guillotineroom | [NYMPH]

Entry tags:

!nymph

[NYMPH]

[when you open your eyes, you find yourself in a pleasant greenhouse. the sweet scent of flowers surrounds you, and the sun shining through the glass ceiling invigorates you from within. there are stone benches on which you can sit, and if you're hungry, there's a garden table with some refreshing tea and scones available to you]

[the voice– the good voice– echoes in your head again]

YOUR DESIRES. . . CREATED THIS REALM. IT IS YOURS. . . IT IS NOT TYPHON'S! I CAN USE THOSE DESIRES TO GIVE YOU A SAFE PLACE. . . FROM WHICH TO FIGHT.

BUT I CANNOT DEFEAT HIM. . . ONLY YOU CAN. ONLY YOU– WITH YOUR OWN DESIRES!! YOU CAN. . . RESHAPE THIS WORLD. . . HOWEVER YOU'D LIKE!

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[despite the safety of your greenhouse, you can feel the thrums of Typhon's emotions raging just outside your safety bubble. his voice is distant, but audible. . .]

This resentment I feel shall be my strength. You have yet to witness my true power-- you cannot escape oblivion!

[DO BONDS AND THINGS HERE]

[ Miles is here, just. simply sprawled on the ground with a groan. ]

I would very much like to reshape a world, yes. As soon as I can get up.

[offers a hand] Welcome back.

[ He takes it - stands with a wince. ]

I do apologize, but my memories are VERY scrambled at the moment. Have we met?

Yes. I'm Ilphyl. We interacted a bit, and you told me that you didn't remember much. Do you remember Nikkou? And Chloe?

[this is not a good time for amnesia]

Ah, yes. I do. I think they made more of an impression prior to my memories from home returning.

[ A wave of his hand. ]

No offense to you, simply less time spent.

None taken. I just was worried you'd lost everything again. Whatever we have to do, the more people we have, the better.

Right. Yes, the task at hand ...

[ He squints out at the greenhouse. ]

What IS the task at hand, exactly?

Right. So the Warden was another possessed person, but her possession was someone called Typhon, who apparently hijacked some kind of mental realm [waves their hand to indicate their surroundings] that she was in charge of so he could use us to incubate his kids. [taps the flowers growing in their hair]

I'm not a wizard, but in theory both Typhon and the... whatever the being in the Suggestion Box was going by... could reshape the world. We would get our asses kicked if we tried to fight Typhon physically, so we need to use the fact that this is a place of ideas and feelings.

[sighs]

I hope I wasn't missing anything. We -- Nymph, I mean -- were trying to keep our heads down.

Well. I'm not a wizard either, so.

[ This is all HILARIOUSLY outside of his semi-hard sci fi world experience. ]

But ideas and feelings. I'm sure I can do that much.

Yeah.

[frowns]

We have to counter 'resentment'

[Considers self. Considers the team members they know best.]

What counters that? Acceptance?

[ Miles nods thoughtfully. ]

Or forgiveness, I suppose. But either seem like they ought to work.

I think I'm better at the former than the latter.

[ Miles grins at that. ]

Entirely reasonable. Well - what sorts of things do we need accepted, then?

Typhon did a lot to set all of us against one another, every time we were asked to hurt someone else to save ourselves. Reminds me a bit about where I grew up...

[shakes their head -- let's not get distracted down that giant rabbit hole]

Can you accept that in that system, we had limited choices, while understanding the system is imposed on us from above? It feels silly to say that 'we shouldn't resent that another team comes out physically better than we did during a task', but maybe... saying that we should accept that the people actually doing it aren't working out of malice. Or at least most of them; I haven't met everyone.

[ Asking Miles to accept a system instead of breaking it is REALLY quite the ask,

So - he thinks about that, drumming his fingers on the bench. ]

Yes - I think I could do that. Accepting that the other teams are siblings and not competitors, to be sure.

[Yeah, Ilphyl thinks 'accepting bullshit systems' nonsense too.]

Not used to thinking of those as mutually exclusive, but most people have better relationships with their families than me.

... Ah. That's right. I recall you had to leave home, yes?

That's right. I didn't get a chance to learn much about where you were from, because of the whole amnesia thing.

Just so. I only had my recovered memories for a few weeks before falling asleep.

Any siblings?

[ Miles laughs. ]

He would hate that word, I think, but yes. I have a younger brother.

Ah. Don't have one of those. As far as I know, at least.

No? Another sibling then?

Three older brothers and one younger sister. That was... an unusual number of boys where I was growing up. Matriarchy, you see. It still throws me when I run into human societies that do it the other way.

Ah, yes. It's mostly the opposite on Barrayar, though times are changing recently.

Good. Barrayar is where you are from?

Miles!

[Plopping down to all fours to check on him!]

[ GROAN ]

I'm fine, I'm fine...

You've been gone for so long! A lot's happened.

What sorts of things? Nothing too awful, I hope.

Well, the big thing right now is that we found out who's been possessing the Warden. He's the guy we need to stop if we want to get back to our worlds.

Oh, for... existence is not cake. Maybe both us and Typhon's children can exist together. None of them are any more dangerous than beings that do exist back home.

[going to get a scone while talking.]

He really does sound like Xemnas sometimes. Especially the stuff about oblivion.

Xemnas is someone from your world?

He's the one who gave me my name. He was in charge of the Organization and liked to go on and on about nothingness.

Is there that much to talk about nothingness?

He found a way. He liked using a lot of big words.

Nothing is just... nothing. Can't recommend, unless you are facing something worse than not existing at all.

He didn't really understand emotions. I'm not sure he felt them the same as other people. Maybe that's why he tried to convince us we didn't have them either.

Typhon obviously understands emotions. Since he wants to use the worst ones.

It's not the emotions that are the worst -- though they are awful to feel -- but what he does with them. You can resent something and realize that you're hating someone for their good fortune. Which means you should change what meant you didn't get that, not hate the person who got lucky.

So it's the reasons behind the emotions that matter?

And actions from the emotions.

[all characters are allowed to respond, you do not have to formulate a response as a team! just type up what your character desires for the village/Typhon here!]

I would like a safe place to visit the friends I made here. I think the others would like that as well. Not being able to see the people you formed important bonds with is one of the hardest things in the world.

I also know that some people like Elliot can't return to their home because of things that happened. I would like if this place could be a place for people like that to call home. I want them to be accepted.

Typhon should focus on helping others to make up for all the horrible things he's done. So he can be accepted too.

Edited 2023-03-13 16:18 (UTC)

[Ilphyl wants to ditch the zero-sum game: that Typhon's children can exist without requiring humanoids (or others) to be brought here and have their minds/souls dislodged or consumed.

[If that is impossible -- Ilphyl is aware of things like 'the food chain' that means that the wolves gotta eat even if that's bad for the deer who is dinner -- then Ilphyl will settle for protecting the people currently here who don't want to be overwritten by their monsters. But... you gotta aim big, and then accept compromises, rather than offer your compromise first.

[Also Shelley can kick Typhon out of her body if he's not already gone, and he can't come back AND she has a way to defend herself from future attempts. Possession is not cool. That goes for everyone else -- they can keep their monsters if they like, but they can also evict them, and a general immunity to possession without consent would be nice.]

[you offer up your desires, the counterbalances to Typhon's emotions that swirl outside the greenhouse, distant but raw]

[and then. . . the glass begins to crack]

[this may seem worrying, but the bunny box's voice echoes in your head to soothe your concerns]

IT IS OKAY! DO NOT WORRY. YOUR POWER. . . IT IS ENOUGH. CLOSE YOUR EYES AND HOLD ON VERY VERY TIGHTLY!!

[and then, all around you, the greenhouse glass shatters, and your vision is engulfed in a warm, bright light]

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[NYMPH]

[EMOTION]

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[DESIRES TURN IN]

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[THE END]