[ text ] un: aragaki; like 4 am

[petsthedog]

[It comes on the network like an intrusive thought -- because it is. Because Shinjiro can't sleep, even with all the talk of distracting activities like movies and pumpkin carving and costume parties. (Where do you even get costumes on a spaceship, anyway?)

Because he can't stop thinking about what Olexa said in that building, at the end. Would you die trying to get that stone back? Cheri's motivations were selfish, but then, aren't theirs too? So-Yeon's hadn't been, and while she'd surrendered the orb, what if she hadn't? What about the next mission?]

do you think the orb is worth killing people for

Comments

Text | Un: Star-Lord

[spacedisaster]

No.

[ The answer is short and blunt, but it's 4 am and he just woke up from another nightmare, so... ]

[petsthedog]

[Shinji doesn't either. But there's the crux of his dilemma: it doesn't matter what he thinks. He's not the only one on this team.]

could you still accept it if someone else here killed someone for it?
what if cheri and olexa hadn't given it up when they did?

that girl so-yeon died givin it to us
sure we had a deal and she was already done for long before we came but she still gave up what time she had left with her friends and family
what if the next one doesn't?

[Sorry Peter, are you new, Shinji has not paid that much attention tbh.]

[spacedisaster]

I've been fighting a long time, and I had to kill people in the past. Powerful entities who were trying to destroy the galaxy, people who were trying to murder my friends, my family...People who were beyond stopping. It is not an easy choice. There are reasons to end a life, for example when it means millions of other innocent people get to survive, but it should be a last resort.

I wasn't here for the first mission, so I don't know So-yeon's story. However, I have been having these same worries about what might happen if someone refuses to give up on the orb's power.

The orbs and this station, as things are now, have too many unanswered questions surrounding them to make a proper decision. We will have to wait until we find ourselves in that situation, theorizing now is useless.

[ That's all right, there's a lot of people around here. ]

video; un: alenko

[majorbiotic]

No, not at all.

[petsthedog]

the other guy said that too
but there's already people who died in our attack on lionetta hq

[Andy and Erik about said as much. Us or them.]

shitty people or not, they died because of us
that blood is on all our hands already
so-yeon died givin us the orb too
it's only gonna keep happenin
is your regret worth it?

text; un: s.wilson

[unclesam]

I'll fight to help people, I ain't here to play intergalactic executioner. it ain't always that black and white. but categorically? nah, it really ain't.

[petsthedog]

i know it ain't black and white
that's my point
say so-yeon went back on her word, in gyeongje
wanted to stay with her friends and family now that they were finally safe
would we have taken the orb from her?
and then there's the people in lionetta
they were out to kill us, but we came at em first

you guys keep sayin you don't wanna kill anyone but shit like this'll keep comin up
least it felt honest when erik and andy said it's us or them

@PARKOUR

[webdesigned]

no. nothing is worth killing for. death is... death is forever. i don't feel comfortable making a choice like that. i don't think anyone should feel comfortable making a choice like that.

[petsthedog]

bein part of this means makin that choice though, don't it?
once anyone gets blood on their hands for it its on all ours
especially since we can't get back to the station without em

text; un: stark

[arc_reactor]

No. We should do everything we can to avoid it.

( riling up all the insomniacs tonight, aren't you )

[petsthedog]

[He's bringing the spicy discourse for all the night owls.]

that include stoppin any of us who would?

[Andy is one of the people he's thinking about, here. She'd said she's not seeking out murder, but she'd do what she had to. Us or them. She's immortal, though. Could anyone really stop her, if she was ready to kill for it? Would anyone want to? Doesn't that make them all complicit, if they don't?

He had simply looked the other way, with Strega, and it blew up in his face. Andy isn't Takaya's kind of unhinged, from what he can tell, but that specter lingers. Turning your eyes from reality doesn't make it go away.]

text | un: andy

[oiorpata]

You're still thinking about this?

You gotta figure out where you stand, don't depend on others for it.

[petsthedog]

we ain't in this by ourselves

[As lone wolfish as he might be, even he understands that.]

what we do affects each other
especially with the orbs bein the only way back to the station

Text | UN: Syrlya

[chronosynthesis]

For the orb itself? No, I suppose not.

But what someone is using the orb for, that depends. [That's really the question, isn't it? Their task is to get it back by any means necessary. The question is what they're willing to do for the sake of a duty--or power.]

[petsthedog]

so you'd kill someone like cheri then
or the shitty lord from the last place

Text. un:Kirigan

[cruelyethuman]

That is a very good question.

[petsthedog]

don't suppose you got an answer?

( private text | un: jaguar )

[scarcastically]

covering more ground i see.

[petsthedog]

[. . .]

couldn't sleep

text; un: renfri

[retributioning]

That's a pointless question. We killed some of the turned people and guards in the first mission, and we killed the Lionetta officers in our second mission. Some Featherstones were given assassinations as assignments, too.

We've already killed people for the orb, and we'll keep doing it, no matter how much people are trying to make us sound good and pure. Why wonder if it's right or not if it's going to happen anyway?

[petsthedog]

take it that means you're in the "it's us or them" camp?
fair enough

text; un: stargirl

[bossily]

Think my answer depends on whether or not you're looking for advice or approval.

[petsthedog]

neither

[This is a bald-faced lie. He wants advice so bad.]

just thinkin about what the lionetta lady said about dyin for the orb is all

Text; un: ratchet

[neveroutwrenched]

[Oh geez. Talk about a loaded question, and blasted out on the network no less. Something that probably got mulled over a lot on this ship, maybe with more seriousness for some than for others.

It was worrying.]

Just a little late night, easy philosophy, huh?

[petsthedog]

[It's been on Shinjiro's mind with increasing intensity in the past weeks. So-Yeon's death had not been as troubling at the time, knowing she'd already sealed her fate, but Olexa's words had brought her back to mind. What if So-Yeon hadn't held up her end of the deal? Would they have killed her for it? That question haunts him.]

somethin like that