savetheearth | 025 ♦ Video -> Action

[video]
[This is perhaps an unaccustomed look on Winter's face - stern, bordering on angry, and the tight control she's holding as she speaks suggests it's the latter. She's not at home for this message, either, but wherever she is, it looks like she's about to hit something.]

I'm beginning... to get really tired of everything that's happened in the media. I can't watch the news anymore without someone wondering how dangerous we are, or if the world is safe from us, or who will snap next. I've heard my own name at least once. It's unsettling... and it's dishonest. And all of us know it's n-not the whole story. Everything that's happened has been for a reason, outside of a few things we... couldn't really control. Every disaster, every attack, every incident, they've all had causes. But the world wants to blame us.

[Her eyes flash.] I am tired of it. I refuse to s-stand here and be bullied into silence any longer. Even if there aren't many things I can do alone, I'll do them. I don't want to let something like this get me down. So, to start with... [Winter holds up a sheet of stationary, and a pen.] I'm going to write a letter to the newspaper. At the least, I'm hoping to get published as a letter to the editor, but... with as p-popular as we are, I suspect it'll actually make the news. But we can't stop there. People will tear that letter apart, read what they want to out of it, and then they'll go back to how things are.

What I want to do... is start a public relations team. Something that can keep an eye on what people are saying, what we're doing, and can react to those things. We can tell people what was really happening whenever something comes up, so they understand we're not just going off and destroying things because we feel like it. We can counter sensationalism with how things really are. I don't think that... people understand that we're h-human under everything. We have to make them see it. And if that's something we can do to make our lives easier, to help people understand we don't want to make trouble... aren't we obligated to do it?

So I'm going to start on this in a little bit. I have something else in mind, though, for today... [She holds up something else: a bucket, and a sponge.] I'm sure everyone has noticed the graffiti around the city. It bothers me to see it, and I want to try and clean some of it up. The goodwill that we're out cleaning up things that are only tangentially our fault won't hurt, either. I can only do so much, but... I have extra sponges. If anyone would li-like to help me, I would appreciate it. I'll be heading downtown in about an hour. If you're coming, please wear something that can get wet; I'm planning to be careful, but between accidents and the people I know on the network, the odds... are good that you won't stay dry. If anyone has thoughts on the PR idea, I'd like to hear those, too. Um... that's all. Thank you.

[action]
True to her word, Winter's downtown in a hour's time, with a bucket of water, a little soap, several more empty buckets, and about a dozen large sponges. Right now she's scrubbing from a brick building, a large angry complaint fading with her effort. She's dressed much more casually than usual; a loose blue T-shirt, shorts, and sandals, her hair in a single tail behind her to keep it out of her way. If someone comes by to look on, she acknowledges them but returns to work; if someone comes closer, or if someone she knows comes by, she'll pause and smile. "Good afternoon. Are you here to help? Or... just to talk?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Winter takes a moment to turn and appraise the new arrival, before she nods in approval, handing over a bucket and sponge. "I know you can, Marina, and I'd like that. But there's w-work to be done, and I'd appreciate some help."

She smiles wryly. "Sorry, I've been monopolizing your girlfriend's time this summer."

"I think I could stand to do a little work, sure," she shoots back, taking a bucket and sponge and looking up at the job in front of them. It's just a shame this isn't any kind of organized volunteer work. That makes it harder to use on applications.

"She sooorta brought it on herself, even if I hate to say it." Marina smiles, squeezing out her sponge a little. "And I've made the most of what I got."

"Glad to hear it." She suspects Marina won't need any instructions, and shifts a little to return to work herself. "It's not much, but... maybe if people see us helping to counteract things that happen because of us, opinions will shift back in our favor. It'll be dangerous to keep going forward with the world against us."

Shaking her head, Winter sighs. "She did, but I'm going to keep it from happening again. I've had to use a few... creative motivations... but she's improving substantially."

It's not really complicated. Just a lot of elbow grease, and Marina's in good enough shape to put in some hard labor for a little while. She gets to scrubbing, taking what she hopes is a good pace without being backbreakingly fast either.

"Eh... I think we've all been motivating her, in our own ways. It sucks, but if her grades get so bad that she can't do what she wants with her life..." Marina would, honestly, wonder if she didn't have something to do with it.

"Right," she agrees, glancing across. "I think it'll help a lot that all of us are going out of our way to make sure she does all right. I don't want to guilt her into... better grades, but I'm not above it. And my tactics seem to be convincing her to pay attention."

Marina has probably heard plenty of complaining about Winter the slave-driver, always finding new and inventive ways to keep Jasmine on task. The ice-cold water balloons from a few weeks ago were only the tip of the iceberg.

The water balloons were a little excessive. Maybe Jasmine needed excessive? "Yeah, well, studying sucks ass but getting tormented like that is even worse, so it's a pretty fair trade, I think."

Not exactly letting up on Winter either. "Credit where it's due, you are one creative sadist."

"It's for her own good, Marina. You know that as well as I do. And you d-don't read as many books as I have without getting a few good ideas," she warns. That sure is a convenient glint off her glasses, too.

"My grades are gonna be great next year, by the way! Just saying." No way she's putting herself in the same position as Jasmine. "So you can save all that for other people."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Marina. Keep on top of it, or there will be consequences." Grinning, she returns her attention to the wall and gets back to scrubbing. "I expect great things."

"By... by all means. Yes. Hold me to it. The girl who doesn't... even have her college plans thought out..." Hahahaha. She is probably going to be doomed at some point really.

A pause. "I was joking, Marina. I have a vested interest in Jasmine, but that doesn't extend to you. If you want to s-slack off, that's your right, and I won't nag you over it. Not... unless you want me to, of course."

"I know, yeah, I'm just..." Marina shrugged. "Maybe I need it? I've actually started thinking about my life since I got into all of this instead of just... you know, getting by." She scrubbed a little more intensely; it was better than thinking and worrying, for the time being. "I've got amazing older siblings, and I just sorta float along, you know?"

Winter nods, adding her own effort. She invited everyone out here in the first place, and the walls won't scrub themselves.

"I can understand that. All this... it makes you think. About who you are, and who you want to be. And... if that's changed. Or is changing. W-who you are today might not be who you thought you'd be a week ago, or a month."

She thinks for a second, before adding, "I guess what I want to say is, you have time to think. But you need to make that decision for yourself. Don't l-let anyone make it for you, or tell you what to choose. You are your own young woman, and you need to decide what you want to do with the life you have." A sigh. "It's harsh, but... it's important. Especially for us."

"Yeah, I've been figuring that all out..." barely. It was hard, but it had never been easy. This was another wrinkle in trying to be herself, and in trying to know who she even is in the first place.

Friends she could rely on; deeper friendships, relationships, that helped her get there. "What I think about myself has changed a lot since I got sucked into all this, but I think I'm becoming a better person for it, somehow. Probably all the good examples I've met." She looks at Winter. "Now we've got powers to learn to use, to figure out how we want to use them, memories of other selves... Umi just gets me all confused sometimes."

025 ♦ Video -> Action

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