outer_divide | [Video] Week 37

[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'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]

[Video] Week 37 - Tuesday Evening

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