[Video]

[pengeen]

I know a lot of you have noticed the unconscious people... so I'm not going to talk about that right now. Though it is worrying, and if anyone has any information about why it's happened, please tell me.

[It's obvious the boy isn't in highest spirits. He looks completely drained, and he's not even bothering to fake a smile. There's also a pause before he speaks up again, his voice a bit quiet and he's not looking at the screen anymore. It's as if he's scared to speak...] This message wasn't for the purpose of discussing the unconscious though...


It's been a few days, but I'm still bothered and I'm sure a lot of you are still upset too... So I would like to apologize for... bringing up what I brought up during the recent meeting. I feel as though the purpose of that meeting was a bit ruined and derailed and it's my fault.... so... [He steps back from the screen and bows deeply.]

I'm sorry.

Comments

Re: [Video and clumsily locked]

[moontothetide]

...not really.

[It's an issue she's considered before, and...well, each consideration comes out to the same conclusion. And it's come up less and less, as time goes on.

Tara takes that as a sign, in and of itself.]

There, um, really wasn't anything for me. And, and I...well, I caused a lot of problems. I mean, really, this place isn't that different from home, anyway. It might even be a bit less dangerous.

[pengeen]

...less dangerous? [He can only imagine how her world was then...]

Well... even if there are a few people who don't want to get back... I'm sure the majority of us do. Which means that we have to find a way, no matter what it takes.

[moontothetide]

[Back home, there was Buffy. Up here, it's a Council. Any kind of meeting back in Sunnydale could have been adequately fed on two boxes of donuts, provided there were a few jelly ones thrown in.]

So...you, um, you believe that the worlds...our words...are all still there?

[pengeen]

Of course I do. If our worlds were really destroyed, then people and things from our worlds wouldn't be able to come here because they would be destroyed too.

[moontothetide]

Maybe they're from, um, different worlds. Or made here. Or, or taken from before they were destroyed.

[Stranger things have happened. On an almost yearly basis, for Tara.]

...I-I think they're lying, too. F-For what it's worth. [They certainly lied about "let's be happy here".] I, I just don't know how they're lying.

[pegeen]

[No he doesn't want to think that Sakuma was from another world or that Genda was simply made from something and not his actual friend... though........ that gets him thinking deeply, and he's quiet for a long moment.]

...I don't think they're from other worlds except for the ones who obviously are like the two different Karkats we have here.... [Though...]

I don't want to believe it but... I think them being made here is a possibility.


[He shakes his head] There was someone who died... after getting run over by a truck, back at my home. He died a few days before I was taken here... and he's here now, with us. So maybe... maybe it's possible that.... [His voice trails off as he's lost in thought]

[moontothetide]

[Tara gives him a few minutes to gather himself before she tentatively ventures:]

...that's, um, what I knew. I had a friend here, from home, only it, it wasn't my home. Different.

[It was a better sort of different, all things considered.

An absolutely awful thought strikes Tara - her eyes go wide with horror:]

...w-what if it's not just them?

[pegeen]

You mean... us too?

[moontothetide]

S-Some of the ways we die...most resurrection spells that I'm familiar with require a body. A human body, even if it does go a bit...bad.

But s-some of these ways...what was brought back wouldn't even look human, l-let alone like us. And, and no one knows how we can just...wake up, and not move for a bit, and be okay. N-No one's ever seen it. And, and Dax...when he killed me, all he had to do was press a button. N-No one's ever been able to do anything like that to me before!

[pegeen]

[He's quiet for a while, thinking about that. He looks to his hand, clenching and unclenching it. If their theory was right then... it's possible he's not.. really Kidou Yuuto. But... at the same time, he was. Wasn't he?


Was he just a clone? Was there another Kidou Yuuto who was destroyed with his world, and he himself was simply a carbon copy? Were they all just copies of their dead selves?

The more he thought about it... the more it was believable... and the more terrified he felt.]

So if what you think is true then that would mean that we're not who we think we are. [He looks back to the screen, strangely calm about this.]

It's possible that... that our worlds really are destroyed and by "saving" us.. the administrators could have simply cloned us from our real, dead selves. And that's why we don't really die here.... because they can just make clones from the DNA from our dead selves.

These collars could have something to do with it, too.

[moontothetide]

...if my really bad idea is true, then...yeah. That's, th-that's what it'd be. What...we'd be.

[On the basic surface of this metaphysical conundrum, it's a problem Tara's struggled with before. Meeting a Willow that was still Willow but not the Willow she'd been, and being seen as a different Tara while still feeling completely like herself.

Curiosity and a desire to prod more at the problem, as though it's a scab that needs picking, wars with existential horror. Curiosity wins.]

The collars, y-yeah. I mean, I-I'm not sure how they'd fit in, but they have to fit in somehow. We die, if they get taken off. W-We didn't need them before, but we do, now, and...well, remember during the pods? My powers were going insane, after whatever was in here ran out.

[pegeen]

...what if the liquid inside of the collars was our DNA? When we wake up after dying, there's always a moment of paralysis. It could be because the liquid in the collars has to make a full run through our bodies before we can function properly... and that's also why we die when we take them off. It's everything we are and essentially our life source.

And as for your powers getting out of hand after it ran out... perhaps it has to be flowing at a constant rate otherwise we get overwhelmed and people with supernatural abilities can either have them go haywire or stop working completely.

[moontothetide]

[Tara sucks in a breath, her hands flying to her collar. But, instead of trying to tug it loose, this time she finds herself actually trying to press it more firmly into her skin.]

I-I was just wondering about that. And, and it doesn't stay the same...I-I've only died a few times, and I don't keep a clock, but I, I think it gets longer.

But...y-yeah. If these collars aren't connected to us anymore, and they really are our DNA...w-what else do we have? We're just...stuff.

And, and maybe that explains the colors. I-I don't know how, but...it has to be there somehow. More than scheduling.

...oh, goddess.

[pegeen]

Well more things happen to us between deaths, such as we get more memories. There's more to process, so it takes longer until we can move.

I don't think the colors are how they are by chance either, there is most likely a reason, but I can't really think of one...

[Wow talk about a depressing conversation]

[moontothetide]

[All the more depressing because any possible other explanation isn't that much steadier a theory. Not with how little they know.]

They divide up people. Um, s-somehow. Maybe by type or person, o-or what kind of medicine they need to stay...themselves, or, or maybe how strong they are.

Strong in the...clay pot sense.

[In other words, how much abuse they could take and how much they could hold before they shattered into irreplaceable little pieces.]

[pegeen]

Alright, then the question is which group is the strongest, and which is the weakest. It could be separated by the rainbow, orange being weakest violet strongest. Or it could be backwards too. [He places a hand to his chin]

It could be in any order.

[moontothetide]

...assuming it is, though. [Why not? They've taken enough leaps of faith.]

Yeah. It, it could be anything. There are too many people here in the tower to say, especially with how many seem to come in all the time. Even if we could make a list, who would know all those people well enough to say how strong they are?

[pegeen]

[He nods in agreement and lets out a dry laugh]

...I wonder if trying to find a way back home is really worth it, at this point. If our theory is correct then there really isn't anywhere for us to go home to.

[moontothetide]

[Tara winces faintly in sympathy, feeling guilty now for leading him down this path. She just gets lost in the feeling of having someone to listen...and then, well, she can tend to get carried away.]

...th-that doesn't mean we don't still have a goal we can unite around. S-Stopping Jason from vivisecting us, or seeing what's on the ground...those are good goals.

[pegeen]

[After a moment, he nods.]

You're right, those are good goals. [He looks to his hand again and thinks]

..and I might not be the original Kidou Yuuto, but I do know that I still care about his teammates... my teammates. And if there is anything to do to restore the worlds... then I will do anything to make it happen for them.

[moontothetide]

...there might be. I mean...w-we're here, and our things are here, so...it's not all gone. I-I wouldn't know, but s-someone else might.

But even if there's not...we're still us. I-I'm still Tara, and you're s-still Kido. Even if we were grown in a lab or s-something weird like that...us being us doesn't have to change.

[It's a thin sliver of hope, but it's there, and she's going to hold onto it.]

[pegeen]

[He smiles, then. A sad smile, but a smile.]

We don't even know if our theory is correct, anyway. Let's not get ahead of ourselves yet.

[moontothetide]

R-Right. [Hastily:] W-We could be, um, totally wrong. And, um, m-maybe when we find out what the truth really is...well, um, w-we'll just remember this and, and laugh. [She quirks a tiny smile - it's a nice image to picture, and something to hope for, even if she has her usual pessimistic doubts.]

We just...have to learn more, first.

[pegeen]

[He nods]

Until we've found more out, we should focus on taking care of ourselves and everyone else, too.

[moontothetide]

Right. Especially everyone else.

I'll let you know if I find out anything that might help, with the sleeping people. Oh, um, and I'm Tara. I don't think I said.