VIDEO -> TEXT. UN: DAGNY.

[dagnyology]

[ Dagny's face appears on the network. Behind her are snowy plains, where small gnomes are jumping and playing. Her face is flushed from the cold, but she smiles. ]

Hello! I hope you're all doing well! The Timeline has finally computed your mission objective — sorry it took so long! Sometimes he gets a little slow. Now, I know he may seem— different, but he's always been correct! Just... ah, be careful when talking to him? He's a learning machine, and all he really knows is about missions, so sometimes he says some strange things when he goes off topic. But don't worry! He tries his best. I'll connect you to him now.

TIMELINE.EXE IS PROGRAMMED TO RELEASE MISSION PARAMETERS. MISSION OBSERVATION IS COMPLETE AND RESULTS FOR MISSION: Nalawi ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Hello World ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ Take the hassle and confusion out of the
Mission,
Try this One Weird Trick!

To help NALAWI, you will need to DEFEAT the GODDESS NALANNI so the energy can return to the world.* In doing so, the people of NALAWI will LOSE THEIR POWERS but the world will continue on. If this objective is not reached, NALAWI will BURN OUT PREMATURELY.

*NOTE FROM TIMELINE.EXE: Giant squid of the Sea, too
2 or 0 Not 1! Thank you

[OOC NOTE: This will serve as an IC discussion post. The OOC discussion post is here!]

Comments

[winces]

[ she huffs a little, hastily glancing away. whatever that smile is, she decides she doesn't like it. ]

Because you know me so well, [ she mutters, certainly in a voice too low to be saint-like. ]

[agrizzlysin]

Need me to stab him for you?

[It's an empty threat. Ban's not immortal right now, and King can't command Chastiefol without his magic. He asks anyway, just because he can.]

[winces]

[ olivia's lips purse, feeling the faint prickling of ire start to ebb away at the sight of king. ]

He seems fully capable of getting that done to him all by himself.

[agrizzlysin]

Well, I'm not gonna argue with saving my energy, but... [Siiiiiiigh.] In that case, you should too.

[After all, Ban's just pissy that Olivia's the saint here instead of Elaine.]

[winces]

[ it doesn't really seem like the time and place for this kind of conversation, but now that she's got king here, and they're on the topic, she can't help but blurt out: ]

Why does he insist on punishing me for not agreeing with him that he's some terrible person?

[agrizzlysin]

Because he is a terrible person.

[A BIT TOO BLUNT THERE. But his utterly nonchalant way of addressing the question - as if he were saying something as obvious as "the sky is blue" - makes it clear that this isn't a punchline.]

Did you ever stop and wonder why we call ourselves Sloth and Greed of the Seven Deadly Sins?

[winces]

[ it just isn't her day today, is it...

but she's getting pretty damn tired of being surrounded by people who keep insisting they're lower than dirt, when she's only ever experienced them being the contrary.

maybe it's foolish. maybe it's naivete.

but accepting it seems a far greater misdeed. ]

I don't know. [ her own voice is low, tired. she frankly didn't even know they called themselves that in the first place, but she feels too worn thin to even question it now. ]

Why?

[agrizzlysin]

Because our sins have fatal consequences.

[And since Ban has made up his mind to go off and kill some goddesses, this is pretty darn relevant.]

He's going to kill someone. Or die. And it has nothing to do with you. [King waves a hand dismissively.] That's just how terrible people say goodbye.

[winces]

[ it has nothing to do with you.

she doesn't think there is a sentiment crueler than this, but she knows, just as well, that she has no business feeling stung by it. the words are harsh, but they are true, and it's a truth olivia needed to hear in this moment. perhaps even for a while now.

there is still so much she doesn't know about ban. and king. and the handful of other people within alastair who have so easily managed to affect her life, who have thus far evaded every attempt she's made to return the favor. will she ever know enough?

is it even her place to?

she lets out a brief, helpless sound. tears prick at the corners of her eyes, shoulders lifting in a gesture that feels as hopeless as this conversation. ]

I don't know what I'm supposed to do, [ she admits in a tiny whisper. it has nothing to do with her, but to sit back and do nothing still felt incredibly wrong. ]

[agrizzlysin]

You're supposed to get ready for what happens next. You don't have to agree with any of it, but you have to survive it at the very least.

[Which is, more or less, what Ban's trying to say. Just less douchey.]

You're... a pretty decent healer, right? What else can you do?

[winces]

[ but what if, she wants to ask, what if what happens next is not something she can stomach?

perhaps that's the point.

perhaps there are some battles she shouldn't even attempt to fight. ]

I can dance. [ she laughs at herself, a hollow, choked sound. ] I can sing. I have a sword and I have a lion cub.

[ she shrugs her shoulders helplessly.

she has nothing. ]

[agrizzlysin]

[King doesn't miss a beat. If all that amounts to nothing, then King has negative assets right now.]

So you're light on your feet, have excellent rhythm, can project your voice, and consistently train your body.

[winces]

[ she opens her mouth, ready to protest, but finds she doesn't have much of one after all.

quietly, she withdraws, looking mildly petulant. ]

...you're giving me too much credit.

[agrizzlysin]

You're saying you can't step in whenever someone's injured and get them someplace safe?

[winces]

[ she sputters. ]

O-Of course I can..! I'd never leave someone if I could help it!

[perma_banned]

Because I've met tons of people like you.

[It wasn't a bad thing to know people like that, but Ban had no appreciation for being reminded that he was garbage. It was common knowledge, but it was still something that couldn't make him any happier for being correct.

He didn't have to think it over.]

You're right to want a peaceful solution, buuut--

[He offered a faint shrug.]

You aren't gonna get one~. Not with us around.

[winces]

[ if olivia were ever the type to growl, she'd probably be doing it right now.

as it is, her teeth merely grit, hands fisting at her sides. ]

You know if you spent half as much time directing that energy elsewhere instead of constantly attempting to prove how reprehensible you are, then you'd be a bigger "saint" than you make myself out to be.

What would you like me to do, Ban? Congratulate you?

[perma_banned]

If you get riled up because of some teasing on my part--

[Ban's smile evaporated, revealing a somber look, instead.]

How are you gonna feel when we all do the really dirty business? When we gotta kill people who probably don't deserve to die?

This is nothin', missy. What I say means absolutely nothing compared to what I'm willing to do.

jk i need to read

[winces]

[ something heavy and cold settles in the pit of her stomach when his expression shifts, when his voice lowers and his words process in her mind. it's the unpleasant feeling of being wrong, of knowing when someone else's harsh truth is right, and that unsettling burn of wishing it were anything but. ]

If you're willing to kill for something, then you have to be willing to find other solutions, too.

Shouldn't death be a last resort? Or does it not mean the same thing for an immortal like you?

[perma_banned]

Killing is easier.

[At least for him. Ban had encountered a lot of problems in his life that could have ended easier if he learned how to use a sword before he learned to steal. If he started as a soldier in the first place, even, Ban could have been much happier with somewhat more grounded morals, ironically.

Instead, Ban just wanted to survive in a world that loathed such a thing. As a result of this stubbornness, he was made to become a brutal and cruel person in such a way that a soldier could never be.]

If you wait for the last resort, then people are gonna die. Do what you do best the moment you need to and you run fewer risks.

[He gave Olivia a lightened expression, smiling despite what he said--]

Course, if you want another answer--

Directly or not, those goddesses hurt my friends. The only thing I want them to be is dead.

[winces]

You can't—

[ she stifles her instinctive response. you can't keep persecuting people for things they can't control, she wants to say, but a part of her already knows that argument would be futile.

she purses her lips, trying her best to hold ban's gaze. but the more he smiles at her, the more she finds she can't look directly at it. ]

They're my friends, too. [ she thinks of undyne, of sans, of papyrus. of holding their hands and cradling them close when their lives were barely hanging on a thread. the fear of losing them will always haunt her.

but— ]

But I know a good number of them wouldn't want any more blood spilled. Especially not on their behalfs.

[ don't insult them by claiming this murder is for them. ]

[perma_banned]

It's because they're my friends that I'm angry.

[Ban's expression deadened. When it came to his friends--Ban was patently unreasonable. In terms of poor decision making--Ban was the most effectively hazardous when a friend was in danger or at risk of danger.

To ask him not to make a case out of his friends being at risk was an uphill battle to be fought.]

That's who I am. They won't like it, but it isn't like I asked those goddesses to give power where it shouldn't have been given. I didn't tell 'em to drain everyone near to death of all their strength.

If they'll be upset, fine. I wouldn't consider myself a good friend if I didn't do as much as I could to make their tormentors suffer~.

[winces]

[ it is futile, she keeps telling herself, to try and change anyone right now. moments like these... they are defining, in that way, an opportunity to both allow for that change, but it is also just as much a reason for someone to refuse and remain as they are. ban's mind had already been made, choosing to fall back on what he knows and what he's comfortable with—

in the end, isn't that just what she's doing too?

and so she sighs, letting her eyes fall shut. ]

...Just make sure you come back. It would be very counter-productive of you to give those friends another reason to be sad.

[perma_banned]

[Ban had little to say about that, at least. What he did know about his friends told them that they could potentially feel badly about him if he died, though he could only be totally sure about Papyrus being the one to grieve over him.

Wearing an expression of glum understanding, Ban let that information sink in deep.]

It'd be worse to make it a promise, wouldn't it?

[He was looking aside--to a ribbon tied around his wrist.]

[winces]

[ usually, olivia would wax poetic about the power of promises, and how the very notion of it itself can have the ability to motivate people into doing the impossible.

but maybe poetry's not what they need right now. ]

Call it whatever you need to call it to get you coming back home.