synopsychic | [Walkabout] Near the end of the Landing Day festivities

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[Walkabout] Near the end of the Landing Day festivities

Okay, so a couple things. Zed has taken it on himself to start telling people he's a demon or somethin'. Emperor of Darkness. Whatever. I promised the kid who brought it to me that I'd do somethin' about it.

Part of that something I'm doing is getting the fuck rid of these chains. They're bad magic and if we're Goodly Ones, I sure as hell ain't lettin' that shit in my religion.

I'm officially askin' the group's permission before I just burn their shitty books and make 'em all start over, while I'm at it. We can even blame Zed.

[He's frustrated and annoyed, after several days of seeing what these people could maybe be if they stopped beating each other down all the time. Freedom is Riddick's thing and these people are the opposite of free, right now. He hates it.]

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Hey, I didn't take it upon myself to just do that out of nowhere, I thought I was alone when that kid caught me blasting away her prank with darkness.

[Definitely not his fault.]

I'm not even mad, Zed. Not surprised, but not mad. At least you can give us a scapegoat if we really do burn this shit down.

Hey, if you need a way to burn it all down, I'm your man for that, too.

We'll keep that in reserve for now, man.

The chains, yes. Remove them. Destroy them, for pity's sake.

The rest... I don't know, Riddick. I just don't know.

They're being dumped into liminal space to disappear like they never existed.

These people're killin' themselves, Alcuin. Just look at 'em. This religion is impossible and it's only going to keep hurting them.

...Are they? Look at them, Riddick. Look at them, laughing and talking, singing, playing, drinking. This isn't what dying looks like.

We are not gods. We're not, no matter what they might think, and we have no authority here. We may not have seen them, met them, but there is no reason to believe that the Goodly Ones do not exist. Their teachings have been garbled over time, yes. There is no doubt there, but who are we to say, no, your gods are false and you must begin again? We will not be here to help with the aftermath. Who are we to upturn their entire way of life and leave them in ruins and confusion?

This dumb festival is what made me think they can be a lot more than they are right now. For three days out of a year they get to smile? To have a little fun? That's no kind of life, Alcuin, and you fucking know it. What you're seeing is them at their happiest, and it's still drab and careful. Compare this to the Travelers at that dumb ball-- it's pathetic. Even the most religious people I knew in my own universe still had a little bit of good in their lives every day.

I'm no god. I'd be a shitty one. But would you really be happy leaving and letting them go back to being miserable most of the time? Really, Alcuin?

What in all the worlds makes you think I am happy with this? I don't want to stay here, I think they should all wash the mud from their eyes and flee this barren place and find a new home with new ideals!

But what gives us the right to decide that? What makes these people any different than the monks, worshiping dragons? We wouldn't try to overturn their religion, so what gives us the right to do so here?

The monks didn't have a religion that put people who did stupid shit in magic fuckin' chains, Alcuin. Their religion didn't contradict itself in a dozen places, so you were fucking up no matter what you did. Their religion was about bringin' people together, helping each other. This one is about bringin' people down. Nobody should have to live under an ideal that says "nothing you do is good enough".

I don't like it, Riddick. I don't know how many different ways I can say that. I do not wish to be here, I do not wish to be forced to watch these people day in and day out and not correct their misinterpretation of my presence. I do not like what they are doing to one another. I don't! But I cannot be the one to rewrite their lives at my whim!

You know that a "whim" means somethin' you didn't think about, or somethin' you decided to do for fun, or a snap decision. Right? Ain't like we wouldn't think about it-- probably think a lot about it.

[He makes an annoyed noise.]

What's the point of bein' dumped places if we can't fucking help them out?

We can! But for heaven's sake, it can be more moderated than destroying everything they know and believe!

All right, fine. Shit. I won't burn the damned books.

Thank you. [Immediately he's quieter, sounding tired, humbled.] I know that I cannot stop you. But I would be grateful if there were some gentler verdict. These people have suffered enough without our meddling.

That's the whole thing I want to fix. But if you can come up with a way to do that, make it so they're suffering less, I'll help.

Until then I might just cleanse out every bit of their mind-altering magic I can find. I'm taking responsibility for the chains going missing, when they realize what happened, and hoping they take it as an edict not a heresy.

I vote for destroying the chains, to start with. I can help to try to steal them.

While I'd love to turn their holy books to ash, I think we should treat this more delicately. Coming from a culture that reveres whatever scraps of the past we possibly can, these scriptures are all these people have to guide them.

A public declaration, perhaps, to let them know these books were not written by us. That the 'word of the Goodly Ones' was misinterpreted, or deliberately altered by their ancestors who brought them to this forsaken rock. If we were to display our powers to help with the illusion that we are still gods, then that could dissuade them from attacking, and coax them to listen?

I'm no good at this kind of shit, the only kind of drama I'm good at is being scary. So however the rest of you want it done, I'll let you decide that.

You wanna help me with the chains, we'll do it tonight after everybody's turned in.

I'd be insulted if you went without me.

Well, sure wouldn't want to insult you. I'd hate to see what you did for revenge.

Remember what I said about skinning and stuffing your bosom to make throw cushions?

How could I forget? You bring it up all the time.

Revenge will involve the same threat, but with your testicles for stress toys. And given I'd rather they stayed where they are for both our sakes, best not insult me.

Gettin' a little vicious today, I see. The locals gettin' to ya?

[He's mostly joking. He knows she's not serious, but that is still more wicked than her affectionate threats usually get.]

... It's getting tiring, I won't lie.

Come back to the forge for a little while before we go out tonight, then. Maybe we can make a difference, maybe not, but we don't have to hang around them all the time if we don't want to.

I want to make sure they're not abusing Pod- Fisher, further.

She's gettin' out of here. And I've been keeping an eye on her, too. Turns out so is Zed. He's promised her a boat for not tattling on him to the villagers, and even if he don't keep it, I'll be happy to.

I'm glad. She doesn't deserve this life, just for the circumstances of her birth.

Startin' to think the Trumps just like tormenting her. She winds up in situations like this more often than not.

Poor thing... At least she's tough.

I'm still gettin' kinda tired of her coming out of Jaunts angry or in tears, gotta admit.

It's not fair for her to suffer.

... Could you teach me how to restore Traveler's memories? You mentioned before you can do that to infiltrators to help them. [And perhaps Vilari might be able to use it on Pod in future when she's really suffering in a Jaunt...]

Yeah, I can do that.

[Mildly surprised but pleased at the request. He can guess where that's coming from, of course.]

There might be some stuff you need to work out first, depending on where you're at with network skills, but I can help with that, too. You gotta be able to share your own memories, since that's part of what happens, and you gotta be able to dig into someone's head, basically mind-read.

All useful skills in themselves, so I won't mind taking the time to learn those as well. Thank you.

Come on by, then, and I'll see what I can teach you.

[Since this is before the Zeddening, they're safe to use the forge, if she wants to come by and get starting lessons.]

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[Walkabout] Near the end of the Landing Day festivities

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