002 ☆ voice;

[precludes]

[They will argue about moral choices until the city burns away. The choices here are ugly, and knowing the outcome regardless of their actions makes them uglier.

She never does this. Oriko has always believed that action is better than telling. People don't listen to soothsayers; truths must be learned on their own time. Never once has she simply come forward with information like this - everything was a speech, a story, a revelation, pulling threads and nudging.

She sounds, frankly, cold. Detached, but hoarse.]

What I have to say is brief, if you will hear it.

Here is what is going to happen:

There is no conceivable escape for Exiles at the shoreline. The fate they will meet there is no different. Guns wait for them, and death.

Don't send them down there indiscriminately, rashly, unless you send them knowing that.

Comments

[ringwizard]

[There's no room to be let down gently, is what that means.

He wants to hope. There has to be some way to save people, even if the bomb hits. He can't stand the idea that the entire population of Exsilium will die, of bombs or guns or starvation.

Dragon, curled in his chest, mocks him for naivete. He lifts his hand to his sternum, fingers tightening in the fabric of his shirt. His eyebrows turn down.]

We can't let this be a second world. [He thinks she's likely to understand his meaning.]

[precludes]

[She does understand.]

You don't intend to acquiesce.

[So many here are trying, toeing that line between grudging resistance and rebellion. Oriko finds the world difficult to let go of herself; she has always loathed to reconcile with inevitability, her warning a clawing attempt to circumvent it - one inevitability out of many.]

[ringwizard]

Not while there's any other option.

[It's even, far more collected than he is, really. He's a mess, but there's a certain serenity in having a goal so firm.]

Are you going up?

[precludes]

Not now.

[She has to see this path paved, though she understands the astronomical cost.]

If there's panic and rash decisions [there will be] I'll see to that, first.

I must see what to do about the coast.

[ringwizard]

[He nods. He understands later.]

If you have any ideas that need my kind of help--let me know, all right?

[She'll know what he means. His magic is the only thing that can help people now. He'll use it until he no longer can, if he has to.]

[precludes]

[It seems the same magic that killed her should be all that can serve her here too, but time and time again it's proved to not be enough.]

If they are to escape from this fate they need also have the means to survive beyond.

[Is that something his magic, specifically, can conjure? The opportunity?]

[ringwizard]

I can't promise wilderness survival tactics.

[A beat.]

Not on my own, anyway. If they're not worrying about being gunned down, then--the rest is going to be on them. [How and where, exactly, he could be best applied, well. He can think of a few places, and with help...]

[precludes]

A difficult burden to place on them, don't you think? They've been penned in here a great while.

[As have they.

If she's onto what he's thinking, Oriko has yet to say.]

It sounds to me like damning them for their bravery -- or fear.

[ringwizard]

It is. But look, I barely know how to put up a tent.

[He'd been perfectly serious--he wasn't any kind of wilderness survival expert.]

But there are a whole bunch of Transports out there, and a lot of them are angry. One of those angry Transports might be better at the whole camping thing. [A small, bitter sound that might have been a laugh.] I'm good at violence, Oriko. Point me, and I'll take care of it.

[precludes]

[She levels him with so quiet and stern a look, as if camping is the whole of it, as if finding a warm place to stay would be the only challenge facing those capable of making it through and escaping.]

...If there's an opening in their patrols we may be able to find it.

[ringwizard]

[He straightens up under her gaze, uncomfortable.] I'll do whatever it takes.

[That part, he thinks, is important to reiterate.]

I can't think of a better dream team. [That rings false. He can think of at least two. But for this--] I can kick a gap open, if it comes to that.

[precludes]

[Her eyes linger on him longer than necessary.]

Let's try to avoid it, for the time. [She has agents of force, already, guilty as she feels about using them.] That violence would have its consequences, too.

[She's no qualms with doing damage, a muted and dying raging against the inevitable fate of the city here, but drawing attention to such a gap would only close it, not open it. She's interested in opening.[

[ringwizard]

[He nods.] It'll get us farther, in the long run.

[He's not much for long-term plans. He's best at taking care of what's in front of him. But he can see how she thinks, in flashes.

He shifts topics as his posture shifts, his arms dropping into his cardigan pockets.] How much does seeing this take out of you? [He'll have to learn to plan for it, to account for it, the way he's learned to account for Nitoh's weaknesses.]

[precludes]

[It's difficult, to be half plans and half in the moment.

Nothing she's seen has been worse than that first moment, the horror she will never forget. Oriko knows that true helpless terror.]

I try never to give it lease enough to let it get there.

[ringwizard]

[He snorts, looking away. He's heard this story--hell, he's written that story.]

Not what I asked.