[?] The Conference (Main Thread)

[cibarium]

"We can't risk an innocent person's wellbeing and autonomy getting torn apart all over again," Leila said. "Destroying it is the only way to start setting things right."

She glanced to Ezra briefly, concerned but staying quiet.

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[AMItotic]

"That's not even a question," Lily responded, her voice still low and flat. "Get rid of it. We can start over."

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[azuredreams]

Nasir looked up and over to Lily, worry on his face because that tone. "Ah, I think destroying it is best and starting over? Especially if we'll save Melany," he said, looking back to the front and towards Silk. Whether or not the spirit-bond was returned to it's original state, he did not care (and if he were honest did not necessarily want), but if it saved someone?

Then it should be done.

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[Melancholies]

A substantial amount of minutes had passed, and after a while Shiloh returned in, hand in hand with the boy who had followed him out. He seemed substantially calmer and a lot more at ease, though the sight of everyone at their tables was enough to make him feel jittery again (was that Beel? When the hell did he get here?)

Beel was, in fact, sitting at the far end of the table with Bean.

Bean. Jamie we left him again. He was really bad at this. At least his fetch was there; Did you know fetches typically have four-letter names? Bean could've been a fetch. Beel could've been a bean.

It was an amusing thought to distract himself with.

After greeting the Nobles with a silent head nod, Shiloh took his seat again, the charter placed delicately in front of him. What had everyone voted for? He was only vaguely listening to the going-ons from the outside of the room. Beel got another curious look, but the fetch only shrugged. Bean was overjoyed to be reunited with Shiloh and ran squeaking, his tiny arms and fingers wiggling like crazy. "Why don't you go see Jamie?" He offered.

Bean nodded quickly and scooted off to use the table leg as a fireman's pole.

"Time consuming or not," Shiloh murmured, "I always told myself that saving Melany was the top goal, and I'm going to see it through."

saedusk

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[saedusk]

Oh no. Shiloh would hear the words plain as day, as full of as much regret as he'd ever hear Jamie express out loud. I can't believe we left Bean! He might actually become a fetch if we just leave him here all alone!! That was obviously not the case, but he felt legitimately bad for ditching their sprout-child. Not that Bean seemed all that upset about it, honestly.

"Thank you for watching him..." he muttered quietly to Beel as he returned to his own table. On the way he scooped Bean up right off the floor, cradling the tiny creature close to his neck. Like clockwork, Bean disappeared into the mane of Jamie's hair, content to burrow at least until Jamie sat down and had a moment to reclaim him. Which he did, of course, with a small, "Sorry, Bean," and the teeniest, most careful forehead smooch.

Oh, right, this was a serious moment. Back to business.

"I agree... I think we need to start over. We need to make a system that's not built on the back of the innocent." Literally.

Melancholies

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[Melancholies]

Meanwhile, Oliver.

He'd been listening to most of the conference, even if he was a half asleep loaf in Horace's lap. He'd heard the parts that mattered anyway, and his blue eyes were flicking from person to person as they each spoke up. He supposed he should speak up too then, right? He wasn't entirely sure who Melany was nor was he sure about resuming this 'spirit-bond' business, but he knew the Court was ********. Reading the board as it changed, he found his interests aligning more with the destruction of the charter overall, even if modifying it seemed easier in the long run.

He turned his gaze up at Horace. It'd probably be rude if he voted as a raccoon. He wasn't sure he was capable of voting as a raccoon, but the pets were so good. Then again, that was just his lazy scavenger animal mind speaking for him.

His tail poofed out as he shifted around, one paw patpatting Horace's leg as he slid back down to the floor. He was careful to avoid legs and feet as he scurried under the tables, but after a moment he re-emerged as a fully formed Oliver at the table where he belonged. His eyes drooped a little. He was so ******** sleepy, damn you Horace.

Sorry, he pinged over the second he could, I just figure I should participate in the voting thing.

He waved to Jamie again, "Told you I'd be back," And then he threw a curious glance to Lily, who seemed... different? Maybe that's just how she was. It wasn't like Oliver knew her that well.

Taking up one of the papers on the table, he started to muss with it to busy his hands. "I agree with tearing it down and remaking it." A marker was plucked up next, his fingers drawing stiff-lined shapes absentmindedly. "I mean, I doubt we'd ever have another chance to do something like this."

The Semblance of Unity

bye ):

saedusk

hi :)

AMItotic

u ok man

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[lizbot]

America had managed not to throw up from nerves when Bitterberry delivered the little speech she'd practiced and practiced the weeks prior. But that was as much as she could bring herself. Stay. Not cause a Scene. Offer a vote.

There were tears in her eyes and her voice quavered, not simply out of upset and discomfort and a sense of hopelessness that grew even the face of everyone's intentions, but because she wanted the easy way most of all. She wanted the way that let her shut herself away with books and someone to care for her and as little responsibility as possible. She didn't want to think. She didn't want to make hard choices. To just...let things be altered a little, enough to make it not her problem...

It would be so easy.

So she there's tears, when she chooses otherwise.

"D-destruction." Bitterberry gives a soft cry, his own echo of her choice.

shibrogaxne

Destruction

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher oozed out from under the noble's table, bones shifting and elongating as she did so. Then she sat back down, cross-legged on the floor. It wasn't so much her concern for Silk, though she did wonder if the fetch's obvious plumpness (in comparison to other fetches) extended the whole length of her body... thanks for the comment about nudity, Silk. But rather, Preacher had changed so that she could vote. She looked up at Silk unblinkingly.

She felt like they didn't have enough information to really put this to vote and she couldn't be arsed to put some girl's continuation of her current above the surety of modification. Preacher also made a note to ask Mercer about that thing Aleksy did.

"Unpop'lar opinion time. I still feel like we ain't got enough info ta really be puttin' s**t to a vote. Modification 'til such a time as we got more info. Time's runnin' out but it ain't out yet." Preacher shrugged, but did not shift back into her mink form, instead alternating between staring at Silk and counting the fetches in the room.

shibrogane

MODIFICATION

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

********, but he had such concerns about the whole aspect of 'freeing' Melany. And she wasn't even here. What if freeing her meant she died? His hands tightened briefly in Oliver's fur, but then the raccoon was slipping away, becoming human again. His thighs felt cold. Traitor, he thought. My lap is cold now. Come back. Everything was weird, the words were weird... he wrote every bit down as fast as his hands could. If he wrote it down, he'd remember; he could sort it later.

"I talked to her," he said abruptly. "Melany told me... to say that she didn't want to hurt anyone. She didn't mean it. She doesn't want to be like this. Silk... did you know she'd rather die than continue?" He'd promised. Shiloh had told him the lock worked, but for how long? It was never meant to be permanent - the Lady, the Madame, she was a tumor growing inside Melany and it remained to be seen whether cutting her out would kill the host.

"Destruction, regardless of how it could... could harm Melany, seems most in line with what she wants." She'd told him she'd hold out, just a bit longer. He'd promised her sushi. His hands curled into fists.

melancholies

shibrogane

DESTRUCTION

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance's teeth clenched. The phrase... well, everything was coming to light, wasn't it? She's avoided looking at most of the people here beyond those at her table. She wasn't really to interact with them, not until she was good enough, anyway. It was taking almost all of her to simply be present, to concentrate, to write with her left hand while her right wrist burned terribly. Temperance was afraid it was getting infected.

"My vote was already decided for me," she muttered, feeling the warning burn. Temperance looked up at Shiloh's fetch.

"Hello, Beel," she said, avoiding the temptation to twist her hands together. "I wanted to know, since you had wanted to return to a human-esque life... Do you still want that?" Temperance took a deep breath. "How would you change the position of fetches? Has your opinion changed upon becoming Shiloh's?" Nothing he said would change the outcome of the vote, but she wanted, no, needed to know.

smerdle

because she near u

melancholies

shibrogane

novote

 

[shibrogane]

The slips of paper were collected again; Silk tallied them on the papers before her. "It's decided," said Silk. "We destroy the Charter. Two abstentions, one vote for modification. Fifteen votes for destruction."

There was a strange rustling along the walls among the fetches.

Silk closed her eyes. Ezra had a hand over his mouth, and a full glass of the red wine in his other hand. "What further information do you require," Silk said, opening her eyes and setting her gaze on Preacher.

Aleksy looked over at Horace, his black eyes flat as ever though the way his mouth pulled into a grimace said sympathy.

"I didn't," said Silk. "But the girl that was the Lady was lost long, long ago. Thousands of years. To be honest... I didn't think I'd ever see her again."

We are gonna destroy the Charter!
Next GM post, a wrap, and the Assignment Going Forward is on Sunday night;
in the meantime, let's use this time to get all questions answered if we can.

show spoilerhide spoiler

AMItotic

Lily

lizbot

America

Melancholies

Shiloh and Ollie

saedusk

Jamie

Smerdle

Rabbit

The Semblance of Unity

Preacher&Horace&Temperance

happy bonsai

Hux

iloveyouDIE

Algernon

azuredreams

Nasir and Jeremiah

 

[azuredreams]

"... we're not going to destroy it tonight, right? We have to prepare first?" Nasir asked, his hand going to America's again to hold because between her and Lily he was starting to become Very Concerned.

A look was shot to Ollie, the kind where he was trying to convey that Lily was definitely not alright.

lizbot

nasir going to use his riser power to help america a little

shibrogane

a question!

AMItotic

bro worried

Melancholies

nasir is worried about lily .___.

 

[shibrogane]

"That would be stupid and possibly suicidal," said Silk.

"We'll repeal and replace, like the affordable care act," said Lady, who was face-down at the noble table.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Nasir's cheeks went a dark, dusky red and he nodded. "Thank you for answering, Silk." A smile went to Lady. "That makes sense and was kind of what I was thinking ..."

Yet he had already held America's hand once tonight and her uneasiness was still there, in the back of his mind.

shibrogane

<3 <3

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Well, she'd kind of thought everyone was gunnin' for destruction now so there was that, at least. "Well, if we're remakin' this bugger, who d'we do it without draggin' another human inta it?" Melany was already in it, and if they didn't have any solutions otherwise, the alternative was nothing at all, charter-wise. Preacher didn't know it'd be too bad.

"Who-all knows 'xctly how ta make a new one, too? Plus, I'd like ta find a way to see whatall people were thinkin' with tha creation of tha first one. They obviously had reasons of some sort." She remained cross-legged. This was like making the sigil all over again: the time-crunch, the unclear instructions (help; d**k caught in ceiling fan); the push to do do do. She sighed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"She's back," Horace murmured. And she needed to stay, somehow. But that was all he said.

shibrogane