another thing; w/ fafnirs and skeletonenigma; cw for suicide talk

[simulsimul]

a post for random filings of things


d_p - in which Kratos and Zelos snark as well as they can with Lloyd in hearing.
here - Zelos takes Kratos up on a challenge. (cw for suicide talk)
here - spacedad finds another canon on another planet. it involves a skeleton with a disturbingly similar backstory.

Comments

from d_p; a demand for responsibility

[simulsimul]

[For all that Kratos had challenged Zelos to step up or shut up, he still doesn't quite expect Zelos to 'come find him' as he suggested. There's still too much for either of them to do. For Kratos, his focus is on finding the necessary elements for an Eternal Ring. He's got one. He knows where another is, but can't reach it yet. Still two left ... Which is why he's digging around an abandoned mine.

[He definitely doesn't expect to sense someone else's mana nearby, let alone someone he recognises.]

SP; a mighty need for a cross-canon meeting

[simulsimul]

[Time had never seemed to move so slowly. Four thousand years of hell, and they had been a blink of an eye in comparison; Kratos supposes that's due to having turned so many of his senses off that it felt half dream-like in retrospect. Having to experience every moment made them seem far longer, when all most of him wanted was to be back on Aselia with his son.

[But space was vast. Most days, the incredible things they found were enough, when Kratos imagined being able to bring tales of them back to Lloyd. When they weren't enough, there was the steady reclamation of self among the angels. For every angel who remembered their heart, it told him he was in the right place. He'd managed four thousand years of nothing. He could manage a few years in space.

[Especially when it meant discovering things like this -- an inhabited planet. And not only that ...]

You're sure?

[This is to the angel on the comms, who nods.]

I've run the scans thrice, sir. This planet is inhabited by humans.

Hmh.

[Kratos looks again at the screen showing the world still some distance away. It's larger than Aselia, with more ocean and so much radio chatter that he'd ordered all of Derris-Kharlan's internal communications to be routed through telepathy instead, lest anything important be lost in the clutter. He doesn't like doing that; it's too easy to forget there's anything outward worth seeing.]

Well, if that's the case, I should be able to go down among them without much trouble. Is there any location with large degrees of mana?

[There is; most of the planet is as dry as Aselia was when it was split, but there are three springs of mana which approach Aselia's usual levels. Of them, two are large continents; the last is a small island. Kratos chooses that as his landmark -- small as it is, there's less chance he might get lost, or that Derris-Kharlan will have trouble finding him from such a distance. From the levels of technology this planet seems to have, to get much closer would be to risk drawing attention.

[At least there's a moon. He leaves Derris-Kharlan wearing clothes more appropriate to the culture and with an entourage of insistent bodyguards who break off toward the dark side of the moon to set up a communications buoy and outpost. Kratos continues past them with broad sweeps of his wings, waiting until the island is in darkness before descending through the atmosphere -- slowly, to avoid leaving much of a heat signature, and minimise the risk of drawing attention.

[Up closer, the island's lights are dazzling. Up close, it seems as though every inch of land on this planet is a spiderweb of glittering illumination. None of it, near as Kratos can tell, actively uses mana; that thought is the only reason he can find the sight at all beautiful.

[Even still Kratos is glad when he's descended to an altitude where he can no longer see so much of the planet, when the buildings rise up. At first he'd planned to choose a spot away from the largest of the cities, but now it looks as though the cities are contained within a glowing bastion of light; certainly no one would notice if he lands inside.

[So he does, coasting above the building tops and finding a less populated area to drop into a street, deliberately choosing areas where the light's glare will hide his wings. The buildings are much taller than he anticipated -- he misjudges the distance when he pulls in his wings, and hits the ground harder than he meant; and it isn't any sort of ground he's familiar with.

[For a moment he remains crouched, frowning and with a hand of the material of the street.]