incitomniaveritas

[incitomniaveritas]

When the sky was your limit, what do you do when the stars are tangible and by far the more appealing goalpost? Would you find yourself turning your back to them and adjusting your priorities as you realize impressing the stars was far too much for someone like yourself? A doctor is always needed no matter where you are in the universe but whose to say your little town couldn't use that extra pair of hands. A teacher is always in demand somewhere but whose to say your IPC owned planet isn't the best place to start, connections happen where fortune's favor.

Or would you aim for the circus life in the stars, a performer with eyes wide and mouth popped open—persons, places, cultures, philosophies, and all of the above new to yourself while you find your more ignorant than ever thought? There is always technology advancing where you least expect it so it would be best to follow your fellow minds, butting heads like rams in a game only their cartilage takes damage for. There are chemists who can't cure anything new with stagnation in medicine never good, so why stay and suffer the same injustices when practicing out there amongst the stars.

To choose one and not learn your responsibilities, dues, and courtesies would be one thing—ignorance. While the word might be harsh in how it's used amongst the masses, one lacking certain information or knowledge is not without nostrum or ways of remedy. Behaviors can change and dispositions change. Ignorance is not incurable...

While he sits upon a stool within a medical wing of the IPC implored vintage ships, he also finds that his time under the Destructions algorithm has not dulled his senses anything untoward. His hands are as deft with writing the names of patients and victims, those alike to himself, and his mind is quick to search for any signs of Destruction within his fellows if they even allow it. While Veritas cannot say he's seen every face that graced his section during the tour he was lovingly implored, once again, by familiar voices over his phone—he could not think of any reason to turn them down.

Destruction coding was always fickle in the Simulated Universe and was no doubt one of the few that could leave lasting scars. Emotional and psychological over physical, with the boundary of reality sturdy between them, but not all corrosions start with the body. Minds tainted with notions and stimuli over contamination—it was not unheard of. As he shoos away another patient, the overhead pings with another distress call from space, it thankfully not playing by the grace of the system having already picked up Ernest's beacon to even get here.

His hands stop writing and his eye almost wants to twitch. He wonders if Ernest Cranebill, whose distress call pings his station every hour or two even when properly responded to, would count as anything but an stupid man. Ignorance is not incurable, but stupidity is another beast entirely.

It is during this grace period he sent for someone in particular who had not yet graced the infirmary. She was someone familiar to him only in the way you acquaint yourself to another right before disaster struck, and he would not know her name if the faux manager of the Empyrean had not provided it so readily; but he would surely remember her after all the impositions she took upon herself. Destruction fields are as cancerous as they are malleable—like combustible oil slithering through the waters surface, it incorporates horribly and should be disposed of before it finds its spark and fuel.

He knows his visage is not familiar to her, under his headgear in all its glory. "Miss Shenhe, I know I'm pulling you away from your plans of the evening having sent for you specifically, but it's best not to dawdle with insurances like these." He's unsure if she could recognize him in his regular attire either as he recalls wearing all white and heels, back into his graecia attire in blue and white, but it does little to sway him. "You've been in contact with coding—memories, they might feel like—that we're imposed upon you by a malevolent force. I would like to check up with you on this point, we did get much time together after the fact."

@icyqull

LEARN ONE AND INFER THREE

Destruction Commission ┆ The Empyrea ┆ Dr. Ratio & Shenhe

[incitomniaveritas]

He can feel between them that the steely way he spoke has led to a gap somewhere in their shared understanding. That or he was missing something far more than simply the meaning behind the title, if he understood everything of what he read. He hears the man out before he decides anything and writes it in stone—etching anything in stone instead upon paper was a fool's errand either way. His violet bangs wave in the fresh air and it itches his face as he trains his eyes upon the shorter gentleman, as assured and astute as his previous declarations.

Usually a scholar, even a self-proclaimed one off the path of practice, would know at least why their achievements shined through the crowd of all who have sapience and those draped in pedantry. How he taught just now being one of them with it being a fine example of perspicacity, how his deeds preceded him with a building and legacy for appraisal left an imprint of himself in time. Ratio had seen this many times, this exact behavior of diffidence, in the humbly starving students and erudites of the cosmos with sentiments larger than any expression of person.

And his final statement, only sets his feet in stone.

"You wonder why a name such as yours carries weight at all but what I just heard in your judgement is something of interest to me. You are still a practicing engineer, a teacher alongside it, and your reputation amongst your works proceeds what I've witnessed." His voice isn't far off unvaryingly dull, it always was, but through the cracks he does warm the topic with fascination. "You could call someone like myself an engineer and professor as well amongst the stars, and a Mundanite. The title is of no grand stature, you need not worry about learning it: I just share my knowledge with the common folk."

He seals the deal of his coming here. "I will defer back to a previous statement: what you said just now interests me because everything changes so I will impose my request dutifully: I do not care about the architectural field as of this moment much on their own, the techniques I can discern well enough, but the level of conscientious effort you put in to your community is applauded. I wish for you to yield some of your judgement for not only plans of my own but also your sense for humanity and all it creates."

Don't you like it bigger, better?

Kaveh & Dr Ratio

[incitomniaveritas]

When the world went under he was expecting one of two outcomes for them all. The first outcome was they would have to undergo the cycle change as a whole, eclipsed and somehow within the perpetual violence that this world had deemed fit. They would have to fight not only other patrons but also something immeasurable and unprepared, perhaps and who knows how they would succumb. The second option was far more fortunate and likely in his eyes if only he had some way to track where Aventurine had gone, but something did not add up. Violence and death, bloody and prophesized to leave none spared, inside a simulation that took the blond without a seconds blink needed. Yes, the aftermath had stayed for just long enough to register within his mind and the world around him, but nothing had been spared in his uninstallation and deatomized.

The truth he had shared with another kindred mind, much less in the know but no less keen-eyed, and in those final hours he had confined in a brainstorming roundtable with her. He hadn't forgotten they had hulled up near a bar but with how time had flown, he could say his surroundings did little to impose upon them.

For the final hour, he couldn't tell you properly how he conducted himself, but being released from the shackles of Paradiso, and the illusion had been shattered. Once his eyes opened below the sheet covers and his mind could understand the basics of light from scratch, he had quickly sat up and had spied the pure white dress uniform he had been told to prance around in for the Empyrea tourists. That mattered little as one after another they all ended up outside one way or another, airships coming down to Inferno. Walking from the sterile room of Purgatorio—sterile it might be, the air outside was offensive to many senses and any living being it touched, but Ratio was not about to let it tamper with his sight.

The second his lungs could process the thickness in the air as well as the rescue crafts for them and who knows who else, it was almost within a blink that his headgear was put into place to minimize what he is breathing. The seaweed overgrowing in the ocean is a telltale sign of where the breathable oxygen is coming from, but whatever is mixed with the air from near-sulfuric damage and decay all around was not going to be pleasing to any carbon-based lifeforms.

Standing upon the path to the landing zones of their rescue and recon, Ratio does not stand out anymore then his alabaster head would amongst the many faces and behaviors of people from wherever and whenever in space-time. For anyone tracking him via his headgear amongst the crowd you would honestly see him weaving between people and groups with gear for exploring the "wilderness" out there. For a while, he could be found amongst setting up equipment and measuring out dosages of medicine. Not far from their awakening point but hard at work, he spots a familiar visage amongst the crowds.

"Miss Mei, I take it apart from how we woke up and how this has all gone, you would want to hear that Ernest Cranebill's called for assistance with this matter. Not only has the Empyrean fallen to ruin but there are many locations with grave decay, so who else but the IPC answered his call. The people you see here are from the IPC, a conglomerate of many affairs and enterprises in the universe," around them he sweeps his gaze that is only shown via the turn of his head, if she can't recognize his bust then he hopes his voice would suffice, "I have been implored to lend my aid and I will do as such, but I can understand if you're one of the many who wish to simply leave the planet. If any assistance or questions is needed before my departure, I will not be long."

@originsrebirth

To Suffer, to Undergo; the Empyrea[n]

Destruction Commission┆Raiden Mei & Dr. Ratio

[incitomniaveritas]

REVELATION, FOR WHOM?

GHRevelation2025 Lore Closer┊Otto Apocalypse, Dr. Ratio, and Kosma.

[incitomniaveritas]

He can greatly appreciate filling in the gaps with her input, it was a breath of fresh air to bounce back the state of affairs. He would have taken her to the places or persons of information that supported his theory, but they are few and too far between with only Nicolai, Shenhe, and Aethel out of all still around. Of those options—he looks at the crowd and notices they are as packed as always, unable to make out personal details so easily—he cannot see them outright, and does not want to involve them if he could. Not yet, at least. Not with one missing, name and face unknown, he was inevitable to bring up.

He is much more at ease this time, the comparison received agreeably. "Your observation is astute, it is no different to the effects of nuclear power left unchecked. It, the Fragmentum, is the mutation to the malignancy. All energy can be used for fuel, entropy is always in effect, and it most definitely has fallen into the hands of someone particularly nasty."

He also thinks on how she questions the connection he puts his head back a tad to look at the stairs far across the bar, and it pushes him to remember it in detail. It seemed quite stable with how it gave Aventurine's form time to rest before it dissolved quite aptly. He pulls his gaze back with an almost resolutely cool, "It had seemed stable enough, no doubt it's not a long-range connection unless it's as strong as the Simulated Universe I know, able to project and predict all. To take my associate away once his requirements were meant for being taken away, timely or not, just means they can reach us sooner than we can get out."

He thinks back to Penacony as well and how that and the Simulated Universe did have one thing in common: you could break and lock someone out, and if not, overload it into revealing itself. "Yes, even small imitations should have the same loopholes, unless it's a computer I have never seen—overloading it might work. The place I mentioned, Penacony, was able to show its true color once the influence of another greater force was put upon it. Stronger than its calculations, and..."

He also looks to the people, and for once, even Ratio gives credence to a theory given credence by schrodinger. He's solemn, "I cannot take them into account except for they do not seem of reason, and might not be real. If the people are simulations it would make sense for them to give into the words plastered upon the clock, and it means anything we do to them would be for naught. I have a theory but without testing, we'll be behind."

He is stern, even as he questioned Mei this time. Eyes sharp, not accusatory, but scrutinizing in all things. "Miss Mei, did you have a voice and a dream, telling you things like it was pushing you forward? Did it give away any clues you could think of?"

Stars Are Burning, Tides Receding

The Empyrean, Week 3. Dr. Ratio and Raiden Mei.

[incitomniaveritas]

A quick grasp of things, he likes it and can appreciate her keeping track with his abridged and still lacking explanation. The ticking clock above their head was an eerie reminder of a fate unknown to them save a predetermined death and whispers of fate. To that he considers telling whoever watches them from their cushy laurels to think again, but save for finding a use for the weapon Aventurine left them and leaving these people to a fate he can't oversee—surely Aventurine can see what to do from a place he cannot be.

All logic says he should exit with him, that if this was a simulation that it would best their minds be outside or even out of bounds to contemplate rescue. But something stopped him, a hesitation of the heart. Maybe it was the few people who still had the whits about them holding him from some asinine choice, he'll take that explanation for now.

He fixes his information first. "The Stellaron, as a form of energy, does not exactly follow a Path like myself or others. It's a world ending threat that can take many forms based on the material it absorbs. A place known as Penacony had a Stellaron hidden within lucid dreams they could control through memoria, memories, and could manipulate space in a way you would only think in dreams. Of course, after it fell into the wrong hands it could cage anyone it saw fit under the person's thumb. Other planets explode from internal heat death, some freeze forever until it's too late. It all depends on the matter."

He doesn't look away as he continues onto the part her tone showed more interest in. "A Stellaron draws on matter and energy so it is not a silent agent, so there was another theory we had that another force had taken us beyond conventional means. Another reality or a figment of memoria, we could not tell. But with my partners absurd and preposterously dangerous methods, like always, we ended up on the right track with information. When he left us behind, he fazed out like a technical bug and code spread from him to the ceiling."

He moves on the conversation a tad, looking off to the side. "It's coding I could read, it's not dissimilar to a previous project called the Simulated Universe. A computer so advanced it can project the probability of space and time, all options and mapped history taken into account. It's accuracy is beyond compare, I assure you. In that coding I give minor praises too, I found a name that does not belong to anything I have seen before: Staralign. A planet of lavishness, vanity, and general uncanniness. Sadly, that's all I know of it."

Stars Are Burning, Tides Receding

The Empyrean, Week 3. Dr. Ratio and Raiden Mei.

[incitomniaveritas]

He cannot blame her for not having the full picture, especially with how rusty his explanation had felt while amongst the rubble. He never did break it down for them: the outsiders from lands unknown. He cannot fathom how it would feel to be without the backing knowledge of the universe, how it works, even if he had previously known no other. He was naturally always inclined to crack into anything that needed him, and a teacher's job was never done.

He notices her great many pauses, a calculated amount of thoughts no doubt running across their situation from start to finish. He is calm as he places his hand upon the countertop, but not sitting. "Dr. Ratio, given name Veritas if you find it once we're out of here. And yes I can agree with my statements beforehand not being cohesively strung, they were quite thrown out in a time crunch. I'll correct it, since we should all be on the same page for this..."

He tells her about the Fragmentum a tad more. "What we saw in that building was the Fragmentum, an almost corrosive substance created like a cancer upon matter. The Intelligencia Guild, something I'm associated with, has studied it but we have no more information than I have with me now: it corrodes all matter to do it's bidding, taking in all memories like a parasitic host, and lead to violence in anything left over from sentient life."

He tells her about the Stellaron next. "The Fragmentum comes from a Stellaron, a cancerous growth of power that is known for Destruction over time. If life is a ship, it is the tsunami, or so they say."

Next, he brings up the situation they are in. "The Fragmentum does not take people away so silently, it would simply corrode them. Next, a theory could be that it was projecting a memory of this place empty or of another time that came to mind. But that cannot be the case as the Fragmentum has shown no sign before of being able to trap, maze, and handpick their individuals without outside manipulation. And even then..."

He gets onto the issue at hand. The missing issue as well. "Another man from our group and I have speculated that it was not the persons taken from the hotel that were missing, but ourselves. To take so many people instead of few, without something to feed, would make less sense. You can't feed the Stellaron anything as far as I know, and the Fragmentum has made no monsters to attack us. So, my partner is testing the hypothesis that we are trapped somewhere by a person...

"Nicolai, a person here, speaks of a great power and lingering Path that is sticking itself to the planet: an Emanator. An individual closest to their Aeon, a god, on a Path as any mortal can. Those that follow Destruction do as the man dictates, destroy and sunder. While it's tempting to declare this as one such Emanator, with all we know on the surface, I would not agree after I found... evidence of us being taken for something grander. I sent my colleague ahead of us."

Stars Are Burning, Tides Receding

The Empyrean, Week 3. Dr. Ratio and Raiden Mei.

[incitomniaveritas]

The darkening space only seems to be behind his eyes, and it has him running his hand over his eyes just this once. Finally, he lets the guise of being infallible down, the bartender keeps his distance at partygoers who shouldn't be so excited are, and he is keen to request a water. It would not do for his senses to partake in anything uncouth and his mind still racking through the information he has obtained. Fragmentum with no Stellaron, explosions outside, confirmed anarchy, Staralign, how Aventurine left this world, Nicolai and his hints... nothing so much leads to a way out of this place where he can put his theory to the test. He and Aventurine had been quite sure they had been taken from Empyrea, there is no way the simpler and least path of resistance was not closest to the truth.

But what holds them in? That coding was not something the Fragmentum could synthesize and it was most definitely coding he can attest to working with. Whoever wrote it be damned, Staralign in name alone as the point of spawn and where the coding is read from at least put them on the map. But on the map... where did that place this Simulated copy of reality? A mockery, an experiment of some kind? Short of remembering its reputation of lavishness and not all there amounts of reason, he couldn't focus on one thought.

A thought of this being a simulation makes sense to house the Fragmentum without the issue of Stellaron corruption, which explains Nicolai and Aethel being unable to attest to any powers beyond an Emanator. An Emanator, be moves onto that topic, so was it a Genius Society member gone rogue? Even short of absence from Stephan, Herta, Ryan Mei, or Screwllum: Ratio had been a partner once, in collab, and he's seen it work not unlike this. He's thrown Fragmentum creatures at the Trailblazer before, but still...

Truly, they were in a conundrum, if they are.

A click of heels, and he steels himself back to his equilibrium from his previous lastitude. It's the dark haired woman with striking eyes, if he remembers her introduction during Aethel's first meeting... "Miss Raiden Mei, I take it? I suppose you are also here to pick apart this farce as much as I am." He takes in where he is into consideration, standing oddly by the bar with nothing but air and a noisy mind as he is. "Don't worry about me drinking either, I have no interest in dulling myself."

@originsrebirth

Stars Are Burning, Tides Receding

The Empyrean, Week 3. Dr. Ratio and Raiden Mei.

[incitomniaveritas]

[WATERFALL] - It takes the bravest of hearts to jump from so high, but all hazards have been carefully removed to make for only the safest leap of faith down the rapids. Take the plunge, or shove someone else into taking it!

Yelan found herself atop a waterfall, though she hadn't been alone in that regard.

She dragged a certain scholar with her, one that she had grown rather acquainted with in brief timing -- Yelan aimed to force Dr. Ratio to take the plunge with her as it were. She glanced at the man, a smile on her face as she had done so. " Have you ever dove from the top of a waterfall before, Doctor? " She spoke in the tone she had always chosen to take with him: playful, competitive, yet still respectful, in a way. 

Yelan in her swimsuit turned to be face to face with the Doctor. She looked up at him, making sure to get a good glance at his expression as she had. She wondered if his expression had been one of fear, or if he was being goaded into a competition -- much like their very first interaction. " If not, maybe I should teach you how to properly take the dive. " A chuckle escapes her lips, teasing a potential reaction as she backs closer to the edge.

" Y'know, we still haven't decided who owes the other dinner, Doctor. Maybe we can do that when were both at the bottom? " 

And, without further hesitation, Yelan leapt, taking form of a swan as she dove gracefully into the sky, plunging down into the watery depths below. She moved quickly, flying through the air with precision and grace, as a fear crept up her body slowly but surely. Though, the fear that crept had been one that she found comfort in, appreciation, as it brought out thrill. 

And then -- a splash! A graceful dive into a pool of water, one that allowed Yelan a moment of rest and relaxation as she took to laying on her back in peace. She lay there, waiting, hoping to see if the Doctor took her bait, and if he'd plunge below as she had. She stared at the waterfall from it's ground level, finding appreciation for her love of the thrill. Otherwise, she could imagine herself all too scared to take such a faithful dive. 

In the Bigshell Eco Park...

The crowds were big, odd, and spaced quite evenly throughout the attraction around them. This waterfall was a magnificent sight and he had seen it in passing through the signboards and many persons who praised its experience at the hotel, and he finally has decided to give it a try. Having been in robes of white and cuddled up to by people suited to sit on their laurels it was a breath of freedom when blue and raven came to saturate his world, darkening his pristine image of getting work done upstairs with a suggestion and a push.

Ratio is now in the sun and is where he is best in his element, amongst those looking for physical activity after what is seen and heard of prior activities. People coming from eating, people getting their fix of a rush, people nervous but staring with fire down the drop, and many more all around. Ratio lets his partner turn on him with her smile and words as he takes off his top to leave him in his scuba pants alone. While he would take the shirt with him to the drop, it would serve little purpose but to inhibit him and give his skin uneven coverage, his back likely to be towards the sun. It just wouldn't do.

As his shirt ends up in his hands and where he starts folding it to put it in his gear bag, Yelan turns to him and her tone is provocative to incite a challenge. A playful goading as he in turn answers with a steady assurance. His eyes trained on her like a hawk then and there, an establishment of poise as he let's his hand show to taunt the retreating huntress. Her form spectacular the whole way down, he could find minimal changes from so high up for how she now laid upon her back and stared through him—if she was waiting on him, he is here to deliver.

It's to himself as he watches her descent of grace that he finally gives her an answer she cannot properly answer. "We have not and for such a long wait, I shall make it worth your while."

And off he went down below, his movements starting with observing the volume and best place to propel with minimum amounts of altering factors—to give him the space he needs.

Request: `1d20` ┆ Roll: `[20]`

From the diving extension the crowds of people must use, he starts from the ledges yellow lines of caution and his body keeps a steady arc upwards. Hands twinned together above her head, head untucked, and his lower body arching with gravity until her was steady on his descent; uniform yet strong figure from maintaining his knowledge of swimming and diving for medical reasons. He has personally taken plunges not dissimilar to this, but never so indulgently vast. The rush of the fall alongside cascading water creating dynamic movement and contrast against the seemingly motion-heavy world around him gave way as he finally breached the water down below. His professional dive breaks the water's tension with ease and soon he is under the water, surfacing to brush his wavy locks up and out of his face.

"I am a man of my word, miss Yelan." He says while wading her way.

[incitomniaveritas]

[SPARKLING WATER] - this probably was one of the less ideal activities to add to his itinerary, but at the very least, he had found someone to attend it with; dr. veritas ratio, a man who seemed like the type to have discerning tastes. if he followed the concept properly, half the appeal of sparkling waters with a hint of flavor was that they appealed more to one's sense of smell over taste, but considering how the retronasal olfactory system was the primary component of the nose and throat responsible for the relationship between smell and taste, he somewhat doubted that this emphasis with sparkling water would make a difference.

( still, having another professional with a sense for that sort of thing would help make sure he wasn't just imagining scents that weren't there... right? )

upon entering, the secondary conference room the event is set up in is much more informal than he imagined --- people seem to be mostly mingling, and he takes a fine glass of the tepid, bubbling water as it's handed to him while walking further in. he eventually hears the other person he'd arranged to meet here before seeing him; sounds like he's engaged in another slightly-heated conversation with strangers, not unlike how he had found the doctor on the luofu after the wardance. jiaoqiu clears his throat as he gets closer, then stops just close enough to make out the silhouette of the taller man in his clouded vision before speaking. "dr. ratio. having a nice time already, from the sound of things?... I'm not sure what I expected for this water-tasting event, but this wasn't exactly it..." a cautious sip finally at the glass in his hand, then --- a sharp cough, and his free hand taps his own chest several times. "ahem! haha, wait... what sorts of flavors are these? it doesn't... taste like carbonation with with a faint scent of fruit."

In the Empyrean grounds...

He finds that getting to his rendezvous was quite the hassle and something he'd see out of a petty student's handbook, not that of a lavish and exquisite hall of equally preening guests. While the majority of people in uncanny arrays of styles for multiple forms of travel were dispersing themselves from the entry hall to their predicted locations, it was the hall of guests in the dining area that had his mouth running and gears turning. He had made plans with Mr. Jiaoqiu as something could be taken lightly and slowly, to understand and to converse over things left both unsaid and unwarranted at the time. While the other had seemed like they were better off doing anything else, trying a little of everything never hurt.

And it was here, between the halls that he passed an everyday gentleman he would not have thought of himself remembering. Until his arm is grabbed and his attention grabbed; outright his first opinion was if he was going to be asked for assistance or recognized by any number of people from a profession he occupies. He wasn't wrong, like always. And here he was, standing before the tasting tables while getting a finger shoved in his face, the coward of a student finally coming to realization. They bicker for a good twenty minutes with no end in sight for the raving student even with Ratio placating him as professionally as possible.

"—if you're so aggrieved to your plights on the campus, you had best well see your representative. I am neither your professor any longer nor faculty on duty, so I care not about your reported distress on your dissertation. Seek a trusted professional." His tone is stern and again he has to reiterate his stance to the man.

As if his point of stance on where money and threats could get him anything, he was ready to fight Veritas more when salmon-pink hair and with the audience—the student leaves with a bitter, pruning face. Taking a cup of something that smelled of seltzer and bubbles popped with an air of something acidic, he almost regrets thinks he should have insisted on the restaurant idea.

"A teacher's job never ends and never goes a day without. I apologize for holding us up, Mister Jiaoqiu, and I can assure you that..." he takes a sip and the heaviness was unlike the usual water he partakes in, yes it was indeed carbonated but something seemed to slide down his throat with a drying agent. Water, that dries you out? His voice is now incredulous, and quite telling: scratchy. "And something in mine did not seem so hydrating or refreshing. Short of acid agents this was quite the irritating experience, but that is to be expected with something that can stimulate swelling."

[incitomniaveritas]

The dice are gone between the twirl of his fingers and with them making their way over, the angle has it disappear like it's nothing. Having the dice disappear so easily like a fleeting shine of refraction had his eyes cast away metaphorically as a spear is brandished between the three in discussion. The minimal drink and melting ice is likely frosted over as the ice thickens across the shared space between, who knows if the alcohol content could save it from its slushed fate. But, he does not care for the intricately crafted floor or furnishings that are coated.

After that non-answer he will circle back upon, he leaves Nicolai little grace except this.

His companion now at his side is smart to make her distrust known, and he will not admonish that against a person of perpetual mirth like Nicolai, but he does eye the tip of the blade as he carefully answers the statement that came first. "The tip has given us much assistance in steering us towards the theory of this being a domain of some kind. The Fragmentum is never without a Stellaron, and the 'conjecture' of your previous statement would hold water, if Miss Aethel hadn't been forthright about the Path of this planet. There is no Path in which Empyrea follows, and yet we are here nonetheless, within a domain of some sort."

A flicker of his gaze through the crowd and he can indeed see a tuft of blonde hair that goes between suits and dresses, enshrouding by shadows of falsehoods and yet doing as he sees fit. They both are, but he can't extend much thought except to keep an eye on the time like promised. And with miss Shenhe he keeps up the pressure with neutral air.

"The planet of Festivities, Penacony, did need an Emanator's reign but it was not someone of the Destruction. A Stellaron was harboured but it was another Path and it's dominions who sought to use it. This does not follow the whims of the heliobus or ever-white catastrophe, either. Would you know of any Paths—Emanator, Pathstrider, individuals—that care to tamper with a planet like this. As a custodian, surely you're worldly enough to answer, yes?"

@revelation-empyrean

to memorize theatrical lines

[incitomniaveritas]

From the looping song to the unwelcome pitch color of the room, flat and fine walls of this place as stainless as when he saw it last, he makes his way downstairs. He is steady on his feet and not a waver in any footfall as the clueless partygoers laugh with their bellies and heads thrown back. It would be enough to say that reality moves on with or without you, and Aventurine was now a chess piece on a board he can no longer see, but the stagnation leads to his eyes darting.

Darting, searching, and finally accessing as he walks down the stairs and finally finds the head of who he has the final option to talk to. Aethel had been tight-lipped enough, but this person was new for him altogether. Even as the one saved from the chandelier, he takes it upon himself to remind his inner voice of the reality Finley is his only outlier here now.

It was once he walked up behind Finley that he finally spoke, not a hair or pitch out of place as he gave a respectful greeting. "I hope you don't mind my bluntness with how dire a situation we are in, but I must implore you to share what you are looking for here." He is not one without manners, even after it all. "Professor Veritas Ratio, I was a part of the hotel investigation before its collapse."

@revelation-empyrean

Eyes Of Fire, Days Are Numbered.

Revelation 2025, Week 3. Dr. Ratio & Mr. Finley

[incitomniaveritas]

[ warning: death, gore, graphic gunshot to the chest descriptions, grief personified below read more]

He listens and he can hear just fine, he can see even better and he is far more swift than a fancy twirl of a gun that rests weighted in his own hands. The gun nor the other's hands can move his own with how steady they are, all except he allows them to. He allows the guidance with minimal drag. The casting of dual colored eyes does not hypnotize the man like it once would while Ratio is within the sunlight and he is pulled aside, while he's testing the man and so is Aventurine to him. A memory of a trigger he pulls repeatedly, and the smile on his face remains the same after empty clicks—but this isn't some game, it never was to Ratio. This was a means to understanding and truthfully he cannot back down while they both implicitly agreed that this song-and-dance was anything but real.

The smile did not give him any warmth, it did not bring Ratio any hope, and it did not soothe what was to come next. The hands are smaller than his own when they wrap above his wrist, and like he has stated before the hands only follow on guidance, and something comes to mind before any time and space seem to allow his fingers to squeeze.

It's not your stage, he wants to grit his teeth, it's not a game. The guidance brings about a drag, because Ratio looks into those eyes with certainty and it was but a brief flicker that reminds him that his limits for teaching have never been crossed. In the next instance, he is following the students demonstration with a final look that swore hell itself would curl in on itself as recompense.

—BANG! Ratio will not coddle you and say it was an easy memory and pill to swallow. He can think of a million reasons that Aventurine ending up as a pile on the floor and a mist of matter between him and the wall was a detriment to their imminent survival but he'll care about that last. For now, as the body still holds a warmth and dignity about it, he catches the body in his arms silently and in turn drops the gun. He will not tell you how the body twitched or how it rattled from the throes of death, that is a given, and no dance of two partners is describable in such a macabre manner. The clatter of this tool is unceremonious compared to how he has his hands cradled what's left of Aventurine's upper body and his lower back, laying him upon the ground gently. Anything growing soaked below or on Ratio's pure white attire spills and absorbs like Aventurine did in life, encouraging a reaction from him.

But he can't. He can think of things more important than the mission and loopholes to stop the man at many opportunities: but they both knew he had his methods. If Aventurine wasn't assured of this doctor's success then he'd have turned Ratio away, and hadn't entertained him past leading him to Nicolai's den after Ratio had sealed away the truth with his own lips. The voice holding a modicum of power over him had held their alliance back then at a standstill, and all because of a boogeyman and a promise of no chance.

No chance. If the room's stark white had been like a mockery of passion and hospitality, it festers as he could swear the clinical nature reminds him more of a hospital. A doctor who takes life, waiting for a glimmer of their truths to not be so farfetched. Truly a mediocre sight.

Ratio looks down at the man who had been one of few who deserved respect, and was given another chance at salvaging this mess, chest barring ahole like it had mocked him from statements out of earshot. This low angle, bereaved by something foul in his own chest, to the man's figure gave him ample access to the sight that was Aventurine becoming a phantom in his arms. A line of code falls up and away like ash, as if he were never anything but a simulation rising from his body to the air. He could actually read the lines, although some were not of any use. The hex color for each strand of hair was fine and all, but the thought of having had simulated code like this himself reminds him of the Simulated Universe.

A curse leaves his lips. Staralign was on the tip of his tongue, but the room moves again, a washed and white version of a clamshell pool in front of his eyes—taunting. Staralign was known for its lavishness and many great unknowns. The room, and his clothes, hold no sign of their deal any longer save the bed of pseudo memoria waiting for his own grizzly end. What else, what else...

From beginning to end, he could only make out something that should not be: in the name "Staralign". If his coding knowledge was anything to scoff at by those Geniuses standards, then the code of where your character sets foot not only dictates spawn and outro spots, but also—

It's gone before he knows it.

He picks up the gun from the floor, as silent as a ghost in all but how his clothes move, and into his inner clothes it goes. Quite awkward with the open chest but just hidden under how billowing it is, his heels click as they head towards the door. Before he leaves with his hand already turning the silver knob, he utters something toneless to the space.

"Liberate tutemet ex inferis." It's not for you, it's for him.

And Ratio is leaving the room for the hall, the music on repeat bringing back his thinning lips. Someone will be bound to have answers. Someone has to watch over this space and make sure they play nice, after all.

End.

𝗭𝗨𝗚𝗭𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗚⠀──⠀⋆˙⛃

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025⠀∶⠀week 3

[incitomniaveritas]

This place is no doubt a manipulation of space via memory or metaphysics. If it's actually capable of doing as it says, and if it can do as it says, just like the voice cries it can, it's probable and likely we've found our culprit. He had said that once upon a time to the lady with white-hair downstairs, he had made sure that he didn't give any false hope or any knowledge without highlighting his flaws in logic. But listing those warnings internally and treading carefully in word alone now was preposterous and even insulting to his current audience, he knows.

The area was truly something clean, something Ratio even had a proper philosophy on, but this room was something wrong and even oblong into the uncanny. Like a picture book meant to keep them appeased and their machinations from wandering too far from the supposed main event, it was too sterile to be anything human-made. Perhaps randomly generated, if he would give their captors that much credit.

He notices that it has an impact on Aventurine, and while they both had chosen this room to talk and had their own reason for using it so—that doesn't mean that Ratio doesn't care any less for the disorientation, the potential liminal space no doubt dragging out the uncanny in them both. Just, Ratio finds it pathetic as an optical illusion. "These 'tricks' might have a flavor of their own, I do agree, but an sphere of influence is nothing to turn your nose up to. Keeping persons such as a Stoneheart or other powered individual within its grasp would benefit them greatly to have you playing on their board, their terms. While something as grandiose as a Stellaron cannot be accounted for, the Fragmentum is never without its influence."

The only direct antithesis to his hypothesis is Penacony, where the crystals they had come to know are not visible, perhaps forever he will never know if that planet continues to pull the wool over all their eyes, but the effects of memoria lingering in its place. Without one visible and accountable side effect did not stop the Stellaron from existing. But the Fragmentum, it does not lie, even if transplanted or migrated from its source—unless something... no.

He takes the brunt of Aventurine's words but does not dismiss them, as Aventurine knows him too well. "This phenomenon is not something that can be left unchecked, it cannot stand as something that will happen again." They had a timeline, they had an end to meet and it would come for them all. But the moment itself? "While I can agree that it grows more stagnant and horrid a whim by the hour, there is no situation unbroken or flawless in seam and wedge. There is a loophole just like the Sweet Dream, where no one could die under THEIR gaze, and yet it was tested."

There was something thick in the air, thicker than the room seemingly shrinking in his view, as if narrowing like his train of thought symbolically. But he had no eyes except for the gambler and the only thing real to their fate. "Those answers were not given so easily, I would believe they would have stayed under should we not have that young lady to thank. But Nicolai being able to feel that before you or I was no shock to me, that I could believe was put upon us with a motive."

"Just like I believe you have reason to call upon me now. There's something you think the 'maze' can't handle, am I correct?"

𝗭𝗨𝗚𝗭𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗚⠀──⠀⋆˙⛃

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025⠀∶⠀week 3

[incitomniaveritas]

"Of course, nobody would think anything enjoyable about this type of Destruction except the Ravagers, and they are no one to scoff at." From how she had spoken with words that filled her mouth wrong—and therefore came out wrong—him throwing more terms at her without explanation would do her no benefit. But some still must go on. "And if you're thinking about interrogating Mr. Finley, I suggest—"

Between the darkened room and the flickering red above them all from the ticking timer, he can see clearly they bypass Mr. Finley as an option. Her grip was stern, not unbreakable, and insistent as they aimed through the crowd towards a familiar figure, a familiar flick of teeth and dice in the lights above. And within eyesight of the man, he can think: no doubt, it's their missing man.

If he was one to sigh and groan, if he was someone who believed humans underneath in the food chain of power, he would have sighed oh Aeons above. His voice tries to keep neutral and steady, but his lip thins out as he realizes. "Ah. So it's Mr. Nicolai you wish to talk to. As a matter of fact, I know this gentleman well enough, and he disappeared on us during the collapse. Where have you been all this time, Mr. Nicolai, and how did you end up here?"

@revelation-empyrean

to memorize theatrical lines

[incitomniaveritas]

Like Veritas had time to clear the area of sight and sound, he had taken notice of the pitch black of it all. Short of the decorations and adornments to break up the room, adding a third dimension to it all in a manner befitting a trick room not wanting someone to trip over a missed step. Lackluster design, he personally holds the designer accountable in his head. After what had just consumed the hotel—people and themselves included, he stressed—he had taken to assuming the walls were a casing of Fragmentum to hold them in. The corrosion was not above crystallization and with how it hollows out memories, he had taken this as another facade.

But the walls and decorations seem real enough from the moment he touched and looked through the grains via the red light source above them. It was sleek and should he not be entertaining the escape he'd have tried to test a hypothesis in the halls. From permitting the gambler to lead him into another room and allowing the space to be filled with unspoken truths, it was louder than any thumping music from the main floor, halls away. And then the door closes, with a click it was silent enough their clothes moving was loud enough to scare a lesser man.

"You've figured out we are now successfully cut off from the outside world, but I can assume that you've gotten my last few messages before we were consumed." Ratio does not question, he knowingly answers back while keeping in mind their trajectory. The offensively barren hotel room of simply a bed and desk does nothing but cooperate his thoughts of this being what they think it is. "The theory that the people on mass had not disappeared, but we had—just like the Sweet Dream before us. You saw some of my findings, but I have yet to hear any of yours: what say you, Aventurine?"

𝗭𝗨𝗚𝗭𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗚⠀──⠀⋆˙⛃

#REVELATIONEmpyrean2025⠀∶⠀week 3

[incitomniaveritas]

He doesn't find the change of linens as offensive as most people would, his head clearer when the soot and tarnish upon his figure is taken away but his mind at work as he's drawn in. Drawn in is far too nice when the reality is he was shoved and the people around him held onto him with a vice. People behind him push like he's an old friend through the door and hands on his white suit jacket are like claws that only release him once he's dispensed in the banquet hall.

The room is just as grotesque as he imagined: a darkened hollow built from memories and expectations, no doubt the machinations of someone fostering the Stellaron's effects throughout the Empyrean. All of Empyrea, there is no doubt. Those explosions, an uprising in the city, missing boats, lowering wages while tourism is so high... like the Planet of Festivities though, you need a healthy front and not just anyone can keep the facade going. Mr. Finley looks hard at work on the surface, Aethel has disappeared from his immediate line of sight, and a figure with dice has him gritting his teeth to himself...

If he didn't feel a new set of hands upon him. This grip was not incessant or carnivorous, wanton of things he could not deliver—it unlike the people in makeshift merriment and indulging in finite time that is, drawing him in without consent. He does not rip away as she saddles next to the doctor, her airy-elegant attire fixed up just like his own uniform for this damned soiree. He had spotter familiar faces and yet he was just about ready to take off with no warning, leaving the only sane few behind again.

"I have theories of what's going on. But I can concur with your assessment that this is tied to something in my experience. This place is no doubt a manipulation of space via memory or metaphysics. If it's actually capable of doing as it says," he looks up at the ticking words with judgement in his eyes, "And if it can do as it says, just like the voice cries it can, it's probable and likely we've found our culprit."

The Fragmentum aren't human, they mimic humans and feed on what they corrode as a benefit of it all. "This Empyrea, this dimension of Destruction. It might very well not be where we first started with the boat or the resort."

to memorize theatrical lines