— audio, open.

[webshoots]

@ parker

Uh, hey. For anyone that's just arrived, my name's Peter and I've had the dubious honour of having been here since the beginning of this group, so if you've got any lingering questions about how, why and what, I can't promise I can answer them, but I can do a very good job at pretending I can answer them.

Failing that, if you haven't already seen them, there are a few guides on the tablet that cover what we've been through a little more succinctly, which—

[ followed by a pause and the vague sound of movement — for what it's worth, peter's outside, as evidenced by the sound of wind in the background. for the more observant, or perhaps those with super-senses (oy), it might sound as if peter's somewhere a little higher up. ]

—is actually kind of my point.

[ a beat. ]

What I'm getting at is: this isn't the first time we've been caught on the back foot by the spirits. I don't really want to get into whether their actions were right or wrong, or whether they're operating on a morality that we can't comprehend because that doesn't really matter. The point is what we've been doing hasn't worked, so maybe we need to rethink tactics.

—But does anyone else think it kind of weird how the importance of unity has been touted since the very beginning, and then suddenly we've got two different groups vying for our attention? [ a beat and a huff of breath that's almost a laugh. ] I'd say something doesn't smell quite right, but that might be tempting fate a little.

Comments

[evulsed]

[ Vanitas smirks. That had, after all, been the crux of what his Master had been doing. ]

We haven't killed each other yet, and it's stupid to waste resources, don't you think?

[webshoots]

In a very general sense: yes, it is stupid to waste resources but as another general rule, I don't really consider people resources.

But I'll concede I also kind of brought it up in a roundabout way with my 'numbers' comment...
...And at the risk of looking like I don't know any other words than 'but', I doubt it's just a case of numbers, given there's been more of us in the past. We might not have killed each other, but that doesn't mean we haven't lost people.

[evulsed]

You've never been to war.

[ Though Vanitas' perspective, of people as things, isn't just because he'd been forged to be a soldier in a war that never happened. Xehanort was just like that, and he's all he'd ever known. ]

Losing people to the spirits isn't the same as a reset, Peter.

Dr Solis agreed to come out of seclusion. Now the Wild Hunt has, too. That woman has invited everyone down to the Night Market.

Come on. Haven't you figured it out yet?

[webshoots]

No. I haven't. I'm lucky.

[ in a manner of speaking, at any rate — there are things to be said about the fighting that the sra had created; and the debate over ulysses' abilities; the skrulls—

but it's not anything peter would ever describe as war. it's not comparable. ]

I was talking about the people that haven't come back, Vanitas. It doesn't matter if they're lost to a reset or not, the point is they're gone. From a sheer numbers perspective, there has been more of us.

Oh, what? That they want to use us? If you're getting at something else, you can just come out and say it.

[evulsed]

Precisely.

The weaklings have been weeded out. Now they're fighting over what's left: the survivors with the strength to carry on.

And you know what that means, right?

[webshoots]

Honestly? I'm pretty sure we'd reach two very different conclusions.

[evulsed]

You first.

[webshoots]

[ uuuuugh. ]

...Okay, I was being flippant. The obvious takeaway, assuming your strength-to-carry-on hypothesis is correct, is that we have - absolutely shockingly! - a degree of power here. The Wild Hunt can't succeed without us, and neither can Pluto's super secret plan.

Because resources.

[evulsed]

Wrong.

We're going to have to pick sides.

1/2

[webshoots]

Oh. That.

2/3 whoops

[webshoots]

I actually skipped past that as an answer because Pluto had already given that game away with her little speech.

[webshoots]

And between you and me, I am historically very poor at picking sides. I'm okay with being Switzerland this time around.

[evulsed]

You think you can just take the middle road?

That's hilarious.

[webshoots]

What can I say? I'm a funny guy. Even put that on my online dating profile once. GSOH, as the kids used to say.

But ... something something, the road less taken — or hopefully more accurately, the higher ground? Sure. I'll never be on-board with Kimiko's plan. I'm willing to hear what the Night Market have to say so I'll reserve total judgement there, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be a little cautious if they're being this cagey over potentially saving the entire universe.

[evulsed]

Can you blame them, when all it takes is one person to mess the whole operation up?

[webshoots]

I blame them for waiting until they felt threatened by someone else getting their offer in first.

[evulsed]

That's true.

Planting the seed early is a much better way to go about these things.

[webshoots]

[ "planting the seed early". ]

Well, you're not wrong.

[ "but do you ever hear yourself speak." ]