Let's Do The Space Warp Again

[iamnotpolaris]

'Guided random' selected, parameters recalibrated, universe selection initiated.
What's on the other side now?

Comments

[whatamithinking]

"Well, there's plenty of animal life here, and exactly one person."

She sends out a minute telepathic probe, trying to get a sense of the person without actually violating their privacy.

The second thing she notices is that the mind seems to be running off of two brains.

The first thing she notices is that it is brilliant.

Not bright like another telepath. Not bright like a genius. But some kind of entirely new kind of impressive, of standing-out, of (yes here this this is a thing this is special notice me notice me).

Her knees buckle, and she distantly notices her sister catching her and keeping her upright.

[iamnotpolaris]

'Are you okay? (concern/fear)'

[whatamithinking]

'Fine.'

[not_only]

When Edie collapses on her sister, Sivath's Pulse Bow appears in his hand near-instantly - no magic, or at least no more magic than the deminiaturization, just good reflexes and the foresight to keep one's weapons easily accessible.

"What's wrong?" he asks, glancing around warily.

[whatamithinking]

"Nothing," she breathes. "It's so beautiful."

[not_only]

...He looks at Emily to check whether she believes this.

[iamnotpolaris]

'Let me see,' she nudges.
...
Huh. Well.
The hand that isn't helping her sister stay upright is called to duty on her face.
"Really, Edie?"

[not_only]

Well, Emily at least doesn't seem alarmed by it, whatever it is. Sivath relaxes a little, but doesn't put away his bow yet.

[whatamithinking]

Edie recovers fairly quickly.
"We should go meet this person. Definitely."

[not_only]

"...Are you sure?"

[whatamithinking]

"Yes. I was caught off-guard, but that doesn't mean I can't handle it if they turn out to be hostile."

[not_only]

"All right. Which way?"

[whatamithinking]

Predictably enough, inland.
As they walk through what appears to be a very exotic forest, they presumably see a lot of statues of a unicorn with a broken-off horn.

[pythbox]

They do. There are lots of those.

[not_only]

They also see a huge striped green-and-orange lizard, which Sivath eyes warily.

[whatamithinking]

Presumably these were made by the person with the lovely mind.
So this world maybe has unicorns in it, interesting.
Eventually they will get pretty close to the nearer manifestation of the island person.

[endragoned]

The nearer manifestation of the island person is:

A humanoid, almost exactly Sivath's height, with horns and a tail and batlike wings and no clothes on. He catches sight of the three travelers and flinches back, startled and alarmed.

[whatamithinking]

No reason to assume they share a language...
Mild telepathic poke, nonverbal but containing concepts like 'hello' and 'friendly' and 'we come in peace.'

[endragoned]

He says something in a language that they indeed do not share. But the tone is one of mild incredulity.

[whatamithinking]

'I don't speak your language. You can respond to me like (this).'

[endragoned]

'Who are you? How did you come here?'

[whatamithinking]

'My name is Edie, and this is my sister Emily, and our more recent companion Sivath,' she sends, mirroring to Emily and Sivath. 'We're travelers-between-worlds.'

[endragoned]

'And why did you come here?'

[whatamithinking]

'My sister and I are trying to find our way home, and this involves traveling to a wide variety of different worlds learning about what makes them different according to the method of travel we have. We landed on your island quite by random, and thought it would be polite to introduce ourselves.'

[endragoned]

He regards them warily for a few moments longer, then shrugs.

'Welcome to my island, then. Be careful what you eat; many things here are poisonous.'