practicality

I'd rather not test that.

Either way, I don't know how we'd be able to find out.

It's hardly their fault, after all.

[Go beneath the waves, that mystery writer (or writers?) had repeatedly said. The Yard was beneath everything, and as far from the Tree as one could get in Edensphere. Rain stopped once they reached a secluded area, and turned back to Daitou.]

As I understand it, this is the safest place to discuss things. [He sat down on what may have been part of a refrigerator and waited quietly for the other man to speak. Whether Daitou had something specific he wanted to discuss, or he just wanted to vent, Rain was willing to hear him out.]

[So that's where this was going. Everyone wanted to change things here, but doing so - and living - was another matter. Did Daitou think that Tian might actually stand a chance against the powers at work in this place? Rain was intrigued, but he was also skeptical.]

...That's easier said than done. How do you intend to do it?

That's where I come in. [Rain said that softly, almost to himself. So they had no plan yet... he was hesitant to agree to help without knowing what he was agreeing to. But at the same time, he couldn't refuse if he didn't know what he was refusing. He was fairly sure of one thing, though.]

I don't know Tian-dono [ - the honorific was added more for Daitou's sake than anything else - ], but you and I are already allies.

[What little they had recalled - that one radio memory, especially - had made that much apparent.]

[Rain shook his head.] Our lives prior to arriving in this place are no less real just because we don't remember them. We were allies, and unless something happened to change that, we still are.

[Daitou was his ally, and the man whose body Daitou was stuck in at the moment was his master. Rain was finally sure of that much, and as far as he was concerned, having forgotten it didn't invalidate it. He was willing to help an ally... but still, he was wary. Both Daitou and Tian had been known to recklessly push the limits of what it was safe to say over the journals, after all. Rain met the other man's gaze evenly.]

My goal is to return home, alive, to my service under the vice commander. To that end, I'm willing to aid you. [Alive being the key word. Rain recalled all too clearly the lecture his sister had given him in that one memory, when she'd caught him about to kill himself.]