hadriel | first punt

[Chie's been thinking about this since she showed up here - how different this place is from Demeleier, how scattered and disorganized the people here are. She doesn't exactly think of herself as a leadership type, but - well, this isn't her first rodeo, and the system they had in place in Demeleier seemed to work. Maybe it's not a bad idea to make a suggestion ... ]

Hey, um ... I know I'm pretty new here, and I know some other people have been talking about this sort of stuff too, but - is there any kind of organization among us? In the place where I was before I got brought here, we had a village Watch and a welcoming committee. The Watch teams patrolled around the village to keep the faeries out, and the welcoming committee kept an eye out for new people when they'd show up and explain where they were and how to stay safe and stuff like that. It seems like we've got a similar kinda situation here, just with monsters and gods instead of faeries. Not everyone knows how to fight off monsters.

[And even those who do know how to fight are sometimes not strong enough to succeed. Chie knows that all too well.]

I just think we all stand a better chance of surviving this place if we work together, I guess.

[That's usually the truth, right? That's been Chie's experience, at least.]

Oh! I guess I forgot to introduce myself before. I'm Chie Satonaka. It's nice to meet you all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Honestly, she had Miller's interest at "organization."

With only her voice to judge by, he can only guess, but she sounds young. It's a little embarrassing that a teenage girl is the first one to bring this up in any meaningful way, even if it had been on Kaz's to-do list. He'd wanted to give everyone a moment to catch their breath after being buried alive, but it's been long enough now and it's best to get the ball rolling.

Her Japanese name catches his attention too, but he'll get to that later. ]

Nice to meet you too, Chie. [ Which is an informal way of addressing someone in Japanese, but as far as Kaz is aware, they're speaking English. ] You're speaking my language. I think we stand a real chance against the gods if we pool our efforts, too. There's a lot more of us than there are of them.

Anyway, I think the first step is figuring out who can do what, and who's willing to help. We need to make sure that everyone's skills are being put to use in the best place.

[She is young, just about 18, but age isn't necessarily an indicator of experience. Chie spent a year fighting monsters in an alternate dimension in her hometown, and another several months defending a village against faeries and other unpleasant sorts.]

That sounds like a great plan! You gotta start somewhere, right? Everyone's got strengths and weaknesses - I know I'm pretty good at kicking things, at least. Do you know how many of us are here, altogether?

[ Good at kicking things? That strikes Miller as a particularly specific skill, but he can delve more into that later. If what she's saying is that she has some combat abilities, that can certainly be put to use.

Only once he's certain she's not too young, anyway. He's not going to accept any child soldiers into his plans, thank you very much. ]

I don't know an exact number, but back when people were buried, Hope said that 'half of you will die at this rate.' Given that he gave out a list of twenty-seven coordinates, if we double that, there's probably something like sixty people here.

[ That's his educated guess, anyway. ]

Huh ... sixty is a lot. More than there were in Demeleier, anyway - at least I think so.

[She didn't really count, and people appeared and disappeared all the time at random.]

Well, no matter how many of us there are, we still gotta stick together and look out for one another.

Demeleier?

[ It's no surprise that it doesn't ring a bell. Most of the people here come from foreign places with strange names. ]

You said you were good at kicking things. Does that mean you have combat training?

Yeah - that's the village where I was living before, the one with the faeries we had to watch out for. I'm from Japan originally, though - Inaba.

[Which she doesn't expect will be familiar to him. Inaba's about as unremarkable a town as they come, or was, until the murders started.]

Um ... sort of? I spend a lot of time training in kung fu. And ... well, I have fought monsters before.

[ A village with ill-meaning faeries? It sounds even more ridiculous than Hadriel, although Miller expects that anything becomes familiar with enough exposure.

He's more distracted by what Chie has to say about her nationality, though. ] I'm from Japan too, but... Inaba. [ There's a pause as he searches for that name in his memory. ] It doesn't exist anymore, does it? The Inaba province is Tottori prefecture now. [ Someone knows his history.

His questions about her fighting experience are put on hold for the moment, as he's more interested in comparing their common ground. ]

Huh?

[Chie's not sure what's more shocking - that this guy has actually heard of Inaba, or the fact that he claims it's not there anymore. Could something have happened while she was away?]

N-no, I'm pretty sure it's still there - I mean, it was a few months ago when I left.

[Come to think of it ... ]

What year is it for you?

[ Is it really possible that this girl is from that far back in time? It seems impossible, but then again, Hadriel has challenged just about every rule Kaz has about the world. ]

1984... how about you?

[ She wouldn't be speaking English if she was from an earlier time period, he would think, so maybe there's something else going on here. ]

Wh-

[That's like, before she was even born.]

No, it's 2012 - I mean, it was. Sheesh, you really scared me for a minute!

[Obviously he must be from a different world entirely. Right? That's how this sort of thing works ... she thinks.]

So unless your Inaba came to be in the next twenty-eight years...

[ Which Miller is guessing is not the case. ]

Anyway, I'm sorry for the scare.

[ This is the first person Kaz has come across here who's Japanese, so he can't quite stop himself from switching over to his native tongue. ]

« Maybe you would prefer to talk like this? »

[ While Kaz may be using a different language as he speaks, he's unaware that a universal translator exists here. ]

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