On Golden Sands

[flangirl]

characters: anyone!
location: beacon, above the waterline
date/time: mostly an open post for everyone who didn't go to the station july 8 - 15th, but open for july in general!
content: a catchall and mingle (and idle hand-wringing for the rest of us)
warnings: the usual: mark your subject lines as needed

the open event post is a little daunting and full of top-levels for those who went undersea sailing, as it were. i figured i'd make a space off in a corner for anyone who wants to hit up other topside folks without wading (heh) through the event text - and also give space for threads before and after so as not to flood the event!

i'm turning off emails on this entry for my own sanity but i'll check periodically for toplevels and put up my own toplevel a little later in the day!

come on in, the not-the-water's fine!

Comments

[pure_havoc]

All right then. Zihuan prides himself on being able to read people but Rosinante has been notoriously hard to read all along, and now there's the added stress of literally everything, so he shrugs it off as needing to calibrate his reading ability. Also possibly wine.

"I wonder where they got it," he says honestly. "Between this and the man with his enchanting string instrument, it's quite unusual. The spirits haven't been in the habit of giving us items both enchanted and useful." A sniff. "It's definitely not my birthday, so..."

Hang on, birthday. That reminds him of something. Hmm. Where's his tablet, what's the calendar?

[callada]

No, it's not Cao Pi's birthday, but Rosinante doesn't offer up that it's his. It's not out of some desire for nobody to know, he just doesn't want anyone acting like he deserves something for being present on a date. It's not like he's even alive for it. Good excuse to drink, though.

"I got a compass," he offers instead, and retrieves it from a pocket and sets it on the bar. "Points to the bonfire from wherever I am. We've been here a year, you know," he offers as a possible explanation. Why the spirits care or would mark such an anniversary, he's not sure.

[pure_havoc]

That hint leads him to figure out exactly what's nagging at his memory, thanks man. It takes a moment, but then Cao Pi gets that universal look of "aha" dawning on his face. "Yes, we have," he acknowledges. "It's been a year since we witnessed each others' deaths." And that's when his eyes come up, with a pointed look. "I believe at the time I said something about the date being terribly unlucky. I had no idea it could get even worse a year later."

[callada]

"Yeah," he says, drawn out as a suffering sigh of acknowledgment. "At some point I have to figure the universe just has it out for me."

It does not, of course, for he's nowhere near significant enough to think the universe cares an ounce about how good or bad things are for him. Maybe the universe just has it out for all of them. Darkly, he wonders if the world eaters are some sort of solution to that problem.

But no, of course, life is a gift and all that. Just hard to be positive about much today. "Cheers," he says anyway as he lifts his tasteless drink.

[pure_havoc]

Cao Pi sets his tablet back down and takes up his glass to match that toast. "We're not as dead as we could be." That's all he's got at a time like this. After watching Matt's lantern just vanish, he's totally not down with anything anymore. Just drinking for now.

[callada]

"And there's plenty left to do with our un-lives." But right now he feels less motivated to think about all that lies ahead of them than usual. Law gravely injured, others dead, and this monster that destroys worlds was trapped and not fully developed. He's not feeling extremely optimistic.

He downs another gulp of the bland wine and doesn't fully manage to hide his grimace, but at least it goes well with the subject. "Guess I'd be twenty-eight."

[pure_havoc]

Yes, a decent enough topic. "Is that so? We are roughly the same age, then. Though, I mark the passage at the new year, as is customary, and that was a few months ago." Nothing big, really. "I like the idea of continuing to keep track. Without a reset, we could go on to brag about being hundreds of years old, perhaps."

[callada]

"I guess it counts if the soul lives on, even if the body is dead." It's a sort of life. He goes back and forth with himself as to how much it counts; how alive he really feels. But his mind is intact enough to ask that question, so maybe that's good enough.

"I can't imagine leading an entire empire at my age. I feel like my career was still just getting started." The career he'd abruptly bailed on, but such is life.

[pure_havoc]

"Hmm." Something to muse on over a sip of wine. Rosinante may not taste much but it'll still get him blitzed pretty well. "Well, if Solis was an indication, these half-life bodies do not age, so at least we'll still look good."

Not reminding himself that Dr. Solis is probably dead for good now...

"I suppose for us, in my time, there was a sense of urgency," Zihuan sighs. "My father's true death, in our original timeline, was at sixty-five. If one waits until fifty to take control, one misses out on some prime years of ruling." That smirk, again. "Or in his case, never taking the throne at all. Seize your opportunity, and all that."

Some part of him is aware, thanks to the folks from Wa, that he himself never even saw 40, but that's even less auspicious than the current topic.

[callada]

Yeah, there's certainly a reason he's still drinking it. If anything, it's more dangerous. Easy to forget it's not just water. As for bodies looking good, well - he'll just let Cao Pi gloat even if that isn't his intent. Most here don't have the skeletal issue he currently does.

"Suppose so. I'm probably just not cut out for it. Ruling's no goal of mine, never has been. A small command is fine."

[pure_havoc]

Yeah one of these days that secret might out, Rosinante. Meanwhile, enjoy your weirdness.

"Naturally," he says smoothly. "For every emperor there are cadres of fine, capable commanders who aspire not to rule but to serve, and do it well. The world would be a far worse place if we all wanted the same role." No shade, really. He respects his retainers, especially those who knew without having to had it spelled out for them that some rulers aren't worth following and some are.

[callada]

"Agreed. And there are already plenty unfit to rule but who do want it. Wouldn't want to add to that mess. I've seen my share of bad calls by leadership." He has another drink, this time with no indication it tastes off. Once you brace for it, it's fine, after all.

"Though I guess that probably goes the other way around, too. Probably plenty of people who'd lead well if they had to, but wouldn't do so by choice."

[pure_havoc]

What a fine mental exercise to keep their minds off the horrors below the water. "Ah, in the first case, you are absolutely correct. I have met and conquered more than my share. If only I was old enough to enter my father's army and add to the defeats of tyrants." A casual tip of his head, and another sip. What Rosinante can't tell by taste is that this wine is excellently potent, so regardless of the quality it sure does pack a punch. "As to the latter, who can say? Perhaps it is true but if there is no way to go around asking every villager and every petty functionary whether they would like to rule the land and gauging their interest...well. It seems like something best left in the realm of philosophy, rather than practical research."

The more he drinks the bigger his words get, apparently.

[callada]

Meanwhile the more Rosinante drinks, the more he seems to just slouch in his seat. It's hard to even attribute that to alcohol, really, considering this is truly just a miserable day. Besides, it takes a lot of drink for him to start noticing the effects.

"Sure," he agrees. "And I guess it's impossible to know if they'd truly be a good leader until you put them in that position, which isn't likely to happen. Philosophy indeed. That said, I know you enjoy philosophy. Who here among us would make a good leader beside you? Not of Beacon necessarily, but in general."

[pure_havoc]

It's a difficult question, one Cao Pi has to mull over. First of all, who's even left? He's going to quietly hope that the deaths they witnessed down below are reversible, else he'll really miss Matt. "That depends on what sort of leadership you mean," he casually cautions. "Command of forces, the ability to give orders and advice and have them followed? Oh, quite a few. Yourself, of course, the Inspector, the Counselor, the...uh..." Ah, shit, he forgot Minimus' title. It's the wine. "Really, anyone already used to having people listen to them when they make a demand or a suggestion. But true leadership?" Slyly smirking over the rim of his glass. "None, I have to admit."

[callada]

None but himself? Well, it's not a surprise, really. Nobody else ever tried to step forward. A few suggestions about a council had been made, but then nobody really took the lead on that either. Fine with him, really. Too many interested would just mean butting heads.

"At least it's easy to manage as we are with how few of us are here," he says, pausing for another drink of the wine. "Of course, there's that kid who turned up while we were out, too. Diode."

[pure_havoc]

Well there would have been more but...they're all dead. Every last one of them, sadly. Not that he says so, leaving the mystery for now.

"I heard something about a boy. A former keeper? I haven't looked into it yet, I have been trying to rest and sort out what we learned down there."

[callada]

"As you should," he says with a nod. "But I ran into him by mistake, I guess. He was just out in the middle of town. Said he was the keeper around thirty years ago and seems to think he still deserves to be thought of as some kind of authority."

Which, trigger some deep skepticism. What is it with kids being keepers, too? Robin was young enough but this one looks half her age.

[pure_havoc]

Yeah that's exactly what he's thinking, something worth saying aloud. "And he truly is a child? Honestly. Who chooses a Keeper and gives them so much responsibility over life and death? Or death and permanent death, either way. It's unreasonable." Oh no he's starting to get drunk and really speak his mind. "Perhaps if it were one of those who outlasted every other reset, if they are now gone, it will fall to us. Not that there's a place for a lighthouse keeper anymore..."

[callada]

"Dr. Ingram's still here." If it were one of those who outlasted every other reset. But the statement is clearly not intended to be taken seriously - he even snorts at his own joke. Will, a keeper? Very funny.

"Think it's voluntary. Don't know who here'd volunteer. Doesn't matter now though. That lighthouse is long gone. Wasn't even much left in the rubble, I think a lot of it must've dumped into the lake."

[pure_havoc]

"Shame." He obviously doesn't mean it, snorting into his wineglass. "We were getting such top quality use out of a tower we could not approach and a light that warns no one of nothing."

He's aware of the red light and the World Eaters and all that but he's past caring for tonight.

[callada]

"Run by a teenager who'd been trapped there decades. It's a wonder Robin's as calm as she is."

He's come a long way from his initial anger at her. While some of it still lurks, for he'll never forget what happened to him and the others who went to try and help her, he logically does understand that it wasn't her fault. Green-eyed spirits make every situation into the worst one possible.

"Self-determination," he abruptly announces with a raise of his glass, as if toasting to the air - a sign of the alcohol finally sinking in. "Nobody to press a button and kill us all. We'll do it right or die and that'll be the end of all this."

[pure_havoc]

Yeah, that's...honestly it's wonder they haven't all gone stir-crazy, especially after Will warned them. Especially after knowing that for seventy-five years groups repeatedly did so and had to be reset and yet Solis still brought more in to do it again and again...

Wow, that got dark fast. Cao Pi tips his glass to agree and then realizes it's time for a top-off. Look at that dark red liquid leaving the bottle, and yet it remains as full as ever when done.

"Yes. It's all on us." He takes a sip, savors it, and then adds (thanks dark thoughts), "I still don't understand the doctor's complete plan, here. This world loses nothing if we stop, if we all die. If we succeed, it still gains very little. Is it even possible to bring back the sun?"

[callada]

"You thinking the Wild Hunt were right after all?"

Not that he's entirely serious, asking that question, but he does see their point - if you only think about this one world.

"Don't know enough about suns myself to say if it can light up again. Things come back, they call it life returning, but it's still just spirits, like the bugs. I still think it's valuable to keep fighting, though. Don't like the idea of just giving up. People here are important to me."

People out in the greater universe too, but now he's got people here, with him, who he doesn't want to lose ever.

[pure_havoc]

A slow shake of his head. "No, they were not. Simply rolling over and giving up is pathetic and cowardly. Even after the disaster, losing the lighthouse and the doctor, we still have tools to claw our way back to survival, and thriving." A shrug that makes the wine in his glass slosh a bit. "Perhaps I can simply see how they got to their conclusion, wallowing in despair and only seeing the worst."

Since the station, and the lingering hallucinations of his death - flashes of seeing the fear and fatalism in the eyes of his wife and Ishida as they stood with him to face the serpent - he has been wondering at what point any of them should give up. How long should they fight? What constitutes living in a dead world? What is death to a dead thing? But he doesn't say anything about it, only putting in, "Without the influence of those who had been stuck here, we are free to choose our own goal, now. If we reject Pluto's goal, the Wild Hunt's, and even Solis' goal, what new goal can we set for ourselves?"