Chapter 23-3 The Strix and the Ravens (II)

Chapter 23-3 The Strix and the Ravens (II)

+Trust me consangs. I got one piece of advice about having family in this line of work.

Don't.+

-Quail Tavers, School of the Warrens

23-3

The Strix and the Ravens (II)

Avo reviewed Dentons mem-data as he waited for Kare to synchronize with his Metamind. A collage of moments passed through him; flashes of visual detail overlain with two sets of directives.nove(l)bi(n.)com

The first was addressed from Ori-Thaums Inner Council to all active assets. The basic takeaways were focused on the mass deployment of Information Domain Heavens and expanded subtly requirements now that Chief Paladin Naeko was back in play. The second came from within Clan DRongo and arrived immediately after the Inner Councils broadcast concluded.

All DRongo-loyal Mirrors were given in-house phantasmics assigned for distribution. Though supposedly meant to secure their Auto-Seances against Clan Kitzuhadas mind-raids, Dentons suspiciousand Avos warmind of Ignoranceunveiled what they truly were.

Containing no more than fifty ghosts and seventy-two sequences, each fragment belonged to a warmind of Delusion.

The Low Masters were going on the offensive again. Pushing at whatever openings they could. Elder Mwaba DRongo was likely the source of this compromise, and from her was a rival infection spreading.

[You dumb cunt, you should have seen this coming.] Peace chuckled under his breath, the sour-bitter of his mind growing with each passing moment. [Emotion isnt just going to lay down and take it. None of us are going to lay down and take it. You might have compromised me. You might have taken my burdensmy hate! But there are Three Famines! Three! And Emotion will not allow me to stay compromised for long. You think you know about the warminds? Youre blind. Youre fucking blind. We have things that will strip you from history itself.]

Hes talking about the forgotten. Hes bluffing. Theyre afraid to use that one. Too much damagetoo much of the Unsea will be seared barren with its deployment.

Avo pushed Peaces words to the wayside as Kare accepted his session.

Perceiving existence still as an avatar within his mind labyrinth, Avo witnessed the memory-constructed tower that was his Auto-Seance pulse and channel a beam of memories up through the clouds, projecting the sequence out into the Nether. As a cycle of ghosts streamed upward, the war-choked sky splashed and changed, fading from view as if the face of a pond disturbed by a falling rock.

As phantasmal waves swept the firmament, another mindscape drifted into view from the distance, reeled by the memories broadcast from its Auto-Seance now symmetrically locked to Avos.

It was as if two planetary bodies intersecting their orbits, ineffably bridged by a shared emission of repeating memories.

***

[Kare]--

There came a point, while under bombardment during times of war, that you just learned to treat the ceaseless thundering like noise. Perhaps the next barrage might kill you. Perhaps not. But even so, life had to go on.

Kare found the same was true for her mental health. After all the anxiety spikes and constant panic attacks she faced over the past monthall the hidden wars being fought around and over hershe was quickly approaching the point of exhausted apathy.

Such was why she accepted Avos session the moment she departed from Scale. Another day, another crisis. At least the citys strangest ghoul was on her side.

+What is it now?+ Kare asked, looking out her aerovecs window. Heavy rain lashed down hard on her VTR-Hourglass, but not a single droplet lingered long on her vehicles chassis. An aero of Sanctus make, it resembled a needle encased by several revolving rings that projected a tunnel of propulsive force along its sides. As such, its velocity was almost second to none on the marketcapable of even surpassing some high-vector missiles in direct acceleration.

She wasn't much of a splurger when it came to material goods, but if she had a single guilty pleasure, it was going fast.

Avo took a moment to respond as he reached into her mind. Faintly, she directed her Specters inward and accessed their sensory telemetries via her cog-feed. Windows portrayed a mindscape consumed by perpetual wara mindscape that housed millions upon millions of ghosts and encompassed the size of a district. Her mind stuttered to a halt as she wondered why he felt so light in her mind and how he was hiding the sheer mass of his cognitive capacity.

Most lobbies that had this many concentrated ghosts leaked thoughtstuff from kilometers away. He was barely a whisper in her mind.

+Might be an attack planned. On you. Or your uncle. Not sure which of you is a priority.+

Kare just let out a sigh. +Of course. Who is it this time? Is Jaus back? The High Seraph created him a cyber-thaumic body and bound his memories to Omnitechs Noosphere so he might take over the city and enact a bastardized version of his dream?+

The ghoul actually paused. +No. Strange assumption. Detailed too.+



+Its a popular conspiracy theory on Saintless. Its pretty much what it sounds. A mind lobby for Anti-Saintist conspiracy theories.+



+Strange place to be spending time.+



+Im a Paladin, Avo. Spending time in questionable places is most of my job. Apparently, the other part is being embroiled in every quiet war and pitch-black political action this city has.+

The damned ghoul actually chuckled at that. Good to see he was finding her misery so amusing. +Not between Guilds this time. Internal matter. For Ori-Thaum.+

Another sigh escaped her. A deeper and longer one. Damn her uncle. What has he gotten her into this time? +Is it the DRongos?+

+...Good guess.+



+It was pretty much the only guess that makes sense,+ Kare replied rolling her eyes. Faint flashes of light and pierced through the vapor of the clouds. The turbulence grew, but her Hourglass stabilizers compensated. A bolt of lightning skipped off the velocity bubble thaumically formed around her vehicle. Kare took a drink of water as the weariness inside grew. +I told him not to start anything stupid. This isnt the time for clan warfare.+

+Might not be his fault,+ Avo replied. +Elder Mwaba DRongo is likely compromised by Noloth. Think she distributed fragments for a warmind among her loyalist assets.+

A package of mem-data followed his words, and despite instincts screaming for her to deny the transfer, Kare allowed the information to pass over into her Metamind and glared off into the roiling atmosphere parting Scale and the rest of the Tiers. +I have only known you for weeks, Avo. Weeks. And in that time, I find myself involved in conspiracy after assassination after conspiracy.+

+Dont blame me. Only trying to stop them.+



+I know. I just saying I miss being ignorant.+

A pause followed. A hissing laugh escaped the ghoul. +Dont worry: your ignorance is quite intact.+

The Paladin squeezed her eyes shut. Of all the impossibly smart, impossibly powerful, impossibly inscrutable ghouls who could have burned a template of her mind and protected her from the shadows, she just had to get the one who thought he was funny. +Thank you, Citizen Avo. Your mockery is what all Paladins aspire to receive.+

+Welcome. Could repay that by letting me sit in on your meeting.+



Kare frowned. +With my uncle.+

+Want to bring him into the fold. Maybe. Prevent him from becoming compromised at least.+



She rolled her eyes. +Somehow, I dont like their chances of jacking into Uncle Shos mind. Trust me, many, many, many, people have tried. And many, many, many sad families are now receiving monthly stipends from Ori-Thaums because their idiot children thought they were going to be the ones to null the great Shotin Planeshift Kazahara.+

+Believe hes a challenge. Good. Hope so. Will be a useful asset. And template.+

***

[Avo]--

It took a few carefully misspoken statements to distract the Paladin from her mental woes. The girl was stressed. Too stressed. She was remarkable about compartmentalizing, but as he reached into her mindscape, Chambers template almost had a panic attack.

[Fuck me, her chest feels like its filled with lead bricks. Fuckin glasser needs all the Numb she can get.]

Avo knew it was bad when Abrel concurred.

Synchronizing Kares template with her actual ego, her past two days flowed through Avo as a blur. In the aftermath of Zeins capture, Naeko offered to place her under protective detail. She declined, mostly believing the situation to be resolved, but also because she didnt want to distance herself from the other Paladins with her special treatment.

Call Kare Kitzuhada a fool, but dont accuse her of being anything short of truthful about her ideals. She did all she could to live her dream, to be among those that safeguarded this city.

That was divine enough in New Vultun.

Worth protecting. Against Zein. Against Ori-Thaums clan politics. Against whatever madness the Famines were trying to concoct.

As the Paladin continued arguing with him, he shared his memories with White-Rab and sent his progenitor a message. +High threat dive. Might need your assistance. Respond if able.+

The reply took less than a second to arrive. +Synced. Is it the Famines?+



Avo hesitated, but only briefly. +Probably. Theyre in play again. Spreading through the Nether. Thought they would be down for longer. Was wrong.+



+Thats fine. I want to talk with them. About the Strix.+



Vengeance. There was as pure a motivator as any. Another legacy they shared of Walton. +Wards set up?+



+Did that days ago. The memories you sequenced into me are really lighting the wick too. Didnt realize it was possible for someone to uh, hate that much. Peace is a very, very unhappy boy.+



[Im not a boy, you misplaced abortion!] Peace snarled.

+Hows the thing with the Bloodthanes?+ White-Rab asked. +You got access to any of the Longeyes yet? For Revas questioning?+



+Soon. Not going to forget her.+



+Good. Cause I wont let you.+

And there was a separation. Love. Human love. Romantic attachment. Even now, to bind ones ego to another seemed treacherous to Avo. Dangerous in the extreme, unless they possessed his capabilities. His nature as a thoughtform ensured he could endure any lasting trauma, but for White-Rab, the risk was infinitely more severe.

Still. He didnt stop himself from falling. Maybe there was something there. Worth exploring when they eventually began their run on the Heaven of Love.

But that required them to get Kae back up into the Tiers first.

Shifting away from White-Rab, Avo synced his memories with both Draus and Dice, and found both of them ready and waiting.

+So,+ Draus said, annoyed at how cloak and dagger things were again, +the Famines are about to try some fuckery again, huh?+



+Probably. Going to share the address shes going to. Need some passages connected to the local district. Sniper points for you. Rush points for Dice. Just in case this gets physical too.+



+You expectin it to?+



+Dont know what to expect with the Famines,+ Avo admitted. +Especially Emotion. Caught them off guard the last few times. More potent than they are in the Nether now. But dont want to play the fool. Looped White-Rab in. Link to him if I get nulled somehow. Contingencies.+



+Well, shit,+ Draus chuckled. +Looks like youre finally learnin to get that ego under control.+



+Is such a thing even possible,+ Kae said, her voice arriving as an aside to the conversation.

The best thing about having consangs as a gestalt is all the experiences, insights, and support youll get. The worst thing is that every one teams up to mock you. Even when you improve.

+Not that unbelievable,+ Avo growled.

+Im sure its not,+ Draus agreed. +Aint hard to be smug as shit to someone you killed if you get to keep their mind a prison post-mortem.+

He hissed at the Regular and stopped speaking to her. He sought a final edge to the coming struggle. Something the Famines didnt know. Something that Kares identity as a Paladin allowed him to use without fear of reprisal from Veylis.

+Fardrifter. Need you back.+



A chorus of affirmative neighs sounded within his mind. +Its time to strangle the very passage of time?+

+Might just be.+

+So be it. You call. I answer.+

GRAFTING GOD

->[FARDRIFTER]

It was time to play voyeur at a family lunch.