[Closed]

[lastofthebog]

WHO: Galla, Riptide, Kaneki, Duo, Futaba, Adachi
WHERE: Galla's Office
WHEN: Late June
WHAT: The completion of an investigation
WARNINGS: None forseen

[ It's been some time since Galla first began poking her nose into the odd vandalism in Maurtia Falls some months ago. She'd learned the OTO had likely been behind it, and her interest grew from a spark into a keenly burning flame. Unfortunately there were limits to how far she could investigate with what she understood of this world and the avenues of research available within it, so she'd been forced to reach out to a few trusted allies for aid.

Now, after several weeks have passed to allow those involved to carry out their own investigation and research, it's time for another meeting to follow up on the information gathered. She has a few reports and notes laid out before her, but there really isn't any way simple notes on a page can compare to actually speaking with investigators. She carefully gathers up the pages and sets them aside, leaving a few blank scraps of paper out for fresh note taking. ]

To begin with, I would like to thank you all for your aid and discretion in this matter. I would not have been able to carry out this investigation myself, and I truly appreciate the help you've each been. I only ask a little more of your time today.

[ She pauses and taps the pages she'd just set aside. ]

I know what my instincts say about this, but I am very curious to hear what the rest of you think of it, if you have much opinion at all.

Comments

[hellrisen02]

What else can be said? Well-intentioned extremism is still extremism. [I should know, Duo thinks, scoffing to himself. His features remain as neutrally, barely amused as ever, leaning one shoulder against a bookcase to the side of the room.]

[Hm. How to put this without straight-up endorsing militant action?]

There's nothing wrong with their political activism in itself, even to this extent; but any form of action which doesn't take into account collateral damage is a dangerous avenue that can't be allowed to continue. Hitting bank accounts and scribbling a little bit of graffiti is one thing, and frankly I don't much care about any of that. But we already know the lengths they'll go to when armed, so the question is how much of this slippery-slope taunting do we tolerate?

...Let's not forget the timing of all of this. Considering what our community currently has in the works to address them.

[lastofthebog]

[ Galla finds herself nodding along with Duo's points. All fair and reasonable, and not very far from what she'd been thinking of herself. ]

I do agree, especially on that last point. I had wondered briefly if they were speaking of our own secrets drowning us for a time, but I think they'd be much more direct in their message if that were the case.

That all said... [ She pauses for a moment to gather her thoughts, brow furrowed. ] I do still feel there is some merit in acknowledging their attempts at communication up until the point in which we actually confront them, an action we all know is coming with our impending trip to Mars. I would call it "knowing our enemy" before I called it tolerating their taunts.

Although I can't say it feels like we've learned much about them from this.

[hellrisen02]

That's the problem, isn't it? [Duo nods, with a wave of his hand.] You can grasp the vague sense of their aim here, sure, but simply wanton anti-corruption can't be their entire meaning with these attacks. Especially given the timing.

It might only be their way of giving us a counter-warning. A threat, now that there's been developing movements towards aggression against them.

...No matter what opinion one might have regarding advancing aggressions on OTO, it'd be awfully naive of them to think the imPort community would stand down based on this. [He says, delicately. As far as his own opinions were concerned, foolish, but stopping imPorts from doing foolish things was a losing battle.] Anyway, we've done this much looking around, but there's got to be something we're missing, if they're in a position to make those threats.

[lastofthebog]

I doubt they expect us to stand down so much as...split our attention. [ She casts another frown at the reports she'd set aside. ] A more hopeful interpretation could be that there is divisions within the OTO, and this is one of them attempting to reach us, but... [ She shakes her head. ]

This all may be worth consideration—after we have finished assessing and dealing with the more obvious threat from the OTO.

[hellrisen02]

[Considering that possibility brings old memories to mind, of how a monstrously huge military complex like the Alliance fell to its own size, its own factions, in the end; how OZ itself split perfectly along the lines of Romefeller's old guard and Khushreneda's charismatic machinations; even the White Fang had its rogue elements that tried to continue the battle after their defeat.] You cut off one head and another pops up. If it's infighting, don't you suppose things will turn out that way? [Duo taps a finger to his chin.] Divisions sound like an advantage during the battle, but in the aftermath, it can make things messy. I think I'd rather hear them toying with us than having their own problems.

So, I guess I agree with you. [He sighs as he sits back again, hands spread wide.] Even if there was an element trying to reach out to us, I'm not convinced we should want their help. Given OTO's founding purpose, I can't see it being anything healthy.

[lastofthebog]

I believe we are in agreement then. If the aftermath is a mess, we can deal with it when it happens. For now we need to maintain our focus on the plans we have made already. [ Maybe if whoever was behind this made a more direct attempt at contact, then she could reconsider her stance. ]

[hellrisen02]

[Duo nods, still with a hand over his chin. Even still, he's curious on the deeper meaning behind these incidents, the fact that they hadn't been able to turn up much of any kind of closure or real headway on them. It felt too shallow, to simply explain them away as random activism. This group seemed too.. sophisticated for that.]

[He remembers what they ha said in their communication- their implication that another higher power was behind them, something akin to Lachesis. His mind drifts back to the stories of Vulcanus, of Atropos.]

Say that the split in their organization came about because some of those involved realized that their ...benefactor's plans were going to be more detrimental to this world than they realized. If that was the message they were attempting to make contact with. [He pauses to think another moment.] ...Ambassador, what do you know about the world the imPorts came from before this? The first Porter.

[lastofthebog]

[ She tips her head curiously, confused by the question but keenly interested in it. ]

I must admit I've never given much thought to it at all. I dedicated my time to learning about the world we're in now, and there was precious little left to learn about another one. Why do you ask?

[hellrisen02]

One of the actual replies of use the OTO gave to imPorts who sent them messages implied that there's a-- [His mouth twists] higher power of some sort, backing their plans.

[Duo gestures across the room.] Kaneki has a detailed compilation of information regarding the past history of imPorts- of us imPorts- but the nitty gritty is that a being called Lachesis was the entity which resided within the Porter as we knew it up until a certain point. Lachesis was... Well, I suppose it would be simplest to call her a goddess, but in mythology of several worlds, she's what was called a Fate, a being that ruled over the passage of time. To be particular, she controlled the measure and content of mortal beings' lives... to an extent, I suppose.

[He figures that telling the whole tale here would be pointless if she could fill in the gaps, so he skips to the point.] She wasn't the only of her kind. She had sisters, one of whom was called Atropos, and had domain over the end of things. Atropos was at war with her sisters, and is the cause of the destruction of the world in which us imPorts first appeared, causing Lachesis to bring us to this one. I know, because I was first an imPort in the previous world, although I wasn't around to witness its destruction.

[A deep breath.] In the same way us imPorts were like chess pieces to Lachesis, Atropos also had her own faction of mortals, called 'Vulcanus'.

[lastofthebog]

Atropos... [ it sounds familiar. She's sure she must have read about her once before, but this world and Lachesis had been such a necessary focus that Galla could hardly remember it now. Duo's explanation, however, has certainly captured her interest.

Her expression remains as carefully neutral as she can manage; it's important to Galla to hold onto the appearance of calm, level-headedness. But in the face of this information even she is finding it hard to keep the first lines of grave fear from pinching the corners of her eyes and mouth. ]

If the OTO has a connection to her— If she has a presence in this world at all, then we have a much greater task ahead of us than simply undertaking a mission to Mars.

me looking at the MR post today: stares at this thread

[hellrisen02]

That's a nice way of putting it. [Duo wears a grim smile, an expression painfully familiar for him, one that fits his face all too easily.] If Atropos has found us, has found her sister, this entire universe is in jeopardy.

From what I've gathered, those who survived the destruction and were brought here never learned the fate of either Atropos or her allies, but seemed to be under agreement that they had been brought here- that Lachesis had brought them here- to escape, and to hide.

S A M E

[lastofthebog]

And now Lachesis is hiding from us. Not a very good savior, it seems. [ Not to Galla's standards, anyway. ]

I have never been a fan of hiding with my tail between my legs, and if we have been found then there is little point to it any longer. Hopefully Lachesis will agree and make herself known if that truly is the case.

[hellrisen02]

She was never a savior. [Duo laughs, an uncharacteristically genuine and bitter sound, however brief.] Not that Chess Master. Well, she always preferred for us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps- Heropa the other month certainly showed that much hasn't changed.

...If you ask me the real question is whether she can do anything, given the Porter's new ...overseer. Whatever it is.

[lastofthebog]

Our own bootstraps? But we owe many of our powers to her. She has provided tools, but no guide to whatever task she has in mind. [ A pause. ] Although, if she is a Fate, perhaps she has already set us on the path to it.

So, I suppose my answer is that it may be she has done what she believes she can already, but I still wish to speak with her.

[hellrisen02]

I'll admit it's weird, she used to be a lot more ...talkative. [His brow furrows.] I mean, after we pulled the curtain offa her. But she's also the type that likes screwing around with us, so I'm not all that surprised.

[Frowning more] It concerns me, that she's supposedly lost so much of her power, if what's approaching us... Well, I don't expect her to facilitate a meet-and-greet of her-- child, whatever it is, but if its goals are the same as hers, it'd be great to know that about now.

I was no more a fan of being jerked around by her then than I am now, I just have more hindsight to see where she was going with things. But based on that knowledge alone, I can't say what she intends for us to do this time, considering how narrowly she and the imPort community escaped the last battle with Atropos.

[There was someone who knew better than him, he knew, but asking her anything about those times wasn't something he felt he had any right to do. Anyway, if she wanted to say anything, she would do it on her own terms, when it became necessary. That was what he thought, anyway.]

[lastofthebog]

It would be great to know the goals of her offspring no matter what they are. I prefer to have at least some inkling of what beings greater than myself have in mind.

As for Lachesis... [ She sighs and leans back in her chair, her mouth thinning out in a tight frown. ] We may not know what she wants with any certainty, but it seems it would be safe to say that she'd appreciate preventing any of Atropos' plans. If she is in league with the OTO.

[hellrisen02]

She already has. [He agrees.] With ...that week, and the nuke. It's just her style to do things that way- messing around, even if it's to her own advantage.

Still, I think... I think that if she knew we couldn't do it, she wouldn't have bothered. She's no savior but she's in this as deep as we are, all things considered.

It's Atropos that's the wildcard, for me. Considering I had never experienced Vulcanus' attacks firsthand, I couldn't advise you what to expect. [He twists his mouth.] ...But... there are a few around. That could speak up, if things get to that point. Personally, I choose to trust that they will.

[lastofthebog]

What you do know has been enlightening already, and I thank you for it. That said, I may well put out a request for information on Atropos, if only to ensure we are prepared for the worst case.

[hellrisen02]

Any bit helps. It'd be best to gather as much information as possible. [Duo nods, rubbing his chin.] ...You might consider Senator Hundred, in particular? Of the ones left that I've learned were transported here during that time, I think he's the one that would be the most talkative. And with your position, it shouldn't be difficult to get a moment of his time.

The others... The ones I know of, anyway- aren't very talkative, and I don't know if they could tell you much more anyway. Still, there may be other survivors I haven't met; a public call'd be worth it either way.