First level

[walksonrooftops]

[Asato is frightened.

Considering he first believed this place to be heaven, his disappointment quickly gives way to gnawing fear. He doesn't know quite where he is or why he's here or why there's humans walking around. The humans frighten him more than anything, so he tries his best to keep away from them if he can.

He's already found a bit of food

Comments

[negcapability]

[Raf isn't sure at first if this is some kind of hallucination, but probably not, given that nothing but Tiri has been a hallucination recently, despite all the very strange things. His concern now, therefore, is not the ears and tail that the creature wears, but the pain he seems to be in.]

Are you okay?

[walksonrooftops]

[He assumes a defensive stance, just letting his finger bleed. It's not a terrible injury by any means; uncomfortable, but he'll live. His still has nine more claws, all perfectly sharp and ready to lash out if need be.]

I'm fine.

[negcapability]

Good to hear.

[Raf's all smiles at the moment, though he reacts to the shift in posture. He'll defend himself if necessary, but he's not looking to start anything.]

Are you new to Meridian?

[walksonrooftops]

[His own stance eases up a bit, but he's far from completely lowering his guard. His tail flicks back and forth in agitation, pupils narrowed to slits as his eyes focus on the other man.]

Is that what this place is called?

[negcapability]

[Has a tail too. Or at least has an imaginary fox, who has a tail. Tiri's presently sitting on the step of a building, watching them, invisible to everyone but Raf.]

That's what I've been told, yes. It's also about the extent of my knowledge, unfortunately.

[walksonrooftops]

I don't like it here. I want to go home.

[It really feels like it should be this simple, to him. Even the fact that his home world is an island doesn't seem to deter him one bit, and knowing Asato he might actually be stupid enough to try and swim all the way there. If it were possible, that is.]

[negcapability]

{How nice that you don't whine like that.}

[Raf tilts his head for a second, but decides that that sort of remark from Tiri doesn't deserve a response. Raf doesn't whine like that because he doesn't have a home to be wanting to return to. That's really the only major difference.]

Whereabouts is home?

reposted because i html good

[walksonrooftops]

[He pauses at that, taken off guard by the question. Where is home, indeed?]

It's...on the island of Sisa, in the Deep Ravine Valley, in the village of Kira. That's where home is.

[But the way there? No idea. He couldn't place his own hometown on a map, not even if he tried.]

[negcapability]

I've never heard of those places, I'm afraid.

[He's deeply apologetic, but not afraid.]

But obviously you got here, so there'll be some sort of a way back.

[walksonrooftops]

[He tries to think. Nevermind that it is odd to him that someone hasn't even heard of these places when they seem so common to him, the promise of maybe returning is enough to give him some hope.]

Which way is the ocean?

[It takes a moment of observation before he remembers what else he wanted to ask. He'd wanted to ask plenty of people, but feared approaching them. This man seems non-threatening enough, though.]

If I'm not dead, why are there humans around? [He doesn't pronounce the word 'humans' quite right, as if he were trying to speak a foreign language with a botched accent.]

[negcapability]

The ocean's to the southeast.

[Raf obligingly points.]

Most of those of us who are here were taken and just showed up. Just like you.

But why would death imply humans...?

[Death implies nothingness.]

[walksonrooftops]

The southeast. [He repeats it and nods. If a very wet and very disappointed ribika washes up on the beach a few days later, it should, at this point, surprise no one.

At the question, he gives Raf an odd look. Why doesn't this person understand anything?]

Because when you die, you become a human too, and you live up in the sky with Two Cane. And you learn about lots of things, and you're happy, I think. But...[He flicks his tail and reaches up to touch his ears] I didn't become a human. Can you tell me why? What'd I do wrong?

[negcapability]

[Raf stares at the creature for a long moment because that makes no sense at all.]

...Probably not dying. And I was never...like you.

Also, I wouldn't remotely call this 'living in the sky'.

[walksonrooftops]

[Asato appears to be completely baffled; this entre place and the people in it go against everything his sheltered worldview ever led him to believe. The spiritual part, though, is so far beyond the realm of his comprehension that he can only respond with hesitant curiosity.]

We're not in the sky...well, I see the sky up there, so probably not, huh.

But were you really never like me? You're weren't ever a ribika? How is that possible?

[negcapability]

...It's pretty simple. In most cases two humans reproduce, and that creates another human who has genetic material equivalent to the combined genetic material of its parents. It worked ever-so-slightly differently for me, but most of the details are the same and I'm still human.

[Just a large swathe of his genetic material didn't actually come from his parents. And a portion of it isn't human. But that's mostly irrelevant]

[walksonrooftops]

But where did the human parents come from?

[ it's a valiant effort, trying to explain it to him, but it just goes right over his head. Everything after the words "human" and "reproduce" just goes in one ear and out the other.]