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[As early evening stretches shadows and forces the temperature down from Unpleasantly Hot to Basically Tolerable, Penny finishes scraping the last traces of graffiti from the Welcome Center's facade. She picks up a small stack of posters and addresses the network.]

Okay. I'm all for getting involved in what's going on in the community and freedom's a great thing, but it's been a week and I'm still picking these [a demonstrative wave of the posters] up. The graffiti's not too bad. The flyers, though? I don't know where anything in the City comes from or if we need to worry about conserving natural resources, but in most places, all of this anti-deity Cityzen stuff would be putting a dent in the tree population.

I'm not saying that stirring up some rebellion is bad. I just don't think we need to go around wallpapering the City with posters when we can talk about it. Save some trees--or whatever it is paper gets made out of here.

Oh! And sorry, but I'm not interested in any uprisings right now. Just trees. The curses've been weird enough this month without annoying the deities, right?

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[Shikieiki is fairly quiet as she steps up beside Penny, who is just finishing the cleaning work.]

Here, let me help you put this away.

[She keeps her voice down, and starts carrying the cleaning supplies back inside. Today, it's pretty warm out, so she hangs her hat and vest on a coat hook inside the Welcome Center. There's a flyer that Penny missed...she pulls it off the wall and reads it.]

This seems like poor and useless tactics...but I understand the sentiment. No sensible individual should have to suffer through a life like the sort the City provides.

Edited 2013-06-03 16:08 (UTC)

[Penny smiles as soon as her initial surprise ebbs.]

Hey, Shiki-sama. Thank you so much.

[She follows her in. Shikieiki's assessment of the situation makes her slightly uneasy.]

This might sound kind of crazy, but the City's not terrible. It can be, sure, and I definitely don't think the deities have our best interest in mind, but some people like it here. Some of us make friends we don't want to leave, or build lives that're better than what we had at home. I mean, I know a few couples who could never be together outside of the City, and they're happy.

[She notices Penny's concern and pauses, staring into the distance for a bit while collecting her thoughts.]

My apologies for lack of clarity; I did not mean that the City in principle should not exist, or that no one should be here, but that the behavior of its leadership toward the citizens here is problematic and makes living here very difficult for many.

Often people can thrive in this environment, but that does not make the deities' behavior any less reprehensible, or the experience of curses less terrible at times.

If it could be improved so that the City is peaceful and the locals can continue the lives they have built here without the curses, that would be better than the current situation.

Oh... yeah, the deities and the curses make things rough sometimes. The curses seem like an important part of the City, though. Maybe it's a trade-off, and we have to deal with the curses to stay here.

I would honestly like to know how the curses help. I did receive a statement from one of the deities saying, "my hands are tied." His, not mine. What that says to me, is that there is some sort of infrastructure or, better yet, higher power than they, that dictates how the City must be. If there is a reason for the curses, that will allay the fears and hatred of some of the population.

I ended my conversation with him there, as it took quite a lot of convincing just to get him to say that. But now I have to wonder...what else is behind this? And why must we suffer just to live here?

I've heard about those--the higher powers, I mean. I haven't seen them, but some people say they've been here. Maybe it's just a rumor. If it's true, then why wouldn't the deities say anything? You'd think they'd want to blame the curses on someone else.

I don't know. I don't want to know if finding out could upset the City.

[She sighs. Humans in their short lives are often very concerned about peace at any cost, and that includes "dealing with a negative situation far past the point of reasonable behavior."]

Sometimes pain is necessary for growth. Standing still and taking what the world throws at you is only noble if it is the best decision to make...otherwise, it is simply a fear of the unknown.

["Dealing with a negative situation far past the point of reasonable behavior" is one of Penny's talents! She can't give that up!]

I don't mind being afraid if that's what it takes to keeps people from getting hurt.

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