[forward-dated to post-Jaunt] [filtered from Maria Ushiromiya] At the end of our tether

[capital_asset]

[A short time after his last address to the network, Raidou contacts them again. This time, his mental 'voice' is notably clipped. He's also trying very hard to keep this locked down to most Travelers, save for one he wishes he didn't have to exclude.]

Speaking of nightmares, remember when the Illuminants were 'making forays' into Liminal Space before the last Jaunt? It turns out that those weren't forays at all - they've established an actual connection to Liminal Space, one the Arcana don't know about.

I can probably find the thing, thanks to certain enhancements from Purgatory; however, they created it as a group and while the skill that allows me to detect such bonds also allows me to disrupt a bond, I could only disrupt one Illuminant's connection at a time, and there's a significant cooldown period. It would also alert them to the fact that they've been found out, which we may or may not want to do at this point, so it's not without its risks. Then again, the same could probably be said for anything we decide to do to it.

Comments

[breakaleginhalf]

...well that's fucking horrifying.

[capital_asset]

In retrospect, it's not completely surprising, but...

[breakaleginhalf]

I'd wonder if there's a way to boost your skill, so you can cut off multiples at once, but that seems like a tall ask.

[He's not fond of this skill, in general, but he keeps his distaste very tightly in check.]

[leftbehindagain]

Oh, wonderful. No way that could possibly go poorly at all.

If we do cut one of them off, we should make sure they won't be empowered by the move, if at all possible. And it probably shouldn't be Green on principle, since Maria-chan would ask them, whether they'd answer truthfully or not.

[acapriciousthing]

[The thing about being ten billion is you get to learn lots of swear words]

I can't see a version of this where that's a good thing.

[capital_asset]

[If it wasn't potentially useful here, Raidou would honestly not have brought it up.]

I don't know. I don't think even Vulpe could do that.

[capital_asset]

Of course not.

[Less sarcastically:]

Yes, we should definitely try to avoid that if possible.

And... there's a reason she's not included in this conversation.

[And he hates it, because he remembers being her age and he would have considered being treated this way a massive betrayal, but her trust in the Illuminants makes including her potentially dangerous.]

[capital_asset]

[Well, at least they're all learning new vocabulary.]

Nor can I.

[leftbehindagain]

I assumed as much. Pretty much anyone but Beatrice-san trying to tell her why that blind trust isn't a good idea would go badly, and since she's not available right now...

[capital_asset]

Exactly. Which won't stop her from being furious when she finds out about this, and honestly I wouldn't blame her for being upset, but...

[leftbehindagain]

I wouldn't either, but them not knowing we've found their back door is the only advantage we have right now.

[And she'd take that door and go tell them.]

[capital_asset]

And the second they find that out, we lose even that.

[Which is why, as much as it bothers him to leave her out, he is doing so.]

Which raises another question: How long has that connection been there? Were the cursed game and the hexadecimal room used to establish that connection, or...?

[breakaleginhalf]

Mixed blessing, really. [He hates it, but at least it has firm limits. That aren't going to be used on him.] At least we know.

[capital_asset]

Yes.

[Things would have to be very, very dire for Raidou to even consider altering his Bond with Gil.]

And... yes. There's that.

[leftbehindagain]

I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that was just the thing that showed us it was there.

[capital_asset]

Nor would I.

[leftbehindagain]

Well, the odds were always in favor of us running into them again. Hopefully we'll have some time to brace ourselves.

> Protection 1

[breakaleginhalf]

[He's just gonna quietly protect his follow-up question.]

Are you gonna be okay, with people knowing that?

[There were loaded skills, and there was. That.]

-> Protection II

[capital_asset]

I'm going to have to be.

[So no.]

[capital_asset]

Hopefully.

And hopefully they're not planning to involve themselves with the Bando, but I'm not sure I'd bet on that.

Private | Protected

[amadine]

We may be able to use this.

Private | Protection 2

[capital_asset]

What are you thinking?

[leftbehindagain]

We'd be better served counting on their involvement, I think. Then we can go in more ready for it.

[capital_asset]

I think so too, as much as I would prefer it not happen.

I just hope they don't decide to involve Maria. I could see that going very, very poorly.

Perma-private, Perma-protected

[amadine]

I'm thinking...

[A brief pause.]

I'm thinking I ought to ask you first just how deeply you've delved into their mysteries.

Perma-private, Perma-protected

[capital_asset]

Not as much as I probably should have, unfortunately. I've been trying to read up on them more since they made their presence known during the run-up to the last Jaunt, but once the Jaunt started and then... became what it was... it ended up taking precedence over everything.

[leftbehindagain]

No kidding.

I mean, she'd bounce back pretty well if we had to kill her to get the influence out of her... give or take why it happened. [Which ties back to the whole 'reason this conversation is filtered' thing.] And obviously that's not a preferable tactic in any case.

This is a mess already and they haven't even come in yet.

Private | Protection 2

[capital_asset]

She would, but I'm not sure she'd recover as well from the perceived betrayal of being locked out of this discussion because we can't trust her not to go to the Illuminants herself. I'm not trying to argue that locking her out like this is unnecessary, but... I just don't have a good feeling about doing it.

[Not least because it's reminding him of Barry and Thorne in various uncomfortable ways. But also because he doubts the Illuminants themselves would be above weaponizing it.]

It certainly is.

[whatsina_name]

Fuck.




I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but still.

[capital_asset]

I think that about sums it up. On both counts.

[Certainly, it had been Raidou's immediate reaction.]

[whatsina_name]

This is going to be interesting. And bad. Bad interesting.

So they each individually have a tether to Liminal?

[capital_asset]

That's what I'm afraid of.

It's one tether, but it was done as a group.

[whatsina_name]

And it's not possible to target the whole... tether with your thing, just one part of it?

Because if that's the case then yeah, I think it would be worse to alert them that we know about it. But need to figure out something to do, or they'll find out we know anyway.

[by possessing the people they normally possess whenever they decide to make use of it.]

[capital_asset]

I can alter one end of a bond and attach it to another person or spirit, but since the bond is communal, I can only affect one Illuminant's connection.

And I'm not sure we have much time to plan before they act - those 'forays' they made into Liminal Space while things were broken were probably the only hints or warnings they're going to give.

[whatsina_name]

No, we probably don't. It might be the kind of thing where we just throw everything we've got at the wall, but I don't know if that would make things better or worse.

[leftbehindagain]

She wants to be treated like her opinions matter, and I can't blame her for that in the slightest. And it's not even that her opinion doesn't matter, it's that it's actively dangerous in this particular case. I would have locked her out of this loop too.

[And probably felt just as bad about it, but he's already tried convincing her the Illuminants are bad news once.]

[capital_asset]

I think we're both in complete agreement on this.

[And he remembers the discussion from the salon very well.]

[capital_asset]

It probably depends on just what we throw at them.

[leftbehindagain]

It's the least bad option. If she's mad about it, at least we'll be able to have the argument.

Otherwise, this is a threat we understand well enough to combat, have a chance of beating at this point, and can get our hosts on board with dealing with.

[capital_asset]

True.

[He's still hoping Beatrice will come back at some point, because he suspects they'll need her to mediate when all of this inevitably comes out.]

[amadine]

But you haven't taken a Colour yet?

[There's a thin thread of worry running through her psychic voice.]

[capital_asset]

No.

[amadine]

Good.

I've an idea for dealing with them, but it would be dangerous. And the fewer of us who've taken their mark, or the nearest thing to it, the better.

[capital_asset]

[He'd figured 'dangerous' was a given.]

What are you thinking?

Protection II

[breakaleginhalf]

[There is just. A strong wave of love and reassurance across the network. And also some across their Bond for good measure.]

[amadine]

I'm thinking if they haven't moved yet, they're waiting for something - a particular world, a chance to possess some of us, a moment of weakness. Something to compensate for the fact that if they're here, they're separated from their places of power.

And that makes them vulnerable - both here, and where they live.