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

audio; un: kazbrekker

[steler]

Has anyone found any evidence to the contrary about the Taraxa separation?

[because he hasn't heard any but who knows.]

audio

[thornydisposition]

I personally have not.

I know others have been able to separate the parasite from the host, but I haven't heard if any hosts survived the ordeal.

audio

[steler]

As others have mentioned, there doesn't seem to be any real reason for her to lie. Especially not about something that would potentially get more Deemers killed.

[thornydisposition]

It does seem oddly counter-intuitive, that she would be so insistent on their systematic destruction.

Then again, they seem very against the idea of being captured alive.

[steler]

There's definitely more to the story.

audio; un: urahara

[predomination]

[don't mind urahara just casually sliding in here.]

We had a few survive, though "survive" is a very loose way to describe it. They're just blank- like every bit of personality and thought has been drained out of them.

It lines up with what the documents said about how the Taraxa infect hosts.

[steler]

Well, that's one answer to the bickering on what to do.

[predomination]

Killing them is a mercy, really. They'll just die slowly otherwise.

[he at least has the decency to sound unhappy about it- not so much the murder part, but the fact that they're that broken.]

[steler]

The best we can do is make sure more don't get infected.

[predomination]

We've captured as many host-free Taraxa and assorted Deemers as I think will be necessary to bring back, so there's no excuse for anything less than extreme prejudice.

Hopefully, the more squeamish will understand we did what we could.

[steler]

We're going to need a better plan than a few of us indiscriminately killing Deemers.

[gunah]

So what she told us maybe a lie. A half-lie, at best.

[ She doesn't fancy herself smart enough to discuss the nature of living. ]

[predomination]

It was probably a truth as she sees it, especially since it corresponds with the file we received from Keith-san about the Taraxa. They wipe everything clean when they invade the host. I had hoped that perhaps the host's dormant personality would simply be pushed aside and resurface when the Taraxa was gone.

I didn't believe for a moment anything could erase a person's entire mind.

[he's seen spiritual bodies dissipate, he's seen hollowfication, but this is entirely new to him. and selfishly, he's glad he would be immune to the Taraxa, though there's quite a few people here who aren't that he'd be pressed to see ruined in such a way.]

[gunah]

If we give them time, will their true personalities recover? Maybe more time will tell.

[ She does want to believe that Miz Poppy was lying. ]

[predomination]

We've left the ones who survived with their people for the most part, just in case. Time will tell, I guess.

@shirogane | audio

[racking]

I was with Urahara when we tried to separate them. After we got the Taraxa out, the person they'd inhabited was alive, but there was...nothing left of their minds, as far as I could tell.

I don't know if that can be reversed by a healer.

[steler]

Even if a healer could help them, you'd be asking for incredible power to be able to easily sort it out.

[like a grisha on parem and even they have...well, something left at the end of it.]

[racking]

It's a big risk. I don't expect it would be easy, and I wouldn't fault any person with the ability for being cautious.

[steler]

Most people are going to assume it's a lost cause.

[racking]

I know.

[ And he isn't completely certain it isn't. ]

It might be. But after we resolve the other issues at hand, we can devote more energy to restoring hosts.

audio; un: cardmaster

[fateality]

Not soundin' like it. Had someone tell me that when he separated the Taraxa and its host, it left the host in a vegetable state. Alive, but no one's home.

[steler]

We've wasted a lot of time on the Deemers, it sounds like.

[fateality]

If we didn't, people would be fussin' about what-could-have-beens and so on.

Besides, ain't like we can take it back now.

[steler]

A fool's wish to turn back time, yes.

[but the bigger question here really is:]

Will they continue fussing now that they know?

[fateality]

Maybe a handful. But that shouldn't stop good ol' Audentes from doin' what we got to.

People don't gotta like what you do. Especially when you have to.