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[sterngaze]

Liem Talbott

communion · mail · action

©

Liem's mindscape is dark; quiet; contemplative. Any feelings or sensations that Liem doesn't intentionally project himself seem distant, as though echoing from a far-off room. Following any given sense to its source is bafflingly difficult.

Comments

communion

[wolfish]

[ Yuri's presence in Communion starts simply with the impression that someone is there and waiting. Like a surprise visitor who pauses before knocking on the front door, unaware that he's been spotted through the window, there's the briefest of hesitations.

And then he presses past it. The intrusive nature of these communications can't be helped, he knows, even as he suspects Liem may be much like him in preferring his mind be a private place. ]

Do you have a few free minutes, Liem? I took your advice and had myself a chat with Set. He had a message for you, among other things.

[sterngaze]

[Liem has become more used to communion in the year and more he’s been in Kenos—though the intimacy of communing with other Harbingers will always set him a little ill at ease, regardless of how necessary it may be. The desire to keep his thoughts and feelings private is hard to entirely ignore.

But he receives Yuri’s intrusion gracefully, even so.]

Ah, Yuri. You did? I hope it was productive.

[He doesn’t really know what kind of information Set might have had to impart—he just feels confident it must be more than he himself has access to.]

I hadn’t expected him to ask you to play messenger, though. What did he say?

[wolfish]

[ Having had an experience with another Harbinger practically trying to scale his mental walls to see what was behind them, Yuri is doubly cautious of intrustion. There may only be so much they can do, but even so... ]

His words were: "You may use my private booth at your discretion". According to him, you'd know what that means.

[ And Yuri doesn't doubt it. ]

I'd call it productive, yes. He shared a couple of leads, one more pressing than the others. Something about a factory in Springstar that releases an odd sort of smoke and a machine he found in the warehouse beneath it. Have you heard anything about that?

[sterngaze]

[From Liem's side of the connection comes a brief flicker of recognition.]

Yes, I do. He has a cornerstone set up in the Last Dance, for quick access to Kowloon's outskirts. It will make getting down there unseen easier, until we find somewhere to place a cornerstone of our own.

[There isn't really a glut of large rocks in the mass of buildings that forms Kowloon. They'll likely need to smuggle one of their own inside and deposit it somewhere private if they want to set a cornerstone up within the city itself.]

I don't know anything about that machine, though. I haven't spent much time in Springstar's industrial district. I am no wizard and no engineer, so the workings of all the things there are odd to me.

[wolfish]

That does sound like it'll save us time and trouble, until we work out something for ourselves.

[ It's also very generous, which leaves Yuri wondering once again what Set will want in return. Surely camaraderie only extends to far.

Yuri is but a pretty, jaded little guy. ]

Set intimated that we'd best get a hold of whatever that contraption is before Zenith does. Unfortunately, the only machinist I know of is with Zenith. One step at a time though, yeah? I'd like to make Claude aware of it as well — you'd be surprised what the man can figure out when he's taken an interest.

[ And seeing as Claude has worked to keep the peace since before he got here, much like Liem, he seems like a good person to loop in on all this. That, and Claude's an able schemer. Game respects game. ]

[sterngaze]

Well, we have to find it first. I suppose we can concern ourselves with what to do with it once we’ve laid eyes on it. Something that large couldn’t reasonably be hidden in Kowloon itself, so I can certainly scour some of the Below for it.

[A venture which could include Claude, he supposes. Despite being colleagues with Claude for most of his time in Kenos, Liem still feels like he doesn’t know him particularly well. His impressions are all from brief communion conversations or public interactions. Nevertheless, he's willing to trust him quite a bit simply because of his close association with Hayame.]

I have no objections to involving him on your recommendation.

[wolfish]

[ Yuri wholeheartedly agrees — securing the machine comes first. They'll have time to figure it out once the threat of Zenith getting a hold of it has been prevented. ]

In that case, I'll mention it to him. Not to offload the matter onto you guys, but I've got myself a few dates lined up in Kowloon I shouldn't stand up.

[ In which dates aren't at all literal ones, of course. ]

With any luck, I'll have more for us to work with afterward.

[sterngaze]

We shall leave that work to you, then. Let me know if there's anything I can do to assist.

[He may not have the time to be working in Kowloon alongside Yuri, but he wouldn't be collaborating with him in the first place if Liem couldn't offer any worthy assistance at all.]

I will keep you updated on our efforts, as well. And I can certainly show you and Ryouma to the private booth Set mentioned.

[wolfish]

I'd appreciate it. Can't say I haven't hoofed my way through sewers, but it's not a very pleasant stroll.

[ His people get called sewer rats by the ignorant, but there is some measure of truth to it. ]

Ah, another thing. Set's of the mind that Yura fellow's just a pawn.

[ In their meeting they had discussed the matter of Yura, after all. He'd be remiss not bringing that up. ]

[sterngaze]

Hm. Well, I certainly hadn't taken him for the mastermind behind any of this.

It won't do to leave him in Zenith's hands, though. We can try applying pressure, but if he can't be relied upon to maintain his neutrality...

[Well... Liem never assumed this venture was going to be possible without at least some bloodshed.]

[wolfish]

Yeah, I take your point. The easier route would be ideal, but we need to know what's being leveraged against him.

[ If it's dire enough, most anyone would bend.

If not, well...they'll have to cross that bridge once they reach it. ]

That'll tell us the true shape of his end of it.