Quinze

[wafels]

Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me.

Where th' hell am I supposed to find a yak? Let alone a thousand of 'em? Anyone seen a yak around lately?

Comments

[rogue_crow]

I am supposed to find any in town, myself; if either of us find a yak, we could let the other know!

Personally, I don't believe there are any.

[wafels]

Geez, that's just...

If I find one I'll let you know. I need to count "up to 1000" in just a few days!

[rogue_crow]

Hmm. Well, were you merely ordered to count them? And not, say, prove that the yaks you counted ever actually existed? You may have been given a job just as easy as mine, in that case.

[wafels]

That's what I'm hoping, yeah. I mean, technically counting zero is still counting "up to a thousand."

[rogue_crow]

Very true. So try not to worry! After all, the worst that can happen is a horrible death.

[wafels]

That's... not really reassuring.

[rogue_crow]

Well, it would be a crime to lie to a beautiful woman. Surely you were aware of as much in any case, yes?

[wafels]

*Aw, a compliment. SHE GETS SO FEW* Well, yeah. It's just... sayin' it out loud is somethin' else, y'know?

[rogue_crow]

Better to be prepared for the worst, nonetheless.

[wafels]

I've died once here already. It can't be too much worse than that, right?

[rogue_crow]

I have no idea. But I do know that countries with this much...shall we say zealous fervor?...tend to have very efficient systems for greasing the squeaking wheels. Usually with boiling oil.

[wafels]

Oh believe me, I heard all about what the Soviets used to do. We were practically right next door.

[rogue_crow]

Soviets? [Fantasy universe, checking in~]

[wafels]

Huh? You don't know the...?

Oh, right. I guess you ain't from our world, huh. Well, the Soviet Union was kinda an empire that took over a lot of Europe for about... 70 years or so? It was all like this - the state controlled everything, made you just a cog in the machine, and if you dissented you got shipped off to one of the camps if you were lucky.

I was pretty fortunate to not be in it, but... well, you heard a lot of stuff.

[rogue_crow]

I see... [He doesn't know if Europe is a country, a continent, or a planet, but he supposes it doesn't really matter save for matters of scope. The rest of the message is clear enough.] The approach is not entirely familiar to me, but I do know something about how power works. Especially power that wishes those it controls to believe they are lucky and delighted to have the leash.

[wafels]

Yeah. *She nods and sighs* It didn't work. It collapsed from the inside - but that doesn't mean living under it was any better.