I was talking to Shiro, and he mentioned some stuff about the place he was before, the Coven. And some things that happened. He said you were one of the people there with him.
I guess it's probably not a great subject, but I'm curious. That Qri person sounded... terrible.
But. Do you think this Witch is actually different?
[ this conversation could go in so many directions, and while it may not be exactly what riza wants to focus on now that she's finally - physically - healed from it all, she also sees no reason but to be entirely honest with him. ]
Yes and no.
It's too much of a coincidence that there are Witches willing to use universe-breaking powers to bring people, against their will, to do their bidding.
But Astoria has already proven herself different from Qri. She has shown herself to us, she has opened communication with us- neither which Qri did. Qri spoke through others, yes, but never actually communicated to any of us.
Yeah. I suppose that's a step in the right direction.
Except for the kidnapping part. I'm still pretty pissed about that.
I guess... I don't know. I've got some trust issues. I'm not sure how much good we actually did in El Minha, and I can't shake the feeling that this Witch is more than she's told us. Like there's another shoe that's gotta drop eventually.
[So sometimes his cynicism borders on paranoia. He's not always wrong.]
Qri had also kidnapped us, before. Another thing the two have in common. But the truth is- I don't trust Astoria. I don't appreciate being told where to go and what to do, no matter if it's for good or not.
Whether or not we did good in El Minha doesn't matter- we may have helped, or we may have caused the instability. Either way, we were asked to interfere in a place and a culture that wasn't ours, by someone who was also a foreigner.
[ riza will help people and riza will do her part, but she is also a soldier and is used to completing orders she doesn't quite believe in. ]
Yeah, we were sent there whether they wanted our help or not. And we had no... background, understanding. Anything.
I don't trust her either.
But I don't know what's going to happen. Either she is what she says, or eventually the benevolent good witch charade is going to come crumbling down. Maybe she's just trying to get us to trust her. Someone with that much power... and all we have to go on is her word.
Shiro told me some... bad things... that the Coven ran into. They sounded really awful, actually. Were there any warning signs before? It sounds like this Qri was never as communicative as Astoria, but... things didn't start out as dangerous and bad as they ended... did they?
[ there is so much about keith that reminds her of a younger, more bright-eyed roy and she is just going to keep that to herself!!!! ]
Her word and the knowledge that she'll pull us along no matter if we want to be pulled along or not.
[ and then- ah. yes. there's what she was expecting to talk about since the beginning of this conversation. ]
There were quite a few people from the Coven who had been there much longer than the General and I had. But of the experiences we did go through- no. Or at least, not really. There was a general unease and uncertainty to us as a whole, but nothing that lent itself to what happened.
There's that too. We're definitely along for the ride, but at least so far once we're there we were left to our own choices and actions.
[So far. His cynicism is showing. It usually is.]
Not gonna lie, I was really hoping there were some sort of warning signs. But I guess that means we keep our eyes open. No matter how rosy Astoria tries to paint all this.
That is the catch- we can technically do whatever it is we would like to do when she sends us out like that. She wasn't in El Minha at all- which could mean it really is up to our own decisions on what happens.
Not enough of them, if there were. One moment everything was fine, another a list of our names were being read over the broadcast system.
You always need to be on your guard in these types of situations. It's usually the most comfortable-feeling places that are the most dangerous.
So far, yeah. So far our hands haven't really been forced.
Sounds like good advice. Not comforting advice, but real advice usually isn't.
There are just... a lot of moving parts with all this. And we're gonna wind up dropped somewhere else before we know it. Right now we're still trying to figure each other out on top of everything. I guess that's the one part we do have some control over. We're pretty far from being a team at this point, but we could all learn how to work together better.
I'm sorry. I tend to air on the side of realistic more than comforting.
It's a tactic that works- you keep the populous moving and they'll never really have the time to settle and start poking around at things. It'll be one world, then a break, then another, if this is anything like what we went through before.
Pulling together and working together is going to be the only way any of us will survive. It's just a matter of convincing a lot of strangers to learn to trust each other.
Realistic is way more comforting than sugar coating. That's what I think too. We've got no guarantees about any of this, and no real evidence of how far we can trust this Witch.
Yeah, that's the trick. We weren't ready for what happened in El Minha. It took us too long to react, in the end. And it wasn't a cohesive reaction. We're going to need to do better if something worse or more dangerous comes along.
El Minha was also the first world we've been to, with Astoria at the helm. There's no telling how dangerous the next one will be, or what we'll need to be prepared for.
But not everyone thinks that way, either. We have an entire crew of people here against there will who are all going to take this very differently.
Not until we're there. And even then, any dangers may not be immediately obvious.
You've got a point there. We're not a team, not by a long shot. And none of us asked for this; even the people who are on board with the Witch's plan didn't volunteer for this. We've got a lot of obstacles, that's for certain.
And it's going to take everyone who is trapped here to get passed those differences to get anything done.
There were people in the Coven - the witch from before - who were there for months, almost a year, and didn't have much more to say it for it other than experience. No information, no plan to get out, nothing.
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If you've got time. I've got a couple questions.
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And yes- I've got time. What are your questions?
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I guess it's probably not a great subject, but I'm curious. That Qri person sounded... terrible.
But. Do you think this Witch is actually different?
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Yes and no.
It's too much of a coincidence that there are Witches willing to use universe-breaking powers to bring people, against their will, to do their bidding.
But Astoria has already proven herself different from Qri.
She has shown herself to us, she has opened communication with us- neither which Qri did.
Qri spoke through others, yes, but never actually communicated to any of us.
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Except for the kidnapping part. I'm still pretty pissed about that.
I guess... I don't know. I've got some trust issues. I'm not sure how much good we actually did in El Minha, and I can't shake the feeling that this Witch is more than she's told us. Like there's another shoe that's gotta drop eventually.
[So sometimes his cynicism borders on paranoia. He's not always wrong.]
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But the truth is- I don't trust Astoria.
I don't appreciate being told where to go and what to do, no matter if it's for good or not.
Whether or not we did good in El Minha doesn't matter- we may have helped, or we may have caused the instability.
Either way, we were asked to interfere in a place and a culture that wasn't ours, by someone who was also a foreigner.
[ riza will help people and riza will do her part, but she is also a soldier and is used to completing orders she doesn't quite believe in. ]
What do you think is going to happen?
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I don't trust her either.
But I don't know what's going to happen. Either she is what she says, or eventually the benevolent good witch charade is going to come crumbling down. Maybe she's just trying to get us to trust her. Someone with that much power... and all we have to go on is her word.
Shiro told me some... bad things... that the Coven ran into. They sounded really awful, actually. Were there any warning signs before? It sounds like this Qri was never as communicative as Astoria, but... things didn't start out as dangerous and bad as they ended... did they?
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Her word and the knowledge that she'll pull us along no matter if we want to be pulled along or not.
[ and then- ah. yes. there's what she was expecting to talk about since the beginning of this conversation. ]
There were quite a few people from the Coven who had been there much longer than the General and I had. But of the experiences we did go through- no. Or at least, not really. There was a general unease and uncertainty to us as a whole, but nothing that lent itself to what happened.
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[So far. His cynicism is showing. It usually is.]
Not gonna lie, I was really hoping there were some sort of warning signs. But I guess that means we keep our eyes open. No matter how rosy Astoria tries to paint all this.
text
Not enough of them, if there were. One moment everything was fine, another a list of our names were being read over the broadcast system.
You always need to be on your guard in these types of situations. It's usually the most comfortable-feeling places that are the most dangerous.
text
Sounds like good advice. Not comforting advice, but real advice usually isn't.
There are just... a lot of moving parts with all this. And we're gonna wind up dropped somewhere else before we know it. Right now we're still trying to figure each other out on top of everything. I guess that's the one part we do have some control over. We're pretty far from being a team at this point, but we could all learn how to work together better.
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I'm sorry. I tend to air on the side of realistic more than comforting.
It's a tactic that works- you keep the populous moving and they'll never really have the time to settle and start poking around at things. It'll be one world, then a break, then another, if this is anything like what we went through before.
Pulling together and working together is going to be the only way any of us will survive. It's just a matter of convincing a lot of strangers to learn to trust each other.
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Realistic is way more comforting than sugar coating. That's what I think too. We've got no guarantees about any of this, and no real evidence of how far we can trust this Witch.
Yeah, that's the trick. We weren't ready for what happened in El Minha. It took us too long to react, in the end. And it wasn't a cohesive reaction. We're going to need to do better if something worse or more dangerous comes along.
text
But not everyone thinks that way, either. We have an entire crew of people here against there will who are all going to take this very differently.
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Not until we're there. And even then, any dangers may not be immediately obvious.
You've got a point there. We're not a team, not by a long shot. And none of us asked for this; even the people who are on board with the Witch's plan didn't volunteer for this. We've got a lot of obstacles, that's for certain.
text
There were people in the Coven - the witch from before - who were there for months, almost a year, and didn't have much more to say it for it other than experience. No information, no plan to get out, nothing.