Communication [Nozomi]

It wasn't that different from the other meetings. It had its own unique little changes, primarily in how it was initiated, but at the end of the day it was rather familiar. "Odd," Azami thought, "that it's so easy to adapt to all of this." When the calamity had first started and she found herself introduced to the supernatural side of the world, she had naturally been at a loss, but it didn't take long for her to accept and confront the changes. Maybe it was because she didn't have much to tether her to the mundane life from before or perhaps it had something to do with her nature as a Wild Card. After all, limitless potential implied at least some openness to the idea of life deviating from its day-to-day course.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter, not right now. She had been called here for a reason and she wasn't going to waste Nozomi's time sitting around and thinking quietly to herself. While there seemed to be other people around them, her surroundings were too blurry to make out of any of their faces, and it seemed as though everybody but the two of them was frozen in place. Alone once again; no one was going to interrupt or listen in on their conversation and, well, she had to admit there was some solace she took in that.

It seemed that Nozomi woul dfind himself once again in the strange white room. It's almost as if this white room represented something, was this the bridge between their minds?The other worlds? Something?How did malice originally get there to BEGIN with, all of it was rather strange, and rather suspicious. However now wasn't necessarily the time to be questioning these types of things. Nozomi had important information for azami that he had to get to her. Hello Azami.The young guy would say in a strange calm tone. THere was a sense of calmness that this place promoted, the fact that they were isolated from everyone else to begin with made it sort of...Convenient in a way. Azami I'm not trying to rush you or anything but...How are things on your end? What's happened over there? Over here I'm afraid we got a big problem...Nozomi woul d emphasize, before continuing what he was stating. Supposedly this crazy Yufosa guys linked to the core or whatever. Now he's moving around with powers to rival a god. To make matters worse he's also stolen the goddess of another worlds power which only served to push him even further. He is currently distracted by a person from said world fighting him, but I don't know how long thats gonna buy us time. On the good side of things however We have managed to defeat one of the main groupies of Yufosa, who has apparently offered myself the chance to swap places with you. Apparently if I am reunited with my body, I will regain some of my own power back to use.... It was alot to take in, but Nozomi had to try to get it all out as Coherently as possible.

Speaking of bodies, do you happen to know where my own body is at the moment? Since I've only recently found out I am unconscious.... What of the others back there? Are they all doing fine irght now? We've pretty much reached this "core" thing, but we won't be able to make a difference in the current situation right now unless we coordinate carefully on what to do. If we all ran in right now Yufosa would only smash us all down.Sadly...That was a reality Nozomi had a hard time facing, the fact that such an purposefully incompetent person was capable of wielding such power...The very thought of it all would cause Nozomi to sigh. You know...Seeing all of this...How bad is it in azores? All of this just makes me realize...How fragile this reality currently is, I don't think anyone's lives will ever be able to go back to the way they were after this., perhaps for the better or for the worse..Something tells me it's gotten rather strange over where you are.

Almost as soon as Nozomi began to elaborate on his situation, Azami knew with certainty he had contacted her for a valid reason. While it's true that she didn't recognize YuFoSa by name, she didn't need to;  the idea of someone linking themselves to the Core and wielding godlike power was concerning enough on its own right for blatantly obvious reasons. Of course, even ignoring the fact that such power naturally made him a powerful threat, they were other reasons it troubled her. A direct link to reality, powers beyond those others possessed, a portion of strength stolen from an otherworldly entity... The parallels were there, maybe not plainly visible, but they were present. Some might call it selfish or petty, but Azami didn't like the idea of some weirdo she didn't even know encroaching on her domain. Up until this point, Nozomi was the only other person she was aware of that had abilities and potential similar to her own. The idea that there were others out there like that was, well... unnerving? Frustrating? She wasn't quite sure how exactly to take it: all she knew was that she didn't like what she was hearing.

Naturally, she let Nozomi continue his explanation, listening intently the whole way through. Just as she thought he was done though, he mentioned one last thing. He talked about the world, about its current state, about just how fragile it was and how this event would almost certainly change it forever. For a moment she was silent. Needless to say, it wasn't something she expected to hear from him, especially considering how earlier he had seemed all too eager to return their world to its status quo. Shocked could be considered too strong of a word to describe how she felt, but she was certainly surprised at the very least, surprised enough to be caught off-guard. Without any sort of response prepared in her head, she was forced in that moment to speak from the heart.

"Our reality's always been like this though, hasn't it? It doesn't take Personas, or demons, or men with the power of gods to destroy people's lives. Humans can handle that task just fine on their own." She sighed and shook her head. "Maybe it's fucked up, but when this calamity first started, I wasn't outraged, or sad, or mortified. I recognized it posed a threat, yeah, and I lent aid to those in danger on my way to Standasen, but I couldn't help but feel... excited. The destruction was terrible, but after years of amounting to nothing, I finally had some control over life. For the first time, I had power, maybe even the chance to change the world. Those feelings haven't changed. I don't want the world to go back to the way it was before; I want something new, one that isn't filled to the brim with greed, terrorism, crime, suffering... As far as I'm concerned, the old world can go fuck itself."

It was a mistake to say those words. They were irrelevant to the situation at hand. He didn't need to know her thoughts, plans, or ideals. But in the spur of the moment, she had already given her spiel. There was no taking it back... and maybe even no need to. "I'll be honest Nozomi, I never intended to try and restore the world to the way it was. I planned on confronting the Core and fixing things, of course, but I was never interested in stopping there. After so much time spent just being tossed around by the tides, there's no way I could try and resist taking the chance to make things better. And like you said, even if we just walked away, it's not like things would magically be the same. As horrible as it was, what happened happened."

There was a short silence, a moment which she used to gather her thoughts. After dwelling on the issue a bit more, she sighed and spoke once again, her voice cutting through it and directing the conversation back to the subject at hand. "Azores has had to deal with a lot, but the situation could be much worse. There was an influx of demons which were attacking people, but most of them were gathering at Standasen, and the only one I encountered after its leader was toppled was one bound to a human host. Her name's Rinna; apparently, Isla made her take a powerful demon into her body, Hecate. One of two -- the other's bound to the prime minister herself. It was gradually killing her, but luckily an ally of mine helped me excise it, and I even managed to consume what was left of its strength. Isla still has her demon right under her thumb though and last I checked nobody besides Joshua, Rinna, and I are even aware of its existence."

"As for why she has it? I think I heard somewhere that she was using it to power the protective dome over San Malarus, but with the demons gone there's not much need for that anymore. It might have something to do with her power play. Both she and Zachary want unrivalled control of the islands, so Azores is pretty much in a state of civil war. Before you contacted me I was about to storm his place with several others. I planned on taking both of them down, but I doubt it'll be easy, even if I have managed to convince a few people among the group to help me out."

"And your body? It's with us. Rinna was keeping watch over it as per Isla's orders. She's defected since then, but she still refuses to let anyone other than her take possession of it. Right now it's where we are, right at Zachary's doorstep. Stupid if you ask me, especially since he seems to be planning something, but Shunnosuke's at least staying behind to guard it while the rest launch the assault, so it's not just gonna be sitting there ripe for the taking."

I can understand such feelings...It's like a sense of fufillment yes? Life is different and no longer quote on quote boring with all thats been going on.It made nozomi laugh for a minute, despite what people may say about the curren situation, truly. The situation was in a sense "fun" to some people, what else would they even been doing had it not happened to begin with?The desire for something new...Comes from the desire of feeling stuck in the same right? The status quo...I don't think anything will go back to the way it was from the bizarre series of events that you are describing to me...Unbelievable, the islands have basically descended into a war zone. I do acknowledge what happened did happen, but what would you even do with the core to begin with? One small change and everything can possibly blow up from what I've heard of and seen over here. This things unstable and to make matters worse theres a large purple like fog around it. I think we should exercise great caution in handling this thing. This Yufosa guy seemed to lead a group of people that intended to "fix" it, but they seem to be rather divided and unsure when it comes to following him.

Here however...He's clearly revealed his true colors to attempt to become a god.Things truly were a mess at the moment, especially in azores from what appeared to come on. So...It seems Isla and Zach have attempted to take possession of things. Fantastic. Well I got some good news an dbad news.

The good news is, apparently I can defeat this yufosa guy according to one of Yufosas followers. However I would require my body and that strange black being we both saw earlier to be inside me. Apparently that Black thing is an actual part of me, and without it. We won't really be able to dent him. If we swap places right now, I will be inside of my body. So that will complete HALF of this, if we trade places. perhaps I can find a way to the core on your end, while you try to fix things over on my end. Theres some people from azores here, and some people from the other world that Yufosa seems to have fucked with. Including this guy named Dio and a former goddess that Yufosa stole the powers with. They appear to have agreed to work with us and help our world if we help them get their stuff back from him.

The bad news however is the amount of time we may have, alongside the possibility of getting both of us into the core. If we were both linked from the beginning, then it clearly can't just involve me to defeat this guy. If you can try to stabilize it from here, and I do something big over there, maybe it'll allow us both to end up in the core to defeat yufosa perhaps? I do not know where the strange black being may actually be though. What are your thoughts on this? As we do not seem to possesss much else in terms of options...


Nozomi tried to get to the point fast right now, as they really lacked time to begin with, and alot of other things.

Nozomi's laughter wasn't the reaction she had been anticipating. Had she said to the most of the people she had encountered over the course of the events in Azores, they almost certainly would have responded with some sort of disgust, maybe even outrage. But he got it, he understood. It was refreshing in many ways. Maybe she had been unfair to him; maybe she should have told him about her plans from the start.

"My reason is a world free of conflict and gaps of power, a world of perfect harmony where blood is no longer split and everyone exists as equals, regardless of their own personal desires. If I could acquire the Core then I'd use it to achieve that end and rid the world of the pain it currently overflows with. People say that adversity builds character, that suffering is an essential part of a person's growth, but those are just excuses; they're nothing more than lies people use to comfort themselves. If humans can only grow through atrocities then our potential is something to be abhorred, not embraced. And if we can better ourselves without suffering then such evil holds no place in a just world. As for how I'd achieve that goal, well, I can't really say I know. But if the Core really is the heart of all worlds then it's definitely the key to doing so. There has to be some way it can be used effectively."

"When we last met, you told me that I should never give up, that no matter how hard it got or what stood in my way I should get back up and refuse to back down. Maybe in the past I would have rolled my eyes at that and dismissed it as optimistic nonsense, but not now. I have a chance to set everything right and I'm gonna do just that. Even if I have to gamble everything on this, I'll do it, because it's not about blindly following hope, it's about trying."

"Besides, we might not even need to directly use the Core to alter reality. Just possessing it is a powerful boon in its own right. People with power are feared, they're respected, they're listened to; it doesn't matter what form it comes in, just that you have it. It's a cruel and twisted rule, but it's one that we can use against itself. The masses heed the demands of those with the most power, so if we command them to give up their own seats of influence and strength or to abuse it no more then, in theory, they'll do just that. After all, what person in their right mind would oppose those who have the ability to rewrite or even completely erase existence on a whim? That's not even mentioning the fact that seizing control of it kills two birds with one stone; someone reliable needs to watch over the Core regardless of whether it's being used or not. The thirteen's incompetence caused this problem in the first place, so it's obvious that they can't be trusted to prevent something like this from happening again."

With that explanation out of the way, Azami let out a sigh. Expressing all that at once was exhausting, but at the very least she was glad to finally have someone to discuss these sorts of things with besides Joshua. Of course, it wasn't the only issue though, and they couldn't spend the entire conversation focusing on future possibilities. Right now, they needed to address the present issues first. None of this talk about using the Core would matter if YuFoSa wasn't stopped.

"Switching places seems like our best option at the moment. I'm not sure if there's much I can do over there, but at the very least I can try and buy you some time. As for how you'd get back over to the other side with your body... I don't know, but it's worth a shot. Back when Joshua and I were dealing with Hecate, Rinna mentioned the possibility of using her power to open a gateway that could let me pass from Azores to the Core. She didn't get the chance to use it and I think it might even be impossible now, but even if it is there still should be a way: Isla should be able to use her to demon to do the same thing, at least in theory. If you force her to use that ability then you and your body could cross over safely. There's a dome preventing entry into San Malarus currently, but if you help the others take down Zachary then I'm sure you could get in under the guise of championing her cause."

It seemed Nozomi was gonna have a rather confusing debatacle to deal with. Azami had desired to actually use the core, and that was a problem of it's own. Azami. This thing is nearly on the verge of collapsing. If we tried to remotley use it for anything, let's be honest. We're alot liklier to actually break reality rather than push it where we would want it. Let's start with the little steps or else the world could just outright pop. The other worlds I've been going through up to this point were already on the verge of that had I not been holding them together. A world without suffering is tempting...But how would we truly get rid of such a thing? I do not mind your plan, but we really have to consider what is in front of us right now. We could stabilize everything, or possibly break everything attempting this.Nozomi had to remain a fair voice of reason here, he wasn't going to yolo into this entire plan and possibly get them all killed. Let's be honest for a minute here. What's stopping us from possibly becoming like this yufosa guy, who wanted to become absolute and almighty in every right because HE believes that he is correct Azami?I'm not saying you WOULD become that, but you gotta consider it! Let's take some baby steps here and first make sure the world doesn't actually die first. Not ignoring your goal here, but I think that above all is our top priority unless we want to disappear.Nozomi had to remind azami of what was truly important here. It would force her to consider, what was more important, dieing needlessly for her goal? Or taking the little steps first?The thirteen definitely cannot be trusted, and someone reliable does need to watch over the core... Say we do succeed and actually manage to pull that off. What then? I do agree we would be liklier to do a better job than they are but...I'm being pretty careful here, one wrong move and we die. Yufosa originally proposed feeding other worlds to the core to stabilize it, but if we do that...Then it would just destabilize later again, like an engine losing battery. I'm sure we would be able to think of something however right!? Two minds think better than one.

This was something the duo had to be careful with. While Nozomi was on board with azamis plan, despite how actually insane it may come off as to anyone else, they had to watch themselves with this. Go a little too far and they'd be no better than yufosa. To make matters worse I'm not even sure who we could trust. I know the people from this other world are definitely on our side as far as fixing our world to say the least. The people I see here from our world well, they seem to agree for the time being. If you come over here well. YOu'd have to cooperate with them. One of the Thirteen of Yufosa respects our strength and is willing to swap us over. Trusting these big wigs of the islands however i'm having a hard time following...Why was my body remotley missing in the first place? Too many questions too little time. If I enter my body I gain power. We're gonna need to coordinate carefully on this one. I'll be sure to keep you posted from the other side alright? Nozomi said confidently.

If your ready. I can get this Enoch guy whos one of the thirteen to swap us over.

"Maybe power corrupts, but if that's some kind of universal truth then our world's full of corruption, isn't it? And the only way to fight power is with power. Ideals alone can't save the world; if I have to dirty my hands or stain my soul to save the world then I'll do it in a heartbeat. But you're right; for the moment we need to focus on actually securing and stabilizing it. If YuFoSa wins or it just explodes in our faces then none of this talk will have mattered in the first place."

Azami listened intently to the rest of what Nozomi had to say before making her decision. She didn't particularly trust the thirteen, but she didn't know the full context behind the situation, and if this guy was the only way they could swap sides then they had no other choice. With a nod, she confirmed her willingness to go along with Nozomi's plan. "Alright. Let's change places then. Just be careful. Azores is a mess right now and if you make the wrong move then it could end up screwed regardless of the greater picture. As long as we stay in contact though, I think we've got a chance."

With nothing else to say, she'd simply wait patiently for Enoch to transport her over to the other side.

OOC Notes:

Alright. That's fine by me then. There's no such thing as a true good or a true evil no? Instead people that are trying to claim that they are acting in the name of justice or for their own intentions.. I'm up for this, just remember what I told you. Dont touch the black thing if we find it. Or, if you can contain it inside something somehow do that. I will see what I can do on the azores side, but perhaps missing a part of myself may hinder what I will gain... We shall see when we swap over.However...one Last thing.Nozomi, if allowed would walk over slowly to azami within the strange white room that they were inside of and hug her. It wasn't affectionately in any way, but it was more of in a friendly and trusting way. Thanks for being someone I can count on.

With that, Nozomi would then go over to get things ready.