[ Dan Heng replying is also Cassian's way of assuming he's fine. And that he hadn't disturbed his sleep. He gets the feeling that they both keep odd hours. ]
two opinions are either thorne trying to foment more disarray, or civilians not happy with the forced quarantine and deportation of heartwood victims. either way they're using it as a recruitment fodder.
a lot of the trained soldiers died in the heartwood cloud though, i don't know how they mobilized enough people to attack the capital of thorne
[ dan heng is not a tactician nor is he a soldier. his understanding of wars comes in terms of death tolls in the billions, against abominations in the abundance wars of centuries past. and an aerial bombing is something done from a starskiff, not from people constrained to horseback and who barely have firearms. ]
they've transferred the power from one monarchy to the other sidwell sounds more like a military man which might be worse than the queen Nott is the likeliest to want to separate from thorne They want their independence so they could be seen as an ally
strategically speak, yes but i can see why having the support of their people would be appealing nott's opinions might be mixed about the monarchy but they also want their independence attacking them would only hurt a future relationship with them
i did not know thorne's summoned were allowed to leave the castle besides trips to nocwich
[ he'd chosen the free cities over thorne when he'd left solvunn because he had not wanted to be locked up and unable to move about freely. the risk of being homeless for lack of coin was more appealing than a comfortable prison. ]
how so?
[ despite the late hour, the hint of information, stories, anything about a planet he's never heard of spark dan heng's interest. an echo of the dream that was not born with yinyue.
it wasn't always like this from what i understand there's been more "freedoms" granted to us because of recent events
[ As well as being paid a small stipend. That had to be petitioned though.
He might not normally be in such a sharing mood, but the remnants of guilt for forgetting the stone and sky that helped raise him and sheltered him still lingers. ]
ferrix is a working class planet the empire drops off scrap and decommissioned ships and we salvage the the parts to make our credits we look out for one another there similar to how nott looks after their own
[ he has never been to scalegorge waterscape, in his own personal recollection. but if he closes his eyes and thinks, he can fill in the gaps. better the empty garden and looming shadow of the arbor than a recreation of his cell in the shackling prison. ]
true. most of the others i've spoken to don't seem to come from spacefaring civilizations to begin with.
[ there's a long pause, almost long enough that cassian might think dan heng has finally fallen asleep from the late hour.
what was the luofu like? what was it like growing up there? darkness and isolation, no sound but the chains binding his hands and the occasional lights as the judges instructed him. dreams of the sea, of his past life's mistakes and joys. an empty marketplace with the first kiss of artificial sunlight on his neck. what else was it like? he can't say anything about what he experienced himself that sounds good, but he misses it all the same, the words on the page giving him glimpses to things his heart yearned for. ]
to be honest, i haven't been there in many years and don't know that i can do it justice. visitors are apparently often struck by the scale of the older delves, or the number of people living in them.
human lifepsans are determined by a variety of factors, but the average in most modern civilizations is upwards of seventy standard years, barring augmentation.
can i ask why [ hes too polite to say "the fuck" but it belongs here ] you seem to think i'm a different species
[ faster than the question about his home ship but slower than his dodging of the questions the night of the heartwood attack, dan heng's response appears. ]
i don't like falsehoods, cassian.
i have also had the good fortune so far of people simply accepting the person they see in front of them. if that continues, my life will remain simple.
[ its not lying. its not telling the truth either. it a request to change the conversation as much as he can without cutting off a... person who was a friend in the dream when he was solid enough to remember who he was, perhaps. enough for dan heng to resist the impulse to lie and flee the conversation entirely, running from his past as well as the unwelcome questions. ]
[ He's certain about his instincts, but he's in no mood or mind to pressure Dan Heng into admitting something that he doesn't seem readily open to sharing yet. There's another beat before another message comes through with what he hopes reads as sincerity. ]
if it's worth anything at all i do accept you stay safe
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any idea why there was arson in the first place?
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two opinions are either thorne trying to foment more disarray, or civilians not happy with the forced quarantine and deportation of heartwood victims. either way they're using it as a recruitment fodder.
a lot of the trained soldiers died in the heartwood cloud though, i don't know how they mobilized enough people to attack the capital of thorne
[ dan heng is not a tactician nor is he a soldier. his understanding of wars comes in terms of death tolls in the billions, against abominations in the abundance wars of centuries past. and an aerial bombing is something done from a starskiff, not from people constrained to horseback and who barely have firearms. ]
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have the recruitment efforts been successful?
the attack to the garrison here looks severe
there's heavy damage to the castle and its surrounding area but nott seems untouched
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i don't know much about thorne; would nott be a strategic target?
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they've transferred the power from one monarchy to the other
sidwell sounds more like a military man which might be worse than the queen
Nott is the likeliest to want to separate from thorne
They want their independence so they could be seen as an ally
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isn't nott geographically vulnerable? its a landlocked city on a landlocked body of water.
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but i can see why having the support of their people would be appealing
nott's opinions might be mixed about the monarchy but they also want their independence
attacking them would only hurt a future relationship with them
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whatever their reason it's good they didn't attack nott
they've been through enough as it is
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[ There's a pause before - ]
nott reminds me of the place i came from
[ Only a little though. ]
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[ he'd chosen the free cities over thorne when he'd left solvunn because he had not wanted to be locked up and unable to move about freely. the risk of being homeless for lack of coin was more appealing than a comfortable prison. ]
how so?
[ despite the late hour, the hint of information, stories, anything about a planet he's never heard of spark dan heng's interest. an echo of the dream that was not born with yinyue.
so, tell him more, brother dirt. ]
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there's been more "freedoms" granted to us because of recent events
[ As well as being paid a small stipend. That had to be petitioned though.
He might not normally be in such a sharing mood, but the remnants of guilt for forgetting the stone and sky that helped raise him and sheltered him still lingers. ]
ferrix is a working class planet
the empire drops off scrap and decommissioned ships and we salvage the the parts to make our credits
we look out for one another there similar to how nott looks after their own
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[ dan heng thinks about the shells of ships sitting with closed hatches, of skeletons of junk growing coats of rust and dirt. ]
i see.
that explains your domain a little better
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it's the least they can do
no. just that they malfunctioned
it's the place i last came from
it was the freshest in my mind
[ It's more than that of course. And not even where he was from originally. But that's not something he feels the need to divulge at this moment. ]
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[ is he being uncharitable and untrusting? yes. is he right? also yes. ]
i understand. the first version of mine, before i started testing the spatial compression properties, was one of the delves on my home ship.
[ Cassian extended the courtesy of an explanation to him, and its only fair to offer one in return as well. ]
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your home ship?
you were raised and lived on it?
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yes. is that so strange?
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it's not uncommon in my galaxy
you're just the first person that i've met here that has said they're raised on one
[ There's a brief pause as if he considers what he's sending. ]
what was it like?
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[ there's a long pause, almost long enough that cassian might think dan heng has finally fallen asleep from the late hour.
what was the luofu like? what was it like growing up there? darkness and isolation, no sound but the chains binding his hands and the occasional lights as the judges instructed him. dreams of the sea, of his past life's mistakes and joys. an empty marketplace with the first kiss of artificial sunlight on his neck. what else was it like? he can't say anything about what he experienced himself that sounds good, but he misses it all the same, the words on the page giving him glimpses to things his heart yearned for. ]
to be honest, i haven't been there in many years and don't know that i can do it justice. visitors are apparently often struck by the scale of the older delves, or the number of people living in them.
i remember it was very beautiful.
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how long have you been away?
you don't look that old
unless your people don't age as quickly as species
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six or seven years? maybe eight at this point; i can't do the conversion between the calendars on my own. surely you know what that's like.
[ hes not that old. hes not. ]
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Does that make you six to eight years old then?
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the estimate i use for work permits right now is 17
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[ He's annoying but really he just wants to know about other species and life out there. ]
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can i ask why [ hes too polite to say "the fuck" but it belongs here ] you seem to think i'm a different species
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[ How else does one say, "It's #justspacethings." ]
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[ NO, YOU. ]
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and if i weren't i wouldn't deny it either
but if you are human i apologize for assuming otherwise
[ But he has his suspicions. He spent too much time with the kid to think that all of that was entirely fiction. ]
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i don't like falsehoods, cassian.
i have also had the good fortune so far of people simply accepting the person they see in front of them. if that continues, my life will remain simple.
[ its not lying. its not telling the truth either. it a request to change the conversation as much as he can without cutting off a... person who was a friend in the dream when he was solid enough to remember who he was, perhaps. enough for dan heng to resist the impulse to lie and flee the conversation entirely, running from his past as well as the unwelcome questions. ]
fin! π
[ He's certain about his instincts, but he's in no mood or mind to pressure Dan Heng into admitting something that he doesn't seem readily open to sharing yet. There's another beat before another message comes through with what he hopes reads as sincerity. ]
if it's worth anything at all i do accept you
stay safe