Lyra Karant
She’s Kinda Trash
In the early hours of the morning, the sun began to rise over the treeline of Sakuramori. It was a beautiful sight; the glimmer of light as it reflected off the river and shone into the boughs of the trees to make the petals dance amidst golden rays made for wonderful ambiance for those determined enough to be awake for the sunrise. Cue Lyra Karant, who now as a member of Luminous Rose enjoyed living privileges for the city. She had come to adopt a basic training regimen when her guild work was not taking her across the land: up with the sun, do a quick run around some parts of the forest or city to make up the start of her day, get home, take a shower, rinse and repeat.
Today was no different. Whilst on her break from doing one of multiple jobs that she had picked up recently, Lyra was enjoying slipping back into her usual exercise routine. Unfortunately, despite the fact that she had once loathed cardio, she was pushing herself into doing it. Combat required stamina and cardiovascular exercise was one of the best ways to increase that. Lung capacity and all that jazz, which translated into her being a better fighter, enjoying a healthier life and generally just being the best version of herself. And we all know that living her best life was high on the priority list of the standard white girl basic bit--
Something caught her eye. First one, then two, then another six, and-- oh gods. This was not an ideal way to start the day.
Emerald eyes cast themselves out across the sight of a quiet dirt pathway and a busy one at that judging by the number of footprints that tracked their way down its length and breath, to see… trash. And no, she wasn’t talking about herself this time, because self-deprecating depressive humour was unfortunately some of the most relatable content in the world. No, this was just straight up litter. Empty packets, drink bottles, random cans and paper, anything and everything that one could think of was on the side of this road.
”What kind of monsters…” was Lyra’s immediate and breathy reflexive response to something that was rather upsetting. Rationally so, this time. Who could have possibly done this? What kind of irresponsible, uncaring, unfeeling monsters could litter and interfere with the beauty of this forest? This wouldn’t decompose! Most of it wasn’t recyclable or biodegradable! This was just leaving trash here and not cleaning up after yourself!
These people, whoever they were, were the worst. And not, like, I’m gonna blow up a city worst. These people were just jerks for the sake of being jerks.
What the heck is going on here, kid? came the response of Rhett in the back of her head. If it was enough to wake Ghosty McGhostface in her head, then obviously something was going on here.
”We have bad people, Rhett,” Lyra said, steel in her voice and ice in her veins. ”Look at all this trash!”
I lost the ability to look at myself when we fused, kiddo, Rhett replied unhesitatingly.
Lyra snorted. Couldn’t help it. Someone had to say it. Alright, someone needed to take command of this and deal with the situation that was unfolding.
We’re going to turn this into a teaching moment, Miss Lyra. A very, very important one, and for multiple reasons. You’re developing your talents with a very express purpose, so we will now put them to the absolute test. Rhett loved his teaching moments more than anything. Recent attempts by other people to teach his protege had led to some form of minor disaster, but this? This was an absolutely perfect moment for him to illustrate some of the necessities of life that she did not have the worldly experience to reconcile within her mind. This meant that he was going to have to step up and do a damn good job of this particular brand of education.
Which, by the way, was incredibly difficult when you were nothing more than a soul-joined disembodied voice, could not physically demonstrate things, and had to rely on one’s ability to explain without any physical assistance. Just saying, it wasn’t a great time for anyone. You try being a spirit ghost thing and see how that works for you.
Here’s the deal: people suck. It’s universally true no matter where you go, and you’re going to have to learn to deal with that. In this case, someone, or multiple someones, decided to trash this place and leave it an absolute mess. Honestly, looks like some kids had a party, judging by what’s here. So, here’s what I’d like to ask you: what is your immediate response to this situation, and then what is your logical response?
Rhett liked this idea: emotions then logic. It was important to acknowledge that an emotional response was an important part of life, but then also that such emotions needed to be tempered with thought before rushing off. For example, rushing off headlong into danger tended to get hero complex people very dead, which was not on anyone’s list of things to do in the near future. Lyra may or may not have instinctively answered that way the first few times.
”I’m angry. Who could do this to the forest? It’s so pretty. But, also, I just want to go and clean it up.”
Perfect. You, dear Lyra, are going to do exactly that. Go back, get some cleaning kit - a couple bags will do it - then come back and clean up all this rubbish. The rest of it will come to you and make sense soon enough.
Therefore, Lyra Karant did exactly that. As a member of Luminous Rose and this being their home, she could not stand idly by while someone trashed their base of operations; it was probably considerably more tame than that, and it definitely wasn’t an attack against the Rose, but nonetheless - this was the right thing to do in her mind, which meant that to be any kind of paragon of goodness that she secretly considered herself to be, she would be the one to get her hands dirty and fix the problem. It was a bit of a shame that her magic wouldn’t come in handy except perhaps for incinerating the trash at the end.
Well, that was actually sort of handy, but we won’t say much more on that particular subject.
The big thing about this task was that Lyra would be the one to get her hands dirty. There was plenty of work to go around if someone else stopped and helped, sure, but at this point she was considerably less interested in that and more in the fact that cleaning up just needed to be done. Would there be a reward? No - mages tended to get over-zealous about working for jewels and not working for the sake of the community. Sure, it might generate some goodwill, but that was a secondary bonus. Work for the sake of work was what this was. Sometimes that was important. Daily effort to improve as a person was just as important as learning how to cast magic or learning how to fight. All of these things tempered the soul.
A quick trip back home, and Lyra came prepared for the work that was before her. On her hands were some gloves that were typically really gardening gloves, and a cute little pink backpack whose thin straps rested over her shoulders carried a collection of garbage bags that she could use to hold all the rubbish before she found a way to transport it all. As she returned to the scene of the ‘crime’, she looked at it all - it wasn’t just one street, and… was there more now? It didn’t seem like there was this much when she was standing around earlier. Whatever. There was work to do. Rubbish would never clean itself and Lyra would not let such a simple, mundane task be her better.
Right then. You ready for this? Just bag it all, and we’ll deal with it afterwards.
A slow breath in, followed by an even slower exhale. Lyra hated this. She hated it because this was her home. Whoever had done this was either callous or malicious - neither of which really sat well with her. ”I think I’m as ready for this as I’ll ever be. Gods, there’s just so much.”
Cool. I plan on keeping you company for a bit. I think you’d die of absolute boredom here if this was just you alone.
”I won’t complain about that. Thanks, Rhett. I appreciate it.”
Then, it began. The arduous task of cleaning up every piece of trash on this street, as the sun began to break fully into the sky after eclipsing the horizon. The pink-haired rose knew that it would not be an easy task to challenge herself, but it would be done nonetheless. At this point, while she bent down to collect the first empty wrapper and put it into a garbage bag, she knew that there would inevitably be her first onlooker. True to form, someone began running past, the very task she had initially imagined herself doing today; the girl looked up, looked at the nameless person and waved; there was an awkward wave back, before they decided to jog on. Great. That wasn’t embarrassing at all. No, even the internal dialogue couldn’t show sarcasm at all.
A sigh escaped Lyra’s lips; the repetitiveness of this task was going to get to her. Having the fortitude to see it out was part of the challenge, which was what would make her a better person for doing the work. Dedicate oneself to the improvement of that which was around them. Right? That was the plan here, yeah?
Reach down, grab, put rubbish into bag, repeat. Things were wordless for the first five minutes on Lyra’s part. No thoughts, no complaining, just hard work and pure grit. By the time she’d made it maybe ten metres up the road, the rubbish had been collected into the first bag; carefully, Lyra tied the top of the bag off so that putting it down did not result in a spill to undo all of her hard work, then placed it down and left the bag on a nearby shrub to be collected later. One down, many more to go - this street was absolutely strewn with so much litter that it was probably going to take a few hours to get this.
Already, Lyra’s back was starting to ache from bending down and reaching so much, but this was not to be her limit. This was not going to step her, no, and that was the important part here. She had to persevere. This was a challenge of endurance, both mentally and physically. Even if getting halfway into the second bag of rubbish had brought her half an hour into cleaning, sure, she had to push through.
Many people had come and gone by this point, wondering why the random girl was starting to clean the street after-- what? Why? Did she work for the city? Probably. Random people wouldn’t just take this task on. The onlookers who had once cared, now no longer paid her attention. But why? Why were they suddenly ignoring the plight of the city? Did they not live here too? Did they not care? This place belonged to them all and they were just being so… so… callous and uncaring about it. It boggled her mind that they could be so apathetic about all of this. Not one of them had even remotely offered to help-- not that she would have taken it, to be fair-- and here she would have thought that at least one good Samaritan would have pulled through and made an honest offer to assist.
Perfect time to start the lesson, kiddo, Rhett’s voice spoke quietly, echoing through her mind. I can tell that you’re a little frustrated, huh?
”Of course I am. Why won’t they try and help? Why don’t they care?” came the grumbling, clearly unhappy voice of Lyra Karant. Nobody was around, thank the stars, and even if they were at this point Lyra did not care much.
I will be totally honest with you: you are a wonderful person, and an exception to the norm, he explained, which was enough to make her give a small, stupid, sheepish smile. But these people? They’re not. In fact, the vast majority of people will absolutely not care about something until it benefits them. Cleaning the streets does not benefit them. Most people do not experience actual altruism. Yet, we as the defenders of justice and all that crap are absolutely expected to assist them until we give out - and they are entirely capable of doing basic tasks like this themselves. I want you to reconcile that in your mind.
While it didn’t stop her, Lyra had to think about that. He wasn’t wrong, at all. Most people had the ability to help other people. It didn’t take much to be kind to others, yet, when it came to actually expending effort for the betterment of the world around them, most people didn’t honestly care to do so. Giving lip service to the idea of good was one thing, but actually doing it was another. Thoughts and prayers were not in fact currency, as many people seemed to think. This was not something that Lyra could really sit back and allow in her personal life for herself, which was why she’d joined Luminous Rose and not the Rune Knights in the first place; they were a military and about protecting the land, but the Rose helped the people on their way to the absolute top.
So why were people so unfeeling towards doing the right thing?
They had busy lives, sure, and probably other things to do. However, given the choice, most people would not have taken the time out to do this task and left it to the city, which likely would have left it for a week or so before it got done. No, they needed a reason to do it. Financial compensation, perhaps. Would that be enough for them? Sure. But what would inspire them to altruism? She just couldn’t do it. Honestly, she couldn’t really see the breakthrough reason to reconcile the goodness of the hearts of the path of good and the common people.
”Nope. I’ve got nothing,” she said with a sigh. The second bag was full, tied off, and brought back to sit with the first. She’d cleaned a good chunk of this street, which she then needed to go back and take these bags to a dedicated trash receptacle and leave it there for collection. The city’s bins weren’t going to fit all of this, so at the very least she could leave the sealed bags with the bins.
Then, back to it. On her way back to round the corner at the end of the street she’d been cleaning and move onto the next section-- gods, people were messy-- she had to stop and lean against a wall.
”I can’t. I mean, you’re right. My life tells me that most people just don’t care. They won’t help. Today is sadly a good example of that. Nobody’s helping-- not that I mind doing it alone-- but I just wish someone would at least offer. It’s frustrating.”
There you go. You’re angry, right? Here’s the grand secret: most ‘villains’ get frustrated at the apathy of the commoner and manipulate that to their advantage. Or they just get angry at it and burn everyone to the ground, depending on your approach. But that’s not the point here. What is the point is the fact that there’s this whole thing about all it takes for evil to win is good men to do nothing. Or something like that.
”Yeah, we covered that thought recently, right?” Lyra asked, referring to a recent point in time where they did in fact cover that thought.
Correct. But it runs so much deeper than you think. Imagine for me that you cannot rely on other people to do the good and be the change you want to see. Just you.
”That’s miserable,” Lyra said, shifting against her perch on the wall as she let out a sigh. ”I’d hate that. I’d still do it, but it’d be so hard to do it alone.”
Right. What if I told you that this was the exact thing that evil wanted to have happen? Isolate the heroes, then take them down by grinding their souls into destruction. This is pretty well ideal for them.
”Then it becomes more imperative that we do the right thing. And those who realise this fact have to make the effort. But let me guess - most people don’t ever realise that at all?”
That’s right. Now let’s scale it back. What does apathy bring?
A sigh. ”This,” she said, waving her hand around the area and showing that there was nothing more than a mess. Nobody cared enough to clean - people didn’t care enough to clean up after themselves, and nobody was going to do it for them. It was frustrating as all hell! Her hand hit the wall behind her, for nothing more than the sheer reason that she wished that she could see more good in the world.
So if we sit back and do nothing, everything escalates to become worse. Multiply that out. What happens?
”The damage becomes too much to fix. We go to a point of no return. Which is why the good people need to step in and deal with the situation.”
This, really, was all common to their usual discussions. Rhett wasn’t just a good fighter, he was absolutely dedicated to the cause of altruism and helping others; it was very odd for a spirit in the back of one’s head to be good. What curse had Lyra brought upon herself to get someone so nice in the back of her head? Well, actually, nice was a stretch - he was sarcastic and very sharp-tongued, but as far as inspiring action, he always sought to do the right thing. It was shocking. Probably just needed an outlet for it all.
”But, wait, that’s sort of the point,” Lyra said, as something finally occurred to her. ”The bad guys kind of want us to be apathetic and expect that. So we subvert expectations and do the right thing. We don’t really need other people to do the right thing, but if someone does the right thing, it’s usually enough to snowball the process, right?”
She could feel the smile in the back of her head. Go on.
”We do the thing they aren’t expecting and do the right thing, it gets exposure. That gets it bigger until it reaches someone else. Then they do the right thing, and repeat. It’s not much, but good actions bring good actions, even if they’re small. Somehow.”
There you go. Subvert expectations, and when people see that it can be done, it brings hope. That hope reaches someone else, and we commence a cycle - until someone comes in and shuts it down, sure, but that’s not the point of this lesson. The absolute point I am trying to make is this: yes, your actions are small and insignificant, but if they reach the right person, they will act too, and then that reaches someone and so on. This is the nature of good and evil - you just have to do it, over and over, until it reaches the right person. Don’t do it for the common people… well, okay, yes do it for the common people. But do it so that your message reaches the right ears. That message can’t be trite bullshit on flyers. It has to be action. Inspire people to act with actions yourself.
It was a lot to think about. Really, it was a bit disheartening to know that most people wouldn’t reach their hands out - but being the ‘good guy’ in a world full of big powers wasn’t exactly and easy thing to do when she knew a number of people who could probably level a city with a thought if they honestly tried. Instead, it was more about reaching out and putting out the right message. It was a good way to approach the situation, which she realised was definitely going to be hard.
Do it for the other good guys. Always do it for the other good guys.
”I suppose this won’t clean itself, huh,” Lyra said with a smile. Pushing off her place on the wall, the girl got back onto the arduous task of cleaning around this street.
Two hours passed, then three. The work was exhausting, but now she had a purpose for it. Five bags of rubbish later and probably a repetitive strain back injury, but the streets were cleaner than she had come onto them for sure. She’d done her part, and Lyra was proud of that fact; with so much to think about, she’d powered through the rest of it at a pace that was enough not to kill herself over it. The city would, inevitably, come and deal with these extra bags of rubbish at some point too. The sweat was pooling on her face, the muscle soreness was getting to her, but evil would not with this day. This good girl had done something about it. It was better than nothing, and she’d done her good deed for the day for sure. Huh, well, there was a thought.
”You know, I just thought about something. Am I being too extreme classing everything as good and evil?” she asked out loud. Someone walked past at that point and gave her one hell of a weird stare, but they moved on regardless.
Yes. You absolutely are. You are one hundred percent being way too stuck on that absolute. But that’s another lesson for another time, kid.
A smile. Well, progress was progress. And the streets were clean - job done. Hey, public service wasn’t so bad.
MEL @ WW
