I dreamed of a world so far from here that's not on the map

[matchbreaker]

To my Fellows,

What is "good" and what is "evil" is something that can be debated for longer than most of you will ever live, as is the nature of men. These debates are without meaning in my eyes. Despite that man's belief, men are not born to be good or evil, and what flaws they have in personality or character are things that can be overcome through their choices. Both for better and, as we've seen, for worse.

Life is not without suffering, but I should hope that every one of you is loved by someone. Loves someone. Many of you probably know that some of those loved ones are entering into an experience similar to our own. The terror of that is an undeniable sword which hangs above our heads.

Do not isolate yourselves, and hold onto what belief will best inspire you. And if you wish to join us for another one of these gatherings, meet us in the dining hall at 8PM.

Sincerely yours,
Elda Marker

PS: Those who can taste will once more provide food.

[ Well that sure is a lot of words which is being put under your doors, put on the fridge, and generally distributed around. It... uh, sure is a letter? It's in the same impossibly perfect cursive as last week, and is written with an almost angry bravado. Because even if she was vindicated at the end there, she was vindicated by a (by his own admission) evil priest. So. That feels bad.

Anyway, with some effort, the dining hall (which now has a lot of candles at Cabanela's little shrine, even with adding the two more here) is filled with food: Susan's got the booze as usual but also a big pot of mac and cheese. Adelina's done her noble best with some finger sandwiches. Yuri's brought some sweets that Estelle might've made. As for Elda, well, she still basically can't cook, so what she provides instead is:

A few board games including a Settlers of Catan, Sorry, and Candyland knock off. I guess we're playing games. Or at least she's suggesting it, who knew? ]

Comments

[notaccurate]

[The response he gives comes after much deliberation, and if Rin looks closely enough she can see a few times where he started to write something more diplomatic but crossed it out.]

That is bullshit. Any father would be happy to see their daughter, especially if their daughter had grown into a wonderful young woman and was the one doing the rescuing.

If you think he would feel anything besides pride for you, you're wrong.

[heritrix]

Is that how you'd feel if your son came for you? If you met him as a young man, and found out you died without seeing him grow up?

[notaccurate]

Absolutely.

[That answer comes almost immediately after he finishes reading Rin's response.]

[heritrix]

Oh.

[...]

I'm constantly surprised by answers like that, but maybe I'm the strange one. I'd personally find it traumatic.

[notaccurate]

Strange or not, you're allowed to feel how you feel. But if it helps, you could think of it instead of helping me to rescue my son.

[Luca is pretty sure that things would change the moment she saw him, so getting her to go along is important. Even if it's for another purpose at first.]

[heritrix]

[You know the right words to use on a tsundere, Luca.]

...Yes. I don't like the idea of these people taking whoever they please for this nonsense, and least of all someone who should have nothing to do with this. Of course I'll help you find him.

[notaccurate]

[Great success!]

Thank you, I appreciate the help. It is a lot for one person to do.

[But hey, they get to rescue multiple people! Hopefully.]

[heritrix]

I'm sure the others will want to help just as much. Most of them, anyways.

It'll probably take a lot of time explaining the situation to the hostages when we find them, too. I can help with that as well, and... Maybe get a few words in with father, afterwards. It's selfish, but I think I'd be really happy if I could do just that.