video | un: degurechaff

[verrostet]

[ A young girl sits at a table in an otherwise nondescript room, her hands folded in front of her in a picture of perfect professionalism. Her white button-down shirt is similarly perfect, not a wrinkle in sight, and tailored to her thin frame. Her gaze into her omni is expressionless — some might call it cold — and her high, childish voice is tempered with the assured enunciation of an adult. ]

Good evening. My name is Tanya von Degurechaff. I'm new here, so I have a couple questions for anyone willing to answer.

First, what kind of job do you currently have? If you don't have one, then I'm also interested in hearing what you did before you arrived here.

Second, are there any jobs or businesses you'd like to see here? I recognize that this is a broad question, but since we come from a broad range of backgrounds, any feedback is welcome.

[ A pause, a stray thought seeming to flicker through her head before she continues. ]

As for myself, I have experience with personnel management, various air-based operations, tactical field research, and administrative work. More broadly, I'm an aerial mage. The business I'd like to see is a coffee shop.

Comments

[verrostet]

A civil war, huh...? What a mess.

[ Possibly more of a mess than fighting the rest of the world. At least the lines in a conventional war can be traced and redrawn, the threats always facing outward. In a country fighting against itself, every day might be a terrible shitstorm of paranoia and tumultuous allegiances with no clear demarcation between the front and rear. ]

War is bad enough when it only involves the people who volunteer to take up guns. It's really a shame when peaceful people trying to mind their own business get sucked in.

[ That might be a minor understatement. But it's really quite difficult for her to get riled up about it any more than she'd get riled up about a bit of bad weather. ]

So are you chasing wars from country to country with your camera? That takes a lot of guts when you don't even have a boss to hassle for hazard pay.

[expertonshutters]

[It is a very clinical way of looking at it, and normally that kind of thing would irk Hayato, but he’s been around soldiers enough to understand that if you did not take an approach like that, sometimes it would drive you to despair. If this person is used to being amidst a war, he isn’t about to harp on her coping methods.]

It is, and that’s why I think it’s important that people not forget the true weight of war.

[Hayato does take that shift to at least break the somber expression he’s wearing. He waves a hand. His smile is back, but man, maybe Tanya can recognize the look of someone who’s much older in the eyes than his face would suggest.]

You could say that! It seems there’s no shortage of stories to tell in the world I come from, dangerous as it is. Truthfully, I would love nothing more than a world without conflict or strife, but until then I’ll do what has to be done.

[verrostet]

[ The look of someone haggard with war experience is very familiar to her. It's awful, of course. It's surely regrettable. But in a number of ways, it can be easier to deal with those people: they're less likely to ask ridiculous questions; they're more willing to act without ornament and get the job done; and they don't get so offended if you're blunt with them. Without realizing it, she's started to feel rather relaxed talking to Ichimonji. Though relaxed may not be quite the word — it's more like she hasn't felt the need to signal herself as being any particular way.

Has she been tense all along? Has she not felt at ease among the normal people of society? ... Ahh, war really is a scourge. ]

Herr Ichimonji, a world without conflict sounds like both a pleasant dream and an unscrupulous scam. I'll hope for it along with you, but until the scholars can figure out a way to effectively combat blood pollution, it looks like strife will be in our forecast for some time to come.

[ She cocks her head slightly, an afterthought arriving. ]

I suppose the silver lining is that our war here is with beasts rather than people... even if that might make your photography rather more dangerous.

[expertonshutters]

[It’s a mutual feeling. Hayato generally finds it easy enough to fall back into his old mannerisms, and he rarely has trouble speaking or acting around others in a way that might give away the life he’s had to lead, but it’s always there under the surface. This line he toes with Ichimonji Hayato the photographer, who believed once that the pen was mightier than the sword, and Kamen Rider, the agent of justice and destruction, fighting an endless war without reprieve.]

[It’s a lot of why he hasn’t appeared too off put by Tanya’s childlike visage. Frankly, he hasn’t aged himself in 15 years. Who is he to make assumptions?]

Hah! You might be right about that, but thank you. Just because an ideal sounds impossible, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth pursuing.

[After all, how else would change happen for the better?]

Mm, that certainly comes with it’s own problems. Don’t worry too much about me, though. I have a way with weaseling in and out of danger.

[verrostet]

[ "Weaseling"? That wording is a disservice, surely. ]

Falling victim to danger is bad luck, but surviving is a talent. In times of war, it's worth celebrating the opportunity to carry your unique skills and experiences into the next day, every day.

[ With how small the population is here, they certainly need everything they can get. Everyone should weasel into the future with all their might. ]

In any case, thank you for answering my question so thoroughly. In the bartering spirit, I'd like to give you back something of equal value, but...

[ She is just a girl still scrounging for resources. Oh, how she misses hard currency. ]

[expertonshutters]

[It certainly is, and Tanya being as observant as she is, is right to catch that. His dismissive attempt to deflect the worry of danger is certainly a hint that there’s more to that statement than what was strictly said.]

[After all, it’s much easier to “weasel” out of danger when you can survive having a building dropped on you.]

Hahaha, very well said.

[And he truly believes that, too. On the subject of payment, though, Hayato blinks before waving a hand.]

I’d say not to worry about it, but you strike me as someone who wouldn’t accept that. How about an exchange of information, then? I have a small set of questions I’ve been asking people I encounter here, would that be a fitting trade?

[verrostet]

A survey? Yes, that sounds more than fair.

[ He really is an inquisitive one. But she does love civilized exchanges, so it scratches an itch for her as well. She straightens at her desk in anticipation, probably looking more like she's interviewing for a job than answering random questions. ]

Alright, go ahead.

[expertonshutters]

[Pleased, Hayato quickly flips his notebook to a clean page and starts to ready it for Tanya’s answers.]

[The shift for him is pretty clear too, any remaining somberness from their discussion before has been replaced with an upbeat curiosity. Inquisitive is a pretty good descriptor for him, but probably this makes it obvious he’s worked in journalism, too.]

Excellent. The first question: Would you rate the level of technology here lower or higher than that of your homeworld?

[verrostet]

The magic and associated technology here is much more advanced. In my world, anything involving magic was limited to use by mages and purely military by design.

The non-magical technology and architecture, on the other hand, feels old-fashioned. I come from the year 1927, and I would have guessed that Trench is in the 1700s.

[ It's like Trench put all of its points into magic and the obligatory one into infrastructure. ]

[expertonshutters]

[He writes all this down. He has had a few answers like Tanya’s, where the answer was not a clear cut yes or no. It just goes to show how interesting and varied all these different places could be.]

[He’s also noting the year. Of the people he’s interviewed, that one’s pretty unique.]

Judging by those dates, it sounds like your homeworld might be on a similar calendar as mine. Do you recognize countries like Japan, Switzerland, Mexico, or the United States?

[verrostet]

Somewhat. There's a nation on a continent across the sea called the Unified States of America. Judging by the language you speak, the place you call Japan is known to me as the Akitsushima Dominion.

[ She manages to answer with a completely straight face. She knows it sounds ridiculous, but it's the truth, so she hopes he'll at least refrain from laughing in her face. ]

My own home is the Imperial Vaterland... though everyone else just calls us the Empire.

[ She's really just speaking German though, so she hopes he gets the hint. ]

[expertonshutters]

[He thought that was German, or something similar. He’s not as familiar with the language as he is others, but there was something unmistakable about the sound of German.]

[Her answer is interesting enough that he actually stops writing for a moment to pay her full attention. A very curious and surprised look on his face. He does not laugh! You underestimate how absurd Hayato’s life is, and how far his suspension of disbelief will carry him.]

Interesting. So, it seems like it’s similar but in an uncanny, shift-slightly-to-left kind of way.

[He taps his pen on the table a few times. He wants to ask more details, but they agreed to his survey so he opts to stay on topic. Two more questions.]

To the best of your knowledge, can you recall if you were alive or dead in your homeworld, before washing up on the shores?

[verrostet]

[ She can neither confirm nor deny the degree of slight shifting between their worlds without giving up the game, so she just lets that comment go without reaction. ]

I can only assume I was alive. Barring poison or some revolutionary new weapon, I should have been in a secure location.

[expertonshutters]

[He nods, jotting that down. He’s doing all this so he can get a clear picture of the kinds of people who turn up here, try to sort out a pattern, or if nothing else, eliminate things that are not patterns. While death was a strong theory, it only took talking to a small handful of people to toss it out, provided their memories are to be believed.]

Alright, last question.

[He pauses, giving his notebook a lop-sided smile.]

I have a strong suspicion I already know the answer, given what we’ve already discussed, but who knows, maybe I’ll be surprised. [That was the whole nature of asking all these questions, after all. There were so many ways a world could be different.]

Have you ever heard of Kamen Rider?

[verrostet]

[ Kamen Rider... Kamen Rider? That classic tokusatsu show? Puzzlement settles over her face, followed by a slight furrowing of her brow. She doesn't know about it in detail, those shows never having appealed to her, but any modern Japanese citizen will have heard of it. Is he a fan, perhaps? ]

Ah... Kamen? I do recall seeing a town of that name west of the Rhine.

[ She prefers not to lie -- honesty is essential to good business -- but in the legal world, gray is essentially the same as white. There is indeed a town named Kamen west of the Rhine river, and that's a fact. It was her job to study maps like her life depended on it, which it did. ]

[expertonshutters]

[Ah, it’s as he thought. Well, it didn’t hurt to ask, at least. He writes that down. A town by the name of Kamen was actually pretty interesting.]

It’s a bit of an urban myth where I’m from. Someone who fights evil from the shadows.

[He puts his notebook away for now.]

I’ve been using these questions to gather general information and to try and get to know what kind of people wash up here. I was using it to see if I can find or eliminate any patterns, but I haven’t really had a lot of luck.

[verrostet]

[ Urban myth? Not a TV show?? Her brow continues to furrow, but she stows that quirk of wording away for later consideration. ]

Oh, I see. It would be interesting if there were a correlation...

[ She rubs her chin thoughtfully. ]

It may be worth noting that the details we find commonplace may be clues in themselves. For instance, I haven't been here for very long, but the Sleepers I've witnessed washing in are predominantly humans like ourselves and teens to young adults. If even a tiny number of Sleepers are non-human, it begs the question: why aren't there more of them? Is there some quality of humans in their prime that makes them more likely to come to these shores? Or is there merely some limiting factor that tends to cull non-humans and humans of especially low or high age before they reach the shore?