towerofanimus | And then there shall be bestowed upon the elect wisdom

Characters: Enoch, Zelda, Tohko, and the people they invited, also something for Naoya before the meeting. (Invitees, please add your tags as you come in!)
Setting: Sauna floor(F77), 3pm, March 27th (2:30pm for Naoya's pre-meeting thread)
Format: Whatever works!
Summary: Finally, all three people who were contacted after Dax's death will meet. Plotting ensues.
Warnings: None thus far.

The letters had been sent. Now, all there was, was to wait. Enoch, and possibly one or two others, was there already, sitting at the far end of the room so they couldn't be heard through the door, sitting up straight and a hand resting on his knee as he waited for the others. His leadership potential often went unused, Enoch being the submissive type, content with the role of the follower. But he would have been next in line for his father's priesthood, a leader role of sorts - he could and would take the lead if he had to.

((Links:

Naoya's pre-meeting thread Mingle Meeting

Nothing has to be a single continuous thread, but please name new conversation topics in the subject line for the meeting itself for the sake of ease of browsing.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Coincidences between Ruana's past and the destruction? ...All I know is that she is older than the destruction."

Which reminded him of that one thing he had nearly immediately forgotten about...the fact that for a long while after the post he'd mistakenly switched "pressure" for "power" without realizing where "pressure" had come from. He knew they both came from Ruana, but between all the new information and the post not being there to review the next day to cement everything in his mind, it failed to come to him.

"Yes, that is true. The destruction supposedly began over one thousand years ago from her perspective, and she was alive and self-aware when it began. But what makes me suspicious is that the calendar this tower runs on states that it is roughly the year 1000."

She pauses, sighing slightly as she tries to figure out how to put her theory into words.

"This would be easier to explain if I had my notes with me, but-- if the Tower had already been built and operational by the time the destruction began, as evidenced by whatever experiments the previous administrators had been running Ruana through, then why does the calendar system match up so perfectly with the beginning of the destruction? Why has this world, of all the worlds, not been destroyed?"

"The others have said it. This world survived whatever it was...the towers act as protection."

Enoch lowers his head. The fact that the world survived...but the destruction matched up with the dating system...he raises worried eyes to meet Zelda's again.

"...They count time from the moment it happened. This world must have been the first one affected...and it was shaken so greatly it became the way they measured the passage of time."

"Why do the towers act as protection, though? Why, out of all the beings to exist in all the worlds, are only those from this world able to foresee when and where the destruction will strike, through clairvoyance or technology or whatever they might use?"

Subtly, her fists clench in her lap. When she had first arrived in the Tower, she had used the Goddesses of Hyrule as a shield against the idea her land had been destroyed. Over time, that shield chipped away into nothingness, and now she can only ask why couldn't they protect the land they created? Why in Din's Power could they not stop it? Why in Nayru's Wisdom could they not foresee it? Why in Farore's Spirit could they not fight it?

Why why why why why--

She takes a deep breath, calms herself, and focuses on Enoch.

"Ruana wanted to forget what the previous administrators did to her. What if her act of defiance triggered the death of everyone in the Tower but herself, much like the way the destruction kills everyone in a world but select people, who are then brought here?"

"I'm...not certain they foresee it so much as predict. Dax...did say it follows a pattern..."

He'd had the same thoughts, after being returned to Meridian. The destruction of that city, he'd accepted before he saw it. But he still believed Earth had been spared. God would protect it. Who could defeat Him, after all? Or maybe the very veil that shielded Earth from His sight that came from the Grigori's Tower, maybe that would be some protection. It was why he'd been inclined to ask if the towers on this world were protection.

But somehow, wandering in the ruins of Meridian...somehow, Earth's destruction seemed more likely. And then Raphael had arrived. If Zo only pulled from worlds facing destruction, it meant that Heaven could be destroyed...and therefore was.

"...The people that survive are said to be somewhat random, with...variables that they don't know. But I...I think they only survive because of Zo. Zo's powers...to preserve - catching and rescuing souls, creating impenetrable barriers. Zo is protection...I think he must be the reason our real bodies don't need to eat or drink...Dax did say it was something that happens in the process of bringing us here."

...The more he talked, the more he realized just how much Dax had told them.

"Even so," she rebuts, her tone clearly not convinced, "Zo is only as old as this 'rescue mission' of theirs. He could not have possibly been there to protect this place when the destruction first started a thousand years ago. None of them but Ruana were."

In her mind, at least, it all continues coming back to Ruana.

"No, no..." Enoch shakes his head. "I didn't mean Zo protects this place, I...think his powers are what have preserved our bodies, because he seems to be associated with protection... This world was attacked, but survived...and enough people must have survived to agree to count the years from it. There is a city somewhere, Ruana said...

"So however this world survived the 'power'..." He trails off, his expression slipping into confusion.

"...You said you had taken notes?"

She doesn't respond to Enoch's theorizing - not out of disagreement or contempt, but because he doesn't seem entirely sure of what he's grasping for. She does nod at his question, though.

"Ever since Ruana appeared on the network, I have been writing down things I believe to be relevant. I left them up in my room for this meeting, but if you wish to look over them, I have no problem with it."

On the contrary, he does know exactly what he was going for - it's only that he realized he'd neglected something else as he talked...

"I took for granted the network's semi-permanence. I thought I could return later to transcribe all that had happened... But in the confusion of sorting it out without being able to look over it again, after such emotionally charged conversations...I made a curious mistake. For weeks after, I used 'pressure' instead of 'power' as she had told me to name the force that had destroyed our worlds. I am certain I heard both words from her. What did she describe using 'pressure'? Do you remember?"

"Pressure..."

She closes her eyes in thought, picturing her notes in her mind. She's read over them enough to at least have them somewhat memorized, though there's still so much information to sort through.

"... I believe I recall her using the term 'pressure' to describe the strange noises heard in the recording of the experiment. I... think she also said something about 'pushing' in regards to the destruction, but I cannot be sure without looking at my notes."

"The noises. She created those."

Or otherwise caused them to come into being... He didn't like where this was going.

And then there shall be bestowed upon the elect wisdom

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