neutrals anon

[grigori]

i have no shitpost for you all

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W5 FRIDAY+

[grigori]

[ This (paper) invitation comes hours after Rika's death and the Temporals' return, giving everyone time to figure out their headspace. The ice bar at this time is empty, almost reserved for them, but alcohol isn't offered or provided. Order your own. There is a small board of documents laid at the center of the table. The handwriting is neat, uniform, and in the blackest of ink possible.

Outside of this, there's a piece of paper where "Recovering lost Watcher items" circled, but more topics:

- How many sacrifices will our situation need left? Do they need to fit certain criteria like team and age?
- How do we bring back the those in the realm where Dust has settled to where we are? (bring back the dead from the graveyard)
- What is the neutral option, the third side? How do we take it? How do we disconnect from our Temporal and Celestial alignments?
- How do we disconnect the Watchers from the Angels? How do we use these items to make them not so Dusty (angel)?
- Another way to kill Angels without using Dust from sacrifices?
- How much of a threat is the Magisterium? Are they part of this dispute in any way, shape, or form?
- Where is this Dust bomb? Is what Rochalizo holding related to that?

Open to suggestions.

Another section of the piece of paper is "topics to directly ask the dead." People are allowed to propose what they think is most important to learn from the dead here.

On a sticky note are the song lyrics:

a tea party to start the night
filled to the brim with disquiet
there's not much to say
when they run away
out into a winter wonderland

this is a fight you can't escape
to be pinned down by tainted faith
pleading for their life
is twisting the knife
out into a winter wonderland

now we wait for what's discovered
and we pray that they don't suffer
there's truth to be found
but time's running out
lost out in a winter wonderland

Most importantly, there is a sign taped to this table:



The implication is that they will know... Maybe they are listening in. Who knows?

How the group wants to organize this post is up to them. Feel free to make sub-toplevels to organize sections and the like. But with so many things happening today, they are free to take the documents and discuss together on a different day. This toplevel is for W5 Weekend, but everything must be picked up on Friday. ]

the big paper of convo topics! its a sub tl!

[yueshen]

[ h

hello

here is xie lian! he looks just generally tired and unhappy, snow in his hair, wearing a white cloak over his robes with a fluffy fur collar - san lang the ferret is tucked inside of the white fluff, and would be completely unnoticeable were it not for the red ribbon around his neck. he. looks through all of these documents for a moment, and eventually settles in front of the bigger piece of paper.

...mostly because he hates the wording of; ] ....sacrifices. [ hm. bad.

glancing to the room at large...? hello friends?? ]

[arcsplainist]

[ H. Hello? Somehow, Esmerie looks just as puzzled as Alphinaud. ]

—Xie Lian?

Did you organize this?

[yueshen]

[ he

shakes his head? and holds up his invitation. ]

I only received this...

[voltadomar]

[There's another person here, staring at some documents in hand... then looking up at the others, similarly puzzled.]

It wasn't either of you?

STATION CYOA INFO

[greatdeduction]

...

[Here's Sholmes. He's walking up to the board of documents and posting up a a piece of paper.]

[He turns to the rest of the group. He's changed back into regular clothes, and he just. Looks as empty as ever.]

I just briefly chatted with Mr. Joonghyuk before coming here. We were in a facility of scientists. I assume members of the Magisterium. They had kidnapped multiple children, some as young as four years old, up to around seventeen. All in order to experiment on them by...separating their daemons from their bodies.

[A shuddering sigh.]

A scientist told Mr. Joonghyuk that..."we take children to see if we can free them from "sin". And that if they could free them, we wouldn't worry about..."the bomb". The bomb is meant to destroy Angels, apparently. They seemed to be attempting to target the Angels to take them down. And children with high levels of Dust in them...were special. They wanted a sample of a child with a high amount of Dust to help them perfect that targeting system.

[...]

"If we're free from Dust, we never have to worry about Angels again."

[yueshen]

[ ... oh.

something seems to click.

xie lian shakes the look of recognition away, though, and merely glances at the board, tucking his hands to his sleeves. ]

I agree with the paper, then. Rameel told Rochalizo that his switch would be useful - it was used to activate an explosive in the catacombs. It must have the same function for this 'Dust bomb', as well.

I'm afraid I don't follow, though. The ... experiments, are to prevent the bomb from being used, instead?

[voltadomar]

[... Wow. Okay. That's all very dire.

But despite the grim look on his face, Kim diligently makes notes of everything that's said here.]

[arcsplainist]

[ Oh. Oh. ]

...

It seems I may have hoped for too much when I thought there was a chance the Magisterium could prove to be useful for our cause.

THURS CYOA INFO.

[afterword]

Our group's location didn't really have anything to do with this realm, and given how the past few weeks have been... the theory is one ties with someone's memory and the other in this current dispute we're all in.

But, I do have a letter from the results of our outing. I recommend giving it a read-over.

[ To which he'll pin the letter that clearly reads: ]

To disobey the divine Authority is to commit sin. To commit more sins to weigh upon one's soul is to collect Dust, to lose more of their innocence, and that is what causes the daemon to settle. Only children remain free of this burden, until they reach the age that it can no longer be avoided. It is for their sake that we must commit this research, to protect our children and those of all worlds from the sins of their forefathers.

While it is the will of the Authority to free the worlds of this sin and the Dust that follows it, a simple undertaking it is not. For it is not something we can do over time; that will only allow margin for error for Dust to slip through. No, to truly claim a victory, to erase the concept of sin itself, it must be done all at once, with no allowance for mistakes.

[greatdeduction]

...

[He nods, his look...bitter.]

This fits with what those scientists were telling us. That it was "too late" for adults.

???

[arcsplainist]

[ Alphinaud is looking over this chart, puzzled. ]

I do not recall seeing aught of this ere this day... Is there someone who is familiar with what this may be?

[voltadomar]

[Kim's just been studying the papers while everyone else has been talking.]

It looks like a code...? Someone's been receiving messages, and attempting to interpret them... it looks like.

[greatdeduction]

Hm.

[HMMMMMMMM (brain explodes)(no)]

Symbols...yes, these must be symbols. You see, one document lists answers in the guise of symbols, and interpretations. Therefore there must be symbols that have as yet to be defined, here.

PAPER OF CONVO TOPICS........2

[arcsplainist]

[ Since our other one... yeah.

Anyway! ]

There are numerous topics to discuss here—some few I hadn't considered myself, to speak true. I had thought the Magisterium the key to fighting back the angels somehow, once we're able to learn more, but in light of recent developments... Well, consider it very off the table.

Any thoughts on a particular query?

[greatdeduction]

Well, don't count out the Magisterium out quite yet. That seems to be more of a complicated matter, since the scientists I met didn't necessarily identify as such. But we need to know more on that.

And...Rochalizo is holding something? I do not want to know exactly what it is, but...could it be used as a weapon?

[voltadomar]

The "sacrifices"? I don't recall this coming up before, but it's mentioned quite a lot here.

[Reading from it:]

"How many sacrifices will our situation need left? Do they need to fit certain criteria like team and age?"

And in these documents...

"People are being killed because of the war as sacrifices. There's a messenger coercing participants to act obediently to reach a final resolution."

They provided a list of those killed, organized by affiliation -- for those whose affiliations are publicly known.

Also among the suggested questions is:

"Another way to kill Angels without using Dust from sacrifices?"

[voltadomar]

There's also the matter of... the "neutral option." And how to take it.

We know of two groups who have met angels who are neutral in this conflict -- Uriel and Raguel. Maybe they could provide some insight into how we can best proceed.

[He flips to a page in his notebook.]

Uriel asked that we find where the "Kingdom of Heaven" might be born anew. That it's within each of us, and that we'll know when we find the correct place.

DEDA QUESTIONS

[arcsplainist]

... Right, and then seeing what information we are able to gain from the deceased.

It seems they have been quite determined to send us as much as they're able, in spite of the heavy censorship we face upon receiving their letters, and much of it has been scattered across those who still remain. Perhaps we ought to begin organizing more of a group effort when it comes to contacting them.

What thoughts do we have about this?

[yueshen]

[ hmmmm ]

I want to know what sort of place they're in... wasn't there something in there of a world without Dust? What relevance might that have to our situation, I wonder...?

I agree with you though, Alphinaud. We should organize our letters a bit more.

W6 MONDAY+

[gregore]

[ hewwo, my dear fellows.

This time you all get an invitation to a quaint restaurant (it is traditional Chinese). Food is paid for this time, wow, but most importantly it seems like there are two cards:

Q: Is there a way to retrieve any lost Watcher items?

A: Find a place where the veil between worlds grows thin. There, a second chance awaits: a window to travel to another world, though it will not remain open forever.

Q: How many sacrifices are needed for this phase to end? What happens if the number of dead/living temporals and celestials are tied/even?

For this competition to end as intended, one side must be eradicated in full. How many remain of the remaining side is up to chance and of little consequence. Any story, however, may have a multitude of possible endings.

ahaha.wav



Just so everyone remembers. ]

[voltadomar]

[The lieutenant's eyes widen when he sees the new cards.]

So there's a second chance for Baraqiel after all...?

[The other card... gets a frown from him, though.]

[yueshen]

[ okay first of all whoever picked this restaurant is very sweetand xl's heart is warm. secondly, wow, some good news - he almost picks the card up off the table in his hurry to read it - ]

A veil between worlds, where it goes thin. How can we find such a thing? What might that look like, and -

[ ... then, the second card.

hm. ]

"As intended." Would that even be a true end? Or would it simply restart with another group of people after we were gone?

★ LIBRARY FINDINGS.

[afterword]

[ After Dokja and Reze's mini-cyoa outing to the library earlier on Monday, the reader comes with some information. ]

I found two books inside the library that might be useful to us, which I'll try to summarize for them both. I've made notes on important details which I'll read out loud.

The first one, The Doctrine of the Magisterium, stood out with this insignia on the front.

"The Magisterium in Geneva is the headquarters and ruling authority of the Holy Church, ruled over by the Pope, and is the office to give interpretation of the Word of God, whether to be done through Scripture or Tradition. The task of interpretation is vested in the Pope and the bishops beneath him, the direct servants of God, and shepherds of the flock. The Word of God is a sacred wealth of knowledge, which is entrusted to the Church, and the Magisterium is not independent of this, since all that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is derived from this single deposit of faith that they hold so dear.

Through this, a greater wealth of knowledge has been found and explored under the watchful guidance of the Church. Scientific progress is fielded through the Magisterium, to ensure the authenticity of their discoveries, and to ensure that it would be fit for the eyes of God. Great leaps have been made over centuries with this aid and the blessing of the Pope on behalf of their Lord Himself."

It goes on to describe the discoveries and inventions that have been championed by the Church; flight, electricity, astrology, the list goes on and on. It feels a bit outdated but seems useful to note anyways. There is also a footnote mention of the retribution of the Church against heretics, but there is no in-depth discussion of what that might entail.

[ A pause, just to let that information be absorbed before he continues on. ]

The second book, The Wise Magi, had no insignia, but seem interesting enough. It's much, much shorter compared to the other book, and it looks like this might be the only copy that could be found.

"Once great priests that spread the Word of God, and hailed as the wise men, the Magi - singular Magus, occasionally pluralized as Magis - began to fade into obscurity as they split from the Holy Church, distancing themselves from the Magisterium with great haste. Many sought refuge as scholars and explorers, gathering dust where the Church could not find them. Their history as the Magi is largely ghostwritten or lost to time, now, and left only as the prattling of scholars long gone.

Others took a more extremist route, rebelling in full against the Pope and the authority of the Magisterium. Even long in the future, they are considered heretics, blasphemers, and dangerous sinners that are dealt with through what effectively boils down to corporal punishment by the Church." The harm that they have done to those that align themselves with the Church is described in such ways that it's just shy of gruesome details, although blurry black and white photographs are provided for burnt houses, hanging trees, and crucifixions.

[ He'll set his notes down afterwards. ] That about sums them up.

[greatdeduction]

[SIGHING]

Well, I suppose I was correct regarding...divisions within the Magisterium. That's no good.