Mana P4y1s03

Mana: And so it was written: Pokiehlember 4th, Year 1, Undine's Day. Just after dawn, deep in the earth of Gnome district - where the earth at the far end, sundered, does indeed let pour in some morning light, mingling with the dusky crystal-light that forms the district's canopy. The air is thick with the scent of smokehouses and the din of the morning.
Mana: Maybe a sharpness, in the tone of conversation. Some of the members of that one goddess sect - the one with the robes, with the red dust-marks upon their brows - sit on a street-corner, drinking tea from fired-clay mugs, discussing the city's news with a small crowd crosslegged about them.
Mana: It wasn't that hard of a travel from Wisp, I don't think. Monsters take a while to wake up, after all.
Mana: "So you know, somebody used the word miracle about that fortress springing up. I mean, if somebody's going to take the Emperor down…"
Mana: "And lose one dictator for another, you know. The only way to bring freedom is to rip down the foundations from below."
Mana: "Ehh, is that what you're all up to in Salamander…?"
Wilhelmine makes her way down, with barely a plan and full-tilt on instinct. She is missing her jacket. Her gait is light and airy instead of grim and purposeful. This woman has Wilhelmine's face, but not her mannerisms. She gives the crowd a tentative wave, then makes her way to sit with the crosslegged gossipers. (Would the Wilhelmine you know deliberately join a crowd of strangers?)
Wilhelmine "I thought the goblins were behind the clock malfunction?"
Mana: One of the disciples - the taller, more assured one - gestures with hands outstretched. "Oh, oh, they were. But there are so many more foundations to rip up than that."
Mana: "They're installing the sick in prisons of iron and pressganging them into war and service!"
Mana: "Break the forges." He finishes. "That's what we gotta do. Maybe even topple the whole tower."
Wilhelmine rolls onto her back, keeping her face turned to the center of the group. "Well, if you topple what you think is a foundation, who's to say that you made any impact at all? The Jinn Emperor's mandate doesn't come from below, but above. What gould would toppling a tower do?"
[OOC] Wilhelmine: what good would*
Mana: The younger of the disciples - a young lady, her hair shorn - laughs. "Someone get her a mug of tea!"
Mana: Someone sitting by fills a mug from the teapot, hands it to her, as the older disciple strokes his lack of a beard, considering -
Mana: "The great sin of society isn't the will that abolishes freedom, but the society that's willing to go along with it."
Mana: "The only real expression of the will of heavens is a gun! Breaking the symbol's worthwhile, 'cause then all the guard and bureaucracy will abandon the cause."
Wilhelmine sits upright again, keeping both legs underneath her instead of going cross-legged. She takes the mug with a grateful smile, then leans forward to reply to the older disciple. "So what happens if I break your gun? And what if someone's more devoted to the cause than the symbol?"
Mana: "Well, in one of those cases…" He looks up, bending low, staying seated. "We're gonna be needing more guns, won't we?"
Mana: He chuckles, a little, "I don't know anyone backing the way of things 'cause they believe in it."
Mana: "The suffering of the people, that's clear!"
Wilhelmine: "Aren't you backing the way of what you think things should be because you believe in it? Or do you believe in it because you have a gun?"
Mana: "Of course I am! But - if people are kept from traveling as they wish, if they can't do business as they wish, if they're kettled up in prisons, if their courts give them no recourse, if the state even possesses the power to murder -"
Mana: "Well, that's a sick society. If anyone believes in it, they're insane."
Mana: "That's why we have guns and they don't, after all. The will of the heavens, s'truly with us!"
Wilhelmine: "I can think of far worse definitions of insane." She takes a sip from her mug - one might catch a glimpse of her newly-obtained tongue-stud as she does so.
Mana: "Right. And when the world above us goes mad, all that remains is to pull Titania together under one banner and free ourselves."
Mana: Someone in the audience nudges her neighbor - "(Is it true that Vush threw in with these guys?)" "(Nasty bastard to pull common cause with…)"
Wilhelmine: "Ah, you and your symbols; your guns and your banners. I think you fail to realize that as soon as you give something a face, it can use it to masquerade. And underneath, it is something other than it seems. As you said earlier, 'one dictator for another.' If you raise your banner in place of theirs, who, exactly, will be free?"
Mana: "But if we fight dreaming only of freedom, how could we become tyrants? The banner falls to tatters if misused."
Mana: "That army-in-red can't say the same thing. They'll march anywhere their master takes them."
Wilhelmine: "But at least they can say they march."
Wilhelmine: "And I'm not saying to give up your cause, either, but be a cause without a face. The one that everyone's a part of, something that unites perfect strangers. Form a society of people that secretly agree instead of openly declaring war. Don't topple foundations, but circumvent them."
Mana: "Titania has had a million of those since its founding, and look at how sick it got."
Wilhelmine: "I agree completely. (See? Doing it already.)"
Mana: He sits back, taking a sip of his tea.
Wilhelmine: "As far as I can tell, your cure for the sickness is more of a mercy killing."
Mana: His eye sparks a glint. "You wouldn't be wrong. Most of Titania gets along just fine without… being Titania."
Wilhelmine: "Aha, aha. Do you think you would?"
Mana: "Hah, without a doubt!"
Mana: "Gnome don't even exist, proper-like. And it gets along just fine."
Wilhelmine: "So what's the foundation for Gnome?"
Wilhelmine leans back, legs stretched out, one toe waggling. "You've obviously built something here. So it must have a foundation."
Mana: "The liberty to build and be together. That, and nothing more."
Wilhelmine: "And with enough liberty and enough building, I foresee …" She holds a strip of cloth to her head, some sample material. "Another Jinn Tower. Don't think you can have the liberty you want together with the building."
Wilhelmine: "Well, you know. A tower, but feels a little different. Less Jinn, more Gnome. Totally different, right?"
Mana: "Hmph." He comes up with no quick retort to that.
Wilhelmine: "On the other hand, lack of a building means no conflict, which is probably cause for Titania's real sickness. Stability. Stagnation. Something else more interesting coming along since Titania doesn't have anything to say. The winter."
Wilhelmine: "So to survive, Titania changes clothes and masks with more whimsy than a bored housewife. (Though I think after Jinn, it'll be the Luna before it's Gnome.)"
Mana: "But if you believe that, then there's no point in changing anything."
Mana: "Even if power dooms you to corruption, isn't it worth fighting for good in this moment?"
Mana: "Watched over by the Goddess as we are, we can't help but bring justice in our lifetimes."
Mana: "…Whatever the history book ends up saying."
Wilhelmine stands up and turns around, obliviously knocking her half-finished mug of tea over, not caring any further for the disciple's response. She speaks somewhat rhythmically, punctuating some syllables with slow, exaggerated footsteps, one just in front of the other. "But underneath all those layers, under all the petticoats and masks and - Goddess knows what other archaic forms
Wilhelmine of fashion - is the true nature of a diseased Titania. Formless to us, perhaps, but I believe understanding is more crucial than doing. "
Wilhelmine: Tears sting her eyes. "I remember no invective from the Goddess to change, only to find her and walk beside her. And so I shall."
Wilhelmine walks backwards for a bit, gives a wave, then - runs off as abruptly as she initially joined the conversation.
Mana: The streets of Gnome wind onwards.
Wilhelmine has business in Shade.
[OOC] Wilhelmine: But that's probably for another time.
Mana: And so it was written.

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