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[therewerefifty]

[Makie has had the facts of this place explained to her already, by a gentleman in a... fairly awkward situation.

It doesn't prepare her for the reality of a village with occupants like none she's ever seen before. Some of you aren't even human, Luceti. The hell. She wanders the path of the village from Community Building #1 down toward the plaza still in her New Feather dress, just like a gawking tourist, and spends some time staring at the fountain and plaza itself. Uh.

...right. Okay. Time to begin glancing through various shops in her attempts to find the places she was told her things would be. She finds her clothes with a measure of relief, and her shamisen at the item store-- and after she picks it up, she frowns. It's too light. She doesn't need to open it to know she's missing something.

Eventually, she'll find her way into the forge to pick up the last of her things, pays a visit to the Welcome Centre-- and then finally fetches up at the tea shop, which is the most familiar-looking thing here.

...sort of. Never really loses that dazed and confused look.]

Comments

[therewerefifty]

[That's a very long time. Even a year is a while-- she was travelling for a reason. But if it's only a year, then surely it can wait. She's kept him waiting long enough as it is. And--]

Time... doesn't pass at home. Is that right?

[markofthebrave]

[Katara nods, a look of set reassurance on her face.]

That's right. I've known lots of people who have gone home and come back, and time stands still for them completely.

[therewerefifty]

Then I suppose I can look at this as an unexpected detour. [She smiles faintly.] It's certainly quite friendly. Although I understand the Malnosso are...less so.

[markofthebrave]

No. They're not particularly friendly. But it's more than that - we're just a means to an end to them. They just honestly don't care about us. They care about their war and their experiments. We're a means to an end.

[therewerefifty]

...war...?

[It's been so long since Japan has seen any real skirmishes. Makie blinks, then narrows her eyes, looking thoughtful.] Against each other?

[markofthebrave]

[Katara nods.]

Basically. It's a little complicated, and no one out there is interested in telling us the full story, so I can only tell you what I've guessed and what I've experienced.

[therewerefifty]

Please, if you wouldn't mind. What do you mean, using us to their own ends? Are we...hostages?

[markofthebrave]

Not... exactly. [She took a breath.] A lot of the Malnosso have been here for a really long time. Hundreds and hundreds of years. But the longest anyone has been here in Luceti has been for about five years. And people come and go here very quickly. What the Malnosso claim is that our... loose attachment to this world makes us ideal to experiment on in order to figure out the right kind of 'Shift' that could send everyone home. And when they're not experimenting on us, they often draft us to fight in their wars.

[therewerefifty]

[Makie gives a slow blink. She understands that well enough.]

All of us? Including those who can't fight?

[markofthebrave]

They can't make you fight once you go out there. But there isn't really any area that's... safe. Those of us who can fight usually set up a place where the people who are drafted can stay and be protected, while they work on things like setting up camp and other important parts of the draft. But... no. The Malnosso don't care if people can fight or not. They send out anyone who can leave the barrier safely, even children.

[therewerefifty]

...

[That's terrible. Not only that, it's poor strategy. Unless the non-combatants are there to function as bait.]

How many casualties?

[markofthebrave]

Well... death doesn't exactly work the same way here. Usually, though, the civilian casualties are very small. We do what we can.

[therewerefifty]

Death is death. Even if we are resurrected...

{What happens in between?

She supposes it doesn't matter.]

I'll endeavour to do the same, if one of these drafts occurs and I'm still here. If there are children...

[markofthebrave]

[She gives the other woman a smile.]

Thanks, Makie. It's a horrible thought to think that they would be out there without anyone watching over them, but fortunately most of the people in Luceti wouldn't let that happen.

[therewerefifty]

Yes. This village is a very friendly one. [She's still not sure what she thinks about that. Not that it's bad, just ... disconcerting.]

...may I ask what you do, Katara?

[markofthebrave]

What I do? I guess... I do a little bit of a lot of things. I spend a lot of time working in the Med Lab now, although I used to go to school here.

[therewerefifty]

Med lab...? [It's an unfamiliar term, by the slow way she says it.]

[markofthebrave]

It's like a clinic, but there's a lot of special medical equipment from different worlds there.

[therewerefifty]

Oh, I see. [That's something she hadn't considered before.] I suppose there must be all kinds of beliefs about medicine that clash in such a place.

[markofthebrave]

Different beliefs about medicine? I suppose so, but... really, we all try to learn from each other.

[therewerefifty]

How many doctors are there?

[markofthebrave]

In the whole village? All in all, I guess there's about [she thinks for a moment] fifteen of us? We all take different shifts at the two clinics. There's one in town and there's one in the Battle Dome.

[therewerefifty]

That's a large amount for such a small area. [She's quite surprised. But then--] Of course... I suppose it's not exactly as if this village has come about naturally.