Video | The Name Game

[redlightgreenlight]

[Valdis is smiling, her braided hair hangs over one shoulder and you can clearly see that she is in the Hotel.]

I was thinking...

[She says, looking thoughtful, her eyes glazing slightly.]

We might not originally be from Keeliai, but we live here now and are doing our best to make it our home.

[She fingers the wolf pendant hanging around her neck absently.]

I don't think that we should call ourselves 'Foreigners' anymore, it gives the wrong impression and it continues to separate us from our neighbors.

[Her eyes focus again and she smiles at the camera.]

I think we should change our name to 'Planeswalkers,' because we've walked the three planes of Life, Dreaming and Death. It would give us a place, I think, and it gives off a more...settled feeling. Like we're a family or something.

[She sighs]

What do you guys think?

Comments

[unetrustworthy]

[Somebody may or may not have been pinged by the mere mention of names; no matter how many years it'd been, it was still one subject in which Midii held very close to her heart.]

...but, no matter what names we choose to take on, it'll still be different from the kedan.

[Not that she was opposed to the idea. Quite the opposite; she was starting such a debate because she was interested.]

[redlightgreenlight]

We will always be different from the Kedan, but that doesn't mean that we have to consider ourselves strangers in the place we call our home.

[Her smile is steady, she's not worried about the challenge.]

Names are important, what we call ourselves is important. If we continue to call ourselves foreigners, then that is all we will ever be.

[unetrustworthy]

Because we are Foreigners. Or immigrants, or whatever the proper term is.

We weren't born here. We traveled here from different worlds.

[redlightgreenlight]

So?

[She fails to see Midii's point]

This is our home now, we have jobs here, businesses, friends. It doesn't matter where we came from, we live here now, why pretend otherwise?

[unetrustworthy]

Because it would be denying who we are.

If you think it would be easier to call us something different than what we've been calling ourselves for years, then that's fine. But I'm not ashamed to be a Foreigner because that's what I've always been here, ever since I was a little girl.

[Eleven did seem like a "little" girl, compared to fifteen now.]

video;

[denyamenti]

You're not concerned a name like "Planeswalkers" is going to sound a little arrogant?

[ He's... probably joking. ]

[redlightgreenlight]

Does it?

[Now she looks a bit worried]

I was just trying to come up with something that describes who we are...something apart from 'Foreigners'.

[denyamenti]

I was joking, khasphemet.

Why do you think the name should change?

[redlightgreenlight]

It implies that we will never have a place here and that makes me sad, because we do have a place here and we can contribute positively to Keeliai. I think it's time we all committed to do that, and we can show that by changing our name.

[denyamenti]

[ Bakura seems as if he's considering that, but ultimately shrugs. ]

Changing a name won't mean much if the kedan still think of us as outsiders. Have you asked any of them what they think we should be called?

[ Not that Bakura cares considerably for their opinions, but it does highlight the thought; if the kedan are going to keep thinking of them as Foreigners, the name change wouldn't matter, and if the Foreigners were going to think of themselves as part of Keeliai regardless of the kedan's opinions, why care what the name was? ]

[deadclumsy]

As much as I dislike the us and them mentality, I wonder if there's a better word. Not that I have any suggestions to off.

[A beat.]

I might be letting my own sensitivities impact my opinion, though. My mum - interesting woman, my mum - married one of the 'them'. Got a bit of both the 'us' and the 'them' when I was growing up, but never at home.

[She's rambling, and she knows it.]

What do the Kedan call us?

[redlightgreenlight]

The kedan call us Foreigners...so there's already an us and them mentality.

[deadclumsy]

I suppose that's true.

"Foreigners" is a vague term; they don't have a specific word for "those folks who were brought here against their will" as opposed to "those people from that town that isn't on our turtle"?

[redlightgreenlight]

I suppose we could ask.

[deadclumsy]

I'd be afraid to find out. "Pardon me, Miss, but what do you call us when we're not around to hear it?"

[risingwinds]

Hmm...

[It's kinda long, and doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well as "foreigner," but she's right that the latter's not exactly a friendly term. It makes 'em sound so distant, when they all share a world together.

He rubs his chin, squinting and frowning. This is tricky! Names were never his strong point, either.]

I think it's a good place to start, but I can't help but feel like there's gotta be a way to really show the Kedan we care. They came up with the name in the first place, right? And I'm sure some of 'em still see is as scary or weird...

It'd be nice if we could all be on the same level.

[redlightgreenlight]

That would be nice...

[and hopefully it was possible]

Do you have any suggestions? I mean, I could play around with my native tongue and see if anyone likes what I come up with, but it would be nice to have some input.

[risingwinds]

Uh, what about... Travelers? Visitors? But that still means we're outsiders, so...

[His face scrunches up a bit. This is tougher than he thought!]

I think the tough part's that we're all from so many different kinds of worlds, so your name idea's definitely more universal.

[redlightgreenlight]

It is, but I'm sure there are other names that are just as good, we just need to think of them.

[risingwinds]

Well, what if we made an... acronym? I think that's the word. 'Course, we'd need to find other words to make a good acronym, and that might just take longer.

[He slumps, rubbing his neck. What a dilemma!]

Uh, well. In the meantime, d'you have any ideas on how to make better friends with the Keeliai? There's so many of 'em, and all the districts are so different!

[Video]

[pushtheboundaries]

As much as 'Foreigner' still rubs me the wrong way...I'm not sure the other's any better. Quite frankly- that sort of name implies a sense of control, to me.

[redlightgreenlight]

[Oh, a new someone, or at least, new again. This was beginning to become a trend it seemed with her. Meira smiles brightly.]

I'm open to suggestions.

[pushtheboundaries]

PlaneshowdidIenduphere?

[it's pretty clear he's joking.]

[redlightgreenlight]

[She laughs]

Well, if that's the way we are taking it, how about...Confuzzled

[pushtheboundaries]

'I-knew-I-should-have-asked-for-directions-ians'.