Text: open broadcast

[sylphauxiliatrix]

I Think This Was The Proverbial Last Dried Grass Strand
I Am Done
I Used To Be Content With Just Waiting Out My Time Here As Best I Could
But Ive Had Enough Of The People In Charge Jerking Us Around
Playing With Us
Basically On The Subject Of The Scientists
Just
Fuck Those Guys

[Guess who was not happy about the chocolate heart she received?]

Comments

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[zelda_hylia]

Yes. Are you at your shop?

[Zelda talks while she starts to make some tea. Maybe a nice chai. Kanaya doesn't seem like she needs something too calming, Zelda doesn't want her to get depressed.]

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[sylphauxiliatrix]

As usual.

[To her credit she manages a heartfelt smile before turning off the connection.]

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[zelda_hylia]

[After brewing the tea and pouring it into two thermoses Zelda heads out, dressed up prim and proper as always. She's not entirely sure if Kanaya is going to want to talk at length about the locals, but it's better safe than sorry. She'll be able to gauge it better once she's there. Since it's a shop, she simply heads in again without knocking.]

I do hope that chai is all right! I've found that I rather like it in the winter.

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[sylphauxiliatrix]

I don't know if I've ever had any before. I guess we'll have to find out.

[She waits until the Princess has set down her things before closing in for a hug.]

Thank you.

[zelda_hylia]

[Though she's a bit surprised by the hug, she's grown used to them over her time in Vatheon. She draws her arms up around the other woman gently.]

This is the sort of thing friends are for, isn't it?

[She'll give her awhile like this before bringing up the conflict in Vatheon's administration.]

[sylphauxiliatrix]

[To tell the truth she's a bit surprised by the hug as well. She wasn't exactly the hugging type before coming here, but it just sort of felt like a good idea, and before she knew it they were making it happen. Must be the influence of hanging around the olive bloods too much. The hug is a brief one, she's not so upset that she really needed it.]

Of course. I'm sorry if I was being a bit over dramatic on the network with all this. I had been thinking about your efforts to gather information about this place, and I was a little embarrassed that I've been here for almost a year and I never really though about investigating the conditions of this place. And then I got the heart.

[zelda_hylia]

I think that is normal. Apparently the coral releases a gas that pacifies people - so far there are only documented effects on the locals, but I think it may serve to keep us complacent as well. Without a large motivating factor, people tend to give up on any investigation efforts. In my case...

[Her hand draws up to her chest, tightening on the fabric there.]

I have many dear friends here who would not be alive back on their home worlds. This is the only life they can have, and I cannot allow it to be taken from them.

[sylphauxiliatrix]

[She'd find the gas-based pacification particularly abhorrent... if she did not herself come from a brutally authoritarian culture. ]

The same is true for me. I tried to not think about it while Vriska was here, but I know what she went back to. I was ignoring it after she left, because it was hard to face... but it's the truth.

[zelda_hylia]

People can return here even after their deaths, and time can be rewritten. What she has gone back to is a reality you will have to face if you want to prevent it. Now then... how much do you know about the people keeping us here?

[She's wondering if Kanaya knows about the internal conflict happening there or not.]

[sylphauxiliatrix]

[She nods her head in agreement at that. Trolls aren't usually fazed by death so easily, after all. She had accepted what Vriska was returning to. The weird part is... if Kanaya had to go back, she'd understand that Vriska had to be killed. In that time and place, she had given no other option. If she wasn't stopped with force, she would have gotten them all killed. But if Kanaya could change that... Having Vriska brought here would be the other option they previously lacked. ]

I don't know much at all really. I know there are the nurses in the clinic, and there are scientists that are studying the coral and, I presume, us. There's also some Priestess that worships the coral as a god, but I really didn't talk to her at all.

[zelda_hylia]

Thalassino is somewhat elusive, so I am not surprised. I do not think that all the people running this experiment are entirely against us, though. Let me show you a couple things. I think you'll see why I did not want to broadcast it openly over the network.

[First, a video from nearly a year ago now. Second, a recording Guy gave her of a conversation he had with Carol. And third, a conversation between Zelda and Carol rather recently.]

[sylphauxiliatrix]

Interesting. So they aren't all in total agreement... And with how much control they exert to keep us here I'm surprised that she hasn't been silenced yet.

[Certainly Alternian culture would not have allowed a weak link like that to poison whatever operation was going on here... unless there's something ore at play. From her cultural standpoint it seems obvious that Carol must have something...]

Either there's someone with more power than her that is sympathetic but unwilling to do more than protect her, or she must have blackmail material on someone above her. I can't imagine they'd let her get away with even these little leaks unless that was the case.

[Of course, one of the older trolls (particularly the highblooded ones) wwould be in a much better position to understand what political maneuvers might be in play within the scientists organization. Kanaya wasn't quite high enough nor old enough to really be a part of those machinations.]

[zelda_hylia]

I think that the administration is at odds over how to handle us, yes. I would imagine the side that is against this experiment or perhaps just the side that seeks our cooperation must be protecting her. Still, I do not want to draw too much attention to her. It wouldn't do to possibly push away a potential ally by making her feel cornered.

[Zelda's tried to start up projects to get into contact with her privately multiple times now, but none of them have ever felt secure enough.]

[sylphauxiliatrix]

[Kanaya nods.] It's probably best to play it safe. Who knows how much they can see and hear us... though I don't want to think about that too much, or I'll start getting paranoid. It's good to know at least that they aren't all in agreement when it comes to how they handle us.

[zelda_hylia]

Yes, it's certainly best to not think about THAT too much.

[During some of her horrible paranoia fits Zelda's been known to try to think in code. She just can't help it sometimes.]

I agree. If they are not united, then it is possible to drive a wedge between them. We only need to figure out what their motivations are.

[sylphauxiliatrix]

[Well, someone once said... Yeah. Don't think about that too much. They probably watch you in the shower.]

That would be a great start, but unless they make some sort of mistake I doubt we'll get it that easily.

[zelda_hylia]

They will make mistakes eventually. They are not gods, though they may play at it. And even if they were, gods make mistakes as well. We only have to watch and wait.

[An expression Kanaya wouldn't have seen out of the princess takes hold on Zelda's face. She seems dangerous. Royal in the way most trolls would be more familiar with.]

[sylphauxiliatrix]

[...]

[Kanaya's normally calm and caring demeanor isn't too far away from Zelda's right now. The head nurse and the scientists have managed to earn her platonic hatred. A desire for vengeance burns in her in the way that only a Troll could muster. But she's no fool. The Princess has a good plan here, and patience is almost their only virtue when their captors have such control over their fates.]

Agreed. I'll keep an eye out. And if I meet anybody else who might be of a similar mind, I'll try to discretely bring them in. The more we have watching for those slip ups, the more likely we are to catch them.

[zelda_hylia]

I am glad to hear we think similarly on this.

[Zelda's tried quietly bringing it up with other people before, but most discount her theories as paranoid or seem to want to avoid any sort of potential cooperation with the locals at all. Having someone agree with her is reassuring.]

[sylphauxiliatrix]

Well, like I said I didn't really think about it before now. The Clinic finally pushed me too far I guess. I knew I couldn't be the only one dissatisfied with the situation, but I feel much better knowing that there are others actually willing to try and change things.