anarqrists not-so-anonymous: redux

[rebells]

Who: Salty Anarqrists Club (Jay's invites + anyone those people decide to invite)
Where: DRAGON HOUSING (on the first floor of the coven's apartment complex in Shehui)
When: Day 148, evening
Open/Closed: ICly closed! potential gatecrashers should PM rebells.

[The process will be familiar to some of you and new to others: some time over the past week, Jay or someone else would have quietly approached you in person and let you know about a meeting that was taking place tonight, hopefully away from the watchful gaze of Brie, Genette, and Qri.

Jay will greet you by the door. It might be a tight fit in the Geir-and-Vern apartment (if indeed it can be considered an apartment), depending on how many people show up. Take a seat on the ground next to the dragon--or on the dragon, if he'll let you--and wait for the meeting to come to order.]

Comments

[splinten]

[DIRK, HELPFULLY, LIKE IT DOESN'T MATTER]

No, Paradox Space was definitely ready to let us die that time. Either she brought us back from death or pulled us from right before death and healed us. None of us remember waking up in our version of the afterlife so it's impossible to be sure.

[rootandbranch]

[well if Dirk's not worried about it, Geir's not going to be! though that's an explanation that salves his irritated sense of metaphysics somewhat, actually.]

Oh, right before you died would actually make more sense--!

[splinten]

It could, and I'd imagine it's easier. The other option isn't impossible, though, and maybe Qri's powers lend towards resurrection more readily than healing. We can't really say at this point

[But Geir can take the salve to his metaphysics.]

[rootandbranch]

We know Genette can heal. I don't think anyone's died yet, so I don't want to go assuming she can bring people back from the dead! I guess it'd be useful if someone in the coven-- but it's better not to chance it.

[Geir wonders idly for a moment if he could bring something back from the dead. the word "enlivening" seems like it would cover that, doesn't it? but there aren't any dead coven members around to test it on, and he sort of hopes there won't be. he doesn't know what he would do about that.]

Is that the weirdest thing we've heard of for people being brought here?

[splinten]

So far. I wouldn't discount there being stranger.

[rootandbranch]

Let's keep track of what strange situations people get brought from, then. It'll give us an idea of what her powers are. Do we know of anything else at all?

[alienates]

[ from the back: ]

If she could somehow save me before I died while I was being burned alive I would be really impressed.

[splinten]

[Dirk jerks his thumb at Karkat.]

And Vantas's point.

[imsorey]

[...PUTS...A HAND ON DIRK'S SHOULDER...what is your life and why is it worse than malevolence imploding the world]

Maybe it's a separate issue, but you might not want to go back to your world until we're sure. I'm not sure how this kind of stuff works but I wouldn't want it to kill you again just because you were supposed to be dead somehow.

[splinten]

[Is that. Is that a hand of comfort. This is so confusing.

Let's be practical instead. That's easier. ...Let's gloss over how they can't go back to their world EVER because the timeline is done for and they're going to be replaced by different versions of themselves. Sorey is clearly having a hard enough time with multiply-dead kids.]

Which raises the issue of potentially being sent back involuntarily.

[imsorey]

[being dead is sad and generally not okay, that is a hand of comfort. it is also to make sure he's not a ghost.]

The people who have gone missing, right? I was hoping they were just going home, but that was before this.

[splinten]

[comfort is weird. ghost check is hilarious]

It would be my guess for what happened to them.

[imsorey]

You had a few friends leave too, didn't you?

[it's an unspoken question, but, well, if they're dead too, in theory it's better to find a way to bring them back that leave them...dead...]

[splinten]

Yes. They would have gone back to the Dreambubbles. It's what we have as an afterlife.

[imsorey]

[Dreambubbles doesn't sound like a horrible or ominous afterlife, but he's wary of what he knows about their world because it all sounds bad]

...I'm sorry. However things ended up like that, it must have been terrible for all of you.

If they don't come back here on their own, then we can go and get them once we figure out how.

[splinten]

[They aren't so bad, but Cronus is there.]

Yeah. Thanks.

[Dirk seems a little withdrawn at that; poor Vern may catch some pretty unhappy emotions of misery, guilt, and self-loathing. He's trying to keep it tamped down though.]

[imsorey]

[the fact that he's withdrawn is noticeable enough, despite his typical stoicism. Sorey should keep his dumb protag mouth shut and leave it at that, but he can't help but go on.]

...I don't know everything about what happened, obviously, but I've heard enough from you and your friends to know that there probably isn't an easy solution like that. But...I think because we're someplace else entirely, there might be more opportunities to help than there were with just you guys. It's never too late to try and make things right, and you don't have to do it alone. It's something to think about, at least.

[splinten]

Yeah, who knows. We can talk to Qri about it and see. No point planning until we know for certain.

[The protag is trying here, and Dirk can appreciate that. But all the reasons he is scared of talking about here are things that he can't really get into.

Fortunately, they're low frequency, or Sorey might start worrying about Dirk turning into an enemy monster any second now.]

[imsorey]

[sometimes people just need to get the malevolence out of their system]

"Hope for the best and plan for the worst" isn't exactly the most optimistic approach to it, but it might be the best one for the situation. ...If I can help, let me know, okay?

[splinten]

Yeah, no problem.

[maybe. depending. Mikleo has told Dirk thinks about Sorey's processing of malevolence.]

[rootbound]

[pipes up from like, the top of Geir's head, where he is sitting to avoid too many feelings, because wow there seem to be a lot going on on the floor]

She said she could let you stay or go as you willed, didn't she, if she reached full power again, so that's...

Actually, that would be nefarious if everyone she brought here turned out to be dead originally, but I think you might be a minority right now.

Sorry that happened to you, by the by.

[splinten]

[At least Dirk's main feeling is a kind of resigned, 'Yup, sure am dead.']

It wasn't awesome.

[re: the dying. MOVING ON.]

You're right. The majority of people here seem to go back to their original worlds.

[rootbound]

I don't think anyone was saying it was.

[puts his chin on his folded arms; a little on edge at the discussion topic but nothing too bad]

It's a reason to actually cooperate with her for some, I suppose, if they don't want to go home for your reasons, or whatever other reasons. Though it's kind of nebulous as to how long it would take to power her back up again, anyway, and we don't have a guarantee of anyone really staying put forever in the meantime, so it's not...great.

[splinten]

No. The threat of sending us back would work best if she can also make assurances of keeping us here. So far, she hasn't offered and may not be able to.

Something for the questions, maybe.