[audio] event after the broadcast interception, un: meiyouren

[blindforlove]

[The audio starts with the chanting of the possessed claiming that EVERY EYE SHALL SEE THEM. Different voices fade in and out. Unaffected by Majestas' spell without any eyes to see, but also unable to see where Majestas is and join the fight just yet, Xiao Xingchen has to turn to the network for help.]

Is there anyone still out there who can answer me? What is everyone seeing? I must ask, because... I cannot see - at all - and I can't find anyone who will say anything to me. Other than this.

Comments

[blindforlove]

[Xiao Xingchen is quiet for a moment as he considers the options. He has no faith in his own ability to lead or organize anything anymore, but there needs to be some direction in all this chaos when no one knows how many of them are left to try to defend the city. So many people will be drained of their very lives-- he must do something.]

That was caused by people looking at him-- or something to do with him, was it? If all the spells he's used so far affect people through sight, there has to be a way to people to face him without being made into his puppet. Even if I must fight him on my own, I will!

[He wants nothing more than to throw himself into the fight, even if he stands little chance, his one advantage or not.]

[circumitus]

With any luck, fighting on your own won't be necessary.

[Rey would normally run headlong into a fray without thought or question, but that's not something she can just do anymore. Or she can, but she has a choice not to, something which she doesn't want to take for granted.]

Last time people were able to come out of their trances by touching them, but this time it's... different. [How to say she's been hearing voices without sounding completely crazy?]

[blindforlove]

Different how? I wasn't there, and I never found out the particulars of what happened.

[At this rate in this world, Xiao Xingchen could believe just about anything he's told. If he's told Majestas looks like a giant cat? Not the least surprising thing here.

He sighs.]

If I was there, I could've surely helped some of them...

[But it's not like he was able to watch any show in the first place!]

[circumitus]

Well, they're not snapping out of it so easily like before, for one thing.

Touching them has also... [Ugh, how does she say this?] Saw some things, after trying to shake one of them. Like memories or a dream.

Before people just went postal and started attacking everyone. At least now they're just... screaming.

[Rey's not sure if she likes that much better, though. She can't punch someone into their senses this time.]

[blindforlove]

The memories of the person you touched? Or of someone else, like Majestas?

[Xiao Xingchen wouldn't put it past this man to try to broadcast even more things that people don't wish to see, but if it's the former... he's glad for the sake of his dignity that he's not one of them.]

What were these memories like?

[circumitus]

Think they belonged to the person... Without being to talk to them, it's hard to say.

[Rey didn't feel like reaching out to anyone else after her first contact.]

It was like they were trapped inside their own heads, and whatever they were experiencing... wasn't something good.

[blindforlove]

That-- that's so horrible! Is it not enough for him to drain the lives of these people, that he must torment them as well?

[Xiao Xingchen feels like it'd be rude to ask exactly what this person has seen-- he can figure it out well enough. But if he needed any more righteous fury to fuel him...]

I suppose then that those who touch them can escape these visions, at least.

[circumitus]

Seems whoever the one pulling this shit is, they don't do things in halves.

[Something she's used to, but she's not happy to have to be the one dealing with it.]

Yeah. Going to look into whether or not there's a way to snap them out of it completely.

[blindforlove]

I know others who are skilled in techniques to clear the mind, but those people might be under this spell as it is. And almost no magic from my world has been effective here either.

[Xiao Xingchen sighs, frustrated. While no one likes feeling helpless, he really doesn't like feeling so helpless and unable to do anything for all these people.]

Likely the only way to deal with this is to defeat its source.

[circumitus]

Know some as well, but none that would probably help in this scenario. [squint] You're used to this magic shit?

[Because she sure isn't, still. Even now, seeing people go crazy via lion person who had broken out of a VR simulation, it all seems so out there to her.]

Yeah, was thinking the same thing. If there's some weird spell or whatever that can snap everyone out of it, that'll be someone else's field.

[blindforlove]

M-magic s-- yes, I am familiar. I've trained in spiritual cultivation for as long as I can remember. The magic isn't the same here as it is in my world, but there are some familiar principles...

[In his world, there are the common folk and there are the cultivators. While the common folk are aware of the cultivators, and their societies might overlap at times, they exist separately for the most part. Though Xiao Xingchen had only learned here that certain worlds not only didn't have cultivation, but relied only on the common folk's highly developed technology!]

What are these mind-clearing techniques that you know?

[Even if she's sure they won't work, he is curious about what it could be.]

[circumitus]

But you're able to use it here, right?

[Rey might not have magic, but she has certain abilities to split atoms and generate thermal energy, which... admittedly would be like magic to some, so she doesn't bring it up.]

Doubt any of it would be any good here, but... Mostly just some Buddhist or Hindu meditation shit. [Jainist, actually, if Rey had been paying any attention to that stuff at the time. All she knows is that it helped clear her head when she went insane.]

[blindforlove]

Mn, I can. Like some others here, my power comes from the Dao, and techniques to further my spiritual cultivation.

[Xiao Xingchen can't help but feel a little flustered with such principles being referred to in such a crude way - even if unfamiliar with the latter mentioned - though it is difficult to offend him.]

Then it's fortunate that you've learned that before. If we could also teach others meditation, we can stop others from falling under Majestas' control.

[Though she certainly doesn't seem to be any sort of adherent, it seems that knowledge of the act as well as enough willpower can overcome this spell.

The cultivators he knows of that appear to be affected by this were not known to meditate all too much. So while it might be coincidence, he will definitely have to chide them about it once this is all over. Hopefully it comes to a conclusion that he can do that, however...]

[circumitus]

[Sorry, crude is just how Rey describes everything. At least the concept he mentions rings a bell for her, though she can't say whether it's the same thing. Not even her many past selves had spent much time that far in the East.]

Could probably stand to teach a few -- if it turns out to work, anyway. [Press X to doubt.] Seems people get controlled by something a lot in this place.

[A running theme that she's not at all comfortable with. It's bad enough that they have to deal with the moons' influence every month. Rey's been lucky to avoid falling prey to the other shit so far.]

[blindforlove]

And often in such insidious ways-- these devices are so often a conduit for that control.

[If it wasn't for the fact that Xiao Xingchen has to pay attention to any major crimes in the news and that it's convenient for finding his way around, he would try to keep his device off of him!]

There are these Moon Knights who usually come in to help, but... they often only really come to help a little late.

[He's trying to sound not too disdainful, as they have indeed helped finish the job before, but he's always been a little skeptical of such an institution that claim to protect people when said people are sorting out how to help themselves right now.]