67 - video;

[islandshore]

[It's late at night when Riku turns on the feed. Judging by the starlight surrounding him he's outdoors. Lights from the surrounding cityscape shimmer from afar. The camera hovers behind him as he rests along the edge of a roof.

It hovers closer, and he finally turns around, gaze distant despite the camera's close proximity.]

You ever stop to wonder about our place in this world?

[Why, yes, it's one of those messages.]

I mean, think about it. We're dragged from our homes, dropped here and expected to play by their rules. And sure, some of us are successful. We've had businesses sprout up from nothing, helped fight off giant monsters, been invited to proms...

Still, we're outsiders, and sooner or later, we might disappear, and all the work we do here gets left behind.

[He looks up, sighing softly.]

It just got me thinking... What do the locals think about us? Do we count as citizens, even though we aren't part of the world? And how much do they really know about us in the first place?

[Heh.]

But maybe I'm over thinking it. I mean, this is a world that somehow manages to sustain itself even without an obvious education, limited career paths, and a surprising amount of pacifism in the face of crime. Community service as catchall punishment's kinda light, after all...

[Leaning back, Riku shrugs.]

I don't know. What are your guys' thoughts? I've got time to kill.

Comments

[video]

[islandshore]

And that hollowness is what allows them to keep at it, huh? Just... detachment after years of fighting?

[Ugh. How chilling... But then, maybe it's to be expected. In a real war, you can't afford to sympathize with the enemy, but lack o empathy leads to detachment, and detachment leads to numbness when taken out of control.]

The Sharpedo's trainer wasn't too happy about it, either. Wound up siccing Kyogre on me by the time the fight was over.

[video]

[paladinlost]

Detachment, a complete lack of care for their own fate in the end... Even more than their plans, their eyes are terrifying to behold.

[The rest of them too, for that matter.]

Now that's a disproportionate reaction. Surely sending out a Quagsire would have sufficed.