Philip
Solden walked in the fields, looking up at the bright sky and the peaceful environment around her. She sat down in the soft grass, leaning against a tree and strumming her lute to pass time. It was a rather nice place to relax and destress, she decided, and took a mental note to come back to the fields when she had more time again.
Rick
The Oni, not long after her tasks in the graveyard, had just... Well, wandered. Bain had his work. She had her own. Really though she had quite a bit to do. Wandering away from the civilization she found herself, for the moment, set towards the farms until she heard the lute playing.

She paused, not frowning or anything really, just focusing on it as her eyes stared off into nothing before she opted to follow the noise. Tilting her head she watched Solden with pale eyes, not unlike a ghost watching the living.
Philip
Solden played the lute, not really paying attention to her surroundings until she saw an Oni watching her and practically jumped out of her skin. "Holy shit. Don't scare me like that." She took a second to catch her breath. "Do you creep up on people a lot like that?"
Rick
She didn't answer immediately, which did not help the appearance of Solden being watched by some earth bound spirit. Rude, right? She simply tilted her head to the other side and said, "Does one often sit in fields strumming with clear lines of vision yet still become frightened?"

She didn't have much tone to her voice, or emotion, just as though making an observation of the one in front of her.
Philip
She snorted a little. "I wasn't paying attention. People don't always stay alert, aware of everything in their surroundings. When you play something, it makes more sense to focus on the instrument rather than what is happening around you." She stretched. "Plus, it's the afternoon, which is prime time for naps."
Rick
"It sounds as though the folly is your own then," She says, and that it seems is that. She looked away towards the farm houses, debating her options. Talk, or go to the farm? She then said, "Then did you plan to nap here?"
Philip
"It is. The 'folly', I mean. I might take a nap, It's quite peaceful here, and it's not exactly like I'm short or restricted on time."
Rick
"I see. You don't have many concerns or worries of indivduals finding you whilst asleep and robbing you?" She asked, like it was a normal sort of question to ask random sleepy lute players.
Philip
She shrugged. "Well, I can sleep lightly if I want to, and I don't think it'd be very wise of someone to rob a person who is holding a sword in their hand. Plus, it's pretty quiet out here and there aren't many people around."
Rick
"You don't sound as though you've actually encountered very many real dangers in your life," She says, head tilted to the other side like being questioned by an inquisitive dog that's somehow taken on an oni's shape.
Philip
She let out a dry laugh. "Oh, I have encountered dangers. It's because of those dangers that I'm not scared to take naps in fields, because I have learned from those experiences of how to protect myself."
Rick
"This sounds ill advised." The odd Oni says. "It takes very little to sleep. Less to stumble upon someone sleeping, or perhaps playing a lute. Less still for accidents to occur. Or animals. Change of weather or fancy."
Philip
"You seem like the kind of person to plan, or look out for everything. I assure you, I am prepared for these things. I've run into them before and I can fend them off again."
Rick
"Plan?" She paused. "No. I like to watch things happen. I like knowing how they can and will happen. But there's no point in stopping them."
Philip
"So, that kind of person, huh. Why come to a peaceful field where excitement is nowhere to be found? If I was that kind of person, I would go to a place with war and tension."
Rick
"Why?" She asked, wee bit oddly. "That seems quite narrow." She says, looking away after a moment or so. "It ignores what happens everyday."
Philip
"War is anything but boring and peaceful. It's chaotic and grim, filled with danger around every turn. In war, you can't really miss what's happening because you're shoved right into it."
Rick
"Seems a waste to go there. Perhaps sometimes, but 'chaotic and grim' are side effects and results. Not causes or triggers." She says simply, pale eyes focused on Solden. "While one can follow it's many variables and results outward, there was also a cause to it. Focusing on the extreme would mean one would miss out on the first slight that lead to two nations rising. That is a waste."
Philip
"First slight leading to two nations rising?" She narrowed her eyes. "So you're the kind of person that knows things, too. People who watch how things unfold tend to do that."
Rick
"I believe I said what I like doing. If it leads you to believe I 'know' things, then that is your assumption." She said, looking away. "It is simply something I have learned to enjoy. Small actions snowball into larger ones. Like a bit of snow landing on a roof and collapsing it inward. It wasn't an event which happened all at once. It took time and was negligible at best until the moment it was not."
Philip
"Butterfly effect." She leaned back against the tree. "It can, sometimes, as you say be entertaining to watch it snowball. Do you ever try pushing some things in certain directions?"
Rick
"No. You may start the events, but afterward you ought not to interfere. Otherwise you've influenced it. Made it lean one way or another. Ruined the whole thing." She says, eyes shifting to follow Solden. "Everything then is tainted by your outside influence. It is better to simply watch. Perhaps ask questions, but only questions. Let them form their own ideas and opinions."
Philip
She tilted her head. "I'd join in on the fun. Why watch the show when you can pull the strings? It can server to be interesting."
Rick
"Perhaps but then you've left your prints on it. It becomes you, rather than it's own entity. It becomes, perhaps, a selfish wish to see yourself in what surrounds you whether that be helping others... Or thousands of innocent deaths as a warside."
Philip
"Just pull a few strings here and there and let the rest unfold. You can see people and groups for what they really are, tear them apart and push them to their limits. I don't know about you, but that seems quite the temptation."
Rick
"Well then that begs the question... If you've interfered, if you've pulled the strings and given these people or groups the nudge in order to see them pushed to their limits, or torn apart... Really then, are you seeing them? Or are you seeing yourself?" She let the question hang. "Two families are feuding, and one has a precious calf. So you take one family's axe and kill the calf with it. The family mourning their loss turns and takes one of the other's animals. It escalates. Then one slaughters a child. The family in question picked up the blade to kill the child, yet you kicked the pebble which lead to the events which killed them. So are your hands clean because you simply influenced the outcome?"

"Or have you now killed a child?" Head tilted.
Philip
She smiled, and then started to laugh. "Quite the interesting question you have posed. I'd say my hands are clean, because I may have killed the calf but the family was the one who decided to kill the child."
Rick
"I would disagree. Without the calf being killed, perhaps the child would have survive. Perhaps, even, the families would make amends down the line. But now you won't know. You simply have a dead animal, a dead child, and your own influence from pulling strings. That's how small actions work. They're quite easy to excuse as not your own, even when you've not bothered with the outcome that may be born of them."
Philip
"You are quite the interesting person. You think everything through, know a lot, and watch how events play out."
Rick
"Interesting might be a word for it. I think curious is more accurate. I've simply learned to be patient enough to observe. The world does not need a cat's paw in the shadows. There is enough to see without me."
Philip
"Life is not a spectator sport. Do you only watch?"
Rick
"If it is what I please, then it is what I wish. Rather than clouding the supposed meaning of life with anecdotes and sayings meant to spur individuals onto greater goals, usually at the wishes of others, I find that what I do gives me meaning. I needn't be a mastermind, nor even anyone great, but I will understand how the world works down to the smallest actions."
Philip
She complentated her words. "Well, to each their own. Whatever suits you."
Rick
"Generally speaking, yes." Okay weird Oni. "Regardless I find this lifestyle suited to me. Seeing means understanding, which lends an amount of ability to understand the outcomes of different events. Which is ideal."
Philip
"I see. I prefer to participate, as I enjoy being part of the action."