Welcome to Clean Street [Open!]

[morphitudinous]

Down on the city level, right by the Kohaku River and near the imposing castle, a modern-looking white building welcomed one and all to its promise of running water and warmth. Maybe even a little socializing was in order.

The ramp led up to the heated roof level, where one and all could sit down and relax in an almost sauna-like environment. Below, corridors contained plenty of towels, places to leave clothes, quick showers, and the baths, a number of them sized for any and all comers.

The private areas were accessed through separate corridors on the outside, but the busier communal baths were just as warm and welcoming. Anyone of any size or species was welcome here, so long as they behaved themselves.

[ooc: it's mingling party post time! Just start a thread or hop in one, and note if your character's in a single sex bath, co-ed, or the sauna level upstairs. My characters will be here to meet some people too.]

Comments

[a_mere_human]

"I'm not in the military." There was a slight edge to his voice there, instead of his normal monotone. He needed to get that point across clearly.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Most of our 'soldiers' here have military experience. Of course, I have no idea how your little organization operated where you were from." Probably more organized than the Three Ships Alliance that changed the course of two wars. Organization meant manpower, and it meant discipline.

[a_mere_human]

Celestial Being wasn't very little, actually, but she didn't need to know that.

"What about the organization you belonged to?"

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Organization? I fought with rebel guerilla soldiers, acted as an officer and later commander in chief of my nation's military, and piloted as part of a small, independent fleet of ships," she said, ticking off each item on her fingers. "And then my position here. I've been all over the command structure."

[a_mere_human]

He seemed to regard her curiously for a moment. She had been all over the place, seemingly jumping from one cause to the next.

"Did you find what you were looking for in any of those places?"

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

They were all related! Sometimes loosely. But totally related.

Yeah.

"I did." This was the truth, and she was sure of at least that. "But... figuring it out's a total wash if we can't actually restore what was destroyed by the Ohm."

[a_mere_human]

Were he someone who could actually display emotions, he'd scoff right now. As it was, a small noise of distaste did escape him.

"You shouldn't waste your time trying to get back everything you lost."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"One of the things I lost is pretty much what I was living for." Orb... if she couldn't bring it back, what was her purpose in life? She'd never been as good at focusing on the grand scheme of humanity the way Kira and Lacus did. Protecting her people was what she'd finally, after all the fighting was over, decided she wanted to do with her life.

[a_mere_human]

"You must not have had much to live for," he surmised evenly, though not cruelly. More like it was the most logical conclusion he could come to.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Then what do you live for? Some... vague concept or ideal?" She turned to him with a glare.

[a_mere_human]

"You could say that." He'd save the spiel. If there was one thing he figured out, very few people here would understand him.

"I live for something that can't be taken away from me, even though I've been taken away from everything else."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"I guess you're lucky to have something so... big." That was the best word she could think of for it. While idealism was nice, though, idealists needed more grounded individuals around them.

[a_mere_human]

Yeah, that's what she said.

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Or maybe it had everything to do with it. The right kid in the right place at the right time, even if that place was a war torn hell hole. "If you want to find your future, stop looking backwards."

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

She did just say that, yes.

"But there's the chance that I could get Orb back, and if I abandon hope of returning and then I do return..." She really didn't feel getting into this right now, though. Not with Setsuna.

[a_mere_human]

Yeah, well, they were going to get into it. Being a terrorist tended to erode his manners, not that he had many to begin with.

"To engrave an experience into the heart of another; to carry on the memories and ideals of another, even after they're gone; that's how you give meaning to an existence.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you can get this Orb back," whatever the hell it even was. "It was there before, its gone now. If this Orb left you with no reason to live on, nothing to aspire to, no reason to better yourself or the place around you, then perhaps it didn't give your life as much meaning as you seem to think it did. What would be the point in going back?" Because he certainly couldn't see one.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"You just... aren't ever going to get it." She stands, turning away. It looks like she really is getting sucked into talking about it.

"It was my nation. My people. I'd finally settled on living to protect, or at least... trying to protect them..." failing at it quite often, in her own mind. "My father gave his life for our people. And now... myself, my brother, Lacus... we're the only ones here who even know about it."

[jesus_is_gundam]

If there was one thing he'd actually get, it was that. If anything, he thought that she was missing the point. Rather ironic, that. At the least, he saw no reason why her life should come to a grinding halt.

"And...?" Was there more to this story?

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"And?" Cagalli shakes her head. "If we die here... it will be like Orb never existed. If we can't get it back... I have other people to live for, I can find something else to do with my life. I'm young after all. But... I don't want to find anything else."

[jesus_is_gundam]

"Then don't." It all seemed simple enough to him. "If they're really that important to you, then live for them. Live your life in way that would make them proud of you."

He didn't say it out loud, but the way he stared at her seemed to ask the question would they be proud of you so far? Because, on the off chance that she does run into the people from Orb again...

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

Live for them... that made sense anyways. Would her father be proud? What about Kisaka, or Admiral Todaka? Just how did Kira feel about what she was doing here?

"I don't know how to. I haven't figured it out yet." It made her feel a little smaller to admit that. "I don't know what I'm supposed to even be doing here."

[a_mere_human]

That was usually the hard part.

"You'll find your answer. So long as you bother to look for it." She'll have to blaze her own trail to the future, and that's not something anyone can do for her.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

Was he trying to be encouraging? "Thank you. For what it's worth." She had to find something just to keep herself from going crazy.

[a_mere_human]

Maybe he was.

"You mentioned you had a brother." And given that she mentioned not!Feldt Lacus in the same breath, it narrowed down the options as to who that person could be.

[allnaturalseed.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." And here's where she gets to see at least a little of what Setsuna thinks about Kira. Maybe. "You've met Kira Yamato, right?"

[a_mere_human]

The changes were subtle, but if she was paying attention, she'd notice the slight narrowing of his eyes, and the harder set of his jaw.

"We've met." There was even a bit of ice that managed to creep in to his monotone.