text; un: reiner

[hometown]

I've got a question for anyone willing to answer.

Would you say you come from a generally peaceful world or a violent one?

Comments

un: acala

[wild_romance]

If you live in polite society, it's more peaceful. For everyone else, it is what it is.

[hometown]

[ "Polite society"? Reiner isn't sure that means the same thing across worlds, so he takes a swing: ]

By "polite society," do you mean rich people?

[wild_romance]

The rich benefit from society, but are as corrupt and dangerous as the criminals.

Katagi is... decent life, following the rules, putting society before yourself, contributing to the whole. Everyone follows the rules and, in theory, nobody's getting hurt. Most of the time. They rely on the police or the yakuza to do all the fighting and dishonorable work.

[hometown]

So it's still a violent world. It's just the side that's mostly protected and sheltered from bloodshed.

[wild_romance]

Has anyone come forward with a truly peaceful world?

[hometown]

A few have, yeah. It's hard for me to wrap my head around.

[wild_romance]

Sounds like you've had a hard time.

[hometown]

[ There is a pause before Reiner responds. Has he had a hard time? Right now, he can't honestly say one way or the other. Ultimately, he's certain he's caused far more harm than he's suffered. ]

It's all relative, right? Some things that are normal to me sound horrible to others and vice versa.

Most of my own experiences with violence involve war and giant, man-eating creatures. So my perspective is skewed compared to a civilian from my world.

[wild_romance]

Giant man-eating creatures is out of my wheelhouse.

The peace is nice, but I also don't know what to do with myself when there isn't an emergency every minute of the day.

[hometown]

It's weird, isn't it? Who knew all this free time could feel daunting?

[wild_romance]

Might be time to pick up a hobby.

[hometown]

Maybe so. Got any suggestions? Or are you looking for one yourself?

[wild_romance]

Thinking about some hobbies I had to put down when I got a real job.

I haven't worked on a motorcycle or a car in years.

[hometown]

Oh, wow, you work on those? They're very rare where I'm from.

[wild_romance]

My country manufactures them, among other things.

[hometown]

Is your country's technology ahead of the rest of your world?

[wild_romance]

Hmm. I think the car community prefers European cars for peak technology, but Japan is the 3rd largest manufacturer. So our advancements have a bigger impact on the car market at large.

[hometown]

[ From context, Reiner assumes that "European" and "Japan" both refer to countries, neither of which exist in his world. He makes a note of them anyway, so many years spent undercover making him memorize such details almost automatically. ]

That's amazing. My world doesn't have anywhere near that level of production, at least for cars. Technologically, we're pretty behind compared to this place.

[wild_romance]

Well, I'm no master mechanic but I'd be happy to show you the basics. Hobbies are good for the soul.