driftfleet | ship mingle: february is for starstruckers.

[ Kubo shifts on his feet awkwardly. ]

I think so?

No strange urges? No sudden shifts in mood?

[ He relaxes slightly. It was clear now that Peggy was looking to see if he was under the same effects. ]

No, nothing like that.

It's been happening on a handful of ships. [ she lapses into thought. ] If anything changes, I hope you'll tell me. The more we know about what might be happening to our augments, the better prepared we can be.

[ Kubo nods immediately. ]

Sure, but . . . are we going to do anything about this right now? I can't even wash up.

Oh, why don't you leave them? [ she aims for impish -- trying to trick her mood into improving. ] They'll keep until the morning. And it's hardly your fault.

But who will do it?

[ Kubo is the cook and hasn't gotten the memo that he's not in charge of cleaning everything and making sure things are okay. It's an unconscious habit to tidy up and get ready for the next day. ]

Someone else. Me, perhaps, if I'm feeling more -- buoyant. Or Steve when he comes in for coffee. Hell, I bet we could even talk Max into scrubbing up. If we're lucky, it might get some of the grime off him too.

It's not his fault. He's just not used to it.

[ Kubo couldn't help feeling a little defensive for Max. ]

I'm still not used to it.

-- Whoa, now. Meant nothing by it. [ her tone turns shrewd. careful. ] Believe you me, Max wouldn't have minded me saying it. It might be tough to picture, but I'm no stranger to muck myself.

You aren't? What did you do?

[ she doesn't lie about these things -- not anymore. it's a bit silly, given present circumstances, to hide something that doesn't need hiding. ]

There was a war. [ peggy also knows enough to recognize that she can't say the war. not to him. he hasn't got the same frame of reference. ] A lot of people ended up fighting in it, including yours truly.

[ A war. Kubo's father was a samurai. Most likely he fought in a few wars. He had an army of his own, after all. ]

What were you fighting for?

-- See, that's a funny little question. The war was so big and involved so many people that the reason depends an awful lot on who you ask.

[ though her mood is stabilizing. neither bad nor good. ]

In a very real sense, it was a war against bullies. [ she's always appreciated the way steve phrases it, though she's only read it in erskine's files. ]

[ Kubo's expression is faintly disbelieving. A war against bullies seems a bit much, but he also knows that he's been given the basic gist. It's not an easy topic to condense and he's not from that world either.

Kubo is not pacifistic either. Not too long ago, he was ready to kill his grandfather. ]

I don't think it's a funny question. War is complicated. If it was easy, then there wouldn't be a war at all.

Well said. [ a soft hum. ] The war I'm describing? They've taken to calling it a world war. It wasn't one nation against another, but many nations against many other nations. The fight spanned continents.

So . . . everyone was fighting?

Not everyone. But a whole bloody lot of them.

It must be hard for the people who don't want to be involved.

Yes, well -- so many able bodies were needed for the fighting, Kubo, that they began to conscript them. [ ... ] Are you familiar with conscription?

Noo?

. . . Should I be?

Heavens, I think not. [ she considers it a good thing that he isn't. ] But it's when a nation forces its citizens to join up in order to fight a war -- because they can't rely on volunteers any longer.

I don't think anything is going to happen on my world. It's too . . . big. Vast.

[ He pauses because Kubo knows he's not explaining himself well. ]

We have an emperor but I doubt anyone would want to conquer what we have.

[ she's about to say that she hopes it's true, except -- ]

What sort of emperor is he?

[ Kubo shrugs. He has no idea. ]

We just sort of know he's there. It's a large land, with mysteries and magic. I doubt even he knows the full reach of it.

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