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

[predomination]

[he makes a noncommittal noise- he's not happy about this. not by a longshot, but that only makes him even more inclined to stick it out and show them how a true chessmaster does it.]

And if they don't know anything at all about Zymandis, then I'd hope they'll start looking into it after this. No one will be happy if we get ambushed like this again due to a lack of information.

[not that Urahara isn't going to be taking precautions to anticipate that kind of attack. it's no good being aggressively prepared if he doesn't know the extent of the mess they're in.]

[thornydisposition]

If they have no knowledge of this group or how they managed to secure another version of this Timeline program, it will be dire news indeed.

[So far, from what he had heard, the Audentes group hadn't faced true opposition from a force that wasn't of the planet they landed on. Now they would face opposition on two fronts. Troublesome.]

We will have to change our tactics if we seek to gain any advantage. We cannot afford to field assaults from natives and Zymandis without loss.

[predomination]

Exactly.

I don't know which is worse- the possibility that they knew all along that Zymandis might be a threat and didn't tell us or that they didn't know at all.

[thornydisposition]

It is either the sin of ignorance or the sin of omission.

I typically interpret the former as more grievous.

[Mostly because he commits the latter plenty himself.]

They will have much to answer for, when we return to Oska.

[predomination]

So do I. Especially since ignorance is no excuse to put people in danger- people who agreed to help regardless of the unfortunate circumstances of our arrival here.

[sigh] One mess at a time though.

[thornydisposition]

["Agreed" is a bit of a strong term. At least for Elias.]

Agreed. We will deal with the issue at hand as best as we can, and then hold ALASTAIR accountable for answers afterward.

[steler]

You really think they don't know anything?

[predomination]

I think it's a possibility we have to consider.

[steler]

That seems dangerously hopeful.

[predomination]

Oh not at all. I'm just keeping my options open.

It's not wise to put all your eggs in one basket, after all.

[steler]

Wasn't Lloyd recorded talking about them, though?

[predomination]

The information was so minimal that it only leaves me with two options, especially considering he had to have drawn the conclusions about the Deemers and Zymandis when given all the information.

The first is that he only has a rudimentary amount of knowledge that wouldn't be valuable to us. That's the optimistic approach, of course, and given how many can be defensive of ALASTAIR, I'm willing to consider it, even though ignorance is just as unforgivable as deceit.

Or he deliberately left information out and left us here to solve the problem on our own to see how it plays out, and to gauge the changes in Zymandis's tactics over the last thousand years without any other variables. Just a raw exchange of power between us and them.

[aka what Urahara would've done if he wanted to test a new Zymandis' limits]

[steler]

So it's only speculation for now. It would be best if people prepared themselves for the option they don't wish to see, but for reasons you mentioned it seems unlikely.

[he kind of wants to leave it at that - this isnt the first time theyve talked about this and he doesn't want to waste time going in circles

BUT]

Ignorance would be an interesting case, I think. One would have to wonder if they'd willfully been ignorant after all those years.

[predomination]

It might just be as simple as believing an enemy who hasn't appeared in centuries is no longer a threat, and never bothering to prepare a contingency if that was ever proven false.

[#thousand year blood war arc]

[steler]

That sounds very specific.

[predomination]

Unintentionally, I promise. [also 90% sarcastic anyway. his sarcastic voice just sounds like his normal voice.] Honestly, you would have thought with Zymandis never being properly defeated, they would have done something.

But it's, as you said, speculation until we speak to Lloyd and gauge whether he's ignorant or lying.

[steler]

We can get back to the discussion when we know more.