[Open] Let them drink tea

[royalmushroom]

Who: Peach and YOU
What: Did somebody say TEA PARTY? No? Well *I* heard it. Come drink tea and chat!
Where: The dining area
When: February 1
Warnings: C for CUTE

Winter months were always dreary, especially if it meant being stuck inside to get away from the cold. Sure, some might not mind it, but others did. Luckily, there was someone around. Someone who had made it her mission to get people to smile and be happy.

That someone was Princess Peach.

Maybe you'd come for a snack, maybe you just wanted a quiet place to eat and read. Regardless, when you entered the dining hall, Peach was there, decked out in her finest, and she'd commandeered the space. There was pink everywhere. Ribbons, tablecloths, curtains, you name it. She was brewing pots of tea in elegant china, and she had plenty of blends to choose from. Plates were filled with cookies and cakes, that she'd spent hours baking herself. "Welcome!" she would greet people with a smile. "Please, come and have a seat! The party's just starting!"

Comments

[will_be_god]

He nodded in reply, but sat silently and watched the tea spread itself through the water. The change was simple--the mixture was added, but it just sat there, making no action of its own but changing everything around it. There was something deeply philosophical about that.

Finally he broke the silence, not knowing how much time had passed. "As with everything, the influence of doing nothing spreads."

[royalmushroom]

Peach blinked a few times. "So... does that mean you don't like it...?" she asked curiously, not understanding where that particular thought came from.

[will_be_god]

"I...ought not to." The words were slow and cautious. "Yet it gives me time to think."

[royalmushroom]

"Oh! Then you should embrace it," she suggested. "Sometimes you just need... clarity."

[will_be_god]

"You're a ruler of the people, yes?" He sighed deeply. "What do you believe is paramount to you? To them? Are they the same?"

[royalmushroom]

"Hm? Well, what's most important to me is that my people are happy and thriving," she explained. "And I would assume that's paramount to them too! So I suppose so!"

[will_be_god]

"And what benefit does that grant? Happiness turns us away from the wider world, and we come to ignore its ills." A bit of weariness crept into his usually emotionless voice.

[royalmushroom]

"But isn't happiness what everyone strives for?" Peach asked. "We want to survive, and to thrive, whether by conquering the world's ills or in spite of them."

[will_be_god]

"And how many people choose the former rather than the letter?" Cyrus asked, voice returning to normal. "That is why we must act."

[royalmushroom]

"I'm afraid I don't quite follow," Peach said. "I want my people to be happy... That's enough for me if they are. I consider my efforts a success."

[will_be_god]

"Are the people conquering the world's ills, or are they merely enduring them?" He swirled the remaining tea in his cup. "The world must change. That is evident by the mere existence of strife. And yet so many would keep their heads down and never confront the forces keeping them that way."

[royalmushroom]

"And how would you propose to do that?" she asked.

[will_be_god]

"To change the world..." It wasn't a clarifying question but rather a reiteration. "We must cast aside the shackles of our spirit, shed the bindings of our past...But you wish for me to be specific."

A long exhale. "Very well. I have sought the power of two deities of creation. Palkia of the flow of time and Dialga of the expansion of space. Do you perhaps recall 'Bob', formerly of the school that was once here?"

[royalmushroom]

"I'm afraid that was before my time," Peach said, shaking her head. Her arrival here was fairly recently, all things considered!

(dang this thread has been going for a year)

[will_be_god]

"I see. Another of you was here before. I must bear that in mind."

He stirred his tea. "How do you propose we address these issues in society? You are a leader, so surely you must have answers of your own."

(That tea is ice cold by now)

[royalmushroom]

"The only way to change the world on such a grand scale is for leaders to come together in the spirit of peace and cooperation and work hard to cooperate," Peach replied. "Such an effort would be monumental, and would require adapting and compromise between all the affected nations, but wouldn't be impossible to achieve. In the meantime, we can work to improve the standard of living, such that the citizenry wants for very little, and is ensured a certain quality of life. That way they don't need to suffer great hardships that they are either physically, emotionally, or financially able to endure."

[will_be_god]

"So it is beyond the scope of a single leader. Do you believe that includes deities?" It was a short sentence but a heavily loaded one.

[royalmushroom]

"Even if they could, I don't think I'd want someone imposing what they feel is right onto me or my people. I can guide people to where I think they should go, but it's still their choice to follow or not. But to have freedom of choice taken away completely... I don't know."

[will_be_god]

"As a ruler, you must impose your will onto the people," he reminded her, almost casually. "That is the nature of leadership. We must lead and thus others must follow. Yet we are not the end of the line."

[royalmushroom]

"That's not true at all," she reminded him. "A political coup could change leadership in one night if it ever came down to that. But it doesn't, because I'm not a tyrant."

Peach smiled at him. "I don't believe we will come to an agreement on this," she explained politely, "but I do hope you enjoy your tea nonetheless."

[will_be_god]

"I do question, then, what your role is, if you do not see some degree of imposition as worthwhile. Otherwise you are simply speaking into the wind."

He took anther sip. "It is good. What tea do you find best suits your own taste?"

[royalmushroom]

Peach giggled. "I suppose that's the subtlety a good ruler has to live in," she reminded him. "One day you'll understand that."

"Oh, I have several herbal blends I like, but sometimes there's nothing quite like some chamomile to calm the nerves!"

[will_be_god]

Cyrus understood it very well, in his own way.
"Do you find your nerves need calming often?" It was clear that it tied into his previous subject.

[royalmushroom]

"Not AS much here," Peach replied. "It's almost like being on an extended vacation around here... It's quite a new experience!"

[will_be_god]

"Vacation...?" That was puzzling. "Having been ripped from our world, to this strange, abandoned place...and you view it in that light..."