Accountability.

[explosivecombat]

There are all sorts of secrets to this place, really, ways to get from place to place reasonably unnoticed. Some of those ways involve the ability to shift one's appearance, some of them involve shadows and vessels and darkness; for those without those sorts of gifts, though, one has to rely on more conventional means. Panels and doorways, joins and seams that don't join up quite right; portions of the wall that will open up if you manipulate them properly. The Conductor himself tends to rely on the latter; he is, after all, entirely human. He's thin, as though he doesn't eat terribly much, but his clothes are immaculate and sharply-tailored, a suit and long coat all in white and shades of pale grey; his hair is long, trailing at least halfway down his back in a thin, tightly-tied ponytail, and his eyes are cold when he moves to stand at the thirtieth podium – it's not his, it never has been, but it's going to do for now. He doesn't seem anxious at all about being here; there's nothing nervous in his demeanor, and he's keeping his head up, perfectly willing to look everyone in the face. There's a definite arrogance about him, as is probably to be expected, though he'll certainly acknowledge everyone once he's there – when he bows it's enough to be respectful, but not nearly enough to expose the back of his neck. When he speaks, his voice is recognizable but it's quiet, far moreso than one would assume him to be based on the volume of the intercom alone; his tone is even, almost unsettlingly calm given the circumstances, though there's a hardness to it that never quite goes away. "It's a pleasure to speak to all of you in person; I'd say that it's almost a shame that the circumstances have to be what they are, but I'm not going to insult your intelligence like that." He straightens up then; the smile he's offering is understated, but it's not particularly nice. "I understand that we have a fair amount to discuss; shall we begin?" Your host for the evening, everyone; let's start.

Comments

[icysemblance]

I think I'm safe in saying that we all want our friends back, and we want to go home, and we want to smash this cycle to bits.

Maybe it's not likely, maybe we die trying to stop the cycle from happening all over again, but...

[explosivecombat]

That depends on how you want to do that latter part.

I'll confirm that there really isn't a cycle to put a stop to; again, the effort in reaching other worlds like that is well within our power, but it isn't necessarily worth the risk. I can't guarantee that there won't be any other attempts at breaking other worlds, but I can tell you that it's relatively unlikely - my employer is many things and a fair amount of them are expletive-laden, but ultimately he isn't an idiot.

[icysemblance]

...if we destroy the Gate, what would happen?

[explosivecombat]

...That's a good question, actually.

[This...is slightly above his pay grade, hang on.]

I suspect you'd end the world, honestly. At least this one.

[icysemblance]

[She nods.]

Is it possible to reverse the effect of the philosopher's stone without also ending the world?

[explosivecombat]

Which effects are you referring to, exactly?

[icysemblance]

The part where it killed everyone here.

What I'm asking: is it possible to save this world and our own?

[explosivecombat]

Ah, I see - you're misunderstanding the concept, I think. I spoke of human souls having the power to bypass the laws of the universe, and the philosopher's stone condensing that power. It does that by containing them.

So the philosopher's stone technically didn't kill everyone else. The philosopher's stone is everyone else.

[...THAT'S HAPPY.]

I could show you one, if you'd like; nothing nearly as large-scale as what we did here, mind, just one that I keep on my person. But either way, what's done is done, regarding that; there's no fixing it.

[announcemyvictory]

...er, what.

[ninehundredlives]

Actually, I'd like to see that.

.....also, are you saying that you turned all those people into a giant fucking rock you've stuffed someplace?

[explosivecombat]

Well, it's not a rock, per se - "philosopher's stone" is more of a basic description of what it does as opposed to what it is.

But for all intents and purposes, pretty much.

[icysemblance]

Nothing we do is going to help that, then. I assume destroying the stone doesn't magically bring the soul inside it back, and certainly wouldn't do it on the scale we would need.

[...she's not sure she wants to see this, but morbid curiosity wins.]

...let me take a look, please.

CHI YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY WANT TO AVOID THIS; cw everything Kimblee's decided to be today

[explosivecombat]

[It takes him a moment to retrieve it, because it seems that while Kimblee has learned one of the fundamental rules about keeping something highly valuable on your person - namely, don't keep it anywhere that someone can easily get at it - he either doesn't have common sense or has no respect for basic human decency because he has not learned that we don't put something that is made out of motherfucking human souls in your goddamn mouth and we most certainly do not goddamn swallow them, what the actual fuck is wrong with you.

However, that's where it ends up when he draws it out - in his mouth, locked between his teeth, and the less we think about how the actual fuck it got there the better; the stone is spherical, reasonably small and deep crimson in color, shining in a weird, translucent manner like a crystal of some sort.

He'll retrieve it between his fingers in a second, however, if for no better reason than it's hard to talk with a bunch of goddamn human souls in your mouth.]

This contains...maybe forty. It's enough to last for years; I can probably destroy a few cities with it.

[...He might. Know that from experience.

You. You remember those maps and shit, right...]

[blazeit]

[ JESUS NEVER MIND HE DOESN'T WANT TO TOUCH THAT SHIT ANYMORE ]

Never mind, that was really fucking weird and just... wow. Seriously? Wow.

[announcemyvictory]

............................one, that's vile, and secondly, I suppose that's where this "consuming your god" business comes from.

[openterrain]

[ Jean certainly does, and for someone from a world without all this bizarre magic... ]

That's all it took to destroy all those cities?

[explosivecombat]

That and my particular alchemy, yes. I specialize in energy-based explosions; I've always been highly attuned to that sort of thing.

I see you found my maps.

[blazeit]

— I DON'T FUCKING BELIEVE THIS.

[ Cue Bakugou just slamming his fists on the podium repeatedly because what the sweet heck. ]

Your specialty is explosions. I almost wanna laugh.

[explosivecombat]

[He shifts a bit at his podium, rendering one of his palms visible in the hand that's not holding the stone. There's a dark circle visible there, with an inverted triangle and a smaller circular design in the center.]

Alchemical arrays designed to create an imbalance in everything I touch, once they're activated. I have one on my other hand as well. So it's nothing quite so innate as yours, but similar in principle.

I've also been cut off from it at various points in time, if only for a brief while - usually while this god I've told you about has been making a point.

Like your blood continuing to circulate even though your heart's stopped beating, isn't it?

[openterrain]

I found two of 'em. That's why I asked if you could understand Russian.

So the big flashes that wiped everyone out. Those were really all just you and that little rock?

[oftheland]

...

Couldn't you... at least keep it in a jar...

[ninehundredlives]

...why the hell would you do that?

CHI PLEASE AVOID THIS

[icysemblance]

[The fact that you can actually fucking swallow human souls is enough to make bile rise up in Weiss' throat. She has to force herself to breathe, to stay calm. She swallows hard a few times before she can look at the damned thing.]

...not even the purest Dust from the Schnee quarries can take out entire cities.

[And that's saying something, coming from her.]

Something like that shouldn't exist. Not that destroying it right now would help, but - that's the definition of a crime against humanity.

[blazeit]

Can I touch it?

[ Forget looking at it, apparently, he wants to see if this is some kind of magic thing that will like

give him his quirk back or something... ]

[explosivecombat]

[WELL YOU PROBABLY DO NOT WANT TO TOUCH IT GIVEN WHERE HE KEEPS IT, JUST SAYING]