howexciting: (Tormented by visions of flight)
Leonardo da Vinci ([personal profile] howexciting) wrote in [community profile] synopsychic2015-01-05 01:01 pm

[open to all] Regarding Trump metaplot and tattoos

Forgive me, everyone, I... have some announcements, of sorts.

[His mental voice sounds remarkably hesitant. Still, after a moment of silence as he waits for everyone's attention, his mental voice calms as he continues.]

Several Jaunts ago, in the Labyrinthine Shoal, myself and two others were given strange markings, like tattoos. We did not think much about them at the time, though we have noticed that each of them includes a zero symbol somewhere on them. Mine is on my left shoulder, so understandably, many of you may not have seen it. If you would like to see it, I can show you in private... but let me get to the point.

As many of you may have already discovered, there were two Trumps at this dance - who I will call the Sun and the Moon. They were wearing a brilliant gold mask and a pale silver mask with a half-moon, respectively. Just recently, I discovered that at least two of our number were given tattoos as well, one with symbols related to the Sun with the number Nineteen, and one with symbols related to the Moon with the number Eighteen. I do not know the trigger, but I do know that they spent at least some time in the Trumps' presence and were then marked with tattoos.

For those of you unfamiliar with Tarocchi decks, or Tarot decks... they are a set of playing cards, used in fairly simple games. I will not get into those here. These decks have important cards which are all higher rank than the numbered and other face cards, and are collectively called the Trionfi - the Trumps. The size of this set differs from deck to deck, but many of the decks I am familiar with contain twenty-two of them. These numbers on the tattoos match the cards for the Moon, number eighteen, and the Sun, number Nineteen. The Fool is listed as the number Zero.

I can only conclude, then, that Don Orlea was a Trump, and more specifically, il Matto, the Fool. Further, something the Sun said to me... about being "spoken for", the Moon mentioning the beginning of the cycle, and then marking others with these tattoos, all lead me to believe that the Trumps are marking us for some unknown purpose. They cannot mark us more than once, that I know for sure. But as to why...

[He pauses again, to let all of this sort of sink in with everyone else.]

If you find such a mark, I think it would be wise to let us know, especially if it is from il Sole o la Luna. If you are not comfortable doing so, I understand... but this may be an important clue as to our purpose here.

If you have any questions, too, as always I will be happy to answer what I can. Thank you for your time.
flatteries: (i just started to deserve it)

THREADJACKING GOMEN...

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-09 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh god, heichou is intensifying so much... guess who's 100% more determined to keep the fact that he talked to one of the Trumps and actually agreed with said Trump a secret now... ]

Well, since we were all wearing masks, I doubt anyone would have realised they were Trumps to begin with..
surveyor: (017)

NEVER BE GOMEN COME TO MY ARMS

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-09 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[A PREEMPTIVE APOLOGY FOR HIS SHORTNESS, INIGO. He's just very, very interested in the physical characteristics of the Trumps. For... Reasons. Yeeeeeeah, we're gonna go with... That.]

You can only hide so much behind a mask and under robes. [He knows this pretty well; even boot lifts and padding will only do so much.] And there's the other one, too- [I N T E N S I F I E S.] The Fool.

[Just saying it... Yeah, he knows who the real Fool is here........... And it's not that Trump. He mad, bro.]

Someone knows what they look like.
surveyor: (111)

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-13 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[NOT AT ALL WHAT HE WANTED TO HEAR... But not completely useless, either.

Now they know... How little they really know. That's, uh. Something. Yeah...]


What about scent? [Did you smell them, Leo? DID YOU GIVE THEM THE FULL MIKE TREATMENT...????] Or sound, was there anything distinctive at all about the quality of their voices?
surveyor: (011)

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-16 02:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[You're good, Leo- so far you've been the most cooperative and helpful of everyone he's spoken to regarding the Trumps. IT'S APPRECIATED, even if his tone and psychic demeanor says otherwise.

And anyway... That's interesting- everyone has a scent, Levi's particularly sensitive to that often disgusting reality...

But what's more interesting is that next part- their voice, or voices. Hmm...]


What was the question?

[He'll start with that- a thought has occurred to him, but he'd rather wait to see if the answer supports voicing it or not.]
surveyor: (107)

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-22 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Not permitted by who, I wonder...

[Hmm. Good thing he asked first- this contradicts what he was about to wonder out loud, that maybe there's only one after all and it's just using multiple voices and forms to confuse things even more...

But if they can only be marked once, by one Trump at a time, that doesn't make much sense, does it? His brain hurts. Anyone happen to have a titan he can slice up or a room he can scrub to relieve some of this aggravation...?]


Anyway, if he didn't claim a willing volunteer [and here, have a MASSIVE MENTAL SIDE-EYE for that one, Leo, who does that??] it's most likely because he didn't have the power to replace the original mark... [Because willingly offered assistance is clearly preferable to coerced cooperation...] Did you get any impression about how he felt about the others? They were arguing, before, when they yanked us out of that other place.

[Some tension within the group, maybe? It's not unheard of.]

Did he say anything about them?
flatteries: (somehow it's never enough)

CRIES ON YOU!!!

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-15 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Good, Leonardo is distracting him with details... thanks, Leo, you're a real bro even though you don't know how much you're helping out Inigo here since he's too freaked out to give coherent answers.

Instead he just swallows thickly-- ]


You seem rather.. er, intense about this. [ TRYING TO BE DIPLOMATIC. ]
surveyor: (130)

jfc I am so sorry for him /o\ CRIES WITH YOU TBH

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-15 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Intense...

[HE CAN'T HELP IT OKAY HE'S AN INTENSE LITTLE MAN.

And while he doesn't think he really needs to spell it out, he will... Because he likes to complain.]


It's not up to them to decide that these worlds deserve help more than mine. [He may have accepted that these places do, in fact, deserve help regardless... But the Trumps' apparent lack of care for the lives they're disrupting is still a sore point with Levi. His world is on the brink of either revolt or catastrophe- probably both if he's being honest- and instead of making a difference where it matters he's here being tossed around like a fucking puppet, powerless, completely useless to the people he cares about left behind in his world. Hange, the rest of his squad, and all of his comrades who'd given their lives to put an end to their struggle... He'd made them a promise, and now- because of the Trumps- he can't keep it. HE MAD.] They've taken me hostage at a critical time and forced me to dance to their shitty tune, they twist all of our minds and change our bodies without offering us a choice...

[...Also he's had to change his relationship status from FOREVER ALONE to IT'S COMPLICATED, a conclusion he'd liked to have arrived at without brainwashing.]

Someone needs to answer for that. [A pause, and then harshly:] Do you have any useful information, or are you just wasting my time?

[He likes you, Inigo... But this goes beyond that- this is too important to him to let personal feelings get in the way.]
flatteries: (by the pamphlets)

you're not really sorry you just enjoy making inigo cry!!

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-17 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's terrible what intimidates him and what doesn't. He'd face down Grima thrice over if it meant not having to deal with this, he'd fight off a whole horde of Risen or bandits, take your pick. But it's exactly this that frightens him, despite Levi being smaller than him and them probably being able to go head to head in a fight, depending on the circumstances.

It's exactly this - the feeling that he's disappointing someone he respects. The fact that he's really being cast aside, judging by the tone.

Inigo swallows, but his throat feels more dry than anything else. ]


No. [ The tattoo he suddenly noticed while washing himself the other day - only barely, really, just a glimpse of the edges - burns into his back, like a secret he so desperately wants to confess to someone, but doesn't dare to.

Especially not now.

Tears threaten to rise at the corners of his eyes, but he bites his lip hard, forcing them back in. ]


.. Forgive me, sir. With how everyone was masked and cloaked at the ball, it was truly difficult to tell what any Trump might have looked like. I do not think most of us would have any truly valuable information rather than assumptions and guesses.
surveyor: (098)

SAD INIGO HURTS ME....... SO MUCH ;_____;

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-20 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Well shit, sometimes that's just all you've got- Levi will take that over Inigo pointing out the obvious- that's what'd really pissed him off.]

If that's all we have to go on, tell me your guesses or assumptions. ...Assuming you saw or heard anything at all. If you didn't, I don't need to hear anything else.

[He still sounds... Blunt, if we wanna be really conservative about it, but his words aren't quite as heated as before. He won't blame anyone for not having useful information when it's clear from what Leonardo had said that the Trumps had gone out of their way to conceal themselves; he's not that unreasonable.

He's not exiling you from the cool kinds table yet, Inigo. Not, you know... As long as you're. Honest.... With him. About the situation.

/shifty eyes emoji.]
flatteries: (mystery's flashing amber)

stabs you straight in the heart....

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-22 02:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ BEING HONEST IS EXACTLY WHAT HE CAN'T DO HERE..

No, seriously. The idea of telling Levi after this is more frightening than the idea of telling anyone was after hearing their scepticism. It's not like he doesn't realise this is just going to give him trouble if it'll be found out later, but.. he's just not brave enough to do this.

He can admit that to himself, as miserable as it makes him feel in the pit of his stomach. (--See, this is how he's nothing like his father, this is how he's nothing like Lucina, this is how he's nothing like a prince.) ]


I did not see anything.

[ A lie.

The tattoo burns a little more, but he's sure that's just the feeling of his guilt. ]


I apologize for wasting your time.
surveyor: (124)

someone needs to call the waaaaaambulance to pick me up rn I stg THAT ICON TOO WHY THIS WHY ME

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-22 02:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[It isn't gonna be pretty if/when Levi finds out Inigo's bullshitting him... But for now he offers the kid a mental nod, taking him at his word; this conversation is over.

...He has some parting words, though:]


Watch yourself more closely, now that we know for sure they're hanging around.

[They're powerful and unpredictable- CONSTANT VIGILANCE, INIGO......]
flatteries: (oh piledriver waltz)

I HAVE SO MANY HORRIBLE ICONS TO TORTURE YOU WITH DON'T YOU KNOW

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-22 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He'll have to deal with that as it comes.. for now he's just glad he managed to escape the not-so-Spanish Inquisition before it got any worse.

Although he does mentally blink a little at that statement - in reality he's still busy wiping away his tears since he's a huge weenie. But thankfully no one can see that. ]


What, are you afraid they'll just do that to us out of the blue? [ Since he got more or less explicitly asked about it.. not as directly, but there was still a question he said yes to. ]
surveyor: (093)

cries about it forever precious weenie prince

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-22 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
We don't know what they'll do, or why.

[It's a problem. These markings... They can't mean anything good.]

They don't seem to have a problem doing anything else without our consent.
flatteries: and so was your food (your waitress was miserable)

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-23 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
From the description, it doesn't seem like these marks have any special effect though.

[ "Your Self", the masked figure had told him, "Your skill, your mind, your loyalty, your word. Not give up. Just... subsume. Subordinate. Choose something higher."

He sucks in a breath and pinches his arm. ]


They are merely.. there.
Edited 2015-01-23 22:00 (UTC)
surveyor: (002)

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-23 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[INIGO WHY ;____;]

They mean something, even if we don't know what that is yet.

[He sounds... Very sure of this.]

...We'll find out, one way or another.

[He's sure of that too... That, and the fact that it'll cost them, that's always how this sort of thing works- someone who's been marked will have to suffer in order for the rest of them to know what they're dealing with.

He may not like it, but he sure is expecting it.]
flatteries: (i etched a face of a stopwatch)

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-24 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, if it's suffering for everyone's good, then Inigo doesn't.. really.. mind if he's the one suffering..

.. he figures he should probably not say anything along those lines out loud. Especially not to Levi of all people. ]


What do you suppose is going to happen? Perhaps the most we can do for now is keep out an eye for any signs that could be related to that.
surveyor: (037)

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-25 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
If I had any idea of that I wouldn't be sitting here doing nothing but talking. [He's so goddamn useless, like this. He can't stand it.] But... I don't see that we have much other choice. Unless...

[MENTAL FROWN. You're not gonna like this suggestion, Inigo. He sure as hell doesn't like that he has to make it:]

What would happen if we tried to remove one ourselves...? Using physical means, not whatever the hell they used to put them there.

[Cutting, burning... Amputating. It turns his stomach to think about it, honestly, but it's all he can come up with- these brands are the only direct, physical connection they have to the Trumps. Would tampering with a mark draw the one responsible out? He has no choice but to consider it.]
flatteries: (Default)

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-27 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's true, he doesn't like it. But it's for other reasons than one might thing.. if he really didn't want the mark, he wouldn't mind offering himself up for burning his off. But the promise given to him by the Trump, that he could stop being himself - the thing he hates the most - then..

He wants to at least see if there's something true about it. If it does turn out to be something bad, then he'll gladly let Levi get rid of it, no matter how gruesome it might be. But the Trump reassured him it wouldn't hurt anyone else - so he wants to see this to the end.

It's probably why he doesn't sound as weenie-ish in this response.. It's terrible just how much worse emotional harm makes him feel than physical harm. ]


That would mean assuming the connection is in the brands themselves. [ Of course, it's not like they have much more to go on, but.. ] From what was said by the others, I thought it was more supposed to be a sign of which Trump marked you.. perhaps so they won't interfere with each other's pickings.

[ Do the Trumps even communicate with each other?? Do they have family dinners..?? Who even knows.. ]
surveyor: (096)

Inigo hurts my heart, that story and more at 11....

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-27 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
If that's the case, then disrupting it would give the one who did it some incentive to show their face here, to stop us from shitting all over their claim.

[He only needs one, for now, and even that would probably be a challenge for him alone.

He'll need some help... But he'll worry about that if and when the time comes; part of him is aware that his motivation for interrogating a Trump and forcing it to send him back is pretty selfish- he has some cause to believe that there could be another him back home still keeping his promise after all, though in his mind that doesn't absolve him of his responsibility- and so as of now he won't use such extreme methods by force.

...It won't stop him from thinking about it or planning, though- he won't put that off until it's too late. Actually, he should talk to Armin and Erwin, probably, see what they think before he does anything else...]


Because if the marking was meaningless, they probably wouldn't have bothered in the first place... [More mental frowning. This situation really, seriously blows.] They're the only connection we have to them directly so far, so we can't afford to dismiss them.
flatteries: (oh piledriver waltz)

EVEN WHEN I DON'T TRY HE DOES.. he's just that good....

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-27 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Then..

[ deep breath.. ]

Let's make sure we are thoroughly prepared for the arrival of such a Trump before anyone undertakes such an action. [ Because even if they go burning anyone else's mark off, he can't see that going particularly.. well.. with said Trump.. ]

For all we know, they might only be here for a short moment to try and reinforce their mark before they disappear, so there may be ample time to act.
surveyor: (006)

:'C

[personal profile] surveyor 2015-01-27 02:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I won't be half-assed about it. There will be a plan in place first.

[Multiple plans, involving multiple people if he has his way.]

I'm not taking this lightly- [OBVIOUSLY IF HE'S CONSIDERING HACKING OFF LIMBS OR PLAYING MEN IN BLACK WITH DISTINGUISHING MARKS........] -so nothing's happening yet.
flatteries: (i etched a face of a stopwatch)

[personal profile] flatteries 2015-01-27 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Levi the planner... Inigo has no idea what kind of huge complicated plans he's pulled off before back home, honestly. ]

I would not expect you to, anyway. [ Take it lightly, that is. Levi doesn't really seem like the yolo type, as intense as he is.. at least not the yoloing headfirst into stupid rash decisions kind of yolo. ]

.. Good luck with that then, sir.

I MEAN IT IS A SNOW DAY SO.....

[personal profile] surveyor - 2015-01-27 18:35 (UTC) - Expand