[Which comes out to the same thing: wait, and wait, and hurry up and wait some more.
He's used to waiting on missions, waiting in hiding, waiting to ambush, even waiting for intel or waiting for teams to come together or all other manner of waiting -- but he's not used to just... waiting for something not-quite-defined or just not-quite-right, feeling like something he doesn't entirely trust is determining his fate.
The organization, and Archer.]
Archer is here to do what Stan said, isn't he? And the ritual... He wouldn't tell me what happens to survivors, Red.
[Archer refuses to tell them a lot of things, but that's something he can't stop thinking about. This won't end well for any of you.]
Some have been changed too much and are a liability, others have made some unfortunate choices which will get them in trouble with my organization. But either way, the answer is the same: some of you are stuck here. Permanently. Even if you survive camp, this world is where you will be from now on.
And in case you missed it, this world isn't exactly a good one.
[He sucks in a breath and curls up a little more, though his head has come up from where he is on the futon, staring at her, eyes a little wide.]
The changes... the way the coral changes us...? [he can't think of other drastic changes that have happened, but he's also not sure what that means when it comes to the differences between them and the dead, in the end] And if we made choices -- what kind of choices? Why would those choices change anything?
[Even if they survive camp... he's just been focusing on survival.
Thee are still too many questions and things they just don't know, all of it falling down around his head at once and he doesn't know which way to turn. The experiments and Kurotsuchi and the final protocol, the anomalies, the world outside this camp. This world has shown them very little that is good in it, indeed, and he's saying that from the point of view of the post-apocalypse.]
[His hands have clenched into fists, but that's as far as his agitation goes. They don't have many good choices here -- and if they've tripped over something, that's almost par for the course by now. Honestly, the RV park is still his low bar for FUBAR.
For now, the important thing is...]
... Will it mess with our chances to bring back those Sol is holding?
[She. Actually has to consider this for a moment.]
...actually, we might be able to use that as leverage.
Some of you disagree with the solution I offered, which is to kill the stone god to end camp for good. I'm open to suggestions, but I need a concrete plan to offer before anything can be done. If you can bring me something solid to work with, then I just might be able to pull it off, especially if those of you stuck in this world are willing to do your part to help when camp is over.
[It doesn't sit well with him, still, using people for things like leverage; but at the same time, they need to consider all their options at this stage, so he puts that away. He has a feeling there's more to this... and it's somewhat heartening that enough of them have asked for alternatives that Red is willing to go to bat for them.]
Can you tell me who would be trapped here? I can talk to them. We'll need them to work on this solution.
[He'd guessed that was probably the case, but there's still a chill that runs through him when the words hit him, settling down into his core. Maybe the hallucinations are the last he'll see of those at home -- the people who made him who he is, who came with him all the way here because they're an indelible part of him.
And maybe both he and Soma will stay in this world. His team will never know. After Lindow -- after Lindow, they probably wouldn't even find their armlets.
He'd been prepared, deep down. But it's different to hear it. Extended goodbyes really are the worst.]
[They are probably going to be the ones to determine this. The dead are doing what they can -- but the leverage has to be living, and those finding the solution need to put it together here. The way forward... hurts, and has hurt for as long as he's been here, but maybe he didn't make only bad choices.
That depends on what happens from now on.]
... We need to find out how to get the souls from Sol. And then we need those who survive for -- for leverage to agree to the organization's terms.
[He honestly still doesn't like the sound of it. They still don't know enough about the organization, how trustworthy it is, nothing except all it's done to them.]
It's been a long, long dark road and they still don't know their destination -- but they've walked it together since that first trial, and they're all still so terrible at sacrificing the things they could to make it easier. All of the people who would have been willing to be stepping stones, himself included.
They just needed more understanding to make it here. And they'll probably need more still to make it to where they want to be, or at least to a place they can accept. He's quiet for a little while.]
We'll need to find a way to help Sol too. To really put an end to this.
As long as the rock god is alive, it will be seen as a threat that needs to be contained. That is standard protocol: anything that can harm people must be safely contained.
The Mishibijw told us it was an ancient god. Archer said that it was a threat to humanity itself.
If it's really so dangerous... wouldn't there have been a need for this camp long before it was created?
[There are things that don't add up about the organization's relationship to Sol, and vice versa. He's thought this since Talcott tried to communicate something like it to them, all that time ago, and the Metaverse has solidified that feeling.
Yes. But you're trying to get them to change the protocol for this camp already, aren't you?
[He remembers her mentioning that before -- the different protocols. The containment protocol. The final protocol. And then--]
... Red, how much does Archer know about this camp? Is there a way to get him on our side?
[Given their limited time, Archer's personality and everything that they're trying to do, he probably means get him on your side at this point. But if Archer is here about the protocol and the ritual then... it's necessary to know if he can be trusted. That's part of what's been tripping him up this week.
Other than that, he's reaching for any resources he can find.]
[And given his insistence on saving the world from a freaked out child god... he probably doesn't know too much more than Red about Sol's real relationship to the organization, either. Or perhaps has a different set of blind spots. Call it an educated guess.]
... We've gotten a lot of our information from the dead, and the Metaverse. We'll... probably need more solid evidence than that.
[He's thinking out loud a little, testing the waters, because Red is the one who knows Archer the best here at this point.]
[He hadn't expected it to be something that sounded so simple.
Of course, it's not so simple in practice -- even Floe had said that it was hard to completely believe in the dead unless you saw it with your own eyes, and despite Richie's and everyone else's best efforts their communication with the dead is still haphazard at best. But they're all here, which means there has to be a way.]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2018-07-12 05:17 pm (UTC)For yourselves? Stay out of trouble and try not to die.
[That's...about it, really.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-12 05:26 pm (UTC)He's used to waiting on missions, waiting in hiding, waiting to ambush, even waiting for intel or waiting for teams to come together or all other manner of waiting -- but he's not used to just... waiting for something not-quite-defined or just not-quite-right, feeling like something he doesn't entirely trust is determining his fate.
The organization, and Archer.]
Archer is here to do what Stan said, isn't he? And the ritual... He wouldn't tell me what happens to survivors, Red.
[Archer refuses to tell them a lot of things, but that's something he can't stop thinking about. This won't end well for any of you.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-12 05:34 pm (UTC)[They. Might as well become aware of that.]
Some have been changed too much and are a liability, others have made some unfortunate choices which will get them in trouble with my organization. But either way, the answer is the same: some of you are stuck here. Permanently. Even if you survive camp, this world is where you will be from now on.
And in case you missed it, this world isn't exactly a good one.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-12 05:58 pm (UTC)The changes... the way the coral changes us...? [he can't think of other drastic changes that have happened, but he's also not sure what that means when it comes to the differences between them and the dead, in the end] And if we made choices -- what kind of choices? Why would those choices change anything?
[Even if they survive camp... he's just been focusing on survival.
Thee are still too many questions and things they just don't know, all of it falling down around his head at once and he doesn't know which way to turn. The experiments and Kurotsuchi and the final protocol, the anomalies, the world outside this camp. This world has shown them very little that is good in it, indeed, and he's saying that from the point of view of the post-apocalypse.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 05:36 am (UTC)[Since Lenka was one of the ones who did the app, he'll definitely find out.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 05:46 am (UTC)Just me? Or... everyone else?
[Guess which one he's more worried about.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 06:13 am (UTC)For now, the important thing is...]
... Will it mess with our chances to bring back those Sol is holding?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 06:20 am (UTC)...actually, we might be able to use that as leverage.
Some of you disagree with the solution I offered, which is to kill the stone god to end camp for good. I'm open to suggestions, but I need a concrete plan to offer before anything can be done. If you can bring me something solid to work with, then I just might be able to pull it off, especially if those of you stuck in this world are willing to do your part to help when camp is over.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-13 03:08 pm (UTC)[It doesn't sit well with him, still, using people for things like leverage; but at the same time, they need to consider all their options at this stage, so he puts that away. He has a feeling there's more to this... and it's somewhat heartening that enough of them have asked for alternatives that Red is willing to go to bat for them.]
Can you tell me who would be trapped here? I can talk to them. We'll need them to work on this solution.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 02:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 03:21 am (UTC)And maybe both he and Soma will stay in this world. His team will never know. After Lindow -- after Lindow, they probably wouldn't even find their armlets.
He'd been prepared, deep down. But it's different to hear it. Extended goodbyes really are the worst.]
... When will we find out? We need time.
[His voice is even.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 03:49 am (UTC)[They are probably going to be the ones to determine this. The dead are doing what they can -- but the leverage has to be living, and those finding the solution need to put it together here. The way forward... hurts, and has hurt for as long as he's been here, but maybe he didn't make only bad choices.
That depends on what happens from now on.]
... We need to find out how to get the souls from Sol. And then we need those who survive for -- for leverage to agree to the organization's terms.
[He honestly still doesn't like the sound of it. They still don't know enough about the organization, how trustworthy it is, nothing except all it's done to them.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 03:58 am (UTC)['What's worth fighting for is never easy' or something like that.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 04:13 am (UTC)[His voice, somehow, softens.
It's been a long, long dark road and they still don't know their destination -- but they've walked it together since that first trial, and they're all still so terrible at sacrificing the things they could to make it easier. All of the people who would have been willing to be stepping stones, himself included.
They just needed more understanding to make it here. And they'll probably need more still to make it to where they want to be, or at least to a place they can accept. He's quiet for a little while.]
We'll need to find a way to help Sol too. To really put an end to this.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 04:31 am (UTC)The Mishibijw told us it was an ancient god. Archer said that it was a threat to humanity itself.
If it's really so dangerous... wouldn't there have been a need for this camp long before it was created?
[There are things that don't add up about the organization's relationship to Sol, and vice versa. He's thought this since Talcott tried to communicate something like it to them, all that time ago, and the Metaverse has solidified that feeling.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 04:33 am (UTC)[Okay yeah, Red doesn't have an answer for that. What she thinks is right might not be the right answer.]
That doesn't change the fact that my organization will insist on containment protocol.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 04:55 am (UTC)[He remembers her mentioning that before -- the different protocols. The containment protocol. The final protocol. And then--]
... Red, how much does Archer know about this camp? Is there a way to get him on our side?
[Given their limited time, Archer's personality and everything that they're trying to do, he probably means get him on your side at this point. But if Archer is here about the protocol and the ritual then... it's necessary to know if he can be trusted. That's part of what's been tripping him up this week.
Other than that, he's reaching for any resources he can find.]
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 04:58 am (UTC)I think it's possible to sway his opinion, but it's going to be hard. You'll need evidence and a solid plan to do that.
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 05:15 am (UTC)[And given his insistence on saving the world from a freaked out child god... he probably doesn't know too much more than Red about Sol's real relationship to the organization, either. Or perhaps has a different set of blind spots. Call it an educated guess.]
... We've gotten a lot of our information from the dead, and the Metaverse. We'll... probably need more solid evidence than that.
[He's thinking out loud a little, testing the waters, because Red is the one who knows Archer the best here at this point.]
What kind of evidence would he accept?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 05:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 05:27 am (UTC)[He hadn't expected it to be something that sounded so simple.
Of course, it's not so simple in practice -- even Floe had said that it was hard to completely believe in the dead unless you saw it with your own eyes, and despite Richie's and everyone else's best efforts their communication with the dead is still haphazard at best. But they're all here, which means there has to be a way.]
Red, Archer was a counselor with you, wasn't he?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-14 05:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
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