[written]

[thethundersaid]

[public]

Who among you is good with languages?

[private -- to Rikka]

You had a number of people possessed, didn't you? How has their recovery been?

Comments

written:

[thethundersaid]

With what money? Surely their government can't force other countries to pay them if their services aren't wanted.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

Their own country is prosperous, which allows for their psuedo-colonial interference. I'm sure they see it differently, but, well. To each their own.

written:

[thethundersaid]

You live in a strange world. [His handwriting is solid, convinced on this point.]

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

I certainly do.

written:

[thethundersaid]

This world is strange, too. Probably all worlds are.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

Especially to outsiders who haven't been raised in it.

written:

[thethundersaid]

[There's a break in response while he actually thinks about this for the first time -- how his own world is probably strange to others -- and then reviews the information this person has written. Solid and precise. Useful, perhaps. The delayed response is abrupt.]

What is your name?

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

Otori Kyouya.

written:

[thethundersaid]

Are you as thorough about gathering information in this world as about your own?

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

I try to be, certainly. However, my resources are much more limited here.

written:

[thethundersaid]

That's the case for all of us. Better to try than blindly accept what we're told.

I am Uchiha Sasuke. I'll remember your name.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

And I'll remember yours.

If you're new, I would advise you pay attention to Scurvey Dog. Others will say she isn't a useful source of information, but I've found her quite helpful, particularly when one is respectful.

written:

[thethundersaid]

I've been here since November.

Her information is [There is a break, here, Sasuke unsure how much to say over journals that have been compromised just last month.] useful, if not always timely.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

She does what she can, I'm inclined to say. She may not always give us much warning, but she doesn't leave us to figure out situations where our lives might be in danger by ourselves.

written:

[thethundersaid]

[Pause in reply because he's contemplating writing something more incriminating, but ultimately -- more caution is better than less here.]

I'm sure she does her best.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

She doesn't have to give us any help whatsoever.

[Something that's never far from Kyouya's mind. There is nothing, to his knowledge, that obligates Dog to help them at all. She could just leave them entirely to fend for themselves.]

written:

[thethundersaid]

You don't think she benefits at all from giving us information?

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

Oh, I imagine she benefits somehow, certainly. People rarely do things for no gain.

But she doesn't have to do it. There is, so far as we know, no obligation on her part to do it.

written:

[thethundersaid]

As far as we know. There are some days when she seems like she'd prefer not to give us any information at all.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

Well, a great many of our number do act ungrateful and hostile to her. Can you blame her for being irritated some days?

written:

[thethundersaid]

She can ban the idiots from writing to her, can't she?

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

She can, but that doesn't make it less frustrating for her. People certainly don't express gratitude nearly enough as far as I can see.

written:

[thethundersaid]

Regular gratitude can hardly be expected in a situation like this. She has to know that.

written:

[hostclubshadowking]

Really? I find it quite simple to say "thank you" on a regular basis.

written:

[thethundersaid]

People here have been kidnapped for the amusement of someone on this world. No one has any way of knowing who is allied to whom.

Someone who operates in a place like that can't rely on courtesy.