eachdraidh | A1. video. [ open to both courts ]

[ it doesn't immediately occur to thomas that he could probably just communicate through a text system--as far as he knows, the locket is a lot easier to use by video, and so he does. the network is presented with a pair of big, brown doe eyes before he leans backwards a little, revealing a face that could be rather familiar to some--dark hair, a button nose, moles like spots littering his face.

this is not the man you are looking for, however: this is thomas "murphy", and he clears his throat before he introduces himself. ]

Hi. I'm Thomas Murphy, and I'm--kind of a new arrival. I guess they'd call me a greenie if this was back home. [ there's no hint of humor on his face, but he did actually just try and make a joke, and his tone is a little lighter, for it. ]

Can anyone tell me about the Seelie and Unseelie--in your own words, if that makes any sense? What you know about it...you don't have to tell me any secrets or anything, but, maybe why you're there, I guess. [ he's not going to say which court he is (though it's obvious eventually, by the background of caer scima), but he just needs to know. ] Or, if you're okay with where you are. Not that I'm not, but...I don't know. Is there any reason why someone wouldn't be? They apparently brought us here for a reason-- [ again. ] --since we have these "shards", or whatever they are, but I don't have a lot of trust for anybody who says that, because it's usually a load of klunk.

I guess that's all I've got to ask. [ a beat. ] Actually, that's not true. Is there another map around here? Besides the one they gave me, I mean, it's not very good. [ ... ] No offense.

[ thomas is just going to shut his trap now. he almost physically winces and shakes his head. ] That's it, honestly. I'm just going to... hang up now. Thanks.

[ thomas does hang up, and the feed ends--for all of five seconds, before he snaps it back on. ] Oh, wait--also, I want to know if anyone here's ever heard the phrase "WICKED is good." It has to look like this. [ after a second, there's a typed out phrase that appears instead, with WICKED fully capitalized. ] That's really all this time. Um, thanks.

[ click! for real this time. ]

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[ Ao wasn't good at lying, that much was true. Even when he didn't say anything his expression usually said it. He didn't really think more beyond the war then it was just a convenient set-up to turn people against each other. So he has to shake his head. ]

I don't care what they want. I've made it public that I don't intend to fight for them and they haven't done anything to me. [ It was true. He'd made his intention of trying to protect everyone very obvious. ] If you don't want to there's a way. That's what we're looking for.

Edited 2014-08-09 18:33 (UTC)

[ wow, he is earning points all over the place here. ]

A rebellion? [ well, it wouldn't be his first one. thomas, the greenie of many questions, continues to ask them of the kid: ] Are you the only one, or...?

I guess? We don't want to see people get hurt, that's all. [ Which is basically becoming a terrorist. Not like he isn't used to it since Generation Bleu basically turned against the entire world, but... He shakes his head. ] I have a friend who is trying, too. We're not even in the same Court. That's why I know their whole system is stupid.

Sometimes a rebellion's the only way to get things done. [ thomas will never never fall into the trap of an organization again. no one will ever tell him that WICKED is good, and he will never believe it. that mantra led his life for a long time, and the horrible things he did through it are things he's still repenting for to this day. fairy courts, WICKED...no one is to be trusted, because you never know what someone's true motivations are.

so, he nods his head. ] I can't really imagine fighting a war against my friend on the Seelie side, either. And no one I've met from Seelie has been a bad guy...though, I guess I'm supposed to be on the "bad guy side".

I guess.

It's not the bad guy side. [ The answer is immediate and firm. ] Whoever is telling you that is wrong. Not all Seelie are good and not all Unseelie are bad. We're people. People who have different views on things and ways of life. I may not agree with everything that's supposed to be Unseelie, but I'm here. If I were a Seelie I wouldn't fit what they want.

I'm Ao Fukai. I'm a lot of things but I'm the only one who can decide the title I have and wear. I know who I am-- someone saying I'm on the "bad guy side" is just going to make me speak out against them more. They just want it so we'll fight against each other and I won't.

I agree with you. [ thomas doesn't think he's a bad guy. he's done some terrible things in his life, but he's not a bad guy. ] You sound like you know a lot about the two sides in general. Have you been here for a while--what's it like to make people think it's so black and white?

[ but, still: he's pretty endeared to this guy already. he's won thomas's respect. ] I don't want to fight against the other side either; my...[ what does he call teresa. ] ...one of my friends is over there. It's not the first time we've been separated, and it's kind of weird. Our moral grounds aren't that different.

[ except they totally are but shh thomas doesn't know that. ]

I just know what it's like to be on the other side of it.[ He shakes his head. Lowering it somewhat as he considers what to say. ] I don't get involved, but I think the last battle wasn't even because it was Seelie and Unseelie but it became like that. Someone upset a bunch of people on the network and then that happened. A lot of it seems to be people upsetting others who just happen to be on the other side. They make their own battles. Some of them are willing to just take the rulers at face value and do their orders because they give them gifts or things they didn't have... I can understand, in a way, but it's still wrong.

[ He lets out a heavy breath. ] We're closer then anyone wants to believe. Good and bad isn't as easily defined as this... If you don't have to fight them, you don't have to. You can leave the courts and live on your own.

Me too. [ he says so quietly, because it's true--the time when thomas was with WICKED, he must have believed them in saying "WICKED is good". that everything they were doing (the maze, where they made the boys run around like lab rats, where kids died) was for the betterment of society as a whole, so a few lives didn't really matter. thomas didn't think that, now, and it's disheartening to think that some people still could. different place, same game, it seems.

he sighs. ] It sounds like people are just taking advantage of the labels to cause trouble with each other.

[ humanity is an interesting thing. ] --You can, really?

I don't want to think they do it like that... but sometimes it's the only explanation. Nothing's going to come from hurting each other for no reason. Even if something happens it's not worth hurting someone.

[ It's as simple as that. Even to the kid who piloted one of the most dangerous weapons in the world, he wouldn't hurt anyone. He couldn't. He used the quartz gun once and his friends were erased from history... Saw people killed without even having a chance to defend themselves, nothing left to even bury.

But he nods. ] When I first arrived, someone said they were. As far as I know they did.

Violence doesn't solve violence. [ it makes him think about minho, for a minute, and thomas ducks his head. he loves his best friend more than most things in the world but minho tends to be a punch first, ask questions later kind of guy.

but--the more he talks to this guy, the more he gets to know him, thomas is starting to like him a lot. a levelheaded kid like this would have been nice to have with the gladers. ] You're right, though. What's the point of having us talk like this--between courts, I mean--if they want us to eventually kill each other? It doesn't make any sense.

Really...[ a hand comes to his chin, thoughtfully. ] I have a friend who wants to just defect, apparently. [ there's a faint hint of affection in his voice when he says it. ] I told her to wait, but I have a feeling if I tell her what you told me, she'll already be gone.

No, and it only causes more pain for everyone.

[ He kind of ducks his own head, pulling a face as he thought about the situation. The situations he was in before. The world so easily filed into place, sometimes. The people on the island did it. They were told to mistreat him and didn't ask questions. It was strange, when you thought about it. How easily people could. ] Maybe because when someone does something wrong it'll cause more trouble. If they want a war it'd be bad if no one could incriminate themselves, right? They want a face to put to the hatred.

[ Another brief pause as he rubs the back of his neck. ] If someone wants to leave you can't really stop them... There's plenty left to do out there.