comelately | IC INBOX (AION TELEIOS->KENOS)

It wasn't real. Not really.

[ a quick dismissal, for someone who's more than aware of the dangers these kinds of visions can entail. he is still shaken, and communion means he can't hide that, but that isn't what he's here for. (that said, he probably is going to sleep with every light turned on in his apartment.) ]

But I couldn't help hearing what they said to you.

[ like, he literally couldn't help it. ]

[ things not being real doesn't necessarily mean they don't hurt, whether mentally or physically... but he's not the type to dig, so he doesn't. Besides, the reminder of what he learned today - and how public it was - has him a little defensive. ]

Yeah? What about it?

[ a sigh, or whatever the mental equivalent of one is. ]

I know I looked stupid, so you don't have to tell me.

Light, [ is breathed out on a half-hearted laugh, ] and I didn't?

[ he doesn't have any high ground to judge anyone, least of all johnny. the sense that ripples through the connection on his end is rueful. ]

I was just worried about you. That's all.

[ this is a check in, not a scolding. ]

[ he's genuinely so unaccustomed to people giving a damn about him that hearing it directly from Rand surprises him. Does he buy it? Not entirely - his gut instinct is always that it's pity - but he likes Rand well enough, and he doesn't have any reason to get hissy about it, unlike with Abel and his overbearing attentions. ]

Oh. [ a beat. ] You don't have to worry about me. I'm good.

[ he's probably not but he doesn't wanna talk about it!! ]

... I don't believe it, anyway. The Regent's full of shit.

[ the sense that comes through is something like a hum of acceptance, or a nod. acknowledgement that johnny says, at least, that he's okay. and that they don't have to talk about it — the regent had said a lot of painful things, and far be it from rand to push. but also, you know. he's here. ]

They are.

[ comes as ready agreement. never mind that rand does believe the regent. that, in a bizarre way, their admission came as a lifeline to him. there's no reason for him to push that viewpoint on someone who needs to believe otherwise as much as he needs to believe it. ]

But I'm glad we got the chance to see them. I don't think that's happened before, for anyone. Anyone on our side, anyway.

[ as yuuta had said, it's good to know what they're fighting. ]

Edited 2022-07-14 17:42 (UTC)

Yeah. I've been wondering about the guy on the other side. For being a leader, they didn't seem all that charismatic to me. Talking shit, acting all high and mighty...

[ Johnny found them more annoying than he'd expected to, even setting aside their claims of destroying homes - he'd imagined the Kenoma head would have to be a sweet talker, someone who had the charm to convince people to their side and keep them on top of the power to crush those who resisted. That did not seem to be the case. They didn't seem interested in persuading: only flexing their abilities and intentions.

In a sense, it's comforting. Someone like that would be much easier to turn the people against. And while Johnny still isn't invested in this war, he is invested in getting back home, and to do that, they need to win. ]

It's what they have to promise that matters more. That's why people follow them.

[ than being charismatic. granted, the dark one had been shockingly ~~handsome~~ friendly for being a similarly overpowered person out to destroy reality as they know it, but — most people haven't met him. most darkfriends surely haven't met him. it's just not possible. he doesn't think dana did, for all her ability to summon a fade when she found him and mat in her town. but she, like the kenoma here, didn't need to know who she was following.

(a faint flicker of memory, one johnny might just be able to hear: a woman's voice, saying doesn't matter who i am. what matters is who i'm gonna be.) ]

[ it's weird to hear someone else's voice, vague as it is. Is that a memory? Those get shared, too? Rand probably didn't do it on purpose, which is vaguely frightening. He'd better be careful what he thinks about....... ]

That's what I mean, though. You'd think they'd be damn good at convincing people, but I wasn't buying it. If I was the Regent, I'd be trying to make the Pleroma doubt themselves. All that talk did was make most of us angrier.

[ Johnny very much included, obviously - he didn't care before, but now it feels personal. ]

Maybe it's on purpose. This might be a big trap. [ ... ] ... Not that it matters. After what they said, I'm gonna fight.

Edited 2022-07-15 02:43 (UTC)

Me too.

[ fight, that is. and if johnny doesn't ask, he's happy not to explain the voice — it had been an accident, and that wasn't exactly a happy memory. ]

What do you know about the Kenoma? [ he asks, slow. ] Not the people. What they do when people join them, or are taken there.

[ it's not a non sequitur. ]

[ there is a slight quizzical flicker at the sudden question, but he assumes Rand has a point. ]

Probably not more'n you do. I know they've got some kind of slurry they make people drink to make them more compliant. Other than that, I've heard they're treated like kings over there.

I don't know much about that stuff, [ the slurry, ] but everything I've heard has been awful. I think it has a lot to do with the hold the Regent has on those people. But the way the Kenoma talk about it,

[ he mostly means amos. but also misa, a little. ]

they make it sound like taking that did them a favor, even if it was torturous at the time.

[ which is incredibly fucking disturbing! but also: points to the regent's reliance on methods beyond charisma, or convincingness, to keep a hold on those people. ]

I've never heard of anyone getting away once they were taken to Achamoth. When I got here, there was a man willing to drag me to join them whether I liked it or not, and I doubt I was the only one.

[ Johnny hums. ]

... Guess I got lucky for once.

[ Eustace backed off when Dokja showed up, and even before then, he'd been fairly amiable about taking Johnny with him. It's possible it was a lie to get him on the Kenoma's side, of course, but after what happened in Venera, Johnny thinks it's more likely that Eustace has some set of morals he's adhering to. Soft on the inside, even after drinking the Regent's special smoothie. ]

You're probably right, though. They didn't exactly sound like they were winning people over with their public speaking, so they might as well lean on their brainwashing potion. [ a beat. ] ... Yeah. Lies all the way down.

[ he may be trying to convince himself, a little. ]

[ in truth, he can't even imagine what a different awakening in horos would have been like. for better or worse, amos set the standard for rand of what to expect here, and what to expect from the kenoma. he doesn't think that's such a bad thing; he's been clear, from the beginning, about who the enemy is and what they'd do to him if they could. ]

All the way down, [ he agrees. he's happy to help johnny convince himself. ] Potions and tortures. You can't expect them to tell you the truth.

[ you're a real one, rand ]

I know.

[ he sighs. he supposes he can offer a bit of an explanation... it's not like it's a secret, anyway. ]

Gyro's my friend - we were traveling across the continent together. Spent every day together for the past few months before I got here. [ if his behavior back in the Regent's summons wasn't an indication, communion belies how highly Johnny thinks of this guy: all admiration, tinged with a bit of loneliness. ] If I'm here, there's no way he didn't show up somewhere here, too. That's what I believe. Maybe he's in one of those egg sacs, waiting to pop out, but no way is he dead and I'm alive.

It'd only make sense,

[ he agrees. if he'd landed in horos while still on the road to tar valon with mat, wouldn't he feel the same way? while traveling to fal dara with the rest of his friends? it'd seemed so reasonable to him that he should wake here and moiraine would find him, after they'd been at the eye of the world together. ]

Maybe — maybe the next time the shrines [ do whatever they did the last time, ] wake, he'll be there. I'll help you keep an eye out, if I can.

Yeah? Okay...

[ there's probably some way to beam a picture of Gyro into Rand's head, but he has no idea how to do it. He gets the distinct feeling he's being humored - but maybe it's in his head. Rand's the one who checked in on him first, right? Maybe... ]

He's got long blond hair and a beard... sort of. He shaves it into these stupid little squares... Well, he's hard to miss, I guess. [ and this is without his golden monogrammed grills and cowboy hat. ] You think that'll happen again? The shrines thing? I figured it was just us.

[ if there's a flicker of amusement, he can't really help it given the way johnny describes his friend. what kind of ?? beard ?? is this. ]

I'll remember that. If I see anyone similar, I'll tell you.

[ he is so immediately sincere in this. and also when he answers the question with, ]

There was a group of people before us, wasn't there? One of them was a woman from my world. I'm sure she thought I was dead, but here I am. I don't see why it couldn't happen again.

[ johnny also wants the answer to that question.

Rand's similar story actually does give him a little hope, foolish though it may be. His problem is always that he can't help but hang onto those little hopes. ]

Good point. I thought the way they got here was different, though. They'd all seen the Regent already, stuff like that.

No.

[ he might've thought the same, but moiraine and ernesto had filled him in on what their arrival was like pretty quickly. estinien, too. ]

They woke the way we did. Only, the Regent's people rounded them up and tortured them, made them drink the Kenoma. It didn't work on everyone. The people who didn't succumb, they escaped and made it to Godsblood and Greentruth.

Huh.

[ Johnny simply hadn't asked for many details. He knew the latter parts, but he'd imagined that they'd all woken up right in the Regent's throne room or something like that - not that they'd been "hatched" the same way he had. It's little comfort to know that things actually could have been worse. ]

So that poison doesn't work on everyone... [ maybe they'll be able to save some of the Kenoma, then, if that sludge isn't a guaranteed conversion. Johnny sighs. ] Okay, then. I'll hope that we get more people waking up.

[ is it fucked up and selfish of him to wish for that? maybe, but he can't bring himself to care very much. ]

[ maybe it is, but rand can't bring himself to find it a selfishness. who wouldn't want to keep someone they care about near and safe, instead of potentially lost forever? ]

I will, too.

[ for johnny's sake. for his friends' sakes. and since johnny does seem to be doing a little better, maybe, than he'd been at the regent's address — ]

And I'll keep an eye out for your friend. We'll talk again, alright?

[ and with confirmation, he'll be ready to let this connection end. ]

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