soulping | TAKSHAKA

TAKSHAKA

[VP-tan ushers you into your color-coded team rooms, before bowing respectfully.]

Please start out by telling each member of your team something you like about them, while I finish up. It should only take a moment.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Whenever a game starts, even if it's a friendly Echo, that's what I think about. How long before the next Echo we thought was good does something like that?

I'm going to keep us all safe. Hope here gets in the way of that.

[ ffffrowns ]

Nightingale, Rotten is good. When she ran that game, she honestly didn't realize none of us wanted to help her with anything like that. But she learned better when we showed her that. There are going to be Echoes that pretend to be friendly and harmless that end up being dangerous [ she won't pretend otherwise, not when she knows how Yaksinis started out ] but that's no reason to assume the worst of all of them.

Hope is what gives us strength and courage when everything sucks, so giving it up won't protect us. It won't protect you either.

... I've lost hope before. I know what it does. Losing hope can dull your reaction time, betrayal can blind you. If I don't have any hope for them, then I'll be able to be at top shape when it does happen.

No, you won't be. No one can be at top shape if they're always expecting the worst from everyone and everything without any hope for the best.

Then what should I do? There's not much to give me hope, here.

Keep the things that do give you hope in mind. Don't forget them, or try to push them out of your head.

I can't control how I feel. It's not like I can flip a switch and have hope.

I know. What I mean is... [ she taps a finger against her lips ] When you find something that makes you feel even a little hopeful, try remember what it is.