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(no subject)

Who: Robin
Broadcast: Whole Network; Text
Action: N/A
When: Around 3/16

[this world? not really for him. but since Robin is not good at sitting still, and actively moping can only keep him occupied for so long... a text entry shows up on the network!]

Hey, I'm bored. I did some math. I charted out a rough conversion between Earth's calendar and my own world's calendar (which is much more sensible, honestly). So, tell me when your birthdays are, and I'll tell you what king-sign you fall under. ♥ I'm under Ha'it, the King of Life and Death--which supposedly means I have a knack for seeing the big picture, and my lucky color is gold. It's just for fun, of course. Who knows if it's actually accurate...

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what about the ways riem hurt other humans when he was grieving the hardest? does he have any stories about how he handled that later?

[He can't help asking, not when he's thinking about Callaghan. He's always going to feel conflicted about the man; it's his fault Tadashi died, yes, but that was an accident. He'd wanted revenge, he'd wanted to destroy Krei's life, maybe even kill him...

[But he knows Tadashi was never part of his plan. He'd wanted the best for all of them, until they'd gotten in their way. And Hiro can relate. When he'd set Baymax on his warpath, he hadn't even cared that his friends had gotten hurt. He wants to know if there's a future for the man who used to be one of his heroes.]

[this one is tricky. and he would not be able to think of anything, had he not been looking at his own past so much recently, realizing the bad path he'd been walking...]

Perhaps... When Riem was at his worst, he was in league with the monsters that lived in the Haunting, far below the cities of the world. He trapped humans so that the monsters could eat them, often. He didn't think much of their families, or their loved ones. It was just one more person to him, something to quell his rage for a while. But... He had no idea that he was making another problem worse. The world "ended", suddenly. It might not have, if he hadn't been tipping the scales... But the monsters grew strong enough to pour out of the earth when it cracked open, killing many more humans than he'd ever imagined. Everything was such chaos... He was horrified when everything settled, and so few people were left alive. He hadn't wanted that. He was still guilty, of course, and nothing would ever change that, but... A part of him changed, looking at the aftermath, seeing the grief that he felt reflected on the faces of others. It took him a very, very long time, but he eventually made the conscious decision to try to be a force for good, and not a force of evil. It's up for debate whether or not he deserves to be forgiven... After all, what he'd done would never go away. But I think it's very important that he'd decided to try, and keep trying, no matter how many times it went wrong, to not hurt anyone like that again. I'm sorry, it's not a very satisfying ending... It's both good and bad, with no clear solution. But it does seem like the only good choice was to try.

... i think, if it were me, i could forgive riem for that. he's responsible for it, but he wants to change things for the better. he didn't know what would happen. it's his fault, but at the same time, it's not. the monsters pouring out weren't his fault. that they had the power to might have been, but he didn't force them to lead the onslaught. i guess it would change on different people's points of view, but at least, to me, if he's taking responsibility and trying to make a difference for the better... i wouldn't want to be something stopping him from doing that.

[There's a lot he's talking about here, but none of it is Riem. It all depends on what Callaghan does with the rest of his life. If he changes, if he decides that his life is something he wants to use for the better of the world again...

[If he's sorry for what happened...]

Forgiveness would be very brave of you. And it's not easy. It takes learning and patience, just like repentance. But... Being able to forgive will make you much happier, in the long-run. No one likes going through life with that kind of weight on their chest. Though, I'll admit--that's one of Ha'it's lessons, not Riem's.

[This is a difficult conversation for him both of him; and for Hiro, it's gotten a little embarrassing. He's trying not to be too obvious about what he's thinking about, but since the thread is locked...]

oh. sorry, uh... did riem ever almost do something he regretted..?

Don't be sorry. It's fine.

[which he felt he needed to say, at least once. his sincerity and calm don't exactly come across well in all of this text.]

He seems to have a bad habit of almost killing people who would wind up to be his friends later on in life. He usually helps them, later, to try and make up for what he almost did... One of those people became the companion who helped him smile again. Others have served as lessons to him, reminders not make the same mistake twice.

you really know a lot about this guy. i don't really know what else to ask... but i want to know more. is that weird?

Not that weird. I'm obviously pretty interested in him myself, otherwise I wouldn't know so much. Would you like to hear one more story? It's not a sad one, and there isn't really a lesson involved. He's only in a little bit, actually.

fire away. i'm here for it.

Maybe it'll lighten the mood a little. Let's see... After the world collapsed, the people of Gratia were very scared and fragile. They lived under the earth, and while the caves and tunnels were unforgiving, they were nothing compared to the dangerous beasts who lived in the Haunting far below them. Or the surface, for that matter--it had become harsh, unlivable, and irradiated, and filled with all kinds of unfriendly creatures. One such creature, a nameless monster, lived in the mountains far from the people of my own city... When it was young, it fed on goats and deer, but as it grew older, it started to eat wolves and bears. It grew larger the more it ate, and started to learn things. It learned that eating bigger and bigger things made it stronger. It learned that it could absorb the power of its prey. Eventually it grew so big that the sheer, narrow paths of the mountain could not hold it, and it slithered down into the valley where brave humans would sometimes crawl out of their caves to hunt for food. Now, the monster could have gone on eating bears and lions and whatever else roamed the valley, but it saw these hunters and thought... What power these creatures must have. Yes, they were small, physically weak, unbalanced... But the monster watched them them speak to one another, create tools from almost nothing, and hunt animals many times their own size with cunning and cooperation. What a hidden strength must have dwelt in their hearts. It wanted that power for its own.

So, it took to catching and dragging off stragglers. Soon it was large and strong enough to devour them whole in its massive jaws. It reveled in the fear it felt growing in the people below. Greedy and swollen with pride, the monster finally clawed its way under the earth into the caves where it knew more people lived. It dove down to the lowest caves and ate anyone it could find. It ate and it ate and it ate, growing so large that it tore apart houses, left whole blocks demolished in its wake. It became so arrogant that it even began to eat other monsters, carelessly consuming anything that slipped into his claws. The other monsters did not appreciate this. Who was this brash newcomer, who thought it could disrupt years tradition and social order? Who was this thing who thought it could just steal all of their prey? The more intelligent of them saw how fast it grew and began to worry that it would soon become unstoppable; if they did not act quickly, the whole city might soon be swallowed up in its jaws. For the first time in history, one of the more eloquent of their kind reached out to the terrified people of the caves above and asked for a truce, an agreement to end this monster for everyone's sake. So, very soon after that, the monster comes across a single person wandering around in the caves it had cleared to be its home. It had become quite brash by then, and thought it funny to try to speak with the man, taunt him, inform him of his inevitable death. The man was not afraid as he should have been--as he was Riem in disguise, having been approached for help by both monsters and humans alike. Instead of cowering, he insulted the monster. Furious, it chased after him, but he was too fast, leading the monster down a series of confusing, winding passageways. Very suddenly, it found itself in the Haunting, where there were many monsters scrambling through the tunnels. It started eating them in a rage, screaming for the blood of the man who'd gotten away. More monsters began to stream into the tunnel, and it ate them too. It ate and ate and ate until there was not a single monster left in sight. And when it tried to move--to its great surprise, it could barely budge. It had grown so large that it no longer fit in the tunnels! It heard the exits seal closed around him, and realized too late that it had been tricked. So, to this day, they say that if you go down far enough, you can hear the Leviathan moaning to be let free, growling threats of revenge. When the earth shakes, they say that it's just Leviathan shifting restlessly through its prison...

whoa. riem is awesome.

[hiro is so wowed by you, robin.]

[he's so flattered. secretly.]

Every once in a while, yeah. Think that's enough for now?

is it okay if i bug you about him later on if i have any questions?

Yeah, you can. Any time. Seriously, I get really bored. Any time.

ha. i'll keep that in mind. thanks, robin. this was really cool.

[and emotional for hiro]

Hey, no problem. Glad you liked it.

[it worked out surprisingly well for everybody.]

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