Return to sender. Please.

[wind_on_my_face]

Sure, flight is faster and more generally applicable, but being right next to the ground and going this fast is its own thing to be enjoyed.



Some object darker than the expanse of salt catches Thanjen's eye.

It's worth removing obstacles, whether they're lost things, litter, or natural. He slows down and turns back to get a closer look at it.

Comments

[wind_on_my_face]

He walks back in and attempts to get their attention.

[pythbox]

The sweeper breaks off first, looks back at him, asks an incomprehensible question.

[wind_on_my_face]

He shows them a little blobby flowing-colored-glass scene of a little person (probably supposed to be him) making their way out of a cutaway little building with hallways (probably supposed to be this building).

[pythbox]

They both nod comprehendingly, then... start arguing with each other again.

[wind_on_my_face]

Figure of a person walking back and forth confusedly in a hallway!

[pythbox]

Comprehending nods! Escalating argument!

[wind_on_my_face]

Standing in the hallway looking exasperated!

[norbird]

The sculpture-smasher comes striding purposefully back down the hall. She's leading another woman, also tall, also pointy-eared. This new person smiles at Thanjen.

[wind_on_my_face]

“…Hello.”

He tries the dioramas again.

[norbird]

"Hello!" echoes the newcomer. She inspects the diorama, then nods and beckons.

[wind_on_my_face]

He follows.

[norbird]

Along the way, she points at herself and enunciates, "Lirieth."

[wind_on_my_face]

“Lir–ith.”

“Thanjen.”

[norbird]

Lirieth nods encouragingly. "Thanjen," she repeats, doing a better job with his vowels than he did with hers.

[wind_on_my_face]

Little map of what he's seen of the building, pointed at.

[norbird]

She nods, and points at the building map and gestures at the hallway around them, and gives a multi-word name.

[wind_on_my_face]

He shrinks it and adds vague representations of land and other buildings and people.

[norbird]

Lirieth looks thoughtful, then glances around the hallway they're currently traversing and heads for one of the rooms, beckoning Thanjen to follow. It appears to be a classroom: big desk at the front, lots of little desks facing it, and - this must be what she was looking for - large paper maps hanging on the walls.

She goes up to a map that looks like it represents a city, and points out their building on that. Then she names the city. Then she points out the city on the country-scale map next to that one, names the country, and points it out in turn on the third, continent-scale map; it's the wiggly peninsula on the far right. None of these locations look or sound familiar.

[wind_on_my_face]

He studies the map for a bit.

(Discussing this will require more words.)

Then turns to Lirieth and repeats the “leaving” gesture. (Though it's probably not actually relevant any more.)

[norbird]

Lirieth nods, and resumes leading him out of the building. Hallway, hallway, stairs, more hallway. It's a pretty big building, apparently, and one with very few windows.

[wind_on_my_face]

(And yet someone took the trouble to build it out of stone. Well, if that really was a completely different world map —)

He follows along.

[norbird]

They go up some more stairs and reach another hallway. This one has windows! The windows are large and clear and display a beautiful view of the city.

It's a weird city. For one thing, there's a bright blue column of light visible in the distance, rising from behind the skyline to compete on equal footing with the warm afternoon sun. For another thing, there's something subtly weird about the architecture. Lots of stone.

This might be a good moment to note that since the moment he got here, Thanjen has not seen anyone directly manipulating any matter other than their own bodies.

[wind_on_my_face]

(Well, that's entirely plausible happenstance. The blue light thing, on the other hand, doesn't look like anything that would be possible that he's ever heard of.)

He turns away from the window and says, "We will need more words for all of this," along with pointing at the two of them, his mouth, and everything else that's there to be pointed at.

[norbird]

Nod nod nod!

Lirieth leads him down the windowed hall, and a few more halls after that, and then up a short flight of stairs into a room with one stone wall and three made almost entirely of glass. The light of the sun and the mysterious blue glow shine in on an amazing variety of potted plants in all sizes, shapes, and colours, including several respectably medium-sized trees.

Amid all this greenery, a woman wearing a red halter-top dress sits and tends to a mysterious object. The woman is three feet tall and has wings like a dragonfly's. The mysterious object is a wooden pedestal with glowing green vapours circling unnaturally around it.

Lirieth greets the winged woman, and the winged woman looks up from braiding smoke to smile at Thanjen while Lirieth introduces him and presumably explains his situation.

[wind_on_my_face]

No comment seems obviously called for, but Thanjen tries to smile politely and stays well back from the inexplicably glowing gas.