Audio

[fistsofchange]

[This was unfamiliar technology to Lin, so before she tried making a post, she read the manual from start to finish. This "smartphone" was MUCH more complicated than the ham radio in the interceptor, but she eventually figured it out.]

Hi, I'm Bai Lin. I have a question. I've got that most of us are from different worlds. It's weird, but any time I talk to someone it becomes more and more obvious.

But I'm noticing a trend from talking to you all.

How many people here DON'T come from places where a nuclear war destroyed most of the world's population before you were born?

Comments

[thoroff]

My gods... That's horrifying.

[fistsofchange]

Definitely. It's just How Things Are and has been for my whole life, though. We can't change the past, but there are still people left, and we still have our lives. You just make do with what you get.

[thoroff]

Where there's life, there's hope, hmm...

[Even in the future where Grima reigns, people never stopped fighting. In a way, it's a heartening thought.]

[fistsofchange]

Even in just the last few months, I think things have gotten a little better.

[Largely because of her own actions, but she doesn't want to brag.]

[thoroff]

That's good to hear.

[fistsofchange]

So what about your home. What was it like?

[thoroff]

No stranger to wars, though certainly never on so destructive a scale.

[fistsofchange]

Well, people can be pretty violent. That's always been true.

[thoroff]

Believe me, I'm well aware...

[fistsofchange]

I don't like to focus on that, though. People can also be reasonable and compassionate. Sometimes you just gotta remind them.

[thoroff]

Were it only so simple...

[fistsofchange]

It IS that simple! Most people don't actually want to hurt anyone, they just feel like they have to or they get confused.

Of course, simple isn't the same thing as easy. And, I guess, some people are just jerks through and through, but I really think MOST people are good deep down, if you're just willing to do a little digging.

[thoroff]

[She huffs. She wishes she could agree, but as it is she can't help but be a little annoyed.]

You try appealing to the humanity of a death cult whose god wishes to wipe out the entire human race and see how far it gets you. If there's any there, it's buried deeper than I could ever hope to reach.

[fistsofchange]

I've never faced a death cult before, so I dunno how well I'd do.

I guess, sometimes you do what you need to, not what you should. Even if it would be better to try and help them.

[thoroff]

If I had time to sit down with every last soldier of the Grimleal and try to get them to change their ways, I would gladly do so. But the fate of the world hangs in the balance, and I can assure you that its leader is without a shadow of a doubt beyond redemption.

["Often the sword is the only way."]

[fistsofchange]

...Back home, there was a prophecy.

Two men, Ling Guang and Meng Zhang, were destined to fight. The loser would die, and the winner would get the power to remake the world however he saw fit.

They were both lunatics, and we were doing our best to stop either of them from getting that power, but there are times when I felt like I got them. You look at the world that's so broken and you just want to grab it with your own hands and yell "STOP".