Fourth.

[azumods]

ENCOUNTER. Perhaps it's a good thing that the people of Floaroma Town seem to be exhibiting curiosity, because that's how you end up getting the tip. It isn't much, in the end - a question of where you're going from one of the ladies in the flower shop, followed by a brief look exchanged between them and a soft shrug. There's a mention of the Valley Windworks just across the way, a short walk from here, and something inside that will shave a week's time off of the journey south. Something that should put you right in the heart of Jubilife City, should you be able to gain access to it. It's likely clear that whatever would be blocking your access to such a thing likely isn't going to be pleasant; it doesn't take them long to tell you that Team Galactic has owned the Windworks for a while now, but at the same time it's only ever staffed with low-tier employees on the chain of command - the Commanders themselves haven't cared about it since they took over, and the grunts... Well, for one reason or another, they haven't been changing with the rest of the world. It likely seems obvious, when put that way - the people of the town haven't lied to you in the entire time you've been here (they aren't many things, but at the very least they are honest), and if they're correct about this, that's a week's less travel that will need to be done. Over a distance this large, every day counts; as such, you might as well check out the Windworks for whatever it will bring you. As it turns out, the townspeople were right about several things - the Valley Windworks is only a short walk away, surrounded by tall electricity-generating windmills that are turning away at a good clip in the windstreams traveling through the valley; upon entering it, it seems fair to say that it really is generally only staffed by grunts. In light of the changes the world has undergone, their appearance may be a bit jarring, a reminder of what the entire place used to look like - they're completely dead-eyed and listless, lacking any sort of individual initiative, and while they look up as you enter and their eyes track you as you move, they don't seem inclined to do much about you as a whole. Unfortunately, the ladies in the flower shop seem to have been mistaken about something - it seems that one of the Commanders, at least, seems to care very much about this place, given that she's waiting for you in the lobby. As with the others before her, she looks distinctive from the others in both her style of dress and the fact that she's still emotionally intact; she's small in stature, the heels on her boots doing nothing to help that fact, and she's incredibly slight in comparison to Jupiter. She also seems displeased about being here; the smile she offers in greeting is sharp, and it's not a pleasant look. More along the lines of baring teeth. "It's pretty rude of you guys to barge in here like you own the place. Not like I was expecting much from you people, anyway. I'm Commander Mars, and it's about time we met."

Comments

[azumods]

...You've got a point in there, not everyone can save the world. Not everyone can look at what needs to be done and actually do it. That's what Master Cyrus did. He did what needed to be done for this world, and given all the yelling you guys are doing about it, I'm sure most people wouldn't have agreed with him. But this is what we needed, and I'm happy to have been a part of it.

I'll agree that she doesn't need to justify keeping to her own code of ethics. I'm asking because I'm curious, because I don't see another way to fix this world outside of what Master Cyrus did. I want to know how you guys would handle it, not hear more of the same tired "you guys are wrong because what you did is bad" arguments.

[eudaimonikos]

Honestly, I only have plans for reform on my world. But, given just the information I have on this world right now?

[He actually does stop to think about it for a second.]

Considering you all apparently just stopped having wars all on your own, it seemed like your world was already pretty much trending towards enlightenment or whatever. I hear people would do stupid shit occasionally, that's just what people do, but it seems to me like you really needed to just put out those fires when they happened and maintain your course. Work on expanding that cultural horror of weaponry and murder to encompass whatever other nasty shit you want people to quit doing. It's not instantaneous, but it was hardly out of sight. You were farther along than most other worlds I've heard about.

Was there any incident in particular that even prompted all of this? It seems like a really extreme reaction.

[azumods]

This is what Master Cyrus decided would be best.

I'm curious to see where you're going with this, though. How do you plan on putting out those fires whenever they happen? Even assuming you could always be in the right place at the right time, one person alone can't save the world. So what do you do? How do you handle stopping more than one incident that happens at the same time?

[enjoymyatelier]

Well, I suppose I should ask how those fires were put out before. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I seem to remember hearing disaster was narrowly averted several times in recent memory, correct?

[azumods]

Yeah. Sometimes people step up and help. I'm certainly not denying that there are good people who will help out when times get tough like that. But does relying on people coming forward to help really seem like a good idea? Can you really trust that there will always be someone there to help when things go bad?

[enjoymyatelier]

...I mean, you have a powerful organization with a a charismatic leader. I should probably be taking this up with Cyrus and not you, but you’re in a much better position to try and expand to protect people than a bunch of random citizens happening to stumble into saving the world.

[azumods]

Maybe you're right.

[She's smiling, but it no longer looks like she's baring her teeth. It doesn't look happy either, it's most likely just something to do with her face.]

This is what Master Cyrus chose to do, and as I said, I have no regrets. Maybe if things had been different, we could've been that organization. But as it stands, we're not. We've done what we believe is best for this world. You guys aren't changing my mind on that, but it looks like I'm not going to change any of yours either.

[eudaimonikos]

Of course one person alone can't save the world. Why would you ever want to work alone? [Well - ] Not you, specifically, that's rhetorical.

But to your point, you're part of a group of like-minded people who got together for the purpose of doing what you thought was right. [He spreads his hands, like duh] That's how. You get people to help. No one's ever going to convince everybody to join their cause, but you don't need literally every person to agree to start making a difference.

[azumods]

[You know what...]

That's fair. That's actually a pretty good argument.

[She'll look around at all of you, considering for a moment before speaking up again.]

So I take it you're all a group of like-minded people who are all in agreement on changing this world back to the way it was?

[eudaimonikos]

We are.

[There may be some minor disagreements on method from time to time, but we don't gotta go into that. Everybody agrees to work towards the Good, and on what that looks like.]

[ventulus]

[ He'll add his own agreement to that. ]

That's right -- we all are.

[niceoppai]

Yup! I mean, we have our disagreements, but we always work it out.

[anythingforyou]

Absolutely.

[Like, that feels obvious, but she wants to show some solidarity with the group as well dangit.]