Didn't we just do this last week?

[perpend]

[It's starting to look like this is going to be a weekly occurrence.

Just like last week, Cabanela waits a while before he makes his rounds, writing everyone quick notes and sliding them under each occupied door.]

Stay strong.
If you don't want to be alone tonight, meet in the dining hall.
-Cabanela

[Like last week, Cabanela hasn't bothered to provide anyone with food-- that would just be... rude right now, he thinks. Upon first entering, you'll notice that there are now four lit candles in the center of one of the tables.

Feel free to leave mementos for the dead; it's probably appreciated.]

Comments

[forcegalactic]

Well, I thought Dio was suspect, bein' one of the strongest guys I've ever seen, but if you were listenin' to me, we'd all be dead. Instead, here you come tellin' us to follow that awful perfume clue, and we find her.

[He doesn't betray any hint of sadness when he talks. He hadn't had much of a connection to either Byakuren or Undyne, and once the shock of them dying wore off, he had been back to normal.]

Findin' criminals part of your job in the South?

[sunsong]

Well, it just seemed weird to me.

[ The perfume, she means. And Sol shakes her head, though she'd just taken a bite. It takes a minute to answer as she chews and swallows. ]

That wouldn't exactly be hard, considerin' what Area D is. My job's more along the lines of keepin' 'em in line.

[forcegalactic]

You know, I've been curious for a long while: what is Area D? A neighborhood? One of them dome communities on Earth?

[And one last thing:] Why'd you become in charge?

[sunsong]

It's a prison island for Altered.

[ SHE SAYS THIS...A LITTLE TOO CASUALLY... ]

There're a lot of really violent criminals there, but also just a lot of people who got sent in 'cause they were found out to be Altered. As to how I'm in charge of the South, it's because of the type of Altered who mostly end up in that District. A lot of beast-type Altered, who go crazy temperwise and lose their heads, you know? Their humanity, too. They can get so mad when they're like that, and then they just...regret everything when they come back to themselves, even if they manage it. Luna and I can keep them calm and human.

[forcegalactic]

...What's an Altered? [Mutants like Tabby? Another human-like alien species? Half-human, half-supernatural creature similar to Dio?]

I still don't get why they send two kids to look after criminals? That don't seem like a safe idea, like, ever.

[Small teenagers, running a prison...it sounds like something that belongs in fiction, not real universe.]

[sunsong]

It's a mutanted human. Luna and I are both Altered...

[ And he's got one detail wrong. ]

And we're not jailers; we're prisoners. We're all expected to more or less govern ourselves once we're in. No one ever gets out.

[forcegalactic]

[What the hell?!]

They keep you trapped with actual outlaws? What kinda folks do they think they are, forcin' you to live like that? Ain't even that different from what's goin' on here!

[God, that makes him so mad. The people that run the prison are stupid for doing something as cruel as this, almost as stupid as the people that instated the Bloodsports on the Moon.]

Why'd they keep you mixed with actual terrible guys? That's the worst way to run a town I ever heard!

[sunsong]

Pretty much all Altered are considered criminals, back home. But -

[ The thing is, he kind of missed the point again. ]

- Luna and I, I don't think they're entirely wrong to classify us like that. We've made...mistakes. [ A shrug. ] As to the rest of it, it bein' run like that - I guess the general idea was "ship 'em all off to where they can't bug the rest of the world"?

[forcegalactic]

But it ain't right! Why can't there be some kinda peace treaty between you and the regular humans, if they have a problem with you that much? Don't they got those juvenile prisons they can take you instead?!

[Why is Earth so messed up?!]

They gotta know that's not gonna work at all. Someday, you're all gonna break out and start your own country, that's how it works, sometimes with a bit of riotin' and violence, but it'll happen. That's how the Robot Wars turned out, and they got their rights thanks to that.

[sunsong]

I don't know. I know they tried - I mean, there was a group tryin' to sort things out a while back. I don't remember the name. They got sold out, though, and a few of the Altered kids were killed and no one's ever really tried since. If you get found out, you get sent to Area D.

[ but MORDECAI ISN'T WRONG although he's off a bit. past her canon point, they may or may not take over area d and declare it a nation of altered...because that's going to end well...sol and luna are more resistance-aligned than aligned with that, though. ]

It's been workin' for them so far. Probably because we're not as unified as we could be, but also...I don't think a lot of us want that. I mean - Asura wants a safe place for the women. Who the fuck knows what Kidou wants...Luna and Goz and I just want to help the people who can't help themselves. But there are...other factions, besides the South and East and West.