Q&A Sessions for Orders and Conscience

Question: Is This Emotional Damage, Physical Damage, Or Both?

Northwind: I... I can't with this...

Blue: *Grinning* That was fun. Can I do it again?!

Tal'nera: ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

Blue: Hey, why is he here? Didn't he get sent back to the regular timeline or something?

Tal'nera: I've been here the entire time! You just haven't noticed.

Blue: I feel like you're gaslighting me or something...

Northwind: He hasn't spoke since Council of Chaos. However, everyone else has returned to the regular timeline. Probably easy to dismiss since I don't explain the scene here.

Blue: Ah, ok. So... what's the question this time?

Northwind: Well, this is technically for Tal'nera, but I feel an outside perspective might help as well. So K'dela and Vac'shar will also help, since I don't think Umbitr's on the same page as us...

Brown: No, I'm not. I only took action because K'dela helped me realized who was to blame here...

Northwind: Alrighty then. This question was asked by rosevoltaris and she would like to know why was it that the council blamed humans for Tal'nera's torture when it was, in fact, them.

Tal'nera: Maker's breath, why did I miss this?

Black: Would you rather have joined in on the chaos with *jerks thumb over shoulder to point at Vac'shar.*

Red: *Rolling his eyes while holding Pluffsy* I said sorry, okay?!

Orange: *Rubs his forehead* No matter how many times I hear that, it still sounds weird coming out of Red's mouth.

Cyan: Same. Without the 'you never heard it from me,' it sounds so weird.

Red: Okay, I get it. I get it. Can we please move on?

Black: Right. So, do you remember anything, Tal'nera?

Tal'nera: Uh, no? I was freaking out on that table, being forcefully stuck in a form that I didn't want to be stuck in, and then they dripped diluted drops of Silthir oil on patches of my skin to let it corrode.

Black: Really? I never saw that...

Brown: Sky healed the wounds as soon as I got him into MedBay. There was a reason why I had Tal'nera in a blanket instead of holding him directly.

Lime: That's interesting. I would have thought it was because you didn't want him to go into shock while you were transporting him.

Brown: Well, that too.

Red: Are we going to go to the point or...?

Black: Right, sorry! Anyway, why the Council blamed humans for what happened/was happening to Tal'nera. Well... I'm not exactly sure. I suppose they wanted students who were in the top ten percent of the class to be on their side... but at the same time, they could have used that as a show that a punishment was always followed through. By the way, what was it that you did?

Tal'nera: I... refused to kill a child. I defied the orders of my guide. Several times.

Cyan: How does that constitute as 'appropriate for a near death torture?!' What is wrong with you people?!

Black: A lot of things, get used to it. Anyway, I would guess that they blamed the humans because refusing to kill a child and getting punished for it wouldn't sit well with our people.

Red: Yeah, we're mentally unstable, not insane yet. Not all of us would like to kill a child.

Blue: Would you though?

Tal'nera: Okay, I don't know what you think of us, but surely not this...

Green: The crew ghost stories literally have you guys painted as sadistic killers.

Tal'nera: ... Fair enough.

Brown: *Mutters* You might be mentally unstable...

Red: I got therapy, thank you very much. Now, the Council is the one who is insane.

White: Is it 'is' or 'are' for that verb?

Yellow: Does it... matter?

Northwind: No, what matters is that you need to answer the question as best as you can. So why did the Council blame the torture on humans instead of owning up?

Tal'nera: Well... I'm very well-liked, for one. If they told everyone that they were torturing me, they might have a riot of their hands...

Black: Eh, I think it was more the 'refused to kill a child' thing.

Lime: For goodness sake, who can tell me what is wrong with you people?!

Northwind: Absolutely everything. Absolutely everything.