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Yo~

So I've been kinda thinking that in light of the shit that just went down, maybe I'd sign up with the military. I've got a pretty sweet gig monster hunting, but it just doesn't feel like it has any meaning, you know? I've trained for this shit (the military) pretty much my whole life, so I figure they could use me. I’ve been here for like a year now and I kinda figure that if I was brought here for a reason, this is probably it.

I was just wondering if anyone else here has had much contact with these guys. What are your impressions? Have you signed up already? How's the pay, and do they seem decent to you? Any spectacularly hot babes I should know about?

That's it. That's the message. Thanks for your time.

~Gideon Nav

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I think the only one I know who does is Sephiroth.

But could be they make you go fight our own people at some point, Gids, or attack where they are, not sure that's what you want?

There are always casualties in war though, right? And like, surely anyone in Thorne will wanna get the hell out of dodge knowing they're aligned with a place that just blew up a load of innocent people?

[He does have a point though. Fighting people who didn't ask for any of this, killing uninvolved and innocent parties-- would that ever sit right with her? Unlikely.

But she just feels lost as all hell right now.]

I'd be wary of anything that's so organized. If it doesn't work, I don't see how they'd let you go easily.

What if I didn't want them to let me go?

[Which is, perhaps, a very un-Gideon thing to say.]

Getting outta Thorne isn't easy. It might be impossible now. Do what you want, but keep that in mind.

Like Julie said, it's not about want. They're not allowed to leave the castle or the castle grounds.

[.......well. Apparently hot vampire make outs don't help every ill.]

Well, I suppose that's a choice that I'm in no place to argue against.

So like, everyone's a prisoner there now?
Not just some people, seemingly at random?

[It's the reason she'd left, ultimately. She supposes she shouldn't be surprised.]

Then surely we should do something.

[This is all so horribly, achingly frustrating.]

Kind of. Golden cage type of deal. They get everything they want, they live like royalty, but they can't leave. Thorne tracks them, too. Like, with a magical tracking mark they can find anywhere in the kingdom.

[it worked.......until Libertas got blown all to hell and the guilt came in thick and fast.]

Uuuuuugh.
You might never hear me say this again ever in my life.
Or you know, read it or whatever.
I just wish someone would tell me what the fuck I'm meant to do.

What the actual fuck.
Clearly we're dealing with a whole bunch of psychos.
That much was evident from the beginning, I guess.
But isn't that all the more reason to do something?

I mean, let's not pretend like Reiner isn't doing the same thing to us. The government here for sure knows who and where we are. Maybe not as precise as Thorne, but it's not exactly a utopia of freedom or anything over here either.

Anyway, like I said, it was super hard to leave when I did it, and I didn't live in the Castle. I was a week's ride out and I still had to do shit through back alleys. And it cost a fucking fortune. Portals can be tracked too. I doubt there's any way to get to them from the outside.

Yeah, but is there any place anywhere that isn't kinda like that, to some degree?
On the Ninth they used an ankle cuff for tracking.
Or they did if you were indentured, anyway.
Basically, someone's always gotta be in control and they always suck.
At least here we can mostly do what we want.

And well, fuck.
I just left through a portal during that whole execution fiasco.
But if we can't do anything on our own, couldn't something like the military be used for like an extraction op or something?

[Growing up in a literal tomb full of ancient old nuns maaaaay have left her naive as fuck, in some respects.]

Yeah, I'm not so sure about "do what we want". These people think of us as bodies and weapons, they just aren't using us yet. Even if the others came here, it'd be more of the same, and it doesn't stop Thorne from summoning.

Um, that would start a full-on war.

I've been yelling that for MONTHS. There are people there who would leave it they could, especially after the attack, but they're stuck.

[Damnit, why can't he be the correct undead hottie here.]

You'll never hear me repeat the words to you either.

At the end of the day, your focus is on one person, right?

Well, fuck.
This complicates things.
But I can't take just sitting on my ass while people are getting blown up or imprisoned for no reason.

I kinda thought that was how every ruling organisation thought of people.
Just like, pawns to move around you know?
Isn't that what they called us here for?
My only real surprise is that they're taking so damn long to do anything with us.

Fuck.
Well, I don't know.
I'm the muscle, not the brains.
Harrow always said I did my best thinking with my biceps, ha.
But sitting around doing fuck all of relevance while they blow the shit out of people and other Summoned just up and disappear can't be our only option.

[He's still her favourite undead hottie if that counts for anything ;;]

Well yeah, kinda.
Forever the sword of my Umbral Sovereign.

But I'm also not a fan of sitting around and watching people get blown up.

[Not that she has been 'just sitting around'. She has poured her efforts into helping in any way she can, since the attack. Nothing feels enough.]

[It do, but that only goes so far right now!]

...Do they have knights in any of your literature back home?

I guess to like, a degree. But Thorne and Solvunn don't treat their Summoned like the Cities, not really. Thorne thinks our connection to the Singularity is special, and they need it to save the Singularity, so they don't want to risk Summoned any more than they have to. Solvunn believes the Summoned are related to their old gods. Or maybe that we ARE the old gods, I'm not sure.

Anyway, you can see, it's not the same as here. You get summoned into Cadens and the first thing they do is try to enlist you. Like we're just troops for something they're building up to.

I think sitting by is our only option for right now. Our people in Thorne are going to have to make a plan of their own. The only way out is from the inside.

But as far as joining the military, just remember, it wouldn't only be the castle they'd go after. Cities full of innocent people hundreds and hundreds of miles from the castle would get killed because the queen had a bitch fit. And I know that's how war works and all, but you gotta decide whether you're cool being the one who pulls the trigger on them. From what our people in Thorne said, even the other mages and stuff didn't know the queen was going to go this far. So it's basically saying that it's worth killing thousands of people who have never even been to the castle, if she dies.

Like I said, it's your choice. I just happen to come from somewhere that'd been at war since before I can remember. It wasn't even on our land, we were at war on the other side of the world. Hundreds of thousands of people died, and most of them were civilians. My country had the biggest military in the world.

Yeah, not that different from Cavaliers, right?
Except they don't all serve the King Undying and his necros.

Damn, looks like I picked wrong after all.
Why loiter around here when I could be worshipped in the way I deserve??
All jokes aside though, I kinda thought that's how shit worked.
Back home most House citizens aim to end up in the Cohort and serve God.
Like that's what we're meant to do, protect Him and the Houses.
Destroy his enemies who are like, obviously evil.

[Because it's surely that straightforward, right...]

But that made sense.
This is just fucked.

Were you ever on the frontline, where you're from?

The trade-off is that you have to work on a farm and live in a cult. Which might be based on goats. So. Pros and cons.

[ Honestly, the description of Gideon's religion sounds... awful. Julie's familiar with the concept of religion as a metaphor for war, of course -- she can still sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" from memory. And there's wars between religions, which is similar, maybe. But it sounds more literal, the way Gideon describes it. ]

My religion is less
militant, I guess.
Most religions are, where I come from. Violent ones aren't really very popular anymore. And the fights are between the groups themselves. Mostly Muslims attacking the rest of us.

But god no, I wasn't in the military. My country didn't have mandatory service. I had family members go out there, though.

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Making sure this is private etc. etc.

very private and locked!!

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cw julie is very rural and american, forgive her for talking about religion like this