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

[explosivecombat]

...Again, it's difficult to say. I have an idea when it comes to your powers and memories, but with regards to the timeline...I don't even know if this timeline is technically supposed to exist or not; I know of several other timelines involving this world, specifically - or at the very least, timelines in which I died well before now - and from what I understand, things weren't quite this...ah, this in any of them.

So it's entirely possible that this entire timeline is an offshoot that's destined to fail in some way anyway.

...This is one of those concepts that's going to do your head in the longer you think about it, just for reference's sake.

[sunsong]

So the list of iterations with death causes was a list of your deaths in other timelines, right?

[ she'd suggested that at some point earlier but they had sort of completely forgotten that in the fma intensifies period... ]

[explosivecombat]

...Yes.

[sunsong]

...Were you, like, trying to avoid how they died, or was it morbid curiosity, or what.

[ THAT'S A WEIRD THING TO TRACK. ]

[explosivecombat]

...Morbid curiosity, actually. Why?

[...IS IT...REALLY THAT WEIRD...]

[sunsong]

It's kind of a weird hobby, dude.

[ SHE THINKS IT IS.........IS HE SHOCKED THAT PEOPLE FIND HIS HOBBIES ODD, HE ALSO LIKES WAR ]

[explosivecombat]

Well, perhaps, but I don't see why someone might not want to know, if given the opportunity.

[ninehundredlives]

...out of curiosity, what happened with the fifth iteration?

[explosivecombat]

Well, that hasn't been decided yet.

[icysemblance]

So is this definitely the fifth iteration for us, too?

[explosivecombat]

I really have no idea where you get half of your conclusions from, you know.

[Weiss. Honey.]

To answer your question, however - how in the world should I know? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I've already confirmed that I've only seen you people once. If there are others, I haven't met them.

[ninehundredlives]

Odd that you consider yourself the fifth.

[blazeit]

So worst case scenario, we're not just personally fucked, we're fifty shades of fucked on several different levels, including at the entire timeline level.

That's. Fucking awesome.

[explosivecombat]

That's been more or less my life for the last five years, yes.

[blazeit]

What about moving over to a different timeline where you're less fucked, isn't that possible with this dimensional bridging stuff?

... Although I guess that might end up with there being two of a person in one timeline... goddammit, you're right, the more I think about this, the more my brain feels like it's gonna turn to mush.

[explosivecombat]

...Exactly...

[sunsong]

Why don't we just focus on doin' the best we can with the timeline we've got for the time bein'?

[blazeit]

Yeah, I feel like thinking about jumping timelines will just fuck things up even more, for more people...

[ And he's still feeling a mite of that I HAD A DISTURBING THOUGHT AND IT WON'T LEAVE existential despair so haha no arguments from him. ]

[oftheland]

...What is that idea, anyway? Blue and I have discussed the possibility that it's some sort of world compatability issue, which... well, that would be extremely disappointing for everyone involved, but it would be easier to plan around if we had something to work with.

[explosivecombat]

The Gate tends to take things in exchange for passing through it. The most I can really assume is that it saw fit to effectively punch you all into physical submission in exchange for making it here alive in the first place, as well as granting you minor knowledge you may not have had previously.

Admittedly, if we're going with that theory, I don't know what it did to those of you without some sort of ability to take, but I suppose taking several years off of your lifespan may have also sufficed for its purposes.

[.............that's happy]

[oftheland]

...Oh. I... guess we're not getting those back, then, are we............

[explosivecombat]

As I've been saying from the start, it's not really my place to decide that.

[blazeit]

So even if we wanted to go back home, we'd probably have to give something else up to do it?

[explosivecombat]

Unless you've got another route back, presumably so.

[blazeit]

So that's why Lisbeth chose to stay, huh. Because apparently you have to go through a metric ton of absolute fucking bullshit and you might get dumped into some offshoot timeline without one of your limbs even after all that absolute fucking bullshit.