Mingle - Emergency Potluck

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WELCOME POTLUCK

Greetings, residents! Those more observant sorts among you may have noticed a large influx of very crowded ferries. In order to welcome our new residents en masse, Town Hall is holding a potluck in Town Square. Please bring a dish if you are able and make a new friend!

All of our newest arrivals need only bring themselves. We look forward to welcoming you all into our community, and may your lanterns always be lit.

This event is open to all! In light of our new influx of prospective players following the Great Sail Migration, we've decided to offer a small public event to tide everyone over until the TDM this weekend.

Comments

[freedomsuitsme]

"I can't justify what I did, but I can certainly explain why I did what I did. Part of it was the result of old habits. I struggle to resist the offer of a contract, and what Tiamat claimed to offer was tempting- a one-time use of immense power."

"When I arrived on the ship, it was just after the ghosts had been let out of the engine, so there was a lot of talk about dwindling resources. In the Constant, we've all done things were aren't proud of when resources get short, and I've never been afraid to be the villain if it means accomplishing what I need to. I planned to earn the trust of as many people as I could, then turn around and threaten to loose Valdis upon everyone when the time was right. I was hoping that the combination of fear and betrayal would generate enough fuel to buy everyone some time. I even tried to consult the Captain about how to best deploy such a plan, but he called me a fool and wouldn't give me a minute of his time. And of course, I was a fool to trust Tiamat. In the past, my patrons have been incapable of lying outright, and somehow I completely missed that not all entities would be the same way. Even so... I never intended for Valdis to suffer like that, and I recognize I was wrong for thinking I could put her free will aside for what I saw as the good of the ship. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong."

[maximumcake]

Max's brow furrows, but he stays quiet and listens. He can't quite silence some of the more bitter thoughts that enter his mind. He agrees with the Captain, that it was exceptionally foolish to trust someone like Tiamat at her word. Erik would never have been fooled that way. Maxwell is somehow lower in Max's estimations now than his former Master.

"Yes..." Max says after a long silence. "You were really wrong. I... I shouldn't ever forgive you for doing that to her. If you knew what her past was like you'd know how fucked up it was that you took her free will from her. I know, too. I've been a slave before. But even worse is that you were going to take her relationships from her. You were going to make her betray people and possibly lose everything she's only ever just gotten back. You thought you were doing it for us? You weren't. If it was between doing that to her or letting the ship go dark, I'd rather die first." He says that last with so much heat he surprises even himself.

He takes a studying breath in. "I don't think I do forgive you yet but... I don't want you to suffer either. I just want you to promise me that you'll do better. Don't hurt anyone like that ever again."

[freedomsuitsme]

"I don't think I could do that again if I tried. I'm... not the ruthless king I used to be, it seems. It made me sick to see her like that."

He fixes his dark gaze on Max, and adds, "But I can't promise I won't do what I think is necessary to keep a world from crumbling into ash. Say what you'd like about me, but I doubt you've ever seen someone be Unraveled." There's way, wayyyy too much creepy emphasis on that last word.

[maximumcake]

"Good," Max says with a definitive nod of his head. "That should make you feel sick. That means you still know what right and wrong are." Max has to hope to all the gods here that it will be enough to keep him from hurting someone again.

"No. I haven't. But there's something I want you to remember; you can ask for help next time. Actually ask. The world is all of us. You aren't a king here so... you aren't the only one who gets a vote. I want to have a say in it next time. Don't take that from me. From us."

[freedomsuitsme]

He pauses. That resonates with him. He can remember getting such impassioned appeal from the Valkyrie, the Librarian, the Handywoman, the Culinarian... each time it's hit him a little harder. And while he'd already started to think of the inhabitants of the ship as his new group of Survivors, he hadn't been there long enough to trust any of them with so much as two words of his own thoughts. Still...

"I'll... keep that in mind. You remind me a lot of some surprisingly tolerable people, Mr. Maximum."

[maximumcake]

Max eyes soften with something like understanding. Yes, he knows that's a high compliment coming from someone like Maxwell.

"I hope you'll take it to heart. I don't want to enemies with you."

[freedomsuitsme]

"I... shouldn't seek out enemies as much as I do. And you'd be much better suited to a role other than an enemy, I think."

[maximumcake]

"Why seek enemies at all? Maxwell, you're in a brand new place. You should be seeking friends instead."

[freedomsuitsme]

"Bad habit, I suppose. It happens when you're cast as a villain for a few eternities."

[maximumcake]

"Well, you're here now. You don't have to be cast in that role anymore. You can decide for yourself what you want to be. I think you should form some new habits."