driftfleet | 002; i'm pulling my questions from my shelf

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002; i'm pulling my questions from my shelf

Who: Souji Seta and ... you???
Broadcast: Network; open
Action: Marsiva; kitchen; open
When: The evening of the 12th.

[Souji turns on the camera, gives it an absent glance, then sets it off to the side before returning his attention to the simmering pot on the stove in front of him.]

Seta here ... I have a question. I'm wondering, is it possible - assuming we eventually return to our assigned ships - to transfer to a different one?

[He taps the stirring spoon on the edge of the pot, then replaces the lid and turns the heat down to just below simmer.]

Also, there's a new pot of stew in the kitchen. Please come by if you're hungry.

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[Scars. Souji knows something about that. But he's genuinely curious, now.]

Is that a sign of strength?

[With one finger, he points to his face, indicating the slash mark scar across his left cheek.]

I got this when I was the demon. One of my friends from - [not home; Inaba wasn't his home, not really] - where I lived for the past year, before I started Traveling, she was there in Melasurei too. I didn't recognize her, of course.

[He drops his hand from his face and stares down at his interlaced fingers in front of him, frowning as he recounts the rest of the story.]

She has power, and the demon was ... interested in her power. Obsessed, I guess you could say. That's mostly what he thought about - how to get more power, how to manipulate people into giving him power. Taking it by force, if it was necessary. I kidnapped and tortured my friend, trying to convince her to give me her power. But she fought back.

[There are other scars acquired from that Jaunt, too: another cut on his throat, underneath his collar; teeth-shaped marks on his wrist, hidden under his sleeve. Different circumstances and a different person, but still not something Souji thinks of as being signs of strength.]

I don't think I was very strong, then.

[ Nyssa's eyes flick to where he gestures, hanging off his every word. When he's done, she nods. ]

You survived. It is proof of your strength. Under different circumstances you may have succumbed to the wounds or lost yourself to this other creature. Perhaps freedom was not fully of your own doing, but it does not change the fact.

[What she says - it's honestly the first time it's occurred to Souji to think of it in these terms. He'd only ever seen those scars as marks of shame before, tangible reminders of the wrongdoings he'd committed. It never once crossed his mind to think that he'd survived the ordeal, and the scars were proof of his tenacity.]

You're right. Thank you.