NPC Inbox: Rage

[firstreturned]

[Rage's strong and clear voice is almost bored, like this whole ordeal is an afterthought to her.]

State your business.

Comments

rafiki voice: the king has returned

[firstreturned]

A rather obvious question to ask given recent events, don't you think?

[aka, not great. Especially because...]

You've been fraternizing with that Null that's in the city.

the king is dead tho

[puzzlingly]

aw youve been stalking me
didnt know you cared that much rage :)

「fuck. He's toasted.」

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[firstreturned]

When it concerns the continued existence of what's left of my species? Yes. I care.

[They lost Sorrow. They almost lost Hope. She's effectively lost Delight. To say nothing of the losses sustained before the Door started bringing all these new people in.]

What do you want? I'll tell you this now: if you're here to convince me to show mercy to the Null unit in the city, you can stop talking right now.

[puzzlingly]

i wasnt here for that
i know its near impossible to ask you to give your trust to one of them
they have hurt you and your kin thoroughly and youre still grieving. i dont wish to diminish your pain or make it feel like its not justified rage

which is why i wanted to know how you were doing even if its obvious
we are in this together whether you like it or not

but... im sorry i cannot outright kill them
they could be useful
and they could also be the key to end this senseless war between their kind and yours

i also wanted to ask you about this place. about your home

[firstreturned]

[That's a better answer than she was expecting. The squishy bipedal beings tend to hate her, which serves her quite well in general, but this-- this has gone beyond what she expected.

Atem's diplomatic approach has succeeded. Rage is willing to talk.]

I'm upset, so I'm cautious. You remember what happened a few months ago. If that happens again, it could be so much worse.

What about our home do you want to know?

[puzzlingly]

「It hardly is a diplomatic approach in his eyes, more than a friendly, honest one.」

i know that if it were to happen again none of us would survive
im not playing around that much i can assure you

has this planet always been so barren?

[firstreturned]

Outside the cities, yes. We made sure our hosts had everything they needed, but for the most part, what you saw when you were out filling the orbs for Hope is this planet's natural state.

There was more to see, until the Null attacked.

[puzzlingly]

「That's slightly disappointing. And yet, not much, it means that the Null did not alter a whole planet to get rid of those they think as virus. Maybe, they didn't have that power.」

you mean in the cities? what was there to see?

[firstreturned]

The architecture was magnificent -- different, since our hosts weren't bipedal like you. Some cities had aquatic gardens with pools in different tones. Some cities were smaller but charming.

[But most of all, everyone was alive. Other Hopes and Sorrows. Countless members of the host population.]

[puzzlingly]

「That sounds lovely, he wonders if it pains her to remember or likes remembering. Probably both.」

what were your hosts like?

[firstreturned]

[Both. It's like a rose, beautiful but not without its thorns.]

They had more limbs than you, and weren't very big. They had a shell to help protect them, and they thrived here, in this climate, with two suns and a shorter period of darkness than you all seem to need. Some of you don't, though. You're strange.

They weren't able to defend themselves like you do, but they could make themselves feel emotion strongly enough to give us power to help them when they needed it.

[It was a perfect, symbiotic relationship -- until the Null decided to wipe them out and kill the source of the "infection."]

[puzzlingly]

「He's imagining the weirdest turtle little people ever... Being able to feel emotions at will sounds incredibly useful though... It brings a few other questions, questions that will have to go unanswered since there doesn't seem to be a single of them left.」

we are different 「Rude.」

love mentioned your kind resided in different planets too
were your host the same everywhere?

[firstreturned]

[Not weird. >:c You're weird.]

Very different.

Yes. There was no need to branch out. We had all we needed in each other.

[puzzlingly]

「Who are you calling weird, you, little angry fart.」

did you ever visit any of those other planets?

[firstreturned]

[Sparkly red glowcloud, tyvm, you squishy bipedal being.]

I didn't, but some of the others did. Sorrow, Tranquility, Confusion. It wasn't impossible for us to travel, but some of us never felt the need to.

[puzzlingly]

「You had him at sparkly.」

there was no real need for it...
are we ever going to see any of those places?

[firstreturned]

I couldn't say. I'm a little more concerned with our survival right now.

[puzzlingly]

are you really?

[firstreturned]

[If only he could see her smirk a little in response.]

I'll admit you all keep me fairly well fed, especially compared to the others. But I'm concerned about my siblings, and our collective survival.

[The Null did a lot of damage on several levels.]

[puzzlingly]

and yet some of your "events" end up in murder
doesnt that wear hope out?

[firstreturned]

Not my fault most of you run straight to murder when you're angry. Murder doesn't do anything for me.

[puzzlingly]

thats humans for you
dont act so innocent you should know that by now
at least keep it in mind
for hope

[firstreturned]

If you're that concerned about Hope, the best thing you can do is inspire hope in others, and maybe stop people murdering each other. Those of you who filled up the orbs Love gave you did well at helping him.

[puzzlingly]

you may not believe it but its everyone im concerned about

「e v e r y o n e
little robots included」

[firstreturned]

['Everyone' is a very broad group of people, but she won't go there.]

Will that be all?