2020-04-19: Dean the Seer
- Log: Dean the Seer
- Cast: Dean Stark, Rebecca Streisand, Avril Vent Fleur
- Where: The Thames - Upper Deck
- Date: April 19, 2020
- Summary: Dean has been offered a role of great importance, so naturally he speaks to his friends about it first. They offer their concerns, but also encourage him.
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
Ah, the Thames: *the* place to go for Gear-related needs. Dean has a Gear already, and so do his two closest friends and perennial travel companions, so when he found several Gears during an expedition with Boudicca and Ida, well... He didn't really need any?? But someone (probably Ida) pointed out that it would sell for good money and/or could be disassembled for spare parts, so Dean decided to take one out with him after all so he could bring it here later. Naturally, he came with Avril and Rebecca, and after selling that Gear, is taking them both out to dinner. He himself has a mountain of spaghetti and meatballs on his plate, and is eagerly chowing down.
He at least pauses long enough to take a drink before looking over at Avril and Rebecca. "So, I already told you guys about the Gears and stuff me and Ida and Boudicca found," he says, flagrantly disregarding proper grammar. "But there's something else that came up after all that that I wanted to talk to you guys about. Umm--you know the whole..." He gestures in the air. "You know about Malevolence and how certain people can make it go away? And it involves a Seraph and a human? Well, Boudicca's one of the Seraphs who has those powers, and she said she wanted me to help her out with it--become a Seer and help her as an Oracle with purifying Malevolence. She and Ida said they thought I'd be really good at it! It's caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people, so I was thinking I'd say yes... but you've both scolded me for jumping into things without thinking them through first, so." He scratches his head, then rubs a finger under his nose. "I wanted to ask what you two think about it first!
"So. What d'you guys think?"
At least he didn't waste any time beating around the bush.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca is having fish, on a bed of angel hair pasta with a light buttery sauce and vegetables. While she's not picking at the plate, she's certainly not eating it with as much gusto as Dean is.
"That's right." Rebecca says idly, as she carves off a piece of fish, twirls it up in angel hair and chews on it as she makes eye contact with Dean as he starts speaking about something else coming up. Swallowing, she finds her fork pausing back to her plate, "Sure. Like with the Shepherd?" Rebecca questions, from her notes back when they were on Lunar and she was committed to figuring out the lay of the land.
Yet Dean speaks of a different method. One she'd heard about...
Dean as an Oracle. Dean purifying malevolence... Dean...
"So - you just get the power to purify malevolence? That's all there is to it? Well, what's the catch?" Rebecca says as she puts back her fork, and reaches into her pack placing her artificial Medium down on the table. "Like, from what I heard, the Seer gets their powers from a Guardian right? What does that mean when it comes to you? Because the way I see it, the three of us never entered into that kind of agreement. We just got a gift from Old Man Tony."
She says, while putting a hand down on the edge of the Medium. Sure she had two other Mediums now that weren't artificial, but the way she sees it, this is what started it all. "And while Avril's always had a pretty good relationship with Lucadia; I'm really not sure what to think about the rest of them, after everything they said in that Temple."
Rebecca looks sidelong at Avril, as if trying to gauge her own thoughts. "Maybe it's not too different from using these, but it still feels like you'd be taking your relationship with the Guardians and with the Seer up to the next level." Before she then fastens her eyes on Dean again, "You sure you're ready for the kind of commitment Dean? I'll support you if you can tell me that you are."
The way she talks about it, it's like Dean just told her he was dating or something...
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Avril had in fact just returned here herself, to get some work done on her Gear -- while it's true she has enough of a sense about these things to tackle the matter herself, if she has the parts and equipment, it seemed (particularly in light of the request Dean had made) the simpler matter to simply leave it to the professionals.
Miracle of miracles, the bulk of the crew is either asleep or out on salvage: the mess hall is a lot quieter than it tends to be most evenings aboard the Thames.
Which isn't something that Avril minds -- the noise -- but given the weight of what Dean has to say...
"You did, yes," Avril says, carefully setting down her fork.
Her own dinner is apparently a goat cheese and spinach savory crepe, to judge by the ingredients.
"Was there something more, Dean?"
There was.
She listens a moment, her expression quite sober, as if she is weighing already what comes with the responsibility Dean is detailing to her. "So you would be assisting Boudicca," who Avril knows is a Seraph, from Dean talking about her before, "in cleansing Malevolence. Do I have this correct, Dean?"
She glances then over at Rebecca, tilting her head slightly to the right as she listens to the other woman.
"A 'catch'..."
...but there is a price that must be paid, echoes the memory. The first real, concrete thing that she has remembered--
Other than the vision of those eyes.
Avril blinks but the once, as if to rouse herself from that all-too-brief reverie, and focuses again on Dean.
Her attention turns towards Rebecca. "Is there always a price to be paid for such things?" she asks the other girl, bafflement coloring her features.
Of course, there is the way which they had spoken of her, back then. "...I admit, knowing what I know now... perhaps there may yet be a reason for their reaction. Though, I know not why I am able to use those Mediums, while the Hyadeans and Veruni yet cannot."
There is a pause.
"I must agree with Rebecca. Doubtless, this may see you put in harm's way, but much the same can be said for our travels. ...If this is what you truly wish, and if you understand that there may be consequences both seen and unforseen, then I see no reason to object."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
The Seer and the Oracle, working together to purify Malevolence. Like with the Shepherd? "Yup," Dean says, nodding to Rebecca. "I think it's a little different, but I'm not sure how exactly. When Avril summarizes the matter, he smiles at her and nods again. "Yup! That's right. I'm still gonna travel with you guys first of all, but..." He pauses and considers. "I guess I oughtta ask Boudicca how all that works? Like, if we have to stick together and stuff? I usually see her with Ida these days, and Ida's her other Seer, the one she's already got."
Rebecca expresses her doubts, but also says she'll support his decision if he's really sure of it. "Well, I know the Guardians can be kinda jerky," he replies, frowning. "They were mean to Avril, and to Kaguya, too. But the world's dying, so I figure, it's hard to be nice when you're scared the thing you're trying to protect is going to die, you know? Besides, I already promised I'd help them save the world!" He nods firmly. "Doing this is just more of that, I figure!"
A catch, a price. Dean stares. Then he scratches his head. "I don't *think* there's a catch...? I mean, what kind of catch d'you mean? Boudicca's not that kind of person... Or not that kind of Seraph, I guess." Avril echoes his confusion, then echoes Rebecca's support. He smiles at both of them. "Well yeah, of course I'm sure! We're already committed to saving the world. Like I said, this is just a part of that!" To Avril, he gives a thoughtful look. "Yeah... I know it's going to be different from what we've been doing so far. I still want to put helping you first. You're the whole reason we started traveling in the first place, Avril." He pauses, considering this. "I'll talk to Boudicca again and make sure that's okay. If I have to pick between you and her, of course I'm picking you. I can still help save Filgaia even if I don't have Seer powers." He smiles again. "But I'm sure it'll work out. We all want the same thing, after all!"
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
Rebecca pauses as Avril asks her that. Though she cuts short her answer right away, other than smiling at the solidarity the two have in this. "I think..."
Stopping herself Instead she listens to Dean talk about the Guardians, and his own feelings about them. "You have a point, but lots of people made those kind of promises." Rebecca remarks, "And we already delivered on it. We contributed in our own way to that whole business with 'Mother'. She's dead, no longer threatening the world."
Then Dean says he doesn't think there's a price, and Rebecca allows a small sigh. Before answering them both, first sounding more resigned than outright irritated at Dean. "That just shows you've got a ways to go Dean." Rebecca then turns her attention to Avril, "I don't think there has to be a price like Dean being tricked into sacrificing something. The price is - more responsibility. That's kind of a catch in its own right. And if you don't know everything that responsibility entails, then I think you leave yourself open to being blindsided by it."
She holds up a hand, "I'm not saying you're stupid or something Dean. I just think it's just simplifying things a little to think of this as just as an extension of a promise you already made." She glances Dean's way, "Who knows where getting rid of malevolence could take us? When you might get called upon to travel halfway across the world to do that? And... I mean - me and Avril can't fight malevolence ourselves. While it's pretty mature to have a kind of battle only you can fight... does that mean even if we go with you, that means we just have to leave it to you and Boudicca when the time comes? What if it's too much for you to handle on your own?"
The thought of the two of them losing Dean to whatever must be done to purify this spiritual poison does occur to her, while they stand there, helpless. Yet, she doesn't voice that aloud. That'd mean showing a certain kind of vulnerability she's not willing to put out there right now.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Oh... so you do not know?" Avril asks, when he says he's not sure whether he'd have to travel with Boudicca for this to work out, or what. A glance trades off between both girls here; her attention then returns to Dean.
"I admit, I have not met Boudicca myself, I believe," she continues. As a matter of fact, she has -- it's just that Boudicca was in rather a different shape at the time, so to speak. But even that meeting had them merely crossing paths -- they did not so much as converse.
"Though," Avril says, glancing over at Rebecca, "I do not believe that the Guardians or the planet remain any less threatened now than they were by Mother. Something is amiss, I feel, though I know not what."
It's just a flicker of a memory, there and gone before she can even understand in what direction they had been spoken -- to her, to another? But there is a price.
It just does not necessarily come in the form of loss, per se.
"So, you do not mean in the manner of a shamanic taboo?" Avril replies, then dips her head in a nod. "...No, I understand. It is much the same with my own position. There is a price of responsibility and accountability, should I take the throne. Even now, I..." But she shakes her head. "No, now is not the time for that. ...Dean, Rebecca is correct. The price will be in the nature of your duties. There may come a time when you must choose between what you must do and what you would prefer to do... You must enter into this bond with Boudicca and the Guardians truly understanding this, and what it could mean should you find yourself at those crossroads."
She falls silent as Rebecca continues, her hands clasped where they rest on the table.
"I am... willing to fight this battle with you, Dean, but I do not know if I would be capable of swearing such oaths, not when I know not what I have done."
Or what she may yet do.
"I have a duty to my people, whether or not they know or wish it. And though I consider this planet and everything upon it my priority to also protect, I... it is not an oath that I can swear, when I know not where my path might take me."
Which means this may be a road that Dean might have to walk alone. Which means...
She glances over at Rebecca. Perhaps they share a similar thought on the matter, here and now.
"This is your decision to make, Dean."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
"You think so?" Dean says dubiously when Rebecca posits that they've already fulfilled their promise to the Guardians by helping defeat Mother. Avril weighs in too, and he nods to her and adds, "Yeah. Besides, Mother might be dead, but Filgaia's not better yet. You wouldn't say you're going to help a sick kid get well again, then just give them some medicine and say, 'Well, I gave them medicine, I did my part to make them get better, I'm done now,' right? It's not over until they're actually well again!"
When Rebecca gets irritated at him for thinking there isn't a particular price, Dean frowns. He lets her speak, though he does wonder for a moment why Rebecca's always nicer and more patient with Avril than she is with him. Still, she does make several good points. When she's done talking, he nods.
"I see what you're saying," he replies. "I'll talk to Boudicca about that. I don't want to leave you guys behind, and it wouldn't be fair to make you come along when you can't help, either." But then Avril brings up that she hasn't met Boudicca. "Really?? You should! She's really nice!" Dean enthuses. "I think you'd all get along really well! Maybe that'd help?"
But it's not just a matter of concern for his friends; Avril raises good points of her own--more things he hadn't considered. Of course, this was why he'd decided to talk to his friends first. Dean knows they're both smarter and more thoughtful than he is, and thus that they'd give him good advice. He nods slowly.
"It is," he agrees when Avril says it's his decision. "But I promised you first, Avril. And you're both really smart," he adds, looking over at Rebecca. "That's why I asked you guys what you thought in the first place." He smiles. "So, thanks for that. It helps a lot." His smile fades. "Like I said, I'll talk to Boudicca again. If you guys want to come with, I'd be happy to introduce you."
He could've sworn they've met though? Maybe he's not remembering right. (Or maybe he doesn't realize they don't necessarily know that the Beast = Boudicca.) Either way, though, it looks like he'll have to ask more questions before he can truly decide what to do.
<Pose Tracker> Rebecca Streisand has posed.
"But..." Rebecca's heart sinks as Avril says the Guardians don't feel any less threatened. And Dean backs it up. "Where's it going to end though? When's the obligation fulfilled? When they stop feeling threatened?" She says, a little frustrated.
Things are heating up with the Veruni being after Avril, and their own mission to find Johnny Appleseed. Assuming they can survive the Veruni - find Johnny Appleseed. How are they ever going to get back to a normal life if they have to keep doing things like this? "Filgaia's been like this for a long time right? We could devote our whole lives to it and it still might not be better."
However she finds herself feeling a little small when Avril mentions the responsibility of taking the throne. What weighs down on her can't even compare to what is weighing on Avril. "Avril..." She says quietly, but then stops when she says its not the time for it, "... Okay, if you say so. But let's make time for it sometime."
And falls quiet as she speaks further of the bond Dean is entering into. And her willingness to fight. Before ultimately agreeing, with a "Yeah... exactly."
Her attention returns back to Dean, "I'd like to meet her too, if you're going to be considering entering into that kind of bond with her."
Leaning back, as Dean details why he brought this up to them first, she does actually seem to reluctantly offer some praise, "Well I guess you did the right thing come and talk to us before just - getting caught up in your own sprint, and agreeing. I can give you a little credit there."
She stops for a moment, then glances sidelong at Avril. Her answers early were seriously well thought out, and she admires the maturity in that kind of decision, "I'm not sure if I can enter into this kind of commitment myself." She says, agreeing, "I wonder if the Guardians might ask me to put it ahead of - what we're doing for Avril." There's a certain pause of consideration...
... then after a pause, she says to Dean, "But, let's go hear her out. Because while it sounds pretty mature and all - kind of... cool even, for there to be battles only you can fight..." Another pause, as she reluctantly adds, "It just doesn't sit right with me that there might be fights where - you couldn't choose to have us back you up, even if you wanted to."
In truth though, while she's saying Dean couldn't choose - it's more that she couldn't choose. She's always been there to back Dean up. Always. And she doesn't want that option taken away from her.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
She glances away. "It has, yes," Avril admits, when Rebecca asks a rather pointed question about Filgaia's overall health. "Nevertheless, it is not that so much that concerns me as it is the possibility that there is something else presenting a pressing threat to the planet. ...Though, I must admit... there is nothing happening yet that would give me cause to believe that there is such a threat currently present."
Odessa doesn't -- in and of itself -- count; it is without question a problem, but it is a problem in a different scope from Mother.
She frowns, though. "Still, I feel as if we may be... missing something," she says, unable to shake the sense that all is not well on Filgaia.
"...All right," Avril says, if a touch reluctantly, when Rebecca asks whether they would speak about it later. "Another time, then."
As for the matter of Boudicca herself -- naturally trustworthy as a Seraph, as far as Avril has interacted with them -- that is still an open question. "At least, I do not believe I have met her?" Avril hazards, lifting a hand to touch her cheek. "Hm... but, yes, I would like that, Dean."
She smiles at him, though -- for all her doubt and concern about the path he may opt to tread. "Yes. I am also glad that you chose to speak to us, first. ...Your heart is in the right place, Dean. That is the same reason why you helped me, back in Capo Bronco. You do not care to see others suffer, and Malevolence perhaps causes more suffering than many other things. ...Still, it is also important to understand how far one's commitments to others may extend, and what limits exist." It's always important to not overcommit, to say you'll do something and then not do it...
"I, as well. I would like to be able to assist you, Dean," she says, touching a hand to her chest briefly. "However, if I, we cannot..." Still, she shakes her head. "In the end, this is a decision you yourself must make."
<Pose Tracker> Dean Stark has posed.
The matter of Avril taking the Veruni throne is--well, when Avril speaks of it, it's pretty blink-and-you'll-miss-it as a conversational topic, to the point where Dean's mind sort of stutters over it. But when Rebecca looks so serious about it, even though she lets it pass too, he blinks at her rapidly, then gives Avril a look of concern. Somehow, he honestly hadn't really considered the idea that Avril might... go back to being a Queen. Her being a Queen at all is kind of a weird concept to him, one he doesn't know how to feel about. So it's just as well that Avril's set it aside of her own volition.
When is the obligation to the Guardians fulfilled, though? "I don't know," Dean admits. "When you put it like that, you're right. The Guardians and the planet are all really old, and we won't live that long by comparison. But maybe that just means we have to do our part as a generation. Do our best to make the planet better, so the kids after us have an easier time of it, until finally Filgaia *is* better." He shakes his head. "Doing nothing isn't going to help anything, anyway."
But Avril stresses her feeling that it's not just a matter of nursing a sick planet back to health, but that there's still a pressing threat to its well-being. 'Yeah, the Veruni, right?' Dean *doesn't* say, just in time; he opens his mouth and then clicks it shut when he realizes how that would sound. They're not at all on the scale of a planet-eater like Mother. "Maybe it'd be worth it to try talking to the Guardians again, even if I *don't* become a Seer," he suggests. "Your feelings are usually on the mark, Avril."
He smiles when Rebecca praises him, however reluctantly. "Don't trip over yourself complimenting me or anything, Rebecca," he teases her. His smile fades when she goes on to voice her concerns about the battles he'd face as a Seer. "I don't think it'll be too big a deal. You could still help with the fighting, even if you couldn't with the purifying. And it's not like I'd be the only Seer in the world, either. I won't be alone either way."
He grins when both his friends agree to meet and talk to Boudicca. "Great! We'll all talk it out together, and then I'll make up my mind." He nods firmly--for as Avril says, this is his decision to make. "Now that that's figured out--let's finish up dinner before it gets cold!"
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