I Could Talk to You All Night...
Setsa shakes her head and clears it from her dream at the sight of you in full gear holding a drugged Nyuanda in your arms like a huge bag of taters. She raises an eyebrow. The gig is up.
You shove Nyuanda into Setsa's closet. "What on earth are doing?" she asks.
"Not so loud!" you beg.
"... What *are* you doing?" Setsa quiets down.
"Just... sneaking around. But don't alert anybody, please? As a friend?"
"Well... I guess the interplay of personal relationships *does* play a part in acts of ninjitsu," she agrees.
Very true; many a good ninja wouldn't be where they were without some key bribes and handshakes, or promises of service made. You're off the hook and she wouldn't dream suspect that you'd steal from the Master for your test.
"So... what was all that about American and European and all that stuff?" you change the subject quickly. A few minutes of conversation will throw her well off the trail.
This comment changes Setsa's tone dramatically. A worried look comes into her eyes, the look of one set on the precipice of fate and knowing that someone will in short order arrive to push her over. She looks at the floor, then you.
"Something's happening to us... or is *going* to happen to us," she says fearfully. "Something... something that has to do with dragons."
"Dragons?" you ask. Where'd that come from?
Setsa nods. All you can do is look at her quizzically while she stares straight ahead, at a candle burning slowly on a nightstand to your left.
"I think... I think soon we will *become* dragons," Setsa expounds, "and I think Master Tobuo knows something about it. And if we do... we'll become a European, Asian, African, North or South American style of dragon... because that's... how they're classified."
A beat passes. Is she serious? Yeah, she's serious. This is... rather more intense than you'd planned on.
"Who told you all this?" you ask.
Setsa looks at you again.
"The dragons did... in my dream. They're going to tell you, too! They've been," Setsa gulps back sudden tearful eyes, "*Conditioning* us with their fire, in the dreams, and... Oh..."
Out of words, she buries her head in her arms. You're now at an impasse. On the one hand, this stuff is *deep,* and obviously discomforting Setsa, a situation you feel obligated to remedy. On the other hand, the night's draining away rapidly...
Written by Mr.Peaches on 19 November 2006