@witch — voice

[hext]

My name is Wanda Maximoff. I have met several of you.
I have seen some of you die. Some of you have seen me die, as well.

We are, I think, intimate — if not consensually.

[ she attaches her dimly lit picture, taken near the church. a slow, measured breath, then she continues in her low, but confident voice, angled just so by her Eastern European accent: ]

We are here to survive, and we all know there is strength in numbers.

Trust is not given freely, it is earned, yes — but neither should we make sweeping generalizations about each other's competencies, young or old, when we each come from such unique... and uniquely horrifying... worlds.

[ the softest tapping sound accumulates in the background; her fingers, rarely ever idle, are dancing along the edges of her tablet as she runs through the paces of her message. ]

Winters spoke strongly of resets. I think about it each night. What drives them, if there is any reason or logic behind them. If they are not merely whims of the lighthouse keeper, then let it not be this:

Let it not be us, dividing into factions and turning on each other out of spite and fear, vengeance and guilt, carried past our deaths into this purgatory. Young, or old, or without classification. [ here's lookin' at you, five. ] We will only die again faster this way, festering in mistrust.

[ in this moment, she wishes perhaps more ardently than ever before that steve were here — he knows the power of a call to arms, how to be the tree that does not move, the liberating thrill of speech — despite how glad she is that he is not a victim with her. her captain, her beating heart, her family. ]

Each project will always have its own team.
But we shall try to be one town, yes?

I think we can.

Comments

@warlock; voice

[necromantiae]

This is a very inspiring pep talk.

( he only means that half sarcastically. )

Are you going to suggest we all join hands and sing Kumbaya next? That's the natural progression of a message like this, isn't it?

( it's a good message, in all honesty. )

Unification between so many different people is going to be difficult.

[hext]

The right thing is always harder than the wrong thing, Ambrose.

[ a beat. they're friends of a sort already. they understand persecution, and standing up to it. ]

But you know that.

[necromantiae]

I hate that you're right. Why can't the right thing be easy too?

( it should be easy. more people would do the right thing if it wasn't so damn hard most of the time. )

How do you propose your ideas come to pass though? Saying that we shouldn't fight is one thing but putting it into practice? That's something else altogether.

@tarth, voice

[chivalrouswench]

Well spoken.

[ Brienne doesn't know how to trust anymore, and there is at least one person in town she is convinced she will never be able to, but that doesn't make Wanda any less right. ]

[hext]

How old was Podrick, when you first took him as a squire, Lady Brienne?

[chivalrouswench]

I never learned his age.

Voice

[paletteswap]

That is very wise, I hope many here take it to heart.

Are people turning on each other already? I was under the impression that many were working on exploration. Perhaps I have missed something.

[hext]

There was a massive dispute amongst the citizens on the network yesterday. Lines drawn over capabilities based on, it seems, age — understandable fear over past experience with harm coming to children. But fires were lit and pride was wounded.

[ she sighs. ]

I watched people who should be working together, mentoring and learning, draw away from each other with a strong sense of mistrust over one single offer of exploration. I only hope it won't be with finality.

[paletteswap]

I see.

Unfortunate to have potential allies turn to enemies over something so trivial.

We have only been here a short time, tensions are still running high. In time it may smooth itself out.

[He hopes]

@kingofwei, voice

[pure_havoc]

[his tone is entirely too suave for this]

Advocating unity preemptively? It's almost as though you expect us to find a reason to go for each other's throats.

[hext]

I think you missed a fairly massive fight on the network yesterday.

[pure_havoc]

Clearly, though it's not as though I have the time to babysit every last communique in this place. Or the interest, for that matter. Idiots will be idiots no matter where we are.

@username

[dualikey]

oh, i never really asked about the resets

what'd he say?

cries marzi i'm so sorry i was so migrainey up and down

[hext]

not enough; only that there had been a number of them, he and will and rastus were the survivors, and clearly we need to avoid one. the worst possible outcome.

do you not find it odd that they should survive?
do you not think, perhaps, surviving may have affected them somehow?

[dualikey]

maybe
but i don't think it's that strange


losing people like that, being so lonely

that would change anyone

@replica

[replicates]

you want to train together?

[ #priorities. ]

drags self back here out of sick land i'm sorry bb ;o;

[hext]

more than anything. :')

[ STRATEGIC EMOJI USE GET. ]

i've seen you and your home crew together from a distance. i cannot help thinking sparring with you would be immensely rewarding. those do not look like typical swords.

[ what a creep. ]

shhhh shhhhhhhh

[replicates]

[ a creep, but listen, it takes one to know one. ]

yeah they're not

[ getting his own keyblade now doesn't mean he knows any more about them than he did before, but. you know. ]

what do you do?

@riku; voice

[equinoctials]

[ Strength in numbers. It's a message he can finally get behind. Refreshing, even, when it doesn't matter the world he's in, the same blockades and obstacles try to get between people with the drive to do something good with the time they have.

Riku's heartened to see he isn't the only one who took the message of the resets so seriously, that they may be here on the most borrowed of scant resources, time, that if they're found wanting they might be discarded into oblivion.

She's enviously eloquent. He both admires and covets the way she just puts into words the things he feels, persuades with them instead of brutely bludgeons. ]

Yeah. With attitudes like that, it can happen.

[ Being unified under one purpose. In a fairly rare twist, he offers his name without being prompted: ]

I'm Riku. Not that there won't be challenges-

[ Considering what other conversations have taken place... she points out the possible points of contention, so it's not like she says this with blissful ignorance of the realities of a diverse group. ]

-but considering the alternative, I think we've got all the incentive we need to make it work.

[hext]

[ his seriousness warms her; wanda can still hear the thin veil billowing between boyhood and manhood in his pitch, she thinks. and there's an echo of... she recalls speaking with dawn only the day before. pieces begin to fall into her lap. she examines them by touch, as she traces through her memories of texts read on a previous post. ]

Well concluded, Riku. I have noticed, on the network, you put your thoughts carefully together before you speak.

[ a soft smile in her voice for him, then: ]

I would be grateful to work with you.

[equinoctials]

[ There's an inarticulate, non-verbal kind of tic at that, more like a brief hitch in his breath. Subtly taken aback, maybe. ]

Thanks.

[ That one word has enough weighty awkwardness to sink him through the floor. That's the thing about Riku, he's cultivated this appearance that seems cool, like he's got it together, when he's actually pulling off one heck of a balancing act underneath it all. ]

I wonder if the people who came before us ran into the same problems. If they had the same disagreements. How they handled them?

That's something we lose with these resets. Continuity. Being able to learn from past mistakes.

@subzero; voice

[saibot]

Foolish words of hope.

@daylit; voice

[sunborne]

[ knowing better than trying to start a fight on someone's explicit plea for peace, daylight, somehow, holds back his first dozen replies and settles with this: ]

What do you suggest then?

voice

[saibot]

You to go away before you find yourself in a situation you will certainly not enjoy.

SO SORRY for this lateness, i was real sick off and on, HERE I AM TRYIN

[hext]

[ he's going to hate this— ]

You could be right. But may I say... I find your voice very soothing. I would welcome more audio critique if you have it.