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

voice........

[fortissimos]

[ She recognizes that voice. Normally she'd question how Oriko knows, how she can possibly sound so sure — but it doesn't matter. True or not, her plans don't change at all because of this. ]

Leave those guys out of it, then. Something like that won't stop me. [ Except if a stray bullet hits her soul gem, but you know. Best not to think about that. ]

voice; hi

[invocation]

Are you crazy? Stay out of it.

voice; to oriko now

[invocation]

How'd you figure this out?

[ringbeast]

[He's definitely shaken.]

Oriko... You know that, huh...

Well, if you can get it across to Haruto, I mean-

[He shakes his head.]

No, that's my job, I gotta. I gotta get him back to bein' okay, even a little bit. I mean, I hope you can help, but... Okay, I better go. See you later.

action;

[ringwizard]

[Haruto's room has been carefully, conspicuously closed since the initial announcements went up. It opens, now, silently, and he goes to find her. He looks like hell, his hair unbrushed and his eyes tired. He moves gingerly, the mostly-faded bruising along his side from helping distract UE soldiers during the rescue mission keeping him from moving too quickly. He'd shrugged off Nitoh's magic because it hadn't been that bad--and really, it wasn't.

His voice is creaky with disuse. He's done as little speaking as possible, in the past day.]

You saw it?

[There's no doubt in his voice. He crosses his arms low over his chest, as a shield.]

voice;

[eyecaptivating]

...You're really sure about that? Really, really sure?

hi

[fortissimos]

No.

I can get there in time. I can do something.

[precludes]

You should think of what luxury you have that they do not.

[Stray bullets or not, a gunned down Exile is dead. Forever.]

[precludes]

We understand most things by seeing them. This isn't any different.

voice;

[precludes]

So long as they flee there without guidance, alone. You'd try, if you were so afraid, wouldn't you?

The line of fire there is deep. I do not expect any of them should know how to circumnavigate it.

[precludes]

[This, just after Nitoh's message. Oriko turns off her tablet and glances up at him.

She doesn't look much better, darkness pinching in beneath her eyes. These visions have become a fixture of a time here; emotion doesn't much factor into her recounting them any longer.]

You know what my answer will be.

[fortissimos]

That's why I'm doing this. It doesn't matter what happens to me.

[ringwizard]

I do.

[He reaches up to ruffle his hair, thinking.]

Have you seen anything--- [Helpful, he wants to say. But he won't.] Have you seen anything else?

[Small, after a pause--] Survivors?

voice, private

[postpones]

[the message was originally intended as a "where are you," but somewhere along the line while setting up the encryption, she figured she might as well skip that part and go straight to the track-by-magic bit]

I'm going over. Wait for me.

[invocation]

No you can't!

[This is spat out, angry and vicious.] They're dead when the bombs hit this place, or dead when they get to the border, you heard her! Either way, they've got nowhere to go. You can't stop a damn bomb, idiot.

[invocation]

[Aloof vague blonde girls, her least favorite thing.] What the hell kinda answer is that? Are you some kinda psychic?

[fortissimos]

I can try!

[ And fail, most likely. But she doesn't let herself think about that part, because heroes are supposed to prove reality wrong. ]

I can take out the guards at the border. I can— [ stop it, she goes to say, but it sounds too fake even to her. ] ... I'm already giving up my spot on the base. I'm not just gonna sit around and wait.

voice;

[eyecaptivating]

Ah, I guess I can't really say I wouldn't...

But... But does that really mean no one could help them?

[precludes]

And if you're the one who falls? What happens to them?

voice, private

[precludes]

I'll wait.

Kirika...

[She thinks better of continuing the thought and hangs up prematurely.]

[precludes]

[She places her hands in her lap, covering the tablet with her fists. Survivors of what? she wants to ask. Which part? Would he ask her outright, if she's seen the bombing, the aftermath?]

Reasonably, any patrol will have small exposures.

Mr. Souma, I fear even they would be caught in time, those who made it across.

voice;

[precludes]

I don't... [Frustrated, Oriko reaches out again, looking. Absently, she continues:]

If one were to find an oversight in their ranks, an opening...

There could always be a gap.

But...

[Persecution wouldn't end at the border; they must all know that. It's not enough, not yet.]

voice, privately screaming on a dead line

[postpones]

...!

[WHY THIS, it just makes her all the more unnerved]

Oriko! Hey, talk to me!

[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.]

[fortissimos]

I'll try again.

I can heal whatever they do to me. I'll keep going until I make a difference.