video | un: Mercy

[valcurie]

Hello there! ( the image that appears is of a smiling blonde woman, healthy and bright looking, dressed now in pristine weight to present herself, projecting poise and elegance and friendly invitation to hear her out. her German Swiss accent is quite strong, though, so hopefully no-one is overly attached to their w's. ) I hope everyone is doing well this evening. I am coming onto the network to reach out to anyone I might not have been able to yet. My name is Angela Ziegler, and I am a doctor from Earth. Human, as you can see. ( a light, pleasant laugh and an even more pleasant smile ) You may also know me as Mercy. It's my agent name from when I was in service to a global peacekeeping organisation known as Overwatch.

I'm from the 21st century, so the treatment that I can offer you is science based ( a slight pause here as if she's considering one last time how to phrase this ) rather than magic based, but I have a good deal of practical experience with general medicine so there's almost nothing I haven't seen or dealt with. My expertise is in applied biotics, and I also have experience with gene therapy, prosthetics, and cybernetics, if there is anyone here who may need more specialised care. My qualifications also include emergency and trauma response so, if you ever find yourself wounded and in need of immediate attention, please do not hesitate to contact me. Think of me as personal 999 for refugees!

If you do come to me for any kind of care, I promise to do the best I can help you, while upholding all the oaths I've taken as a doctor to do no harm and to protect my patients. I'm not charging anything at this time.

And, if you'd like to humour me and help me to understand our group a bit better, I have a set of questions: do you believe you have a soul? What makes you think you do or don't have one? And is such a belief common where you're from? ( she doesn't mention religion, because it isn't strictly speaking a religious idea. she's known plenty of atheists and nay-theists who thought there was something beyond intelligence that made people paramount to other species. whether they called this unique internal animating light a soul or not, it didn't really matter. )

Comments

[fakers]

[ not that either... so he'll just nervously chuckle to match her laughter. awkwardly avoids eye contact (even though he's only on voice anyway). ] The first step to truly saving the world is accepting that you can't. Ironic, isn't it? Though... that sounds like a rather odd vow to make on your part.

No, people like that are probably better suited to this task. [ even if he finds them distasteful. ] That said, if we ever met one another, I doubt we'd both survive the encounter.

[valcurie]

Anything is possible, even if it's improbable.

( what with how universal laws of physics have proven to be, it seems unlikely that something like a soul can't be measured in some conventional way, if not already discovered by now. but then, to be fair, noetic sciences aren't exactly her subject. )

Now, magic is one thing, but, gods? Are you have observed that they are real, too?

[valcurie]

( Mercy's heard of religions describing souls as both prove of divine love and the source of the ability to love, but nothing quite like this. it makes her smile; the idea of something like fate existing can be a comfort to some people, and the idea that you can become stronger by loving? usually it takes strength just to maintain an open heart in the face of the world. )

So, it is your fate to love people?

There are worse fates than having a good heart.

[valcurie]

Truly, it can't be pried from you against your will even by other magic? I'm honestly a bit surprised, given how--creative ( awful, she means ) people can get when there's something that they want. Especially if you're, what, some kind of resistance movement? With your safe houses.

( she laughs at that, recognising it for the joke that it is. she's had fun with a similar accusation recently, so why not again? she purses her lips into a prim smile, with something faintly menacing about the pleasantness she puts out. ) In my world there's a saying. It's always the nice ones. You never know which one might be the poisoned apple.

[valcurie]

( somehow, she can't say she's surprised to learn this. though unseen, she smiles lightly. )

What's the sight that's inspired you most?

[valcurie]

I have to admit, I'm not sure what to think. Either magic or, more likely, some kind of gene therapy.

What did you say her name was again? And did she just tell you this by way of introduction?

[valcurie]

How awful! Why in the world did you stay with them? Was their cause that good of a justification?

( well, if he wanted to get his heart back, maybe that could be one? though she is seriously doubting this organisation had anything like wholesome goals. )

...I wish I could help you, but ailments of a magical nature are things currerntly completely beyond my skill set. Did the Natha mention getting it back to you at all, when they spoke to you?

[valcurie]

I don't think it's all that much. You just have to look around and see how things are here.

( she gives a small sigh. all of it is intense and sometimes even overwhelming, even if she's done her best to embrace it. perhaps it's a bit of cultural overload? )

I think it is only human to want to have faith in something. I place my faith in people, but in a way, that isn't too different.

[melodiouspacifist]

Well you know how it is, you show up and then you just can't leave, you know?

[His tone remains light.]

No, no I wasn't asking. I mean, it's normal for me. I'm not hurt. I don't understand really how your medicine works but, I'm okay.

I...maybe? Things are kinda hazy and I don't always listen to stuff.

[He looks a little sheepish at that.]

I guess it's just holding out hope for longer.

[valcurie]

( she notes the awkward laugh but doesn't really know enough about him to connect it to some kind of avoidance. maybe he's an elf or a dwarf? at this point it would just be a quick apology and a switch to 'person'. ) If it is even possible to save the world, I suppose. But, ah--I, as a doctor, have sworn to do no harm. In the past I compromised my ideals so that I could help more people than I would have otherwise, but it did not exactly work out the way I thought it would. I try not to make that mistake again, but, who knows? Humans are pretty good rationalising things to suit them.

What makes you say that?

[exonerated]

It might or might not be. But what I know is that a closed mind will find fault in every answer differing from their own, rather than regarding all the answers given as someone else's truth. It would be far easier to brand what you know as 'right', and theirs 'wrong'.

[ He knows, anyway, from experience, how difficult it is to turn your life around upon finding that everything you know is not all there is to life, to the universe in general. Even after seeing, it can be difficult to start acknowledging.

Although, he cracks a small smile here— ] From what I've learned thus far, not all of us are human.

[valcurie]

( of course, ignorance isn't something that she's unfamiliar with, not at all. tilting her head, she considers her own type of stubbornness, which is not unrelated. sometimes there are things that you know are right, and they are actually right, and they should be fought for.

but, she matches his smile with her own.) Now, I did say people rather than humans, didn't I? I think that's a good word to include all of us. It's one we learnt to use back home. Those of us who aren't stuck in their ways, at least.

[strictdiscipline]

[ Theoretically speaking is a lot further than she's gotten anywhere else, and she tucks the information in the back of her mind for another day. No real use in bringing it up now, but if circumstances ever were to change...

That said, a few of Mercy's words do give her pause. ]

Not stay in the same body? Would they be provided with different bodies every so often?

[ Even if such things have already happened where she's from, the thought still fills her with discomfort. ]

[daemonized]

Yes.

[A simple reply, adorned with no further explanation. At least not immediately. Ardyn is once again choosing his words quite purposefully.]

They are called the Six where I'm from. Take a guess at how many there are.

[insurgent]

when i was small, i climbed through the crystal caves on alpinn
they felt endless

[ but they've been mined and destroyed now; she's sure. ]

video;

[twofates]

[ He's picked up on the fact that if someone smiles at him, even if he's not feeling any genuine joy or flicker of positive emotion, it's polite to smile back. At the moment, he doesn't feel much of anything, other than curiosity and a touch of admiration for her to reach out with such a seemingly selfless offer. But he mirrors her, managing a small, soft smile in return. ]

It's nice that you have a purpose. It must feel good. [ She helps people, she knows she's good at it, it must be an anchor for her of some sort. ]

Do you think only good people have souls? And bad people don't?

[valcurie]

That's a rather casual way of describing a prison, I suppose. ( it's a joke, sure, but there's a note of tightness in her voice. )

You don't have to ask--I would just like to help you. ( a slight pause, as she considers. ) It seems to me like you could use some help in this matter. Getting your heart back seems like a pretty big undertaking for one person. ( another pause, and then she sighs through a half smile. even though it seems she's taking this way more seriously than him, she thinks that may just be because of what she thinks is his age. teenagers tend to be a bit flippant and, in a way, that's endearing. a part of her wishes she had been that carefree in her youth. ) Sitting back and hoping, in my experience, usually doesn't provide any kind of results.

[melodiouspacifist]

A prison, huh? [She's not wrong, but that seems like a bit more depressing.] It's just a job I can't quit or leave or anything. Is that so weird?

[He seems surprised.] Even though you know I don't have a heart? [That's not what Xemnas said would happen.]

It hasn't yet, but since I'm sort of at the Superior's mercy, there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. Or I was. I don't really know what to think now.

[He'd be surprised to know she thought he was so young, but she wouldn't be the first.]

[valcurie]

( the pause does catch Mercy's interest, to the point that she notes it. as of yet she doesn't really think much of it, though, instead she considers carefully how to fit her words together into a coherent explanation that might make sense regardless of technological familiarity. )

Well, the most practical way this would work would only involve one change. The method being worked on involves recreating a person's consciousness by capturing all the information that makes them, them, and consolidating it. Then this is put into a mechanical body that, hopefully, would never need to be replaced.

( a much less complicated matter than something outrageous like growing new bodies to act as new hosts. )

However, I don't think many people would actually want to do this.

[valcurie]

( with no reason to suspect him of mirroring, she doesn't think think anything that may be seem off about his expressions. )

I've always found helping people to be its own reward. ( she nods, then tilts her head at his next question, though the tone which she uses is calm and fairly decided. )

Personally, I don't believe in souls. I believe that we are people, however. Good and bad are just how we describe our actions,

[valcurie]

( well, that is an answer, and it's not wrong. )

Hmm, it couldn't be six, could it? Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed by the name.

[valcurie]

Did they ever change depending on the time of day?

[daemonized]

Well, they have their individual names, too. Or, if you like, we can refer to them as Astrals instead.

[fakers]

Compromised your ideals? It's funny that you would put it that way... if I'd been more willing to compromise my own, I probably wouldn't have run into as many problems. [ granted, she probably means it in a rather different way. ] Though ultimately, you chose a noble profession. That speaks volumes; it's more than I can say for myself.

Oh, I suppose I wasn't clear enough. If I met another who enjoyed doing what I do, I would kill them. Without hesitation. [ while his tone sounds rather lighthearted as he says it, something about his voice still makes it clear he's rather serious. ]

[valcurie]

It doesn't make a difference to me. I suppose, if they had some grandiose title, you wouldn't be the one to use it.

( an assessment of his character, but also something he more or less said himself about his own title when they first met. )

What manner of gods do you believe the Astrals are? Are they creator-gods?