2022-12-28: Beyond The Clear Sky

• Log: 2022-12-28: Beyond The Clear Sky
• Cast: Demetrioi (post-mortem but relevant), Ethius Hesiod, Kaguya, Venetia Vuong, Lydia Seren, Azoth, Juni Vandrer, Lan Lilac, Magilou, Avril Vent Fleur, Xantia, Gwen Whitlock, Jacqueline Barber, Ida Everstead-Rey
• Where: Celesti Wastelands
• Date: December 28, 2022
• Summary: Remembrance is given to someone that did not choose to be born an apocalyptic weapon, but could not escape that fate within the confines of their deeply flawed programming and mission parameters. Though the part of Zoara where Alcidamas Village once stood has long since been reclaimed by the surrounding wastes, a small port settlement built some ways off to help facilitate trade in those blessed days has nonetheless survived. Several former Alcidamas residents have taken up residence there - Port Amphidamas - and have agreed to participate in a memorial service. All the while, a few last loose ends are tied up as regards the tensions that exist between Ethius Hesiod and Homer Mecone. What exactly is it that drives the former's seeming deadly resentment of the latter...? (This is the denouement of the Generosity and Recklessness subplot.)

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============================<* Celesti Wastelands *>============================

Decades ago, the nation of Celesti ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war. Outside of a handful of settlements, its former territories are lifeless. The remains of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire lines serve as lingering reminders of the conflict--scars that have yet to heal. The earth is dry and barren, and much of the groundwater has been contaminated by biological or chemical weapons.

Travel through the Wastelands is treacherous. The roads are pockmarked with shell craters, and Reapers have been known to haunt its blasted plains. A handful of functional rail lines cross the wastes, but these travel directly to their final destinations. The shattered remains of ghost towns dot the landscape. Some may yet hold things of value, but experienced travelers know better than to go treasure-hunting on a whim. The war-dead of Celesti do not rest.

Ghosts aren't even the strangest things one can find here. As the war dragged on, both the Congressional Knights and Aquvy Union dug up ancient weapons to aid their efforts--including, it's rumored, ARMs from Zeboim. These rumors draw both the daring and desperate into the wastes, and more often than not, to their end.

BGM: Shin Megami Tensei IV - Blasted Ichigaya

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    APPROXIMATELY THREE WEEKS AGO - GIVE OR TAKE SOME WIBBLING AND WOBBLING OF TIME...for the last time
 
     Atop Mount Liverfeast, the last Demetrioi met their end. It was decided they would not be remembered nor memorialized for the apocalyptic weapon their existence could never have averted becoming. They were to be remembered as a youngster given far too much power and poorly constructed parameters in which to provide for the world around them, victim of a cruelty by short-sightedness.
 
     There was a collective desire to mourn Demetrioi's passing as an individual, not as a weapon.
 
     In the timeframe that has followed, Ethius and Homer have both been distant and quiet. The important part is that Homer has not been horribly murdered.
 
     JUST BEFORE NOW
 
     Understandably, those of Harmonde - on the eastern side of Zoara - would be far less understanding of these circumstances after their entire town was destroyed by both fighting and Demetrioi trying far, far, far too hard. However, the people of Alcidamas Village - once set out about the former territory of Celesti - only ever knew Demetrioi as a kind, well-meaning... thing... no! A kind, well-meaning friend. While many of the former residents have scattered across Filgaia since, there was a new port settlement established in its halcyon days to try and facilitate overseas trade as more became aware of the oasis of land, water, and sky.
 
     Port Amphidamas, set out in the wastes of former Celesti along its western coast.
 
     Several of its residents and workers were former people of Alcidamas, and they've only just managed to eke out a living. Some cursed their change of fortune. Some became bitter, the feeling of a last hope taken from them. All have had their quality of life drastically decrease since the Veruni took Demetrioi away.
 
     None of them blame Homer Mecone for it. When the news came to them about what happened, and how there was a desire to give remembrance...
 
     They obliged.
 
     RIGHT NOW
 
     Beyond the clear sky of the early morning, the sun shines brightly against a slightly heightened chill for this part of the year in Zoara. Doubtlessly a long-reaching consequence of what nearly happened at Mount Liverfeast as the resultant cold front sorts itself out naturally (or, um, post-artificially? This is a concept now).
 
     While no former Alcidamas residents outside of Port Amphidamas could make it here (due to the sensitivity of the subject matter, short notice, and also simply the fact that the Celesti Wastelands are remaining a No One's Land for the foreseeable future), those that are already present have already gathered around a cleared plot of (barely, which is to say very fertile by former Celesti territory standards) arable land.
 
     No anointed priests of Granas, Nisan, or... uhh, Valmar, you know what, this last one's good, that's a good thing there's none of the last one here... are present to organize or otherwise lead this, as everyone involved is playing it by ear.
 
     Homer Mecone himself, being the guy who fixed up and activated Demetrioi to begin with, is as good a choice as any. He's looking as haggard as his advanced age allows him to, waiting for the various Drifters who can make it here to arrive while Ethius seems to be going over some seeds not far off. (He has not set anything on fire. Is it more apt to say he has not set anything on fire yet? Nonetheless, no smoke, no fire, and no dead Homer body, so this is so far, so good.)
 
     For now, a simple meeting and greeting.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Kaguya is not entirely sure she'd be welcome here... but at the same time, she wants to be here. Demetrioi was her friend, too--or at least, she tried to be a friend to him, for a long time. Through attempts to protect him from other Veruni, to the attempts to stop what he became...

Well. Kaguya wouldn't miss it if she could help it.

Dressed normally, without her armor, Kaguya arrives, and avoids the people of Alcidamas for now. Except for one.

"...Hey," Kaguya says to Homer. "I'm glad you could get people together. I think it's... better, this way."

"To remember."

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

Venetia Vuong came, after a journey elsewhere.

She is not immediately recognizable, in part because her head gear is very different. In lieu of the lacy mask she usually wears, which mostly vaguely veils some of her emotional tells, makes it so she doesn't have to worry about dark circles or crow's feet or the inevitable creases that her titanic fury registered in the polymegaducks generate in a youthful, even beauteous face -- she is wearing a hood, draped down to cover her nose and eyes (there are mesh eyeslits) and held in place by hair clips. Below this is a more conventional set of all black plain-clothes; mourning attire, perhaps.

Venetia is carrying something in the crook of her arm. From how she's holding it, it must be rather heavy, but it can't be much larger than a big book. It is wrapped in black coarse cloth.

So when she talks right square-ass from behind Kaguya it may look sort of like a spectre of death has arrived.

"Miss Kaguya," Venetia says. "Lucky you're here. Would you like to participate in a tradition? I won't hold it against you if you wouldn't feel right to do so."

"Mr. Mecone," Venetia then says to the last relevant person. "Vuong here. I hope you're bearing up."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Well there'a an annointed shaman.

But Lydia, while she didnt want Demetrioi to die, doesn't think she was exactly a friend either. She has a lot in her head about it. Anxieties. She doesn't want to make a funeral about them thoufh so she is keeping quiet about it.

"Kaguya," Lydia is wearing a hoodie with a cucco on it and her hands are in the front pocket. "Glad you could come. Feeling any better? you got tossed around a fair bit."

She looks to Homer and gives him a bob of her head. "Whatcha gonna do now? Get all the village folks situated somewhere? I can ask our mom about lending a hand out here too for ya if you'd like."

She lets out a low funeral(????) whistle.

Don't tell people you brought the mustard just in case, Lydia sweats.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Azoth cannot remember the other programs. He cannot remember if he mourned them. He cannot remember if there was a ritual given the the mourning that may or may not have happened. Odds are low he understood what a funeral was, at the time. Falk died. Azoth felt the life leave him, and then the corpse was dragged away. Azoth never saw the body again after that. Was there a funeral? And in all the years Azoth has operated for, how many died? Were any of them mourned? Would he have wanted to?

There aren't answers to those questions. But, here and now, Demetrioi, who had friends, will be mourned. An AI ultimately unable to escape the fate programmed into them. Always exactly what they're programmed to be... for better or for worse.

So often for worse.

Azoth, knowing nothing of funerals, arrives dressed no differently than usual. (Does anyone want him here in all black? He can change -- almost instantly. Might be a bad idea.) His eyes glow a little dimmer, and his face is awkwardly blank and doll-like. Sometimes, an expression threatens, but uncertainty hits, and it all drains away again.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way," he says to Homer. "But... thanks, for treating them like a friend while they were here."

He's quiet after that, that empty-eyed expression gazing at the plot of land as if incalculable thoughts aren't taking place under the surface. Which they aren't, of course: Azoth can calculate them. It's kinder not to quantify them.

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

Far from a friend, Juni shows up more because she wants to check on the others. The short alien's also not doing any I-Told-You-So's and is instead, just observing. You learn a lot by just watching rites like this. It's rare enough to see this big a gathering, well.. why not.
 
 Clothing-wise she's going grey and white rather than her usual dusty brown, but otherwise she's dressed in the same brighter colors she's adopted. No one exactly told her to wear black and really... she's skirting the edge at the moment as it is.
 
 Homer is given a slight wave. Ethius is glared at, but otherwise she instead just makes her way over to Kaguya. Still... not quite saying anything. There are people actually mourning and even she's not that detached from the situation.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    It is very, very good that Homer Mecone hasn't been murdered. Lan beat Ethius's murdery ass once, she'll try it again if she needs to! And now she has tons of backup! Just... it'd be really better if it wasn't at a funeral. Maybe Ethius can wait until afterwards if he really, really wants to try it?

    Lan doesn't have a lot of clothing to choose from, but she's swapped out her usual desert attire for a dark grey cotton dress. (It's a little too short to be the proper length, because she borrowed it from someone who isn't 5' 10".)

    She's quiet at first, when she arrives, staring off at Ethius from a dozen yards away, and checking in with Homer. He seems all right. Maybe things will be okay for him, after all.

    "Hey everybody," she greets the other Drifters as they gather. "I'm glad we could all make it."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou is also dressed normally, which is to say she has a bisected massive jaunty hat, shoulderless mismatched sleeves covered by a ruff of black feathers, bi-coloured (and that's not the only bi thing about her) top and tights which refuse to match, all capped off with a skirt made entirely of books over hot pink short-shorts.

    "Tradition, tradition," the witch of Lunar echoes, stepping up behind Filgaia's greatest magician. (That's Venetia, for those keeping track at home. Magilou is the one keeping track at home.) "Tradition for a wayward child... ah! Of course we've seen it enough times to have rites about it!"

    She shrugs, broadly, as she steps past. "Oh, well." There's nothing to be done about them.

    Magilou is silent, for a moment, as she thinks of all the wayward children. She wonders how he's holding up, in her embrace. She says nothing about it.

    Instead, she turns to Homer, and says: "Congratulations, by the way. I wasn't sure whether we'd be sending off two corpses, today." It's impolite to tell Homer she expected him to die! It's even more impolite the way she quite obviously glances to Ethius as she says it.

    Was Magilou really a friend?!

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    They did what they must, and Avril cannot, will not regret that. If she started to regret such things now, where would it end? She has ventured a distance down that path before, and she knows already there is not enough water in this world for the necessary purifications. She can now and always only keep moving ahead, into the future. That, too, is what Rebecca and Dean have taught her

    But that also does not mean that she must be as her title might imply.

    She did what she must, but it does not mean she can also hold sorrow-without-regret in these hands.
    And remember.

    She has flowers in her arms. It was strange to her once that humans would bury a body, but in this case there is no body to bury. If there is no body...?
    But she had still brought with her flowers.

    "I have seen others leave flowers on graves," she tells Homer. "Here," she says, handing over the bouquet. "I hope that this shall suffice."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Why did I come here?

A question that immediately comes to Xantia's mind as she arrives, and may not completely leave it for the duration of this... ceremony, is that what you call events like this? She at least understands the purpose, on a basic level. And that there are a number of feelings one might have that could lead one to want to be here today. Feelings that she just... doesn't have.

Certainly, this is in part because she just wasn't very familiar with Demetrioi. She never visited Alcidamas or Harmonde, and has little idea of what they were like before things went out of control. But even if she had, she has reason to believe that she wouldn't feel the way others would. Moments like this have a way of making her feel like something's wrong with her.

So why did she come here? In large part, for the sake of others. She may have no idea what she could say or do or here, but she can at least give anyone who looks her way a supportive smile and a little wave as she makes her way to the chosen site. 'Should I have worn something else', she silently wonders, as always dressed in battle gear because she figures it's best to always be prepared for a fight. Too late now! Not like she owns any clothes blacker than her armor, anyway.

Not really sure what she's supposed to say, she only gives Homer a nod before moving to stand by Azoth's side. That just feels like where she should be. "...hey. You doing okay?" she asks, smile brightening slightly.

Everything about this feels awkward. But being here feels right, all the same.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    When it comes to a funeral, Gwen is nearly there; her usual color scheme was always black and white with vivid embellishments of scarves, jewelry, or some other flash of color; while the contrast didn't do her skin any favors, she felt it did help her feel more refined and professional to clients.

    Now, she's just wearing those black pants with her finest pleated blouse, choosing to wear the diamond earrings as a show of sparkle, but no other color.

    In her hands is a bouquet of wildflowers from around the region; at least, the ones with land agreeable enough for the more rugged sorts of plant life. Gwen had a general idea of what she could easily find from previous travels and trips around the area. It's not quite the right season for the more brilliant shows of color, but there's a delicate mix of silvery fronds and thicky succulent leaves, white flowers, and some sprays of a nondescript plant that gives a softly spicey scent.

    Coming over to Homer, she tips her hat with her free hand.

    ".... I would've perferred flowers from Ignas too, but it felt a little too much, n' the colors there would've thrown off the palette I got goin' on here. Thanks for gettin' this together. Your injuries treatin' ya okay?"

    She gives a glance at the locals, frowning. Perhaps, it would feel disrespectful to be making such a show of a funeral when many in this area have deaths that largely go unremarked on. ".... In a way, we're puttin' a dream to rest, too. Even if it would've ended in disaster eventually, I'd say many of us lead lives that fit the same general pattern, eheh. But that don't mean new dreams can't happen. Just different ones."

    She gives Xantia a nod, when she shows up, offering a half-smile of welcome like it was an answer to the question Xantia didn't ask.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Today is a somber day. She didn't know Demetrioi very well, but their situation is a tragedy. They should've had the opportunity to grow and learn... but their power and the objective they were given put them into a situation like that. It's sad - and so, Jacqueline is here - for them, and the people who cared about them.

She arrives in a black dress and matching shawl. She's already dropped off her gifts - flowers, and some supplies, and then she arrives to meet Homer and Kaguya.

"Homer, Kaguya." Jacqueline greets, with a small smile. "How have you two been holding up?"

Her gaze strays over to Ethius, then.

"...I hope he's been behaving." She comments. ...Now that she has a bit more insight into his purpose, is that as much of a problem as it used to be...? Well, small steps, she supposes.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    The last time Ida was at a rememberance like this--no corpse, just cruelty and tragedy--it was years ago, in the aftermath of St. Centour.

    The Endeavor, Ida's little ship, is moored in the tiny harbor. It brought some nonperishable sundries for the townsfolk, free of charge, and also brought Ida herself. (The three other crew are hanging out at the periphery, mingling a little awkwardly with the former Alcidamas residents.)

    The heiress wears a black long coat over a green, plant-patterned blouse and khaki pants; she strides through the gathering with slow, deliberate steps. She spotted Azoth the moment she got here, but has yet to figure out how to approach him, despite feeling like she has to. There's a grimness here that not even Lydia can deflate.

    Is she going to have to do this again, for Azoth?

    Ida approaches Homer, first. "Here," she says, offering over two stones: smooth and polished, like they were in a rock tumbler. Guild Galad doesn't have the land to grow flowers, so instead, people make do with different tokens.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Luckily, most of the gathered here wouldn't be able to decisively say who or what a Veruni is outside of their combat armor. If Homer had any lingering anger about what happened, he's had weeks to let it bleed out. There's no snarl, no avoidance, it's more... he's still alive and processing the idea he unwittingly condemned Filgaia to become a frozen, hollowed-out husk of a rock. But he can still smile, a bit. For his time with the lives of the Drifters of Filgaia and Lunar, he's been pleasant (if occasionally a bit dim). That hasn't changed.
 
     "'m glad that there's at least a few people who only ever got ta know 'em as a friend," Homer says to Kaguya, and that's the truth. For a few glorious years, Demetrioi gave the people of Alcidamas Village hope, sustenance, and occasional sensory-induced migraine headaches. The first two outweighed the latter for them, at least.
 
     "Heyy," he waves a hand over to Venetia. "This sorta bit... can't really, uh, 'gah ha ha hah' through that, lemme say, but... 'm on my feet. Glad ya came, after all's... said 'n done."
 
     "I dunno just yet," Homer says to Lydia as she arrives. He's giving her some space, if only because he's seen her turn her arm into a blade and when you're from space, there's certain kinds of entities and capabilities you handle with due diligence and also that thing with the HOT RIVERS at Mount Liverfeast. But even so, he sees her as a young woman rather than a walking, talking appliance. "After Alcidamas, uh, I think some of 'em already got situated with... what's-her-name's help?" He rubs the back of his head. Those events were both a bit of a rush and also felt like some very, very long months of emptiness. Stress does that.
 
     Azoth gives his thanks for consideration being given to a fallen fellow AI, even if that fallen fellow AI was a) freakin' weird, and b) was going to be the inevitable doom of everyone on Filgaia (again). "That's kinda the thing... they were. Ain't any stretch, even after... all o' that."
 
     Juni's given a wave back. Ethius turns back over his shoulder to watch Juni's movements for a bit as he's sifting through seeds. He's as personable as usual (which is to say, not really, he's busy).
 
     "Lan, hey... 'm pretty sure I thanked ya, but if it weren't for everything ya did back then," Homer says to her, "I dunno... stuff mighta turned out... different." That's putting it mildly. Lan saved Homer's life outright in Alcidamas from Ethius. "I'm... real glad ya stuck by Demetrioi as long as ya did." The sight of her in distress as she had to disengage from a doom-spiraling Demetrioi intent on resolving the 'terminally unhappy' by freezing the whole damn planet haunts his sleep.
 
     As for Magilou, of course she counts from her many, many homes, she lives rent free in so many heads at once that she's a damned real estate magnate whose only comeuppance is that Bienfu is her rent-free roommate. Homer can't really muster up that mirthful a laugh as she mentions the idea of 'two corpses, today.' "We, uh, had a close one... one of the other old timers took a spill. They're doin' okay." (Okay, he's dense to the joke. That is also comeuppance to Magilou.)
 
     Homer takes the bouquet from Avril. "...Aw, thanks, means a bunch. Uhhh, I haven't said yet, I shoulda," he looks over to Ethius, "uhh. Demetrioi didn't leave behind proper... seeds, I dunno how that woulda worked," he remembers the strange fruit being thrown during that final desperate battle, "but... some of the people of Alcidamas saved some seeds from storage. Got Ethius goin' over 'em now, me 'n the people here were thinkin'... we'd plant some of 'em here, even if they might not grow."

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    From where Xantia approaches, she'll be able to overhear Ethius speaking to another villager. "There is nothing untoward about the seeds in question," he says, "the processes expressed and involved, by my understanding, did not alter the seeds. It merely provided optimal environmental conditions for the crops to grow and thrive." So, that's one potential hurdle to the whole remembrance thing overcome, then?
 
     Gwen also arrives, with her thoughts and concerns. "...Yep, 'm... able ta walk. I'm old, sure, but... gravity here's lighter 'n where I usually lived 'n worked," Homer asides, clearing his throat. He kind of half-expected Ethius to get on his case, but he doesn't. "Thing is... we, well, they ain't startin' from zero. Still got survivin' seeds from Alcidamas. Demetrioi left 'em that when they... left over with 'em." He doesn't say the Veruni by name.
 
     Homer waves over to Jay. He recognizes her as one of the most dedicated merchants and traders the world's ever known, and who knows, the Caravan Kinship just might give this little port settlement a shot in the arm over time. "Well, he ain't done me in," Homer says of Ethius, who does not comment or betray his feelings over there.
 
     Ida approaches, and there is at least one tense back-and-forth between residents and Endeavor crew about whether or not this is all going to be binding with Guild Galad like 'the others' (a cooler head prevails, so this background spike of tension remains in the background). Homer sets down the flowers he received for the two stones Ida offers. "Thanks... they're real pretty." This is high praise from a spacefarer, from a wide, sometimes wonderful, sometimes horrifying, ocean of sights and triumphs of technology in shaping so much of existence around them to one's liking.
 
     Ethius shows up behind Homer, hands behind his back, speaking plainly: "I find no objection to the use of the seeds."
 
     "...All right," Homer says, grunting as he stretches, "'bout an hour from now, we're gatherin' at that plot over there, let everyone else know," he says to those keeping near him.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    ABOUT AN HOUR LATER
 
     It's closer to thirty-five minutes, turns out, but they're all kind of playing it by ear according to some local tradition from farming communities that used to exist up to the very final days of pre-Civil War Celesti. Homer doesn't have access to nice formal wear, dressed up like the middle ground between a farmhand and a local mercenary, a pitchfork in hand as he leads everyone to that plot of land picked out. That there is one to spare for this purpose is a luxury beyond luxury.
 
     Homer steps on top of a crate. He lacks a proper podium. He clears his throat as he looks to the gathered. "I wasn't, uh... expectin' to ever do this, 'side from the one time with one of my uncles, they were uh... a real piece of work even by... family standards, hrrrm. Riiight." He exhales. He's tired, it's a bit much. "So... we're all gathered 'round in remembrance of... Demetrioi. At first, they weren't... much more than a lump of... stuff." Ethius has gotten on his case about going into specifics, even mentioning the type of metal alloys involved, so workshopping ended up with just 'stuff.'
 
     "...When they first came ta life, 'bout the first thing they said was 'bout the lines... they smiled, said, 'ya look so happy,' grinned, 'this world must be happy already,' 'n smiled. I set 'em down where they'd be fer a few years, and let 'em have at. We gathered 'round them, 'n Demetrioi wasted no time doin' what they did best."
 
     Homer takes another breath. "Welp, when I came ta Filgia, lemme tell ya. I just got outta some ugly business, 'n... I didn't help matters much there, 'till I noticed there ain't nothin' to take. Wouldn't be my place ta say all the stuff that people were unhappy 'bout, I imagine, uhh... y'all already had some experience with that." The Beastfolk discrimination, the desolation, the occasional neglect by the current reigning power of the region beyond collecting taxes and occasionally flexing their military muscle. "But as Alcidamas came together... a whole lotta that melted. Saw a buncha people get light in their eyes, 'n... before ya knew it, I did too. Demetrioi let us put a lot behind us, no matter who we were... fer a time, felt like everyone could be happy."
 
     It seemed hard to believe even to the hardened Drifters, that such a place could naturally exist - but it was true, for a time. Old bad blood and social ills melted away under a shared pursuit of happiness and starting over in an oasis that could - and did! - provide. They shared their blessing and bounties best they could with the world around them. It didn't last... but something like that wasn't only possible.
 
     It happened.
 
     "...In... remembrance of that," Homer continues, "everyone... set out some plots, sorted out seeds, of the crops that grew there. Ain't no promise anything will, given, uh, time of year 'n... the cold." Homer hisses in self-awareness. "I ain't actually much of a farmer, 'm a mechanical 'n electrical engineer, these days. But the people who are wanted ta go through with it, so..."
 
     "Take whatever seed pile ya wanna take from, 'n... take 'em down the row we set per crop. The villagers here've helpfully set li'l posts ta show where you can plant the seeds," Homer explains. "'n if anyone wants to say anything when yer done plantin'... c'mon here, I'll give ya the floor."
 
     Ethius stands outside of all this, watching, with his hands behind his back as if standing at attention in a military fashion.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"!" Kaguya jumps a little. "Gyah," she says, double-taking at Venetia. Then she pauses. "...Sure," Kaguya decides, "Sorry about that. You just uh..." Pause. "I mean. Yeah, sure, I'll go for it. My people don't have a lot of funeral traditions. We don't do tombs, or anything like that. We just ejected bodies out into space, let them 'go on a final journey.'"

Pause. "I guess that is a tradition. But I'm not used to Filgaia's. So sure, I'll try another. We don't know what the people who made Demetrioi would've done for one..." If they'd want to do that, anyway. Not sure. But she looks to Lydia as she asks and says, "I'm fine--totally recovered! I only got my ass kicked a little," she says with a laugh, though her heart isn't entirely in it. It's not a belly laugh kind of situation.

She looks over to Azoth, too, likewise not in all black. She doesn't smile, but she's glad he's here. She notices Juni, too, and nods her way. "...Hey, Lan."

And of course, Magilou. "I think we don't," Kaguya says of the tradition. "But we can fake it. It's better than nothing."

And Avril... Kaguya approves of the flowers. She does look at Xantia. And at Gwen, too. Jay ask, so, "I've been OK. I've had a lot to do, since it all happened. ...And I'm kind of avoiding my people a little," she admits with a grimace, as she looks to Ida's stones. To Homer, "I'm glad of that, too."

"...I think planting the seeds is a nice idea, though."

And Ethius has no objection. Kaguya ndos to him, thoughtfully. And then...

LATER

For her part, Kaguya doesn't speak up. But she does have a few machines on-hand, to help with the planting and the soil.

She has a lot to say, but she's already said most of it. Now... it feels right to let others have their say.

But the plants? "I've got a few things to help with that. I brought some soil enhancers, a nitrogen infuser..." Pause. "Things that help stuff grow. It's not as much as Demetrioi could do, and it's slower, but it should help a little. I'll plant them with mine."

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

"It's alright," Venetia tells Homer. "I've said some harsh words myself; I'll admit it. It's all too damned bad, but I felt responsible, you know? I felt I should do something."

Venetia's occult senses detect several people in the area, and also some SASS. Her head turns a little bit, to regard Magilou. One might expect a snap, but this is a funeral, so she answers with reasonable calm: "It's not for a child. It's for everyone. It's hard to bury a body, where I live, but you can always find a good piece of stone. Even the pauper or the buried dead may have that much."

"It's kept the haunting to a managable level so far, anyway," she concludes, with a certain black humor. She tips the heavy, shrouded thing towards Ida, adding, "See? Similar idea."

"Lovely," Venetia then says to Kaguya. She reaches into one of the heavy duty pockets in her dress and digs out -- a bronze chisel and hammer, both apparently ceremonially blackened, except for a purplish end to the chisel. "Our tradition is that those who were there at the last should make the last mark on the stone. I thought you'd be more amenable than Mr. Hesiod. I also wanted to avoid the risk that I would end up decking him with the slab."

Venetia pulls up the cloth carefully, revealing a word: SIARS. Except, Venetia indicates the top of the I. "This should be a T. Just tap it out a bit. You can just rest the chisel there and hammer a few times. Take it gently, I'll hold it or set it down, however you like." The underlying stone seems to be polished granite with minute purple inclusions.

LATER.

Homer explains THEIR traditions. (Venetia had asked in the interim if Homer would prefer the memorial slab here, or for it to rest in the depths of Guild Galad, instead.)

Venetia says, "Fair enough," while rolling up the sleeves of her dress to reveal her rather thick forearms. Then out comes the chisel and the hammer. "Let's get ecumenical with this. Any of 'em tomatoes?"

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia, on the other hand, knows Azoth to be a buddy. She knows its gotta be wrecking him most of all. If she knew Lan had beaten that ass once before she probably would've given Lan a fistbump. Lan might get a fistbump anyway even in ignorance but Lydia's Patiencethius meter is running low and she just hopes this is the end of it. The silence, the...random murder attempts. Hurting her sister dammit. If this is the end of all that maybe she can finally rest easy. After her rescue she really had no time to chill between Ivan turning jnto a bird and Demetrioi going rampant, she hasn't even had time to really think about who she is now that she is free.

Xantia seems down, she thinks. So did Ida before and well... Its a funeral, she should expect that right?

But for one reason or another, it feels like the general dour mood is for reasons beyond just Demetrioi too.

In the Baskar Colony, death can be a time for celebration as much as it is a time for mourning but she feels like they are burying a child. A robot child maybe but well...even an artificial baby is still a baby.

And hiw can she celebrate that? Part of her resents Ethius for allowing a horror like this to even get to Filgaia in the first place. Will she feel the same about Azoth if they cant save him? If OS gets their way even a little?

She feels real small.

She isn't really making her strongest effort to deflate tensions either. The mustard is hidden and is for condimergencies only.

Maybr. She oughta. hug Azoth?

But if she hugs Azoth, Lydia thinks, would he see it as her just trying to cheer him uo when he had legit reasons to mope? Sure she wants him to feel better but she doesnt want to indirectly tell Azoth how to think.

Lydia's eyes get a bit crosseyed as she performs analysis.

"Oh cool cool," Lydia tells Kaguya. "I'll be back in a sec."

She looks to Homer giving her some space and reaches over, her fingers getting thin as she kind of just pets his head like tbat for a second. "Yeah that sojnds like a plan." She says of the moment as she sliiides over to Azoth.

She doesnt say anything but she does hold his hand for a while. Maybe through the procession.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    Oh, he remembers! That's nice of him. "Hi, Homer. You did! Don't worry about it." Because it's not like Lan could have done anything else, once she saw what was happening. "I wish I could've been right about him. But..." she trails off, looking for words. 'But I wasn't,' seems needless. "...well, he wanted friends," Lan says instead.

    "Hey, Kaguya," she smiles a bit sadly at the shorter woman. Kaguya had promised to be good to Demetrioi, and had tried her best. She'd tried so hard. It must be harder for Kaguya than anybody else except maybe Homer.

    Venetia is right. It does feel like burying a child. Little Firelight had been no stranger to death, any more than the outside world was. It doesn't seem real. There's not even anything to bury.

    But they were there and they were here, and so was Demetrioi. Now they are here, and Demetrioi isn't.

    But Gwen is here, and their friends are here. Lydia gets a little wave while Lan's on the way to Gwen's side. "...Oh, they've got a few squash seeds. If anything can grow where nothing else wants to, it's a squash." (Whether or not it will flower and fruit...)

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

Homer asserts Demetrioi was a friend, and Azoth regards Homer an extra moment. "That's what makes it so important." Despite everything... and even now, Homer considers Demetrioi a friend. At least there was that. At least there was that...

As others arrive, Azoth glances to them, nodding to those who greet him, but quietly remaining still for those who do not. It's as if he's trying not to announce his presence.

There's a lot of flowers. A few other tokens. Azoth makes note of that, even if he doesn't understand it yet.

Azoth turns to Xantia, and the bright smile he greets her with is one inappropriate for a funeral. It quiets, weakening to something barely there. "You think it would be normal to cry, under these circumstances?" Azoth asks her, mirroring a question she asked him once. They both know Azoth is physically incapable, but that's not the part he means to echo. There are drozens of other things his face could be doing...

And whatever supposed to be natural here isn't coming to him. He's observed the others here. He knows what performance he could put on. But Azoth opts not to.

"I'll be all right. Until the end, I really did believe I could help change what seemed otherwise inevitable..." Azoth shakes his head and glances up. "...That may be its own kind of miracle, for something like me. Before... I'd have never." His gaze sets back on Xantia, unwavering. "Thank you for that."

Ethius returns with seeds, and Azoth looks up. Planting them... Kamui had wanted to plant seeds, too. The appeal is not lost on Azoth, either. He waits. Lydia arrives, and Azoth accepts her hand without any further words. There isn't a single algorithm that can find any of the right ones. And then he listens.

Part of it is listening to a story of how Demetrioi became a friend. How Homer and the people here found a friend and found hope in a dying world. Alcidamas seemed too good to be true. But it was real, for a while. That's a kind of miracle, too.

Once Homer's finished, Azoth takes up a seed, decisive in his choice and deliberate in his planting. He stays there a moment, palm over the soil. Words... Demetrioi cannot hear Azoth now, and he does not know what he can say to the villagers, and so he says nothing.

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida briefly entertained the thought of a headstone herself, but she figured that would be Venetia's wheelhouse. She was right. Ida's own family has a dynastic crypt in a sub-level of the property, and the their dead reside in carved alcoves just big enough to hold an urn or two each. A dedicated external tomb is something of a luxury--some other households contain memorial shelves, or a box within a household shrine for Guardianists. Venetia's people have their own customs, and there are undoubtedly others Ida hasn't seen, much less thought of.

    Ida moves to stand by Azoth as Homer begins the eulogy. She glances over at him and Xantia, and offers a nod, slow and gentle. As people settle down, she glances about, taking stock--and she can't help but smile, just a little, at the sight of so many here. She wasn't expecting Lan, or Juni, or Avril, but here they are.

    Once the sermon is over, Ida goes and joins the line. She picks up a sunflower seed, walks over to the designated row, and then gently tucks it into the soil. She has no idea if it will grow. The soil here is wounded. But sunflowers are hardy, and bright, and there's something symbolic in that. She glances back at Azoth once she's done, as another gentle check-in. Xantia and Lydia get a grateful nod.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    Magilou's joke for Homer lands flat! Terrible!

    She'll let it slide.

    "All tradition is faking it," she assures Kaguya. "But some people have been faking it longer than others."

    And to Venetia, she allows: "They do say funerals are for the living... I wonder if that's true?"

    When it comes to planting seeds, Magilou doesn't offer a witty quip. She goes to collect one -- a herb, not a flower, she's sure to check that much -- and digs a little hole to pop them in.

    She grasps a couple of coins, and presses them into the dirt, once it's settled. "You'll need this for the ferry, kid," she says, to no one in particular.

    The gald she puts down hasn't been in Lunarian circulation for close to a thousand years.

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

"Mm. Well, that's a good start, I suppose." Jacqueline considers as Homer points out that Ethius hasn't killed him yet. She spares another glance over to him, and then to Kaguya as she speaks. She's been okay... Jacqueline nods. "...That's good, at least."

...She doesn't blame her for avoiding the Veruni, though.

Time passes, and soon they all gather as Homer addresses them from a podium. She's quiet as he says his peace, reminisces. ...It's nice, but sad, too, and she has a slightly sad smile on her face.

When it comes time, she'll join in on planting the seeds. It seems like the perfect way to remember them.

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Spotting the flowers that Avril gives over, Gwen gives her a grin as well. "So you had the same idea, eh? It's good custom. Can't give the dead somethin' they can't take with 'em. Flowers are a show of color and scent, givin' somethin' that can eventually be used for compost n' the like. That's the way I see it, anyway. Oh, Lan!" She waves Lan over

    ".... Y'know." The mention of seeds from Homer brings a thought to Gwen's mind. "... My ol' Auntie, back in Ignas... she's a bit of scholarly-type. What she's been up to since I left the nest is breedin' new types of seeds that handle the Ignas Badlands better. I can't promise they'd be any better than the seeds here; my Auntie has some weird taste buds, but people keep hittin' her up for her pepper seeds. Seems there's some people around who like stuff that hot, n'..... well, I s'pose I'm babblin."

    Quieting once Ethius leaves for his speech, Gwen manages to spot Azoth, over by Xantia and Lydia. What is it like, for him, right now? Would he see all this as a farce, or not know how to take it?

    Xantia and Lydia are there, though; he's in good company.

    Stepping up to take some seeds, Gwen ponders the sunflowers, but opts for some pepper seeds instead. "Y'can't go wrong with these." She steps over to the appropriate plot and plants them, taking care to lightly pat the soil when she's done. "Time for some new life."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "It seemed... traditional," Avril says, glancing down at the bouquet that is now in Homer's arms. "There is something important about the fragility of flowers. Perhaps, their transient nature? It seems only fitting to honor the dead so. I would not be surprised if that is how your custom arose."

    Did the Veruni of the past practice such things? She knows only that the Veruni of the modern era do not -- a holdover from their long migration across the stars and the change that forced in even their funerary habits.

    It seems even now, they cremate the dead and scatter the ashes.

    Her gaze lingers on Kaguya for a moment at that thought, and here, her thoughts are well-veiled by the expression she wears.

    "I wonder," she says, when Gwen speaks of the seeds that Demetrioi left behind -- of the fact that her aunt specializes in such things. Again, her attention fleetingly turns Kaguya's way, but she comments on the matter not.

    In time, they gather at the appointed place.

    "...I see. So you would entrust us with these, should they grow?"

    This is a weighty responsibility, however one might approach it.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Is Xantia doing this right? Some people wear different clothing than usual, some brought gifts, some have some thoughtful words... meanwhile, she just showed up, quiet and clueless. Maybe she should have read up on funerals... but, then she'd be worried about a poor performance. That's all it would be, a performance. Ultimately, perhaps it's best not to put on an act when your heart isn't in the script.

All the more fitting, then, for her to stick by Azoth. He understands perfectly how she feels, she's certain. That opening question he asks her proves her, as much as it surprises her to hear her own words spoken back to her. Obviously, much like when she asked it, he's not actually looking for a direct answer. How else can she respond, but with the same words he did?

"You're hurting. You don't have to cry to prove it."

'At least, not with me,' Azoth had added. However, she pointedly omits that, just nodding with a smile. It shouldn't need to be an exclusive thing. Nobody should ever have to pretend. Those who want to understand, will. Keeping that in mind is already helping her to feel marginally less awkward.

Regarding the response to her own question, Xantia softly shakes her head. "But you did make a change. It's not as much of a change as anybody would have preferred, but... we had an understanding there, at the end. It's what allowed them to... leave on their own terms. Whatever we may think of that decision... it hadn't been a possible decision, until you made it possible." Her somewhat faded smile gains luster again when she adds, "You're capable of more much still, Azoth. Never lose sight of what you want, I know you can make it happen."

It's so much easier to have that sort of confidence in others. And in so doing, forget about your own lack of confidence, at least for a while. She has a smile for everyone else too, of course, especially those who show their own concern for Azoth, but she mostly just stands off to the side, otherwise. It doesn't seem like the time or place for animated conversations, as much as she would prefer to be having those.

It's not coincidence that Xantia catches some of Ethius's conversation. She'd been keeping an eye on him - likely not for the same reasons others will be keeping an eye on him. She still needs to ask him something. Perhaps she'll have a chance to do that while she's here. But for now, she listens quietly to Homer's speech. And afterwards... apparently they're supposed to plant those seeds Ethius mentioned? She wasn't aware that was a Funeral Thing, but that answers the question of whether there's anything she was supposed to do here. She's happy to do it, since as always, it feels better to be able to do something rather than just stand there, no matter what's going on.

Her choice of seed is entirely random, though she does grasp it tightly in her hand and closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens her hand and eyes... she looks strangely at the seed for a moment, before silently planting it. She doesn't say anything, though she has a pensive look as she returns to her former position.

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

It's a funeral using rites she's not familiar with, surrounded by people she barely knows and she's mostly observing. Juni doesn't really expect much and settles in to watch.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    For Kaguya, perhaps the biggest surprise thus far is that Ethius hasn't stepped forth and vetoed the machines or the soil enhancers. The medium-sized surprise is that he doesn't try and fry them on the spot. (Ethius asking for permission before doing something is always the bigger shock than doing the thing, let's be real.) "Th-that stuff... that'd be great," Homer says, a little overwhelmed with what he has had to say. It'd be great to see the seeds grow.
 
     In the described interim, Homer and a few of the villagers suggest a place somewhere in the fields for the memorial slab, to figure it out depending on the final distribution of the seeds. Fortunately for Venetia, there are tomatoes. There's even coooorn! There is not a laser gunnnnnn though. This isn't that kind of barking mad house. (...What? Never mind, one of those strange old flashes of non-sequiturs.) She receives the requested seeds.
 
     During the period of time where such a thing happens, Homer flinches as Lydia pets his head because he's seen what she does with those hands but he otherwise takes it in good sporting after the fact. He waves at her back in an aborted attempt to return the gesture.
 
     Lan has her pick of the squash seeds she can plant, and another former Alcidamas villager nods along to her assertion. "Say," said villager says, who is an older woman, "thanks... for everything you did for the mayor that day. And for that poor Demetrioi..."
 
     Azoth takes in the truth of a short-lived but genuine miracle. In the depths of inevitability that they grapple with, perhaps there might be hope that something incredible could happen in Azoth's circumstance - some greater meaning to be derived in periphery to what seems inescapable? The seed he bears and chooses to plant may be part of that.
 
     As Ida plants the sunflower seed, she may spy that the people who were quarreling earlier when they arrived are at least standing together and showing respect and remembrance now. Whatever bad blood Guild Galad has brewed with its way of doing things, it seems that's been put aside for the sake of this.
 
     Magilou plants her chosen herb and some coins with it, and one may hope that the 'kid' hasn't been stuck at the theoretical docks for the ferry to what lies for them. This moment of seeming tenderness is lost among the other moments of personal choices, thoughts, and feelings they desire to impart.
 
     Jay, from her time with the Caravan Kinship and especially Matilda's and Mariel's green thumbs, will be able to pick out the perfect seeds that have the best chance of growing and flowering in this climate if she chooses to optimize by what's best. She has that leg up, if that's how she prefers to decide her seeds.
 
     "That'll... that'll be up ta the people here, 'm thinkin'," Homer says to Gwen and her offer. "Right now... 'd say it's best we do the seeds from the stuff Demetrioi helped grow here." There are pepper seeds here to grow, and as Gwen picks and grows them... well, it is time for new life, however it'll happen in a place that can't seem to ever fully support it. Yet, life continues to stubbornly exist.
 
     "Yep," Homer asides to Avril about the weighty responsibility, "whatever kinda seed ya wanna plant among the pile here. Each and every one of 'em came from the crops that Demetrioi helped grow 'n thrive." Ethius was also overheard saying that they're unaltered and thus A-OK to grow (because he didn't burn them). There may be a sense of deja vu as to what might be best to grow. Maybe something like a full-sized carrot...? At one point in Alcidamas' history, one could swear they saw an enormous, juicy red strain of heal berry in exceedingly small numbers (as if it were a challenge even for Demetrioi to try and grow them).
 
     Xantia, pensive for a time, makes her selection in an almost carefree nature. She's able to plant it where it needs to be. There's been so many tragic events, so many awful things... it would be easy for everyone to say 'hooray, this awful thing is dead and dust, back to the usual awfulness,' but she's not surrounded by that. These are people who are celebrating the positive impact Demetrioi was able to leave them before things went pear-shaped... or dead-tree-shaped like it did at the summit of Mount Liverfeast.
 
     "Do you need help choosing a seed?" Asks another villager to Juni. She might not be from around here, but for the sake of these rites, even for an obvious out-of-towner (to put it mildly) like her... that they're willing to reach out and include her should say a lot.
 
     However, somewhere in all this...!
 
     Homer slips away with Ethius over to one of the few areas with natural vegetation that's (so far) held against the desertification. A place referred to by the locals - well, by the local that knows its name and now everyone is taking their word for it - as Certamen Grove. The gathered could not have completely missed this event - and historically, nothing good ever seems to have come with letting Ethius do his thing unsupervised.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

     CERTAMEN GROVE - AFTER A NARRATIVELY DRAMATIC ENOUGH LENGTH OF A HEAD START
 
     This place used to hold ceremonial significance to a people now long gone from Zoara, wiped out by the flames of war. A handful of stubborn reddish poppy-like flowers call this grove their home. It is one of the few local sources of lumber, and even then not by much - and it's the closest place to there being any sort of expectation of a secluded area from the port settlement. Homer and Ethius alike step towards the center of the grove, where Homer takes a seat on a fresh tree stump in exhaustion.
 
     "Now what, I bet yer waitin' fer me ta ask," Homer murmurs under his breath.
 
     Ethius doesn't respond, standing as he does. He hasn't put a mask over his face since the ordeal at Mount Liverfeast, his lightly bearded face wearing a neutral expression.
 
     "Demetrioi's gone now. I dunno who yer with, Ethius, but... ain't it time to go?" Homer's voice grows more frustrated. "Damage's been done. I ain't sure what's next... was hopin', maybe, a quiet life away from all the bad things life before all this was."
 
     Ethius keeps a stiff upper lip.
 
     "Didn't mean ta drag everyone into... y'know, all of it. Heck, they'd already confuse me for one of their 'Beastfolk' people - 'n that still throws me now, that they're all lumped as the same kinda 'not-human' name." Homer says. "'d fit in without a fuss. Just a quiet life, doin' somethin' decent away from all the... enforcin', the smugglin', rest of my family breathin' down my back 'bout how my life ain't turned out more worthy for bein' near the top of the chain for the Mecones."
 
     "I can think of another." Ethius at last speaks. Homer has become accustomed to being wary or spooked just about any time Ethius had something to say to him. Even now, that hasn't changed.
 
     "Yeah? I sure can, too," Homer says, "'bout... twenty-odd years back. Smaller world. Think I mighta brought it up at least once, twice, by now," Homer rests his head against his hand, propped up by an elbow on his knee. "Been a while, but... primitive--"
 
     "Underdeveloped."
 
     "Yer a Hesiod, that ain't the kinda words--"
 
     "That's the correct vernacular." Ethius says, firmly.
 
     "Underdeveloped. Underdeveloped world!" Homer corrects himself, throwing up a hand. "C'mon. We both know what that means. But... yeah. Biggest names of the Hesiod family. Mighta been direct heirs to the entire shebang, if I heard right... dropped off the face of the universe otherwise." Homer reminisces. "All intents 'n purposes... shoulda been an entire stronghold there. Press-ganged natives 'n everythin'. Dunno why they were layin' so low, from what I heard. Ya would think the biggest cheeses of the Mecones' greatest enemies'd... do more."
 
     Ethius goes quiet.
 
     "Brought the best kit we got. Told we had ta go loud, fast as we could, 'cause the you-know-who were gonna notice and ain't nobody wins when they get involved." Homer exhales. "Know for a fact I ran into a human kid then. Mighta been the heir. His detail that stood by 'em... one big hairy guy with a stick, might've been younger too."
 
     Ethius' footsteps are not heard as he goes wide while Homer speaks, facing down. "Not even a metal blade on it, just a stick. Didn't hold anything back then, y'know--"
 
     "I am aware."
 
     Homer jolts with his gaze facing upward, finding that there is now the end of a stick pointed at his throat - not at all bladed. A simple quarterstaff, hewn of reinforced wood of exceptional craftsmanship.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

OST: Etrian Odyssey V - Labyrinth V - Primeval Forest Ring (a.k.a. Untamed Garden) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_c4hphOJn8
 
     "I was that boy."
 
     Homer goes speechless. Not by choice. Ethius has always had an excellent grasp of where, exactly, he could poke and prod Homer to bring him low the times they argued over the months.
 
     "You brought unto those people a sky full of shapes and colors in patterns that did not belong. Your steel rent the world with flame, deafening as thunder, and left only dust in its wake." Ethius recounts, coldly in his voice.
 
     "And I was taken. I watched gods cease to exist as beyond the clear sky... there was darkness. Darkness, shapes, colors, and things unthinkable beyond what my parents and grandparents called home among those swamps and trees. I never saw them again." Ethius continues, unflinchingly - as if perhaps he has practiced these words ceaselessly in his mind, for this moment.
 
     "I wanted to go back. I was told I did not belong. My own family, none of us, belonged there." His eyes narrow. "Of course we did not. I see that in your eyes right now."
 
     Homer can't say anything.
 
     "Do you know why I hunted each and every individual during the day of the Demetrioi's hand-off to the last? That I kept myself awake for four full days after you fled with them?"
 
     "Y-You were awake the whole time?" Homer chokes out. "Sh-shit, had my ship auto-navigate 'cause I couldn't--"
 
     "You were reckless. Moved in ways I had no choice but to pursue alone. Spent years pursuing who, what, and why. Doing everything in my power to ensure no one else had to intervene on that scale. Do you know why, Homer?"
 
     "...For yer own revenge, ain't i--"
 
     "I cannot allow what happened that day to ever occur again."
 
     ...
 
     This is about the time - or perhaps some time shortly before, depending on one's sense of timing and/or eavesdropping - that an intervention might yet be staged.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

"I see..." Kaguya watches Venetia for a few moments as she explains. She grimaces a little about the haunting--back before she met the Guardians, she was afraid of ghosts--then she was just angry--and considers. "So.." Chisel and hammer. The last one, to make the last mark... "Probably," Kaguya says of Ethius. "...And that's fair." She glances over to him. "Real fair."

Back to Venetia, "Hmm. I can do that. I'll be careful not to break the stone. I can hold it or you can, if you think you're strong."

She looks over at Gwen. "Yeah, I remember, she was making really good progress on that. Tasty peppers, too." Of course.

And, "Yeah," Kaguya says. "The idea is that you bring a sign of life to the dead; it's a sort of symbol of continuation... and it's even better if you can plant something new, that lives on for them." Kaguya explains it to Avril. "That's what I learned, anyway. You know me and flowers, so I looked into it. It always seemed a little weird to me, but I guess it makes sense."

Then she grins at Magilou. "I guess it is, huh?" re tradition. For funerals, though, "I don't really know." She notices that Magilou has her own tradition to give. ...She doesn't press on it.

Instead, she smiles at Homer. "Of course. I'm a botanist, after all. ...That's my real field of study."

And then eventually... eventually, after planting more seeds, after helping out as best she can, Kaguya looks around, and sees who's missing. She looks, and there...

Kaguya does not intervene. She watches Ethius. She waits.

Kaguya waits, to see what kind of man Ethius is, after all this, in silence.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    Lan chooses a few of the healthier-looking squash seeds, digging holes into the rows a good few feet apart - with nothing to grow up, squash grows out, sprawling far further than you'd think. She doesn't have anything special to give them, other than her blessing and a bit of the clear water from her glass bottle. But maybe it'll be enough, when you add in all of the other good wishes and practices from everybody.

    "Huh? --Oh, no, don't worry about it!" she smiles, and nearly brushes her hands off on her clothes before remembering that this dress has to be given back tomorrow. She brushes them off against each other as best as she can.

    Azoth is here too, and Magilou - her complicated feelings about them have no place at a funeral. But she smiles at them if they look her way, before moving to help anybody that might need a little extra advice or digging power. Lan may not be a farmer, but it was everybody's job to help out at planting and harvest. She remembers the important stuff and even a few little tricks.

    But...

    "Hey," she wonders out loud, glancing around after a short while. "Where are..." Homer and Ethius.

    "He did not," Lan says, dumbfounded.

    Did he?!

    And where is Kaguya going?

    She arrives, heart pounding in her chest, just after Kaguya does. "Hey!! You can't-- uh..." Because Ethius isn't killing Homer, at least not right now. He's just... talking. Talking about things Lan can barely understand at face value, but that begin to connect after a fashion. "..."

    She stands there, dumbstruck, but ready to throw herself between them again if she has to.

    When she thought 'wait until after the funeral' she was kind of hoping for at least a day or two, you guys...!

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia just sticks with Azoth for a while. Like Azoth himself, she just doesn't really have words. She just...doesn't really want him to be alone. And that's what she's going to be doing for the majority. SHe does plant some flowers. Rituals, she knows, are important, but se stays close to Azoth the whole time.

And maybe that was going to be her plan for the rest of the night. The truth is she wanted to give Ethius some space. The guy meant a lot to her. He always would, but space was something she definitely thought would be nice and healthy.

Only to eventually notice a dotted outline were Ethius used to be.

Oh that's odd, LYdia thinks, he probably went off to do some loner shit somewere. She should probably tell Homer--

Another dotted line where a Homer used to be.
Hers dim lightbulb slowly starts to flicker--before shining bright in Lydia's head.

"Oh my god Ethius is gonna kill Homer. Be right back Azoth I love you you take your time ahhhh hand hugs."

She gives his hand a squeeze and then, literally concerned that a murder is about to happen, rushes off to look for Ethius. She won't stop Azoth and friends from following but that's what's getting LYdia heading over thataway!

And then...

Well, Lydia is not a cool customer like Kaguya. So instead of coolly lurking and handing Ethius the strands of his fate, LYdia stumbles in on it like a bulldozer, admittedly slowly at first as she's looking around, hearing stories about Ethius that may have prevented a few head injuries if he had just shared them in the first place...

But she's still really worried about that murder happening and so she steps out into view, raising her hands into the air. One turns into a buzzsaw and spins rapidly (but harmlessly) while the other hand grows an assortment of swiss army knife assortments.

"Ethius!! Don't murder that guy!"

"Alone." Lydia adds. "If we're doing murders we should do them together because of friendship." The buzzsaw spins a bit more rapidly, still harmlessly, but maybe with a bit of an edge all the same. "Is that cool with you Homer--"

She lowers both hands--hesitantly at first, then eventually lets them just flop over to her side.

The reason for why Ethius, despite being kind of a dick, said all those kind things about her ages ago, why he was so ruthless with Castle despite him not personally harming him--

It's finally clear to her. The buzzsaw slows down to stillness.

"Ethius, um---why didn't you just...tell us? You didn't need to carry all that alone."

She raises her hands again. "Okay come here I'm gonna..."

She approaches Ethius and tries to give him a hug. She doesn't morph her hands back to normal first.

"You didn't have to be so cool," She tells him.

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

Juni Vandrer glances at the villager and holds her hands up, replying, "I'm just an observer. It's for them." She gestures to the other drifters and villagers.
 
 nominally would have tried to stop Ethius from splattering Homer in this situation, however with the revelation? She just moves to get a better angle in case this spirals out of control. The cloth wrapped object on her back pulled free just in case something needs to be done. She's even blind toggled the safety. She's not 100% sure who she'll support on this one if it does go funny though. With some thought, she calls out, "Maybe save it for later. Away from the collateral before you recreate the same situation Ethius." She doesn't even tell him he owes her a shotgun still. She's also not trying to cover Homer this time either though.
 
 Incidentally, the angle she's picked keeps the others out of the line of fire.

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

 
(Earlier, when Kaguya was making her mark on the slab of amethyst-included granite: Venetia holds it still, but staggers a little at the first tap. "Dinoginos, I suppose you are built different.")

"When do you really die?" Venetia replies Magilou, not quite looking at her. "When your body stops and you fade to whatever, wherever? When the last memory of you dies out? When the last thing you worked is eroded by time? It's hard to say; and the road doesn't always run straight."

"Stone doesn't last forever," Venetia says, "But I've seen stones from unthinkable years ago. We argue how old they could possibly be, even now."

Venetia receives some tomato seeds and has no objection to co planting some corn as well. She sets the funeral chisel on the ground and gives it a one hand smack with a healthy metallic clang! and a tiny spark, which... buries all eight inches of it in the ground. "Hm," she says. "Too deep?" She pulls the chisel out of the frozen ground, but soon enough finds a rhythm.

But then there is a converation...

Homer is following a pattern that Venetia recognizes, from the stories that have made her life what they are now. An old journal has brought her to this high seat (for she sits in it whenever she is seated). The path was not simple, but do not all memories have a destination to take you to as well?

And then... tension rises...

"By the cosmic teats of Mahabrahma," Venetia says, rising from her seat, "Put the damned stick DOWN! After all this time, is this just your reflex? Have you not gotten everything you'd hoped to accomplish from this primitive, underdeveloped world? Take a deep damn breath and pull in your steam!"

Venetia then side-eyes Lydia a little for being kind of casual about murders. NO-ACCOUNT YOUTH

wait, Venetia thinks, I'm youth, aren't I? Aren't I?? Aren't I????

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

When Xantia mirrors his response in turn, Azoth's face does do something: a brief shock, and then a warmer smile, holding it a shy moment.

A change... Harrowing as the change was. Nearly the same change he inspired in Falk. Possibly even in Rachiel. Azoth was made to be a weapon, and no matter the method -- weapons or words -- he remains skilled in destruction. But those calculations falter, interrupted, new data tripping up the conclusions Azoth usually comes to. Never lose sight of what you want.

Gwen and Ida aren't unnoticed, but Azoth does not want to draw more attention to himself and burden them with figuring out words to say. How often had he pretended to be cheered up in the past? Like a kind word made the situation all better, when everything was still an inescapable fate?

Does Azoth see it all as a farce? Some of it's difficult to understand. It's impractical if he thinks of it as for Demetrioi. It's perfectly logical, though, if he thinks of it for everyone else. How people have gathered, and what that all means to one another.

He returns from the seed planting, back to where he once was, with the others. Lydia notices Ethius is gone and gives him hand hugs. Despite her very concerning words, Azoth doesn't move yet. He looks to Xantia, then hesitates. He's not the worst at it, if someone does it first. He's given them, once or twice, when he thought someone else would want one. Now it's for him, and it's... difficult, but Azoth finally goes in for a hug. Not all that tightly, a little too conscious he's made of metal under the surface and Xantia's still flesh.

It can only be brief: "...We should probably help prevent a murder."

The world moves on, and so does Azoth, away from a plot of planted seeds and to a grove of a meager few stubborn poppies. A grim tale is told. Ethius claimed that he knew his purpose all the while. He'd never forgotten. There is much Ethius has never forgotten.

"Will it?" Azoth asks, and it may be sudden with how quiet his demeanor has been from his usual. "Is this needed to prevent it?"

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

    Ida hangs back just a little while longer, quiet and contemplative. She's still thinking about the argument she overheard, and what's left of it, now. She brought those gifts of her own free will, but that doesn't mean there isn't any pressure to reciprocate. Power is like that.

    Xantia is there, and that means Azoth is in good hands. It's time Ida found out where Homer and Ethius got off to.

    Speaking of power...

    'Underdeveloped'. It's better than 'primitive', but it's still a lit fuse of a word; the notion that some worlds just don't meet the standard set by Minora, or wherever Claude and Homer came from. There's a lull, and then Ida emerges from behind the bole of a weathered, stubborn old tree.

    "So that was why," she muses, aloud. "You convinced yourself that if you told us, you'd put us through that same trauma. So you kept silent, no matter what."

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Noticing the dotted outlines of two prominent people that should be there, Gwen looks around after her last bit of planting, and sees Kaguya walking away. "... Oh hey, is there somethin' else?"

    .... Oh.

    "Ethius. Homer." Gwen lets out a sigh, quickly realizing she spoke before she had much of a plan at all. ".... How far do either of ya wanna go with all this? The cat's out of the bag, n' if you wanna kill Homer because he could technically nab another,

    "Wouldn't the proper punishment be just resignin' yourself to bein' one of us lot? You wouldn't be the first person to walk on this planet with a buttload of crimes on your back. The question is, will you decide to make up for it by doin' what you've been doin' so far?" She folds her arms. "The battle you saw.... it should've made you realize those designations ain't worth a damn here. Primitive, underdeveloped? Don't matter which word you use when we got several varieties of society livin' between these two planets. I've seen dead cities with technology that rival the Seed cities in Ignas. And I, myself... my own survival wouldn't have happened if it weren't for stuff beyond medical care. Buuttt I think I'm deviatin' from the point."

    She clears her throat. "What Venetia n' Azoth said. Hold your horses, n' also, what Ida said. Guardians, is there a planet full of Claudes out there?" She thinks on that, briefly, not sure how to feel about that. "Anyway. Gettin' into a fistfight at a funeral is a fine Badlands tradition, but people usually get wasted first. Same with weddin's, n' baby showers, n' birthdays.... and hell you get it."

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    One would hope he's not stuck at the docks, but it pays to be sure.

    (Literally!)

    Magilou does not plant a flower for Demetrioi, though, so maybe she was... some measure of a friend. Witches use herbs all the time, you know. Normal humans, too!

    "I'm in the business of cheating death," Magilou tells Venetia, cheerfully. "I'm a historian, you know, and what is not forgotten may never die!"

    She smiles, as well, to Lan. It is normal to have complicated feelings about Magilou; she'd hardly blame her for them.

    And then, not long after, she's gone.

    She doesn't leave with ceremony. She doesn't say anything to Kaguya, or to Lan, or to Venetia, or even to Jacqueline or Ida or Avril. She leaves no advance warning. She simply leaves.

    It would be easy to think Magilou's left the party, as easily as she entered, and with just as much respect for how everyone feels about it.

    But she didn't go far.

    "So you fought against it," Magilou says, stepping out from behind one of those pitiful trees, with no comment as to how long she's been there. "... because that existence was anathema to you. The damage the Mecones did that day, in order to get ahead of the Hesiods' might... I suppose you weren't the only suffering child, mm?"

    Magilou isn't wearing mourning clothes for an event like this.

    She isn't wearing mourning clothes, because she's never liked dressing for church.

    "... witnessing something like that would certainly explain why it's so surprising Homer is still alive, I suppose," Magilou sighs, with a broad shrug, palms to the sky. Her tone is far too light and airy for the conversation. She gives Homer a 'well, what can you do!' sort of expression, and distinctly does not step in to intervene.

    Because: "Far be it from me to interrupt a revenge story. So," she turns to Ethius, fingers curling at her chin. "What'll it be?"

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline wants them to do well, and to flourish. Not just for Demetrioi, but for the people of this place, too. That, she thinks, is the best way to honor their memory.

...But she is watchful, of course. Even now, she doesn't quite feel comfortable leaving Ethius and Homer alone together so it may be that, at some point Jacqueline... slips away.

...And she listens, and she watches. And eventually...

"...So, that's what happened." Jacqueline considers, stepping out of her hiding place. "That puts a lot of things into context. About you, about him. ...About everything."

She approaches Ethius and - if he doesn't step or shrug away from it - rests a hand on his shoulder.

"...But, if you take his life - if that is your intent - would that change anything? Would that stop anything?" Jacqueline asks. "...Please don't do this."

...Her gaze, then, turns toward Homer.

"...However. He does have a lot to explain for himself, for neglecting to mention that detail." She adds. "A lot of things we'll have to make clear. You can be sure of that much, at least."

<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.

    "I see," Avril remarks, raising her left hand to her lips as if to take this slice of information from Kaguya into account for the first time. "A symbol that life continues, as well as a symbol that life is fleeting... it seems that a flower may stand in for many things."

    In silence, she moves to sift through the seeds at Homer's encouragement, stopping only to select the ones that 'feel right'. A touch of the Ley's guidance, perhaps? Removing her gloves, she kneels to set to work. When she stands again, though, she realizes something very important.

    Ethius and Homer are no longer here.

    "..." Avril's gaze sweeps the rest of them slowly before she moves, as if she already knows in what direction the two men have headed.

    She arrives in time to hear it.

    "...Enough. If it is vengeance that you demand, Ethius," she proclaims, directing a gaze at him with enough force behind it to possibly pierce a man through, "then not here and now now." She turns her gaze slowly in Homer's direction, and he is not spared, either. "Homer, neither shall you flee him, if it is that which he seeks."

    But even her gaze softens those crucial few degrees.

    "But is it vengeance that moves you, Ethius?"

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia seems to have plenty on her mind, after the seed planting is over. It's hard to read how she feels, and what it relates to exactly. This isn't usually the case because of how open she is in her words and expression, but at that moment there's none of that. Soon after, she starts to look around, frowning. Maybe she's upset about something? Maybe... maybe she just needs a hug?

She would have not seen a hug coming from anybody, but she definitely didn't see it coming from Azoth. There's a single unintelligible noise, an utterance of confusion as her eyes go wide, and for a moment she just stands there, looking unsure of herself. It's a decent mirror of the way Azoth has also appeared in the past, when she hugged him out of nowhere. And she soon corrects herself in the same way, wrapping her arms around him, tightening the hug considerably.

...Okay she is probably overcorrecting a little, but her hugs tend to just not be exactly on the gentle side. But it's fine. She's also aware that Azoth is made of metal and he's not gonna break that easily. Even if it might look like she's trying to. She's just enthusiastic, this never happened before!

She's still thinking of what to say when Azoth beats her to it. "...And I was gonna give him the benefit of the doubt too," she mutters.

She did notice Ethius's absence just now. But her first suspicion was that he ran off again, like he does. She didn't immediately consider there might be a murder at this funeral. Well, she'll hear what Ethius has to say for himself, first.

She gets the chance when she arrives with Azoth early enough to catch a good deal of the conversation in the grove. She sees no immediate cause to intervene, just standing off to the side in the shadow of a tree, arms crossed as she listens. But when others start speaking up, so does she.

"You've changed," she once again tells Ethius, in far too casual a tone for the situation. "I don't have an opinion on that. I just want to ask you one thing. Were you immediately and irrevokably changed, as a direct result of regaining your memories? Or did regaining your memories provide you with a choice, and you made the choice to change?" She uncrosses her arms, but she still doesn't seem poised to act in any sort of direct way.

"If the latter, can you not choose to change again? Choose to trust those that have chosen to trust you?"

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Even with context, Ethius has Homer at his mercy. They've seen how one-sided a fight between Ethius and Homer is. Riesenlied has seen her Dragon's Tear turn black between these two, and now the eavesdroppers have their reason - a vendetta that spans back so many years. Of all the people out in space, of all the distance, that all of this would reunite these two together... what are even the odds?
 
     Ethius turns a gaze as interruptions happen, with a very notable slice of his attention towards where Juni might try and decide the situation with the help of her advanced weaponry. A quiet, unspoken promise of how badly it might go if she decides to shoot him, in this tense situation.

     He catches Kaguya watching from over yonder, and says nothing to her - just as she holds her tongue in turn.

     He can't be ignorant of Lan's shock at the idea that she might be losing another possible good friend like she had to Demetrioi. With Demetrioi's awful, inevitable fate and this reveal that Homer himself had a deeply bloodied set of hands in Ethius' history... is a continuing spiral of capital punishment inevitable?
 
     Lydia breaks the ice with her yelling, she who has been impacted by Ethius' words and choices more than almost anyone else. 'Don't murder that guy! Alone.' Homer flinches at the buzzsaws as they happen. Ethius, in comparison... despite how /easy/ it looks like it should be to have her bisect him by whim and/or quadruple-secret as-of-yet-undiscovered failsafe methods by Solaris, he doesn't flinch as she hugs him. (His own protection against that kind of thing is well-seen by now.) That he doesn't flinch suggests a callousness and coldness that may yet still lead to one last element of defiance.
 
     Venetia calls for Ethius to stand down, as if he'd already gotten what he wanted from all this. Ethius, of everyone, might have been the most frustrating element of reality crashing against her ideals of the desire to chase the stars beyond the clouds and the blue skies.

     Azoth, unaware of all of how this weighs into the calculus of his overall function and mission and the distressing parallels to his own situation, makes the query about how whether Homer's murder will prevent it.
 
     "You overheard," he says tersely in response to Ida's theorizing about his silence and lack of desire to clarify, something echoed across others' sentiments. She was an early 'beneficiary' of his decisions to do strange, destructive things without oversight and accountability. Does a deep-seated trauma even begin to mitigate some of the trouble he's caused?
 
     "You are wondering why Homer wasn't dead to begin with beyond the attempt at Alcidamas," Ethius says without looking to Magilou as she expresses her surprise. Honestly, several other assaults ought to be called out because 'Ethius killing someone' and 'Ethius exercising restraint' tends to be an opaque and indiscernible concept, as Gwen pleads for mercy and a just, proper punishment.
 
     Jay, once again, pleads for a kinder option. That Ethius went as far to execute that one surrendering bandit at Linga because of the (at the time) very real possibility they might have been involved with the concealment, activation, fencing, or really anything to do with Demetrioi can only have made sense in retrospect to what's happening here.
 
     Ethius' gaze is known to be unsettling. Avril's... putting it to words does it injustice, as Ethius turns away from that particular subset of people because of that gaze. Was it vengeance?
 
     Xantia highlights that he changed, when he got his memories back. Could he make the choice to change again, from a colder, more pragmatic path filled with death, secrecy, hurt feelings, rampant arson, and stolen holiday decorations?
 
     Homer swallows a lump. Avril's not staring at him and even he is feeling the weight of that. That's the thing about the iciest of stares - so cold you feel them anywhere.
 
     "My aims did not change." He answers Xantia. "That it would have been Homer Mecone, alone, who got away that day did not change the importance of what I did and how."
 
     Homer, still quiet, as Ethius is pressing the business end of his weapon towards their throat as if treating that swallowed lump like an escaping convict.
 
     "At Alcidamas, I had every belief I would have been able to disable the Demetrioi then and there." He doesn't speak of how Eleanor spoke of what she saw and how. He had every reason to believe the flames were his, as that was within his MO. That it was the Veruni attacking that set them, which... changed a lot of contexts and proved an unpleasant surprise for likely Eleanor and himself.

     "'n... ya didn't--"
 
     "I stayed my hand," Ethius remarks, "because preventing a planet-ending event was of primary concern. If there was any remote possibility that Homer could have deactivated them, that... was more than worth the risk of my grievances being left unaddressed."
 
     Ethius closes his eyes. "I did not have the benefit of favorable, controllable circumstances in which to minimize my own impacts on your lives in turn. There are..." He did not rehearse what he speaks here. He has always had a tone of speaking that sounded like line-reading off of practiced scripts. "Were. Were circumstances of... words, actions, and choices that stood to jeopardize even that."
 
     Perhaps he can go over itemized examples with some of the gathered later - but this is about the best apology he can make in the moment for the broad spectrum of them.
 
     He does not drop the stick, to Venetia's chagrin.
 
     "There are matters I am not trained to speak of nor explain. But there are matters I cannot compromise. Homer Mecone."
 
     Homer's eyes shift up.
 
     "The Demetrioi has left no surviving trace that would endanger Filgaia further." Further. Harmonde is definitely a sticking point. "Your own capacity to enable further trouble... I will be dealing with."
 
     Is it time for mutual killing ~with friends~?
 
     "I will be confiscating the last of your contraband. As you've said, you blend in seamlessly with the people of Filgaia. Where your remains settle, they are unlikely to be discovered nor definitively identified. Symbological ink is among the first things lost in the process of decomposition."
 
     "...Meanin'..."
 
     "The last Demetrioi was confirmed disposed of. The whereabouts of the final surviving party that attempted escape with it remain unknown, pending ground-penetrating scans of relevant detritus." Ethius says. "Pending ongoing investigations and incidental discoveries."
 
     Silence.
 
     Ethius's tone of voice grows annoyed. "That means if I see you again I will kill you."
 
     ...
 
     So he is to be spared, and it seems like the intention is close to what Gwen was putting forth. That may be why he didn't call out her suggestion.
 
     "I will not be dragging the people here further with my grievances."
 
     This would be the part where the Dragon's Tear turns a bright scarlet from its previous deepest black.

<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.

Everyone has something to say, but Kaguya is most interested in what Ethius has to say now. All the things he's said, all the things he's done, seem to her in this moment to come down to one choice, one choice that she, too, has to make:

Vengeance? Or something else?

And what he does, and says...

Magilou asks the right question, of course. Kaguya doesn't talk about death.

(She did, however, earlier, reply to Venetia, 'Little bit! It's cool. Just avoid most of us.')

But now... Azoth, too, asks. And for all that...

"...Yeah," Kaguya says to him. "That's fair."

Whatever judgment she was making, whatever criteria on which she judged Ethius...

He appears to pass.

Kaguya steps forward, then, towards Homer, sets a hand on his arm, since she probably can't reach his shoulder. "I'll help you disappear, if you want. I'm pretty good at making that happen. But I won't give you any of my tech, either. You'll have to make do with what the others have."

"Not even video games."

She looks to try to meet Ethius's eyes. Just for a moment. And then that's it. She's done.

<Pose Tracker> Juni Vandrer has posed.

Juni Vandrer watches quietly, not moving. Low ready. When it doesn't boil over, she flips the safety back on and slings it back over her shoulder. Turning to leave. Over her shoulder, "Ethius you owe me a shotgun." as she leaves. She's not letting that go.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia doesn't fear Ethius because she knows Ethius will only hurt her accidentally. The buzzsaws aren't for him. Well they sort of are. She was trying to ruin the mood of a possible murder. Lydia doesn't actually want to kill Homer but she's willing to spook the guy!

She's just tired of murder. She wouldn't even say it's an ethical consideration, it just...kinda wears her out.

She says, "Okay cool."

Her hands blorb back to normal.

"Nice meeting ya Homer. Thanks for telling me' bout space folk."

It seems like Ethius still has work to do. He lost his family but--

Well, truth is, Lydia can't relate to that. She never really had one until she found Riesenlied and Kaguya.

"YEah Kaguya's real good at being sneaky."

A long pause.

"Now her killer mutant tomatoes on the other hand..."

<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.

Jacqueline watches Ethius, as he speaks. But she doesn't interrupt him as he says his piece. She's ready to intervene... but in the end, she doesn't need to. Homer is spared... under threat of death should he appear before Ethius again.

That... might be the best compromise she can ask for, at the moment.

"...I see. Well, I don't pity you, Mister Mecone... but for what it's worth, I hope you'll have a good life here. You know how to get in touch with me, if you need to." Jacqueline says. She looks toward Ethius, then, considering him for a moment. His grievances, hm... Is he really letting them go?

...But for now.

"...It seems you've accomplished what you set out to do. So... what comes next?" Jacqueline asks, looking at Ethius.

<Pose Tracker> Lan Lilac has posed.

 
    "...So they're not friends but at least Ethius isn't going to commit a murder right now. Right?" Ethius tends to use a lot of phrases that confuse Lan (it's not that hard), but if he was going to try murdering Homer once and for all it probably would have started already.

    ...Probably. He did apparently wait twenty years to try the first time.

    "Are you not going to keep being the mayor of Alcidamas?" she asks, frowning. Everybody seemed to like him still, even without Demetrioi here.

<Pose Tracker> Azoth has posed.

It's easier, with Xantia knowing how to return a hug. He can handle the tightness. It's better like that.

And revenge is a dish better served preventing the same horrors from repeating.

But they will not, even without bloodshed. And so, there is no bloodshed.

Azoth leans in a bit toward Ethius. His voice is lower, but he's not impossible for anyone else to hear. "You know... Drifters are about as stubborn as these poppies." He smiles weakly. "If an world ending entity like Demetrioi gets friends, I don't know what makes you think you can ever escape. Or that you have to."

He straightens up, glancing to Homer with a more apologetic look.

"I hope you find your peace again."

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

The details of Ethius's past, and the grievances that arose from it... ultimately, that isn't any of Xantia's concern. To her, this was never about discovering who Ethius is. This was about Ethius discovering who he is, and the way his discoveries affected him. Back on Mount Liverfeast, she barely recognized him anymore. She'd been unable to discern if the Ethius she knew was still in there somewhere.

But, as he explains himself... she's pretty sure she's seeing the old Ethius in there. Surly, taciturn, secretive... but, in the end, perfectly reasonable, in her estimation anyway. That's all the reason she needs to smile brightly, planting her hands on her hips.

"So, no murder today then! Sounds good to me!"

She doesn't go into it further, but there was of course a reason for the way she phrased her questions. If Ethius wasn't able to choose the kind of person he is as a result of regaining his memories, that would bode ill for her. This result gives her hope, not just for Ethius, but for herself.

<Pose Tracker> Venetia Vuong has posed.

"Stop talking like you're made of picric acid, you impertinent ultra-overdweller," Venetia answers Ethius, folding her arms even as it seems that the energy of imminent murder of an older fellow is gone.

And -

Ethius is wrapping things up. Incidental discoveries, she thinks, scoffing. Lucky us he didn't find the legacy. Lucky ME!

But, Venetia thinks, looking down slightly, then that's that. He's not sending the fellow back to the stars -- so I can't place a purchase order. There's not going to be any more last deliveries of miracle metal, here to save us at the eleventh hour.

But there are other treasures here, greater treasures. She spoke with Kaguya, a woman who might be an enemy, and was razzed by another woman from a wholly different world in her own right. People made of machinery; people finding their hopes in the face of lost memories, lost kin, all sorts of losses. Her eyes close for a moment.

Maybe that's fine, she thinks. A puzzle with enough pieces. And if they win their way to their stars with the help of just that little boost - why, won't it taste all the sweeter, to have played it straight? To have shown them all that hope didn't die? Won't they just stomp their hats in frustration - and live to do it, too?

Venetia smiles faintly to herself.

'symbological ink is among the first things lost'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2l8hDtta30

Venetia's head snaps back upwards and she looks directly at Homer, the shrouded veil-hood-mask she's wearing hiding most of her expression.

<Pose Tracker> Magilou has posed.

    "No," Magilou assures Lan, clapping a hand on her shoulder. Reassuringly? Let's go with that. "Ethius isn't going to commit a murder right now. He's 'considering his friends'," she steps forward, lifting her hands to make little bunny-quotes with her fingers.

    "I'd take Kaguya's offer," she says, to Homer. "It's quite generous." No, no, don't expect Magilou to help.

    Turning to Ethius, Magilou grins. "Looks like you're a child of the future," she tells him, with her typical insufferable inscrutableness. (She and Ethius aren't all that different.) "And what do you have, now you're leaving the ball in Homer's court? Are you planning on Filgaia's soil consuming your artworks, Ethius?"

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

    Gwen's shoulders ease as Ethius seems to come to a certain.... understanding: that living and dying on obscurity on Filgaia is its own reward, and punishment. Also, if they meet again Homer is dead. "Ehhh, that's fair. Filgaia's big enough. I'm sure you guys can find opposite ends to inhabit."

    She breathes a sigh. "So you were willin' t'see if Homer might provide an easier answer than just destroyin' Demetrioi there n' then. I say you did the right thing, really." She adjusts the angle of her hat against the sun. "We all got an eyeful of what Demetrioi was capable of. Destroy them then and we would have seen you as a murderer. As it stands, now, we all share in that crime instead, but we also bury them as one of us. Homer, as well, knows all sides of Demetrioi." Whether if that was what Ethius meant by 'staying his hand' or not, Gwen felt it was something worth pointing out.

    Planting her hands on her hips, she smirks to Homer. "... I think you got a nice bit of future to secure some peace for yourself, then. The sky's the limit as far as places to settle down. What shall you do, Mr. Mecone? I bet any one of us can help you... as well as Ethius, maybe..." She casts her gaze towards him. ".... 'cause that might be a question for you, too. The sky's the limit, and the horizon's spannin' before you. As the others asked before, where do you go, Ethius?"

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

    Homer throws up his hands to Kaguya's offer. "L-Look, that's great, but... Iiii... think 'm gonna... help m'self, thanks, uh..." What is there to say? All of a sudden, he's come face to face with someone he deeply wronged in ways he never could have imagined, let alone what would've come from all of that.
 
     "You have been given far more grace above and beyond a shotgun," Ethius asides to Juni. He wasn't what he presented as to her. What he actually may be now will prove, in short, complicated considering unconfirmed but almost intuitively certain alignments on the pangalactic stage at large.
 
     "Lydia, please," not 'miss Lydia,' as Ethius puts a hand to his forehead. As if he could spare one while threatening Homer. "Killer mutant tomatoes is another concern for another time." Okay, killer mutant tomatoes are on the Ethius agenda.
 
     "What comes next is," Ethius pauses, "complicated and in uncharted territory for... myself, I will profess." It remains a delicate situation, after all.
 
     "Uhh," Homer looks to Lan, "Alcidamas ain't a thing anymore, I guess, uh... mayorrrr offf... somewhere... he ain't lookin'."
 
     "I have been made well aware," Ethius says to Azoth. He almost certainly has been with how he's taken so much good will, taking entire kilometers out of an inch given by Jay. And then some, as Homer is unable to really respond to Azoth's well-wish for peace because... yes.
 
     "Unless I see him again within the next twelve hours," Ethius says to Xantia's joy that there won't be further murders or executions as of this day! The processions started in the morning, so there's still a looooooot of day left. Homer nods vigorously. He is unaware of the extent of which this decision grants her internal hope and relief, but he is not unpleased by it.
 
     "Do not get ideas," Ethius asides to Venetia without looking at her. uh oh busted!!! for now. From what Homer said earlier, though, he was certainly spoiled for the uses of meta-thallium. If it finds that much use in Symbological engineering up there... maybe someone else will happen by and leave more for her to find.
 
     Magilou, in a roundabout way, asks for 'now what,' which is a good question because of how Ethius has been, well, very much Ethius and has done all sorts of weird things to remove or bury some truths from surfacing.

<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.

     "...There is more to be done from incidental discovery, even with the matter of Demetrioi resolved." uh oh what if he happens into that hidden set of caverns in guild galad aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah "But I assure you that... more will be discussed as necessary, at... a lower bar threshold than prior."
 
     "Fiiiirsst," Homer responds to Gwen, "'m... gettin' the hell awa--"
 
     The contraband." Ethius remarks.
 
     "R-right, right." Homer throws up his hands, "take 'em, take all of 'em--"
 
     Ethius does. This doesn't need an extensive poetic breakdown. He does. There might even be a black screen to join in on the fun!
 
     On the tail end of Gwen's query - which matches some others - Ethius looks to the rest as Homer has been allowed to just take his leave of the overall story from here with nary more than one last glance over Ethius' shoulder. He said that he's wanted to prevent a more heavy-handed response like what happened in his youth. Is that even possible now? What is the threshold where he can just go away, leave things as they are, and not cause any more problems?
 
     Even if outside attention may - is - yet warranted by even the most liberal interpretations allowed, Ethius muses to himself, even with disciplinary action and tribunals inevitable... these matters yet require a delicate touch. Beat. Comparatively speaking. The Demetrioi chase took me seven years to put to rest. What I've seen... that will require more yet.
 
     "For now, I would like to watch the rest of the procession," Ethius remarks, "and we will speak in detail on certain matters at a later time."
 
     You are a Flametaker, they will reiterate. Ethius muses under the surface of a face that has proven somewhat more emotive than his intense staring may lead one to believe. To this sentiment, I hold ever truer.
 
     I am a promise.

     -------------------------------------
     |Ethius Hesiod has joined the party.|
     -------------------------------------
 
OST: Star Ocean: The Second Story - The Bonds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OguH-Ny7q6Y
 
     The Caravan Kinship now has access to Ethius' trade specialty... Xenotech!
 
     With Ethius' help, most items from beyond the stars can be identified or safely disassembled. Please note that his knowledge and capabilities are broadly generalized. Hyadean, Veruni, and Zeboim technologies all have specialized experts that exceed his own abilities in these individual categories.

     ....
 
     With that... the rest of the funeral will go as it does, as three separate crises loom over the horizon, beckoning the aid and attentions of Those Who Come and Go.

     For even beyond the clear sky, adventure awaits.

OST: Star Ocean: Faithlessness and Integrity - Beyond the Clear Sky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvs8MRiYTzQ