tampered | XANADU OPERA TIME

WHEN: Jan. 15 | the Xanadu gardens.
CHARACTERS: Everyone.
SUMMARY: we interrupt your regular Xanadu viewing for the following special reminder: ...the visit ain't over til the bloody plant sings.

That's right: our green belle been giving rather ~~obnoxious~~ titillating performances in Xanadu, to what can only be the... enjoyment... of certain Citizens. Adding injury to insult, it's quite possible that a couple of residents have also captured the plant's tune on film, and now the video's been turned into a network viral phenomenon!

But as Citizens surely know, every grand artist needs a doting live audience: come get dibs on more plant footage? Save someone from its evil clutches? Help a poor soul that's got lost in the gardens' great expanse? Get the plant to sign with your talent agency? Embark on a mystical quest to get it to shut up?

Just put your chlorophyll-tinted glasses on, and anything is possible.

[ ooc: Find whatever excuse to throw your character in Xanadu, tag someone new, and all around: GET IN HERE. Just as a note: hearing the plant is definitely optional, so please don't think it's an overwhelming sound that'd keep your character up at night or some such. It's just a log prompt. XD ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The ease with which the answer seems to be accepted bothers him enough to mutter. ]

It isn't magic. And rank... rank, rank, rank, your rank should mean you'd well learn to rid yourself of whims. Like a sick man does of leprosy. Or, well. Tries.

[ One of the plant's tentacles squirms in the braid, almost ripping free. A metal piece bats it down. Oh, what bother. ]

Come to catch the greenery at its finest hour, General?

That may be a matter of semantics. There are some in my world who argue that what we call "magic" is instead natural phenomena not yet explained by science. In my opinion, if people call it magic, the term may stand as common usage.

[He's discussed that very matter with a scientist he knows.]

What would you call it, if not magic?

I didn't say I have whims. I said I'm familiar with the concept.

[Sephiroth turns to regard the greenery himself. He's considering obliterating the plant, as it strikes him as a threat to public safety.]

You might say that.

You have word games and word magic and word-willed contracts and your very authority stands on a word - but you think little of semantics? Ah.

[ His attention leaves the tentacles completely. They keep at their work, if far more erratically. ]

I have no name to give it. Obedience? There. Now I do have a name for it.

[ There're reasons he hasn't turned to face Sephiroth head on before.

...and not the least of them is that this abysmal frail and girlyish body doesn't give him the standing to stare the other down. Irritating, how he must now strain to look up. ]

But you'll have no more from me until you tell me about the... state of Shinra and city of SOLDIER, was it?

[ .......of course he never forgot about that. ]

I said it's a matter of semantics. Not that they don't matter. An important distinction. I was discussing them, no more.

[Rosiel is a little frustrating to speak to, but Sephiroth soldiers on, so to speak.]

My authority at home is not based on a word. [He doesn't elaborate, as it's a complicated matter.]

Obedience, I see. [He accepts this name for it. He doesn't give any impression of considering it important that Rosiel is slighter or shorter as he regards him.]

ShinRa is a corporation, and SOLDIER is a military organization.

[ He frowns slightly.

...a corporation with the reasons and finances to fund their very own legion. A group that means to assume dictatorship, maybe? Interesting. And the man who'll work for such an institution is also -- interesting. ]

Then you're the... leader of a private armed faction. So, really. Hardly a general at all. Correct?

No, SOLDIER is not a private armed faction. It is a branch of the military, an elite fighting force. I am part of SOLDIER, but also the Commanding General of the armies as a whole.

ShinRa built the city of Midgar. They work in cooperation with the government. There is no other army.

[Everyone works for ShinRa, in one way or another.]

Oh. Oh, my. Oh, that's certainly...

[ ...nothing. Monotonously - ]

Ever sorry, I took you for a pretentious vagabond. Well, you must yet be one, but - I suppose you have some rank. Possibly a well earned one. You've actually seen battle, Commander?

No need to apologize. There's no way to know for certain that people are who they say they are here. Yet whatever one may think of the army, my rank within it is genuine.

[He isn't precisely pleased with the army or his role in it these days, but he lets nothing of that show.]

I've seen a great deal of combat.

And survived. Notably.

[ Tall, strong, possibly armed - weapon. What weapon would this man use? Direct combat? But the hair. What direct or even range combatant would keep his hair so impractically long - ah. One whose skill more than compensates for any physical handicap, natural or artificial.

...oh dear. He laughs a little to himself. ]

It's occurred to me you might be very dangerous.

Has it? Now, what gives you that idea?

[There's a slight note of amusement in his voice. He's used to people already knowing how dangerous he is, as he's so well publicized. It's been a while since he wasn't recognized in public.]

I'm only dangerous when the situation warrants it.

[ When, not if. Very nice. ]

Well, then, I leave myself entirely under your protection.

Edited 2012-01-16 22:05 (UTC)

If you find yourself in need of protection, I'll assist you.

[He does help members of the public who need his assistance, that's nothing new. He sees no reason not to do the same here, so it's easy to agree.]

What is it you do, Rosiel, other than braid-work?

[ ...really, soldiers are a little too straightforward and honest now and then. ]

Oh, why, sometimes I do curls. Or chignons. Or the occasional headpiece. It's why your hair is ever so fascinating to me, of course, professional interest.

That explains it. [There is an arrogance in the way he wears his hair, so long and unbound and seemingly careless, not like any other SOLDIER, so he's not unused to comments on it. ShinRa approves. Such a striking image is good PR.]

One's work can shape the way one sees the world.

[He hasn't forgotten their earlier conversation, either.]

You mentioned being a lord. Didn't you?

[ He can't summon the energy to pretend as much surprise as he should. ]

Did I...? Hmmmm. I must have lied.

[ A hand comes up, tugging his lower lip to mimic the nervous tick of people caught in thought. ]

It happens often. I may have lied to you just now, but I've been most upset. It - [a wave to the plant ] - was being very vile to me. Organic material ought to learn to behave more courteously, oughtn't it? Arrogant thing, it wouldn't even give me a greeting. To think. Well, if it's now - wrapped up in untangling itself without ripping itself apart, at least I'll know why it neglected me. Tsk. But I was very upset.

[He probably shouldn't continue to engage this person. They're unstable and unreliable.

Yet he's curious. He doesn't care at all about the welfare of the plant, as he'd been considering destroying it himself.]

So it's inorganic material that you have mastery over?

XANADU OPERA TIME | ALL INVITED

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