07 | video

[oceanthief]

[it's quite late at night when this video goes up. there's no thematic reason for the timing - Lapis has simply been up here alone with her thoughts for quite a while at this point, and only now collected herself enough to feel strong enough for social interaction.

when the feed clicks on to show where 'here' is, it's easy to understand the sentiment. the camera displays the dazzling expanse of the galaxy from an up close and personal angle, bobbing gently up and down to the beat of unseen wings. it's quiet for a time, in the velvety way only space can provide, before her voice cuts through it.]

We don't make patterns out of stars where I'm from - we don't even really name them. It's just sorted by cut and facet, so that you can find things as efficiently as possible.

...I guess if we had to stare up at the same sky every night for thousands of years it might've been different.

[the camera swings slightly to focus in on a cluster of stars which ought to be familiar to any resident of earth, even with the uncharacteristic closeup.]

Apparently humans call that one Scorpius? They think it used to be some kind of big monster until it got in a fight. [she pauses for a moment, a little uncertain.] I'm not really sure any of them know what stars are actually made of.

[Lapis flits the camera around to showcase a few more constellations: Libra, Centaurus, Lupus... it's difficult to tell whether she's doing it for the viewers at home or simply her own amusement, but it's beautiful all the same.]

You have to travel a lot further out than most people realize to lose shapes like that. There's nowhere in this system that you could look from and not know where you are; wherever you go, you can always find your way back.

There are places in other worlds that just don't exist here, though. Do you think there's anything left at the end of those paths?

[there's clearly something aside from galactic scenery weighing on Lapis' mind, but she keeps whatever's prompted this trip to herself. after another panoramic view of the stars, she wordlessly clicks the feed off.]

Comments

[substrategist]

[What the...

It's a good thing he's srs bsns about soccer or he'd be grumbling right about now.]

He's not better, he just plays a different position.

Soccer is a team sport. A goal made by a striker is a goal made by the whole team because they work together to bring the ball down the field. Just like a goal saved by the goalkeeper is one saved by the whole team, because they all work together to prevent the other team from successfully shooting.

No one is alone in soccer. A good player, regardless of his position, always keeps that in mind.

[oceanthief]

Then why is the rest of the team handicapping themselves? Shouldn't they want to make things easier for the person doing all the defending?

[substrategist]

Like I said...

He isn't doing all the defending. Soccer is a team effort. A goalkeeper is the final defense, but not the only one.




In any case, that's how the sport was invented. Players don't use their hands so it's more challenging, and the goalkeeper can use his for the same reason. It makes it harder for the other team to score if the ways in which he can block the net are increased.

[oceanthief]

But it'd be harder for them to score if everyone could use their hands, too.

[she just can't let go of this. 'because' is just an unacceptable answer for something so bizarrely specific and limiting. there had to be another reason. humans couldn't be this weird. right? right???]

[substrategist]

Haven't you ever played a game before? Any game at all?

[oceanthief]

I play at the arcades sometimes. They're pretty fun.

[substrategist]

[Aha!]

Then you know about following the rules!

Rules are what help define games and set them apart from all the others out there. They're like...

[He remembers where she is and has a thought.]

Rules are like gravity. They hold a game together. Without them, there isn't any order and the game can't be played the way it was meant to be.

It's the same for soccer. The way it's played is part of the rules, which separates it from other sports.

[oceanthief]

But they program the parameters into the machines in the arcade; you have to work pretty hard to get them to do things differently. There's nothing like that if it's just a bunch of people.

[substrategist]

You...

You're not supposed to try to break the rules, you're supposed to follow them.

[oceanthief]

Just because it's a rule doesn't mean that it's something you should listen to.

[substrategist]

[She's not wrong. Not in the general sense, at least. There are enough rules made by those in positions of power that shouldn't be obeyed for one reason or another. But insofar as rules applying to games are concerned...]

I don't disagree. Except where it applies to soccer.

The rules exist to define the sport and to protect its players. Not following them could result in unnecessary injuries, disciplinary actions, disqualifications, or worse: the sport itself ceasing to be what it is.

Do you understand what that would mean for those of us who play soccer? Now that you know how important it is to who we are.

[oceanthief]

[she does, because Lapis has already suffered through the equivalent. five thousands years of her life gone in a flash, all because a small group of gems decided that a hunk of dirt was more important than their own kind.]

It means that you better have the power to keep things in control.

[substrategist]

Yes, but it also means that if you wish to experience the same world that Gran and Ulvida cherished, you have to be prepared to protect and preserve it.

Anything less than that isn't soccer. And it would be unfair to them.

[oceanthief]

[rude!!! YOU CAN'T BLACKMAIL HER WITH DEAD FRIENDS FOREVER]

I guess that there's nothing wrong in trying it the way humans made it at first.

[oceanthief]

But some of this still seems kind of stupid.

[substrategist]

[She just can't help herself, can she?]

New important lesson.






We don't call soccer stupid.

[Agree to that and maybe he'll stop thinking of you as an obtuse rock!]

[oceanthief]

Even the parts that are actually stupid?

[substrategist]

There are no such parts.

[oceanthief]

Did you already forget about the part you were just talking about?

[substrategist]

You mean the important part.

[oceanthief]

Is pretending you don't have hands really the most important part of this game?

[substrategist]

We don't pretend we don't have hands, we just don't use them to touch the ball. That's it.





You should try it.

[oceanthief]

[ok, but-]

That's the same thing as pretending you don't have them.

[substrategist]

[Lapis, why are you like this?]

It's really not. We use our hands and arms for other things, like better controlling our movements and performing stylistic techniques, just not directly handling the ball itself.

[oceanthief]

[because this is how they drilled her out of the ground.]

But that's even worse.