settingup | INBOX

[ sometime within the month at a time of your choosing, Atsumu will return to his quarters in the manor to find there is a gift left for him on the tabletop. if he has a Retainer, they will inform him that Yima had left it for him - and if he doesn't, she will have left a letter next to the box so that he knows it was from her and his room was not unduly intruded upon.

in the decorative box rests some wrapped pastries: they are basbousa, made fresh and delectable.

should he read the note, it says:

Do fish enjoy sweets?

I will hope the answer is yes.

enjoy, Atsumu! someone is pleased with you. ]

[ hi, guess who, it's your favorite furry stalker!!!! ]

Still alive?

[ i'm pretty sure i wrote this exact tag to someone else but you know what, sometimes you're predictable ]

[She reaches out softly. Hesitantly. Not in a manner she usually addresses Atsumu with.]

Hey. Do you have some time?

[Some days after the end of the Exalt Oracle trial, once life has returned to some semblance of normalcy, Atsumu will receive — a gift basket, cloth-covered, delivered by courier and filled with edible goods. Since Liem does not know him especially well, he includes a fairly wide variety: sweet and tart fruits, cheeses wrapped in paper, and a pair of fresh-baked little pies — one filled with soft, mild cheese, flavoured with orange and chocolate, the other more savoury, stuffed with meat and spices.

Tucked within the basket is a stiff card bearing a short note, written in a precise, elegant hand:]

Atsumu,

My sincere apologies for the meanspirited way in which I took advantage of your generous assistance in the ant tunnels. I unwisely partook in the faerie banquet held the night before, and was not myself thereafter.

I hope that this note finds you well, despite my previous efforts to the contrary. Please know that in the future, if you have need of assistance, you may consider me at your disposal.

—Liem Talbott

[Next to the signed name is a tiny drawing of a pie with steam rising from the crust, clearly penned by the same person to write the note. Enjoy your home-made, un-poisoned foodstuffs, Atsumu!]

[ Very suddenly, there’s a sense of Communion touching your character’s mind. However, it’s as if they connect with the mind of a shared Aspect, as they’re not able to block out the brief, but sharp memory that comes to them. ]

A Shard-Bearer holds their own Shard and turns it over in their hands as they stare at it intensely. It fills them with a complicated feeling, because their master had always told them they didn’t have a soul at all.

[ ooc note — Just to avoid OOC confusion/misinterpretation, the details included in this memory are random and are not necessarily interconnected or plot meaningful beyond a surface level. However, your character is free to interpret this random memory however they’d like! This event will also be touched on somewhat during today’s NPC Communion Post. ]

Where are you?

[Has he been at his little lodging in Yima's place? Recovering in some medical facility?]

[ Dimitri doesn't deliver this in person, but Atsumu will have a small parcel delivered to his address - where-ever it is he's staying. Inside is a small collection of little items - some baked goods and cookies, a small water-bottle or canteen, perhaps chosen because of Dimitri's association of Atsumu with sports, and a pair of knit gloves. There's also a little note: ]

With appreciation to my volley-ball instructor. I wish you the best.

-Dimitri Blaiddyd

[On the shortest day of the year—or the longest, by Springstar’s calendar—Liem makes his rounds to play Santa himself, though without the red-and-white costume. For the past few months, his regular visits to Springstar’s community centre have been in service of crafting handmade solstice gifts for the people in his life. This time, unlike last winter, he’s prepared.

Unfortunately, naughty Zenith boys don’t get personal deliveries, but Atsumu does still receive a small gift basket by courier. Inside are a couple pleasantly spiced bars of hand-mixed soap, a pair of fat, equally pleasant candles, and a jar of soup mix with a brief recipe tied around it. The note attached simply says “From L”.]

[ Amos hasn't forgotten how he treated Atsumu a couple of months ago. He can't afford to.

With that comes two conflicting thoughts, however. He wants Atsumu to stay as sheltered from all of this as possible; to be given as much of a chance as he can to live a normal life, even if that seems increasingly and increasingly fleeting. He shouldn't contribute to taking that away. On the other hand, it's maybe for the best if he stays honest with him... if he doesn't let him get caught by surprise...

Amos doesn't exactly read the papers, but he knows Atsumu was there during the Harbinger Oracle. Just like he was for the Iconoclast, and the Exalt. There is, probably, no escaping this; the dream for normalcy is dead, a disservice.

Honesty it is.

He doesn't bother with calling ahead of time, figuring this should all be done face to face and somewhere quiet and safe. Atsumu still lives at Yima's, which fits that criteria — so that's where he goes, making his way through the manor (after some directions are procured) to knock on the door to his room. ]

Fox? You in there?

[ ... He maybe should have called ahead, just in case, but he's a little too far into this to backtrack now. ]

[ Link's Communion explodes into the mind of every Zenite, like the opening of a window during a hurricane. It rushes in with an intense and primal sense of panic, a mixture of both fight and flight, and the horror of knowing that neither has worked. A certain death is imposing down on him. If you've died before, you'll likely recognize this potent cocktail of desperation that's suddenly flooding your mind. But unlike the flashing of one's life in the moment before the end, this moment is filled with purpose — unfocused and clumsy, but desperately bold and determined. The message is not conveyed in words, but in feelings and impressions, unbound by the limitations of language and becoming that much more distinct and impossible to misinterpret. ]

Get away from the Manor.

Get out of Highstorm if you can.

The Meridian —

[ ...and then, it's gone. Both the message and the roaring sensations that carry it halt abruptly, like the slamming of a door — but, even a slammed door makes a sharp noise as it shuts, sends a gust of wind as it moves on its hinges. This sudden stop doesn't come with anything, no friction, no echo, not even the intentionality of closing a Communion once a person has said what they meant to say. Just stillness. ]

[ Okay, so — he doesn't like it, but a depressed teenager in his home isn't exactly a new thing nowadays. Or it wasn't before everyone fell asleep, so maybe it shouldn't be now, but not like Amos would profess to know how these things are actually supposed to go.

He just wasn't expecting this depressed teenager.

Amos is making his way back up the stairs to fix himself some lunch when he has to do a double-take at someone slumped in the living room. At this particular someone. He freezes, like he isn't sure if he should finish going to the kitchen or divert his path, but, well...

The living room wins out. Amos makes his way over, lifts his forearm above his head to lean against the wall as he looks down at Atsumu. ]

Fox? Uh... everything okay?

action; Atsumu's chambers; Takiltu (November)

i can't believe i've been topped by yimami 😳 but also communion

Communion → Voice

delivery ▶︎ after the conclusion of the Oracle event

a memory—

Communion → Post Harbinger Oracle

late takiltu

delivery

action, early Emru.

two days before Cyrus' assassination

action, early Erqu, 114 years later.