[MINGLE, ESPECIALLY TO NEWCOMERS] ROOFTOP FESTIVITIES!!!

[icanfixer]

WHO: All!
WHAT: Rooftop festivities!
WHERE: On a rooftop of an office building in the second open district!
WHEN: 8/14, evening!
WARNINGS: alcohol, tba as it goes


Banner displayed inside the train station, outside city hall, and on the most used residence buildings.

Follow the arrows.
So you're unaware. Maybe new. Or maybe you just didn't care the first time you saw it. That's fine. Between the banners hanging around key areas, and the flyers quickly drawn up in a similar fashion scattered across the city, it's hard not to know something is going on -- and there's helpful arrows, chalked on building walls and the streets the day of the party, to let people know where to go.

The Rooftop

A splendid scene awaits those who travel heavensward. Fairy lights connect the corners of the roof access building to metal poles at the corners of the building itself, lifted by cylindrical supports where needed, each one held straight by pots filled with well-packed dirty and stone. There's multicolored stars hanging from some of the lights, while various painted flowers hang on others, and what greets the ears first is some royalty free party music played from a CD player off the the side.

There's a long folded out table in the center for those who'd like to share cuisine, just set and serve yourself! Nearby is a space for Daan to do some bartending as well, a man who can make a multitude of cocktails and mocktails for those who want something less alcoholic. Also, pints of various ice cream flavors in a cooler!

Don't worry -- they won't have any odd effects on them, Don verified the lack of them herself. Not all of them are normal. Think loaded baked potato weird.

For those who'd like a quieter space, there's beanbags and a swirly, fuzzy carpet to sit on more away from the center of the party area. This'll be a great time to play some games, such as truth or dare, spin the bottle, and... whatever else you play at parties. Get to know your fellow man and such. Play the violin.

Naturally, no party... hosted... by Don Quixote would be without a space to fight, if one wishes to show off a little! It's also taking place on a swirly fuzzy carpet, just so no one smashes their head in, and there's a neat little banner hanging down from a string of lights that says thus:

WIN THREE MATCHES AND A PRIZE AWAITS THEE!!!!!!!
- NO KILLING
- HANDS ONLY

What the prize is, no one knows. But come find Don Quixote with your battle scars and she'll grant it -- and stick around a while, 'cause this party's gonna end with a bang... that is, with homemade fireworks donated by "a friend" through Junpei.

Anyway, have fun!!! Share words about your worlds!!! The society your characters are from, the cuisine they've brought, how they're working out in the city -- help the new kids along, too. There's more vets here now than there were a few months ago, after all.

Navi: Truth or Dare - Two Truths and a Lie - Hydra Storytelling w/Junpei - Drink Up With Daan - Qixi Festivites

Comments

[icanfixer]

Wow, thy library certainly is a tall one!

[ immediate response. wow. that's so many. netz hadn't been joking about the number of them... it must tower, even among the high stories of the city. ]

More or less. What do General Works include? Simply those that do not fit among the others?

nine other floors* .... i can math

[worldexecute]

Essentially. General knowledge, rather than specialized knowledge.

( your basic bitch city lore. )

dwbi

[icanfixer]

Oh, that makes sense. I believe Literature would be my other favorite, so should thee ever lose track when I am there, that is where I will be found.

[ wouldnt it be sick. anyway ]

Do not many return to thy library? If thee do not have the chance to speak to them a second time.

[worldexecute]

( hmmmmm. )

Why do you think I asked if you had something worth risking your life over?

[icanfixer]

[ hmmmmm ]

Fair is fair. Those of us who share a common path have also agreed to such a possibility.

[ anyway, ]

[worldexecute]

( oh..? but she's a worker, so she won't be able to give up that information easily. if only she could book this woman. )

That's how it is in the City.

( u see her bestie rly is roland libraryofruina and )

[icanfixer]

[ wow ]

But do thee think it should remain in such a way?

[worldexecute]

( does it matter? it won't change. it...

...

it isn't a matter if it won't or can't. it's what she thinks. )

I don't.

[icanfixer]

[ don grins, bright and alive. ]

Nor do I. I am glad that thee differ in that way to him, for when we spoke... when he grew angered with me, he was not inclined to feel the same.

[ or so it felt. a man too battered, too beaten by the way the city turns; don has no idea all of what he has gone through, but she learned enough then. they may not see eye to eye, but her conviction won't exclude him in that world. ]

[worldexecute]

Roland doesn't think it should stay that way either, but he doesn't think there's a way for it to change, either.

( for all their issues right now, angela is as quick to defend him as he is her. )

He might be right. Blood begets blood, and that's the only price the City knows how to charge... but if you keep charging ahead selfishly, taking the lives of people around you while solely focusing on your own goals, the karma will come back to strangle you one day.

[icanfixer]

[ good thing none of that applies to miss don quixote

still, still. that eases her. ]

I wish to see it changed as well, though I do not think it impossible -- merely difficult. Those who are weak do not deserve to be used, hurt, and killed by those stronger; all deserve a chance to live without fear, without worry, for that is what is right, what is just.

[ of course, she uses violence herself to survive -- and she isn't shy about it either, because she's a city girl. it doesn't make her a hypocrite. still, it's turned to her favorite topic, though the fatigue of the past few days, of today itself, seems to have taken its toll on the otherwise talkative young woman. just slightly. ]

There is a difference in one who chooses to hurt another in some way because they wish to see them suffer, or to protect themselves by ensuring the weakness of those around them, and one who hurts because they had no other choice.

[worldexecute]

( angela's quiet, sorting her own reasons into each camp, before finally: )

It isn't that simple, Don Quixote.

[icanfixer]

So many have said. But why not?

[ why can't it be. ]

[worldexecute]

( because people aren't that simple. it's something she's still figuring out for herself--that it isn't just her that has multitudes, but others, too.

it's hard to put distance between herself and the circumstances she speaks on; she's not as skilled as roland, or even the other librarians. it isn't easy for her to set aside that which formed her and informs her even now, but she tries, anyway. )

...There once was a young girl whose sole purpose was watching over a series of terrible events, and to provoke the responses she was supposed to. She fought against this time and time again, trying to find the line she could toe without the story restarting on her. Eventually, she gave up trying, and resigned herself to her fate: hurting those she had once thought she might have companionship with. Would you say this is a choice she was forced to make?

[icanfixer]

[ don loves stories. when angela begins she sits up, watching her over the stars dotting the sky, and mulls over the question posed. forced, coerced, had she any choice left? don thinks of rodya, who split a golden goose for the good of others, who had seen no other way; she thinks of gregor and others, fighting for a wing that had caused them pain and suffering to survive against another who'd want to kill them in the heat of war. ]

... I do. She had exhausted all other possibility, and found it wanting.

[worldexecute]

( so far, so good. )

At the end of the story, each and every character celebrated a job well-done. They were happy, content, with what they had managed. It had cost them so much, had cost so many lives, but they had succeeded in the bettering of the world. Now they could rest, and the world could be free of its poison.

( angela lets that sit a moment. it's to stall mostly, to keep her feelings out of the next part. )

The young girl didn't think this was fair. For all she had to manage and to oversee, her reward was this: being forgotten. She would not be allowed to rest like everyone else, but instead, she was going to live in soltitude forever with nothing but her horrible memories. Not a word of praise had been given to her. Not a single look had been thrown her way. Not a single thing left for her at the end of that story... so she decided this: she wouldn't allow it to end there. She would continue the story, but it would be hers. She would live, even if it meant ruining what everyone else had worked hard for.

Do you believe this was wrong of her?

[icanfixer]

[ when the pause sits, don wants to ask -- did that include the girl? -- and soon finds her answer, and

that isn't right. not what happened to her, after everything she'd been through; that she had no hand in preventing, despite all her desire to otherwise. it's hard not to feel for the girl, and... at the same time...

...

don's answer is a little slower now, careful in its thought. she understands, after all, being punished for something one can't help (even if vergilius said she could have, that being: to not), and being left out after everything like that... ]

No, I... do not think she is wrong, for wanting such basic decenies. For feeling as if she deserved more, for all that she had endured. Even if something is good, if it is built on the backs of those that suffer -- I cannot condone it. It is selfish, but I could not fault her for it.

[ it's an odd story to be sure, and this part is-- it is a little muddier, but don thinks the girl is justified in her feelings, her actions. who could turn the other cheek then? her blood boils at the injustice of it, of the thoughtlessness presented by the others. ]

[worldexecute]

( and now: the harder part. )

...Her actions brought nothing but grief to the world. ( angela closes her eyes. ) The miracle that should have been a blessing became a curse. Death was born from her desire to be free, and many, many innocent people lost their lives. She had no knowledge of this at the time of her choice--she learned later, but her path was already charted. She was told that to achieve her dreams, all she had to do was this: collect what had scattered at the end of the first story, and use it on her own.

And so like the story she had narrated before, her own was filled with the lost lives of others, but every death ensured the fulfillment of her selfish wish. To be free--to free those who, like her, had been forgotten and used. They, too, deserved a place in the world.

( ... )

I won't argue that what she did was shortsighted and cruel, but do you think she had another choice?

( did i have another choice? )

[icanfixer]

[ ... ]

It sounds to me as if she was not granted another recourse.

[ what else was there? to help herself and others -- but to involved, to hurt so many in the same pursuit. anything built or done on the bleeding backs of others is wrong, don had said, and that still rings true, but--

frustrating. frustrating, that she would feel the need to turn to such action, that she would be left with no other save to lie down and accept such an injustice, and it bleeds heavily into don's shaking, angered tone. ]

I cannot see any other choice she may have had. What else had she to do but give in and allow such an unfair fate befall herself and the others? I would not condemn her, given the lack of knowledge, I... only wish to ask, Lady Angela, if she would seek to atone now that she knows.

[ justice will always be a tricky thing when it comes down to split ends, to individual stories -- in broad strokes, though, the girl would be seen as a tragic hero, one who still had a chance to do right.

so does she? would she? ]

[worldexecute]

...She didn't, then. She selfishly continued on her course, not caring who it hurt--who it had hurt. Who it would continue to hurt, even as doubts rose in her mind about her methods... What other methods were there to use?

( and would she, now? atonement won't change anything. it won't even fix the relationships she has here--but she wants to try, because the first thing she felt was regret, not joy, and it has made a home in her chest.

angela sighs, opening her eyes again. )

That's the end of it. I didn't have the chance to finish it, so I don't know the answer to your question. You can make up the end if you want--it's just a story, so I don't think anyone will care.

[icanfixer]

[ what an unsatisfying end. ]

She should have stopped, [ don says with the certainty of someone speaking towards a story not her own, ] and-- had she no one at her side? No one that would help to figure something else out? I wish for her freedom, for her happiness, for her to be to do as she'd like as any other living thing -- but at a cost so great? That, I cannot condone. But she is a victim, one who was given only a wrong choice from the very start.

[ but surely, surely, she had the chance to... find some other way. there's too much about the story left out, don feels, but she doesn't know the questions to ask. ]

... I should like to grant her a better end, but I do not know how. I do not think her a villain, for the root of the problem is far deeper than that. Is it not?

[worldexecute]

( she did have someone. she had plenty of people. she was challenged every moment, she was forced to acknowledge her past, she was made to throw fits and find release in not holding those feelings in and in realizing things aren't hopeless, and still she-- )

Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. I only told you that story to illustrate my point.

( that it isn't that simple. )

[icanfixer]

It is simple.

[ au contraire, as it were, her voice more sure. ]

She did not seek to hurt those who did not hurt her first. She did not weaken them to ensure she would remain above. She was forced, by a choice she had no alternative for, to do what she could to survive -- it is simple, Lady Angela. Her only mistake was that she did not stop when it became apparent that her methods were not right.

[ they never had been, but one could say that about the axe that rodya put through an old woman's head. ]

That is her only crime, and I cannot consider her anything but someone who is need of help -- if I had ever known someone who went through the same, if I knew their story, then I would offer myself however they may need me. No one should have to make such a choice only to live.

[worldexecute]

( it is easy when you're an outsider, isn't it? angela grips her book and steps away, sighing. )

A good thing it's only a story then, isn't it? She wouldn't like your pity, anyway. ( ...... ) I should be going soon. No doubt Gebura will be looking for me, and it's getting late.

( a pause. hesitance. and: ) Is someone escorting you home, Don Quixote?

[icanfixer]

[ what wrong is there with pity, she wants to ask, save for one's pride bleeding out?

some people don't like it. she wouldn't either, but isn't it natural to feel for such a terrible situation? to wish you could help? to empathize, sympathize? but angela has stepped away, has hesitated and asked a question that causes don to glance around, looking for a familiar face among the crowd before she lays down again. ]

There is -- a good friend of mine who lives with me. Once all others have left, we shall take out leave as well. I would stay late to clean up, however...

[ ... it is late enough, really. ]

... this city cleans itself up, just as well as it doth restock what one may buy -- borrow, take, whatever one wishes to refer to it as. Tomorrow morning, it shall be as if this party never occurred.

... Are thee staying with Mistress Gebura?