2019-01-08: That Kind of Day: Difference between revisions

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*'''Log: DCMUSH (Kalve) - That Kind of Day'''
*'''Log: That Kind of Day'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Kalve]], [[Character :: Lydia Seren]]
*'''Cast:''' [[Character :: Kalve]], [[Character :: Lydia Seren]]
*'''Where: Northern Steppes, Elru'''  
*'''Where: Northern Steppes, Elru'''  

Latest revision as of 02:35, 24 June 2019

  • Log: That Kind of Day
  • Cast: Kalve, Lydia Seren
  • Where: Northern Steppes, Elru
  • Date: January 08, 2019
  • Summary: Kalve hangs out in a hole in the ground somewhere. Lydia comes to visit.


<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

It's clear-skied and sunny today, which means it's also bitterly cold. The wind is thankfully reasonably calm, but 'reasonably' means that it's still chill enough to make bundling up extra heavily a good idea.

Or finding a windbreak! Kalve has done that thing. He's ventured away from the hidey-hole that is Ida's ship for the day, looking for... something. He hasn't found it, whatever it is. So, he's setup camp for a little while, resting in a crater gouged out by something massive doing some kind of equally-massive violencing to the landscape. It's left spars of rock sticking up to block the wind and reflect the heat from the campfire he's got going.

Kalve is presently sprawled out against the side of the depression, staring up at the unbroken sheet of blue. His expression is distant and troubled. It hasn't been anything else for quite a while.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

After the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, Lydia Seren has actually been in a pretty great mood! Her mother is back and healing and Lydia is confident she will walk again eventually and her family is together and she doesn't have to worry about the incoming apocalypse quite so hard as before. And honestly, even though she wanted to immediately get in on beastman rights after all that....she really needed a break.

But one thing was nagging on her mind besides all that, and that was Kalve. She knew him just well enough to know that he wouldn't be taking all of this that well, and she wondered how he was doing so she hitched a ride back to Elru and started looking. You can do this casually now you can tell because you got the boat vehicle (but not the one that passes over reefs or can land on non-beach areas).

Eventulaly Lydia finds a campsite and makes her way over.

Lydia is presently wearing what can charitably called a pink ice climbers outfit with her horns poking out of it.

"Heeey!" She says, spotting Kalve. "There y'are! Was wondering where you went off to!"

Aren't sassy urchins the best cure for depression???

"What's up?" I mean it's kinda obvious but.

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Kalve did not put his money on Mister Rogers in the bloodstained sweater, so here he is: flopped in a hole and setting things on fire for warmth. What a miserable planet this is, where the smiling slasher in the sweater is their ultimate defender and cannot be defeated.

Miserable.

Kalve's eyes slide from the sky to the extremely pink sassy urchin. His hands are behind his head, and his poncho -- extremely brightly colored and all -- is only half concealing the Manipule Array's multiple arms beneath him, which are presently arranged to provide a better leaning spot than torn-up frozen earth. He stares at her for a long moment.

"To here," he finally says. "Nothing. Contemplation. A clear sky." He makes a vague gesture at the sky with one of his real hands -- which, surprisingly, are not presently clad in his ever-present black gauntlets. They're bare, with what looks like metallic spots across his palms. Contacts? "Choose which you prefer."

He puts his hand down. "Why are you out here? Did you get lost?" Kalve does not think she would actually be out here looking for him. That's absurd. Only crazy people do that.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"I was out here looking for you." Lydia says. Which is something that is both absurd and crazy.

She plunks herself down near Kalve since today is a day to lie on the ground and feel like garbage. She immediately starts fidgeting because it's about as uncomfortable as heck. Sure, she could unleash her own kind of liquid metal to better position herself but it's a different thing accepting something as part of you and it being second nature.

"You know, I wasn't really too worried about Ida. It seems like she figured out her situation pretty quick-like."

She pauses for a moment, glancing over to Kalve. "I'm sorry it went so bad."

Granted for Lydia it wasn't TOO bad but she has enough empathy in her to care about how the end result affected someone else. That wasn't always the case.

Lydia pulls back her hood so Kalve can see her face. It seems she has kept the metal strips under eyes.

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Yep. Definitely absurd and crazy.

The ground is a little warm down there. The fire is fairly substantial, and has been going for a while. With the way the stones loom above, the reflected heat makes laying on the ground and being miserable the optimal choice. Kalve does not do misery suboptimally. Even if he's negating a little of it with his extra arms instead of experiencing the true awful of having an unprotected back for the same.

"Mm." He shuts his eyes for a moment, and then looks at the sky again. "She is still adjusting. I should have been more understanding about it instead of assuming she would accept it. I'm glad she's well, all the same."

Kalve lapses into silence. It lasts a few long moments. His jaw tenses, and his eyes flash with something hot and raw. He shifts how his legs are sprawled very slightly, fighting down the unreasonable outburst. He doesn't even really know what he would have said or done, but now is not the time to go off. "Mm."

Lydia pulls back the hood. Kalve looks over at her for a moment, and then away. "It could have been worse. But not much worse, I think."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia flinches ever so slightly herself. She isn't a trained warrior, but as a sassy urchin she has solid instints for when someone's about to lash out. She eases visibly when it seems like Kalve is electing not to do it.

"Yeah," Lydia says in agreement. "You probably should've, but I get why you would assume otherwise. Don't think she holds it against you none."

She is quiet for a moment and then adds, "Um. I know I guess I'm kind of, in part, pretty representative of what you're angry at right now probably so if you want me to go away I will." Lydia shifts her gaze to looking at the floor. "I just wanted to say 'you're my friend' and, well, you probably saved my life. So I came by."

Her arms tighten up around her knees.
@emit
Lydia's instincts are good. Kalve feels a pang of guilt when he spots her relaxing afterwards. It gets added to the pile of troublesome feelings, much like a bit of refuse being tossed onto a landfill: everyone who looks at it acknowledges that that's certainly a place to put those things, but also that one day it'll have to get taken care of before something awful happens.

"..."

"Lydia." Kalve says her name with a sigh. "Do you think that Ida and I have always seen eye-to-eye, or fought on the same side? If I lashed out at every one of my markedly few friends over the results of our being opposed on something or other, I would have few enough left." It isn't her that exemplifies what he's really angry at, anyway. Kalve isn't sure he knows what to be mad at right now.

"...the scale may be drastically different," Kalve says quietly, "but I should not allow that to dictate how I act and feel." He rubs his face with one hand. "Thank you for coming so far out of your way. I'm glad you didn't die."

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Lydia's instincts are good. Kalve feels a pang of guilt when he spots her relaxing afterwards. It gets added to the pile of troublesome feelings, much like a bit of refuse being tossed onto a landfill: everyone who looks at it acknowledges that that's certainly a place to put those things, but also that one day it'll have to get taken care of before something awful happens.

"..."

"Lydia." Kalve says her name with a sigh. "Do you think that Ida and I have always seen eye-to-eye, or fought on the same side? If I lashed out at every one of my markedly few friends over the results of our being opposed on something or other, I would have few enough left." It isn't her that exemplifies what he's really angry at, anyway. Kalve isn't sure he knows what to be mad at right now.

"...the scale may be drastically different," Kalve says quietly, "but I should not allow that to dictate how I act and feel." He rubs his face with one hand. "Thank you for coming so far out of your way. I'm glad you didn't die."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia wonders what the Guardians would think of her friendship with Kalve. Do they even notice it? Maybe it seems so small and meager to them that they aren't even aware that it's there.

She stares miserably into the dirt. She wonders what she's thinking figuring maybe she can cheer Kalve show up during what may be the worst time of his life. Hubris...! The enemy of all science! But the friend of all mad science. It's a complicated character flaw.

She's relieved to hear Kalve's answer. She still feels pretty bad. He's feeling bad and maybe she didn't have as much good cheer to spare coming into this as she thought she did.

Still, that's enough to make her rally and she says, "You should have more friends."

Her shoulders unslouch, pushing back down as she raises her head. "Remember when I called you a douchebag?"

Pause.

"Um, sorry about that. I don't think you're a douchebag. Sometimes my mouth runs away from me."

Another pause.

"Not all possibilities are true. Not all truths are possible."

She looks over to Kalve. "But I agree you know? It would be sad if all that's left is campfire stories and weapons." She loves Riesenlied, sure, but she doubts that preserving Hyadean culture is what she's after. Least not as much as it matters to Kalve.

"I think Zed is trying to gather up folks--you're still pals right?--I'm sure they could use the smartest dude I know."

She looks back forward. "But it's ok if you want to be by yourself too. I'll be your friend either way. ... I'm glad you didn't die too."

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

They probably think it's an unfortunate phase, and one that will end with her realizing how terrible Kalve is. Or maybe they're not omniscient or mind-readers, and they'll never know. If that's the case, though... doesn't that bring up all kinds of other unfortunate questions?

Kalve laughs a little. It's a harsh noise, closer to a scoff than anything with real humor in it. "Perhaps I should," he says, a bit dryly. "I will endeavor to show people my soft and endearing side." He twitches a shoulder in a bit of a shrug. "I did not quite understand the insult, anyway. It is forgiven."

Which means he has no legit reason to kick down her door and demand a duel of honor now. Score...?

He returns his gaze to the sky. "Mm. I will do whatever I can to prevent my people's ultimate destruction -- or the dissolution of our ways. Whichever of those may be divorced from... 'Her' influence." He frowns. "Zed... sometimes, I wonder if he would not be better off forgetting about us, and wholly embracing the life of a wanderer. He might be happier that way. I do not think bearing this weight will suit him for long."

"... but I will help him, if I can," Kalve murmurs. "When I'm ready to try again. I think that I need to... work some things out, first."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Lydia also made two metal demons her mom and liked Kaguya. Though to be fair in the latter, Kaguya is now off the planet so maybe they don't care about that anymore.

Lydia perks up a bit. "Yeah! Your secret endearing side!" She pauses for a moment. "Wait, is that a secret?" She leans back thinking about that for maybe longer than anybody ought "Well I'm not really sure what a douchebag is either to be honest. I don't even remember where I heard it. It's fun to say though. Douchebag douchebag douchebag."

Don't worry it's not aimed at Kalve this time either.

Kalve says maybe it'd be better for Zed if he didn't have to worry about the Hyadeans at all and could just do whatever he wanted. Lydia thinks about that and admits, "Well, maybe not... but he wouldn't be Zed if he didn't try."

ZED, RESPECTABLE METAL DEMON. Wait how did we get to this point. Wasn't he the comic relief?? What's going on???

But Kalve says that he will help Zed. Not now, but when he's ready, and that's the best Lydia can hope for and, indeed, it is the best she hoped for.

"Totes." She agrees on Kalve working through things, flopping back down to stare at the open air.

If nothing else, she knows what it's like to be dissapointed by your own Mother.

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Dang Filgaia-centric cosmic beings....

"Is... ...That was a joke," Kalve clarifies, after a second of confusion. He was poking fun at the idea that he has such a thing. Clearly, he doesn't. Any indication otherwise is totally false. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

He does snort when Lydia spouts douchebaggery into the open air. It is kind of a funny word.

"Mm. True enough," Kalve sighs. "I expect I will see him soon, then, all worked up and gung-ho about whatever his plan is. There will probably be unnecessary titles involved." Kalve doesn't sound like he thinks that's a bad thing, per se; he likes Zed, even if Zed has historically been the slapstick comic relief we almost always needed and sometimes absolutely didn't.

The world turned upside-down, Lydia. Upside-down.

Kalve rests in companionable silence alongside Lydia for a little while. Having someone nearby is welcome when it seems like maybe they're both spending some time being alone, but together, as paradoxical as it seems. He nudges a stone with his foot at one point, which nudges a piece of wooden debris, which shifts things in the fire and sets it to heating up some more. It's how he manages it without getting up. It's a day for that, too.

"So," he says eventually, "how are... things? Yours. Your... things." It is as awkward-sounding as you might imagine. Kalve doesn't really grok catching-up-style smalltalk. That's what happens when you live with your whole species inside a giant metal space ball for a thousand years. You don't really need to ask.

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Huhh...? It was?" Lydia says. To be fair, Kalve did help murder a sandworm that ate her once. Maybe Lydia's idea of 'endearing side' is a little different than Kalve's.

Lydia's own opinion of Zed isn't actually all that different from Kalve's. He's goofy, sure, but it's a world in which a little silliness is a relief. He gets serious (enough) when it's time to. Besides, unneccessary titles or not his actions speak louder than comic relief.

"Heh. Probably." Lydia says. "That sounds like him."

Pause. "Do you have an uneccessary title? The Mercurial...Mechanist?"

She punches her fist into her palm.

How are Lydia's ... things? Lydia looks back to Kalve. "Um. Huh. How are my things?"

She sits forward like she hadn't had a moment to actually think about that. "Mom survived but she can't walk. I don't know if i's permanent or not. There's all sorts of new Tainted around..."
5rShe trails off. That's not really answering the question.

"It was rough." Lydia says. "And I'm still kinda getting over things, I guess. I'm trying to be a positive face for folks, but I feel real exhausted. I want to help my peeps in Kislev, but... the fam needs me now. And it's not like I know how to do it."

She glances back. "Uh, but I don't want to sound like a whiner or nothin'. The people I cared about lived. I guess that's a bit harsh on Siegfried but..."

She frowns. "...Well, maybe I would be missing him more if I got to know him."

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

If you can't count on your friends to help you murder sandworms that try to eat you, what can you count on them for?

"In somewhat more proper settings, I would be called Kalve of the Method," he replies. "It is not nearly as impressive as some of the names my teacher has been known by, but it was never meant to be. Identifying the school whose honor I fight for is -- was important." His face twitches briefly. Tenses are... distressing, right now.

He waits for Lydia to circle around to her own things, choosing not to comment on her mother and the Tainted, though his expression includes a moment of tightness at their mentioning. They're a divisive subject, and talking about it is just going to make him feel even more torn than he did. He'll approach it... eventually. Right now...

"Remember to take the time to rest and recover," Kalve says, glancing at her. "It is exceedingly difficult to return to full strength after burning yourself out. It becomes a negative habit: you will push yourself past exhaustion again and again, and the damage will continue to mount until it becomes unbearable. They will survive without you for a time, and you will be better able to help when you return, refreshed."

Kalve looks into the distance, then. "Siegfried was an able leader and a marvelous warrior, but I did not know him well. He will be mourned, just like all the others. I think... it would be best to honor him by doing as he would, and saving as many of the directionless as can be."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

Is that what Siegfried was, Lydia wonders. In her own experience Siegfried was a guy who yelled a lot and called her fool and threw everything away in his devotion to Mother only to lose that too. And then he helped save one of the people Lydia loves most in this world. Needless to say, this makes Lydia far more conflicted on the guy than she'd really like considering all the MURDERS he was involved in.

But Lydia despite her distaste of murder understands why folks engage in violence of that level nad has a difficulty of judging them for it.

"Ah--" She says. But Kalve is right, she thinks.

But another part wonders if she takes a break if she'll ever have the chance to help her people? But what are the odds of another catastrophe so soon right??

"Yeah, you're right." Lydia admits, smiling faintly.

There's a pause. "I dunno Kalve of the Method does sound pretty cool but maybe it doesn't sound as good in your language." She thinks it over. "What's a name your teacher's known by?"

SOMETHING OF THE MEGA METHOD?

<Pose Tracker> Kalve has posed.

Siegfried was many things to many people. To humans, he was mostly the yelling murder sword guy. Then again, maybe to the Hyadeans he was also that thing. That seems like a set of traits that would get you some serious rank in the Metal Demon hierarchy. Maybe that's why Kalve never got quite as far? Not enough yelling and murdering?

Kalve sees something in that thoughtful hesitation. He adds, "I understand if the state of things means a task is too urgent to put off. Just be aware of your limits. Testing them is good. Trying to do so when you have already been exhausted, and in a deadly situation..." He shakes his head slightly. "Dangerous."

He's a little bit startled, but doesn't show it. "Does it? I suppose so." Maybe Kalve has different standards for cool titles. He thinks it's serviceable. "Presently, he insists that I call him the Old Man. He likes to change his name when it suits him," Kalve explains. "It's simpler to go along with it than to try to fight that particular current. Hmmm..."

"In the war, he was called the Sky-Iron Crux," Kalve offers. "Supposedly, he would anchor one side of a battle-line and draw strong single combatants to him for days at a time to prolong engagements. There are others, though. You don't get to be as old as he is without accumulating a few."

<Pose Tracker> Lydia Seren has posed.

"Yeah," Lydia says. "But I'm also a huge nerd." So maybe her view of what's cool or isn't shouldn't be trusted! But maybe NERDS are the new cool! This isn't the 90s after all! This isn't REVENGE OF THE NERDS!! She has no pocket protector, even.

Is it too urgent? It's hard to say. Certainly it's not like they are being exterminated on mass, but if you put aside an injustice simply because it's on the edge of urgent, then eventually folks might forget why it's an injustice in the first place.

But what is she going to do about it? That's the question. SHe supposes now's a time to reflect on it while she's resting.

"I'll be as careful as I can be." Lydia promises. "Which isn't much but I'll do my best." Her best at doing her worst? "Old Man, huh?" There is a pause as she resists the urge to say 'wow that's pretentious'.

But Sky-Iron Crux! "That's pretty epic to be honest. I can see why you call him Master. It must be cool to have all these amazing titles. Wish I had one." Lydia Seren the Lightspeed says.