[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

[Ryuuzaki's low voice is accented in a way that people from places other than the U.K. might think of as "generically English," and when the message begins, his tones are pleasant and measured without being effusive.]

Hello, everyone.

The Ingress has brought us to the Moira from any number of places. When I meet someone, I can't say whether our similarities will outweigh our differences, or vice-versa... when you're this far from home, even small commonalities can seem important. It's led me to be curious about the broad strokes of everyone's backgrounds.

[A pause, as he approaches his real question.]

What can you tell me about the government in the place you came from before this? Both the form of government and, if possible, specific names of leaders.

If it wasn't your original home, I'd be interested in hearing about that, too, even down to what year it was for you.

If you'd prefer to answer privately, that's all right with me. I can promise you my discretion.

Thank you.

Comments

[deal]

I get that. The last time someone came up close to me while I was sleeping, I tried stabbing him.

[She laughs like it's a good story, because it is a fond memory. Tommy hadn't meant her harm, and she became comfortable enough with him to rely on his being her pillow on more than one occasion while they were traveling.]

There's nothing wrong with being paranoid.

[God knows she is, herself.]

I was only teasing, anyway.

[ryuuzaki]

Stabbing him?

[He doesn't sound alarmed, exactly, but the words and her tone don't match, so he's certainly interested to hear more.]

[deal]

Yeah. It was right after I found my new group, and we were staying someplace we could actually sleep. He tried tucking me in, and I almost stabbed him clear through the hand.

[It could've been considered flirting, back home. If it had been intentional and not completely reflexive, anyway.]

He's my closest friend now. Or was, I guess. He's not here with me.

[ryuuzaki]

It's a good thing you didn't actually stab him, then.

Would you want to see him here?

[deal]

Yes.

[Her answer comes immediate, and with a definite tone of longing. Tommy's her closest friend, and the one she's been able to depend on for a year now. He's taken care of her while she's been on death's door with her leg injury and infection, and she would do anything to have him here with her. Even if it's selfish to want it, because he would probably not do well in a place like this.]

It's better he isn't here, but I still want to see him.

[ryuuzaki]

That's understandable.

There's nobody I want to put in this situation, but a few people who I think might benefit from it... or who I wouldn't mind running into.

But anyone might turn up here... it could as easily be the last person you want to see.

[He doesn't try to hide the fact that that kind of helplessness doesn't really sit well with him -- the fact that confrontations with someone's entire past could literally be the luck of the draw.]

[deal]

[She picks up on his tone and can understand why it is he has it, because she feels similarly.]

The fact that we have no control at all is really fucked up.

[Which is the beginning and the end of her thoughts on the matter. Her heart aches to have the few people she cares for and trusts back, but knowing that the ingress could pull in someone who's hurt her makes her even more paranoid about being here.]

[ryuuzaki]

Yes. But we don't have much control in life, either.

[This is a drastic misrepresentation of his own life at home, several years ago, which he had been able to effectively control to whatever degree he wished the vast majority of the time. But it's not the kind of thing that's available to or even desirable for everyone; in his case, it's a function of work and temperament, and a choice he can make because he has the money and clout to do so. It's not hard to observe the human condition without acknowledging, to himself, that it hasn't always applied to him.

The fact that it does apply to him now is a major reason for his resentment, but that resentment only goes so far -- it seems pointless when there's so little he can do about it.]

[deal]

No, we don't.

[Which is a depressing thought, but one that's the reality of being alive. You're born and you die, and you don't have total control over much in the middle. You're always left to be a victim of chance and fate, and all you can control is your reaction to what happens. ]

I'm not used to having control anyway. It's not a big deal, as long as I have some kind of free will.

[ryuuzaki]

[He's keenly aware that many people have few choices in their lives even under circumstances he'd consider normal (sometimes even keenly aware that only a combination of talent, luck, and ceaseless work might have kept him from being one of those people), but zombies aren't among those circumstances. How much more could something like that straiten the possibilities of a life?]

What sort of choices could you make at home?

Don't answer that if you'd rather not.

[deal]

[She appreciates that he gives her an out, although if she wants one, she's more than willing to just end the conversation where it stands. She's quiet for a short while as she thinks of an answer. Not hesitating, just trying to get her thoughts together to vocalize them.]

I was with a group for a while, where I didn't have any choices. At all. The one I'm with now, I get to help decide what direction to head in. If I want to kill or not. How to ration my water. Things like that.

[ryuuzaki]

That still doesn't seem like much of a choice in the scheme of things.

[Well, except for the killing. But mostly it speaks of a world where human lives have shrunk to frequent, repetitive basic decisions about survival.]

This group you were in more recently... did you ever do anything fun?

[deal]

Define fun.

[Because his definition is really important to what her answer is going to be.]

[ryuuzaki]

[His definition of fun includes watching security footage.]

By your own definition. It's subjective, isn't it?

[deal]

We found a zombie shooting competition once.

[That wasn't really fun for her, but it was nice to see Tommy and the others feeling a little lighter.]

And I found a bag of Goldfish in an empty house one time. That was fun.

[Otherwise, nope. No fun.]

[ryuuzaki]

Goldfish. They weren't dead?

... Or do you mean the cracker?

[deal]

[!!! He knows about Goldfish. That's enough to excite her. A similarity between their homes.]

The cracker. Why would I eat a bag of real goldfish?

[ryuuzaki]

You didn't say you'd eaten them. But even so, under desperate circumstances....

[That might be a Catastrophe Living joke.]

[deal]

[Is he making a joke?

She thinks he is. So she nervously laughs, because if only he knew what she's resorted to eating to stay alive.]

I've had worse than a bag of dead house pets.

[She appreciates the gesture of his joking though, so she quickly adds on:]

Have you ever had three year old twinkies from an abandoned gas station? They don't last forever, no matter what everyone says.

[ryuuzaki]

No.

[Although to be honest, some of the things he'd eaten in the care home as a child probably weren't much better.]

What was wrong with the Twinkies?

[deal]

They were hard and covered in mold. They go bad, just the same as any other food does.

[ryuuzaki]

Then I sincerely hope you didn't eat them.

[He pauses, then adds,]

Do you know, I really can't think of the last time I had them. I've had an eclair more recently... [eclairs are similar, aren't they?]... but it's been years since I've touched a Twinkie. I can't say whether or not that's a good thing, but I would have been happy to have one when there was nothing else available.

[deal]

Of course I ate them. I hadn't eaten in days.

[She's used to starving and not ever having enough to eat, going days between picking apart scraps of junk food that managed to be discarded or left behind in the initial year of scavenging. Being here so far has allowed her a chance to eat every day, and although she feels healthier now, her body still has a long way to go before it starts showing signs that she's getting proper nutrition.]

Do you think the kitchen here makes eclairs?

[Because that sounds really good right about now.]

[ryuuzaki]

[He decides to let the subject of the moldy Twinkies go: she can't uneat them.]

I don't know. I think the ingredients to make pâte à choux and custard are available, but I don't know whether or not anyone has the knowledge or a recipe.

[He remembers now that there's a library here, one that's not as utterly, laughably useless as the one on the Tranquility.]

There may be a cookbook in the library.

[deal]

I don't even know what that first thing you said is.

[She scoffs as she says it, because she grew up poor and is lucky to know what an eclair is.]

I do want to check out the library, though. Where is it?