[She knows better than to push herself too hard after being injured, but Alisaie can't sit still after what she's learned. She pushes herself to find the others, to bring the four of them together, all of them still beaten and bruised but alive, but--]
We messed up. [She presses a hand to her face, takes a shuddering breath, shakes her head and starts again.]
The boy we met on the mountain--the ghost with the blue fire.
The others have found items on their journeys--small trinkets with no apparent use to them, unlike the feathers Uriel gave us. Alphinaud picked up a stuffed doll dropped by a little girl, while someone in the catacombs picked up a keychain.
Those items belong to the Watchers.
We met Baraqiel on the mountain. I'm certain of it.
Not all of the Watchers are ghosts--indeed, I am not certain that the worlds we visit are even their own. The Watcher from the catacombs has told me that they have no connection to Otamo.
I know because I have been told so. First by my brother, who encountered one of them on the ship in Krankaz, and by Xie Lian, who encountered another in the catacombs.
[She's visibly worried, even though she still can't see a thing.]
Yes. Had the three of you learned aught about the meeting that was held while we journeyed the Kiln? Alphinaud shared with me the information he learned that eve. There have been found more notes--one of which caught my attention.
I cannot recall the exact phrasing, as I obviously cannot take notes in this state, but one of the notes said that Angels can only choose to forsake their ranks and return to humanity as long as that which ties them to humanity is kept safe.
It must mean these items that the others found. We ought to have found or recovered an item belonging to Baraqiel, lest he become one of these Angels of Dust.
I don't believe your ability would keep him safe in such a manner.
The question is how we might recover this trinket after the fact, if indeed there is even such a way. I haven't spoken to Baraqiel often, but I've no wish to see him left a servant of those Angels.
I know not whether that might work. According to another of the Watchers, they cannot tell us what the items are. We must needs find them ourselves.
I do not know the wisdom of asking him about it only to tell him we failed to retrieve it--particularly as he may not know this phantom of himself was even there.
He might not be able to tell us what the item is, but maybe he can help us go back to get it. We can tell him "hey, we weren't done, we need to go back." That'll probably be better than "oops we fucked up."
The only problem is we've no way to know if the Watchers are capable of that. Could they get us to the correct location and time to ensure we'd meet with him again? And how would we get out? We have no way of knowing if the path Uriel showed us is still a viable one--or even if the Kiln would lead to the Garden again.
We'd need to actually deal with the Kiln, too. I don't know what you guys went through on your side, but those voices were...really fucking aggravating.
One of the Watchers told me that they think they're meant to find something. Whichever side finds it first... [She lifts her arms in a wide shrug.]
The problem is, neither the Celestials nor the Temporals are being told the truth by their own leaders. The Celestials think the Temporals want to cause harm other worlds, while the Temporals have been told that the Celestials want to plunge the worlds into chaos.
[IT'S A REALLY BIG MESS.]
Neither side was given the opportunity to hear what the others had to say. They were approached by one singular Angel who swayed them to their side.
I'm hardly saying that we should! But we can't approach this without a plan, loathe as I am to admit it.
[Where's Alphinaud when you need him... he'd be able to figure out how to approach this within minutes.
So the question is, how would Alphinaud approach this sort of a situation?
...]
I think we must needs all make requests of the Watchers tomorrow night if we are to make this plan work. If one of us can make an exchange to see us safely home after we find the item Baraqiel lost, we need not worry about finding the Garden again to leave. Similarly, one of us may be able to make an exchange to go in the first place.
[Or maybe that would require enough power that two of them should ask for each item...?]
Edited (fucking "must needs" i hate it sldfkjsdl) 2021-10-23 05:05 (UTC)
They aren't meant to interact. Mayhap if we summoned them all to the same place at the same time... but we've no way to ensure their masters would allow them to speak. They could simply turn them to Dust, like they did during the first week.
You seem to think I haven't already done so. I began asking them about their goals and the other faction's beliefs the first week in Cittàgazze.
I hardly believe the Watchers are going to begin fighting the moment they see each other. But we've seen them lose themselves during trials or at the end of executions. We cannot predict what they will do.
Particularly if it turns out that their missing items are the sole thing that might shield them from such control.
[Which is a leap of a guess, but. Maybe???? If their items tie them to their humanity...?]
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w3; friday night
We messed up. [She presses a hand to her face, takes a shuddering breath, shakes her head and starts again.]
The boy we met on the mountain--the ghost with the blue fire.
That was one of the Watchers.
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Were we supposed to rescue him or something? And who was it?
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What? Which one of them? How do you know that? Does- Are all of the Watchers ghosts, then?
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The others have found items on their journeys--small trinkets with no apparent use to them, unlike the feathers Uriel gave us. Alphinaud picked up a stuffed doll dropped by a little girl, while someone in the catacombs picked up a keychain.
Those items belong to the Watchers.
We met Baraqiel on the mountain. I'm certain of it.
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[But she shakes her head at his other questions.]
Not all of the Watchers are ghosts--indeed, I am not certain that the worlds we visit are even their own. The Watcher from the catacombs has told me that they have no connection to Otamo.
I know because I have been told so. First by my brother, who encountered one of them on the ship in Krankaz, and by Xie Lian, who encountered another in the catacombs.
I am certain.
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Was there something we should have done but failed to accomplish with regards to them, then?
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Yes. Had the three of you learned aught about the meeting that was held while we journeyed the Kiln? Alphinaud shared with me the information he learned that eve. There have been found more notes--one of which caught my attention.
I cannot recall the exact phrasing, as I obviously cannot take notes in this state, but one of the notes said that Angels can only choose to forsake their ranks and return to humanity as long as that which ties them to humanity is kept safe.
It must mean these items that the others found. We ought to have found or recovered an item belonging to Baraqiel, lest he become one of these Angels of Dust.
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...unless...blue fire? I can make blue fire, so do you think that could work?
[Rin it's not Baraqiel's ghost fire, it probably won't work.]
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So we failed in what we needed to do.
[Of course van Zieks focuses on this.]
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I don't believe your ability would keep him safe in such a manner.
The question is how we might recover this trinket after the fact, if indeed there is even such a way. I haven't spoken to Baraqiel often, but I've no wish to see him left a servant of those Angels.
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['Him' since if that ghost child is indeed Baraqiel, then Baraqiel is a boy.]
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[ He is in a fantastic mood. ]
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[In spite of being the one to call this meeting, that phrasing's got her hackles up.]
We all made it back, at least. And lest you forget, we were also given the last cutting of the Tree of Knowledge.
Which is another item we must needs discuss. I have reason to believe it may be the crux of the fight between the Celestials and the Temporals.
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['scowled first', but Rin cuts himself off with a 'che!' and returns to the topic at hand.]
We've got to find a way back. If we got there once, we can get there again. Then we can get whatever it is we were supposed to get.
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I know not whether that might work. According to another of the Watchers, they cannot tell us what the items are. We must needs find them ourselves.
I do not know the wisdom of asking him about it only to tell him we failed to retrieve it--particularly as he may not know this phantom of himself was even there.
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Wouldn't we have to do this before we move worlds again?
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[ He is such a bad match up there, f. ]
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And what reasons would those be?
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The problem is, neither the Celestials nor the Temporals are being told the truth by their own leaders. The Celestials think the Temporals want to cause harm other worlds, while the Temporals have been told that the Celestials want to plunge the worlds into chaos.
[IT'S A REALLY BIG MESS.]
Neither side was given the opportunity to hear what the others had to say. They were approached by one singular Angel who swayed them to their side.
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[Where's Alphinaud when you need him... he'd be able to figure out how to approach this within minutes.
So the question is, how would Alphinaud approach this sort of a situation?
...]
I think we must needs all make requests of the Watchers tomorrow night if we are to make this plan work. If one of us can make an exchange to see us safely home after we find the item Baraqiel lost, we need not worry about finding the Garden again to leave. Similarly, one of us may be able to make an exchange to go in the first place.
[Or maybe that would require enough power that two of them should ask for each item...?]
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The blue fire guy did say he wanted us to take something back, but that's right when we fell into the place with the snake. Fuck.
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But you know now, yeah? What's stopping you from telling them what you just told me.
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You seem to think I haven't already done so. I began asking them about their goals and the other faction's beliefs the first week in Cittàgazze.
I hardly believe the Watchers are going to begin fighting the moment they see each other. But we've seen them lose themselves during trials or at the end of executions. We cannot predict what they will do.
Particularly if it turns out that their missing items are the sole thing that might shield them from such control.
[Which is a leap of a guess, but. Maybe???? If their items tie them to their humanity...?]