[video]

[greyerrant]

An armored figure glowers out over the Hinoto-Ri COMP network

"I found the actual combat skills displayed recently at these so-called persona fights somewhat lacking. You may understand how to use your sorcerous.... things, but if you need to learn how to fight with bullet, blade, mind and hand, seek out Cerberus. I shall instruct you on how to not completely embarrass yourself when asked to fight."

Comments

[greyerrant]

Daemons.

[destinedwaters]

... [Giving you a look, there. It isn't a term used in her worlds.]

[greyerrant]

Emanations of the warp. Creatures of primal power, and equally deep corruption. Servants of the primordial annihilator. Slaves to darkness.

[destinedwaters]

I see... They don't exist where I or most of my friends are from.

[greyerrant]

Then you should consider yourself lucky. [ He removes his helm, finally, exposing a pale-fleshed face, handsome in a craggy sort of way. Garviel is heavily scarred, his hair blond to almost silver, and cut close. His eyes are gray, and they suggest a certain weariness. A man who has known war for 200 years, and while given immortality, he still feels the weight of every battle upon him. ]

[destinedwaters]

...I truly wish I could. No matter the world, Darkness only takes another form.

[While she isn't nearly as scarred, she does have her armor here, visible in the background... cracked and shattered and mostly discarded until she could afford the materials needed to repair the many pieces. That weariness is a shared one, however short her time may have been and still is.]

I don't believe we ever shared names. I'm Aqua.

[greyerrant]

I once spoke to Sigismund, the First captain of the Imperial Fists. He suggested to me that there only would ever be war. I opined that peace would come, as mankind brought light to the darkness of old Night.

Now, I wonder if he wasn't right.

[ He thinks for a moment, then nods. ] Garviel Loken.

[destinedwaters]

Then it's nice to meet you, Garviel.

[She smiles faintly, before growing serious once more.]

You know, when I first started out, I too thought that there would always be war between darkness and light, and that we would be better off without darkness. However, it was a child that made me realize something.

Without the dark spurning light to grow and shine even more brilliantly, there is no reason to reach enlightenment; to grow. It's in our nature to struggle between the two.

Maybe it means little here, but it seems like a constant no matter how many cities I see.

[greyerrant]

I must disagree. While struggle and difficulty are needed for people to progress, the darkness I speak of is corrupting and absolute. I would let no man fall to the primordial annihilator, to Chaos.

The world can impose challenges enough without becoming lost in ignorance, superstition, and cruelty.

[destinedwaters]

If only others could see that.

[Though she is...definitely not innocent of that. She'd automatically raise her hand if she thought that light was the only way and they'd be better off without darkness, but...

It's a fine line. One she has no idea about other than the fact a those darkness claimed her friends, and that she's trapped in it again if she ever left.]

[greyerrant]

I have paid a high price for the truths that I have learned. And I saw others pay more, I saw them sacrifice everything worthwhile about themselves in the service of ambition.

[destinedwaters]

I've seen others sacrifice themselves for far less, and far more.

[And she is sad to see that someone has paid such a high price that he's likely blinded himself to seeing the way others see, just as she had... Yet she holds her tongue for the time being.

...There's a reason she's a Star and no longer a Fool.]

[greyerrant]

Everyone pays a price, the question is only: What price do we pay, and what do we sacrifice? For me, the price was my Legion, my brotherhood, and all my friends. In return I was able to keep loyal to humanity.

[destinedwaters]

'I'm asking you because we're friends. Just...'
'Aqua... Put an end to me.'

[She's silent for a long moment, glancing away and to a small charm that hung around her neck in place of the Mark nowadays. She shook her head of those thoughts - the bitter memories. How could she even voice it to someone she just met, falling into darkness to save a friend, no, an older brother and inadvertently progressing a madman's plans and imprisoning herself?

...She can't. She couldn't even say it to her own brother at the time, and he'd seen it in a front row seat of sorts.]

I see... [......] I ended up giving far more to save my worlds.

[It's all she can say... and even then, she only delayed him from what Axel said.]

[greyerrant]

[ Given what she's said, and how much he lost, he makes the logical jump. ]

You lost it all and yourself then.

[ He considers, for a moment. His closest brother. Torgaddon. How he had wanted to die with him, how the six months of madness on Istvaan III played out, raving and psychotic and living in a daemon-haunted world, the only loyal son amongst the dead and the corrupt. ]

I can understand.

[destinedwaters]

[And to a private setting, this goes.]

...In a way. It was either me or someone close, so I gave whatever I had left for them to escape a fate worse than death.

[It's Complicated. You are not a high enough Social Link to hear how complicated. :<

> ...?!
> You hear a voice in your head...]

Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... A new friendship that transcends even time and world boundaries themselves... You shall be blessed when fusing Personas of the Star Arcana when thou is able...
>	You have established the Master Aqua Social Link of the Star Arcana!
>	Aqua's determination in battle has ehnanced...
>	She will now generate barrier spells for you if you need to see an enemy's attack literally explode in their face...
>	You get the feeling that it may not be a good idea to make her angry...

[...Well, enjoy that. o-o;]

lol forgot he took his helmet off. I'll be jacking that HTML and stuff soon.

[greyerrant]

[ Loken grunts, clearly off-put by the voice in his head. He whispers a name. ]

Tarik? ... No, not Tarik. [ He shakes his head, and says. ]

I'm sorry, I thought I heard something for a moment, like the ghost of someone I once knew.

[ He continues, a little swiftly, as if consciously changing the subject. ]
Sacrifice for another is a noble ideal, and very in line with the preachings of some of the Primarchs, such as Vulkan, Dorn, or Guilliman. Horus himself, Warmaster and my gene-father believed in that sort of philosophy. [ At least up until his betrayal of the Emperor, Garviel, and every other loyal man in the 63rd expedition.]

It's okay; it happens to the best of us. Also, yaaaaaay

[destinedwaters]

[She tilts her head to the side, then shakes her head. It's a faint smile.]

It's alright. [There there... She's heard a voice or two, too. Must be A Thing, here.]

I see... It's surprising how some ideals seem to pass beyond the boundaries of worlds themselves.

[Sob, she knows a similar story to that all too well. Why do some people we look up to keep betraying us...]

[greyerrant]

Perhaps because they represent certain universal truths about compassion and altruism.

[destinedwaters]

Mm. I wouldn't be surprised, even though it's been hard to see lately.

Because I can't HTML ever, best I could do.

[greyerrant]

Give it time, you'll see more of them.

Thou art I... and I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... A new friendship that transcends even time and world boundaries themselves... You shall be blessed when fusing Personas of the Emperor Arcana when thou is able...
>	You have established the Garviel Loken Social Link of the Emperor Arcana!
>	Garviel's determination in battle has been enhanced...
>	He will now reinforce your morale in combat. Prepare to know no fear, like a proper Astartes!
>	You get the feeling that he will be watching over you...

[greyerrant]

Give it time, you'll see more of them

[destinedwaters]

[...Oddly fitting, mysterious voice that sounds oddly akin to her Master's. Especially since they live across the hall from one another.]

I know I will. [When one has been isolated for so long... well, she knows well enough how she'll eventually find more kinds of people than she's used to again.]

I'm so sorry about this! I lost it amongst con drunkeness.

[greyerrant]

What is your name?