Open

[mourning_ghost]

Who: Nageki and You
Where: Hotsprings inn entrance
When: May 1 - May 3
Rating: PG (Hatoful virus discussion; probably should have done this earlier)
Summary: There is a large mourning dove staring at passerby.
The Story:

At some point, it seemed that the mansion had turned into a hotsprings inn. His friends certainly would have enjoyed time here. No doubt Nageki would as well, if only he knew what he was supposed to do. If he had ever seen such a place before, he certainly didn't remember it and he didn't know who he could ask. In the end, he chose to settle in a corner for a little bit and watch others as they went about their business. Just until he thought of what he wanted to do.

Comments

[mourning_ghost]

Nageki doesn't think twice about the scar. Coming from a world where humans live as hunter-gathers, it doesn't seem odd that a human would have a scar or two. The only human Nageki knew once fought a herd of water buffalo on the way to school. Or attempted to anyway.

And since Nageki knows almost nothing about human customs, the eye patch doesn't seem any weirder than the towel. He was wearing it earlier, so why wouldn't Kaneki wear the eye patch here as well?

"It's a pleasantly warm," Nageki told him, entering the bath. Mourning doves had a higher average body temperature than humans, though. Whether Kaneki agreed with Nageki's assessment remained to be seen.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

Kaneki's only ever heard of hot springs being hot or really hot, so he's not surprised when he steps into the water to find that "pleasantly warm" is a relative description.

"You're right--it's not bad." Which it to say, he doesn't feel like he's being cooked.

He takes a minute to adjust to the temperature before moving a little over to one side and finding a place to sit on a rock in the water. He watches Nageki with interest.

"You said you'd never been to a place like this. Where do you normally live?"

[mourning_ghost]

"Littledove Hachiman City in Japan." His nationality might have been obvious from his name, but Nageki wants to be sure he is answering Kaneki's question. Although, just telling Kaneki where he comes from wouldn't tell him why Nageki had never visited a ryokan or anything like it before. "You're Japanese as well, right?"

[itwouldbeatragedy]

"Right." Kaneki's never heard of such a city, but clearly their Japans are different--the fact that Nageki is a dove being just the first clue on that. "I'm from Nerima ward in Tokyo."

[mourning_ghost]

Nageki imagines that the Nerima ward isn't very different from Littledove Hachiman. Only in Kaneki's case, it's filled with humans rather than birds. It's an interesting picture, since he imagines Hiyoko when he thinks of humans.

"I'd like to see it someday," he muses. If Wonderland can change into a hot spring, why not Nerima ward?

[itwouldbeatragedy]

"Hm...I hope if you ever do, it's a little different from the version in my world." Kaneki imagines that in other worlds, Nerima is pretty much the same as in his own, just without the ghouls lurking where you least expect them. "Not that it's that bad where I'm from--it's just a little complicated. I think some alternate version might be more pleasant."

[mourning_ghost]

Nageki can understand a little. His own peculiar circumstances aside, his Earth still has it's fair share of complications. "I think I'd be happy with whatever version I saw."

Hiyoko would love to see Nerima; it would be wonderful to explore with her again.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

Kaneki smiles at that. He's not sure it's true, though a mourning dove wouldn't be in any danger from a ghoul, being inedible and all. Regardless, he appreciates the sentiment.

"I'd like to see where you're from, too. Do you have many humans there?"

[mourning_ghost]

"No. Most of them died long ago," Nageki replies. "You'd most likely die as well, if you went there." That's as much as warning as it is a statement of fact. He really doesn't want to see humans needlessly die. It's fortunate that Kaneki can't visit Nageki's world so long as nobirdie knows how to leave Wonderland.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

"W-why?" Kaneki's surprised by that information. It's a good excuse not to point out that he isn't quite human.

[mourning_ghost]

"A lot of birds carry a strain of avian influenza that's lethal to humans," Nageki explained. And, as far as he knew, nobirdie had ever come up with a way to cure it. The birds doing research probably didn't care about that very much. "Although a small section of the human population is immune."

[itwouldbeatragedy]

"Oh..." Kaneki's just old enough to remember concerns about avian flu being in the news when he was younger, though he'd never had to worry all that much about it. "Was there ever a time when humans lived along with birds?"

He wants to ask where sentient birds even came from, but that seems...not quite rude as much as insensitive.

[mourning_ghost]

"For a short period of time, perhaps." Before the war and the virus ravaged the human population. Birds must have picked up human culture from somewhere.

"There might be one in the future. A human is attending St. Pigeonation's Institute and she's been fine."

Kaneki might remember that Nageki had attempted to write to a human over the network when he first arrived.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

Kaneki does remember that, though he can't remember the name Nageki had mentioned.

"Was that the person you tried contacting when you got here?"

[mourning_ghost]

"Yes. Miss Tosaka is a friend of mine."

He'd been trying not to think about Hiyoko or how she was doing, but now that she's the object of the conversation it's hard not to. Hopefully, she and the rest of the school made it back to Earth.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

Kaneki is quiet for a moment, considering that, and the sound of the water is the only noise.

"It seems like it would be lonely for her. But with friends there, it's probably not so bad."

He doesn't mean to trivialize Nageki's friendship with her, or the friendship of birds, as opposed to humans, in general. He speaks more from his own experience having to live with both humans and ghouls when he's not properly either one.

[mourning_ghost]

Lonely? Maybe it was, although Hiyoko had always been so cheerful whenever she came to talk with him. She'd never expressed any desire to meet other humans to him or talked about anybirdie from outside the school. He knows so little about her, really.

"She always seems happy to me." Without being able to ask Hiyoko, that's all Nageki can say.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

"Then I'm probably wrong."

Kaneki offers a smile, hoping he didn't make Nageki uneasy. He decides to shift the topic away from that.

"What is your school like, Nageki-kun?"

[mourning_ghost]

"It isn't all that different from what human schools used to be like. I think they could add more books to the library, though. I've finished the fiction section already."

Which isn't actually as bad as it might sound.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

It sounds exactly like something Kaneki might have said in high school.

"What do you think of the library here? It's pretty impressive, right?"

[mourning_ghost]

"It is. And I like being able to read the books that are written in other languages."

The version of Les Miserables that Sakuya had given him was first book Nageki read in Wonderland.

[itwouldbeatragedy]

Kaneki nods, enthusiastic. "It really makes the selection expansive, doesn't it? But I wonder about the translation sometimes. I mean, at home, translators always have the problem of whether to stay true to the original text or to try to make the text relatable in a different social setting. I wonder which one Wonderland tries to do..."

[mourning_ghost]

"I wonder." Nageki hadn't thought of that until Kaneki brought it up, but it is an interesting point. "If we looked at a copy of a book that Wonderland translated and compared it one that someone else translated, we might be able to figure it out."

[itwouldbeatragedy]

"That shouldn't be too hard to do. Or we could even find someone who spoke the language the book was written in originally and compare what they read to what we read in the translated version."

[mourning_ghost]

"Do you know which way spoken words are translated?" Otherwise, the comparison might not be useful.