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[arithmethodical]

[ She debates for a bit whether or not to do this with voice or audio, but she feels too shaky for either, and eventually loses patience with herself and the debate. ]

I've been asked by some friends of his to share information that Vision found about the ritual and how it might go. Might have to go.

I'm pretty sure we're all familiar with the prophecy by now, but if not, you can look at it here.

Vision found three things. First is that this thing, the ritual, the 12th of November kept coming up as the most significant time to do it.

Second is that the more imPorts who are there, the better chance it has of working. So show up if you can.

The third is the bell. There are two in Jeopardy it could apply to. The first one is the most obvious choice, the bell in the cathedral of the spider cult church. The other one is the Justice Building, which is apparently pretty much decorative. He wasn't sure if we're supposed to ring the bell at 3am on the night of the full moon, or if we ring the bell to get things started.

I did some of my own research, too.

[ There's a pause here, while she puts together her thoughts. ]

The rock known as the Altar out in the National Park near Jeopardy has no apparent connection to anything. No important myths, no significant legends. There's whispers about it being a place where people used to be sacrificed to guarantee crop growth, but I couldn't find anything else tying it to the prophecy.

The other thing. The twins. I tried to find out what I could about them. Their names are Layla and Sally Clapp. They aren't mystical. They're just two ordinary little girls. They dress differently so people will tell them apart, even though their parents want them to dress the same. They like spiders. They read books about them. They play kid games and have kid imaginations.

So who knows if they actually saw something or not. Who knows if they have some mystical connection to what's happening. They're a convenient fit to the prophecy. That's all.

Comments

[photophobic]

The kind of unforseen consequence that comes from believing you can negotiate with destiny.

private;

[arithmethodical]

How helpfully vague.

So, what, you're going to tell all of us how wrong we are and then not even witness what you're pushing for? That's convenient for you.

[photophobic]

I'm almost surprised you think I would blink an eye at the deaths of two children. I'd thought myself far more established a monster.

[arithmethodical]

I don't know why I thought you would. After all, what's two kids to the twenty-four billion people in the Hosnian system? Two more kids.

[photophobic]

So numbers do have relevance to you. Just not when weighed against names. Or have you already realised what has to be done, and all that remains is to soothe your conscience.

You can do it. I'll give it to you. What you need. I'm not afraid of being the nightmare you can reassure yourself you could never become.

[arithmethodical]

[ It takes her a while to respond to this one, because he's caught her in her own hypocrisy. She had names and faces to think about, when Poe told her about the Hosnian system. She had friends.

She has friends here, too. She has names and faces she's seen on the network, maybe not spoken to, but she's seen them. Their personal and impersonal posts, the serious and the ridiculous.

It makes her feel sick to think about it all. About what she's realized she's willing to do. She might as well already be a monster. ]

What are you talking about, 'what I need'?

[photophobic]

This is all very new to you. Isn't it. I understand.

[arithmethodical]

Saving the multiverse? We've had some practice trying to save the galaxy from you.

[photophobic]

You were never saving the galaxy. From me or anyone else. It's a pleasant thought. It looks good on a poster. But it's meaningless.

[arithmethodical]

Stopping the rise of something even worse than the Empire isn't meaningless.

What do you want?

[photophobic]

Better, though that isn't what you were doing either. But we can discuss it when you're ready to see beyond recruitment slogans.

I think I already have what I wanted.

[arithmethodical]

[ GodDaMNiT now she wants to know what he thinks they were doing, what he thinks he got from this. Something about what he's saying has gotten under her skin and she wants to itch it out. ]

Then go away.

[ DISCONNECTED. ]