outer_divide | [Video] Week 37

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[Video] Week 37 - Tuesday Evening

[Hi there people of Verdana. There is a man with a dog, both trying to look especially harmless. In fact the dog's main purpose on the screen is to reassure everyone that Atticus really is nothing to worry about.]

Well this has been barrels of fun, huh? [He can't hide the slightly sheepish look, he's trying really hard to though. Publicly taking the blame for the whole... altered time reality thing isn't something he's really looking to do but he's gotta know how much of this is him and how much is... anyone else.

Someone had to screw up something along the way right? It wasn't just him.]

Just out of curiosity did... anyone [And there's just enough emphasis on it that someone remarkably perceptive might catch the quiet anyone else that is faintly implied by his tone.] do anything in particular that might have caused any of... well... time shenanigans? Not the traveling bit but the arriving part of the deal.

[Private to Belle]

Hey, I know you're probably busy with all the changes but can Oberon hang out with you for a couple days? I guess the lakes are still intact but I've gotta see it for myself.

((OOC: Fari warning! Genesis might be threadjacking periodically as she is staying with Atticus now and likely hovering nearby laughing at him.))

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I don't see how. One ship and a few little things going missing here and there ain't really the sort of thing that changes history like this, is it?

[But there was something not quite right here, and Briar peers at Atticus suspiciously]

Why? What did people do in your time?

[And Atticus cocks a brow at Briar, a hint of a warning in his expression. Yes, Briar you know he's more than just some dumb redhead with a dog, lets not tell everyone else that kay?]

Well if they're really important things going missing... I don't know mostly people were getting accused of treason and bombs were going off where we were which seemed to kinda be the norm.

What ship?

[What do you expect, Atticus? You never told Briar you expected him to treat you like an idiot. Although he might start thinking you're one if he finds out what you're hiding here]

One of those 'space' ships. Some of the others went and stole it, but I really doubt it was anything important. One ship going missing isn't going to go and cause the comes to...what is that? Who's giggling?!

[...oops.

Genesis leans in, smiling a bit sheepishly, but she raises her hand.]

Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to... uh, distract you.

[Waves her hand in a bit of a shoo-ing motion]

Carry on, carry on.

[This is one of those /palmface moments. He knows it.

And he switches it over to private because of that.]

That would be Genesis doing a marvelous job of helping me convince everyone I had nothing to do with this.

But hey I didn't steal any space ships.

[Briar blinks at Genesis's sudden appearance, but he does give her a friendly if rather confused smile.

Atticus though, he gets a very, very suspicious look]

What did you do?

I wasn't aware I was suppose to help. I thought you were trying to simply get information. Instead, you looked like a child trying to weedle himself out of a time out.

[See, so it wasn't entirely her fault! But when Briar asks that questions, she gives a slight wince and looks to Atticus. What should be said?]

[He grinned, one hand coming up to his chest in a dramatic gesture of injury.]

Such accusations! You wound me.

[But his expression sobers quickly enough, hand falling away and smile fading.]

I did what was necessary to protect the planet, Briar. And it saved an entire ecosystem, as well as preventing vast sections of another from being destroyed.

[Briar's kind of curious about who this woman is, but Atticus is proving to be too big of distraction here]

You're avoiding the question.

Well...

[She sighed and made a slight face.]

It really was for the good of the Planet. We... made sure the Domes had a hard time being built. Guess it worked.

[She looked to Atticus for approval.]

[He at least looked a little sheepish as he nodded.]

Well... rather I worked with the elemental and we made sure the dome would go up... and come down relatively quickly.

[Briar's eyes go wide]

You broke the dome?!

[he doesn't say anything more for a moment, just staring wildly and trying to take this in. He broke the dome. He broke the dome.]

Okay. I...I have to confess, I'm impressed. But please tell me that you did not cause all of that land to become diseased too.

[Genesis quickly shook her head.]

No, no, that wasn't us. I think that was something that was suppose to happen anyway and the Domes would have protected those inside? Really, the Domes were the only things that were tampered with, nothing more.

Disease happens, especially after war. And any young children that had been born or primarily raised inside that done would not have had developed any kind of antibodies to what was outside it.

[He shook his head and sighed.]

It's unfortunate but not terribly surprising. I'm just glad that land, diseased though it is, is alive now and all of the area around Lunare is alive too. That entire elemental had been killed before. I can live with losing a few thousand people that are willing to sacrifice the life of the planet if it restores Verdana... and it did.

[It might sound heartless but it was necessary as far as he was concerned. He just had to keep telling himself it was worth it before he drove himself crazy.]

[Briar doesn't say anything for a moment. But it's clear that he's not happy here - oh, he's glad for the land being alive, sure. But not for the cost. When he finally speaks, his voice is dead cold]

A few thousand people. That's an acceptable loss, is it? Nevermind how many of them wouldn't have even had a choice in what happened. But their leaders did, so that makes it alright to kill them. A few thousand!

[She frowns.]

When it comes to those who are perfectly willing to destroy their own Planet or power or war? Yes, it is acceptable. Just as it was acceptable for them to put up the Domes and let the people in the Wastelands die out there.

[She crossed her arms, eyes narrowing as her brows furrowed in anger.]

It doesn't matter. Thousands died with the Domes, thousands died without the Domes. People died, either way! At least this time, it's the people who deserved it. Not the people who were left out. Do you even know what it's like to live on a dying Planet?

I do. And it's terrible, worse when you don't know how to stop it. [It's one thing she's perhaps not envious when it comes to Atticus and his Druidry. He can feel what the Planet feels, especially in those parts that are dead. She couldn't and perhaps that was for the best.]

I'm not saying I'm not sorry they died but people were going to die either way. It's not my place to judge who is more deserving of death, there are plenty enough gods to fight over that.

But you of all people should understand why the planet needs to be protected. That's what my job is. That's what these tattoos mean. That I fight for the planet because she cannot do it herself. It's not like the lands the people destroyed were the same as after a fire, where life can begin anew. Everything was dead, Briar. From the soil up nothing would grow, nothing would survive. There's no coming back from that. The one time that happened in my world it is a vast wasteland to this day, more than five thousand years later. That's a far greater tragedy.

I should understand? You think that because I care about plants that I don't care about people? You think I'd sacrifice a person to save a tree? Lakik's teeth, can you even hear yourself? You came here asking what other people did to change things, like you was trying to escape the fact that you was the one that did it, and you killed people doing it!

Briar looks away for a moment. He takes in a deep breath, and tries to unclench his fists. He can understand, really, even if he hates it. And the anger is hard to let go.]

Maybe what you did was necessary - but necessary ain't the same as acceptable.

[What, they couldn't be curious to see if any one else had changed anything? Genesis scoffed, looking away. She also never said it was acceptable, just that it was necessary.]

People are dead if the Planet is dead.

[It was a very real fear of hers for whenever she is able to go home. That she won't ever get to stop ShinRa before the damage was irreversible. She would rather not trigger Omega, thank you. But since it was very clear that her temper was getting the best of her (something she hadn't felt in a long time since her degradation was healed) she was floundering and not sure what to do with herself. She crossed her arms, almost looking petulant but not quite. She was annoyed with herself that she wasn't articulating well. Finally, she made to stand and leave the room, preferably to go outside.]

[Genesis was struggling and so was Atticus.]

People were dying. [He snapped sharply. The he was sucking in a breath, letting it out slowly, trying to calm down, trying to do exactly what Genesis was trying to do. He nudged Oberon and the hound trotted dutifully after her while Atticus took a moment to just breathe.]

I was simply asking if anyone knew of anything else that might have effected this outcome. Just because I'm not advertising that I'm responsible for the changes doesn't mean I'm not able to take that responsibility. I've been to the library. I've looked into the historical changes. It was the first thing I did. I know what I am responsible for. [Just breathing didn't do any good when he started building momentum though. He was angry, mostly at himself. Briar was one of the few people he thought would be able to understand and... he had forgotten how very young the boy was.]

Have you ever been in a war, Briar? Have you ever had to sit back and watch people you care about die because you can't do anything to save them? Not that you're physically or magically unable to but because you know you shouldn't. It's enough to drive a person mad. Four months of telling myself that it wasn't worth the risk. That it wasn't my place. Knowing I could stop all of it if I could just tell my friend to save himself. I was condemning the people with me, all of the people outside the domes, two elementals, and the planet herself to death if I did nothing.

If you really want to condemn me for it you go out there and you look at the bay, all of the land around it. Go out past the mountains, look at the lakes, look at how beautiful it is there. Talk to all of these people living on this land that was nothing but dead ruins before. And tell me you would willingly destroy all of that for the sake of people that had slaughtered your friends over bogus treason charges. [And if all of that was met with more indignant outrage... he'd have to hang up on the kid before he said even more that he shouldn't. Aside from the Morrigan (and occasionally Leif but thinking of the vampire now would be more detrimental to his control of his temper) he hadn't really explained himself to anyone in centuries... but he wasn't used to so many people knowing just who and what he was.]

Edited 2013-06-15 05:49 (UTC)

[It's like a dark cloud crosses over Briar's face, and when he speaks his voice is flat]

Yeah. I've been in a war. And you ain't one of my sisters, or my teachers, or... [he takes in a deep breath. and clenches his jaw] You ain't someone I'm gonna talk to about that. I don't need you trying to tell me what war's like.

[and then Briar cuts the feed himself. Which he'll soon feel a bit ashamed off - here he is, running away, just because he doesn't like the conversation. Just like he kept running away from everything else that might make him confront what happened, before his sisters stopped letting him]

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[Video] Week 37 - Tuesday Evening

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