Scene #8957: Elegy Three

Owner	Pose
Kale Hearthward	WE GATHERED OUR WORLD TO HERE AS OUR GIFT AND OUR WARNING TO WHOEVER FOLLOWS CORRUPTION TOOK OUR WORLDS HEALTH BUT COMPLACENCY LET IT ROT IN THE END BOTH ACTION BUT ALSO INACTION ARE TO BLAME TAKE ALL THAT YOU FIND HERE IF YOU WISH OUR ELEGY FOR OUR PAST AND OUR FUTURE BUT TAKE ALSO THE TALE OF WHAT HAPPENED HERE HOLD IT AS CLOSE TO YOUR HEART AS YOU DO OUR TREASURES FIGHT TO SAVE YOURSELVES AT EVERY CHANCE YOU HAVE OR RISK YOUR OWN PEOPLE TO SUFFER THE FALL --- This is SE-1367's final day. The archeologists have already come through, taking photos and samples of everything possibly of note. Truthfully, with Ishirou's scans, they didn't have to do that much work to begin with. Earlier today, Kale's lead another expedition into the mystery dungeon, stocking up on supplies and coming in well-rested to see how far the group can get. But, halfway through floor twelve, Kale speaks up. "Okay. I think we need to call it here." The mystery dungeon floors have been increasing in difficulty, and there've been some close scrapes already. Resources are running low, even with mid-dungeon restocks from the random items lying around the floor. The trip has turned up a few more interesting locales, but - not a lot more to go on. There's no more inscriptions on the stairwells. No more new revelations. And there's three hours left until the end of the world. "I think this is all we're going to be able to find."
Aidan Proudpick	"Come on. There's gotta a little bit more. And we don't even know what the room does yet. We can do a few more floors." Aidan has been going hard at this. He wants to know everything. He wants to see everything. He wants to bring back everything he can, every tool, every fruit, every new picture he can. It feels like a sacred duty. To get everything that happened here recorded so that no one will forget. He's heaving as he leans up against a wall on floor twelve, his exhaustion telling another story. Eyes travel across the floor, across the walls, arms at his side, tired to keep lifting even the light bucklers up. "If we go down far enough, maybe there's something here. It could be just the next floor." He pulls himself off the wall, "They wouldn't have so many floors if there wasn't something on them, right?" A meager hope to himself. A hope that there's always a third option.
Ishirou	"I agree with Kale," Ishirou says after Aidan gets what he wants to say out. "There isn't anything else to find here, but the message from the doomed civilization. I don't know why there are so many floors, perhaps they wanted it to be large enough so that it'd be hard to forget..." "But right now we're wasting time we could be talking about things and worlds that aren't doomed to fall into oblivion in a few hours." he says finally, looking at Aidan, and then at Kale. "We need to talk about the Gale Empire, and what's eating at them... and what we learned here." "Isn't that right?"
Kale Hearthward	"... Aidan." "Aidan, we've got three hours. And we're getting tired." "There's wisdom in knowing when to stop, okay?" Kale rubs at his face. "You can't just 'and yet even so' every problem." He nods to Ishirou. "... Yeah." "To - both things." "C'mon." He heads back towards the stairs going up, which go all the way back up to the first peaceful floor, and then to the newer shortcut stairs that head to the odd seventh floor that's a single room. Kale's field team is waiting there. "Nothing yet," says Skye, shortly. "No changes. Nothing different I've been able to see." "Oh, though - that's the real world out there," says Hazelthistle, pointing to the two circular windows along one wall. "We're looking out through the giant head's eyes, we think."
Aidan Proudpick	"There isn't anything else to find here, but the message from the doomed civilization." He builds up a breath to start arguing- "Aidan, we've got three hours. And we're getting tired." "Alright, alright," the fighting tension in Aidan drains out. He pulls his bag back up over one shoulder, full of tools and fruit and a new piece of cloth armor. "Yea. Just..." He looks back over the floor before he steps up into the room. "Yea, that's more important right now." The heavy bag goes down, Aidan pulling out one of the fruits. "Oh, it's the giant head?" He frowns, finding a place to sit, "Just a giant head? I guess maybe they wanted to watch the last of the world?" A look over at the other two. "Alright. What's yer plan, then?"
Ishirou	Ishirou is silent on the way back up, tired and wanting to leave this depressing place. Once on the top and in view of the giant head he sits down on a rock and relaxes the best he can. Rubbing his face he doesn't say anything for a moment. Then the question comes from Aiden. 'Alright. What's yer plan, then?' "Right now? Stop that airship they got building at any cost. That's the first step. The second step comes down to trying to convince them that war isn't the way to go... but that's not going to do a lot of good coming from an outsider like me. It's gotta come from people who are citizens and can reach their hearts and minds..." He looks at the face for a moment, staring through the window-eyes. "I suppose we have this world to help show what happens if they keep pushing things the way that they are, but what happens if the leader of the Empire doesn't listen? What do you two want to do then?"
Kale Hearthward	"I mean, the end of the world had already happened when they built it, right? They didn't build it just to watch..." says Kale. He looks to Aidan. Then to Ishirou. "I mean, the worst case scenario is... a lot of bad things. The Empire going on a path of bloody conquest. The Paladins having to stop them. Things... falling apart. Falling. Fallen empire." Kale looks down. Then he looks back up. "The Gale Empire is a force for order. I... still believe that. That it's done more good for my world than bad. That it can still do more good for the multiverse, now, than it can do bad to it." "But not like it is now. And I can't let it remain as it is now, or get any worse." He turns his attention fully back to Ishirou. "If he won't listen, then we're going to have to do what we must. Even if it means that we won't have a Gale Empire anymore after that."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan takes his time, biting at the alien fruit. "Stop that airship they got building at any cost." A nod from Aidan. "That was my plan too." "It's gotta come from people who are citizens and can reach their hearts and minds..." "I wanna believe yer right. That the emperor can see sense. He strikes me as a smart guy." He counts off on his fingers, "He knows who to watch. He was interested in investing in Quicknest. He sent a human woman to deal with Petra." "But not like it is now. And I can't let it remain as it is now, or get any worse." "There's gotta be a way. Even if it's just... pull the people together, pin the military down. Show them we aren't willing to back down, that the only way forward is through peace." A breath out, "Been thinking a lot about this. Been walking all over the Empire. Trying to figure him out. If that place goes through a civil war, I'd let Skye kill me."
Ishirou	Ishirou sighs, especially at the last words Aidan says. 'If that place goes through a civil war, I'd let Skye kill me.' "That's not up to you, is it? It's up to the people and the emperor. So come off yourself thinking that you can stop civil war and change everything by yourself. It's not just you, all of us are fighting to help with this, and more to the point, there are a lot of people opposed to the trapped Quicknestians." To Kale, he's softer and nods to him. "I know you'll do what needs to be done. I just wish there were a more clear path than the one that's before us right now. We'll likely have to dethrone him... and what happens after can go any number of ways." "Whatever way it goes I'm behind you."
Kale Hearthward	Kale checks his watch. Two hours and thirty minutes. They've still got time to spare. "... I know what the Emperor wants," says Kale, after a moment. "It's not that hard to figure him out. He spoke to you himself, didn't he Aidan? He wants security." "Except he thinks that in order to have that security, he has to be like..." Kale shrugs. "Well, like Eggman, I guess. Either be the aggressor or be aggressed upon. Keep growing the Empire, or watch it shrink." "I... really want to think we can just talk him down. Negotiate some sort of an end to this. But we need to be prepared for the worst, you're right." "Be prepared to end the Gale Empire instead of watching it fall," he adds. "Hey, uh, you guys?" calls Skye from downstairs. "There's a thing." There's a control panel that's risen out of the seventh floor room's floor, in fact.
Aidan Proudpick	A griance and a nod, "Get over myself," he agrees. He bites into the fruit to remain thoughtful, then swallows. "But I can still be careful with what I do." Which is the problem. Aidan is worried about being TOO careful again. Where's the line. "Security can come from the inside. It's safer." He shrugs his shoulders, "I figure... I figure anyone smart enough would know you don't puff yourself up. Make yourself the biggest target. As smart as he is, it seems dumb. Eggman doesn't have citizens to worry about, just robots. Citizens who will get angrier, lose food, get squeezed by a war. And he'll run out of troops eventually." He stands up as Skye announces the 'thing', stowing the core of the fruit away for seeds to plant at Wonderworld. "One more thing," he nods to Ishirou, "What Skye said. It's gonna be the hard part. And that's taking responsibilty. If the Emperor just stands up there, no apology, no responsibility, the Gale Empire is gonna become the Eggman Empire, hated by the multiverse. I figure they might join the Concord. I don't want that for you or Skye," he mentions back to Kale. He shrugs his shoulders, facing forward again, "I don't wanna be traitor again, but I'd let it. Just to save the people from that." "Don't hit this one with your sword."
Ishirou	Ishirou stands up when the 'thing' is called out, and this causes Ishirou to curiously walk towards it and attempt to mess with it. People talk, but he's focused on the control panel. He wonders why now of all times it comes up, but no matter... It's here and it's something he knows how to solve. The thing with the Empire... that's harder to solve, and he's not sure if he's got all the right words for Kale and Aidan. "Well, here's hoping someone can talk sense into the emperor, but... just be prepared to take any route," he says towards Kale. For Aidan, it's a shrug, "Even if he does go to the Concord, it's better than what he's doing now."
Kale Hearthward	Kale gives Aidan some consideration. "I don't think they'd join the Concord. They might. But - honestly, I think they'd sooner join the Commonwealth, and I don't see that happening either." The panel has... directional controls? Up, down, left right, forward and back. Plus a bunch of unlabeled buttons.
Aidan Proudpick	"Just be prepared to take any route." "Whatever it takes," he says, though not making it a knightly vow, overly dramatic, or anything of the sort. Just a statement. This is a control panel. Therefore, it is a machine. Aidan should let Ishirou handle it. Tail twitch. Tail twitch. Finally, Aidan puts his hands under his armpits and folds his arms down, looking over at Ishirou, "You're up!" He says with excitement to both watch Ishirou work AND see what it does.
Ishirou	Ishirou has his hands on the control panel, so he starts by pressing one of the unnamed buttons, trying to see what each of them does before he starts pressing any of the control buttons. Once he does, he goes through the control buttons, trying to get a feel for what they control, and how the control panel controls. "Yeah, I agree there, they'll likely join the Commonwealth, but likely will want to stay solo for now at least. Maybe their mind can be changed in the long term," he says hopefully.
Kale Hearthward	Aidan... doesn't jump on the controls and push the buttons randomly? Huh. Kale's actually impressed. Granted, that's a very low bar to clear, but he's still clearing it. Ishirou pushes the forward button - and the whole room shakes. "Whoa," says Skye. "Give us a bit of a warning?" "Did.. the head move?" asks Hazelthistle, looking out through the eye windows.
Ishirou	Ishirou shrugs, "Sorry, I thought me being here was more than enough warning! Can someone figure out what's going on with the head?" He asks, and presses the left and right buttons next, trying to get a feel for what's happening.
Kale Hearthward	"Yeah, I'll take a look," says Kale. He heads up the stairs to reach the first floor, and then can be seen through the eye-windows exiting through the mouth below. Odd how that works. "Yeah, definitely moved," he calls via the radio after a moment.
Aidan Proudpick	"Hey! This could be your new airship! A giant head!" He moves up towards the control panel, looking over it. "Is there an up button?" Aidan looks eager, but a fear of messing this last thing of this civilization is enough to hold him back. He turns over towards Skye, "You are an expert with vehicles, right?"
Ishirou	"Alright... so this moves it..." Ishirou says after a moment. "I wonder if we can move the whole dungeon out of the disappearance zone... let's see..." he says, pressing up to see how high it might go.
Kale Hearthward	"Wait it's still-" calls Kale via the radio. There's a loud rumbling and sounds from outside. Suddenly there's no more light coming from the eye windows. "... embedded in the canyon wall," he says, once it's done. "Um - the canyon wall collapsed and I can't see the head anymore."
Ishirou	"Oops..." Ishirou says, and attempts to move it forward and out of the collapsed canyon wall instead of being buried underneath it. He takes it slower this time.
Aidan Proudpick	A pause from Aidan. "Wait, does that mean we are-" He frowns, looking at the rest of the control panel. "Alright, hold on. If we don't get out, we are gonna get sent to whatever void there is, right?" He whispers to himself, "Eeeny meeny miney..." He presses one of the unlabled buttons at random.
Kale Hearthward	"Don't we have like," Skye starts to say. Aidan goes to push a random button. "Um - did the headlights just turn on?" calls Kale via the radio. "I was going to say, we've got an hour left?" says Skye. "It's not time to panic, guy." The giant head starts pushing the debris and boulders aside, emerging from the canyon wall into the light again. "Well, if we've got an hour left, we should leave first and figure out why the head's flying second," says Hazelthistle.
Ishirou	"...well that helped," Ishirou says sassily towards Aidan. "Hey Kale if you can guide me, I can probably fly this somewhere more stable. Then we can research this more firmly. Tell me what direction to go and I'll press the right buttons.
Aidan Proudpick	"Hey, it might have had lasers, you don't know." He points back at Ishirou, but with no heat. "A lot can happen in an hour!" Aidan says in his defense to Skye. He goes to poke his head up the stairs again, curious as to if the floors are moving. "Wait, so." He looks down at the eyeholes, then back up at the stairs, "Are we going to need to dig up the stairs down there? What happens when that stuff down there disappears? Does disappearing... stuff seep in?" A pause, "Will we have a portal into the void where everything goes?" He was scared previously, but he's getting pretty excited about this prospect.
Kale Hearthward	The stairs are all still in the head? Along with the other floors, the buildings, the random items, the enemies - one of which nearly clobbers Aidan if he's not paying attention. It's all still there. "Okay - let's go up, get some altitude, then... okay, the world this way is friendly, turn thirty five degrees clockwise and then straight ahead." When Ishirou turns: "I mean my other clockwise."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan comes back down with a bloody nose. "Everything's still up there."
Ishirou	"Alright getting height... turning..." Ishirou pauses, "/Counter/ clockwise..." he says in slight annoyance to 'no my other clockwise. He presses the buttons based on command and starts moving the giant head in the direction that Kale points him. To Aidan, he shakes his head. "This is why you don't stand on things..." he says.
Kale Hearthward	The giant head flies off. "Little further..." "... Okay. We're well clear of the border now." The light surrounding the region is intensifying...
Ishirou	"Alright, we're clear?" Ishirou confirms and then begins to press the down button. Not going too fast to avoid a massive collision with the ground, he tries to let it down as gently as he can. Once on the ground, he steps away from the control pannel. "Alright, we're getting a team in here and someone trained on flying this before we try that again..." he says with a sigh.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan steps up to the eyes. "I wasn't sure what to leave behind to show someone was there." He shrugs his shoulders, "I left a couple coins. Just to prove we were all there, you know?" He tries to explain why this is significant, but fails. "It just... seemed important." A grin at Ishirou, "You did great! Maybe you should train in being a pilot."
Kale Hearthward	It's a little rough - the head wants to go through the ground if you don't ease up on the down button enough. But Ishirou can park it. "Yeah," says Skye. "I'll give it a go for getting it back to base, or wherever else. But probably shouldn't go over the - oh." She goes to glance back towards the doomed world... which is just gone now. The world borders have shifted, like puzzle tiles rearranging themselves, and it's like it was never there.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan sighs as he watches outside. "Just... gone. Can you believe that? I guess we all die sometimes. Most of us. You are there and then, just gone." He leans his face further against the window, as if he can see anything.