Continuation.

[shimmermods]

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Vitali doesn't seem inclined to come much closer to any of you; there's a wall of glass between her and you, and she appears to want to keep it that way. Any attempts to breach it are likely a terrible idea; just because there aren't any soldiers with them doesn't mean that they're unarmed, after all.

"So you've decided to act up," she says, her hands folded behind her back, her posture formal and stiff in a way that doesn't suit her; her gaze remains as icy as her words, though she's refraining from making direct eye contact with any one of you in particular. She's still audible, despite the glass; it isn't as all-encompassing as the Shimmer seemed to be whenever it spoke to you within the boundary, but it's sharp, commanding. "If that's what you want to do, then fine. We can talk about that. You guys haven't wanted to settle since you got back; maybe this will make you actually sit down for a moment.

"If you're going to talk, get it out of your system before we throw you back in quarantine and figure out what to do with you. And try to keep from launching at the glass or doing anything stupid to yourselves in the meantime. We'd hate to have a reason to classify any of you as a threat."

code by vuvuzela

Comments

[atrueheroine]

[Might as well start things off nice and civil! Page has been trying incredibly hard to control her anger, but at the moment it is. difficult.]

Settle?

[Just so you know, guys...not to say she told you so about these two rocking up, but she told you so-]

Would you be fine to relax if you'd been treated the way you've treated us? Thrown into an underground bunker after completing the incredibly dangerous mission you sent us on, with no word on when we would be released?

[TREES, VITALI! COULD'VE BEEN TURNED INTO ONE!]

I'm sorry we haven't been content to sit around and have tea time!

[shimmermods]

[She's so unimpressed, Page.]

I actually have the discipline to know that after coming back from a mission like that, dangerous or otherwise, I'm not going to be greeted with hugs and cake. We don't know how infectious you are, and we have no way to know how affected you're going to be by this whole experience.

There's no point in destroying that thing only to have it possibly continue to spread immediately because you decided you deserve to have free run of the place.

[instrumentalized]

[ Well, fuck. Now their surveillance is definitely going to get a lot tighter and a next escape attempt will be far harder... Garma is not happy. ]

I don't think our initial demands to be educated about the duration of our quarantine and the exact reasons thereof were unreasonable.

We came to work with you people as employees, but ever since we've come here we've been treated with no respect. If you're shocked about this attempt, blame yourselves!!

[shimmermods]

The only thing I don't care for is the lack of responsibility and discipline - I would think you, of all people, would know better than to do this sort of thing after possibly being exposed to god only knows what.

[notjustawriter]

What happened to these people?

[shimmermods]

That's a good question.

[She doesn't seem to soften at that, but she does look at them, actually. ...She's ignoring N, but that's another story altogether, apparently.]

They came back from the Shimmer and were largely fine for a while. Then they started dying on us. We don't know what caused it to happen.

There's been improvement in their conditions since the Shimmer itself went down, though.

[planetary_bonds]

Judging by the way you have been treating us, it seems like you already have classified us as a threat.

[What with this...highly militaristic style of treatment, and all.]

What the hell do you want with us? If you really don't know what to do with us, why haven't you been honest about it?!

[shimmermods]

Child, if you prefer to avoid conversations when you don't know something vital, that's on you. Don't assume that of the rest of us.

[abysstery]

[Heinwald peers up from his thoughts as Vitali and Hubert enter. He knew it was only a matter of time until this happened, honestly...]

If you had actually spoken to us, then we would hardly be this restless. You've kept us nigh in the dark since the beginning.

[To the point where they had to rebel to have any sort of actual conversation, apparently. He's...glad they're even getting a conversation after said rebellion, though.]

[shimmermods]

Not really. As I've told you from the beginning, everything is on a need-to-know basis. Don't fault me for your position in the chain of things.

[blunders]

[Felicia's just...looking at all of this right now, unsure of what to do, really. She certainly wasn't expecting that escape would be anything easy, but with everything that they've found out...]

...Has there been any progress made, on just what's happened to us? On what's happened to them?

[There's no barbs or anything pointed in Felicia's question. If they have an open floor for this, then well...she's going to ask.]

[shimmermods]

[It's appreciated.]

We're currently just making sure that nothing is going to spread, and you haven't been contaminating everything. It's fairly convenient that you decided to do this now - they're going to be going over your rooms while you're down here.

You've been exposed to a lot, and it's hard to say what affects that's going to have on the outside world.

[skelkro]

[Emma sighs when Vitali shows up, and at some point says--]

This is almost worst than trying to talk to the Shimmer: at least there had been plants nearby to look at while everyone stood around arguing with the vague "holier than thou" person that time.

[can't believe we miss the shimmer already just for this reason]

[bornandbread]

[Jean looks pretty settled here, actually, even if his posture is alert; he's half-watching N still and half-watching the newcomers, evaluating how all of them are engaging (or not engaging) with the group and each other. It's fine to let the yelling proceed for a little bit.

Better yelling than blows, right now. He shoves his hands into his pockets because otherwise it'd be nice to get a cigarette in these circumstances.

Eventually:]

How long have we been down here now?

[shimmermods]

Not too long. About a week, maybe a bit more.

DISCUSSION.

[shimmermods]

All right. Now that we've established that I'm somehow both literally the worst and not as completely evil as you seemed to think I was, maybe we can get something done.

[...Is that a sense of humor, who knows. Clearly today has just been that long.]

You guys don't want to stay here. I get it. But if we send you back to your worlds prematurely, there's a chance that you'll be a contagion vector - that you're going to take the Shimmer, and you're going to spread it around to anyone that comes in contact with you. For all we know, it's possible the act of sending you back itself could just amplify it or otherwise make it worse, and your world is going to end up infected like this one was. You technically can be sent back - in the end, this is my project, and I can authorize that. But it's possible that if I do that, either your world will end up in danger, or you're just going to die shortly after arrival. It's possible that won't happen, but it's not something we can dismiss, either.

On the other hand, you can stay here for some time longer and we can try to find a solution, but there's no guarantee that there is one. You would live and work here, in an attempt to find a way to reverse the changes, or at least make them less of a danger to others. You would be permitted to stay upstairs, as opposed to quarantine, and you would be granted as many resources as I can get you to work towards reducing the threat and finding a way to either purge the changes or render them harmless. This is something that would be considered highly beneficial by my superiors, so it's likely they'll allow you do as you see fit – after all, many of you were brought here due to specialized knowledge that we don't have. You would be sent back as soon as some sort of method to remove the threat to your worlds is found, but if none is found, we could not in good conscience send you back.

[She takes a deep breath after that; god, she could use a cigarette.]

I'm not asking for any sort of final say right now. I think it's something you guys need to talk over. See if you like either option, see if you want to come up with something different on your own. But that's what we're currently looking at. Either we send you home prematurely and you risk doing to your world what this one had done to it, or you stay here for a while to try to fix it, but there's a chance that you might not be able to return if you do that.

[atrueheroine]

[....well. That's...a hell of a choice, um.]

Quick question. Does it have to be a unanimous decision?

[notjustawriter]

That’s... a hell of a choice.

[He misses his Gran something fierce. Mosely, Gerde...]

I’m the Schattenjäger. I can’t risk bringing something uncontrollable with me. I spent months hiding myself away in order to protect others not so long ago... if I have to do it again, I...

[instrumentalized]

[ .... well. Garma has been mostly quiet for a while but he goes even more quiet now, staring at his feet and thinking - he knows his answer, of course, but he needs to really go over it in his head before he can bring himself to say it. ]

I want to go home, badly, but... there is no way I can put my world at risk. We have our own evolution, and our own rules, and I... I can't be responsible for messing it up. If... if I never return, the war is still in capable hands without me.

... I'm staying. And if these are the terms presented and kept word on, I will cooperate without complaint.

[pr159]

The latter.

[ Pretty much immediately. He's already volunteered to do research on this, and hahahaha he is sure as fuck not going back to the same point in time he came from. ]

[blunders]

[Felicia's stance is perhaps surprisingly firm; to her, there's really only one option.]

...I can't possibly risk harming my lady and the rest of Hoshido by potentially going back there and causing harm--even if I miss her. But with the knowledge that we'll be sent back moments before we were taken, one of the few things I was worried about, that harm should fall on her, isn't something I need to worry about anymore.

I'd very much like to stay, and help you all find a solution. Lady Corrin wanted me to help by any means necessary--and even if it means the possibility of not being able to go home is there...well, that's only a possibility, right? And I'm certain that we'd be able to work hard to bring about some sort of cure.

We're not the type to sit idly by, after all.

[aokisouhei]

...Well when you put it that way, guess I'm stayin'.

[ He didn't like their attitudes, but all the same he's not about to risk things and as long as they kept their word, he's not going to try to summon his spear and cause mayhem. ]

[bornandbread]

[A deep breath, like taking a drag; but the words are easy.]

I'll stay.

I don't have as much specialized knowledge as the others. But I'm not bad at dealing with crises. As long as we have the tools and the time, and enough resources...

[He still, somehow, looks calm, so maybe there's something to that. It's the longest he's ever been away from home but that doesn't mean anything for his resolve. It's a simple decision, in a way.]

FINAL DECISION.

[shimmermods]

[So there's an official tally, please input your final decisions here. No discussion (that goes here), final answers only. The vote does not have to be unanimous; your character will receive whatever they vote for.

>RETURN
>STAY

It's your decision; make it wisely.]

Re: FINAL DECISION.

[instrumentalized]

[ Garma will stay. ]

CONCLUSION.

[shimmermods]

All right.

[It's been such a long day. Vitali is content to wait until a decent consensus has been reached; it takes some discussion, but...]

We're going to bring you upstairs until we can get you all what you want, but we don't have anywhere prepared for you yet. I can make that happen, it's just going to take a moment. Until then, we'll see where we can put you.

You did a good job, by the way. I don't think I actually said that to you guys, but there's a reason I'm not the PR person. I'll see what's available for you guys, but we'll give you something to occupy yourselves in the meantime.

As for the information you guys will be working with, I'll make sure that you know what I know. Nothing less than that. Trust isn't really a thing down here and I still don't love you guys. I'm not your friend, and I'm not your mom.

But let's see what we can work out going forward.