Redwood Creek Park

Veronica couldn't help but raise a brow at the man's outburst. "In words? Apparently no. Easy to sit here, in well off town, make pittance of money to throw at symptom of problem instead of source. Then say making difference." She pursed her lips a bit at the thought. "Is like treating poison bite by only stopping bleeding. Does help immediate, but not long. Sure I will be much help to sick child if suddenly homeless." While the nurse said she was out here to clear her head, that was only half true. The other part was the sudden rise in visits to the nurse's office and what was the cause of the sudden rush. She could speculate, sure. But she'd rather know what was wrong with everyone than guess. Being unfocused and only able to see each little case separately wasn't helping till she had a moment to think.

Looking at Ray, she tilts her head a moment before replying. "You make point, but looking at town... do not think this is one of them. To be honest, whole place looks like ah... point to make?" She was having difficulty articulating what this place seemed to her. "No no... Like... Well, this place not have many resource, yes? Island, perhaps fishing, but do not see much fishing industry here. Why town here? Not a big port. Is very beautiful, but feels like founder just wanted to prove point. What point? Not sure. Maybe nowhere else to put people? Can only guess."

Ray would tilt his head a little in thought as the other two had a rather heated conversation about health treatment for free. Hachiro seemed quite passionate about helping out the poor who couldn't afford to pay for it. Veronica, on the other hand, seemed to think it was a moot point if the lack of payment ended up making her poor as well, and practically made the solution useless. This was one of those arguments that didn't really have a straight answer..did it? If he thought about it, both sides had a point. ''Maybe sort of compromise could work here? Like work for money, and do some free job on the side once in a while?'', he would half ask, half suggest with a shrug. He didn't want to get in the middle of their argument much, but he didn't want those two to jump each other because of it right now. The park wasn't made for unneccesary skirmishes...not so late in the evening anyway. Thanks, but no thanks. He'd rather have peace after this whole day.

Hachiro seemed to agree that the will of people was more important than their numbers, though Veronica was skeptical about this town itself. Well, that was a difficult assumption. Not enough resources for what exactly? ''Does that really matter much? I mean, if people were too worried about the lack of resources, it would be a ghost town already. As long as there is someone living here happily, that should be enough of a point for the town's existence....Besides, one cannot know how will a certain town develop in the future when establishing it.'', he would respond after a moment of giving it a thought. Hm, for some reason this conversation was turning to strange topics indeed. At least for a casual talk. Ray wasn't used to that, but decided to roll along for now. Maybe something good would come out of this...?

Evidently Veronica was of the opinion that it mattered little if it made her poor. Hachiro would hold back his frustration, the woman couldn't possibly understand if she wasn't willing to listen. The wanderer had never felt this angry before. He would let out a sigh, and just tell himself to relax. He wouldn't give up, but it would be a bit unfair to push this woman so hard while she was still adjusting. Oh, but he was a tenacious when it came to challenging people. Though sometimes it was easier to do it when it was just him and the person he was challenging it allowed him to focus more on the matter at hand and forcing them to overcome their hardships. However, Raynar offered something of a compromise between the two positions, "That would be acceptable from my stand point, so long as the perosn who is doing the free job learns how grateful they should be for what they have in comparison to what other people have." That was the main goal that he wanted at this point from the woman, she seemed to think she had a pretty rough life.

Veronica was still skeptical about the city of San Malarus, evidently she didn't realize the power of trade and how important it was for the economy. "Well lack of resources isn't that much of a concern since all the islands in this region are fairly connected, not to mention the fact that trade is a pretty solid industry around these parts. I've seen cargo ships stop for refueling, so I imagine we got some kind of industry growing pretty well around here. Not to mention offshore drilling and all that, this place isn't as resource less as one might think." It was true, San Malarus may seem like a place that didn't do much mining or drilling, but one just had to know where to look.

((Congrats on both of you missing both points she made. ))

Veronica couldn't help but frown. She knew her English was far from good, but she thought she was using the right words. Or was it too many words? She couldn't be sure of that, but she was sure that she was not communicating her concerns clearly to either of them. She closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. "Words in this language hard. Too many to say same thing... and then still same thing mean too many different things. Sorry for not mastering it yet." She was pretty clearly giving up on trying to articulate what she meant. Her eyes go to Ray, the more moderate of the two. She felt he at least deserved credit for his logic, even if it was about something unrelated. "In situation you speak of, yes. Is ideal."

Then again, maybe it was her that was misunderstanding the context? Language had been her biggest hurdle working here. She never did feel like she had any talent at picking up the new language, try as she might. Feeling her second point being missed as well, she takes a deep breath and humors the new direction of the conversation. "Islands not that far apart. Seems odd to rely on trade alone. Suppose am not sailor though. Do not know if port here important."

Eager to move to something that didn't involve her trying to express concerns in broken English, she changes the subject. "So idea is to form band? Hard to from strangers, would think. But connections is way to find each other, no?"

((OoC: Is that so? LOL))

Ray would be a little confused when Veronica suddenly spoke about English being a hard language and all that came with it. 'What does...' It took him a while to get what she probably meant. Either she said someting wrong before, or she thought she didn't say it the right way from their responses. Hm, well Ray couldn't say he was an expert thinker, so maybe he did get her wrong, even though he was quite good in English, with it being his native language. ''I see..'', he would mutter thoughtfully when she addressed him afterwards. It did seem she was trying to talk about something else, but honestly, he himself was getting lost in this conversation, and the general point of it.

Because, courtesy of Hachiro, they seemed to move onto the discussion of trade already...when did matters get so complicated? 'So much thinking...' Sure, opinions were good, but he did feel like a change of subject at this point. ''I suppose everything is important in its own way.'', he would state after Veronica's assumptions of that one, rather simply compared to previous talks, but he was sort of losing interest in that. ''True. It might not be an easy task. But, you don't pay for a try, do you?'', he would say with a small smile when she changed the subject back to the original conversations about groups. She was right about it not being easy with strangers, but you never knew what could be unless you gave it a go, right?

Hachiro too was suddenly confused when Veronica mentioned that English was a difficult language, had she not made her point properly or had they misunderstood it. Evidently, she seemed to say that Ray's solution was ideal to her. She simply didn't get it did she? She could live the cushy lifestyle she wanted and help others who are starving and dehydrated. She was focused on her problems and how bad they were, when to be honest they really weren't that bad. Learning a language or concern about money is not as bad as not having food or clean water, or medicine for when someone in your family fell ill. Of course she hadn't experienced that, she had yet to visit those places. She didn't see the problem, nor did she know a solution for it. Send in the military? The tribes would unite against the foreign military extending the conflict. Bomb them? No, that would risk civilian and innocent life. He sighed a bit and shrugged, and glanced away. Then Veronica addressed the point about how trade would not be the strongest point, "Well I'm talking about international trade, not just trade between the islands themselves. You know what forget I said anything, we're just confusing each other at this point."

Then Veronica began to speak about how it would be difficult to form a band from strangers, by that same logic one could say that it was hard to make friends because everyone was a stranger, yet humans made friends, neighborhoods, communities, cities, and empires. Sure there would be an awkward vibe around the band for a few couple days, but as people grew closer then they would begin to work together more. "Sure, it'll be hard to gather the band together, and there might be a few awkward vibes for a bit, but once everyone got to know each other then its pretty much a downhill run from there. At least that is how I imagine it ought to go." It was that simple, humans were creatures of companionship, not isolation. Hachiro would state his input as a fact, and not a theory or hypothesis. Perhaps he sounded arrogant, but what did he care what Veronica thought? She was simply not as well-versed in the ways of the world as Hachiro was, or so the wanderer thought.

((I see them, they are obscure, and the word choice of the character isn't all that clear in conveying them.))