Iselsi Piu, the Teen Whisperer

[18:35] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:35] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:35] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:35] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:35] <VoxPVoxD>
[18:37] <VoxPVoxD> Whew! Long day. Weird night. But it finally feels like Piu's got a chance to relax a little, if that's what she wants to do. Does she?
[18:38] <Crion> Yeah! Though maybe not with the sailors, they'll gossip. And Caedus...well, they can't exactly do date night, can they?
[18:38] <Crion> Well. They could...
[18:38] <VoxPVoxD> It is a pretty open secret at this point.
[18:38] <Crion> Piu can literally see the aghast expression on his face at the suggestion.
[18:38] <Crion> Very funny.
[18:39] <Crion> Probably a late workout and then maybe a jaunt down to the Hinokuni, though.
[18:44] <VoxPVoxD> Once the decision not to terrorize her colleague-with-benefits is made, it's off the ship (where the crew and staff have been bunking -- beds are in relatively short supply in Abalone at the moment with the hostel burnt down) and into the streets! The sky is that same awful red, and it's keeping dockworkers and city residents alike off the streets. Bad omen, they say.
[18:45] <Crion> Really, you'd expect the place to have more than one hostel. Maybe the Garden should get into the hostel business...
[18:46] <VoxPVoxD> It does have more than one hostel! But it has many more than one ships. Tricky to block-book an entire crew on short notice right now. But there's definitely a market for it.
[18:47] <Crion> It's a better idea than literally every other bit of criminal enterprise they've been offered!
[18:47] <Crion> Trafficking: It sucks!
[18:50] <VoxPVoxD> It has its pluses and minuses. Hinokuni's pretty empty right now - just Thousand Devil Master and a couple of kids cleaning up after the wake last night. Somehow everyone else is still sleeping it off.
[18:50] <Crion> Ugh! Rude.
[18:51] <Crion> Maybe...no, they're too young and fucking the Hinokuni master would just be weird.
[18:51] <Crion> So. Elsewhere!
[18:55] <VoxPVoxD> Piu heads out... even for the weather the streets seem awfully barren. There's no wind, but the temperature's dropped a bit. Cutting through a side street between two warehouses she ends up in the shade, which is downright chilly.
[18:56] <Crion> As a fire aspect she could warm up, but, there's other consequences for that.
[18:58] <VoxPVoxD> And the shade draws deeper and darker as Piu goes forward, the shadows growing so thick and cold that it feels like she's wading through icy water. For just a moment it feels like the ground's given way beneath her, and she has a mental flash of plunging into icy black water, cold enough to stop her breath and seize her heart--
[18:58] <Crion> Hh.
[18:58] <VoxPVoxD> --and then it's gone.
[18:59] <Crion> That's not normal.
[18:59] <Crion> "Come out."
[19:00] <VoxPVoxD> Now there's just a single long shadow cutting up the alley, a shade darker than the one the warehouse casts. It's not clear what light source is throwing it. But an eyeblink later it's clear who's casting it. It's that weird girl they pulled from the ghost ship. What's her name? Dryas never uses the same vowels twice..
[19:01] <Crion> Piu: "Oh hey Sadako!"
[19:02] <VoxPVoxD> There it is. Sadako seems a bit startled herself. She brushes her long black hair out of her face, which it keeps falling to obscure, revealing an unconcealed expression of suspicion and confusion. "...hey."
[19:03] <Crion> Smiling, with a bounce step forward: "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
[19:05] <VoxPVoxD> "Sorry." She looks around a bit, seeming to get her bearings. "Yeah. Sorry. Are you okay?"
[19:06] <Crion> Piu blinks. "Yes?"
[19:06] <Crion> "I'm fine!"
[19:07] <VoxPVoxD> "Alright. What are you doing? No. Rude. How's... it going?"
[19:08] <Crion> Piu chuckles. "That was rude! It's...going fine. The bar I wanted to hang out with is closed to clean up after a raucous wake."
[19:09] <VoxPVoxD> "What's a wake?"
[19:10] <Crion> "Thing you go to after someone dies that's not a funeral. You're supposed to be happy, even though you're sad." She wrinkles her nose. "Come to think of it, a lot of contradictions there!"
[19:11] <Crion> "Anyway, it was for Ted, who apparently was already kinda dead."
[19:13] <VoxPVoxD> "Oh." Sadako stands there looking at Piu. "Are you happy or sad about it?"
[19:13] <Crion> "Sad, but I was happy at the wake."
[19:16] <Crion> "You wanna go sit down somewhere?"
[19:16] <Crion> "To talk."
[19:17] <Crion> Two people facing off like this in an alley isn't a conversation, it's a fight.
[19:17] <VoxPVoxD> Immediately: "Yes. Is that rude? I made you ask that by standing in your way."
[19:18] <VoxPVoxD> "Sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude."
[19:18] <VoxPVoxD> "Caxi says I'm getting better."
[19:18] <Crion> Piu: "Yep! It's fine. Being rude can be very useful! It's a skill you should cultivate!"
[19:18] <Crion> "But you gotta know when and where to do it."
[19:19] <VoxPVoxD> "Okay. Okay." Sadako backs out of the alley mouth so Piu can emerge into the red-stained sunshine, where it's still cool, but seasonably so. Looks like it's going to rain again later.
[19:19] <VoxPVoxD> "When and where do I do it?"
[19:20] <Crion> Piu: "To shitheads, when you want them to back down or you want to provoke them into making it socially acceptable to kill them. A grade down from that? To busybodies being rude, when you're certain they won't step to you because the difference between you and them is so large."
[19:21] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako nods. "Yeah. Yeah that makes sense. Where should we sit?"
[19:22] <Crion> "There are people it's not worth being rude to: those are people at your level, or far beneath you. An outcaste beggar who snorts at you for not giving him coin? Not worth rudeness. Probably you should give him the coin. Someone skilled come to kill you? If there's no tactical purpose to being rude, you're just wasting time. There's opportunity cost for that."
[19:22] <Crion> Piu: "You want some street food? We could eat and talk at the docks!"
[19:23] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Sure, okay. Caxi gave me some money."
[19:23] <Crion> "Now here's a question." Piu points two fingers at her. "Do you know payment etiquette."
[19:28] * Quits: tom2 (Connection closed)
[19:29] <Crion> "Basically the way it goes is, so I'm a Dynast of House V'Neef, and that means I have access to a lot of money. That isn't mine! Didn't earn it! Just floating around! And lines of credit too! But there's expectations about how I use it: as a noble, I'm expected to provide hospitality to other visiting nobles and their entourages -- you'd fall into Caxi's, if you didn't also fall into
[19:29] <Crion> mine. Since you're directly under my vague fig leaf of responsibility, that means: I buy the food!"
[19:33] <Crion> She continues: "Now, say we were dating, and I wanted to signal to you that I viewed us as equals, even though your station currently is a matter of manners debate. I would suggest any number of things, but it would be the thing that made sense for my House as splitting a bill with an equal. Most likely we'd bet on a game of chance, or go dukch, which is an expression I don't know
[19:33] <Crion> the origin of which means split evenly."
[19:34] <Crion> "However, once that's been made clear, whichever one of us is the gal in the relationship would be the one that pays!"
[19:34] <Crion> "Keeping up?"
[19:37] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "So paying the bill means you're higher-status."
[19:38] <VoxPVoxD> "Should I be calling you Lady Piu like the sailors do when people are listening?"
[19:39] <Crion> Piu: "It does! And nope!"
[19:41] <Crion> "That's mainly discretionary and determined on a per-Dynast basis. But by dint of being a powerful retainer treated as an equal by powerful Dynasts, your position in society is malleable! Basically, if you've got powerful friends, and you're powerful yourself, you can act powerfully and at worst irritate people. Obviously there's a threshold to how fresh you can get! But that's like,
[19:41] <Crion> starting fights, rather than using titles."
[19:42] <Crion> "If someone demands you use a title, it's up to you to determine the social risk and reward of indulging them! Governor Kou is a different beast than, say, Mnemon herself. I'd probably call her lady."
[19:42] <VoxPVoxD> "Big-timing!"
[19:43] <VoxPVoxD> "I know what that is. Dryas told me."
[19:45] <Crion> Piu: "It's a very special way of being rude!"
[19:45] <Crion> Piu: "Ooooh. Meat skewers."
[19:46] <VoxPVoxD> "And big-timing is the same as having an aleph mindset, right?"
[19:46] <VoxPVoxD> "!! meat"
[19:47] <Crion> Piu: "No, they're slightly different! Big-timing is kind of passive-aggressive and snotty. It's done by people who think their social status difference means they don't have to care about being punched in the face! You should always care about being punched in the face."
[19:47] <Crion> To the skewer vendor: "Double 'em up!"
[19:48] <VoxPVoxD> The fire in the cooking pit looks weirdly pale against Hamoji's red cast. But the meat (pork, it tastes like) is crispy and crackly perfection.
[19:49] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako bites the first chunk of meat off the tip of the skewer immediately and holds it in her mouth thoughtfully, not beginning to chew until they sit down.
[19:52] <Crion> Piu, after eating some pork: "So what's up, Sadako?"
[19:52] * Joins: tom
[19:53] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako doesn't break eye contact with the skewer. "How do you make people like you?"
[19:56] <Crion> Piu: "I don't! Wiser, older members of the House do, mentors and teachers!"
[19:56] <Crion> "Everyone learns from the people who came before!"
[20:00] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I don't get it."
[20:00] <VoxPVoxD> To her credit, she seems to have physical etiqutte down pat. She's eating very neatly, chewing with her mouth closed, not getting meat juices on her fingers or clothes, etc.
[20:01] <Crion> Out of kindness and impressed responsibility, Piu is NOT making a mess.
[20:01] <Crion> Piu: "It's neither smart nor intuitive!"
[20:02] <Crion> "And you're not stupid or weird for not being able to immediately figure it out."
[20:05] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "How did they make people like you?"
[20:08] <Crion> Piu shrugs. "They fucked around and found out they didn't want to be parents. They had to anyway. They sent me off to school first chance they got. They taught me. They adopted me into their House. 'They' can cover a lot of different people!"
[20:09] <Crion> "I was raised by...twenty, thirty, maybe more. Didn't have a lot of parents, but had a lot of older people willing to tell me stuff!"
[20:09] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "...oh. OHHHHHHHH. No I mean like, like, like like. Not alike like."
[20:10] <Crion> Piu: "Oh."
[20:10] <VoxPVoxD> "Everyone likes you. How'd you do it?"
[20:14] <Crion> Piu: "Part of it is I'm really hot. That's kind of a big part of it. There's things I've done to maximize it -- two hours of exercise a day, minimum, since age 9 -- but to a certain degree that stuff is sort of inherent. And I try to remember that every day. But that's a crutch, right? You don't need a crutch to walk. And, well, Caxi has kind of a hard time making friends too."
[20:15] <VoxPVoxD> "That's what she said when I asked her."
[20:16] <Crion> Piu: "I think you need to know what people want, understand that what they want connects to what they need, and realize that giving them what they want isn't giving them what they need, and giving them what they want isn't necessarily a good thing."
[20:16] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I don't understand."
[20:17] <Crion> She finishes a mouth of meat. "Okay."
[20:17] <Crion> "First off, probably stop saying that."
[20:18] <VoxPVoxD> "What should I say when I don't understand things?"
[20:18] <Crion> "Just as a security thing. Never ever tell someone you don't understand. I know you're doing it because you trust me, and I value that! But instead of 'I don't understand,' turn it around."
[20:19] <Crion> "What would make you understand? Process the 'I don't understand,' formulate what WOULD, then ask a question about that."
[20:19] <Crion> "Keeps you in a position of strength among those you don't trust, and is forthright with those you do!"
[20:20] <Crion> Piu: "My feeling here is that you don't have an intuitive read on what people want or need?"
[20:20] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Or why they're different, or bad."
[20:21] <Crion> Piu: "This might sound weird -- do you think of yourself as a person?"
[20:21] <Crion> We're pretty far away from people, right?
[20:21] <Crion> Not being overheard?
[20:24] <VoxPVoxD> Unless you're being spied on by someone very skilled or gifted. This isn't an hour a lot of people eat, and the streets are pretty bare, so the low stone benches where people take their stall food are empty.
[20:24] <VoxPVoxD> Even the beggars that usually sleep on them seem to all be elsewhere.
[20:24] <Crion> Odd.
[20:26] <VoxPVoxD> In fact... she can't even see or hear any animals. No birds, no rats, no strays...
[20:28] <Crion> Piu stretches out. "It's gonna be tough, I know. But you have to."
[20:29] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "What does it mean to think of yourself as a person or not as a person?"
[20:32] <Crion> "Uwaa!" Piu flops down backwards, still feeding meat into her mouth. "You don't make this easy. How're you connected to the world? Is it by sensation? Do you feel heat, cold, pain, surprise, fear, anger?"
[20:32] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Yes, yes, no, yes, yes, yes."
[20:36] <Crion> Piu: "So! You think of yourself as a person. You're a body in a space who experiences discrete sensations which you correllate in the order in which they happen and you respond to them, except you don't feel pain. That makes you weird, but it doesn't make you not a person."
[20:37] <Crion> "Why do you think you might not be a person? Is it because no animals want to be around you, or because you don't die when you're killed, or because some bald shithead wants you dead?"
[20:37] <Crion> "I guarantee you a lot of other people have those problems, in Creation!"
[20:37] <Crion> "It's a big place!"
[20:38] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I'd just never thought about it before. It almost seemed like a trick question somehow."
[20:39] <VoxPVoxD> "Like in those stupid stories where a monk asks another monk 'when is a bowl... not a bowl?' and then the other monk says something that doesn't make any sense like 'when there is a hole in it'."
[20:40] <VoxPVoxD> "That wasn't a good example because it does make sense. But you know what I mean?"
[20:41] <Crion> Piu: "Monks are careerists trying to make you feel bad to score points with stupid gods."
[20:41] <Crion> Piu: "What you're talking about though are 'koans,' and they're not supposed to SHUT OFF thinking about this stuff, or exclude it. They're supposed to be jumping off points."
[20:42] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Thank you!! I am so sick of people saying nice things about monks. I have never seen a monk be anything but weird and rude."
[20:42] <Crion> Piu: "I like Daizo! He doesn't really count though now that he has wings."
[20:43] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako groans. "He's so nice and so pious and he always knows what to do."
[20:44] <VoxPVoxD> "Even Caxi says nice things about him and she doesn't say nice things about anybody."
[20:44] <Crion> Piu: "I bet he's a freak in bed. But so the most famous koan is probably: What is the sound of one hand clapping? And that's supposed to make you think about how you perceive bodies, and intention, and a deliberative act. It's not supposed to be a mean thing about people with only one hand!"
[20:45] <Crion> After a brief pause: "Caxi doesn't say nice things about me?? That BITCH!"
[20:45] <Crion> After a brief pause: "Caxi doesn't say nice things about me?? That BITCH!"
[20:45] <Crion> Then she breaks up laughing.
[20:46] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Well and you. But EVERYBODY likes you."
[20:47] <VoxPVoxD> "So a koan is like the sapphire circle of not admitting you don't understand something."
[20:49] <Crion> "No, I think it's more a way to be a grumpy old curmudgeon when you do understand something. Or at least when you've come to the position when what you understand is that you don't understand something."
[20:49] <Crion> Piu: "So here's one for you. Can a not-person not understand a koan?"
[20:50] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "...no? It's no, right?"
[20:51] <VoxPVoxD> "You have to be a person to understand something, so you also have to be a person to NOT understand it."
[20:51] <Crion> She shrugs. "I dunno. And neither do you. Now, is that because we don't get koans? Or just because we're people?"
[20:51] <Crion> "You can't generalize to not-people!"
[20:51] <Crion> "Well, maybe you can. But raksha would probably get mad."
[20:52] <Crion> "Anyway." She pokes Sadako with her empty skewer, before starting on her second. "We've established you're a person."
[20:52] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Right. We can stipulate that."
[20:53] <Crion> Piu: "Which brings us back to what I said about wants and needs and connecting and whatever."
[20:53] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "How do I tell what people want?"
[20:53] <Crion> Piu: "This is called empathy. I'm pretty sure it's called empathy."
[20:54] <Crion> Piu: "And the way you do empathy is a mirror."
[20:58] <Crion> Eating some meat: "You ever hear of 'reciprocity?'"
[20:59] <Crion> "Saw a complicated name for it once. 'The Kindness of a Still Lake.'"
[20:59] <Crion> "You know, since you can see your reflection in it."
[20:59] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Reciprocity is like revenge, right?"
[20:59] <Crion> Piu: "Fuuuuuck no!"
[21:00] <VoxPVoxD> "Oh."
[21:00] <VoxPVoxD> "Then no."
[21:00] <Crion> She sits up. "I mean, well, kind of. Only on the backend."
[21:00] <Crion> "...Wait, no, not then either."
[21:01] <Crion> "Okay so: the principle of revenge is -- do unto others as has been done to you. Right?"
[21:01] <Crion> "Fuck 'em up like they fucked you up."
[21:01] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Blood calls to blood."
[21:02] <Crion> Piu: "Now that's useful, but only if you've been wronged. And it's a terrible, terrible burden to go through the world always putting your mind into a place where you act like you've been wronged."
[21:02] <Crion> More meat. Then: "The principle of reciprocity is: do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
[21:03] <Crion> "Not sure if I got the 'untos' right there."
[21:03] <Crion> "I've heard it more simply put as 'eat pussy.'"
[21:03] <Crion> "You want pleasure? Give pleasure."
[21:04] <Crion> "You want justice? Give justice."
[21:04] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Oh! You're talking about equity."
[21:04] <Crion> Piu: "Mmmm, that's some financial shit."
[21:05] <Crion> Piu: "I'm not saying you need to keep a ledger."
[21:05] <Crion> "In fact, keeping a ledger is kind of against the entire spirit of the thing."
[21:05] <VoxPVoxD> "So you're nice to people because if you're nice to people, they'll be nice to you."
[21:06] <Crion> Piu: "Nope!"
[21:06] <VoxPVoxD> "I was so sure I had it that time."
[21:08] <Crion> Piu: "You connect to people by seeing yourself in them, in order to form bonds that are stronger than single transactions and stand the test of time, because we live in a society and we cannot live without a society!"
[21:08] <Crion> "Under no circumstances should you adopt a principle that involves being nice all the time."
[21:11] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Because that just invites people to hurt you."
[21:13] <Crion> Piu closes her eyes. "So you can feel pain."
[21:15] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Caxi and Dryas both talk a lot about how I need to protect myself."
[21:16] <Crion> Piu: "They're right. Especially from the kind of pain that doesn't come from a knife or a throat-wire. But! That can't be the main thing. It's always got to be what you keep in reserve. The backup plan."
[21:17] <Crion> "Otherwise you never connect to anyone at all."
[21:17] <Crion> "How's Seiri?"
[21:18] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I don't know!!"
[21:19] <Crion> Piu: "Mmmmmmm."
[21:20] <VoxPVoxD> "Sometimes I think I understand and then I instantly don't. I don't know when she's telling the truth, when she's lying, or when she's lying in that stupid way where you're obviously supposed to be able to tell what she really means that Caxi always does."
[21:21] <Crion> She...can't tell...when Seiri...is lying?
[21:25] <Crion> Piu: "Something you really need to get out the way right now, with yourself -- not with her or me -- is whether you wanna fuck her. You just need to kind of feel out that idea and figure out what your response is to it. We've kinda danced around the sex thing but it's important and contingent in relationships between people, both its presence and its absence. You should also just
[21:25] <Crion> keep that answer to yourself and file it away as data to make a decision on."
[21:26] <Crion> "Relationships between women turn on a lot of things in the Realm. This is one of them."
[21:26] <Crion> "And if you find the idea of physical intimacy repulsive...you're also not alone there, and not a freak."
[21:26] <Crion> "But it's something you need to inventory."
[21:26] <Crion> "But it's something you need to inventory."
[21:27] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Okay."
[21:28] <Crion> Piu: "Beyond that: do you find Seiri particularly difficult to read?"
[21:28] <Crion> Piu: "It sounds like you do, given the Caxi stuff."
[21:32] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Sometimes Caxi doesn't make sense. But it's not the same at all."
[21:34] <VoxPVoxD> "Or you, even. You and Caxi are kind of foggy. Elusive. But with Seiri I feel like I'm always on the verge of making a horrible mistake."
[21:34] <Crion> Piu: "I guess what I'm really asking is: do you think the intensity of your feelings for Seiri, whatever their nature, are causing you to overthink how you interact with her?"
[21:34] <Crion> "And I think you just answered 'yes.'"
[21:35] <VoxPVoxD> "Ugh!! Now you sound like Caxi. What does it even mean to *over*think something?!"
[21:35] <Crion> "So here's the good news and the bad news all in one: this is completely, utterly, banally normal."
[21:36] <Crion> Piu: "Well, for one it's to corner the crew's good time girl and have her explain personhood and empathy from the foundational stones because you've got so much anxiety about talking to your friend. That's classic overthinking things."
[21:40] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "How do I know the right amount to think about it? Is asking that also overthinking?"
[21:41] <Crion> "You don't! It is! It's also normal to ask!"
[21:42] <Crion> Piu rolls over and kicks her feet. "Face it: other than not dying when killed, you're a pretty normal person, who likes people and doesn't like people, who people like and don't like. You'll have to live in this world, but the good news is, I think you're equipped for it!"
[21:43] <Crion> Piu: "As for Seiri, your approach should be based on care for her feelings, not on second-guessing what some ideal prefiguration of 'A Person' would do."
[21:44] <Crion> "Same for everyone else, really. Except for monsters, guildsmen, and people who cut in line."
[21:44] <VoxPVoxD> "I do care about her feelings! I just don't know what they are."
[21:45] <Crion> Piu: "Why do you think that?"
[21:51] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "Sometimes I do things that I think she'd like and she starts to cry. Sometimes I show her something I think is stupid and before I get to say how stupid it is she says 'oh I love those!'. Sometimes she talks about how good someone was to her and then stops talking and starts staring at the floor really hard and her shoulders kind of shake."
[21:52] <Crion> Piu: "...Well there's a lot going on there."
[21:52] <VoxPVoxD> "Right??"
[21:53] <Crion> "Easiest one! Stuff you think is stupid which she doesn't: sounds like you're letting her win those."
[21:54] <VoxPVoxD> "Win?"
[21:54] <Crion> "Are you telling her 'actually that's stupid, and you're stupid'?"
[21:55] <VoxPVoxD> "No!! I'm just quietly thinking it like I'm supposed to."
[21:56] <Crion> Piu: "Are you only doing it because you're 'supposed to'?"
[22:00] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "...no. I'm not doing it at all. It makes me think *I'm* stupid."
[22:02] <Crion> "Look, here's the thing. I don't think you actually have an empathy void that makes you unable to relate to people, because you haven't called me a dumb slut or asked why I act like a stupid party girl yet. I do think you think that you have a problem being a person, and I think that's a feedback loop. But here's the thing: you've spent thirty minutes talking to me while coming
[22:02] <Crion> off as a completely normal confused young woman."
[22:02] <Crion> "Might be closer to an hour now."
[22:02] <Crion> "I'm going to keep saying that because I think you need to hear it."
[22:03] <VoxPVoxD> "Did you ever feel like that?"
[22:03] <Crion> She stares out to the water for a moment.
[22:04] <Crion> "...There have been times when I wasn't as put-together as I am now."
[22:04] <Crion> "My training was harsh."
[22:04] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I can tell."
[22:05] <VoxPVoxD> "Caxi likes to say that we teach people like the teachers we wish we had. And you're so nice and patient."
[22:06] <Crion> Piu makes an indeterminate noise in her throat. Then: "I'm glad you feel that way. I'm glad to be that way for you."
[22:06] * Joins: mattbaby
[22:06] <Crion> "To other people, I'm other things."
[22:09] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "You always make it look so easy. I don't know what it's actually like for you but watching the way other people talk to you, talk about you..."
[22:10] <Crion> Piu: "The key is that there's always something real about it."
[22:11] <Crion> "See, that's the most important thing. Even if you want to do deception: there always has to be something real about it. Because that's what connects people."
[22:12] <VoxPVoxD> "And that's why overthinking it is bad. Because the more you think about it, the more you pull away from whatever's real."
[22:13] <Crion> "Yep. But you also can't use being afraid of overthinking as a reason to indulge whatever feels good. It can't be an excuse." She closes her eyes again. "Living in the world is hard."
[22:13] <Crion> "You're doing a really good job so far."
[22:13] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I've got a lot of help."
[22:14] <Crion> Piu: "And that's never something to apologize for."
[22:20] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako's rubbing her skewer between thumb and forefinger. "It's not just scary because I feel how I feel. It's also that if something goes wrong, I lose a friend. And she's my only friend."
[22:21] <VoxPVoxD> "Or, my only friend who wouldn't be socially obligated to buy me lunch."
[22:22] <Crion> "Mmmmmm. Do you think Seiri will stop being your friend if you mess up once?"
[22:23] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "No. She's very forgiving."
[22:24] <Crion> Piu: "I'll put it a more pointed way. Do you think you haven't already messed up a number of times?"
[22:24] <Crion> "Hasn't she?"
[22:26] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "You're right. But isn't this different?"
[22:27] <Crion> Piu: "Only if we're talking about fuckin'. Well, not only. Mainly. That's where the inflection point usually is."
[22:29] <Crion> "We could always do the temple school thing where I ask her for you."
[22:34] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "You'd do that? Even though it's ridiculous?"
[22:35] <Crion> Piu: "Sadako. I've literally spent over an hour now telling you I'd do this."
[22:35] <Crion> In mock-serious koan voice: "'What is the sound of one teen crushing?'"
[22:35] <VoxPVoxD> Sadako: "I guess so. That's really kind of you, thank you."
[22:36] <VoxPVoxD> That finally gets Sadako to laugh. It sounds like a normal girl's laugh.
[22:36] <Crion> All in a day's work. "No prob! Let's get out of here and let the fish get back to getting caught."
[22:36] <VoxPVoxD> "Okay."
[22:39] <VoxPVoxD> "Hey, listen, if there's ever any way I can help you.. tell me, okay? For do-untoing."
[22:40] <Crion> Piu: "Of course! ...You want another skewer?"
[22:40] <VoxPVoxD> "Absolutely."
[22:40] <Crion> Piu's paying.
[22:41] <VoxPVoxD>
[22:41] <VoxPVoxD>
[22:41] <VoxPVoxD>
[22:41] <VoxPVoxD>
[22:41] <VoxPVoxD>
[22:42] <VoxPVoxD> Does Piu intend to wait and see Seiri around, likely on the ship, or does she seek her at an as-yet unspecified time later?
[22:44] <Crion> She's a Creation-class sneak and killer. She's going to organically drop in on her in what seems like a semi-chance encounter where they're conveniently alone. For Seiri, what occurs to Piu mainly is: prayer hours, or offbeat times she gets up and goes outside or near a fire to read in peace. The latter seems like the better time to approach.
[22:44] <Crion> Ideally she'd block it out so she's already there, and Seiri doesn't really notice -- but isn't hidden per se.
[22:45] <Crion> Being a weird lump is undignified. Perhaps it's best just to be in a blind spot, like with the fire directly between Piu and the comfiest chair...
[22:50] <VoxPVoxD> Abalone has a lot of parks for a city its size. Actual parks, as opposed to undeveloped land (which there's also quite a bit of!). Allegedly the green space is good for local geomancy, and keeps the Wyld zone more stable. Who knows if that's true. But it does mean that there are a lot of places to sit and read outside. With the sky like this, you can even do it after the sun goes down.
[22:52] <VoxPVoxD> It's not quite *that* late when Piu marks Seiri with a book and a bag, on a trajectory for one of Abalone's smaller parks, a triangular lawn between three roads in the temple district, bearing for some reason a statue of a tree.
[22:54] <Crion> Hmmm...alright. She needs to be there when Seiri arrives, but not be able to be scene. Possibly be able to be heard...is there actually a tree in this park?
[22:56] <VoxPVoxD> There are palm trees at each corner of the triangle, in addition to the statue, which is itself big enough to be climbable. It's not a statue of a palm tree, though - doesn't look like any of the trees around here.
[22:57] <Crion> Well, you can't be conviently doing tower handstand pushups in the upper branches of a palm tree, so that's right out.
[22:57] <Crion> *conveniently
[22:58] <VoxPVoxD> You *could* on top of the statue, though. The canopy is broad and, while not *flat*, solid and stable.
[22:59] <VoxPVoxD> A survey of the sight lines reveals a bench just across the way, wedged between two stalls. You can't see it until you're in the park.
[22:59] <Crion> Mmm. Yes, yes, this will work. As long as no armed guards object.
[22:59] <Crion> And hell, she can just be sneaky.
[23:00] <VoxPVoxD> Analyzing the sight lines also gives Piu a funny realization - this has got to be the closest you can get to the big temple without being in any of its sightlines.
[23:01] <Crion> ...File that one away for later.
[23:06] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri's coming up the road...! Where's Piu as she does?
[23:27] <Crion> Planning how to fall with style.
[23:27] <Crion> Atop the big statue.
[23:30] <VoxPVoxD> Then Seiri is totally unaware of her presence as she settles down with a book and a little picnic of bread and jam and tea.
[23:31] <Crion> Adorable.
[23:31] <Crion> ...Piu takes the opportunity to actually get some tower handstand pushups in.
[23:33] <Crion> And theeeeen...she takes a tumble.
[23:35] <Crion> Piu makes sure to hit a 'branch' on the way down with an "oof" and then slide off it a moderate distance further down to the ground, where she lands cleanly in a roll and springs up as if trying to play it off like she meant to do that. Which she did, a layer or two of remove down.
[23:35] <Crion> She'll let Seiri see her first, rather than notice her.
[23:36] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri smoothly spreads some jam on her right hand in shock. "Gosh! Lady Piu!"
[23:37] <Crion> Piu spins with slightly exaggerated surprise. "...Seiri! I didn't see you there. I meant to do that."
[23:37] <Crion> "...How long HAVE you been there?"
[23:39] <VoxPVoxD> Reflexively hiding the jam on her hand by covering it with the slice of bread it was supposed to go on: "Oh, just a moment. I'm sorry, I had no idea-- you were on the Willow?"
[23:40] <Crion> "Is that what it's called? Branches are a bit stiffer than the usual one."
[23:42] <Crion> "Whew. Just gonna sit down for a moment. Mind if I join you?"
[23:43] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri smiles at the joke. "This is the Martyr Willow." She makes room among the picnic. "Oh yes, if you like! I've got tea and snacks..."
[23:44] <Crion> Piu: "I love tea and snacks!"
[23:44] <Crion> She has not yet told a lie.
[23:46] <Crion> "What's the book?"
[23:51] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri pours Piu a cup of tea after carefully cleaning her hand and balancing the resultant bread-and-hand-jam sandwich on one knee. "Oh, this is called 'One Swan Shy'. It's a magistrate story."
[23:53] <Crion> Piu: "Oooh. Thank you. Who's she chasing?"
[23:54] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "Oh, I've only just started. But it's got to be the sister."
[23:55] <Crion> "Right." Sipping the tea. "But who's she chasing?"
[23:57] <VoxPVoxD> "The killer of her scribe! It's terribly sad - and a little brave, too. Turtle Dove has been in every book so far."
[23:58] <VoxPVoxD> The tea is incredibly strong, and more than a little bitter.
[23:58] <Crion> Piu nods pensively, to hide any face she might make at the tea.
[23:58] <Crion> Piu: "So do they ever get together, or is it just sort of...drawn out like that?"
[00:01] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "Elo and Turtle Dove? The author never spells it out but it's heavily implied in several books that they have a history."
[00:01] <Crion> Piu: "Augh! What a tease!"
[00:02] <VoxPVoxD> "It's not that kind of story," says Seiri, a little sadly. "These are very pious books - if someone's found a love match, especially someone of standing, they're probably either a criminal or going to be the victim of a crime."
[00:03] <Crion> Piu tries one of the snacks. When her mouth isn't full: "Good thing real life's not like that!"
[00:05] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri smiles. "Oh, yes. Real life is too messy to fit in a book."
[00:07] <Crion> Piu: "It's also not written by prudes watched over by religious censors! Thank the gods. Well, probably only certain gods."
[00:07] <Crion> Did she bring enough treats and tea for one or two?
[00:08] <VoxPVoxD> She definitely overpacked. Maybe she was expecting to feed leftovers to the birds.
[00:12] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "Do you think real life's more like an ero-scroll, then?"
[00:12] <Crion> Piu: "Ehh. You don't come as much, but it generally feels more earned."
[00:14] <Crion> "Casual sex is fun! But ero-scrolls generally elide the gross or funny, or gross-funny parts. Anyway, they underrate long-term partners."
[00:14] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri giggles. "So why did you come all the way up here to exercise?"
[00:14] <Crion> She points at the stone tree thing. "Looked weird; wanted to climb it. Do some handstand pushups at the top. Figured we had the time."
[00:16] <Crion> "Tell me if I'm eating too much. Or if Sadako's coming to join you and you're saving it."
[00:19] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri gives Piu a brief searching look before replying, "I haven't seen her all day. Have you?"
[00:21] <Crion> "Yep! Think she was on the ship this morning. Usually you two are, you know. At the hip!"
[00:22] <VoxPVoxD> A small smile. "I suppose we are. She's wonderful company, and she's the only one on the ship who doesn't know she outranks me."
[00:23] <Crion> Wwwwell hopefully that's still true.
[00:25] <Crion> Piu: "Eh, we're a pretty lackadaisical bunch about rank. Probably why the Governor hates us so much. This is me reminding you again that you don't have to call me 'lady!'"
[00:27] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri pours herself some more tea. "Oh, I know. You all keep saying that. I kind of like it, though. It makes me feel like I'm part of something important. And it respects the Hierarchy, of course. Good for everyone."
[00:28] <Crion> Piu: "You are already part of something important! Might be lacking a little romance, though. That is the zest."
[00:30] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri's smile falters a bit. "I suppose so."
[00:31] <Crion> Piu: "Oh come now. You suppose?"
[00:31] <Crion> *come on
[00:32] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "You have to admit, that while I might lack for romance, the voyage certainly doesn't."
[00:34] <Crion> Piu: "Mmmmm."
[00:34] <Crion> "Well, we're not going anywhere currently. Lots of time for fraternizing. As I've been accused of. ...Do you know if Sadako is seeing anyone?"
[00:35] <Crion> This is going to be a bit mean in the moment, but the payoff will be worth it. It's also the only way to do this that isn't 'greetings, I am delivering This Love Note.'
[00:35] <Crion> And there's just no drama to that!
[00:40] <VoxPVoxD> A knot of tension that had been slowly accumulating in Seiri's shoulders unwinds a bit, and Piu sees her relax. Just a bit, but a visible bit. "Not to my knowledge. But Lady Caxi offered to take the two of us out on the town the other day. I thought, what a lovely gesture! Making peers of us all, a kind of adventure. I've lived in Abalone almost as long as I can remember and I've often
[00:40] <VoxPVoxD> wondered what it looks like from that perspective. A Princess of the Earth on the pull."
[00:40] <VoxPVoxD> "Sadako didn't like it at all, though, so it never materialized."
[00:44] <Crion> "It does sound lovely...and maybe Sadako was just being rude. In her way. I do want to know, though...if you're interested. Just to make sure I'm not stepping on any toes. If I cared to step."
[00:47] <VoxPVoxD> The knot cinches back up again. "I apologize, I don't want to mistake your meaning, Lady Piu. Interested in...?"
[00:51] <Crion> Straightening her back: "Seiri Gansa, I am inquiring of you, as a courtesy, one woman to another woman, whether you wish to date Sadako...Sadako. She's actually only got the one name, I suppose."
[00:51] <Crion> "I bid you answer honestly!"
[00:51] <Crion> "Like in one of your magistrate stories!"
[00:52] <Crion> She realizes a bit belatedly that actually, they always lie.
[00:55] <VoxPVoxD> "Oh." Seiri's eyes widen. "Oh! Oh, gosh."
[01:01] <VoxPVoxD> "Well, I'm very fond of her. And if circumstances were different, I would absolutely say yes. But this job is my lifeline. I am only aboard that ship by Master Daizo's sufferance. I can't put myself in a position where I might hurt his hearthmate's ward."
[01:02] <Crion> Piu nods very seriously...and then: "Your dedication is noted...and appreciated. But"
[01:02] <Crion> "I must reveal my true motivations. Why I really asked this question. My true purpose for being here!"
[01:06] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri nods attentively.
[01:06] <Crion> Piu dramatically pauses on Serious Face for another beat, then, sing-song: "Sadako's a coward ♪♫♪"
[01:07] <Crion> She cackles and flops back. "She couldn't ask you herself!"
[01:07] <Crion> While prone: "Also you're not getting fired, don't be ridiculous."
[01:08] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri lets out a whole lungful of air. "Oh nooo. That's awful! It's very charming, but-- was she terribly distressed?"
[01:12] <Crion> Piu: "Oh, she's fine. We had a long talk about how to exist in the world. She's dealing with a lot of stuff. She's glad to have you there! But, you know. Saying things. Kinda tough."
[01:14] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "Well... I guess I should talk to Sadako then."
[01:14] <Crion> Piu: "Yep!"
[01:15] <Crion> "And my work here...is done. The tea's a bit bitter, but the snacks are excellent!"
[01:16] <VoxPVoxD> "It was very generous of you to help Sadako! Help... us, I suppose. Us. We could be an 'us'. How about that?"
[01:16] <Crion> Piu: "I think it'd be pretty cool, if that's what you two want. Which is what it's all about...at least, when you can get away with it."
[01:17] <Crion> She sighs as she stands. "And for better or worse, we seem to be in a world-historical time for getting away with it."
[01:17] <VoxPVoxD> Seiri: "Getting caught's never the same thing as justice anyhow."
[01:18] <VoxPVoxD> "Something else you don't see in magistrate stories."
[01:18] <Crion> Piu grins. "Guess so. Enjoy your book, Seiri."
[01:18] <VoxPVoxD> "Have a good night!"
[01:18] <Crion> And you know what?
[01:18] <Crion> Piu did.