One [Voice/Action]

[immamartillo]

[Voice]

[ It's been over a week since Firo arrived in Luceti. Most of that time was spent in a frantic search for some way out; he refuses to believe he's truly trapped. Even if people were right when they said time froze back home, the fear that they were wrong and simple homesickness were driving him crazy.

But days of frantic searching and

Comments

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

[Yeager, who's taken up lurking around downtown himself, happens to notice the dazed-looking man--and in particular, his fixation with the weapons shop. A newbie? Must be. Perhaps he hasn't quite grasped how things work around here. He approaches him with a friendly smile, as not to alarm him.]

Looking for something?

[action]

[immamartillo]

[ Firo's too busy staring at what may or may not be his knife to notice Yeager's approach. He jumps and inwardly curses himself for not paying enough attention. ]

I'm just... Somethin' looked kinda familiar.

[ He shouldn't get too excited. Knives are a dime a dozen, it's not surprising there's one that resembles his so strongly, is it? ]

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

It could be yours. This is where the Malnosso put whatever weapons you had on you when you were transported to Luceti.

[action]

[immamartillo]

Seriously?

[ His hand darts out to pick it up and he looks at it carefully. The hilt fits perfectly into his hand, just as he remembers it. ]

How come they take 'em away if they're just gonna give 'em back later?

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps they take inventory of them, or perhaps they just don't want you to have them when you're most scared and confused. But ja, you're free to take that now.

[action]

[immamartillo]

[ And take it he will. There's no way he's going to let a fragment of home slip away.

He raises an eyebrow. It seems like when you're most scared is the best time to have a weapon. ]

These guys are real jerks, huh?

[ Understatement of the century. ]

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

[Not to people who might be interested in keeping order among their test subjects. Best not to have some freaked-out New Feather running around with a blade, in that case. Though Yeager himself was certainly one of the arrivals that had 'finding my weapons' as one of the first tasks on his list.]

Very ruthless, ja. From what I can gather they're a corporation with massive amounts of guaranteed funding, so they have little incentive to be nice to us. Or to really communicate what they're up to, though I would certainly like to know.

[action]

[immamartillo]

A corporation?

[ He hasn't heard of any legal companies kidnapping people like this. ]

So you don't have any idea at all what they're doin' with us?

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

Mm-hm. Well, they do some kind of research with us. People are kidnapped for testing sometimes, but they don't always remember clearly what was done to them. So I can't say.

[action]

[immamartillo]

[ That sounds rather ominous. ]

...Testing? What do you mean?

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

Various things, I've heard. Pharmaceuticals, pain tolerance, psychological response...things that probably have medical or military applications.

[action]

[immamartillo]

[ A lot of the more complicated words fly right over Firo's head. He can tell that they probably aren't good. ]

What do they want with all that?

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

They're selling the data to other corporations, probably. Or using it to produce products of their own. I have heard that the technology of the barrier was developed by them, which would have a number of profitable applications, so they very well might be marketing something aside from information. Either that or they're just contracting out their equipment from their clients...

[Yes, he's thought about this. The businessman in him would love to get his hands on the Malnosso's records, just to see how they're running things. XD]

[action]

[immamartillo]

[ Firo's head is swimming but he does his best to follow along. Sorry, Yeager, he leaves most of the business stuff to the smarter people in his family. ]

There are other corporations here? It doesn't really look like there's much of anything... Do they sell it to people outside the barrier?

[action]

[ever_deceptive]

I would assume so--outside of the barrier, ja. Maybe they can do business with different worlds, too. If they have the technology to remove people from and return them to other worlds in an organized manner, then I don't think that kind of communication is too farfetched.

[Oh, and were it him, he'd so take advantage of that. Clients in as many worlds as he could handle? Heck yes.]

[action]

[immamartillo]

Do you have any idea how they do all that?

[ He doubts he could ever make use of this technology in the impossible case he ever found it, but he's still curious. ]