[Hayame's sense of Communion is icy and cold, like snowy wind howling through the mountain peaks. The things that are warm, her weaknesses, her cares, they are hidden away and guarded carefully beneath the snow and the craggy rock in caves so dark that the soft fires cannot be easily seen without a break in the blizzard, intentionally hidden (as best she can) from anyone who might try to use this method of Communication to pry into her head or her hearts.
But it is nothing warm and caring that brings her "here" today.]
Sun Goddess.
[... She struggles with pronouncing "Quetzalcoatl" and she isn't about to mess it up right now. Or use someone's proper name when she is this angry with them.]
[ By comparison and completely unsurprisingly, Quetzalcoatl’s Communion is all warmth. It’s a beautiful summer’s day where the sun sits pleasantly on the skin. It’s the affectionate embrace of a god of the sky who loves people deeply.
…But maybe too deeply, considering why Hayame is “here”.
Hayame reaching out is meet with open and earnest curiosity first, but it’s quick to shrink at the question that follows. It’s not like she could hide what had happened, since Silco would pop up eventually, but…!! She still reacts very much like a child caught doing something they weren’t supposed to rather than a god of (formerly) near infinitesimal power. ]
Oh…! Um, hola, Hayame! ¿Cómo estás?
[ The way she doesn’t answer the question is answer in itself, but it’s also not exactly mysterious in Communion. Her feelings are aflutter with a mix of embarrassment, trepidation, and more complex feelings that are harder to place. She knows Hayame will be mad, after all, which is why she doesn’t end up delaying in the answer. But… She’s still sure that Shattering him wasn’t the answer, nor did keeping him as a Shard seem to be. It’s complicated, and she’s both ashamed and relieved that he’d been taken back. ]
I, um… [ That “um” is drawn out a long time, and her voice gets small. ] …Lost him?
[She should have known to brace herself the moment the other woman(?) quibbled about answering. But no. Despite the fact that she (and the slavemonger) had shouted all manner of threats and demands down a gods damned hole at this goddess to get her to return Silco's shard, all to no avail, she still makes the altogether far too charitable assumption that Quetz is just that annoying sort who insists on little small talks and greetings before getting to the actual point.
The point being...
That the "temperature" drops like ten degrees in an instant. Hayame must have heard wrong. She must have, because there was no way that after all she went through to kill that Zenite, after working with that despicable Meridian, that she had just heard-]
[ The sensation of her almost shrinking away is clear, because she knows, okay… She knows that it’s bad, and the actual story is worse. It’s the sort of thing where she can almost hear Tezcatlipoca’s mocking laughter in her ear because it’s so very typical of her. She probably should have learned a lesson in the times that she’s been tricked or misled by her own vices, but. That kind of thing just isn’t really something gods do, honestly. ]
…Well… Not lost… He got stolen, supongo……
[ It’s not a guess. She knows that’s what happened, since of course she’d been distraught to find him gone. Honestly, she’d assumed that a Meridian came to get him to finish the job, but she’d gotten in touch with him a few days later. Despite Silco’s belief otherwise, she was deeply concerned about him. ]
I was thinking about going to plant him myself, yes, but, um, a Zenite snuck into my room and beat me to it…
[Hayame had not thought that this could get any worse, let alone anymore ridiculous. Not after Silco's shard had clattered across the stone floor of the labyrinth and despite her and Voryn scrambling for it the thing had disappeared down a godsdamned hole into the hands of the one Meridian who could be counted on to make the "merciful" decision not to return him to their charge to be eliminated, a thorn in their entire faction's side permanently removed.
But now... She just-]
You are telling me that you left that bastard's shard sitting in your room like some sort of... crystal pet?
[The sun goddess had never struck her as someone who would display a shard as a trophy, so what- ?!]
You keep so insecure a lodging that a Zenith can just sneak in and reclaim one of their most devout followers?
[ It’s the accusation of keeping his Shard as a pet that causes a hot spark of offense. ]
¡Absolutamente no! I was keeping him safe, but… They don’t just stay unaware forever, yes? Once he, um, woke up, I was trying to make sure he wasn’t just in there by himself. That’s cruel…
[ The rest… She can’t exactly deny, and she doesn’t even know who it was that got Silco. Honestly, she assumes it was Sebastian. The truth is worse… ]
I didn’t know what to do, so I was at least keeping him comfortable, I think.
Cruel? Fighting to rob us all of our worlds is cruel, and you are worried about a withered excuse for a human being lonely?
[Every time she thinks nothing about this sequence of events could get more foolish... ! Now she has to imagine this sun goddess petting and cooing at a shard so that gaki didn't get bored with himself in his Shard???]
Do you think he would care if any of us were comfortable? He grows more powerful every time I hear of him, and you want to- what? Coddle him until he grows strong enough to strike at Springstar or our Oracles?
It's not loneliness. That's... No, that's not the right word for it at all.
[ Quetzalcoatl's voice is soft, but serious. Hayame doesn't seem to appreciate it, and she's not sure if she could convince her, but this is one area they're alike, but just opposed. They're both stubborn in how they view the world, and this is one that she's more sure of than most. ]
It's being alone. Just... by yourself, with nothing. It's being "in" Communion, but no one is there, yes? Would you want to be trapped like that forever?
[ Obviously it hadn't been forever in Silco's case, but that's only because someone had come to rescue him. If they hadn't, then he'd still be there. There's no way to escape it. And there's discontent and uncertainty that comes through as she thinks about it. ]
I thought it would at least be a way to keep him from causing trouble... But it's not a real solution. It's no better than breaking his soul.
[She will not lie just to falsely bolster her argument, but-]
But I am not a maniac hell bent on destroying worlds, now am I? I am not a creeper in the dark scheming Meridian's downfall!
[Had this woman not seen Silco's tirades upon Communion? Was she so delusional to think that he was somehow redeemable, or worthy of a particular mercy? She'd cut off the man's damn hand, hadn't she? So why-]
What must I do to convince you to act decisively? Must I beat you in a race? In the ring?
Yes, he's a foul person! I know that! But even the worst person doesn't deserve to have their soul destroyed.
[ It's just... unforgiveable to her. It's truly just something she can't accept, even if it's someone as contemptable as Silco. She's a god of life, and to not fight for his life too would be a betrayal of everything she is. So, she huffs in Communion. She's frustrated by this conversation too. ]
It's not as if I'm unwilling to fight him! I took his hand so he couldn't use that estúpido drug thing!
[ Granted, it worked with both hands, but. She didn't know that, since every time she'd seen him use it, it had always been the same hand. ]
If you want to fight about it, then fine! We can speak with body language! [ quetz, ] A physical challenge, yes!
Your desire to preserve a soul might be admirable enough to some in a world where people can properly die, but we no longer have that luxury, woman!
[And that is just unforgivable to her. Holding up some concept of the sanctitity of the soul for a few rotten excuses for people over the souls of all their worlds now at risk.]
When I encountered him in the labyrinth, he moved far faster and silently than any human should be capable of! So what did taking his hand do?
[She hasn't figured out how or why that was, but no man as wizened as that one looked should have been able to maneuver like Silco had.]
What did holding him prisoner do? Only bought a few days before someone took him, and now he is right back to work!
[So obviously, if they cannot even count on a goddess to be able to keep a man prisoner, surely it makes sense enough to smash them? Eight million myriad of-]
[ She still doesn’t get it, and Quetzalcoatl is frustrated, but she’s also writing it off at this point. It’s nothing she takes personally or is even personal to Hayame, but it’s the sort of condescension that all gods must possess rearing its head. Hayame is mortal, a being with a smaller existence than a god, so how could she understand the depths of what destroying a soul means? That protecting them is more than simply belief to the god of life and light—it’s a mandate that she can’t fight, nor would she ever want to.
So, she pushes that discontent away. She can’t blame Hayame for not understanding, frustrating as it is. But— ]
No, ¡nunca!
[ …Even if Hayame wins, it wouldn’t sway her to the woman’s idea of “proper”. ]
But we can fight out our frustration, yes! I at least admit that I made a mistake by someone getting a hold of him, yes! So I owe you the respect of a physical challenge!
Do you think beating you will somehow allay my wrath? That it will absolve you the mistakes of a kind-hearted simpleton?
[... Pretty cocky, to think you can beat someone who is like, a god, who has not agreed yet to that little "even playing field" caveat. But. Go off???]
¡Claro que no! People get mad at gods all the time. You're, um, not exactly the first! Wrath of mortals isn't really scary to me!
[ Not even close to it. But when she points it out bluntly, it doesn't exactly soften the blow of what she follows up with without missing a beat. Gods, unfortunately, are also assholes. She doesn't even mean to be, really, but her existence is just one with a wildly different, alien perspective. ]
But if it helps you feel less frustrated, then it's worth a good fight!
You talk a big game for a deity who isn't strong enough to slip the boundaries of this world or save their own like an all powerful immortal should be able to, "sun goddess"!
[... Is that a low blow she might feel the tiniest bit bad for later? Maybe. But right now-]
The only thing that will make me feel less frustrated is beating you so badly you actually realize how wrong you are.
…Oh, well, of course I can’t do that. I’m just a Servant right now, not actually a Divine Spirit.
[ counterpoint: fate/ bullshit, haha!! me crying, but it also suitably distracts Quetzalcoatl a little, because she does speak pretty loosely about it… And it doesn’t seem like Hayame had heard of her before, so that’s not surprising, now that she thinks about it. ]
If I’d been brought as I actually am, it’d be no problem! I don’t think I could bring back any worlds or anything, but I could do what Zenith is promising on my own, you know? That way they wouldn’t have to worry! They could just be Meridian and I’d make a world for them.
[ She makes it sound simple even though it’s still not, but that’s at least Quetzalcoatl’s dedication. It could be hard or she could even die to make it, but she’d do it. It wouldn’t be the first time, so the idea doesn’t bother her.
However. All of that is probably irrelevant compared to the last thing she casually says... ]
This me is just a vessel, yes! A kind señorita offered up her body, and we were very compatible, so it stuck as a way to lessen me, I guess! I forget that’s not obvious to people that don’t know of me, because I’m a male god, yes!
[Fate/ bullshit... Which I feel like someone tried to explain to her before, but we're going to pretend Hayame didn't fucking get it because honestly that seems IC. Servant, Divine Spirit... well, the latter is a "god", but.
Of course she still is going on about saving Zenites. Who the hell cares about saving those who are willing to throw away so many other lives just to preserve their own measly existance and that of one single person from their world? Hayame is ready to say some biting comment about how Quetzalcoatl apparently wasn't even a proper god any longer, not all powerful, not all knowing, and she still wanted to waste what she was capable of on saving rotten souls like Silco and his ilk, but instead-]
I’m not trying to be funny, though, no! I’m serious! Ah, it’s too bad that we didn’t meet at the festival, since that would have made it easy… But then I would have been trying to be bad, so maybe not.
[ It’s murmured to herself, but don’t worry about that. With a laugh, she continues. ]
Aguanta, I'll just show you in Communion, I guess!
[ It’s not hard for her to bring forth a vision of herself in Communion to talk to instead, because it’s not that different from how she might have manifested to a follower as a god. But rather than the version of Quetzalcoatl that she’s come to know, there’s some hunk?! He laughs, and though Quetzalcoatl’s voice is now filled with a deep bass, the way the god talks… Does not change in the slightest. Himbo/bimbo rights. ]
Like this! This is what I’d look like if I manifested my own body or something!
[Also, what do festivals have to do with anything??? Before she can even ask, there are images in her head, half-naked images in her mind of a man, which, sure, perhaps she could believe it was a memory, but it could just as easily be a construction...]
[ His voice turns whiny, but as requested, Quetzalcoatl at least frees Hayame from the vision of his beautiful rack… But the god’s voice stays male for now, since it helps make the point. ]
I’m a male god, yes! You can ask Set if you don’t believe me, he knows!!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slightly backdated communion;
But it is nothing warm and caring that brings her "here" today.]
Sun Goddess.
[... She struggles with pronouncing "Quetzalcoatl" and she isn't about to mess it up right now. Or use someone's proper name when she is this angry with them.]
Where is the shard of that gaki?
summary: eto.gif
…But maybe too deeply, considering why Hayame is “here”.
Hayame reaching out is meet with open and earnest curiosity first, but it’s quick to shrink at the question that follows. It’s not like she could hide what had happened, since Silco would pop up eventually, but…!! She still reacts very much like a child caught doing something they weren’t supposed to rather than a god of (formerly) near infinitesimal power. ]
Oh…! Um, hola, Hayame! ¿Cómo estás?
[ The way she doesn’t answer the question is answer in itself, but it’s also not exactly mysterious in Communion. Her feelings are aflutter with a mix of embarrassment, trepidation, and more complex feelings that are harder to place. She knows Hayame will be mad, after all, which is why she doesn’t end up delaying in the answer. But… She’s still sure that Shattering him wasn’t the answer, nor did keeping him as a Shard seem to be. It’s complicated, and she’s both ashamed and relieved that he’d been taken back. ]
I, um… [ That “um” is drawn out a long time, and her voice gets small. ] …Lost him?
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The point being...
That the "temperature" drops like ten degrees in an instant. Hayame must have heard wrong. She must have, because there was no way that after all she went through to kill that Zenite, after working with that despicable Meridian, that she had just heard-]
... You what?
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…Well… Not lost… He got stolen, supongo……
[ It’s not a guess. She knows that’s what happened, since of course she’d been distraught to find him gone. Honestly, she’d assumed that a Meridian came to get him to finish the job, but she’d gotten in touch with him a few days later. Despite Silco’s belief otherwise, she was deeply concerned about him. ]
I was thinking about going to plant him myself, yes, but, um, a Zenite snuck into my room and beat me to it…
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But now... She just-]
You are telling me that you left that bastard's shard sitting in your room like some sort of... crystal pet?
[The sun goddess had never struck her as someone who would display a shard as a trophy, so what- ?!]
You keep so insecure a lodging that a Zenith can just sneak in and reclaim one of their most devout followers?
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¡Absolutamente no! I was keeping him safe, but… They don’t just stay unaware forever, yes? Once he, um, woke up, I was trying to make sure he wasn’t just in there by himself. That’s cruel…
[ The rest… She can’t exactly deny, and she doesn’t even know who it was that got Silco. Honestly, she assumes it was Sebastian. The truth is worse… ]
I didn’t know what to do, so I was at least keeping him comfortable, I think.
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[Every time she thinks nothing about this sequence of events could get more foolish... ! Now she has to imagine this sun goddess petting and cooing at a shard so that gaki didn't get bored with himself in his Shard???]
Do you think he would care if any of us were comfortable? He grows more powerful every time I hear of him, and you want to- what? Coddle him until he grows strong enough to strike at Springstar or our Oracles?
no subject
[ Quetzalcoatl's voice is soft, but serious. Hayame doesn't seem to appreciate it, and she's not sure if she could convince her, but this is one area they're alike, but just opposed. They're both stubborn in how they view the world, and this is one that she's more sure of than most. ]
It's being alone. Just... by yourself, with nothing. It's being "in" Communion, but no one is there, yes? Would you want to be trapped like that forever?
[ Obviously it hadn't been forever in Silco's case, but that's only because someone had come to rescue him. If they hadn't, then he'd still be there. There's no way to escape it. And there's discontent and uncertainty that comes through as she thinks about it. ]
I thought it would at least be a way to keep him from causing trouble... But it's not a real solution. It's no better than breaking his soul.
no subject
[She will not lie just to falsely bolster her argument, but-]
But I am not a maniac hell bent on destroying worlds, now am I? I am not a creeper in the dark scheming Meridian's downfall!
[Had this woman not seen Silco's tirades upon Communion? Was she so delusional to think that he was somehow redeemable, or worthy of a particular mercy? She'd cut off the man's damn hand, hadn't she? So why-]
What must I do to convince you to act decisively? Must I beat you in a race? In the ring?
no subject
[ It's just... unforgiveable to her. It's truly just something she can't accept, even if it's someone as contemptable as Silco. She's a god of life, and to not fight for his life too would be a betrayal of everything she is. So, she huffs in Communion. She's frustrated by this conversation too. ]
It's not as if I'm unwilling to fight him! I took his hand so he couldn't use that estúpido drug thing!
[ Granted, it worked with both hands, but. She didn't know that, since every time she'd seen him use it, it had always been the same hand. ]
If you want to fight about it, then fine! We can speak with body language! [ quetz, ] A physical challenge, yes!
1/2
[And that is just unforgivable to her. Holding up some concept of the sanctitity of the soul for a few rotten excuses for people over the souls of all their worlds now at risk.]
When I encountered him in the labyrinth, he moved far faster and silently than any human should be capable of! So what did taking his hand do?
[She hasn't figured out how or why that was, but no man as wizened as that one looked should have been able to maneuver like Silco had.]
What did holding him prisoner do? Only bought a few days before someone took him, and now he is right back to work!
[So obviously, if they cannot even count on a goddess to be able to keep a man prisoner, surely it makes sense enough to smash them? Eight million myriad of-]
no subject
If I best you on an even playing field, will you finally see sense and see our enemies dealt with properly?
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So, she pushes that discontent away. She can’t blame Hayame for not understanding, frustrating as it is. But— ]
No, ¡nunca!
[ …Even if Hayame wins, it wouldn’t sway her to the woman’s idea of “proper”. ]
But we can fight out our frustration, yes! I at least admit that I made a mistake by someone getting a hold of him, yes! So I owe you the respect of a physical challenge!
no subject
[Then whaT IS THE POINT OF FIGHTING, QUETZ?]
Do you think beating you will somehow allay my wrath? That it will absolve you the mistakes of a kind-hearted simpleton?
[... Pretty cocky, to think you can beat someone who is like, a god, who has not agreed yet to that little "even playing field" caveat. But. Go off???]
no subject
¡Claro que no! People get mad at gods all the time. You're, um, not exactly the first! Wrath of mortals isn't really scary to me!
[ Not even close to it. But when she points it out bluntly, it doesn't exactly soften the blow of what she follows up with without missing a beat. Gods, unfortunately, are also assholes. She doesn't even mean to be, really, but her existence is just one with a wildly different, alien perspective. ]
But if it helps you feel less frustrated, then it's worth a good fight!
no subject
You talk a big game for a deity who isn't strong enough to slip the boundaries of this world or save their own like an all powerful immortal should be able to, "sun goddess"!
[... Is that a low blow she might feel the tiniest bit bad for later? Maybe. But right now-]
The only thing that will make me feel less frustrated is beating you so badly you actually realize how wrong you are.
no subject
[ counterpoint: fate/ bullshit, haha!! me crying, but it also suitably distracts Quetzalcoatl a little, because she does speak pretty loosely about it… And it doesn’t seem like Hayame had heard of her before, so that’s not surprising, now that she thinks about it. ]
If I’d been brought as I actually am, it’d be no problem! I don’t think I could bring back any worlds or anything, but I could do what Zenith is promising on my own, you know? That way they wouldn’t have to worry! They could just be Meridian and I’d make a world for them.
[ She makes it sound simple even though it’s still not, but that’s at least Quetzalcoatl’s dedication. It could be hard or she could even die to make it, but she’d do it. It wouldn’t be the first time, so the idea doesn’t bother her.
However. All of that is probably irrelevant compared to the last thing she casually says... ]
This me is just a vessel, yes! A kind señorita offered up her body, and we were very compatible, so it stuck as a way to lessen me, I guess! I forget that’s not obvious to people that don’t know of me, because I’m a male god, yes!
1/2
Of course she still is going on about saving Zenites. Who the hell cares about saving those who are willing to throw away so many other lives just to preserve their own measly existance and that of one single person from their world? Hayame is ready to say some biting comment about how Quetzalcoatl apparently wasn't even a proper god any longer, not all powerful, not all knowing, and she still wanted to waste what she was capable of on saving rotten souls like Silco and his ilk, but instead-]
no subject
[God possession is a concept she is familiar with, but only among actually compatible beings! Like, you know, a female vessel for a female-]
I have seen your breasts!
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[ NOT THE POINT QUETZ ]
I’m not trying to be funny, though, no! I’m serious! Ah, it’s too bad that we didn’t meet at the festival, since that would have made it easy… But then I would have been trying to be bad, so maybe not.
[ It’s murmured to herself, but don’t worry about that. With a laugh, she continues. ]
Aguanta, I'll just show you in Communion, I guess!
[ It’s not hard for her to bring forth a vision of herself in Communion to talk to instead, because it’s not that different from how she might have manifested to a follower as a god. But rather than the version of Quetzalcoatl that she’s come to know, there’s some hunk?! He laughs, and though Quetzalcoatl’s voice is now filled with a deep bass, the way the god talks… Does not change in the slightest. Himbo/bimbo rights. ]
Like this! This is what I’d look like if I manifested my own body or something!
1/2
[Hers are kind of big, too, if she didn't bind them, and also wait- IT'S NOT THE POINT!]
no subject
Get your man costume out of my head!
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[ His voice turns whiny, but as requested, Quetzalcoatl at least frees Hayame from the vision of his beautiful rack… But the god’s voice stays male for now, since it helps make the point. ]
I’m a male god, yes! You can ask Set if you don’t believe me, he knows!!