2022-12-27: Focus on the Good of the Present
- Log: Focus on the Good of the Present
- Cast: Lydia Seren, Elhaym van Houten, Xantia
- Where: Port Rosalia - Seabreeze Avenue
- Date: December 27, 2022
- Summary: Elly and Xantia have a chance to catch up with Lydia, engaging in some Capitalism before discussing the latter's rescue and Demetrioi's fate. Things only get a little bit awkward.
====================<* Port Rosalia - Seabreeze Avenue *>===================== Seabreeze Avenue was once home to all the comforts a wealthy port town had to offer. Now all that remains are a handful of hardy stragglers. The Seabreeze Port is the most famous and resilient of these--located in a large and mostly-undamaged stone building, it offers food, drink, and accommodations to sailors, travelers. While it's known to attract rough clientele from time to time, it's one of the few places in town to get a decent meal, and its prices are eminently reasonable. Seabreeze's other businesses include general stores, salvage shops, and a handful of company stores run by the Wei Trading Consortium. Outside of this little bubble of industry, though, Seabreeze is largely abandoned. The town just doesn't have the population to support a large economy, and tension between Wei and the locals isn't helping matters. BGM: Wild Arms 4 - Port Irington
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia Seren was LAST SEEN helping out deal with the whole Demetrioi situation. She is pretty down about it, honestly, since it was a bit like putting down a pet than it was killing a true villain. She's not very happy about it. She was hoping beyond hope there was another way--and there just wasn't.
On the other hand, maybe Ethius will settle down a bit now and Kaguya is ok and healthy and...
Well there have been a lot of mixed victories as of late. And when Lydia is feeling down she has but one answer.
"Capitalism Ho!" Lydia shouts, having set up a wholly unofficial stand selling, of all things, bananas and oranges that she may have stolen or foraged herself. And she's selling them cheap! Yeah probably stolen. "Please buy these delicious one of a kind oranges and bananas for your journey across the seas!"
She taps her wrench across her hand periodically. This quality and the nature of the business aren't exactly copacetic.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ_Wqtnlv4U
Elly van Houten did not help with Demetrioi. She likely wanted to cocoon up some given the way that things went with -
Well -
With a woman who wasn't too far different from her. Trying her best. And what did it get her?
Elly is at least not shrouded completely by raw gloom. There is no storm cloud over her head. As she walks, her shoulders are a little hunched up. The Kislevi naval coat she has come to love is worn clasped shut. She doesn't have a scarf on, but her collar is up, veiling part of her face.
Walk, walk... meditate on the transience of life...
INTERJECT THEME! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi3XpON4Hm4
Elly jumps a little and turn around, gazing at Lydia with wide eyes for a moment. Then she seems to relax. "Oh," she says, "You surprised me! Um; goodness. They're one of a kind...?"
> Elly has engaged with the shop menu.
"It's nice to see oranges in the winter... is that a tradition or is it just a happy accident?" Elly asks, innocently enough. "But why the bananas...?"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
It was a bit of a bummer that the Demetrioi wasn't able to reason out a better calculation for all that to end. But in the end, Xantia was mostly distressed because of seeing Azoth's distress. At least part of that was because she hadn't been involved earlier, and hadn't been there to discuss the whole matter previously. She just sort of rushed in to stop an obvious threat to Filgaia, like she does. Had others not been visibly upset, this could have remained a case of blissful ignorance.
As it is, she too can't feel great about the ultimate resolution. She came to Port Rosalia mostly to take her mind off of things, but if she's honest, part of her was hoping she might run into Azoth here, with them having somewhat of an unofficial meeting spot in town. Not that she has any idea of what she could say about all of this right now. Why's everything so complicated? Everything should just be simple, like--
The sound of her stomach answers that thought. Like food, yes. Food is simple, nothing's ever bad about food. And she's in the right district for it. Not a whole lot of choice, she'll just have to settle for whatever the Seabreeze Port is serving. After all, what are the odds that whole new food business would just suddenly appear?
Xantia has to stop and stare when a whole new food business suddenly appears. She didn't just regain a power to materialize things with her thoughts that she used to have, did she? This would not be the strangest thing to ever happen, believe it or not.
Her expression goes from confused to troubled when she sees who's managing the stall. Lydia... That could be... possibly complicated. She has no idea how Lydia feels about her now, which is completely her own fault. Could she just... go there and act natural? Would that be fine, after everything that... everything?
It's Elly's presence that makes up her mind for her. This means she would have support, if needed! Maybe... maybe this is a chance to talk about the things that have been bothering her. But first: act natural, yes. She can do that. Xantia calmly walks up to the stall while Elly is browsing the shop menu, hands behind her back.
"Potassium," she declares, out of nowhere.
...wait, that wasn't natural at all, why did she even say that?? "I-I mean, I just, I read somewhere that this is an important thing, that bananas have? For some reason? I don't know what it actually does, but if a book says something's good then it's gotta be good, right?"
She looks at the ground, scratching her head. Did she suddenly forget how to act natural? Oh no, this isn't more memory damage, is it??
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
SHOP MENU
ORANGE: 100 GELLA - An ordinary orange but you'll feel guilty for not buying one right? Heals 10 fp.
BANANA: 200 GELLA - An ordinary banana but purchasing one will make Lydia happy. Heals 50 hp.
It's also the only way to get 100 percent on the codex. Lydia smiles at Elly in the corner window while doing a little shopkeeper dance that consists of her wiggling her hip then jumping around and doing a wiggle but this time with the backside then back again while her hands hang in the air perpendicular to her head.
"Oranges help protect you against scurvy in the sea and these ones are filled with extra potent Vitamin C. The C stands for Cuddles."
"As for the bananas..." Lydia takes a moment. Then another moment. "They help with high blood pressure and promote heart health and recently... I heard from a study by the great Emma Hetfeld... That Bananas are also very good for promoting healthy hair..."
She smiles. "But since you helped save me from being a slave soldier, I'll give you a special discount, Elly! Instead of 300 for one of each, I'll sell both to you... For 270! That's a ten percent discount!"
She hops to the side, continuing her shopkeeper dance. It is said amongst the merchant union that performing a silly dance is both tradition and also helpful to getting BIG SALES.
"Potassium! That's right! Wow, Xantia. You're pretty smart!"
She hops back, now facing forward again, pausing her dance to look at Xantia.
"You can get the 'Help Saved Lydia' discount too, if you want it!"
She smiles. "So you're good friends with Azoth right?"
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly looks towards the approaching Xantia, with a smile, and then resumes browsing. When Xantia says a word of power -
"Potassium," Elly echoes. Her arms fold. "You know, a lot of diets don't include the ideal amount of that, I've heard... you'd have to be nearly vegetarian or eat a lot of fresh foods, and of course, freshness isn't always what people can focus on..."
"I don't know about all of that," Elly answers Lydia, "but what you're saying sounds correct... the body needs small amounts of minerals and other things. It's why if you eat nothing but corn meal or wheat bread, you can get sick after a long time. Even if it's only a little bit, you do need other things."
Elly then blinks as an Offer comes her way.
She looks at the board. She is already reaching for the space in the coat where she keeps her money...
And then there's a question. "Well, I don't think I would say we're close," Elly dithers, before realizing she's perhaps not the keystone there and instead getting out her gella. ("Can you break two 256s? I know it's strange, but they mint them in these weird factors in Kattelox...")
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia is praised for her knowledge, and so many additional details are brought to light! But by then Xantia has for some reason shifted into Awkward Mode, and thus can only manage an Awkward Response. "Oh, uh, well, not as smart as Elly, I didn't know any of that. Um... bananas are tasty." So much for her contribution to the educative elements of this scene.
Her eyes light up at the offer of a discount though. "Ooh. Well. I'm gonna need more one of each. If I get two of each, I could get... Double Discount?" Then she looks pensive for a moment. Is she getting swept up in Sales Talk? Wasn't that something people told her was a bad thing, why was that again? She is snapped out of it by a question. Whether she's good friends with Azoth is an easy one.
"Oh, yes!" Xantia begins to respond with a big smile, and then immediately second-guesses herself. "Wait, I mean-- I'm also your good friend!" And again. "I-I mean, I can't really say that, can I?" And again. "Well, I want to say that, but I don't know-- is that okay, am I a good friend?"
She's really going to pieces over what should ultimately be a simple thing. What could be the reason for this? No need to wonder, Xantia wouldn't be Xantia if she didn't immediately throw out her every thought.
"--I'm sorry! I've been avoiding you for so long and I really didn't mean to-- well I meant to, but I had a reason, it's been so hard to hold back against Solaris, and I didn't want to hurt you but I did want to hurt OS and I don't even know how you feel about OS but either way I couldn't risk it because who knows what I'd end up doing when I keep blacking out and--"
That was such a long run-on sentence that she actually runs out of breath, and needs a moment to regain it, after which she brings her hands together and bows her head. "--anyway I hope you're not mad!!"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia's expression gets a bit confused as Xantia gets awkward. Lydia is also socially anxious so she should probably be good at spotting other socially anxious people but it turns out Social Anxiety isn't like a Stand. Her confusion is gradually dissipated by Xantia going on and explaining in keen detail what's been going on in Xantia's life.
"Ah, well--I mean, um, I was gonna say that Azoth was really... We had similar situations in Solaris going on so we kinda became pals? He's a great guy."
Maybe the reason she wanted to save Demetrioi so much is because if they could save Demetrioi, they could probably save Azoth, right? But they couldn't. Does that mean he can't be saved? She doesn't want that to be true.
"Sure I can--two hundreds, a fifty, a five, and a one good?" Lydia gets to work, collecting an orange AND A BANANA for Elly.
"...Um, I'm sorry about your friend." Lydia says after a moment, now remembering her own guilty feelings thanks to the timely intervention of Xantia!
She rubs at her face for a moment, then shakes out her hands.
"Well, far as I'm concerned, you're a great friend to me, Xantia." Lydia assures her. "I mean, you can think of me as good or great as you want but that's how I feel."
She had no idea that Xantia was avoiding her. "And I mean, if you were avoiding me because you didn't want to kill me, um--"
She gives Xantia a thumbsup. "Thanks for staying away, I guess! I'm glad you don't have to do that anymore. Least not for a while."
She doesn't seem mad. Maybe a little sad.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly laughs, a little shyly, as her smartness is praised. "I don't know... it was just where I went to school." Which also taught her to try to blackmail god! More about THAT one in the future!
Elly then waits softly as Xantia speaks - she leads with an apology. (Maybe we do have more in common than I even suspected, Elly thinks, not entirely straight-faced in her heart.) Her head lowers a little when OS comes up, since she remembers what happened when she...
Well...
Either way, Lydia offers her change. "Certainly," Elly says, passing over the two weird-denomination coins from the Kattelox area. She must have caught some fish or something for them. And then, though she doesn't quite look up, she smiles... at the stall counter?
But there's no reason to poke herself into the conversation too much. "Are you taking care of the stall for someone, Lydia? Or is this going to be your new pursuit - the challenges of the small shop keeper?"
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia isn't much used to social awkwardness when it isn't because she's misunderstood something, which makes her awkward at this kind of awkwardness. It's much more natural for her to just blurt out what she's thinking and hope it'll work itself out somehow.
Thankfully this... appears to have worked? Kind of. Sort of. She doesn't detect hidden madness, but she does detect hidden sadness. But her initial reaction still has to be a deep sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank goodness. All this time I was like, I need to do more to help Lydia, but then I kept thinking I need to stay away or I'll ruin everything. But now I kind of think staying away was ruining everything. That's just not what a friend is supposed to do. I just, your circumstances..."
She trails off there, not quite knowing how to explain it very well. There was just something about Lydia's particular set of circumstances that made her feel very certain that she needed to stay away. And experience has taught her that it's a bad idea to not listen to her instincts. That's really all there is to it. As it turns out, it's not enough to not feel really bad about it.
Well, after all that, she feels that some BUSINESS is in order. She goes ahead and puts a money pouch down. "--Actually, you know what, I'm gonna need THREE of each!" She gestures vaguely at the pouch, which contains exactly 1000 Gella. "You can keep the change, I don't need it."
Xantia that is not how discounts work
Getting back to the topic of Azoth for a moment, she starts, "We'll get Azoth away from them too. I don't know how yet, but I won't let them get away with just... using people like tools." Yes, of course Azoths are people too. "At least you're finally--"
Wait a second. "--What do you mean, 'for a while', why would I ever need to stay away from you again?"
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
Lydia was naturally apologizing about Rachiel but she doesn't seem inclined to push it either. "Just wanted to do some merchant stuff and get my mind off things. It's been a long time since I could, like, do merchant stuff and I kinda want to get back into it so I figured I'd start small. Usually I sold parts I salvaged from ruins'n'junk."
She gives Elly her fruit and then looks back to Xantia. "Well I don't really know what would've worked out better or not," She admits honestly. "But it seems like you didn't want to hurt your friend. And being the friend you're talking about, uh, well--I'm glad you didn't. I don't like fighting my friends. If there's something about you, or something controlling you that would've forced you to go after me--and I mean, you might've had to anyway while I was under their thumb--well, I mean, I think that's fair you know? To be honest, I didn't really think...people would try to save me. I thought I had to save myself. But there was no way for me to do that. The system of Solaris itself doesn't let people get saved from it, not unless they leave." She looks to Elly for a moment, then smiles awkwardly, "Er, sorry, that's just--working for them, that was the feeling I got. Like, everyone I met there--none of them seemed like the kinda jerks I was thinking they'd be. Even Loren was just kinda surly. Tabitha's dad was a real asshole, sure, but uh I guess he got killed so you know, GOOD."
She had no idea her words to him would be so prophetic. He thought he was a big man but in the end the real folks in charge found a cyborg super soldier more useful than a mad scientist who went around pissing off cyborg super soldiers.
She can't really blame the Ministry for thinking like THAT.
"But, most people there are just...folks who had no choice but to be anyone but Solaris. In a way, they're even worse off than me."
She sighs. "They never got to know real freedom. No wonder it's so hard for people like Loren to just bounce. Plus, there's that 'anime' they have and I just don't trust it." She shakes her head. "Just don't trust it."
She realizes she kinda went off on a tangent. "Er, I mean, like. You know, I guess what I'm trying to say is--you two helped save me. Maybe you didn't save me all on your own but you helped people who saved me. And you've been a good friend to Azoth, which I really appreciate! And Elly, well, I think she was the start of me realizing that the Solarians aren't my enemy even if the Ministry, the Emperor, Krelian... They might be, but really it's just this...construct called 'Solaris' that's the problem."
She glances to Elly, "Sorry I'm rambling. And uh, talking about your hometown I guess. Kinda."
She glances back to Xantia. "Well, Rachiel said that it'll buy me time but they might take me back someday. I think so long as Krelian's got the keys, that's a risk."
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly receives FRUIT x2. Now she is protected from both scurvy and death by potassium deficiency. This is a relief in some ways; she thinks for a moment about the banana itself, and if she wants to eat it right now. It does set in the hand quite nicely, doesn't it?
Azoth comes up. Elly's face darkens a little, and she looks sheepishly at the countertop. This is enough to drive her to fruit. The banana is unpeeled, without real haste.
"Tabitha?" Elly says, looking up. "Do you mean Tabitha deVriese?" She nails the name immediately, of course.
"... I - w-well, I don't want to pry too much," Elly says, looking back down at the counter. "I'm flattered that you think so... I know there are a lot of people in Solaris, who are good, or at least, aren't any worse than the people here on the surface. They're not any better, either, except for things like having been able to go to school, or the medical care... but they don't know how to live as well as people on the surface, either."
The name. Krelian. Yes, she met him, once, Elly remembers; in the guise of a Yevon cleric, with one of those funnily coincidental names, like the baker named 'Elli' in Luca. But...
To Xantia, Elly says, "I think it's important, to live in the present, at least most of the time... whatever might happen, or has happened, we're here, right? In front of a fruit stall. I'm about to eat this banana; if I don't enjoy it, didn't Lydia's hard work, and the banana bush's, go to waste?" With this Elly takes a bite of the banana, however questionable her botanical knowledge may be.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia looks distant during the majority of Lydia's Solaris Soliloquy, which while possible to mistake as zoning out is anything but. She has many thoughts regarding Solaris, but between Lydia and Elly, doesn't feel very comfortable about voicing most of them. Partially because that could easily get heated, partially because she just can't manage to sort out how much she's being influenced by what her memories are telling her she should feel. Solaris is just Problematic, in so many ways.
She does interject with a "Nobody likes fighting their friends", because she's pretty sure that's universal. And she just looks confused at the notion of people not trying to save Lydia. "Why would you think that? I mean, that's why I thought I wasn't being a good friend - friends should do whatever they can to help their friends. That's part of being friends, isn't it? And if people tell me something's impossible, well, that just makes me want to prove them wrong." That's why in spite of her concerns, she did answer the call to save Lydia when given a chance. Still, she looks away briefly to add, "...I'm glad Azoth got in my way back then, though." Not such an odd thing to say as it may seem, it's what kept her from directly engaging Lydia and potentially doing the harm she feared she would.
Then, that name. Xantia is easy to read. Saying the name 'Krelian' in her presence causes her expression to instantly darken, and her muscles to tense. It quickly lessens, but not before she spits out, "That guy." She stops short of saying anything else, but oh, she does not like that guy, between what she currently knows of what he's responsible for and the emotions stemming from half-remembered past knowledge. All it took was seeing him one time for her feelings towards to Solaris to greatly escalate. If he ever appears in front of her again...
Elly's words are somehow naturally calming, and soon Xantia is past that little moment, nodding her head. "That's what I think too," she agrees with living in the moment. And stares enviously at Elly's fruit-devouring, causing her to turn sharply back to Lydia. "I'm reeeeally gonna need that fruit order now," she urges. At this rate, the triple order might not even be enough...!
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Oh yeah her dad tortured me." Lydia says. "Like, just to be a jerk.--Yeah, Tabitha deVriese. He seemed pretty cruel to Tabitha too, but I mean--it worked itself out so." She shrugs both shoulders. "But... yeah, that's what I mean, you know? I think Cyre still thinks, like, the Solarians and the people in charge and Gebler, they're all the same to him I think and probably just 'cause he's like never BEEN there and so he only sees the army."
Of course, Lydia's own opinions about the group that kidnapped, tortured, and tormented her isn't exactly great but she doesn't think they all need to die and isn't comfortable taking them all out to try and get vengeance.
Xantia seems troubled by Lydia's attempts to reassure Xantia. "Well I mean. What I'm saying is, you were trying to help me by giving me some distance. I dunno if it was the right call, but your intentions seem like they were good? I don't want to be mad at you just because maybe there was a better choice out there?" She nods to Elly. "Right now, we can be friends and hang out all we want. I want to enjoy that cause tomorrow's never promised."
Xantia insists on the fruit order. "Ah!! Sorry! I got distracted by all this junk! One second...!"
Three of each?! Not to worry, Xantia, Lydia stol--FOUND plenty of oranges and bananas to sell at her little store here.
She actually dumps em in a bag to offer them to Xantia because it's a bit awkward to just hold them all in one's hands.
"Anyway, I'm glad you did come in the end. Both of you. And I think Rachiel was happy you came too." That last bit might be more relevant to Elly but she doesn't explicitely aim it.
"If you ever need me, Xantia, Elly. I'll come running. Don't be too shy to ask for it."
OF COURSE A CERTAIN SOMEONE MIGHT BEAT HER TO IT but, well, you do need your reserve party members too.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
Elly isn't sure if that's quite true, but she's heard some people get hype about sparring. Maybe, Elly thinks, it's that nobody like *seriously* fighting their friends...
She takes another bite of the banana.
Her own back straightens a little when Xantia reacts so to Krelian's name although she certainly doesn't interject or argue. No sir, she may not know everything, but she knows enough.
Elly's mouth is fortunately full of Banana so she doesn't exclaim it when Lydia is just like 'oh yeah he tortured me, totes'. Her eyes do go wide again with shock. Swallowing the bite of banana afterwards, Elly coughs a little - and says, with a certain note of patheticness in her tone, "I'm sorry... that it all, that..."
Her mouth thins at the question of Rachiel.
"I suppose it's my turn to apologize," Elly says in a smaller voice; "I wish I could have done more, I was just... when all of it happened, I don't know... I was kind of improvising at that point." One deep breath and... raising her head, she asks Lydia, "Do you - mind if I ask you something? About... not what happened, I suppose, but who you saw. When you were there. It's alright if you don't know any answers."
She doesn't take another bite out of the banana. Too much guilt! Guilt needs vitamin C, not potassium.
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Xantia doesn't even realize she might come across as a hypocrite. She sure does love to fight her friends for fun, while holding back as little as possible. Maybe she should have used the words 'forced to' in there somewhere. Details!
She could also probably have stood to at least bat an eye at the notion of torture. But ultimately her feelings don't get beyond 'yeah, that tracks for Solaris', which she definitely isn't saying out loud. Cyre has it easy - there's a chance he'll have cause to change his mind one day. Xantia's reactions have been so strong and out of her control that she isn't sure if that's possible for her. The only hope, she feels, may be to retrieve the context for her memories. Always the same problem: you need to know, before you can even begin to understand.
She responds better to Lydia's more plain assertions on the nature of good intentions, mulling that over for a moment before nodding. "I guess so. To be honest, I just didn't know any way to make things better, but I knew a lot of ways I could end up making things worse without meaning to. Still feel like I should've tried to do more, but... if there was a better choice, I didn't see it." She frowns, and shakes her head. "It's just so frustrating to have to wait for an opportunity, I can't help but feel like it's always better to something, anything." And now she won't ever know if there was a better choice to be found, that's frustrating too!
Thankfully, before things can get too philosophical and/or depressing, Xantia receives KEY ITEM: BAG O' FRUIT. Which immediately gets one item removed from it, a banana because that's what Elly was eating so the need to eat one of those has naturally increased. Xantia munches happily!
Until Rachiel's name is mentioned, which causes the munching to turn slightly more subdued. Xantia chooses not to add further to the apologies, instead responding, once her mouth is no longer full: "I'm glad I was able to help in the end! And probably the best way you can help, now that you know this - yell at me if you, say, see me freeze up for some dumb reason, alright? I can't do anything about it if I don't know I'm being dumb!"
At the request for information from Elly, she does wonder... how does Lydia feel about OS? That always felt... complicated. She isn't certain whether she should actually ask that though. Lydia might realize that the subtext is 'do you want them dead or not', and that feels like it would somewhat go against that whole Tact thing she's been trying to get the hang of.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"Your hands seem pretty full." Lydia admits to Elly though, privately kind of, she does wish it didn't have to come to this. And she'll always wonder if maybe if someone somewhere, maybe even she herself, was more attentive or cleverer or kinder...
But Elly's right, she doesn't really want to focus on it. She just has to be her messy self. That's how she can honor her. But it will probably...stick with her for a long long time. Some things are like that.
"Sure, I mean, ask away. I didn't actually see much of Krelian past the day he took me in. I mostly knew Leah, Rachiel, and Loren really--Azoth too 'fcourse. Tabitha a couple times early on."
She pauses a moment and then her cheeks silver a bit. "And Seraphita 'fcourse."
She'll never forget Seraphita but for reasons perhaps a bit less emotional and a bit more, you know, horny.
"Anyway," Lydia starts peeling back a banana for herself and she isn't even paying the merchant (herself) at all!
"Well, if you feel like you could've done more, I guess that's a lesson for next time when another friend of yours is in trouble. Hopefully it won't be me again."
"But you know, Ivan... also was really frustrated about having to be patient about it." She still isn't sure if that's why he ultimately broke up with her but she doesn't want to think about it like that. Ivan had a lot of thinking and growing to do, understanding of himself. It's easier to think of it like that. And maybe even more accurate.
"But all we can do is the best we can do." Lydia says. "So don't feel bad, okay? Not for me."
She watches Xantia munch happily on a banana.
And she smiles. "Yeah." And weirdly enough, just seeing Xantia happily eat something--
--kinda perks her up anyway. Sometimes it be like that.
<Pose Tracker> Elhaym van Houten has posed.
When Xantia speaks of her tendency to action, Elly says, with a weak little laugh, "It's always tough to balance it, isn't it? Especially when the stakes are pretty high..." She takes another bite out of her banana. Xantia joins her in Club BANANA, and her eyes go from Xantia to Lydia again.
"I see," Elly says. "I had thought - if I haven't... made his life more difficult, that you might have met my father. I don't think he would have supported anything you've described, but-- I can't be sure."
"He's involved in the systems for recycling air and resources," Elly continues, "which involves contact with surface-dwellers and the Third Class citizens." Elly pauses, glancing over her shoulder as if wondering if they've been overheard. But maybe people aren't rushing the banana stand, even if there's always money in one.
"... I was terrified - I'm only not apologizing again because I know you'll tell me not to - when I, did that to OS, and it was... I suppose it's hard to get your head around," Elly says awkwardly to Lydia. "Accepting parts of yourself, in a way..."
not that Elly knows anything about this in other parts of her social network
<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.
Elly we're eating bananas, don't start talking about the steaks now
Xantia nods along, more ready to just agree with things being Happy and Good now that she's got something to eat. So many problems in the world wouldn't seem so bad if you could just constantly be eating. ...well, she thinks so, anyway.
"Well okay then! I'm just happy I got to talk about this and things aren't all awkward and stuff anymore." Yes she's aware that she's the one who made it awkward and stuff, shush. As for balance... "...well I guess you can balance things out for me Elly, you're better at that whole 'tactics' thing." She's barely started to get tact down, adding the -ics is still a bridge too far.
With that, she returns her attention to the BAG O' FRUIT, there's a lot in there and Everything Must Go. Into her stomach. Before she goes elsewhere. Yeah that bag really wasn't very necessary, she is still Xantia after all.
<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.
"OS isn't a part of me," Lydia tells Elly. "Like, they aren't... some kind of suppressed part of me or anything. They feel like some kind of... dumb robot baby. Like Demetrioi, I guess--who just happens to be able to override me sometimes." This isn't a Persona situation here. "I don't really understand what they want, but they think they're helping. But they're not. And... well, maybe they can be stopped before they have to be stopped, if you get me, but I don't want to share my body with 'em. I can't stand that."
If she even is really sharing a body. She's not sure. "I wish I knew more about this junk so I could say for sure."
Does she think OS should be killed or not? Seems like the answer is 'It's complicated'. Which might not be the cheeriest answer. "Least of all, don't gotta worry about them for a while. I mean I guess if you really want to worry, we can worry about a lot of stuff! But..."
She waves a hand to Elly, "Don't sweat it. They aren't. The worst part was fighting my friends. I don't gotta do that anymore!"
She beams. "And--I mean, like you said--focus on the good of the present. That's all we got so we gotta make the most of it."
"Those stars in the night."