caughtinanetwork

In light of recent events, I'm postponing my proposed celebration on December 21st to the 27th.

Since this is no longer the last palindromic date of the year, the nature of the party will also change. Coincidentally, Yukio and Rin Okumura's birthdate falls on that day, so it's only prudent to call it a birthday party.

[Ladies and gentlemen, the most unsubtle suggestion to go cheer Rin up ever.

This announcement completed, all while in the impeccable, symmetrically arranged confines of Kid's room, the young grim reaper changes the subject, holding up a small box, and in his other hand appears to be the (gently wrinkled) precisely folded square of the wrapping paper that previously covered it.]

The second order of business has to do with this gift I discovered earlier.

[It's a gorgeously-crafted silver ring with an absolutely stunning (and rare) blue diamond. Kid looks none too pleased to be in possession of it, however.]

I'm afraid I must decline your proposal publicly, since you couldn't see fit to present your request in person.

[Guess who was too busy carefully preserving the wrapping paper as he unwrapped the present to notice the tag? THIS GUY.]

If you're willing to go this far, then offer me a matching set. Besides! [There's a loud thumping, as Kid is apparently stomping his foot in outrage.] You have the order all wrong!! I'm not the one who receives a ring!

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I do hope so. And it's unbecoming to fret about an object, no matter the value.

[Thanks to Maka being well-informed and reasonable, he can relax a little, and calm the hell down.]

These natives... really don't have the first idea about Christmas, do they? Those tasteless ornaments, that ridiculous costumed crustacean, and now this?

Not. Really.

[There's an odd twitch going on in her eye and a visible gritting of her teeth.]

Their idea of an April Fool's day prank was killing one of the nurses and making everyone think there was a serial killer on the loose. [Again.]

[Hang on, Maka, it takes a second for Kid to realize the prank wasn't a pretend killing.]

Sorry. I must have misheard. I thought you said the natives committed murder as a prank.

Actually, it was the nurses at the clinic. But close enough.

...I'm not kidding.

And they got away with it?

[For that matter, how does anyone trust the clinic with their lives?]

There's nothing anybody can really do about them. They're the ones that are maintaining us in Vatheon, there's no laws here, the closest thing to any rules set are what they decree.

[And no, she does not trust anybody at the clinic at all and never goes there.]

How utterly revolting!

[And Maka's been living under such deplorable conditions for over a year.]

What's wrong with these people?

...Has...has nobody told you about the experiment aspect of Vatheon yet?

[Oh boy.]

We're all here as an experiment...there's some hint that the natives are sedated, so that's why they behave the way they do.

And no one knows the very purpose of the experiment?

[He'd assume so, or someone would have mentioned it by now.]

Are the curses part of it, then, along with the marks given each of us upon arrival?

Mhm...though there's a database of information that people have found in our SFCs. It can explain things a lot better than I can.

A database?

[Oh, that's very interesting. And convenient, seeing as he wouldn't have to go digging up information that other people have already discovered. There's much to appreciate about people having the foresight to make it readily available to others, when in a place where they might vanish away again at any time.]

In our communicators? I didn't realize this was a storage device as well.

[We can all tell what Kid will be spending all night doing!]

Yeah, the tech people in the Defense Force have really done a lot. Much more than the technology of our world ever accomplished! Did you know that everything can be wireless now in other worlds?

...Wireless?

You mean like a satellite phone?

[SHOCK AND AWE. Sure, they're from a weird kind of 2003 where cell phones weren't really a big thing yet, and bluetooth technology was on the very bleeding edge of new technology.

But are you really surprised? Their moon cackles like a lunatic, and their god is a weeaboo.]

I've heard the Defense Force mentioned before. What are they, exactly?

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