A very loud noise

[rockeye_stonetoe]

On a beach on an island far away from any elves or humans, there is a bright flash of light. Shortly thereafter, there is a very, very loud noise.

Comments

[endragoned]

And shortly after that, there is a curious and somewhat alarmed individual investigating this phenomenon.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

There is a metal house-ship of some kind, with one of the things at the end of its short stubby wings visibly damaged.

Someone human-or-elf shaped wearing very bulky clothes is inspecting the broken-looking thing. He gives the stranger a wave when he steps into view and says some words.

[endragoned]

The tall red man with the wings says some words back, to establish that they indeed don't seem to have any languages in common. He approaches the large metal thing curiously.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

The man in the environment suit makes a few gestures that might be interpreted as 'no wait' or similar. He climbs down into the thing.

And emerges from a door down on the sand half a minute later, carrying several strange devices. He tosses a black rod about as big as a tree branch towards him and looks thoughtful.

[endragoned]

He catches the object in one taloned hand and inspects it curiously.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

The stick is made of an unfamiliar metal and other, stranger materials. It contains a fair amount of silver arranged in intricate patterns on the inside.

The next time the stranger speaks, concepts unfold in his mind. [greeting][apology[noise][crash/danger]][my name[Nick]][question[your name?]]

[endragoned]

He smiles and makes a shruglike gesture - no, not applicable, unable to provide.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

He looks skeptical, then shrugs and speaks. [here by mistake[device broken][bad luck]][you understand me][I do not understand you[other devices will help][with your permission]]

[endragoned]

Shrug; agreeable nod. "Your devices are very interesting."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

[I do not understand you]

He sticks one of the strange devices into the ground, points it at him, and hands a third to the man. [speak now][devices will learn quickly[but not immediately]]

[endragoned]

"I wonder what purpose is served by all this intricately arrayed silver," he says, amused. "For that matter, I wonder what would happen if I altered it, but since I suspect the answer is 'your fascinating devices would stop working', I will not."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

Words, words, words. [yes][move silver break device][silver moves electricity[chained lightning?][very complicated]].

[endragoned]

"My magic works better with the stuff of life than with things like stone and metal, anyway. And how do you come to be on my island by mistake?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

[alarm][magic[question[random?][danger?]]]

[endragoned]

"Random? Not especially. Dangerous? Many things are. Why is magic so alarming?"

[rockeye_stonetoe]

[past experience][things with magic try to kill me[you are not trying to kill me][I am not defenseless if you do][calming down]]

After a pause, [your mind is strange][devices not learning as well as usual]

The endarkened should be getting a feel for his language by now, too. Having words seamlessly translated into concepts helps with that sort of thing.

[endragoned]

"I am not in the least suprised by that," he remarks, to the second part.

[rockeye_stonetoe]

[your mind is built on magic?]

[endragoned]

"I suppose so, yes."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I can talk to you fairly well, thanks to my translating stick. But you cannot tell me anything complicated yet. I still want to repair my ship, but this isn't a terrible place to be stuck. At least it has air and water."

[endragoned]

"And food," says the Endarkened. "Although many of the things that live here are poisonous."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"I have some food in the ship. And I can... Probably tell what's poisonous if I feed it to the medical scanner."

Some context about the medical scanner comes through the translator - it's a device that does some of what the Endarkened's sensing magic can, though it's slow and can make mistakes (rarely) and is not magic at all.

[endragoned]

"I might know better than your 'medical scanner'," he says, echoing the phrase in Nick's language. "I am familiar with all the life of the island, through my magic."

[rockeye_stonetoe]

"That certainly sounds convenient. I won't say no unless you want something too expensive in return. Er... Also, would you like some pants?"

[endragoned]

"Would you prefer that I wore pants? I can; I usually don't."