IC contact for lastvoyages

[cactusy]

[If I don't have an active post up, feel free to use this post to have your character call, videochat, text, or knock on Shaw's door.]

Comments

[weartearrust]

Though it's not my story to tell, you need to understand when they speak of being seen as tools, they never once mention Shinra or the labs, only their own mother.

My mother was the engineer of my current predicament too. Though mine only wanted me to be happy.

[cactusy]

you guys live under the umbrella of a really bad government/company

my mom's parents weren't great to her either, but their choices weren't made in a vacuum

[weartearrust]

I'm not going to lie, Shaw. It really feels like you're projecting here. Everything you write is giving the impression you're already convinced Shinra's to blame and dismiss anything that doesn't fit that narrative.

[cactusy]

I haven't seen anything that doesn't fit the narrative, Hewley

"the victims of experimentation don't blame the people who experimented on them" isn't compelling evidence

experimenting on people is bad, full-stop

[weartearrust]

We were discussing Sephiroth's boys and whether or not they were involved in any such thing at all.

Deciding "well Shinra probably did it" without actual evidence including from Yazoo and Kadaj themselves sounds like trying to twist facts or just outright make them up to fit your story.

Not a good look.

[cactusy]

they're Sephiroth clones with zero life experience, other than I'd guess battle. they talk about being good at fighting often enough

I'm supposed to not suspect the company with a nasty history of genetic experimentation?

I don't think they're evil abominations, but there's a reason they got dragged here for a second shot at life, Hewley. they deserve better than what life handed them back on your world.

[weartearrust]

There's a difference between suspecting a culprit and then dismissing everything else but that culprit.

Inmates are complicit in their own crimes. The Admiral doesn't bring innocents here that are purely victim of circumstance, does he? They DO deserve better, but they wouldn't be here if it were all someone else's fault.

[cactusy]

sure, they're not blameless kittens. I'm sure they're nasty pieces of work in their own right. annoying, too.

but a bad, messy situation can have more than one culprit, and even bad guys get sob stories sometimes. that doesn't negate their badness. but it doesn't negate the bad that was done to them, either.

think about this. maybe I'm not projecting my experiences onto a situation where they don't fit. maybe I've seen this before, more than once, and I know what the warning signs are. crappy governments with propaganda machines and shady companies with good PR firms are a dime a dozen. this is the first time I've seen them rolled into one, and the level of tech that might as well be magic is new, but the broad strokes? unoriginal.

[weartearrust]

You're not going to convince me Shinra made those boys, or was even involved at all, without more than guesswork and things that happened on entirely different planets to back that up.

[cactusy]

I don't need to convince you of diddly in a single conversation

and yeah, I could be wrong. I'll be surprised as hell if I am, but it's possible.

but I'm not wrong about Shinra being shady across the board, and I do want you to spend some time thinking about that as a possibility. finding some books on the psychology of propaganda to add to your pile wouldn't hurt.

[weartearrust]

Pass. You're still trying to move the goalposts just because you THINK you've seen this kind of company before. I have other things to do than chase figments of your imagination.

[cactusy]

I can copy down bullet-point lists of hallmarks of totalitarian governments and stick them on your cabin door, but I think that'll be less effective.

[weartearrust]

Wouldn't do you any good. You want to be anti-government, that's your choice. It's not what I'm here for.

[cactusy]

I'm not anti-government, I'm discerning

[In the end, she doesn't actually go with bullet-point lists; it's easy to just toss something away without reading it. Instead, she spends a good deal of time in the library herself, finding books of propaganda posters from places like North Korea, Francoist Spain, and the USSR - and every so often, she'll tape a new one to his cabin door. She's never seen Shinra propaganda - his file hadn't exactly come with visual aids - but this sort of thing tends to have a similar vibe the world over, and she's hoping it'll look familiar.]

[weartearrust]

[One by one the propaganda posters disappear as quickly as they're stuck to the door.

Where are they going? They're not appearing in the trash!

It's a mystery that may go unsolved for a while, or at least until a thorough inspection of his cabin happens.]