@fuckthis (text)

[evocation]

hey
so me and wash and gene were gonna go on an adventure in the woods
see what we can find, you know?
but we're looking for a couple of people to bring with us
maybe two or three
gene's a medic, wash is a marine, and i'm a wizard with experience dealing with monsters and nasty magic
anyone that thinks they could round that out would be great
but no serial killers or anyone that would like
murder us in our sleep
and sorry, but no kids yet
i know some of you are gonna argue that, but we have no idea what we're dealing with and we don't want that on our consciences
anyway, let us know
thanks

Comments

[dualikey]

so which is it? are you planning combat or are you planning exploration?

listen i'm really grateful that you helped me and you seemed like a nice guy. i know you're all saying no kids cause you're afraid.

but you guys are making a plan to go out there and keeping the rest of us from helping you. i can't help being a kid and i can't change that i'm gonna be this age forever. but you need to accept that too.

a real leader would ask for advice from everyone they could before setting out there, and they'd do it before shutting people out

[preseance]

( clearly he has to watch what he says around this kid, because lordy. kid's got a future in lawyerin' he keeps that up.

patiently, )

We're hopin' for the one an' anticipatin' the other. Y'can't be too careful, which is why we're stackin' our crew the way we are. Ain't nobody needs a medic to take a pleasant walk through the woods, but I'm goin' anyhow.

Not wantin' kids ain't just a matter of fear or of tryin' to keep y'all safe. It's just as much tryin' to suss out who'll obey an order when they hear it an' who's going to try an' play hero. The fact that a whole passel'a you guys piled in here up in arms is proof enough that you don't like the confines of rules an' may not operate well within 'em when we're really in the fire. An' I know it's an assumption, so don't you throw that back at me. Fact remains, the younger someone is the less they're risk averse.

You can't help your age, no, an' that's fair enough, I'll admit I hadn't thought about it that way, bein' stuck there forever. But we ain't leadin' anybody who ain't on board for comin', we ain't tryin' to set ourselves up as some authority, we're simply settin' out mission parameters in a way that those of us already goin' are comfortable with. You don't have to like it.

@replica

[replicates]

Hey, no one asked you to keep us safe. We've been doing that already by ourselves without anyone's help.

It's not that we don't like the confines of rules, but you're excluding a number of us here just on the basis of our age. We know combat and we're familiar with each other's skills here — put us to the test and we've got better teamwork than the rest of you guys here.

Whether or not you believe any of us is one thing, but before you start writing us off as a bunch of kids who don't know what we're doing, think about it first.

[preseance]

( they do move in herds. )

An' all'a that's fine an' well, but ain't a single one of us said you ain't competent or capable of doin' what needs done. It ain't nothin' so much as a preference born of personal experience. An' as I told your pal, y'ain't gotta like it. It ain't the first, last or only mission that'll take folks off into the woods, an' we're all willin' to learn and grow on down the line.

( christ o'lordy, he's tryin' not to sound short or cross but his patience is a frayed and tenuous thing to which he's just barely holdin' on at this point. )

[replicates]

[ listen, you adults have your own herd it's only fair for kids to stick together. ]

You didn't say it, no. But that's the impression a lot of your friends are giving off.

[ it's weird, he should be more angry about this. two years ago, he may have lashed out in the same way like vanitas. but he's grown since then, he's changed. dying twice probably has something to do with that. ]

Like we've been saying, it's not this particular expedition we've got a problem with. We've been on a few already before this post was made. It's just that you guys seem to be excluding us where we can help you, and we want to. If you have a problem with seeing us get hurt or killed, then just be upfront about it. None of this subterfuge stuff some of you guys are working with.

I can't speak for all of us, but most of us here aren't here to pick a fight, so you guys can cool it with being on the defensive. We're just giving you our perspective.

[preseance]

( mildly, )

Ain't nothin' stoppin' y'all from offerin' help instead of gettin' up in arms about our parameters. We'd be glad to hear what you have to say an' it'd be of benefit to what we're plannin'.

An' as I said to your pal, we've got myriad reasons for not wantin' young folk along an' it ain't a matter of subterfuge to state different ones as they apply. Y'all are readin' more into this than what's here.

[replicates]

No, you guys just aren't very good at communicating.

Sora's told you everything we know. The river is dangerous not just because of the current but also the creature that's there. You can't out-swim it, if I wasn't tethered to our raft and if the others weren't pulling me back, it would've gotten me. Not sure if there's only one of those things in there or more, but that wouldn't be that far of a stretch — it's a lot deeper than it looks.

That's all we've got. Hope that helps.

[preseance]

( kid's tryin', at least. gene can respect him on that count alone. )

Knew about the creature, but not the specifics. ( it apparently threw a rock at the el-tee. ) Thank you, 'preciate it.

Name's Eugene, by the by.

[replicates]

Call me Dawn.

[ he's glad at least that this conversation ended up being better than the others. ]

Listen, sorry this whole thing turned into this mess. We're not here trying to pick a fight. We can't help if you guys don't give us a chance.

[preseance]

Nice to meetcha, at least so far as this device allows.

That's fair enough. An' we're grateful for the help you've given us. Knowin' more about the creature an' the map your pal's plannin' to pass along will be mighty useful. An' I'm sorry about the to-do. It was my choice to start with, bein' exclusionary I mean, an' Kyna was kind enough to oblige me.

[replicates]

It's okay. I get it.

[ there are people i don't wanna see die in front of me either. ]

Be careful out there. Don't be afraid to ask if you need anything.

[dualikey]

if you aren't trying to set yourself up as an authority then you shouldn't be testing out who'll obey some rules you made up

and if orders aren't good then they should be challenged. that's how we get smarter and stronger.


i already told her that i don't think i'm gonna change your minds. whatever you say about the reasons you're saying no kids, this obeying orders thing, isn't what everyone else is saying.

help doesn't always come from places you expect, or from the people either. and we can help without going in with you. but that won't happen at all if you keep shutting us out. it just divides us up.

[preseance]

It ain't too much to ask that folks obey some rules on a single expedition we're organizin'. We ain't tryin' to set up to implement them on the whole of Beacon, all's we wanted were a few extra folks to come along with abilities that complemented what we already had committed. Challengin' that ain't shakin' up the status quo or makin' anyone smarter or stronger.

( lordy. he rubs a hand over his brow and then, in a softer tone, )

I reckon you're a good kid an' you're doin' what you feel's right, but you need to choose your hills. ( 'to die on'. he ain't about to finish the idiom. ) You wanna tell us what you know, that'd be appreciated an' we'd take it under advisement, ain't a one of us hardly shuttin' you out in that way. But y'can't expect a bunch of folk from worlds that ain't your own to change how we handle underage combatants just because you say it ain't right or fair or smart. Y'need to give us space to learn on our own time, an' maybe later we'll come around to a different view. But y'need to be aware that right now, you're tearin' down your point just as fast as you're buildin' it up.

[dualikey]

there are a couple of you shutting us out plenty. and nothing you've said changes the fact that some of you are telling one story while the rest of you tell another.

i already said i didn't need to come with you to help. and that i know i'm not gonna change your mind. so it's hard to trust what you guys are saying when everybody tells a different story and when you're telling me i'm not listening or trying to understand.

none of you even asked for help or advice.
we're the ones that are scared for you.

[preseance]

Yeah, well, I don't blame 'em. Don't nobody likes dealin' with a bunch of folks yellin' about some manner of malicious intent that just ain't there. They're within their rights to shut y'all out.

( kyna's a soft touch, an' he's protective. he should'a been the one to make the damn post an' left her outta it. )

An' we ain't tellin' different stories, we're espousin' different sides of the same one. Any adult with a lick'a sense has a hundred reasons why they might not want kids along for a mission that might go sideways at a moment's notice. It ain't like we sat down and hammered out our reasonings to make sure they all lined up perfect an' neat over a cuppa joe this morning. I said no kids an' Kyna agreed to that outta respect for me.

( there's a soft rustle on his line, like somebody fussin' with cloth. a slight jangle of metal follows. at length, )

I'm a soldier. My army, youngest you can be in service is eighteen. You're 'bout the same age as my baby brother back home, the one I'm fightin' to protect. Christ, he even — ( looks. acts. is, almost exactly like sora. that cheery, sunny disposition. blue eyes, like their mama. robbie could tame a lion with a look an' this kid seems just the same. ) — anyway. ( he clears his throat faintly. ) How were we supposed to know the lot'a you might've had advice to offer? It ain't like you've made that plain. I already said we'd listen.

[dualikey]

you would've known if you'd asked first

i'm never good at making plans before i do stuff so that's why i surround myself with lots of people who do

but my mom taught me that sometimes when people are too upset they just can't listen. so i think you're probably not gonna stop seeing this as some kid yelling at you about bad intentions, even when i haven't yelled, and when i've been trying to give you advice for next time.

i told kyna some stuff, and i have a map drawn up of a few miles of the west coast if you need it.

[It's a lot like his conversation with Nathan. Sora understands what it's like not to want to see something like that, something that you know is going to hurt. But he can't expect that everybody's made their peace with the inevitability of it. He's spoken to Kyna before and his inital reply had been to poke fun at it, the idea of sitting at a kid's table.

But seeing the way everybody else responded is a cautionary tale.

They won't be able to rely on most of these people in a pinch. It wouldn't be fair to put them in positions like that. And that's okay. It won't be the first time they've had to do things on their own.]

i hope you guys are careful out there and that you come back safe

[preseance]

I ain't upset, son. ( faintly annoyed, maybe, but that's mostly the nicotine withdrawal talkin' an' not anything to which he'd ascribe on the regular. ) I see your side'a things plain enough. An' I didn't say you were yellin', but I'm sure you've seen how some'a the other conversations have gone down.

We'd appreciate a map an' your blessin' on the matter.

[dualikey]

there are forest spirits in the woods but they're also in the water too. they almost drowned one of us and he's a really strong swimmer, so make sure you use a tether if you get near the river. you can't fight the spirits either so if they tell you something you should just listen.

you should try and stay near the shore too, enough that you can see the lighthouse

it uses morse code and it'll tell you if you get too far. there's sand dunes everywhere if you get past the forest, and cliffs after that, but i don't think you'll end up walking that far.

@five bARGES IN HERE

[fogey]

There are messages being sent out from the lighthouse?

[ he wasn't going to reply to anyone else in here but -- this, he's interested in ]

thank u adult for taking this info off his hands

[dualikey]

[The thing is- Sora has never been a person who collects information to horde it. He has a collaborative nature and is eager to share the things he learns. He knows he isn't a planner and that other people often come up with ideas that would never occur to him, or they think about it in different ways- and that's why he's so unguarded now.]

yeah i thought it only lit up when something important was happening

but some friends and i took a raft out and when we got to a certain point it started talking to us. i don't know how it knew we were there, but the light pointed right at us too.

[fogey]

[ now that's...that might be the most interesting thing he's heard since arriving here. he's been curious about the lighthouse keeper from day one, never dreamed they might have a direct line to her before she, according to winters, gets access to the network. ]

What exactly did it tell you? And do you know what that "certain point" was?

[dualikey]

oh! well we were making a map so it's the furthest point we got to

she told us GO BACK

but i guess that makes sense right? cause winters said she gets unplugged from the network or something

though i'm not really sure when she's plugged and when she's not

[fogey]

He told me something like that too. Said we could expect to hear from her in a couple of months. I got the impression she got disconnected because of the reset.

[ "GO BACK," huh. so they're being watched, which is unsurprising. and they're encouraged to explore, but only within certain parameters. go back, or...what, exactly? ]

What'd you do?

[dualikey]

we didn't go back right away, we pulled up on shore for the night

[Unfortunately the rest of those details are still being worked out with the mods!]

i think we figured that our lanterns wouldn't be bright enough to signal with but if i think about it now she probably would've seen them don't you think?

i mean she saw us in the first place

[fogey]

She probably would have. I get the feeling she sees a lot more than we've been thinking.

[ huh. well, she didn't kill them instantly for not going back right away, anyhow, but she clearly doesn't want to be found.

not yet, anyway. ]

Those were the exact words? "Go back"?