182 Near Disasters

[cal_sitter]

Congratulations, City. Gold star.

Comments

[hundredflowers]

Not like the City ever needs congratulations.

[cal_sitter]

Nor does it care.

[hundredflowers]

Nope.

Saw something that you'd rather you didn't?

[cal_sitter]

Isn't that the usual way of things here?

[hundredflowers]

Judging from the Network, yes.

I haven't been cursed yet myself, though.

[cal_sitter]

Still new?

[hundredflowers]

By most standards, I guess. I've been here for a little over half a month, now. My name is Hong Mei.

[cal_sitter]

Niko Leandros.

Where are you originally from, Hong Mei?

[hundredflowers]

It's good to meet you, Niko. That's a name I might actually be able to pronounce.

I'm from the People's Republic of China. It was February 1967 when I left, so... both time and space displacement, I guess. And you?

[cal_sitter]

We'll give my mother credit for doing one kindness to strangers, then.

New York City, forty years later. The timeline becomes confusing once you've gone home and come back several times over.

[hundredflowers]

Strained relationship with your mother, then, I'm guessing. I won't ask.

How long have you been in the City, total? I hear so many people talk about how they end up staying here for years, and it's just hard to imagine being stuck in a place like this for so long.

[cal_sitter]

If you watch the network long enough, I'm sure the City will see to it any questions you might have are answered.

A year and a half as of six days ago. Three returns home over the course of six months as time passes in New York.

[hundredflowers]

I'll try not to have any questions in that area, then, rather than simply not voice them.

A whole year and a half... but you managed to have three returns home, at least. Or, well, I suppose what bugs is never really how often or how long one can be at home, but the unpredictability of it all.

[cal_sitter]

You can look at it that way. Sometimes the City could be pleasant if not for the waiting. For a few of us it's safer than home.

[hundredflowers]

I don't know about it being safer; I don't feel that I've been around long enough to tell. But I think that it's easier to identify with other people, here. We're all facing the same things, hurdles, so forth. We all know that this world is real, that certain aspects of it are real.

Whereas back home, everything's kind of... hidden. At least, in my world.

[cal_sitter]

Chinese history isn't my area of concentration, but I'm aware of some of what happened during your time, at least as it's been recorded in my world.