thank you, reliable maze... once they reach the simulator, he's just selecting a 30 minute block for now before entering the room and letting his brain supply the imageryof thefloodplain on a nice sunny day. the river seems to stretch pretty far and the sound of wildlife such as birds and a few bugs can be heard. there's also a sleepy kitty sunning itself on the fishing dock. ]
tobari watches the scenery change around him and—he's seen some new things already, mostly just the beach, but he's enthralled by this too. greenery, bugs, birds, the fishing dock, the river... his steps are slow as he makes a full 360 circle, just taking it all in. ]
[ he stays where he's at, letting tobari do his lil spin to observe everything around them. ]
Yu and I used to come here a lot after school. [ a nod to the dock. ] Sometimes he'd fish to feed the stray cats around, but otherwise it was just... hanging out by the water. It wasn't really that interesting but it was kind of nice just to have a place to hang out together.
Further down there's more flower fields, and a couple of good patches of dry grass for picnics and stuff, too. And up by the gazebo on the upper level, you can see the starts of the mountains.
[ . . . huh. he wants to see it all. he doesn't really pick a location so much as he just starts walking, wondering how far the vision goes. it's such advanced technology it's hard for him to wrap his head around, but also.
he's so curious. it might be as close to the surface as he'll ever get. ]
... what's the town like? Does everyone have enough to eat?
[ he follows along because the vision will go so far? like he's so deeply entrenched in inaba by now he can easily imagine it without effort. ]
Mm? Oh yeah. There's farmlands further out so people grow their own food and everything. And we have a pretty big grocery department at Junes. It's quiet here, you can pretty much walk or bike everywhere. There's a shopping district not far from here that has all kinds of smaller stores, and then Junes has a lot of everything else.
I'm gonna guess it's not like that in Itehari though. [ you don't ask about food resources if scarcity isn't an issue. ]
Surface-level impressions always tell you want you want to believe. But if you want the truth, if course you have to go deeper. [ a breeze rustles through, a bird chirping in the distance. ]
... why did they decide to build a Utopia? Was it that bad before?
The surface gets ravaged by storms. Even now, I've heard that it gets pretty bad down there, though I haven't seen it myself.
So one day, someone came to Itehari and was able to develop technology to lift the country into the sky, above even the storm clouds. That's why they think it's a utopia—because it got away from the worst of it.
But that's just... running away from reality. It's not really solving the problem, it's opening up new ones. [ he just frowns a little in though as the landscape unfolds. ]
You're not much older than me, I think. So you were born in the clouds already, right? Is there really no way back down?
And yet if you were given a chance to save a group of people from a disaster that doesn't stop, wouldn't you?
[ he doesn't deny that it opens up new ones, however he doesn't think itehari being in the sky is necessarily the problem. sometimes you make choices in leadership and they're not always perfect but they still have to happen. anyway he waves a hand ]
We trade with the surface for necessary supplies—Itehari has things they don't, too. But it's limited to business and no one actually goes to the surface for leisure.
... fair point. [ he would, yes, but he still isn't sure this was the right idea. but what does he know? ]
I don't get how it's the surface if you're technically above the ground, but that's not the point. What kind of supplies does Itehari have that you could trade?
I guess that would be a fair trade-off, sure. If the technology could maybe help with the storms hitting the surface though, would Itehari ever move down again?
Maybe it could. [ he can admit when he made an incorrect assumption ] If a goddess is the one causing the storms, I can hope that someone might put an end to her shit.
But as is, there's no answer to fending off natural disasters.
I guess... it's really about solving one problem at a time. And your plate already sounds kinda full as it is. [ so he can also at least back off a little on how a utopia does not sound great. ] Sometimes all we can do is make the most of circumstances when we end up in places we didn't ask to be in.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
They weren't even dirty, give me a break. If they were, I'd use a towel.
[ back into the maze we go... navigating the streets to the simulator... ]
no subject
[ YOSUKE actually he should've washed his hands before he ate too... whatever tobari's not that fussy but still kinda fussy
he'll follow along anyway. oh reliable maze. ]
no subject
thank you, reliable maze... once they reach the simulator, he's just selecting a 30 minute block for now before entering the room and letting his brain supply the imagery of the floodplain on a nice sunny day. the river seems to stretch pretty far and the sound of wildlife such as birds and a few bugs can be heard. there's also a sleepy kitty sunning itself on the fishing dock. ]
... this is the Samegawa.
no subject
tobari watches the scenery change around him and—he's seen some new things already, mostly just the beach, but he's enthralled by this too. greenery, bugs, birds, the fishing dock, the river... his steps are slow as he makes a full 360 circle, just taking it all in. ]
... it's nice.
no subject
Yu and I used to come here a lot after school. [ a nod to the dock. ] Sometimes he'd fish to feed the stray cats around, but otherwise it was just... hanging out by the water. It wasn't really that interesting but it was kind of nice just to have a place to hang out together.
Further down there's more flower fields, and a couple of good patches of dry grass for picnics and stuff, too. And up by the gazebo on the upper level, you can see the starts of the mountains.
no subject
he's so curious. it might be as close to the surface as he'll ever get. ]
... what's the town like? Does everyone have enough to eat?
[ what a starting question ]
no subject
Mm? Oh yeah. There's farmlands further out so people grow their own food and everything. And we have a pretty big grocery department at Junes. It's quiet here, you can pretty much walk or bike everywhere. There's a shopping district not far from here that has all kinds of smaller stores, and then Junes has a lot of everything else.
I'm gonna guess it's not like that in Itehari though. [ you don't ask about food resources if scarcity isn't an issue. ]
no subject
They say it is. They say no one goes hungry, that there's no crime, that no one ever wants to hurt another person so it's a perfect utopia.
[ he keeps walking along, trying to imagine the idea of it all. they have stores and things like that... but only on the surface. ]
They're just not looking far enough.
no subject
... why did they decide to build a Utopia? Was it that bad before?
no subject
So one day, someone came to Itehari and was able to develop technology to lift the country into the sky, above even the storm clouds. That's why they think it's a utopia—because it got away from the worst of it.
no subject
You're not much older than me, I think. So you were born in the clouds already, right? Is there really no way back down?
no subject
[ he doesn't deny that it opens up new ones, however he doesn't think itehari being in the sky is necessarily the problem. sometimes you make choices in leadership and they're not always perfect but they still have to happen. anyway he waves a hand ]
We trade with the surface for necessary supplies—Itehari has things they don't, too. But it's limited to business and no one actually goes to the surface for leisure.
no subject
I don't get how it's the surface if you're technically above the ground, but that's not the point. What kind of supplies does Itehari have that you could trade?
no subject
anyway, ]
Technology. While we lack in natural resources, we're able to refine most of what we have into useful things that the surface lacks.
no subject
no subject
anyway, ]
Maybe.
... Big 'if' though. You ever tried stopping a storm? A literal force of nature?
no subject
... we fought a goddess who wanted to send the world into a void of darkness, does that count?
no subject
no subject
no subject
Maybe it could. [ he can admit when he made an incorrect assumption ] If a goddess is the one causing the storms, I can hope that someone might put an end to her shit.
But as is, there's no answer to fending off natural disasters.
no subject