April Showers Bring Strange Flowers [OTA and one closed]

[blindwatchersees]

Who: "Theodor Gorlash," the butterflies, and you!
What: Getting to know the island and its inhabitants, finding oneself in the more literal sense
When: April general
Where: Downtown general/Paradesium
Warnings: To be listed in individual threads, likely to contain heavy discussions of various mental health topics


Strange Signals For a Small Desert Town [Closed, for Cecil]

In the middle of the night, that strange voice makes its way into Cecil's head yet again. That's quite rude of it, considering that at this time, more people are trying to sleep than not. There's an appropriate hour and an inappropriate hour for psychic communications!

Find... her. Find... her. The scion-to-be carries the spores. Find... me. Find... me. The worm waits alone. Dark. Strange.



A Fiddle of Sinews, a Flute of Bone [OTA, Empty Pockets]

He hasn't an instrument of his own, but Theodor wonders if perhaps he might find one on loan in the lovely little place where music wafts out like the alluring smell of freshly-baked bread. In the manner of a hungry stray cat, he makes his way though the door and settles in a corner (not in a chair, just a corner, sitting in a manner that is oddly feline and rather ill-befitting the frame of an old man). He scans the place with yellow, lamplike eyes, taking everything in.



A List of Things, Strings, Wings [OTA, Northwest Hollow]

After managing to scrounge up a bit of paper and charcoal, Theodor has settled in the quieter parts of Northwest Hollow, and is attempting to sketch the flowers and butterflies of the area. He's quite good at capturing their likenesses, however, the edges of his drawings seem to have a tendency to melt into faces, bearing exaggerated expressions of laughter, terror, and sorrow. It's probably intentional.

If anyone walks by, he's going to look up and acknowledge them, while his hand will keep scratching out designs independently. One of the aforementioned butterflies will keep its eyes on the page, as it perches on his shoulder.

Hum Dum Dee Dum, Hum Dum Dee Dum, Time For Something Sweet [OTA, Oak and Iron]


Speaking of the smell of baking bread, he's gotten quite hungry, and it suddenly occurs to him that he can't remember the last time he had a nice cup of tea or a strawberry tart. He makes his way to the Oak and Iron, and sits down at the first open spot that's just a little too close to someone else's seat to make ignoring conversation entirely feasible.

"So tell me... what's a good blend of tea around here, in your opinion? I imagine it's hard to find Greenmote Gunpowder around here."


Wildcard: PM me on Discord (redheadednimbus) if you have other ideas!

Comments

[astrogator]

'I'll do my best,' she assures him firmly, and her smile is smaller but no less genuine. 'Although I could certainly do with some help. Others who want to bring hope to this place too, and free its people from the walls that surround them.' Help would be nice. Or at least a lack of opposition.

Then she shakes her head, looking regretful. 'I don't think I ever met Kev,' she tell him. She wasn't present at the meal where the man was given his moniker, and it seems people thought better of sharing the joke with her, given that her own attempts to decline her captor his unearned title, for very similar reasons, had been almost completely ignored. And in the Green Dome? All Tayrey remembers from the end is blind panic, terror that she was again trapped in a crowded room with absolutely no warning, and Pratt's strong arms carrying her away as her hands bled from her frantic attempts to force open the door.

'I'd like to believe,' she goes on to say, 'that every person who was ever trapped by that djinn and used as fuel is free now.' All of them, no exceptions, even the ones who hurt her horrifically. 'But I know that's optimistic. Far more likely that most of them are dead, really. Still, death is a mercy, compared to what awaited them otherwise.' Something Tayrey had weighed up and calculated long ago.

[blindwatchersees]

"So... would you say you're one for freedom at any cost, Lieutenant?"

His expression doesn't reveal much of what he's thinking, aside from a general curiosity.

[astrogator]

'Liberty is my highest value,' she answers. If there had ever been any doubt about that, those competing priorities that also mattered, her recent experiences had absolutely crystallised that liberty had to come first.

'Except you have to understand that when I say that I don't only mean my personal liberty. I mean the freedom of all people to act as they please. So long as that doesn't infringe on the rights of others.'

cw: mention of child harm (parable)

[blindwatchersees]

“And what do you do when two freedoms butt heads, Lieutenant? How do you decide who gets the baby? Or do you saw the child in half and call it a day?”

There’s an odd air of authority about him, like he’s interviewing her, or demanding an after-action report.

[astrogator]

Despite what she sees as unnecessarily gruesome imagery, Tayrey responds to the question with the brisk professionalism that its tone invites.

'That's why I mentioned rights. Your freedom to swing your fist ends where my face and its rights begin, yes? If you're imagining a more complex situation, you'll have to give specifics.'

cw: discussion of civic/political issues

[blindwatchersees]

“Okay! Let’s say you’ve got a bit of property, and you keep it nice, and you’ve got some delicate plants and bits o’ pottery and what not that you really don’t want disturbed. Plus, movement at odd hours sera off the security. Well, turns out these kids from the housing estate over don’t have a good way of getting from one place to anoter, ‘cept through a good, honest Tradeliner’s yard. Either yours or your neighbor’s, and let’s assume you’re about equally wealthy and well-off, save for your neighbor doesn’t keep their yard quite as neatly. How do you solve such a conundrum, Lieutenant?”

[astrogator]

Tayrey is somewhat bewildered that this would be considered a difficult ethical question by anyone.

'They take the long way around, unless they have consent to walk across either person's property. Trespassing doesn't become allowable because the alternative is inconvenient. Their liberty to walk wherever they like ends where it hits someone else's property rights. That aside, I don't have stronger property rights than my neighbour because I keep my property nicer - or if it were larger or more expensive or any of that. Rights aren't dependent on social status.'

[blindwatchersees]

“Ah, but that’s the hitch, Lieutenant. All the property belongs to someone. There’s not a good way around, save for the roads, and the laws say those are reserved for vehicles. Now, no one really enforces those laws, but you still run into the problem of pedestrians in the roadway. Do they not have a reasonable expectation of safe travel? Do the drivers have an obligation to worry about pedestrians in the road, on top of everything else? Whose freedoms take priority?” Certainly, it’s not the most earth-shattering question, but it’s a question nonetheless, and one that probes at what Lt. Tayray considers most sacred.

[astrogator]

She frowns.

'This is a situation too far outside my cultural context for me to judge,' she admits. 'It all sounds bizarre to me. Property without an accessway off it, roads - groundcar roads? With unenforced laws about them? All I can say is that in my sector we'd never have such a muddled situation. Nobody would buy a property without a legitimate way to leave it, and pedestrians use walkways and accessways. Groundcars are for travelling longer distances. I know you mean it as a thought experiment but there are too many alien hidden premises in it for me to have a sensible answer.'