A Blossom Beneath Weeping Stars (Solo)

"WHERE AM I?! AI...what...aren't.....where's Tier?" The sudden gasp and shouting of the forming throat shriedked out into the darkness, limbs WRENCHING from the ground itself and then staggering as the form stumbled onto the soily ground, clutching at the grit as flesh wound around the panting panicked form!

There was nothing but gasping for air, until.... slowly, her vision started to focus, light pouring in in a dull wash about her until she found herself......staring into a darkness, framing a figure that smiled down at her.

"Ah, so you ARE here. It worked after all." She hummed, sounding pleased even as Santa stared at the area they were in. This was ....nothing like the desert they were in just moments before. She clutched at her face and slowly ...shakiky, stood up. "Where are we? What happened to Tier?" She asked, trying to ....grasp the situation. Even as a hand reached in and gently took a hold of her face. Her gaze drifted up and she saw a soft, sighing smile on Ajora's features.

She was so cute after all.

"We're still speaking with her. Well, mostly I am. But that's not the important part. The fact of the matter is that we are BOTH ...having........ rather important conversations at the moment. A feat affordable for us." She noted, a finger pressing to Santa's lips when she saw a question, and FELt it in the woman's mind. "Which isn't important. Not in the slightest. For all intents and purposes, feel free to just consider ..... this a private conversation in your soul." Ajora hummed.

Santa......felt like...that....SORTOF.... made sense. She let her gaze wander to the twisted landscape around them. "So ....then ....where are we?"

"An astute question. We are, here. Which is all this is. It's not so much ... a.... place, as it is a people." Ajora noted, watching the confusion scrawl across Santa's face. A brief.... uncertainty before she closed her eyes .... and then JOLTED as she recoiled at the sensation of .... a very distant..... familiar spiritual pressure. Was that... Algos? But even MORE bizarre than that....was the feeling she got from everything around them. Her pesquisa was a tool for picking up souls, and she was picking up.... something......that felt VERY soul like. Everything.

And once she saw that look on Santa's face, Ajora smiled.

"Who .... are they?" Santa could only whisper, as if terrified that she might rouse them. She was so very suddenly aware of it all. Afraid to move, afraid to budge, as she could feel those sleeping souls in the soul beneath her hands and feet, even as Ajora stood up calm as ever, taking a moment to bask in the innocence that Santa had. "You've no reason to whisper. These souls are simply.....stuck. I'm not entirely sure how, or even why. But these small clots in the Garganta seem to form rather frequently. Collections of sleeping souls, but without any trace of what they once were. There are even some where these souls manifest as strange uniform creatures. But this Valley is entirely dormant. A nest of sleeping remnants." She noted lightly, folding her arms and taking a moment to close her eyes, basking in the place, and that dull energy it had.

Santa swallowed, and to ajora's surprise, tears formed in her eyes. There was a brief moment of confusion before the blonde spoke up. "They feel lost." She murmured quietly, causing Ajora to cant her head to the side, glancing around them and trying to sharpen her own pesquisa. She could feel no such ..... emotion from them. She didn't feel anything of that sort. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. But.... this was a place where the chaotic energy of the Garganta doesn't reach. We can safely speak here without worry of interruption." ajora slowly turned to look at the weeping Santa. A hand reached out to touch her head.

"Things are moving forward. But more importantly, there is something that you have to understand Santa. The world is presently in an unstable state. Soon, things will be much more difficult to traverse as ....simply as you have been before. But more than that, the time is coming where you will be tested. Not in the simple manner of your strength: But the resolve you hold toward your ideals. The world that you want to create. There is no guarentee that even those that you hold dear will be able to tolerate what it is that you want." She noted softly, watching as Santa's face twisted into angry confusion.



"What ....are you saying? My friends, OUR friends, that's the whole reason that I want any of this. This world, this ....mean.....angry....scared world. I want to make it better so that my friends don't HAVe to be separated!" She insisted, slowly standing up and towing over ajora, her face twisting into confused worry. A hand gently raised, attempting to quell the sudden surging emotions that course through Santa.

"Santa, have you considered that such a world is all that they know? At this very moment, algos has come to the conclusion that she can't exist in a world that she has harmed so irreparably. What she is. Who she is. All of that is incompatible with a world without fear."

SMACK! Santa grabbed the woman by the shoulders and LIFTED her clean off the floor! "WHATS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! She ISN'T evil! I'm TELLING you, she isn't like that! where is she? WHERE IS SHE?!" Santa started to shout, suddenly raising her voice, with Ajora simply watching her calmly.

"Santa. She's not here. I'm speaking with her. And it doesn't matter, even if Algos isn't truly evil, the sheer power at her command, and the way that she used that power to kill and hurt so many, whether or not she changes, even if such change were possible: The world would never forgive her. The fear of the woman who has done all that Algos has done is far too great. and, in truth, frankly I don't think she will even be able to do what she thinks is necessary. She too, is frightened. Just as the world is afraid of what she's done, she too is afraid of the retribution that has yet to come in response. Ajora explained, watching as Santa grew more and more upset.

"That...that's STUPID! Just...just because she did some stuff in the past, sh...." She was struggling, her hands balling up into fists as she wrestled. Not just with what Ajora was saying, what she was THINKING. Their connection made a weapon against her arguments. Every thought, argument that flashed through her mind, she could FEEL Ajora's calm retort. Watching as logic fell apart and she not only had to fight with this notion, but had to FEEL her own mind being pried open, her thoughts dissected and countered as quickly as she thought them. She couldn't even argue, and she felt her words choke in her throat as she tried to find something to say that wasn't cut before it could leave her lips.

"It does not matter. Mankind has shown time and time again that it cannot abide a threat. Once something has harmed a person, they cannot help but instinctively fear a repeat offense. And the scale of such a repeat that exists within Algos is a potential far too much. Algos cannot escape her deeds, and she is incapable of relinquishing the power that makes her a threat. She clings to her power in fear, and that so drives the fears of the world who worry what she might DO with that power. Just like Tier."

In an instant, Santa's hands were around Ajora's throat.

"Take that back."


"But Tier's situation is the reverse." Ajora continued, as an extension of Santa's garden, oxygen was unnecessary to produce sound, and Santa's hands shook as she couldn't stop her from saying what was coursing through their shared thoughts. "While Algos has incited the fear of the world. It is the world that has incited fear within Tier. She is terrified. Terrified of the world that has thoughtlessly, viciously robbed her of what she has held so very dear. Just as Algos has garnered the fear of so many. Tier has learned to be afraid of everything around her. The Shinigami. The Demons. Even those in the World of the living. She has grown entirely stagnant. Afraid of going to the world of the living. Afraid of doing anything. From what I know you remember, and what she is currently saying to me at this very moment, she has done nothing but try to claw back what she has lost. And the notion of losing more has driven her almost mad." Ajora noted quietly, as Santa fought back tears. As words.....as Tier's Voice echoed through her mind.

Which is better, I ask. Killing you now or watching you die later?
You’re asking me to let go of something I haven’t had in a long time, and I can’t simply do that a second time.
I’m already chasing ghosts. I don’t want to add more to that list. I’m right to be angry, you say? Well then, let me be angry then. What’s stopping me from keeping you both from causing trouble myself?
If you’re going to throw your life away for nothing, then I see no reason to show you how fruitless your endeavor would be right now.
The human world is always changing, always being destroyed and rebuilt. What a folly it would be to risk any stakes on that place.
And what do you expect me to do about the world? I am but one woman. They are right to be afraid of us, for most of our kind show little remorse for how they behave. Do you expect me to take up arms because I disagree with a few things? What kind of world are you hoping for? One where we can go where we please without consequence? No. Even if we fought for change, we are still a cancer that would slowly bleed everything dry.

She could hear it, and she felt her body shake slightly as she fought back tears, feeling her heart ACHE with the situation. Not only did she receive such words, words that frankly, she couldn't even begin to parrse properly, but she could FEEL the context bleeding from Ajora. What those words MEANT. How truly damaged Tier was. How hurt. How afraid.

"Fear continues to corrode what it is that you want. What WE want. So long as humans and their spirits fear an end to themselves, they will never be able to tolerate threats to that existence." Ajora stated firmly, as Santa released her neck, covering her face.

"At present, I still do not have a solution to this problem. I have sought inspiration in countless places. But even a soft, gentle place like this is not much help. However, it is becoming abundantly clear, that you may yet lose those you hold dear in this journey. It is difficult for you, that is something I understand all too well. And that is also why you won't return to Santa." She noted calmly.

A pause..... confusion written over the blonde's face. "Wh... But I'm....." Her eyes widened. Understanding transmitted, just like everything else.

"You are not Santa. Similar to myself, you are a piece of her split apart and cast into this Valley while the Real Santa Speaks with Tier. while I speak with Algos. At least some part of you, should understand what must happen. And ....in time.... Santa will be rejoined with you. And she will need to know what you know. But for now, knowing this would destroy her. As it is clearly destroying you. Which means that I will need to keep you here for now." Ajora noted calmly.

This didn't seem real, her mind raced and she felt fear, panick, and .....worst of all...understanding drain through her mind. This .....this was awful. Horrible to know. "I...."

"Until a solution can be found. The key component to despair is not knowing what to do. Until I have synthesized a solution to this problem. You will remain separated from Santa. At that time, you will rejoin her." The woman murmured, turning her back on the blonde and closing her eyes. "For now. Rest here, my lovely Verdada. Here you will help me find the solution we're looking for. You will be accompanying me on ..... errands. and together, we will find the answer."