[Network Video]

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Imagine the beach. Okay, don't imagine the beach because the video, it's definitely of the beach. Of the waves hitting the shore, of feet buried in the sand, of strong legs too, but the angle doesn't continue far up them, mostly because the video is looking over them, at the ocean.]

Gonna be frank here. All that shit with the 'Calibrations' junk? Total fucking horrible bullshit. Too quiet. Too weighty. Too fucking enclosed and tense. We need something else. We need to be something more than what they inflicted on us.

Least, that's what I think.

[The view panned from the sea off to the right, where someone had built a large stack of felled wood. Sorta fresh, so maybe it wouldn't burn the best, but it was there. This was clearly bonfire territory.]

I'm thinking it wouldn't be bad to fucking chill a little, you know? Like, not entirely. Don't trust whatever did that to not fuck with us again. But beaches can be relaxing, and with enough of us, maybe we can enjoy ourselves a little but still keep a watch. So, maybe we do it. Maybe we come here and make our own memories we don't gotta sit through and watch.

Memories we can be a part of.

Back home, at the start of summer, we've got this thing to do. It's meant to be a celebration of identity and self. Okay, I'll be honest, it's called 'Pride', and technically it's for, you know, celebrating gender and sexual identities and all that. Never really went to one back home, but feels like the concept is right. Celebration of identity. The ones we build for ourselves now, not all the fucking baggage they dredged up.

So, uh... who might be in?

[Gladio turns the camera's view around so that it's on him fully. Of course he isn't wearing a shirt. It's fucking Gladio. If you know the man and haven't seen him shirtless yet, do you really know the man?]

So anyone down for making some good memories about ourselves? Doesn't have to be today. Might take some time for the wood to be good to burn. Doesn't have to not be today either. I'd say I'm flexible, but come on, muscles like these are for strength, not for bending. But I can work with what people want. What they need.

And I think we might need this.


[OOC: Feel free to have people come find him in action. Or start your own logs of partying at the beach because of this]

Comments

[lionunchained]

Yeah, that is true. I got to see a few things that I hadn't really thought about in a while... some that I didn't really want to see again, but I guess that's the way it works for everyone.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Guess I got lucky. Didn't have to see the bad stuff again. Complicated shit, yes. But nothing bad.

[lionunchained]

Yeah... Complicated is probably a good way to put it. The one bad one, never had to see too far into it. The other one... was complicated. Still is.

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Gladio raised an eyebrow.]

You wanna talk about it, man?

[lionunchained]

[He sighed] One of the memories was the one where my boyfriend broke off our engagement.

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Gladio winces at that and reaches out to pat Shiro's shoulder.]

Given it's an older memory, not gonna go and say we should get some beers, but if you ever need someone to listen, let me know. I'm here for you man.

[lionunchained]

Yeah, it's been a while since it happened. [He sighed] Thanks. I appreciate it. It's just been brought up recently.

[And finding out he was dead in their world didn't help either]

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yeah, I can imagine. I've had things brought up recently that hurt too. Reminders of losing my father.

[Sure it was a decade ago, but it had been hard to ever find time to grieve.]

[lionunchained]

I'm sorry to hear that. It's hard. Things like that get better, but they never go away.

[ziedrich_bearer]

[No, they don't. But when you lose so many people, well, he had to do this. Keep going because what else did he know?]

It's not a bad thing for people to look to each other for support like this.

Sorry, was on hiatus. Feel free to continue or drop thread as you wish.

[lionunchained]

[It was very true. You had to keep going even when you lost people you cared about. He nodded]

That is the one thing we have here. A lot of support. Even if we can't solve each other's problems, we can at least listen.

[ziedrich_bearer]

[It's a sad fact of life, but surely they've both learned that one. A few times over probably.]

Now that's a good mentality. So yeah, if you ever need to talk it out, you tell me. I'll get drinks from Cayde, we'll set something on fire, and talk like people should.

[lionunchained]

[He could help the faint laugh at the comment about setting something on fire. The mental image that immediately came to mind was of someone trying to burn something not traditionally in a bonfire. He was sure that wasn't what he meant]

Sounds good. Have a burn stuff and vent about the world night. We'll have to figure out a good night for that.

[ziedrich_bearer]

You just let me know when you're down for it. And I'll try and provide if my night is free. And if not, you can have the next one.

[lionunchained]

Will do. For tonight, we'll get set for the bonfire for everyone. We can finish unpacking emotional baggage later.

Good to wrap this one?

[ziedrich_bearer]

Got it.

[He grins and gestures for Shiro to help him move another log. Time to get this going.]

works for me

[lionunchained]