maskormenace

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[ Kitty's voice is a little strained. ]

Right, so...Hullo, Kitty here. And we've already had a bit of input on glorious-war and glorious-war-but-do-be-careful-about-it-because-the-Russians-are-a-bit-scary, and at this point everyone's probably like shut it won't you. But for anyone who's still out there and still listening, just...

This is hard for us. We've lost our friends. That's scary. But remember that no real harm has been done yet. They've been kidnapped, but no one's been killed. The situation right now is not that bad. But it has the potential to get so much worse if we let loose our anger. Remember, the weapons in the Russians' possession - and in the Americans' - can scorch the earth. Kill everyone. Everyone. It won't just be us who go if we escalate this war: it'll also be the little kids in the school down the street from you, and the girl who always remembers your order at the malt shop, and the bloody...puppies in the animal shelter.

So those of you who are thinking that it's time to go burn down Russian cities, or join up with the army as they march to destroy our enemies - close your eyes and think of the entire baskets of puppies and kittens that'll get scorched into nothing but atoms when this war gets stepped up and the bombing starts. Okay? So instead, maybe let's give thought to negotiation. Forgiveness. Stepping down the violence. Some of the kidnapped have gotten word out - I bet you anything they'll agree.

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[ She nods in acknowledgment. ]

We don't. But Admiral Naismith - he gave a report of the shape they're in. And they seem fine. No one's been killed, there's no torture going on. They're free to move about within a room. As far as I can tell, they're being treated well within the guidelines established for prisoners of war.

[ She stares back a bit incredulously. ]

They're not actually free, though. There are no guidelines for something like this.

[ She shakes her head. ]

Don't misunderstand. It's not good. I'm not saying for a moment that it's good or that they oughtn't be free. But it's also not the worst possible situation. Not by a very long shot. I mean, we've got to keep this in perspective. Is it wretched? Yeah. But if we let that get to us, if we let that drive our actions...An escalation of this war means total annihilation of every living thing on this planet.

Eh...?

[ Her head tilts now. ]

That's not how it sounded before when you said "no real harm has been done yet"... but we can't sit here and do nothing. They have a lot of hostages don't they? That means... they have more than enough to do what they want.

[ And she hates to think it, but she doesn't doubt they'll start offing a couple of hostages to drive whatever point they are trying to make. God, what is this war about again? She hates it. ]

But no real harm has been done. They can be returned to us intact. That doesn't mean imprisonment is good, but it's very reversible.

[ She rubs her mouth. ]

Unlike...yeah. What very well might happen to them if we piss the Russians off. The problem is -

[ No, never mind. Kitty shakes her head. ]

They've declared war! I mean, I thought they were already at war so this is confusing, but it's very real now!

Yeah, but that's just words, isn't it. A declaration of war is nothing but a bit of air. For the time being, it's only air.

Have you hit your head?!

[ She wrinkles her nose. ]

That's a bit rude, isn't it. Look, this is just the reality of things. We talk quite a lot about the inevitability of war, the buildup to war, the march to war, so on and so on, but the fact is that war is nothing but a great lot of violent idiots who've decided on a stupid course of action driving a bunch of poor fools forward by convincing them there's honor and pride ahead. Those violent idiots can decide on a different course of action. Don't act like this is something impossible. War would stop if certain people decided to stop it.

[ She's trying to be patient and understand, but she's not grasping what Kitty is trying to get at. ]

Of course war is terrible! I've been fighting one for years now back home and we don't even fight humans, but it's been horrible anyway!

You're not making any sense. Isn't the reality that the declaration of war isn't air? It's come with them abducting imPorts! It's not air, it's a show of power and... and something not good that could follow next!

[ Kitty shakes her head. ]

It's come with them taking hostages, yeah. But hostages can be released with no harm done. Again, if certain people stop being idiots and decide to make it happen.

Nobody has done anything yet. We're just... trying to make sense of thing and figure out what to do next. We have to get those people back.

Exactly. No one's done anything yet. That means that all of this idiocy can still just be called off. The hostages can be returned home, and we can all just agree to not murder one another. Don't you see?

I don't want to murder anyone.

[ Her face pales a little. ]

But I'm not sure it can be. This kind of war doesn't work that simply, huh?

Why doesn't it? Why can't it be that simple? Just refusing to fight. Why not?

I don't know. I'm so sorry.

[ Maybe there's an answer, but she's not smart enough to know it. ]

We don't have a lot of choices anymore, I think.

[ She shakes her head. ]

We don't. They're fewer than they were before. But we still have enough. We just can't let them convince us that all this death is an inevitability. We can't let them make us think that our only choice is destruction.

I don't know.

If they wanted to talk, why didn't they before?

Maybe they tried. We don't know. The government certainly doesn't tell us much.

They haven't negotiated anything yet?

[ Hostages are one of two things as far as she knows: leverage or a source of information. ]

[ A shrug. ]

Again, we can't know for sure. Perhaps they have.

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[ He was going to stay out this, ignore it entirely, but-- ]

Sasha, listen to her. [ ... Words he never expected to say... ] What the hell good d'you think we can do? Gettin' involved is just gonna give 'em more hostages, let the military here deal with it!

[ She didn't expect him to interject, so she gives him an incredulous look as well. ]

They have Dick, April and Carl, and other people! [ She exclaims. ] We can do something! A lot of us are capable!

If the people they got already can't do anything, how are you supposed to help? That's probably what they want people to do, I know a trap when I hear one!

We can't leave them for long! The longer they have them, the more likely it is they'll do something awful to them.

[ She could not live with herself if someone she cared about got hurt or worse because she chose to do nothing. ]

I've been part of successful search and rescue missions before. You know I'm a soldier!