★VIDEO - EMERGENCY DORCHACHT UPDATE

[starseedling]

Name: Steven Universe (SN: Steven U)
Date: August 20th (Backdated)
Format: Video

[Steven appears on camera, looking nervous but determined, like he's just stumbled upon something that he feels the need to tell everyone right now. So, here he is! Steven is very obviously a fae, complete with antennae and slightly too large, pink irises. Behind him, wings will occasionally flutter with agitation.]

Hey guys, Steven here! So - I told Nessie and Mhairi about that whole... dream... thing... we just had...

And it turns out neither of them had any idea that Dorchacht was doing things like that?? Nessie made it sound like their leader, Morgana, just seemed kind of racist at Coven meetings... not that they were enslaving an entire city's worth of monsters?

So... I think this is going to be a pretty big deal. They said they were going to get in contact with the Parliament about it, to see what they could do next. It didn't sound like they were okay with just letting them keep doing those things so, um... phew!

Aaaanyway... I thought you might want to know. I know I've been thinking about it a lot. Haha.

[He signs off, awkwardly.]

[OOC: This isn't massively relevant to this post, but Steven is currently wearing earrings that are charmed to tell him what the truth is when someone knowingly lies to him. So, if your character does that in the post, the earrings will probably tell him. Magic~!]

Comments

voice; un: harmonia

[digiorno]

You believe them?

[Just like that? He doesn't know about the earrings and is operating on pure paranoia constantly, sorry Steven.]

[starseedling]

Yes! I know it sounds like something they'd say just to calm us down, but I've got these magic earrings that let me know when people are lying-

And everything they said sounded like the truth!

Even without that, Mhairi seemed really upset. I don't think it's something she'd lie about.

Video

[hippocarnival]

Eh--so it's definitely still around?! [That's... discomfiting, but he's glad to hear at least that Miss Nessie is equally abhorred by the whole enslavement thing.]

Can they do anything? I mean... does Aefenglom trade with them or something?

[Did they start a war, hm. He assumes if Aefenglom had more direct power they would already know about the whole enslavement thing.]

VOICE

[starseedling]

[Steven sees Yuya reply and immediately shrivels up and drops to voice only.]

Um... yeah... it seemed that way in the dream, too...

I don't know about trading or anything but...

[Quietly deflating into a puddle.]

video;

[sageprincess]

Oh.

That is not going to end well, is it.

[no she doesn't have any experience in jumping to action due to information gained in a dream, that would be silly]

[starseedling]

[Oh it's Ninja Princess! Steven perks up a little.]

Probably not, but it's better than doing nothing. I was worried I was going to have to push for them to do anything at all!

It's weird that they didn't know...

voice

[freeing]

[ She was taught this much, at the very least, to interact on this network. Of course she decides to pep up — considering the last time she spoke. ]

I would like this verified. [ At the very least. ] We need someone on Parliament to present a choice to them: to abolish the old practices and ensure all in their city have the freedom owed to them or find themselves new enemies and bloodshed. There should be no compromise.

[ change her mind ]

[starseedling]

[He's not really surprised considering the conversation they had in Dorchacht but... yeesh. He'll leave himself on voice too, if only so she can't see him cringe a little. She's... not wrong? But also...

Steven never really got himself to the point where he was comfortable promising anybody bloodshed.]

True, but...

Um. Both cities are already at war with the Cwyld, right? They've gotta have some common ground over that. There can't be a lot of resources left for fighting each other.

voice; un: infinitepossibilibees

[faithlikeaseed]

If the Coven in Dorchact's been keeping their dirty secret this long, there's no reason to believe they'll be forthright with the Coven here or the Parliament--or even allow anyone in to look around. [does he sound mad? ...he definitely sounds mad.]

Which is to say there might be some value in finding other ways to verify or disprove what we've seen.

Suppose it's too much to hope anyone who's managed to escape the city could've survived long outside it. Places like that always have refugees. [from family experience.]

[starseedling]

I think so, too. Back home, I knew a group of refugees who were hiding in tunnels deep underground... They'd have to have somewhere safe to go. If they found that, they could protect each other.

But... With all the horrible things they said about monsters... Would they even try to hide what they're doing? They seemed like they were proud of it...

video

[firewalled]

[Rich, of course, looks rightfully pissed off about the reminder of that dream mess, and about the fact that it might have been real. The fact that there's an entire place with a bunch of captured and brainwashed people...

Well. It hits a little too close to home.]

What about if someone here tried to own monsters too? Are they gonna do anything about that?

[starseedling]

[Steven seems immediately worried, sensing the intensity of Rich's reaction. He puts up his hands placatingly.]

I really don't think anybody would let that happen, here! Everyone's been trying really hard to treat monsters fairly.

[video]

[horkbajir]

Then something may be done for the oppressed in Dorchacht. In time.

I wonder how distorted the dream was. The one of the caves very much was. For this past one time passed strangely and there was nothing outside of the city, as far as I recall.

[starseedling]

Toby!

[He always has to register his enthusiasm when she appears.]

I don't know! The weird thing with the cave was how real life was actually way WORSE than the dream was. In the dream there weren't any shades OR spiders.

I really... really hope that Dorchacht isn't worse.

video;

[showsnopiety]

So it does exist.

[That's surprising and it's...not good either. She blew out a slow breath.]

We might be pulled in as witnesses. You might be specifically. Are you all right with that? It's quite a bit of pressure.

[starseedling]

[He's very much caught off guard.]

Whuh - why me specifically??

video; un: Peridot5XG

[alienwear]

I'm going to spit acid in their faces.

[ That's. That's what she has to say to that. ]

[starseedling]

- Peridot!

[That kills people, Peridot! He looks at the background of her video, trying to see if she's in the house.]

Voice;

[fiddlestick]

[Okay, first thing is first]

Good job contacting Nessie and Mhairi about it, Steven. I really hope something is done about it.

[Praising the child and sounding hopeful. But now...Elliot sounds a little unsure in his voice]

Though I'm not sure how they couldn't have known...Dorchacht in the dream seemed really open about what they were doing....

[starseedling]

Hi, Elliot!

[He sounds pretty tired at this point, but he's keeping the conversation open. It's an important thing to talk about, he figures.]

That's what I thought... I went to see them expecting they already knew and just couldn't get involved for some reason, but not knowing at all?

Maybe the real Dorchacht isn't the same as it was in the dream, but I don't really get it, either. They didn't sound surprised to see witches from Aefenglom visiting.

Video; un: januaryprotocol

[psychotronics]

Glad it sounds like they're intent on doing something, but it does strike me as rather fishy that they didn't know anything about it. It was a pretty pervasive feature of the city; how could they possibly keep something like that under wraps?

[starseedling]

Nessie said that Morgana - the Coven leader there - acted pretty racist during Coven meetings... but not... that racist, I guess? Mhairi growled as soon as Nessie mentioned her, so she must have still been pretty bad, though.

If the Coven is all one team you'd think they'd know each other better than that.

text

[usurpers]

You can’t say that they’re like that as a fact, Steven.

[starseedling]

Yeah but all the other dreams were probably true so far so have to do something anyway.

voice; un: Towa H

[overworker]

I'm a little relieved to hear that. I've been thinking about it a lot myself.

[At least they're taking action. She can't say she has any idea what, if anything, that might do-- but acknowledging it and acting are the first steps. Whatever comes after...]

Still... I'm also worried what a conflict like this might mean for us. I don't think tension like this can be easily solved. I don't think seeing eye to eye is something we can hope for-- their values and ours are too different.

[starseedling]

Some of them could change their minds. If they really see monsters as the enemy, it makes it easy for them to treat them badly. But if we could show them they're not...

[Of course, this sort of thing would take a lot of time and not a small amount of sacrifice. Steven isn't sure how many people he wants to let get hurt.]

Humans and monsters should be working together to fight the Cwyld.

video

[socials]

un: souji seta

[ Souji is the type to observe responses to posts on the network, before responding. And this is a hot topic in particular, one that they can't just jump to action on so lightly, but it's... good to see so many people responding in a way that shows they're willing to stand against something that was so messed up. ]

I can sort of understand why Aefenglom doesn't have much contact with them. Especially if they already had a bad relationship on what I'm assuming was probably neutral ground - that's usually what happens with meetings of organizations. But that doesn't excuse any of this happening, even if it's not nearly as bad as it was in the dream.

[ A pause, then: ] If we do have a delegation go to Dorchact, would you go?

[starseedling]

[This is all pretty serious, and as the one to bring it up, more than one person has asked Steven a similar question to this. He already knows the answer, as worrying as it is to contemplate.]

...Yeah. But I'd want to make sure that any monsters we brought with us were protected against those control spells.

video

[fordola]

Convinient that they'd tell a child that.

[starseedling]

[So much shade.]

Wha - What does that have to do with it?

voice; UN: SceptredIsle

[keepscalm]

[While it's good to know, theoretically, that Nessie and Mhairi did not purposefully allow this to pass, their ignorance does raise a few other points of concern for someone who's been in a few wars and seen lots of dominoes fall.]

Should the case be such that what we saw in the dream is true, I agree that action should be taken.

However, I do have to wonder if Aefenglom is an outlier in its approach to cohabitation with monsters. If communication between the branches of the Coven is so limited as for something like this to go unnoticed, it may be that Dorchact is not the only place where monsters are treated this way. It may even be possible that they have like-minded allies who have consciously kept our Coven representatives in the dark.

[starseedling]

[The idea of that makes Steven feel a bit ill. It's quite possibly true, though.]

Ugh... I hope not...

It's not fair! Monsters are just like us. I mean, just like witches! Or humans, or whatever.

voice

[fifty]

Did they say what they were thinking they were gonna do? Besides just talk to Parliament. 'Cause, like, meetings can go on forever before someone actually decides to do something. [America is still very upset about the whole Dorchacht thing.]

[starseedling]

No... I guess they have to talk to Parliament before they can be sure.

Sorry. I wish I knew more. I hope it won't take them very long...

video;

[chosenside]

[Really, Theseus is still not fully used to the fact that kids are going through the same terrible things that everyone else in the city is facing. None of it settles right in his chest, but unfortunately, there's not much he can do besides ensuring that they're fine, if he ever comes across a kid during a mission. But for right now...]

Thank you for letting us know, Steven.

[Oh, he's definitely dubious still, and it doesn't exactly speak well of Aefenglom's Coven, whether or not Steven got all of the details from Nessie and Mhairi. But he's certain by now people have already pointed such things to the kid, so Theseus doesn't feel the need to repeat what others may be saying.] It was a good decision to tell them about the mistreatment happening in Dorchacht.