tushanshu | oo1 / radio;

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oo1 / radio;

[ The line opens to dead air for a good ten seconds or so before there's a sigh, more amused than anything, and the soft sound of civilization around. Cain has made his way to the Welcome Center after being tossed down in an unfamiliar area of the Turtle and is just letting it all sink in for now. ]

So, what have I missed?

By which I mean: hello, Keeliai. This is Jacob Kane speaking. I was here once before, but apparently that was a while back. Can anyone fill me in or otherwise point me in the direction of someone who can? Losing so much time out of the blue like this isn't exactly the best way to get a welcome home, but somehow I doubt anyone's established a complaints department in my absence.

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[ Simple enough, really. He remembers some of the tale from her world about the overconsumption of mana leading to disastrous things, and understands there's a definite importance of it. Having specific lingual conceits to denote it isn't surprising. ]

Is that character always specifically 'mana,' or just something different?

[ As he asks, he writes his own transliteration underneath the old word. Mana circulation," before adding his own English one underneath the new. Circulation. ]

Can you put that in any sentence and suddenly, you're talking about mana?

This one is always mana, yes.

For the most part, the alphabet is straightforward, and transliteration is possible without much trouble, but this is a holdover from ancient elven. I theorize that since mana is such an integral concept, retaining that particular aspect was only natural.

[It's not a pictographic language, in other words. But mana has its own unique place.]

Since it's only ever used to refer to mana-- yes. However, there are certain rules regarding how it's attached.

[ Holdovers always do, and he nods in understanding. ]

Makes sense. Show me some?

[ Cain is listening and eager, quite obviously, hoping to put his thirst for knowledge to use. Even if Raine is the only one here who knows the language, that doesn't mean it isn't useful. ]

Or... could you write out the alphabet?

If I'm going to teach you properly, then-- alphabet first.

[She gives him a wry smile, which says she knows exactly what he is doing and is going with it. She likes teaching, and she's fond of Cain.]

[Raine draws a fresh sheet of paper aside, begins to write out the elven alphabet in neat rows. Each gets a transliteration and a pronunciation written beneath it in turn. In the opposite corner from where she started goes mana, included for completeness' sake.]

Here.

[ Cain would be disappointed if she hadn't caught on. He grins up at her without shame and turns to study the sheet. Dutifully, he begins to copy it on yet another paper in English-alphabetical order with his own lettering underneath each, then again in the order originally presented. ]

I'm actually pretty surprised how compatible these languages are. Alphabetically, anyway.

It may be that the spell that draws us here purposefully doesn't draw from anyone too far removed.

[Raine watches him work, eyes sharp for any mistakes.]

When you consider how many possibilities exist for sapient beings, the fact that the majority here are even humanoids cannot be unintentional. I assume some parameters were built in to ensure we would have some common bases for understanding each other.

[ Although the work isn't flawless, it's acceptable and he seems to noticeably be getting the contours and lines of the alphabet down as he goes. Familiarizing himself with the type. ]

Yeah, that's something I'd already considered. We have to operate on some semblance of similar planes to be compatible, for lack of another word, and yet so much is different even down to a basic level. This is a quantum theorist's dream right here.

[It's acceptable enough, would be legible to an elf. There's no need to correct him unless he starts getting sloppy.]

The other possibility, of course, is that only worlds that are structured similarly enough are close enough to connect.

{Things Raine has thought about more than a little.]

There's enough people from an Earth here that coincidence is out of the question.

Oh, absolutely. It's entirely possible that Earth might just be metaphysically closer than anything else so we're easier to pull in. Something has to be in the center.

[ He's still copying, taking his time while he puts it down to memory. In the corner every now and then, he rewrites a letter to get his hand more used to it. ]

Although then you've got the question of whether this is the only realm like this, or if there's one for every set of structures. Doesn't really matter, but it's interesting to consider for the sake of scale.

[At this point Raine's watching his process more than his penmanship; he knows what he's doing.]

It's a good question, and one for which I wish I had an answer. If we could understand the nature of the worlds, even just for a sense of the scope...

[She sounds a little wistful about that.]

Still, considering the way in which worlds are connected isn't entirely a useless exercise. I've often wondered if it would be possible to traverse them outside of the spell that brought us here.

[No prizes guessing why.]

[ He certainly does. With a mind like his, he's already absorbing the alphabet and what very little he knows about how it works. Cain just needs more framework; a dictionary would be nice, but rather impossible given the current situation. Every now and then, he looks to the book rather than Raine's sheet as if trying to puzzle out the rest of the language just by looking at it from the right angle. ]

Using this place as an intermediary would be the best bet, like some kind of station or port. If nothing else, we've got what has to be the largest gathering of people representing different worlds to make it some kind of soft spot.

[ Magic isn't his thing, but Cain's read enough fiction and understands the basic idea enough that he can bandy around the idea easily enough. Not knowing something doesn't stop him so much as meeting someone who doesn't want to work with him on figuring it out. ]

[Briefly, noticing his gaze:]

Boltzman's book is a relatively technical text, but the only elven one I have on hand.

[Unfortunately, Raine is exactly the sort of teacher who can be sidetracked into long, only peripherally related trains of thought by a student who wants to waste classtime, and she's on to metaphysics by now.]

In other words, you believe repeated breaching of dimensional walls may lend itself to a permanent weak spot, despite that the spell seems to act with an intent to avoid any damage to the worlds from which it takes us. That's... not impossible. [Raine turns that idea over, quiet for a moment.] Perhaps those worlds with a large number of representatives here...

[ That makes him glance away, turn up to her and shakes his head. ]

That's fine; it's better than nothing.

[ Well, it isn't as if there's no merit to the discussion. Language isn't going to disappear and this topic is an interesting one besides. ]

I'm not so sure the spell is working as intended anymore. When I came back, it was completely different than how I arrived the first time.

[Well, he's going to be learning a lot more than he ever expected to about healing artes.]

As long as you're aware that the learning curve may be somewhat sharper.

Would you mind describing the experience? I was aware the spell had to have changed somewhat, but the specifics are currently beyond me.

[ Not a bad thing to learn about. Who knows? Might come in handy some day. ]

Don't worry, Raine; I've learned a lot of languages in my time.

[ He taps his pencil, then offers a rather useless shrug. ]

I basically woke up outside the city. Had to wander around for a while in the heat before I found it again. Not sure that it felt all that different, but it's hard to compare when you only have two nebulous occasions to draw on.

[As long as he knows what he's getting into. Raine isn't particularly worried; he's actually interested. She can teach him, even with the translation spell blocking many aspects of a verbal tutorial.]

You're one of the few who has two occasions to draw on, however.

[She wouldn't like to ask Bakura, given the state in which he returned. She thinks about it a little longer, then sighs.]

You're sure there was no appreciable difference? You were simply somewhere else?

[ That's honestly part of what makes it fun, and gets Cain interested. Learning without any verbal connotation whatsoever is not exactly the best way to pick up a language. ]

Well, it wasn't like waking up so much as just being there. Like a gradual return to awareness, but you weren't where you remembered being last?

Hmm.

[Raine has progressed to tapping her fingers absently, first on her pen then on the desk. This is less helpful than she was hoping.]

Much in the nature of a dream, I suppose. Which is... appropriate, to say the least.

Appropriate, and difficult at the same time.

[ Which is something they already know. ]

There's a lot we don't know. If we knew more about the nature of the human mind and how it dreams, we could probably figure this place out better.

['Human.' Well, most of the Foreigners are, she supposes, but...]

I wonder if the kedan experience dreaming differently.

[If only she had the time to pursue that research more! If enough would be comfortable talking about such things to her.]

It may be worth keeping an eye out for discrepancies in reality, at any rate.

[ It isn't something he can easily change in his vocabulary considering it's legitimately not an issue where he's from. The meaning is the same, anyway. ]

Because they were born here? That's a good question. Maybe I'll ask around about that.

Are we watching for purple skies and flying fish?

[ Sorry, he's back to teasing, lightly, because he does understand. ]

If there are manifestations of the Dreaming in everyday life, I think they're likely to be a little more subtle.

[But the tiny curl of a smile tucked into one corner of her mouth says she does, in fact, know he's teasing.]

So... there is no spoon?

[ That's one she won't get in a million years, but Cain is grinning to himself anyway. ]

You have a point. It's probably more to do with perception than outright bending of physics.

It's not to say that such things are out of the question, but...

[Wait, hold on, he made no sense just there.]

What does the lack of a spoon have to do with it?

[ He doesn't start to laugh, but her pursuing the reference just amuses him all the more. ]

It's a movie reference. People trapped in a facsimile of the world; some learn how to manipulate it themselves in small ways instead of their captors. The spoon isn't real, it's a facsimile. There's only you, so you affect yourself to affect the spoon.

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