018 ♓ video

[fintastic]

[ As soon as the transporter is back up, Feferi comes back from her mission and after getting caught up on things, is not very happy. She's been given the run down, she's skimmed all the posts and comments. Even her fins are all puffed out, it's that serious. Even though most of the known mutineers have been captured now, she still feels the need to say her own piece.

Sollux is somewhere in the background making faces and being generally disgruntled. ]

So, the next time anyone wants to try and take over, maybe they should stop and think it through a little more! Maybe don't strand people on missions, or try to think about those of us do not have anywhere to go back to except being dead, or worse! Try to think about everyone else's worlds that need protecting!

If you really want change, you should try helping us! The Department of Initiative-Transport Relations exists for a reason, and when we opened, I asked everyone for their thoughts, and barely got any. Why didn't you come to us?

[ So this is nothing that hasn't been said before, but... hey, she was stranded and she's mad. ]

I really hope you're happy now, because we are right back where we started! And I am going to go right back to what I was doing, except now we have even more work to do and I do not even know who I can trust to not want to ruin the one good thing some people have here.

[ She looks like she wants to say something witty or cutting to end her commentary, but she comes up with nothing and ends the feed with a little huff, before hitting the off button. ]

Comments

voice

[oncearanger]

Is there anything that can be done to negotiate with the Initiative, or are we worse off?

voice

[fintastic]

I don't know yet. I just got back, I haven't talked to my boss, but I think we will try! It might be hard to get them to trust us again, though.

voice

[oncearanger]

The mutineers were brought into custody, at least.

But now they'll probably be reluctant to give us information unless the argument's presented very carefully.

voice

[fintastic]

Maybe... but maybe we should wait on the information stuff. I think it would be best if we focused on getting everyone working together again, instead of against each other. Information won't do us any good if we can't agree on how to use it!

voice

[oncearanger]

That's probably for the best.

Maybe we need a reminder of our common ground?

voice

[fintastic]

More like convincing some people that we even have one.

voice

[oncearanger]

We're all here, to start. Most of us want to go home, but...we should also try to leave this place stable for the people who want to stay?

voice

[fintastic]

That and... were you here when we tried to go to someone else's world?

voice

[oncearanger]

I was. I remember.

...actually, I wonder if that's part of the reason we aren't as united as the group from my previous war.

Where I came from, the same thing had already happened to everyone's world. Here, that's just an abstract that might happen. People become complacent.

voice

[fintastic]

Maybe. What if there was a way to show them that it's a real possibility? If that, or the city getting destroyed wasn't enough... there has to be a way, though.

[oncearanger]

I don't want to wait for the next real attack.

Maybe a presentation would work? I can easily imagine a dramatization. I've been there. A lot of us have. We just need to impress upon the newcomers what's at stake.

I'll never forget watching my world and its inhabitants die.

[fintastic]

[ Though she goes to reply, there's a good long fifteen seconds of silence as she mulls an idea over. ]

What about using the VR room to show them first hand? I don't want anyone to have to see that, but talking to people hasn't worked, and nobody would really get hurt.

[oncearanger]

I was thinking of something similar. It's a crude tactic, but it might work.

We'd just need support, to really drive home the message that this isn't hyperbole.

[fintastic]

Only as a last resort though! [ A hurried addition, as she sounds a little worried about it. ] And you would have to tell them beforehand. As long as they knew what they were walking into, I think it could help.

[oncearanger]

Right.

Now we just need to negotiate agreements with each other, and that'll be difficult.

[fintastic]

Yeah...

[ There's another, shorter pause. ]

I miss the Earth. Even if the oceans were a mess, I miss it.

[oncearanger]

I lived near the ocean. I miss it too.

[fintastic]

I think what I miss most is swimming, but it burns my gills too much. Did you swim a lot?

[oncearanger]

Not until two or three years ago, actually.

I was bitten by a fish as a child, and I was afraid of the water for an embarrassing number of years. But there's nothing I'd love better than a swim now.

I guess because it makes you feel alive.

[fintastic]

A fish! What kind of fish?

[ She can't imagine any fish with a bite that scary. Not any Earth fish, anyway. Were Earth oceans hiding something she didn't know about? ]

[oncearanger]

I actually don't know. I yanked my finger out and ran---I wasn't interested in identifying it, but I wish I had.

It was small, though. About the size of my thumb.

[fintastic]

[ That's actually kind of cute, and she bites back a giggle. ]

It probably wanted to be friends! Fish can't talk or hug you, so they have to do what they can.

[oncearanger]

It wanted a cordial relationship with my finger?

[Billy seems to doubt, to say the least.]

I always thought it simply looked like food.

[fintastic]

Both. Probably both. Food can be friends too, right?

[oncearanger]

...the food chain would dampen any potential friendship, I think.