Frontier Town Traveller's Haus - Guest Rooms

[Butterfree]

And just like that, Andre was back to appearing jarringly normal, as if it had never happened. Dave's hackles were still up, feet backed up against the wall.

"And what, you're going to kill me if I do?" His heart pounded sickeningly in his chest. "If you're liable to just go out there and merrily murder and torture people, then yeah, I'm telling people to stay the fuck away."

 

[canisaries]

Andre's jaw tensed, and the radiance threatened to return. This was bullshit. No one could handle the truth - two examples already showed that - so no one should be told.

Still, there wasn't a single fiber in Andre's body that wanted to kill Dave. Dave was still a good person. Not evil, at the very least. Andre would never kill someone like that.

"No. I won't kill you if you tell the others," he explained, forcing himself to stay calm. "Just like I haven't killed Ridley for extorting me. I don't target people who don't hurt others. You haven't hurt anyone to my knowledge, and I don't think you will. So trust me, you're safe." Andre spat the last word. It was a joke. A spiteful joke about him being such a massive psychopath that he would actually go around telling people whether they were safe from him or not. Though Andre didn't know if Dave would pick up on that. Probably wouldn't. Fucking whatever.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave took a breath, eyes still on Andre. Yeah. He hadn't killed Ridley, had he. Whatever warped sense of justice Andre had going on, it didn't include murdering people to shut them up. Small comforts. Even though, in the ostensibly consequentialist framing, it'd be only fucking logical, wouldn't it.

"Are you going to kill anyone else out there? Wayfarers, locals?"

And that was about it for what even made sense to ask about. He couldn't control what would happen when Andre was back in his home universe. Hell, Andre wouldn't even remember whatever happened here. No hope anything would change on that front. He'd keep killing and torturing and there was nothing anyone in Forlas could do about it.

 

[canisaries]

"No," Andre said. "Not only do I not know how I would even go about it, I don't have the resources or aura sense here that I have back home, so I wouldn't get enough insight into a potential target to judge them reliably." He paused. "Then again, if it's someone like Alexander - and it isn't the express wish of the Wayfarers to take him in alive - yeah, I'd kill him. Not that I honestly think that choice would fall on me."

It may have been smarter to leave that addendum out when the goal was to convince Dave he wasn't a threat to other people, but Andre supposed it was the lingering radiance in him that had loosened his lips.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave shuddered, looking away. He wouldn't lose any sleep over someone killing the nightmare demon dragon who was fixing to take over the world. At that point they were off in fantasyland anyway, fighting monsters. Being Andre would just make it worse, because then it'd come with all this fucking baggage.

He exhaled. Andre'd said all that shit about justice while hopped up on Radiance, like he actually fucking believed it. "You really think you're doing this to make your world a better place?"

 

[canisaries]

"Of course," Andre said. "The thing that makes me seek out new targets over and over again is my wish to see justice realized and my sense of duty. Nothing else."

That was true. While the intense fear of a human being who knew they were going to die was very pleasing to Andre's aura sense, it had never been a factor in his decision to execute someone. And it never would be. If it was, Andre would really be the monster Ridley and Dave saw.

"So... again," he said. "Are you going to tell the others?"

 

[Butterfree]

Dave looked stiffly back at Andre. The guy was obviously fucking delusional in the worst way. He deserved to get caught and rot in jail for it. He sought out targets. He justified himself with lofty consequentialism while clearly motivated to torture by some weird fucking sadist impulse for retributive justice, the kind of impulse normal people didn't fucking act on.

And whenever he went home, now or later, he'd keep doing it. Until then, one way or another, Dave actually fucking believed him.

"If it matters, I'll tell anyone who needs to hear it," he said. "But for now? If you're not a danger to anyone else here, I guess it doesn't."

And maybe that'd incentivize Andre to stay within the line.

 

[canisaries]

Andre sighed, relieved. "Okay."

He thought for a moment whether he wanted to say anything more. He couldn't think of anything.

"I'll just be leaving, then," he said, walking to the door. "I'll let Ridley know about this. We'll see if he needs me to tell anyone else." He gave Dave one last look. "Bye."

He exited the room and closed the door behind him. In the hallway, he looked around for anyone that may have overhead something, but couldn't find anyone. Hopefully he hadn't shouted enough for people in the other rooms to hear him.

He shook his head. He needed to get out and go for a walk. Yeah. A walk sounded good right now.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave took a breath, finally relaxing muscles that'd been tensed since Andre's confession.

Betel summoning him here was a fucking choice. He supposed it was Andre's world that'd sent him, technically - so, what, did his universe agree that what he was doing was good and moral? What the fuck was wrong with his universe?

He wanted to keep grilling him on his justifications. Make him address the contradictions. Admit that he wasn't some grand fucking ideal of justice, whatever the fuck his Radiance was telling him. Probably he'd just run into a brick wall if he tried. But for a guy so convinced he was doing the right thing, the dissonance drove Dave fucking nuts.

(Maybe, if they talked again, he could brush off his skills at explaining morality to a moral alien.)

Slowly, he returned to the bed and picked up his book again. After about ten minutes of failing to concentrate on it over the furious arguments in the back of his head, though, he gave up, sighed, and headed out to the Zera.

God, he could use a fucking drink. Or several.

<><><><><>​

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade lay back in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, restless thoughts drifting through her head. Mostly the Comb tonight. And what Brisa had told them, at the end there...

"Saints and stars," she swore, softly, "I can't reckon much sense of it, but some chatter about buildin' a lighthouse kept comin' up. Sounded like a figurative sense of the word, not a literal physical structure, if y'get my meanin'...? Somethin' about how, if they couldn't commune with the Beacon, they'd make their own. To light the way."

Betel was artificial. It explained everything. Why the Wayfarers were their first summons to Forlas. Why Powehi had no idea where Betel had come from. Why Betel knew everything about Forlas, and yet had experienced none of it. It made sense.

She also knew that she'd have had no clue how to process that, if it'd been her in that spot.

"Hey, um, Betel? You there? I was wondering... uh, how you were doing. Ever since the Comb."

 

[Jackie Cat]

The reply came after a few moments' thought, but Jade would feel at once that the presence of Betel's mind was there, just as soon as she called out to them. As always, their 'voice' had no audible qualities, but there was still somehow a sense of emotional feeling, albeit a distant, ephemeral one. A hunch, rather than any actual timbre...

Hello, Jade.

I am much the same as I typically am – it seems that I do not... change much between hours and days as others do. As you heroic spirits do. I suppose my existence is... consistent.
​

Yes, there was no doubt about it. Betelgeuse felt sad.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade tapped her arm, mulling over what to say. She wasn't too sure about the whole 'consistent' thing. If anything, this was kind of the opposite of that, given how they'd always been so enthusiastic about... well, a lot of things, really. Sharing what they knew about Forlas, helping everyone make a difference here. Even their very brief meeting with Starr.

"I was just wondering if you'd been having any thoughts about... about what we learned. Since it's kind of a big thing, and you might be feeling a way about it. Um. Not any specific way, it's just... a couple members of my team back home were in a similar spot, so..."

 

[Jackie Cat]

One might consider it to be fairly significant information, that is true...
​

Something whirred in the telepathic link, and there came a flood—

The implication of that information, of which you must already be cognisant, is of course that the 'artificial Beacon' the Covenant sought to create does, in fact, exist, and that it is, in fact, already in operation, and indeed, that it is responsible for having brought an unprecedented number of humans from other worlds to Forlas, in a very short span of time, and furthermore, that it is not a natural part of this world's cosmology at all, in the sense that it is not a legitimate Voice of Life, but rather a synthetic imitation thereof, and, most relevant at all – pertaining to your original query – it seems undeniable, at least beyond all reasonable doubt, that it is...
​

There was a long pause. Not for breath, of course; Betel didn't breathe.

...me.​

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade's ears flattened. That wasn’t exactly the sort of response she’d been hoping for.

"I... come on. This isn't... I already knew all that. I want to know how you’re feeling about it, and, I dunno… if there’s any way I can help?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Another pause. What felt like a silent sigh – or a dry sob.

I do not know, Jade. This is the truth.

I have always had a vague awareness that my emotional state was... disembodied. I have always borne a mild concern that my expressions of mood and emotion were in some way inauthentic. Performative.

I have so little experience of life. I am, by some definition, a living being. Certainly I am sapient. But I do not know what it is to experience the world physically – embodied, as you are.

Therefore...

I worry that I have no certain 'self image'. What should I think of myself?

What... What do you think of me, Jade?​

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade’s tail swished. She’d always been restless during telepathic conversations, even back with Lugia. Something about not having anyone to look at or pay attention to.

“I mean, even if you haven’t experienced the world… you still know a lot about it, and you obviously care about it a lot. And you were willing to entrust us with helping it. It made me want to be worth that trust.

And I guess I’ve always admired that—how much you care, I mean. And I don’t know if we could do this without you.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Another pause. There were more of those, lately, as Betel took moments to figure out what they were going to say. Or, perhaps, as they took the time to appear contemplative to a listener – they hardly ever hedged, and could produce incredible amounts of information on the spot. They probably knew what they were going to say within microseconds...

...Thank you for saying that, Jade.

It is true that I do care deeply about Forlas. I believe it may be an inherent and natural part of my being, much as my abilities are innate rather than acquired.

I remain willing to trust the Wayfarers to help Forlas. While I did not choose you personally, I am quite certain that all of you will do good while you are here. As far as I can discern, this belief is somewhat well-evidenced by now, even if the initial conditions arguably made it an irrational stance on my part.

I have always said that I have 'faith' in you heroic spirits. That is the correct word. I cannot divine the future, or make a predictive model that simulates the long-term outcomes of your actions. Nevertheless, I believe that you are heroes, and that this world needs you.

It should not surprise you, then, to hear that for my part, I have always admired how much you care, and understood that any hopes or objectives I might determine can only be achieved with you.
​

There was another lull, as if for emphasis. The words rested...

The comparison is deliberate. It implies that— It implies. Something.
​

It implied that, maybe... they were a Wayfarer, too.

 

[Chibi Pika]

An ‘irrational stance’… maybe it was kinda naive, yeah. In retrospect, it was hard not to see the signs that Betel had only been like a year old when they’d met. Maybe this was just them growing up, but… Jade hoped that it wouldn’t have to come at the cost of that joy and enthusiasm that they’d had before.

But then Betel said that last bit, and Jade blinked at the ceiling. “You admire…?” She grabbed her tail, eyes drifting to the side despite the fact that there wasn’t anyone here to break eye contact with. “I guess none of us can really do any of this without each other… including you.”

Something else occurred to her, and she decided to go for it. “You know… back home, someone on my team was in a similar position to you. The thing that he’d been created for was someone else’s goal… and it wasn’t such a good one. But he was able to find his own purpose apart from that, and… that’s sort of what you’re doing, yeah?”