Public channel | D22

[hippocarnival]

Hey, everyone.

[There's a pause, like he's waiting to be sure enough people are listening before he continues. He wants to reach as much of the carnival as possible.] I spoke to Noa, and she explained a little bit more about the Void and the Harbingers to me.

She said she thinks the carnival members can still be saved. I think so, too. The Void makes them think there's nothing worth living for, but we know them and we know that's not true. If we can show them that whay they cared about before still matters, what was to their souls can be purified and the Void won't have them anymore. We think CY-Ren can be saved, too.

I... don't know exactly how to do that. But everyone taken, they have friends here, don't they? If we work together, we can find a way. Maybe we can share what made them happy, what might remind them of who they are or--or how to talk to them? [His voice wavers a little, but not out of lack of confidence in his plan.]

I know they can be reached. It won't be easy, but... I think we should try. I think it's better than just fighting them.

((TREAT THIS AS A MINGLE threadjack each other, this is an open forum of friendship.))

Comments

[criticallyfucked]

That sounds like the perfect job for you.

[It's worded like encouragement but delivered in a disparaging tone.]

I'd already brought this to the others' attention, but perhaps they'll listen this time.

[You know, since it's not him saying it. He can't blame them, really.

But he was asked for his information and it was still ignored, which seems somewhat more personal. Which is also fine, of course! Just some undeserved resentment on his part, which is his problem and no big deal.]

[soft_focus]

[hi foster]

Did you say it on a radio?

[Important Details Foster]

[criticallyfucked]

What?

[How is that relevant?]

[soft_focus]

Yuuya's saying it on a radio.

So everyone in the Carnival can hear it, even if they aren't Guardians.

[....]

I didn't hear you on a radio. [Judging!!]

[criticallyfucked]

I told Syrlya. I was acting on Lambert's orders, and he asked me. Then he dismissed me.

[And clearly didn't find Foster's answer worth his time. Which... again, that was fine. If he'd expected to be listened to--

Well, expecting to be listened to was truly stupid of him.]

Why would I get on the radio afterwards?

[soft_focus]

That's only two people...you can't just tell two people and then be done, you have to make sure lots of people hear.

People are different, so that way, you get the people who WOULD listen, even when there's people that won't.

[criticallyfucked]

I wasn't told to do that.

[soft_focus]

Don't get grumpy when someone has the same message on the radio then.

[She's Goin There]

But I guess I'm telling you now. Because I didn't know you didn't know you're supposed to do that.

[criticallyfucked]

[Grumpy? Him--? No.]

....mmm.

That seems.... disobedient.

[So.... no.]

[whattaprick]

[ Hearing his name draws his attention, naturally, but what Foster's saying-- ]

There wasn't a single thing in what you told me about a purification ritual, Foster.

just jumps in here tbh because oh boy

[soft_focus]

[She's going to have to be Blunt on the Radio.]

Foster doesn't talk about things the way people normally talk about them. ...It comes out different and weird, so you have to think about it really hard before it makes sense sometimes.

[There is a Pause.] ...I don't think this is a ritual though, it's just talking to people...

[whattaprick]

Obviously.

[ About not talking like other people do, at least. 'Different and weird' is putting it lightly. Is there anything Foster can do normally? ]

But if it takes me longer to understand him than it does just finding things out from someone else, that kind of defeats the point, doesn't it?

[soft_focus]

If it means you know something before you find out from someone else it doesn't.

...What did Foster say, though? ...Even though he said he said what Yuuya is saying, it doesn't feel like they'd say the same thing....

[Y'know. Since one of them HATES THE OTHER]

[criticallyfucked]

That's because there isn't a ritual.

I told you, Creation is existence, the will for life!

[whattaprick]

Foster, my horse told me this.

[ Lambert has Had A Week. ]

That tells me what it is. It doesn't tell me what to do with it, or how to use.

TW imaginary violence

[criticallyfucked]

[Foster is having an epiphany, and that epiphany is that everyone is stupid.

Were they really that completely ignorant to everything he's been saying? They asked him and ASKED him and he kept answering and he wants to bash his head against a wall, harder and harder, or maybe let someone smash his skull into it again and again, just something to stop it, or stop him, to split open his--]

I told you several times!

[More than angry or frustrated, he sounds anguished. But those too.]

[hippocarnival]

[It totally sounds like an insult... but Yuya already knew Foster doesn't think much of him.]

Well, I haven't had a lot of people take it seriously yet. But I really believe we can make a difference this way. I'm glad you believe that, too.

[Support is support, even if it's from Foster.]

MOBILE ATE MY FIRST ATTEMPT AT THIS

[criticallyfucked]

As far as I know, it's the only way to make a difference, if there is one.

[And he hates it.

He will make no secret of his feelings about the entire thing, but he is equally intent on getting Amethyst back and also see that he was right. Or wrong. ]

But if it is possible, I have something on CY-Ren and her Spark.... which might be useful against her.

[hippocarnival]

You do? [That's surprising, but encouraging!] What is it?

[criticallyfucked]

Mmmm. Her Spark is, of course, musical.

You know what a Spark is.

But she made music before she was Chosen, too.

[hippocarnival]

The classical music? [Noa told him about it, although he didn't listen to any of the recordings. There's a short pause, but he doesn't deliberate on it very long.]

I... think that'll only make her sad. That music, she played it for her parents but it wasn't really what she wanted to do. Noa said she tried to change it before she was a Harbinger, but...

[But obviously it didn't help, if she still felt so low that the Void was able to get to her.]

[criticallyfucked]

But it's still her Spark.

[It has meaning.

He shouldn't have to explain this. It's the same thing, everywhere, anywhere, he's always known; it's the same, the rules are the same, the universe, the multiverse, Creation, the Void.

The Void.

Even to someone like Yuya, is it not obvious--]

You really don't understand anything, do you? The power to destroy the world and the power to save it are the same. Her music means something--otherwise it would have no power. If it makes her sad, then good.

[hippocarnival]

I get that, but she has to want it to matter. If all she cared about was what people thought of her music, then she didn't have to change it! But... that music didn't feel right to her. What's the point if she can't connect to it, because what she wanted them to care about was what really came from her heart?

[What's the point of coming back from the brink if it's not for something that makes you happy? Yuya's heard Steven, and Yugo, and he remembers... sadness and pain can't save someone who gave up. Who gave in.]

[npcarnival]

Actually...

[ Noa has been sitting quietly listening to this, but she'll borrow the radio from Yuya again just to be able to share her thoughts with both of them. ]

In an interview, she said that she changed her music because she wanted something that belonged to her, that she didn't believe it was hers. [ She pauses, trying to sort her thoughts out. It's fresh in her memory, because she's just seen CY-Ren's performances -- new and old -- not too long ago. ]

But ... I thought that was an odd thing to say. [ She pauses. ] Even if she says it didn't feel like it belonged to her, she seemed happier then. Like her music did come from her heart.

TW: implied suicidal stuff

[criticallyfucked]

[Oh, now you've done it.]

So CY-Ren's hopelessness is acceptable to you, but mine is not?

[Did you forget the Ritual, Yuya? Did you forget what Foster is?]

CY-Ren has music, that is what matters to her. Whether or not she 'wants' it to matter is... it's nothing, already does. Otherwise it wouldn't be her Spark.

And if it matters that much, she wouldn't still be alive.

I'm not a Harbinger. She is. Because I have nothing to offer. I'm worthless! Hopeless. I have nothing, I am nothing. The Void needs no empty vessels.

[The bitterness is palpable.

But Noa's interjection gives him more to say, and he keeps going.]

If it meant nothing, she wouldn't have continued with it. If it meant nothing, she wouldn't have been a Harbinger--she would just be another worthless nothing. A worthless nobody.

Just another corpse at the end of the world.