( video, un: koriel - slightly forward-dated )

[passio]

[ on the morning of the 14th, everyone’s feeds get to enjoy what appears to be a somber-looking video of a somber-looking man. his shoulders are hunched, his eyes downcast, and one might wonder why he’s making a video if he’s going to look this sad while doing it. don’t worry about it. ]

It’s…

[ he falters. he should have planned this out a little better. ]

I’m sorry to bring them up again, but what was said about the Oracles of the Sinless has been weighing on my mind. One of those members mentioned wanting to “reset” the world…

[ a new game+, as tarn put it. ]

My world is… I… [ although he can't finish his thoughts, it doesn't sound like he's getting emotional. his voice is quiet, but even-toned. ] It’s been destroyed. Most people are dead, and those that aren’t are… unwell. And when I think about that, the idea of resetting the world doesn’t seem wrong.

[ he seems to realize that he’s dangerously close to spreading cult propaganda, and he looks up at the camera with the first fluctuation of emotion—from a kind of downtrodden pensiveness to concern. ]

But I don’t think it seems right, either. I don’t know. [ he glances away from the camera once again. ] The Sinless must be scared. They don’t want the world to get worse. Our arrival here… it makes beautiful things, but maybe…

…um. I wanted to know what everyone else thinks.

Comments

video; un: runner_boy

[lacrimose]

As long as there's even one person who wants to live, no one else should get to decide whether they live or die. I'll do whatever it takes to protect them.

[While Akira doesn't want to threaten him exactly, and Dextera is distressed... well.]

Why are you thinking about this now? Did something happen, besides the Sinless?

[passio]

[ akira…

of course, knowing what dextera does about his world and everything that ryo did to it, the response doesn’t exactly surprise him. still, he finds himself flinching a little at the hostile implication. akira is just that good of a person. ]

It’s a… difficult day for me.

[ he doesn’t know how to phrase it. ]

[lacrimose]

Right... [Akira feels a little guilty at that flinch, but he won't take it back. He meant what he said.]

Where are you? We should talk face to face.

video | un: stormflower

[sleepinglotus]

I... can understand both sides. Remnant, the world I'm from, has already experienced a reset of sorts, but we're trying very hard to make sure it doesn't happen a second time.

If the world is already destroyed, if there's no going back, then yes that would be a valid solution. If it is actually thriving, even with problems, I wouldn't want something to come along and just throw all that work out without a care for those living.

It's a valid fear. You're likely not wrong, given that they've already experienced a cataclysmic event.

[passio]

[ dextera nods. there’s a lot about the history of this planet that they don’t know. it’s possible that some time long ago, the sinless had the most logical approach. ]

What if the living were okay with it? A new world…

[sleepinglotus]

It would have to be a very unanimous decision and if the population is large enough the chances of that happening would be very slim.

voice, un: feal

[noblegarnet]

[Resetting the world is no small thing. Ferran hasn't exactly thought about it before, but he's had to broaden his mindset about a lot of things lately.]

It's all about context, right? It sounds like your world is suffering, for the most part... but here the Prismals are happy, as far as I can tell. In the way most people can be. Trying to force that on all of them seems wrong, when they're just trying to live their lives as best they can.

[He's definitely not happy about the Sinless in general, though.]

Even if they're scared, they can't just ignore that.

[passio]

[ dextera, perhaps with good reason, feels like he’s being scolded—but he doesn’t really hold it against anyone. it’s a good thing. he needs to hear from people, since he never asked those in his own world. ]

…

[ even though he’s on video, he stays quiet for a moment, guilty. ]

And if the Prismals weren’t happy… would it still be wrong?

[noblegarnet]

[Any admonishment he has is aimed squarely at the Sinless; given the other person's situation, he can't blame him for a few hypothetical questions. His tone isn't quite as forceful as he continues.]

I don't think that's something anyone could answer for sure... but if a world was really that far into ruin and there was no solution in sight, I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to reset it.

[It's not something he feels qualified to answer. Until a year ago he was just a high school student with a normal life.]

I just don't see that kind of situation here, you know?

Video [UN: TachibanaS]

[triggerhappytraitor]

Resetting the world means the destruction of all living beings. Regardless of how poor the life of those left within it may be, they should be the ones to decide their fate, not anyone else.

[[A slight pause as he presses his lips together, making a visible effort to haul back the somewhat harsh tone that he hadn't planned on using. When he continues, his voice is softer.]]

I'm sorry your world was put in that situation... but if there's even the smallest amount of hope that life can improve, that should be the path forward, not more destruction.

[passio]

Y… yes. That’s what I believe, too.

[ hearing someone else put it into words makes it easier for dextera to agree. when he’s left alone with his thoughts, unable to do anything but ruminate on the choices he’s made, of course he would start to doubt himself. ]

I don’t like killing. I don’t want to be a murderer. I think groups like the Sinless… they’re violent, and it’s scary.

[ he’s trying to convince himself just as much as he’s making conversation. ]

video; un: sannomiyaShiho

[good_ideas]

....has anyone ever told you that you shouldn't listen to cults? Ever?

[Dex.... why....]

[passio]

Shiho…

[ she’s a voice of reason, certainly. ]

I’m sorry… it’s hard.

[Video] un: roseoftheriverbed

[saigawa]

[This sounds way too dangerous to ponder, especially since the logic isn't that far off from changing history. However, this isn't his world and this guy isn't his comrade.]

Hmm... personally, I don't want to deal with that whole "reset" thing. It's way too much for us to decide for everyone, you know?

[passio]

…it is.

[ for normal people, at least, which dextera is not—though he doesn’t want to own up to that quite so blatantly. ]

But I wonder… what would happen to us. Maybe we would go home.

text; un: no

[terribletwos]

they're wrong. we've seen what chroma has done for this place. it's bringing it back to life. wanting to reset that sounds like they just want it all lost again.

what happened to your world sounds awful. but if you're still here, that means it still has a chance. since there's still someone willing to fight for it.

( text )

[passio]

I must be biased. I know that. I don’t know if my world really has as much of a chance as this planet does, but maybe it hasn’t been dead that long, either.

It seems like this planet has a long history full of things we don’t know about. Both good and bad.

video;

[accurately]

[ The more Midorima learns about Dextera, the more worried he is about him. He doesn't quite know how to express that properly, and asking if someone is okay when they just confessed their world has been destroyed seems pointless. So instead of responding to any of the post, the following is what this tanuki-eared man ends up responding with: ]

I'm going for juice, you're coming so it's not a waste if I try a new flavor and don't like it. Meet me here.

[ Here's an address that Dextera is being ordered to go to. If he tries to respond over the network, Midorima won't respond again. He'll just be waiting at the juice shop with an extra juice that he "tried" and decided he didn't want for him. ]

[passio]

Midorima…?

[ dextera responds with video first, even though the connection has been cut, and then of course he attempts with text as well. ]

Midorima?

[ he receives no reply to that, either, and if only to avoid inconveniencing midorima, he has no choice but to go and meet him. it takes him a little time, splashing his face and trying to look less miserable, but he does show up eventually.

fully believing midorima’s excuses, he approaches. ]

…you didn’t like it?

text; un: magicowl

[getting_better]

[ That hit a chord. A very sensitive chord. One that usually ends with Bishop either getting angry and depressed, but this time he doesn't. He is sad but, more empathetic at the state of this persons world. ]

My condolences. I don't really know what else to tell you beyond that. Text doesn't really convey what I mean but, know that truly I am sorry about the state your world is in.

As for the for those cultists, I can't approve of their intent but I understand why they'd want to. However, that doesn't excuse it, not for me at least. Life isn't something you can reset. You either end it or start it, nothing in between. If you could reset life like you do a machine, then it looses it's meaning.

[passio]

[ dextera’s breath catches in his throat.

is that really true? do death and life lose their meanings when they’re reset over and over? he does feel that way, sometimes. he’s been through dozens of bodies, none of them ever lasting for longer than a couple days. only this one has been alive as long as he has, but that doesn’t speak to the condition of his mind. ]

What if you already have? Reset your life?

[instilled]

All things must cede, though their loss may forever make the world a smaller place.

[ A world without the Wyrm would be a world that was a little less bright, a little less wonderful. Even a world without the Radiance, in all Her terror and glory, was a dimmer, smaller place. No doubt the Troupe who had come to love Grimm would think the same, though the fire of the Nightmare King would burn brightly in his child.

Perhaps there were those would think that about itself and its sibling, when they were returned to the Void.

But these were natural things, to come to pass. They changed the world, and let it move on.

The Hollow Knight had seen Hallownest, in its stasis. Though much of it had been through haze of burning orange and screaming fury, it had seen how it slowly rotted, and how its beauty became ruin. Would resetting that be for the best? Or would it not just eventually bring it to that end once more? ]

It is better to let things grow, free of control, than to keep them in stasis.
A reset sounds like a stasis, but with more complicated steps.
This is my understanding, anyway.

[passio]

[ the hollow knight is someone that’s always seemed to get dextera through its similar experiences, even if the lives they’ve lived, down to the level of details, have been quite different. even when dextera has to acknowledge he doesn’t really know much at all about what world the hollow knight is from, or what the hollow knight even is, the connection they share runs on a level more personal than that.

thus, the hollow knight comes through once again with a remark that’s so close to dextera’s deepest concerns that he feels there’s something he must share. ]

May I tell you something? Privately?

video; un:miniskirtsforever

[queenofminiskirts]

It's all right to be scared especially when there's a lot of change happening.

But being scared isn't an excuse for becoming a terrorist or joining a cult. And the blame should be placed on those who are directly responsible for the destruction instead of the changes themselves or us. That just hurts people who didn't do anything wrong to begin with.

[Like hating psychic powers because a few people use it to hurt people!]

As for resetting the world...the future belongs to everyone who lives there. It's not something that a single person or a small group can decide.

[But also...]

Are you all right?

[passio]

[ dextera just doesn’t have it in him to argue with kaoru about all the reasons someone might join a cult, and he doesn’t have much of a desire to, either. she’s right. being scared doesn’t have to mean lashing out, even if it’s all dextera has ever known.

so he merely nods along, until she asks the all-important question. ]

I’m… confused.

[ he’ll go with that. ]

I just needed to get all these thoughts out of my head.