shellphones | (no subject)

Does... just doing nice things for them that you know they'll like without them asking not work??

[There's a little bit of a PANIQUE here because that always works for her????? Kaveh what are you doing]

I thought so too but apparently not

But HOW does that not work??? What even happened?? I mean I guess just saying it, but words can be cheap.

I tried saying it...they just thought it was pity...

[Kaveh, my guy, what are you doing? He sighs, but types away on his shellphone.]

It's up to the individual. Always consider where they've been before or that something's happened. Some people, it takes longer for them to understand or they have trouble accepting they have someone who cares.

mehrak: Voice to text mode activated! ^_^ Transcribing speech...
mehrak: "I thought we were were doing okay until recently..."
mehrak: "Well, no, one of them wasn't...I just didn't think I had the right to say anything and they didn't want to talk about it..."
mehrak: "Oh no, I haven't been supportive at all, no wonder they don't believe me, I'm a failure of a boss and a landloooooorrrrrrd"
mehrak: Transcription ending due to emotional distress! :( We'll Be Right Back

[Alcoholism, Wrio. What Kaveh's doing is Alcoholism.]

[Wriothesley's got ways to sober him up if needed. Also, oh no, Mehrak is transcribing? Not good.]

You're not a failure, you just thought you might be prying. Sometimes, it does become necessary to force an answer out of them; always a matter of deciding if the moment calls for it.

[There's a moment's pause and then ~~I don't want to type font tags~~ Kaveh apparently gave up on trying to override Mehrak's protective functions and just went to voice.]

Won't they just resent me more if I force it?

Could; or you have an argument, let things cool off, and they become more willing to talk about it. Most don't mean it, but when they're in a mood, they can only lash out. Doesn't matter the person, they become unable to contain their emotions and the first person across them just ends up in the crosshairs. It's why usually telling someone to blow off steam when they get upset or heated helps. Also why I keep the Pankration Ring going in the Fortress along with some machines that people can hit.

Do I look like someone who could survive in a Pankration Ring?

[That's what we focused on, Kaveh? Really?]

[He laughs to himself. Kaveh focusing on the wrong thing.]

You can use some tools to help you if needed. I've seen some interesting fights and we had some surprising winners.

[Distracting him might be the best thing he can do for Kaveh right now, being honest.]

...Mmm, but it'd be dangerous for me to use Mehrak, most places here are going to risk a bloom reaction.

[He's upset not out for murder.]

True, that would be. There's a very limited allowance on Vision usage since we want to keep some things fair. Now thinking about it, if I tried to arrange one here, I'd have to find a way to keep it fair to everyone.

Insulated from the elements...or maybe any energy at all. That's tricky, you'd need resistant materials and something extra built into the floor, but still retaining some bounce and flexibility...

[Well now you've really gotten him going, Wrio.]

[Again, a chuckle on his side. At least Kaveh's thinking about something else.]

Much easier to renovate it in the Fortress, that's for sure. Where would you recommend I start researching such materials?

[ ... Is that the vegetable fighter from the other day? What happened?

It's not that Ulpianus wants to get involved with the lives of other people here, but Kaveh did provide him with enough information the other day... and overall seems like a nice person. ]

You are inebriated.

[ Ulpianus is aware that he's absolutely unqualified on giving advice about interpersonal relationships, but maybe he can at least convince Kaveh to talk about this to someone close and not to the entire network?.. ]

it's fine that was the idea

i can't hurt wines feelings

[ Look he knows that's A Landwalker Thing but still!!!

Though he also knows that people in such state respond even worse to logic than usual - and besides, Ulpianus is unsure that Kaveh will even read his messages properly.

He will have to use... his words. ]

Many regret the things they do while inebriated.

[ Despite the fact that it's still Ulpianus, his voice is much gentler than the other day - or the usual tone of his text messages. He's speaking softly, a little like talking to a child. (As far as he's concerned, the situation isn't far from that.) ]

Ha, I already regret things sober, that's no different.

[Kaveh snorts, but it's odd...he didn't think this man could be that gentle. Humm, he's too drunk to feel condescended to...]

Besides, Haitham is s'posed to be back soon...he wouldn't even let me wash the dishes myself! Like he even knows where anything goes.

[ He CAN be kind to people!!! It's just. Rare. And he can't do it for very long.

Speaking of, Ulpianus is about to protest that well ACTUALLY, it IS demonstrably different to make decisions while sober or while influenced by stimulants... But then Kaveh mentions 'Haitham', which gives Ulpianus pause - until he remembers that the man mentioned a husband last time. ]

Your partner. He must worry for your hand-eye coordination in this state. Is it him you've had an argument with?

Pfft. Pffft! I've made drafts drunker than this.

[At the idea Kaveh argued with Alhaitham, he makes an AUDIBLE 'hmph!']

Alhaitham would never! I didn't get his constellation tattooed over my heart to allow any room for doubt.

[ ... Alright, so the drinking is apparently a recurrent event, and the man allowed himself to... write? work? while even more affected than this. Briefly, Ulpianus wonders if he will ever meet a land-dweller without such unexpected... imbalances in character.

The detail of Kaveh's relationship with his husband makes Ulpianus feel awkward, too - it's a world far away from his own, one he's never had an interest in. But the feeling of devotion in itself is commendable. ]

Constellation?

Constellation. We're all born under a set of stars that define our fate from birth. His is Vultur Volans--the hawk.

[ Oh wow he does Not like that whole thing about fate. ]

And yours?

[Yeah don't worry about it.]

Paradisaea--the Bird of Paradise. We changed our usernames after we got engaged!

[Kaveh giggles a little bit. he might have rolled over so he can properly kick his feet. Oh no.]

[ THIS IS GETTING FURTHER AND FURTHER OUTSIDE OF HIS EXPERTISE. But at least Kaveh no longer sounds miserable?.. ]

There is a certain poetry in the similar nature of your constellations.

[You've distracted him but at what cost, Ulpianus]

Right? I've always thought so. Birdlike constellations aren't that common in Sumeru.

I have heard the expression "written in the stars". An apt descriptor in your case.

[ Alright, he's seen some of those landwalker recordings - movies, if he recalls correctly. "Classics of Wrankwood", apparently, and several were themed after romance. He can fall back on that experience.

(But he would rather not know if Alhaitham ever asked Kaveh to draw him as one of his Fontainian girls.) ]

How did you meet?

We met when we were students at the Akademiya. It's a little embarrassing in hindsight, but I thought he was being picked on by the other students, so I tried to intervene...

[Ulpianus. Ulpianus no. You know not what you do.]

[ IT'S FINE HE'LL JUST AVOID KAVEH OUT OF EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE REST OF HIS TIME IN ESCO. ]

You care for others.

[ Despite Ulpianus trying, it's still easier for him to form his responses as statements. ]

But you were mistaken?

Well, of course. The way I see it, if I think "someone should do something about that", I'm 'someone', aren't I? I can't just hope someone else takes care of it.

[Kaveh chuckles to himself a little.] Well, yes and no. They were deliberately trying to leave him out. But Alhaitham didn't care and wasn't paying them any attention. We got into a debate about the book he was reading instead, and I was so mad, because his points were reductive and utilitarian so I stayed up too late looking up sources to counter him...

And he was waiting right there in the House of Daena the next day when I looked for him.

[ OH WHEW THAT IS NOW BACK WITHIN HIS TERRITORY. His classmates did things like that.

(Blandus probably did that at him.) ]

Were you able to refute his points?

[ Here, Kaveh, have a little bit of animation in his voice! Like he's a little invested in that part! ]

Of course I was! He was reading books from the Kshahrewar course! [LOUD HMPH.] But then the little brat introduced an entirely new line of argument from a different paper and I had to go read that.

I think we were at it about two weeks before we got kicked out of the House of Daena for being too loud the first time. We got lunch and went to the Razan Gardens to keep arguing instead, and by then he was already my best friend.

Breadth of experience and willingness to take the unorthodox point of view. He must be an outstanding scholar.

Are your fields of study different?

Yes. It's very rare, to meet a man with a mind like his. In terms of his breadth of knowledge, I don't think anyone in Sumeru save the Dendro Archon herself can compare. [Kaveh chuckles to himself.] But knowledge is not all there is to "wisdom."

He studied in Haravatat--the field of semiotics and the study of language. My darshan was Kshahrewar--our concern is machinery and engineering, including architectural engineering. There's some overlap; most ancient machinery uses runes, and the Haravatat are most responsible for decoding them, but in general they're fairly disparate darshan.

But Alhaitham took electives from every single darshan, when he could fit them into his schedule. Not that he bothered to turn up to his classes in person that often.

[ Engineering? Good to know. Ulpianus makes a mental note to reach out to the man when he's not drowning his sorrows to discuss technology to explore the depths of the sea... but perhaps anonymously. ]

Language is not merely the written runes and the spoken word. All things communicate. Even the cells of our bodies speak a 'language' of their own.

He'd probably agree with you. All history, all culture, all communication, even from the smallest bird and tiniest blade of grass...without language, there is no means to record any of it. But that which humans do not record themselves in pen and ink does not necessarily go unrecorded.

Architecture, too, is a form of language. A message that long outlasts the body of those who sent it.

[ He thinks back to Aegir. "A message that long outlasts the body of those who sent it"... It's very fitting. ]

... Indeed. The choice of materials, the choice of balance between form and function. The function itself. The synergy between every building of a city.

[ He sounds... wistful, almost. ]

I've always thought it was...romantic isn't quite the right word, but there's something powerful, in seeing ancient buildings. That I stand in the hopes and dreams of someone from hundreds of years ago. And one day, someone may stand at the buildings I've designed, wondering the same questions, long after all my pain and sorrows have returned to dust.

When we design buildings, their function and their safety is key to it's success. But we must also consider that they will outlast us all, and they are our surest means to speak our wishes to the future. I may never live to see my ideals become reality, but my buildings will.

[ How did they get here from Kaveh drunk crying about relationships.

Ulpianus is silent for a while, choosing what he wants to say. The ideals Kaveh talks about are beautiful, but a part of him wants to point out that his buildings may well only be witness to civilization's demise. Even if humanity should do everything to avoid that.

But given the man's earlier melancholy, it would be counterproductive to talk about that. ]

... My people inherited the wishes of the Predecessors in such a way. We found their ancient settlements, and stood among their halls. We learned their language and their thoughts. If not for them, Aegir would not know the splendor it came to enjoy.

Your hopes are not unfounded.

[ hoo boy. this is gunna be a rough one. ]

Okay, first off, while I understand the need for booze, no more for the day, mmmkay?

Pffft. You sound like Haitham. [A pause.] Higher pitched, though.

I'm just saying, if you want advice, it's easier to remember it when you're sober.

So, is this a romance thing?

What? No. Haitham knows already...we're married how would he not know???

[Last time Jill saw Kaveh in this condition, she too was white girl wasted. And thinking back onto her reasoning, could she be blamed for harboring a guess at to why Kaveh is so?]

Did something happen with Alhaitham?

[Kaveh sits up, brow furrowed, offense clear on his face.]

What? Haitham would never.

[After all they went through that man better never doubt Kaveh cares about him.]

[Erichthonios peers, concerned, into the screen.]

...Soul-bonding would provide irrefutable proof of care, or lack of care. But somehow I do not think that shall be the answer you are in need of.

Are you unwell? Your color is different from normal.

[ Faulkner looks somewhat concerned. Though he's not entirely sure how out of the ordinary this is for Kaveh. ]

I suppose by just... bein' there for them, even if they're not convinced yet? I know it can be hard for some folks to believe people care for them. Or that they deserve the effort.

[ Is he talking about himself or other people? Yes. ]

You okay?

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actually he'll switch to voice (so we dont have to format tags--)

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