snowblindrpg | Audio/Action to SL; Day 110; Up and Dead Center

[ You'd think this would be the easy part after working at this and only finally squaring things away.

Truth is? It's not.

Still gotta make this happen.

The audio catches the tail end of an exhale as he finally gets himself to just do it already. ]

So, me and Kain made a detour a while ago at the hospital. I know it might seem in bad taste, but we photographed everyone we found there. I figured it would help to... confirm some things. [ Closure. Evidence. An end to false hope. If that's what they want anyway. He isn't about to speak for them all. ]

It's probably kinda dated now, but we were trying to clean up the distortion some and get as many names down as we could. But honestly, we still don't know everyone we found there. So, if you know anyone we haven't identified, let me know. Thanks.

[ Attached Files: link.jpg, cullenrutherford.jpg (identified by Kain), tadashi.jpg, archer.jpg, fujiwaranomokou.jpg (identified by Kain), marcos.jpg, zelda.jpg, mami.jpg, stiles.jpg (identified by Jim), sans.jpg (identified by Steve), biff.jpg (identified by Angel), freya.jpg, miranda.jpg, sephiroth.jpg ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He is not Dr. Stein's teacher! [She sounds like she can't decide if to find the idea amusing or horrifying. That Dame Doctor Ariel Stein would take a Chinese smuggler for a teacher!] He's only her native guide. Sinkiang is in the west of China and no European has ever set foot there. But Lao Dian knows the way.

[But it doesn't sound right, either, only a native guide... even to Dame Ariel, he is more than that. She considers and reconsiders the issue of complex definitions.] I don't only say he knows everything because I like him - he really does know more than any man alive I've ever met, more than any native and any European scholar. The things he knows! So I listen to him. I learn. But I know to be careful, too.

Whoa, relax! I didn't mean to offend. [ Seriously, kid. It's just a lot at once and he doesn't know the half of what you're talking about. Though smuggler's kind of telling of where she gets some of her wit from. Not exactly the type of person he'd make friends with, but.. Kunsel's always all about information and its importance. Isn't this really not much different? The more connections you have, especially to those so much in the know, the more you know and the more aware you are of situations, for instance. The more solutions are at your fingertips.

Perhaps not the same idea in this case, but the relevance is there. There's just one thing. ]

Know to be careful? How come? [ At least he's not just going off an assuming this or that this time. ]

[Kesara scoffs, rather more for good measure than for anger, but is mollified.] Oh, it's all right, you didn't know. In Serindia Dr. Stein is very famous. [That no one here knows her mentor's name is perhaps the best proof that she has of truly being on another planet. Nothing else can explain it as far as she is concerned. And of course that means that is it on her to preserve Dr. Stein's great reputation from such misunderstandings. She is more than up to the task.]

But we must be careful of him because he is an outlaw. And a Chinaman, to boot - the emperor in Beiping is no friend to the British crown. He might be deceiving and using us. And in such a case it would be a great shame on us if we do not deceive and use him first!

Considering you said he's a smuggler, that might be the case. [ And considering the tone Zack takes at that, can't say he entirely agrees with working with him... but at the same time, he can also see why she would be so invested. They seem to know an awful lot about the world, something that Kesara seems to value greatly the more and more he talks to her.

Though... that also brings up one more tiny detail. ]

Okay, I gotta ask... If you think he might be deceiving or using you, how do you even know what he's telling you is true at all? [ She's putting an awful lot of faith in someone said to be pretty shady... ]

[It's a fair question, though it puts her in a difficult spot - it wasn't her decision to trust Lao Dian after all, but Dame Ariel's. How can she question Dame Ariel's decision? Probably she can't, won't. Doesn't need to.]

Dr. Stein decided to take the risk. If anyone can match him it's her. He may be the greatest liar in the world, but she is the greatest explorer alive, and she knows how to manage such things. I only listen and learn - from both of them.

[A moment of uncharacteristic humility - but if there is one thing Kesara knows, it's that she has much to learn. And if there is anyone whom she won't flaunt her wits over, they are her two teachers, those two poles and pillars of her dreams.]

Sounds like you put a lot of faith in her. [ Greatest explorer alive... That's curious alone, but then again, it's not so different from when he used to look to Sephiroth for the great war hero he used to be. An uncanny parallel at that. He purses his lips all the same. ]

You keep calling her a great explorer. What do you mean by that? I mean obviously she goes exploring, but for what? And how'd you get to know her anyway?

[ Better to get off the subject of Leo Dian for now. ]

[A good thing they aren't talking on video, or Zack could see Kesara look at the tablet as though the person speaking through it has grown a second head. Faith? That is a totally inadequate word.]

She's my teacher. I owe her everything. I'd give my life for her! [It's a very grandiose statement that she mostly says because she feels it's the kind of thing that is said under such circumstances. But her devotion cannot be overstated.]

She maps places where no European has ever been - she'd sailed up the Nile, and she'd been to the Empty Quarter, and gone further up north in the Himalayan Hills than any Briton before. She's a legend. My father used to be her servant and interpreter. [And her feelings on him may be mixed, but this is said with distinct pride.]

[ Faith's subjective, kid. And probably has nothing to do with the faith you're thinking of. Or at least that might have been the argument if he wasn't oblivious to that look. As it is, he nods a little on his end before belatedly remembering that she won't see him anyway and humming in acknowledgement instead. There's a tug of a smile at how serious she is, how much this great explorer means to her...

...and, well. Who can really blame the kid? ] A legend... Is it pretty dangerous then going around doing that? You make it sound like not many people would do it, so I'm guessing cars and chocobos aren't a thing back there, are they.

Oah, it is fantastically dangerous. Geography is the riskiest and noblest of all the sciences! It is our duty and privilege to go to all corners of the Earth and bring back the knowledge of her wide and wild lands. But she keeps her secrets ever so jealously. Men die of thirst, heat and cold, loose ropes and treacherous bridges, the claws of tigers and knives of natives… many brave men! But my teacher has lived through them all.

[She could wax on about this for a good while longer yet. He really is very lucky that he’s given her something to ask questions about, too, to stop the flood. She at least knows the word car

What is a chocobo?

[ Riskiest and noblest of all the sciences? He might have argued otherwise years ago. But... now? Zack chuckles a little- almost dryly. ] Sounds pretty rough. I haven't gone and done anything like that necessarily, myself, but... I've done some similar traveling on foot. It's not easy. I definitely agree with you there. I give your teacher a lotta credit for making that her life work.

[ He's so caught up in the thought, he almost doesn't catch her- wait, what did she say?

Oh.

Guess he should have expected that. ]

A chocobo's a big yellow bird back where I'm from. They're fast and reliable if you wanna get around anywhere. Some people own 'em, but sometimes you can convince them to give you a ride if you're in a pinch.

Audio/Action to SL; Day 110; Up and Dead Center

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