Idle Thoughts and Just Causes

“The fuck are you doing?”, came Ryuu’s voice from somewhere above him.

Matthew surged to his feet. The Gogajin children that had been trying to hold him down tumbled about in giggling, smiling piles. Two or three of them clung to his neck and shoulders and dangled above the ground as he stood. “What?”

Ryuu gestured to the children. “Do I really have to ask again?”

Matthew shrugged, causing one of the screaming Gogajin to fall to the ground on top of some of his fellows. “I like kids.” Some of the children were industriously beating at his legs with sticks, trying to bring him down once more.

Ryuu just glared. “You do know who just came through here, right? Who it has to be?”

“Yeah, I know. And you don’t have your magic sword yet, so you’re not ready to face ‘em anyhow.”

The Cheldrun man looked like he had swallowed something that did not agree with him. “Just don’t get too attached to those little brats. If Donkey Man doesn’t live up to his part of the bargain and they won’t tell me where the blade is, I may have to ‘persuade’ them.”

Matthew’s face darkened. “With all due respect, Ryuu, fuck you.”

Ryuu was too startled to be angry. “What?”

“If Donkey Man doesn’t want to make good, your beef is with him, not the rest of the village. You try to take it out on them and I’ll stop you. That ain’t the way we operate.”

“What, you’re not falling in love are you? You’re not plannin’ on staying?” He chuckled at his own joke.

How to explain? Ryuu would never understand how he felt. He liked the Gogajin. They were a little wary around him because he was a Mechified, sure, but they still accepted him, they welcomed him into their village, they let their children play with him and were not terrified by what he might do. That felt good. It was good to not be feared and mistrusted because of his size. A lot of people thought he was dumb because he liked to think things through before he made a decision. When you were his size, haste could hurt people. The Gogajin understood that; he could be happy here. What he said, though, was “Naw, I can’t help the Cause from here. Just leave ‘em alone, okay? They haven’t done anything to us.”

“I’m not promising anything, but… yeah, sure, I’ll try to keep it between Donkey Man and me for your sake, you big oaf. Never thought I’d see a giant fucking weapon get all whiny on me. Don’t look at me like that, I said I’d not hurt ‘em, okay? Sheesh.” Ryuu walked away grumbling.

Matthew frowned. Ryuu had given him the cause, years ago when they first met. Before that his life had been meaningless, with no way of surviving except fighting since an… incident… in his past ruled out regular work. But Ryuu had made it all seem so simple: Cheldrun are Cheldrun are fucking Cheldrun. The Great Experiment was over. The castes just hurt things anymore. If they could just make everyone the same, give ‘em bio enhancements and machine upgrades, figure out how anyone could use the First Mind artifacts, then there wouldn’t be anymore oppression, anymore need for division and strife. Everyone would fit in. He wasn’t sure anymore if Ryuu was the same man he had thought he was, though, all those years ago. He seemed to be obsessed with getting this sword and beating this Daitokuji guy, proving he was the best. Well, hopefully they could get that over with soon and then he could figure out if Ryuu truly cared about the Cause anymore or not.

He mused idly if he would get a chance to talk to Moses. He wasn’t sure if Moses knew about the whole of the Cause, but what he had done in Geneva Prime had been great steps in the right direction. He respected Moses; if Ryuu wasn’t up to it anymore, Moses would be the perfect person to lead the Cause. He might have to put down that crazy Biomade bitch if it came to that, but that shouldn’t be too tough.

A slight jolt broke him out of his reverie. He glanced down to find that some of the kids had grabbed a sapling and were industriously using it as a battering ram against his knee. He bent down and picked one up, then started swinging her around as she laughed hysterically. He idly wondered if he could get her over that tree this time…