Day 123 [OPEN]

[bastionmods]

Who: Everyone
Open: Open
When: Day 123
Where: All over the Bastion
What: Obligatory "We just got more people/survived a hellish experience" mingle log!
Format: Your choice!
Warnings: Shouldn't be any?

[So the past few days in the Bastion have been very hectic and a little more than emotionally stressful for everyone. About two days have come and gone since the last very large batch of arrivals have come in to the Bastion, and thankfully since then it's been relatively quiet. It's a good time to compress, meet some new people and maybe have some good food at the distillery courtesy of Rin.]

Comments

[croceamors]

[Saix takes a few moments to think on the concept, looking back up towards the stars. He hadn't quite realized to what extent he had been set in his own ways, either, not until he actually tried to reach out to others instead of just tolerating them. Having to actually apologize for once had been enough of a shock. There's one thing he knows for a fact, however- isolating himself surely had something to do with his current predicament. But who exactly could he go to...?]

[Saix sighs.]

I suppose that is a point... And even if it appears that way, Light eventually returns. The moon has done that for centuries, after all.

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Viola followed his gaze upward, noticing for the first time that there was no moon here. That was a sad fact. ]

I never thought of it like that. [ She admitted. ] I guess it's never totally dark out thanks to the moon.

[ Although it never seems to get completely dark here in the first place, but that was beside the point. ]

[croceamors]

Even when it's a new moon where you can't see it, it never stops being there. It's actually an interesting study in Light and Dark.

[Oops, is he getting his nerd on, sorry Viola]

Some cultures certainly noticed it, associating the new moon with ignorance and the full moon with enlightenment. It was constantly changing, as well, with the lunar phases. You could make the comparison with the good in individuals as well, couldn't you? For some, it's constantly changing inside of themselves. Very few are completely good, or completely evil. They're constantly waning and waxing.

I wonder what it says in this metaphor that the light of the moon isn't its own?

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Viola wasn't about to admit that she'd never really thought much about the moon as anything other than an object in the sky, but what Saix said got her thinking. ]

It kind of sounds like a mirror to me. [ She offered, although well aware that she wasn't much good at metaphors. She's a simple woman, okay. ] It shows you what you can't see when it's dark out.

[croceamors]

[Saix thinks about the moon a lot. More than is possibly recommended.]

Without the moon and its reflected light, the night becomes a much more treacherous sort of thing to deal with.

[thirdoutofthree]

You can always light a candle. [ She offers with a shrug. ] Not as good as the moon, but it works in a pinch.

[ She folds her arms behind her head and leans back. ] I wouldn't chance going into a totally dark night without some kind of light. Those are always the times when you run into more than you bargained for.

[croceamors]

Yes... Sometimes your inner light is more valuable for times such as those instead of just candles.

[But Darkness was a bit of a different beast where he comes from.]

[thirdoutofthree]

Inner light? [ She opens on eye. ] You mean like, being optimistic?

[croceamors]

No... I suppose that's another thing they're not familiar with on your World.

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Now the other eye is open. ] Huh? Did you mean that literally?

[croceamors]

In a way. Another way to say it might be "good and evil" but that is simplifying things greatly.

[thirdoutofthree]

Sounds complicated. I'm not sure I follow.

[croceamors]

Everyone has Light and Darkness inside of them. Sometimes they're equal, sometimes one is more than the other. It depends on the person. Some things encourage Darkness or Light more.

For example... Would you say anger is good or bad?

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Viola furrowed her brows. ]

Well.. neither, honestly. I think it's what you do when you're angry that would be good or bad.

[croceamors]

A decent answer. It's true, as well. Anger can be for good or bad, depending on the person and the circumstances. However, too much anger... Would you say there's such a thing?

[thirdoutofthree]

I dunno. [ She admitted. ] Maybe when it makes you lose control and hurt people you care about. But it can also drive you to do something really good.

[ She shifted in the onsen. ] Back home, my friend Jazz was the leader of a group of rebels who wanted to overthrow the ruler of our country. Count Waltz forced most of the people in Jazz's hometown to work in the mines and he killed anyone that resisted. Jazz spent years working against Waltz while trying to keep the rest of his friends safe. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the woman he loved was actually Waltz's spy and Waltz had her assassinated when her secret got out.

[ Viola paused for a moment. ] I can't even begin to imagine how much anger and hatred Jazz felt towards Waltz for all those years. Yeah, his rebellion helped the people of Forte and saved countless lives, but I don't think it was a selfless act of heroism for Jazz. Not completely. If a bunch of my friends and family were murdered, I'd want revenge too. I think I'd carry that anger around forever, even after the murderer got what he deserved.

[croceamors]

[...Saix really never meant to bring out someone's backstory, but he still listens. Viola is the first person he's really had a conversation like this with in a while now, so he holds back on his usual 'bad personality'.]

Well, I did say that it depended on the circumstances and individual. If he started to show no care for those who worked alongside him or were close to him, then you would say he was losing himself too much to that anger, wouldn't you?

[thirdoutofthree]

[ Sometimes she shares more than she realizes that people want to listen to, but she thought it was relevant. ]

Well, sure. We all care about him a lot. [ She rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. ] But if things ever got so bad that he lost sight of everything but revenge, then we'd try to help him. Remind him what he's still got.

[croceamors]

Then that would be a form of Darkness- losing ones self to anger so much that they lose sight of everything else, becoming a corrupted version of the person they once were.

[thirdoutofthree]

You make it sound so permanent, like you could never go back to being the person you used to be.

[croceamors]

You can't, especially once the Heartless get involved.

[Suddenly, however, he pauses, frowning.]

Although... Events happened recently which proved that otherwise... might be possible. I'm not involved enough to say.