Unwinding the Immortal Coil

Rare glanced back at mention of 'Miss China' and smiled, laughter in her eyes before she adjusted her pace to walk beside him. He smelled troubled earlier, so she saw no reason not to answer him honesty, though she doubted Kina's disappearance was the cause.

"Kina is a Red Yao woman. To them, a woman's hair is sacred. If a man sees an unwed woman's hair when it's down, he has to marry her for three years."

She paused, then continued, "Kina covers her hair to hold to the tradition of her people, since that's one of the few she remembers from before she was taken. It's an underhanded way to send her away, but she badly needs the rest, and she will undoubtedly seek comfort from her friend and fall asleep."

That was plenty of detail, she assumed. "Oh, on that subject, if it isn't obvious, it's best for men not to touch her hair, and she's even wary of other women touching it."

There, that covered it well enough, and in time to point out the nearest bathroom. "This is the water closet nearest your room, if you plan to stay in that one. It is shared between the sexes. If you wish for a tour of the inside, I could show you around. Based on what I know of you, you may find our facilities very different."
 
"Humans make up such strange traditions." Feng sighed. Three years of marriage? It wasn't the oddest thing he had ever heard, but it was rather odd... Humans? Since when did he use that term? Sure, he had used it in the past, but now it felt as if he had suddenly separated himself from everyone in a way he had never done before. He might be immortal, but he had never been immune towards the stupidity that oftentimes struck others. He could be as foolish as them, even though it took him a few hundred years to realize how idiotic he had been.

Feng did not quite understand what the woman had meant with Kina being taken, but he didn't prey out the information. Getting information about someone from a secondhand source was quite disrespectful towards the person in question either way. Not that he always was such a gentleman, but if he wanted to skip out on this marriage, maybe he could be a bit respectful this time.

"As long as she doesn't touch my hair I will most likely not have any reason to touch hers." Feng replied while brushing his fingers through his... "Not that there seems to be anything there for her to touch." He continued slowly, slightly confused, but he could guess that whatever happened to his clothes, happened to his hair as well.

"Different? If that's the case, I'd better take you up on that offer." Better see it now rather then when you have to go. Though how different could it really be?
 
A brief tour of the bathing and waste facilities introduced Feng not only to urinals, but to porcelain flushable toilets, soft toilet paper, wet wipes a large heated bathtub large enough for at least a dozen people at once, and shower stalls. He next discovered shampoo and even a person in the bath.

The blonde woman tilted her head as she watched Feng and Rare tour the facilities, and after a few long moments, she yawned and spoke up. "He's the one that went to the same place you did, right?"

Rare paused, then nodded. "Ah, yes. He's Kina's friend."

"Kind of cute," the blonde murmured, but quickly lost interest and began to snooze as she rested arms and head on the edge of the bath.
 
As they walked into the bathroom, certain aspect was more familiar than others. Porcelain toilets seemed strange while the big bath was something he remembered from his time in Greece, though there it had been even bigger. Toilet paper did seem familiar, even though he was unable to place it properly in his timeline at that very moment. The showers were quite curious and he couldn't really understand the purpose of it when there already were baths. Shampoo, once again, somehow seemed familiar, as if he had used something similar, though not exactly the same in the past.

A blonde woman suddenly spoke to Rare, but soon seemed to loose interest in the two. "Same place? I'm guessing she isn't talking about England." It wasn't that hard to put the pieces together considering how few places Feng had gone to after meeting these oddballs. "Would you mind me ask about it or is it too personal?" He asked, figuring it was better to warn her that he did have questions and make sure she wouldn't slap him for asking. People took offense to such weird things sometimes. "Just for the record, I'm not much interested in why you went or what you remembered. I'm only interested in how the memories manifested themselves and if it took time for them to come to light." And here he had thought he would have needed to wait for Kina to wake up again before getting some answers. Even he could be lucky sometimes.
 
The dark-haired woman looked toward Feng, then smiled with a half-hearted shrug. "For me, they came back in a rush, but they didn't stick until something prompted their return. It took roughly a year, because... frankly, it was only a few hundred years of memories, and most were fairly similar."

She let out a heavy breath. "If you wish to probe further, I do not mind."

Absently, she debated whether she should flush Seela down the drain, but opted against it. It wasn't worth the trouble, and Seela wouldn't actually care if she went through the filtration system.
 
"I see. Guess this will take longer than expected." Feng mumbled to himself. At least he could be certain he would eventually get to the memories he was searching for, it was just a matter of time. Well, either that or he would die first, and at that point he wouldn't need those memories. A year for a few hundred years of memories huh. Did that mean it could take him up to thousands of years before he had most of his memories restored? What a pain. Well, most of them wouldn't matter, as long as the things he wished to know came back.

"No, that was all I needed to know. I don't see any reason to probe if it isn't information I am in dire need of." He replied. "Shall we continue?" He then asked, motioning towards the door. It wasn't like they needed to stay in a bathroom the whole day. At least he guessed it was daytime. But who knew, maybe they were walking around in the middle of the night. Where was the sky when he needed it?
 
With a nod, the woman led the way out. At one point during the long walk through the halls, she glanced back toward him. "I do know someone who may be able to speed the process, however he will witness all you do during his assistance."

The offer was one that could intrude too greatly on his privacy or might not. Honestly, it felt strange to suggest.

"His name is Psiblast—unfortunate name, I realize—but he's a very powerful user of the mental arts. He has performed incredible feats in the past." The woman paused thoughtfully and returned her attention to the hall in front of her.

A few moments later, she commented, "I'm... uncertain why Kina did not simply send you to him for your memories."
 
"I suppose she have her reasons." Feng replied. It could be something simple as she just didn't think about him when she was rushed into sending him over to another dimension, or it could be something more complicated like she not trusting him for whatever reason. There were a thousand possibilities, and he wouldn't bother guessing them all. "I did rush things before I left, and she was forced into bed right when I woke up. I suppose she just never got the chance to think about it." He suggested.

"He can witness me however much he wants, I have nothing to hide." Feng then said. He couldn't even remember when he last had been embarrassed over something. That was definitely a feeling that disappeared after you had done embarrassing things for a few thousand years.

"You are quite an interesting bunch. I understand why Kina is helping me out, but I don't see any reason why anyone else here would bother. I haven't particularly done anything nor promised to do so for you to owe me a favor." Showing him around was just common courtesy, but helping him with his memories wasn't something he would expect of complete strangers. If it was because he saved their leader, they couldn't have much behind those skulls. He was the reason she had gotten into danger to begin with, and he only helped to make sure Kina would keep her end of the deal. Was there something else he wasn't taking into account?
 
The tall woman nodded occasionally to show she was listening, but said nothing until he finally, in a strange way, asked about why people were willing to help him, she simply lifted her shoulders and smiled.

"Is it so strange that there are people whose instinct is to help others? Each of us knows what it is to be in need of help in some way."

She continued to walk, but lowered her voice as she continued.

"Plus, Lady Jade did not mention to anyone outside the intelligence division that you were the one who endangered her, so most Hunters only know you saved our leader."
 
"Well, that explains why I haven't been lynched yet." Feng chuckled amused. "Strange, no. Counterproductive, yes. If you stand nothing to gain out of it, from an evolutionary perspective, there's no real meaning to it. We were made to survive and pass down our genes, helping me is a waste of time as I do not help in either of those departments." He then explained. He was quite fond of what Darwin had proposed as a logical explanation for the world. It was a rather new idea, one that people weren't quite comfortable with just yet.

"Just out of curiosity, how many from the intelligence division wishes to demolish my face after what happened? I could give them a free hit if they need to get out some aggression." It was a joke, but on the other hand, a few punches healed in a second. If someone attacked him tomorrow, he would survive. Unfortunately.
 
The black-haired woman only laughed and shook her head. "Your logic is flawed and short-sighted," she offered, but gave him no further information. "As for the rest of my division, we are content to watch you, since reports indicate you were conned into endangering her, anyway. Full fault, as ever, lies with the Unifiers."

"Simply falling victim to their treachery is hardly cause for anger, after all. They are highly skilled at trickery."

She let him process it as she led the way forward, then indicated a kitchen. "This is the nearest kitchen to your room, and the primary place you'll find food unless you want to get pre-cooked meals from the primary mess hall."

Absently, Rare wondered just why Kina roomed him so far from everything.
 
"Shortsighted? Perhaps so, but then again, can you blame me? Every person I have ever met has never survived beyond the age of 90 and rarely even that low. How would I function in such a shortsighted world if I myself didn't see things from their perspective? Tens of thousands of years among mortals dying like flies doesn't really give you the time for a long sighted life if you wish to interact with them well." Feng defended himself. That it was flawed logic wasn't even debatable, of course it was flawed, human logic often was. Live with them for thousands of years and you would start arguing like them.

"All I need is a rabbit, a knife and a fire. Having a kitchen is for rich snobs who never learned what nature and some decent work can give. Well, them and restaurants." Truth be told, Feng had never cooked anything in a kitchen before. His current house did have a small cooking spot, but as if he had ever taken the time to learn how it was meant to be used. Either he made his own food over a fire outside or he bought something someone else had cooked. Sometimes it took time for him to get out of his old-fashioned ways of doing things, while other things just fell into place for him just as they were introduced to the population.

"Where is this place anyways? You don't have to be specific if it's a secret, I'm mostly curious about the weather conditions outside. I doubt I'm still in a damp and slightly chilly small England village for some reason." Though it would be highly amusing if he were. How they would be able to hide this place was beyond Feng's comprehension though.
 
The woman closed her eyes and tilted her head as she pondered an answer that might please Feng. After a short time, she opted with the simpler question and ignored his commentary about cooking rabbits over a fire.

"It's not an earth, but Headquarters is built into the base of a mountain, with a forest outside the exit. It is early summer, mostly sunny. There have been a few small rainstorms in the past few weeks, but nothing too troublesome."

She allowed a few moments to pass. "If you wish to hunt rabbits, you will be sad to hear that hunting in the forest is forbidden because—" she cleared her throat, faintly pink at the ears, "—The population of wild game is currently in recovery."

"If you venture far enough, you may encounter human locals. Last I knew, they were quite friendly."
 
"No hunting?" Feng said surprised, not even noticing her ears changing color. He had never heard of someone banning hunting. "How do you even live if you can't get meat? Meat is life." It was half a joke, but meat was important, it made you strong. Sure, he knew of a few places that had banned hunting on certain animals, but no hunting at all? Where did they get their food? The thought of shipping it from far away didn't occur to him as taking food between just a few villages could make it go bad before it arrived. If you cooked the meat beforehand it could last longer, but still, if it wasn't cold, it wouldn't last very long either.

The thought of them having portals had suddenly slipped his mind. Who could blame him though? He had just been brainwashed for a year before waking up in a weird place, how was he supposed to remember every possibility right at the spot?

Feng sighed. "So, no hunting... Is fishing allowed? Not too fond of those bony things, but they can do in a pinch." It didn't really matter if he ate their food or something from the outside, but he didn't like being inside for too long, but if he didn't have a good reason to go outside, he would just end up sleeping for days until his stomach woke him. Hunting at least entertained him while he got the fresh air he needed. Hunting fish with the hands wasn't the best method, but what fun was there in just sitting and waiting for the fish to take the bait?
 
Rare walked into the kitchen, and to a large, brushed-steel box with two doors. She opened one to reveal brief fog and bounty. "I assure you, we aren't without meat. If we were, we would likely riot, but fishing is also banned. Before Lady Jade's arrival, we nearly destroyed the entire local ecosystem."

She looked toward him as she reached into the fridge, then paused. "Sorry, I should ask—are you hungry at all?"

So quickly, she forgot he wasn't a Hunter, just because she was in this place. Had they met in another world, she would have held off. "Regardless, as you can see, we have plenty of meat, and there is more frozen. Of our resources, food is the most plentiful."

A pair of children ran into the kitchen, both dark-skinned and black-eyed, and ran past Feng and Rare. One reached for a large leg of meat and the other grabbed a bowl covered in saran wrap, and then both ran out, giggling and tumbling over each other as Rare made no move to stop them, and instead only covered her mouth with a fond smile in the direction the two had gone.

Moments later, a woman in a very body-fitting coat ran in. "Which way?"

Rare pointed as she held back laughter.
 
Great, now there was no reason for him to go outside, though to be fair, there wasn't any reason for him to stay inside either. Guess he would just be so bored he would sleep his life away in this place. It was just to become sleeping beauty and wake up in a hundred years just to die. Quite an entertaining thought.

"Don't know. My body tends to not notice hunger even if it is empty. It takes a few days before I really start to feel something. I try to stay on a fixed schedule with at least one meal a day, but now I've lost all sense of time, so I can as well wait until I feel the starvation process kicking in." If he lost too much body weight he could just eat it back up once that time came. It was nothing new. The only thing he never became was fat, since he never bothered with food for more time than he needed to to keep a steady weight... Sometimes.

Suddenly a pair of children ran into the kitchen, took some food and gone they were. A woman also came in shortly after just to follow the two.

"Somehow I did not expect there to be children here." Clearly he was perplexed by the situation, maybe even surprised. "I thought this was some kind of work facility. Of course I do know children can get quite the rough jobs at times, this however seems a bit out of their league." This wasn't something simple like sewing clothes or helping their parents on a farm, except if there was much more to do than what he had seen them do so far. There were a few things he could think of, cooking, cleaning, things like that did have to be done, but really, usually you only hired kids for things like that if it was what the whole company was about.
 
"This is where we live and where we work. We're as much a village as we are an army," Rare explaine. "Those two are trainees, avoiding their training. They're little troublemakers, but even their trainer can't stay mad at them." She laughed. "Plus, the chase is part of training, anyway. It makes sure none of them get flabby."

She withdrew a small tupperware of sliced sausage and opened it, then handed it to Feng and withdrew another for herself.

"If you think we'd send children to fight, Lady Jade would never allow that. She's very soft, for the leader of an army."
 
"You can say that again." Feng agreed before noming on the slice he had not asked for. In contrast to the hunters who seemed to respect or even love their leader, Feng was far from impressed. Just from that sentence it was probably quite clear to anyone that he had not gotten a very good first impression from her. It was of course good that children weren't sent out to war, but her general physical weakness competing with that of a noblewoman whom had never lifted a finger in her whole life was disturbing. Such a woman would never do anything other than annoy him. At least that other annoying woman knew how to beat the crap out of people. He could respect that in a lady.

"Considering the children are having, or at least are supposed to have classes, I suppose it's somewhere between late morning and mid day." He mumbled, not even considering asking for the time. Sometimes it was just more entertaining to figure out the answer with clues instead of asking for it, though at this point it was something he did unconsciously.

"Please don't tell me you have a ban on alcohol as well. It's the last resource I have to get through this monotone existence." He suddenly said, half jokingly, though with a slight worry. Perhaps they would be that crazy. If that was the case he probably would just sleep for a hundred years.
 
"No, no such ban. We have vast and varied stocks, as well. They are not only enjoyable, but a requirement for our unique physiology." She nodded. "You aren't correct about the time, though—those two are nocturnal. It's actually quite late, and since the bars are open, I could take you to one of them and buy you a few drinks, my treat."

It'd be the talk of HQ, her buying drinks for someone other than Brock, but it couldn't be helped. The rumor mill needed the excitement, anyway—not enough scandal, lately. She could subject herself to it, and she absently sent a text to Brock, to let him know there would be rumors soon to prove wrong—it'd be a fun way to get more hugs from the man.

Still, she returned her attention to Feng.
 
Why would children ever be nocturnal? What an odd place.

"Usually I wouldn't let a woman treat me, but since I've lost all my clothes I don't have a single scent on me, so it can't be helped. I doubt this place is using English coins either way, so clothes or no clothes, I've lost." He did not get drunk by alcohol, but after having been drinking it for almost every day for years, or at least during days he was awake, he might have gotten a bit addicted. Once the money for his habit started to run out he just took another odd job collecting dead bodies or diving for valuables and such before returning to just lazy around and hunting until the money ran out again.

"Last time a woman treated me to a drink, I was poisoned quite badly." He reminisced. Of course it wouldn't be for some stupid gentleman reason. "Often times my body takes care of poison long before I even get any symptoms, but she got some really heavy stuff. I was down for almost three days. They got quite the scare when I woke up at the morgue." Feng chuckled. Having had a fever for three days and being incredibly delirious everyone thought he would die, and he did, then he got well as always. After that he was burned for being a witch. Then he came back again. Thinking back on it, it was rather funny to mess with them even if the deaths hurt a bit.
 
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