thebastion | Day 283 [OPEN]

[Ibuki's... trying... so hard not to laugh after Nathaniel said 'shittastic'. She's just standing there, arms crossed and her shoulders shaking. Try as she might, she can't hold back a few snorts of repressed laughter...]

So what happens when it's fully repaired? Like, what will it be able to do that it can't do now?

[Ibukiplz

Nathaniel will try his best to ignore Ibuki's almost-laughter so that he can answer Rob's question.]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. I didn't see much of the Bastion before it got damaged in the Calamity. If I had to guess, though, I would say that at 100% a lot of our energy problems will be no more, just because of how efficiently the Bastion can run.

Also, there's a 'Restore' function I haven't been able to execute yet. I'm guessing that happens when the Bastion is at 100%.

A "Restore" function?

[The look of curiosity on Colin's face should be familiar to everyone by now.]

I don't suppose we've got a user manual that tells us what that does?

[Like everyone else, Zulf looks thoughtful as the news- maybe even more so, a hand cupping the bottom half of his face as he stares at the ground lost in thought. He snaps to, however, at the word Restore.]

[Anyone glancing in his general direction can probably notice the way he pales, dark eyes wide, like a ghost in a man's body. Abruptly, however, he seems to steel himself before he strides over to stand besides the other. The younger an is given a particularly dark look, almost accusatory, before Zulf looks to the rest of the Bastion's populace.]

The Restoration function does exactly as it says. However, under no circumstances should we use it.

Nathaniel, after all, is failing to inform you all that there's actually a choice of how to utilize the Bastion once it is running at 100% with all the necessary cores.

[His voice seems to tremble, just slightly, but Zulf seems determined to keep his composure right now.]

There's the Evacuation function.

The problem, however, is that once we choose one, the other is thus impossible to use.

This is because the Evacuation function effectively destroys the Cores in order to fulfill itself. In contrast, the Restoration function...

...The Restoration function is supposed to negate a reason for the Bastion to exist at all.

[Another deep breath, and he finally decides to just go all out.]

This is because, once enacted, it reverts the world- perhaps even all of them, every single one that was affected by the Calamity- back to how things were before it ever happened. Exactly so.

[Zulf's monologue immediately took the cheer out of Ibuki]

Um, wait... so... does that mean time/space shenanigans that sends us all back to where we were earlier? Back to where we came from? If you really mean exaaaaactly, then we won't remember anything, either, will we? And then the calamity would just happen again?

Worst of all, Ibuki would... have to go back to school!

[... there was an awfully unusual amount of dread in her voice injected into that last statement, but for good reason. Would she have to go through Hope's Peak Academy again? Would she even see it? Or would she be sent directly back to Jabberwock Island?]

Ibuki definitely votes no to Restoration, for sure. But, but what does Evacuation do? We get evacuated?? To where???

Edited 2015-02-24 08:57 (UTC)

[Nathaniel shoots Zulf a very irritated look before speaking again.]

Well it's so nice that we have someone here who seems to know the Bastion so well, since it didn't come with any manuals or anything, and it's not like I was making my best guess as to what some of these things did or anything. Thank you so, so much for explaining how two seemingly unrelated functions are somehow connected to each other when there aren't any signs that they should be.

[Dripping with sarcasm, that's what his words are.

When he talks to everyone else, though, he's trying to talk normally, though he can already feel a headache coming on.]

Most large things, like ships and such, have an evacuation procedure. It just means there is a safe way to get off of said ship in case something bad happens.

[Crona puts the pieces together. Little pieces, things like "Zulf is from here" and "Zulf and Zia and that boy called Kid are all from here" and "they all know each other" and "Zulf is an Ura and Nathaniel is a Mancer" and "Ura wouldn't know and Mancers would" and "look at his reaction he's scared" and comes up with something. Something that takes away the sudden surge of hope at the idea of going back to a world where Maka wouldn't leave forever.]

Um.... D-d-d-d-- [Crona gets stuck on a sound, because this is something that could be right and horrible.]

D-did you... um. Z-Zulf. Did you... um... Did this... The Calamity... Did the Calamity happen before?

[The fact that even Ibuki can understand the implications... Well, it's not quite a relief- Zulf isn't entirely certain how he feels beyond more than a little sick. Still. It's a weight off his shoulders that it's understood.]

[A shame Nathaniel ruins it so immediately. The twitch in Zulf's eye isn't a good sign, but he takes a breath and tries to stay on focus.]

I think I have a better idea of how related they are then you, certainly.

You seem to be under the impression that the Evacuation function implies leaving the Bastion, that there's some sort of lifeboat stored away somewhere. That's wrong. The Bastion itself is that. It has the potential to be more than a safe haven.

[Before he can go more on about that, however, Crona speaks up, and Zulf goes quiet to let the meister speak. The answer to the question is probably obvious, just by the clench of his jaw.]

...Yes.

[Jane's been very quiet, listening intently to each person as they speak up. The idea that, with enough cores, they could make everything go back to the way it was...that the cores hold that sort of power...it's staggering to think about, to be honest, and nearly inconceivable. How could everything go back to normal just like that? How could all the dead come back to life, all the destroyed worlds rebuild themselves as if their pieces were simply scattered and put together again like a puzzle?

She wants to believe there's a way to make everything right again, but it seems like far too much for just four more cores to do.

But Zulf's words are the most interesting of all.]

Mister Zulf? If that's true...the Calamity happening before, that is...and the Restoration function puts everything back to the way it was, no exceptions, how do you know it happened in the first place?

[Because if that's the case, then Restoration doesn't seem like a good idea, and Evacuation doesn't sound too good either. After all, where are they evacuating from?]

[Did you notice a certain heavy-footed individual moving up behind you Zulf? You probably did, he has all the stealth potential of an iron footed elephant, but he wasn't trying to be quiet about things either. Raile simply walked up next to Zulf and put a hand on the back of his shoulder as he looked up, his eyes serious. He didn't say anything, but the intention was clear in his eyes.

"Do you want me to tell 'em? Or do you wanna do it?"

Even if he felt like this was his responsibility...he also trusted and respected Zulf. Regardless of the Ura's decision though, he'd stand by him in this...he'd never left a friend behind before after all.]

[Colin's eyes had narrowed about halfway through Zulf's explanation, and now his shoulders are tight. He isn't saying anything yet, but the change in his body language is stark. To say that he's upset with these revelations is something of an understatement.]

[Tobias has been listening quietly, but he speaks up at that.]

<Because time travel is weird. I've done it before. I guess it depends on what the rules are here, but if they're similar to what's at home, things go back but you remember what happened. Which means that he's done this before and tried to fix things. Sometimes you can't stop something from happening though, no matter what you change.>

[His vote is still to go back, but... that's partly because he can't bear to have his friends gone forever.]

This is all ridiculous!

[Nathaniel isn't really mad at anyone, it's more that he's worked up over something like this. Other NPCs are milling about too, listening and looking distressed, but Nathaniel is the one speaking up.]

If the Mancers had managed to figure out how time travel worked, it would have been common knowledge among all of us! And even if I were entertaining the thought that time travel was possible- which I am not, by the way- how would only one person remember all of it? Anyone who had been here before would have remembered it, right?

It's called temporal reversion. And it is so amazingly dangerous that I can't even put it into words. And no, if things are put back the way they were exactly, you wouldn't remember it. Because you DIDN'T remember it the first time. Which means that everything will naturally repeat itself, because without a diverging event, nothing would need to happen differently.

[He looks at Nathan, drawing a short breath.]

Just because you think it is impossible doesn't make it so. There is very little that is actually impossible in the multiverse. You're young, you'll learn.

Of course, with how many natural laws the Bastion breaks, I wouldn't be surprised if something were in place to change temporal law somehow. As Zulf here seems to prove.

[He turns his icy gaze to Zulf.]

This has happened before. You clearly remember something of the last time this happened.

How many times?

[It's too much—too much, too quickly; she hears restore and doesn't hear it followed by the word evacuate and her heart drops, then leaps back up into her throat when she hears user manual because someone else knows about the journal tucked away in her bedroom and they don't need another reason to be after it—]

Stop it. [Her voice is so, so small, and she can't find it until Zulf is already halfway through his explanation.] Stop it, stop it— [She can barely hear herself; she doesn't quite register the words Crona uses over the pounding in her head but she knows what's been said, and she hears the yes crystal clear.

There's shouting and snapping and her pleading looks (not do something, really; she doesn't want anything to happen, she needs silence and stillness and for everyone to shut up) between Raile and Zulf go unanswered.

It's already been said; even if neither of them said another word, there's no putting this away. Zia doesn't notice that she's started to shake.

Glancing rapidly between everyone speaking with wide, glassy eyes, she slowly steps back, putting just a little distance between herself and this awful reality.]

[Zuko is quiet as she tries to wrap her mind around this time travel nonsense. Even the thought of being able to reverse the Calamity... Ibuki grasped it a lot faster than she ever would have.

But if Zulf remembers it, then things aren't exactly the same as they were the last time it happened. And he never acted like they'd met before.]

Did this even affect the rest of our worlds before?

[Could it be worse, somehow, this time? If they had never used this "restore" function, would her world and her nation never have been dragged into this mess?]

[It's at this point that Zulf stops paying Nathaniel any mind. He just- he doesn't have the patience for it at this point. Doesn't have much of anything, really, and when Colin finally deigns to speak, he gives an almost violent flinch. The control in his tone is starting to come loose, now, starting to break and rise, and Raile can likely feel the tension in his spine.]

I don't know, I only remember it once, but for all I know, that might've been the one fortunate time-!

[Somehow, despite that, he still manages to hear Zia this time, and he cuts himself off. Everyone else gets put to the side as he goes to her, carefully and almost uncertainly going to hug her. His murmurs are for her alone.]

I'm sorry. I am. But we couldn't keep this from them forever, not now.

[When he next speaks to everyone else, his voice is a bit more quiet, over his shoulder as he holds Zia like he can protect her.]

I only remember there being one time, and the end decision wasn't one I had a choice in. [That, he's fine with. He wouldn't have let himself have a voice even if he'd been conscious.] Maybe there were others- I couldn't tell you. Rucks is the one responsible for this entire system, and he always admitted that there was no guarantee that anyone would remember what happened. Even when Zia and I did, we hadn't thought it was anything more than a dream.

And Zuko... I don't know. [A shuddery breath.] During the first Calamity- the one we remember... There had only ever been four survivors who made it to the Bastion, all from Caelondia.

Rucks... said that it could have hurt more than what we saw, but that time, no survivors could have made it here like you all have.

So I don't know.

I really don't.

[She had wanted to add to Colin's affirmation of time travel, even though it was way out of her field of expertise - hell, even matters of Life were foreign to her - but everyone had started to add information to the debate.

But could it really be called a debate anymore? It seemed more an uncomfortable and frightening revelation of truths, and it's clearly emotional and troubling for Zulf to even speak about, let alone Zia's reaction. She can't rightly call their experience into doubt with those sorts of reactions.]

So...maybe when things were restored that one time...it wasn't perfect? Or, maybe, the restoration...made the next Calamity all the more powerful?

[The last is something that came to mind immediately, though she's hesitant to say it. It's a long shot for Jane, but it's a strange and troubling correlation that she can't squash down.]

But, Jane-chan, you know, it could be other way!? Maybe the restoration made the Calamity weaker?

Like, we ... don't have annnnnnnny idea if the thing hit any other worlds the first time, right? It might have, it might not have?? It might have just blown it allllll away too much that most of us didn't... make it the first time???

If there's more survivors here than before from different worlds, the explaining thing on the Calamity could swing both ways!

Everyone, just calm down!

[He is loud for a moment to get everyone's attention, but once people are listening, he will go back to his normal speaking voice.

Nathaniel doesn't want to believe time travel is possible- Zulf brought it up in the first place, and Nathaniel doesn't really trust Zulf- but hearing the guy with all the future tech say that time travel is possible makes him re-evaluate that idea.

It's only too bad that any kind of manual explaining things about the Bastion would have been burnt up when the Mancer Observatory exploded.]

Okay, look: speculation about what might or might not happen isn't going to help us here. If this whole time-loop thing is real, then we need facts, not guesses.

[He still doesn't trust Zulf, and he is 99% sure that Zulf either hallucinated time travel during one of his pipe-trips or that he maybe saw a vision of the Calamity before it happened and thinks that it actually happened. But either way, getting more information is necessary, and Zulf at least seems to be acting like he believes in what he saw.]

No more secrets, got it? You tell us everything, and we'll all try to sort it out.

Edited (codeeeeeeeee) 2015-02-25 05:32 (UTC)

[Colin clenches a fist, and unclenches it before he finally speaks.]

What Nathan says is right. We do need all the information we can get here.

[He's just not going to elaborate on his rage just yet...]

Indeed.

[Megaera had stayed quiet this entire time; there was little to contribute. Suffice it to say, she wanted her world back... But if the result would be a time loop, that wouldn't do.]

[She goes still and stiff at Zulf's touch; the hug just stifles her and she can barely breathe. Everything here crowds her, this most of all. She needs to be anywhere else in the world.

After so long, she has learned to go limp at touch; they will leave you alone if you don't respond.

At the sound of her own name, she jolts. It had been real from the start to her. Her dreams never had as much love in them.

She finds her voice.] Let go. [A little louder, but still little more than a breath.] Let go of me.

[Tobias sends a private thought Colin's way, not wanting to add to the ruckus and get more people riled up.]

<I'm guessing the rules are different - what I know about time travel isn't the same thing you would know about time travel.>

[He then directs his thought-speech to everyone again. Private conversations are kind of rude, after all.]

<We do need information, though I'm guessing whatever he was hiding, he had a good reason for it.>

[Zulf doesn't seem like the kind of person who would hide that kind of information just for fun, after all.]

<Whatever you can tell us, we'd appreciate it. Even if it's not something you can think of right now, we can get to it when you do think of it. And everyone else is going to try to be quiet until you finish talking. Okay?>

[He knows he's not in any sort of position of authority here, but someone's got to be the level-headed one and apparently today it's a teenager.]

[Promptly, he lets go of Zia and even takes a step back, looking guilty.]

...You don't have to stay here if you don't want to.

[And he certainly won't expect her to forgive him.]

[But with that done with, he turns back to look to the rest of the Bastion.]

I don't know much- I'm not a Mancer and I'm lucky that Rucks told me what he did considering he and I have never gotten on. Still, any questions you have, I'll do my best to answer.

All right.

[His gaze is locked on Zulf, and he starts to speak, though it quickly trails off.]

I...

...

You...

[He scowls and turns away, throwing his hands into the air.]

I have no idea how to ASK what I need to know to get the answers I need to give an informed opinion. None of you think in four dimensions, and I doubt I'm smart enough to teach you how!

But suffice it to say, ripping a hole in time and replacing it with a prior moment in time is not something that will siphon energy and make the reaction weaker. Gods above and below, even ONCE is enough to cause damage that can't be fixed!

[He glances at Tobias, and he hopes that Tobias can read his thoughts, 'cause there's so much he isn't willing to say right now out of disgust and anger.]

~Time is uniform, but the perception of time is what varies. And when time is damaged, HOW it's damaged dictates how the anomalies manifest. Odds are spectacularly against both of us having similar experiences.~

<Depends on what's doing it. I've encountered myself through what's probably a 'hole in time', but things turned out okay in that instance. But it's not relevant to here, to this universe.>

[He can't read Colin's thoughts, but he does have questions for him later.]

<Anyway. Zulf - what happened when you went back, exactly? You remembered everything?>

[Rin was another that had been quiet, almost too quiet for her usual self, throughout all of this. She had a good reason for it, though. That stupid, pointless fight all those months ago where Zulf and Nathaniel had went off the edge of the Bastion had revealed a lot of this stuff to her already. And Zulf had already hinted to her once before that time travel was possible by his own experiences.

But there were, of course, details missing even back then. And it wasn't as though Rin could understand half of it anyway. She was just latching on to things that made sense to her and figuring out the pieces in between slowly.

As tensions rose through through group she, surprisingly, didn't jump in to the mess. A part of her had wanted to go to Zia and try and comfort her, but that much was aborted when she saw Zulf attempt and fail to.

So she went back to quiet... up until the point where Colin was rambling just enough to grate on her nerves.]

Shut up. It happened. It happened to them, not you. You have no fuckin' clue what they went through so just shut up and let Zulf talk. God...

[Yeah. Not exactly the most helpful right now. Sorry, guys.]

[Colin's eye twitches, and he turns a downright livid glare at Rin.]

I'm sorry that a culture with their scientific heads lodged so far up their asses that they can give themselves amateur colonoscopies happened to someone here, so of course we should be respectful of that.

The fact that their mistake could be killing BILLIONS of people in BILLIONS of different worlds, each second, with each and every passing second, should of course come secondary to someone having to relive something they kept secret.

Nobody else here may have the brains to appreciate just how many people are being ERASED from existence, but I do, and I'm not going to apologize for the fact that I'm horrified of what's probably still happening because one group of PRIMITIVE QUACKS decided that they didn't like another!

[He exhales then, his skin flushed and red, and he starts to walk away.]

I'm too angry to contribute to a discussion that most of you will hold against me anyway. Another exponential billion lives won't make a difference in the meantime...

[Zuko huffs, her breath hot enough to spark, and if she stood any closer to Colin she might have finally punched him.]

Go ahead and leave if you can't keep your superior attitude to yourself. Just because we don't have your technical know-how doesn't mean we're too stupid to be angry or upset.

[She turns back to Zulf, not looking any happier with him.]

Go on. I want to know exactly what happened when you "restored" things.

[Tobias screeches, high-pitched and sharp. He flaps his wing insistently, glaring at Colin, sending him a private thought.]

<We understand that. We know that's a problem, but getting mad at people who have information you need is generally a bad tactic. I understand very well the cost of worlds. Maybe not as close as you do, but I've heard the horror stories. Don't think that just because someone's a 'less advanced' race that they're stupid.>

[He turns his attention back at the group, settling down a bit. He turns to preen his feathers, trying to calm himself.]

<... Zulf, you were saying?>

[Zulf is trying to get his thoughts together when the argument breaks out, and he squeezes his eyes shut like that can help block out the noise. It's only when Zuko and Tobias speak up that he finally opens them again.]

Yes, we did remember everything- what happened prior to the first Calamity and after. Yet the idea of time traveling is... something still not normal. There was no way to prove it, either. The only person absolutely certain of it was Rucks... and he had made no effort to contact any of us after it. Zia and I had to find him ourselves.

The First Calamity started because... [A pause as he glances guiltily at Zia. He doesn't want to spill something so personal, but he can't lie now.] Someone accused Zia of being a spy to the Terminals. In order to keep her out of prison, her father agreed to work for the Mancers on the Calamity weapon again. He used it, and it wiped out all of Caelondia along with a good portion of the Terminals.

When everything was Restored... We managed to avoid the event that would get Zia or her Father in trouble that way. Everything else, we've told you beforehand- how we attempted to have Rucks sabotage the weapon so that it simply couldn't be used at all. It was the only thing we could think to do, with the Mancers' paranoia ready to go off like a time bomb at the slightest idea of an Ura attack.

[Rin made no effort to stop Colin, confront him or even continue the argument. Nor did she care how she had been the one to set him off so thoroughly. She was at the end of her rope emotionally after what happened to her just the day before, and Colin's constant rabble about how none of them were smart enough to understand had worn what little patience she had in all of this to it's breaking point.

Which, of course, let to the oh-so-mature raising of her middle finger to his back as he departed.

But at least she didn't continue talking over Zulf or make the situation any worse than it already was.

Focusing on Zulf with that in mind, she listened until he finished, only to quietly add:]

But it still happened again, right?

[It was getting harder and harder to keep his mouth shut as time went on, but the minute Colin started to raise his voice, Raile did something that in the entire time Zulf and Zia had known him, he'd never done. Not when fighting, not when facing down things twice his size, not even when having his wounds tended to.

He flinched.

It was so visible it might as well have been audible, even if his face had taken its usual blank gaze. The truth of the matter had always been clear to him, but with all of Zulf's encouragement prior to this, it had been a little easier to gloss over. Not anymore, not with the scope of the truth shoved hard into his face, it was enough to make him grip the hammer at his side so hard his knuckles turned white.

He wasn't about to interrupt Zulf...he wasn't even sure he could unhinge his jaw at the moment, but he shot a look up at his friend and it spoke volumes. He wasn't about to let this conversation end without everyone here know that he'd pushed that button, that he'd brought everything back, that it was him that put this entire screwed up situation into motion.

If they deserved to know about these things, they most definitely deserved to know that part of it too; and if Zulf wasn't going to say it, then he was going to step up soon.]

[Colin's outburst is nothing short of startling to Jane. He'd always presented himself as calm and intelligent (in the short time she'd known him), so for him to blow up like that is pretty scary.

At the same time, she recognizes her own habits in that sort of outburst. He's frustrated. They all are. But Jane knows from her own regrets that the only way to get answers is to remain calm and listen.

And add to things, now that she's found herself involved.]

I think that can go without saying, but what I'd like to know is how it happened again in the first place. Mister Zulf, I don't expect you to know what prompted the use of this weapon for the second go-around, but if you've got any inkling of what might've made someone push the button, I think we'd like to hear it.

[Will it solve anything? Probably not, but curiosity is a rarely sated beast.]

[She meets Zulf's glance—and he says it, he tells them what had happened, and this time her heart jumps again, wild, and then goes still. For a moment the gravity of it all weighs too heavily to leave room for anything that isn't the thought of how could you, how could you, but then it falls and it crushes her and where there was too, too much before, there is nothing. Nothing at all.

Her wide-eyed expression goes cloudy. A moment ago she had gasped, hadn't even realized; she sets her open mouth into a hard line instead, and looks away from Zulf, stares at nothing.

Until Jane's question. Her focus sharpens and shifts to Raile. It's his question to answer, and she expects him to—she's resigned herself to it, more than anything; he can speak, so he will; things can go wrong, so they will.

She almost, almost frowns. The shift in her expression is slight, but there; it's harder to hold up walls of stone in front of him.]

[It really was his question to answer, wasn't it? He'd experienced it twice now and even if he didn't know the specifics, he knew enough from Rucks. He gave Zulf a few pats on the back; his friend had done good in explaining things here, he knew the whole ordeal twice over had been more than Zulf should have been expected to handle, but his part in this was more or less over.]

I'll answer that one.

[His voice wasn't shaky at all now. It was crisp and clear and easily heard among the crowd; you had to speak clear on the Wall after all, sometimes your words were the only thing between someone and injury, so every syllable counted.]

Things ain't never been too good 'tween Caelondia and t'Ura, so much so that a war started out 'tween the two. Caelondia won, but I guess we were all too jumpy 'bout things we didn't understand...'bout people we didn't understand, so t'Mancers whipped up that weapon; easier t'jus' get rid o'th'boogeymen outside our walls than worry 'bout diplomacy I s'pose. I weren't 'round fer t'sabotage attempts...but I can guess people messin' round with their plans got t'Mancers' trigger fingers that much itchier. Didn't even need a reason I s'pose...weren't a good reason in the first place either, but weren't nothin' no one coulda done.

That said though, ifin' ya'll got any more griefs 'bout all this, y'take it up wit me. If yer gonna hold anyone responsible fer this mess, hold it t'the one who chose t'restoration option in t'first place.

[His face was grim, about as grim and gaunt and responsible as an 18 year old kid could muster, but he wasn't about to back down from this. He knew what he'd done, he might not have known with what Rucks told him that this could even happen, but that didn't by any means mean that he hadn't pushed the button. This was his part of the burden to bear after all.]

[Rin let out a sigh at that, shaking her head slowly.]

The only one who needs to hold you responsible is yourself. So long as you're willin' to do that then no one should have any beef with you, especially 'cause you were only doin' what you thought was right.

[She glanced to where Colin had wandered off to, towards the hospital a second after that and then back to the group.]

It sucks... it does, I ain't gonna deny that. But there's also shit all we can do 'bout it except learn from the mistakes and hope we don't make an even worse one once this is all over.

[She's not happy about it, nor about the reasons behind it, but like hell she was going to let Kid get tossed around for admitting the truth.]

Right, right, what Rin-chan said. The only beef Ibuki has right now is in jerky form!

[... and to punctuate her point, she pulls out a piece of chocolate chip jerky and noms on it]

[Surprisingly, it's not Nathaniel who speaks up this time, but Zahi.]

So...if I'm hearin' y'all right, if we do this restore thing, well all go back but with our memories intact? And we'll get another shot at preventin' all of this?

It doesn't work.

[Zulf's tone is outright high and strangled now, and his hands are curling into fists.]

And I can't go through all of that again. [He just can't.]

<So you keep trying until you make things right. I've got a world I need to get back to and fight to keep safe. It's - if I don't, then it means turning my back on over six billion people.>

[He can't let them all down. He just can't.]

W-w-we can't. [Restore. Reset. The world back to the way it was before and then the calamity again.]

We can't. Th-th-that's what that means, doesn't it? It means that -- that we can't fix it. Um. If we go back, we can't fix things. Zulf might, but um... if they tried once...

It won't work.

If they've already tried to stop it once and failed, what makes you think that any other outcome is gonna be different?

[Rin isn't smart. She's the first to admit this, in spades no less. But she can figure out one thing from this discussion so far.]

Look, if we could all go back and warn them not to push the damn button, sure, I could see that maybe workin'. But if we reset, what happens? The rest of us are gonna go back to our worlds, right? Even if we remember this shit, I don't think any of us are gonna have any way to even get to Caelondia, let alone warn them!

... 'cept maybe Colin. And I doubt even wants to entertain the idea right now.

[She waves a hand then, looping it around in a circle.]

We'd keep goin' through the same thing, over and over again, probably worse each damn time. Yeah, I'd wanna save my friends, too, but not at the cost of repeatin' this hell.

... we already know that restoration didn't work the first time, right? Right?

I mean, no way, there's no way we should go and push the button unless we know like over nine thousand percent for sure like... completely for sure that the calamity can be stopped the next time!

[she hesitated a bit, glancing at Rin. Ibuki really didn't want to get sent back to her world, and Rin was one of the few people that would know why. She'd told Rin some of that story just yesterday, after all. She liked the people she'd met on the island, true, but still...]

Besides, I...

[... might die if she gets sent back. If she ends up on that island again... and she wouldn't see anybody here at the Bastion ever again, even if she did somehow survive.]

[... but, was it really okay to put herself before the lives of... billions? Even more than that, even? At that thought, she just fell silent.]

Edited 2015-03-16 01:31 (UTC)

<But ->

[He falls silent. He knows they're right, but... he misses the others so much that it hurts. The idea of never seeing them again is... unthinkable, really. He looks away, glad he's not in human form right now, or he'd probably be crying.]

Day 283 [OPEN]

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