Messenger Box

[eyeswideopen]

If you need to get a hold of Komaeda, here's where you do it.

Messenger birds, action, what have you.

Comments

4/22; text

[eyeswideopen]

Greetings Jade Curtiss,

Face to face is preferred for this kind of discussion, but I'm completely fine with telepathy. It depends on what is more convenient for you. Please let me know which works better for your schedule.

Sincerely, Representative Komaeda Nagito.

[jeido]

Representative Nagito Komaeda,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I'd be more than happy to meet you in person, and I know of a small cafe not too far from the Residential Quarters that should suit our purposes. I can reserve a private booth for tomorrow lunch if it works with your schedule. Do not worry about paying, it shall be my treat.

- Jade Curtiss

[eyeswideopen]

Researcher Jade Curtiss,

That is suitable. My only condition is next time I pay when we have a meeting in public. Thank you for being prompt and having a plan in place.

- Komaeda Nagito

[jeido]

["Researcher"... now wasn't that an interesting title. Normally, Jade signed off letters with his military rank, but given how meaningless it is in this world, he's decided to abscond with it, but here's an interesting alternative.]

Representative Nagito Komaeda,

You are far too kind. I certainly have no problems accepting your terms. That said, I look forward to lunch tomorrow.

- Jade Curtiss

[...that he still doesn't plan to use, but that aside, he encloses an address with the message, in addition to an image of the place. With those out of the way, Jade will be there as promised, a good few minutes early. Whenever Komaeda arrives, he'll be greeted with a small smile and a nod, with the following words:]

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet with me today. Please, have a seat.

[He'll be gesturing to the seat across him then, and will be sliding a menu towards Komaeda as well.]

[eyeswideopen]

[He slides into the seat easily with a nod of greeting. He's dressed in his work clothes he'd come directly from the used bookstore. Just grey coat and black vest, over a white shirt and slacks. He looks like he belongs among all the people about.]

And thank you for taking the time out of yours to contact me and arrange this meeting.

[He's familiar with this cafe. He's dropped in at times when he came back from a trip. Tired as he is from the recent trip he leans back in his chair.]

Anyway, you wanted to know how the local research practices are, in terms of sharing it and obtaining it, right?

[jeido]

[Several minutes into this interaction and Jade finds himself liking the way Komaeda operates. Straight to the point, quick on the uptake--it's refreshing, really. He's seen shades of it before when they've first met, but nonetheless consistency is a welcome observation.]

Yes, that would be an excellent start. I do have a few other questions, but they're mostly contingent to your answers, so we'll see about them.

[eyeswideopen]

[He nods once. Jade is brisk and to the point, he rather likes that. The intelligence he's bore witness to before doesn't hurt either.]

In terms of sharing it, that depends on what they're allowing for public use and what they aren't. I have more pull than most because I learned the trade directly from them and later became the liason for Peromei. I don't have to pay for the more delicate matters.

But most people would. Sharing it with them is easy, there's a bunch of paperwork for releasing the information...the typical bureaucracy you'd expect. Obtaining it is, as I said, determined by leeway and some payment. I do a mutual exchange of information they can't get anywhere else.

[Peromei. The waiter comes by and he orders a mint tea. Once they're gone he adds, cheerfully.] But, I would say the less costly way is to organize or come with a party going out to explore.

But I also share information freely. People vanish here! I won't allow knowledge I've worked hard to gain to be lost without some form of a battle.

[jeido]

[Jade, as was his custom, is an attentive listener, smiling all the while as Komaeda gets into the meat of the information he needs. When the waiter drops by, he ends up ordering an earl grey tea for himself, then goes back to metaphorically drinking in the other's words.]

That is a noble way of going about things. [Information is a researcher's lifeblood after all, and giving such out freely certainly can get as detrimental as with sharing physical version of the said comparison.] By the sound of it though, it seems that we Otherworlders are at a disadvantage in this information trade.

[Understandably so, considering how this foreign world plays by its own rules and how they can be at the mercy of the local bureaucracy.]

Do pardon me for going on a slight tangent, but would you believe there's some credence to the possibility that they don't see us as anything more than convenient tools in their information master race, more so than their fellow locals? [His tone remains cheery despite the gloomy insinuation behind his words.] I could be reading too much into the matter, but if there's any sort of discrimination going on with regard to the matter in the realm of research, I'd certainly like to be aware of it.

[eyeswideopen]

Oh without a doubt we're viewed as more expendable and tools to be tossed at the problems they can't deal with. [He smiles despite the implications of his words, his voice just as light.]

After all we can't precisely stay dead. We can use Dunamis, and our own unique skills... [His smile gets an edge to it. It had been a little while but he can still feel the faint anger whirling through him.]

And we can right the mistakes they couldn't stomach to right. It is their ancestors fault the world is like this. From the way certain things are missing in the library...they seem content to bury things. I refuse to do that. Piphron wants them to remember.

[jeido]

[Piphron... Jade narrows his eyes at the reminder of the first and only Arehtei he's conversed with, as well as the righteous indignation the other felt at his lack of knowledge on the matter.]

I suppose that explains the reason why they've been less than forthcoming about this... war I've heard of and later read about.

[While a part of it is due to his own oversights on the matter as someone new to the place, Komaeda's observations line up with everything he's experienced and seen himself thus far.]

That aside, Red... has told me about the local researchers needing some assistance with opening the books we acquired during the last Thras excursion. If I were to assist them in that endeavor and should we succeed in it, can I trust them to be forthcoming about the information contained in them?

[More often than not, the language they're in is something Jade's unfamiliar with, and not even the automatic translation mechanism they seem to have around the place is able to handle it.]

[eyeswideopen]

I would make insurances. [He says without a pause in the conversation.] If I were present nothing would be hidden. Or Shun. Shun has been here much longer and is well liked.

Of course I could be paranoid. There have been incidents recently and before that made the public wary of us. I can't blame them. They are helpless in the face of the Arehtei and we aren't. My old master likened it to the divine between humans and gods. But on a smaller scale.

[He reaches into his coat and pulls out a battered leather journal. He grabs the pen from it and flips it to a fresh page just as his tea is set down before him.] Or, I can write you a letter of recommendation. It doesn't have to be formal because they know I wouldn't be.

[jeido]

I trust your judgment on this one.

[Jade says, gesturing to the notebook as his own drink arrives. Connections too were important in this world of information, and even the state of being in a different one wasn't about to change that fact of life.]

Though I have to ask... is there anything at all I could do for you in return? I highly appreciate everything you've done thus far in terms of sharing information, and although there's only so much a lowly information enthusiast like me could do, I certainly would like to do what I can in that regard.

[Somehow, there's a veiled question to his statement as well, as if wondering why Komaeda would do so much for someone he's barely gotten to know. And Jade isn't one to like being in the debt of others, by any means.]

[eyeswideopen]

[He had wondered when his agenda would be questioned. After watching Jade in person and catching his careful wording...he's sure he made the right choice.]

You tried to find out if I was still one of Enoshima's when I met you. Did I read that right?

[If he's right Jade wanted to be sure he was not a hidden threat waiting for his time to strike. That intelligence combined with his wording and he way he reacts...yes, he's sure he isn't wrong in his choice.]

I am asking for your expertise in accessing threats. Down below we have had good luck. Most of the ruins and machines have been harmless. But luck will balance itself. [People could die.] Their ancestors learned how to weaponize emotions. Somewhere those artifacts and tools are buried. The local researchers can't protect themselves. Nor are any of them soldier minded.

Few otherworlder researchers think of that possibility. But I like to be prepared.

[jeido]

[Jade simply nods in answer to Komaeda's question, expression turning pensive as he contemplates the rest of his request and takes a small sip of his tea before setting it down.

Death... While his understanding this day isn't what he'd call acceptable, it's still much better than the state it was in a few years back, to say the least. And even with the way this world warped the concept, it's still something he isn't too eager to try out, even if he'd be lying with regard to whether or not he's curious as to how it feels like. The idea of losing his crystal progress served as enough of a deterrent on the matter, in any case.]

If it's soldier-mindedness you're looking for in a researcher, I suppose you've come to the right person. [He folds his hands and rests them lightly on top of the table, unable to keep himself from grinning again.] I used to do research for the military back in my world, so seeing these explorations into unknown territory as a battlefield of sorts is second-nature to me.

[He supposes there's no harm in telling Komaeda that, especially when he seems to have read as much from their interactions.]

That said, in what manner do you wish for me to deliver in this regard?

[Spreading awareness on the matter? Continuing as he will? There's many ways to go about it, to say the least.]

[eyeswideopen]

[So far the information is about what he figured. He takes a sip of his tea. What way would bebsafest to deal with threats? Neither of them have the kind of authority that could make every door lay open. He tears out the written page of recommendation, folding it carefully.] I think it would be best to use your own judgment on this matter. So far, there's time.

But it doesn't take a genius to see that we will find one or more of them soon. The silent city is a good example of that. It concerns me the deeper we tread into the mysteries of Simpathis the more weapons we run across.

Those lions were powered by crystals full of negative emotions. The ghosts were possessing people... [He taps his fingers on the table as his thoughts order themselves like books on a shelf.]

We can use Dunamis and hold ourselves steady. The people of this world can't. I strongly suspect they're aligned to Simpathis, the dead Arehtei.

Last flower festival...they all reacted, worse than we did, to the wave of her influence.

[jeido]

[Jade, in all honesty, never really spent time thinking about what the case might be for the locals. Not recently, at least. And while Komaeda's claim on the matter is of an outrageous variety should he raise it to the aforementioned, Jade finds that it holds water given everything they know, in addition to having read about it briefly in some texts he consulted in his early days around Empatheias. That, and they've met Thras's and Daimonia's people, and who's to say that Simpathis's people haven't been under their noses all along?]

With the attitudes some of them have on display, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Briefly, he recalls what he's seen of certain locals, notably some who've been quite untoward to a certain Eleanor he knew.]

That said... would you say people don't talk about Simpathis due to lack of knowledge on her, or is it more of a conscious choice?

[eyeswideopen]

Both. There is next to nothing we know about her and the Arehtei still grieve for their lost sister. ...and everything shook when we were given visions of her city Areta.

[He stares into his tea for a moment, his thoughts returning to that burst of sorrow and longing. His metal fingers trace the edge of the pottery idly.]

We consciously seek her out indirectly. Thras said if we search directly, we could finish this world. In time I imagine it will be safe but this recovering planet is still so fragile.

[jeido]

[That... certainly is one way to put it. He hasn't experienced it for himself, but the fact remains that all of this is part of their history and will be told to generations to come, as well as curious bystanders like him.]

"Finish this world"...? [His eyes follow Komaeda's hand briefly before he trains his gaze back on Komaeda's.] How and why so?

[It's an interesting choice of phrasing, one that Jade couldn't help but be curious about.]

[eyeswideopen]

Originally we needed Elios to create a barrier and be physically present when we stepped onto the surface. Nothing grew. [He holds up his hand, curling his fingers slightly in an intimation of claws. His first in person sight of the apathy poison plays across his mind's eye.]

There were dark shadowy tendrils. More of them than any of us could imagine. I saw them once devour a creature. They had a kind of consciousness and appetite to devour everything.

[His hand falls, quickly flipping pages of his journal. A small sketch of the world dominates the center of the page.]

There was so much apathy that it devoured seas, mountains, the air. The world is slowly recovering but its consciousness has yet to awaken. It's weak. I imagine if, let's say Simpathis were to revive. If she were corrupt....that amount of apathy...

[How could they possibly save the world in time. He circles the gaping hole where a mountain range used to be in a section marked as Piphron's lands. There is little that's marked. They don't have enough data or explored enough for much of the global map to be given details.]

It's best to keep the hopes for a living world and turn them into the fuel by which life will return to this shattered planet. The alternative is...worrying to much about what might not even be a possibility.

[His tone is too light. Because, Komaeda is truly a pessimist and a cynic. He has a feeling that Simpathis isn't wholly gone. Her power still resides on the island. The strange waves of apathy and sympathy.]

Either way, do forgive me for speaking ill of a lady. But I don't like being given the run around with riddles that make little sense.

[jeido]

[The story's familiar enough given all the reading he has done, but the ominous vibe lent by Komaeda's rendition certainly is not. And while he's never been around for the first appearances of the Arehtei, there's no shortage of stories, mostly of the terrific variety.

That said, Jade perhaps isn't the best person to talk Komaeda out of his pessimism given how there's enough of a logical precedent for them. And he doesn't, simply waving his hand as if to dismiss Komaeda's apology.]

There's no need to apologize. Especially when you're in the presence of someone who thinks likewise.

[What he wouldn't give for a straight answer, really.]

That, and I'd rather brace myself for the worst possible scenario in the unlikely event that it should occur. Better be safe than sorry, yes?

[It's a rhetorical question, one he doesn't wait a response for as he moves on to another point.]

Speaking of hope and turning that into fuel... is it really what this world needs? I would think that a balance is needed to rebuild this world--for however much unwanted the opposite end of the spectrum is.

[eyeswideopen]

You are correct, and despair is outweighing the hope right now.

It isn't Enoshima. Her despair is a constant, but because of that when others despair in greater amounts...you can see the problem. [He waves his hand before returning it to rest on the table.]

Balance is the key. Not that many seem to understand that. Hatred is just as necessary as love. Our want for things makes us seek out those who will appreciate us. But no one wants to consider it that way.

[His sigh is loud, and long.] To want anything is seen as 'wrong' as are other things, like jealousy itself or anger or fear.

All those things are part of life. We wouldn't be half the species we are without the myriad of things we feel.

[jeido]

I agree.

[He remembers, of course. The unusually warm weather in the height of winter--a small, insignificant sign for some perhaps, but the strangeness of it all in relation to some thoughts that have come to mind regarding the nature of people has brought to light an certain line of thought with regard to recent happenings and people's general nature.]

For shame, or whichever reason they might deem necessary, not many wish to acknowledge that darker side in our hearts. That our mistakes and slips of emotion are part of us as much as our successes and what we purposely project to others. In a way, you can see it's a very human thing in itself, but at the same time, it's such a perspective that gives way to apathy.

[With the way he smiles then, it's a little hard to tell whether he's talking about others or himself, or maybe even a mix of both. On Jade's end, it's something he understands on an intellectual level, but putting things into action certainly always have been a different story.]

Light cannot exist without the dark, after all. And do pardon me for being a little pessimistic about this, but I could only hope that people don't have to learn the hard way that their denial of this could cost them greatly.

[eyeswideopen]

No need to apologize when I share your thoughts. I want to have faith people won't learn the hard way but that would be against my instincts.

[He taps the table with the fingers of his left hand. He'd seen the results when the battles happened. Aiada's shrine yet another.] The people of this world want to bury the past. All except for the Shaarnathians. The researchers seek the truth but records have been altered and songs distorted over time. Theasthai has only one left to give even a hint of what was.

[His homework on the subject included things that need to be known. Sometimes he has nightmares of the sad eyed animals that he had helped put down.]

It is human to want to hide it. I agree with you on that. But that's how people like Enoshima and power struggles begin.

[jeido]

[Jade takes the time to finish his drink while Komaeda's talking, setting his glass down gently once the other's done.]

So the researchers of this land have an eye out for the truth no matter how troubling it might be? If so, that eases my troubles somehow. That aside, in light of what's been discussed... I have two more requests I'd like to ask of you.

[He gives his glasses a casual push before taking out a certain piece of paper and sliding it towards Komaeda.]

One of your acquaintances--Red, I believe that's how he referred to himself--has given me a list of local researchers that I could get in touch with. Do you have any recommendations as to who I should approach first?

Secondly... could you elaborate on what you mean with regard to Enoshima and power struggles?

[For however much he disliked her that moment, he is still mildly curious about the puzzle and twisted personality that's Junko Enoshima, and perhaps what may have brought her to this state of being.]

[eyeswideopen]

Rebekkah Forsyth. You will need to get a meeting directly with her. She sometimes ignores office pings.

[He flags the waiter down and orders a hot sandwich to give him time to think about how to word things. By the time the man disappears with a flirty wink he ignores, he has a constructed plan.]

Imagine if you could predict everything around you. Joys and new lasted only a few seconds at best. How quickly would you start to seek anything new?