(no subject)

[truth_is_cold]

[Private to Dylan | Audio]*

[Sent as soon as he returns, though he's not sure when Dylan will get it or what the range of the communicators is.]

I've returned. The Southern City didn't have many resources. The construction of the dome damaged its economy. I suspect most of the fishermen left are generational. The people there were notably friendlier to outsiders than the ones here, but of course their homes are at less risk from air raids from the domes.

[And sent a bit later.]

If you hear reports of fog, stay way until it's cleared. Or purchase the first gas mask you can manage.



[Private to Sma | Audio]

I want to speak with you. In person. [Where the conversation can't be recorded.]



*OOC: Slightly backdated to fog times.

Comments

[Private]

[hunt4commonwealth]

Noted. I'm just a few hours walk away, but I can see the fog from here. I'll keep clear for now. Are you immune or out of range of its effects? [If Rhade is immune, that might become a tactical advantage some day.]

I found plenty of weapons at the Old Base--standard projectile guns--but no ammunition. I brought a few back anyway. If we can get bullets it'll give us backup in case we lose our Force Lances. Speaking of which, a bit of good news. I think we'll be able to recharge them there. We'll need to figure out some modifications to make them compatible, and it's a bit of a trek to get there, but we've got ourselves an energy source.

[Private]

[truth_is_cold]

Good. I recommend we keep them above half capacity so we'll be prepared.

Thus far I am. The Doctor suspected that he was immune but he turned out not to be. The blonde one. Not the smaller one with the breathing apparatus.

I would like to have names to refer to them by. [As would everyone, Rhade. As would everyone.]

[Private]

[hunt4commonwealth]

Hey, if they won't give us names they can't blame us if we start coming up with our own. Like Dr. Yellow and Dr. Black.

You should try to stay out of it as much as you can in any case. Let's try to keep that immunity intact and cut down the risk of you developing a reaction.

[Private]

[truth_is_cold]

Aye aye. I would rather keep my judgement intact.

At least it wouldn't be Mr. March and Mr. April.

[Private]

[hunt4commonwealth]

I'd sure hope not. This place is weird enough without intentionally adding that sort of mind screw.

...

I saw Mr. May again. In a sense. He became a dictator. All our good intentions, overthrowing an oppressive tyrant, and in the end we just replaced him with a new one.

[Private]

[truth_is_cold]

[So the "rabbit" became a dictator? He's not surprised at all, really.] It seems the best intentions don't work out for most of us, then.

[Private]

[hunt4commonwealth]

Still, like a smart girl once told me, it's better to start out with good intentions than bad ones.

[Private]

[truth_is_cold]

A smart woman would have once told me that it's better to accept what's necessary. Yet, here I am.

Do you want me to change it? What happens to Ferrin's government. He had it in him from the start.

[Private] OMG Dylan you talk so much.

[hunt4commonwealth]

The problem is deciding what's necessary. Sometimes things that seems necessary, aren't. We have choices, they may not be good choices, but we've got them.

[Dylan sighs.]

Not long ago I was given a choice. I could advance the cause of a renewed Commonwealth by leaps and bounds and all I had to do was let one innocent man be framed for a crime he didn't commit. In the end I couldn't do it. Maybe that means that I failed to do what was necessary. But I know if I'd gone through with it, if I'd let Rh- the man take the blame and injustice stand, the Commonwealth would be built on a lie. It would make everything the System's Commonwealth stood for meaningless. Only time will tell if I made the right decision or not.

As for Ferrin...we tried to do the right thing. It didn't work out. But that doesn't mean we should stop trying to do the right thing. We just need to learn from our mistakes and do better next time if we're lucky enough to get a do-over.

[Private] You have characters made out of carefully constructed monologues.

[truth_is_cold]

[He wonders whose name he was trying to hide, there.]

It doesn't matter what our intentions were there. We were sent in as expendable, and when we walked into that room we had to defend ourselves. If we walked in firing, the only difference would have been that I wouldn't have had to carry you off that planet.

No matter what Dmitri said about his intentions, he never acknowledged his desire to inflict his will onto others. And he may have talked about saving lives, but he was quick about handing ours over to Ferrin.

Did I ever explain myself to you?

[Private] So much speechifying in my canons.

[hunt4commonwealth]

If we waited to weigh our options and hadn't talked about killing right from the start Dmitri might have been more cooperative and the mission might have gone more smoothly. And even Dmitri redeemed himself in the end. He gave up his dictatorship and returned to architecture.

[He rubs his forehead. He didn't want to have this fight. But it seemed like this was the fight they always had. Every fight was this fight. Including their final, deadly fight. It always boiled down to whether the ends justified the means and whether survival was more important than ideals.]

Why you joined the Nietzschean rebellion, you mean? Yeah, you explained your reasons. [While shooting at him. Just minutes before Dylan shot and killed him.

Dylan doesn't want to think about this any more.]

[Private]

[truth_is_cold]

But he still became a dictator. He couldn't control the other guard that stumbled across us. We couldn't control the other guard.

So. Those reasons still exist. If we're successful here and go back then I need an alternate way of dealing with them because I will not allow them to stand.

...And if we're unable to go back-

[He honestly doesn't know.]

[Private]

[hunt4commonwealth]

I don't know if we can change it. [So many lives would be saved if they could...]

If I tell you now, and you go back and fix things so that the Commonwealth realizes the scope of the Magog threat, then this time line doesn't happen for me. Which means I can't be here now with that knowledge to give you. So if I did tell you, for me to be here telling you means that it didn't work.

...

I hate time travel.

[diziet_sma]

[She sounds congested, like she's got a cold.]

Certainly. Where would be convenient?

[truth_is_cold]

Outside the Flop. You can take me somewhere interesting.

[That's curious, though he doesn't ask.]

[diziet_sma]

There's an interesting ruin to the southeast with a nice view of the dome. See you outside the Flop in ... half an hour?

[truth_is_cold]

I'll be waiting.

[And he is, when she gets there, arms folded tightly over his chest and watching the city around him with all too serious a look. He has a lot on his mind, and it's coming out in how he stands in that jagged 'arm blades out with the way they're folded' look.

Not meant to unwelcoming to Sma. But he didn't want to stop and converse with passerbys.]

[diziet_sma]

[Sma spots him and takes note of the severe body language; clearly not up for small talk with just anyone today. She raises a hand in greeting as she approaches.]

Mr Rhade.

[Her voice is a little rough and congested and her eyes are slightly red. The fog hasn't affected her perceptions or her mood, but she hasn't escaped it wholly unscathed, to her considerable chagrin.]

[truth_is_cold]

Miss Sma- if that's the appropriate term. [He motions for her to go ahead, and he'll walk alongside.] You're still sensitive to it, then?

[diziet_sma]

Ms, actually—but I answer to Diziet too.

[She starts off, leading the way down the street to the building she'd found several days earlier, before the fog rolled in.]

I'm allergic to it. [She sounds equal parts amused, puzzled, and disgusted.] I don't think there's been an allergy in the Culture in a millennium at least. Lucky me.

[truth_is_cold]

I'll consider myself fortunate. [He seems to have gotten away scott free on this one. He will credit the finely tuned genes with that, and yes, would take advantage of it in a heartbeat.] Though in your case it could have been considerably worse. [He saw some of the worse.] I may purchase one of the gas masks just for appearances sake.

[He still thinks the locals may have purposefully avoided bringing it up. He waits until they're a little further away (out of his own hearing range) before he speaks again.]

Have you learned anything?

[diziet_sma]

My system seems to filter out the psychotropics. I'll take allergies as a trade-off. Got a gas mask anyway, though—for appearances, as you say.

I've learned a few things. I help Edmund with inventory most days, so I hear the gossip, that sort of thing. And then I found this place—you'll see in a bit.

[She made some idle small-talk as they made their way to the ruined building. It had been a house, she thought—a fairly nice one once, if the remains of the plasterwork was anything to go by—but at some point one of the upper walls had been bombed out, leaving the top story open to the elements, and no one had moved in or tried to fix it up. The missing wall let the wind and rain in, but it also afforded a good view of the domed city. She led him into the house, up the stairs, and to the open floor. She took a deep breath, standing as close to the open wall as she dared; the air felt clearer up here, and her eyes itched less.]

I've been watching the dome, mostly. You see where the bay meets the dome? Between the currents and the armed guards, no one gets close.

[truth_is_cold]

[He appreciates the architecture as he goes through. Many of these buildings, he notes, were well constructed before the bombing began- even now, what's left stand up well to the elements.

When she takes him up to see the domed city, though, he's reminded of Than sculpture, or Hegemony hives. The appreciation for their architecture is there, even if not their aggression.]

They're very capable, aren't they? [With no small amount of respect.] Though, that was one of the reasons I wanted to speak with you.

[He looked for a place to sit, where he could look out on the view and look somewhat relaxed.] Did you hear about the meeting between the military people?

[diziet_sma]

[Sma sits down on a bare patch of floor, legs folded.]

I did. I wanted to go, but I was having a bad day. [Unusual for her; her shoulder had been bothering her more than usual and it was making her cranky, so she ended up sulking alone.] I'm not entirely sure what came out of it, to be honest. If anything. I can't imagine anybody believes any force that we could muster now would do much good, though obviously we've got to defend ourselves if they come calling again.

[truth_is_cold]

There was a lot of plans. Not a lot of information. And I highly suspect at least one of them is already in contact with the Authorities... [He nods toward the distance.]

I don't feel much safer, not knowing.