ORIGIN - meeting of the wills

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With a roll like that, Transcendent Pupil Chorus could see it all: Audland's sincerity, his skin irritation, even his quiet pondering about what the Chorus even was. They could probably even see the stones Audland was thinking of, affixed to the box depicting the shapes of the gembound lessers to which they belonged. Removable, with some prying effort. They would find that Audland had done this before; he was a verified trader.

Audland, never the wiser, would nod in agreement to their shared terms. They seemed on the same page. The warning with the body posture from the rat made Audland's eyes widen a little, but this back alley interaction was already filled with unsettling little details. What's one more? "Alrighty. Well, we're in agreement then. Didja wanna start talkin'? Or do you want me to go get the stones first? 'Cause that might be awhile." Audland understood if the unknowable entity wanted to see them first—he probably would've asked for the same thing, had he lacked the ability to literally read minds.

...Could this creature read minds???

Well, besides some memories Audland would rather keep private, nothing in his mind that pertained to this conversation would be working against him here. And if he found that the creature was in his head digging for blackmail, Audland would dig right back. Psychic war.

Whatever. Audland just hoped he wouldn't have to go all the back to Ursa and back to get his box. It would be a long, stupid walk back through this stupid jungle. Irritating jungle. Geez.

@The Chorus

The Chorus pulled away from his memories, but lingered in his mind, satisfied with what they had found. No ill-intent, no tricks or traps, and evidence that this sort of trade had happened before. Good.

It would be easier, then, to show him rather then speak. They, after all, were better this way - information could be conveyed far easier through sensations, visuals, and memories rather then only with the spoken word. They were raw, real, and could not be misunderstood.

"We speak to you now." And this was not the voice of the rat, but the hundred-voice of the Chorus whispering directly in Audland's mind. "We will show you our knowledge." It was a bit of a gambit to simply hand the information over knowing that the stones weren't here right now, but they trusted him to follow up, and they trusted their message had gone through clear as day.

The things they showed Audland were the following:

Eridanus, covered by white fungus. A sifaka prowling through the woods, feeding the wildlife bits of the mold. "The infection," they explained. "And those that tended to it. It is gone now, driven out. It still lingers, in the far, hidden corners."

Gembound they'd seen passing through - the dragon, Lichen, the lynx Setanta, and the odd orb light-being that was Calamity.

A great tree in the woods, streaks of crystalline opalization, guarded by two mountain lions, one green and clad in moss and bark, the other huge and black and streaked with fire. "A sanctified space. A sanctuary. Lessers gather, and plants grow wild."

A fight - many beasts and creatures tusseling together. Violence within the infected woods. One, a white mannequin-creature with robes the color of flames. A flying creature, with armor-plates, bug features, and blood-red fur. A humanoid figure, armored in fungi-plates, head obscured, wielding a glass-like sword. Fighting them, a large antlered beast dripping black. A long black and gray striped thing struck with gleaming orange. A shorter spotted brown-one with many acid-green eyes. "Two sides, perhaps? One of the infection, one of its antithesis? We know little of their conflict."

Finally, in Polaris, a hidden nook, where a gigantic horned black bird awaited. A trial. A promise. "Greater power, for those that are strong enough."

There was little else of note that it could think of, save for passer-bys. But it had doubt that this beast would care for the random wanderers. They receded from his mind, now, its task complete, and the rat blinked up at him.

"Was this sufficient? Is there anything you'd like me to elaborate on?"

@Audland

Audland sat back and made himself comfortable, prepared to take it all in stride—until oh my god that's so many voices. All in tandem, like thousands of fingers wriggling around his brain—blegh. He made a face of mild horror at first, as he swallowed all the implications of the Chorus's presence in one oversized gulp. The horror settled into something just a little perturbed and surprised as the Chorus went on to inject various images into his mind.

White fungus. Order, Audland knew it to be. A monkey-lemur-thing, an agent of Order feeding the fungus to anything dumb enough to open its mouth. Gone as an infection, but like any bad disease, the bacteria always lingered somewhere. Why so persistent? Audland did not ask this; he committed himself to listening.

Some creatures he didn't recognize, or particularly care about. Unless any of these were agents of Order, why were they relevant? He would not offer a stone for this, but the knowledge of the infection was worthy of payment.

The sanctuary; likely one Audland would never have the patience to visit. No stones for this, although he supposed if he were a completely different kind of creature in every way, it might have made for a nice vacation spot.

Things got really interesting when familiar faces started showing up. Well, just the one. Audland's eyes widened—perhaps to the Chorus's benefit. The impact of the unexpected intrigue had a rippling effect. For one, Audland could now cross-confirm that what the voices were saying was true. For another, he now had direct faces to catalogue in his mind. Things that one had seen before. Agents of Order. Enemies, and allies. The relevance was undeniable—Audland might've even paid two stones for this. But maybe that wasn't necessary.

Polaris, the room of glowing crystals. Seemingly landlocked, and yet the creature(s?) had managed to make it out to there? ...A disquieting notion. Greater power, promised by this bird thing most likely.

And that was it.

Audland felt the presence withdraw. He shook his head as if the barrage of shared memories had somehow doused him with water, too. He blinked, and looked at the rat. "Woah." He almost forgot he wanted to say anything else.

"I mean, uh—yeah. No, yeah. That was mostly pretty interestin'. Um, the greater power... how's that s'posed to work?" Audland deliberated for a moment before deciding to add on: "And, uhm... if you wouldn't mind my askin', how—what are you? Your... people, it sounded like. What's yer guys's whole deal?" Being connected with in this way, mind to mind, was giving Audland the heebie-jeebies. Was this how he made other creatures feel? Well, not like that bit of reflective revelation was going to make him stop. Some people deserved a little bit of freak action.

Two stones for sure, maybe three or four depending on the Chorus's next response. That was Audland's present tally. The Chorus was free to demand one more for the information , if it could be convincing enough. And about that: "Oh, an' I'll tell ya this one for free: those two sides you mentioned, their conflict is real. That's of great interest to me, 'cause I so happen to be a part o' that... 'antithesis', as y'all put it."

@The Chorus

"How it works? We do not know." They continued to speak through the rat, bringing up their full memory of Emuh to pass along. "He is called Emuh, and should you feel your strength cannot grow further, he will unlock further strength. You will be weaker, for a time - we have yet to fully recover - but he promises greater strength." Each and every day they feel themselves growing closer to it. Not yet, though, that hollowness still lingered...

The rat sat back, feeling better about everything. This was a friendly conversation, a nice little exchange. It was safe. The Chorus, too, felt quite put at ease. It had followed along with Audland's reaction, his approval of certain things and brush off of others. Honest. Alright...it was probably okay to tell him, then, even if he admitted to being of those corrupted beings.

Perhaps...

"I will tell you. And answer questions about it, you may have some if you are curious. In return, you can tell me a bit about these...two sides." They pulled their focus in for a moment, found the closest caps to the area, and sent their magic along the network. Not too far from were Audland was a tree they had claimed. At its base, many of their large caps were fruiting, and these signaled for him. His attention would be pulled to look in their direction.

The rat watched for them, the gauge his reaction. "Do you understand?"

@Audland

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