A Lost boy somehow gets even more lost.
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...and then the song ends, more abruptly than it "should" in his head, and he nearly crashes headlong into someone.

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He quickly apologizes, and smiles as he applauds along with everyone else before ducking out of the crowd to grab his bag and bow again. Once they're secured, he goes to stand in the line for water while looking around to see if his original dance partner is still around.

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She's with her water-getting friend from before.

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He stays in line until he can take a much-needed drink, then uses the last bit of water to wipe sweat from his face before he approaches them again. "Thanks, that was fun. I'm Danny."

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"I'm Kasnta, nice to meet you!" she chirps.

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"Same." He turns to her friend. "How bad was I? If you saw."

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"Oh, I thought maybe you turned your ankle the other week or something?"

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He almost says "I'll take it," but he's not sure the idiom would translate. "Better than I thought, then." He decides not to explain any of the weird things that are going on with him just yet, but if he doesn't say more it might lead her to believe he did turn his ankle, which feels subtly wrong. "My ankles are fine. I guess I'll just have to practice more."

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"Did they not dance like this on your home round?"

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"They did, but I only saw it a few times, and never tried it." He considers showing off some of the basic moves he did pick up from various music videos, or even the moonwalk, which he was practiced for a whole day when he was 10 until he could do it flawlessly, but they might lead to questions he's not ready to answer. 

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"Seems inconsiderate of whoever made you not to have it in there ready to pick up."

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He should have seen that coming.

Ugh, is this going to happen every time he has an even slightly personal conversation with someone?

Probably. He might need to get more okay with letting people have the wrong impression by omission.

"I've been told something similar before."

Ugh. The twisty feeling in his stomach is back, and the feeling like he's exposed, like something is going to strike him from his blindspot...

He tries to ignore it.

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"Not in touch to take it up with them? Oh well," she shrugs.

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"I'm hoping to meet them again someday." He shrugs back, as if it doesn't matter whether he ever sees his parents again, and has to swallow the brief lump in his throat, and breathe out the tension from the exposed, warning, bad feeling getting a little stronger. He decides to try asking one of the questions that he hasn't found a good opportunity to ask anyone yet. "People I've met so far have a different relationship with their makers than what I'm used to. How often do you two talk with yours?"

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"Oh, I live with mine, she's very old now and needs looking after."

"I was first made for a war and haven't seen my maker since it ended but that's not typical."

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Hm. Wars count a bit against the "this place is just an amusement park for aliens/fae/advanced humans" hypothesis, unless some people really wanted to experience that sort of thing. It's not like the tech or magic needed to run this place wouldn't make it possible to also make sure wars don't get too out of hand...

He definitely wants to know more, but how weird is it going to seem if he's never heard of it? They could assume he was made very recently and without knowledge of current events, but also, she did say "a" war, not "the" war, so maybe there are enough of them, or she's from far enough away that it would make sense for him not to know...

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"That's nice of you," he says to Kasnta's friend, then turns back to her, brow raised. "I haven't heard of a war before. If it's not hard to talk about, could you say more about it?"

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Kasnta's friend looks like that's a deeply weird thing to say, that it's nice of her.

"Are you saying you don't know what a war is or you don't know what wars have happened in this region?" Kasnta asks.

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Double oops. He's not sure what to add for the first, but for the war stuff...

"Uh, maybe a little of both? I've never heard of a war happening between rounds, so if it was that, I'm really curious to know what was involved. But also I don't know of any wars in this region."

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"It wasn't between rounds, it was a little revolt on Seventhround."

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He's made some incremental progress in learning to read over the past few days, but he's been holding off on finding maps until he has spare money for something to write with and on to take notes. Which means he has no idea where that is, and can't remember hearing about it before.

There's something about admitting to being so ignorant that's getting harder rather than easier the more it piles up, and he's not sure if it's general pride, his worry about drawing too much attention or questions that would make things awkward, or just not wanting a pretty girl to think he's stupid. Still, he forces himself to ask, "Is that a proleround? I heard they're different from places like Creekcross, but I've never been to one. What was the revolt over?"

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This is apparently also a pretty weird thing to say, but Kasnta hesitantly answers, "No, it's not a proleround. It's subject to Rabbitseye City, the capital of Rabbitround, same as here. They didn't like the accent with which the successor potentate spoke their language, was I believe the instigating insult, but it escalated from there."

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Wait she's serious.

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"Sorry, I think I didn't catch all those words. I'm still learning this language... 'successor potentate?'"

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