06 [Location: Central | Open] I am not yours....

[threelivesdown]

Selina Kyle has a new hat.

She's sitting outside of a cafe sipping at a cup of coffee. Wrapped up inside a shawl, she's warding off the brisk chill of the day. It is trying to creep up into her bones, even with the sun shining down on her. Keeping her hands wrapped around the cup, she watches all of the people, or 'people', if you will, walking by.

This place is strange and she doesn't entirely know what she thinks of it.

Comments

[imperial_long]

"You are young," Long said in mild response, as if stating that the sky were blue; no actual judgment to his tone.

"That is very kind of you. If their tea is tolerable than I would be delighted," he murmured with a little bow before studying the low railing that separated the cafe seating from the sidewalk itself.

He shrugged to himself, then climbed over with no fuss, an incongruous sight in his business suit.

[threelivesdown]

There is... something about him that is comforting, though it isn't entirely familiar. The pragmatism is something that she knows, though, having seen it in others. "I haven't tried their tea and I'm not sure I would be a good judge of it. You'll have to let me know. Their coffee is ... well, better than I would have expected."

[imperial_long]

Long smiled, as if something privately amused him for a moment, but he shared the joke once seated.

"It used to be worse," he says with a note of deprecating semi-apology, as if the poorness of the food and drink were something he were personally responsible for although of course that is not the case.

"When I arrived it was extremely poor. Everything had very little flavor, or odd aftertastes, or.... I believe they have been making attempts to improve, which is something."

Long gestures with one hand for the Extra waiter. He's long since given up being discomfited by them.

[threelivesdown]

"Interesting."

Selina seems to take that piece of information and turn it over in her head a few times before continuing the conversation. "So, they're trying to improve things. This is a strange, strange place."

[imperial_long]

"It is at that. I have been held captive before but I assure you my captor took rather less pains to see that my cage was comfortable."

Long orders his tea and lets the waiter leave before speaking again.

"They... they are like children, in my estimation. Imagine a child having found an interesting lizard or pretty butterfly. The child decorates a jar with everything he can think to find, and tosses in food, and means the lizard no malice whatsoever...

"But forgets air holes. That sort of thing."

[threelivesdown]

"That...."

Selina looks ... consternated. That's not something you can fight, that's not something you can avoid. You... "That's a hell of a thing and it will take some getting used to, I think."

[imperial_long]

"You will likely have an abundance of time in which to do so," is Long's extremely non-comforting response.

He sips his tea.

"Unless you are one of the residents with a shorter stay, in which case, I imagine you will be home and not have to become accustomed after all."

[threelivesdown]

"Well, those are both very pragmatic ways of looking at things." Selina looks as though she's appreciative and yet... not entirely happy with the response.

[imperial_long]

"I am nothing if not a pragmatist," Long answers with the hint of a smile. "But are you, Miss Kyle?"

[threelivesdown]

"I'm a survivor which sometimes makes me a pragmatist - most of the time. I'm also something of a thrill seeker."

[imperial_long]

"Survivor and thrill seeker-- two pursuits that are often at odds, in my experience," Long answers with his smile broadening. "But as you are obviously alive, I suppose I cannot argue as to your overall efficacy."

[threelivesdown]

"They sort of feed each other, I've found. I was a survivor first and that led to the thrills since I refused to die," Selina takes another sip from her mug, sharing a smile with the man.

[imperial_long]

"Ah, survival born of stubbornness. I am familiar. But it's a mug's game to try and cheat death forever, you know. Or at least, all the stories have dire consequences for the audacity to attempt such."

[threelivesdown]

"Well, according to rumor, I've died a few times, so I don't cheat death, so much as let it win from time to time."

Selina continues to lean back in her chair.

[imperial_long]

"Ah, but death always wins in the end; our victories are only forestallments. Unless, of course, one manages to achieve enlightenment, but that is not the immediate goal of most individuals."

[threelivesdown]

"I guess that depends on how you define enlightenment. Most of the people I know who use the word are looking in some very odd places and looking for forcibly bring everyone else along with them."

[imperial_long]

"I define it as the transcendence of the cycle of death and rebirth. I suppose in this latter era it has come to acquire many meanings," Long admitted. "I use the Buddhist sense, not others. And an enlightenment that strives to force others to follow is doomed from the start."

[threelivesdown]

"What does that mean, exactly? Transcending of the cycle of death and rebirth would be... what? Non-existence or continual existence forever?" Selina actually seems to be curious about the answer.

[imperial_long]

"Nirvana," Long responds, a little pleased smile on his face at what seems to be genuine curiosity on Miss Kyle's part. "It is... uhmm.

"It is not non-existence. It is not existence. It simply... is. A state defined by what it is not: it is not suffering, it is not pain. It is not struggle. ...Stillness. Peace. Freedom from all chains, both self-inflicted and otherwise."

Long waved a hand as if to summon up all the difficulties of conveying such a concept with only words.

"I am only a student. I cannot define enlightenment perfectly. You would need the Buddha for that, and Guatama would not answer you in a way that satisfied anyway, most likely."

[threelivesdown]

"Hrmmmm."

Selina looks thoughtful, "Sometimes by the fact that I can struggle and fight is the only way that I'm still certain that I'm alive at all."

[imperial_long]

"I think it is that way for most people," Long concedes with a lift of both shoulders. "Most of us are quite far from enlightenment."

[threelivesdown]

"I think I even have a problem imagining it as a concept or as something that I would want," Selina says as she rolls the idea over in her thoughts.

[imperial_long]

"Perhaps in a few lifetimes," Long says with a diffident smile.

"And besides, you are young. The thoughts of the young do not turn to philosophy, but to action and excitement."

[threelivesdown]

"I have six more or so I understand it," she says lightly. Selina chuckles at him, "As much as I seek action, it finds me even more often than that."

[imperial_long]

"Like draws to like," Long says with a shrug. He sips at his tea.

"I myself am content to be sedentary."