Kolo's Links
A self-centered and hedonistic brat, but occasionally the only tolerable conversational partner among the Arcanas.
For starters, don't think I've forgotten- Or forgiven!- that conquistador phase you had. Or the snide comments about the company I keep outside of business. *I know what warms your bed*. Oh, but he makes excellent company any other day.
Nerva and I have a more complicated past. I won't forget...*anything* he's done. But I can forgive all of it. He's warmer than you'd imagine, he goes to great lengths to hide any hint of care or softness, but it is there. And after all the fortitude of mask that he's put forward, I think it's high time someone cared for him in turn. I've got plenty of room waiting for him!
I don't have anything to say.
Milli, what aspirations and vision. Of course he'd stab you in the back for a pedestal, I love that about him! He's comfortable asking for just about anything, it's too bad I'm not in a position to give him what he wants. Imagine if I didn't have my chair, the laws Hearth would levy against me, the trade impositions, all without even a dinner date. Sorry, Milli, it's my best foothold into your lives.
Aernin is... a lot! Okay, he's a lot. The unfortunate part of it is that he's got a chairman position and a key to most of the world, what with Sorne being the global trade superpower. Not to mention his chokehold on integral resources. And he's more than happy to give it out to others in return for kisses and affection. But he just loooooves dangling his power over me! He knows how much I want his position and influence....
Aernin's sweet, always complimentary and kind. I can't help but feel a little strange around him, though - like there's fringes of memory that unnerve me that I can't quite recall. He wants to visit all the time but the logistics don't often work out.
He's been through so much, so many wars on the way to his own future. Now he runs one of the safest, most enchanting planets. He needed that safety, I only regret he didn't seek me for it. Perhaps if I'd been more forward, better prepared for the second conquest, I could have sheltered him. Now...now he seeks comfort from Miras. Those bastards, he doesn't even know they're isolating him. Perhaps one day I will better grasp what he needs and be able to untangle him from their net.
Feer spends so little time with us, he cannot be tied down! Well, metaphorically. Literally has not been proven, but don't tell Hearth that. He's adorable, have you seen his eyes? His little blush? Heard the excitement in his voice when he witnesses something new and incredible? Ahh, but to have the opportunity to foster that light each day...
Aernin is... Aernin! He's hard to wrap up in few words. I hope he really takes it to heart that I don't plan to settle down or anything! Like seriously takes it to heart. 'Cause he can be a lot.
Tiferet is a good teacher. He has a lot of expectations, but he's clear about them. I don't know what he was like "before", but people walk on eggshells around him, like he's...Mercy, or something. Makes me wonder what he used to do to people. I suppose, considering the state of affairs before the Artificial Revolution, he was a slave driver. Good thing he lost.
A smart, if quiet boy. In equal parts he chews Hearth out for everything-anything, and follows him around literally on his heels, like a puppy. They're joined at the hip proper. Hope is a good mage, as well. He has plenty of potential... so long as Hearth hasn't hammered it out of him.
I don't see much of him, with Hearth's protectiveness. I didn't oppose the Divinity Council but I'm glad I wasn't a part of it.
Hearth's beautiful ward! Oh, he's so cute, and brimming with potential and magic! I love to see what he'll become and where he'll guide Hearth, hehehe. I mean, really. Hearth needs someone really looking after him, y'know?
I knew the Divinity Council was a mistake! Er, not that it's Triv's fault, no. But look at what Hearth's ego did to the Well. As much as I appreciate Triv during Assemblies, when he's chewing Hearth a new one, everyone knows he's a mistake. Even he knows. How does Hearth sleep with that knowledge?
I wish Hearth would let us see Triv more often! I guess it makes sense... he always seems a little shy and uncertain when he's visiting with Hearth. He's said some stuff to me about... being something more, or something like that, but I don't think he really knows what he's talking about.
Lailah...uh. D-don't tell Hearth? I admire him, he broke out and...and took to his own. He still is his own, not ruled by expectations or creators. The Artificial Revolution was messed up, and he brought it into a peaceful resolution. Hearth doesn't like bringing me to meetings with him, I think it's because he calls me Triv.
'Hope' is a funny name, from before we knew what happened to the Well. I can understand Triv wanting to move away from that and make something of himself. I hope he finds himself, and finds that peace.
Aernin holds a coveted position among us Arcanas, being that he chokeholds much intergalactic trade. Even Hearth is forced to concede to his demands occasionally, despite his dozen loopholes! And he still reaches for more power, as if to usurp Hearth as the micromanager of our lives. Haha! Don't worry. I'd never let him beat me to it.
Caiche, how very dear! Clever, conniving, even manipulative, the young man has plans for everything. Oh but it melts my heart to see him soft, vulnerable, exposed...and safe. I love him, every cold little inch.
Aernin is deeply involved in the politics and the economics of almost every planet, and takes great pains in knowing all of the other Arcanas' business, mine included. When I was younger, I feared this - expecting him to stage a coup, or destabilize the galaxy. With age I've learned that it, in a way, is his way of expressing himself and his Well-given purpose - to love, obsessively, though he'd not admit the latter. I can't fault him for following his place in life, but it speaks volumes that everyone resists his advances so diligently. At what point does his Well-given drive overwrite ours, hm? Questions he will not answer satisfactorily.
Hearth is so...distant. Sure, he's at every meeting, most events, but only as a politician. I want to be closer to *him*, take some weight off his shoulders. He pretends it isn't there but the age is showing, and he could really use three things. A sauna, a masseuse, and either a wife or to be wifed.
Aernin is good at heart. He's selfish but not in a cruel way - he needs us, and in turn tries to provide for us and entice us to love him back. Can anyone fault him for it? Of course not. But of course we all have duties, responsibilities, and work outside of his indulgence. So alone he is forced to be.
Lailah, what an example of an Arcanas! He's truly good-hearted, a leader, a revolutionist, his purpose clear and driven. I admire all he puts forth in his work. His heart, as of yet, is uncertain, shielded. Perhaps a consequence of his birth.
I'm glad Aernin exists, I guess. He's like the least judgemental person ever. A little stifling, I guess. Sometimes he makes me really uncomfortable when he starts going off about how I should indulge my purpose and stuff... I don't know. I think Aernin wouldn't care about being evil as long as he thought it was what he was supposed to do. But isn't blindly following your impulses evil? Like if I slapped a cookie out of a kid's hand or something. That's just evil. I don't know. Aernin hurts my head.
Oh Mercy, sweet little Mercy. So uncertain, so afraid and guilty, so strong-willed. I understand it, of course, his dual-call and shame, and will do anything in my power to comfort him in fulfilling his calling. One day, perhaps, he will not cry to do what he must, but hold his head up high.
He's uh, a lot. Like a vice around my neck, makes it hard to breathe. Um. The way he smiles? It's got this undertone that sends centipedes up my spine. Everyone just tolerates him? Um. Wow.
Parsle, what a delight! I feared we'd never meet another of the well's creations, that Triv was our final judgment. And yet here we are, face to face with another beautiful Arcanas. I wonder what he was made for, and how he will embrace it. The sooner the better, I can't wait to hold him!
Hm, the resident flirt. Smart enough to make a planet worth his harassment. I've long since moved on from being offended by him, though. Best to just keep distance.
Tiferet was gone so long, some of us worried. The Artificial Revolution was hard on everyone, but hardest on him. And then to come back and find a new Arcanas had cannibalized his world? I only regret watching the light fade year after year. Oh, to see him again in his study halls, dozens under his hand and eager for his praise. Ahh, but I suppose that's why I invested in the S.U.M.A.S,. Perhaps with Triv grown he will leave Hearth and seek a new refuge?
Parsle, the well's newest creation. I'm afraid I've barely spoken with him, the same can be said of most of us and it's not given me much of an impression. He seemed innocent enough, we'll see if it lasts once he finds a home.
It brings a smile to my face when he chastises Hearth or chases after Mercy, desperately upholding his ideals of accountability. Of course, I have indulged his requests of me - the money reparations, the community service, the leagues of time and magic wasted to pay for what he thinks I did to the Well. But, that's all in the past now, isn't it? Look at our Well, glowing brightly once again... of course, there'll be no reparations for my lost days from him, will there?
Caiche is dutiful enough, although I doubt the legitimacy of his work. At the very least his people are content, and he regularly repairs whatever mishaps his teams create. I don't have access to the paperwork to prove anything else, despite my misgivings, and he has good motivation not to be found out, perhaps enough not to be connected in the first place.
I can appreciate his efforts to enforce a sort of morality on us. When I look at Mercy, for example, I can perfectly see why boundaries must be drawn, even for gods. His frustration towards me leaves a sour taste, of course - have I not done all that I have for the good of the Well and the galaxy? But I accept his judgments, nonetheless.
Hearth has, for the most part, made reparations for the destruction of the Well. While I have doubts about his "Ownership" of Hope, I have no horse in that race. I've heard naught of Hope trying to leave, so I assume he's satisfied with his lot. He's still contentious about the status of Inner Viira, one of my final complaints at this time. Evidently his actions have led enough to doubt him after the attack from Mercy that he is now faced with a divided populace. It is their decision, but I would defend it.
He's a jerk who thinks he's above us. Thinks he has any right to judge me, or my actions, and try to punish me for them? Who even says he's right? I mean really, is it wrong for me to act as the Well wanted me to do? Huh? He ever think of that?
Mercy has gone on, held unaccountable for too long. Look at the lengths to which he now goes. Calling of the Well or not, he is still responsible for the decisions he makes. He's destroyed a planet, and if it is too late now to help then some punishments must still be doled out. Some call for flogging, beating, eternal imprisonment. I say he needs a padded room and a therapist for a while.
I didn't meet him, not really. So I don't know much about him. But, I mean, he's Hearth's... property. So he probably doesn't like me, just like the rest of the Arcanas. Fine! Well I never liked him anyways! He broke the Well, anyways. I didn't have anything to do with that! And I've never done anything even CLOSE to the horrific magnitude of that! Where's his punishment, huh?
Mercy is a basket case. I wish he wasn't right about some things, wish someone else would say it. It's his purpose, his calling, but he uses it as an excuse to punch a hole through Viira. Yes, Hearth deserved to go down a notch. Millions upon billions didn't deserve to die for it. I'd forgive him if he'd see it. After all, sometimes I understand those shackles of what the Well made of you.
Such a shame Hearth's claws are so stalwart. Such a shame, indeed! We had such high expectations for Triv - the possibilities laid out before us. An artificial god, pulled from the Well by our own hands, birth immaculately crafted. All that potential squandered on Hearth's frantic need to have total control.
Caiche is terribly polite. Less invasive than his scientists, but stars know for how long. He and his coordinated the experiments behind my birth, I think he is the most insulted that I am kept by Hearth. At least they tried to come up with solutions.
How am I supposed to feel about him? I mean, not like - well, I'm sure he must hate me to some degree, right? I took so much from him. I'm... I'm everything he was supposed to be, I guess... oh god. I don't want to think about that. I hope he doesn't want to meet me.
Parsle wasn't supposed to be anymore than I was. I hope he handles it better than I did.
Hearth still thinks he deserves dibs, I hope it's wisdom keeping Parsle on that space station.