voidtreckernet | Voice; Request

[Ran's not sure she's comfortable with being seen for this one, as it's a subject that's touching a little deeply for her, so for the moment she just sticks to voice.]

[She pulls in a soft breath.]

I . . . need some help.

I know a lot of you have met Conan-kun. He's been here for a while. There's another girl here from my world now too -- Ai-chan. If you haven't met them yet, I hope you get to soon.

What I need help with . . . They're both seven. They're both smart -- really smart -- for their age, but. They're both seven. And not fighters. The train doesn't seem to discriminate about who it takes, and yet the missions that it sends us on are dangerous.

[A pause, wrestling with her words.]

I need them both to be safe. This past time Sera-chan and I were able to be with them. But what happens if we're not able to do that? How does their safety get guaranteed?

I need a better guarantee. Please help me figure out how to keep two kids safe so I can get them back home? I'm teaching both some simpler self-defense, and that will help, but . . . I already know it's not enough.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[A whale. She's talking to a whale. Who talks back.]

[Thankfully Ran is just on voice and S'reee doesn't have to deal with the long moment of staring as Ran tries to manage the ongoing crumble of her paradigm.]

Ah-- when human children are seven, they . . . [She tries to think how to explain it. She's never had to explain it.] They're a lot smaller than the full height they're supposed to reach, and they don't have the same kind of muscle mass that an adult does. They're usually fast and have a lot of energy, but aren't always as well-coordinated. They're still learning a lot about the world and aren't very emotionally mature yet -- even though Ai-chan and Conan-kun are more so than most -- so they don't always make the best choices.

In human society . . . they're innocent. Their lives have just barely started, and they can't fully take care of themselves without relying on adults, so they need to be protected.

What you're describing sounds a lot like whales from home. There are definitely a lot of differences.

Well, it's true across species. When I first talked to humans, I was surprised that the ones I met were still living with their parents, despite their independence and maturity.

[It had taken S'reee a bit to gauge how mature Nita and Kit were, and how their human society treated them.].

I think it varies a lot. As I said, Conan-kun and Ai-chan are pretty mature for their age in some ways, but still, they wouldn't necessarily be able to live on their own and take care of themselves, and our society wouldn't allow it.

People come from a lot of different worlds here, though, so I can only speak to mine in the end.

Of course, now I'd have to check how much of that is human biology and how much of that are human cultures.

[S'reee sounds amused -- this doesn't actually bother her, and she is learning something.]

But I can keep a listen for them.

Voice; Request

Voice

Re: Voice

Voice

Re: Voice