2021-11-16: Willful Warmth For a Wilted Flower
- Log: 2021-11-16: Willful Warmth For a Wilted Flower
- Cast: Demetrioi (portrayed by the player of Ethius Hesiod), Kaguya
- Where: Celesti Wastelands
- Date: November 16, 2021
- Summary: Kaguya passes time with a new really freakin' weird friend in Alcidamas Village, and a friendship free of long-standing grudges and difficult circumstances buds to life with a hope of happiness for all.
======================<* Celesti Wastelands *>======================
Decades ago, the nation of Celesti ripped itself apart in a vicious civil war. Outside of a handful of settlements, its former territories are lifeless. The remains of trenches, bunkers, and barbed wire lines serve as lingering reminders of the conflict--scars that have yet to heal. The earth is dry and barren, and much of the groundwater has been contaminated by biological or chemical weapons.
Travel through the Wastelands is treacherous. The roads are pockmarked with shell craters, and Reapers have been known to haunt its blasted plains. A handful of functional rail lines cross the wastes, but these travel directly to their final destinations. The shattered remains of ghost towns dot the landscape. Some may yet hold things of value, but experienced travelers know better than to go treasure-hunting on a whim. The war-dead of Celesti do not rest.
Ghosts aren't even the strangest things one can find here. As the war dragged on, both the Congressional Knights and Aquvy Union dug up ancient weapons to aid their efforts--including, it's rumored, ARMs from Zeboim. These rumors draw both the daring and desperate into the wastes, and more often than not, to their end.
BGM: Shin Megami Tensei IV - Blasted Ichigaya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92HwM11d2FQ
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
One of the most improbable things about Alcidamas Village proper - beyond the wink-wink-nudge of the Beastfolk mayor, they haven't been protecting Demetrioi as closely as... almost anyone should, in a world of increasing scarcity and a seeming singular oasis against one of Filgaia's harshest realities.
They must truly believe, after the two years and some change, that this is the turning point for everyone's lives - that a handful of would-be bandits changed their tune of their own volition speaks to the strength of hope present. They are happy, and...
So is Demetrioi, which is... a thing. A large shrubby tree-thing made of colors and bearing shapes that are just outside of most mortal comprehension, and based on some choice reactions, likely those of Seraphim and other nature spirits as well. Is that a bad thing?
Alcidamas is - to a specific kind of visitor - a place that has cast the least amount of hostile pressure on their person. As though the forces that want that person and their kind gone... do not hold sway here. All that's left is an almost perfect climate to support a wide variety of life, in the guise of.... that thing.
That thing with the smile on its monitor as it watches and monitors the happy and harmonious world around them, atop the hill in which they are... perched? Planted? Presently existing. That may be as exact a descriptor as is comfortable to say.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Earlier, Kaguya shared her findings on the village's flora and fauna with Demetrioi, and confirmed a number of her questions, though she did get a few more while she was at it. She excused herself after a while, to finally get something to eat--she feels well enough to be hungry here, and that's saying something considering the nausea she often covers over. She's been troubled, but it's easy to mask that with a smile and a bit of a joke, because Kaguya is very good at sounding like things aren't serious.
Things are very, very serious.
"Hey hey," Kaguya greets Demetrioi again as she climbs the hill, coming around the bend and making her way up. She looks over those strange colors and shapes that do not seem so strange to her eyes. Perhaps they should. They sure seem to to some. But they don't.
"Though I'd come back. The readings were just as you said they'd be, when I rechecked. You're doing a great job here."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
D hearing that makes me happy :) i will continue to do a good job for a very long time :)
Demetrioi may or may not be playing favorites with all their 'friends,' but it is certain Kaguya is without question a friend. There's always a compromise to be made of one's expectations and values anywhere else. To the Drifter community, the Veruni are known to be... less than great to those they are landlords of. It is tougher yet to stomach that in the backdrop of all that has happened by Kaguya's hand, but here...
These factors cease to exist. Just a slice of paradise, and this thing, enjoying Kaguya's company without judgment or condition.
) :) :)
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Great!" Kaguya says. "I bet you will. You seem to like it here, huh?"
Kaguya has her expectations, but has laid none at Demetrioi's feet thus far. She has values, but has not required it to think on them. ...She was pretty good to the people under her 'command', but terrible to those outside it. Which one would Demetrioi be, if it came down to it?
A little slice of paradise...
"How big an area do you think you can improve, anyway?" she wonders, coming to take a seat cross-legged in front of Demetrioi. "Just this village and the area, or do you think your work will spread?"
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
) as much as it takes to make everyone happy :) so far almost everyone i know of is really happy :D
The face within the screen tilts as Demetrioi seems to consider the logistics and idea of just how much further they can spread out, as though maybe someone hadn't asked the question of the... thing before.
D there are more showing up now :) i will be sure to reach out further :D
It's not a hard answer in numbers, as of yet - but based on the readings, claims, and incidental dialogue from other villagers throughout who have been nothing but excellent to Kaguya, Demetrioi's limits may not have been explored.
Everyone so far has been happy enough, one might surmise.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Yeah... You've got a lot of happy people here. That's really great." Kaguya thinks to what Homer said about only meeting happy people, and for a moment she almost doesn't believe her memory. Just for a moment, though. Nobody's asked before, and that... doesn't surprise her. They wouldn't want to be greedy, or they wouldn't understand enough to ask. One or the other.
"No rush," Kaguya says. "I was just curious. I see a lot of potential in you, you know?"
She pauses. "You ever met anybody who claimed to be from the 'Baskar', or talked about something called Guardians? I know you have a lot of friends."
She considers.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
) :) :)
Even the idle smiles of Demetrioi leaves some sort of sensory... footprint. There are some facets of language that just aren't great at encompassing it, but at least it can be said it's not bad or hostile. Just, weird. And a thing, as they listen intently to Kaguya's praise... and then a more solid question.
o i have not made an acquaintance with anyone by that identity :o are they with you i would not mind meeting them :)
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Very weird. But Kaguya is a mad scientist. She's OK with some weird. It's not really a problem. But the question she has is important, because... this sure isn't 'natural'. And that might matter.
"There's one I know," Kaguya answers, "My--well, she's like a sister, but I guess 'friend' works too. But she's not with me right now. These 'Guardians' aren't either, they don't..." She pauses. "Well, they're not with me," she says instead.
"But I think you'll meet some people who are friends with them soon, if you haven't yet."
"...I think you're gonna make a lot of new friends soon, actually."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
o :o :)
A good read of Demetrioi's mood in the process of parsing everything up to 'make a lot of new friends.'
) that sounds wonderful to know :) i hope the friends will also be friends with current friends :D
It is a bit of optimism and naivete that... proves that Demetrioi is at least two years old. As Homer said, Demetrioi's only ever met happy people, with maybe only a small handful of blips in that descriptor.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya has to be careful; she likes to meander in how she talks, just sort of say what comes to mind, but Demetrioi doesn't understand that, and could be badly influenced by doing it that way. She recognizes this more and more as they talk, along with the...
Yes, the naivete.
Kaguya considers that question. Only happy people... "I hope so, too," she says, and is quiet for a few more moments, because she is sure they won't be. "...If they're not," she says, "I want you to let me try to talk to the new ones, okay? I can help you. I want to help you."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
No innocence can last forever - that the reaction to Demetrioi and what they've done for the regular people here is already beyond extraordinary. A lot of old prejudices have evaporated. Everyone seems keen to work together and share their bounties and boons - and it appears this is all by their own collective choices as people, compelled by nothing but their own thoughts and convictions. On paper, it might be one of the most miraculous events to have ever transpired among the people of Filgaia.
Not even Meribus nor Glenwood, lands of plenty, have been able to band together to conquer its societal problems. When Kaguya brings up the idea if they're not, and offers to help...
o i would not be so worried kaguya :) if they are not happy i will try harder until they are :D
Almost childish bravado, but even then... the smile fades to a quieter resting point.
) you are helping and assisting me very much as is :D you are a good friend :o
...
) you want to do good and make others happy too even me :) so i trust you :)
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
Kaguya thinks it's great that they've got peace here--it would be encouraging, if not for a few certain facts of which they are as yet unaware. Demetrioi included. There's a lot it seems unaware of...
'Try harder.' Kaguya wonders what that would look like, and for a moment, she can't entirely hide her concern about it--just a moment, which passes quickly into a smile. "I'm sure you will. I'm just a worrier; it's fine. I'm still happy."
Helping already... "I'm trying," she says, to be a good friend.
"...Yeah. Even if things look rough, I'll help out, all right? Just remember that."
She thinks about it. She does. About what she could do to protect this fragile peace...
And thinks of the reasons she can't, too. "Well! For now, I've got some new seeds for you to try, if you want."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
) i will remember :) do not feel sad about asking me to remember :)
Remembering is one thing... but learn. Will Demetrioi need to learn the worst of it? Is it possible to fully protect this peace from... everything else? It seems too good to be true, and yet right now, it is truly a good thing. In the moment, there's no Guardians trying to slowly erode the health of the Veruni until they waste away. There's no threats, drawn weapons, or anything. Just a nice time of day, a beautiful and healthy land, and... that thing.
D i do enjoy the sight of watching seeds grow :) thank you for bringing more :D
And a friend who will not judge Kaguya for wishing to try and grow seeds, just for the sake of helping create a sustainable population of whatever her botanist genius has wrought.
<Pose Tracker> Kaguya has posed.
"Okay."
Learning is a different thing altogether. Kaguya wonders if the inevitable happenings will break Demetrioi, one way or another. It is too good to be true, but here, it's actually... good. She thinks. She wonders--if the Guardians can't hold sway here... Is that, itself, a problem?
Or could this be the solution that leaves everyone okay?
"You're welcome," Kaguya says, and reaches into her bag to get some, moving to stand up to prepare to plant some. "These are flowers... but they should brighten up your space a little, once they grow..."
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
) i will enjoy seeing them kaguya :D they will have the happiest place to grow :D
The enthusiasm is there, even through the filter of sensory weirdness. Even to the most advanced of readings available, it's not completely certain how Demetrioi does it, how a simple will to create an ideal climate through themselves even works... but it does. Even if the kind of seeds Kaguya plants may not be a prefect match for the present climate, one way or another, Demetrioi will make it work.
It's been a wonderful two years for this corner of war-scarred Zoara. Who's to say it won't be another wonderful two years, or even longer?