[IC Inbox | Meadowlark]

[lifetothefullest]

@lance.sweets | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[lifetothefullest]

That's really useful to know, thank you. So it was all propaganda, basically? And the public was made aware of this?

I would like that, thank you. I'll also make edits to the document in the next day or so to add all of this.

[He'd do it now but he's in the middle of about four things, because life here is ridiculous right now, welcome back to this mess.]

[evasives]

[ there's a link to a few little videos. they still exist, even if sometimes they get taken down quickly.

Yes. They released a statement about Kurt's "death" after the initial torture and it soured public opinion on Morningstar for quite some time, as they believed Fisher murdered. They made sure to visibly show off his grieving family and play up his role as a good loyal soldier. In truth he was relocated to New Rio for a few months to lay low, before being sent to New Beijing.

The UNA using Judas was the more damning evidence, but combined with proof Fisher was alive it all served it's purpose in proving the UNA liars. I still do my best to run counter propaganda as necessary, though it seems the tide towards the Displaced is shifting yet again into something more mixed.

[lifetothefullest]

I wish I could say I was surprised that the UNA would do such a thing, but unfortunately it seems like they've well-established their willingness to use whatever means necessary.

Speaking of current outlook on the Displaced, I had hoped people coming out the Aerie would be understanding about the fact that we went through the same thing they did, though I do understand their suspicion. We're going to need to figure out how to best address that sooner rather than later.

[evasives]

Their reach is not to be underestimated. We fractured the faith in the Army, but at the same time it created a power vacuum.

The people of this planet have been through a lot in the months I have been here, and it seems to have escalated once the "blue glow" arrived. We are constantly at the center of it, whether through our own devices or otherwise. For some, it becomes easy to blame us, given how much we have shifted the status quo.

But for the most part, we do good work and good outreach. If we continue to support the people of this planet and help meet their needs better than their governments are doing, it will not hurt. We prove it with our actions. The problem becomes the ricochet of everyone having their own ideas.

[lifetothefullest]

Do you know if the UNA was the only force the UN had? Officially or unofficially.

I hope so. I haven't been here that long, but public opinion seemed really favorable toward us after the monster attack and to have that change so quickly is worrying. But then again, if the shift in opinion was that fast, hopefully if we continue to prove our good intentions it can change once again.

[But all of that aside--]

How are you doing, by the way? With all of this.

[evasives]

I think it was the force they put most of their development into, especially with the use of Judas. It is difficult to say what else they have hidden, given they kept Judas a secret for four hundred years.

It is undoubtedly hindered by the UN pushing back against us. People at their core want to feel safe, and associating us so deeply with the Aerie takes that safety away from them, especially when it comes from the UN, which has historically on this planet kept them safe. Community outreach alongside continued sabotage of the UN go nicely hand in hand.

I am fine. My identity in the Aerie was not a drastic shift. You were in the quarry, correct? How are you doing, should probably be the question? [ he's spoken to lance before, but the memories of the aerie and lance's participation in cassian's plan to blow up the aforementioned quarry bring another tiny layer to it. he will not, however, mention lance dying in that pesky quarry. ]

[lifetothefullest]

I guess we'll just have to be as prepared as we can be.

The point of going public was supposed to be in order to kind of combat the UN's stories, though I feel like we may not be using that to its full advantage, at least not at the moment. But I'm interested in both the community outreach and the sabotage ideas.

[As for Cassian's answer he's not totally sure he believes the quick dismissal, but he'll go along with it for now.]

I'm okay. My identity wasn't a huge shift either, so even with the quarry I've got an advantage over those of us who are really having to come to terms with being a very different person. Some of them have been having a really difficult time with it.

[evasives]

That is all we can ever do here.

I had been running counterpropaganda efforts since the initial Judas reveal, but I agree combatting the UN's stories will take more than one publicity stunt. They have been in power for too long for complete destabilization to happen overnight. We must continue to undermine public trust in them.

[ for once in his life, cassian isn't being evasive about how he's doing. he is genuinely in a much better place than others post aerie. he did worse things as an alliance rebel than his kestrel self did. ]

I have made far more bombs as my actual self than the Aerie version. But the drastic shift for others is a lot to come back to, especially with the state of this planet. It makes it easy for people to throw themselves into work, but it only puts off the other problems.

[lifetothefullest]

What have you been doing? I imagine that the amount of information that circulates makes it very difficult to get any particular message heard.

Yeah. Once things begin to settle more, and there's less need for constant work, I think the issues will become more apparent. We'll all need to be aware of and watch out for each other, so that we don't miss someone needing help.

[evasives]

I have mostly been working with Morningstar to disseminate information, to keep countering what the UN does. I have admittedly fallen behind with the Aerie situation, but I was largely focused on making sure the UN could not trace our faces and efforts from the initial mission and continuing to counter their attempts to justify Judas.

Unfortunately, it has been a string of constant work in New Amsterdam and all over lately. We as a group are not very good at giving ourselves a break, but the world does not offer it either. [ he says we, and he knows that technically includes himself, but he is still not going to actually put himself in that category. ]

[lifetothefullest]

I think the Aerie situation is a pretty good excuse for falling behind.

[If it could even be called that. This is a lot to be dealing with for all of them, even those that overall didn't have the worst experiences.]

That's the most difficult part. People need time to rest and recover, and without that opportunity the stress and trauma only compound.

[evasives]

And it has given us more to push back against as well. I was worried about a power vacuum, and I see the UN is trying to regain some of it's sway.

This planet is going to end up compounding a lot of it. You sound like you are speaking from experience. [ not gonna deny that though. lance is very correct, and that's the story of cassian's life. ]

[lifetothefullest]

It's a perfect opportunity for them. Having scapegoats that are so present in everyone's memories makes it even easier.

We're all kind of going through the same experience, aren't we?

[He's evading the question a little, but it is true. Except for people who are very new, the effect is probably already being felt.]

[evasives]

Exactly. We need to find a way to push back against that, and I think proving we are still on the people's side is a good first step.

In this case, yes, but who knows what we have all seen before this world. It could be making the Aerie worse for some.

[ oh cassian 100% notices the evasive maneuver, mostly because he's an expert in it himself, but it doesn't feel necessary to press. ]

[lifetothefullest]

We've been very visible in the efforts to help those returning, so hopefully we have a head start on that.

It could. I feel like that's forgotten often.

[About many issues. A lot of people here seem to forget that each Displaced has a whole history in their own worlds, with their own experiences and skills and knowledge and trauma, and those things still matter here.]

[evasives]

It has to stay consistent, but on the whole we have been fairly good at that consistency, barring circumstances like the Aerie.

I think a lot of people here forget about other perspectives than their own. We are all biased by our experiences, but some have a harder time remembering that. The only thing all of us have in common at the base level is the blue glow and powers. What we each think is the road to recovery forward varies, and that seems to be a big source of conflict at the moment.

[ cassian would never claim to be without bias, and he knows his own life has made adaption to this world a little easier on him - to start, it's that alone that's made his return from the aerie much smoother than others. but he would claim he tries to be aware of that more often than not. ]

[lifetothefullest]

Having those different experiences is something that could be so beneficial to us too; we have such varied skills and knowledge and talents, and if we could work together to use them it might give us an advantage in dealing with the sorts of things we have to face. I don't expect everyone to agree on how to do everything, but extending some empathy toward each other during a disagreement is something that's relatively simple to do.

[And unfortunately ,they so often can't even manage that. But he suddenly realizes this is probably not the right situation to be talking about this, so--]

Sorry; that's not your fault, so I shouldn't be complaining at you.

[evasives]

It's fine. Clearly it is something that has been on your mind. But if it helps, I do agree we as a group have great potential to work together - we have done it before successfully, even if some of our failures tend to get more notice.

Combining powers into something new is useful teamwork; the problem them becomes disagreement over how to use it rather than examining it from a joint perspective.