Week 0 || ACT: ATTEND

[foundationmods]

["We will tell you later," they had said. "We need to gather more information." Defer until later, let others investigate.

Truthfully, they had been hoping a solution would materialize on its own. That calling in a team for assistance wouldn't be needed. But time has passed, and the silence has only stretched on longer.

So, when the email comes, telling everyone of an important meeting, it might not be a surprise. After all, this conversation is one that has been a long time coming.

The two who have called the meeting- Solomon and Frisk- have prepared a meeting room for this occasion. It is set up not unlike a lecture hall, with several rows of chairs facing a whiteboard and projector screen. The two O5s are at the front, with Frisk going through one final check to make sure everything is working while Solomon watches. Both will nod to the arrivals, but neither will speak to them.

Once the last few who are coming have found their seats, Solomon will clear his throat to gather everyone's attention.

It is time.]

Comments

[oceanicbutterfly]

Great. Is it close to us? ...is that even a meaningful question, actually?

[foundfate]

It's a meaningful question, yes. And it actually is close to you guys, yeah. But not in the 'about to eat you' way.

Whatever is calling this thing out of the Abyss, it's in your world.

[oceanicbutterfly]

Unfortunately, that makes sense.

Just to make sure, you mean this world and not my original world, right?

[Since she's from the kind of world that means this needs to be clarified.]

[foundfate]

Yeah, I mean the world you're in right now. Guess I should've specified that.

[oceanicbutterfly]

Good. Well, not good, but that means all the information actually fits together.

[finalring]

[ ... ]

Is there anything else about its properties that you can tell us? If it's not 'about to eat us', then what is it about to do?

[foundfate]

It's...

[Give him a moment, he's peering back into the Sea.]

...watching?

[He sounds confused too.]

[finalring]

Stalking prey? Or merely waiting?

[foundfate]

More like...if you dangle a treat in front of a well-trained dog. The dog won't move until the command is given, but they still watch the treat like a hawk.

[oceanicbutterfly]

Like it's waiting for something to happen, then.

[foundfate]

Yeah, that's right. It's waiting for something to happen, and it's probably best if that 'something' never happens.

[oceanicbutterfly]

It would probably be wise to figure out what that is, so that when it inevitably happens anyway we'll know and be able to react accordingly.

[improbablenotimpossible]

Can you elucidate on what the Abyss means in specific in this context?

[foundfate]

It's like....if the Sea of Fragments is an ocean, the Abyss is the Mariana trench. It's the deepest, darkest part of the Sea, where aging fragments go to die. The things that live there are not ones you want to be seen by. Even I have to be careful when I look into the Abyss, and I'm naturally inclined to traveling through the Sea of Fragments.

[improbablenotimpossible]

Yes... I believe I have the picture now. What normally should be bottom-feeding scavengers - which does not imply they are not dangerous - are now surfacing and for the lack of a better word - hunting fragments? Am I getting it right?

[foundfate]

That's actually a good description of it, yeah. This thing, it's just doing what it normally does: eating fragments. But instead of waiting for the dying fragments to sink down, it's gone up and is going after healthy ones.

[improbablenotimpossible]

If we're speaking of natural entities, it would almost suggest they have no food left below and are forced to surface to hunt, much like how the Pacus, when introduced into low-oxygen waters, went from plant-eaters to eating meat like their relatives the Piranhas.

Though you said they have been called....

[foundfate]

I mean exactly that: Something from the world you are in is calling out to this thing, and drawing it up from the Abyss.

[improbablenotimpossible]

I see Miss Inaba had the same theories I had, though to summon something of this magnitude - what would it require exactly? In terms of material, power, and knowledge?

[dereban]

So, short version is that someone may or may not be summoning the Grim Reaper of the Fragments to destroy the ones that 'are not ready for death yet'...is my understanding.

[foundfate]

That's about it, yeah. But I can't figure out why they would do that. Setting up a huge beacon to draw in something from the Abyss is so, so dangerous. Nobody would even consider it normally. Even the Witches are worried about it, and nothing ever worries them. They had a council about it and everything!

cw: vague suicide mentions

[dereban]

I'll raise two possibilities, then -

The first is that they're unaware of the full consequences of their actions. Like, for example... when you're given the words for a spell, but you don't know what it does and you decide to try it anyway. It's also just possible that they only know what they're doing vaguely.

The second is that they don't care, are crazy, and are planning on taking everything out along with themselves.

[...]

Are any of the other witches planning on doing anything in that case, if they had a council? Or are they simply going to sit on their hands?

[foundfate]

[GLANCING AWAY IN ANNOYANCE.]

They told me that, as the Witch of Dimensions, it's my job to fix this.

[dereban]

Why does it always come back to 'something is about to eat us'.

[DRIPPING SARCASM

But-]

What is the 'Abyss', anyway?

[foundfate]

[here!]