Aug 06 17:17:07 108 PA - Free Advice and Life Philosophy

From Chronicles

Aug 06 17:17:07 108 PA.

THE IVORY LADY

Nine in the evening is a fair time for people to be out, a time for people to be enjoying the clubbing life. Gabriel has some commentary on that, however, as he guides Darlos into the depths of certain depravity. They pass through the bodyguards. "Darlos, I've shown you good things. Now I'm going to show you a bad thing, so you know what it is that you're trying to prevent, and yet at the same time, the people whom you should be trying to protect. Sit with me." He enters and heads for the bar.

Darlos follows Gabriel in and mutters to himself, "So, you're gonna show me depravity and think that helps me figure who I should protect?" He follows behind sharply because he feels pretty far out of place, "How do you even know about these kinds of crazy places?"

The older man makes his way to the bar and grabs two sodas. Regular soda, non-alcoholic, non-psi-cola. "Here, Darlos. Sit. I know, it sounds strange, but I'll try to explain. As for how I know this place?" Gabriel smiles a little and waves a hand around. "I'm good at my job." He smirks, obviously trying to express that he doesn't really think as highly of himself as he just said. "Okay, just look out there. Take your time. What do you see?"

Darlos looks around and ponders, "Well sure seems like what I figured. Basically a rich brothel or at least strip club." He takes a sip from his soda, "Well at least this is decent. Otherwise, nothing really much? What am I looking for?" He stops to think for a long moment, concentrating on his sight for a few moments to view the room as magically senses.

"Okay, you see the surface. But what do you see if you look deeper? Yes, there are women here taking their clothes off, and there are men - and women - watching them and paying for it." Gabriel angles his head to the right of the bar. "Back there, there are men and women enjoying the fruits of certain labors even more than by visuals. You're a mage, a good man." The older fellow lays a hand on Darlos shoulder and gestures toward the noisy arena. "What do you *see*?"

Darlos closes his eyes and mutters to himself in an ancient tongue, "Intelligo Vim." He opens his eyes after that and looks around. His flaming blue eyes (actual flames now) scan the area. After a few moment he begins to mutter under his breath, "Two mages at the door, magic encasing them. The building is warded to stop astral bodies and magic from being tossed around in a more physical sense. The energy here reeks of sex and lust, feeling it around me is doing....uncomfortable things..."

Gabriel grins, quenching the smile with a sip form his bottle. "Okay, okay. Good. Not exactly what I was going for, but obviously more good observation. Key your eyes open for everything. Perhaps I'll be more blunt." He spins on his stool so that he's facing the floor. "What you see are people living out their lives as fast as they can, because they fear, or they 'know' that their lives are going to be short. You see your women doing things that they should never do, because they want money. Or sometimes, because civilization has prevented them from getting money in a good, safe and honorable way." He pats Darlos on the back again. "What you see is fear, and hopelessness. Cynicism. People how have accepted a fate that doesn't have to happen. I'm doing my best to make sure that these people can be happy. To live long lives, to find things to love, to grow. Do you.. see this, now?"

Darlos says, "So, what I am looking at here is an establishment, one that literally sustains itself on fear, despair and what else?" He frowns and leans on the table sipping on his coke. "I understand that people accept a less life but why do we do something about this?"

"Why?" Gabriel's tone changes. "Because we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These people?" He waves his bottle. "They're being deprived of these rights, and it's up to good men, like me, like you, to step in and reaffirm them, even at cost to ourselves. Because it's the right thing to do. It's what our own mentors, trainers, teachers, fathers, taught us to do."

Darlos frowns deeply at that and heavily considers, "But these people have given up. They are our equals, they have chosen this life now haven’t they? I mean not everyone here can say they don’t want to be here anymore, it's a natural step right?"

"They have given up. But they've given up under circumstances where they don't have all the facts, if you prefer to hear it in those terms," Gabriel says softly. "If a person wants to give up something, then they should at least have the privilege of knowing exactly what it is that they're giving up. That's for humanity. This is why good people are here."

Darlos relaxes back in his chair and continues to look around the room, thinking to himself silently. "I guess I just don't understand..." He sighs softly, "Or perhaps I just don’t want to see through their eyes. It has to be an utter nightmare to just lay back and flounder in it."

Gabriel nods and sips from his bottle, leaning back more comfortably now. "If you've ever wondered why you are or what you are, or if life has meaning, this is it. For good men to step in. Not that we can ever force happiness on anyone. Or even force a way of life on someone; that's no better than what all of these people are living with. But still, we're here to serve, as I see it." He lowers his voice and states, "But you must see things through their eyes, before you can understand what the problem it is than you need to solve."

Darlos closes his eyes for a few moments and nods, "Then perhaps for another day. Their problem is in lack of self confidence or direction in life." He shivers to himself considering things he wish he hadn't, a pained expression over his face. "Can we, go some where else?" He asks finally in a soft voice.

Gabriel hops off his stool - which for him is quite a drop, considering his stature. "Sure, c'mon." He drains his soda and leaves a little something on the counter for the bartender. "Follow me, I'm in the mood for something warm now." Then with a wave of his hand, he's heading out the door and into the night.

TRADEWINDS COFFEE SHOP

Darlos arrives walking rather quickly, his hands in his robes and shuffling to the seat. He tosses himself in a booth and closes his eyes, trying to wrest something from his thoughts, "So, that’s done. Thank god."

"You have to have bad things before anyone can recognize what they have that's good, Darlos," Gabriel says in a sage tone. He then lifts the mug of mocha coffee that he'd snagged from Tiffany moments before Darlos arrived behind him. "For instance, I have tasted the beer at the Ivory Lady, which makes me appreciate so much more what my coffee tastes like." He chuckles at that as he drinks.

Darlos nods slowly, "Yea, that much I can understand, you know? Its just, it feels like I cant fricken do anything about it, I’m still so over my head in everything. I never had gotten to help anyone yet. I've given help here and there, more or less through donating my energy to the ritual or help power the line."

Gabriel watches as the young man speaks, then gently places his mug on the table, interlinking his fingers. In a lowered voice, but still very-present drawl, "Well, you really want to do good, huh? Not that that's a bad thing, but you know that doing good - particularly on a grand scale - means putting your life in danger. Unfortunately, in this time and place there's no way around that." He shrugs and laughs at himself. "Or really any time and place, I suppose."

Darlos says, "Well, that at this point I could barely care about. I'm ready and willing to go to bat for my cause you know? And to hell with the consequences." He shrugs a bit, "I guess that’s a bit over dramatic but it fits the bill. I just want to get out there and do something! sitting around is a fricken nightmare.""

"Yeah, slow down, cowboy. People don't generally charge headlong into battle and live. You have to think about it. And most of war, for most people goes like this, as the cliché goes: long periods of time so boring that you want to blow your head off punctuated by a very short and terrifying time where you're trying to keep someone from blowing your head off." Gabriel offers a chuckle. "Unless it's a necessary reflex, don't ever do anything without planning ahead."

Darlos shrugs to himself and shivers from an unknown source, "Well, it sure the hell beats rotting here though doesn't it? I mean, I feel like I got trained for war and then sent back home to plow fields. What the hell am I doing with my life?"

"Living it. There's nothing wrong with that. Of course, like I said, people like you and I do have a certain responsibility to our fellow man," Gabriel allows in between sips. "I think that perhaps if you relaxed, did some mediation or something to calm your heart, you'd feel better - and be safer for yourself. There's more to fighting though, which probably goes contrary to what I've been saying."

Darlos shrugs to himself again, obviously a teenager through and through. "I know all of that. Honestly if I had to go to war tomorrow, I’d sit and do that. I know the steps, I know how to control my emotions when it matters because magic is heavily influenced by it. I've been sitting in this town for almost 2 months. I came here specifically, to get into it. Help everyone here do things that they couldn’t do without me. I haven’t found any of that." He frowns to himself and decides to get himself coffee. "Excuse me." He goes and grabs coffee, slowly sitting and looking perplexed.

"It's okay," Gabriel says. "You know anything about Whykin? City off to the east of here? The Coalition in general?"

Darlos nods slowly, "Coalition the magic hating nation. I don’t know what Whykin or the likes are. Why?"

"Well, Kingsdale is like going to 'Vegas, or New Orleans, or Amsterdam. Or Bangkok." Even Gabriel seems to give a little shudder at that last one. "Anything goes, often including crimes just past aggravated assault and battery. Magic and psionics, squishy people like me, cyborgs and people hyped up of drugs, and so on." He doesn't mention anything about Crazies. "D-Bees, aliens as long as they aren't eating you. The Kingdom of Whykin was far more of a humanist state. Pure human type. But I guess there wasn't any real trouble until.. I guess it was two years ago? Anyway, before my time. The punchline, though, is that the Coalition has no taken over. The Kingdom of Whykin is now the City of Whykin within the Whykin Semi-Autonomous Zone, presided over, currently by one General Rheevus."

Darlos says, "So they just threw themselves under the Coalition bus? I mean, they weren’t invaded or anything?"

The older man shrugs lightly. "I think that it was a little bit of both, really. Like I said, it was before my time, and I haven't taken the time to check the library records. I guess they've been behaving themselves for a long time though, not wanting to open a third front, what with Tolkeen and Free Quebec going on. But something is changing." Gabriel glances over as a young lady slaps a man on the other side of the room, mentioning something about threesomes and a cold day in Hell.

With that, the two men step out of the shop and move their conversation elsewhere, for another time.