Mingle Post for Solace

[reflectedblight]

Who: EVERYONE
Broadcast: N/A
Action: On Solace
When: Second half of January

[Start your own headers, fix ships, buy stuff, get on those hoverboards, whatever!]

Comments

[shamisens]

It's okay. There are a lot of adults on there. I'm the new cook so I have to make sure there's enough food.

[ahappylie]

Is it difficult? [He assumes it must be. He doesn't 100% understand his kitchen after all. Too many automatic things.]

There's no fire pit here and the foods are strange jellies rather than what most are used to.

[shamisens]

[ Ugh the jellies. Kubo makes a face. He isn't all that picky about food, but that doesn't mean he can't dislike the weird stuff. ]

I'm getting the hang of it. And I'll try and make sure the ship has enough real food.

[ahappylie]

[That face is unmistakable. Okita raises a hand to laugh behind it.]

Best to earn credits and buy it at stations like this then. Some people have been growing or hunting their own food, too. Perhaps you can arrange a trade.

[shamisens]

I don't have anything to trade though. All I have is my music and stories.

[ahappylie]

Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to trade though?

Right now, people could use a little magic in their lives. [Especially after all the destruction of the past battle. Something that would relieve their stress could be just what they're looking for.]

[shamisens]

I don't know.

[ He hesitates. ] People here have their own magic and powers. What's a little paper going to do compared to that?

[ahappylie]

[Don't sell yourself short, kid.]

Does anyone else here use paper and music like you do?

[shamisens]

No . . . not that I know of.

[ahappylie]

Then you have much to offer the Fleet with your unique skills, don't you think?

Some of us have no powers, so what you can do is quite amazing.

[He stands and winces, trying to hide it behind his long hair as it drapes over his shoulder.]

Many people would pay to hear a story from you, I think. I know I would.

[shamisens]

I don't think I can tell this story just yet.

[ It was a little too intense and close to home. Noticing the wince, his expression flickers. ]

You got hurt.

[ahappylie]

[He moves to sit next to Kubo, leaning back against the bench.]

Only a little. [He killed far more than his fair share, but that isn't a story he needs to tell the boy. He lets out a measured breath as he looks up at the "sky" above the park.]

But perhaps you can tell a story from my world instead. The story of the angry pig, or the rabbits in the moon.

[shamisens]

[ His one eye narrows slightly. ]

There aren't any rabbits in the moon. There's nothing good up there in the Moon.

[ahappylie]

[There's a story there and now he's curious.]

Why do you say that?

[shamisens]

Because I faced the Moon King in combat. I've seen what the Heavens is like through their eyes.

[ Even now, there's an abstract fear of the dark, of the bright gaze the moon might give. ]

[ahappylie]

[In combat? His eyes widen slightly at that revelation. He hadn't thought Kubo was a fighter for some reason.

And yet there is something else hiding in his eye, something Okita can't place. "Their" eyes, not "his" - there had been more than one opponent.]

It must have been terrible for you.

...But you won, yes? You defeated the king?

[shamisens]

Something like that.

[ He brushes some of his hair away from his eyepatch. ]

Victory is not that simple.

[ahappylie]

[In his mind, there is only the dead and the living, the defeated and the victorious, but he also knows the toll death takes. He's killed more people than he cares to remember. He's never lost a fight, but he can't call himself a victor either.

Cautiously, he reaches out and puts a hand on Kubo's shoulder.]

No, it isn't. I'm sorry you had to fight, Kubo-kun.

[shamisens]

[ He just shakes his head. Kubo hardly regrets it. Pride has no meaning in the act either. Everything that led up to that moment, that end . . . was just the way it is. ]

[ahappylie]

[After a moment, he pulls his hand back and rests against the bench again, studying the sky. He was never very good at giving solace. He never understood why people thought he was. Maybe it was because he said what he wished people had said to him.

He's quiet for a bit and then takes a short breath.]

The people here need your stories, Kubo-kun. Whether they are your real story or make believe, or whether you just bring their stories to life with your power and your paper... [His breath catches and he closes his eyes, clenching his jaw.] You'll be just fine here.

[shamisens]

But you're not . . . are you?

[ Meeting him in person is different. And Kubo had an eye for noticing the humanity in others. He can see beyond most. He's witnessed too much at this stage of his life to be otherwise. ]

[ahappylie]

[He sighs and leans over toward Kubo a little. He knows he's caught, but the easiest lie to tell is the half-truth.]

Can you keep a secret?

[shamisens]

I've kept plenty.

[ But he moves closer anyway. ]

[ahappylie]

[He glances briefly around to check who else is within earshot, and then lightly touches his side just above his obi.]

I apparently cracked a few ribs, so I'm supposed to be on bedrest. But it was so boring, I had to escape. You won't tell anyone, will you?

[It's not the whole truth, but he can't tell anyone the whole truth. To do so would to admit that he would die within the year, maybe two of he were lucky. He can't do that, especially not to a boy who needs to believe people can stay with him.]

[shamisens]

[ Kubo frowns. ]

I get it but that seems like a bad idea, Soujirou. What if they come and attack again?