Author's Note: This chapter features a mention of period-appropriate terminology that, in the modern day, is viewed as derogatory. Nothing super major like a full on slur, but I figured it might be better to note it in advance.
March 12th, 1945
12:00 PM
Woods sighed as he stared up at the ceiling of his cell. It was the third day he'd been stuck in here, and he already felt like he was going to lose track. Beyond occasional questioning from his captors, he'd been left to rot away. Apparently Smith managed to strike a deal for him with some higher authority, which he assumed to be that strange blonde haired woman who accompanied him. Because of that the Tengu, as he had learned they were called, were now obligated to keep him alive. Of course, 'keep alive' was a rather vague term, and up to exact interpretation. Initially, he'd been concerned about torture, but that was quickly proven to not be their intention. According to Chigomi's boss, the crow lady with a blue hat who'd been in charge of his "trial", if they were going to torture him, it'd largely be for their own amusement, and he wouldn't be surviving the process.
Most of what they'd asked him had been about general information on the state of the world, of all things. He was by no means an expert on geopolitics, but he was sure that he knew more than the average joe. Every bit that he was able to provide was eagerly devoured, or rather it was after Chigomi finished translating it, depending on whether one of her superiors felt the need to be there in person. They had been most eager to learn about the current state of Japan, only to be disappointed when he was forced to admit he knew very little on the subject. Most of what he did was just the vaguest bits and pieces from his old friend Ryo's family back when he was still a kid growing up in San Diego, which was only marginally better than nothing at all. Whatever happened to Ryo anyway? He hadn't heard from him since High School, but it's likely he and his folks got put in the camps, a thought that left him feeling rather uncomfortable with the idea.
His eyes turned to the cell he'd been stuck in for the last few days. To call the place bland would be an understatement. It was fairly small, but that wasn't anything unusual for him by this point. Hell, it had more space in it than he had in both the barracks as well as at his station on the plane. It was maybe 6 by 5 feet of gray stone floor, with the only thing of interest within it being the straw mattress up against the wall that he'd been given to sleep on. There were three other cells, each situated in a corner of the room, although all three were empty. That was likely for the best, seeing as two of the cells weren't even fully finished, still missing several of the bars that left large gaps that could easily be slipped through.
The door to the makeshift prison slammed open, interrupting his thoughts as an annoyed looking Chigomi entered with a tray. She wore the trademark hat that all of the people... creatures... whatever everyone around here apparently were, atop her short white hair. Muttering to herself, she paused to fish out the key to his cell, holding the tray in what should have been an awkward position without much effort, a feat of manual dexterity he had to admit he was somewhat jealous of. Finally, with an audible click she yanked open the cell door briefly to hand his meal off to him.
"Here's your lunch." She grumbled, before she slammed the cell door back shut in his face. It was the same as every other meal he'd been given: plain brown rice with water. Completely and utterly bland, but still enough to keep him from starving, and that was all the Tengu seemed willing to offer. Seeing as they had been planning on just offing him, that they had to do this much probably bothered them a surprisingly large amount.
As he stared at his supposed meal, he actually found himself starting to miss the military rations he'd gotten used to for so long. Sure, they often weren't that good, but sometimes you'd get lucky, and even when you didn't at least they were trying to be something beyond bland and flavorless.
"Are you just going to eye it?" Chigomi huffed.
"What's got you so bothered?" Woods said, sitting on the stone floor. Not exactly comfortable, but he was hungry enough to not care all that much.
"That's none of your business, human." Chigomi's eyes narrowed, her body tensing up like a predator preparing to pounce.
"Humor me." He said with a shrug. "It isn't like I can tell anyone anything around here. And besides, it's not like either of us have anything better to do."
Chigomi scowled at him, before sighing, the tension quickly flowing out of her body.
"I didn't realize I'd be stuck on permanent guard duty exclusively for a single human." She said, leaning against the wall as she spoke.
"As opposed to what?"Woods asked, picking up the chopsticks that he'd been given. He silently thanked his old friend for having shown him how to use them so long ago. It'd been more of an idle curiosity at the time, so to say that he had any real degree of proficiency would be being generous, even considering just how long it had been. That said, instead of being completely unable to use them, it was merely embarrassing to watch. Even the vaguest memory trumped complete ignorance.
"Paperwork, mostly. I wouldn't call it fun, but it beats having to fetch meals for a human, as if they were a guest rather than a prisoner."
"I do need to eat to not die, you know." He said in-between bites of rice. He silently wished for at least some manner of flavor more and more with each grain he ate.
"That doesn't make it any less degrading." She grumbled, crossing her arms. "Besides, they could have given anyone that responsibility, instead of just forcing it onto me. This isn't even an official posting. I'm still directly subordinated to Lady Iizunamaru as part of the Intelligence Corps."
"So what, is there some other job you were hoping for?" Woods asked, taking a sip of water.
"Just... more than this." Chigomi gesturing around for emphasis. "I'm stuck in this place all day, while the Crows can go wherever they want. Even the Yamabushi can leave the mountain to gather supplies, and the White Wolves get to patrol the mountain itself. I'm not even allowed that much."
"What, they keep you locked up as well?" Woods' eyes darted at the other cells. Considering what he saw when he was taken, he wasn't even sure if they could actually hold one of these creatures.
"Sometimes it feels that way, but not literally, no." Chigomi sighed, her voice wistful. "Orders are orders, and even if I'd rather take an extra shift just to actually go out, I'm stuck sitting here unless I'm given approval from above."
"So let me get this straight, you want to do more work?" Woods asked, a hint of amusement tinging his voice.
"Do you not?" Chigomi asked, genuine confusion in her voice. "Would you rather just be sitting around all day, doing nothing?"
"If my only choice was getting forced into doing busywork, or relaxing and not having to lift a finger, I'm going to say that I'd go with the latter." Woods said.
"You really call sitting in a cell as a prisoner relaxing?" Chigomi asked. "Aren't you worried for your own safety?"
"I mean, I was before, sure," he admitted with a shrug, "but there's not much sitting around worrying can do for me while I'm stuck in here."
"Tch, sounds like something a Buddhist would say." She muttered with a roll of her eyes.
"No clue what that is, but I think it's just common sense advice more than anything."
Chigomi gave him a funny look, before slowly shaking her head.
"The fact that the world is big enough for that to be true, and yet I'm stuck in this one place..." She groaned in frustration, the topic evidently nothing new.
"So, would you be getting better pay to go with it?"
"Excuse me?" She said, turning back to look at him in confusion.
"You know, if you got more work, would they be paying you better as well?" He asked. They... did pay people, right? He wasn't an economist by any measure, but he just sort of assumed that they'd moved past a barter system by now.
"Only the higher ranks are given a stipend, although I have heard rumors that Lord Tenma was considering extending it to the lower ranks as well. Something about markets, or something like that."
"You just work for room and board then?"
"I work because it's my responsibility, assigned to me from birth." She explained. "The White Wolves are responsible for the security of the Tengu, and I'm no exception to that rule. Even if my responsibilities have been… redirected."
"Well, at least you seem eager to do it." Woods said, taking yet another mouthfu lof his lackluster meal. Before this, he really never did think that he'd miss military rations, and yet here he was.
"Of course I am!" Chigomi almost shouted. "Why wouldn't I be?" She growled.
Literally, she started growling at him, like a dog. Or a wolf, really. He raised his hands in surrender, realizing that he'd clearly struck a nerve.
"I... uh, didn't mean any offense." He said slowly, trying to not escalate the situation any further, although he couldn't deny that he was a bit curious about why it seemed to be such a sore topic.
Chigomi continued to glare at him, before her eyes seemed to soften and she let out a breath.
"It's fine." She said, seeming to realize that she'd slipped up. "Is..." She began to ask, before she cut herself off with a shake of her head. "Look, I have some paperwork I need to get done, so if you need something else, call for it," she turned to walk away, before pausing, "but it better be important!" She added with a turn of her head, before she left the room. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving Woods alone for the rest of the day.
March 13th, 1945
The next day passed as uneventfully as the last, which was just fine with Woods. He spent his time catching up on sleep after years of deprivation, relaxing, thinking, and daydreaming, an activity that he'd become rather familiar with from the long stretches of waiting as a tail gunner. It was nice, in a way, to idle away the hours, although almost anything would be nice in comparison to military service. Patriotism could only serve as a motivator for so long before one began to grow sick of the actual experience.
He was once again thankful that he wasn't stuck in the infantry. He'd seen how some of the marines had turned out, nervous and twitchy, with far away stares. Poor bastards had to deal with their squadmates getting mowed down right next to them from their landing craft.
Chigomi showed up with meals again, still annoyed with having to act as a glorified delivery service. He couldn't fault her too much, since it must have been a pain to have to deal with, but he'd rather have something to eat and drink than to just waste away in a cell.
He wondered how everyone else was doing. He knew that Smith was alright, but beyond that, he had no real idea if anyone else was still hoped dearly that they had all made it, but part of him doubted that would be the case if the plane really went down. Still, a glimmer of hope was better than nothing, and he gladly clutched it rather than let anxiety fester too deep within him.
March 14th, 1945
Today, Woods had the fun experience of being woken up at sunrise, only to be all but dragged to speak with the blue crow woman again. As he was made to sit on the floor of the small room, it dawned on him just how much he missed chairs. The situation quickly deteriorated into an interrogation, with the less-than-subtle glare she focused on him. The fact that her stomach audibly growled at one point while she looked at him made the situation that he was in very clear, although she at least had the decency to seem embarrassed about it, to the point where she seemed genuinely apologetic.
The topic this time mostly had to do with technology, and while Woods wasn't a mechanic, he was a tinkerer at heart, or at least had been before the war. That hadn't been enough for him to be allowed to do much more than help Padron when he needed an extra hand doing maintenance, but he had always been more interested in civilian equipment than military anyhow.
He was asked for information on every random bit of technology they could think of, from firearms to light bulbs to medicine and everything in between. Any iota of information he could provide was collected down to the last detail, written in a notebook by the bluebird as she jotted down notes in response to what Chigomi relayed to her. Sure, he may have had to make a few guesses here or there on some of the topics, but he was pretty confident that he knew what he was talking about. Probably.
Finally they arrived at airplanes, which he was surprised had taken so long. He'd expected it to be the first thing that was asked about, considering the entrance that they had made when arriving.
"So you've managed to tame the skies as well now?" The blue Tengu asked through Chigomi.
"I mean, hot air balloons have been a thing for a while, haven't they?" He replied.
As Chigomi relayed his response, there was a snort as the crow woman rolled her eyes, and she shot back quickly, although whatever effect that speed might have had in a normal conversation was moot due to the pause for the translation.
"There's an ocean of difference between the timid first steps mankind managed in the past and the mastery that that contraption exhibited."
"Well, the Wright Brothers first managed it forty years ago, so there's been plenty of time for the technology to advance."
"You say that as if forty years is little more than a blink of an eye. Is this technology unique to your people?"
"At this point, most people know about it. It's more a question of being able to either make or afford it."
"So it's common knowledge, then? Surely that means you wouldn't mind sharing the secret behind it?"
Woods scratched his head. "That's a pretty vague request. Is there some part that you want to know about?"
"Let's start with the engine."
"How much do you already know about engines?" Woods asked, curious.
"Bits and pieces from old scrap that's shown up in Gensokyo. All we have on hand for ourselves are a few old broken steam engines. The Kappa have managed to get some of them working, but we haven't been able to do as much ourselves."
"Steam engines?" He asked incredulously. He'd seen one or two in his life as museum exhibits, but the fact that they just had them lying around in a place like this was odd. Then again, was it really that odd compared to everything else that was going on?
"Is there something wrong with them? It was assumed they were antiquated, but surely you still know what they are."
"No, I do, it's just... those must be something like a century old at this point." Woods said, still baffled at the situation. "We've long since moved on."
"It makes sense. It was hard to see how such a thing could power a behemoth through the sky."
"Well, if you're wondering how the plane works, the answer is internal combustion."
His captor paused and stared at him, her gaze intense and weighty.
He didn't need the translator to understand the curt reply was a demand for an explanation.
"Do you know how steam engines work?" He asked.
"Vaguely. The boiling water obviously causes it to function, considering the name, but we're still working on the internals. The long-nose Tengu in charge of the research would know more, but most of them were heavily damaged or rusted away when we found them, so it's been somewhat of a struggle getting them to work."
"Well, to keep it simple, instead of using steam from an outside source, the fuel being burned inside the engine is what generates the energy."
"So it's a more advanced design?
"In a lot of ways, yeah."
"So would that be the most effective method of generating electricity?"
"I think most power plants are still steam powered." He paused as he noticed that Chigomi was staring at him in bafflement rather than immediately translating.
"I thought you said you'd moved on?" She asked.
"It isn't the same thing as before. It's a turbine now, rather than the old finicky engine."
"Turbine?"
"It's like a wheel that spins to generate power." Woods explained, making a spinning motion with his hands to try and convey the idea.
"And it's still steam powered?" Chigomi asked.
"If it works, it works." He replied, shrugging.
With a snort, Chigomi relayed what he said to a soon equally bewildered Megumu, who seemed to ask her translator for clarification on the point, before groaning in frustration.
"Some two hundred years later, and they're still just boiling water?" She muttered, before shooting a glare at Chigomi for translating that as well. The room seemed to fall silent as the interviewer seemed to be considering something.
"Do you think you'd be able to build one?" She asked, after much deliberation.
"I'm not a civil engineer, but if I had the tools and materials I could give it a go." He said with a shrug. After all, how hard could it be?
The crow Tengu stared at him flatly for a moment, before slowly nodding.
"Well, I can't guarantee that you'll be given the opportunity, but having that option to fall back on will be helpful just in case. At least we'd be getting a use out of you." She stood up from the floor and said something to Chigomi, likely about them being finished, before he was swiftly (and forcefully) transported back to his cell, and left to his own devices for the rest of the day.
March 15th, 1945
As nice as spending one's day lazing around sounded, especially to a soldier, there was a limit. Woods had come to realize this as the boredom began to feel like it was consuming his mind. Boredom was something that he had become almost intimately familiar with, but not to this extent. Spending long periods of time simply sitting around waiting wasn't anything new to him, but there was nothing breaking up those stretches of time, beyond one somewhat annoyed wolf girl begrudgingly giving him food. In hindsight, this should have been an obvious outcome, but he hadn't expected it to have gotten this bad already on only the fifth day.
"I think I get what you meant." He grumbled when Chigomi came to bring him his meal.
"What?" She asked, although the hint of smugness in her voice meant she likely knew what he was referring to.
"About doing busywork over nothing at all." He explained. "I think I'd take anything over being stuck in this damn cage."
"You were awfully quick to change your tune." She said, not even trying to hide her smirk.
"I haven't actually had this much free time in so long, that just the idea of catching up on sleep alone seemed too appealing to pass up. In my head, sitting around felt like it would be better than the tedium of busywork, but..."
"The idea seemed better than the reality?" She replied, unlocking his cell and handing him his daily bland meal. "There is more than one flavor of tedium after all, but..." She paused, her face suddenly thoughtful, "I share the sentiment."
"Oh?"
"Not about the boredom, but..." Chigomi looked around the empty room, as if afraid that there might be someone listening in, and after sniffing the air, she seemed to relax a little bit.
"My whole life I've felt like I've been stuck in a cage. You know, a metaphorical one, at least."
"Sure as hell beats being in a literal one." Woods said, eyeing the bars around him.
"I'm sure it feels that way for you, but at least you've known the outside. This," she gestured all around her, "is all I've ever known. This one settlement, and its outskirts when I've been lucky." Chigomi leaned against the wall, looking into the distance as she continued. "I've mentioned it before, but I'm not really allowed to do much beyond what I'm assigned, though that's mostly how life is for everyone around here."
"Why is that, anyway?"
"Tengu society is based entirely on what you're born into, or at least that's how it's supposed to be. There are... rare exceptions." She frowned, presumably referring to herself. "The White Wolves are supposed to be the guards, but because I could speak foreign languages, I got handed over to Lady Iizunamaru as a direct subordinate in the Intelligence Corps."
"Is that the blue lady's name?" Woods asked, silently thankful that he might finally be able to refer to her as something beyond vague descriptions.
Chigomi let out a surprised snort of amusement. "Blue lady? Well, yes, but I don't recommend calling her that to her face."
"Why not? It isn't like she'd understand what I said." Woods said, a small smile sneaking its way onto his face.
"Unfortunately, my job is to serve as a translator, so I'm obligated to do exactly that," Chigomi paused, unable to hide a small smile of her own, "even if it'd be amusing not to. But as I was saying, running the prison is supposed to be their responsibility, in theory at least. The thing is, you're the first prisoner we've ever had."
"Really?" He asked, looking at the cell he had been put in in confusion.
"Well, first outsider prisoner. Every now and then somebody gets too drunk and they spend the night in a cell to stop them from getting rowdy, but that's about it."
Woods' eyes scanned the room, specifically the size. It was by no means a prison complex or anything of the sort, but even in its oddly unfinished state, it was clear that a fair bit of effort had gone into the construction, as well as the continued maintenance, of the building.
"Seems like a huge waste of space to just have sitting around here. Hell, even building it seems like a waste of time, if most of it isn't being used."
"When you have as much time as we do, wasting any of it is hardly a concern..." She paused, eyeing the room herself. "That said, I really can't help but agree with the size. It's a huge pain keeping this place free of dust."
"Damn, they really make you clean this whole place up yourself?" Woods asked, eyeing the stone that made up the floor.
"It's not so bad, there's just a lot of it." Chigomi said with a shrug, before a lull in the conversation began, quickly becoming a companionable silence as the two both seemed to be thinking. After perhaps a minute or so, Woods' curiosity got the best of him.
"So how does that whole translation thing work anyway?" Woods asked. It was hard to really imagine words just... making sense to you automatically. Well, he could imagine it, technically, but the actual experience itself seemed so detached from reality that it was a bit of a moot point.
"Pardon?"
"Do you just understand everything you hear? Are things just automatically translated for you, or is it limited in some way?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you. It's not some automatic translation though, I just... know the meaning of what people say, and the words and sounds appear in my head when I need to speak." She shrugged. "Not sure how else to really describe it. This was the first time it's ever been of any real use."
"Huh, you'd think something like that would come in handy more often." He could only imagine how many people would kill for such a thing.
"It's not like there are foreigners for me to practice on." Chigomi said, a sad smile on her face. "In all honesty, I think I'd have preferred if it never were discovered."
"Wait, how did you figure out you could just... magic away a language barrier if everybody here just speaks the same thing?"
"When I was young, one of the elders was speaking the tongue of Shina for a bit of privacy in their conversation, and I just happened to overhear it."
"Shee...what?" Woods asked, confusion evident in his voice as he stared at Chigomi. "I thought everything you said was translated."
"You... don't know about the Middle Kingdom?" Chigomi asked, genuinely confused. "It's to the west, it's not exactly easy to miss."
"Do you mean China?"
"Is that what you call it?"
"Is that not what it's actually called?" Woods asked.
"I'd guess they probably have their own name for it, so whatever that might be would arguably be what it's 'actually' called."
"Maybe it's something similar, since the names aren't that different. I mean, Chi-na, Shee-na. They do sound alike."
"Anyway, suffice it to say, when I burst out laughing after overhearing something I shouldn't have, the higher ups wanted to know how exactly I could understand them."
"What, were they talking about something funny?"
"Well, one of the elders' was having... wing issues."
"...Is that a euphemism?" Woods asked.
"No, actual problems with his wings. Some of the feathers were falling out. It's very embarrassing for the Crow Tengu from what I hear. They usually take pride in taking care of their wings. They're symbolic or something. In hindsight though, it really isn't that funny, but I was a child."
"Seems like it could be amusing to me. But like you said, you were a kid. No need to be so hard on yourself." Woods said with a shrug.
"Anyhow," Chigomi said, pushing herself back up to her feet and failing to hide the small smile on her lips, "I need to get something to eat myself."
"Hopefully it's better than what I'm getting." Woods couldn't help but grumble.
March 16th, 1945
Today's topic of choice was 'the rest of the world,' which quickly spiraled out into being by far the longest interrogation session for rather obvious reasons. At this point, Woods was happy to just ramble on about whatever topic he was asked about, as it gave him something to do beyond simply sitting and waiting in a cell. Even if he hadn't wanted to, the glare that the blue crow would shoot at him when he paused or hesitated managed to shake him to his core, which felt more like a lion staring down a gazelle than the sort of look one might give to something they considered a person. This was all in spite of the fact that he towered over both her and Chigomi in height and size.
The existence of an entire continent to the east was met with shock by Chigomi, unlike her boss. Apparently there had been rumors of such a thing from "spirits from the north",whatever the hell that meant. Together with measurements of the planet's size, they had figured there was bound to have been something there. The sheer extent of it was a different matter, and the Great Tengu listened with great interest as more information was relayed to her through translation.
He wasn't sure just how much information he should be sharing, but with a captive audience such concerns weren't his highest priority. Sure, he may not have exact figures, or perfect knowledge, or a proper education on geography, and he was going purely off of memory, and sure he hadn't ever even been to the Midwest, let alone the East Coast himself, but he felt confident that he could give a proper overview of his home country.
Many of the questions focused on industry and agriculture, although they seemed odd to him. They weren't really focused on the scale or raw capability of the industry, but more just what exactly was being made and how. Similarly, it wasn't how much food was being produced, but what the crops were and how they were grown. He was ultimately forced to reluctantly admit that he didn't actually know much about the specifics of either, but he was able to give them the approximate quantity of both as being "very large" which was not met with nearly as much enthusiasm as he had hoped.
And sure, he'd never been to New York himself, but Wilson had always talked about the sheer amount of industry there with seeming pride, to an almost annoying degree.
From there, the conversation moved on to the other parts of the world, and with that the big question of what exactly the "war" that was going on actually was about. Having to explain the geography of Europe off the top of his head didn't really go very well, as just saying countries were "next" to one another, and that some were "big" and others "small" was met with continued annoyance. To be fair, it wasn't like he had majored in maps or something. He could say that Germany, which was "pretty big" had invaded Poland, which was "smaller" but it's not like he could really give measurements. Eventually, he was handed a piece of paper, and told to at least try and draw an approximation of what it looked like, to which he scribbled out the bits and pieces of the countries he could remember and where they were located. Luckily much of Europe had been gobbled up in the post-war years following the First World War, making his job much easier. He handed the approximate map to Chigomi, who looked at briefly before handing it over herself to Megumu, who, after briefly examining it, nodded, and motioned for him to continue.
He wasn't sure on any of the specifics of what was going on on the Soviet front, but from what he did know the Soviets (whose country was "very very very big") were pushing through Eastern Europe onward to Berlin, There'd been some rumors of how much of a meat grinder the front had become, but nobody knew much beyond that, let alone anything concrete, at least not out in the Pacific.
When he arrived at the topic of Japan, his audience's interest (somewhat understandably) rose, although he pre-empted much that he said with disclaimers as to the limit of his own knowledge of the subject. Any interest, however, was quickly met with dismay at the reality of the situation. The way they seemed to react to the information was more like how one might respond to hearing news that a sports team that they were fans of had lost a match. Disappointed, but not the end of the world, which was rather odd seeing as the place was, in theory, their own homeland, although the whole "sealed off from the rest of the world" part probably helped keep a sense of disconnection from it. More like an old friend, or a relative, that some part of you can't help but root for.
With that, Megumu called for an end to the "interview" as it was being politely referred to, and Woods was escorted back to his cell. By this point, most of the day had gone by, and so he decided to turn in early for the night, lacking anything better to do in the meantime.
March 17th, 1945
Much to his surprise, today was a back to back interrogation, rather than the more spaced out style that he'd been forced to put up with. Even stranger, his interrogator for the day wasn't the blue crow, but rather the black one who'd grabbed him in the first place.
"Hello! I'm Aya Shameimaru from the Bunbunmaru News." She said surprisingly cheerfully, although the way Chigomi relayed it could not be said to be matching in enthusiasm.
Woods shot a confused look at Chigomi. "You have newspapers here?"
"All of the crow tengu have newspapers. I think it's something they do for leisure, judging by the constant contests they have."
"It's hard to imagine writing newspapers as something people do for fun, barring maybe a few eccentrics." Woods said with a snort.
"They're the ones who make up the Intelligence Corps, so I think they just publish whatever they find that isn't important enough to report." Chigomi shrugged. "I don't read any of it, since it's mostly nonsense."
Aya shot Chicomi a look of annoyance, and the two spoke a few words to one another before the interrogation finally resumed.
"So, I'm supposed to be asking you about things like civic structures and the running of governments, but..." Chigomi paused, before asking Aya a question. The two shared a short conversation, with Aya's face breaking into a smirk as Chigomi simply rolled her eyes and continued. "...I doubt you really know much on the topic."
"Hey, I know the three branches of the government, thank you very much." Woods said with arguably a bit too much pride.
"The fact that you know there's three is better than nothing, but do you know how they actually function?"
"Er, well there's the executive, the legislative and the judicial, and they serve as checks and balances. The legislative makes the laws, the executive enforces the laws, and the judicial judges the laws."
"And do you know anything beyond the broadest of strokes?" Aya raised an eyebrow as she continued. "How these branches and their functions developed over time, and how they interact with one another? Who runs each, and who ran each in the past, and what were their goals, and how well did they do to achieve those goals, and what were the end results?" She paused, eyeing the now nervous looking man seated across from her. "That is the kind of information that I would need for you to provide. Do you think that you would be able to answer those questions? Because I've heard some of your previous answers, and some of them sound like they..." Chigomi paused once again, and barked something at Aya, who smiled innocently. "...like they came right out of your ass." She finished, before she shot a look of annoyance at the crow.
"Hey, I might not be perfect but-"
Aya seemed to respond with a dry comment, to which Chigomi snapped back at her once again. Woods watched as the two seemed to argue, although it seemed fairly one-sided, given Shameimaru's calm rebuttals of whatever verbal barbs that were being thrown her way. Finally, with a huff, Chigomi continued.
"She says that she's not Lady Iizunamaru, so she 'won't 'fall for your nonsense.' As if she somehow knows more about the Outside World than somebody who's lived there their whole life."
"I hate to admit it, but she has a bit of a point. I doubt I'd be able to answer those kinds of questions. History wasn't exactly my strong suit." Woods admitted reluctantly.
Chigomi relayed this to Aya, whose face split into what could best be described as a shit-eating grin.
"So, instead..." Chigomi turned to glare at Aya again, who simply continued smiling.
"So instead, how about we do an interview?" Chigomi asked, as Aya pulled out a small notebook and a pen as she eyed him, waiting for him to begin even before even hearing his reply.
"You... want to interview me?" Woods asked, baffled at the suggestion.
"Yes, is there a problem with that?"
"Well, no, I just hadn't been expecting that of all things." Truthfully, this was one of the last things he had expected after having arrived here. A place where magic seemed to be real, with flying animal people which defied all logic and reasoning, and the person who had kidnapped him was asking to interview him for a newspaper they apparently ran as a hobby. Maybe it was fitting, since nothing else seemed to make much sense, that all common sense just be thrown out altogether.
"Are you sure that I'm... interesting enough for your audience?" Woods couldn't help but wonder how some random person like him really could compare in a land full of people who could defy logic for shits and giggles.
"Whether you're actually interesting is irrelevant. What matters is what you represent: an outside view and opinion. That alone can keep a reader's interest, simply due to the unfamiliarity."
"Even then..." Woods said. In any other circumstance, he would've been all too happy to answer whatever questions she asked, but he was aware that his current situation was precarious at best. Going against whatever the plan the people at the top had seemed like a great way to make it worse.
"Oh relax." Aya said, her smile never leaving her lips. "Look, I'll go and speak with Lady Iizunamaru once we finish up, and if she's upset, it'll be with me."
Woods turned to look at Chigomi, who simply gave him a shrug of her own, before deciding that it'd probably be better to keep the creature that could kill him that's currently in front of him pleased, rather than worry about the one he'd have to interact with later.
And so Woods explained his own story to the self-proclaimed journalist. His life growing up in San Diego, his friends, bits and pieces about his family. He avoided digging too deeply into personal matters, but the crow seemed to be satisfied with every piece of information about the modern world that he could provide, regardless of how detailed it was. How the people lived, what they did and how they did it. Any and all information about the world. It seems that the Tengu weren't very fond of sharing information, because he'd already gone over a fair amount of this stuff previously, but he wasn't going to complain if it meant not getting himself into a worse situation.
At this point, he was growing used to the nature of these conversations, with the constant pause for Chigomi to serve as a translator for each side.
"Alright, that'll be enough." Aya said, snapping her notebook shut with a satisfied smile. Woods wished he had a clock on hand, but if he had to guess, it'd probably have been several hours by this point. A fair amount of what he'd provided was broad and vague, but it seems that, even for the other Tengu, that broad enough information was enough to satisfy their curiosity.
"And you're sure that this is okay?" Woods couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, the boss will probably yell at me later, but I should be able to stop her before she feels the need to get physical." Aya said, waving off any real concern.
Woods turned to look at Chigomi in surprise. "Is that... usual behavior?"
"Lady Iizunamaru does have a bit of a temper, and she can often struggle to keep it in check."
"I'll... keep that in mind in the future."
"If she didn't think that she had to keep you around, I'm sure she'd have gotten rid of you by now." Chigomi explained, politely not expanding on what exactly would have been done with him. He could guess well enough, he didn't need it explained to him by this point.
As a pleased Aya left the two behind, Chigomi escorted Woods back to his cell. She turned to look at him, as if she wanted to say something, but seemed to second guess herself, instead leaving him alone once more.
March 18th, 1945
8:00 PM
Boredom ate away at him. He'd started doing exercises in the hopes of passing the time, although he'd nevertheless already started to lose muscle mass from the complete lack of protein in his likely calorie-deficient diet. He never had that much muscle to begin with, having a more lanky and wiry frame, but he could actively feel himself weakening, and it was hard to describe the feeling as anything besides frustrating.
His thoughts were interrupted as a very clearly drunk Chigomi staggered through the entrance to the prison. Normally this would be a moment or relief, as having her around helped pass the tedium that life had become. However, Chigomi only ever came in to bring him his meals, and while she would stay and chat afterwards, often for quite some time if she felt like it, she never came back afterwards until she returned with the next meal.
She stumbled over to his cell, the scent of alcohol overpowering as she all but collapsed, sliding down to the ground with her back against the wall. She sat there, staring at him despite her slight swaying. The room was silent as Woods wondered if he should say something, or if it'd just be smarter to hold his tongue and hope that his silence was what she wanted.
"Is... is the outside world really like what you said?" She slurred, "Nothing like this?"
"...I'm sorry, what?" Woods asked, a mixture of surprise and confusion dominating his response.
"Can people just... live their lives?" She all but spat out in frustration. "None of these... bullshit restrictions and crap?"
Woods rubbed his chin, the black stubble on his face having long since become an annoyance without access to a razor.
"It'd depend on where you live," He decided on, mostly because the "Outside World" was such a broad location that trying to sum everything up simply didn't work.
"And what about where you're from?"
"Nothing like this, I can say that much for sure."
"Really?" She asked, a mixture of excitement, relief, and oddly enough what seemed like hope emanating from her as she spoke. "Could you... could you tell me about it?"
"I mean, I already did during that interview yesterday." Woods said, confused.
"But what about something more specific?"
"Like what?"
"Uhhh..." She mumbled, unsure of what she should ask. After a few moments, an idea seemed to pop into her head andshe looked back up at him.
"What did you do for fun?" She asked in a surprisingly serious tone that felt very out of place with the question.
"I mean, there's a bunch of stuff, but I guess the beach is something?"
"Oh, you mean like... the shore of the ocean, right? So what, people go swimming there?"
"Swimming, or fishing, or even just relaxing in the sun. For a lot of people, the ocean's their livelihood, but there's plenty of enjoyment to be had being by the seaside."
"I've always wanted to see the ocean. It must be beautiful." Chigomi said, swaying a little bit. Just how drunk was she? "Is the water there actually salty?"
"Salty enough that you can smell it in the air."
"Oh." Chigomi said, her enthusiasm dampening somewhat at the revelation.
"It's not as bad as it sounds, and you get used to it pretty quickly."
"So what about you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah, what do you think about it?"
Woods paused, thinking.
"Well, I've felt connected with it in a way for a lot of my life. I was supposed to join the Navy originally, since it's what my family's done for generations, or at least that's what I've been told. Then I had a huge fight with my old man when he kept trying to get me to join, but the truth is, I hate boats."
"What's wrong with boats?" Chigomi asked, her voice surprisingly genuine in a way that could only come from the lowering of inhibitions.
"They roll constantly on the water. They give you next to no space on board, to the point it makes this cell look comfortable" He said, gesturing around for emphasis. "Besides that, I just never wanted to be stuck in one in the first place. I love the ocean. I love looking at it, I love being by it, hell, I even enjoy being in it, but I can't stand being on the sea. Put me on a big metal tub in the middle of Goddamn nowhere, and any affection dries up fast."
"Is it that bad?"
"I mean, it varies depending on your rank, but that's life in general." He said, to which Chigomi couldn't help but nod. "Anyway, all of this isn't exactly the most popular opinion of mine amongst my family. Most people in the Navy love boats, especially the boat they're assigned to. Their ship is their home, and may as well be a part of their family, but I just can't find that affection myself. It's why I ended up going for the Army instead. Well, that and a bit of spite towards my old man. Rest of my family swore to never speak to me again, but I just couldn't do it. And then in the end they stuck me on a boat and took me to some island in the middle of nowhere, so it was a moot point in the end."
"Was it worth it?"
"Whuh?"
"Just... cutting off everyone ya knew. That... you know, you were connected with. Your friends and your family and all that... Was that really worth it to you?" The question Chigomi asked seemed to hang in the air, and he couldn't help but wonder himself. Had it really been worth it in the end? In response, he could do little more than give a shrug.
"I'll figure out a way to make it on my own." Woods said with a smirk of his own. "I've always managed to "
Chigomi seemed to think over his answers, although how much thinking she could really do in such an addled state he wasn't really sure. Eventually, however, she seemed to realize something at the very least.
"I... should go lie down." Chigomi slurred, as if this was some grand revelation, "but ya better tell me some more stuff some other time." With that, she stumbled out, leaving the bemused soldier alone for the rest of the evening.
March 19th, 1945
When Woods brought up the previous night in conversation, a hungover Chigomi stared at him in confusion for a moment, before realization kicked in and she froze up, her face flushing in embarrassment.
"Don't mention that to anyone." She growled at him. The sound coming from what at least seemed to be a human throat was discomforting.
"It's not like there's anyone that I could tell it to." He muttered as the only person he could communicate with left the room.
March 20th, 1945
Nothing had changed. Nothing. He woke up, sat around in his cell, stared at the wall, ate whatever food was brought to him, waited, and then went to sleep. The closest thing to enjoyment he was allowed was his occasional chats with his almost equally bored jailer, although she at least wasn't being kept in a cage, at least not a literal one. The only times he was allowed outside was to be dragged off to speak with somebody who he was pretty sure thought he looked appetizing, which he didn't think he should take as a compliment.
March 21st, 1945
It finally, truly, dawned on Woods that this wasn't going to be over anytime soon.