WEEK FIVE: REMOVAL

[retellers]

WEEK FIVE: REMOVAL (25 remain) Time to wake up, participants of the Realm. At 8am, everyone will receive a message on their PHS. Go to where the freaky puppet hell theater used to be across the bridge. Even if the participants ignore the message (or are sleeping in, shame on them), as 9am approaches they will fall victim to a compulsion to head to the specified location. Three Leaders, Tiger, Goat, and Swan, are already present, Jeanne with them. Goat speaks. "... We are the choices we make. May yours bring you closer to the future you wished to see." Once they finish speaking, an alert goes off from a PHS in the crowd—specifically, Zuko's. No explicit message this time, though! Presumably, everyone gets the idea by now and now no one has to deal with glitched text. Regardless of their will, they will feel compelled to walk towards the scene. No other participant will be able to interfere; should they try, a barrier blocks their way.

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Comments

[discernments]

[ And as he lights the fire and it beings to burn higher and brighter, her thoughts flick by one by one. What memories are left to her come to her. There are reasons why hate and resentment never take hold of her. There are reasons why she thinks the world is beautiful and people are good. There are reasons why she has hope:

(The young are impressionable... and their passion, I always hope, can be coupled with compassion, too. If anyone deserves to cling on to the hope that the world does not have to be nothing but darkness and cruelty, it is the young.)

(I paid to have her resurrected a long time ago. It's fine if I never see her again.)

(For years, I spent all my time chasing after the love of a father who banished me for speaking out of turn, and I did so many selfish things and turned a blind eye to the cruelties my country was inflicting on the world. I refuse to be that man again.)

(Losing someone isn't unfamiliar to anyone, especially to anyone here. Everyone has lost someone and I don't think myself any more special above anyone else, but just once—I want to be given the idea that I could protect someone precious to me.)

(I'm sorry, Jeanne. It was just coming from a human who cares, more than anything else. I might be an Overseer, but being neutral never was my strong suit.)

(Everyone has people that are waiting for them. Everyone, everyone is important. As much as it hurts, I...

...I'd rather lose everything I know than see another person pass.)

(I'm not going to ask you what happened, if you'd rather not discuss it. However, please stop prioritizing every single person over yourself. Just once. That's all I ask.)

(All of their hopes, their dreams, their despair- all of the memories of my people have only ever rested with me. Ask of the ocean, then, how many drops it might hold, and you may receive as much of an answer as I can give you.)

(Just making decisions, and hoping the outcome in the end is the slightly better one. You can't predict the future unless you're like, real good at future sight, and that's only good for about 60 seconds or so. And you can always look back at the past and go, well, shouldn't have done that! Could have made a different move! But you can't change it. Even if you try, it hurts worse in the end. There's really only forward.)

(Yeah. I, uh. I've been thinking about that a lot here. And how much I want to save the people here, and what it might take to do it. It makes that memory seem like, uh, like an easy choice.)

(...I don't think he was, either. But when I do see people who turn a blind eye to other people's suffering, I think they're horrible.)

(Maybe it's just that people don't get the chance to get better. They fuck up and they get killed for it, and then we have to move on.)

(They've managed to bring me back a few times before. I know I can count on them to do it again. I just have to wait.)

(Of course. The world is filled with good people.)

(... At this point, I only want them to rest. To find peace, if they're able. And to not leave this mortal realm alone.)

(You needn't thank me for anything like that.

Not when the privilege of knowing you, and being able to realize that someone like you exists - far outweighs any hardship or pain.)

And the fire continues to grow. ]