awakenerd | Aurora - Rean Heart

Okay.

I...want to see Valimar? [He does, but man, this is weird.]

Crow gives a wave and vanishes as the scenery melts into something else. The nothingness becomes... Something. A bleak grey desert of ash, black weapons sticking into the ground stretching to the horizon. The sky is grey and cloudy and a chill wind whips torn banners.

Rean sits in a circle barren of weapons, cross-legged and meditative. He's clad in antiquated looking grey armor. But the oddest thing is how tattered shadows cling to and writhe around him like trapped smoke.

.... [Nothing like eerie, desolate landscapes, huh.]

[He can roll with this, at least it's less of the weird pastel stuff.]

[Though those shadows are kind of worrying?]

Is that normal?

No boss music plays so this is just a social visit right. Rean opens his eyes and blinks.

"...?" He looks around. "Oh. Yes. This is just the trial stage. It's the memory of an illusion of a memory. Or something like that."

....yeah, sounds about right. [He can work with that.]

But I meant more the...shadowy stuff on you? At least I don't think I'd imagine that.

He looks at himself, lifts a hand to look at the smokey shadows.

"This is just the form I take. It was the form of my own trial once, though a bit more impressive back then. And also... It's a bit of a manifestation of my power. In short, it's mostly theatrics and nostalgia."

Oh.

Yeah, okay, if it's just power and memories, that is a lot less worrying.

....what name do you prefer to go by?

"Rean or Valimar are both fine. I am both."

....Rean then.

I was wondering if I could talk to you about this test you do?

"What would you like to talk about?"

What are the requirements you have to adhere to?

"The only thing I must test is if they have the strength to contract with me. The requirements are that I remain in my shrine until contracted. The limits are what I can produce with the ambient mana from the septium veins."

And what does strength entail? Is it just combat strength, strength to get to you, what?

"Combat strength for sure. As well as will and determination."

But can you test for other things?

"I suppose that depends. If it were something I could do within a short trial, I don't see why not."

Could you make an illusion of a person?

"I probably could."

....I mean, a great way to weed out some assholes is pretty simple.

To see if thou art worthy of this trial, there is a child for sacrifice.

Except the worthy bit is them not killing the kid.

Edited 2020-02-11 21:24 (UTC)

"I'm not entirely sure that would work. But I could try. No one can even reach my trial without a certain amount of compatibility. Ideals. Strength of conviction.

It is simply, those convictions may become extreme.

I suppose it would not hurt to set that as a further test in any case, but I do believe all of my Awakeners would have walked away from it and passed. Even the ones to whom slaughter became a means to an end."

[Pause.] It's not a perfect test. And circumstances can affect how extreme someone goes.

[And he's trying to bite back the sudden surge of guilt. Because he shot Donut. It wasn't shooting Simmons who knew him, but he did it to terrorize a person who DID and that's a bitter pill.]

[But it's hard to bite back that guilt, especially when it's fresh.]

You tend to be optimistic of people. At least if you know they're not that far gone from the start, then there's more room to work with.

Though if you could read their mind, you could test their ability to let go of anger.

He tilts his head, watching Dusk with a quiet solemnity. This version has more... Dignity. A sort of Ye Old Warrior vibe.

"You have regrets. All men may find themselves tested in ways they never expected. A human's capacity to change, for good or ill, is nigh limitless.

But I will consider a further test, even if it may not change how circumstances push others, it never hurts to ask one to consider the limits they are willing to go to."

[He tenses, a flare of defensiveness and self loathing.] ...not sure I'm gonna get used to that. And if it was a test, I failed it pretty spectacularly.

....it is easier. To go further the first time if you never thought about it before. [He thinks. He hopes.] It's like the concept about slowly boiling a...frog, I think.

If you steadily raise the temperature of the water, it'll never realize what's happening until it's far too late. If they're challenged on how far they're willing to go before they get there, it'll be easier to spot self justification for what it is.

"Yes. I do think the same. Considering your actions and your potential actions before you must make them may prevent reacting in ways you did not consider.

May, but will not always.

One cannot know every eventuality, every emotion for the future. How far you will truly go in any situation, even if you consider how far you would wish to beforehand."

Yeah.

And maybe that way, you'll have more ground to talk them out of it.

To not be hurt like that again.

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