Seventh Inquiry [text]

[nottheanswers]

Too many attacks going around lately. Too many questions.

I intend to ask them.

[Encrypted to Heine Rammsteiner]

What can you tell me about the man you fought here?

[Video; open to all but Sanji]

[liarboo.livejournal.com]

So, our perverted love cook's birthday is coming up soon. He'll be turning 21 . . . which is weird because back home he already is 21 and now he's turning 21 here and he's not the same 21 here as he is 21 there and--

[He stops himself because it's really confusing him.]

Anyway, what should we do for Sanji? I should think of something special to do for him after the whole horse thing at least. I still don't think karma's forgiven me for that yet. Zoro, you should give him the gift of fixing our walls so I don't have to hear him yell at his stupid cooking shows.

xx; threshhold to [VIDEO - POLICE FILTER]

[soldieringblue]

[police filter? YES POLICE FILTER. A BIT LATE, TOO. PLEASE ASSUME THIS IS THE NIGHT OF THE 24TH AGAIN...

this is actually Yusuke's device at the moment - in fact, Yusuke's mug can be seen in the near-background. y'know. practically breathing down solja's neck to peer down at the feed too. said feed is just a wee bit shaky due in part to anxious hands.]

Please forgive me for contacting you this way, but - I need to know what has become of Keith Anyan. He just arrived, and he - [well. wait. police probably know that already. swallow that thought.]

I don't intend to interfere with your processes, but I must see him as soon as possible. He has information about my world...Something important may have changed, and I need to know. If I could be allowed to see him, even if only for a moment...

[head tilting down a bit.] Please.

006 [Text] Backdated to morning

[small-berserker.livejournal.com]

to everyone who is friends with him, nico was ported out. i found his communicator.

i need to go outside now. don't try to find me. it's not a good idea right now.



(ooc: Lily's control is wearing dangerously thin and she's about two steps shy of her berserker side right now. All replies will ICly be about 6-7 hours later and she'll be completely incommunicado until then. In the meantime, she'll be punching concrete.)

002. [Video]

[karkdestiny.livejournal.com]

Looks like this place hasn't blown itself up yet. Not sure if I'm disappointed or not.

...

Mara, you busy?

voice | filtered from His Wheeziness aka Vader

[answer2darkness.livejournal.com]

[[Qui-Gon sounds... tired. His voice is quiet and somewhat distant, as if the communicator is set off to the side.]]

A man I respected once told me that, despite our best efforts to connect with people, despite all that we do; we are ultimately alone, betrayed and used by those we wasted the effort of caring for. Truthfully, I do not believe that he was capable of understanding people as well as he would like to think. Perhaps not at all.

I used to wonder if, perhaps, he had experienced a profound loss at one time or another, and had coped by developing his... unique outlook. As I have grown older and dealt with loss and betrayal myself, however, that rationalization has not held up.

[[There's a soft shuffle of fabric, and a clattering against the comm's speaker. He continues as if nothing happened.]]

In the world I know best, not my own world but a small, small subsection of it, attachment is not valued. It is believed that the lengths to which one will go to maintain attachments would present too great a risk. too great a distraction, for people in our position. Even though our primary purpose is one of compassion, the compassionate connections which many others take for granted; children, lovers, brothers and sisters, are rendered illicit. When one feels a connection in the way that we do, I rationalize, it is assumed the loss of someone to whom one has grown close can shatter one's grip on rationality. I suspect that the tangible, quantifiable absence is the greatest threat to our stability of mind. That stability is necessary to our purpose, to keep the destructive potential of our abilities in check.

[[Silence for a moment, broken by that same shuffling, rustling sound.]]

I have always felt that the connection is worth it, the risk and the eventual pain. Attachment is inevitable, and to deny it may only exacerbate the slide into darkness when our hearts are eventually laid low by grief and anger. Without the light and support of others, without connections to fall back on, the mind becomes an echo chamber of despair.

[ voice ]

[prodigitalson.livejournal.com]

[No video this time, since all it would show is a jail cell. Instead, the voice feed comes on, and there's a moment's pause before Keith speaks.]

I was in my universe for a matter of days.

It doesn't matter here, but I've spoken of the system that ruled humanity in my world. Superior Domination.

[Emotion starts to seep into his voice--awkwardly, faintly, because he's not used to letting it. A trace of creeping disgust and old anger, slowly bubbling up.]

A network of computers that controlled each person's destiny from the moment they were born until the moment they died, erasing childhood memories and replacing them with false images of the Terra they were meant to serve. If they were not identified as having the Mu factor and eliminated.

It's gone. And I no longer obey its dictates, here or there.

I told--

[His voice hitches.]

--a friend recently that those who live fully have no regrets. It's natural to assume, then, that if you do have regrets...

No. I don't think there's any need to talk about that.