shellphones | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Type: Video
Sender ID: paradisaea (Kaveh)
To: so, so public
Subject: important question!!!
Warnings: Alcoholism and the chaos gays probably in the comments somewhere.

[Kaveh is laying at on a couch in his home, sprawled bonelessly across it, and he's clearly flushed. Given he's staring despondently up at the ceiling and not directly at the camera, this is not because he's having a good time.]

Hey...how are you s'posed to convince people y'care about them? [Kaveh laughs a bit, bitterly.] I'm clearly doing it wrong.

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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.

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