* The woods are still 'off'. There's trees, lots of them with a grey tint to them, that look suspiciously unnatural. Security's still off, right? Yes. Everything's down, still. * Elonith nods seriously. "So, they were a little shorter than me, maybe as tall... They had greyed skin, and they put you in that." *points* As I said. Any idea why they kidnapped you? It looks like that stasis pod you were in could double as an emergency escape pod... * Elonith sits down on a convenient rock. He pulls his laptop out and clackity clackity clack. * Trast pulls out an small obsidian knife from a pouch on his waist. "Their skin had the look of this." I see... And why they kidnapped me? They would not say. Did they speak at all? ( Hm, I just realized that Elo's skin and the blacks of Tze's eyes are the same color. ) A great deal, but not in words I knew. They seemed most angry. Oh? I wonder why... What were you engaged in before your abduction? Gathering stone to make tools I had broken my 3rd chipping rock. And they were angry because I would not let them capture me. * Elonith frowns, and looks rather saddened, even though he's only typing. or at least would not cooperate in such. * Carter snickers a bit. "Bullies, you say." Bullies? * Tzezhin looks puzzled. "How illogical. Of course you would not consent to being captured." Those who pick on those who are weaker than they. And often become ired when their prey fights back. The strong have a right to rule the weak. I however, am not weak. It is the duty of the strong to protect the weak. And help them become strong. You have weak family? to protect? A son with the wasting sickness? * Elonith closes his laptop. He takes a big gulp and gets up. "Before we start any other conversation... There's something you will need to know about me Trast." * Tzezhin shakes his head at Carter. "It is the duty of the weak to make themselves strong." No, I am too young to be a father. I am the only son of my line. * Tzezhin steps slightly behind Trast as Elo speaks. Ah yes, to become strong, very good. * Trast looks at Elo Which is? Tzezhin, I know this. However, it is the duty of those who are already strong not to prevent that. How will the weak become strong if they are coddled? * Elonith looks up at the Neanderthal. "Now before I show you, you must promise *not* to hurt me afterwards... I'm afraid you probably won't trust me based on pure speculation, though." "promise" ? Agree to. In a way that binds you. I shall agree to no such thing. what if you attack me? Carter and I shall serve as intermediary. Only a fool cuts off his hands before a fight. * Elonith pauses. "Does it look like I can *hurt* you?" Say something, and mean it. And not break the agreement. ...We will not attack you except in defense of self or companion. ( Elo: *snicker* ) (Oh, he *can* though.) Carter, stand over by Elonith. I shall stand with Trast. And if either seeks to harm the other, we shall prevent that harm from occurring. ( I'll second that snicker. And raise you a malevolent chuckle. ) I have no intention of attacking you unless you try to strike me first. * Elonith nods. "Please do. I do not want to incurr any feelings of ill will..." Say what you have to say, or don't. * Carter does as instructed. ( Why pussyfoot around? Let's go with the big guns. One evil cackle and let's show 'em. ) Tell him, Elonith. ( *will not bitchlaugh. WILL. NOT.* ) * Elonith takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. His features change to his natural state: Obsidian black skin, metallic golden hair, and a very skinny frame. His clothing doesn't change with him, but when he opens his eyes, they're solid red. "This is the real me." Is that another skin you wear over your own? did you befuddle my mind with tricks of the light? No. I have the ability to... shapeshift, to an extent. Listen, there's something you will need to understand... Chances are you'll never get back to your home. I lost my home years ago. You are not with the Tribe who captured me? How...sad. *looks truly sorry* * Elonith shakes his head. "But I am probably the same species..." * Tzezhin lets Elo do the talking and explaining and just stands around looking neutral. Whoever said he wasn't smart? So? My people have many tribes. ( well, that was anti-climactic. ) I assume yours is the same. Just because one tribe is my enemy does not mean that all are. My quarrel is with them, not with you. Speciesim goes a very long way. And... I've never met another of my kind who was the least bit receptive of me. I was outcast from all Tribes for many moons myself. Why? Oh, sorry, that was rude. Forget I asked. The chief's son tried to kill me, I killed him instead. Maybe we do have something in common... *looks at Trast closely* He's intelligent. Considerably more so than one of his kind, as well. * Tzezhin blinks at the anti-climactic ending, shrugs, and stands to Trast's side again then. His kind? He is human, is he not? "human" ? He is actually a separate species, known as "Neandrathall". Humans are close genetic cousins, but I don't think are cross-fertile. A being with physical qualties much like those the four of us share. * Tzezhin glances at Elo a bit uncertainly as he says that. ... our shape is the same, but clearly we are not the same people. * Carter turns to Trast. "Human is the name of the kind of creature that Tzezhin is, and that I was born as." * Tzezhin quirks an eyebrow at Carter. "I had no intention of marrying him. Perhaps you should share that information with Kaeolla though. She is an impulsive girl." you are all so small and soft... meaning no insult. I'm... Well, what I am is not important. But I most certainly am not human. ...I think that would only encourage her. *to Trast* None taken. But, appearances are deceiving. ( Small? I'm taller'n he is, unless he stands up straight. ) * Elonith nods. "Very decieving, in my case." (Tzez, I mass a *lot* more than you) ( Okay, point. ) Elo: you seem to be quite skilled at deception. I will remember this. He does not deceive, although I confess I know not why he chooses to hide himself each day. Remember it at your own risk. And the reason why may show itself eventually, but for now... *takes a deep breath* Well, I suppose we should give you a rundown of our mutual situation, Mr. Wheelmaker. * Elonith changes back to his 'normal' form. So, what brings such strange beings of many different people together. It seems a tactic he employs in order to prevent the other... tribesfolk he is used to from bothering him. "Mr." ? and why do you avoid my name? A term one uses among my people when addressing one's elders. Mild form of respect. Is "Wheelmaker" not your family name? ( When Cultures Collide! Whee! ) We all seem to have strange and puzzling customs. family name? if all the members of a family had the same name, how would you tell them apart? Family name is how you tell a group of people are related. For instance, my name is Elonith Newton... although the Newton is probably dated as I never had a real family. By their personal name, of course. My name is Carter Delger. Delger is my family name. Carter my personal one. *sighs* That's beside the point, though, for now. What should I call you, sir? You share part of your name with another? And you should call be by my name of course. Trast. With my father and mother...and presumably my Father's family, though I never met them. Very well, Trast. Is it the name of your Tribe? are you all members of different tribes? More like a sub-tribe. A smaller grouping, involving a man, his wife- er, mate, and their children. Offspring, Carter. We all came from entirely different worlds, so I would say yes. But, we seem to be expected to form our own 'tribe', here. why does a family need to distance itself from your tribe? are you partial outsiders? ...That's a question with a very complex answer. Tze, have you any insights, or should we just explain what's going on here in the Realm to him? The world gets bigger the harder you look. That's all I have to say on the subject. Look, if you want education on our culture, I'll gladly trade notes with you later. But now... We need to explain his situation. Your names are not important now. I agree Why am I here, and where *is* here? You mentioned another world. have we traveled to another star? * Elonith eyes Trast. "Yes, another world. What was yours called?" ( How does he know that stars bear worlds? ) we called it the world (He's schmart) I did not learn that the world was not all there was till I had already left it. Okay, well, this 'world' is called The Relm. Let's start with that. It is a 'sinkhole,' or convergence point of multiple dimensions. multiple what? Dimensions... planes of existance. Possibilities. possibilties of what? Multiple universes. All the stars in the sky are part of a single universe. There are more universes in the multiverse than you can imagine. ( Carter talks like he knows what he's talking about! Hee! ) "universe" ? "multiverse" ? Did you ever wonder what the area everything you experience is in? It's always part of a larger whole. How can there be more than one set of stars? ( Does that mean there are multiple multiverses? :P ) Leave that to dimensional physics. (Most likely. :P) ( A wizard did it. ) What you need to understand is there are. and it can't *always* be part of a larger whole. everything, no matter how big ends somewhere. There are those that would disagree with you, Trast. Take a number and multiply it by two. ( He doesn't seem to recognize magic either, actually. ) Is this necessary, Elonith? a plain may be vaster than a man can travel for many seasons, but he comes to the edge of it eventually. Spacial and gravitic mathematicians would argue with you on that, Trast. if you think something is endless, you simply haven't traveled far enough. anyway, so I am on a world far distant from my own, in several ways. Tzezhin is right. What is important is this: the Realm, where we are, is very far from where you came from. As it is from where we all came from, too. There is no as of yet discovered way off of this world. Yes. Even with all the technology you see around you, all the gadgets and magic, nothing has worked to break free. If we got here, there must be a way back. The politics of this world are as follows: there are seven Lords of Light, and seven Lords of Shadow. They fought a big war to a stalemate, and are now at peace, sort of. Lords? leaders of tribes? or simply great men? Great men. And women, in some cases. And I believe great women, as well. Great men, in this case. you have women who lead? ( Ha ha. ) who would follow a woman to war? There is little that a man can do that a woman can not. The Lords of Shadow are considered vile and evil, while the Lords of Light are considered scary yet benevolent. * Elonith nods. "Sexism seems to have fallen out of favor, Trast." Yeah, and many of those things fall to... Um, anyways. "sexism" ? ( *does not comment on the chivalric society from which Carter comes...* ) The ridiculing or favor to a particular gender. The belief that a woman is less than a man in any way unrelated to reproduction. what is this ridicule or favor? asking a woman to lead a party of war is like asking a man to bear children ( We's gwina be here a loooong time. ) * Elonith shakes his head. "Keep it down to 2 syllable words. Right." It is not the way things are done. This is unimportant right now. Perhaps women are different on your world. (there aren't any girls here, are there?) I have noticed that most women, upon coming here, are driven insane. ( Kaeolla's a girl, so's Alex. ) (but they aren't *here*) ( Of course not. ) Anyway, these Lords each have special powers. What is strange is that we, as in you, me, Elonith, Tzezhin, Kaeolla, and two others, also bear something akin to what the Lords of light and shadow bear. the women on my world are certainly not like the two we left behind, but then neither are the men like you. It's just the design of the world. Most of the females are... odd on this world. In fact, most *people* on this world seem to lack common sense. ( Do not! ) if most people lack it, it can hardly be called common. We have special powers? It's common throughout the multiverse. have you been to those otherworlds? I do not know. But we do all share an otherwise unique energy signature. *holds up the sphere, and tries to show the lines that connect people to it* (er, + " ") * Elonith nods. "Hundreds, if you count the short trips." "signature" ? what is that device? * There are faint, silvery energy lines, flowing from it to each of those present. I have only been to the stations around Earth, and the Moon. I do not understand this sphere business myself, but it appears that those it recognizes are bound in the same group. * There's a crack in it, but it seems to be smaller since you last saw it. And there's still that feeling like it belongs to you. Um... signature means 'unique mark identifying something'. ( "My preciousssssss" ) It's yours. Nobody can duplicate it. ( like it belongs to *me* ?) ( Oh, great. Now Trast's gonna run away with it. ) ( o/~ ) * Tzezhin blinks. "If it is unique, how can we share it?" I said "otherwise unique". It is unique to us as a group. If I have two identical rocks, they are unique from all other rocks, but I can give one to another. * Tzezhin raises an eyebrow for a while, then shrugs. That's not a signature. The technical origination of "signature" is the writing of one's name. Said writing is very difficult to duplicate in exact appearance by others. "writing" ? ...oh, boy. You've got some education to catch up on. Is this, too, relevant? Oh? Do you know the proper way to kill and prepare and antelople, so that the meat will last over the winter? Not to the situation. Anyway... um.. there is something special about us, for some reason. We don't know why or what. But, it worried the one Lord we've spoken to. Do you know the proper herbs to treat the wasting sickness? ( Trast: Yes, actually, he does. It's called "refridgeration". ) ( And the "herbs" are called nanites. ;) ) ( anyway, is anyone going to respond *in character* ?) ( I know the non-techie way of doing it. Or I would if antelopes roamed the DESERT. :P ) Um... not the kind of education I was speaking of. You'll see. But not relevant now. We're currently trying to find the Lords responsible for that giant bird in the clearing. Carter: what bird, you mean the star boat? Oh, yes. Yeah. So let's find him. You heathen.