Scene #8417: Closed Mind, Open Heart

Owner	Pose
Persephone Kore	Sapient Heuristics can't be open for visitors all the time, and there are things you don't want to talk about around a gaggle of preteen mind-readers. That makes perfect sense. "Near the Pyramids" doesn't make any sense, though. She's not an Egypt nerd is she? He can't feel my presence here, either. But you will! Just around the time he might be wondering if this is the wrong Earth, sand drifts up around him in zero-G, and I've got you in the palm of my hand, just relax, I'll make it gentler than last time, and the Earth's atmosphere parts above him to let the stars streak past at inertialess lightspeed. He's on the moon again. Of course. She can't keep getting away with this. To her credit she's made it a very nice moon. The hundred-foot-wide crater has been psychically terraformed into a lush wildflower meadow with a stream cutting across it, and in the very center are a pair of ergonomic armchairs made from regolith compressed into elegant obsidian, and between them are a telescope pointed at Earth and a deck parasol to keep off the sun and a little cooler of drinks. I'm sitting in one of the armchairs, of course, legs crossed and chin resting on the back of her hand. "Ahaha, it really worked! I hope you don't mind. I guess the moon is just, to me, where bad boys belong now?" She winks, and her eyelashes spin off a tiny sparkling star that flares and dies, the most carefree exertion of a cosmic power. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ahaha! Maybe that's presumptuous. Maybe you're not being bad!" "Tell me, Kale: What do you want it for?"
Kale Hearthward	Traveling to Egypt, at least, an excuse to fly. Kale's been lacking that lately, ever since the fight with Petra grounded him from anything except 'essential use'. Kale ends up not wondering if this is the wrong Earth but if it's at least the wrong pyramids - there's some in Vegas, right? - so the sand rising is something of a relief. Even if Persephone herself is still terrifying. And here's the moon again. Kale checks to make sure there's air here before anything else, not that there's much he could do if there isn't. > where bad boys belong now "I'm not -" he starts to say, but then decides to drop the point. > "Tell me, Kale: What do you want it for?" "Wha - What do you mean? You haven't even asked what I wanted yet, why are-" He cuts himself off. Gears turn in his head. Oh right. She can read my mind. Which means I should be careful what I think. I shouldn't think about- the briefcase, which he clamps down his thoughts on, with only limited success. The briefcase, sitting in his assigned armory space in a Paladins barracks, which contains... he doesn't remember what it contains. He had an idea after his fight with Persephone, wrote it down, handed the paper off to someone else, and then immediately got blackout drunk. "So there's a pair of new recruits in the Paladins. I was investigating their world." Does she know this part already? "There's a thing happening there that I don't think I can figure out without some sort of protection. And the why of why I'm investigating it..." "... It's because they're comrades. I want to make sure their world is treating them right." They're on my team. "Just a routine investigation into some things that don't quite square up." I hate their world. There's something about it that makes my feathers stand on end. Meika and Kayoko deserve better than how that world's set up. If they'd let me pull them entirely out of it and set them up somewhere else I would, but they wouldn't believe me enough to go with that. I feel like that world itself is trying to reject me. Some part of me doesn't want to be doing this to begin with, to leave all this to someone else who can handle it better. But I don't think I can leave this to someone else right now. "And I just need a little bit of help."
Persephone Kore	Persephone giggles smokily and leans over the arm of her chair, letting her eyes half-shut. She definitely heard you! But aside from retrieving a little tablet from her seat and tapping b-r-i-e-f-c-a-s-e on it, she doesn't remark just yet. She doesn't seem to know this part already, or if she does, she's very good at feigning fond attention. And I'm not the type to feign anything! Phony blinks slowly- even that is unhurried- and twirls her sash around her finger and taps her fingernails together, and then finally stands up. (It's easy to forget, since there's so many other things to be intimidated by, but Jesus she's tall. Like 5'11 at least, and those heeled boots add a few. Enough to comfortably put her chin on top of Lilian's head, and probably Kale's too.) "I like what I'm hearing," Persephone says. "And what I'm hearing! Ahaha, you've grown up a lot since last time. Haven't you? I'm proud! I really am!" Clack. Clack. The ground is soft, but her heelclicks are still piercingly ominous. Then she sits down on the arm of his obsidian chair chair to loom over him even further, crosses her legs, and leans back until their faces are just a foot apart. "But." "You're finally feeling the way they felt, aren't you? The children who should be with us, but aren't. Who aren't welcome in the world. Who fall through the cracks. Who get beaten into another shape. Kindness builds character, not suffering, but aren't you getting perspective?" Behind her, a can of something carbonated makes a sharp crack-hisssss. It floats to her hand from the cooler, and she takes a leisurely sip: some kind of girly mimosa. "I'm willing to help you. But first, convince me you're really doing this to help those girls." (He never specified, but that shouldn't be a surprise.) "And not because you want to be the big strong hero to shake that feeling of being small."
Kale Hearthward	Kale's at 5'5. There's at least a head's difference there, yes. (Is that why he flies so much?) > proud Kale has mixed feelings. He doesn't comment, and he doesn't spend too much time thinking about it. > loom I really hope I get my wings back soon. That answers that question, then. > perspective Hate getting perspective. In an almost Hiromi-ish way, the thought-word 'perspective' has a strong double meaning, almost like a mental pun - he's thinking about his usual 'perspective' of flying up above a situation. Instead of being stuck down on the ground floor of it, like he is with the Refulgence. > hero Kale doesn't like the word 'hero' much. That has a particular association in his mind that he doesn't voice. There's an entire mental equivalent of a rant there if Persephone wants to probe further (she doesn't), the gist of which is that self-described 'heroes' are people who show up to make things worse. For whatever reason, he's picturing a sparrow holding a sword. That's... beside the point, though. He gets what she means. "... I'm not small. I'm not feeling small." Kale crosses his arms, and looks straight ahead, away from Persephone. He's mentally reminding himself that I'm not here to get into an argument. Or a fight. Or win points. I'm here to get the help I need. I am doing this for their sake, right? Not for my own? I'm... ... No, I'm not. Definitively not. I'm doing this for their sake. If I have to forego any recognition for this, fine. I'll deal with... my own feelings on it. Later. Somehow. He uncrosses his arms, and looks up at Persephone. "Okay." "I don't know how to convince you, though. I don't know how much you'll believe me, even if you can read my mind." "How much control do you have? Do you want to... I don't know." He taps the side of his own head, flinching a little at the motion. "Put something in there, that'll keep me from feeling like I'm some sort of big damn savior?" He likes that word a lot better than hero. No, wait. "Big damn protector?" Much better word. "Because I'm willing to go that far. I'll get no satisfaction out of this." "Honestly if you ever step foot into this world... I think you'd understand that I probably won't get any satisfaction out of saving them in it, anyway."
Persephone Kore	"How much control do I have?" Persephone twirls a lock of hair around her finger and shuts her eyes in an indulgent smile. Even though there's full gravity for everything else, her hair still flutters almost like zero-G. "I can do whatever I want to you forever~" Her eyes half-open again. "Ahaha, but I don't really want to! People are beautiful just like they are, aren't they? And really, I think you've almost convinced me. I like what I'm seeing in your heart a lot, actually: that you're checking yourself, looking inside yourself. Ahahaha, and that you're not picking a fight with me! That's progress!!" She floats a drink over to him, too, setting it down on the opposite armrest. Maybe it's too sweet, but you've got to stay hydrated! Her legs kick a little, heels clacking back against the obsidian chair's frame. "You know, because of that progress, I don't want to see you backslide. How about this: as long as you're using my powers, be kind and compassionate to those girls who have nowhere else to go, or else we'll need to have a talk. If you're going to be bigger, I want that perspective to stick!" Nothing materially changes, except for her draping my arm around the back of the chair, encircling you. But you can feel it in the air, can't you? The sense that the arrangement of something ineffable has changed, that he's now under the lens of an invisible microscope, that he's staring down the barrel of an ethereal gun. "Doesn't that sound fair, Kale?" His answer has weight.
Kale Hearthward	He grabs the drink, and downs it. It's too sweet. All of this is too sweet, too... saccharine. Kale flinches away a little bit when she feels her flanking him. No, that's not the actual way he thinks. It's not flanking. That's... ... Something to think about another time. Kind and compassionate, to... those girls who have nowhere else to go. That's not just Kayoko and Meika That perspective to stick... I miss flying. I miss not caring. I miss things being simpler. I want to go back. Kale takes a deep breath. "That sounds fair." "I agree."
Persephone Kore	"Thanks for being brave," I say, and it can't sound even a little bit condescending. She takes his free hand in hers whether it's offered or not, and leans in just a little closer, and squeezes, and- The microscope comes into focus. Kale is still sitting in that chair on the moon, but that recedes to the edges of consciousness. Something else dominates his attention, forcing its way into his mind along new senses. Against all expectation, it doesn't feel bad. Now follow along with me! It's like you're floating in outer space, isn't it? It's like you're standing at the bottom of a deep dark sea. The vacuum wants to pull you apart. The pressure wants to crush you. And it has, all your life until now! People's hearts are these bright little pinpricks because the world is so strong and heavy, it squeezes them down to infintesimal size. But it doesn't have to be that way. Feel me tell the world: 'I wish his heart weighed more.' And feel it obey that wish, because I'm in control! It's pulling back to give you room to grow. It feels nice, doesn't it? To have that breathing room. You're like a little flower being given a bigger pot, so you can spread your roots! Now notice something, once you've relaxed into that. Your feelings, your memories, your wishes- they aren't sharper, or stronger, but they are just 'more'. And when something presses on you, tries to sway you, you'll feel it just wash over you and pass. You're too big and bright for that, now. A drop of ink can't color the ocean. Just keep in mind I'm watching you, okay~? The flood of new sensations stops all at once. Persephone sips the last of her mimosa casually, and then arches an eyebrow down at him. "So. You okay~?"
Kale Hearthward	Yes. No. Perspective sucks. Kale reaches up. To touch... his beak. Specifically his beak. He's checking no other part of his body with this motion and this action. Just his beak. His beak. Not his teeth. Which he doesn't have. "I think..." "I will be."
Persephone Kore	Persephone laughs, not in the way she's always hovering on the edge of one, but as a full fond eruption. She scruffles up the feathers on the top of his head, and then folds up the umbrella with a snap of her fingers, signaling the end of the party. "Good! I'm glad. I really am. Just remember..." She scoots off the edge of the chair's arm to stand again- clack- and turns around to face him. "The way you feel visiting? They had to grow up with that. They don't know another way. And they carry it with them when they leave." Even though she's never met those girls, she sounds so sure. "I know that you'll be kind to them. Haha, you've gotten better at that! Just let that shape your kindness." And then, when the conversation ends, he's gone. Unimaginable forces have deposited him right back at the Pyramids, without a drop spilled from his canned mimosa. Actually, she left him the whole cooler. Isn't that nice? I hope you don't need it!
Kale Hearthward	The way you feel visiting... is the way they had to grow up. Kale hangs onto that thought. ... He also hangs onto the cooler. Just in case. And as he's getting ready to leave, he keys up his radio. <"Hey, Rook... we haven't talked in a while, it feels like. You doing okay?">