Quest 120

[primrosella]

[Private//Hackable by Friends]

They didn't come for me.

I killed a witch in her sleep and they didn't come for me. I stole from an ogre, I blinded a set of three hags, I robbed graves...and they didn't come for me. They left me alone. They took the others, they took my friends, but they never came for me.

Am I any less guilty for it?

Maybe I am. Maybe I am different. It'd fit, wouldn't it?

Don't go trying to rescue anyone. Don't come to the prison. Don't look. Don't become one more thing for your friends to worry about. Don't end up like the rest of them.

Is that it? Am I really so different after all?

I think I understand now, Megumi.

[/Private]

I see, now. How very clever. First make the animals attack us, then set the stuffed ones on us, and now treat us all like animals. That's terribly clever, isn't it? Three bad things, all in a row, just as we'd all been expecting, and all to do with animals.

But it begs questions, doesn't it? Why this? Why now? Why are some people taken and others left alone? And who could possibly deserve the things being done to the people in there? Prison, punishment, seeking repentance for sins--that's all well and good, but if you have to resort to torture to seek it, how are you any better than the ones you intend to punish? What does it solve? Where does it stop?

This isn't justice. It makes me sick-- This is suffering for the sake of suffering. Fuel for the clock again, is it?

And now it's said that the island is sinking. The deities have as good as confirmed it, in their roundabout ways--"rats drown with the ship", "tick-tock, get out quick", "time is not on your side". Is it so hard to guess what the "exciting conclusion" might be? And what does that mean for the people that haven't or won't or can't accept the parole that's been offered, I wonder? Or perhaps I don't have to wonder at all.

But perhaps the question that's most important of all is this: do the ends always justify the means? Is it worth it to become a monster to defeat a monster? To punish people with the same methods that they themselves are being punished for? Or does answering evil with evil only result in twice as much evil at the end of it all? When is it poetic justice, and when is it just plain cruelty?

Perhaps it's the reasons behind it, in the end, that make all the difference. And no matter what anyone might say, I have a difficult time believing that any of this is truly being done for our sakes.

Comments

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

I think they all have, from what I heard. But there's no way of being certain of just how many people are in there at all, and who might be left.

I've spoken with a few of them before. And with their superior, once.

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

As far as I could tell, the guards are very thorough. Escape is far more than complicated.

Forgive my curiosity, but the Deities have someone who is above them?

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

And there's no chance that they could have had hearings for all of them by now. So there must still be people in there, and the island is sinking.

Yes. They were here back in May, around Mother's Day. A mother and her son. But I'm not sure where they came from, and we haven't seen them since.

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

I will never understand the Deities' tastes in curses and punishment.

[Only, he's lying... he believes that the ends do justify the means.]

Intriguing... what made you believe they were superior over our generous hosts?

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone does, except the deities themselves.

Because they told us so.

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

I see... A mother and her son ruling over this City. I never would have guessed.

With regards to your other questions, my lady... I suppose there people who believe that there are some instances where the ends justify the means. They might think there was no other choice in the matter.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

They don't make themselves particularly well-known, it seems. I've been here more than a year, and I've only ever heard from them that one time.

I think it rather depends on which ends and which means, really. And please, it's just Rosella.

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they are the true gods of the City... or our hosts simply makes them look that way. We will never know.

Ah, forgive me, Rosella, I suppose I'm used to formalities.

If it were for a peaceful co-existence between vampires and humans in my world, I would certainly try almost anything.

[ooc: a big "boom" should have occurred about now. Do you want them to notice, or backdate this to earlier? :3]

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

It's quite all right. I used to be.

It means that much to you, then? That's very noble.

[OOC: Your call! She'll freak a little if they notice.]

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

My kind has been hunted down for hundreds of years because humans fear us. Though we are not all the same, I can understand why they would wish us all dead.

[Before Kaname could continue, there was a sharp blast that disrupted the quiet night, coming from Prison Island.]

...that was? Could that have been...

[ooc: let's get them to notice then. :3 makes for a good convo.]

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

[Wait for it wait for it wait for it--]

They couldn't have--!

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

[Someone went through the network already.]

I'm afraid they have (http://ofiodine.livejournal.com/1028.html).

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

But--the people, what did they do with the people?!

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

[An explosion like that may have killed off any of those remaining.]

Please stay calm, Rosella. I shall go out to investigate.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

They said--they can't, they can't have!

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

[He's on the site, though he doesn't mention this to Rosella. She might break if she saw the images he's seeing.]

I'm sorry Rosella, but they have. Prison Island ceases to exist from what I can tell.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

Did they get out? What did they do with the prisoners--where are they?!

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

I do not know... and it would be unwise to investigate the lake when the explosion occurred just recently.

[Perhaps... the City Dead as the guides called it, I wonder... He thought.]

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

[All he's getting in response is silence, alas. Her brain is temporarily broken.]

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

[He's not exactly sure what to say either. So it takes some time...]

I shall see if there is anything I can do. Please stay inside for now.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

Why? Why should I?

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

Because we do not know is that Deity has another bomb in place to kill those curious enough to be on the site.

Please understand... I do not think we can afford to have any more casualties.
The scent of blood is strong as well.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

You're not the boss of me--none of you are the--

Staying inside and not going to the island are two different things.

[firstvampire.livejournal.com]

...of course.

I'm sorry... I seem to have upset you.

[primrosella.livejournal.com]

...

...You might say I'm a bit upset by all this, yes.

[OOC: Sorry, Kaname, she's starting to crack. >>]