[ closed ]

[futurologists]

CHARACTERS: NPC, Rin, and whoever comes along with her.
DATE: May 11th.
WARNINGS: n/a
SUMMARY: A brief NPC encounter.

There is a quiet place within the gardens at the city center, already discovered by at least one recruit marooned on the island. This empty, carefully maintained stone garden with its level, clean sand and complete absence of coral or other incidental sea life was empty then, but it is not so now. Now a figure sits on the stone bench in the middle, head bowed.

She is a Dakal, that much is apparent. But while the Dakal in the broadcast shown by Koltira had been primarily colored in shades of brown and orange, this one is a stormy bluish gray, as if the colors had all been washed from her. Her eyes glow with a steady deep blue, as a light seen shining up from the depths of a dark sea.

She will not move if approached, not even to look up from staring evenly and distantly at the beautifully smooth and undisturbed sand underfoot.

Comments

[dairekka]

When the Dakal moves, Yukimura tenses instinctively. It was fairly suspicious, even to him with his limited knowledge on what has been happening here - he'd received a briefing, the others had lived and experienced it before he'd arrived - that someone so connected to them had been willing to speak with them. Not without wanting something in return.

That this was all connected to raising the dead is a surprise. Bringing the dead back to life is... well, everyone wishes to cheat death and attain immortality. Whether it's a good thing or not is the big question. Regardless of how much the Dakal wishes to bring her friends and family back, she will not get far if she tries to threaten them physically. That's why Yukimura is here, as far as he's concerned.

"How do her gifts work?" Something as big as bringing the dead back to life can't come free. "What is the cost, to you or to others?" She mentioned 'taking Nalanni', but that doesn't cover the extent of what it takes to secure this Ryba's favour.

[defenceless]

Subtly, before she realizes her feet are moving, Rin steps back and a little closer to Yukimura's side. In one way it's exactly as intended—a response to the Dakal's intermittent frustration and request for cover in the instance of an attack—but no one worried about dying glares right back at a phantom cat with this much heat. She grits her teeth. She chews on her bottom lip, until she can't restrain it anymore and she needs to say something; she probably gives the impression there are many things she wants to say, simmering beneath the surface.

"Ryba demands the most dire prices of all." It's not an attempt to answer Yukimura's question over the Dakal's own response, but their teammates who ventured undersea hardly returned with good news about the sea goddess' generosity. Her tone reveals how safe and trustworthy an option Rin blatantly believes Ryba to be—mainly, that there is plenty of room for doubt.

"We will do what we must. A god absorbing the power of another god can very well shatter this entire world."

Ryba is the sea. Nalanni is the land. She recalls the conclusions she was left with from Achilles' and Helga's broadcast to the network, that without either one everything may split at the seams.

Her brow furrows, but for now she remains mostly silent.

[futurologists]

"My people have paid their prices already, and Nalanni is paying hers."

She is aware, dimly, that this means the ebbing of the Gifts of Nalanni in the Nalawi. It is no concern of hers, it hardly registers as anything to note. Her attention shifts back to Rin from Yukimura.

"Ryba will not leave Nalanni dead," she murmurs, "Weakened, mortal. Not dead. And with that power absorbed, she will return my people to our home, as she has me." Her arms spread, a move of helpless beseeching. "Please. Allow me this. I ask nothing more."

[headlining]

Keats doesn't tense like the other two. He barely even flinches - his eyes never leave the cat's face, his face unreadable. He's hardly going to allow fear to dictate his actions. He's faced off against monsters, creatures, leaders of realms that are far beyond his expertise, and not once did he ever back down. If she wants to attack him, go ahead. He's ready to resist, if necessary.

He lets out a sigh, speaking up with a shake of his head.

"I can't imagine the unimaginable amount tragedy you must have gone through. How many people, how many children must have perished in that attack. I can certainly understand your need to set things right."

He then frowns, his tone suddenly becoming stern. His glasses glint in the light, obscuring his eyes.

"...But, tell me, how do you guarantee that Ryba will honor her promise? What will prevent her from sating her bloodlust and dealing the final blow? She may be willing to spare Nalanni, yes, but when the time comes, how will you ensure that when she attacks her adversary, she won't demolish the world in her wake?"

[futurologists]

Keats has her attention next. She bows her head slightly at the sympathetic words, otherwise largely impassive. The loss is no less painful to her now than when it was fresh, but it is still an old one, a familiar pain. Silence meets his question for some time, and she does not look up again as finally she breaks it.

"I believe. I believe Ryba has no wish to end this world and rule over nothing. She has been kind to me when all I knew burned and washed away, and I believe she will hold true to her word."

She has no choice to believe, as well.

[defenceless]

Look at that. Keats can be surprising in his composure. His thoughts are her own, if far better shared, and Rin's eyes flit self-consciously to him before her tension runs out of her and at this moment, the emotions she wears unconcealed on her face speak to compassion for the Dakal's plight. Too much compassion. Just as she couldn't hide her irritation, she's unable to mask the sympathy; she had to go and plead with them, and to her own detriment this magus is weak to that.

What she truly wishes to ask, she does not. Is the life you have now really life? Is this unnatural existence better for your loved ones than death?

Instead, she promises, "You can take it as a guarantee that what you've told us will be shared with the rest of our team, and we'll do everything in our power for the Dakal, too." It's not unheard of that returning an entire race to life is somehow in the cards, however it happens. She's familiar with enough great magic to be aware of the feats possible. "We can't come together and help bring you justice when we're separated like this, though. Whatever's happening in this world, we're losing energy, ourselves... Some of us will die, or fade away... It matters little when nothing save our interference would prevent you from realizing your goal."

She doesn't mean to compare their troubles to the Dakal's, so Rin shakes her head as if to prove that. They can survive.

"Earlier you said not to seek Nalanni out. Why couldn't we at least talk with her, too? In the best case scenario, you'll have even more allies on your side."

[futurologists]

These people are losing power? That part is news to her. She had been aware and uncaring of the impact the sealing of Nalanni had on the Nalawi, but that it would reach these people too... the Dakal shakes her head, looking restless and agitated.

"I did not mean for that," she mumbles, lifting a hand to thread fingers through her mane in what might have been a nervous tic in life. "Nalanni's energy is great, it may have transplanted your own... Perhaps that can be undone..."

She trails off, thoughtful, but draws her attention back to Rin again slowly.

"You cannot speak with her. The ritual cannot be interrupted for that. But I can reunite you with the rest."

She lifts an arm, holds it for a moment, and draws it back down swiftly. The storm around the island reacts instantly, dissipating into innocent blue skies in seconds.

[dairekka]

"You don't know if this power loss will be permanent or not?"

That is... not the most reassuring thing to hear. Yukimura can understand that the Dakal wouldn't care what would happen to the Nalawi, but the effects have been more wide reaching than she'd initial thought. If this causes lasting damage to their own powers, what will that mean for them?

Although his attention is diverted by how quickly the storm is dispersed - leaving behind bright blue skies he'd almost forgotten existed here. He exhales a little sharply, and glances over at the almost eerie peace now reigning over the island. It's true, getting back will be a lot easier like this, but he doesn't feel like his head is any clearer about what they need to do - two gods, as bad as each other. Are they meant to pick a side and throw their support at it, or are they meant to stop one or both of them?

[futurologists]

She only shakes her head, treading for the first time on ground unfamiliar to her. "You are not from this world, I have not seen anything like this before. But... I will do what I can to undo your loss."

[defenceless]

Rin chirps up once more, in a steady, even voice.

"Do what you have to do. And only what you want to do, and what you think is right. If they really don't want us to die, the people in charge of us will just pull us out of here."

It's precisely what it sounds like: she's brushing off the offer of help. In Rin's view of it, their purpose isn't to thread their own concerns in with the Dakal's. No one could compare their hardships or understand all the Dakal has gone through aside from herself. Still, there's another reason why she states what she does.

"... You have to know most of the Nalawi living now are innocent of whatever happened to your kin. They're suffering the loss of their gifts as well, so like us, those innocents are pretty much the same. I've held hands with their children, Dakal."

Even so, when the storm clears, there is a wavering of something in Rin's eyes—some sort of swell of happiness, or pleasant sentiment. Archer. She can see Archer again. She struggles to fix her attention on the Dakal, faintly trembling with her relief, but she manages it. And she suggests an idea that might be out of place—just "Dakal" or "that Dakal" fits weird on the tongue.

"Never mind any of that. Can we have your name? We have to know who to thank."

[futurologists]

Rin's suggestion of mercy doesn't sit very well with her, by the slow lash of her tail. But nonetheless: "I have no qualm with the Nalawi. But if the choice is between bringing back my people and returning them their Gifts, then it is no choice at all."

She turns away, toward the opposite end of the small rock garden, and when she starts forward in slow steps her feet leave no prints in the sand. "I must return. Please, tell them it is Pomarr who wishes she had not had to impose to bring her message."

Her form fades out before she's gone more than five steps.