come_sailaway | JUNE EVENT: CAMP

early on June 10th, Friday's morning announcements end with a request for everyone going on the latest excursion to meet her in the atrium. she seems in noticeably better spirits than she had been last time, and she leads them cheerfully to the tender. once they are all aboard, and the door is securely shut, the interior fills with gas, and, perhaps, their last thought before they slip into unconsciousness is "oh shit, not again."

passengers wake up on a rickety old school bus, driving down a dirt road surrounded by woods. what is it that they notice first? that, no matter what they were wearing before, they are now wearing a camp t-shirt and legitimately horrifyingly short shorts? the overstuffed backpack between their knees? the words "take one down and pass it around" dying on their lips? the fact that Friday is absolutely driving the bus?

or, maybe the fact that it's already slowing down, pulling up in front of a massive wooden sign, saying:

CAMP AION

when they get out of the bus, Friday is the one to divide them up into their cabin groups, and she is the one to give the counselors their very official-looking clipboards and whistles. she explains that they are in charge, and that she will be back to pick them up in a week, and... very little else. she responds to nothing outside of whatever is on her unseen little script, and she gets back on the bus shortly after, leaving them there.

welcome to camp. let's make some summer memories!

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[Ebalon nuzzles his nose into Mizuki's cheek. Shh. No jealous.]

Lady Harnier is very much involved with Master Solace. Don't worry. [~~KoG might not make them canon but I fucking will.~~] The last I saw Lady Harnier, her memory problems had regressed slightly... [That was five hundred years ago. Who knows if she's still alive?] Other than that, she was still as energetic as ever.

[ Less jealous, more affection. It's still a little bit there, though?! He learned a Whole Ass Class Of Magic for the lady. It's very kind of him and Mizuki is very impressed, but also… ]

Oh. Were you able to help with that at all? Do you think you could eventually fix it altogether, or…?

[Yeah he definitely super didn't know it before meeting her obviously he would never do that, he would never be really old and start nuking memories of people for shits and gigs, he's not fascinated with the Illuminous Phenomenon in an unhinged psychopath way. Ebalon is normal!]

I believe I was able to stave off some of the effects, [but only for research purposes] though I doubt this is something that can be fixed. I, unfortunately, have not yet found a way to stand on the pedestal of the Gods.

[...yet.]

[ Well, maybe if Ebalon weren't a heckin' liar, Mizuki wouldn't think that it were true! ]

Are gods really so powerful that people cannot match their ability?

[ Gods on Terra are very powerful and literally immortal to the point nothing can kill them fully, merely put them to sleep or split them into pieces, but still, the fact people are able to do those things just makes Mizuki believe they're not hot shit or anything like that. ]

You're correct. It would be... well, as it stands now, almost impossible for one to do so. So, if a deity wrongs you, as Ishmael does to the El Lady... what do we, as people, do?

[Not that he cares much about that in particular, but it's the principle of the matter; Ebalon seeks power at every avenue, and if becoming a God or something akin to it is what will take out everything untouched by Henir? That's what he'll do.]

Manipulation of the realms of time and space seem the most likely answer to me. I would prefer to be in charge of my own destiny than have a God control it, as much as I do respect and revere Henir. Power over space and time would allow that much.

[He's going to stop there because if he goes further, he'll start sounding as psychotic as he actually is. On the tin, everyone would love to be able to stop time or rewind it when they make a mistake, to fix something broken, to make a different choice. It's a natural thing to want.

Anything else — nuking entire worlds, letting Henir's Space bleed into Elrios to consume it, power gained from things like the Seed of Life and Henir's touch... that's a topic for another time, perhaps. Can't introduce too much at once.]

[ Well, Mizuki has no interest in godhood personally. He doesn't see why the Captain would want it so badly, or anyone else for that matter. He's met fragments of gods, he knows the downfall of many, he's seen the chaos they plague the world with, and, of course, he has one that muddles all the thoughts in his brain. That one is a recent revelation, admittedly, and he isn't sure how he feels about it even now. Can he trust his thoughts? How does he know all of them aren't just filtered through that of Genesezoic?

Well, he knows one thought isn't. Fuck shit gods and their stupid bullshit. ~~Mizuki would still only use time abilities to make naps longer.~~

Mizuki shuffles himself over Ebalon full now, lying on his stomach and crossing his arms over his chest so he can flop his chin against it as he just stares Ebalon down in some attempt to gather his thoughts. For a while, there's no words, simply just bathing in the blue bioluminescence. "In charge of my own destiny than have a God control it," yet Mizuki's struggling with this on a constant basis. He wonders now if Ebalon sees less of him because of this? If he thinks Mizuki is weak for being unable to shake it's hold on him. ]

… I think… in terms of what they should do, people can have enough fortitude… sometimes. It was a theory I tested back on Terra…

[Mizuki gets arms lazily wrapping around his waist for that one. He has to appreciate this glowstick of a jellyfish he keeps at his side before the silence breaks, after all.]

A theory? Would you tell me more?

[Ebalon would never think Mizuki is lesser, by the by, because he's just that far gone. Shaking a God's hold on anybody is difficult as it is; Harnier had lived for this long, so he has to admit that he kind of admires the tenacity and will to live. He can't judge, he can only dream of wresting that sort of power away from deities and having it for himself.

Or, at least, nuking anything he doesn't like to tiny pieces. Depends on the day.]

Of course. I wanted to find out how to make people better. I know, for a fact, that everyone has good in them. Even the truly evil monsters can eventually dispose of those parts of themselves, but sometimes it's just a matter of if it's worth it to let them do that in return for any innocent lives they would take in turn. [ The trolley problem. ] But I wanted to find out if there's a way to expedite that process. I thought… fortitude would be the way to go. After all, those who have courage in the face of peril and true trauma… are they not valiant? Do they not learn humility and what it means to truly be alive? [ Beat. ] But I didn't know what was true fortitude at the time: calmly accepting one's fate in the eyes of demise, or fighting to survive no matter what the cost may be? Does one's will to live extend into fortitude?

[ Hopefully everyone else in the cabin is asleep or not around because Mizuki is saying some seriously fucked up shit here that he doesn't realize is actually all that fucked up. ]

Of course, people tend to choose the latter option out of instincts, but most specimens have confirmed that instinct alone cannot give rise to true fortitude. Those who choose to swallow the contents of the box I give them in order to continue to live are easily lose their way or become unable to continue my testing. Ah— Not by means of death, don't think that. They survive! And they even have a healthier body and constitution that consumes fewer resources. However, I was never truly able to figure out if this counted as making their "self" better or not… but my theory is that those that truly attempted to achieve their maximum potential could do so with enough effort. I saw the beginnings of such in those people. Obviously, I cannot bring… [ 'the wrath of a god…' maybe that's not exactly true anymore. ] …I cannot see if more strain that I can provide will elicit anything more than strong will, but I believe that can truly be enough to even fight the gods.

JUNE EVENT: CAMP

CAMP AION

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