Goldenblade comes to talk to Rylen

As of late, Rylen has been spending much of his time near Crescent Moon's headquarters, which means that he can often retire to his own Ranch when the day is down. However, he has always had an open door policy for many among the guild. So long as it is still day, his personal quarters above the Ranch's main building area always open for people who need his attention.

At the moment, Rylen sits on a couch, going over some paperwork, looking completely perplexed by it. This is not something he is particularly fond of, but seems to be laid before him more and more. He rubs at the bridge of his nose.

Goldenblade has come to see Rylen at his Peko ranch. She's been quiet lately, though that may just be because she cut off the Alliance chimlink before Proteus could rile her up further. The chimlinks don't get as much chatter now as they used to in any event, so she's not sure anyone's noticed her absence. Her mount, a horse, is tied up to the rail outside, saddlebags packed, but as per Uta's request earlier, she's come to visit Rylen.

She knocks at the door from outside, even if it's open, but then peeks inside, and stands at the door, looking a bit contrite. "Er, hello there, Rylen," she says. "We've finally finished up work on the new HQ building. It's pretty nice." But Rylen probably knows that. It's just one of the ways to start an uncomfortable conversation.

"Ahh, Goldenblade, come on in." He motions to them with one hand, inviting them to join him. There are chairs sitting around the living room area of the quarters. Inside, it is clear that Rylen does not live alone. There is an old set of armor sitting in on corner, looking relatively beaten up. There is also a blanket across the bed featuring Scale Emblem colors, with a dragon emblazoned upon it.

"Glad to hear it's finally finished. I haven't been down to take a look. I've been taking a well deserved rest here at home these last few weeks." He motions at the paperwork and laughs, "At least as much as they let me rest, that is. What can I do for you?"

Goldenblade comes in a few steps, looks around, blinks at the Scale-themed blanket, but smirks about taking a rest, and says knowingly, sympathetically, "That's the curse of being important. The more important you -really- are, the more junk people give you to do." She nods about it being finished, but says, "Eas has kind of grown on me. At first, it was kind of /eh/, but I was just starting to come to like it. But the place is pretty huge. We deliberately overbuilt, figuring it'd fill up on its own soon enough."

As to what brought her here, she says, "Well. I've had the Alliance chim off since after Proteus kicked me out of the Alliance. So I've packed all my stuff, but Uta said I should come talk to you."

"Eas is another place on my list. So many locations I'd like to see." Rylen admits with a shake of his head. "It makes me miss my wandering days, just me and Moko and no responsiblities." He sets down some of his paperwork then, leaning back against the couch in a relaxed fashion. "Ahh well."

And then it comes to the crux of why Goldenblade is there, and Rylen just raises an eyebrow, his expression more than a little perplexed. "You... do know that Proteus has no ability to kick anyone out of the Alliance, right?" This is where he decides to start. "They may be a representative of Plant Hwyaden, but they aren't even the guild leader. They likely couldn't even kick someone out of their own guild unilaterally. They'd have to clear that with Nureha."

Goldenblade chuckles at wandering days, remembering her own. "That's how I got to Japan in the first place," she admits. "Just made journeyman, they said, 'Good money working overseas,' and that they were undergoing an economic boom, so I took a chance. Haven't regretted it, either. This was in," she has to think about it, "I guess '55 or '56?"

As far as Proteus not kicking people out, she huhs? "No? She sounded like that was a totally normal thing and within her powers. I thought I was being sneaky by hanging around and finishing the HQ. Cause I don't like leaving a job unfinished."

Rylen is one of those sorts who often seems relaxed even in the most dire of circumstances. There are likely those within the Guild, or even the Alliance, who would get upset about the fact that someone is suggesting leaving, but he isn't really the type. His head just tilts in that almost bird-like fashion as he laughs.

"Let me be clear, then." He motions towards his own chest. "I act as a representative for Crescent Moon. What does that mean? It means that I speak on behalf of my guild when it comes to Alliance matters. Am I guild leader? No. Would some consider me 'leadership'? Sure, probably, but Silabus could come down and boot my sorry elven butt if I did something they weren't fond of."

He raises his eyebrows, "Proteus is in roughly the same role as I am. Our 'power' doesn't extend beyond the reach of our own guilds. She can't kick you out of the Alliance any more than I can. If someone in Plant Duck fucks up, I can't punish them. Just as much as she can't punish anyone in Crescent Moon."

He leans back, resting his feet on the table, "The Alliance is just that, an Alliance. That means that we work together, but we don't all see everything exactly the same way. If she wants to only have people who are insistent upon staying in this world in Plant Duck, more power to her. That won't ever be the way it is in Crescent Moon."

Goldenblade hrms as the limits of power positions are explained to her. Probably again, she's slow with all the gaming dynamics. "I see," she says. "It's different in construction. If the site supervisor cans you, management will usually back them up without even listening to the issues. But I guess the real difference is no site supervisor would go on record implying they had authority they didn't have."

She says, then, "So, I take it then that I haven't been fired. I feel a lot better about that, actually. I like you guys, everyone, and you've all been good to an old man. Woman. Whatever I am now." She smirks. "I wonder if I out to turn the Alliance chim on, then? It's been kinda nice with it off."

"Think about it this way. Proteus is the site supervisor on a site in Alne, building large wooden ducks." Rylen smirks, showing his usual amusement. "You work on a site in Carmina Gadelica that sells burgers. Just because well will provide burgers to the duck-builders, doesn't mean they get to fire our staff, aye?" He hopes the analogy makes some kind of sense.

"Besides, if you left the chimlink, you probably missed the fact that I made it pretty clear to Proteus that she has no right to tell anyone in Crescent Moon that they do or do not belong in the Alliance. We don't play by duck rules, that's why we're not ducks." He shrugs.

"As for the chimlink, that's really up to you. If you feel more comfortable not having to deal with Proteus, leave it off. Or just ignore them as best you can. Obviously, they've got opinions that are pretty strong about the conflict." He motions a hand to the very obvious sign of his connections to Scale Emblem, "I have others. The fact of the matter is, Crescent Moon is about training newbies. Helping them learn to fight, to craft, to do whatever they want to do here and to make sure that they live as happy a life as they can."

"I'm just as happy if someone 'graduates' from Crescent Moon and moves on to New World Alliance as I am if they go to Scale Emblem, and as I am if they stay here and decide to teach others in Crescent Moon. It's all about giving people the knowledge and experience they need to make those choices."

Goldenblade understands, nodding slowly, and ohs as Rylen explains what got said after she left. "Ah, I hadn't realized. I guess that was why Uta seemed surprised that I was still packing to go. Thanks for standing up for me, then," she says. "I wasn't feeling that anyone was on my side, is why I cut it off. I guess I should have waited longer. But I was just so tired of hearing her. I can't imagine what her life must have been like, though, if there's /no one/ she wanted to go back to. That's the part that really makes me sad for her. I'm seventy five, and my grandkids are in high school, but I still like to visit them and talk about how they're doing. Even if they don't come by as much as I'd like."

As far as cutting the chimlink on or off, she says, "I suppose I ought to leave it on for emergencies. And I'll just cut it off again if she starts blathering."

Rylen's gray eyes flick towards that Scale Emble blanket once more before returning to Goldenblade. Despite the fact that Xander had suggested they might be more open about their relationship, he still doesn't tend to talk about it. "I've spoken to my partner a time or two about the whole mindset of staying or leaving. I get people who's lives are bad in the real world. Hell, mine wasn't sunshine and rainbows. My father was an asshole military man, my sister and mother died from the Flash of Death, I lost my whole career due to a stupid mistake..."

He looks at Goldenblade then, "It's easy enough to want to just forget it. Start new. But... I have hope that there are always ways for things to get better." He pauses, "That, and I disagree with some of Proteus' assertions about things." The Pooka shakes his head, "Like the idea that once Scale finds a way out, that the 'powers that be' will force the rest out? If they had a way to force us out, don't you think they would have done it by now?"

He folds his arms across his chest, "While I respect each person's right to make the decision for themselves, I don't think staying here long term is a viable solution." He shrugs then, "My partner prefers it here, he feels more whole, more himself, but I'm a selfish bastard who would want to bring him home. To let what we've found be real outside of this game."

He hrms, "It's probably for the best. Proteus is likely to continue to push aggressive action, and not everyone has to agree with it. If they start bothering you, just log off chim or tune them out."

Goldenblade winces about a rough life and loss at home. "My real life wasn't awful, but I'd lost my wife a bit less than a year before the game opened, and that's still pretty raw sometimes. But apart from that, I'm retired, so as long as the doctor okays it, I can do what I like." She chuckles.

As far as finding a way out, she says, "Someone told me once that there was something like aa 40:1 ratio of ingame time to real life time. If that's the case, we've only been stuck a few weeks, and people are probably still figuring out how to get us logged out. But you're right, just because we -can- log out doesn't mean we'll be forced to log out. If that were the case, they'd have dumped the game on day one and we wouldn't be here chatting about it."

As to preferring it here, she admits, "I can move around here like I'm twenty-five again. If that was my only criteria, I'd never want to leave. But I miss my family, too, and so ..." She shrugs, bows, "Sorry for wasting your time, then. It sounds like you have a better handle on things than I gave anyone credit for. I guess I should have known better, you guys have always seemed pretty squared away to me."

"After my sister passed, things were a little hard for me." Rylen admits, "But they were getting better. I had one good friend who stuck with me, and a job I loved teaching kids to be the gymnast I never got the chance to be." He smirks, then, "But, the man I love is here, so I'm not sure what that means for me if the choice is ever laid before me."

At the tidbit of information about the ratio of game time, Rylen strokes his chin, "See, I've always held the theory that we're not in the same version of Yamato that we were in before the Apocalypse. There's too much that doesn't line up." Knowing that Goldenblade was a relative newbie during the Apocalypse, he eplains, "You see, time ran 1:1, at least for us, so far as we could tell. There was only one night and one day per real world day and night. I don't know how fourty years could have passed in that same time. I certainly don't remember Landers aging quickly or crops growing faster, or anything you'd expect from a faster time ratio."

His brows furrow, but in the end, he isn't the 'answers' guy for any of it. He's just a pretty face that seems to be able to keep people moving. "It's not a waste of time if it made you feel better about your place here. I'm always available for Guildmates. Not just because it's my job, but because I do care about people. Otherwise I wouldn't be here."

Goldenblade bows her head as Rylen mentions his sister, but smiles at teaching kids. As far as spending time with the one you love, she says, "I think you guys will be okay, come what may. You sound like you have your stuff together. You can find each other on the outside, if this place does close down, and I imagine you can make it work there as well as here."

She ahhhs about the time being 1:1 and says, "Then I guess I'm just listening to everyone's guesswork. It's not like I know how these games work," she laughs. "I just take things as they come and deal with them as best I can." But she smiles at being there for Guildies, and says sincerely, "I do feel a lot better about my place here, then. Thank you so much. I won't intrude on your time anymore, I can see you're busy. And I suppose I have to unpack." She smirks a wry smirk at that.