text; un: shitpost king

[hedonistic]

ok listen up, this is actually legitimately important

if this is your first time getting locked up like this, you need to understand one main thing going forward: our lives are less than worthless to these people. every second we're still breathing is a second more than they needed to give us.

i can't promise that we're going to be okay. i don't know if ALASTAIR gives enough of a shit to come for us. but even though i'm not gonna be the guy who has a lot of pretty words to say to keep hope alive or whatever, i do know a few things about staying safe in here. surviving, if this is for the long haul

1) don't make a fuss or be a nuisance to the guards. don't draw attention. the more forgettable you are, the better off you'll be

2) try to avoid using your jewel comms as much as you can. if they realize we're communicating through these, they'll be confiscated

3) DON'T TRY TO BE A HERO. this is the most important point here so i'm gonna repeat it, DO NOT TRY TO BE A FUCKING HERO.

we're not in a fucking action movie, trying to escape or break everyone out will get you in deep ass shit, maybe even made an example out of. don't fucking do it.

Comments

[hedonistic]

and what are we going to accomplish by trying to get out now? in outer space? even if we somehow find some kind of space equivalent of a life raft AND somehow get ALL EIGHTY OF US in it, do you think these guys would hesitate for a second to shoot it down?

they TELEPORTED US IN in the first place when we were on solid ground, how the fuck are we supposed to outrun that in space?

you shouldn't be so quick to throw your goddamn life out the airlock

[neveroutwrenched]

you shouldnt be so quick to give up

[Ratchet was getting frustrated. Not because he didn't agree, but because he kind of did. And the reality was that they were trapped. Cornered into something that wasn't just a literal imprisonment, but something that made inaction feel very reasonable.]

tw: flippant reference to suicide I'M SO SORRY

[hedonistic]

why?
because it'll all work out in the end?
because if we work together there's nothing we can't accomplish?
because being treated like something less than human isn't a life worth living?

shit man, if that's true, i should've killed myself ages ago

LMAO ALL GOOD

[neveroutwrenched]

hey i

okay whoa i feel like this escalated quickly.

[Or like maybe he'd struck a nerve that he hadn't intended. It felt like he'd been doing a lot of that lately. Unseen, he rubs the side of his temple.]

listen, i dont know where you come from or what your background with this kinda stuff is. i promise i'm not trying to tell you how to feel. usually i do this kind of stuff alone...it's kind of weird to have to take into account that weve got a group of 80 people to consider in all our actions.

[hedonistic]

[It might have escalated quickly, but that's what it comes down to, isn't it. Everyone keeps fighting him on this, and it reminds him of his argument with Lance in Woodhurst. How the guy had prioritized people feeling "respected" over the danger posed by the imminent loss of cognitive function in the infected. How the idea of being "alone", even with ready access to entertainment and social interaction via magitek, was seen as an unreasonable imposition. Over and over again, he's felt it--most of these people can't imagine the kind of life he's led, and they don't want to.

It's not like he's ever really had a voice in society before--he's used to that--but it's tiring, how everyone in ALASTAIR is supposedly on the same footing, but his perspective is consistently discarded because it isn't righteous enough.

Then again, Sybil did declare him incapable of assimilating into society. Fitting, that.]

we sure do, don't we
i wonder how those 80 people would be affected if our group got branded as troublemakers, eh?

[neveroutwrenched]

[It makes Ratchet hesitate just a moment longer than usual, a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thinks about it.]

yeah i guess that's the problem, huh? we're all stuck in this together whichever decision we make.

[It was kind of a hard reality to swallow. Not just being responsible for other people, but having them responsible for you. Or beholden to your failures.]

sry for short tag!

[hedonistic]

hence, "don't be a hero"