un: latrodectus | text

[expatriates]

[ Natasha found herself an egg and wrapped it in the spare jacket she brought under the reasoned assumption that heat might help hatch it. Couldn't hurt, anyway, especially not in their current climate. She brushed the snow away from a patch of jagged, uneven land and nestled herself into it with the bundled egg sitting in the bridge of her lap. ]

Looks like we're going to be waiting a while. Hope you packed your winter coat.

I missed the last mission, something about gods and energy. Anyone want to fill me in?

[ Egg-hatching was like a stake-out; you had to fill the time somehow. Thus, small-talk. ]

Comments

text | un: archer

[anti_altruisms]

[ S'up, Natasha. You will now be receiving these three things. The latter two, in particular, are edifying. ]

Does this answer most of your questions?

[expatriates]

[ Dagny, Natasha quickly decides, is a zealot and an idiot. Neither of those judgments invalidate her information, but it does lend some context to whether ALASTAIR is in any way deliberate in misguiding them. The Timeline, then, is essentially their god. It's real, but nebulous in origin and in credibility. That thing could just as easily be SKYNET as it is some benevolent robot overlord. And even then ... Ultron considered himself benevolent too. ]

Interesting reading material.
Did you kill Nalanni?

[anti_altruisms]

[ Given Archer's personal experience with such things, he's less inclined to think that. Skepticism is always warranted, but the Timeline's rational resonates enough with how timeline management works in his own world that he doesn't question it as much. He doesn't expect others to feel the same way, though. ]

Nalanni was dispatched by a select few of our number.

[ So no, he didn't get in on that. ]

Ryba was more challenging.

[expatriates]

Ryba — the squid the Timeline mentioned?

[anti_altruisms]

Yes.

As I understand it, Nalanni had already been weakened to the point of being effectively defenseless.

Ryba, however, was as powerful as you might expect a goddess to be. It took nearly a day for us to subdue her.

[expatriates]

Timeline said 2 or 0, not 1. Any idea why? Do you think it knew Ryba was going to be the problem child?

[anti_altruisms]

Because losing one and not the other would have created a void that would have rushed Nalawi to a much quicker destruction.

Nalanni and Ryba both existed as powerful forces tied to the fabric of the world itself. Their powers, as equally opposing elements of fire and water, respectively, created a balance.

However, over a period of time and partially due to the Gifts Nalanni bequeathed to the Nalawi, the energy of the world was expended too quickly. In order to rectify that imbalance, so that all of the energy being diverted to Nalanni and Ryba returned to the world, both of them had to die.

text; un. hawkeye

[strictdiscipline]

[Might as well reply, while they're on the subject.]

She put up no resistance.

[expatriates]

[ hawkeye. huh. natasha's holding onto that one for later, but you know. priorities. ]

Because she accepted death or because she knew what you were doing?

[strictdiscipline]

[Sorry to disappoint, Natasha.]

The former. She requested one of us carry out her execution, actually.

[expatriates]

Why?

this is where i curse that thread for not being finished yet

[strictdiscipline]

She never explained why. But she agreed to execution on the condition that we keep her people alive.

text, @TARANTO

[heavyhitter]

there were deer with CRAZY strong booze and shitty survival skills, plus a dead cat lady

[expatriates]

It's interesting Nalawi had deer at all. Gives some credence to the "originally one universe" idea.

[heavyhitter]

nah that doesn't prove anything, have you SEEN how many aliens are out there
it's inevitable there's gonna be some that look like earth ... what are deer, pests? big pests?

[expatriates]

Infinite universes with infinite potential for life. The likelihood of independent duplication seems like it'd be infinitesimally small. But then, I'm not a scientist. :)

[heavyhitter]

yeah ok fine your unscientific opinion might have SOME weight i'm just saying there's a lot of hot aliens out there so you never know
not that the nalawi were hot, they were just short and hairy

[expatriates]

You don't mean the deer, I hope.

[heavyhitter]

sorry did you WANT sexy deer
i'm pretty sure that's available somewhere online, not that we got much signal on this rock

Text @shepherd

[historiology]

The Timeline said we had to kill both of the gods. Or they would destroy the world. Some stayed behind after, to help the Nalawi learn more to survive without their powers.

[Like Alisha. He just wishes there were some other way. Besides killing. Rose wasn't there this time, to take the hit, to deal that last blow for him. But he still assisted against Ryba all the same - because he'd feel awful if he didn't and others got hurt or killed as a result of not having enough people fighting.]

Looks like Archer already showed you though, mostly.

[expatriates]

Archer has been very helpful. But maybe you could tell me more about what became of the Nalawi after their gods were gone.

[historiology]

A couple of my friends stayed to help them out afterwards. To help them adjust and learn more on how to get by without their powers. The Nalawi had really been relying on their powers, before it all started getting affected by the goddesses and all, so. We were trying to teach them some skills to do stuff themselves, before everyone came back. They weren't thrilled, but. I think they understood?

[expatriates]

And that was the greater upheaval for them? Not the loss of their deities, but the loss of the powers that came with?

[historiology]

I was only there a little afterwards. They seemed - I'm not sure if resigned is the right word? They weren't happy about it, at least. Alisha or one of the others that stayed a bit longer probably got more chance to talk to the Nalawi about it afterwards.

[expatriates]

Alisha got a last name? Or a username?