maskormenace | action || later audio

Entry tags:

action || later audio

ACTION: Maurtia Falls
[Bad enough he wake up surrounded by soldiers again. Bad enough he wake up in a body that isn't his own, missing memories. No one shot at him this time, but it's a small comfort. Very small. As the soldiers are quick to deposit him in a big city.]

[And... surround him with people. Too many people. Way, way too many people.]

[He's not completely comfortable with this strange body yet, so when the young man with mismatched eyes -- one red, one green -- goes sprinting away from the porter, he ends up stumbling a few times. Once he even falls flat on his face.]

[If anyone's around to offer assistance, he just stares wildly at them, startled, awkward.]

[If they don't persist, he takes off running again, somewhere, anywhere away from all these people. Maybe if he runs far enough, Shadowmaru will return and make this nightmare end. He'd been trying to do the right thing -- he'd made a promise, he intended to keep it. Why is he being punished like this?]

[He'll eventually, if un-accosted, seek shelter in a park. Probably under a tree.]

AUDIO;
[Later on, after settling somewhat into realizing this won't change any time soon -- that he really is stuck here, Kagerou sets about poking at his comm device. He doesn't activate the video feed -- no, he's not comfortable with that yet. He just wants to figure out what's happening here.]

[He's almost talking to himself as he speaks.]

I don't understand this...

[That's all there is for a few moments. As if he's trying to determine the right thing to say.]

Why me? I'm nothing like a... like a "Hero". I've never helped a human being. And why should I? None of you have ever done anything for me.

Why should I be a "hero"?

Why should I do anything for human beings?

Whoever decided this -- whoever brought me to this place. You shouldn't have.

[He ends the call abruptly, right there.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Because as long as we're in this world, we want to protect it. And some imPorts- like Crane, Lucifer, and Pan- are absolutely horrible people.

Well, I can take you somewhere else, but- this isn't the same city you were asked to leave, is it? You've already left that one.

[But if he thinks there are too many people... Sabriel holds out her hand.]

Do you want to go to Heropa? We can walk out onto the beach- there won't be many people there, and it's warmer than here.

Why do you want to protect it? What's there in this world that deserves to be protected?

[Not the same city... right. Not the place he'd been. He's left it, now. He's kept that much of his promise. He'd just never thought he'd be so far from the one who mattered.]

... Japan. Can I go to Japan?

[He doesn't quite flinch back from her hand, but it's a near thing. Even as he tries to scan her for weapons, without a working scanner.]

Beach. Where the ocean is. Isn't that right?

Isn't the fact that it's alive enough?

The people here didn't ask for a load of people with strange powers to show up and start breaking things, or make the conflict with Russia that much worse. They deserve to be helped when someone decides to rearrange all their memories, or poison them with gas. And most imPorts didn't ask to be here either, or to deal with everything that happens here.

Besides- if it's in my power to help, I want to help. [To Sabriel, that was often what it really boiled down to.]

You can go to Japan, but... the government generally doesn't want imPorts to leave this country for more than two weeks. And because it's another world, the people and places you know might not be there.

Yes- it's by the ocean and there's sand.

... I don't see why it should matter to me, if my life didn't matter to it.

["It" being human life in general. But he doesn't elaborate on that point, whoops.]

You want to help people you don't even know. There you go again, not making sense.

[Altruism from a human being? Doesn't make sense.]

I don't need permission. I just need a direction to fly.

[A pause.] ... Sand. Isn't it uncomfortable?

It does. Maybe, in time, you'll understand.

And sand isn't that bad! You just have to wash your feet off before you put shoes on.

Or maybe go home again.

... why? What happens if you don't?

Perhaps. But people have been here since the Porter was first turned on, and haven't been able to return home.

Then sand gets into your shoes and socks and it's a nuisance- that's all, really.

If it's a machine... maybe I can do something to it.

Then I won't wear shoes.

Perhaps. It's well defended though.

Even if you don't on the beach, sand tends to stick to your feet [Sabriel raises one eyebrow.] Do you want to come with me? We can have lunch there too. [Magicman had understood from the start that humans needed to eat. Sabriel wasn't entirely sure about Kagerou.]

I'm not afraid.

[He'd faced down police before, and how different could these defenders be?]

Lunch? You mean... human food?

Yes? You have a human body now, so you need to eat human food.

[He makes a face. Almost exactly like a kid who's just been told yes, he has to eat his vegetables.]

... I see.

Fine.

[She recognizes that expression. It's just that she's more used to seeing it on eight year old children instead of grown men.

... This is going to be difficult, she suddenly realizes.]

Shall we get going? I promise, some food does taste good.

[There's that old saying about appearance and deception. It's pretty true right now.]

All right. If it's quieter there.

[Eventually- after navigating the two of them to Maurtia Falls Porter building, they're in Heropa, in a cafe that's relatively empty. Sabriel's giving Kagerou an overview of the menu, and the communicator's translation function. Charter knows he'll need it.]

So do you know what you want to order?

[He does need it. Because at first, he held the thing upside down. And now he's blinking owlishly at all the translations.]

... I've never heard of any of this.

Shouldn't it... just be rice?

[THAT'S ALL HUMANS EAT, RIGHT?]

No? Eating just that would be pretty dull- and humans need to eat different kinds of food to be healthy.

[Sabriel pauses, thinking.]

How does a sandwich sound? [Better to stick to food that he only needs his hands to eat- he can learn about utensils next time.]

All we ever had was gasoline. It wasn't that dull.

[He tilts his head, curious. But not quite wanting to admit to it.]

All right.

Humans are... a little more complicated.

[But she orders sandwiches for them, and some soup for herself and some chips for Kagerou. When their orders arrive, Sabriel picks up her sandwich and takes a bite.]

Why don't you try some?

Why?

[Dear God it's like talking to a kindergartener. He leans down, peering at the food, and... poking at it. He ends up pulling a bit of lettuce out, and trying that first.]

[Because that's mature.]

... It's damp.

It's lettuce, that's how it's supposed to be.

Try taking a bite out of the whole sandwich, not just part of it- like I'm doing.

[Or don't. Sabriel takes another bite out of hers to demonstrate.]

Lettuce.

[He watches her intently. Maybe a bit too intently. Before slowly copying her movements almost exactly.]

[And looking thoughtful.]

It's a vegetable. It's good for you, and tastes good. [All right, that's subjective, but after seeing one newly humanized imPort get sick off junk food, Sabriel sees no reason not to set Kagerou on the path of proper nutrition.

And he's mimicking her actions, even if his stare is a bit... odd. Sabriel takes another bite and swallows.]

So? How does it taste?

[At least he didn't try to drink gasoline as a human. That probably wouldn't end well. Super Healing wasn't on his paperwork.]

It's... different.

[But, probably because he hasn't had anything to eat since he got here, the rest of the sandwich is basically inhaled. Maybe he doesn't understand all this human nonsense, but... hunger is hard to ignore.]

[Sabriel nudges the potato chips in his direction before starting on her soup, leaving most of her sandwich on her plate.]

Humans need to eat a few times every day in order to stay healthy.

... Kagerou, you haven't been here longer than a day, right? [Because if so, she really hopes someone's explained things like 'sleep' and 'bathing'... and get him another sandwich.]

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