☠ VIDEO (dated october 15)

[skelepun]

[Normally, Sans prefers text. It helped him sidestep the inevitable set of questions that arose when most humans got a look at him. Of course, text had its limitations. There was something about the old book that couldn't be directly translated through a roughshod filter of comic sans.

Lack of experience translates to poor focus when the video starts streaming, but aside from that blurriness the feed is notably steady. No gaps, no garbled words, no sudden disconnects. A nice change of pace for anyone who attempted network communication in the past couple weeks.]

Testing, one, two. [The video is focused on an old book, open to a few blurry pages.] Seems like the Nerd Herd came through, so here's hoping I am too. [Anyway.] These last few weeks I've been pretty booked checking out the library. There're some racy tomes in there, fyi, for those of you into that kinda thing.

[He flips the page. And, while blurry, the hand doing the flipping is definitely... fleshless. The page itself is hard to pick out specifics, but a lot of it appears to be annotated with handwritten notes.]

This one's a bit on the dry side, but for all the former Thisavrou residents... Well, looks like whoever survived came up with a nifty name for what went down with Mother. The Great Catastrophe. Catchy, right?

I'm gonna upload some pages. I get the feeling people who lived through it might be able to speak to its accuracy more than me. [The pages come in later, thankfully much more readable than the video.] Reason I'm wondering is, uh...

[He uploads another page. This one mentioning a passage of light. It bluntly details how several crew members walked into, but did not return.]

Look, I get the Ingress's been gone for three hundred years, but... sound familiar to anyone else?

Comments

in no way is that true

[skelepun]

Nobody mentioned a defection. [One of the pitfalls of playing catchup. It wasn't the kind of 'chup he preferred.] You think they helped the other survivors get here off Thisavrou?

[warandpeace]

Just one man.

From the way he spoke, I'd be inclined to think Mother played him as well. Made it sound like the intermediaries were going to allow the Storms to consume multiple worlds as they covered their tracks, destroyed evidence of their crimes.

Basically, she gave him just enough truth to encourage his own resistance.

If he wasn't one of those that brought them here, I strongly suspect he might have been one of the only people that remained that could keep the peace. Which is unfortunate. Even in the confined space, Thisavrou had been relying on intermediary interference for so long that their own development had stagnated and resistance against intermediary will was nearly impossible, both as a fault of mental fortitude and a social faux pas.

[skelepun]

[This was a take on the intermediary presence on Thisavrou Sans had yet to glean from another member of the ship. Sure, there were books in the library that hinted at the cultural dependency, but it was never portrayed quite so frankly as Kaz was laying it out.

The benefits of being an outsider, he guesses.]

Did this guy have a name?

[warandpeace]

Siddony. Or at least that's what the woman who spoke to us when we were imprisoned said.

Control over the Ingress was the first priority of the intermediaries. Peace was secondary and valued, but the crimes that called for the strictest punishments were the ones against the Ingress. Control important enough to subject anyone who damaged it to severe psychological torture and manipulation, and enough so that anyone else who developed an Ingress was murdered.

Remember that we were headed for the Midway Hub? The Savrii had murdered everyone there. We now know that the kill squad responsible were in the employ of the intermediaries. [Which can be gleaned from the fact all kill squad's were.]

It seems a little perplexing that rather than generate their own reasons for camaraderie, or at least coexistence, someone had to give it to them artificially. If they all ended up in the same place together again, I'd worry they were repeating their mistakes.

I guess it doesn't matter so much at the moment. It just might be necessary to know in the future.

[You know, what with kill squads and mass slaughter and imprisonments and the like.]

[skelepun]

[It's a wealth of information, and the near-silent scratch of Sans' pen speeds up a hair. With each new layer peeled away, Sans' understanding of exactly what he'd missed grew clearer and clearer.

Now if only he a concrete idea of what it meant for them now.]

Siddony, huh? [He taps his pen a few times, lazily circling the name a few times as he thought.] I think I've got some more reading to do.

[warandpeace]

A lot of it.

And even then, there was quite a bit of omission. Truth that had to be read by circumstances.

At least you have something to keep you occupied?

[skelepun]

Heh, I dunno if that makes me sound more like a retiree or the family dog, but I'll take it.

[Both those options did a lot of napping, after all.]

Listen, seems like there's gonna be a lot of confusion going forward. If the Ingress brought me n' the others in, who knows what else it'll bring. Maybe we should start our own version of this. [He thumps gently on the cover.] Continue what they couldn't, y'get me?

[warandpeace]

It's a good idea. Not a lot of people even remember the Moira.

[And honestly, having gone through so many stages of his life, lacking permanence, in the past year is a bit depressing. Others can probably relate.]

[Also his dog leads a good life so there's nothing wrong in being the family dog.]

[skelepun]

[You don't have to tell him twice re: dogs. He's got a fondness for his fuzzy coworkers back home, even if they do cheat at cards.]

Yeah? I gotta admit, I haven't really done a headcount. How many of the old crew is still around?

[warandpeace]

Of the ones that remember the past?

Fifteen or sixteen. And even then, some of those left and returned.

[skelepun]

... Yikes.

[It's a small number. Smaller than Sans ever would have guessed.]

That few, huh?

[warandpeace]

That few.

I don't know which ones left willingly, though. On Kauto and Chioni most of the crew went their separate ways, even if we stayed in some communication.

Which is what makes this unusual. Being singled out by the Ingress again, in its dying breath. [If it was that.]

[skelepun]

Heh, well. Wasn't just me. Ratchet's here, too. Just got lucky, I guess.

[That's one word for it, anyway. Whatever happened to their crew, Sans couldn't guess. Didn't want to guess, honestly. There were too many possibilities, and too many of them grim.]

New guys, they alright? Anybody I should keep an eyesocket out for?

[It's a joke. Maybe. Sans punctuates it with a wink, anyway.]

[warandpeace]

No one any worse than usual. [The same capacity for violence still exists.]

What you might want to note is that when the storms hit, there were a lot more people like Ploiatos that came out of it. And it could corrupt animals as well.

[skelepun]

Ploiatos? [Sans blinks, confused, before--] Oh, Palatino? Yeesh.

[... Perhaps not the best name for the guy who nearly killed his brother, but old habits died hard.]

By people, do you mean skeletons...?

[warandpeace]

No. I meant that almost anyone, any person can become something like Ploiatos.

Monster, human, elf, program. I suspect the storms can twist up anything.

[skelepun]

[All this time, Palatino was always described to him as a monster, a skeleton, a creature. It was part of what spurred sympathy, before they met him face to face and realized the truth of what he was.

Empty. Hungry. Soulless.

Seems the definition had broadened beyond appearances now.]

Sounds like this whole mess is full of twists, huh?

[warandpeace]

Twists that you could kind of see coming after you watched hard enough.

I don't expect this place will be permanent for us. [Judging from the information they have know.] But I think we should be here long enough that restoring the facilities would be to our advantage.

[skelepun]

[Well, there's the Kaz he knew. Proactive until the end.]

You volunteering?

[warandpeace]

[He is, indeed, a workaholic even to this day.]

With what I can do. Unfortunately in this situation, I'm ill-equipped to assist.

Just trying to work with security and clean up the living areas.

[skelepun]

Heh, well, I'll make sure you never run out of work to do.

[A statement punctuated by a bite of nutrition block, crumbs falling down onto his chest.]

But if you ever need anything, y'know. Might not happen, but old time's sake is a powerful motivator for a sentimental guy like me.

[warandpeace]

Sans, you make me regret that I no longer own a business where I could offer you a liberal supply of ketchup.

[His diner was good, dammit.]

I appreciate the offer. I might take you up on it sometime.

[skelepun]

[Trust him, he mourns it more than you could ever know, considering he didn't know about it until this very moment.

Sans holds up the book, jostling it lightly with a quick wink.]

You know where to find me.