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]

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.'

[whatamithinking]

'Thank you. We brought our own food with us, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Did you make the unicorn statues? They're gorgeous.'

[endragoned]

'Yes.'

[whatamithinking]

'...Are you okay?'

[endragoned]

He shrugs.

'The statues are of my friend Tialle. She died many thousands of years ago.'

[whatamithinking]

'I'm sorry to hear that.'
Unicorns definitely exist in this universe, then.
'So if it isn't rude to ask...and feel free to tell me to shove off if it is...you...feel like you have two bodies.'

[endragoned]

It may not be rude exactly but it does appear to be very alarming.

[whatamithinking]

'I'm sorry!'

[endragoned]

'How is that a thing you can feel?'

[whatamithinking]

'My telepathy has a spatial aspect. I can usually tell where a mind is--and yours appears to be in two different places.'

[endragoned]

He considers these statements.

Then he says: 'That is my Bondmate.'

There is a lot of implicit information in that one. Like the fact that his Bondmate is a dragon, and that if either of them dies so too will the other, and the fact that this makes his Bondmate his greatest weakness. Which is why having someone know about the Bond unexpectedly was so alarming.

[whatamithinking]

'Ah.'
She considers this.
'None of us intend to harm--either of you? You singular? Is it appropriate to refer to you as one person or two? In my experience, dragons are usually harder to harm than humanoids anyway.'
This also contains the implicit information that "dragon," to her, is a category rather than a species--various usually-winged reptiles in various universes, almost all of them more formidable than other sapient species from the relevant worlds.

[endragoned]

There are two of them, but they are the same person. It is not a usual situation, even among Bonded dragons. (He clarifies the concept so that she does not have to rely on an imprecise categorical description formed in worlds other than this one: this is what local dragons look like, this is what it feels like to be one, and here is the feeling of recognizing a Dragonbond, and the function the Bond has in allowing the dragon to reproduce and allowing their Bonded to do arbitrary amounts of magic without cost—)

But while Bonded dragons are usually less vulnerable than their Bondmates, this dragon's Bondmate is (uniquely among all people who have ever Bonded to dragons, as far as he knows) an Endarkened (distant impression of a very long time spent in very unpleasant conditions), and therefore near-literally impossible to kill, unless you happen to have a unicorn handy (the burn of a unicorn's horn, an incandescent blaze of pain across the palm of his hand).

[whatamithinking]

Oh.
'I'm sorry all those terrible things happened to you. (recognition/unicorn's horn/Tialle?)(brief admission of own offensive abilities; immunity to physical harm does not necessarily imply immunity to telepathic damage)(disinterest in using offensive abilities outside of emergency situations)(prediction that he is strongly unlikely to cause relevant emergency situation)'
And because she so rarely gets so much shared with her outside her sister: '(this is what it feels like to be a telepath/this is how your mind is perceived to my senses)'

[endragoned]

He hasn't even told her what the terrible things were; it seems a bit early for sympathy (not that he doesn't appreciate it) (but it feels strange, he can hardly remember the last time someone else had any sympathy for him)—

—her perception of minds is interestingly strange, different from how he perceives himself (tangled up and intertwined with his own thoughts in a way that dissolves the question of whether this is one mind or two, and he may be lonely but he is never ever alone)—

—he has no interest in finding out whether or not she could kill him (well, maybe a little (but he has no real taste for that kind of suicidal experiment, it's just a passing thought)); nor has he any interest in causing harm to others (he's had quite enough of that)—

—and yes, it was Tialle (the other half of the sense-memory, pain transmuting to magic, and he broke their chains and she carried him out on her back (he could not stay there any longer; he did not belong with the other Endarkened (a fact which his father made quite clear by imprisoning and torturing him for one or two thousand years)))—

[whatamithinking]

The last thought prompts a spark of rage (not towards him, on his behalf) and a handful of memories (not her own, there is a flavor of a different mind to them, a woman being killed with some kind of projectile weapon and the tortures that followed) and it's terrible if no one feels sympathy, terrible things shouldn't happen to people--

And she knows what it's like to never be alone, her sister by her side always (always, always, I promise) even if they are still firmly distinctly two.

And the other Endarkened sound bad but that's not his fault, were there any others like him who were not terrible but did not escape, could there be still, she doesn't want to harm him (beautiful) but if there are others of his kind who do need killing (and she will check, very very carefully, you never harm the innocent with the guilty, not if you have a choice) then perhaps she ought to find out if she can do it.

[endragoned]

He was the only one he ever met. The rest were all much more enthusiastic about torturing captives for sport and power, including torturing him when his deviance was revealed. And this was all a very, very long time ago, and he would really rather they were not reminded of his existence, and although this mind-magic of hers seems powerful he would not advise her to try to take on Shadow Mountain by herself.

[whatamithinking]

It's not technically magic--but that's beside the point. She wouldn't start with the whole thing all at once, no, that would be a terrible strategy. Although she could probably sneak in without anyone catching her--she can edit peoples' sensory perception to not include herself. Or in other ways. Either way, if she can do this she can certainly do it without reminding them of his existence. He might be the only one that ever was, or they might be vanishingly rare; less than one a generation. Either way it would harm nothing to check.