tushanshu | 001; Video

Entry tags:

001; Video

[Console, whatever. Sure she got the run down on the thing but Mai's pretty much been ignoring it for the past day. She hasn't even bothered to really look on the network itself even if she has no intention of making an entry to it.

Now she's bothering though, mainly because she just wants to ask:]

So explain this war business to me again. Or at least try to convince me why I should care. Because right now? I really can't find much inside to say I should.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's the reason. We're not trying to recruit anyone into the Emperor's war, and I personally don't think of myself as soldier material. Not everyone's a humanitarian.

But no matter what you do, I think you should probably care. For your friends.

[The serious answer is thrown off for a casual smile.]

Or at least for your own peace and quiet. Having some jerk play Big Bad Wolf and wreck the city just to show that he can gets old fast.

Is that what this nameless guy has been doing? Wandering around, flattening buildings?

If my flattening buildings you mean poisoning the turtle we have to live on and sending zombies to "keep things interesting", yeah. The buildings themselves mostly do okay. It's the fish bowl we need to worry about. Tu Vishan's kind of sustaining us... it's complicated. But the gist is that if he dies, we drown. If we last that long.

[He says that all very matter-of-factly. "Nothing we can do about it. That's life." But his expression is just a little bit tighter than his words suggest.]

Are those good reasons to fight? Maybe not. I'm not really that big on it myself. I'm against anything that starts with someone telling me what to do. It's a standard policy I have, unless you're willing to pay me for that option.

I kind of think that's a decision you make on your own.

... It actually is a turtle?

[No she didn't believe that, what kind of idiot are you people.]

Really big turtle. There are smaller turtles, too, if you want to meet them.

[Heh. The smirk says he knows that she's not liking the answer and he enjoys it. Just a bit.]

How small are we talking.

You can ride them down the street.

Ride them. Don't tell me that's the main method of transportation here.

[A beat, then.]

Though I guess that would beat lizards. I hate riding those.

Really? But lizards go a lot faster. And they don't eat everything in sight.

You know, most of them. [Except Logan.]

Oh sure they go fast but that gait of theirs.

[Here Mai hand gestures, rocking her hand side to side.]

You get bounced all over.

Well, you have to move with them.

[And he's totally going to demonstrate this right on the network. From that she can see that he has no idea how to ride a lizard.]

It's not that bad? [Sort of?]

[She's just eyeing the video and his attempts at ... something?]

It's not when compared to some other things. I still prefer ostrich horses if I can't ride in a cart or just walk.

Ostrich horses. Do everyone's worlds have weird animals?

I'm starting to feel like the odd man out.

What, don't tell me you have plain old bears where you're from.

What's wrong with plain old bears? [Excuse her! He prefers not being eaten alive by huge mutant hybrids.]

Nothing. They aren't exactly plentiful though. ... Where I'm from, I mean.

Well, I can't say I've seen any ostrich horses as far as I remember either.

[The teen makes a slight amused sound.]

So we both just know a bunch of strange animals then. And what about this place, what's odd here. Beyond the turtles anyhow.

Well, if you don't count lizard-swans, then there are the big, man-eating rodents that live underground. Do those count?

Yeah, I would say so.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001; Video

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;

video;