— 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]

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." ]