"I mean, probably? They're not-"

"It's like the story about the runaway-fission-weapons. Tsu's Bargain."

"Yeah, Tsu told everyone when they invented that and just like, did acausal negotiation or something about it. I don't think the history lessons went into detail."

"Or that thing in Iwa, with the amnesties. I'm too high for this..."

"The sixers and most important-person types generally at least try to act in decision theory ways like that. I wouldn't say they're necessarily great about it. If you're like, I was reassured by these nice onetails I met that you all would retroactively whatever the fuck, I mean..."

Mika has an ordinary-looking tablet computer out and has started a video call with someone, a bit further away. The mob of people surrounding him are mostly sitting or pacing now.

"...Can you swear very seriously that you'd only ever use it on yourself?" Asks one of the guys, who has been mostly quiet so far and not joined the touching-the-alien party.

"The weapon or poison or whatever? Sure."

"And, just to make my position clear now, if your government or anyone else would prevent me from killing myself, I'd rather just die now. I'm not attached to anything in this world and have, as I see it, a decent chance of waking up in another one, so it's not a bad option for me. If they won't prevent me from killing myself, then we can talk, and maybe I can do something useful for them. If they'll keep to that bargain, I'm not worried."

Sid looks for volunteers to cuddle with lying down. He's really liking the fur and tails and isn't done with them yet.

They've already formed two small cuddlepiles, and people make inviting gestures. Tail-brushing is happening.

"If you're that determined and pre-committed to it, they won't try anything, I don't think," Someone comments thoughtfully. "It's just stupid when they get a high risk of losing something for a small chance of benefit. If, like, you were holding the secret to fixing tail-growth and wanted one million slaves or something they might torture you about it then but that's just, an absurd scenario. This is a pretty dark topic..."

"I've got something in the old blast furnace. Be right back." Says the Strange Guy. He goes out of his way to grab a sort of sandals-thing, but doesn't bother with the rest of his clothes.

Sid enthusiastically joins a cuddlepile and participates in the tail-brushing. They can brush his hair if they want.

"That sounds good. I'll tell you right now though, I definitely do not hold the secret to fixing tail-growth, whatever that is, and I don't want slaves. Is slavery a thing here?"

Wow, Strange Guy (did he seriously not introduce himself?), how ominous yet impressively prepared.

He grunted, instead of giving a name.

"No! Well, not in a servant-clan sense or chattel slavery sense any more, no than the fact that everyone has to do some kind of work at some point or you'll maybe stop getting housed and fed eventually."

"You see Mika's tails? She's growing her second. It's short now but it'll get bigger fast. You just kind of keep getting more, 'till you die of it. It's cursed. Presumably the makers had whatever genetic key or implant was necessary to stop that from happening, but we sure don't."

"And it's the tails that kill them and not just old age? Because humans just get old and die, no tails necessary."

"...I'm pretty sure it's the metabolic strain from the tails? You can't surgically remove a tail or you get a Lychosin type cascade and die, so they're just, as far as your health goes, kind of like cancers that aren't growing but will never go away either."

"We don't know any of this shit for sure, alien guy. We're just dumb one-tails. Practically still kits."

It's at around this time that Mika comes over to the group.

"Current plan. We're gonna take the van from here to the old wood house. Zand stuck his bike in it and will bike home, himself, and not go near us. We're gonna have our devices and food delivered there, plus a new tablet for Sidney. We're gonna call Doctors Without Borders and try to get them to handle things discreetly and tell them our alien doesn't want to become worldwide news, no sense causing a panic. Does that sound good? ...Where'd Tak go?"

"That sounds good. Tak went to fetch me some mysterious object I can use to kill myself, or so he implied."

"...Fucking Tak. Never have any idea what's going on in his head." Mika sighs. "Sorry if I'm not going to be a good host. The- I've got personal stuff, the quarantine is going to ruin it. It is, objectively, pretty amazing that there's an alien visiting us. I'm sure it's going to be wonderful and great. Some of these fools might even treat the quarantine like a little vacation!" There's a halfhearted whoop from someone. "Just... Yeah."

"To be clear, I did ask for that. He's being helpful. And Mika, you're doing fine."

"Sorry I, uh, approached you guys without thinking about the quarantine."

"We hadn't thought about it then, either. It happens. And, sure. Hey, any word on what kind of exciting new alien technologies we might be able to learn about?"

"Probably not much. If you have touchscreen tablets, our worlds are at around the same tech level. And I don't know enough about any technology, really, to recreate it here."

"Dang."

There's not much else to say about that, and everyone seems to be in a pensive mood now. She joins the cuddle with a sigh.

A couple minutes later Tak comes back, carrying two dirty red-paper-wrapped cylinders with obvious fuses on the end, and a shiny steel lighter.

"Tak..." Mika starts.

Tak shakes his head. "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. These are TNT. I had them checked, still stable and safe. This much will definitely kill you if you hold it up to your head, and only maybe kill anyone standing within five feet of you."

"What the fuck, Tak!"

"Thanks Tak, you're a lifesaver. No one tell the government I have these or they'll just nab me while I'm sleeping. Mika, do you know when the van is going to get here?"

Mika sighs. "Probably less than ten minutes. It was about a forty minute walk out here, so... Maybe we should be getting dressed, I guess. We're kinda dry by now."

Sid is surprisingly bothered that Mika is sad, for someone he just met. Maybe her vulpine features are activating his protect-the-cute-animal instincts. Is there anything he can do to make her feel better? Seeing as he barely knows anything about her, her species, or her culture, it seems difficult.

He gets up and puts his clothes on.

The crowd of teens will follow along, grumbling slightly. This certainly wasn't the end they imagined for their little adventure in the Old Mines.

A van pulls up! It's painted green, and is more small-bus-like than van-like. It's quiet, electric. The seats all have tail holes. A two-tailed man gets out of it, pulls a bike from the back, and bikes away after giving Sid a long curious look.

Everyone piles into the van. They give Tak wary looks. Tak crosses his arms stubbornly. Mika takes the wheel.

"I hope you won't be too lonely, away from your old clan," someone- Fei?- Comments. "Even if you find a new one like I did... It's not the same."

"The word 'clan' does not well describe any social structure I have ever been a member of. I'll miss my friends and family, but I didn't have anyone I can't bear to be without. And, well, all the new things I can discover here are a great consolation."

Sid is curious about the subtext between Tak and the others. But if he doesn't want to talk about it, bringing it up carelessly would be a poor repayment of the favor he did to Sid.

"...'Family'? You mean, a small clan of closely related people? Isn't that way too lonely?"

"Yeah. My mother and father and sister, who I lived with, and my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, who we'd visit sometimes. That's not lonely for my species. I'm kinda confused about how it could be too lonely. I spent like, between half and three quarters of my waking hours with or near people I knew well and liked. It would have been difficult to have too many more close relationships."

"You only have a few close relationships, but you- We- Spend a lot of time around clan. The... There's traditions, and milestones. You'll always have someone to help you figure out what the next tail is like, where you're going in life. It's important. And if anyone has a baby, the whole clan takes care of it along with everyone else's, so nobody is run too ragged. You can have a nice big granary and water tower so you're safe if something happens that interrupts grocery deliveries. And if someone's sick or dies suddenly, the whole clan can pick up the slack and mourn together. And there's enough one-tails and two tails still strong enough to do physical work around, to support the elders who're older and wiser."

"Cells are what organelles form together. Tissue is what cells form together. Organs are what tissues form together. The individual is what organs form together. The clan is what we individuals form together. The town is what clans form together. The county is what towns form together. The state is what counties form together. Society is what states form together."

"It kind of sounds like you have a clan, just one that lives in separate houses and doesn't see each other every often?"

"If you mean my extended family, than yes, kind of. To be clear, humans have, like, relationships with people they're not related to, and a market economy, and insurance, and government programs that are similar to insurance in some ways. Your description of Kitsune society sounds similar enough to human society, except that I'd say individuals form families or households and those form towns or cities. Although it does vary by culture, and some are more clannish than the one I grew up in."

"We have friends! We go to school!"

"Oh, Sun and Moon, markets? You rely on those for food and healthcare? Doesn't that just let someone get a monopoly and hurt everyone else for their own benefit?"

"What's insurance?"

"It's a markets thing- Like, uh... You play WaveClans? If you go independent you don't have to send resources back to your home state but they won't bail you out if you run low on food either. Insurance is like picking a home state, kinda."

"In practice, it's pretty difficult to gain a monopoly in most industries, and there are laws that allow the government to break up monopolies and prosecute anti-competitive behavior when it does happen. And some industries are a lot more regulated than that. It's not perfect, but it works out fairly well overall. Grocery deliveries basically never get interrupted in my country, for instance. I don't know why they would in your world, it might be a non-economics-related difference."