thebastion | (no subject)

Who: Colin Starfury, any meddling kids
Open: Open as the plains
When: Day 267, late morning and early afternoon.
Where: The Farmland
What: Doing another survey for more development
Format: Anything, can match
Warnings: Colin IS a warning

As far as plans went, this wasn't how Colin had wanted to spend this week. There were a lot of things that needed doing even before the plight of the Ura reared its head. But Colin was an engineer, and he knew well that the universe had plans of its own and it really didn't care one little bit of the plans of individual people.

The day before this had been spent doing research, and helping Rob build his new cart. That had taken a fair amount of time on its own, but it was work that needed to be done if they wanted to set up a supply line. Now that the transportation was done, it was time to set up the facilities that would give them the supplies down the line.

So here he was, setting out more stakes and flags, taking more measurements, and generally making it apparent that SOMETHING is going to be going up in this area soon. And if the layout of the flags and stakes are any indication, it's going to be something BIG.

Anyone care to bother the engineer at work?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

"A person can hurt another person just as much as their mind can comprehend," he says gently. "Often, even moreso. Gods don't have anything to do with that."

He gestures off into the distance, giving a sad smile. "It's up to man to steer their own course," he says. "A good god can direct his or her followers to peace. But they can only direct them. It's always up to a person to steer their own course."

"... I guess. I just... want to remove the biggest weapons. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. I don't want to give anyone the chance to use that kind of power. If I got mad enough... at home there's not really anyone who could pin me down. I could wipe out a city pretty fast if... if I lost control. And that can't happen. I won't let it happen."

"Okay, Ryu," Colin says in a gentle, understanding tone. "But hang on just a moment. You're approaching the problem from a benevolent perspective, which is good... But you're also not thinking it through."

He sympathizes with Ryu's dilemma, but he can already see the major flaw in his reasoning.

"You want to do this. Now... imagine you were someone else. You've worked hard to build up your life the way you like it. You've provided for your family, you've protected your family, you've generally led a fruitful, wonderful life," he says, gesturing with his hands as he speaks to represent sizable gains and a fruitful existence. "Now... imagine that someone you don't know in the slightest, someone all powerful, comes along and says to you 'Hey, you need to give up what you've used to protect the people important to you. Don't worry, I'm going to make sure nobody can hurt anyone ever again.'"

He pauses for just a moment, letting it sink in. "Remember, you don't know this person at all, and he's asking you to completely disarm and assume that everything will be peaceful in the future," he says. "Would you believe him and do as he asked?"

"But most people don't use them as weapons. After the Endless set up things initially, they just... watched. It's just me they're after. The others... don't do anything."

Being chased... it's terrible.

"I don't know all of what Fou-Lu did, but whatever he did didn't work, and I think it's because they couldn't summon him right. I don't want him to be used as a weapon anymore. I don't want to be used as a weapon anymore. I don't... transforming is useful, but I can't control one of my forms and I don't want to just be unleashed on an enemy."

... Maybe it's a little selfish, but the idea terrifies him.

"No more killing. I don't... I don't want to kill anymore people."

He sits down in the grass and pulls his knees up to his chest, shaking. He's been holding this in for a while, but it's finally spilling out.

Oh yes, this man was definitely an engineer. Technical knowledge could be acquired, but she had long suspected the engineer attitude was genetic. Arguably, an example of convergent evolution. Aradia smiled, amused. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked. "I'm no engineer, but..."

"If you feel like carrying some flags around for a bit, it will save me several moments while we talk," he says, laughing quietly. "And if you've got a head for spacial relations and architecture, I certainly wouldn't mind someone checking my notes and calculations."

He smiles then, shaking his head. "But I am aware that those are fairly specialized skill-sets," he adds, not the least bit worried if she can't actually provide that help.

Aradia shook her head. "Unfortunately not one I have," she said. "I always wanted to get into architecture, but somehow I never got around to it. I'm more of an architecture appreciator, really." She held out a hand for the flags, though. "But I'm sure some of my skills will be transferable to flag-carrying."

"You ever decide you wanna change that, I've got several civilizations' libraries in my computer," he says, smirking. "Even if you can't read the language, there's bound to be some instructional vids. Assuming you can wrangle some time with one of my pads, of course."

He crouches and picks up a good number of stakes and flags from the ground, and he holds them out to her.

"Of course I love him."

She almost looks insulted at any insinuation that she wouldn't love him. It does little to assuage her worry, though. People can still get angry over things that are essentially good in nature if it goes against what they believe or feel should be happening.

"I doubt Dad would be that happy. I'm still a kid m'self," she admitted, shrugging a little. "... I guess he would accept it eventually, though. That's the kind of man he was."

"And if anyone comes after you, I'll glue 'em to a wall," Colin says, moving to sit beside Ryu and give him a hug. "Nobody says you've gotta kill, that's a choice for YOU to make, nobody else."

"I don't have all the answers, but I can tell you this," he says gently. "So long as people don't hurt other people, they should be allowed to live their lives however they want."

Ryu leans into Colin, sniffling a little. It's hard to hold things back. People expect him to be the happy one, but he's got things he worries about, too.

"Th... thanks, Colin."

"I'm here for you, Ryu," Colin tells him, and he squeezes his arm around Ryu's shoulder. "You ever need someone to listen to you or give you a hug, you just come find me. If the world isn't ending again, I'll give you all the time you need."

He turns his head to give Ryu a reassuring amile.

"Thanks. ... I never really talked about that kind of stuff with the others. It's... different when you're in the middle of things. But now that I've had time to think about it... it's really messed up."

He counts out on his fingers, before looking at him again. "I think I've been here longer than I was around there."

"Really? That's very good of you to offer," she said, accepting the materials. "I may take you up on that. It's pretty popular reading, is it?"

"Not as popular as you might think," Colin says, shaking his head. "I think several people just don't want to deal with me. No big surprise, I'm a know-it-all."

Aradia had to chuckle at that. "Well, you'll find I have plenty of experience with know-it-alls."

"Most people who hang around me long enough get it, sooner or later," he tells her, his tone amused and pleased. "But it's nice to not have to worry about driving someone away for once."

He sets himself to his task once more, but he's not terribly distracted by her presence. "You have a rough idea of what tech level your society is?" he asks her. "I don't want to start speaking Orion at you because I assumed too much."

The Emissary followed along, naturally.

"Well, sure," she said. "Uh... we had interstellar travel, the internet, portable computers, first contact - although that one's more of a cultural marker, I think. The vast majority of it was at least partly biological, but they'd developed quite a bit of inorganic stuff, too, especially in recent sweeps."

Page 9 of 9