maskormenacelogs | (no subject)

The theist devil, yes. Embodiment of all evil, etc. Turns out even he can't murder anyone if he's six inches tall.

[ if anything, he looks even more confused. ]

The origin of all evil in your world is here? [ and then, apparently trying to make sense of it: ] .. Did he shrink..?

In other people's worlds, depending on their religion. Yes. [ A beat. ] And I did that to him. To the both of us, actually. He was very upset about having been kidnapped by the Russians.

[ this story is getting more complicated, now. what do russians have to do with it..? but maybe more importantly: ] You can shrink people? .. Can you do the opposite, too?

[ Miles brightens instantly - Mahanon might actually be the first one to ask him that straight off. ]

I've never actually tried it. But in theory? Yes, I think so.

[ mahanon brightens in turn, looking impressed. ] That would make fighting dragons a breeze. You should try it sometime. [ a beat. ] .. The size-changing, not the-- Not that there are dragons here. .. I think.

Edited (whoops) 2016-05-08 02:54 (UTC)

[ Aha. Well. As delightful as that mental image is ... ]

Alas, I'm very certain that kind of scale is impossible. It's wildly painful going up to a relatively normal height. Larger would probably grind my bones into dust.

Oh. [ that's disturbing, and also a little sad. but then, magic is pain, sometimes, isn't it? (he very carefully doesn't look at his left hand.) ] .. No, we certainly wouldn't want that. [ he sighs a little, chin resting more heavily against his hand. ] Honestly, thinking about it, it would probably be cheating anyway to fight a giant or a dragon as a giant.

[ There are complicating factors Miles hasn't mentioned - mostly in the form of his delicate, brittle bone structure. He snorts at that, amused at the suggestion. ]

Just so. I prefer to win with the hand I was dealt.

[ he gives him a slightly sideways glance, mouth quirking. ] I suppose that's best. .. Still, sometimes I really just want a simple, straightforward, easy battle. No darkspawn, no ancient evil magisters, no possessed dragons or titans.. I have absolutely earned the chance to just thwack someone over the head with my staff and call it done.

[ he's joking, mostly. not that he isn't tired of the constant fighting, but.. it could always, always be worse. ]

Anyway, I'm tallying up what I know about you so far, and I have to admit, it's all pretty intriguing. I'm still waiting to hear more about your world, though. [ and spaceships. ]

[ Another faintly amused noise at that. ]

The same goes for you, Inquisitor. Perhaps we could trade? I have a good mental image of dragon already, but darkspawn? Magisters? You must lead an exciting life.

It's certainly exciting lately, anyway. [ an impressed glance. ] You don't have darkspawn? [ he's a little jealous.

he shifts on his stool, lifting his chin from the back of his hand, attentive and interested. ] Certainly, though, a trade sounds fair. Where would you like to start?

[ Miles, in turn, retains his laser focused curiosity. Gentled, of course, by his usual overwhelming friendliness. He's determined to make a friend out of his fascinating man. ]

The darkspawn, if you don't mind. Since that seems convenient enough to start with.

[ darkspawn. not a particularly fun place to start, but he's the one who brought it up in the first place, anyway. ]

Darkspawn are.. monsters. [ there's just no way around it. ] They live underground, except when a Blight starts. Between Blights, sometimes they come aboveground for-- for raids, killing and kidnapping, that sort of thing. The only point to their existence seems to be to destroy everything. [ an uncertain pause. ] My people don't really have any kind of origin or explanation story for them, but I know the Chantry believes they were created when the Maker's holy city was corrupted. [ he'd cautiously agree with that, now, given corypheus. ]

[ He doesn't understand half the terms in that explanation, but ... well, context is obvious enough. ]

A plague of monsters, then. Did they ravage your world, then?

Periodically. [ he crosses a knee over the other, lacing his fingers together loosely in his lap. ] It's.. all sort of complicated, I suppose. We've never been able to wipe them completely out. All we can really do is damage control, and try to stop a Blight before it spreads too far.

[ he takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly. ] Okay, then.. You called your world backwater. What makes it that way compared to-- to other worlds, I guess.

Edited 2016-05-08 21:18 (UTC)

Ah ... I see. A perpetual war, belike.

[ He signals the bartender for another glass of whiskey. ]

Well ... we're a feudal society. Lords and an Emperor compared to more modern forms of government. A significant portion of my own district relies more on horses than technology, but that is beginning to change. And ... [ He hesitates here. ] There is an endemic fear of potential mutations.

Off and on, yes.

[ why rely on horses if you have the technology available? .. money? resistance to change? ]

.. Mutations? In people? Why would they be afraid of that? [ they don't have the taint, after all. ]

[ Miles' expression sobers considerably. ]

Because we arrived on Barrayar in the aftermath of a nuclear war, and then promptly lost access to all our technology. Mutation were ... very dangerous for a long time.

[ 'barrayar' must be the name of the world, but 'nuclear' means nothing to him. still, that answers at least one of his questions. ]

.. I see. [ a little, anyway. ] You lived somewhere else before you came to.. Barrayer? [ he makes a flying motion with his hand. ] You came there on ships?

Yes. Or rather, the Firsters did. That was a thousand years ago.

[ a thousand years ago. that's.. ]

And mutations are still a concern even after all that time?

A concern, yes. A threat ... mostly obsolete. It only hurts innocent people now. Anyone who looks different from certain normal standards.

[ his brows knit together at that. that's.. barbaric, and also not that different from his world. ]

Well, that's uncomfortably familiar. [ and he has a feeling that miles doesn't quite fit that standard. he might have been spared some of the worst treatment by virtue of his rank, but even nobility aren't immune to whispers. and whispers that become loud enough can lead to worse things. ]

I'm sorry, I suppose I've led us down a slightly dark road.

As I said before. I sympathize with being a frontrunner.

[ He's mostly just quiet here, the topic an old, worn groove in his psyche by now. ]

You at least understand better than most. There are others who question how I can feel like this to begin with.