two, two, two posts in one; 4/6

[wearingguess]

[ hey, it's a prismagram post from 1stQadrMargaFan! you know, that one c-plus/b-minus-list influencer who's always posting magic tutorials, fashion selfies, food pics, and random animal encounters. (well, not so much recently, but... yeah.) ]

Hello, First Qadr!!
Thank you all so much for your comments and messages over the past couple of weeks. I can't believe I went three entire days without responding to anything! 😳 But I always read everything you send me, and I will try to answer you all as soon as I can. 🧡🧡🧡

But now I must make an important announcement!
✨ Starting today, this account will be going on indefinite hiatus ✨
I will keep comments open, but I won't be posting any more pictures or videos. This is just a personal issue and there's no need for anyone to worry! 🦋😸🍇
I want to say thank you again. Your support over the past several months has meant more than I can possibly express!! You're all breathtaking, with and without your Moonheld and Moonblessed traits! Let's all keep doing the very best we can to look out for one another! 👋🥰

[ a few minutes later, there's another post, from another account: laurea. this one's video. long antennae and parts of the colorful underside of a pair of butterfly wings are visible on the subject (who doesn't appear particularly jazzed about them). ]

Hello.
Ah... this message is primarily for my fellow Moonblessed. For those who don't know me, I am Titus Alexius.
I have been thinking about this quite a bit lately, and... I think that we ought to, if possible... that is, to the extent that it is possible...

[ deep breath! ]

I think we should stop moonlacing.

[ and now the hurried qualifiers. ]

We need to do a little, of course, to survive. Obviously we should all feel free to do that amount. But beyond that minimum, we should most likely refrain.

[ he hunches his shoulders and looks down!! ]

This will certainly be a great sacrifice... and terribly difficult, especially during the moon cycles... and no doubt quite unpleasant in many ways as well. For some of us more than others. But while the effects of chroma generation initially seemed exclusively beneficial, with the very worst of them still being harmless, it is now more than clear that there are others that are neither predictable nor safe.

[ now he shuts his eyes. ]
...All of Port Sylvel paid the price for that. And many perished in the subsequent battle as well. We cannot bring them back, but we owe it to them not to let it happen again.

[ another deep breath. then he opens his eyes and looks back into the camera. ]

At least that is what I think.
I would like to know what all of you think.


[ there's a slightly awkward pause!! ]

...On that note, I am also looking for work.
I am willing to do anything, though... physically demanding work is probably best avoided, unless you don't mind its being accomplished poorly and only after a likely unreasonable length of time.
Nothing that requires moonlacing, either, though I suppose that much is obvious.

...
And that is all. Thank you!

Comments

un: shenqingqiu

[peerlesscucumber]

[ he has a headache listening to this, because to him, it simplifies a complex problem he already's had months of sleepless nights over. but he can appreciate where it comes from, because how do you face something outside of direct control and try to reign it in? seek to do what you can to protect and control yourself, first.

he refrains from rubbing his head, or temples, or scrubbing his hands over his face. instead he's a cool, collected face not without traces of compassion or dark circles indicated under his eyes. ]

We give off Chroma simply by existing... and even if we cease Moonlacing, and we die in the same manner as those who perished in Port Sylvel, we're not left that way. Chroma eventually releases us from that crystal death.

[ He's witnessed it firsthand. He can't forget it. Doesn't want to, even if at other times, he does. ]

Which isn't to say you're suggesting that, you did not say such. But the idea of "enough" to survive is subjective, not objective. Fighting Majestas would have lead to an utter loss on our side and all the Lunatians without the use of Chroma and the seals developed by Lunar Scientia. Is that "enough" to survive? It still releases all that energy into the world the moment its generated. Nothing we as Moonblessed do regulates the flow of Chroma into this world beyond its generation. Even if we use such things just in crisis moments, we're feeding back into this dry earth, water quenching a parched throat.

[ he holds up his hands, revealing empty palms to the camera. ]

There is no little enough to be safe. Not from reawakening those hidden pasts this city and the rest of this destroyed world has forgotten.

[wearingguess]

We would never have had to fight Majestas if we had generated less chroma to begin with! I know we can't stop altogether unless we are all willing to crystallize, which... I am sure no one would be, and I could not ask it of anyone, either. But if we can simply slow it down... then whatever we awaken, will awaken slowly. And perhaps there will be time to notice its awakening and subdue it. To act rather than react.

[peerlesscucumber]

This government is not capable of acting instead of reacting. Not for things they should, such as having emergency response teams for crashing ships, let alone for the unknown that comes with a whole world regaining what it lost, and everything that went along with that.

[ he's still very calm in his he speaks, measured in his cadence. ]

Besides, even if we all crystalized, we'd still generate Chroma, and Lunatia would still not be prepared for what results. Majestas isn't the first example, simply the latest. What might better aid is lending our talents to the structures already in place, and working with them to defend the peoples here instead of avoiding the trouble that's already here. What happened two weeks ago isn't over. The queen and the prideful king weren't stopped before whatever his demands were had been met, from all indications. Weakening ourselves now is going to do what in the face of things like that?

[wearingguess]

I know he is only the latest. Tempeste, then Osse...
I thought we could simply deal with each threat as it presented itself, and that the good outweighed the bad. But I was wrong.

...And I think you are wrong, too. We do not generate chroma automatically. Those who crystallize from its lack are reawakened only through moonlacing. If we don't act to produce it, then it will not be produced.

No matter how hard we work to fortify this world's systems or defend its people, what good is it if we are simultaneously fueling the engines of its destruction?

UN: whatever

[noenvy]

How do you even stop moonlacing? Do you have to avoid contact with everyone you care about? I refuse.

Instead, when things happen, just deal with them. People weren't properly prepared, but now we know such things are a potential. Next time, it can be dealt with more efficiently.

[peerlesscucumber]

Dead is dead. That's not reawakening. That's resurrecting.

[ because that's not even close to how it works from his point of view. not when he sat for weeks staring at the dead, crystal form of his disciple, unmoved by anything, untouchable, and absorbing so little chroma the flow want detectable. that wasn't waking back up. that was dying, then resurrecting again weeks later. ]

This world was in the throes of its destruction long before we arrived. That was an accepted fact. It didn't need us for that, and if we all disappeared tomorrow, it would continue on along that way as soon as the Chroma held by the city and the world was used up again. Don't give us an importance we never had. It's only claiming what isn't ours to claim. What we've become, by merit of existing, is the conduit for change. That's not simple, and that's not safe, but it's not more destructive than what this world had already been facing in its decline.

[wearingguess]

An entire town was destroyed, and everyone in it killed horribly! How can you talk about it so flippantly? I don't want to stop making contact with those I care about either, but we cannot just accept what happened as an unavoidable sacrifice!

Besides, if Tempeste's attack and Osse's awakening weren't enough to prepare us to deal with Majestas efficiently, why do you think we will be be able to easily deal with whatever happens next?

[noenvy]

Sometimes people die in unavoidable unfortunate circumstances. Some people were lost and some people were saved. Next time more people can be saved. And did we understand why those other things happened? We have a better understanding now.

I would rather die than be unable to touch my spouse.

[wearingguess]

I know... I know that, but...
We have already been doing what you said we ought to, and it wasn't enough. We didn't save even a single soul from Port Sylvel. Yes, the use of chroma enabled us to defeat Majestas eventually, but that was just cleaning up a mess we were responsible for in the first place. Even if it was accidental, even if we caused it just by existing.

...It is undeniable that this world will die without chroma. But that is why I am only suggesting we produce less!

video | un: demonchef

[satanslash]

[Rin sure looks different! He also looks exhausted on top of the physical changes, and not terribly amused at what Tidus is suggesting.]

Yeaaaah, I'm gonna go with "no" there, buddy. I get you're tryin' to help and that's admirable and shit but I already know from where I was before that not doin' what's expected of us doesn't go well.

[Also he has a girlfriend???]

[wearingguess]

Then tell me what it is we know now, that we didn't know before! We already knew that Osse had been awakened by chroma, but that did nothing to help us save more people from Majestas. Instead, hundreds more were lost! You say we will save more people next time, but in fact the losses are only growing worse and worse.

It is one thing to prefer your own death to not being able to moonlace. But are you also willing to ask others to die for it?

video; un: laurea

[wearingguess]

Rin? What happened to your hair?

[noenvy]

Osse was some sort of creation that ran on chroma, right? And Majestas... something else? If they are being awakening in this world because of a growing source of energy not much can be done about it other then to set up defenses. It's not that complicated. Living worlds will have such things. This world simply has forgotten about it.

And, are you not asking people to die or be weak without having a good amount of chroma?

You only assume that less chroma means less issues. That's like blaming the rain when the dry river bed fills up and floods. You can have less rain, but then it will be less water and all your crops will die.

[satanslash]

... long story.

[wearingguess]

Osse was a machine and Majestas a living being, but they both reawakened because they were infused with the chroma we produced. Whether this world should have defenses to prevent that or not, the fact is that it does not, and to blame them for their own deaths is cruel.

That analogy of rain is quite apt, but in this case it is not simply an uncontrollable act of nature. We choose to moonlace, which causes "rain." This means we are in complete control of how much it rains, and therefore, if there is destructive flooding... we do indeed bear the blame.

I think it should be possible to reduce the amount of rain so that the crops will survive, but the river will not flood. And that will be enough to keep us from dying or weakening, as well.

[wearingguess]

Very well.

Then will you tell me why you are so certain moonlacing less would not go well?

[ titus himself has also been through quite a lot since the last time they spoke... though without any dramatic physical changes to go with it. and he took off the high-class magician's robes as soon as the moon knights brought him home, so other than his own marks of exhaustion, there are no visible indicators of the difference. ]

[noenvy]

And who are we to say that flooding isn't necessary? Rice won't grow unless the paddies are flooded.

You are blaming the wrong things. This world is clearly starved for the energy that makes it run, continuing to want to keep it in a starved state helps no one. That's like saying qi should be removed from the world because some undesirable things can cultivate it.

Instead of making up half-thought ideas, why not research the history of this place and the purpose of chroma.

[satanslash]

[He'll talk about it... eventually. Maybe. He's still deciding how he wants to deal with his return.]

The place I was in before, with Kohaku. Shit got real fucked up the longer we were there, and any attempt to not do the quests we were bein' given just made it worse. Started gettin' ones like "bury someone alive".

And those quests weren't tied to keepin' us alive like chroma is, which just makes it worse to think we can stop like that.

Sorry, Tidus. Like I said, I get you're tryin' to help but that's... probably the worst idea I've heard.

[wearingguess]

I don't want to keep it starved, and I do not want to remove chroma from the world. But we seem to be forcing it to revive too quickly... and inflicting trauma and damage as a result. What I want to do is take more care, and restore the world more slowly.

And people's lives are not rice paddies, and I refuse to ever, ever accept that hundreds of deaths could be necessary.

...As for this world's history, there is far more information missing than there is present. But if you have found something that proves I am wrong, please tell me. ...I do want to be wrong.

[wearingguess]

That was a completely different world, and there is no reason to believe that whatever capricious beings gave you "quests" there even exist here. I am sure you do not really think it is necessary or acceptable to harm others if doing so is what some higher authority "expects" of us.

[noenvy]

I never said the deaths were necessary, simply sometimes unavoidable.

I know little of this world, I haven't been here long enough. But, I can understand a little based on similarity. Chroma does not seem all that dissimilar to qi which is an important force of all things.

Now, you say you want restoration to be slower, but what you propose is stagnation. At a certain point, there will be an overflow. Things that require more amounts will wake up.

[satanslash]

I know Mr. F ain't here, and it's different, but experience is tellin' me it's better to just do what they want. Plus, this place is already way, way waaaay better than the village, I actually don't mind it. If it keeps shit runnin', why fix what ain't broken?

[wearingguess]

...Are you not aware of what Majestas did to Port Sylvel?

[satanslash]

[He sighs, dragging a hand through his stark hair.]

'maware. But you gotta know... the village I was in before, the shit that happened to us there... it was bad. We were lucky to have food on a daily basis. We were attacked constantly by mutated things from the forest, werewolves, demons, sirens...

If you failed a quest you were punished for it, and sometimes even the 'rewards' weren't really worth it.

I feel bad for what happened at the port, I do, but at the end of the day... we're still cared for way better here. Maybe I'm just really fucked up from it all, I'unno. Just... if I had a choice I'd rather help the prismals than be back in that situation.

[wearingguess]

I know it by analogy as well. In my world there is a force called "magoi" that is produced by the rukh that inhabits all of nature. "Qi" is another name for that energy...

But magoi and chroma are fundamentally different. The rukh in the bodies of living things produce magoi automatically over time. A person whose magoi is depleted faster than it can be regenerated will die... and there is no way for others to share their own magoi in order to restore it. But chroma is not like that. When I came here, I thought it was wonderful that we could produce so much life energy so quickly, with no upper limit... with no need for anyone to suffer and die, no matter how much chroma they lost, since it could simply be replenished.

But I was naive. It never occurred to me that that runaway, limitless generation of more and more energy would itself cause suffering and death.

...My hope is that if we can slow down the rate of overflow... we will be able to anticipate and subdue the next threat before it can cause so much harm. Even if we didn't know what Majestas was, if we had been able to detect that something was beginning to awaken, then things might have turned out differently...