Scene #9818: Encounter at the Overlook

Owner	Pose
Skipper	There's any number of 'scenic cliff ledge overlooking an important location' locales out in the multiverse. The sort that's as if they were built for looking at things - the wide V-shaped cliff, the conspicuous clearing that's free of anything more obstructive than slightly tall glass, and of course the unobstructed view of somewhere else. It's perfect for a wandering band of heroes to rest and get a cinematic look at their destination, or depending on the thematics: where they've come from (and might never return to). Some divine designer might have designated it for adventurer story beats, but the same things that make it good for interstitial vistas also make it good for factional operative recon - which is perhaps why two of them arrive at about the same time. The place that the cliff is overlooking is only of middling importance, really - it's a late 20th century harbor town that's fought off a middle eastern fantasy architectural incursion five years ago. Though now uncontagious, with the anomaly that spawned them long since dead, there are palaces and minarets and treasure caves and patches of glittering desert that have not so much been built but instead have literally grown into, around, and on top of the harbor town. The architectural style doesn't strictly conform to any given country or kingdom or even time period - it's more like a child's mental image of Arabian Nights than it has any actual historical accuracy. It looks neat, though. And the remnants left behind might yet contain some secrets. Skipper's here to do recon for a Watch mission. At four feet and no inches (including the ears), they've simply snuck up here, found a spot to lie down quietly on their front, and started taking pictures using a camera with a zoom lens, stopping occasionally to write things down in a notebook. They're entirely absorbed in the task, and they're also pretty well hidden, so it is entirely possible that someone could come up right next to them before either one notices that they're here.
Ru Li	There's any number of 'scenic cliff ledge overlooking an important location' locales out in the Multiverse. And yet, Ru Li has never, ever tired of them. Every vista is a new and interesting one for the god. No matter how samey they get, the little differences are striking. The few photographs (he's bad at it still) he takes are all just a little bit unique. The notes he takes all have a few minor details that change between each cliff ledge. They're all thorough, because, honestly, Ru Li could stare over these sorts of cliffs for a long, long time. A view like these is always just... Well, all around him is the taste of fresh earth and sea salt-air as he hikes. He's taking it slow because he always does. Sure, he could just leap, probably all the way from the town to the cliff, but that defeats the purpose of exploring. That defeats the feeling of exploring. That's... ...well, it's clinical, isn't it? It's taking a shortcut to the end of the journey. And Ru Li doesn't really like that when he's just on his own time. He notices Skipper before he reaches the top, because of course he does. Radial, long-distance vision takes a quick peek at the little critter - though Ru Li studiously avoids the notebook. That would just be rude. Intrusion is ill-mannered and Ru Li is nothing if not polite. In fact, when he reaches the top of the hill, he says, "Hello. It is a lovely place." He smiles. "I am not surprised that I am not the only one who had this idea." The god bows at a twenty-degree angle. "I am Ru Li Cheng, ninth of nine Ru Cheng gods of Yinghua, and official ambassador to the Multiverse. I hope I am not intruding on your peace. I will not bother you overmuch. I am here to take notes, myself, so I imagine it will not be much trouble."
Skipper	There is a very mouse-like squeak from Skipper, who is not a mouse, and the notebook vanishes in a flurry of upset grass and leaves. And then, at timing that'd be too late even for someone without a god's senses, the camera with the conspicuously large zoom lens gets quickly hidden as well. "Ah, hello!" Skipper's still lying down, so they sit up, and then actually stand up, again each time realizing a bit too late that they're being rude. "I'm Skipper Whiskersmith?" This comes out with a question mark on the end for some reason. Power through it, Skipper. "I'm the Beast Breaker," they add, because this seems to be a situation where titles are employed. "Of Bramble Hollow," is added (again slightly too late), because saying 'the' Beast Breaker feels pretentious, even if it's accurate. "I was just admiring the view." This is a clear lie. "Not scouting to retrieve an ancient scroll or anything." With this rock-solid subterfuge in place, Skipper realizes something else. "Wait, Ru Li Cheng? I've heard of you!" They point at him. "You're Riku's father!"
Ru Li	"Godfather is the term I have been told." Ru Li smiles. "Which, earnestly, I find somewhat ironic, considering that I am myself a god." He sits down, his legs dangling off the cliff. It's the best place to see everything below and everything behind. "But, yes. I am...Belial is my best friend. The real Belial. Not...what he has been forced to become." There's a troubled look on the god's handsome face. "So...since I was there at the creation of Riku, I am told that that makes me his godfather. I am still...learning about what that means in practicality." "It is a pleasure to meet you, Skipper Whiskersmith, the Beast Breaker of Bramble Hollow." Ru Li doesn't seem either bothered or surprised by adding a 'the'. 'The' is so common among heroes in his world that he's seen 'the Sky-Crushing Boulder' or 'the Fire-That-Walks' sorts of things on the Roll of Heroes a lot in four hundred years. "What sort of beasts do you break? And what sort of scroll are you not seeking?"
Skipper	"Godfather! Got it." Skipper gets out a notepad from a pouch on their hip and makes a quick note. "Riku's... godfather." The notepad gets put back away. "I wasn't there for Belial, I only know a bit of what's going on, but Riku seems nice. I'm glad he has someone looking out for him." "Big giant things. Bigger than most of the buildings over there." Skipper sits as well. "Be careful about not falling off," they add, figuring possibly incorrectly that they can handle a fall better than he can. "So the Beasts are... big giant things, made of crystals, usually on four legs like animals, though they don't move like animals? It's more like..." Skipper makes some vague hand motions. "Like they're... they don't actually need legs to move, for one thing?" "And they keep going after people and towns? I'd be glad to let them be, I think a lot of people would, but they just keep attacking. It's a problem." "I've been stuck there for the last four months dealing with them, since they just won't let up..." Skipper looks up at the sky, kicking their legs.
Ru Li	Ru Li is all too happy not to dwell on the problem of Belial. Skipper talks about the giants bigger than the buildings, and that's a perfect segue. "That large...is that how you know Riku? He has helped you face down one of these giant Beasts made of crystal?" Ru Li purses his lips and tilts his head to actually look at Skipper instead of just talking. It's a habit he needs to get back into. He needs to resume restraining his senses, focusing on people with only his eyes, and so on. The Multiverse is so overwhelmingly interesting that after his time in the Chamber of Divinities he's actually forgot how much people prefer it if you...make eye contact. "Why do they attack people? Do they need to eat? Are they seeking some resource? Or is it a great unknown waiting to be discovered, thus the scroll you are seeking?" Yeah, Ru Li listens. "I am sorry to hear that you are in such a position. I understand being unable to break from responsibility. Though I must admit, mine was far less..." Exciting? Interesting? Troublesome? "...dangerous for me personally."
Skipper	Skipper's smile goes a bit more fixed, not exactly at Ru Li or anything he's said, but at retreading ground that they've retread so many times that it has grooves in it. "We don't know why they attack people. They definitely don't 'eat' - they just sort of... stomp around a while. After they're done, anyway. And then leave. We don't know what they want, either." "I'm the only one who's really trying to deal with it. Well, me and my friends, anyway. Everyone else is either just trying to avoid them best they can, or... well, do the bare minimum amount to fight them off from their own homes. So trying to protect everyone is sort of falling to me right now, and if I stop, I don't think anyone else is going to step up to take my place." "... You're unable to get away too? What's keeping you chained down?"
Ru Li	"Bureaucracy." "I managed the bureaucracy of one ninth of an empire of billions. For four hundred years I sat in a room and did paperwork on a scale I do not think anyone else could understand, other than the other Ru Cheng gods. Thousands and thousands and thousands of documents flowed through my palace every day, but calling it a palace is a lie, and it is only the title all gods' residents have. In truth as far as I was concerned it was a single room, and I was alone in it." He gestures at the sea. "There was nothing to see like this. The art was interesting at first, but after a century it was dull. The attendants never spoke to me - they arrived only to bring me documents, or to bring me a meal. And when they died, a new one would be raised as a promotion, as if it was something to be delighted by, as if I had hand-picked them for the honor rather than randomly choosing from a set of recommendations." He leans back, resting on both hands. "It was unimaginably lonely. But it was also crucial. If I did not manage the Empire's resources, people would die. Food would not be delivered in the correct portions. Seeds would not reach farmers in distant provinces. Payment would not flow through the rivers of commerce or career." He kicks his legs slightly over the cliff. "The first hundred years, I enjoyed it. The second hundred, the Empire stabilized, and the documents became less interesting and more routine. The third century, it had settled, and there were only spikes of interesting things. By the fourth century..." Ru Li stares up at the sky. "Well." "And then the Multiverse crashed into our Empire, and we became aware of a world much larger than ourselves, and I was..." "...deemed by the Emperor to be the best choice for the venture. Undoubtedly the new lands had warriors, assassins, merchants, farmers, doctors, crafters, and fortune-tellers; the advisors could not be spared. But the new lands probably did not have bureaucrats like me." And all of that is mostly true - in that it is the reasoning he used to persuade the Emperor after he called in more favors and markers than any human could have reasonably acquired in their entire lives. "So here I am. Mostly free."
Skipper	Skipper has to actually look up what a 'billion' is, first. "(That many zeroes?)" The entire population of Bramble Hollow, times... well, the entire population of Bramble Hollow, really. A Bramble Hollow of Bramble Hollows. "I don't really understand it...? Seed deliveries that wouldn't happen if not for paperwork? As far as I know, seed deliveries need a cart and a handful of cloudcoins, not a thousand pieces of paperwork, but I guess that's different in your world..." "But it sounds really important." Skipper's dangling legs stop kicking. "And you wanted to leave it behind?" "I want to go home, Ru Li Cheng. I want nothing better than to leave all this behind, get back to farming and the forge, maybe read a book or take a trip into town if I'm feeling adventurous. Maybe forget about the multiverse altogether, as much as I can." "But if I stop fighting, people are going to die. If I'm not out here learning as much as I can, maybe more people are going to die." "And you've got that?" Skipper's voice raises a bit. "You can help billions - I didn't even know that was a number until a second ago - billions! Billions of people, in direly important ways, just by staying at home and doing your job that you're good at and that sounds comfortable enough to me." "I would have turned your emperor's request down." Skipper's un-Watch-like deference for authority figures forces a re-evaluation of that statement. "I would have politely requested your Emperor appoint someone else as the ambassador, I mean. But still!" "But you went along with it, you gave all of that up?" Skipper gives Ru Li a glare. "Are you crazy?"
Ru Li	Ru Li tilts his head sideways. "Seed deliveries get from one end of the Empire to another because someone has written out where they need to go, how many of them can be spared, what routes are safe thanks to stationed soldiers, what weather to expect based on reports...a cart may work here, but the larger the population, the more paper is needed to guide it." He kicks his feet a bit more. "Yes. I wanted to leave it behind. I wanted to leave a place of absolute silence and loneliness to see things beyond myself and my four walls. You may wish to be farming and forging, reading a book and taking a vacation, but I was not able to do any of those things." He shrugs. "I sat in a box and stamped forms and signed forms and tallied and counted and sorted. I made decisions that required me to choose who lived and who died in massive numbers. I could not even walk around my own palace - my own house - the place I theoretically lived, the empty halls that once housed thousands of bureaucrats that I replaced. Empty halls renamed a 'palace' for the sake of decorum and deference." "Yes. I wanted to leave. Because I could not read books, or take a trip into town, for four hundred years, and for decades at a time in the lean years, I had to know that millions of people would die so that millions more would live as a direct consequence of my actions." Ru Li turns to meet the critter's eyes. "Could you do that for four hundred years of silence?" "I hope, very much, that you never have to, and that your small village remains a peaceful and happy one." He means it.
Skipper	"That's, that's, that's tough cookies?" Skipper crosses their arms once they manage to get that out. "You still had to do what you have to do. It's tough cookies if you don't like it, but you still have to do it." "And thousands of bureaucrats! I'm worried I'm not helping enough, that I'm not saving enough by doing what one person can, and you've already got the impact of thousands of people." Skipper gets up. "The question isn't if I could or couldn't. I'd have to do it. I'd find a way to deal with it, or I guess, I'd just spend myself trying to do it for as long as I could. That's basically what I'm doing already." Etiquette demands that Skipper not simply storm off, but the parting comment is half-hearted at best. "I hope your freedom is worth it, and worth what it's costing other people."
Ru Li	"And I hope," Ru Li says, sincerely, "That you eventually succeed, so that you can go back to your forge and your books and your trips into town, back to your peaceful life where you have no responsibilities and no one to count on you. It is a misery to shoulder a burden that large. I am sorry that it fell to you." The god (unnecessarily) turns his gaze back to the sea and the town below. "If Riku tells me when your people are in danger, I will try to help where I can." He says nothing more, just gazing out at the sea.