[text/voice]

[sweariff]

[Broadcasting may as well be launching this thing into the sky on an exploratory trip to the moon, but in all honesty, it's not like Bigby has ever tried. Not like this. It's weird knowing that you hold something that can connect you to so many people in ways an ordinary phone can't without it being the slightest bit magical, but that's just technology for you. Either he keeps up or he flounders, and floundering in a place like this might as well be laying down to die. A little dramatic, maybe, but the point still stands.]

got a question
a couple questions

[—And hoo boy, something tells him he's going to get sore fingers if he sticks with this, so uh. How about— Good, okay. Well, at least he can now safely say that recording with this thing isn't as intimidating as it looks. Small victory. For a few moments after the mic is switched on, Bigby lapses into an uneasy, thoughtful silence before finally and slowly speaking.]

There's no easy way to ask this, but it's been something I've been curious about the longer I've heard people talk about the — "gods", or whatever the hell they are. Magical assholes, sure, but. I get the feeling that for some of you they're a little more than that. [He sounds like he isn't sure if that's a good or bad thing.]

Magic isn't...all that special where I'm from, so to speak. Neither are wars like these where there's no easy way out for anyone and just about everyone's going to be dealt a shitty hand they didn't deserve. What I'm trying to say is that, when you're that scared, you'll wheel and deal just about every which way for a chance to win.

[He says it without much judgment. After all, he's speaking from experience. He'd be a big old hypocrite if he played the disdain card now.]

And what I'm asking is, I guess, how far any of you are willing to take this on their behalf. Even knowing that there's no guarantee they'll send any of us home when this ends, do you still want to take that chance? Or do any of you actually care about them and... [This would be a little more effective if the camera was on, so there's no real way to tell that Bigby is gesturing to his surroundings, save for the little pause he takes.] ...All of this?

[...Wow, he really does suck at articulating himself, huh. Serves him right for rambling.]

Comments

[Text]

[drabsolutelynot]

Short Answer? I can't bring myself to care about what happens to them.

[sweariff]

can't say i blame you
this isn't something anyone should be forced into, especially without knowing the full story from the start

audio

[skycall]

[ Alice has given this as much thought as she can. She's read through the guide, gotten snippets of information from reading through conversations and listening in, but no creature that calls itself 'god' can be a good one nor are things named the Null. It all screams, to her, they're the first on the lines of self-defense between two factions they don't belong with.

It bothers her more than she can say but, as always, she is polite, careful with her words. Gentle, even, despite the matter(s) at hand. ]

I feel... as if the question isn't an answer any could possibly provide. Those of us new, we're still adjusting; we're uncertain and confused and caught between things we cannot understand. I will admit that I do not trust the Null though I cannot say that I trust these deities, either.

One, I fear, may be the better option, however. [ A quiet pause ] We are what the gods of this place require. The Null do not need us.

audio

[sweariff]

[It's a good approach, different from the calls for blood he was expecting, so it takes him a little off guard. It helps that everything she's saying sounds so reasonable.]

I know. If anything, we're in their way. And if their endgame is to get rid of anything that can feel emotion, that would make us their enemies too.

[Or at the very least an anomaly that needs to be corrected, which raises so many frightening implications that make dying seem so minor by comparison.]

It's just— Fuck. [He can't even bother to hide how fucking frustrated he feels, how trapped, and not least of all because of the similarities this has with the Adversary. It's a horrible, helpless feeling that he hasn't experienced in some time.]

[Audio]

[pyralisit]

What a question. And I don't think you even truly understand how complicated the answers are. [There's a pause while Cal inhales and exhales slowly, probably smoking.]

I don't give a single fuck about most of them. As much as I believe they like to think they're saving or protecting us from some mystical mysterious manifestation, it's been our own damn work keeping us alive in here. Not to mention to fucking games they like to play. I hate them and I hate their damn cave and I believe you might be hard pressed to find any person who doesn't.

And yet the things I've received just by being here make it worthwhile to stay--preferable, even. Given a choice, I'm not going back.

[Audio]

[sweariff]

Then that's enough.

[And he believes it. Might not agree with it 100%, but their circumstances aren't altogether that much different. Once you make a home, it's yours for life — even if it's not the one you started out with.]

Honestly, the idea of people being split on this for all the wrong reasons bothers me just as much as those assholes using us. It's bad enough that they never planned on being upfront about this 'til those monsters started knocking on their door, but thinking that it's actually getting them sympathy, after all the shit they've been pulling—

Audio;

[yearrounder]

I guess it depends what they want. There's not really a way to fight gods. No one likes it and Id rather they all just left us alone, but that's just how it is.

Audio;

[sweariff]

Well, I wouldn't say that. There's a way, there always is, but the price is always steep. I don't think any of us have enough to front that particular bill.

[Yet.]

[Voice]

[lifetothefullest]

At this point I think it's less a matter of fighting for the gods, and more a matter of choosing the side that has any incentive to keep us alive.

[Which happens to be the gods' side. Lance is not interested in their agenda or them personally, but he is interested in not being horribly murdered again because he's in the way of someone else' goal as he thinks would be the case for the Null.]

[Voice]

[sweariff]

Stingy magical assholes with uncontrollable egos versus psychotic robots. Rock, meet hard place.

[private]

[einselective]

I would have thought after interjecting in other people's conversations you of all people might have actually thought about the situation. There's much more at risk than just our own lives.

Voice

[toiletseat_girl]

I never believed in gods when I was alive. Fuck if I'm gonna start now.

Voice

[sweariff]

How's that working out for you? [Not too well, he's guessing.]

Audio

[knifecollecting]

[Since the Null's broadcast Jo has been trying to decide how she would answer this very question. She wants...]

I just want everyone to stay alive.

Audio

[sweariff]

You and everyone else.

[Even if they all don't see eye to eye on this, the one thing he thinks everyone can agree on is survival. It's not a complex concept; it is, at its core, the most animal one there is, so of course he can relate even if he didn't factor in all the rest of the emotional baggage.]

[voice]

[prazerbutterfly]

[He won't answer the first question because he already expressed his views and what he would do if pushed to that extreme of a solution in order to go home or get rid of these gods. He was the type Bigby would throw down the well at home.

He rather hates these phones as such technology didn't exist in the 1890s. They took out all that personal face to face contact.]

I have no love for these 'gods'. They are the same as any other. We are their food and they maintain our health if only to feed from us to the full potential.

[voice]

[sweariff]

I don't think I've ever heard of any going through this much effort just for food, especially when they never have to worry about running out. Maybe they'd never admit it, but we're a little more valuable than that.

[It's not like he completely disagrees with that opinion, though; if gods can be called one thing and one thing only, it's selfish.]

Audio;;

[restinglichface]

I don't know anything about them, but they sure fucked with the wrong family, I'll tell you that. There's no fucking way I'd do anything for their sake.

[They messed with her brother, so they are going down.]

Audio;;

[sweariff]

[That gets a crack of a smile out of him, which she may be able to tell from his tone if she's a good enough judge of that kind of thing.]

Well, take a ticket. You're not the only one who wants a crack at them.

[Though for everyone's benefit, he's willing to wait until they get all their other problems sorted out. One thing at a time.]

text;

[occupiesvitalregions]

i hate them

we get dragged here against our will, and they do shitty things to us just to suck up the energy from our emotional reactions

the Null called them parasites and i can't disagree

basically i'd do anything if it'd help us get free of them. but they're the ones giving us supplies inside a cave cut off from the rest of the universe, so we're stuck with them

text;

[sweariff]

the null also made it clear that anyone who feels emotion is a parasite
we can't really trust them to be on the same page with us here

that and it's not totally give and take
like you said, we're getting our food from them. if they were that heartless we'd have to hash it out amongst ourselves like actual cavepeople

[text]

[murderpotato]

i dont know if you fuckin noticed, wolf, but neither side's offerin us all that much of a deal

i guess ill take the devils i know if i gotta pick, but i aint gonna stick my fuckin neck out for them

[text]

[sweariff]

we're at the point where our lives are sorta tied with theirs
if they die, we'll die
and even if WE don't die, whatever those machine motherfuckers can do is likely to be just as bad if not worse than dying

call it a lucky fucking guess

audio

[hasitsthorns]

[ This isn't about staying alive for Rose anymore. It's not about... picking the 'winning' side.

It's so much more than that. ]

I'm on the gods' side because they're on mine. People say they're cruel and, yeah, maybe they are sometimes. But they've also told me I'm needed, that they want me to keep my chin up. They've been kind to me and I don't see them as just heartless deities using us as emotional batteries like so many here do.

I know they feel like they do what they must. When you've got your back against the wall - in their case, being the last of their race - and desperate you'll do anything to stay alive. I get that. I've been that kind of monster. So I can't fault them for it.

I'd do probably anything for them at this point. People have told me I've drank the kool-aid, I've been brainwashed, or gotten Stockholm syndrome, and... Maybe that's not entirely untrue. But either way, it doesn't change how I feel. I don't have anywhere to go either. I'm dead in two worlds over. So if I can stay here, with them, and feel like maybe my life has a little meaning again by helping them repopulate I will.

audio

[sweariff]

I get what you're saying, I really do. There's never an easy way out if there is an out at all, because if there was, no one would choose this. [Not even he would have back in the Homelands when he was still so angry, so wild, looking for something to blame if not something to hurt.] No one would choose to humiliate themselves by cowering and hiding. No one would ever want to be alone.

[But.]

I know there isn't a right way to do this, and I'm not sure if there ever will be, but you can't tell me that what they're doing hasn't been needlessly cruel and completely pointless, when they're given us absolutely no reason to believe that any of it is helping.

Maybe they have a good fucking reason to be doing the things they're doing, but that shouldn't be their get-out-of-jail-free card. They need to answer for their crimes like anyone else.

Text

[requiemshark]

Not my war.

Personally, I'll be going with the winning side. Haven't decided which one looks better just yet.

text

[sweariff]

gee how sensible of you

[text]

[sciencelizard]

i dont know about trusting the gods
but i dont know about trusting the null either
i dont
i dont think either of them are wholly good or bad
some of the gods have been kind and i think some do care

i dont know if were anyones priority right now

audio

[pocketspa]

Nah. Those turbo-liches aren't getting anything from me. My list of shit I trust is at like one, maybe three people, and if they think they're gonna come beggin' for my help they've got some Fantasy Disappointment heading their way.

[He'll go down swinging for his own life, and that of his family. Everyone else at this point can burn.]

audio

[sweariff]

I wonder if they actually have a Disappointment kicking around here somewhere. Feels like that's all anyone is capable of feeling here. They wouldn't even have to bother squeezing emotions from us.

voice

[notimpervious]

[Brennan thinks on this for a long while before replying in the most succint way she can. Which admittedly is not very succinct at all, but she tries.]

All I want is to return to my family. I do not know yet who is more likely to grant me that. From what I gather, these... Null, are opposed to feeling emotions. They are completely rational beings.

[She pauses, giving a quiet sigh.]

I have seen firsthand how an existence like that can go wrong. So as it stands, if forced to choose a side, it would seem that at the very least, these so-called gods are more likely to provide for my continued survival. That is better than death.

Audio

[elegant_and_proud]

The gods have a vested self-interest in keeping all of us alive. The Null have considered wiping all of us out a viable option, even when presented with other reasonable solutions. All they said was that they would consider those options that would allow us to live.

Audio

[sweariff]

That was pretty telling of where their priorities really lie, yeah.

If they can be— [He searches for the right word.] —"infected" with emotion, that means that any being with the capacity to feel would be their enemy. On the other hand, depending on how much they know about us and how many people are in these caves, they might realize it'd be more beneficial to keep us alive for the same reason the gods are.

It's a little hard to tell, but I'm guessing the chances of that happening aren't as likely.