Hijinks Mingle

[potentite]

Who: Everyone!
Where: Anywhere around the hub!
When: Days 103-105
Open/Closed: Open mingle!
Notes: See this post for details on the moon prompt and this one for the telepathy/dream/spirit prompts!



[A | Flower Gleam and Glow]
[The nearby moon is still passing close to the hub island, meaning the effects are still in play. Perhaps now is the time to stop and smell the large lit up sparkling moonflowers that have bloomed? Or be annoyed by the mosquito-like insects that came with them.

Alternatively, the deer seem to draw some sort of energy from the moon's light. Given their size, at least their sudden aggression and proximity to the base camp isn't the worst thing in the world but a kick would still break a rib or other bone so be careful! Possibly help each other deal with these cute but troublesome fauna.]



[B | Eavesdropping]
[For some reason, the telepathy will suddenly get rather wonky. Characters won't know why it's happening, though of course no doubt there will be ponderings, but it means characters won't be in control of their ability to broadcast — or more specifically, not broadcast — their thoughts. Time to find out secrets of an embarrassing nature. Or maybe something sadder is going on in your character's head.

If this wasn't bad enough, the area around the signet might experience burning or tingling. Just try to keep a lid on your brain for the day and distract yourself from any annoying pain.]



[C | Talking In Your Sleep]
[Or maybe your character just doesn't have the most interesting thoughts. Maybe they're busy thinking about pie instead of their upsetting childhood. That's fair. Pie is great.

But surely sometimes it haunts their dreams. With the telepathy running amuck, it's no wonder dreams and nightmares are leaking through, too. Of course, it doesn't have to be an accident. Feel free to grab a friend and share a fanciful dreamscape together on purpose! But for those nuts that are tougher to crack, accidents can and will happen.]



[D | Who You Gonna Call]
[Last but not least, as Friday rolls around, there seems to be something odd going on with the island. If your character is inclined towards the spiritual or supernatural, they'll no doubt notice the strange heavy thickness hanging around. There are whispers in the air and all of new energy just feels solemn. Might be good to give people a heads up and keep an eye on it.]

Comments

[rootandbranch]

[that wasn't really what Geir was asking. he more simply wanted a definition of what a role was and how someone could play different ones in real life and not in a poem or play; or at least, Jay's perspective on that. luckily, the explanation Jay does make gives him a different sort of context, and he's able to puzzle through it a bit more.

he sets the pieces together as he always does, as his logical, tilted perspective sees them: Geir asked about roles and Jay talked about things that he did on the Legacy, so playing a role must deal with successfully doing tasks towards a goal. but he names what he was to people, too, and talks about who he acted towards in that role... hm.

that's what's tugging at the back of his mind. used in this context, playing a role sounds awfully like using yourself as a tool to a purpose, rather than being used; that's not something Geir has ever thought about as an option before. interesting...

he senses the shift from enjoyment to uncertainty in Jay, and leaves off his mulling over the implications to look at Jay with wide eyes.]

...Jay?

[rebells]

[He shakes himself, startled out of his funk by Geir's interjection.]

--nothing. It's nothing. [Well, that's an obvious lie. He stops, and starts again.] I . . . regret how I left the Legacy, that's all. But--if it can be fixed--

[He sounds uncertain about though; it's still new, the idea. Not even really a plan yet.]

[rootandbranch]

. . . you said you did something that made it so you couldn't return. The thing we're trying to fix. And you regret it? That makes sense. . .

[Geir says the words gently, as much because Jay sounds so uncharacteristically uncertain as because he's walking on eggshells. he has a keen ear for distress, and he doesn't like seeing it, or causing it. not really. his impulse is to put his nose near Jay's knee for him to pet, or to put a loop of tail around him, for comfort. he's not that stupid, he thinks.

he's figured out that Jay doesn't like people to know he's in distress. Geir pointing out the obvious to him was what made him snarl before. but he did confide the things that Geir just said to him, which must mean he's allowed to talk about it...?

so.]

Um. I'm not sure if it's the same, but Julius told me about a weird thing. Actually, I've been thinking about it, because it doesn't make a lot of sense. I wouldn't mind hearing what you thought about it.

[rebells]

[He frowns. The conversation shift is odd, if this is a dream he's having, as is Geir's confusion about what he means. But--well, dreams are odd; there's nothing to do but follow this line of conversation wherever it goes.]

Oh?

[rootandbranch]

[Geir closes his eyes, remembering the exact conversation, both what Julius said and what he took from it. it wasn't that long ago, though he's been chewing over the idea with nothing to apply it to since then.]

He told me he'd done -- something. And that he was going to try to make up for it. "Atone."

[the concept still tugs at him, though he can't tell if it's in a positive or negative way; he's just not sure what he thinks about it.]

He said that even if whatever you did can't be undone, you can do other things and change it, or just other things period, and that goes out into the world. "The sum of your actions evens out."

...I'd heard the word before, but no one ever explained it to me like that.

[rebells]

[Jay listens carefully to everything Geir's saying, although he's expression goes distant and oddly closed as he talks about atonement.

It doesn't apply to him. He's done a lot of wrong in his life, and he's never felt the need to make up for it--until now, a voice in him points out, but he has selfish reasons for wanting to fix the situation on the Legacy. The Oresoren. And of course he doesn't want to see his own work so callously destroyed. And--

He's never cared about right and wrong, is the point. It's one of the things that always made him different from Senel and the others.]

It's a moral idea. [Quietly, looking out towards the waves.] When you do something that's wrong--something that causes harm, the morally correct thing to do is to try and counteract that harm. And if that can't be done, the next best thing is to . . . do more good, perhaps. Good works of a magnitude that cancel out the magnitude of your harm.

That's the impression I've always gotten, anyway. I'm hardly a moral expert.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir scratches a claw in the sand, glum. there it is; one of those inexplicable phrases that everyone except him seems to at least sort of get. it feels like Vern is always telling him about his urge to fix, to help, to see things better than they are, but how does anyone know what "better" is supposed to be -- at least once it's taken to some kind of abstract place instead of simply what you like or dislike seeing?

Geir sure doesn't.]

You know more about it than me. I have no idea what "morally correct" is supposed to be.

I only thought of it because... well. You want to fix things. It sounded like the same idea. Not a morals thing. I guess not.

[he sighs! just when it was starting to seem like it might make sense.]

[rebells]

[He doesn't quite know what to say to Geir's glumness--he was being honest when he said he wasn't a moral expert, for all that he has a better-defined idea of what morality is than Geir does.]

. . . it's about your motivation in this case, I think. I have . . . selfish reasons for wanting to see the situation on the Legacy repaired. I've never cared much about right and wrong for their own sake.

[rootandbranch]

Mmmm.

...can you still fix things even if you're not doing it because it's right? I mean, does it take? Do things still grow again after?

[it's not a leading question. he's barely talking about Jay's situation at all. he's thinking of a root of the Tree that he and Vern found in the mountains, and what happened when he bit down.

it still applies, though. do morals matter to results? does intent change action? he really doesn't know.]

[rebells]

[Luckily, Jay is on more confident ground here.]

I helped stop a second Cataclysm for my own, selfish reasons. The people who are alive because of that are just as alive as they would be if I had done it to save them.

[But then again--he considers that further.]

But it took someone who cared about peace between humans and the Radiant to achieve that. Your motivation can change your priorities.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir considers that answer for a while, tilting his head to one side in thought, and finally nods. he can see both sides of what Jay's saying. there have been times that Vern has had thoughts he never would... but Geir is pretty sure that even some of the things he's done on impulse, without any working moral system to guide them at all, have had at least okay results. so maybe... it's complicated. but he can think about that complexity more going forward.]

I think... that makes sense, anyway.

Thanks. You always have interesting answers.

[rebells]

Do I? [ . . . ] Well, you're welcome.

[This has been one strange conversation.]

[rootandbranch]

Hmm. I don't really get you, but I think I'm getting more okay with that.

[it's a sort of thinking-out-loud, half to himself; he looks back up at the sky again, going quieter.]