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[toten_sie]

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[motivation]

[ she's actually a little more injured than she'd like to admit, having fought one too many gladiatorial matches, but that's neither here nor there. ]

well, now you are
what did you get up to?

[toten_sie]

Not much.

I've just been trying to stay out of trouble.

[motivation]

any luck?

[ sounds like he managed, if he didn't get up to much. boring, but probably good for him. ]

[toten_sie]

As much as anyone's having right now.

You?

[motivation]

are you kidding? they had matches and all

[toten_sie]

Matches?

[motivation]

gladiator style
did you miss that?

delivery;

[beknight]

[ A key and a note, ]

There are better places to sleep.

[ Map attached. The little place it leads to is easily accessible from Shades Darker. The apartment is a small space, austere but arranged with an eye for Spartan comfort. It's warm, with a catflap and space for animals, with bowls and shelves for spare cat food. The walls aren't especially thick, but sturdy, and this isn't near anyone in particular. ]

action

[toten_sie]

[ He follows the map, uses the key, and when he walks in, he's not quite sure what to do about this all. It's a very nice gift, but he doesn't need it, and the funds that would go to paying for it should go into his nest egg for the rest of Section III and his family (when they wake up). But for the time being, he'll use it, going out every day to try and find the man who'd sat with him the other day, who he knows is the one who gave him the space. He needs to give it back, let him know that he will be all right, or perhaps explain that he deserves no comfort, no kindness, that could go to other, better people.]

[beknight]

[ He finds Bruce in the park again, near evening, feeding the birds, a cat head poking out of his pocket. ]

[toten_sie]

[ He won't say anything at first. Instead, he'll settle down besides him, just as Bruce had that first time. After a few minutes, though-]

Thank you for your kindness. But there are better people to give it to.

[beknight]

[ There's a soft hum. ]

The kitten's name is Callisto. She likes this pocket.

[toten_sie]

I've never named them.

[ Because sometimes they'd come and sometimes they'd go and he didn't want to confuse them if they had an owner.]

[beknight]

[ Callisto climbs out of his pocket, determined to investigate Randel. Bruce names them, he picks the cats that don't have anyone else, even if they've been managing on the streets. They manage better with him around. ]

[ It's a good story. He'd like to keep telling himself. ]

Tell me a little more about where you come from.

[toten_sie]

[ This kitten is very small, so he takes off his glove. The hand beneath is a ruin, scarred across the back with the entire palm and wrist covered in scarring. Nevertheless, the touch is gentle, careful, and the kitten rubs against his hand. ]

What do you want to know?

[beknight]

[ He looks at the scar, he thinks about nightmares. ]

Start with the war.

[toten_sie]

[ He doesn't know how to start with that prompt, because the war was...

It was all encompassing. So he tries to start at the beginning, as early as he can think.]

My father was a doctor.

His family had originally been from the Republic. The Empire's enemy. When people found out, he had his license taken away and he was forced to go to District Zero to practice medicine.

[ He pauses, because this is too far back, and he's not sure what the man wants to know. He tries again.]

I was a part of the 901st Anti Tank Troop.

[ No, that doesn't tell much of anything either. Everything requires so much context, and he's not very good at talking about things that are this abstract to him. He can talk about the war with a focus, what it does to people, what he remembers, every scar and how it came to be. But the whole thing is just... too big for him. ]

What do you want to know about the war?

[beknight]

[ His father was a doctor too. Do no harm. And he'd raised a fist for his family. Bruce raised both, later on, and never lowered them. ]

What did you do?

[ His voice is not gentle, this is not a kind question. It is even, drawing out something in a sequence, making a list of the facts. He was in the 901st Anti Tank Troop. Facing something bigger and more monstrous than himself. ]

[toten_sie]

Kill people.

[ And he makes no apologies, gives no excuses, frames it as exactly what it is. He'd killed people. He didn't think war was an excuse. It didn't change what happened, after all. People died and their families suffered and he got to live. ]

[beknight]

Mm.

[ He makes no apologies. People sometimes do, even for necessary things. Some don't, some can make it out to be part of them as easily as they breathe. Some people — no matter how they hate it — shine in the thick of it. ]

Do you think it was close to being over, before you came here?

[toten_sie]

Do you mean for me, or for everyone?

[ The answers are very different, after all. ]

[toten_sie]

Probably. I'm a little slow.

I thought something with fire, maybe.

[beknight]

— I suppose for everyone.

[motivation]

guess burning this whole place down would be its own kind of fun

[ j...oking ]

[toten_sie]

For everyone, the war ended years ago.

Or... it should have. I guess...

For some people, people like me, it still hasn't ended.

[ No, that's not right either. ]

For people still suffering, it still hasn't ended. Or it hadn't before everything was destroyed.