- 69 [Voice/action]

[fortunefail]

[Filtered to Kadaj and Yazoo]

If I ever catch either of you near Martel again, I won't hesitate to run you through. Consider this a fair warning.

[/Filter]


[Action]

[Of course, telling two murderous assholes to back off is like inviting them to your doorstep, which is exactly where Yuan will be. Well, his front lawn, to be more precise. If they are stupid enough to show up, at least he'll have a nice excuse to follow through with his threat. As much as Martel insists these guys have been punished enough, Yuan wouldn't mind having them pay a bit more.

If you happen to be passing by house #8, feel free to bug him. He doesn't seem to be doing much besides sitting on the grass and sketching something on a piece of paper.]

Comments

[fortunefail]

[W-what. What kind of assumption is that, Jay?] Of course not. I'm not interested in his physical strength, nor would there be point in challenging any other aspects. He's not my enemy. If this Batman fellow and his Justice band are confident they can bring the general population together, I'm more than willing to sit back and watch them try.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

[Hey, devious smirks often indicate an intention to either challenge or betray someone.]

You wouldn't consider yourself part of the general population, would you? You would just do your own thing regardless?

I feel the same way.

[fortunefail]

[This was more of an "I'd like to see him try" kind of smirk, really. Yuan's got so many, it can get hard to differentiate.] Hm, don't get me wrong, I won't object to following the crowd when it comes down to getting something productive done. It's a bit hard to do when there's no crowd to follow, though.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Everyone does their own thing, really.

[fortunefail]

A few attempts were made in the past to unite most of the village, but none were too successful. The best so far was the town meeting in Februari, but with the amount of people continuing to increase, even that would be difficult to pull off a second time.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I remember that. Did anything even come out of that meeting?

[fortunefail]

A lot of mixed opinions about participating in the war, part of a community building reserved for young children and New Feather stations throughout the forest.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

[A long, exasperated sigh. Of course he already knew these things, but the murders had taken priority in his mind. Still, he's very displeased with himself for forgetting these things. He hates this place so, because his job was so much more difficult without his network.]

Seeing as the Third Party wants to eliminate us, I can't think of a reason not to participate in this war.

[fortunefail]

As I said, so long as they have their ritual, they have the upper hand. Unless we take a leaf out of their book and start finishing them off for good, our numbers will eventually dwindle until there's nobody left to fight them.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

That may be true, but it would be a tedious process. They'd have to capture us one by one, and certainly the ritual itself would take time to complete. All we have to do is avoid capture. And surely the Malnosso will bail us out if we're so valuable to them.

I can't seem to spell today.

[fortunefail]

The amount of soldiers sent to attack the village last year was already about three hundred. Now try to imagine how many of them would actually be living outside the barrier. I'd estimate it on roughly a thousand. Do you really think they would take care of their victims one by one, or that the Malnosso would bother to fight through an entire pack of them just to save a handful of villagers? Ultimately, it depends on how much of an influence the Malnosso have in the world outside this barrier and just how many people are recruited by each faction, of course.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

Really? The Malnosso can't use their droids, or whatever Shifting technique they use to transport them within the barrier to kidnap residents without breaking the barrier itself? We should address that with them the next time they contact us.

What's the matter, Yuan? You said you volunteered for the war because you were confident in your abilities. Did you lose that confidence?

[fortunefail]

[Yuan snorts again.] You really think the only reason I volunteered is just because I can? If so, you're not quite as observative as I gave you credit for.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

What? You were the one who said you wouldn't have volunteered if you weren't confident in your skills.

All right, then what's the other reason?

[He may be observant, but he's no mind-reader.]

[fortunefail]

[It's elementary, dear Watson.] Compensation. It wasn't the battle I was interested in. It was the opportunity to leave the barrier and see some other area of this world. That's what everyone in the village has been after for two years now. The fact that the Malnosso were willing to cater to our every whim came as a nice bonus.

If I weren't confident in my skills, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble, because it's nothing worth dying for. It is worth a few minor injuries and a week of battling.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

How interesting. So you just waned to see another part of this world.

I only volunteered as a preemptive strike. Sooner or later, we'd be dragged into the battle anyway if the Third Party ever invaded the village again. I'd rather fight the battle on our terms as opposed to being caught off guard. It would also be a good opportunity to gather information.

[fortunefail]

[Information on the Third Party or his fellow villagers? That's the question, here. Probably best not to ask, though.] Fair enough.

[unseenspy.livejournal.com]

[Um...both?]

Indeed.

[It's imperative for a ninja to always make the first strike.]