( QRI'S QUESTIONS )

[spellheal]

Hello everyone, this is Genette.

I'll be receiving some of the answers to your questions today. I'll be sending them as a blanket message to everyone.

Again, I'm a messenger. You're free to ask follow up questions, but make sure they're sent directly to me.

[ OOC: You're free to discuss the answers as responses to the individual top levels. These can be mental telepathy messages with one another or action logs if your characters are nearby. If you want to ask Genette follow up questions, put @Genette or something similar in your subject header! ]

Comments

[spaceforged]

[He doesn't answer right away. Shiro hadn't slept after the message from Qri herself. He'd turned it over and over in his head. After a minute he shakes his head.]

I'm not sure what to make of it. We have a lot of answers but not a lot of ways to confirm if they're true. ...but, the most important part is we now know she'll speak to us herself.

[He studies the damage around them and starts collecting boards, setting the most damaged into one pile away from anything salvageable.]

We also know we're being tracked.

[rebells]

[He sees that and starts doing the same, setting the boards into piles according to how damaged they are.]

I expected as much. Why give us these otherwise? [He places a hand over his collar, where the signet isn't actually visible under a turtleneck, but where it would be located.] The real question is how closely she's capable of tracking us. If she's telling the truth about our telepathic messages overwhelming her, then I'd guess it isn't all that closely, at least unless she focuses deliberately.

[He bends down to pick up another board.]

We don't have much evidence to to back up what she said, no. What we have is just her story, which is interesting in and of itself, I think.

[spaceforged]

I agree. ...an unknown force in the universe. [If that's true then there's only a small chance any world will have notes or awareness of her harvesting energy from them. He checks a board more carefully to make sure he's not putting any cracked boards in the salvage pile.]

If she's telling the truth...we're being expected to do this for years. [Potentially lifetimes. He glances out at the ocean and shuts his eyes.] That's asking a lot of a group of people she selected without their input. If, we don't find ways to speed up the process.

[rebells]

And we might, now that there are so many of us.

[Jay has stopped to watch Shiro, studying the way he carries himself, his expression.]

But she may not have had much of a choice, if she really is crucial to the existence of worlds. At least, that's what I'd expect she wants us to believe.

[spaceforged]

What do you believe? [It's true that they might have a way to speed up the process of energy harvesting. But it would have to be balanced or they might strip worlds of their life. It only makes his concern about their situation grow. They can't change they're here.

He glances at Jay, studying him in turn. As concerned as he is, he wants to hear what Jay himself thinks before he voices another thought.] Do you think she's telling the truth?

[rebells]

[He smiles, a small, thin smile. Isn't that the million-dollar question?]

I find it more likely that she's telling the truth than I did a few days ago. Her story is consistent, if not without its weak points and oddities. But we need more information to make any firm conclusions--and unless we find something unexpected in the next world, it seems like that information is going to have to come from Qri.

[spaceforged]

[He picks up a piece of cloth and folds it up.]

She could have tailored all those answers to convince us of her side. Instead, a lot of it is answers we don't want to hear. I'm not entirely convinced. We need solid intel before we make any choices about her or her story.

[rebells]

[A nod.]

But if our major source of information is Qri, we may have to cooperate with her to get that information. So it becomes something of a paradox.

[spaceforged]

[He keeps working on clean up while he thinks it over.]

I think we can pick up clues and information outside of her. But, we should hear her out. We did want to talk to her directly.

The only way to earn her trust is to prove we're willing to at least listen to her. [He's already building a strategy in the back of his mind. They are still captives but if they can negotiate...]

...It is something of a paradox. We have to give a small measure of trust for her to earn ours.

[rebells]

Yes.

I think we ought to decide among ourselves what we want to say to her next time. What tone we want to take, and which questions are most important to get answers to. There's also the matter of whatever energy source she'll want us to collect next--I assume she won't talk to us until she's received another power boost, although I could be wrong.

[spaceforged]

I agree. We need to be a united in how we make our approach. If she's getting overwhelmed by daily messages from several people...too many points of view will stop the negotiation before it starts.

Deciding our objectives for the talk should help us all work together as a team. You've made some good suggestions for two. We could probably go as high as three or four, but I'd keep it simple for this first talk.

[He picks up the pieces of the crate, sorting them by size.]

...but, I think you're right. She probably needs another power boost to handle a direct discussion with us.

[rebells]

[With a small smile:]

Even if she doesn't, it's to her advantage to pretend she does, and that appears to be the approach she's taking. We could attempt to force the issue before then, but I suspect that would get us nowhere.

But I agree. [He looks around to make sure no one is nearby.] I may call a meeting soon. We'll need to talk to the coven as a whole as well, of course, but deciding on an approach as a smaller group will help us present a more united front.

[spaceforged]

It will cut down some of the inevitable debate. [He nods and checks over the cloth he gathered. It could be sewn together if he had the thread and needle for it. He keeps his voice a little lower to ensure it’s harder to overhear them.]

If someone presents ideas everyone likes in the wider meeting we can adjust accordingly. [Forcing the issue won’t help them. They’re at too great of a disadvantage.]

...and a meeting sooner than later will allow us to prepare for the next world we’re sent to. Whatever it is, having a loose plan could be to our benefit.

[rebells]

I do wonder when we'll be traveling to the next world . . . we've spent quite a few weeks on the hub, at this point. She only gave us a few days' notice before moving us last time.

[spaceforged]

How long was it between the time you arrived and she announced she was sending you to another world? [They have spent longer than he expected to in the hub. Shiro checks back over wood pieces to make absolutely sure he didn’t miss any damage.]

IShe didn’t give us much time before pulling us back here either.

[rebells]

About three days, I think. Not a long time. --Thank you for your help with this, by the way.

[He gestures to the neat piles of wood.]

[spaceforged]

[He smiles, just a bit.] Always glad to help a teammate. [Shiro looks over the beach and thinks over the information. Three days.]

Could it be the long downtime is because she's taking the energy source into herself? It would make sense. ...Probably something we should ask her.