hadriel | Fifth ☂ Voice

Hadriel.

[His address begins in a straightforward tone. The issues of the past few months are behind them, and they've eked out survival for awhile longer. Sorrow isn't optimistic, but he's not inclined to give up, either. He makes plans, he executes them, he lets things fall into place.

Which is the reason for this.]

Now that most of you know the truth, and now that it has been shown that these creatures will truly follow us to the ends of creation, I have decided to send two of us to scout the location we left behind and intercept with the forces of the machines there. Their purpose would be to gather information- how these inorganics continue to find us, how we might be able to thwart their technology in an attempt to escape for good.

Of the eight of us, there are four pairs which work better together than others. Hope has asked me to let you decide who is to go, but I warn you to consider your options carefully. The gods who leave will not have any events until they return, so we'll throw a large one for their departure.

[Sorrow takes a deep breath. Onto the selection.]

Hope and myself could go. This would leave you without replenishing food and water, as well as limited methods of revival... Hope is valuable, and I would do everything in my power to protect him, and I can also ensure that we're not discovered.

Your second option would be Confusion and Tranquility. The two of them are our builders, and without them, the city will not be repaired and their various contributions will not be functional. Confusion would be adept at avoiding capture, though detection is another story.

Thirdly are Fear and Love. Fear... [He sighs.] Fear operates best in the shadows, though he's still weakened- however, if he leaves, it will mean that we'd be left vulnerable if attacked again, as none of the rest of us can move the city. Love themself is... well, perhaps they can be used as a distraction if Fear needs to escape.

[Sorry, Love.]

Finally, you have Delight and Rage. Since Delight is no longer maintaining the bar, your only significant losses with both of them would be the ongoing deals any of you may have with each of them. The two of them are our most accomplished fighters and would be able to wrestle themselves out of an unfavorable situation, given the power they'd take on from their final event.

[So that's that.]

I welcome any questions you may have.

Poll #18323

This poll is closed.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 53

View Respondents

Who should go?

View Answers

Sorrow and Hope
4 (7.5%)

Confusion and Tranquility
22 (41.5%)

Fear and Love
5 (9.4%)

Rage and Delight
22 (41.5%)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't think it's stupid, I just think we've got different experience here.

[And he means that; there isn't anything really wrong with Will's points, and Chris agrees with a few of them, he just is pretty sure he has more and different experience that gives him another viewpoint.]

I've known Hope since I got here, and he's probably the god I've talked to the most. There's a good reason I'm worried about him and Sorrow not coming back, from things that've happened here before, and sure I don't doubt Sorrow'll try his best. Like, I'm sure he means it when he thinks they can get by undetected, but we can all mean a whole lot of things and have them turn out differently.

I just think the risk is too great to send the two of them, but you don't have to agree or anything. I just wanted to bring up a few points.

[Because he's getting the impression he's not actually going to change Will's mind, so arguing isn't going to benefit either of them.]

[ It's rich talking to Will Graham about viewpoint. The man is a walking, talking, bundle of empathy. He could assume the viewpoint of anyone, monster, human or else wise so he finds it both amusing and insulting to be told a few viewpoints.

Still, Will listened to Chris' words and lets them all sink in. ]

If this all goes horribly wrong, due to our choice, the fallout from the butterfly effect will be astounding. I just see minimizing a risk to those who are most suited for this expedition to be an obvious one.

[ Will sighed. The kid was just concerned about Hope, Will understood that but he didn't support it. ]

We can at least agree to disagree... I won't hold it against you if you vote for someone else to go instead.

[Chris has had this conversation--or one like it--more than once over his time in Hadriel, so he's pretty used to it at this point and has a good idea of when it's going nowhere. But he appreciates Will at least discussing it with him, especially since apparently other conversations aren't going quite as well.]

Yeah, believe me, I know the butterfly effect thing.

[Goddamn butterflies.]

Same. We've all got to make the best decisions we can, even if we don't agree on them. If there was a clear-cut right answer I don't think we'd've been asked to vote anyway.

[ It was true, they both just felt too strongly about their point of view. It was going know where.

Chris seemed like one of the more reasonable people in the City, Will noticed that he'd never really spoken to him until now. But that wasn't the main focus, he was more concerned with what other people seeing this would think of him? How it would effect his day to day life in the City. ]

Sounds silly, but I don't think this choice we're being given is even a choice at all. They've made up their minds, they don't need us to choose for them.

[Chris believes very strongly that working together is what's going to get everyone out of this mess, and that includes working with the gods as much as possible. So he's inclined to try to get everyone to get along, even if they don't always agree, and he's also just not the type to like conflict in general. So he does his very best to be reasonable.

He's not sure he agrees with Will's conclusion, but then again who really knows? Chris' experience leads him to believe the gods really are asking them because they want to know their opinions, although that's mostly only because Hope is behind it and, so far, Hope's always kept his word on going with their choices in the past.]

I um, I think that's true about some things, but I think this poll's probably legit. I mean, they did this about who to resurrect next and all that too, and always went with what we picked.

[ The more he spoke, the more sense Chris was making. It was true, the Gods had kept their word in the past. Will recalled the last few Gods being voted in and yes, they went with whoever the population voted for. So this was going to be the same and they would possibly be sending Gods out who Will didn't think were fit for the job. There was nothing he could possibly do to change it now.

However, Chris also brought up a point that would strengthen some of Will's points. If the Gods followed the poll and did as they said they were going to, then by all accounts Sorrow would keep his word and keep himself and Hope hidden?

No, no there was no use in arguing with Chris about it, he'd already made his position very clear. Instead, Will decided to let Chris out of the firing line, before he made another enemy. ]

They keep their word at least. That's one thing to be happy about I guess. still, I'm not changing my mind or my vote... I er, I hope this hasn't soured the pot too much...

[He offers a smile, even though it can't be seen; it's probably still clear enough in his voice.]

Nah, I'm sure you're still good. I mean, were you around for the whole fight about voting in Confusion? People got super pissed but everyone's over it now, aside from a jab here or there.

[That had definitely not been a popular choice, although Chris stands by having made it and so totally understands Will doing the same here.]

[ Will could feel the tension had calmed some, he even felt a little bad for how heated he allowed himself to get because of this. ]

Yea, I er, I've been around for a few God revivals actually and yes, I think I remember that one particular being a bit of a shit storm for lack of a better phrase.

[ Honestly, Will couldn't remember if he voted Confusion in or not, he tried not to get so involved back then... Maybe he should take a leaf out of his own, old book and back down now a little? ]

But yes, I er, I appreciate how you're talking to me about it... Can see anyone else being so levelheaded with me, so ... Thank you.

[Chris was already fine with the conversation, and so Will's last comment is just extra appreciated. It's always a pleasant surprised when someone is not only not a jerk, but actually nice about something.]

Hey, it's no problem. I mean, we're all in this together, and fighting with each other over this stuff isn't going to help any of us.

[Even when in serious disagreement over something that could be life or death it's not like anyone is making decisions to hurt each other, at least hopefully. It doesn't help anyone to make enemies.]

[ Will was still agitated, though talking to Chris now seemed a lot less heated. He was thankful of that. ]

Exactly. We need to look out for each other... Though my opinion on this seems to have more than just ruffled a few feathers, so I think I'm going to go make like an Ostrich and keep my head buried until this is all over.

[ He'll hang up now, strained and annoyed, tired from the unnecessary stress this day has brought. ]

Fifth ☂ Voice

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;

voice;