I have little fear of long-term possible repercussions. He cannot change what has happened, by virtue of my presence here. Should he be returned with full memory of all he could learn, he could cleave the timeline, but that would not undo all that has come to pass in this one. I do not believe him to at this point be so ruled by emotion that he would attack me here nonetheless, but even should he do so after regaining his full strength, I am superior to him in that respect.
[This is not braggadocio on her part. The Seat of Lahabrea is that of creation principles; in experience with actual battle and strife, it cannot compete with the Seat of Azem, nor its former holder.]
[She cannot undo the past, nor would she if given the chance, but this is quite the troublesome outcome. But, after that somber moment, Venat perks up again slightly.]
However, I have little fear of long-term possible repercussions. He cannot change what has happened, by virtue of my presence here. Should he be returned with full memory of all he could learn, he could cleave the timeline, but that would not undo all that has come to pass in this one. I do not believe him to at this point be so ruled by emotion that he would attack me here nonetheless, but even should he do so after regaining his full strength, I am superior to him in that respect.
[This is not braggadocio on her part. The Seat of Lahabrea is that of creation principles; in experience with actual battle and strife, it cannot compete with the Seat of Azem, nor its former holder.]
FOR DOUJIN??? lmao that would be hilarious actually
Today we are reading about The Scarecrow and the Farmer ✧｡٩(ˊᗜˋ )و✧*｡ read this cautionary tell as the farmer stuffs his Scarecrow full of his favorite filling!!!!
Today we are reading about The Scarecrow and the Farmer ✧｡٩(ˊᗜˋ )و✧*｡ read this cautionary tell as the farmer stuffs his Scarecrow full of his favorite filling!!!!
[ Consider Maruki among the rarest of men, then.
(And he will learn his future anyway! Thanks, altered memories event ♥)
When Venat visibly perks up again, he has to bite the inside of one cheek to keep from grinning like a fool. She is irrepressible, always. And absolutely blunt in her honest evaluations of any situation. ]
I don't doubt you are! Let's hope it doesn't come to that, even so.
[ Maruki reaches out to stroke her hair back from her temple, impossibly fond as ever. ]
I'm curious, though– knowing what you do about the vagaries of time, do you believe that that's possible? Someone returning to their true reality, retaining what they've learned here, and altering events accordingly.
[ ASKING FOR A FRIEND. ]
(And he will learn his future anyway! Thanks, altered memories event ♥)
When Venat visibly perks up again, he has to bite the inside of one cheek to keep from grinning like a fool. She is irrepressible, always. And absolutely blunt in her honest evaluations of any situation. ]
I don't doubt you are! Let's hope it doesn't come to that, even so.
[ Maruki reaches out to stroke her hair back from her temple, impossibly fond as ever. ]
I'm curious, though– knowing what you do about the vagaries of time, do you believe that that's possible? Someone returning to their true reality, retaining what they've learned here, and altering events accordingly.
[ ASKING FOR A FRIEND. ]
[Venat leans into the touch slightly, though perhaps not consciously; she has already lit up that little bit over having a story to tell.]
During a serious clash between the Garlean Empire and the Eorzean Alliance, the former unleashed a terrible poison known as Black Rose. Initially intended to only kill the Alliance's members and quash their resistance, it fed off light-aspected aether, which was at a zenith for somewhat-related reasons. The poison multiplied and spread, slaughtering not only Eorzeans but toppling the Empire as well, and coming as close to erasing civilization as is possible without doing so fully.
[She relates this story calmly and without excess emotion, as if she were explaining what she had for dinner the night before.]
A man of great genius sought to undo this calamity through the only means he could conceive of: sending a person through time and space to prevent Black Rose from emerging, or at the very least, from deriving such uncontained power through the light. He and his team combined the spatial manipulation of the extraterrestrial Omega and the temporal manipulation of the great primal Alexander to send a sole inhabitant of the Crystal Tower, an Allagan creation that contained elements of both, to the past.
I speak often of timelines splitting, and that event is why. Their actions split their timeline, as they knew it would. Their own cursed existence would not end, but by their choices, they allowed a new and greater timeline to calve off. That is the one I hail from. And that story contains your answer; to change the past so dramatically is not to change the future that has been set, but to create a new one alongside the old.
During a serious clash between the Garlean Empire and the Eorzean Alliance, the former unleashed a terrible poison known as Black Rose. Initially intended to only kill the Alliance's members and quash their resistance, it fed off light-aspected aether, which was at a zenith for somewhat-related reasons. The poison multiplied and spread, slaughtering not only Eorzeans but toppling the Empire as well, and coming as close to erasing civilization as is possible without doing so fully.
[She relates this story calmly and without excess emotion, as if she were explaining what she had for dinner the night before.]
A man of great genius sought to undo this calamity through the only means he could conceive of: sending a person through time and space to prevent Black Rose from emerging, or at the very least, from deriving such uncontained power through the light. He and his team combined the spatial manipulation of the extraterrestrial Omega and the temporal manipulation of the great primal Alexander to send a sole inhabitant of the Crystal Tower, an Allagan creation that contained elements of both, to the past.
I speak often of timelines splitting, and that event is why. Their actions split their timeline, as they knew it would. Their own cursed existence would not end, but by their choices, they allowed a new and greater timeline to calve off. That is the one I hail from. And that story contains your answer; to change the past so dramatically is not to change the future that has been set, but to create a new one alongside the old.
[ As with any time Venat tells a story, Maruki listens with rapt interest – and no small amount of mental note taking. There are always unfamiliar names and concepts to commit to memory. He truly never tires of it.
It's a perfect compromise between his own belief and the one that most others hold. The future cannot be altered, but split. It seems iron-clad, really; who could dispute that? ]
It makes perfect sense to me. Reality is an entirely malleable thing. There are surely multiple timelines for any given "world," and that's lowballing it.
[ Infinite, would be his theory, but perhaps a fanciful one. ]
Who knows? The same could very well be true of this reality too.
It's a perfect compromise between his own belief and the one that most others hold. The future cannot be altered, but split. It seems iron-clad, really; who could dispute that? ]
It makes perfect sense to me. Reality is an entirely malleable thing. There are surely multiple timelines for any given "world," and that's lowballing it.
[ Infinite, would be his theory, but perhaps a fanciful one. ]
Who knows? The same could very well be true of this reality too.
To judge from your description, I now believe you have either downplayed the precise nature of this works, or implied without recognizing a lack of shared cultural heritage that would allow me to properly infer your meaning.
In truth, I can foresee no other alternatives. Either the timeline changes so little it conforms without trouble, or it splits. Else how else could the past that was, the past that becomes, the future that was, and the future that becomes all exist, when each is necessary for the scenario to occur?
[Venat has experience with this all, of course, but worth mentioning also is that she immediately identified a time-traveler absent any knowledge that such an act was possible. When she says that nothing felt impossible to her any more, she is not speaking metaphorically nor hyperbolically.]
I am aware of numerous smaller-scale ones that occurred for unclear reasons over the course of my time as Hydaelyn. Strangely, they all seemed diverge primarily on the identity of the Warrior of Light.
[Venat has experience with this all, of course, but worth mentioning also is that she immediately identified a time-traveler absent any knowledge that such an act was possible. When she says that nothing felt impossible to her any more, she is not speaking metaphorically nor hyperbolically.]
I am aware of numerous smaller-scale ones that occurred for unclear reasons over the course of my time as Hydaelyn. Strangely, they all seemed diverge primarily on the identity of the Warrior of Light.
You just gotta read it, trust me.
[ Sources: Trust me. ]
Let BB-chan know when you want to!!
[ Sources: Trust me. ]
Let BB-chan know when you want to!!
That would require you first to attain them, would it not?
Oh Right! BB-chan got too excited, when BB finds some she will let you know as soon as possible!
[ A memory resurfaces easily, immediately. Maruki blinks rapidly as it does, then sharpens his focus, peering at her curiously. ]
Now that you mention it... I spoke with Lehna about something similar while she was here. The existence of versions of that role, different across realities though the same at their core...
[ He hadn't gotten to dive deep enough into it with her, and his head still swims with all the possibility that it means within the collective unconscious, but–
Well, Maruki was a slightly different man back then. While his fascination is no less preoccupied with what all their existences in Somnius mean for that driving collective force that he knows best of all, it exists off to the side when he's around the people he cares about most. ]
Ah, how are you faring in her absence...?
Now that you mention it... I spoke with Lehna about something similar while she was here. The existence of versions of that role, different across realities though the same at their core...
[ He hadn't gotten to dive deep enough into it with her, and his head still swims with all the possibility that it means within the collective unconscious, but–
Well, Maruki was a slightly different man back then. While his fascination is no less preoccupied with what all their existences in Somnius mean for that driving collective force that he knows best of all, it exists off to the side when he's around the people he cares about most. ]
Ah, how are you faring in her absence...?
Then I shall await that with bated breath, and no few questions.
[Venat's smile holds no sadness or qualms; it is naught more than radiance.]
It is in Azem's nature to appear when needed, then vanish off to the next adventure or crisis. And given her nature, it may be for the best in any case. She needs stability more than she knows, and this land has precious little to offer her.
[Speaking of which, she leans in a little closer to him, getting that much more comfortable. Though it changes nothing, Venat knows that whim or fate or whatever force brought them here could separate them easily and without warning. That is not a call to avoid such an attachment, though; such separations are inevitable. She ought to be dead and nonexistent; he is human, his lifespan measured in vanishing fractions of the time she has spent alive. Their parting will come, in one form or another. One cannot live in fear of that; instead, one must appreciate what they have when they have it.]
It is in Azem's nature to appear when needed, then vanish off to the next adventure or crisis. And given her nature, it may be for the best in any case. She needs stability more than she knows, and this land has precious little to offer her.
[Speaking of which, she leans in a little closer to him, getting that much more comfortable. Though it changes nothing, Venat knows that whim or fate or whatever force brought them here could separate them easily and without warning. That is not a call to avoid such an attachment, though; such separations are inevitable. She ought to be dead and nonexistent; he is human, his lifespan measured in vanishing fractions of the time she has spent alive. Their parting will come, in one form or another. One cannot live in fear of that; instead, one must appreciate what they have when they have it.]
[ Their thoughts follow similar paths, as ever. The volatile nature of this reality has not been lost on Maruki since the day he arrived. Every day he wakes up here again is unexpected. Everyone will leave, if not by the whims of their captor then when they finally find a way to break free themselves.
His goal is to return. It always has been, always will be. But the time spent here until then is nothing short of precious. People he would never otherwise meet, experiences he would never otherwise have. He won't waste it. And he certainly won't ever pull away from those he's already let into his heart.
Venat leans in closer, and Maruki makes up any scanty remaining distance, an arm wrapping around her back to pull her in tight against his side. That radiant smile is met with his own warm one, and he bows his head against hers as he asks: ]
Can I share something with you? It might sound fanciful or foolish, but it's backed by every bit of research that I know to be true.
His goal is to return. It always has been, always will be. But the time spent here until then is nothing short of precious. People he would never otherwise meet, experiences he would never otherwise have. He won't waste it. And he certainly won't ever pull away from those he's already let into his heart.
Venat leans in closer, and Maruki makes up any scanty remaining distance, an arm wrapping around her back to pull her in tight against his side. That radiant smile is met with his own warm one, and he bows his head against hers as he asks: ]
Can I share something with you? It might sound fanciful or foolish, but it's backed by every bit of research that I know to be true.
[Venat lifts her free hand to her mouth. As ever, the gesture is pointless, hiding neither her smile nor her laughter.]
Wherefore comes the idea that you need ask? If you can imagine me ever answering that question in the negative, you've a more powerful imagination than anyone I have ever met by leaps and bounds.
[Silly, silly man. In fact, his question raises several of its own, but for once, Venat chooses to deal with none of them. They are just winding trails that likely lead nowhere; until she finds one wide enough worth following, far better to stay put where she is. It's quite pleasant here, as it happens.]
Wherefore comes the idea that you need ask? If you can imagine me ever answering that question in the negative, you've a more powerful imagination than anyone I have ever met by leaps and bounds.
[Silly, silly man. In fact, his question raises several of its own, but for once, Venat chooses to deal with none of them. They are just winding trails that likely lead nowhere; until she finds one wide enough worth following, far better to stay put where she is. It's quite pleasant here, as it happens.]
[ Maruki laughs in return, soft and self-effacing. ]
It's rhetorical! I know you'll say yes, I just like asking...
[ And he likes hearing the affirmation, too. It's not that he needs the reassurance, really. He never hesitates to share a single thought on his mind with Venat, a byproduct of the comfort that sprang up so easily between them, so early on. It simply feels good to know, and to hear, again and again, that she is listening, that they both are. ]
For as different as this reality is to my own, and to those that everyone else comes from, the collective unconscious underpins them all. It may go by different names and have slightly different functions depending on the reality in question... the Paths, the aetherial sea... but I feel confident saying that in the grand scheme, they all draw from the same source.
[ He has never found more comfort in a concept than the collective unconscious; has never desired more power over something, either. In time, he'll learn what it would mean for him, and while it may significantly abate that desire, it will only strengthen his belief in these statements. ]
So long as the collective unconscious exists, memory persists within it. Beyond death and beyond realities. So, in that way...
[ A beat, a breath. A promise so serious to him that it's very nearly an oath. ]
I won't ever forget you.
[ It's an impossibly heavy statement, for reasons he's yet to reveal to Venat. The weight is there, present in the fierce conviction behind each word. ]
There's an end to all things, but not that.
It's rhetorical! I know you'll say yes, I just like asking...
[ And he likes hearing the affirmation, too. It's not that he needs the reassurance, really. He never hesitates to share a single thought on his mind with Venat, a byproduct of the comfort that sprang up so easily between them, so early on. It simply feels good to know, and to hear, again and again, that she is listening, that they both are. ]
For as different as this reality is to my own, and to those that everyone else comes from, the collective unconscious underpins them all. It may go by different names and have slightly different functions depending on the reality in question... the Paths, the aetherial sea... but I feel confident saying that in the grand scheme, they all draw from the same source.
[ He has never found more comfort in a concept than the collective unconscious; has never desired more power over something, either. In time, he'll learn what it would mean for him, and while it may significantly abate that desire, it will only strengthen his belief in these statements. ]
So long as the collective unconscious exists, memory persists within it. Beyond death and beyond realities. So, in that way...
[ A beat, a breath. A promise so serious to him that it's very nearly an oath. ]
I won't ever forget you.
[ It's an impossibly heavy statement, for reasons he's yet to reveal to Venat. The weight is there, present in the fierce conviction behind each word. ]
There's an end to all things, but not that.
[...oh dear.]
[She hasn't the heart, nor the desire, to tell him that studies of the aetherial sea have proven that once a soul is submerged within it, the sea slowly but inexorably washes clean all the memories that come with it, until at last the soul is pure and ready to return to the world once more.]
[But reality has little part in romance, even for practical people.]
I cannot promise you the same, knowing what I do about the ultimate fate of my soul. [She reaches across herself, then, to place a hand gently on his cheek. If before she had taken memory for granted, his words have given her cause to mend that error. In that moment, then, she locks gazes with him, and burns his eyes into her mind and her soul, so deeply that they will last until it inevitably disperses.]
But I will remember you for as long as there is a me to do so. And even once that ends, we will have made the world a better place even if through no other way than what we have shared, and will share. That effect will ripple on, and though those ripples may drift far from the shore whence they started, they will touch and shift all the more for doing so. In that respect, you and I and we will never be forgotten, until the very last moment, where time itself no longer has meaning.
[She hasn't the heart, nor the desire, to tell him that studies of the aetherial sea have proven that once a soul is submerged within it, the sea slowly but inexorably washes clean all the memories that come with it, until at last the soul is pure and ready to return to the world once more.]
[But reality has little part in romance, even for practical people.]
I cannot promise you the same, knowing what I do about the ultimate fate of my soul. [She reaches across herself, then, to place a hand gently on his cheek. If before she had taken memory for granted, his words have given her cause to mend that error. In that moment, then, she locks gazes with him, and burns his eyes into her mind and her soul, so deeply that they will last until it inevitably disperses.]
But I will remember you for as long as there is a me to do so. And even once that ends, we will have made the world a better place even if through no other way than what we have shared, and will share. That effect will ripple on, and though those ripples may drift far from the shore whence they started, they will touch and shift all the more for doing so. In that respect, you and I and we will never be forgotten, until the very last moment, where time itself no longer has meaning.
[ Every word radiates through him. Like a clear note struck on a bell in an empty room. Like the wings of a dove in flight. Like crystalline-bright light, splintered into kaleidoscopic fractions dancing in the sun. Like a wish.
Maruki is a man who puts an exceptional amount of weight on words. Simple kindnesses spoken in times of need, genuine praise for work well done, reassurance when he forgets what he already knows to be true, affirmation that someone feels the same as he does. Talk isn't cheap, not to him. And words aren't only words, pretty and romantic but ultimately meaningless. They are significant, tremendously so; sacred.
Venat will die. He isn't naive. He has known this since the very day they met in dreams. She will die beyond death, the very essence of her soul rendered discorporate.
Yet memory persists. If not in the way that he knows, then in the echoes of all reality.
It's no small thing. It's the most phenomenal thing of all.
They are the most phenomenal thing of all, he thinks. A force to be reckoned with that will be felt throughout time, simply because they've allowed themselves to come together.
Maruki is entirely silent as her words settle over him like powder-fine snow. Venat's eyes – brilliant, ethereal, glowing with all her conviction and all her radiant joy – locked inexorably on his, her touch lingering on his face, her heart bared just as much as his.
All at once, his face splits into a smile like he's not felt in long years. A luminous thing that glows from within. It aches, and if he has learned anything in Somnius, anything by being with her, it is that it's not such a bad thing, to ache. ]
I'm so grateful your soul made this detour before its ultimate fate. More grateful than ever.
[ He mirrors her motion, cups her face in one warm palm, thumb skating over her cheekbone for a moment before he draws her in closer. The motion is slow, tender, almost impossibly so. He's well aware how unexpected all of this is to Venat; it's why he's waited months for this moment: To meet her halfway, to breathe her in, to press his lips gently to hers, like a promise. It's a soft kiss, but Maruki is nothing but steady, assured. He'll anchor her through something entirely new. It's the very least he can do. ]
Maruki is a man who puts an exceptional amount of weight on words. Simple kindnesses spoken in times of need, genuine praise for work well done, reassurance when he forgets what he already knows to be true, affirmation that someone feels the same as he does. Talk isn't cheap, not to him. And words aren't only words, pretty and romantic but ultimately meaningless. They are significant, tremendously so; sacred.
Venat will die. He isn't naive. He has known this since the very day they met in dreams. She will die beyond death, the very essence of her soul rendered discorporate.
Yet memory persists. If not in the way that he knows, then in the echoes of all reality.
It's no small thing. It's the most phenomenal thing of all.
They are the most phenomenal thing of all, he thinks. A force to be reckoned with that will be felt throughout time, simply because they've allowed themselves to come together.
Maruki is entirely silent as her words settle over him like powder-fine snow. Venat's eyes – brilliant, ethereal, glowing with all her conviction and all her radiant joy – locked inexorably on his, her touch lingering on his face, her heart bared just as much as his.
All at once, his face splits into a smile like he's not felt in long years. A luminous thing that glows from within. It aches, and if he has learned anything in Somnius, anything by being with her, it is that it's not such a bad thing, to ache. ]
I'm so grateful your soul made this detour before its ultimate fate. More grateful than ever.
[ He mirrors her motion, cups her face in one warm palm, thumb skating over her cheekbone for a moment before he draws her in closer. The motion is slow, tender, almost impossibly so. He's well aware how unexpected all of this is to Venat; it's why he's waited months for this moment: To meet her halfway, to breathe her in, to press his lips gently to hers, like a promise. It's a soft kiss, but Maruki is nothing but steady, assured. He'll anchor her through something entirely new. It's the very least he can do. ]
👻🕸️ Cursed Text Warning 🕸️👻
Once upon a midnight dream, while you opened your oracle so weary... This message came to be! 😱 And now, you’ve been CURSED!! It's real curse magic! 😈💀
If you don’t send this to 10 people within the next 6 minutes, you’ll wake up to these horrors:
1. Your phone screen will mysteriously crack... 📱💔
2. A pixie will rearrange your furniture in the middle of the night 🛋️🧚 (and you’ll fall on your face)
3. The shard magic you collected will go to 0... and you'll have to start all over again 💎😱
4. You’ll lose your abilities you regained one by one 🔮😳
5. Vaeros will come into your nightmares and force you to date him... 😘💋
6. But if you do send it... nothing creepy will happen 👀 …maybe… 🕷️
Good luck 😏💀
Once upon a midnight dream, while you opened your oracle so weary... This message came to be! 😱 And now, you’ve been CURSED!! It's real curse magic! 😈💀
If you don’t send this to 10 people within the next 6 minutes, you’ll wake up to these horrors:
1. Your phone screen will mysteriously crack... 📱💔
2. A pixie will rearrange your furniture in the middle of the night 🛋️🧚 (and you’ll fall on your face)
3. The shard magic you collected will go to 0... and you'll have to start all over again 💎😱
4. You’ll lose your abilities you regained one by one 🔮😳
5. Vaeros will come into your nightmares and force you to date him... 😘💋
6. But if you do send it... nothing creepy will happen 👀 …maybe… 🕷️
Good luck 😏💀
I will be glad to provide what insight I can, but perhaps you might be more specific? I spend a fair amount of time roaming, after all, and may have missed something otherwise obvious, so I shan't assume I know all you mean.
[Venat reads the text...]
[..about 45 minutes after it was sent. 39 minutes too long, right?]
[Well this is awkward.]
[..about 45 minutes after it was sent. 39 minutes too long, right?]
[Well this is awkward.]
[She'd known this would come some day. Unfamiliar with living a relationship, she's nonetheless no such fool as to be unaware of what they entail. And though she'd been hesitant to take any step herself, for fear of misreading a situation or going about it the wrong way or otherwise making an idiot of herself...]
[Now that it's here, all she can really think is, "at last". No fear, no hesitation, merely an Azem's love of adventure, and a Venat's love of experiencing the world.]
[She leans into him, captures his kiss, and returns it with all the warmth and joy that are her nature.]
[Now that it's here, all she can really think is, "at last". No fear, no hesitation, merely an Azem's love of adventure, and a Venat's love of experiencing the world.]
[She leans into him, captures his kiss, and returns it with all the warmth and joy that are her nature.]
[ It's a profound relief, to be embraced so wholly – physically, spiritually. Maruki's entire body sighs into it. There will be more moments together, hopefully many more, but there will never be this moment again. He wants to commit every bit of it to memory: Their hands resting gently on one another's cheeks, the warm summer air hanging still around them, Venat's radiance poured into every tender moment of that kiss.
He's smiling as they part, a flush sprawling across his cheeks. He feels giddy, weightless and breathless, and utterly content. ]
Venat.
[ Said quietly, reverently, like a final seal placed over his heart.
He tips his head up, presses another kiss between her brows, then backs off just enough to be able to see her properly, still grinning.
For once, he doesn't have more to say. ]
He's smiling as they part, a flush sprawling across his cheeks. He feels giddy, weightless and breathless, and utterly content. ]
Venat.
[ Said quietly, reverently, like a final seal placed over his heart.
He tips his head up, presses another kiss between her brows, then backs off just enough to be able to see her properly, still grinning.
For once, he doesn't have more to say. ]
[She is smiling, of course. How could she not be? But her expression has yet to catch up with her thoughts, as that quick mind of hers catalogues, sorts, analyzes, and decides.]
[Thus, after a moment, her smile goes from bright to blinding, a delighted joy in her eyes.]
I say... I begin to understand what all the fuss is about.
[Thus, after a moment, her smile goes from bright to blinding, a delighted joy in her eyes.]
I say... I begin to understand what all the fuss is about.
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