Azem - The 14th Seat

[No response, obviously - just the steady thrumming of the Azem stone inside]

[Emet-Selch will probably be around to pick that up later. When he feels like it. Maybe next year. Who knows.]

[it's an aged scene of gore - his 'heart' (the Azem stone) was ripped out of his body and then shoved back in, for some reason]

[the mammet's 'blood' and other internals are strew about, dried up but untouched by wildlife due to their inorganic nature]

[can't answer. still dead.]

[something by Coldplay starts playing probably as he walks off with his mammet corpse]

[no response]

[Gigantic hole in his chest where Nemesis punched through to grab his heart]

[The Azem stone has been put back at least, but he's still laying in a puddle of mammet gore]

[is 'dead' on the ground somewhere for who knows how long - his 'body' doesn't rot or decay. Neither scavengers nor fungi want anything to do with him.]

Looks like someone wants to join the orchestra too! 🎵 #ffxiv #art

[is 'dead' on the ground somewhere for who knows how long - his 'body' doesn't rot or decay. Neither scavengers nor fungi want anything to do with him.]

[nothing happens]

[apparently shoving the heart back into a very dead, split open corpse doesn't make it come back to life]

[who would have thought]

>> digesting normally. A backup source of energy to fuel the mammet most likely.]

[Very practical. And a way to keep it starved without letting it die if one were so hypothetically inclined]

>> sensation and beyond. So Nemesis's extraction of his heart did, in fact, very much hurt]

[Most organs were not seen as necessary, but he has lungs, a 'heart' to control the rate of his 'blood' flow, and a 'stomach' - though it works by absorbing aether through food deposited inside rather than>

>> Eorzea has conceived of. There's magic in the construction as much as machinery - channels in place to allow for certain signals (emotions) from the core (the Azem stone] to trigger specific reactions in the vessel.]

[And there's plenty of sensory modules to allow for the entire spectrum of >>

>> cooling, and is linked to enough tiny vessels all throughout the flesh that it could imitate blushing, anger, fear, bruising, as well as . Other blood rushing related activities. Should she search that deeply]

[There's technology implemented into it that goes far beyond what any nation on >>

[for something that gets treated as a mere instrument of fleeting distraction by it's creator, there's an embarrassing amount of care and detail put into the vessel]

[It's not merely an empty shell, nor merely a mammet]

[For one thing, it's 'bleeding' - a blood like liquid serves as a method of >

>> extermination that was unable to be seen through after the vessel failed]

[not much happens - it absorbs the aether like any battery would absorb a charge]

[But the presence inside refuses to respond to her in any way]

[The stone itself has one crack in it - one that has been mostly fixed but was likely quite deep at one point]

[Most likely a past attempt at self >>

[like a battery being removed]

[his eyes darken and he slumps onto his knees before falling over, 'dead']

[but the stone still shimmers and pulses with warmth and light - very much alive]

[his vision goes white, and he stops breathing]

[Whether or not breathing was even necessary for him was hard to say - he's certainly tried drowning himself on multiple occasions but-]

[He struggles to keep his thoughts going as her fingers wrap around his 'heart's - the Azem stone]

It would be a pathetic display.

I refuse to subject myself to such humiliation for your entertainment.

You terrify him.

[a hiss through his teeth]

Only if you can make it so I can never be repaired.

I am /tired/ of this miserable existence.

[a sharp scoff]

You entirely misunderstand my nature.

[he can feel pain - he can feel everything that's done to him. As an Azem he's pathetic but for a mammet he is exceptional]

[More's the pity]

I am not a vessel. I am a cheap copy. Xander is dead.

[an even deeper scowl]

[Xander could have forced her grip away, but the mammet does not have even a tenth of that strength]

I doubt he could do anything else but rot further.

[he flinches back a bit - and loathes himself for the display of weakness]

You'd have to ask the deluded bastard that made me.

[grits his teeth]

As observant as ever - your habit of running your mouth upon first cursory glance remains in tact.

...

Hmph.

He takes in a deep, slow breath.

In his mind's eye he traces the path of the air - feels it spill down his throat, fill his chest, expand it...

But it's all for show.

There's no blood to absorb oxygen, no carbon dioxide byproduct to expel. There's only aether in his 'veins', no heart in his >>