Phone Post
Phone Post
223K 7:31 "Hey guys. In an area that I can call and check in. Seriously, that "Can you hear me now?" guy hasn't gotten to a lot of this continent yet.
Just wanted to let everybody know that all's okay. Lessee, last time I did the phone postage, I hadn't found Mariasha yet, huh? Not like she wanted to be found. She'd been around the Khan el-Khalili her whole life, living the klepto life. She doesn't have much in the way of family. Her new slayerness made stealing a hell of a lot easier, so she'd been doing pretty well for herself. And my translation book didn't help with all the words I needed to tell her what'd happened to her once I did find her. Talking her into going to training took a while. Finally convinced her that the school in London would be way better than where she was. So if anybody talks to Giles, tell him to keep and eye out for her. She isn't much for trusting, but she's a good kid.
While I was still in the city, I got a jeep, 'cause I was going to need it to get to place to place with all the junk I've got with me. Then the next hard part was getting across the border. Finally got a ferry over at the High Dam to take me into Sudan.
And here's another reason that calling has been less than cake lately. Traveling through Sudan? Some pretty intense stuff. Guess the council had to pull a whole fistful of strings to even get me the visa. Roads are more like paths - the whole concept of paving hasn't exactly caught on. You have to register with police stations wherever you go as soon as you get there, and by police I mean more like military. And if you're outside wandering around between midnight and five in the morning? The police-types will grab you and check your paperwork. Explaining why I'm in their country, and why I have a stake in my jacket pocket whenever I get searched - yeah, not so easy. Plus, I registered with the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, just in case. Y'see, a lot of this country's in the middle of a beyond nasty civil war, mainly in the south. Like where I am now.
I have to say I'm actually missing the insane city-ness of Cairo when I compare it to this. I've seen a lot of hellmouthy badness in my time, yeah, but this is something else. A very bad else. The military stuff's still in my head, so I understand more than I really want to understand, but that's not helping when I see what I see.
This place has more badness, too. Alcohol's banned here, and they actually whip people who drink. That's messed up. They're mega-religious here. Malaria's a big problem too. Even when I got all those vaccinations, it didn't really hit me that people actually got this stuff. But they do, and I'm not describing it. Oh, and electricity's nowhere near reliable, so I'm glad I'm stocked with supplies. Wait, let me think of something positive... oh, hey, there's this tea stuff called shai saada that rocks.
Got a little further to go, and it's gotten harder the further south I go, but I'm almost through the country and into Kenya. That's the next official Council-ordered stop for me. Hoping the Sudan People's Liberation Army people let me across the border. But I've been thinking - there's gotta be more slayers in this huge place than the few the council's gotten reports about. Communication's not all that great where I've been so far. So I've been keeping my ears open, hoping for English and getting the books out when it's not. Because there's got to be some stories starting to circle about girls who all of a sudden have powers, who defend their homes or leap tall building in a single bound or something. And there's nobody else in the huge place that can help them learn who they are now and why. So I've gotta do whatever I can to make sure we find the unfound ones along with the sorta-found ones. Because, like I've said before, this is our fault. We can't undo what's done, so we gotta deal with things as they are, right?
Had a lot of think-time on this trip so far, actually, but that'll all wait until some other phone time. Had another babble-fest with this one. Gotta hit the road, anyway. You guys take care."
Transcribed by: red_witch
223K 7:31 "Hey guys. In an area that I can call and check in. Seriously, that "Can you hear me now?" guy hasn't gotten to a lot of this continent yet.
Just wanted to let everybody know that all's okay. Lessee, last time I did the phone postage, I hadn't found Mariasha yet, huh? Not like she wanted to be found. She'd been around the Khan el-Khalili her whole life, living the klepto life. She doesn't have much in the way of family. Her new slayerness made stealing a hell of a lot easier, so she'd been doing pretty well for herself. And my translation book didn't help with all the words I needed to tell her what'd happened to her once I did find her. Talking her into going to training took a while. Finally convinced her that the school in London would be way better than where she was. So if anybody talks to Giles, tell him to keep and eye out for her. She isn't much for trusting, but she's a good kid.
While I was still in the city, I got a jeep, 'cause I was going to need it to get to place to place with all the junk I've got with me. Then the next hard part was getting across the border. Finally got a ferry over at the High Dam to take me into Sudan.
And here's another reason that calling has been less than cake lately. Traveling through Sudan? Some pretty intense stuff. Guess the council had to pull a whole fistful of strings to even get me the visa. Roads are more like paths - the whole concept of paving hasn't exactly caught on. You have to register with police stations wherever you go as soon as you get there, and by police I mean more like military. And if you're outside wandering around between midnight and five in the morning? The police-types will grab you and check your paperwork. Explaining why I'm in their country, and why I have a stake in my jacket pocket whenever I get searched - yeah, not so easy. Plus, I registered with the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, just in case. Y'see, a lot of this country's in the middle of a beyond nasty civil war, mainly in the south. Like where I am now.
I have to say I'm actually missing the insane city-ness of Cairo when I compare it to this. I've seen a lot of hellmouthy badness in my time, yeah, but this is something else. A very bad else. The military stuff's still in my head, so I understand more than I really want to understand, but that's not helping when I see what I see.
This place has more badness, too. Alcohol's banned here, and they actually whip people who drink. That's messed up. They're mega-religious here. Malaria's a big problem too. Even when I got all those vaccinations, it didn't really hit me that people actually got this stuff. But they do, and I'm not describing it. Oh, and electricity's nowhere near reliable, so I'm glad I'm stocked with supplies. Wait, let me think of something positive... oh, hey, there's this tea stuff called shai saada that rocks.
Got a little further to go, and it's gotten harder the further south I go, but I'm almost through the country and into Kenya. That's the next official Council-ordered stop for me. Hoping the Sudan People's Liberation Army people let me across the border. But I've been thinking - there's gotta be more slayers in this huge place than the few the council's gotten reports about. Communication's not all that great where I've been so far. So I've been keeping my ears open, hoping for English and getting the books out when it's not. Because there's got to be some stories starting to circle about girls who all of a sudden have powers, who defend their homes or leap tall building in a single bound or something. And there's nobody else in the huge place that can help them learn who they are now and why. So I've gotta do whatever I can to make sure we find the unfound ones along with the sorta-found ones. Because, like I've said before, this is our fault. We can't undo what's done, so we gotta deal with things as they are, right?
Had a lot of think-time on this trip so far, actually, but that'll all wait until some other phone time. Had another babble-fest with this one. Gotta hit the road, anyway. You guys take care."
Transcribed by: red_witch