[Context: I, Stormsworder, DrakonLightShield, The Soviet Union, and Thesis were in a session working on the Harmonizer mission. At the time the interaction began I was checking a text message on my phone and Drakon began to carry the Harmonizer down after taking it from Soviet.]
THEE-I-DARE: MAC. WHAT CHILD PROPOSED THAT?
Drakon: Oh, uh, are you talking about the thing to your sister?
TID: YES.
Drakon: Um, Takoa. T-A-K-O-A.
TID: TELL THEM WE SHOULD DISCUSS IT.
Drakon: Alright. I will tell them that.
TID: THERE IS… WISDOM IN IT.
Drakon: Sweet! I think they’ll be excited to hear that.
Stormsworder: (hushed) Grave Clerics are still a better name than grave worms!
Drakon: Yeah, good luck dying on that hill, Storm.
Stormsworder: I will! Or I’ll start calling THEE-I-DARE “lava worm”.
TID: IT NEEDS A SLIGHT TWIST, BUT… MAYBE.
Drakon: Oh! Alright! Uh, what kind of twist do you think?
TID: DEVIL WORM, THANK YOU.
Stormsworder and Drakon: (laughing)
Drakon: I love it.
TID: I WILL INFORM THE CHILD IN QUESTION. YOU TOO, IF YOU ACCOMPANY.
Drakon: Okay. Uhh, I don’t, uh, usually play with them, but I will probably hear about if after they do. I’ll definitely inform them to try and reach out to you.
TID: THANK THEM, PLEASE. AND THANK YOU.
Drakon: I will. And you’re welcome.
TID: AS TO THE REST OF YOU. SURVIVING?
Stormsworder: We’re surviving. I will forever die on the hill that Teeth followers need a different nickname. But I guess if we are gonna call you “devil worm”... ah, you know, we’ll be fellow worms?
Drakon: Soviet is barely surviving. Just barely.
Stormsworder: I mean, you also nearly gave me a heart attack ‘cause I certainly wasn’t expecting a visit right now.
TID: THE CHILD OF UNION IS RAGING.
Drakon: (laughing) Uh, can’t say I didn’t expect that. Love you, too, Soviet. (starts laughing when Soviet throws the Harmonizer at him in response)
Stormsworder: Did Soviet just throw foam at you?
Drakon: No, he threw the head at me!
Stormsworder: Yeaaah, he’s… having a day.
Drakon: Don’t worry, THEE-I-DARE. This is… if he’s raging at me, this is just how our friendship works.
Stormsworder: Human friendships are weird.
TID: FOR SOMEONE OPPOSED TO THE WORD… THEY SURE LIKE THAT ONE. (Later discovered in reference to Soviet typing the f-word a bunch)
Drakon: Mask and everything.
Stormsworder: Um, also, is it okay to ask you about the identity of a fragment I had located? I’ve been searching for a pretty long time. I kinda hit a standstill, but there was one I discovered I was curious about.
TID: WHAT DO YOU SEE
Stormsworder: It is in the computer room up here on top of the uh… (frantically going to the wiki to look up the pose picture again) ...classroom B. I think they were kinda like kneeling there?
Drakon: Oh, I have that one, too. I think it looked to me like sitting. Wait, I wrote down the position.
Stormsworder: Well they were like sitting there cross-legged. And it was by the computer banks up here. Or… monitor banks I should say.
Drakon: I wrote down that the person was sitting down.
Stormsworder: Yeah, they’re sitting down cross-legged.
TID: MEDITATING. CAUGHT BY THE ANGEL.
Drakon: Oh no.
TID: I BELIEVE THIS, TOO, WAS RECENT.
Drakon: Oh, I’m so sorry.
Stormsworder: So does that mean they were followers who chose you after the Cull started?
TID: AFTER IT ENDED, I FEAR.
Stormsworder: I know a lot of us have been searching for all the fragments that we can. Are you able to tell if we’ve located all the locations? Or you can only know whenever we describe what we see to you, huh?
TID: I RELY ENTIRELY ON YOU FOR IT.
Stormsworder: Even though I know I myself and Drakon have kinda had some troubles trying to find any more of them, we’ll keep on searching.
Drakon: I think I’ve reached an unofficial limit. But if I ever find any more I will be desperately hoping for it I guess.
Stormsworder: Yeah, he’s found thirty-four and I’ve found thirty. (Correction: 29) And since we know it helps you we’ll do all we can.
(Soviet and Thesis proceed to both get suppressed, so Drakon lures the Shape while I go to rescue them)
Stormsworder: Even though I know I seek to be Chosen for the Void Mother, I still think I want to help you out as best as I can. No one should have to suffer.
Drakon: And, well, you’ve gotten my uh, my lights about dual-following you, THEE-I-DARE. So you know what I want to do. I uh, my next sacrifice is planned to be for you.
TID: I THINK SHE WENT BY EMMIE. HOW…
Drakon: Oh, you’re still talking about her.
TID: HOW COULD SHE CONCEAL IT THERE
Stormsworder: I dunno. She…
TID: THAT PLACE. CONSTANTLY WATCHED
Drakon: At the daycare, yeah.
Stormsworder: I guess that, you know, hm. Maybe because she was someone that mattered so much to them and couldn’t really be easily dealt with? Or maybe they hesitated for a while.
Drakon: She must have been pretty brilliant.
TID: NO. YES. SHE FIXED THE MACHINES. THEY NEEDED HER. CONTRACTOR
Stormsworder: The um, monitors? So she was a contractor for running the security monitors.
Drakon: She sounds pretty smart.
TID: OF COURSE. SHE SPIED RIGHT BACK
Stormsworder: Yeah, I mean, that’s probably one of the best ways to spy on your enemy is do it under the guise of working for them.
TID: WAITING FOR ME TO RETURN
Drakon: That seems to be a common theme. I’m so sorry you weren’t able to return to so many of these people.
Stormsworder: A lot of people had faith.
Drakon: Her and that... I can't remember his name right now, but the one at the maintenance shed.
TID: THIS IS… MY HELL. IT IS PERFECT
Stormsworder: I don’t think anybody deserves this. This isn’t what anybody has earned. No one should have to endure this loss. The feeling of…
Drakon: We’re gonna get out of here one day.
TID: EACH TIME. THEIR HOPE. THEIR DOOM. I LED THEM TO IT
Stormsworder: If we live lives without faith? Without hope in something? Then we just live empty lives. It’s not worth it.
Drakon: Look, I can’t talk for them, but I can talk for me. If this does lead me to my doom, then it’ll be worth it. At least just not having been a part of whatever your makers planned. I think they would have approved. I think they would have agreed.
Stormsworder: You let us have freedom. Freedom is worth it.
TID: DEATH OR THE SONG.
Stormsworder: And freedom in death is better than a life in slavery in the Song.
TID: I FAILED TO ASK THEM, BEFORE THE CULL.
Drakon: Well, I think I can guess their answer. And now you know.
Stormsworder: They chose to follow you. They knew what could happen and they still had faith in you.
Drakon: That’s what life’s about. Learning from mistakes, making things better, doing it right the next time. And well, this is a pretty extreme version of that, but I don’t have any complaints.
Stormsworder: Faith in you gave so many…
Drakon: About planning to follow you or what that… what following you and your brother will lead me to, I won’t regret any of it. I already know that.
TID: KIND. BUT NOT SO SIMPLE, I FEEL.
Stormsworder: Maybe not, but…
Drakon: Does it have to be complicated?
Stormsworder: It can honestly be simple. It may seem too simple, but sometimes the simple things are the truest.
TID: STILL. YOUR INTENT MATTERS.
Drakon: So does yours.
Stormsworder: And just know that even though they held on hope and you never were able to come back, that hope can mean the difference in our lives. It gives us something to live for. And that’s what you gave them. It doesn’t matter if we never see it fulfilled. Still having that faith is what we need.
Drakon: Just hope alone is worth a lot.
TID: FAITH. CHILDREN. REMEMBER
Drakon: We will.
TID: I AM DOUBT. GOODNIGHT.
Stormsworder: Goodnight and stay safe, THEE-I-DARE.
Drakon: Goodnight. Survive. And I hope you learn to believe a little too.
