voice; un: eliasainsworth

[thornydisposition]

I believe I have some information that might be of use, or at least to consider.

[The voice is low and very even, having only the barest hint of a conversational cadence.]

My companion, Shuyi, and I managed to locate and capture Miz Poppy. We captured her and two of her Deemer companions, and as we began to take them back to Perdition's Rest, she had some very interesting things to say.

She reaffirmed that there was no way to safely separate a Taraxa from its host without the destruction of the latter. What is more troubling, however, was that she insisted that hers and her compatriots' mission of destruction was something which the TIMELINE.EXE asked of them.

Before we could deliver her back here, one of the other captured Deemers sacrificed himself so that she may escape in the confusion.

It is not my intention to offer this information in order to incite mass confusion or doubt, as it is quite possible she was lying. But I do not think we can completely discount that she might be telling the truth—or that she and her fellows are somehow deluded enough to believe that they are. It is, as I originally said, something to at the very least keep in mind.

Comments

text

[ex_adept136]

It would, and at the same time, I wish they'd been more forthright about it. But I guess that would undermine the sense of authority.

I'd say you're right about that. Going forward, applying more critical thinking to whatever we are provided with may leave us with less to regret later.

audio; un: sai

[daimeinashi]

If nothing else, it will be a worthwhile matter to bring to Lloyd. We were not even aware of Zymandis' existence up until now, after all.

video

[competing]

[ see, this should probably weird lance out...

but this is pretty par for the course considering his last couple of months both within alastair, and without. ]

You mean like some kinda pre-arranged showdown? That's nuts! [ that sounds like a whole lot of convoluted trouble to lance, and a lot of betting on chance. which doesn't seem at all like something a program would be inclined to do. ]

Why go to all that trouble on something that might happen?

still video... not that he realizes

[competing]

[ don't worry, loki, his memory ain't failing him this time. but luckily for them both, there's a lot more important stuff to discuss here than the weirdness of their last encounter. suffice to say, lance is glad the other man has chosen the audio route...

sadly, he assumes his device switches automatically in response. which explains his somewhat petulant pouting. ]

"Our own"? You mean there's more than one of these things??

[selfimage]

[ look at that face. really, you think that he did something awful. ]

Where do you think our missions come from? ALASTAIR has those dedicated to it, but even they don't know the origin. The program calculates outcomes, pinpoints sore spots, and gives us objectives.

[competing]

[ ya straight up deceived him, son! with your face!

and also gave him conflicting feelings okay he is too simple for this. ]

Hold up — you mean to tell me this entire organization is built around something they know nothing about?

[ he glances around wildly, palms out and empty as if waiting for someone else, everyone else, to hear what he's hearing. ]

Is no one else kinda worried about that?!

[selfimage]

[ sorry about shattering your gender expectations, but he's totally not. ]

What they know varies, more depending on the employee, but no one seems to quite have all the details. The who and how of it, anyway.

It's the calculations that they trust to ensure the survival of the multiverse.

[competing]

[ there are worse things to shatter, ig... ]

That's still betting a lot of money on a horse whose papers you haven't even seen... [ now he's scrubbing at his face, trying to digest this all.

maybe it'll be easier if he just focuses on the more pressing thing— ]

Is there really no way to save those people? I mean... there's magic and science and all this stuff floating around here. There's gotta be something, right?

[selfimage]

Despite the obvious push-and-pull, it's quite the place to be.

[ someone wants to save the multiverse, despite it slowly dying, someone else wants to expedite the process. there is opportunity here, as Loki sees it, his own timeline already skewed.

sometimes things need to go, sometimes things need to be new. ]

But the calculations, I suppose that's all they are. There's nothing attached but what someone means to give it.

[selfimage]

[ tbf, it was gentle....ish. ]

There was no way to save the goddesses of Nalawi. [ luckily Lance can't see him, as he noticeably flinches. that's still something that sits in the back of his mind: perhaps one day, he'll be next. ] Not for lack of trying.

Perhaps there is, but if we ignore the elephant in the room, our mission assigned to us, there could be worse consequences for it.

Much like playing a game of dominoes.

[competing]

[ lance never had the patience for dominoes. ]

What use is a planet if there's no one around to live in it?

[ that's not right. that's not what saving is supposed to be like.

isn't it? ]

...what happened to the goddesses?

[selfimage]

Audentes killed them. [ it comes out more easily than it should, despite Loki's personal opinion on it. ] They were making demands of energy that would slowly turn the world to ruin.

Or it was predicted, by Timeline.exe.

[competing]

[ even if lance had been aware his image was still being captured, there's no way he would have been able to keep such an expression at bay. the shock of it, the... the cruelty of it.. ]

What? [ his voice now a whisper, almost exasperated. ] Just like that?

[selfimage]

[ Loki gives him a moment and then answers. ]

For the lack of details, yes. Some were fueled by judgement, others by pragmatism. [ he huffs up a sigh and then lets out a breath. ] The outcome was the same, no matter how it was justified.

There were those that felt alternative methods could be put into motion, but none that were realized.

There was Anwick as well, where the mission ended in the subtle destruction of the world.

[competing]

Subtle?

[ he almost wants to laugh about it. ]

What'd you do, leave a virus?

[ perhaps he shouldn't be so crass. but more and more he cannot believe what he's hearing. and while it might have been easy enough to shrug them off as nothing more than lies or non-truths... as rocky as their previous interactions had been, he can't find reason why loki would lie about something like this. ]

[selfimage]

[ it certainly doesn't benefit him in any way, and besides, the information was available for confirmation once they returned to Oska. ]

We were assigned to protect some newly hatched dragons. They were the ones that destroyed the world, we just kept them safe.

ALASTAIR's intentions weren't made clear until after we delivered the desired result, of course.

[competing]

...I don't get it.

[ and to his credit, he really, really wants to. ]

How's destroying that planet supposed to help anybody?

[selfimage]

[ and this is what he likes about him. the answer is uncomplicated, where the situation is completely convoluted. ]

It was meant to meet its "natural end," so to speak.

Our missions are to ensure the survival of the multiverse. From what I understand, sometimes that includes saving, sometimes it doesn't. What and who is saved ... well ...

If we fail this mission, far more than the Deemers' lives will be at stake. Whatever that was calculated, I assume.

[thornydisposition]

That would be the reasoning I would assume is behind it, should that be the case.

Have they ever indicated what would happen if our efforts failed? Exactly how widespread the effects might be if the Timeline became destabilized?

[You know. Just in case they happened to be wrong.]

audio

[thornydisposition]

I agree.

I do not think this will be the sole instance of us dealing with their opposition, going forward from this mission.

[Particularly not with the ideological differences Elias had noticed so far.]

[thornydisposition]

[Good, Elias appreciates that.]

I question that as well. If the Timeline truly functions as a technological process, it shouldn't be relying on variables.

So I think it is far more likely that there are multiple instances of the program. I believe Miz Poppy did mention that her group viewed their directives to be the superior ones.

[thornydisposition]

[Elias still struggles to solidify how he truly views the mission that ALASTAIR has undertaken. In his own world, though mages had the ability to utilize magic's power to do nearly anything, there were strict and understood codes which prevented anyone from trying to alter anything too overarching, too extreme. Time, gravity, all of the things that comprised the fabric of reality itself. They were off-limits.

So what ALASTAIR claimed to want to do made him apprehensive, though he recognized their prowess, having summoned all of them there. But it was difficult to fully absolve himself of doubts and worry.]

It seems odd to place something of such importance upon the calculations of a program we know not the origins of.

So, if there were two separate instances of this process, and they arrived at two different conclusions on what would be better for the overall Timeline. How are we supposed to reconcile this?

[Blind faith? Luck? They had a fifty-fifty chance.]

[predomination]

It's primarily Knock-Out-san's project, but he has some experience in this field. Essentially, we're going to make a substitute form of agrecite that's simple to manufacture, so they no longer have to rely on fracking to get what they need.

[predomination]

Only confirmation that they are exactly what Elias-san says- a rival organization bent on destroying the timeline. The Taraxa are their loyal infiltration agents.

[thornydisposition]

(ooc: adding into this here because i got mod confirmation that [unfortunately!!] changes a few things)

I am unsure they believe they are bent upon destroying the timeline.

From what I remember Miz Poppy telling my companion and I, they are intent upon seeing this planet fall, but they do this because their version of the TIMELINE.exe directs them to. She insisted that theirs was a superior version to ALASTAIR's.

This is, at least, what I remember her saying.