[... Which she seems to think explains it. After all, that kind of hard labor job, when it came to humans, attracted those of... arguably lower intelligence and possession of skill beyond strength.]
There's a lot of testosterone... and drunkards, so!
[At least she's the foreman... and has hard hooves.]
How'd you end up working at a place like that? I don't know shit about uh, wherever it is you come from but 'testosterone and booze' doesn't really seem like your style.
[Wait... is Hank a drunk?! (... He does seem hungover, but. She'll have to see him hungover a few more times before she comes to such a conclusion!)]
Haha, well... my parents are older, and I thought I should try and bring in some more money... There's a jinba in town who helps jinba find jobs, and I'm really good at hauling and I know the mountains well, so. The lumberyard was best for me.
[She sort of... pats Sumo's flanks as if to mirror her own rather muscular build.]
Jinba are stronger than humans, too, so, I can keep people in line when I need to.
[Hank lets it sit at that, though, for the moment content - or at least resigned - to just sitting there for a while to chaperone the dog visit in case big bad Sumo decides to try anything. This is what he was going to do today anyway, sit here and stare at nothing. Weird doing it when someone else is here, though.]
[Well, true... She'd probably made an impression for someone who hadn't ever met a jinba before. Good point.
Content to sit in silence for a moment after she chuckles a bit awkwardly to herself, Konoha keeps stroking along Sumo's back, with a quick pause to... sniff his head.
Still trying to separate him in her senses from the other dogs in the Temple.
But a thought occurs to her, and she figures it's not bad to ask, right? Especially since he asked her.]
Hm? Oh, uh... Shit, I should have a good answer for this by now, shouldn’t I? I wanted to make a difference, I guess. Kind of a lame answer - if you have any job like that where you are, you’ve probably heard people say the same thing a dozen times - but whatever.
[He shrugs, one corner of his lips quirking up for a second, tiredly.]
Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Do you have anything like that where you’re from? ‘Criminal hunter’ is kind of a mouthful.
[Konoha thinks it's kind of noble sounding, actually... Though she's never actually talked to someone in law enforcement before, not beyond brief interactions while traveling.]
The big cities have samurai patrols and... a commissioner, I guess? And there's the samurai at the highway barrier posts... But the only people who usually come to my village are hunting fugitives or bandits. So...
[Criminal hunter? Unless-]
I guess you could be like a samurai? But you kind of have to be born one.
Look at me. You think I could pull off the whole 'badass sword guy' thing? That sounds a lot like work, all that fighting and shit. Cops do things a little different, anyway.
Yeah, uh, we're not soldiers either. We don't fight in wars, we don't execute people. [Hank makes a face. Gross.] We just try to figure out who broke laws. That's all. We don't uh, multitask like I guess your guys do.
Yeah, that's it. Making judgement calls about who dies, who goes to jail, who didn't do it at all, none of that's my job. And honestly, at the end of the day, I'm kind of glad it's not.
Well, yeah, usually they are. If I’m doing my job right, they are. And the arresting part, that I can do. But the rest of it? I don’t know, there’re times where I could of locked people up for the rest of their lives and thrown away the key and slept better for it, so. It’s probably for the best that sort of thing’s not my call.
[At first, Konoha just kind of... looks at him. For all he said a lot of grumpy things, acted kind of tough and... to be honest, a bit rude sometimes... That seems really responsible.
Not the... wanting to just lock people up and forget about them part, but the... knowing you were the type to do that and therefore taking steps to not do it part. She's kind of impressed! ... Which, as usual, shows a bit too easily on her features, but.
She looks at Sumo and kind of gestures like. Look at your dad.]
Well, I think that's good for a "cop"...
[... Even if she doesn't know much about modern coppery. Shh.]
Well, thanks. I do okay at meeting the absolute minimum standards it takes to be a half-decent cop, if I do say so myself.
How’s Sumo treating you? [Hank lifts his chin, the gesture sort of pointing at his dog. Sumo’s chill right now, his head laid down, probably about to sleep off all that meat.] Still making you nervous?
[At the question, though, she does actually consider it, hooves scraping on the floor as she shifts to allow her to reach his back legs, scratching above his hips to watch how his tail wags slowly. ... That's cute.]
A little, but- I think he's my favorite dog in the Temple. There's Naga, but she's bigger than I am... and Koromaru, but... he looks kind of like the dogs I'm used to, so...
[A little too close for comfort, whereas Sumo doesn't look like any kind of dog she's ever seen before.]
- Actually, I guess Connor is my favorite, when he turns into a dog, but that probably doesn't count.
Hank sighs and leans back and runs his tongue over his teeth.]
Hey, Konoha. If you were, uh, if you’d hypothetically had it up to here with all this weird shit and then someone went and handed you more wacky cartoon bullshit, would you ask about it? Cause uh, I really can’t figure put what to even say to that. ‘Oh, the android who can suddenly poof into a cloud of fairy dust and come out as man’s best friend absolutely counts as a dog, that’s fine’ is that what I’m supposed to suck it up and say?
[Hank laughs, a shaken, incredulous noise, and rubs his fingers against his eyes. Konoha picked exactly the right morning to tell Hank what Connor’s special power is.]
... I just kind of try and not think about, to be honest.
[It's not like she doesn't get it. She's had it up to here with all the weird shit since... literally her first day. It's been confusion city since then and that hasn't stopped, so... What else can she do?]
The answer is always either "magic" or "technology", and I don't know either of those things, so I just... pretend like it's okay and it makes sense. I don't know how Connor becomes a dog and then a man again... but he does, I saw it, so. I just have to believe it.
And you didn't even know what a robot was when you got here. Fuck, you should be losing it. Everyone here should. Just another reason none of this can be fuckin real.
Okay, fuck. Fuck. What the hell were we talkin about? Nice, normal conversation time with the mythical horse girl. We were talkin about dogs, right? Koro and that fuckin polar bear?
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[... Which she seems to think explains it. After all, that kind of hard labor job, when it came to humans, attracted those of... arguably lower intelligence and possession of skill beyond strength.]
There's a lot of testosterone... and drunkards, so!
[At least she's the foreman... and has hard hooves.]
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Yeah, guess that sounds like me.
How'd you end up working at a place like that? I don't know shit about uh, wherever it is you come from but 'testosterone and booze' doesn't really seem like your style.
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Haha, well... my parents are older, and I thought I should try and bring in some more money... There's a jinba in town who helps jinba find jobs, and I'm really good at hauling and I know the mountains well, so. The lumberyard was best for me.
[She sort of... pats Sumo's flanks as if to mirror her own rather muscular build.]
Jinba are stronger than humans, too, so, I can keep people in line when I need to.
[... Even if she prefers not to!]
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[Hank lets it sit at that, though, for the moment content - or at least resigned - to just sitting there for a while to chaperone the dog visit in case big bad Sumo decides to try anything. This is what he was going to do today anyway, sit here and stare at nothing. Weird doing it when someone else is here, though.]
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Content to sit in silence for a moment after she chuckles a bit awkwardly to herself, Konoha keeps stroking along Sumo's back, with a quick pause to... sniff his head.
Still trying to separate him in her senses from the other dogs in the Temple.
But a thought occurs to her, and she figures it's not bad to ask, right? Especially since he asked her.]
What made you want to become a criminal hunter?
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[He shrugs, one corner of his lips quirking up for a second, tiredly.]
Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Do you have anything like that where you’re from? ‘Criminal hunter’ is kind of a mouthful.
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[Konoha thinks it's kind of noble sounding, actually... Though she's never actually talked to someone in law enforcement before, not beyond brief interactions while traveling.]
The big cities have samurai patrols and... a commissioner, I guess? And there's the samurai at the highway barrier posts... But the only people who usually come to my village are hunting fugitives or bandits. So...
[Criminal hunter? Unless-]
I guess you could be like a samurai? But you kind of have to be born one.
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Look at me. You think I could pull off the whole 'badass sword guy' thing? That sounds a lot like work, all that fighting and shit. Cops do things a little different, anyway.
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[She's familiar with them... in the 16th century large matchlock rifle sort of way, so. At least guns are one thing that don't blow her mind so much.]
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[During the wars, well... That's a whole different story.]
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[She guesses that makes enough sense?]
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[It had sounded tough to her to have to handle patrolling and catching criminals and keeping them in prison and executing them...]
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[He shrugs.]
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[Konoha... liked to think that that meant they were bad people.]
Someone has to arrest them...
[Is that fucking up people's lives?]
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Not the... wanting to just lock people up and forget about them part, but the... knowing you were the type to do that and therefore taking steps to not do it part. She's kind of impressed! ... Which, as usual, shows a bit too easily on her features, but.
She looks at Sumo and kind of gestures like. Look at your dad.]
Well, I think that's good for a "cop"...
[... Even if she doesn't know much about modern coppery. Shh.]
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How’s Sumo treating you? [Hank lifts his chin, the gesture sort of pointing at his dog. Sumo’s chill right now, his head laid down, probably about to sleep off all that meat.] Still making you nervous?
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[At the question, though, she does actually consider it, hooves scraping on the floor as she shifts to allow her to reach his back legs, scratching above his hips to watch how his tail wags slowly. ... That's cute.]
A little, but- I think he's my favorite dog in the Temple. There's Naga, but she's bigger than I am... and Koromaru, but... he looks kind of like the dogs I'm used to, so...
[A little too close for comfort, whereas Sumo doesn't look like any kind of dog she's ever seen before.]
- Actually, I guess Connor is my favorite, when he turns into a dog, but that probably doesn't count.
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Hank sighs and leans back and runs his tongue over his teeth.]
Hey, Konoha. If you were, uh, if you’d hypothetically had it up to here with all this weird shit and then someone went and handed you more wacky cartoon bullshit, would you ask about it? Cause uh, I really can’t figure put what to even say to that. ‘Oh, the android who can suddenly poof into a cloud of fairy dust and come out as man’s best friend absolutely counts as a dog, that’s fine’ is that what I’m supposed to suck it up and say?
[Hank laughs, a shaken, incredulous noise, and rubs his fingers against his eyes. Konoha picked exactly the right morning to tell Hank what Connor’s special power is.]
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... I just kind of try and not think about, to be honest.
[It's not like she doesn't get it. She's had it up to here with all the weird shit since... literally her first day. It's been confusion city since then and that hasn't stopped, so... What else can she do?]
The answer is always either "magic" or "technology", and I don't know either of those things, so I just... pretend like it's okay and it makes sense. I don't know how Connor becomes a dog and then a man again... but he does, I saw it, so. I just have to believe it.
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[He takes a second, taking a heavy breath.]
And you didn't even know what a robot was when you got here. Fuck, you should be losing it. Everyone here should. Just another reason none of this can be fuckin real.
Okay, fuck. Fuck. What the hell were we talkin about? Nice, normal conversation time with the mythical horse girl. We were talkin about dogs, right? Koro and that fuckin polar bear?
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[As much as she kind of wants to seize on the chance to just talk about dogs...]
I really don't think I'm creative enough or smart enough to make up all this stuff... Like you said, I didn't even know about robots... So.
[She hates it, she does, but... She just stares down at Sumo kind of simply, her petting hands slowing.]
... Are you really going to keep thinking you're just crazy or hallucinating?
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