heng_like_a_dragon

[Sending along a quick link to the comment thread as context before she asks:]

So we learned about the Watchmaker and the Family from Gallagher, so I know the Family’s up to something shady. But what did he mean by “assimilating people to their cause”?

[Well, Dan Heng can't ignore a voice call like he can a text, so this is the wisest thing March has done. He reads through the thread, and both memories and knowledge begin to rise up in his mind.]

Mm... it's a little complicated, but I'll try to simplify it. The Family has methods to bring outsiders into their "Family" and further The Harmony's cause. Usually, those ceremonies are conducted on a large scale, but I have read of cases where it can be done on an individual basis without the use of such a ceremony.

Really? Yikes, now I'm really glad we didn't trust the Family. That's shady. [Himeko was right, the only people the crew can really trust on Penacony are each other. Between the IPC and the Family and every other guest having some kind of agenda, it's really giving March a headache.]

He seemed to know what he was saying. I don't trust him because he was using us and Acheron to prove "death's" existence in the Dreamscape, but...I talked to Caleb, and he says Mr. Sunday was trying to revive the Order. So Aventurine wasn't wrong there.

[There's a pause, then a groan.]

Ugh, all this because of Clockie.

Although that hasn't happened in quite some time, it's wise to keep that in mind when dealing with them. Every faction has their motives, for good or ill. The Trailblaze is unique: we're largely neutral in our dealings with the other factions, minus the Stellaron Hunters.

[He hums softly at that. Dan Heng has to think for a moment, allowing his memories to help fill in some gaps.]

That is, indeed, what Sunday and the head of his family were trying to do. Even if Sunday protested that as his goal, the end result would've been the same. As for Aventurine... he has his own motives outside of the IPC. Otherwise, why make such a risky move?

[Dan Heng has to put forth every effort to not sound amused. Can't have people thinking he's got a personality or sense of humor, no sir.]

Well, Clockie is the manifestation of a Trailblazer's dream. It makes sense that would happen.

Yeah, we don't have ulterior motives! That's why we're the ones on the case in Penacony. [She's read maybe one too many detective novels. But she does pause a moment at the mention of the Stellaron Hunters, and, with a distinctly joking note:]

I wouldn't call dating one of them neutral, yeah. Even a former one.

[Ahem hem. Anyway.]

Ugh, he's got more motives too? That figures, he's slippery. [And then there's Sunday. She lets out a breath.] No matter how I try, I can't understand why and how someone would go around reviving a dead Aeon. And I'm...I guess we should've seen it coming, that Sunday was a part of this plan—it's becoming a trend with our trailblazing expeditions, and I don't like it—but. He seemed so nice, and he seemed to really care about Robin.

[A beat.]

Clockie is what now.

Indeed, though I don't know how much of a "case" it is.

[A beat.]

Hmm, somehow, I feel that there's a certain cosmic irony to that fact.

[Moving swiftly along to avoid existential dilemmas!]

Such things are not mutually exclusive. He can care about Robin while still wanting to put her into a cage where it's allegedly safe. However, from what I've gathered, he took it from righteousness to self-righteousness and caged himself instead. As for why... it depends on the person you ask, and the Aeon they attempt to revive. Reviving Akivili would be unconscionable. Reviving Ena to enact a true dream that life couldn't escape from, where they wouldn't know pain... that might be worth it to one who views people as inherently weak or childish.

[Dan Heng says nothing about the Permanence. Perhaps he's deeply cynical after all the years of reincarnation, but how can there be Permanence when there is Finality? His people couldn't reproduce, and thus would eventually go extinct. Just as they have now, with Dan Heng being the only Vidyadhara left.]

You'll find out soon enough.

[He may or may not be teasing her by being cryptic.]

Even if there weren’t actually any murders, there’s still a mystery to solve!

[Yeah, whatever cosmic irony there is, it flies over March’s head. Having a -1 INT mod will do that.

She shudders at the thought of reviving Akivili. Part of the Path of Trailblaze is knowing there’s an end to the expedition—every passenger will, someday, disembark from the train. (March hopes that if ever their time to leave comes they all do it together.) The idea of dragging Akivili back long after THEIR travels have ended…yeah, no.]

So he thinks…that people are weak, and that the only way to keep everyone safe is to put them all in a cage? [A pause.] That’s awful. Not to mention blind! Even if there’s so much pain in the future that it scares you, you can’t just go to sleep and dream forever to escape from it. That just isn’t possible.

[March is a lot of things, but she’s never been one to back down from the future. The idea of trying to escape it because of the horrors it might contain is alien to her—yes, it might have horrors, but it might have such splendid adventures too. You take the good memories with the bad.]

Don’t leave me in suspense like this, Dan Heng!

[Dan Heng can't help feeling proud of her for having such a nuanced opinion. Granted, he feels that she's always had such opinions. It's just a matter of explaining it to her in a way that she understands.]

I agree with you. That being said, some dreams are too tempting to wake up from. The dream he wanted to create for people would always target that emotional weakness. All those memories and the missing pieces that would make you want to stay in the dream for eternity....

[He remembers the dream Sunday tried to trap him in, now, and how the fact it was too stable made him realize it was just a dream. To live in a dream for all time... Dan Heng never wants that, but he wonders if he will have the strength of will to defy it again in this life. He hopes he never finds out.]

I've already spoiled too much of the ending to our journey in Penacony.

[March is a Nameless, with all that entails. Freedom and the ability to decide for oneself what the future will look like is something she believes wholeheartedly in. Even if it means pain, she'd still choose to wake up and get out of the cage. How will she make new memories, after all, if she stays in one place her whole life?]

Using people's hopes and desires against them, so they can't hope for anything anymore because what's the point of it in a perfect dream... [He can't see it, but she's shaking her head.] He wouldn't be helping or saving anybody! He'd just be crushing their spirits, and then they'd be as good as dead anyway.

[She pauses. Huffs out a breath.]

Well, good luck to him, finding my memories. [Trust her, she knows firsthand how difficult that is.] If the Order manages to pull any of them out I'll throw a party for THEM.

[There's a very audible groan on her side of the line.]

Ugh, now I get why people skip ahead to the last page of mystery novels. Jeez.

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