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[mayorly]

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[mayorly]

The same thing happened in New Ham. The problem was that we needed a way to keep order but the people who kept order got bigger ideas.

[ She said she'd be honest. Honesty wasn't always pretty. ]

I heard they attacked people? Nobody has told me the whole story.

[webshoots]

That's always the risk. Isn't there a saying about that?

Uh... Right. That's the short story. The slightly less abridged version is that we needed to get Robin connected back up to the network. Apparently it always carries its risks and dangers. The guys that didn't head out to the lighthouse stayed back in town and had a party with the forest spirits. Something something they were beginning to trust us etc. Something else about how they protect the lighthouse and react ... badly when there's a perceived threat to either it or the Keeper.

Anyway, perceived threat included the team heading out to the lighthouse. I wasn't here in town when things switched, but if things do? It's not going to end well for us. We lost a lot of people. Not all of the spirits attacked, but there's more of them, more than the ones we see regularly. I'm guessing they generally live deeper in the forest, but they're stronger and more violent.

Robin's shared some details with me about how the resets work. Basically it's kind of like that what happened with the party: the forest spirits are told to raze the town.

[mayorly]

[ It's a lot to absorb, honestly and it's perhaps understandable that she takes a few minutes to respond as she processes all that he's said. ]

Do they do it willingly or are they being controlled?

[ Interesting how she starts looking for answers rather than pointing out how completely messed up this whole thing is. ]

[webshoots]

That's the question.

Robin said something about not being able to stop them, but implied that she normally has influence over them.

Which means they've got a degree of independence - they've got their own language, they have their own likes and dislikes but they're not completely autonomous.

[mayorly]

I thought she was the one that does the resets. Are we saying she's not?

[webshoots]

She is, but the spirits act on her behalf to reset the town.

[ which ... is (apparently) exactly what it sounds like. ]

[mayorly]

To murder everyone.

[ She won't soften it. She can't. If she does it's like saying it's okay and she can't agree that it is. ]

She's told you things. Do you trust her?

[webshoots]

And raze the buildings, from the sounds of it.

In a word? No. I think she's a kid who's been placed in an awful, terrible position who's had to make some awful, terrible choices, and I don't think she's always made the right ones.

I also don't think she's telling us everything.

[mayorly]

[ Oh. Wow. She feels so called out right now.

Which is perhaps why her response, while slow to come, is surprisingly different to what he might expect. ]

She might not feel she has a choice.

Sometimes you have to do things for the greater good even if you wish you didn't have to.

1/2

[webshoots]

[ his response is a little slower too, partly because he wonders if he really wants to go there, and partly because—

—no, it's mostly that. ]

I know. Believe me, I know. Sometimes the right choice is the worst choice imaginable. Sometimes it's the choice that hurts you the most. My uncle used to have this saying. He used to say it almost every day, at breakfast.

"With great power must also come great responsibility". That's what you mean, right?

[webshoots]

Which means, I don't think I could forget it if I tried.

But feeling like there’s no choice and making the right choice aren't the same thing.

But I can at least say my gut says we're missing important information. They - her AND the Doc - waited a couple of months to even tell us about the World Eaters.

[mayorly]

[ There's so much she could say to that. Things that might even change his opinion but she's learned to be careful with what she shares. ]

I mean that sometimes right and wrong is a matter of perspective. Sometimes there can't be a right answer.

[ Resetting the town? Wrong in her eyes but could she still say that if she were back in New Ham facing the same decision? Probably, but she'd also knew that in doing so she would probably condemn them all. ]

You think they're still hiding things about them? About this place?

[webshoots]

It's a gradient, sure, but there's always a better option between two or more. It's not always easy and it's not even always the obvious answer, or the one your heart says you should go with. That doesn't mean, either, that other people are always going to agree you made the right decision when it comes down to it. Some things are black and white, some things aren't, and the ones that aren't? You've got to make sure it's the decision you can live with, otherwise you're going to be trying to make up for it for the rest of your life.

Honestly? Yeah, I do. I wouldn't want to guess about what though.

[mayorly]

[ The thing is? That's exactly what Allie did and it's exactly what got her killed. It's hard not to second guess the choices you made when the consequences landed you here.

Latching onto that change in subject, however. ]

Is there anyone here you actually trust?
That we can trust?

[webshoots]

[ are there? it's a good question. peter tends towards wanting to believe the best of people, but he's not, intrinsically, an idiot.

that's not to say he can't be one at times, though.

even so, trust is a nebulous issue for peter: there are people that he trusts, implicitly, but he's never told his deepest secrets to. ]

Sure. I think most of the people who've ended up here are good people.
I mean, I know: trustworthy and good aren't one and the same, but at the same time, it depends on what you're entrusting them with, right? If you're asking how many people I trust not to sail a boat into a dock: more than I trust to sail a boat into a dock.

[ she's probably not asking that though, it's probably closer to: how many people do you trust with your life? which — peter's not sure how he'd answer that, in all honesty. ]

[mayorly]

Good people can't still do terrible things.

[ Ya know. So she's heard. ]

Desperation has a way of making people selfish.

Do you trust anyone enough to believe they'll put the good of the many ahead of the good of themselves no matter what?

[webshoots]

I know.

Riku and Rosinante were with me when we went to the lighthouse.

I haven't really spoken to Javert, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. He was a cop, from what I understand.

[ which — peter has very mixed feelings on police officers: he's met some good ones, great ones — george stacy, jean dewolff, but he's also met less good ones, people who were trigger happy and enjoyed the power; and people in between, who just do as they're told and—.

it's not easy. he gets that, but it does mean he doesn't always trust the decisions made by someone used to wearing a uniform. (hypocritical, he knows, from someone who has a habit of running around in a mask.) ]

I know, these are all guys who've been here for a while and I don't want to sound as if I'm being judgemental, but it's too early to say for anyone who's arrived recently. Like you said, desperation can make people selfish, make good people do things they never thought they'd do and nothing's really happened just recently to make anyone desperate enough.

[mayorly]

It's not judgmental. It's smart. The only person I know I can trust here is only here because he was trying to have my back.

[ She realizes how that sounds at least. ]

No offense meant there but the truth is I don't really know you.

[ But she'd like to be able to trust Peter, so that's a start. ]

1/2

[webshoots]

Hey, don’t worry - none taken. You’re right, you don’t know anything about me. For all you know, I could be an exceptionally charming and handsome twenty-something who’s said all of this specifically to earn your trust.

Or I could be an exceptionally charming and handsome national disgrace.

[webshoots]

One of those is true.

...Half true, maybe.

[mayorly]

Is this your way of telling me you're infamous?

[ It's a real shame he can't see the rare grin he's managed to bring out at this moment.

Does she get points for thinking that is the one thing that's least likely to be true? ]

[webshoots]

That sounds way more put-together than national disgrace.

Infamous would be the competent version.

Which is my way of saying it’s true, yes. I recently got fired very spectacularly and very publicly.

[mayorly]

You don't seem like you could be either of those things.

[ In other words. Yep. She'd been joking. Clearly it had backfired. ]

Can I ask what happened?

[webshoots]

Sure. It's -- a little more complicated than the short version, but I got accused of plagiarizing my doctorate, which got revoked, and apparently it's a little embarrassing (who knew) for a newspaper to employ a science editor who's got a plagiarism scandal hanging over his head AND no doctorate.

The outcome wasn't undeserved.

Which means: jury's out on handsome and charming, but a guy's ego can only take so many blows.

[mayorly]

You said accused. You didn't do it though did you.

[ It's not a question because for whatever reason, she doesn't automatically believe he did. ]

For what it's worth? The charm translates through text. I can't speak to the other but I'm happy to pretend I can for your ego's sake if that helps?