animus_network | Ω → five [video; open to action]

The villain enters stage left.

[ Wilhelm comments quietly, from what appears to be the third floor library. In front of him is his chessboard from before, but this time, there are only five pieces on the black side; two close together, the other three spread out over the far end of the board. The black pieces contain one of every special piece: a knight, a rook, a queen, a bishop, and the king. On the white side are all pawns, with one king. The ever-rotating Compass was perfectly visible behind him, however, one of its arms was rotating far more wildly than the other. In the background, coming from an off-screen phonograph, was a fairly appropriate musical piece, as Wilhelm carefully moved the black rook behind several of the white pawns, rendering them useless. The white king was now in check, but with the mess of pawns, had very few effective places to move. ]

The heroes are confused. Disoriented, impatient, and irrational. It is only to be expected, given the setting.

[ He doesn't move the white king. Instead, he turns to one of the other white pawns, which had managed to be only a few moves away from the far end of the board, where it could be exchanged for a superior piece. He doesn't move it; rather, he simply stares at it. ]

I wonder who will step up this time?

[ And with that, the feed ends. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Keep trying, then.

..I think I've made it clear that I'm not the type to just give up so easily on things like this.

I expect nothing less.

[Tohko was puzzled that their network conversations always devolved to this-him telling her to keep trying, she saying she wasn't the type to quit, followed up by this sort of comment. She sighed as she typed.]

..You know, it seems our conversations on the network usually end like this. I wonder why that is.

[..Don't mind Tohko randomly puzzling on the network..]

You are unfettered in your attempts to dissect me, Tohko. I find it amusing, if predictable.

Well, I do want to understand people as much as possible, and even though I already have some idea of how you think, there's still probably a lot more I don't understand. It may be predictable, but I would still like to grasp and understand things.

..And how is this amusing to you?

Few humans have your determination. Many would have given up after their first few attempts to understand me, and what it is that I do.

I suppose..I'm not quite sure why they would have given up though. After all, you're not impossible to understand, and while you are sometimes frustrating, you're not a horrible person to talk to.

Edited 2013-01-01 05:46 (UTC)

Humans are fickle creatures. They would rather pretend that which they do not understand doesn't exist. Thankfully, only very few understand what I am in my universe. Yeshua, Mary, and by now, Shion and her compatriots.

Well, I don't imagine every human is like that. After all, I know about you, and I'm not pretending that you don't exist. Besides, it's foolish to do that. If you just pretend a character doesn't exist, you're closing yourself off to a lot of the plot.

..But why is it good that not many people understand what you are?

It would make humanity more difficult to influence.

Maybe..but if you revealed yourself to the right people, you might also get more people willing to help you.

They are willing to help me. The only difference is that they do not know they are helping me.

So you subtly push them in the right direction, like you did with me when you found out my secret.

...I know you don't care, but that's pretty terrible. If you tell people the truth, you might find that more people would be openly on your side. You wouldn't have to subtly push them.

There are other consequences to consider, Tohko.

I admit, it is possible that people would rise against you to try and use you or disrupt your work. However, getting it all out into the light seems a bit better than secretly working in the shadows.

..Not that that'll change how you operate or how you think about it.

I cannot afford to give thought to morality. Only what will or will not work. Humanity's survival is paramount.

But if you gave some thought to morality, you might have more people on your side and less people trying to disrupt your work.

They cannot disrupt my work if they do not know about it.

I'd say that they can't help you with it either..but you're already forcing people to help you-they just don't realize it. Subtle pushes.

Precisely.

Ω → five [video; open to action]

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