Lost At A Sleepover

[knockingatthedoor]

WHO: EVERYONE - Meeting time!
WHAT: Kel, Frieda and Nagito organized a party/sleepover!
WHERE: The largest house they could find in the area
WHEN: Between one crossing and another
WARNINGS Nooooot really much?

There are few things Kel treasures deeply in a place like that. The siblings, sure, his new basketball with the creepy face on it, but also the opportunity to build bonds with others. From what he understands, the memories they build in there will stay, so... why not making great ones? thigns that will remind them they're 'alive' in their own way, that even if theirr identity is lost at every Crossing just a bit more... they're still themselves? He has been in an awful mood since he and Sunny had... a fight? Something? He doesn't even know how to call their poor attempt at a tlak but he knows his best friend is now avoiding him like the plague and it hurts. That being said? He's smiling rto whoerever approaches the building and waving at them. Invitations were sent out, preparations had been done and even at this 'pit stop' there's a community event, so to speak, ready to go.

The whole building may be baely lit, but the precious jars Frieda brought in with glow worms (Some with sitiks and leaves in, too) gave the whole place a cozy and comfortable look. The woman also brought in basins and such, decorated now with water lilies and other few flowers. Ribbons, strings, anything they could find has been gathered as well to make the place 'prettier'. There's no point in being stuck with an ugly room, right? Nagito took clear of all the cleaning, leaving the place spotless, and Kel carried inside all the mattresses he could gather. After a long time processing how to place things? He opted for leaving bed frames alone and just sitting a whole corner of the area with mattresses and blankets for everyone to share.

The few games they can make with sticks and mud are there as well. He may have no apples, but one basin has been filled with water and lily buds to play the 'bite into it and drag out as many as you can' game, whatever it's called. There are sticks and differently colored rocks to prepare some Tic Tac Toe games (sort of. Grey and green rocks VS Xs and Os), there is a space with all the paper (damp, humid) he could find and some pencils and pieces of charcoal too.

The true stars of the sleepover, though? A bonfire set right outside, as safely as possible (with rocks and mud all around the charchoal and chairs put at a safe distance from it) and FOOD. Nagito was an angel and got not only a picnic set for them all, btu also real food. There's wonderful, greasy pizza (one little square has already been stolen, it seems) covered in cheese, A plate full of chimichangas (and here Kel is guilty of taking one), watermelon already cut in large slices, steak that may be warmed up by the fire, chocolate chip cookies, bags of popcorns and both ice and lemonade for whoever wants them.

"Welcome to the party! Nagito and Frieda did such a good job here! You should come inside, we have everything ready. And, hey, why don't you considering moving in here, too? At least until we have to move? You know... company is very important, after all!" He isn't in the mood to look happy but that's irrelevant.

Comments

[fantail]

A great deal of cruel and wretched nonsense, of course.

To sum up: everybirdie there was chosen for some unique physical attribute, save for the single human representative. As far as I'm aware the only thing that set Tousaka apart from other humans was her excellent health and interest in cross-species integration.

[Sakuya's trying to sound brisk about it but he'd liked Hiyoko Tousaka. As he goes on, his tone is distinctly grimmer and more serious than usual, with that theatrical outrage he's so prone to flattening into a quieter, more sincere form.]

But to allow even a single human student took cooperation with such human organization as is left, and a deal was struck: if she were killed, the grounds would be sealed and humans allowed to gather and kill whichever students and faculty they found when the dome was opened. Not that the students were informed of this. Naturally it was not agreed upon in good faith, hah.

[urtitan]

[This is a lot to take in. Students being chosen for their unique attributes is reminiscent of Hope's Peak Academy's selection process, though physical traits aren't quite the same as talents, so that already does nothing to put Frieda at ease, and what follows makes her visibly upset.]

But why would the school ever agree to that? Was having a human in attendance that important? Moreover, why was there such a high possibility of her coming to harm?

[Only a remnant of humanity existing in Sakuya's world, with the birds apparently the newly dominant species, calls forth entirely different uncomfortable parallels. Did the latter all but eradicate the former, creating breeding grounds for hatred and vengeance? Being a human, but also specifically an Eldian, Frieda hardly knows which side she should consider herself on - not that she wants to take a side. If anything, she's dismayed to hear of such devastating conflict even in his world.]

[fantail]

The school was founded by people sympathetic to humans and had a reputation as such, but it was suborned quite early, during construction of the campus, or even before, by those who don't believe true peace is possible.

Tousaka was publicly a test case, to determine if humans could integrate peacefully with society. And she was well chosen for that! Were all humans like her the world would be unrecognizable. There wouldn't have been a war in the first place.

...I see I must recount something of Sumatera and Carneades so that any of this makes sense. A moment.

[urtitan]

[A twisted smile briefly appears on her face at "to determine if humans could integrate peacefully with society". Her species really is the worst, isn't it? But she doesn't want to jump to too many conclusions, so at his offer to explain further, she nods.]

Please do.

[fantail]

Not here, it's hardly suited for a social setting.

[especially one without music, which is his biggest real complaint about the party. To be without music for this long feels like a form of punishment and if he was ignorant of the history of music he'd wonder if it was some human lack. Regardless of the reason, it's too easy to be overheard.]

Come with me.

[Sakuya doesn't check in, he starts down the boardwalk. His head bobs as he walks.]

You are aware of the concept of zoonotic disease, correct?

[urtitan]

[She follows along, reminded of how she and Kel left one of the assemblies in the desert to discuss serious matters pertaining to his and Sunny's diverging memories of their deaths. Away from the party's bonfire, the glowworms light up the twilight marsh as always.]

I'm actually not, I'm afraid.

[She can imagine that her ignorance may aggravate him, but it can't be helped - he'll have to elaborate even more.]

[fantail]

[Sakuya's claws click on the wood. He's moving at a brisk pace but it's not a very fast walk by human standards. He may be gigantic for a pigeon but he's still a lot smaller than Frieda.]

Hrm. It means a disease that animals can transmit to people. I'd hope you're familiar with rabies? [hey that sounds almost conversational]

One of those diseases is influenza. The respiratory disease? The... 'flu'?

[he sounds like he's handling the word 'flu' with tongs, the only point in this part of the exchange where he does sound overtly obnoxious.]

[urtitan]

Ah - yes, those I'm familiar with.

[She knew of the danger of rabies, but had no idea that influenza could be transmitted between species as well.]

Is that what happened in your world?

[If the humans there were decimated by a disease, it'd arguably be marginally kinder than the alternative of willful eradication, but Sakuya already mentioned a war, so it seems like all the worst things accumulated.]

[fantail]

In part! There's little consensus on whether the Sumatera Influenza was 'natural' or not given its virulence and lethality. Within two years seventy percent of the population succumbed, and the remainder had no immunity.

[he's pretty casual talking about this apocalyptic pandemic.]

It was spread by birds, who were not much harmed, and the conventional methods for avoiding them were insufficient. But humans of the era thought themselves masters of creating disease, you see.

Now. Carneades - he was a human philosopher of ancient Rome - in his musings on ethics and justice proposed a thought experiment later called the "Plank of Carneades". Two human sailors survive the sinking of their ship, as does a single plank which can only support one of them. One shoves the other off of this plank and keeps control over it and subsequently survives to be rescued. Is he guilty of murder, or was he acting in self-defense?

[urtitan]

[And here, Frieda hoped to no longer have to contend with such dilemmas after death... alas! While Rome - much like France and Japan mentioned earlier - doesn't exist by that name in her world, the notion of ancient philosophers isn't unfamiliar.]

...

Personally, I feel like it ought to be ruled as self-defense, but it still doesn't sit right with me. I suppose there's no right or wrong answer here, just different points of view.

[The devastating effect of the Sumatera Influenza would perhaps hit her all the harder if she knew that at the end of the events set into motion by her death, 80% of her world's human population will be erased by the very power she was meant to safeguard.]