We have a limit on our text counts, don't we? The matter I want to speak with I think is preferable in-person if you don't mind. You're the only person who can travel here without too much trouble, anyway.
[despair doesn't actually text back! he will simply be in front of the bakery whenever steven happens to come by, lingering there, inspecting his claws.
since this is still emotionshare week, approaching him means being hit with a wall of pretty heavy emotions-- a deep sense of grief, of loss. exhaustion. but a sense of responsibility, along with all of it.
none of that shows in his voice, though; he seems the same as ever.]
I suppose you must have some number of questions, to summon me so.
Steven does look up and -- blinks rapidly at the emotions that he's hit with for a moment. Given how well Despair presents himself outwardly, he wasn't expecting to be hit with this heavy spread. Well, that's going to make his topic of conversation for today... harder? ]
I do, yeah.
You alright, there? We've had a hell of a week in this place and it looks like the living have had a go at it, too. Avatar team hanging on?
[ Innocuous enough way to see if those emotions are recently caused, or apparently ever-present. ]
Well, it is not as if we had much work to do, over the weekend. What a pointless display that was.
[he exhales a sigh, waving a clawed hand. the emotions do not waver-- there's a certain quality to them that feels slightly muted, somehow. they're likely ever-present.]
Right? If you ask me, it was a pretty pointless display of justified injustice. [ If you count it by the books, anyway. It's not like Steven isn't familiar with human nature -- he knows cases like the Ken Rex McElroy incident well, and that's what he saw here. If it was in his nature to find things funnier, he would've laughed at Mineo confessing but only after the trial vote period concluded. ]
Glad to hear that's not a "no" to still hanging on, then.
...It's about that thing, those furby-like creatures like the ones you showed up with two weeks ago.
You looked tired about them, like you'd been dealing with them for a while. And they've been showing up more and more as the weeks go on.
[ There's subtle feelings of doubt. ] What do you know about them?
If you don't like them, why not get rid of them? If you can do things like eject people into space for executions...
...Are they not mechanical in true nature? I've been noticing an awful lot of machinery laying around recently.
I'll be real with you, we've had to deal with some insane bullshit with these... things this past week, and I've been wondering a lot. Making theories and the like, if you will. That this is some manifestation of a program or greater machine.
So they're just something that's taking over what already exists. Like a real-life virus.
[ He waves a hand. ] There's been plenty of ridiculous things, but I'm kind of used to your average "insane bullshit". Playing games commanded by a terrible furby-creature that literally played with our lives for entertainment, though, is on a new tier.
Are you fine with this thing just ordering and playing around with everyone, probably including you, like this?
[ He crosses his arms, brows furrowed. His emotions don't seem particularly angry or annoyed, more than they're... thinking. Frustrated, but mildly, and more with the situation than anything. ]
But you're not free from being used up as fuel if it came down to it, either...
For ours, yes. But as sacrifices go, this is operating on quite the small scale, you understand-- almost disappointingly so, in my opinion, but then I suppose there is no need for more than was provided. I would not have cared to oversee even more of you.
[it's nearly nothing compared to what he's done before, after all, but with their role... yeah, these numbers were fine.]
Perhaps if it did come down to it, we might have cause to worry, but with the lot of you here... I very much doubt it, personally. You've all been quite indulgent, just as intended.
[a light shrug, at that. it isn't as if anyone's ever asked!
that comment about his desires brings those emotions a little more sharply into focus, though, tinged with a sense of longing.]
-allow me to correct you on that point. What I stand to return to does; I do not require anything to be granted to me here, save for being free to return and continue my work. It is simply that I will not turn down more ability to accomplish what I must along the way.
[why not take a little more power when it's there and may be useful, after all.]
Then why burn us, if you don't require anything be granted to you from this place?
You haven't looked for a solution where everyone could walk free? [ He doesn't really expect him to, with his attitude, and also DESPAIR. But he'll at least say it anyway. ] Like the possibility of reprogramming this haywire virus into something different?
Why leave you? You might as well ask, why help you? I am not the only one of the eight of us with desires to be obtained, nor am I foolish enough to assume the additional power will not help me. I would still accept it over putting the effort into attempting to drag the lot of you to safety-- and for what? To live less than even another century, in the vast majority of cases?
Yeah. Because we're just faceless people you just met, over this wish of yours that most certainly seems to mean a whole lot.
[ He tilts his head ever-slightly at the "less than a century" comment, though. ] I take it that you might be another type like the handful of gods we have here, then?
...Human life is short and insignificant, yeah. But even in those years, there's a lot we can accomplish and a lot we can change. When there's so much we can lose so fast in such a short amount of time, we work harder for it.
And that is precisely why you so often lack any foresight. Why you are so given to causing catastrophe over actually benefitting any world you happen to live upon.
Human life is nothing that I find to be worth saving.
Hey, that's rude of you. My whole life back home revolves around dispelling catastrophes, you know?
I don't expect much help from the way of gods and immortals, anyway. In fact, you could say I have a bit of beef with them really. [ Haha. ] ...So it just makes me want to prove you wrong even harder.
"As long as there's a light, mankind will ever-press onwards". [ A complicated feeling there, not quite fondness, but a phrase that he hangs onto like a lifeline. ] We'll keep fighting to survive, no matter what shitty odds this ship's given us.
Hang around and watch, or don't, if you're so inclined, but that's my statement.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
w6, sunday
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Name the place, then.
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since this is still emotionshare week, approaching him means being hit with a wall of pretty heavy emotions-- a deep sense of grief, of loss. exhaustion. but a sense of responsibility, along with all of it.
none of that shows in his voice, though; he seems the same as ever.]
I suppose you must have some number of questions, to summon me so.
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Steven does look up and -- blinks rapidly at the emotions that he's hit with for a moment. Given how well Despair presents himself outwardly, he wasn't expecting to be hit with this heavy spread. Well, that's going to make his topic of conversation for today... harder? ]
I do, yeah.
You alright, there? We've had a hell of a week in this place and it looks like the living have had a go at it, too. Avatar team hanging on?
[ Innocuous enough way to see if those emotions are recently caused, or apparently ever-present. ]
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[he exhales a sigh, waving a clawed hand. the emotions do not waver-- there's a certain quality to them that feels slightly muted, somehow. they're likely ever-present.]
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Glad to hear that's not a "no" to still hanging on, then.
...It's about that thing, those furby-like creatures like the ones you showed up with two weeks ago.
You looked tired about them, like you'd been dealing with them for a while. And they've been showing up more and more as the weeks go on.
[ There's subtle feelings of doubt. ] What do you know about them?
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[there's exasperation in both his tone and emotions.]
They are quite a nuisance, in my opinion, and the form could certainly use work-- such a creature cannot have been designed by any purposeful hand.
[there's some bad news for him about furbies.]
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...Are they not mechanical in true nature? I've been noticing an awful lot of machinery laying around recently.
I'll be real with you, we've had to deal with some insane bullshit with these... things this past week, and I've been wondering a lot. Making theories and the like, if you will. That this is some manifestation of a program or greater machine.
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As for the 'insane bullshit', one should think that sums up the entirety of your experience since arriving.
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[ He waves a hand. ] There's been plenty of ridiculous things, but I'm kind of used to your average "insane bullshit". Playing games commanded by a terrible furby-creature that literally played with our lives for entertainment, though, is on a new tier.
Are you fine with this thing just ordering and playing around with everyone, probably including you, like this?
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[there's an edge of something like detached amusement in his emotions, now.]
Surely you didn't think yourselves above it, or that the situation would be altered in some manner.
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For your desires.
[ He crosses his arms, brows furrowed. His emotions don't seem particularly angry or annoyed, more than they're... thinking. Frustrated, but mildly, and more with the situation than anything. ]
But you're not free from being used up as fuel if it came down to it, either...
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[it's nearly nothing compared to what he's done before, after all, but with their role... yeah, these numbers were fine.]
Perhaps if it did come down to it, we might have cause to worry, but with the lot of you here... I very much doubt it, personally. You've all been quite indulgent, just as intended.
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Your wish... it means a lot to you, huh. [ These emotions... ]
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[a light shrug, at that. it isn't as if anyone's ever asked!
that comment about his desires brings those emotions a little more sharply into focus, though, tinged with a sense of longing.]
-allow me to correct you on that point. What I stand to return to does; I do not require anything to be granted to me here, save for being free to return and continue my work. It is simply that I will not turn down more ability to accomplish what I must along the way.
[why not take a little more power when it's there and may be useful, after all.]
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You haven't looked for a solution where everyone could walk free? [ He doesn't really expect him to, with his attitude, and also DESPAIR. But he'll at least say it anyway. ] Like the possibility of reprogramming this haywire virus into something different?
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[ He tilts his head ever-slightly at the "less than a century" comment, though. ] I take it that you might be another type like the handful of gods we have here, then?
...Human life is short and insignificant, yeah. But even in those years, there's a lot we can accomplish and a lot we can change. When there's so much we can lose so fast in such a short amount of time, we work harder for it.
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Human life is nothing that I find to be worth saving.
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I don't expect much help from the way of gods and immortals, anyway. In fact, you could say I have a bit of beef with them really. [ Haha. ] ...So it just makes me want to prove you wrong even harder.
"As long as there's a light, mankind will ever-press onwards". [ A complicated feeling there, not quite fondness, but a phrase that he hangs onto like a lifeline. ] We'll keep fighting to survive, no matter what shitty odds this ship's given us.
Hang around and watch, or don't, if you're so inclined, but that's my statement.
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[he waves a hand, dismissively.]
Take care that you do not simply find a flame to be its source.
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But some things are worth risking burning for.
Besides, if my alternative is to just die here anyway, why not try?