driftfleet | voice

Entry tags:

voice

Who: Sorey
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Huntress
When: Immediately!

Does anything rhyme with silver? [somebody's finally trying his hand at writing poetry]

Also if anybody's seen the SS Huntress's welding torch, please let me know! It is a wreck in here, honestly. ...wait, maybe we don't have a welding torch.

[ACTION]

[Sorey can be found half-buried in the guts of engineering, muttering words to himself as he tries to fit them into his rhyming scheme. Occasionally he'll crawl back out of the maintenance panel to write something in a grease-smudged notebook that contains...truly dire but very enthusiastic poetry.]

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Well, [he grunts as he wriggles a particularly stubborn bracket loose,] you're writing the book, right? Which is probably going to be read by tons of people and be full of tons of useful information. It might even save the lives of Shepards and their seraphim in the future. [He sighs and lies flat, giving himself a rest when the stupid bracket doesn't pop off like it's supposed to.] And I remembered those journals we found in Lefay, and how they gave us a lot of insight even though they weren't academic. I thought maybe if my own feelings were obvious to any Shepards who come after me, it might help them with anything they're struggling with.

[That... is actually a really good idea. The method isn't one that Mikleo would have chosen, but, uh-]

Your readers would definitely get a feel for the kind of person you are with something like this.

[For better or worse, it leaves quite the impression.]

[you're laughing at him] I just thought it might be different! You know, there's already journals, you're writing a book...poetry is different. Right?

[a little bit. very lovingly.]

It's different.

[VERY, VERY DIFFERENT]

Poetry is from the heart. There's a passion within that you don't find in education textbooks. To be honest, it reminds me a little of the Celestial Record.

Wh- It does? Wow. [it's hard to make sorey blush, but it's usually mikleo who does it] C'mon, it's not that amazing. The Celestial Record has so much information, and the author is so worldly...

[Mikleo quirks a brow at that.]

"Their shining branches are as a beacon unto the fruit of knowledge and the flower of aesthetics." Yeah, no poetry at all in the Celestial Record's writing.

True. ...We've seen a lot together, but do you really think we could create something like the Celestial Record? [It's hard to think of yourself as approaching the same amount of impact as your idol, after all. Or maybe the reason why Sorey is questioning it is because he's already aware that he has, that when royalty and knights and religious figures know you by name, you've reached a level of influence that cannot be disregarded.

Lailah's been pounding it into his head from the start and Sorey does his best to present himself properly but they're both still so young and know so little. All of their time and attention has been focused on quelling Heldalf; sometimes it's all Sorey can think about. Considering something like this is almost like a dream, one for which he still feels somewhat guilty.]

I don't see why we can't. We're living it, after all. Going from shrine to shrine collecting the spiritual powers makes it seem like it's just part of becoming a full-fledged Shepherd, but think about what we're trying to accomplish. Purifying a huge amount of malevolence, defeating the Lord of Calamity, discovering the truth about the lord of all seraphim, and ending a war between two entire countries...

[Honestly, he has mixed feelings about it all. It sounds both amazing and terrifying, and he wants them to succeed, of course- failure would be catastrophic and deadly for all of them. But Sorey is - always has been, always will be - his main concern, and he's worried about what the weight of everything could do. It's why he's choosing his words carefully- we.

He never wants Sorey to think he has to do it alone. Certainly not again.]

Doesn't it all sound like something out of a legend from the past?

It does. [And it's funny, that all of that seems much more likely than writing and publishing a world-renowned academic text. Maybe because he's just been doing it, maybe because he feels like all they've done is follow in the footsteps of Shepards before them, led along by the Lailah and the elders of their group.

But this, something like this, that would be an accomplishment all their own.] Sometimes I wonder, you know? [Sorey scoots back out far enough to give Mikleo a look from under his arm.] What our lives could be like after we accomplish our dream. I try not to think about it too often. I don't want to lose sight of what we need to do next.

[Mikleo frowns tightly at that, lowering the book to glance over and meet Sorey's eyes. He hasn't thought too much about the future, to be honest- his focus has been on Sorey since they left Elysia, and most of the decisions he's made have either been somewhat selfish or to support one of the few people he's ever cared about. The other seraphim are much better than he is with forward-thinking.

Isn't it hard enough, though, surviving day to day with the odds stacked against them? Wars and hellions and the Lord of Calamity, along with his supporters, all trying to end their journey and their lives. They've already lost someone, and almost lost Rose and Alisha, too. Sorey's had plenty of close calls. They're nowhere near strong enough. Distraction isn't really a thing they can afford.

Here, though... nothing's really stopping them from considering it.]

Well, it's obvious- we'd find a new dream. Isn't that what you're supposed to do when you accomplish your goals? Or would you be satisfied with only one?

[Sorey lowers his hands to his stomach, ignoring the grease on his fingers. He holds Mikleo's gaze as he considers that.

They had a dream before all of this, of course; they wanted to explore the world together, wanted to find every single ruin, wanted to solve the mystery that is the history of their world. They wanted to do that together.

But after what happened with Dezel, Sorey is beginning to wonder if that's possible. After their clash with Heldalf, after learning that Maotelus himself must be a hellion, corrupting the entire earth...he wonders.

There might not be a goal after this one.]

We could always dust off the classics, [he says instead, unwilling to voice his thoughts just yet. When they're not facing down the ticking of a clock it's easier to think that way, to believe that they'll have decades and decades more to realize as many dreams as they can come up with.] Explore all the ruins of the world, right? There's got to be entire civilizations we still don't know anything about.

I have no objections.

[Honestly, he'd be overjoyed if that became their endgame. That sort of freedom wouldn't come unless Sorey's duty was fulfilled, and that would mean that they'd survived against Heldalf and all of his cohorts, against the malevolence of the world, against whatever Maotelus became.

Sorey doesn't have to say it; Mikleo knows their odds of survival, and he's committed to stick with the journey despite them. Even so... he's just as content as Sorey to leave them unspoken.]

It would keep us busy for a long, long time, that's for sure.

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