October Intro: Aftermath Mingle

[lifeaftr_mods]

Who: All!
What: Now that you've all committed monkey genocide, it's time to clean up and go home.
When: Evening of the intro log- and onwards!
Where: The Monkey Compound, Islets, etc.
Warnings: Mark as you go!


Congratulations on effectively reversing the tables, adventurers. As the hunted become the hunters, the remaining simians begin to retreat into the jungle, disappearing from sight as the drumming dies down, before extinguishing entirely.

It appears that you have won.

Now it's time to clean up.

Those still in the Monkey Compound may wish to begin scavenging what they can, from multiple coconut guns to rudimentary spears. There's a flock of Bludroc happy to be herded to a new home, several stashes of fresh fruit to be found... and a rather large iron pot, for the particularly bold.

Others may be more concerned with returning to the islets and securing the personal belongings that were left behind. There are new people to settle in, as well; and undoubtedly, a few injuries yet to be healed.

Reunite, rejoice, recover. And perhaps, should you see the Storyteller about- ask a few questions.

Comments

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She returns his smile, weary but warm.]

I'm glad to hear it. I came out of things quite well, although I had to do a fair bit of running around trying to make sure everything was taken care of.

I suspect the apes were trying to take revenge for the previous time we fought with them, although we never did figure out why they attacked us that time in the first place, so it's all a bit... circular.

[She's not going to go into gory details with a child, but she's not going to lie to him in the name of making him feel safer than he is, either. So she just lays out the facts calmly and clearly.]

[dontkillme]

...I know. Sometimes... when people are faced with somebody different from them, they get scared. They jump to the worst possible conclusion.

[That monster! That monster killed that child! Our missing ⚠☓♠✹ was murdered by that beast!]

They resort to violence right away, because they don't think there's any other choice.

[You IDIOT. In this world...]

"It's kill or be killed."

That's all they think, so they do what they think they must to stay safe.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She sighs softly, and nods. It's saddening to hear someone so young already dealing with this sort of thing, but he's not wrong. Then again, ideally no one would have to deal with it, age regardless.]

Sadly, yes. And when people have been attacked, they're less likely to try and find peaceful answers, because they've been hurt before and don't want to take the risk again.

In the end, it makes everyone less safe, not more.

[dontkillme]

[Asriel looks down. He thinks of screaming monkeys. Of people with weapons and magic. Of smoke and fire and a compound that's empty, except for the bodies.]

...I don't think we did the right thing today, did we?

Muffet is so great with kids. Clearly.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[If they're old enough to ask, they're old enough to be told.]

No.

[Muffet's reply is flat- not harsh or cold, but not bothering to sugarcoat what happened.]

We did not.

To make things even less easy to deal with, I also can't say we did the unquestionably wrong thing, either. The fact of the matter is this: people do not deserve to die. These people didn't, and nor did we. Which meant that when they struck out at us with full intent to kill, today, the amount of good options, of right things that anyone could have done... dwindled rapidly.

I have no doubt that there was still a better way, some right thing that we could have done to save everyone involved, even at the last- but none of us found it in time. And this can't be undone now.

[She looks him in the eyes, her gaze and her tone unwavering but not unkind.]

So the question becomes: how do we keep this from happening again?

[dontkillme]

[Is it... not wrong to fight back, then? He was so sure he did the right thing. He didn't have any regrets about his choice to let humanity tear him and Chara to little smiling pieces. It's better to have chosen MERCY, even if they hit you first. Frisk proved that. All those monsters who hit them first, who killed them, and they still chose not to hit back.

But what if he was wrong, and Chara was right...?]

I... I don't know.

[He was supposed to be the prince of all monsters. I am the prince of this world's future. This is the sort of thing he's supposed to have the answer to. Someday, all monsterkind would have looked to him with that question on their lips, and he would have been responsible for telling them what to do.

But... he failed pretty spectacularly at keeping this from happening again already, didn't he? There's a row of child-sized coffins proving that much. The very fact that there are so many dead bodies here proves he's already failed at keeping this from happening again. He had the experience of being an intruder in a hostile village already, and instead of turning that into wisdom, determination, action, he just... just got scared and froze up like a big dumb crybaby.]

I should know, but I don't.

[How do you stop a Flowey from ever becoming a Flowey in the first place?]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[There's a lot Muffet could say to that, if she knew what he was thinking... but she doesn't, it's not a story she ever had the chance to learn.]

[Instead she looks at him, and smiles sadly.]

To tell you the truth? I don't know, either.

I assure you, I would tell you if I did- the more people we can spare from this kind of struggle, the better.

But... we may still have a chance, in the future. I doubt every single ape was killed, here and now- I know for a fact that I let my own opponents go alive, even if I didn't save them from others. It would be very surprising to me if at least a handful didn't make it out.

So. They are alive, and we are alive, and whatever the cost of that life is... we have it now, and it seems foolish to waste it. We have some time, now, to repair what we can and remember this. We can think of what happened and what went wrong, and if something like this should come again... hopefully, we'll be more prepared.

We might not be- all the planning in the world isn't enough, sometimes. There's so much we don't know, and we are all so very far from perfect. But we know more, now, and we're going to keep trying to do better, even if we can't reach true perfection. If we meet them again, and we try hard enough, and we're very lucky... then maybe it might be enough.

Either way, it's worth the effort.

[She sighs, quietly, and shakes her head.]

To start with, however? I'd recommend eating something. I know it seems like a rather pointless thing to do, at the moment, but I assure you that major questions of morality don't get any easier to deal with if you're neglecting your own needs. They're difficult enough to handle, there's no sense in making it harder on yourself.

I do still have some cookies left, if you haven't got any objections to coconut.