— 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

[audio] @kingofwei

[pure_havoc]

[what up Peter it's about time they had a real chat]

Unity has been put forth as the primary protection against getting reset. However, I have thought for some time, as we learn more about our true foe, that people would eventually split into camps depending on who comes up with which tactic that seems the best for defeating the World Eaters. Of course, I did not anticipate that one idea would be so extreme.

[he puts all his snark on that word to convey that he's not down with it]

But then, the spirits themselves are not unified. We have since learned that the smaller ones fear and force themselves to obey the green-eyes. It is the nature of thinking creatures, I suppose.

[webshoots]

[ "as we learn more about our true foe". peter's not sure if it can be said that they really know much of anything about the world eaters — nothing new, at any rate. nothing that any number of the more permanent residents of beacon didn't already know, whether it be one of them or all. that said— ]

I don't know if I'd call Kimiko's plan a tactic for defeating the World Eaters, [ somewhere between sardonic and dismissive and it's clear, frankly, that peter doesn't consider it an option at all. it's punctuated by a slight pause, one where peter thinks of morlun and the inheritors, one where he thinks of how the various spider-people had, at times, managed to be divided in how they thought would be the best way to defeat them. ]

—And I don't know if I ever thought that everyone would agree on how best to approach this, but if experience has taught me anything, it's that our best shot is going to involve the utilisation of everyone's strengths. [ for as much as peter has a tendency to work on his own, has a tendency to prefer working by himself, he's perfectly aware that there are some situations that call for more than one set of hands. and eyes. and brains.

(what he wouldn't give to have reed stuck here with them, honestly.)

does he think that's necessarily realistic, though? not really. but he can hope. ]

That could be their undoing, I guess. Fear's not really all that much of a long-term motivator. [ beat. ] Or more accurately, I hear it's not that great at instilling dedication. Divisiveness, on the other hand... [ and stupidity. it can definitely lead to stupid decisions. ]

audio; un: hedgewitch

[hedgeflowers]

[ oh, great. Politics. She's just arrived and everything's finnicky, so let her test the waters: ]

Where do you stand on the whole shebang?

[webshoots]

Uh—. [ oh boy. ] There's a long answer and a short answer to that. [ beat. ] The short answer is that I think the World Eaters need to be stopped, but call me paranoid — I don't really trust the Wild Hunt or Pluto's group. [ kimiko's goal is diametrically opposed to peter's beliefs, whilst the night market have access to technology and equipment that has him questioning their motives — or at the very least, dedication to stopping the world eaters in spite of pluto's recent proclamation.

and then there's robin: peter likes her, but he doesn't trust her, whilst solis is still far too much of an unknown entity. ] For a dead world that needs new souls to help save it, there seems to be a lot of people left over who aren't very keen to share information on what did and didn't work for them.

[pure_havoc]

[a soft, vaguely sarcastic laugh. They do agree, there] Certainly not. Her plan is to give up, to admit defeat, to flat out determine that not even the dead can do anything useful. But I should say that given how many resets have occurred, and how many years have passed, she has not yet managed to convince a single group to go her way. At least, not to any useful extent.

I can see how, given time, a community might eventually give in to despair. If years go by with no solution and only growing anxiety and depression among us, it can happen. She played her hand too soon.

@darkness | text

[evulsed]

That's the sharpest thing I've ever heard you say.

[webshoots]

Endearingly incompetent might just be a guy I play on TV.

[webshoots]

I mean, I get it. This isn't something I'd wish on anyone. [ a huff of a laugh. ] Well, maybe there are a couple of exceptions, but—. [ despite this not being video and despite the fact that cao pi can see nothing of where peter is or what he's doing, he does take a moment to wave a hand dismissively. he's absolutely tempted to name names of people he'd — not seriously — recommend for being stuck in a creepy death town with a time limit.

they've also kind of been there, done that, got the t-shirt. ]

My discomfort and my distaste for literally all of this doesn't trump the potential lives lost that come from letting the World Eaters win.

[evulsed]

It's not that strange.

[webshoots]

You'd be surprised at how many people would disagree.

[evulsed]

I already know this town is full of idiots.

But if that Wild Hunt wanted our loyalty, they sure took their time, didn't they?

Do you think it's because we've finally proven ourselves worthy?

[ Peter has seen him enough in person now to probably be able to discern the sarcasm in the statement, even though it's text. ]

[webshoots]

The cynic in me says that it's not our loyalty that they're after.

[evulsed]

Pawns are only so useful if they won't stray.

[webshoots]

That's not really in my wheelhouse.

But — not if all they're after is sheer numbers.

[evulsed]

Same difference.

[webshoots]

Again, not my wheelhouse. I don't have a whole lot of experience in attempting to persuade anyone that the death of multiple worlds and universes is a worthy goal.

Incredibly convenient timing though, that I've got in spades. Which leads to the other question of: what do we have that they don't?

[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.

[pure_havoc]

Indeed. It seems we need to keep our focus on that and that alone. What is the worth of anything we do, any sacrifice we make or any monumental effort of heroism, if it does not result in stopping the World Eaters?

It is good to discuss this openly. I hope others listen.