[3] video (post Delight's event)

[krangke]

(Newt's sitting cross-legged on the floor and has his phone set up to be set on him in a very steady image. He's got a sheet of paper with what looks like a map drawn on it next to another, slightly more different map. For anyone who bothers to look at the floor anyway. Newt, however, is not looking at the floor but at the camera itself.)

You know, I've been thinkin' bout the monsters here lately. Went explorin' out in the caves the other night and I kinda realized something. I know it's gonna sound bloody insane but hear me out.

I kind of feel for the monsters. I mean, think about it. They're being treated just as unfairly as all of us, aren't they? They were dragged outta their worlds too and thrown into this place. I know they're violent but they don't seem...that bad? Mostly they stick to the caves and yet we go on in there slaughtering them all of the time and not always for food. Maybe I'm wrong but...that doesn't feel right to me somehow. Throwing all these creatures into a small section of this place then just tearing them apart because the gods tell us they'll give us rewards for it.

And trust me, I'm no bloody saint there - I'm guilty of it too but now that I've taken a step back and really thought about it, I have no idea why I ever thought that was okay. They're not robots. They're living creatures. They feel pain too, don't they?

(Newt frowns, twisting at the ends of his sleeves.)

Half the time- no. More than half of the time they don't even do anything to us. So maybe we should stop killing them unless it's for food. I 'unno.

(He sighs, looking off to the side of his room. Maybe he doesn't understand the world enough to understand something like that. But then he looks as if he's remembered something and grabs the two pieces of paper and holds them up to the camera so that everyone can see. The maps are of the tunnels.

Except one is different.)

By the way, the tunnels change. Discovered that. I'm kind of disappointed. That's how our Maze was too so I can't say I'm all that shocked here. Our Maze would change every night and it turned out that if you aligned the patterns, they spelled out words. So if anyone cares about seeing why the tunnels change- there you go. Wish you luck.

(Annnnd that's about it actually. He flips the video off after that casual reveal.)

Comments

[werewolfing]

you could've put a bit more emphasis on the bit about the caves

that's kinda important since they didn't change for awhile and now they did

[krangke]

Make me a list of at least five people you know who care that much about the tunnels and I'll remake the video to put plenty emphasis on the tunnels.

[video]

[mismanagement]

[Maketh watched the entire video twice to make sure she didn't miss anything. She doesn't want to go through everything point by point, though--]

You've told me a little about your Maze. Would -- would it be all right if I asked you some questions about it?

[She clears her throat.]

It's a long shot, but it's possible they might function in similar ways. I have a theory, but not enough information to test it.

[video]

[krangke]

(He's happy to see Maketh and isn't wholly surprised by her question. Of all of the people in Hadriel to care about what was found in those tunnels, it would be her.)

That's fine. Ask whatever you want to ask if you think it'll help.

(The Maze has never been a personal topic for him. Not like that, anyway.)

Hadriel and the Glade function very similarly overall minus a few differences. Ask away. Maybe some of our theories will align.

[wormintheglass]

What words did they spell?

[krangke]

FLOAT CATCH BLEED DEATH STIFF PUSH

(He doesn't even have to think twice to remember them.)

text;

[dedikated]

Hadn't thought about it... but it doesn't sound crazy. Don't think anything wants to live here, honestly.

text;

[krangke]

No I hadn't thought about it either. I only did after the jabberjays came in and started to think about it.

This place isn't so bad though. It could be better but there's worse.

[Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

[He's been sleeping most of the day--those energy shots definitely had a downside--but during one of times he's awake he decides to check the network and sees this.

Hm.]

I get uh... Not killing the monsters for no reason or whatever, but like... A lot of the incentives we've been offered seem like they're worth it, when it comes down to it. Yeah, it's not super fair to the monsters, but this whole thing isn't fair to us either.

[He doesn't vehemently disagree with Newt's sentiments or anything--he'd be perfectly happy to never have to kill monsters ever--but ammunition and healing powers and whatever else they can and have gotten for clearing out monsters seems more important than the moral issue.

But the last part of Newt's post is way more interesting than the issue about monsters.]

Wait, like, changed how? They go completely different places than before?

[Video]

[krangke]

(No one has ever actually told him about the powers thing. He's only ever gotten sneakers and a watch for killing monsters so really, the trade out doesn't make too much sense to him.

He shrugs a bit and looks off camera for a bit.)

Guess so. It just seems wrong to me. Maybe I'm overthinking it though. I know it's not fair to us either.

(It's the first time Newt's really considered the morale of anything inside of Hadriel. It was an odd feeling. And in a weird way, he almost didn't feel entitled to have an opinion at all due to his amnesia. Like, really, what did he know?

Yeeeah it really is way more interesting. Newt looks again off camera and this time he grins just a little bit.)

Something like that. The tunnel arrangement seems different. I went there with someone and we've been in the tunnels enough to know them. I was waiting at one end and then he came out a totally other end. It was odd. I went in and traced them to memory best I could.

[fictionalised]

You feel bad for the monsters. As adorable as that is, they're monsters. Mon. Sters. You kill them, you get a reward, there's really no downside.

[krangke]

Dunno what to tell you, mate. Some of them just don't seem like monsters to me. Some just seem like regular animals. Not all of the rewards are worth taking a life for just to let the carcass rot.

[zen_en_vert]

The tunnels change- what do you mean by that? How quickly- how did you work it out?

[krangke]

I went with someone and we've gone enough times to know those tunnels well and I was waiting on one end for him but then he came out a totally different one. We explored a little bit but not too much.

[notjustinthemirror]

If they didn't feel pain, then people wouldn't kill them.

Humans are all about that. It has to be sentient to give joy in the killing. You never see anyone mount the biggest carrot they ever harvested over their mantle.

[krangke]

(It's a bit of a sad point and one that hits rather close to home.)

People are rather good at killing things that they're afraid of regardless if they feel pain or not. Or if whatever they're killing even realizes what they're doing.

(Like with the Cranks. He sighs faintly.)

No, I suppose you don't. I'm quite tired of violence, I think.

voice

[64th]

[ Cashmere sounds very groggy and very hungover. she's sort of been following what he said but it's a lot of information and she's not really thinking straight. ]

Robots?

voice

[krangke]

(Newt somehow had managed to ram his hangover out- though it had never been too bad to start with.)

Mmhm. Mechanical creatures made to seem like they're sentient when really they're just given tasks to perform. They're a bit like your mutts, maybe, but made out of machine bits rather than flesh and blood. We had to deal with 'em a bit in my world.

video

[murderpotato]

So, you actually give a shit about monsters.

[Color him surprised.]

They ain't human and you can get something out of 'em, so who the fuck cares, right?

[That's what the general rhetoric seems to be, anyway. Gren gets the inherent hypocrisy in a monster like him going out and hunting monsters because they're hanging around a little too close. It's not that far off from what happened to him, and there he was, doing it all over again.]

video

[krangke]

Well, yeah. It's a little naive to just assume they're all bad and evil. That's ridiculous.

(Newt's surprised with himself and how long it took for him to come to this conclusion.

He stares at the guy for a moment. At first, it almost sounded like the guy meant that but then not really. Regardless of the question being rhetoric or not, Newt answers it with complete sincerity.)

I guess I care. It seems messed up. I know what it's like having a price on your head just because someone with power said so and I don't really understand the hierarchy here of 'x is better than z'. A living creature is a living creature. Besides, I got a bloody pair of sneakers for killing something. It was sort of an ironic, sick joke and not to mention- not at all worth a life. Violent life or not.

action;

[pellameno]

[ Newt's video goes up just as Pell was preparing to abandon the apartment he'd been in and bring his small box of 'belongings' over to the house. He thinks about it on the walk over, about the creatures being torn from their worlds as well and the hunting party he took part in, and how exactly they should treat the monsters. He's one who really only kills for food or when it's necessary to protect himself, but it's hard to say how other people here think. Especially the people who are exploring the tunnels looking for a way out -- does that count as defense, when you go into the monsters' territory? Hmm.

He's still deep in thought when he knocks on the door of 1402, shifting the box to his hip. ]

[krangke]

(Newt opens the door within minutes of the knock happening. The kid seems like the sort of person who is always expecting company and upon seeing Pell, the worry in his brow smooths out and his mouth stretches into a wide smile.)

Pell, hey!

(It's authentic excitement of a friend seeing a friend and yeah, despite their limited interactions, he already does see Pell as a friend. It was as easy as that when it came to Newt. He pulls the door the rest of the way open and lets Pell in, shutting it just behind him the moment the other's inside.)

Do you need help there? I got spare hands if you do.

video

[quaerit]

[ Gansey does not feel good today. Exhaustion still clings to him, despite the fact that he's been sleeping for the better part of the last day. For the first time since he's been here, he doesn't want to think about the caves, or monsters in the caves, or anything that he has to actually do about any of this.

But then Newt says that last part, and in spite of himself, his interest is captured.

So here is a Gansey that looks like he's been awake for 48 hours straight, despite actually sleeping for most of that time. ]

What do you mean, they changed? Are you absolutely sure you weren't lost? It's easy enough to do that in the tunnels.

[ All he can think of is Cabeswater, and how it had changed according to their perceptions. And how the caves had changed, how the main cave used to be a lake, and then became...

Something else entirely. ]

video

[krangke]

(Newt has had far worse nights spent in his home world than Hadriel. Worse days, too. His hangover couldn't come close to touching any of that and so Newt was relatively bright-eyed and pleasant looking upon sight.

Gansey, on the other hand, was not. Newt politely decides not to say anything about that at all. It's not as if he has to ask, after all. He had been partying too.

What Gansey does get is a rather flat look from Newt.)

No offense mate but this kinda thing was something I specialized in for the three years of my life that I do remember. If there's anything I'm certain of at all, it's that I'm capable of maneuvering maze-like structures. I don't get lost in the tunnels either.

(Not when he had a werewolf who guided him by scent and sight alone. Between his brain and that? Being lost wasn't an option.)

[Video]

[amos_moses]

[Amos waves a little as he perches in a tree, with a jabberjay perched on his shoulder. The bird is trying to extract a ribbon that Amos has braided into his hair, an after-party decoration from Delight's bash.]

Hey Newt.

Yeah, I get you about the monsters. I'm kinda of the same mind. If they're not immediately trying to eat me, I'd rather let them be.

Hope keeps them out of the city, but it's a bit of a drain on his powers to do it...I dunno if anyone told you that or not. So that's why they don't come here.

[Video]

[krangke]

Amos, hello.

(Newt smiles rather widely at Amos. His eyes drift to the jabberjay on his shoulder and he grins a bit wider yet.)

I'm not all that big on hurting anything or anyone whose not hurting me or someone else.

(He shrugged. He really didn't even think meat was all that necessary to eat. Not with a garden going and all these other foods.)

Nope, no one has told me that. Does make sense though I suppose. Even so, going into the tunnels isn't like you go in and suddenly there's monsters attacking you from every direction. I can run a good long ways before they start coming at me.