voidtreckernet

Hey, my train trekkers, my main men, my wonderful women, my koo-koo kids, and everyone and everything else in-between! This is Della Duck, reporting to you live from her cabin with a chance to feel super good about yourself! First, a bit of background info. In my world, there's an organization called - drumroll, please - theeeee...

[ She holds up a slightly tattered and worn-out book with several post-it notes on almost every page. ]

Junior Woodchucks! The BEST group ever for kids to learn all the skills under the sun and prepare them for all of life's challenges and beyond! When you accomplished something major, you earned a badge! And, no big surprise, I earned a lot of them when I was that age. And I feel like you all have accomplished SO MUCH! Whether here on the train, back home, or in other worlds we've been to, you've all got a lot to be proud of!

With that in mind, I decided to make you guys the Junior Woodchuck Badges you all deserved! I'll be going all around the train and handing them out! Even if you're a total stranger, I want to hear the things you're proud of! Because there are things we should all feel great about ourselves!

For example!

[ She fishes out some of the badges she's already made, and shows them one by one. ]

The first time you made a campfire! Or, making a new dish that's actually edible! Or putting out someone else's campfire that went wildly out of control! Master of treating injuries, making twenty friends, craftsman extraordinaire... And if what you're proud of doesn't exist in the guidebook, then phooey, I'll make it up myself! BECAUSE YOU ALL NEED TO LOVE YOURSELVES A LOT MORE!

... A-hem. See you around, guys!

[ if you'd like, feel free to go right to Action to meet her all over the train! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There was a point in his life were Wen Ning would have possibly kowtowed to that response and begged forgiveness for ever eating duck in his lifetime. To be fair, it wasn't a common meal in Qishan, given its landlocked position and general lack of lakes and rivers. Unfortunately he can't say for certain that he hasn't eaten it, since he had many varieties of meat during feasts when he was younger that he hadn't thought to ask the origins of.

But he realizes the female duck being is making fun of him, even if half the meaning of her response is lost on him through the time period and vocabulary disconnect. He bows again, looking serious but less concerned.]

I'm... not sure what that is. If you really want cake, though, I'll have to see what's available. The desserts here are... overly sweet. The cake I've seen seems filled with air to make it appear larger.

Air cake sounds horrible. Pass.

[ Finally, she lets out a little laugh. ]

But don't worry about it, I was just messing with you. I'm no god or deity or whatever - I look different, but I'm the same as you on the inside. We've got no humans on my world, though, so I can understand you being super confused.

[The cake he speaks of is actually perfectly normal by today's standards. However, Wen Ning comes from the fantasy equivalent of ancient China, where cakes weren't so large, fluffy, and covered in icing. He's not sure what to think of most of the desserts here.

At her response, he can't help but quirk an eyebrow.]

You're all... ducks?

Not all of us - we've got parrots, roosters, owls, chickens... and outside of birds, there are dogs, bears, pigs... Just no weird all flesh folk like you.

[So everything in their world is similar except that all the people are sentient ducks? That's... quite odd. Though it wouldn't be odd to her. Coming here must have been quite the culture shock.

He considers asking her if she eats things like chicken, as that sounds a little disturbing, but decides against it.]

Oh. [What else can he say?] You'd... never seen a human before at all?

Nope! And it was pretty weird, the first couple of days I was here. But eventually I chilled - like I said, we're all the same on the inside, and that's what counts.

I've made a ton of BFFs here that are humans, and at this rate, probably plenty more.

[ Pause - oh, right, not every word has that slang. ]

Best Friends Forever, by the way.

[The translation is weird, given the language discrepancy between them. 'Best Friends Forever' in Mandarin Chinese doesn't start with B, F, and F. Wen Ning just nods, though. There's a lot of things people say here that he barely understands even when the translation works perfectly.]

I'm glad that you haven't been having too much difficulty.

[He pauses.]

You mentioned junior... wood-chucks? I'm not sure what the second word is. Are they like disciples?

I guess, in a way! It's the job of the Senior Woodchucks to help guide the Juniors! We watch over them, but try not to interfere too much so they can learn and discover on their own.

And... you teach them 'everything', you said.

[Because that seems like a lot.]

Everything and anything! History, science, nature, mythology, technology, calligraphy...

I-I'm not even sure enough time exists in the world to learn everything...

[Though it does seem like a worthy goal.]

You can if you MAKE the time for it!

You can create additional time??

What? No. It just means moving your schedule around creatively, like doing more than one thing at once!

Oh.

[That does sound more reasonable.]

It still sounds like an awful lot.

Can you do everything?

Ha ha, nope! But I sure do try!

I think... I would just be overwhelmed.

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