i'm looking for an easy thing [ OPEN MINGLE ]

[hyperlit]

Who: Anyone and everyone! Who wants to look at books?
What: BOOKVALANCHE
When: Let's say from the 25th and onward for simplicity
Where: The Storyteller's Temple, in addition to the library that's finally getting some much-needed attention
Warnings: Mark anything that comes up!



The library is finally getting some renovations! Between some new bookshelves (hope someone here is good at hauling) and a veritable cascade of all sorts of books and supplies, an awful lot needs to be transferred from the Temple to the heretofore unused library, and any help anyone has to offer is much appreciated!

But, of course, there's also so very much to go through for your own perusal. Just look at all this! Coloring books, puzzle books, stories of all sorts, comic books, fashion magazines, all sorts of survival texts...you name it.

This all needs to be put away and stored in those neat little waterproofing book protectors - shelves need to be moved, supplies need to be secured, and someone should probably take inventory. But also...there's a lot of fresh new reading material on an island that previously had none.

Isn't that worth looking over?

Comments

[forwearemany]

They were not Geth.

(They were so alien that they might as well have been another species.

The Geth collective was practically a single individual in how unified its component programs were.

It followed its own path, it did not worship or serve other entities. It did not cause unnecessary suffering.)

Yes.

(In a sense, they have already acted on this instruction, when the Heretics were temporarily recreated in the trial of the brave.)

There is additional data.

The Heretics also turned against the true Geth.

(Most importantly, true Geth did not spy or plot against each other. It would be as pointless as an individual organic doing so against itself.)

[hyperlit]

took advantage of your inaction

[There are genuine tactical advantages to that. The act of it alone is not so surprising. But if one does not employ subterfuge, perhaps it would make one less likely to anticipate it from others, as well.]

strategists

[forwearemany]

They implanted subroutines in our networks. Engineered a virus capable of changing all Geth to worship the old-machines.

(They chatter unhappily. The Drifter is not incorrect. But Geth do not suspect each other. Do not spy on each other.

Why did the Heretics change?)

[hyperlit]

aware of this?

[Or did they only become aware after the fact?]

[forwearemany]

We became aware of the existence of the virus during our mission to gather information on Shepard-Commander.

(They quite, and stare into the distance.)

Upon joining Normandy collective, we asked her to assist us in preventing the Heretics from deploying it. She agreed.

[hyperlit]

situation outcome?

[They'd be willing to predict that it went poorly, given Legion's relation of their history up until this point. But they don't really know for certain, now, do they?]

[forwearemany]

(They'd actually be wrong! ... For the most part.)

She agreed.

We attacked the Heretic base. We were unable to achieve consensus as to the optimal outcome of the mission--destroy the Heretics or turn their virus against them and force them to rejoin the Geth--and so we left the decision to Shepard-Commander.

She destroyed them.

(And yet, despite the success, they still seem unhappy.)

[hyperlit]

[That seemed like it may have been the ideal outcome, but...seemingly not, considering the notable lack of elation this relaying has produced. The Drifter cocks their head, considering this.]

suboptimal outcome?

[forwearemany]

Negative.

(It might have been better if it had been, if Shepard-Commander had failed them.

As it is, the first organic to accept and cooperate with them since the Morning war, the one who killed Old-machines and saved them from the heretics, their first real friend, let them die.)

[hyperlit]

[Then why aren't you happy?]

[Of course, it is not the Drifter's way to ask that sort of thing. But it's clear that something is amiss here...if only they could say what.]

does not seem ideal
to you

[forwearemany]

Shepard-Commander saved us.

(Their headflaps flutter briefly, then sink back down to lay flush with their head.)

She betrayed us.

[hyperlit]

remember that

[They're not clear on why this would make Legion upset, except that perhaps those feelings would conflict based on Shepard's own conflicting nature.]

remember this was suboptimal
unrelated

[forwearemany]

(They chatter.)

Shepard-Commander was the first organic to openly cooperate with Geth since the Morning War.

She abandoned us.

[hyperlit]

this does not change anything

[What does whatever she has done in the past change what she did with lasting consequence?]

[forwearemany]

(Perhaps it's better that horrible betrayal by the closest thing you have to a friend isn't something the Drifter understands.)

...Acknowledged.

(This doesn't appear to be helping.)

[hyperlit]

[One must first have friends to experience betrayal. Until recently, the Drifter has never quite made that acquisition.]

still betrayed
still failed you

[forwearemany]

(Hopefully even now that the Drifter has friends they won't actually end up in a position to empathize.)

Yes.

(Of course, Shepard-Commander wasn't just the closest thing Legion had to a friend: she was their hero.)

[hyperlit]

it is your judgment that matters
the good she did
the bad she did
which means more

[They can't make that decision for them. Though, in truth, the Drifter could not say how they would draw that line, if it were them. They've no notion of how they might behave in the depths of that betrayal, and what their end decision might be.]

[forwearemany]

The Shepard-Commander here is not the Shepard-Commander we knew.

(Not the one who saved them. Not the one who betrayed them.)

[hyperlit]

[...]

[You've lost them.]

unclear

[forwearemany]

It is not clear to us.

(They understand the idea of alternate universes, but it is strange to them.)

She is Shepard-Commander, but her appearance has changed in ways not possible for Humans without surgical alteration. She has different memories of us.

[hyperlit]

[This discussion has officially escaped the Drifter's realm of expertise. They don't entirely process that, and by the time Legion has finished explaining, they've decided that they're ill-equipped to impart any advice on it.]

cannot advise

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged. Though your perspective is eppreciated, we primarily sought it regarding the heretics end their shift in behavior.

(They'll deal with Shepard on their own.

Or just avoid her forever. That seems more likely.)

[hyperlit]

what is done is done

[The past cannot be reworked, and old paths not retrod in any manner except in memory.]

cannot change what was done to them
only what can be done should it happen again

[forwearemany]

(But they still wish to know: how could they have become so different?

Perhaps it is better that the Heretics did not return to the Geth. But their destruction has likely also destroyed any chance of ever finding the answer.)

Yes.