un: Accelerator | text

[levelshift]

According to Aurora, Echo loses something every time they bring someone in.

And don't bother asking her if there's a way to get back whatever the fuck you lose if you die. She said revival breaks the natural order of the world, so that's why there's a cost.

[There, important information disseminated. He needs a coffee.]

Comments

[levelshift]

Not sure how many people around here would want to take on the paperwork, especially if people don't want to talk about having died.

Yeah, back in Moorcroft. Apparently it's the same process here as it is there.

[decohere]

i'm certainly not volunteering.

hm. and what sort of thing did you lose?

[levelshift]

Neither am I. I've got other shit going on.

[Kid wrangling, boring paperwork for his city. Fun stuff.]

A couple of memories.

[He's being vague on purpose, he doesn't want to get into specifics about missing his moms.]

[decohere]

i dont. but community organizing is antithetical to my being.

[she prefers the lack of specifics, honestly. his personal memories aren't her business nor her interest. it's just good to know what the stakes are.]

how did you identify them as missing? was it immediately obvious, or something that snuck up on you later? and how did you know it was a direct consequence of death?

[levelshift]

I know how that is. Organizing people is a huge pain in the ass.

It was really fucking obvious to me to me right away. [How to describe without saying "I was thinking about how my two guardians would be upset I died and realized I couldn't remember what they look like."] I was thinking about the subject, then noticed there were holes in my memory. I don't forget things easily, my brain doesn't work that way, so I knew something was wrong.

[decohere]

i want as little to do with people as possible, but unfortunately they tend to be the most accessible source of information.

ah, and so somehow that satisfies whatever... energy requirements there are for the revival process? wonder if they choose what goes.

[she'll be sure to write everything important to herself down, just in case. though she certainly won't admit that either. she doesn't want anyone else getting their grubby hands on such.]

[levelshift]

Yeah, you're out of luck. The only real ways to get information here are to talk to Aurora or anyone else who's been dragged here.

It satisfies something, not sure what. Aurora said it's breaking natural laws, so I'm not sure if Echo is having to follow the goddamned law of conservation of energy when they do it.

[decohere]

i rather not resort to less polite methods.

breaking the laws of physical reality does tend to have consequences. none of this feels right. wouldn't this be causing more problems with whatever multiversal balance than they're supposedly trying to solve?

[levelshift]

It could be that shit like resurrection, and whatever Echo loses by bringing us here is nothing compared to the potential disasters they're trying to prevent. They're picking the lesser of two evils.

... It could also be that all of this is total bullshit. I know there are people who are skeptical about everything we've been told.

[decohere]

seems inefficient to me. time and energy wise.

which is why i too am skeptical of the actual end goal, as it's been presented.

[levelshift]

Yeah, accepting everything at face value is really fucking stupid. I'm not going to discount what Aurora has told us is true, but we don't have any real proof. It pisses me off.

[decohere]

operating on incomplete and unreliable information is frustrating, but makes us easier to control and manipulate.

i've dealt with the likes of people that make you feel inconvenient for being kept alive, despite everything they've done to keep you captive and exploit you. like we should be grateful that they didn't choose a worse punishment. it's sick, honestly.

[levelshift]

[It'd be really easy to dismiss her as being paranoid, but he knows the kinds of people she's talking about and more importantly --]

It sounds like you've been through some shit.

[decohere]

[she is so very paranoid, she's aware. it's a deliberate lifestyle choice, a survival tactic... and coping mechanism.]

havent we all. not falling for it again.

[levelshift]

How do you plan on avoiding it, exactly? Being cautious is only going to get you so far.

[decohere]

nobodys business but my own

[like cmon you think she's giving her tactics away wherever anyone can read them?]

[levelshift]

Uh huh.

[Does she have a plan? He's starting to feel skeptical.]

Anyways, I don't know if this information will help anyone much.

[decohere]

good motivation to avoid pointless death. especially as a form of protest.

[levelshift]

If there was anyone who was thinking of dying to protest all this shit they're a huge dumbass.

[decohere]

eh, hunger strikes and self-immolation are fairly classic methods to stand against and draw attention to injustice. not my personal m.o. but sends a clear message about unwillingness to participate.

[levelshift]

Those only work if there's someone in a position of fucking authority who can listen to the protest and understand the significance of it. We don't know if either of those things apply to Echo.

[decohere]

of course we don't know. but how else is anyone meant to find out? it's not like you bother asking for permission first.

but if people start losing important parts of themselves in the process, i can see how that would discourage such.

[levelshift]

There's a certain futility in doing something that extreme when the person you want attention from isn't fucking listening.

[Like that time he slowed the Earth's rotation to throw a wall at a building and the person whose attention he was trying to get did not give a single solitary shit but anyways --]

Maybe it's another method of controlling us.

[decohere]

think thats the point. rarely escalates to that level otherwise. when there seems to be no options or compromise left.

yeah. probably. although i have a habit of reading far too much into things and making connections that aren't there. easy to get off track when you're filling in too many blanks without actual evidence.

[levelshift]

Removing yourself from the equation would reduce the effects your biases have regarding a situation. Not to say that's an easy thing to do, but that's what I do.