ic Strange Visitors (IC)

[Fox]

Gaian Knight shrugged, allowing the inspection of his hand as casually as one could, raising the other to move his mini-Earth out of the way. It quickly dissolved back into a small sphere of loose stones, the gemstone somewhere down in the center. "We don't, as far as I know," he admitted. "Some humans come up with some very interesting technologies, and a few have made machines that can do crude manipulation - mostly seismic technology, vibrations, magnetics - but everything I've ever seen with any kind of fine control was also not really limited by medium, and anything that worked at any kind of large or permanent scale was always too big to easily carry around and use. My magic may be limited to stone and dirt, but it's more than enough for me."

 

--

 

Tiamat snorted, not moving so much as one claw out of place. "You genuinely cannot," she said, "or, as it were, will not. The mistake is understandable, as I was perhaps not fully clear: I am not disappointed because I do not speak your tongue, I am disappointed because I do not know which tongue you speak." There was pride in her voice, but genuine curiosity, too, a puzzle to be solved. A mind to play with. "Is it your own, unknown language? <Or Lor, maybe, so eloquently full of itself?> <Grue, shifting and tasteless?> <I don't even know the name of this one; its speaker's ship crashed to the Earth and fell unconscious before we spoke much. A pity.>"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Few are interested in my tongue," admitted An-Guis, said forked appendage flicking briefly. "My companions speak the common tongue, which I think rose from Grue and Lor when both had the Communion worrying at their backs, and everyone else in space does the same." He cocked his serpentine head towards the others, then asked, "Frankly, great one, do these others," he gestured to the mammalian hominids all around, "speak to you in your own tongue? Or do they prefer that the outlander adapt? It is the same all over," he pronounced. "My people rarely leave their world." 

 

- 

 

"We should have," admitted Pharos apologetically, "but some races take such messages as a sign of weakness - or the sign of a coming invasion. We thought it better to appear in your sky as friends, rather than as distant voices on the radio." He kept up his end of the conversation on the way back to Mayberry with Stesha, telling her how he'd come to join the Ochlocracy's expedition when recruited by Sancta, who was busy in an animated conversation about theology with Gabriel. "Truthfully, I saw an opportunity to leave behind my homeworld, and I took it. New Etrigan is a beautiful place, full of beautiful people that treat each other with nothing but compassion and respect, through ancient systems of courtesy and politeness....and one can only guard perfection for so long before it honestly grows rather tiresome," he admitted, a wry smile on his rugged features. "I have not had your luck; to plant such deep roots." 

 

- 

 

Petra carried on an intensive and fairly technical conversation with Tarrant all the way back to Mayberry, sharing some of her personal experiences with tectonic exploration. She'd visited planets with a wide range of geological systems, ranging from artificial worlds of computronium and plastic, vast enough that sentients lived in the tunnels and holes carved by parasites as large as a city, to unformed masses of debris held together by artificial gravity, so that journeying from 'plate' to 'plate' meant actually crossing empty space heated only by the internal magma at the core of the planetary agglomeration. It was obvious she was a trained scientist and geologist, one who took Tarrant's own expertise as excuse not to hold back. 

[KnightDisciple]

On 7/29/2017 at 1:19 AM, Avenger Assembled said:

"Well, that's what we're here to find out!" said Sancta brightly, turning and heading for the community while inviting Gabriel to keep up. "I'm fascinated at how well your religious community has integrated itself into a community that's primarily secular. Have you found that a challenge?" she inquired. "I know many planets have had bloody religious strife in their past, but fortunately that's no longer an issue for us. Travelers in the Ocholocracy generally embrace the Infinite that lies Beyond," she said, pointing to the symbol she wore on her chest. "The Union of All. It's an area of specialty of mine." Leaning close to Gabriel, she artfully tried to wrap her arm around his. "On the planet where I was bio-born, most sentients worshiped the One who led the rebellion against the Grue in the early days of the Meta-Mind's fall. Though she was martyred for our people, her sacrifice freed us from bondage - and universally reconciled us to the new galaxy." She kept talking about theology as they went, moving from the fairly typical redeemer stories of her people to some of the more outre galactic faiths that were generally subsumed into the Infinite among space travelers. "Oh, may I see your community?" 

 

As  they spoke, a quick signal informed Gabriel that his messages had been sent. 

 

Gabriel smiled charmingly as he allowed her to wrap her arm around his. He was a perfect, relaxed gentleman. 

 

"It is challenging. But then, it's not an unfamiliar challenge; this place is, in some ways, a microcosm of what we've had to navigate elsewhere. The people here are all very polite about it, and we don't push things. We don't hide our beliefs, but we hold fast to the principle that each must decide for themselves."

 

He gets a slightly thoughtful and sad look on his face.

 

"Violence happened in the past, and I'm mournful to admit my own faith had no small hand in that. Men became more concerned with power than anything else, and let themselves be caught up in this idea that they knew best, about everything. Instead of guiding and leading, they sought to rule and demand. From that pride, pain flowed for generations. Things are better now, but such wounds run deep. And we are not the only guilty party. 

 

So, is this One the same as the Infinite That Lies Beyond? Or are they simply similar and connected? As for the community, we will ask. People live and work there so we want to, of course, minimize disruption. And even just walking through can be disruptive. All of us may reside here at least some of the time, but we are also..distinct."