[Video]

[callmegladio]

[The feed opens on Gladio, sat in his garden, the sun shining down on him. The sky is bright, the weather warm but a cool breeze ruffles his hair. The garden is well tended, green and well kept. The scene might have been a lovely and calm one if not for the serious look on Gladio's face. He's not quite looking at the screen, but off to the side, seemingly lost in thought for a long moment before he heaves a heavy sigh.

Still not looking at the screen, he starts to speak.]

It's been long enough. I've had time to think, so I'm going to tell you why I did what I did.

[He goes quiet again, considering his next words.]

I know... some of you are pissed we did this. You were happy livin in blissful ignorance, trusting this world without question. And for a while I was too. Till I realised how messed up that was.

I was so desperate for a peaceful life I didn't think...

[Gladio glanced at the screen then, his eyes narrow slightly.]

When did we all just roll over and accept this insanity? We were kidnapped from our homes, our families, and trapped in this bubble. We were given the most basic info and told to accept it. The most basic food we can't even really call 'food', and we accepted it. We were given tasks and rules and hoops to jump through, and we accepted it. We were forced to touch, kiss, hold and reveal secrets to strangers, and we accepted it. It was the 'will of the Gods'. We all just nodded and accepted it. Why? Why have we accepted all this? Why do people keep coming and going? Where do they go? Do they just go home? Or are they taken? Are they being hurt? Experimented on like the animals they had us catch? Why do these weird things keep happening? Why can't they answer our questions?

And why are we terrorists for wanting answers? We hurt no one. We destroyed nothing. We're the heroes of this world, right? Here to save the planet. So what are they keeping so secret?

Why aren't you all asking questions?

Why're you just rolling over and accepting their truth?

[Again he looks away, heaved another heavy sigh and brought a hand up to rub tiredly at his eyes. He definitely looked tired. Stressed. His tone shifting from angry to confused to desperate for people to understand, and for himself to understand why no one else was fighting.]

We're forced from our homes... Our families. We form bonds with people only to watch them vanish. And... I don't know bout anyone else, but I didn't consent to this. I never signed up for this world.

I want answers. We wanted answers. And we weren't gettin them. So we went looking for them.

[Here he laughs, low and without humour. A shake of his head and a sardonic glance at the screen.]

The fact the natives reacted the way they did should be a red flag. What're they protecting so badly? What's so secret? What aren't they telling us? Is it about what really happened to this world? Who these 'Gods' are? How we actually got here and why? Where our friends go when they suddenly disappear?

And we're the bad guys?

How's that make sense?

[Gladio shrugged and with one last sigh he reached out and switched the feed off. He'd said what he wanted. Now he would lie down in the sun and try and calm down.]

Comments

[pinkmin]

That is what life does.

Bonds vanish whether you are at home or not. You do not get to choose that.

But I went home and picked up where I left off.

[callmegladio]

bonds vanish. but not like they do in worlds like this.

i'm sorry you returned to that point, vianca. when i go back... when tony goes back... i get it. this place is better compared to what we've left behind. but that doesn't mean i can ignore my suspicions. maybe i'm wrong. maybe i'm right.

i'm sorry this upset you. i did what i felt was right. i don't regret that.

[pinkmin]

Why would it be any different between this world and another?

I left. I came back. You are angry at people for not asking questions when we have, and yet no one had asked me anything. Is it inconvenient for the narrative?

[callmegladio]

because it's not normal for a friend to be there one day and gone the next without a trace. if that happened in my world, i'd assume somethin bad happened to them

i didn't realise you were back, vianca. but the questions i wanted to ask, i don't think you could answer.

i lost my temper. for that im sorry. i'm not angry with people. i'm angry with myself.

[pinkmin]

I see. For most people, getting to say goodbye is a luxury they don't know they have.

You were not the only one that could have asked them. [Tony knew she was back, after all, and it seemed like he was just as angry at people not asking questions.] I know I am only one data point, but it is still one more than people had before.

[callmegladio]

depends on the way they go. here, it's not dying. it's just vanishing. that's different.

you don't think i've asked questions? from people and natives? because i have.

[pinkmin]

I am glad your friends feel fit to say goodbye to you normally. I have never had that opportunity elsewhere.

The last question you posed to a public forum was why blankets shrink.

[callmegladio]

here, yeah. in person? i've asked questions. no one has answers, just guesses.

[pinkmin]

It just seems unfair to be angry at a collective for not asking questions if you have not given everyone an opportunity to answer you. Did you ask everyone these things? Or just the people that confirmed your suspicions?

Maybe they would not have had the answers, but it would have been a better way to get people on your side than berating them afterwards.

[Said the 11-year-old.]

[callmegladio]

are you deliberately missin the fact i apologised that i lost my temper and 'berating people' wasn't what i'd wanted?

or are you just gonna keep telling me off?

because if you are, we can stop this here. because it's unfair to be angry with me for tryin to get answers my way because it doesn't suit you, so i have to do it your way to make you and everyone else happy.

[pinkmin]

[Please hold she is going outside to touch some grass.]

You might not have intended it that way, but that is how people have taken it. If you lose your temper, it is normal for others to lose their temper as well.

I think that may come across as 'telling you off' again. I am trying to apologize for losing my temper as well.

There is nothing wrong with wanting answers. I am only angry that I had an answer, but no chance to provide it. I know it is just one, but it is all I have.

[callmegladio]

vianca... you had one answer to one question, but there's no guarantee that answer'll be the same for everyone.

i left the last place i lived and came here. i didn't go back to eos. that tells me goin home isn't always an option.

[pinkmin]

I know it is just one. I am aware that it might not be the same for everyone, but it is at least a confirmed possibility. That is more than you had before, isn't it? That the same person from the same timeline could leave and come back.

I am sorry it does not count for much.