DIRECTED TO MERIDIAN, OPEN TO ALL.

[twohand]

[ In the midst of the Advocate's beginnings, perhaps a few world adventures in ( ignore pax's belated posting in that case ), there is a quiet presence that coalesces within the minds of all. An Advocate, dusk-skinned and thoughtful as he addresses all present. Even his voice is morose, a little saddened by what he has taken notice of — though that is mostly on behalf of Meridian. He cannot imagine what it must feel like, to look upon something familiar and have it not be exactly what they want. ]

They're dying. These worlds — they're already lost, they're torn up and left in pieces, they're dreams of what was; please don't make them suffer when you can bring them a gentle end. Even if you fight to restore them in the long run, choosing to save them now is torturous. It is asking someone with a terminal illness to fight on, when they ought to be given the ability to rest.

[ He sounds like he is pleading with the Meri, a call not to stand so firmly with their impossible desire to restore all that they make such a glaring mistake. ]

All things have a right to live, I agree. But, all those same things also should have a dignified end. I am only asking that you understand this, and choose to help us give what is left of these worlds the ending that I wish our worlds could have had.

This time, please... just this time. I am asking on their behalf, for all to choose a difficult thing — but, the thing that only we now have the power to do for them.

Comments

[kaientai]

Well, not really.

[ Ryouma cares, but he doesn't have the anger or passion behind it that some Meris have. ]

What the Advocate shows us doesn't matter. I aim to restore all worlds. I would answer the same no matter what worlds they showed us, fake or otherwise.

You're pretty hard on "bleeding hearts", though, when the one who initiated this Communion is begging us to humanely put them out of their misery like a lame horse.

Sort of an unfair double standard, don't you think?

[ Drizzt is like the most dramatic bitch in this room make that make sense Chloe!! ]

[punkisntdead]

[Look, you're right about Drizzt, Ryouma! No argument there.]

Yeah, he's just as bad as the rest of you, honestly. At least he's got the right idea in mind, even if he's gotta make himself feel better by acting like he's doing a service. [A beat.] Sacrifice is supposed to be hard.

[And, okay, she's kinda inadvertently hitting something close to home there. Her presence in this space flinches a little, almost steps back.]

[kaientai]

Oh?

[ Ryouma isn't trying to poke at a sore spot deliberately, but her words make him too curious to let it go. Everything about this war and the responsibility of being a Shard-bearer is already a lot without making it harder, which is how it sounds to him. ]

Do you mean our worlds are a sacrifice needed to create the world Yima has promised you?

[punkisntdead]

A sacrifice needed to survive. To make it so reality gets un-fucked.

[It feels really stupid to even think about it like this, because the worlds they're talking about here have to be fake. Or maybe that's a convenient excuse to cling to, because she's realizing she doesn't really want to think about the logistics of more shit getting destroyed just so she can keep on going. She'd had enough of a self-imposed guilt trip over that sort of thing even before waking up in Kenos.]

We didn't all end up here from different universes like this because everything is working as it should be. If we don't fix it, it's just gonna keep breaking.

[kaientai]

That's one I'll admit I haven't heard before.

[ It makes him wonder if she arrived at an idea like that on her own or if someone else had put it in her head. ]

Look, it's unfair that you and everyone else got roped into this against your will. You never asked to have this responsibility forced upon you.

[ It's genuine sympathy, too. He'd chosen this life for himself, even if it ended up being a lot different than he'd expected when he'd made that choice. ]

This is sort of business as usual for me, just on a larger scale.

It's my job to "un-fuck" reality, as you put it, and it's an ongoing thing, you know?

There will likely never be a permanent solution because you can't account for everything that will ever happen — and you're not expected to. However, we can do our best to neutralise this particular threat.

[punkisntdead]

[It’s hard not to think that way when your continued existence cost a bunch of lives in the first place. The weird shit going on here feels like more of the same, which is why the path this conversation’s taken is starting to form a familiar leaden weight of guilt in the pit of her stomach.

Yeah, it sucks they’re in this mess. It’s fucking unfair that they have to deal with it, but you know what? She’s tired of being the one along for the ride on this sort of thing. If there’s one small blessing in the fact that it’s her dealing with things here and now instead of Max, it’s that she can give her a break from shouldering all the supernatural weirdness herself. It’s a desperate little feeling of determination.]

“No permanent solution”? How could you even know that? I’m tired of seeing reality breaking itself over and over again and I’m not gonna give up until we make it stop.