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

[ahappylie]

I'll need to find a sword, or some approximation of it.

[He rests his hands in his lap, opening and closing his right one.]

Right now all we have are staffs. It's not quite the same, as I'm sure you're aware.

[shamisens]

[ He nods. ]

I used to have a magic sword but I kind of lost it.

[ahappylie]

A magic sword and magic shamisen? Your world must have been so exciting.

[shamisens]

[ Kubo could say that, though it all happened recently. ]

My shamisen isn't magic.

[ahappylie]

Then you?

[He leans forward again, curious.]

Your magic touch then?

[shamisens]

Uhm . . . yeah. It's just my magic.

[ahappylie]

[He smiles brightly.]

That truly is amazing. The power of creation is something I envy.

[shamisens]

Magic is strange. I don't know if it's something people actually want.

My mother said people becoming strong means the world gets stronger too. And more dangerous. That's how magic works.

[ahappylie]

Your mother is very wise.

[Was, but he isn't going to say that.]

It does indeed become more dangerous, but. [He touches his side again.] It will become more dangerous regardless of whether we are ready for it or not.

[shamisens]

How so?

[ahappylie]

[He sits back and looks up at the sky.]

Because the world is always changing - for the better and for the worse.

[He smiles faintly, thinking of home and of this place now. He'd never thought he'd see a sky like this; a world above the clouds where ships sailed through the stars.]

We must change to fit it or be ready to leave it behind because it will not wait for us.

[shamisens]

[ Kubo hesitates. ]

What kind of changes?

[ahappylie]

That depends on the person.

[He knows what changes will happen with him. He's the one who will be left behind in the end, but he's seen hope in younger men like Kubo and Tetsu and Tatsunosuke. There is hope for the future in people like them.]

And how they want to change.

[shamisens]

I don't know if I want to change. I don't even know who I want to be.

[ahappylie]

That's the fun of it, don't you think? You have every opportunity and chance ahead of you. Your path is unwritten, your future undetermined.

[shamisens]

Is it really . . . fun?

[ahappylie]

...

[His smile falters for a moment, before he toughs through it.]

It won't always be, no. But the result - getting stronger - that can never be a bad thing, right?

[shamisens]

I don't know.

[ Kubo knew that if he had been stronger, he could have saved his family. Or his strength wouldn't have mattered anyway. It's a vicious cycle. ]

[ahappylie]

[He thinks for a moment, letting the quiet settle.]

The pains of growing are never easy to deal with. It was difficult for Tetsu-kun, too - finding his own way forward.

[He pauses.]

The losses we've experienced though, they shape us for our future.

[shamisens]

It's not like I don't know that. I just . . . don't know what I'm supposed to do now.

[ahappylie]

Who says you're "supposed" to do anything?

Isn't now the perfect time to find out what you'd like to do instead?

[shamisens]

Is it?

[ Kubo has rarely done things for himself. The one time he really did was when he tried to contact his father. ]

[ahappylie]

[He motions to the little flower he made and smiles.]

If I can do it, then I think you can, too.

[shamisens]

I . . . guess I'll try it.

[ahappylie]

[He leans forward as far as his ribs will allow and holds out his pinky.]

Promise?