text 💎 un: Tohsaka Rin

[defenceless]

[shortly after the storm clears on may 11th and the network connection between both sides of the group is reestablished, the following post appears:]

We're fine, as far as I know. I don't think anyone's dead, at least.

The storm that separated us was brought about by a Dakal named Pomarr. Some of you may remember her as our feline friend who sold her soul to Ryba—or whatever it is she did—to continue to live on after death.

She swept us to an island that looked like it was raised from the seafloor. It wasn't a vacation, but there were definitely remnants of what those big cats must have called home.

Her plan is to revive her entire race, in the same way Ryba "revived" her. As if life-or-death deals with shady goddesses aren't concerning enough, she wants to grant Ryba the power to carry out this mass revival by having her suck Nalanni dry. Pomarr understandably doesn't care much for Nalanni after she drowned everyone she loved; in fact, she showed us this in morbid detail. She's taken Nalanni. Hence, all the Nalawi losing their Gifts and all of this inconvenience we have to deal with.

Pomarr knows where Nalanni is, but she's asking us not to interfere, and she wouldn't give us the opportunity to speak with Nalanni when I requested it. For some reason, she didn't expect that we would be suffering like the Nalawi are. She's promised to try to fix that.

What do we do now, ALASTAIR? I can share anything else you want to know about our meeting with Pomarr, or Yukimura Sanada-san or Mr. Keats can, but this is most of it. We have a situation where the balance of this whole world might be upended if we sit and twiddle our thumbs.

I don't think I need to remind anyone of the potential consequences of messing with either goddess. Or a litter of zombie cats roaming free.

(( ooc: infodump for rin, yukimura, and keats' conversation with a dakal npc, for one of the plot slots! feel free to handwave your character (in either the marooned group or the left behind group) learned this info by reading the post or talking with rin/yukimura/keats/another recruit. yukimura and keats may also be replying to tags! ))

Comments

video;

[wardance]

Why don't you and the elf just admit you've both got different sticks up your asses and want to smash things instead of pretending these rage boners are some sort of "duty" either of you are going to perform? It's disgusting watching you both be defensive like starving dogs and dismissing everyone as weak or stupid for not being able to make their decision so easily.

In your own words, grow up.

[babbylon]

You understand better than most that I am no manner of dog.

[wardance]

Which is why I know better than most when you're whimpering like one.

[babbylon]

[A sharp sneer.]

Are you provoking me, dragon? Do you now beg for punishment from your rightful master?

[wardance]

[ the hiss of derisive words is harsh in reply. ]

I would never.

--A mongrel is no rightful master to a dragon.

[ ugh, if this works, the people objecting better work fast to come up with something else. Shit he does for cute girls what the fuck, even. ] Bring your backup so they can watch as I grind my heel into your head and push your face into the dirt.

Or, you can admit you are childish and frustrated and simply want to lash out at something rather than your decision be anything better than nothing. I'll let you do whatever you want on this, in this case.

[babbylon]

[Nice try, Masamune, but...]

Oh, you're getting me all worked up now. Tell me more of these plans of yours.

[...he smells what you're up to here, and he's going to send it backfiring straight in your face. As usual.]

[wardance]

[ this would have been way more interesting but now that some princess has decided to get herself involved he's just in a shitty mood, the change is clear. ]

I don't need plans to take you off the board.

You disappointment me.

[babbylon]

You are incapable of taking me off the board, whelp.

[But by all means, try. Now he's looking forward to it.]

[wardance]

Please treat me kindly when I prove you wrong.

[ Except, UHM.... The intention here was definitely not to give Gil something to look forward to. what just happened... ]

[babbylon]

For this degree of disrespect, I would break you in front of everyone.

[Gilgamesh may not be referring to fighting. He may be referring to That Other Thing.]

[wardance]

I don't believe you.

[babbylon]

I suppose we'll find out.

[wardance]

[ Just... quietly hangs up on because he's not supposed to bait you anymore :c

Also, he may be a little intimidated. He's not really sure, yet.... ]

voice | un: archer - private

[anti_altruisms]

Baiting him helps no one, Date Masamune.

audio; un: adlantisag

[adlantisag]

You...?!

[ How dare he. ]

audio;

[wardance]

You of all people want to defend him?

[adlantisag]

Of course not!

[ This, quite honestly, has nothing to do with Gilgamesh. ]

How can you be so calm?

[wardance]

Hate and revenge for something that has not even occurred during our time here... This is a losing war you are trying to take up arms for.

I've seen it. I've done it. And I never want to contribute to it in any way again. You will not be in the right-- are we to play gods now of a world that does not belong to us on who lives and who dies?

You don't want to start down this path, Kida. It's ugly and there is no peace waiting for you at the end after you fall. I'm not going to let you do this to yourself.

[adlantisag]

[ 'You will not be in the right', he says, and it rankles her more than she can say. Beyond emotion, beyond the connections between the Dakal and her own people--Kida's position is the only one supported by the evidence they have and not by speculation. ]

You have no proof to support such a claim, that the world will be hurt by the absence of its gods.

Is it my emotion that frightens you, Masamune? Perhaps it is you too blinded by what is 'correct' to care for what is morally right.

[wardance]

We would be deciding if the gods have a right to live or die, it's the same. I have nothing to say about this world dying with or without its gods.

[ He is decidedly silent on her last question. ]

[adlantisag]

You have nothing to say? Nothing to say?

Find something to say. Find your voice, Masamune, when I have most need of you.

[ She's not begging, but--she wants so badly to keep seeing him the way she has. Proud and brave and honourable and steadfast. ]

Please.

[wardance]

[ he has so little control of things at this point, it's hard to find anything to say. ]

...Right or wrong, I can hardly tell at this point. Maybe I am afraid of your emotion. My own has never done any good for me or anyone else.

None of this makes sense. It's too easy.

[adlantisag]

[ It's so hard, hearing him speak like this to her. She wants to shake him, slap him, tell him: shout, rage, say something, do something. Why can't you feel this?'Right' and 'wrong' are as clear as a bell to her. ]

No. No, you can tell. You simply refuse. Killing a god is not what I would call 'easy'--and it is not a decision I take lightly.

[ She's the least equipped to handle a god. Koltira, Gilgamesh, they have power, they've done it before, but Kida? She has her wits and her spear. She's laying her life down. Surely he can see what this means to her. ]

We must act. If we do not kill the goddesses, if we kill Pomarr, then what? Everything returns to just as it was. The Nalawi have the stability they crave, Nalanni returns to her worshippers and Ryba to her crag. And in five thousand years? Ten thousand years? The problem may yet arise again because the root will not have been eliminated.

Do as you choose, Masamune, but I will not be swayed. I will live with my action, not with my inaction.

[wardance]

What if you kill all of us, too?

[adlantisag]

You fear for yourself? For Sieglinde?