eleven ✤ voice

[lingeringhope]

I appreciate the vote of confidence, though I do understand that it was more for Sorrow than for myself. Nevertheless, we will be undertaking an investigation shortly. Our main goal is to uncover any allies the Null have in the city - this should be no surprise.

However, I will admit that we have not conducted an investigation such as this before. Our kind never had any need to. As such, we would appreciate any constructive input you would like to give, as well as any assistance you may wish to offer. We have discussed this and decided on a course of action already, but Sorrow and I have agreed that some of you may have more experience with this sort of thing. It would be foolish of us to ignore that. We are listening to your suggestions.

However, please note that I said constructive input.

Comments

voice.

[torrefied]

[Sure, OK, constructive criticism.]

Don't.

voice.

[lingeringhope]

Don't investigate?

Voice;

[restinglichface]

Is this a bit? Are we being fantasy Punk'd?

Because asking the people you want to interrogate for interrogation tips seems pretty.... stupid.

Voice;

[lingeringhope]

Not particularly. Any information we get will be helpful. I did not say we would definitely implement suggestions.

[fifthreturned]

I still think we should try my idea.

[thirdreturned]

No.

[Simple.]

We've discussed this. It isn't an option.

voice;

[closerift]

[ :l ]

Are you two alone acting as judge, jury, and executioner?

voice;

[lingeringhope]

We alone are acting as investigators, as you all chose. We are searching for information.

[voice]

[circumitus]

What do you plan to do with anyone you suspect is allied with the Null?

[voice]

[lingeringhope]

This investigation is meant to uncover facts. The consequences of that are still under discussion.

You are welcome to provide your input on that, as well.

voice.

[dedikated]

Avoid torture.

( Thanks Kate. )

voice.

[lingeringhope]

If you believe that I would allow torture, you have little understanding of my character.

[einselective]

You shouldn't be surprised if your captives would rather see you dead.

Sorrow is entirely capable of solving your self-inflicted 'problems' by returning those who don't want to be here to their homes. Otherwise, the Null will always have allies in the city regardless of what steps you take.

[thirdreturned]

Are you still under the impression that I am capable of returning you on a case-by-case basis?

[He's not impressed.]

[voice]

[pocketspa]

Yeeeeah, so, you know this doesn't help your whole "we're your friends" gambit, right? 'Cause asking the prisoners how they'd like to be dealt with is only gonna lead to bullshit answers.

[voice]

[lingeringhope]

I am not your friend and have no interest in being one. Many times, you have all asked to be used as resources beyond your capacity to produce emotion. Now I am doing so.

voice;

[the_fourteenth]

You suspect someone among us is allied with the Null?

[That seems stupid, in his opinion.]

... If that's the case, asking us how to proceed on how to investigate ourselves isn't very wise.

voice;

[lingeringhope]

We are aware that some of you are considering alliance or have already offered to help them. We are also aware that the Null have a conduit in the city. Some of you may have knowledge about that.

And I would disagree. At the very least, we will learn something from this.

[beanstalk]

Yeah, good luck on getting people to be constructive.

[lingeringhope]

I am not expecting much. However, people have requested to provide help for some time - I am hopeful that those will prove to have not been hollow words.

[voice]

[hot_mes]

[you know, he'll bite. He hasn't talked to any of these so-called gods yet, might as well]

You've already tipped your hand. To investigate a closed population, you have to do it without their knowledge. Walk among them as one of them, talk to them, read what they've written and listen to their conversations with each other. But the instant they know what you're there to do, it's over.

[aaaand then the sarcasm:] Your investigation failed before it even started.

[voice]

[lingeringhope]

That is simply foolish. You are saying that all investigations in your world are only successful if no one knows they are happening? I believe there are benefits to both telling people and not. In this case, there was little choice.

video;

[therewillbeorder]

Oh for the love of the Emperor, this is ridiculous.

Would you blame anyone for wanting you gotten rid of since you feed off of our emotions like parasites?

video;

[lingeringhope]

This is a very foolish question.

text to speech robot voice;

[radiopalkiller]

[ Witch hunt for the traitor. That takes him back to Wonderland. In a strictly metaphorical way. Which... is pretty bloody useless. ]

The more interesting question is what you're going to do with those allies once you've got them.

voice;

[lingeringhope]

We are undecided, but we will take suggestions on that point, as well.

Voice

[knifecollecting]

[Jo had hoped they wouldn't go through with it. She really had.]

You really think this is a good idea?

Voice

[lingeringhope]

There is no alternative.

voice;

[weedbgon]

N-- alright, whichever one you are. Investigator.

My name's Merle Highchurch, and I'd like to sell ya on a little spell called Zone of Truth.

voice;

[lingeringhope]

I am listening.

[farmboyjedi]

I'm just glad I found out the truth before it was too late.

[lingeringhope]

What do you mean?

[evocation]

So you guys trapped us here so you can fuck with us and snack on our emotions, and now you want neat tips and tricks on how to interrogate us? You're kidding, right?

[lingeringhope]

No, this request is an honest one.

The rest of your statement doesn't bear addressing.

voice;

[nonscriptum]

Have you tried sending out a survey?

[This has all the trappings of something reasonable, something logical, and something unexpected from Nate, who tends to be a wise-ass approximately 99% of the time.]

Something like..."How would you like to be tortured for information?" A.) Thumbscrews, B.) the rack, C.) waterboarding, or D.) listening to you talk?

[The narration stands corrected.]

voice;

[lingeringhope]

Thank you for your input, but I am not interested in the jokes of someone who desecrates graves and then laughs about it.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Sorry, that snerk is Curufin reacting to Philip's Demi Moore quote. And Nathan Drake's comment! His shoulders are shaking with laughter. ]

Philip is right, you know.

[ Not that he wants to see people go back who can't safely return to their own worlds. But the gods won't listen, or haven't yet, and so he can afford to say it. ]

[ More seriously. ] This rooting-out-evil approach won't work. It'll only set your feet on the path of destruction.

[lingeringhope]

What is your suggestion, then?

[Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

I uh, talked to Fear a little bit about this when he made his post but I don't know if he like... Relayed anything to you, but um... My main advice here is not to be like, too antagonistic. I mean, I definitely get that this is not exactly the sort of thing you want to be nice about, but at least most of the people who are siding with the Null are doing so because they really think that's the best option for them. So um, scaring or upsetting them or whatever will just make them more likely to take the Null's side, not less.

[He doesn't exactly think Hope'll let Sorrow get too carried away, but this is still kind of a delicate situation.]

[Video]

[lingeringhope]

Thank you, Chris. I do not want to turn this into an adversarial confrontation, which seems to happen with some regularity no matter what any of us tries to do. I don't think I am a particularly frightening presence, but I'll speak to Sorrow about modulating our approach based on the circumstances.

voice

[demonsional]

[Hayden is raising his hand like a student waiting to be called on. He, of course, can't be seen, and he realizes this at some point and just starts talking. But his hand is still in the air where ever it is that he is.]

I have a suggestion!

[And it's gonna be a good one. A suggestion from someone who definitely understands what all of this is about and isn't just trying to be polite and not sound angry or sassy like a lot of the other responses.]

People respond well to positive reinforcement and also treats!

[He's never interrogated or investigated anyone.]

voice

[lingeringhope]

Oh?

[He is interested.]

What sort of treats?

voice; private

[claritatis]

[Ignis rarely uses the network for anything beyond idle chat and small talk. He became aware very early on that everything he said could be monitored and he has spent long enough already trying to keep information out of enemy hands that it has become second nature.

But here is one of them, these beings that so many call gods, and Ignis can no longer hold down his curiosity.

At first he just observes, to get the measure of who he's dealing with. He watches the initial responses and notes the thinly - and sometimes not so thinly - veiled hostility contained in them.]

I beg your pardon. My time here thus far has been relatively short, so I wonder if you might indulge me with answers to some questions... I find it beneficial to go as close to the source as possible when seeking accurate information.

[He isn't sure how this will be received. Hope may just be annoyed by the request.]

Of course, I would be happy to lend some of my assistance to you in return.

[Fair's fair.]

voice; private

[lingeringhope]

[Not coming at Hope with a barrage of hostile questions is, generally, a great way to start - at least from Hope's perspective.]

Ask whatever you'd like. I will try to answer, if I have the information to do so.

voice; private

[hasitsthorns]

Are... both of you going to be investigating everyone together?

[ Not that she minds, since. She has no reason to not trust Hope so far, but is undeniably more trusting and comfortable with the other half of the investigation team. ]

And I hope that you wouldn't, but. [ A pause. This is a little difficult to speak of, more than even she anticipated. ] Yao used to, uh. Manipulate people, sometimes, if they didn't just outright torture them. Promise them things they couldn't or tell people what they wanted to hear to convince them to join their side or spill the truth about stuff.

So maybe try to avoid anything like that. Not that I think you would since that's technically 'false hope' and I know you're the genuine deal, dude.

voice; private

[lingeringhope]

We will likely do it separately, in order to get more done. However, we'll be conferring together about each move we make.

[Which will probably turn out to be Sorrow making smart but harsh decisions and Hope arguing for the choices that are nicer to people.]

I don't think that I would be very good at that even if I wished to do it. For deception like that, Confusion or even Tranquility would have been a better choice. I believe we'll be more straightforward.

Thank you for your input, however. It is helpful.

[audio, private]

[synthedick]

You might have some of us with experience in this sort of thing help you when it comes to an actual investigation. The trick is knowing who among us to trust.

[audio, private]

[lingeringhope]

Yes. We are open to assistance, but would not want to force anyone to do anything - and of course, trust is the real issue.

[Video]

[imhisaunt]

Well, on the television they usually have two people investigate: a nice person and a mean person. They call it 'good cop, bad cop' and it always works for the people on the tv.

[He's helping]

[Video]

[lingeringhope]

I see. One of us would act mean and one nice? I suppose we could try that. I don't know how effective it would be.