001 | video

[runsthepath]

[[ooc; Blue is Ghanima. Black is Leto.]]

[ The video feed flicks on with little ado - no curses or crashing or large blurs of motion. There’s nothing besides a young teenage girl’s face - somewhere between 14 and 16 - with blond hair bobbing in a ponytail as she walks, the screen with it - blue eyes lit up with a very abnormal glow. For all

Comments

[urnotafraid]

[Perma-Video]

[ Because really, what else should he do? Pretend that he didn't notice this? ]

You might have to wait for someone with a little more patience to get a story around here.

[besidethepath]

[ She blinks for a moment, expression neutral ]

Why is that?

[urnotafraid]

It's been one of those weeks where the people running this place decided to have a little fun involving poison and handcuffs. Some people are still recovering from it.

[besidethepath]

[ Her brows knit ]

...And you have these kind of weeks often?

[urnotafraid]

I've only been here for about a month or so. Some of the other people say they had to deal with a memory eating tree or something.

[besidethepath]

[ The look of concern continues, only deepening. ]

Does this tree remain?

[urnotafraid]

Don't think so, but most people have been a bit vague about some things.

[ Not that he cares what had happened. He is just annoyed at ending up here still living. ]

So how about a name? I didn't catch one in your conversation earlier.

[besidethepath]

[ She nods. She'll look into it herself sometime and save Sho the interrogation. ]

Ghanima Atreides, of Arrakis. My brother is Leto. And you?

[urnotafraid]

Sho.

[ He probably could find information on it if he wanted to - these phones save it after all. He just decided not to. ]

From Mallepa in China.

[besidethepath]

[ Oh damn, and right back to concern. ] ...I've never heard of Mallepa. [ Which is an issue. There's very little she hasn't heard of. So, actually... it's kind of exciting. Knowing everything isn't all that fun. She tilts her head and gets a curious sort of smile. ]

What is it like? As the rest of China, or special in it's own way?

[urnotafraid]

I'm not surprised. A lot of people never heard of it.

[ He'll note that it made her seem surprised and leans back against the wall while digging through his memories. ]

It was created during the economic crash at the turn of the century. It's founding principle was to encourage free growth of jobs and businesses without any taxes or levies getting in the way of new economic growth. It didn't matter what race you were from just as long as you worked and rebuilt the economy so a lot of people from around came to it looking for a new start.

[ Despite the blue eyes, he is Japanese, even if the accent is faint in his English. He loves his home city but he also knows its flaws and its secrets. ]

It ended up becoming a home to mobs and gangs. Normal people did live there and worked, but they had to follow the rules of where they lived. Some of the bosses were okay and some were assholes.

[ He was a boss and he liked to think he was fair, making his district grow and become stable for the families there. ]

[besidethepath]

[ She takes in the accent, notes the tones he speaks of his city in. It's a cherished home to him - as Arrakis is to her. She hangs on every syllable, reading in what she can, though there is a... difference to his mannerisms and tendencies. She can't help but be intrigued. A universe of surprises. All her and Leto had ever hoped for. She pays rapt attention, like a child listening to a compelling story, trying to glean as much of the place from him as she can. ]

It was a hard place - as a parent is, and none know a place's flaws better than the children it holds closest. [ She pauses, chewing at a lip. ] You were one of them, weren't you? Do you miss it? Your Mallepa?

[urnotafraid]

It was hard, but there were times when I missed the hardness. In those days, I had never laughed so much no matter what I was facing down. [ Four street kids and a homeless monster, fighting and laughing under the moon without a care for what will appear in the sunlight. ]

I was the head of the Japanese district. A good place to live considering at how poor it had been when I was a kid. [ He twists a silver ring on his thumb - the bling covering him looked comfortable on him, the braids snaking over his shoulder weighed down by more jewels. Status symbols and a dare as well - arrogance and pride worn for all the see. ]

I miss the people. Mallepa accepted everyone no matter who they were before or where they came from. I could step outside and hear Arabian and Chinese, hawk wares with a Parisian and a Russian and then grab some real Cajun gumbo for lunch.

[besidethepath]

Dirt is dirt and sand is sand. The people make a city a home. Laughter in difficult times makes the hardship the brightest times in our memories. [ She smiles, remembering days past in the memories of her own flesh - not the multitude - of times spent sneaking around with Leto, getting themselves into any manner of trouble. But laughter is an activity done in company. ] Who is it you laughed with?

[ She glances over the decoration in his hair, his jewelry, marking it for what it is, and despite the arrogance and pride, something of his still seems like the boy he must have once been, how far beyond it in mind and body and species he is now - and it is obvious there is something inhuman in him. The thought he's kept what he was warms her heart. ] You were good to them, weren't you? Or you tried to be?

It seems like a Utopia for some, despite it's flaws. It is rare to have differences coincide so easily. [ She doubts it was really so peaceful, but in comparison to Arrakis, a place with cultures melting together side by side seemed

[urnotafraid]

Kids I grew up with. Toshi and Son, Yi-Che and Shinji. And Kei. We were a bunch of homeless punks but then everything caught up to us. Toshi was killed, Son and Shinji went their own ways and I married Yi-Che.

[ All dead, even Kei now. It was nice that his daughter was out there, living free of his past and taking the talents given by him and his wife for something good. If Kei was here he would probably thank him again for taking care of her. ]

I was good to them as best I could be. [ He had to pay lipservice to other groups - who didn't? - but he always stood his ground on how far they could push him. All the years of training himself to use Kei's teachings gave him a deadly reputation when angered. ]

There will always be fighting between groups no matter where you go, but I had encouraged cooperation between everyone in my area. [ People were people no matter what they call their homeland. He accepted everyone, even the vampire that would later change him into one

[runsthepath]

[Butting in.]

You were one of them.