[IC] Myriad Reality

[Valiance]

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

How do you decide who can be trusted? Any one of them could stab you in the back.

@Artifact

Years of surviving together. We all have that in common, that we struggled through the aftermath of cataclysm and came out stronger.

[Stratocracy]

<Snipped quote by Stratocracy>

You have too much faith in the real me.

@Etcetera

If there’s one thing I don’t doubt that you are, it’s capable.

[Etcetera]

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

If there’s one thing I don’t doubt that you are, it’s capable.

@Stratocracy

No drive to hunt. Too slow.
*Balances the mug on my nose*
Hunt, huh...?

[Artifact]

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

Years of surviving together. We all have that in common, that we struggled through the aftermath of cataclysm and came out stronger.

@Valiance

I said it before, but if you're sure you trust them, I'll put up with it. Just know that if they double-cross us and start digging up these dragons before us, they could ruin everything.
*Starts walking toward the massive mount of bones*

[Stratocracy]

<Snipped quote by Stratocracy>

No drive to hunt. Too slow.
*Balances the mug on my nose*
Hunt, huh...?

@Etcetera

Even if true, there would be the off chance we cross paths.

[Valiance]

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

I said it before, but if you're sure you trust them, I'll put up with it. Just know that if they double-cross us and start digging up these dragons before us, they could ruin everything.
*Starts walking toward the massive mount of bones*

@Artifact

Their only interest in what we’re doing is making sure I don’t die doing it. You can put those worries to rest, at least.
*Walks alongside you, but just behind so that you still lead the way*

[Etcetera]

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Even if true, there would be the off chance we cross paths.

@Stratocracy

Not a real threat to you. Some of what you say feels like you just want to trick me to not be who I want to be. If that's true, I'll be mad.
*Yawns*
But the hunt. I might find and hunt a thing he cares for.

[Artifact]

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

Their only interest in what we’re doing is making sure I don’t die doing it. You can put those worries to rest, at least.
*Walks alongside you, but just behind so that you still lead the way*

@Valiance

*Our feet start to trudge in the muddy, loamy soil leading toward a cave carved into the mound*
I'm starting to think we should give this the same treatment as the mountain.

[Stratocracy]

<Snipped quote by Stratocracy>

Not a real threat to you. Some of what you say feels like you just want to trick me to not be who I want to be. If that's true, I'll be mad.
*Yawns*
But the hunt. I might find and hunt a thing he cares for.

@Etcetera

My offer still stands. All I want is for you to be in understanding with yourself, because I’ve listened to part of you that sings a very different tune.
*Arches my back and leans backwards, stretching*
You think he had a thing he cared for? Sounds like he didn’t care for anything, the way you describe him.

[Valiance]

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Our feet start to trudge in the muddy, loamy soil leading toward a cave carved into the mound*
I'm starting to think we should give this the same treatment as the mountain.

@Artifact

Think this is mor than just muck?

[Etcetera]

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

My offer still stands. All I want is for you to be in understanding with yourself, because I’ve listened to part of you that sings a very different tune.
*Arches my back and leans backwards, stretching*
You think he had a thing he cared for? Sounds like he didn’t care for anything, the way you describe him.

@Stratocracy

Her? She's a pet I keep around to nag me.
*Pops my knuckles with a painful-sounding crack*
But you gave me the start of a plan. If I am him, he wins. If I'm not him, I lose. I need a third path.

[Artifact]

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

Think this is mor than just muck?

@Valiance

I don't like what it implies... or the smell.

[Valiance]

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

I don't like what it implies... or the smell.

@Artifact

I was thinking quicksand. Where’d your mind go?

[Stratocracy]

<Snipped quote by Stratocracy>

Her? She's a pet I keep around to nag me.
*Pops my knuckles with a painful-sounding crack*
But you gave me the start of a plan. If I am him, he wins. If I'm not him, I lose. I need a third path.

@Etcetera

Uh huh.
*Clears my throat*
What do you mean by that? Are you proposing those as solutions where you hunt yourself?

[Artifact]

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

I was thinking quicksand. Where’d your mind go?

@Valiance

Rich soil that's too fresh, if you know what I'm getting at.

[Etcetera]

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Uh huh.
*Clears my throat*
What do you mean by that? Are you proposing those as solutions where you hunt yourself?

@Stratocracy

Once she's gone, that's it. It's not time for that choice yet. And no, I can't die when I want to. They're just thoughts, the start of plans.

[Stratocracy]

<Snipped quote by Stratocracy>

Once she's gone, that's it. It's not time for that choice yet. And no, I can't die when I want to. They're just thoughts, the start of plans.

@Etcetera

Right, but is that the hypothetical you’re getting at when you proposed those two alternatives? I’m trying to make sure we’re on the same page here.

[Valiance]

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

Rich soil that's too fresh, if you know what I'm getting at.

@Artifact

*Lifts on of my metallic boots out of the mud and looks at the heel*
… I needed to clean them anyway.

[Etcetera]

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Right, but is that the hypothetical you’re getting at when you proposed those two alternatives? I’m trying to make sure we’re on the same page here.

@Stratocracy

No, just thoughts out loud. There's no such thing as thoughts I keep here; you get to hear them all. I need to think up a way for me to win, and him to lose.

[Artifact]

<Snipped quote by Artifact>

*Lifts on of my metallic boots out of the mud and looks at the heel*
… I needed to clean them anyway.

@Valiance

Eugh.
*Pokes my head inside the bony dome, which contains a veritable wall of corpses lining the inner wall and a bonfire in the center*