[META] A Warning

[shibrogane]

She was eating her midnight snack when her cell phone rang. Quickly swallowing her mouthful of cupcake (if anyone knew about her secret gluttony, she'd die a horrible death of embarrassment) Aure wiped her mouth and picked up the phone. The only text on the small display screen read 'unknown'.

That was impossible. The only way to get to this number was if she added them in first. Which meant someone had to have given the number to whoever was on the phone. Possibly she could trust them. She flipped the phone open and pressed it against her ear. "Yes? Hello."

There was no answer for a minute, and then...  

[evermore_crystal]

"Hello? Hello! Damn reception," An uncertain voice, definitely female, came from the other end. "Is anybody...?"

A strange pause. Then a repressed but still audible murmur, "Crap. Did she pick up alre..." The voice trailed off, leaving another pause, this time just a bit more awkward.

It then promptly adopted normal, socially acceptable speech patterns. "Hello, you are Miss Aurelius Venport, I presume?" The previous uncertainty faded and bled into a coolly detached one, kind of like one of those secretaries in suit-dresses at a posh law firm catering to an overly rich clientèle. Or a particularly apathetic hospital receptionist who is about to tell you someone in your family had just died in the emergency room.  

[shibrogane]

"Yes. Where did you get this number?" Didn't matter who it was. Just who gave it to her; if it was that Avedis man, she'd hang up right now. The tone didn't disconcert her, because she dealt with people who spoke like that regularly. She picked at the sprinkles on her cupcake in boredom.  

[evermore_crystal]

"If I told you I ripped a hole in space and pulled your name and number out, would you believe me?" The voice remained apathetic, though the cool tone slipped for just a second. "If you don't, whatever. If you do, lovely.

"The method is not important. And before we proceed, I would like to ask you to keep in mind that while you can hate the messenger as much as you want, don't let that cloud your judgments in recognizing the true source of things."


"Now. I believe you have met a man by the name of Avedis?"  

[shibrogane]

She had to fight not to hang up. At least find out who this is, she told herself, and she fit actions to words. "Who are you," she snapped, her fingers tense against the side of the phone. "I've not told anyone about this." Her wrist twinged, reminding her of just how recent that encounter had been.  

[evermore_crystal]

The other side seemed to take a moment to weigh the pros and cons of various ways to answer Aurelius's demand. "My name is Kallistrae, call me Strae if you like," she continued, "and I am aware you probably haven't told anybody. From your tone, I think you may already have realized this, even if you do not yet understand to the fullest extent."

"I probably don't need to tell you that Avedis is dangerous. That in itself would not have given me a proper reason to contact you this way."

"The most dangerous thing about him is..." Kallistrae stopped, again, to assess her own words. "His goals may be to your detriment, though I am not yet certain of that; neither is he, in fact. This is not something I can do anything about. His methods, on the other hand...he will use whatever methods necessary to achieve his goals with zero regard for the other consequences. He has nothing to lose, you could say.


"And these methods will most likely prove catastrophic to the Illusionaries.

"Not to the entire world of Gaia, though; he has been explicitly forbidden to seriously endanger this plane of existence.


"The best thing for me to do would probably have been to contact Shenella, however given my current positions that is out of the question.

"I hope I have not chosen wrongly when I decided to contact you as an alternative. What you chose to do with this information is up to you. I can only interfere so much."  

[shibrogane]

"There is nothing he can do that is to my detriment," Aure said. And it was true. She was far too embedded at this point; nothing, but nothing, that a stranger from outside of Gaia could do would break her image to the public. "But I will let those I encounter know." For a moment, she contemplated hanging up again. It would have dramatic effect, if nothing else.

"What abilities does he have, to make these methods so dangerous," she said finally.  

[evermore_crystal]

"That...I am afraid I can't tell you," Kallistrae replied. "As much as I hate to admit it, there is an unspoken code among those who tangle with Fate to not delve into, and if we happened to find out then to not reveal each other's secrets. I suppose there is good reason for that, to prevent us from unintentionally create paradoxes in Fate, amongst other things." And, well, the policy had its uses. Strae had that to thank for her own still-kept secrets. In this particular scenario, it is a good thing Ave does not know.

"I can tell you that Fate does exist, and we are all caught in its puppet strings. But Fate is not exactly in a form that most think of it as."

"I don't know him well, but well enough to assure you that he has tremendous capabilities. Fate has insured it."  

[shibrogane]

Aure snarled in frustration. "Fate is nothing but a myth, used to excuse failures by those too weak to take risks," she said. She shuddered at the words used, remembered a child she'd seen who had seemed to be an Illusionary with two souls. "Is there anything else you want to say to me at this ridiculous hour of the morning?"  

[evermore_crystal]

"In the way you speak of it, yes, THAT Fate is nothing but an excuse," Strae mused. "An excuse for unwillingness to take control when they damn well have the chance. However, do not deny that there are things pertaining to you in which you have no control over. Perhaps in this world, perhaps not."



"I have one more thing to say, and you might find yourself gladly willing to comply.

"Do not place your trust in me.

"While this entire message is nothing but truthful, I cannot guarantee that I will be in the future. If I am ordered to dispose of you, to take away something close to you, or even to assist Avedis to the full extend of my abilities, I will do so.

"This is not a threat. It is a warning."

"I don't care about the whole 'loyalty' and 'following your commanders' crap.
I do not have a choice. My actions don't belong to myself, and those orders dictate the outcome regardless of what I try to do to prevent it.

Please be careful."

And then the other end was silent, though whether Strae is simply listening for a response or had hung up was impossible to tell.  

[shibrogane]

She didn't bother to answer. Aure didn't even close the phone before slamming it onto the table and smearing it across the warm brown wood. When she lifted her hand, there was a streak of pale blue plastic crystals, interspersed with silicon chips and bits of metal wiring in the table. Then, systematically, she dissolved the table into nothing. It'd be hard to explain to the Dorian, but she didn't want anyone to know who she had been talking to. Because now she had to change some of her plans around.

"You're just as weak as the rest of them," she muttered to the unseen Strae. Then she went upstairs to bed.