hugtopia | [Video]

[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.]

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[Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, trying to reign in his anger. Maybe seeing Ardyn take a breath had reminded him to do it too, who knows. When he spoke again, his voice wasn't as loud.]

How much patience should someone have when they think someone they care about is being tortured? That's the catch. That's the line in the sand. That's the point of this that made everything go from acceptable to unacceptable.

I can compromise and be diplomatic with them and with you on just about everything else, but no. I won't budge on that. We had to know if someone was being hurt in those towers and make it stop.

We had evidence. We had a reasonable theory and a precedent of lack of questions being answered had been set. We took precautions so the natives wouldn't get hurt.

[Tony flips the feed to private.]

Tell me Ardyn. If that had been your nephew or Regis. How long should we have waited for the last resort? Because I promise you, if Reggie or Noctis ever go missing I hope you'd help me storm every building in this city until we're absolutely sure they're not here being hurt.

I don't have actual solid reason to believe anyone that's gone missing is still in this realm, much less being experimented upon. Unlike the rest of you, I have faith enough in this world's people not to assume the worst based on the faintest shreds of an idea.

[Tony's last remark was a step too far, and Ardyn snapped coldly without raising his voice:]

Not that it's any of your gods-damned business, but both my late fiancée and my little brother left this realm some time ago. If I had the faintest suspicion grounded in any reality that they were being hurt and not just some mad assumption, this conversation would not be happening and I would have done something before you ever arrived at all.

Don't ever question whether or not I care for my family. You don't know anything about me.

I don't put much stock in your reasoning skills since I've said we have evidence multiple times and you've yet to ask what those are. This theory of yours can't be based on anything rational if you don't test it against anything. It's only faith. From my experience people who believe in something on blind faith alone usually end up in cults being brain-washed and doing very terrible things to others. This is how corruption works and you're legitimately scaring me that you think this is reasonable.

[He might've continued to be belligerent but as Tony listened to Ardyn seething at his words, he did feel a touch of guilt. With another sigh, he held up a hand, palm to the screen.]

I'm sorry, but that's part of my confusion. That's what I would've expected you to do. I picked those two because I know they mean something to both of us. But, I'm sorry, I'll take it down a notch though.

[He gets it. There was a line and he crossed it. This was him, backing off a bit.]

Look, you don't know me either if you believe half the assumptions you've made during this argument. Do you honestly believe Regis would care so much about me if I was such a careless bastard? Do you think someone who has been trained by your family standards as a Shield wouldn't be more careful? If you have so much faith in these natives, why can't we have just a little benefit of the doubt?

Perhaps it might help if you knew, I was captured once for three months. I was tortured and hidden away so well no one was ever going to find me. I wasn't experimented on, but I was forced to do things for this organization built to oppress communities. I realize you're immortal but for someone who has been kidnapped and is in that kind of powerless position, three months is an eon. There are others in my group who have also suffered similarly.

Then tell me what your blasted evidence is! Prove you have reason to believe anyone's being held captive or experimented on. And if you did have such information, you should have come forward with it before doing anything this sudden and drastic.

[He seethed quietly for a moment or two, cooling off just a little as Tony backed down.]

...When I told you I was 'away' for a time? I was imprisoned alone on a forsaken island. Immobilized in complete darkness and near-absolute silence, nothing for companionship but my own delusions for two thousand years. No one ever knew I existed until I was found by a certain mad scientist some months before I came to Havenwell.

I have sympathy for you. I mean that, truly. But you need to understand that you aren't the only one in this conversation terrified of the idea of confinement.

There we go. To who?

[Didn't think he was the type who could back down, did ya?

Since they'd gotten this far, he was going to offer one more step toward an olive branch.. or maybe two.]

And I'm sympathetic you went through that too. I can't imagine what that must've been like. Clearly we can understand each other to a degree here even if we don't agree with how the other one has handled this situation.

We can do this a number of ways but, if you'd like, I'll pour us a couple drinks at my bar and I'll show you what we found in the native's journal entries. It's a relatively public place. You can bring someone if you wish. Whatever would make you comfortable.

Any of us. Making decisions like this affects us all, surely you see that now if you didn't before.

[He was still more than a little upset, and standing firm enough on his own perspective. But Ardyn wasn't one to pick a fight where one wasn't needed.]

No, you can't--I don't expect anyone to. I'll take a look at it, but don't expect me to keep such information secret if you decide to show me.

I did. I didn't do this alone. Who we're hearing on the network are the people I didn't pick to confide in.

[Tony clenches his jaw, having to physically force himself from speaking for a second so he doesn't pop off again.]

The information I'm about to show you has been public record in the information center for at least as long as I've been here. I was assuming if I showed you the copy I put on my tablet we could then discuss it face to face but if you'd rather, I'll just tell you where you can find them.

[ooc- Link in progress..]

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