Round 2 [open]

[pure_havoc]

characters: Cao Pi and everyone who wants to show up
location: town hall
date/time: Dec. 8, starting at moonrise
content: Community meeting, take 2! After the Dreamer/Defender incident, there's a lot to talk about and Cao Pi has encouraged everyone to come and publicly share what they learned while asleep or what ideas they have to make the next massacre less massacre-y. Feel free to handwave catching his post or hearing about it from a friend.
warnings: none likely but lmk if that changes. Threadjacking likely; if you don't want to be threadjacked, make some sort of indication.

As before, Cao Pi arrives ahead of time to ensure the town hall is ready for a session, righting any chairs that might have been thrown about in recent melees and checking the logbook for recent information. When a fair amount of people have arrived and he can see the waxing moon rising through the leafless trees outside, he rises to begin with a short intro.

"By now we know that those who succumbed to the food at the feast had a strange experience - they shared dreams with each other, in which they found themselves seeing Beacon as it was in the past. I encourage all those who dreamed, and remember it well, please tell us all what you saw. There may be considerable clues to our purpose and progress in even the smallest detail.

"The rest of us, well. We managed to make it through and I believe those who were killed are whole again, but for our part we can go over what worked and what didn't. Defending ourselves isn't merely a matter of being trained to use weapons. The spirits which attacked were formidable, powerful. We will need more than just our strength to outlast another attack. Ideas are welcome, as is any new information we have on everything from communications to threats."

That's all he'll ramble about this time, he'll take a seat and allow others to have the floor before he makes any more grandiose speeches.

Comments

b

[reigniter]

I don't think there's any place here that's safe. [He frowns.] For a long while, I thought it was the Lighthouse since this place needs Keeper to be alive at all times. [According to Robin.] But the attack on her proves it is not. [The only other place that deems safe is that hatch that cannot be opened, in church.

He fully turns to Matt when addressing him.]

Are you sure she is fine? Her last bulletin seemed a bit... off.

[No happy-go-lucky notes. Is it too early to hope she finally realized how it feels to be a target by being mauled? He's not actively against her, but he is against her taking their situation lightly, and that's how she always sounds on bulletins.]

[catholicisms]

Exactly.

( she's not safe in her ivory tower, so to speak, or at least not as safe as any of them thought her to be. considering all Robin did for Beacon, whether one liked her or not, it was foolish to ignore what a threat on her might mean. )

I spoke to her after the bulletin. Fine as in she's able to communicate and was able to get her power and peripherals back in order. Not fine as in it didn't affect her. She was hurt, and she mentioned the spirits have never been that aggressive towards her in the past.

( which makes Matt worry they could do it again, and this time it might be worse. )

I can't speak for her, but it seems like she was shaken by it. I can't say I blame her.

[reigniter]

[That is worrying information. He's not sure why he expected her to be unhurt up there... perhaps it was the army of forest spirits guarding the path between the Lighthouse that "reassured" him that nothing bad will befall her. Until those same "guardians" turned against her. But why?]

If spirits are out to save this world the same way we are, the same way Robin is, why turn on her? Wasn't there a talk that if Keeper is gone this world will fall apart?

[He may not agree with some of her methods (or nonchalant lack of remorse for what happened before), but in no way he wants her to be hurt. He doesn't want anyone here to be hurt, no matter on how bad terms he is with them.]

I wish she took us seriously when we said that things are really bad when spirits attack down here. [Pause.] She told me, back in August when we connected her to the network, that she can somewhat control them. I wonder if that control somehow slipped away from her... [It would be a serious reason to worry about and be shaken over, more so than the wounds.] Did spirits stop trusting her?

[catholicisms]

It might be that these spirits in particular, the green eyed ones, are less amenable to whatever control she has. They also seem to be a bigger threat than the average spirit.

( Robin had said in the past that the green eyed spirits were rare, though, they seemed to be showing up more and more now. which is also sorta concerning, but that's an argument for a different time. )

She doesn't take us seriously? Could you be more specific? ( Robin tended to downplay a situation, but Matt has never experienced her not taking potential threats seriously. )

[reigniter]

That could be entirely the truth. However, we still don't know how to fight them, and they seem to have be taking a swing at things.

[It really is concerning because they seem to have abilities they can't really defend against.]

The summer incident still bothers me. [It will always bother him.] I don't think she realizes how dire the situation down here really is. At least she didn't back then. An off-hand apology and expectation to just move on after a massacre and work together? She never really gave me the impression that she knows how damaging such a thing is, especially mentally.

Our group must be made from people used to be on the battlefield because people not used to fighting would easily go stir crazy by now from all the bloodshed. [He feels lucky to be with this group. Seriously lucky. Because any ordinary civilian by now would go crazy, just like in previous groups, and it would invoke a reset.]

[catholicisms]

When we spoke, she mentioned that the Green-Eyed Spirits were quite rare up until now, rare enough that they were more myth than established fact. It makes me wonder why their presence is starting to escalate.

( it was hard to tell what the spirits were aiming for, when their methods of communication were so convoluted. still, if they were trying to communicate, why now? were they getting close to something that nobody else had in the past?

Matt remembers Robin's introduction of sorts, and can absolutely see why that could leave a sour taste in someone's mouth. truth be told he'd been fairly indifferent to her at the time, but he's certainly grown fond of her with knowing her a little better. )

I think you're right. I don't think she does realize exactly what situations are like down here. She's been in that tower longer than any of us have been here, long enough she might not remember exactly what it's like to be on the ground in the thick of things. The spirit attack might have been a reminder of what it's like for the rest of us.

( it might give her increased perspective, though admittedly, in the worst possible of ways. )

[reigniter]

[Something rare suddenly showing up is never a good sign. Especially if it's threatening everyone's safety.]

And we don't have anything to use effectively do defend against them. Physical attacks we can manage, but hallucinations are something you cannot defeat by just by sheer force of will.

[They could be getting closer to something, but it's at a very slow speed. They barely left Beacon, save for a few trips to the forests nearby.

Robin's introduction made Ignis extremely angry, with the way she handled herself and the situation; especially the question that was raised about the map and the answer that followed ("It isn't fun if I reveal everything, you'll get bored").]

I hope she takes our plight down here more seriously. If the resets are done by the forest spirits, she has now felt on her skin how it was for those that had to suffer through those annihilations. I do not wish ill upon anyone that is our ally [or so she says] but if lesson has to be learned... better sooner than later.

[catholicisms]

Sadly not. If they used to be folklore here, perhaps there's more information about them out there somewhere. Until then we have to have to do our best to avoid them, and it's getting harder and harder.

( Matt is about as close as one could get to stubborning his way out of hallucinations, and even then he'd had them, he'd just been able to reason his way out of them. it wouldn't take much to be lost to such convincing whispers, and he can only imagine how much more difficult it would be to have visual hallucinations to have to fight through. he does worry that their continued prevalance is a sign. he just isn't sure what sort of sign.

Robin's introductory post had certainly not won her any favors, Matt hadn't been particularly impressed by her attitude at the time either. it is more a matter of time that has managed to endear him... and the reality she's still very young. it's not an excuse, but it certainly makes sense that a 17 year old wouldn't be perfect in a position as dire as the one she had. )

I don't disagree. It's valuable perspective to have, and while I don't like knowing it got that close in the first place, I can hope she learned something from it.