video; un: eraserhead

[eyedrop]

[ Aizawa's lolling against some tree somewhere. Terrible, slumped posture; hair wild about his face. His expression is neutral, bordering on irritable, and his voice is an exhausted monotone. He sits with one leg folded over the other, idly tossing a cat figurine from hand to hand. ]

Hey. Myself and a few others did some looking around. Apparently, both the sea clan and the mountain clan have their allies--but they're not within easy reach. In the case of the sea clan, the empress's brother is married to some far-off queen. The mountain clan's allies aren't too nearby, either.

[ He shifts minutely. His eyes flutter briefly shut, and he sighs. ]

Point being, war between these two would be irrational. The old man we spoke with said no one really wants to start anything, but I don't know how true that is. I haven't tried to approach the nobles.

[ He really doesn't look or act the part, and he knows it. Nor does he have an escort. ]

If you've spoken to any of them, what's the mood? What do they want?

[ He cards a hand through his hair, frowning slightly. ]

They're the key to this, I think. Certainly the key to actually meeting that empress of theirs. So if you've got info, or if you've made any connections, spill it.

Comments

audio; un: simonprime

[theseuschip]

[ Veronica explained their findings, but

he just gotta ask ]

Who's the 'militaristic' Mountain Clan fought with before if they have no nearby allies? Some of their citizens seem pretty confident about their chances.

video, un: ZARYA

[flexing]

[ man who gave the thinks-it's-human permission to speak :\ ]

It does not take battle to make confidence. Unfounded confidence looks very much the same.

[theseuschip]

[ oh god it’s this lady ]

I guess so, but still. She needs to exchange her advisors for some new ones.

[flexing]

And you are the expert?

[theseuschip]

I never said I’m an expert. I just want to keep civil war from breaking out, same as everybody else here. Don’t you think it sounds like she needs to ditch her advisors? They’re pushing her to go into a war with no allies against a clan they know hardly anything about.

[flexing]

[ shit that is a pretty fair point. how can she NOT ADMIT THAT ... ]

I think an Empress picks advisors for her own reasons — reasons you know nothing of. [ sort of off track but it will have to do. ]

[theseuschip]

Come on, you’d agree if somebody else said it.

[ HE’S ONTO YOU... and arguing with somebody with biceps the size of his waist... this isn’t the internet simon you have to actually see these people irl ]

[flexing]

It doesn't matter, this is a useless thought. We are visitors here, she has no reason to listen to Hathaway.

[theseuschip]

Well, we can’t just give up. We’re here on a mission, and if these universes hadn’t been merged, they wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. Don’t you think we have kind of an obligation to fix this?

[ she’s right, though. Getting an empress to let visitors who have made it clear they’re a ragtag group with no idea how the land they’ve entered works to let them tell her how to run her own empire? uhhhh. ]

[flexing]

There is a difference between shooting down a bad idea and giving up. I do not give up.

[theseuschip]

I’m not saying we should tell her to ditch her advisors. That would be a bad idea. I’m just saying they’re probably not helping, even if she’s ignoring them right now.

[eyedrop]

Remember that, until recently, each of these clans occupied their own version of the universe. So presumably they had their original realm pretty well conquered.

[theseuschip]

[ after looking over??? this clusterfuck ]

Right.

So, do we think there’s anything to this Doro guy? Does it really matter that he thinks the Empire of the Crashing Wave is the one who showed up out of nowhere?

[eyedrop]

From what the others have said, he seems reasonable. I'm not sure his position on the other empire matters, so long as he expresses a desire for peace.

[ Which would be only logical, since the Flowerlands would become a killing field if it came to war. ]