♤ two

[insynch.livejournal.com]

[After the excitement of the last five weeks, Daisuke has spent a good deal of time at home. Understandably. But now he has returned with a vengeance. VENGEANCE, thy name is BEACH. It's a beach not too far from Azumano, and pretty typical at that: it has a few big rocks in the water, yellow sand, that sort of thing. And there is water! He's made sure to do this right next to the old dried-out beach, so now there is /more/ beach and it is awesome, and it's not dead beach anymore!

He brought tons of sand castle supplies, too. Buckets; colorful molds; shovels; a bucket of shells, sand dollars, tiny flags, and feathers.

Daisuke is dressed in a loose white tank top and green plaid shorts because he is not Daisuke if he does not look terrible. He scratches the back of his head and looks over his work.]

I should be doing homework on my day off instead of taking the bus to the beach...

[He sighs at himself.]

But I can't remember the last time I had a day off, and everyone here will really like this. I hope.

[Instead of digging right into the beach, he plops down on a brightly-colored blanket and sketches the Plane for a bit.]

[ooc: IT'S SUMMER IN NOVEMBER! Feel free to use this as a party/mingling post or bother Daisuke. Or make some sand castles by yourself. It's cool with me! ♥ Tags will be slow because lol slowaitus, but I will do my best.]

Comments

[insynch.livejournal.com]

A simple one. Early medieval castles are the easiest to make out of sand.

[He smiles up at Tear.] It's nice to meet you, too! [He blinks. That name is familiar...] Do you know Luke?

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

[She nods before starting to fashion simple curtain walls.]

Yes. We're travelling together.

[insynch.livejournal.com]

[He offers her a little plastic shovel to smooth them out.]

I met him while we were all stuck on the Plane...

[His smile turns a little sad. He continues molding the sandy keep.]

He's never seen the ocean before, either. I'm sorry if it's not my place to say this, but no one deserves to be locked up all their lives like he was. You're under a lot of pressure to get him home, right? He might never get another chance like this.

I guess what I'm trying to say is... Luke might be hard to deal with, but this trip will probably end up being really important to him. I think he needs as many friends as he can get.

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

[She takes the shovel and starts flattening them, carving walkways and battlements with a surprising eye for detail.]

He hasn't made it very easy on any of us. I... [she falls silent. She doesn't feel safe sharing her feelings on this particular subject. She mulls for another moment to figure out what to replace that thought with.] I can't give him the benefit of the doubt when he's deliberately obstinate or deliberately vulgar. It's my duty to get him back home, and that's what I'll do. What he takes away from his travels will hopefully change him for the better.

[insynch.livejournal.com]

He was the only person I met who really cared that the zombies were living once. That says a lot.

[Daisuke is nothing if not an artist. The keep looks very impressive so far. It even has windows!]

Your world is pretty dangerous, huh... It's amazing that you've protected him so far.

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

[She doesn't respond to that, instead focusing on adding other defense points to the donjon.]

It's my duty as a soldier to make sure he arrives home safe. It's the least I could do after my carelessness.

[insynch.livejournal.com]

[Wow, there's a lot of guilt right there. He hesitates, but decides not to touch it for now.]

Maybe, but it's still impressive. I don't know if I could fight off a wild animal, let alone a monster... I could probably run away, though.

[He smiles a bit.]

You're pretty good at this.

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

The only danger with running is that many monsters would pursue. You'd need to be careful to try to avoid them...

[Oh. She looks down for a moment.]

Castles are interesting from a defense point of view...

[insynch.livejournal.com]

[Daisuke is amazing at running away.] Ah... right.

Are they? I just think they're nice to look at. [Says the kid decorating the front of the keep with tiny bits of seashell. ffff]

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

Everything about them is designed to try to make defense easier. They can be very difficult to infiltrate...

[She attempts to make the crenelation very clean and regular.]

[insynch.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're right! Japanese castles look a little different from European ones like this, but they still have the same basic structure.

[He glances at her from over the top of a parapet.]

Have you ever infiltrated a castle, Tear?

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

Japanese? Is that a style from your world?

[She's fiddling with a piece of driftwood now, trying to finish up the gatehouse.]

Not a castle, though I've studied how to.

[insynch.livejournal.com]

Japan is a country. All of the classic architecture tends to be kind of... pointy. Lots of sharp, slanted roofs all stacked on top of each other. That sort of thing.

... Wow. You're nothing like I imagined a soldier to be. [...] I-I mean that in a good way!

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

Interesting... I'm not sure I've seen anything like that before. I don't think we have a style equivalent on Auldrant.

I'm a trained intelligence officer. There's a variety of unusual skills one needs for such a position.

[insynch.livejournal.com]

But you have European castles. I wonder what else our worlds have in common.

[He goes back to decorating the portcullis with a twig and a finger.]

Yeah, I guess so. The stories told about graceful female warriors are always the saddest ones, though... At least they're remembered and honored in art.

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

This is a fairly general style. The imperial palace of Grand Chokmah and the castle of Baticul are very much based on their surrounding environments and both are very different, stylistically.

[She examines what they have so far, trying to see what else she can add]

I'm not sure why female soldiers would have sadder stories than male, though.

[insynch.livejournal.com]

If you change too much about the basic formula, it loses its purpose as a fortress.

[NEEDS MOAR TOWERS. Also another wall. And a moat. And more towers.]

The stories tend to be tragic because the soldier has to choose between love and duty.

But men fall in love, too, even if there aren't as many tragedies and songs about it. They have to make the same kinds of decisions, and it can hurt them just as much. Art tends to be idealistic that way.

[youidiots.livejournal.com]

Of course. It's more that they adapt their surroundings into their defense systems.

[Okay well towers can be made. She starts packing damp sand into the bucket now to make another corner turret.]

I see. In the end any soldier must choose family or to uphold the Order. It may just be common enough that we don't have stories about it...

[insynch.livejournal.com]

Japanese castles tend to be built on hills and mountains.

[He'll start a moat, then.]

You can make a story about anything, but only a few become legends. Sometimes love is just that strong. Strong enough to move a whole town... a whole world.

[He pauses in his digging, gaining a distant kind of look.]