hadriel | one ✤ video

Hello.

[A man is standing before a stone wall - the wall of the cave, probably, though there aren't any distinguishing marks to show where, exactly, he might be. He seems calm, and his face is kind. He looks directly into the camera with no artifice.]

I have no doubt you were all surprised to find yourselves here. I apologize for the rather abrupt arrival - as it turns out, we have no control over who or what is brought here.

[And there, that's the slightest sign of frustration, or possibly annoyance. His mouth tightens.]

In any case, I've tried to make things comfortable for you - humans, is that correct? That's what you call yourselves? And the other things are bears, and they were not sentient [he says, as if it might have taken him a bit to realize], so I've made sure to push them out of the main part of the city. I'd rather you all not get eaten.

You can be useful to us, as it turns out, thanks to your capacity for feeling emotion. Not quite so well as the last ones, but it'll do. You can call me Hope, if you'd like, and if you could all try very hard to feel appropriately hopeful at all times, it would be extremely convenient. I need the energy to keep you fed and the power running - and for other things.

[Hope pauses for a moment, considering.]

While you all seem to be sentient, I'm not certain of your capacity for higher thought, so I'm really not sure explaining things will be much use. I'd rather not waste time explaining things you're not capable of comprehending. But for those who might be curious and wish to try to understand - some time ago a number of my companions died. I'd like to bring them back. For that, I need power, and for power, I need the emotions that you can give me. Hope, specifically.

[And he sighs, annoyance crossing his face again.]

Much to my dismay, of all my fellow - what would your kind call us? Gods? - only one has survived. Fear is here as well, and if you could all try not to give him your fear, it would make my life significantly easier. Just - don't be scared of things. Ignore him.

I suppose if you have any questions, you can ask, but you're not guaranteed an answer. In any case, welcome to Hadriel. I hope the food is palatable.

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I hope you realize that telling people not to be afraid just because it will help you isn't exactly going to do much to put them at ease. Most sane people just find that a little... worrying.

[Said Steve, so clearly it was true.]

If you brought us here, why not send us back? Those of us who want to go might not be feeling very hopeful at the moment.

Won't it? Is that how humans work? What odd little creatures you are.

[He sounds honestly interested for a moment.]

As I said, we have no control over who is brought here, and I have no idea how to send you back, so you might as well try to be useful.

[Well... that was incredibly condescending. It showed in the look Steve gave 'Hope'.]

Another thing you might want to take a bit to figure out is that we humans don't do so well with being told how to feel. That's not how emotions work.

[It either goes right past him or he deliberately ignores it, because he doesn't react. Human expressions, man, how do they work?]

Yes, it seems that's the case. That's going to make things more difficult, but at least Fear will have to work for it, too.

Not nearly as hard. You take people and put them in an unfamiliar situation with little to keep themselves safe with, fear is a safe bet as to where they're going to go first.

[People other than Steve, that was.]

He always does have things easier.

[Hope sighs. It's so unfair.]

But as I've said, I didn't choose to bring you here. I just have to work with what I've got.

Fine, you didn't choose to bring us here, but can you send us back? If you wanted to? Are you and your... friend the reason we're here?

First of all, he is not my friend. We're merely - here together, nothing more. And secondly, no, I can't send you back. This is all his fault, I won't be blamed for his stupid mistakes.

Would you mind clarifying that a little? How is this his fault? How did any of this even happen?

[Answers were good. Answers were, hopefully, things he could work with, build on, make something out of. He just had to hope this guy was telling the truth.]

He messed with something he shouldn't have, and now you're all here. And the bears, too, and who knows what else. It's really a headache.

So we're here because he pushed a button he shouldn't have? You guys have to have some kind of... back up plan for that, right?

[He had a feeling the answer was no.]

It was something he really shouldn't have done, so why would we have a backup plan?

[Sigh.]

Fear is a fool.

Logic? If you have something that can do what your... whatever it is was capable of doing to bring us here, you might want to look into a way to reverse it.

[But, sounded more like whoever it was that set this up was like most scientists and manufacturers he knew. More focused on the end result and not on the damage it could do.]

I didn't even know what it was capable of until he decided to cause trouble. It's not so easy to reverse something like that.

I'd suggest putting effort into figuring out the reversal process instead of expecting anyone here to just sit and think happy thoughts.

Oh, we'll give it a try. But now that you're here, we might as well make use of you.

[It was the flippant response that had him frowning again, eyeing Hope like he sort of wanted to have this conversation in person.]

We're not things or tools to be made use of. You'll get a lot further getting any help from us if you actually try treating us like people.

But I don't need help from you. All I need are your emotions.

Right, you said that. But if you want the right ones and not a bunch of people disliking you, which doesn't feel very hopeful to me, you might want to try playing nice.

I don't see how this is not nice. I've given you food, water, and shelter. You're quite a demanding human.

We're not pets. We're living, breathing, sentient creatures. I can't speak for the others, but I don't particularly like being condescended to or treated as lesser.

I see. I'll make a note of that. But there's nothing wrong with acknowledging when your species is less than another.

Depends on the viewpoint. From where I'm standing, you're not exactly looking so superior.

[Someone was being rude, and it wasn't Steve. Okay, maybe it was a little bit Steve...]

Oh, I'm sure you'll understand soon enough.

[His tone is helpful, reasonably pleasant - like he doesn't quite get the rudeness. Which, well, he doesn't. Hope's still a novice at human expressions and vocal tones.]

[Hope's going to have to figure it out soon if he plans on recruiting anyone to his cause, whether it lines up with their own or not.]

That sounds... ominous.

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