Event | Turtle Dive | January 16 - 19 | Everything's better down where it's wetter~

[hazelwood]

Characters: Any and all PCs, plus an offering of Lieuen
Date: January 16th - 19th
Location: All Sectors
Situation: Tu Vishan begins to dive to the ocean floor and the city of Keeliai seems unbothered by the process. Bonfire funtimes are made available to all!
Warnings/Rating: Underwater situations; to be updated as noted

>See the comments of this post for various situations and areas available for tagging.
>Each header will be set for a date and/or area.
>A unique thread under the bonfires is available for discussions with Lieuen, should there be interested parties.
>Feel free to start your own header for specific situations.
>Refer to the two OOC posts for further details. 01 | 02

Comments

[sophos]

I don't think of it as limiting so much as... focusing? You can focus on a certain thing while simultaneously holding knowledge about so many other things. Knowledge is endless, after all.

I'm not too familiar with that. The works produced, I mean.

[depicted]

[That sparks another kind of smile.] That's a better way to think of it.

[His tone becomes as one in a dream as he remembers old names, lifting into reverie and then rapture.] There were plenty, of course, with a few real gems in the era. Huysmans, Gautier, and Balzac were of the first rank among the French authors—and Baudelaire, of course, all the schools owe a great debt to him. Among the English, Pater was prophet, Swinburne prince, and Oscar Wilde king. Have you ever seen Whistler's Peacock Room? It must be the finest demonstration of Aestheticism in interior design. And who still sensitive to life's graces could have walked through his exhibition of Nocturnes at the Grosvenor Gallery without being moved? The real merit of the movement was its ability to inspire life through beauty—to create vitality through aesthetic experience, vitality of the senses, vitality of the intellect, vitality of the very soul.

[He stops, laughing at himself.] I'm sorry. I got carried away. I am very fond of the period.

[sophos]

[She grins a little. Carried away? She ain't even bothered. It's nice to see someone else has a tendency for the same thing, and she can appreciate the clear passion he has for it.] Don't even worry about it.

Sounds like you practically lived it. [It's... mostly idle, but she is wondering.]

The Peacock Room's in DC now, right? I haven't seen it, but I tend to get a little distracted by the neoclassicism all over the place. At least that's what happened last time I was there.

[depicted]

[He responds with the lift of the corner of his mouth.] You could say that it had quite the effect on me.

That's right, in the Freer Gallery. I saw it there a few years back; they did rather well by it, as far as restoration goes. [But it will never be quite what it was when he first saw it, one of those ugly inevitabilities of time.] Washington must be a delight to you as a student of architecture. Even as an amateur, I can appreciate the variety in styles and the skill put into those buildings.

[sophos]

So I've gathered. [It's half teasing - it's unusual she gets to be on the opposite side of this.]

I haven't been for a couple years, but I'd really like to go back eventually. Structurally, and I know it's probably cliche, I think my favorite is the Lincoln Memorial. I have a soft spot for Doric columns, and the overall feel of it is just... it's meant to stand out. And it does.

But given the choice, I'd take a trip to Greece over going back to DC any day.

[depicted]

Have you never been before?

[sophos]

No. Not yet. I haven't gotten the chance.

[depicted]

What a shame. Assuming, as we must, that you'll be able to leave here, I hope you get the chance to see it. It won't fail your expectations, I'm certain.

[sophos]

It won't. I know it won't. But I'll get there someday. [There's both hope and assurance in her tone.] We can't possibly be stuck here forever.

[depicted]

That's the spirit. Not forever, just indefinitely. [There is a touch of cynicism to it, but in good humour, at least as much can be managed.]

[sophos]

I wouldn't recommend indefinitely either.

[depicted]

All right, 'for the foreseeable future, but stiff upper lip, lads: it'll be over eventually!'

[sophos]

[She rolls her eyes.] Constant cynicism gets you nowhere.

[depicted]

Oh, come on. A little cynicism doesn't hurt. It gives the optimists something to argue against. In my experience, it cheers them right up.

[In other words, he isn't seriously cynical, nor is he seriously hopeful. Whatever will be will be.]

[sophos]

I think there's a difference between cynicism and being a realist. But I guess there's a point in that. Who doesn't love a good argument?

[She's shaking her head, because she can read between the lines, and it's not that hard to figure out his middle ground.]

[depicted]

Not, I imagine, the Greeks. Though their rules for argumentation were I suppose a bit more logic-based than the lovers of Hellenism from my period.

[sophos]

Logic's always good to have on your side.

[Says the girl who thrives on logic and rational thinking.]

[depicted]

It has a certain beauty. [He smiles and stage whispers] Don't tell anyone, but I think formal logic is a rather pretty science. Syllogisms are gorgeous constructions.

[sophos]

[Her face lights up with recognition.] It's one of the world's best kept secrets, probably. Though to be honest, I'm not used to random people knowing as much as I do.

[depicted]

Unfortunately, even Eton doesn't seem to recall the value of the trivium. I didn't learn a thing about logic or rhetoric until I was well out of school.

[In the 1870s. Dorian, do you even know what the curriculum is like these days? No? Didn't think so.]

[sophos]

I'm technically still in high school, but I've never gotten much of it either in that particular line of academic settings. At least not in the detail I wanted.

[Hurray self-teaching and Camp Half-Blood!]

[depicted]

Autodidactic?

[sophos]

Yeah. Sometimes it's easier, even with things they do teach in school.