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 Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:30 am
"...Leaf maybe?" he asked, somewhat uncertainly. He really was prying, and that wasn't a good idea when the other person had a sharp, pokey spear.
"Oh..." but if she didn't remember, she didn't remember, and Biroki had no right to ask her to. What if the memory was traumatic?
Well, then it should still be remembered. The incident (well, incidents) he had had with radaku (he had had more than one, though he had been lucky) had been traumatic. Radaku, especially feral ones, were scary with their sharp teeth and claws and those glowing horns.
But he had learned from those memories and in retrospect he could admire the Radaku for it's many virtues.
"... Th-then..." he hesitated. He was curious, but he also knew what he shouldn't do "Wh-What do you remember?" which was exactly what he did.
"S-sorry" the apology came out before he could stop it. Damn it. DAMN IT. He was just messing up all over the place.
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Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 12:08 pm
Bhima glowered and opened her mouth to speak, but the Shifter's apology cut her short. That was better, she thought. Nobody wanted to start a real fight here, but her temper could easily cause one. It was somewhat beyond her to ignore her annoyances for the sake of her safety. The Shifter seemed to understand that he was putting his nose where it didn't belong, though, so she could forgive him that. Instead, she changed tactics completely.
"Are there many nondwa in your village?" Or did they call them 'settlements'? Oh, what did she care? He'd get her point either way.
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Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 4:56 pm
Stupid... Stupid! He knew he shouldn't have asked! He was sort of hoping that she would have answered him anyway, but she hadn't and he had to deal with it.
Nondwa, though? What an odd question? Why would she ask about Nondwa? Did they have anything to do with the memory or person she was chasing?
"A few... Some keep them as p-pets... I d-don't but I know some people who do. They're beautiful pets..." he tried a tentative smile, hoping that maybe he had connected a bit. And that this wouldn't devolve.
"What about in y-your village?" he asked. Did Alkidikes live in villages? He knew they lived in trees... "Are there many Nondwa? Kipepwa?" he hesitated.
"Wh... What about Roati?" he had frequently wondered if Zuri's Belle was a stray from Zena, or if there was a Jahuar variety. After all, Belle was far from home if she had indeed wanderng.
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Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 11:17 am
Oh, so people kept nondwa as companions? That was a bit odd, wasn't it? They were basically large insects... although maglardilla were basically the same and she would think nothing of eating one. Different strokes for different folks, she supposed. She shook her head than.
"No Roati, what ever those are. Not unless we have a different name for them," Bhima replied. She had thought it odd upon first learning that everyone basically had the same names for the same animals. It just struck her as odd, as if the races of the world were all connected on some deeper level. Either way, this particular Shifter may just have been off his nut. That was always an option too.
"My village is large, larger than most," she added then, particularly ambivalent about the idea of living in a busier colony. Some sisters lived alone in the woods, and others all gathered together. She liked it fine, but didn't find it any "better" or "worse" than anywhere else.
"What is your settlement called?
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Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 6:19 pm
"Well.. Roati are these small four-legged thick- furred creatures with little horns and hooves.. B-but they are from far away, from Zena, so I g-guess I wouldn't expect anybody in your village to have one..." he said,
"It's very cold there, so their fur... it keeps them warm." he hesitated. The conversation was going so well. Nobody was murdering anybody else, and there was, first of all, a conversation. With speaking. But did he really want to reveal personal things...?
Oh hell.
"M... My fiance... she's from Zena. She has a Roati... It's named Belle." he blushed at referring to Zuri as his fiance. He... hadn't actually posed the question of being that to each other, but she'd say yes, right? Right? He'd have to ask soon, he'd be agonizing over that for a while.
"We.. we live in Ast. There are shifters there, and a few..." he hesitated on the word halfbreed, "... more, uh... mixed people." he bit his lip.
No, crud, that still sounded... wrong.
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Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 7:38 pm
Bhima simply nodded. Sure, a little furry thing with hooves, whatever he said. She personally didn't know many people with pets, let alone any from as far away as Zena. The personal information wasn't requested, but it wasn't particularly detestable either. At least he wasn't talking to her about kinks and bodily functions. It was a bit odd to her that the stammering yokel had a fiance, but it was fairly odd to her that anyone wanted to be with someone else for the rest of their lives.
'Mixed people', though. That blew her mind. For a moment, all she could do was c**k a brow and tilt her head. Mixed... people...? She abruptly started laughing, shaking her head.
"Is that what you call them out here? Not mixed race, not hybrids, just 'mixed people'?"
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:57 am
Maybe it had been a little too much information, but he didn't think it had been.
It's not like I told her everything about everything he thought to himself, Surely, it was allright to tell her I have a fiance? That can't be used against me, or us, or anything can it? He fidgeted a little, his nerves getting to him again. Can it?
He needed to calm down, save the nerves for when she tried to kill him or something.
Still, bringing Zuri into the conversation felt like it had't been the best thing, but he had, and she had been mentioned, and he just had to keep going.
"No, I..." he looked down and away for a moment, "...Yes. No. I mean..." he hesitated, "I... just couldn't think of a nice thing to... to call them... It was the best I could do" he felt a wave of shame. He tried to smile, the result was weak and thin and nervous.
I'm such a wreck... he thought bitterly to himself.
"D-do you have a better phrase? I mean, I c-can't use 'people with parents of different races' because thats... uh... too d-dumb sounding"
He was trying to be funny, trying to make a joke, anything to bring the tension down to a level he could handle a bit better.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 12:30 pm
Bhima just shrugged, still giggling. Pretty much every name you could give to someone of mixed race ended up sounding offensive or just plain ridiculous. Still, there had to be something better than "mixed people."
"I call one of my best friends a Shiftidike," she offered, "but I wouldn't really suggest using it with strangers. 'Hybrids,' maybe? That sounds almost offensive. I stick with 'mixed race.'"
It was odd, how quickly this Shifter had gotten so much out of her. She didn't even want to punch him in the face. This, she told herself, was probably due to the fact that he was as unassuming and non-confrontational as a man could get.
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Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 12:58 pm
...
Shiftidike...
"That... almost sounds worse. No, no I... I don't think thats a good one to use." Shiftice? Iceter? he frowned, no. That didn't work either.
It struck him as strange that this very alkidike young woman would have a friend who wasn't a full alkidike. She didn't seem like the tolerant sort of person. But maybe he was just terrible at reading people? Maybe he had misinterpreted her before. Maybe he was misinterpreting her now! Gaaaaaah!
"Hybrids... I don't think that would work for different earthling tribes, though..." Though it would certainly work for half alkidikes, but he kept that thought to himself.
"M-mixed race then. There are a lot of mixed race people in Ast."
'Mixed race' sounded an awful lot like 'mixed people', but he doubted there was a perfect way to say it and since the conversation hadn't turned to bloodshed he decided to keep that thought to himself as well.
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Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 5:27 pm
Bhima nodded. It made sense to have some mixed races in a place so on the edge of various societies. 'Hybrids' really didn't sound right when it came to Earthling mixes, but she didn't think that she'd met any of them, nor would she ever. In fact, she imagined tha-- wait. Ast? Ast, why did that sound familiar?
...oh, the Shifter had said it before, she was sure. Bhima shook the thought away.
"There are not so many in Andile. I guess that was the problem with 'Sara. Nobody liked her, because she couldn't hide her hybridism. Alkidike do not come on black, and they tend to have antennae." She reached up and touched one of the stalks that sprouted from her head, causing an uncomfortable little tremor in her senses. It was fine. Sometimes you hit your head, as an Alkidike.
"So those in your settlement accept mixed races, in general? What of full-blooded non-Shifters?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 4:20 pm
"W-well, some accept them more readily then others..." He thought for a moment, "But I haven't seen any... many... uh... full blooded ones around..." he said, haltingly. He hadn't really thought about it. Reshel had often been the 'welcoming crew' for half shifters looking for a home with their shifter half. As with Zuri, so with others- he had been a friendly face, there to patch them up mentally and physically when things got rough. Not everybody was happy about half-shifters, or even tolerant, but Reshel was there to help them settle in. Biroki had picked up on that, which was a good thing, considering, well, Zuri.
There were even a few partial shifters that he knew about, where a parent was a half shifter and the other parent was full-blooded.
But their parent, when not a shifter, was usually elsewhere. Ast was where a part-shifter could find their shifter heritage, or something like that. But a full-blooded member of a different tribe? No, he hadn't seen many. There were a few, but now that he thought about it...
"Maybe they're... uh... on a different schedule?" yeah. That could be it.
he was glad to change the subject right back.
"Well, shes your friend, right? S-so clearly you saw there was something to like? Other than her, uh, uniqueness."
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Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:51 pm
"So 'no' is what you're saying," Bhima replied, a brow arching up. She found it a bit odd than the man spoke so hesitantly about other species being accepted. From what she'd experienced, members of other tribes weren't really well-accepted anywhere. There was a thrumming racism beneath even the most open-armed of societies, so why would Ast be any different? On that line of thought, she continued:
"Nobody is unique. Everyone is the same, between their skin and skeleton. I saw someone who had no friends, being teased for features she could not control. To ignore such indecency would be a mark against my sisters, even those who did the teasing."
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Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:43 am
"... yeah." For some reason it had felt shameful to say 'no' outright to her question, as if he was admitting something dirty or wrong. It was a bit of a double standard, not being as accepting to fullbloodeds as halfbloodeds in Ast, but he supposed he could understand, a bit. They were, at least, partially shifter, so he guessed that helped, but it still brought him unease to think about it, especially with family issues. What if Zuri's siblings, Kayin and Alek, were to visit? Zuri was a part of Ast, but Kayin and Alek were pureblooded Ice tribe. Biroki would welcome them (of course) but they would be viewed with suspicion, wouldn't they. Because they had no shifter in them.
In other words, he was really doubting it was the day-night cycle that separated fullblooded nonshifter Ast residents from the main population.
He flinched. Oh crap, he'd said something wrong again!
"Th-that wasn't what I..." he began, protesting before shrinking back. Protesting would only make her more angry, he bet, and things were still going so well... "Oh. I..." he fell silent.
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 1:56 pm
Bhima just blinked and cocked her head to one side. Why was the Shifter shrinking back again? Had she done something wrong? Just in case, she turned to see if anything had approached from deeper within the woods.
...nope.
She'd done something unintentionally again. Oh well. She'd rather people assume she was angry and scary than easy to rob.
"Well it's true, isn't it?" she insisted, "I mean, when you really think about it. Where we're born alters our lifestyle, but aside from you and the Earthlings' gems, we're really not all that different." She stopped then. There was an exception to the rule. For example, Alkidike had antennae. Nobody else did, as far as she knew. "Well, regardless of a few racial specifics; my antennae, your shifting... but that aside. We're all just big bags of meat."
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 8:22 pm
Big bags of... Ewwwww.
Biroki wasn't sure he entirely agreed with that. Even if the more he thought about it the more he realized that it was actually kind of true. Even so, ewwww. He didn't really like the thought that all he was, in the end, was a bag of meat. That everybody around him was also a bag of meat. There was so much more to people than just... meat... "Is that..." he hesitated, but his temper was starting to flare up, "All you see of people? Meat?"
Calm down he tried to take a breath. Things were going so well- they were talking. Biroki, calm down. Its just your magic acting up again. Don't get in her face...
It was so difficult to reconcile 'essential sameness' with 'essential uniqueness'.
"If.. if that were true..." he edged away from her slightly- he was being brave here, but bravery had its limits. "Then why are we different?"
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