savetheearth | Video; Laptop

[After days and days of being shut in her room both prior to and following the snake statue incident, Audrey is finally done reading back through the network. Classes have naturally taken a chunk of that time, what with finals and the like, but her social life? Pretty much non-existent for a week or so.

What comes over the network now is video from her webcam. It shows Audrey sitting back in her desk chair with a heavy sigh and sitting down a pen with a distinctive clink to the side of her laptop. It appears to be afternoon dipping into dusk, the light spilling across the background of her room coming through window blind slats. Evidently her desk is set up against a window. To the left side of the screen is rows of black bookcases and to the right one can make out the barest edge of the foot end of a bed.

Her eyes, for the second, look off to the side of her laptop where she laid that pen. Her arms cross under her chest - she's dressed down to a plain shirt at the moment. There's a distinct frown settled on the young woman's lips, her brows furrowed. It's clear she's thinking on something, something to do with whatever is to the side of her laptop right then.

Finally, she speaks. At least she knows the webcam is on.]

There are a few things I'm not quite clear on, even after reading back through the network.

[Her brow furrows more there.]

And I don't think it's anything anyone can answer for me right now.

[She seems agitated and uncomfortable. She shifts in her seat, her expression darkens.]

In the rules of a debate, all parties must know the issue they are debating about. A debate can't even begin if that one issue isn't clear. Neither party can move forward, neither party can make arguments or reasonings without knowing what the issue being argued for or against is.

This isn't about police, the Thunder Corporation, snake statues or monsters or anything like that. We're lacking two very basic concepts in order to reach a fair conclusion and in order to have hopes of argument and logical reason.

Who and Why.

After seeing the statue and after the hunts, I can't believe this is simply the work of the police or the Thunder Corporation. So that means there must be another who, doesn't it? Perhaps several of them.

And why. We're all remembering things and feelings things that seem to make no sense so one might conclude it's all simply to awaken those things somehow. If that were the case though, this whole process would be more friendly than hostile, wouldn't it?

[That all said, Audrey is apparently done eyeing a stern hole into the side of her desk and with a big sigh uncrosses her arms and slowly melts into her seat.]

I've thought about all of this way too much.

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We might continue on, no, we will, we have to, but... if everything has changed so much, if everything keeps changing, then how can we consider it the same life to just go on with?

[ He falls quiet, the dissonance in him apparent. Even when it's getting difficult to see her over the video, her presence is near unmistakable, and he looks to that. ]

It's been called a war.

[ People don't come back from wars the same. ]

[A war. War.

The word sinks in heavily. And Audrey just isn't sure what to say back to that idea, simply because it's true, he's completely right. With an invasion looming, with corporations and police corrupt around them, unable to help...]

We won't go back, no. We never will be able to do that. We can only move forward past this, back into something like peace again. And it isn't something any of us will do through waiting.

[She leans forward now though, expression serious.]

If this is war then I want everyone else to be ready for when this coming invasion truly begins.

[ When all is said and done, Banagher can say the word war and still not be able to grasp its true weight, its actual meaning. But she surprises him, again, countering that fathomless mass with resistance of her own. Blinking at her, he (predictably) chooses something odd to focus on. ]

I didn't think I was wrong. About you.

[ It rings in his mind, clear as a bell.

Everyone. ]

[She pauses there then smiles faintly.]

Perhaps not. Still... be careful who you trust, Banagher. That's all.

[Her trying to prove a point had backfired a little but she hoped he understood. People like him, who could feel complete faith in how they viewed the actions of a girl they barely knew...]

[ He averts his eyes to some undefined point in his room, though it's hardly out of shame in spite of her point. Sheepish, maybe. ]

Looks like I'll keep being told that.

Probably. Try not to feel too badly for not being able to do so though. That's the kind of person you are, right?

[Call it a feeling she gets. He doesn't seem like a particularly foolish person, not in the few talks she's had with him.]

It's just people trying to show they care in their own way.

Right. [ For him, trying to shade everyone in the same way, trying to figure out if they'd betray his trust before he'd even given it... it's too bleak to entertain. It likely always would be. In the background, there's an agreement blurted out without invitation: Take care! Take care! ]

So, what do you want to do? Now that you've read back through everything.

[The agreement draws her attention. Audrey would ask about the voice but Banagher's question distracts her from it for now.]

Now?

[Again she sits back in her chair, shifting her gaze off to one side. This has been a question she really hasn't had a chance to ponder, beyond Bakura's questions earlier.]

Act.

[She pauses there as if considering the word, then gives a faint nod.]

That's all that can be done at this point. If this is an invasion - a war even - then waiting won't do much for us. It's already been decided after all. If we wait, that only means we'll be less prepared for what's to come.

[...]

I can't say I'm sure how to act though.

Then I'll help you. [ Those four words torrent out of their own accord. Despite all the hesitation he's felt, the uncertainty, this is what he knows. ]

If we can find what you're looking for... who's behind this, and why, then we'll stand a better chance of understanding what's going on, right?

... Just like that?

[She isn't suspicious or any such but it's just surprising how readily he agrees to the idea.]

Certainly a better one than we stand right at this moment.

[ Blinking, Banagher's expression evens out again. Less determined, in a way, like he's not very sure where the sentiment came from, but he's not about to take it back, either. ]

It's a direction. I don't know if it'll be forward just yet, but even so. I can't stand feeling stagnated like this.

[He just keeps on surprising her really. She somehow gets the feeling that he just does that somehow. They've barely interacted really but it seems rather normal somehow.

She gives a breath of a laugh, her smile sympathetic.]

I can't either honestly. I may just not be used to problems I can't readily solve.

[But even that...]

Well, no, that doesn't sound right either. Maybe I'm tired of simply sitting in place too.

I believe if the network gave us a way to meet each other in the middle of all of this, then this could be a problem we can't try to figure out on our own.

[ Granted, he doesn't know that unequivocally, but if he had to pick something to believe in while times were bleak, then this would be it. Pursing his lips, he drums his fingers against his arms. ]

I don't know where to start, though. Maybe... [ His expression furrows, then brightens in the span of a second. ] No, wait. I know of something. Hang on a second!

[ Bursting from his chair, he leaves the scope of his webcam for a moment, giving way to papers rustling in the background. ]

Video; Laptop

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