[Video]

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

[Issei looks... tired, mostly.]

Does anyone here work as a therapist? I imagine if none of us have taken that position, then none of the locals will be able to provide advice on 'I was a normal high school student, and in the space of a month I've fought for my life, awakened a spirit from my mind to help keep my best friend from being stupid, and ended up as Alexander the Great's vassal by accident' without assuming that I'm completely insane.

I'm not saying that I'm not completely insane. I just would prefer if it wasn't assumed.

Help me, someone. Just someone, please understand why it's difficult to go from a life where my most troublesome task is getting the student council to do their work to this.

Comments

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

All right.

This entire situation? This situation is stupid.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Whatever laws govern time and space breaking for a select few people?

Yes. Yes we are fully in agreement on that notion.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

Good. I'm glad we have that cleared up.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

[She chuckles.] Personally, if pressed I can almost accept it as an everyday phenomenon. Monsters lurking around, at least. The "extra hour" just makes me want to pull my hair out.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I'm more bothered by the monsters than the violations of time. But that's probably just me.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Level-of-disbelief is different for all of us. We do come from different situations, after all.

[You can almost see the idea form, even if it's not quite a startling epiphany.]

Feel like listening to me ramble and expound on that some? Might take your mind off things.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead. I'll listen.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Ooookay... Though I should probably warn you, you'll have to keep using that good ol' suspension-of-disbelief. Dunno if you're fed up with doing that or not.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I can stand to exercise it a little more.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Weeeeell, I say I'm more apt to wonder what's up with the time-shenanigans because... well, I guess the only way to say it is that I'm used to having monsters around.

See, back home is a place full of things we call Shades. They're... often pretty violent. Sometimes they attack human settlements, sometimes they just skulk around outside.

I guess I'm not just used to monsters, I'm used to smarter ones. Shadows are kinda dumb comparatively, and limited to only one hour a day to boot. Even if the shadows are still dangerous? It's a nice change, I guess.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I've heard stranger things here. I can believe that.

I probably should have split this up... :V

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Hehe... Well strap yourself in, kiddo. For the most part, back home, I'm a bard. My skill at talking about strange and fantastic things, not to mention someone's ear off, is pretty good.

[And, unless prompted otherwise, she begins to speak in earnest, a gentle smile on her face the whole time. Her words paint a vivid picture of a land similar and yet dissimilar to both Prospero and Fuyuki.

A land filled to the brim with verdant fields, the sun shining gently downward upon them every hour of the day. A land where rain falls rarely, if at all. Decorated throughout this land are vestiges of an era long past. What she now knows to be a train's overpass providing shade over a large chunk of field. Yet another providing a barrier of sorts into the largest harbor in the area. A mountain, the "junk heap", full of robotics from the old world.

She speaks of the other townships near to her own; of the Forest of Myth, built around a tree so enormous and simply alive so as to be seen from a great distance away.

She tells tales of Facade, the city in the desert, who's inhabitants follow hundreds upon hundreds of rules that each and every person has committed to heart.

She touches upon the Aerie, so near to her own town, built into the sides of a great ravine with innumerable catwalks to allow movement throughout. Built upon salvage from the old world, and yet still incredibly sturdy, a true testament to human ingenuity.

Seafront is mentioned, so named due to it's geographical location. A bustling center of trade, and prime among the surrounding villages for it's connections to the rest of the world. The focal point of the town, a majestic lighthouse, offers a truly amazing view of the town, the sea, and the surrounding area in general.

Her own home is mentioned. A village with no given name, often referred to as the village of waterwheels, the central village, or more recently "Popola's Village." It boasts the largest library known to the area, as well as unparallelled safety for the populace.

There's a glint of nostalgia in her eyes as she reminisces about the lands she knows firsthand. Not sadness, just fondness. It's strange, compared to Prospero, but it's home.]

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

[Issei listens with wide eyes. No one else he's spoken to has been able to spin words as well as this.]

...Amazing. [He breathes it out like he's afraid to disrupt the air that she's created, even though they're speaking over cell phones.]

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

[She smiles softly, shaking her head ever-so-slightly.] Amazing? Nah, that's just home. Prospero's the place full of wonder. The sun moves, water falls from the sky, and all the things people have made in his era are just... wow.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

But those are normal things... well, I suppose they wouldn't be, to you.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

[Smile levels up! Smile has evolved to... Grin!]

Yep yep. It's all perspective~♪

Look at just about anything with the right mindset and it can become fantastic in nature.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

I used to admire things in nature like the sunset and the way sight works, but it never occurred to me to view them as someone without them would have.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno if you have to go that far. I was pretty enamored of the idea of people flying, so I kinda studied the principles behind how planes work a bit. Sure, a bit of the magic is gone, but it's replaced by respect for human ingenuity.

Just knowing how something works shouldn't relegate it to mundanity, I guess. Heck, sometimes the "how" just makes it all that more impressive.

[]

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. I should have respect for the beauty even in things I believe I understand.

[skaldssong.livejournal.com]

I've gotta admit; sometimes I envy kids, they seem to have such an easy time seeing something fantastic in whatever they look at.

[unknownrival.livejournal.com]

The joy of innocence, or something like that.