001 - [Video]

[kungfood]

[The image displayed is of nothing human. It is, in fact, nothing more than a panda in a pair of darned pants standing straight up as if he knows no other way to stand. He’s obviously in the new “home” he’s been given, and if it’s possible for him to seem even more out of place, he somehow manages it. It’s similar but it’s not, and he’s never seen anything like the kedan before.

He’s entirely out of his element, and if it was ever doubted that a panda could display that much with expression, he’s living, standing, awkward proof that a panda can do just that.]

Uh. [Brief, something that was almost a word but never quite made it. He has no idea about these devices except for what he’s been told, and he still finds it difficult to believe. Others can see him, he can see them, and they can speak that way. How is that possible?] So. Hi. This showing a picture, right? A…a moving one, I guess. I don’t really understand, but that’s what those guys told me, so it probably does, right?

[He’s blathering. This is hardly anything new with him, and he realizes it, and that also shows. He runs a paw over his face, ears popping right back into place when it passes over them.]

Yeah, so, the introduction thing, I guess. I’m, uh, [awkward] Po [still awkward] and I’m from a place called the Valley of Peace, and [little less awkward] I never really thought that when you ascended, it was to another city. Thought of it more like another plane. But that’s okay, because you can’t ascend anything when you’re asleep, but you can apparently get trapped, and that’s pretty, uh. That really sucks. Like. It sucks a lot.

[He’s still obviously out of his element, but he stands up a little straight and stops fidgeting.]

Is there anything that whoever else here can tell me that doesn’t suck?

[Things that suck less are also wanted, and it’s after a close-up of a bear paw that the image disconnects.]

Comments

[kungfood]

I don't know about any place called heaven. Never heard of it.

[A paw lifts to scratch at his chins while he tries to puzzle it out. And, of course, keep calm about talking to an actual dragon.]

If it's something like moving onto a higher plane, then maybe. The master of my master ascended. There was no body, only a staff. He didn't die. He just moved on.

[dracobin]

Evidently it is somewhere one's soul goes after one is dead, if one has done all the right things, or so my captain says. I do not see why one has to be dead to go there; it seems to me one would enjoy it much more if one were alive.

[Beat.] But in any case, there are certainly bodies, so it seems as if they are not the same thing, after all. You mentioned a master--of what, pray?

[kungfood]

[Ah, the soul. Strange thing, but integral. Everyone has one, no matter how tarnished they let it become or how brightly it shines. Funny things, how malleable they are!]

A master of kung fu. A turtle who had lived a really long time, he mastered the art and introduced it to the rest of the world. It works as a system of defense as much as it does for attack. Ideally, it's used to protect, not harm. But sometimes you have to harm to make sure everything stays peaceful, you know?

[dracobin]

Oh--yes, I think I heard of something similar, when I was in China. But it was being used against my crew at the time, when they were not even trying to harm anyone, so I do not think it was being used properly, at all.

[kungfood]

[Oh, hey! The dragon knows China!

And is still a dragon, which is the coolest part of all. Because dragons are real!]

I'm from China! That's...that's where I was born and stuff. That's where I've lived all my life. So China, that's a place where you're from, too? That's cool.

[dracobin]

[Temeraire brightens immediately at Po's words--he is a panda, of course, but in a place like this there is certainly no guarantee that he had even heard of anything called China, before.]

Oh, is that so! My egg was laid in China, originally, although I was hatched and raised in England: but I have been back once, to visit, and I have very often wished I might return, someday. It is a beautiful country, is it not?

[kungfood]

[Whoa, what? Eggs? Po knows eggs! That's where geese come from.

And, apparently, humans eat them. This is not cool at all.]

I've never heard of this England place, but yeah: I'm from China. So is most everyone I know. And it's totally beautiful! I love it. I'd never want to live anywhere else. You should go back when you can!

[dracobin]

[b-but they are so tasty :'|]

It is quite far from China: some seven months by sea and four by land, which is the more dangerous journey. [His tone grows wistful.] I should like to return, of course, but given the distance, and the war, it is quite impossible at the moment.

[kungfood]

[That's awful. Po would never eat an egg.]

That's. [Po knows China is a big place. But if they're from somewhere that would take that long to get there...the world (and worlds within it) must be far bigger than Po ever realized.] War? There's a war? Does it involve China at all?

[dracobin]

Oh--no, at least not precisely, although I am certain we could use the help: their aerial corps is the strongest in the world. No, we are fighting France, if you have heard of it; it is a country not so very far from England, and their Emperor is trying to take us over, when we do not want him to.

[kungfood]

[Words. Names. Things Po does not understand: pretty much everything the dragon (still cool!!!!) just said.]

I've never heard about either of those places, actually. I, uh, don't know much of the world outside of China. It's a big place, so I haven't even seen all of it. But trying to...that's no good. That's something you should fight for, the...the freedom that you deserve.

[dracobin]

Well, there is certainly no shame in that; China is very large, and I expect there is a great deal of training involved, if you are to learn your martial art?

[what do pandas do in their free time]

[kungfood]

There is a lot of training involved! For days a time, it can feel like. Because it sometimes actually is days without much time for rest. When traveling, usually. And there's always more to learn. There's more techniques to master, and there's more places to reach when it comes excelling not only in the art, but as yourself.

[They eat. A lot. And, also, stay dead since all of the other pandas were killed by a genocidal peacock. Po is probably not the best example to judge by, to be honest.]

[dracobin]

[With a trace of envy:] All the same, you are fortunate in being able to travel to train; for my crew and me it is often one or the other, where the former entails some urgent mission to be carried out, and the latter consists mostly of immensely dull drills at the covert, flown day in and day out. Not that I mind the missions, of course, but it should be very nice to spend even a few days in one place.

[kungfood]

[Being constantly on the move, that's what Po takes that is. And that totally sucks, because Po's done that before. Not being constantly on the move, but long travels...they're hardly any fun.]

What's that like anyway? The flying, I mean. I only really know one guy who can do that. Master Crane. It seems pretty awesome, just watching it.

[Why can he fly? Because he's a crane. Try not to be shocked.]

[dracobin]

Oh, it is quite marvellous, particularly when a good fresh wind is at your back, and you have a nice stretch of ocean or countryside to fly over. [He pauses, reflecting, before he looks up again.]

Of course I cannot fly at the moment, with things as they are: but if I should ever get my wings in working order again, I should be more than happy to take you up for a bit, if you like.

[kungfood]

[Po is all excited to hear about this flying, but then he mentions he can't fly anymore, and that drains out of him. He wouldn't have asked if he'd known, and he wonders if that was a mistake. Did he upset him?]

You can't anymore? I'm...I didn't know. My bad. But if you ever get it back while you're here, that'd be great!

[As long as he doesn't eat him afterwards, of course.]

[dracobin]

It has been affecting everyone of late: any abilities anyone might have had, save eating and breathing and moving about on the ground, seem to have been taken away entirely. Of course it is a bother, but there does not seem to be anything we can do about it at present.

[He sounds resigned more than angry, though. And hey, at least he has an opposition to eating things that can talk back to him.]

[kungfood]

[Po would really like to stay not eaten. Eating, hunger, he gets those urges. Being eaten himself? Yeah no. That's not so appealing.

Like, at all.]

Well, that sucks. I didn't know about that. Is that normal? Did it just happen recently or is, like, everyone having to deal with that for how long they're here?

[dracobin]

It only started a few weeks ago: before that everything was quite normal, except for the part where I am smaller.

[kungfood]

[Smaller? Well, the dragons that Po is aware of are quite bigger...]

How big are you? Usually, I mean. The...where I'm from, dragons are, uh, myth? So they're pretty big in paintings and statues and stuff.

[dracobin]

[Airily:] Oh, I am over a hundred and twenty feet from tip to tail.

There seem to be a great many worlds where we are the stuff of legends; it is disconcerting, if I am to be perfectly honest, and also a little worrying, when one wonders what might have happened to all of them.