Anarion

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 3. Hopeless. Insecure. Afraid.]

There's a challenge. Anathet doesn't think she should be the anchor. Maybe in another time, in which she had freedom and focus, she would help this person center herself, strengthen herself, and ultimately free herself. Her soft heart wants so much to help and she yearns to do this kind of good for someone. But the demands of being Set are...harrowing. If she makes herself an anchor, at least alone, then she is offering this girl, already troubled, a very difficult ride, one full of trauma and hardship.

Better to give her a name, a stable self that she can cling to. Anathet is here though, she's centered now and she thinks that she can be medium, like a funnel directing the girl towards a self. What she needs is a name with power. Something that's not just random, but that holds some truth for the girl and will fit her like a glove. Thoughts of famous dragons flash through her mind, or colors and precious metals. Images for goddesses perhaps. Too grand though, too large still. The black-eyed girl needs something smaller, more human for herself. Something like a gemstone or a flower.

"You know, I've always been small." Anathet smiles, almost shyly. "When I was young and growing up on Earth, people would pick on me for that. It's silly that people still judge you as a kid based on how big and strong you are. It makes some sense, parents want their child to be healthy, but I think it's awful that children will hurt other children just because they're smaller. It made me so sad and shy when I was little. Being like...like us I've always hurt more easily too. I could feel the anger coming off someone else and it mixed with my own sadness at getting hurt and just, I dunno, it kind of makes it all worse. I feel that even now, even though I've learned how to, like, meditate and focus and read other people's auras. It still hurts me when they're in pain and angry and lashing out, even if I stop them. Even if I reflect them and throw it back at them."

Anathet sighs and pulls her legs up so she can put her arms around them. Part of her hoped this was getting her somewhere, leading towards some insight into the black-eyed girl that would help her create an anchor. Part of her just liked having someone to talk to instead of just thinking about her past and being sad.

"I guess, you know one of the reasons I was so excited to go with the Zhianku, even leaving my mom, was because even when I first met them, I could tell they understood how I felt and didn't want to hurt me. In a way that people never ever did. They knew to be gentle while I was learning and since they have this ability to read anybody else's emotions, they know the way I felt and the pain I felt. Ha, gods, it must have hurt them when I first went with them. I cried the whole first night, missing my mom and my home. I was sad for days, weeks I think, even while they trained me. All my teachers must have hated that, suffered having to be near me and teach me. What a sacrifice. If I ever see them again, I'll thank them. Especially Kuliana, she was like the person who had to raise me. She used to sew me clothes and stuff too, I don't think she had to do that. But, yeah I really need to thank her, I think she suffered a lot for me."

Anathet sighs and looks at the black-eyed girl. Like, maybe this will conjure something, some gesture of reciprocation, some story of her own self that will help pin down an identity for her.

[Anathet is sharing a moment of vulnerability with the black-eyed girl. She takes Influence and marking potential and the Afraid condition.]

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

How to make this work? As Anathet knelt and took in the world, she knew there had to be some way. "The shadows are part of your mind' she said out loud. It was a statement, not a question. "But you're here now, and we shared the image of the ferns, so you can be in the moment with me."

Anathet tried to concentrate as she was talking. It's harder than it seems! Try to say something out loud and keep your mind focused on what you're saying consciously. You can't let it drift into the background while your mouth runs any which way without thinking and you can't be thinking about what you're going to say or what you just said or how nice the sound of the rain is and how you wish the Annunaki were less controlling when you're supposed to be thinking about what you're actually saying. She's trained though, trained to focus on her thoughts and emotions and to be calm and centered. It's kind of like putting on a coat in a way, doing it intentionally.

This is her experiment, she's hoping, fingers crossed that it will get her there.

[Assess: 6+1+3=10.
What here can I use to safely communicate with the Black-eyed girl?
What here is the biggest threat? (obviously "the girl" but a bit of the what and why perhaps?)]

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

End of week 1 wrap up post! So, one thing that I didn't want to do right away, save that a certain Tatterdemalion forced my hand on it, was to do issues post by post. Issues and XP actions are another thing to track and move posts from an average of 1 xp each (and a few beats per scene) to include character shifts over the course of a scene as well as extra free XP in a team pool. So, for the first week, I'm going to be doing it all as a wrap up here. Since this is a wrap-up, you'll be getting a bunch of stuff all at once. Going forward, I'm going to start flagging XP actions and their corresponding issues as they occur. Feel free to flag them for me if you want, but if you're not interested in thinking about this, you don't have to at all.

So, here we go.

Rinley
You got a point of something to deal with and a slice of life scene already.
Your second XP action, from the first scene is actually slice of life, imo. You did a lot, but I think the core of it was contemplating on a warm day and petting a cat as you let the time go by. So you get a second point of somethig to deal with on top of it.

Dulcinea
I think in your first scene, you posited science, faith, sorcery and went to test it with Rinley!
Take 1 point of In Over Your Head
In your second scene, I think you and Jasper had a Shared Reaction
Take 1 point of Calling to go with that

Jasper
Your second scene is easier because you and Dulcinea shared a Share Reaction
For you though, I think it was about letting someone else guide you. So take 1 point of Trust
And in your first scene, I'm unsure whether you did a Mystery or a Pastoral action. I'm going to lean in genre and say the focus was a Shared Reaction with Mila.
Take 1 point of Calling to go with it

Mila
In scene two you had a suffer corruption action and corresponding point of sickness
In scene one, you had a shared reaction to Jasper's arrival
Also take 1 point of Calling

As a reminder, each single point issue is worth +1 MP (can go over your cap). The second point doesn't add anything.

And here is the relevant emotional guidance for the issues listed here.

Calling 1

You feel like there’s something you need to do, but
you’re not sure what. You’ve forgotten, or you haven’t
figured it out yet, or all the pieces haven’t come together
yet for you to act.

In Over Your Head 1

You’re starting to get a sense of what’s
going on here. You’re building a picture in
your head, even if it’s hard to put it into words.
But there’s a problem.
Something isn’t right.
There’s something here that just... doesn’t... fit.

Sickness 1

You feel kind of messed up. It’s harder than usual
to just be happy and have fun. It’s harder than
usual to cope with the little stuff.
Life’s wearing you out.

Something to Deal With 2

You keep thinking about things you don’t
want to think about. Your feelings are pushing
their way out of you.
It’s like a gigantic gum bubble blowing
in your mind and heart.
Everything around you seems
a little bit unreal and far away.

Trust 1

You are not alone.

Chuubo's GMD: Love and Shattered Alchemy

The rain falls heavier and heavier, the outside storm spending all its fury. Inside a little cafe in progress there are tears wiped away with paper napkins and kept away with veggie omelettes that are way better than they have any right to be. And inside a little ramen house there is warmth and laughter and a sunny girl with oh so sticky hands as another takes copious notes on what is obviously a research study that no sane person could possibly mistake for a date.

[Note as the week transitions, double check the OOC post before you post here, as there's a big end of week update with Issues coming]
******

The rain sets the tone for the next few days, but then something quite unusual happens. Well, maybe it's not really that unusual, but it is different. You see, Shokyou, bless her heart, got so excited about her singing and meetings with her friends that she went and found Jasper and asked her to stay over with her. Then, when it came time to go down to her private little space and breath a wish to her magical wish-granting engine (which, I hasten to add, is far inferior to Dulcinea's nightmare science engine, so much so that the fact that I am even comparing there here is probably some kind of grave insult), she just couldn't help herself and wished to participate in a singing contest!

Now, obviously, a teen girl's wish-granting engine wasn't just going to say how do you do and conjure up a little dinky country show. No, no no, that would not do at all! If Shokyou wanted a singing contest, then she was going to get lights, costumes and, yes it's true, even backup dancers! Think of this as a sort of overlay over the rest of Fortitude. There's a big stage right near the water with huge stands for everyone to sit and watch. It's got lights and curtains and all sorts of options for smoke and mirrors and whatever other effects you might want. There are hangers-on offering freelance services. The entire Fortitude tai chi club has turned out to offer their time as backup dancers (they're all geriatric, but very enthusiastic as is Fortitude's way). The stores around the area are selling (and renting!) all sorts of outfits as the heart may desire, with sparkles and sequins being the expected order of the day.

You all somehow know that Shokyou has already been working on an act, some kind of Alice in Wonderland thing where she's the normal girl darting about from unusual magical performer to unusual magical performer as she sings out her emotions, and she is a natural at it. There's nothing Shokyou is better at than seeming totally normal in any context! She's not out there yet though, the day is still young and she's not exactly an early riser.

Speaking of normal, you can hardly have a singing contest without entrants and all of you feel that you absolutely must enter and create an act for the show! (Unless you want to suffer some wounds to avoid the wish, which I do not know why you'd want such a thing but it's an option I guess). You'll need to start the day by making plans, then getting dresses, props, and setting elements, not to mention some rehearsing before the big number.

So EVERYONE!
What's your act going to be? What kind of costume do you plan to wear and what sort of music are you performing? Tell us all about it.

Rinley, Sessily would love to be in your show because you are good friends, are you okay with that? She's a little clumsy, mind you.

Mila, Seizhi is torn with conflict over being in your show or Shokyou's show. She is Shokyou's best friend, but also fully in the role of your cook right now and might be running about frantically trying to be in both.

Jasper, you're staying over with Shokyou. She was shockingly convincing in her dorky way, walking up to you after you and Dulcinea had parted ways for the afternoon, blushing a little with her ponytail bobbing and asking without looking you in the eye if you wouldn't mind staying over with her while you practiced your singing. She maybe sort of thinks you're an angel, but she clearly couldn't help wanting to hang out with you. She sleeps in, so you're probably a little behind starting the day compared to some of the other acts that may have been rehearsing since dawn. Breakfast is sweet, sugary cereal in rainbow colors: it's not at all like the ramen you had with Dulcinea, but it's probably pleasant unless you hate sweet things and Shokyou obviously enjoys it. How is it going staying in someone's house for the first time? What did you say to Shokyou when she first brought you inside? Tell us how you greet her this morning.

Dulcinea, tell us how you cut loose and, if you want, a theory about what all this could mean. But you might be too caught up in it all despite yourself to be theorizing right now, so feel free to go all out!

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 2. Hopeless. Insecure.]

The garden is a quiet place, especially by moonlight. Artificially kept as a perfectly regulated environment (though both Anathet and the frogs might have appreciated the rain tonight). Anathet, now free of her costume, is dressed in her long robes and monk's veil mixing with her brimmed hat. She almost starts when the black-eyed girl appears, but then again she could hardly have expected anything else. Had she thought about it for more than a moment, she'd have quickly realized that she couldn't conceal her identity here. Anathet was Set and Set Anathet, not a fully separate being or spirit.

She lets her heart rate calm instead, it had sped up in that jolt of momentary panic and surprise. Anathet took out her trowel and started digging, beginning a new patch next to some bushes, just on the other side of the frog pond, perhaps fifty feet from her little hutch. She lets the motion wash through her mind. The slight springiness of the soil, the feeling of resistance turning to give as her trowel pulls it up. She's going to be planting something new here, some lush ferns ("ooh, native from the Earth" the Annunaki might say) with little leaves that coil and roll like their shepherd's crooks. Old plants that come from an age so long ago that most people have forgotten it. They need a deep bed, of course, and there's nobody around to notice when a portal opens up at the bottom of that bed and deposits a collection of black library tablets to line the base of the new hole. Then in go the ferns, roots spreading wide wide wide, and in goes the soil packed in firmly, and last of all some water so they'll grow big and strong.

Anathet's hands are dirty and a little muddy, her robe covered with soil and bits of bark around the knees, and she smells of fresh-turned soil and leaves. For her, this is a memory of fond times and distant Zhianku gardens. An escape, a ritual, and a joy all at once. For the black-eyed girl, perhaps this is something new. A mental projection entirely in the here and now, present in the feeling and strength of the space.

If she really was some kind of Annunaki noble turned into something strange and monstrous, perhaps even one of these children of Tiamat, she may never in her life have done this sort of work. She may never have felt the simple pleasure of moving the ground and placing something there to grow. So, Anathet is making this moment for herself and her new friend. She hopes that the girl will come back and watch the fern grow, it's leaves unfurl and grow broad and flat.

Later, she might project an image of a multi-color five-headed dragon to the girl and try to ask a very confusing question because her first image of Tiamat is a dragon goddess and not a Babylonian myth. But now was not the time for questioning or exploring. It was a time for just being.

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

Set sighs, looking a little deflated, but pulls herself into a wry smile. Marianne and Canada are right, and Marianne is gone. Set looks at Canada instead. "It doesn't help us, really, Marianne is right. I just, I guess I'm an idealist of a different sort. I thought, I still think that some Annunaki wouldn't support their gods and their chain if they knew it was a lie. We don't need them to come out and found a new government with us as the leaders, we just need them to doubt, to stand aside for us. If a few even helped, all the better."

She lets out another sigh and extracts herself from her perch on the table, settling into the couch instead for a moment, her long linen skirt folding over itself as she relaxes. "Marianne is right though, it's too dangerous now. If they know what we came for, they'll be able to figure out our plans. We can release some other scandals to distract them, there's hundreds of ridiculous stories here about sisters stabbing each other for their inheritance in secret. I think I'm still going to work on the verse. We need this info and it is painful to read. The author obviously had delusions of grandeur. Maybe there will come a time when we should release it."

She settles back and actually looks at Canada. "So how about you, Canada? How was your night? You never even made it to the library, and I saw you ended up in the arena before a lynx smashed all the video screens. Everything going okay?"

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

She's still in her Set guise since there wasn't time to change and just in case someone bursts through the door before they're ready to leave, but Anathet is not putting on the act and instead is practically quivering with excitement! Her aura is flashing pastels if you could see it, going from one thing to the next as she thinks through different ideas. This is big, there's so much here. Oh, oh, goodness the writing here is so stilted, she was going to have to take this, polish it up, and publish it. Oh yes, yes, if this came out from the phantom thieves and started making its way through the markets, the Annunaki would find it of course. Perhaps even start questioning the truth of their gods! Oh, can you imagine, all those links in their chain suddenly seeded with a little doubt.

"This is big! Girls, this is so big. Ah! Where to start?! Okay, okay, so this story, it's like an epic, but kind of badly written retelling of the last time they tried to build a city here. There was a different djinn, this one's Caphtor, but last time it was Tiamat! Whoever was on earth back then, I can't really tell if this was, like, early humans or something, maybe it's our historical Babylon? Anyway, whoever it was they messed it up, Tiamat broke free. She was gonna, like meteor their city into the planet but they've got something called the Iblis Protocol that killed the freed djinn. So, like two important things. We need to convince Caphtor to not blow up the planet when we free her, and we need this Iblis Protocol thing so they don't kill Caphtor!"

Anathet holds up a hand and starts flipping to the other section, not even looking at what Marianne is doing or saying hi to Canada. "Wait there's more though. This story says that after all that, Tiamat's vessel shattered into ten thousand pieces and when she was gone there were, like, monsters called the 'children of Tiamat' led by GLGMSH, and they killed Ishtar! But there's another Ishtar now, so that's gotta mean that whatever's going on with the Annunaki gods, they're not really deities, or like not immortal ones. They can be killed and replaced! I think that means we need to expose them! If we take down one of their leaders and they can cover it up, they won't tell anybody and just get a new one.

Gods, this is huge. This is mind-blowing! We beat them before. Maybe the children of Tiamat are still around, or even GLGMSH?!

I think I should finish the manuscript, I can do it during my days! Then we can publish it secretly, like by the Phantom Thieves. Send it around to all the people and let the Annunaki find it. They'll freak out! And it might let the children of Tiamat and GLGMSH know that we're looking for them!"

From her voice, you might get the impression that taking down an empire with a well-written story is Anathet's perfect fantasy.

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

On our first mission, we encountered a, hmm, what would the word translate to, a Projector perhaps? Not like the tool, but one who projects. The primary creature is actually quite large, perhaps twice the height of a human, nearly ten feet tall with long arms, a tan fur across the whole body, and an elongated snout-like face with small sharp teeth. They have the power to create illusions, mental landscapes of various sorts. They're not particularly complex, the creatures primarily use them as a hunting tool, overlaying details on the landscape that camouflage them or make them entirely invisible while the victim may not even realize that they're seeing an illusion (unlike the more complex fair that one gets from, say, Asterion). They normally hunt on the other side of the galaxy and exist in a sort of half-physical, half-etherial state, their primary prey being various kinds of pyschic parasites they can devour.

The ab-Enkiji had some kind of small device that was attuned to the realms of one of these creatures and they activated it when we broke into their lab. The Projector was enraged at first. It projected an illusion as it entered of itself suddenly disappearing to hide its attacks and we had to fend it off. It eventually calmed itself after smashing most of a lab and hurling away several guards that we directed it towards. When it did, we were able to communicate with it in basic terms and it let us activate the Enkiji device again so that it could escape.

Althoug the Enkiji had activated it themselves, it was much easier for them to explain to their superiors that the Phantom Thieves had summoned some sort of monster that had wrecked their lab and that they had no responsibility for the damage whatsoever, which only added to our reputation.

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

[Potential 2. Hopeless. Insecure.]

"Time does fly." Set sighs and puts aside the remaining tablets that she's reading, slipping it into a little rift of her own make, her bracelet lapis glowing ever so slightly. Then she shakes her head, letting the snake upon her crown lean into Jerrioth Ab-Istari. Her gaze is shadowed and in the dim light of the library, perhaps her face does not look entirely human, tattooed as it is with the animals of Set. Perhaps Jerry thinks that a crocodile will come alive to eat her?

She's ready for this now, at least. She's still not feeling good, but she's had time to calm herself properly, to steady her heart and lean into her role. This will be much better than her act at the gate. She stands close, but leaves Marianne to her work. Set's role is to pass judgment, to tear down the last gates in her mind. She speaks firmly, but quietly, her gaze intense and unblinking as that snake seems to stare hypnotically with her.

"Your people think to build walls to keep out beasts and shelter from the storms. But your walls are filled with rot. Do you see, Jerioth ab-Istar? Do you see the rot within your shining walls and your vaunted great chain? The rot of brutality. The rot of sloth. And yours, the rot of willful blindness. We know of your doings. Did you think that because you could surround yourself with beauty that you could ignore the suffering of others? Did you think we would miss your role as midwife and breeder of slaves?"

Set gathers herself up and her aura is black. Dark enough that as she projects herself to Jerry's mind, the lights may even seem to darken. A little bit of theatrics to supplement Marianne as her judgment reaches the crescendo.

"Yours was the hand that sought to rob the slaves of their humanity. To make them weak and docile. To rob them of their thoughts and their dreams. That you did not hold the rod nor draw blood yourself does not lessen your crime. This is why you will be sent back. Your sentence now to be unable to be blind. You will right your wrongs, you will teach your servants to act with respect and your slaves to dream again. You will not let your brothers and sisters take your position nor undo your good works. Only that will purge your share of the rot and purify your great chain. And if you fail, then your rotten walls will be shattered and the great storm will purge your homes and cleanse your people for you. So declares Set, goddess of the reclaiming desert."

Masks: BABYLON MUST FALL

Sympathy? Of course sympathy. Set thinks that what the Annunaki do is monstrous, but when she can see the emotions of the people around her so clearly, how can she not have sympathy? Even the Seneschal has his worries, his desires to do right by his people, to ensure that the city runs well and all are prosperous. His mind is not animated by a desire to do evil, but rather by the evil that is all around him and formed him. The evil of his blindness that he cannot see the suffering of the djinn or the people he enslaves for the wealth of the Annunaki. Each Annunaki is bound already in countless chains long before Marianne reaches them. Chains of family, duty, and expectation. It does not forgive their invasion nor their cruelty, but still Set feels sympathy for them as she fights them. That is her nature, too kind by half.

Even her choice of deity is a choice of sympathy. Set is the god(dess) of war, storms, and chaos. The goddess of the outsider and the red desert beyond the safety of civilization. She styles herself a force of freedom. A breaking of the society that confines the Annunaki so rigidly that even in the library right in front of her face she watches as they fail to think and grow. Anathet imagined, when she chose her persona, that hers would be the storm that struck with a vast and powerful force but departed with a sweet and tender kiss, the water that renewed civilization once the confining walls were shattered.

So! So to think now of an Annunaki who has become anathema to them. Who is trapped and lost. Ah, it's so sad and so hard. The hatred she felt towards Marduk, that was understandable. But what would she do if freed? All that power. Would she work for change or merely destroy? The Zhianku have a phrase for that: the self-consuming whirlwind. A gale of such force and power that it falls in upon itself and blows itself out and after there is nothing but silence.

Set is grabbing the tablets, as many as she can carry. These files on the eyeless girl and the heresy (how cool, an Annunaki schism! Though she wasn't in any rush to convince people they wanted to destroy Earth). Grabbing the tech files too, she thought perhaps it would help her improve her own stuff or at least keep them unique and mysterious longer. The Enkiji didn't need to be studying her. Gross.

Step, step, warp, step from pedestal to pedestal. She's got an idea for the eyeless girl. She needs something, some maps, plans, routes of the secret ways in these Annunaki halls so she has something to shorthand directions. A way to picture the temples in her mind's eye. A way to let the eyeless girl show her places to go, to guide first and then to find her and free her. When they were ready.

Oh, and there is this other thing. TIAMAT. Marianne had tossed that her way, so she needed to grab those. They were supposed to be worth this whole mission, so they'd better be important too. What was going on with that?