Scene #8924: Empires, Enemies, and Empiricals

Owner	Pose
Kale Hearthward	"Ishirou." There's no extended invite, or even sliding into one's DMs. Kale simply waits out where Ishirou would be coming off of his duty rotation today at the base. "You want to go grab drinks at the officer's lounge? My treat?" There seems to be something on his mind.
Ishirou	Ishirou isn't surprised by Kale being here, he could see him nearby waiting, and assumed he was whom Kale was waiting for. So when his name is spoken, or when he sees Kale he doesn't jump or anything like that, instead nodding with a soft smile. "Sure, I'd like that. Let's get something to drink!" he says as sunnily as he can, but Kale knows some recent things have gotten under his skin regarding certain people. He walks onto the lounge, "Something you want to talk about?" he asks, once they get seated.
Kale Hearthward	"You mean besides the obvious?" The officer's lounge is a muted, softly lit affair. Dark woods and comfortable seats, and tables and booths spaced out enough that verbal privacy is practically baked in. "I think first of all, making sure you're okay. I know you and Petra have had a history. And..." Might as well jump right in the deep end. "Eggman and you have had a history. A history that's... repeating, a bit."
Ishirou	Ishirou's smile wanes when history is brought up. He sits down and shifts uncomfortably in his seat as the stuff with both Petra and Eggman is brought up. He lets out a sigh and nods. "It's not the same, but close enough to be dangerous. I'm just... not thinking about it like that because it's impacting you right now the way that it is. It isn't my home this time around, and... I don't want to make the same mistakes I made the last time either. I know you won't make the mistakes I did, but I think we're seeing those mistakes happen in someone else we both know." He sighs, again, and shakes his head. "But thank you for making sure I'm alright. It's not great, but I'm going to be alright. What about you, how are /you/ dealing with all of this? It can't be easy seeing what is happening with your home happen..."
Kale Hearthward	"..." Kale orders drinks, first. "I don't like Quicknest much." "It's always been this backward place, in my mind. The Empire is embracing the future, while Quicknest is stuck in the past. That sort of thing." "I fought there plenty. Border disputes. Skirmishes. Whatever little ways they'd wronged the Empire, or weren't capitulating to our terms fast enough, or harboring suspected pirates, or whatever else the reasoning was. I've spilled no small amount of blood there." "And now I'm busting my tailfeathers trying to save them, because..." "... Because it's my job? Because if I don't they'll take down my home with them? Because someone from my world caused this mess? I don't know."
Ishirou	"You're right, it's not fair to you," Ishirou says to Kale, as he listens to Kale talk about how he feels about Quicknest. Ishirou, orders his drink as well, but focuses on Kale and how he feels about Quicknest, the place that he's had to fight against all of these years, and now has to fight /for/. That a certain someone has brought it down on themselves, but also Kale's world. "It sucks, and it's not fair, but... we're hardly in a place to be fair towards. I'm just... more concerned about the people who it isn't fair towards as well, and they haven't the ability to fight for themselves, or say anything..." he says, looking at Kale. "So with what you just said... why? Why are you going to fight for Quicknest against Petra? Why are you going to free their people from slavery? Why did you lash out at your own home that day and cut open as many of their people as you did?" "Probably for the same reasons I helped I1 take back my home against Eggman, and freed the humans who did what they did to us... but..." he says looking up at Kale, "Why did you? Why do you? You could probably get it all back, you know. Recant what you did and said because they'll desperately want public support now more than ever..."
Kale Hearthward	"..." Kale's quiet for a moment. The arrival of the drinks helps. "Yeah." "It's not fair to them, either. And -" "... Well, that's the job." "That's the thing we get a paycheck and support for." "... It'd... be nice, though. To have the old job back. Being the East Wind for real. I lost it, back when Gale I was assassinated. The empire sidelined the Emperor's Regalia, and that's what lead me to join the Paladins." "I bet if I did come back at this point, I'd get all that back. And more. So if this is just a job... if all of this is just a job and a paycheck and something to occupy my time with, then... why not do that?"
Ishirou	"Because it's more than that to you now, isn't it? It's more than that to me. It's not just a place to work or something to do, it's a commitment I made between myself and the people I care about around me who are also here. I think it's become that to you too..." he says, with a smile. "The others want to free Quicknest, want to help your home avoid the worst uses of the Quicknestians..." Ishirou smiles at Kale, "No matter how lost we might be as individuals, the people here help keep us together, right? Ru Li, Futaba, and Lilian..." he says and looks at Kale, "And for me, you. It's what steered me right when everything around me went wrong the first time." "So that's why I know you won't go back to the Empire. Or at least that's what I think."
Kale Hearthward	Kale sets down his drink. "... Really?" "Me?" "How? Why? There's a dozen paladins I could name that are better examples than I am."
Ishirou	"Whenever you fail, you get back up and brush yourself off. That's just not when you fail physically, or when you fail in a fight, or something like that. I've seen you knocked down a lot... every time you get up. You try and do better, and that's something I think is important and inspirational to me." Ishirou says with a smile on his face, "Many of those others might be a better example, but not in his one way."
Kale Hearthward	"... Huh." That helps. "... I don't know, though. I guess..." "... It's just the commitment, then." "I can't be a Paladin and - take that kind of opportunity. Not if it'd mean betraying everything here." "So let's just wrap things up, fix the mess here, and focus on what comes next." Kale finishes his drink.
Ishirou	Ishirou finishes up his drink, smiling at Kale who seems to have found something in himself he had either forgotten or never knew. Nodding at his commitment to the group. Even when things suck so hard for him right now, even when he's gotta go against what he has done before. He takes a breath and places the glass down. "So what does come next, Kale? I mean with the Empire..?"
Kale Hearthward	"What comes next..." "... " "... First we get everyone back from Petra. Then we make the Empire see sense." "Then..." "... What comes next..." "... I think, after we fix everything and do everything and work a dozen miracles, I think what comes next is a break."