ABS FIESTA REDUX

[CypherX]

Gus shakes his head definitively and closes his eyes, clasping his hands behind his head as he leans back and waits for the inevitable.

[Ad Bot]

[Qwepir]

"Do you ever pet 'em?" she asks, grinning a bit.

: Yes.

"Or let them lick your hand?"

: No.

"I certainly doubt the slave benefits from the labor. And you want to talk about industrial scales? Half of the Delta's inhabitants were slaves. Your country needed slaves so bad that you were linked to a human trafficking operation in Gervasia. I'd bet if your countries slaves were freed then the Delta would have broken up faster than when they all realized we were steamrolling them. Nor do we have Aesthian poor fight in gladiatorial pits or commit to terms of service just to stop being second class citizens," Jaakko retorts.

He looks unamused.

: That human trafficking operation was handled ourselves. The governor tied to the act was tried, stripped of his office and executed as soon as we found out, but Gervesia declared war on us anyway! They have hated us for years, this was just an opportunity for them to play victim and get their allies to attack us. You even said it- half of our population were indentured! Abducting residents of another country is universally agreed upon as a very poor thing to do, so why would the Emperor approve of an operation which could ruin foreign relations with the entire world for what, twenty laborers? For an empire with a population in the millions? Does that make sense to you?

[Badger]

"Thank you for the offer but I have to drive back the 4x4 anyways."

Walter stands up and pulls out the keys from his pocket, also patting where the envelope is to check if it's still there.

[carolcat]

: Yes.

"What about playing with them? Ever played tug-o-war with one?"

[Mr. Hurricane]

"Really? We heard nothing of a trial or execution," Jaakko responds in harsh tone.

[Qwepir]

"What about playing with them? Ever played tug-o-war with one?"

: What is that?

"Really? We heard nothing of a trial or execution," Jaakko responds in harsh tone.

: Why would you have? The Goths do not tell their people the whole story either. Getting into wars is hard when you have an informed populace.

[carolcat]

: What is that?

"It's where you take like, a big rope or something, and you let the dog hold one end of it in his mouth, and you hold the other end. The dog pulls on its end, and you pull on yours. When he lets go, you throw the rope, and the dog will run and bring it back to you. Then you repeat the process," she explains, sounding almost excited for once.

"Of course, you would have to be careful not to hurt the dogs, since I'd imagine you're... quite a bit stronger than they are," she adds quickly.

[Mr. Hurricane]

"Show me that your government took care of it, because we've heard nothing about it aside from the Gervasians, human trafficking, and the war declaration,"

[ZombiLoin]

Xiaomei looks Faw over.
: You look like stuff. What happened?

Faw raises the cup of tea and holds it in front of his mouth. He purses his lips and blows over the tea. After a second of cooling it down he pushes it to his lips and takes a sip of it. When he's done he lowers the cup and addresses Xiaomei in a weary tone.

"My father had a litte... problem. Also, two of my squadmates were downed and almost died, and I nearly got checked out myself."

He takes another sip of tea.

"Oh yeah, I lost to Tempest. I almost had him, but I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

[CypherX]

"You shouldn't need to be told how difficult that would be, considering we helped burn the Delta to the ground. Do you keep documents about Aesthian collateral figures during Frost Eagle on your person at all times?"

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko really thinks about it.

"Well, forget. Right. Everything down there is gone,"

He palms his head, considering how angry he'd gotten. Jaakko reminds himself that though Coaxoch may be misguided, she's still a person first. He remembers that it is likely her home and its possessions have been destroyed or looted.

"I will concede that I've thought about it a lot. For all the stuff the Delta did, they didn't deserve the end they received. Four explosions, nuclear armed rebels. I remember thinking about it. It's a global catastrophe, the stuff down there, I can't imagine what it would be like to have to live down there right now,"

Jaakko vividly remembers Tocatlan.

[Qwepir]

"It's where you take like, a big rope or something, and you let the dog hold one end of it in his mouth, and you hold the other end. The dog pulls on its end, and you pull on yours. When he lets go, you throw the rope, and the dog will run and bring it back to you. Then you repeat the process," she explains, sounding almost excited for once.

"Of course, you would have to be careful not to hurt the dogs, since I'd imagine you're... quite a bit stronger than they are," she adds quickly.

: I see.

Faw raises the cup of tea and holds it in front of his mouth. He purses his lips and blows over the tea. After a second of cooling it down he pushes it to his lips and takes a sip of it. When he's done he lowers the cup and addresses Xiaomei in a weary tone.
"My father had a litte... problem. Also, two of my squadmates were downed and almost died, and I nearly got checked out myself."
He takes another sip of tea.
"Oh yeah, I lost to Tempest. I almost had him, but I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

: Lost what?

"Show me that your government took care of it, because we've heard nothing about it aside from the Gervasians, human trafficking, and the war declaration,"

Musashi shoots you a look of disgust and contempt, as though you just expelled flatulence out of your mouth instead of words. Coaxoch just holds her head in her hands, clearly frustrated.

"You shouldn't need to be told how difficult that would be, considering we helped burn the Delta to the ground. Do you keep documents about Aesthian collateral figures during Frost Eagle on your person at all times?"

: Exactly, thank you. I seriously do not have anything I could use to show you our side of the story.

Jaakko really thinks about it.

"Well, forget. Right. Everything down there is gone,"

He palms his head.

"I will concede that I've thought about it a lot. For all the stuff the Delta did, they didn't deserve the end they received. Four explosions, nuclear armed rebels. I remember thinking about it. It's a global catastrophe, the stuff down th-

Coaxoch cuts Jaakko off.
: I am aware.

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko buries his face in his hands and reflects on how he's gotten into another argument and is getting venomous looks all around. He tells himself that it has to stop, that he can't afford a poor image as flight lead.

He runs his hands through his hair, then rests his head in his palm, leaning against the table. He can't bring himself to swallow his pride and own up to his own bullstuff, a principle which he had tried to guide himself by. His eyes are still shut. He thinks to himself about alienating his squadron and other squadrons, wondering how much he'd done so far and if it could be undone, which he reasons that it could, but it would take far more time or effort.

He reasons that he may as well not share his opinions concidering that he seems to either hold the unpopular ones, or be flat wrong in everyone else's eyes. Jaakko sees the danger of going to far and not talking with his squadron could result in other problems.

Jaakko sits at the table silently, concentrating on his thoughts with his head resting in the palm of his hand.

[ZombiLoin]

: Lost what?

"Oh. Right."

Faw looks a little bit surprised.

"Sorry. I lost a game of chess to him."

He thinks about it for a moment.

"That sounds ridiculous now that I'm saying it out loud."

He lets out a short chuckle, then goes back to eating his food.

[CypherX]

Gus seizes the lull in conversation to change the topic.

"What do you plan to do once you get settled in in Kintharian? Job and all that."