Nerves and The Greater Good (Cheri)

... A half-ogre, half-saiyan? Cheri didn't know what ogres were meant to be in this context but, using her knowledge of comparative mythology (which, at this point, was paying dividends), that word was generally used for rather unsavoury creates. Cheri distinctly remembered the idea of an ogre being quite similar to the idea of a troll, but apparently ogres were not violent, so she assumed the ogres must have been quite different in the Otherworld. "'Saiyan blood', if you’ll forgive the expression,” for it was propagated genetically and held in the mind, ”predisposes them to battle. And to challenge themselves through battle.” Alas, the Vegetan culture had corrupted this saiyan trait, twisting it into a constant need for destruction and 'victory' as murder.

"Species is not culture. While the two are mostly interchangeable when almost everyone in the species is of that culture, for example with us, the tuffles," which could still lead to some confusion for outsiders, for example in tuffle-made androids that, legally, were tuffles, and would be called tuffles as a member in a crowd without a second thought, "this is not so for the Vegetans. When Sadala became uninhabitable, many different saiyans went in many different directions. The Vegetans are the saiyans of Plant; it is a culture that has spent its entire life at war." Cheri had sometimes heard the term 'Plantian' used, which was decent enough, but in scientific circles that referred to the species that would, in time, evolve into the tuffles themselves. ”The Sadalans themselves were mostly not so bad. At least, not before they grew desperate with a planet undergoing an unnatural meteorological apocalypse.”

Cheri was rare in that she didn’t capitalise the first letters of ‘saiyan’ or ‘tuffle’, so as to keep it fitting with ‘human’. ‘Earthling’, ‘Vegetan’ and ‘Plantian’, however, all had capitalisation because they were named after places; they were based on proper nouns.

”If you wish to speak with a saiyan without regard to their culture, I can assist in that regard.” Eh? What did that mean? ”My personal bodyguard and close friend, Nasu, is here on Earth with me. He has a unique perspective on Vegetans, though he is far less knowledgeable on them than I.” But, of course, there was the issue that Ward might not trust his judgement, either; if he knew less of the Vegetans than she, who was to say that what he did know she did not tell him? ”If you wish to speak with a Vegetan, I warn you caution. A few Vegetans had come to Earth for the Budokai, and they knew not to destroy everything in sight or else they wouldn’t have come, so there’s your opportunity.”

“Talk to ‘Delia’ if you want to talk to someone on the friendlier side, but I doubt she’ll be entirely helpful as she seemed to have wrapped herself up with multiple levels of… distance, to avoid the destructive elements of her culture on a personal level.” Yes, she did glean all of that from their short fight. She was a tuffle politician with decades of experience; if she could do anything brilliantly, it would be that. ”Or talk to ‘Onnio’ if you want to just jump into the deep end. It might take a bit to see through the facades, but he’s been massively affected by propaganda and is depressingly daft.” Onnio was the sort of Vegetan who felt that, because they had been born and raised on Plant, they had the right to stay there. Cheri could agree with that, conceptually. The problem was, Onnio was also the sort of Vegetan to not let up; if he maintained the violent stupidity, he was precisely the Vegetan who ought not be on Plant at all.

Ah, it appears there had been a miscommunication somewhere along the way. ”Not quite; apologies for the miscommunication, I will go over it again. Tuffles had no idea what saiyans were before they arrived. To put it simply: ‘Saiyan’ is a species. ‘Vegetan’ is a culture. ‘Sadalan’ was the culture that, before Sadala’s explosion, almost every saiyan had. The Vegetan culture is a desperate bastardisation of the Sadalan culture. Nasu, for example, is Kryystan in culture, for some saiyans, had escaped to Kryysta and became naturalised there.”

Oh, good, he didn’t know what caused the apocalypse on Sadala. That was good; it meant he didn’t have a part in it. But, that still meant that whatever did cause it was left unknown, mysterious.

”The Sadalan culture itself was naturally developed; it had its beauty, and it resulted in a meaningfully intricate culture. To be quite frank, I think it’s something that ought to be restored, if the war matter is ever resolved sensibly.”

Apologies for too much speech over too little prose, but it's 1am and this post is already getting too long

Cheri noted the shocked look on Ward's face. Was he surprised that Cheri had a saiyan close friend? Possibly that could have been it. Or maybe he was surprised that Cheri would need a bodyguard at all. Yes, perhaps that was it; in which a case, perhaps she could have been clearer. Perhaps, instead of 'bodyguard', 'knight sworn to my service'... though, that was a whole other kettle of fish, and brought up a whole lot more questions. 'Bodyguard' served well enough in the context.

"You are a shinjin." It was a bit surprising, to find that he wasn't suppressing his Power Level in some way... but, even then, that didn't much matter, for she knew that many ancestries across the galaxy had transformations or altered states that could increase (or, in the case of Arcosians, limit) their Power Level, usually far more than a tuffle could, and presumably a transformed shinjin would have the power to create a planet, to craft life, and other such wonderful things. "Hubris is not one of my traits; I do not suppose that a deity is weaker than me because I sense that they are." Again again again with that comparative mythology, but cultures across the galaxy were littered with stories of the gods hiding themselves in mortal disguises and asking heroes for help, and then divinely rewarding or punishing the hero based on their compassion to the helpless. There was a similar myth with how a deity would knock on someone's door and ask if they may stay for the night; if treated with hospitality, they would be well-rewarded. Cheri, here, saw a deity in flesh before her very eyes... of course she wasn't going to assume weakness of it.

"Hm." An even position with Cheri. Now, let's think, who could that have been... well, most of the Vegetans Cheri had met, powerful as they were, were not generals themselves, and yet all the same were prospective monarchs in Vegeta's scramble for leadership. "Then there is 'Vennel'. She is not a general, as I am, but I believe she is the most likely to descend upon the throne and become their 'Saiyan Queen'." Monarchy, what a joke. "As far as I am aware, she is on Plant. Though I warn you, her usual response to hearing more than a few words per sentence or more than a few sentences per minute is violence." And, by the kais, she was powerful. The power was not earned, of course, for she relied on the cheap power of the Great Ape transformation and sacrificed her personhood to use it. That Oozaru was not one Cheri could take on by herself.

"I have not seen any Vegetans on Earth thus far. I am simply familiar with the tournament bracket, and have watched the Elimination Rounds." And it was a good thing, too, for with the likely exception of Delia, she imagined they all would have attacked her on sight, surroundings be damned. "If they see me, they will try. With perhaps one exception." That being Delia.

”The Vegetans not having leadership right now is a good thing, all considered. They are focusing inwards more than they otherwise would have, consumed with squabbles and nonsense. I can only afford to be away from Plant now because our shared lack of higher leadership has put the war in an unofficial ceasefire.” And, as good as it was that the saiyans continued to be without monarch, it was not something one would be wise to attempt to interrupt. If one attempted an attack on such an event, one was simply allowing them to demonstrate their unity and the monarch their leadership, only strengthening their monarch’s influence.

The tuffle elections were coming soon and, while she didn’t want to, she might have had to participate and win to make sure that this went right. At the very least, ‘Chancellor Cheri’ benefitted from alliteration.

”If you go to Vegeta— that’s what they call their annexed territory— you are unlikely to be attacked on sight.” Which was to say, most Vegetans wouldn’t have attacked him. Even if he were saiyan he might have still gotten attacked; they were really keen on the whole violence thing. ”They will likely imagine that you’re a Konatsian mercenary chump.” ‘Chump’ because, if a mercenary was working for the Vegetans, it was because they mustn’t have been good enough to be hired by a tuffle, who had far more to pay. "I would advise against telling them what a shinjin does. I feel many of them would appreciate the chance to beat up a god, if only for the power high."

”More familiar than almost any other.” For one, she had put quite a lot of time into saiyan and Vegetan psychology, in understanding the saiyan mindset. Additionally, she’d also invested quite a lot of her studies to understanding the ancient culture of Sadala, thereby understanding how the Vegetan culture had come to be. Lastly, she, in her time, had had discussions with Garrick Bloodthorne the Vegetan noble to talk on these matters with a shared perspective. Very possibly, the number of people who knew them more than her was quite small indeed. ”Such manipulations are utilised when practical but, much of the time, such a plot is unlikely to succeed and not terribly unlikely to backfire.” They were used, but the times when the projected utility was a net positive for such a plan came at uncommon intervals. If you wanted two saiyans to gain a grudge and try to kill each other, though, there was a distinct possibility that they’d do that all their own anyway. Such a thing was unpredictable, and a thorough mess to get involved with. Yes, even for one such as she. ”If you consider yourself a master manipulator, though, I welcome the hypothesis and await further testing.” Tuffles were never known as brilliant manipulators. Cunning, sure, but in the cleverness respect; manipulating machines and tech, not people. Perhaps he would see opportunities where others would see chaos?

”The ‘Rosemary’ you mentioned before?” Cheri went through their whole conversation up to that point in her mind to make absolute sure of how he’d described her. ”Yes, ‘Rosemary’. She’s a Vegetan.” Unless he was referring to the half-ogre saiyan, who Cheri was not familiar with. ”Hm, it should work. Though, be careful around her; she has a demonic ability to corrupt the minds around her with rage.”

Cheri wondered, briefly, how the shinjin (who, again, she assumed lived for a meaningful period of time, like a few million years as the barest possible minimum) could live for so long and yet, in a case such as this, not master anything. Perhaps their standards of mastery were just far higher? Perhaps they lived their lives freely and without the obligation so that they would never need to be especially good at anything. Or, perhaps they just didn’t last long enough for it. Hmm…

Yes, how could Ward help, if not directly by fighting? If he attempted his manipulation, she feared that he would fail, make things worse and this would push him away from ever assisting again. ”An attempt is welcome, but I warn caution. Very likely, they will attempt to determine leadership through combat. If they decide through a bracketed series of duels, there is an opportunity in manipulating the seeding to give the less incompetent potentials a tougher time. If they decide through a battle royale, there is an opportunity to, before the fight, convince various participants to focus fire on the less-incompetent. That… should be relatively safe, if you wish to attempt it.” And, of course, in whatever else he wished, provided he felt it safe.

If he weren’t so freakishly tall, Cheri imagined Ward could have passed as a tuffle. On the Vegetan side, though it would be a bloody good thing he was tall. No, he resembled a Konatsian, a species commonly found on Plant as mercenaries. Very possibly only a Konatsian or another shinjin would know the difference. ”As you resemble a Konatsian, you should be safe to interact over there.” As safe as anyone could be in a place where buildings were used as target practice for the bored without regard for if anyone was in the buildings at all. ”But I do not expect you to betray your principles. I would not blame you if you appeared merely to observe.” It was inevitably and necessarily up to him.