[Ikaruga has had some time to mull over her conversation with Hope, and now she's going to Sorrow to address other questions.]
Sorrow. I am sure someone has made you aware of the Null's offer by now. I am not under the delusion that you will tell me where the Door can be found, but I was hoping you might tell me other things about it.
[Things that could potentially impact the decisions people make in the days to come.]
First of all...is it possible to send people to universes other than their own?
[He comments, leaning against one of the walls in his temple.]
You're thinking of it like a portal that can blink to other worlds at will. The true function of it is simply to seek out chaos and emotion and bring it to us. I can reverse the process, but anything more complex than that is...
[Sorrow trails off for a moment, considering.]
I won't say it's impossible. But it's a function that has never been attempted before.
[She considers that for a moment. Perhaps not a portal at will, but it still serves some of the functions of pulling a person through dimensional space.]
Most people who want to go to another world will want to go to the world of another person here. Someone who has become important to them. Perhaps their emotional ties could be used to form a tether of sorts?
[She shrugs. It's just a theory, but since everything the gods do is tied to emotion one way or another, it's something that perhaps the gods might be willing to explore when they're not struggling just to survive.]
It was, by our ancestors. They're ancient artifacts- not something that most members of our species knows about anymore. [A pause, and then he corrects himself.] -knew about.
It is a pity the Door does not function more like a portal. I imagine people would be more amenable to helping you get the emotion you need if it was a matter of directing you to places where you could feed off of a larger population who would already be feeling the necessary emotions. There is a country on my world where slavery is legal. You would be well fed there.
[Despite Sorrow's explanation that it's not a portal, it seems to have similar enough effects to one that she suspects there might be avenues to explore.]
If the Null were no longer a threat, would you be willing to experiment more with the Door and look into sending us home?
[And that solution sounds even better than giving the gods access to other worlds. They can live with the beings who actually like living with them.]
There may be a few people here who would like to stay here, especially if your former hosts were supplying you with enough energy that you had no need to do the things that you've done to extract emotion from us. So long as they were willing to peacefully co-exist with you and your hosts, would you allow them to stay?
To an extent, but there are many fighters among the people here, and I get the impression that your previous hosts were less inclined toward combat. There are also very innovative people here, as we saw when the city was split and people were trying to find a way to establish network communication to the other side. I suspect anyone willing to stay would be willing to find ways to contribute to the community.
[Granted, she knows most people will be eager to leave, but it's good to know what people's options are.]
I do think that most would choose to either go home or to a friend's world, mind you.
Understandable. Preparing for the Null and those who might help them would be a higher priority. I suspect I may not be the only person who pretended to be cooperative in order to gain further information from the Null, but I have no idea who was sincere versus who was pretending.
[Well, she can think of one person who'd be sincere, but she's confident in her ability to talk him down.]
On that topic, how do you plan on handling the matter of people who are sincerely willing to help the Null? Obviously you want to protect yourselves, but being too heavy-handed about the consequences would be unwise.
You are ultimately at our mercy, but as the Null are electing to attack us through you, it makes you a liability. The more you fear us, the more willing you are to side with them. Something will have to be done- but what remains to be seen.
[Well...]
Perhaps we'll poll the crowd. [He says it... maybe a tiny bit sarcastically. Is that even possible? Is the corner of his mouth quirking up right now?] That always seems to get positive responses.
Oh my, do I detect a glimmer of a sense of humour? I think I may faint from the shock.
[She's amused, either way. At least Sorrow isn't under any delusion about the gods' public relations ratings.]
More seriously, I would suggest revoking their network access, monitoring them, and refusing to transact with them. It may seem tame, but sending them home only reduces the amount of people you can take emotion from and it rewards bad behaviour. Punishing them severely only turns the population against you further, whereas showing mercy when the Null would show none gives you a chance to improve people's perception of you, even if the improvement is only minor.
I'm not able to 'send them home' in the first place.
[He corrects, gently.]
But I'll take your suggestions into consideration. What you've said is reasonable and helps me to understand what your people want out of this. I appreciate the candidness.
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Backdated to July 30th - action
Sorrow. I am sure someone has made you aware of the Null's offer by now. I am not under the delusion that you will tell me where the Door can be found, but I was hoping you might tell me other things about it.
[Things that could potentially impact the decisions people make in the days to come.]
First of all...is it possible to send people to universes other than their own?
action
[He comments, leaning against one of the walls in his temple.]
You're thinking of it like a portal that can blink to other worlds at will. The true function of it is simply to seek out chaos and emotion and bring it to us. I can reverse the process, but anything more complex than that is...
[Sorrow trails off for a moment, considering.]
I won't say it's impossible. But it's a function that has never been attempted before.
action
Most people who want to go to another world will want to go to the world of another person here. Someone who has become important to them. Perhaps their emotional ties could be used to form a tether of sorts?
[She shrugs. It's just a theory, but since everything the gods do is tied to emotion one way or another, it's something that perhaps the gods might be willing to explore when they're not struggling just to survive.]
Was the Door invented by one of your people?
action
[That sounds a little far fetched, but.]
I can look into it, but I doubt it.
[As far as the question, he nods.]
It was, by our ancestors. They're ancient artifacts- not something that most members of our species knows about anymore. [A pause, and then he corrects himself.] -knew about.
action
[Despite Sorrow's explanation that it's not a portal, it seems to have similar enough effects to one that she suspects there might be avenues to explore.]
If the Null were no longer a threat, would you be willing to experiment more with the Door and look into sending us home?
action
[He nods.]
If that were the case, then Hope would be able to safely revive our former hosts, who give us far more energy than you. You would no longer be needed.
action
There may be a few people here who would like to stay here, especially if your former hosts were supplying you with enough energy that you had no need to do the things that you've done to extract emotion from us. So long as they were willing to peacefully co-exist with you and your hosts, would you allow them to stay?
action
[Which doesn't sound too great. But in the end, he shrugs.]
I suppose, if this were to be a sanctuary to some... we could repay our debt by allowing you to stay.
action
[Granted, she knows most people will be eager to leave, but it's good to know what people's options are.]
I do think that most would choose to either go home or to a friend's world, mind you.
action
[But it's an interesting thought.]
I'll keep that in mind. It isn't exactly a pressing concern at the moment.
action
[Well, she can think of one person who'd be sincere, but she's confident in her ability to talk him down.]
On that topic, how do you plan on handling the matter of people who are sincerely willing to help the Null? Obviously you want to protect yourselves, but being too heavy-handed about the consequences would be unwise.
action
[Surprisingly enough.]
You are ultimately at our mercy, but as the Null are electing to attack us through you, it makes you a liability. The more you fear us, the more willing you are to side with them. Something will have to be done- but what remains to be seen.
[Well...]
Perhaps we'll poll the crowd. [He says it... maybe a tiny bit sarcastically. Is that even possible? Is the corner of his mouth quirking up right now?] That always seems to get positive responses.
action
[She's amused, either way. At least Sorrow isn't under any delusion about the gods' public relations ratings.]
More seriously, I would suggest revoking their network access, monitoring them, and refusing to transact with them. It may seem tame, but sending them home only reduces the amount of people you can take emotion from and it rewards bad behaviour. Punishing them severely only turns the population against you further, whereas showing mercy when the Null would show none gives you a chance to improve people's perception of you, even if the improvement is only minor.
action
[He corrects, gently.]
But I'll take your suggestions into consideration. What you've said is reasonable and helps me to understand what your people want out of this. I appreciate the candidness.