kenoslogs | [ota] maybe we'll find better days

[ Dimitri has been adjusting to the changes. Waking up in Old Springstar has left him a bit dizzy - and finding out more about the floating islands high above and all the troubles that come with it are equally dizzying. Fortunately, the people in his neighborhood are willing to fill him in. Equally willing are some off-duty legionaries who have sneaked down for a visit and found him actually awake. It's a lot to grapple with - but he tries to carry on. There are things he should be doing and could be doing and he's not about to stop just yet.

Exploring Old Springstar is on his list, of course.

It's a growing place and it appeals to him. More than the floating city overhead, if he's honest. There's some disquieting information he's picking up - but. He can't do anything about that, can he? So he's in a very contemplative mood when he runs into Alice, her hands full of bags and packs. ]

Oh, Alice-!

[ He offers a small smile. ]

You don't need help with any of that, do you?

[Forgive her if she lights up a touch at seeing him. Beyond a familiar friendly face it's good to see Dimitri up and awake with the rest of the Shard-Bearers. There is complete sincerity to her tone as she pauses near him.]

It's good to see you.

[She considers what she's packing around at the moment and then looks back up his way.]

If you're not busy and have the strength for it.

[She seems to realize how that must sound as she offers up one of the bags she's carrying. It's chiefly packed full of produce. She seems quick to correct herself just a bit.]

I didn't exactly wake up completely physically weak but it's taking some time to work back up to what I once was.

[ To be fair, he's also happy to see a familiar face. Waking up in a strange new world is disorienting enough as it is. ]

Oh, it's no trouble at all.

[ He takes the bag without much apparent effort. Perks of having a Crest, probably. ]

...well. A century of sleep is something that one has to overcome, isn't it? Strange to think about. And yet... everything is changed. Different.

I suppose so. It's certainly not something I ever thought I would find out the direct effects of anyhow.

[That was more for ... oh what was it. Sleeping Beauty? Yes. Directing her gaze back to Old Springstar at large -- or at least where the pair of them stand at the moment -- she laughs a little.]

Thoroughly different but still much the same. The areas and people might have changed but some of the problems of the old days still exist.

[Her expression dims a bit with those last words.]

Old Springstar is much like an area I knew at home, District Zero. Ungoverned but by themselves, ignored by the military with a distinct hatred for the government up above them -- none of those are good of course. They're very familiar to me though.

[Not that she spent a great deal of time in District Zero but the familiarity is still comforting. It shouldn't be but it is.]

Yes. There's still the poor... the downtrodden. People struggling to build a better life for themselves. All of those people still need our help. Maybe even more now that so many have decided to simply leave them behind and go... elsewhere.

[ The idea of just upping stakes and floating off into the sky instead of actually trying to solve the problem makes his blood run hot. It's a complete abrogation of responsibility, as far as he's concerned. ]

But we may as well try to do what we can. Which is what I imagine you're in the middle of doing?

[At his mention of those who decided to simply go elsewhere Alice's look turns somewhat tired briefly. It would make her blood run more hot if it wasn't the same as District Zero and if she didn't remember half so well the heartbreak of realizing that the military wasn't doing what it should, that in the face of so much misery her war relief efforts felt so worthless.

His questions shakes her out of her moment of remembrance though. This isn't District Zero, she wasn't eighteen and fresh out of military school bursting to be a hero to the people anymore. The Imperial Army was worlds and now a century away, that whole identity of hers wrapped up with them just as far away too.

A faint smile curves her lips again.]

That's right.

[She pauses to pat the weighed down pack on her back now.]

I've been selling off the offerings left in my Resting Room and helping out the orphanage down here. I was sent out with a supplies list today.

Oh? People were leaving offerings for you as well...

[ He laughs softly. ]

It's strange to be regarded as some kind of intercessor - although it's not that different from being a king, I suppose.

[ He hoists his bag and looks a little distant as he considers. ]

How are they doing? The orphanage that is. I'm still saddened at how much this city has changed in some ways...

[Her face turns exaggeratedly tired now.]

I never imagined there could be anything as too many blades but my room was covered in them. They were even in my hair.

[She picks up the ankle-length braid that lays over her shoulder at the moment, swaying with her steps.]

When I asked around it seems like most of them took to calling me the 'Swordmaiden'. They even dressed me up in armor!

[That bit of fuming done with Alice gives out a sigh before a slight smile picks back up on her face.]

I can imagine they've been better but they're doing the best they can. The children are all well cared for and you can see the efforts they've made to provide them not just safe housing but affection as well.

[Her expression goes just a little fond, warm in a way it rarely was at home.]

They all accepted me with little fuss really. It's been ... very nice.

The Swordmaiden... I didn't hear of a specific name for myself, but...

[ He seems a little amused before he moves on. ]

Well, I'm glad that these particular orphans are at least doing well. But whatever we can do to help them - help this place - I think will be for the best.

[ He hums softly. ]

The people here are still the same as they've ever been. Even if the lower part of Kowloon still seems to exert some undue influence.

Ah, well, I believe most people forgot who I was over time.

[That doesn't seem to bother her apparently. She plugs right along with talking.]

I think whatever we can do for the whole of Old Springstar will be for the best. Even with Kowloon influencing them we can do a great deal of good for the people we help. Change is a slow process after all.

[She seems so sure of that. And so future-thinking for a Meridian who is supposedly chasing their own world's revival. Her tone turns a touch harsher as she adds:]

I won't even go into the actions of the military in Skysong though.

[Alright maybe her blood can run a little hot over it after all.]

It is a slow process. Some people would prefer it be much faster... but I don't know if you can make change safely all that quickly.

[ He, too, cares about the future, even if he wants his world and all on it returned. Like her, his expression darkens. ]

...yes. It seems rather than protect people they would prefer to force them into exile. Or worse from what I've been hearing. I want to know when they decided to agree to such a thing.

I wish I could say it's unusual but I'm not so surprised they went such a direction. In my world District Zero became a dumping ground for all those problems the military wished to ignore. In many ways they strived to protect an image versus anything else.

[She lets go of a sigh. This is something she's been mulling over much of the time since she woke up and found the world so eerily like her own ... or with the same undercurrents.]

I can imagine after the messy fight that killed Cyrus and saw civilians looking at the army with distrust? They likely scrambled to protect their image. The average citizen in Skysong cares more about their own safety and the peace of their neighborhoods more than who is and isn't being outcast. There is certainly fear there at the idea of possibly being outcast themselves but they also likely convince themselves that they wouldn't be for one reason or another.

[Alice adjusts the bag on her back again, gaze distant and expression all grim soldier once again.]

That was the one thing that disappointed me most about the military -- the reliance on image. I do understand such things are important in all walks of life even down to fighting itself but for many it is used as much as a shield as it is a necessity.

[And Alice here in her simple clothes and hacked off hair isn't one to flirt with building up an image for her own sake.]

Edited (I just hate using the same word too much and yet I do it anyhow, wtf.) 2024-04-04 16:50 (UTC)

How unfortunately typical...

[ Dimitri murmurs. He doesn't disagree with her assessment, he just finds it tiresome and despairing. There's so much that could be done - that might still be done - to build better lives for people. And yet so many seemed to want to turn inward rather than help in any meaningful way. His gaze is downcast and expression thoughtful as he tries to think of something to say to that. ]

Image is important in many things, but... thinking of only the image, thinking it's the only thing that matters... it's a mistake. And more than that, forsaking others for the sake of that image is even worse. Peace and security are things people deserve of course, but... to simply cut off so many people.

[ He shakes his head. ]

It doesn't sit right with me.

[Alice turns a sympathetically soft smile towards Dimitri.]

It doesn't sit right with me either.

[She gives him a pat on the arm much as one would do a comrade. She's much freer with her touching nowadays, less tied to a strict need to be noble 24/7.]

I would like to change that about Skysong but at present there are also people here in Old Springstar who need help. I'm choosing for now to focus my attention where it is most needed. Those who can do for those who cannot, yes?

[She thought that back in Alenroux and she still thinks so now. That's simply the core of who Alice is though.]

I believe once I am capable of it that I'll move down here to Old Springstar. I don't want to stay in my Resting Room anyhow; it feels like less of a room and more a shrine now.

[Albeit a very untended to shrine but a shrine no less.]

I agree with all of that. I used to help out in my neighborhood in Springstar... and I want to continue to do that even here. People somewhat remember me. That's... all I can ask for I suppose. But if I can start to help improve their lives somehow, I want to do it.

[ He gives her a little nod. ]

As it turns out my house remained down here... so I needn't move anywhere.

Oh! Well that was lucky then! I hadn't had a chance to find anything before the Oracle happened.

[She laughs gently.]

I suppose that was for the best though. Who knows when anyone would have found me otherwise!

[They're coming up near the area of the orphanage now and Alice notes:]

I believe Jade was in one of the lower rooms of the orphanage itself.

Was she? I haven't been tracking where everyone's been staying. Maybe I should be looking into that... just to make sure I can follow up on people.

[ He shifts the bag to his other arm. ]

...it does feel strange to be... what? Revered? Are we truly that special? Even as a king I didn't feel like I necessarily deserved the adoration I received.

I haven't either but I happened to hear about it from some of the children.

[Obviously none of the ones she spoke to mentioned the state Jade was in but details. For now she perks her brows at his questions.]

Well you can only imagine how we must have looked, yes? Undecaying for a hundred plus years, living but not? I have seen people revered for far less.

[That said she tilts her head a little.]

If you were revered I doubt it was undeserved. For people to remember you after a hundred years you must have touched someone's lives very significantly before the Repose. Is it not a sign of their gratefulness to some degree? Even if it gets lost in layers of time and becomes more tradition than anything ... it started somewhere, that adoration, and for some reason as well.

...I suppose so. We must have seemed like saints or some sort of immortals.

[ He sighs. Still, it's not something he's totally comfortable with. ]

And... yes. There's that. I suppose I would rather be remembered for that sort of thing than not. Although typically one isn't around to hear about it a few generations down the line. But... yes. It could be much worse, certainly.

[She studies Dimitri a moment as they walk.]

Is it just the attention that bothers you then?

[Not that she knows him intimately well of course but he strikes her as the sort of man even before this talk that prefers not to draw attention to himself. Or perhaps be looked up to? Maybe both?]

Edited 2024-04-05 22:26 (UTC)

...I'm not sure it's the attention so much as the praise for things I'm not ultimately responsible for.

[ It's a self-esteem thing, of course. ]

[Oh. Well. Alice rolls that around in her head.]

Such as what? Did those who took care of you attribute their good fortune to you or things like that?

[That's what some people did religiously anyhow.]

...something like that I suppose. It's more that - I'm just a man at the end of the day. King or not. And I would prefer to help people with my own hands. I accept thanks for it, but to held up and... turned into a symbol... well. Maybe that's necessary when I'm a king. But it doesn't always feel right.

[ He's trying to explain, albeit a bit awkwardly. ]

[It takes a moment of Alice watching him as he explains himself before it seems to click. Then she goes "ah" literally out loud, nodding her head.]

I understand. There were those at home who wished to see me as a defender of justice -- or even a hero. To be a symbol though is to not be strictly be just a person anymore.

[Which Alice, well ... she has some issues with seeing herself as anything but a tool and a receptacle.]

But ... in the service of justice and as a tool for the people ... you must be willing to give that up.

[Yes? No?]

Edited 2024-04-05 23:59 (UTC)

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