[mingle] the space (january).

[fracturamods]

interim mingle

( WELCOME BACK, TRAVELERS. )

There's nothing but the clatter of train tracks, and the odd feeling of almost floating.

When you wake, it's hard to tell exactly what it is that you're missing - only that you are. There are pieces that aren't quite right, even if you're not sure where those pieces would normally be. Pieces of what, exactly....? Well, if you had to put a word to it, it would be - yourself, probably. Or did you get something back recently?

The place you've found yourself in is strange, certainly. It's probably worth exploring a bit. Though it just as easily seems that the only form of welcome or explanation that you have, comes from nothing more than a slab of marble. It might've changed since the last time you saw it.

You might have changed since the last time you saw yourself too - perhaps with a new emblem on your clothes, or a portrait on your skin.

There's no need to fret that much though. You've already gone through the ordeal once, and you might be able to see results from it. Even so, it's best that you don't get too comfortable, because there is still the unshakeable feeling:

There's still much more ahead of you.

Comments

[lightmage]

I... Can't say for sure that we don't have them. I haven't seen the entire world.

[ And, well, some regions are more advanced than others. She looks from the train, to him, and back. ]

It isn't always necessary - but it is sometimes?

[supersoldier]

[He turns to face her, and the train, properly this time. A gloved hand gestures at their mode of transport.]

That is not a normal train. Something that’s moving us through incomprehensible spaces and stops — I don’t know of a science that can properly explain it. Magic must be filling in the gaps.

That’s my meaning.

[lightmage]

But the trains that don't travel between such spaces...?

[ For some reason she's apparently really invested in whether or not normal trains are magic. ]

[supersoldier]

On Gaia? [Since the only frame of reference he has are the ones from his own world, naturally.] Feats of mechanical engineering, running on outside sources of energy.

[Mako, usually, which can skirt the line between pure energy and magic if one really decided to split hairs, but— Well. That’s a discussion for some other time, if her apparent curious mind will allow for it.]

Moving from point A to point B is more mundane, after all.

[lightmage]

We usually just rely on horses.

Being able to travel so quickly is an amazing feat - if it can be done without magic, perhaps it could be done at home...

[supersoldier]

[Horses. When horses are a foreign concept minus one summon and therefore probably close to mythology for him, we really just don’t know—]

You’ve ridden a horse before?

[Like this is an oddity, a really Weird thing. It derails the conversation at hand.]

[lightmage]

Yes, all the time. Her name is Starfire.

[ The forbidden ff7 lore... Mythological horses... But, well, to her they're very common. ]

[supersoldier]

[Thanks, Odin, for hogging all the horse lore.

This shouldn’t be as interesting as it is, not really. If everyone is from a world not Gaia, there are bound to be differences big and small cropping up. He tells himself as much.]

Is that normal where you’re from?

[lightmage]

It isn't... Uncommon.

Not every civilian has a horse, but they aren't uncommon, either. Travelers and farmers are likely to have them, or people of nobility or military.

[supersoldier]

[That's far more common than Sephiroth would have imagined if he had ever been told to envision what a separate world and their horse-population looked like.

The faintest cinch of his brow, barely there.]

And chocobos? What are they used for?

[lightmage]

[ She can't imagine a world without horses??? Does everyone else's world just have trains all over the place???? ]

I'm... Unfamiliar, I'm afraid.

[supersoldier]

[No, they have chocobos!!]

A species of bird. Large, usually yellow, and can traverse even difficult terrain depending on the breed. [This is just common knowledge, really. He's looking for any kind of recognition on her face.] They're prevalent, especially outside of the city.

[lightmage]

[ She shakes her head slowly. Nope, never seen anything like that. ]

... I've never seen anything like that in my travels. But - there are still many places I've never been before.

[supersoldier]

I see. Interesting.

[Odd, but interesting.]

You mentioned magic. Is that uncommon in your world, too?

[lightmage]

That's hard to say. There are many who are afflicted, but we weed them out more and more each day.

At least, within the kingdom.

[supersoldier]

Afflicted?

["Weed them out". Her choice of wording lends itself to some very strange context.]

So they're unwanted.

[lightmage]

Magic corrupts.

They're - evil.

[supersoldier]

[At that, his brow visibly raises.]

I can use magic. [Shunted through his materia as a conduit, but magic is magic all the same.] Does your rule apply across worlds, too?

[lightmage]

[ You'd think she would step back or something, but she doesn't. She just gives a tentative nod of acknowledgment. ]

I don't know.

It's not even as if my own whole world is in full agreement on this.

[supersoldier]

[It isn't much of a reaction for someone who just labeled those who use magic as 'evil'; but her words more or less detail why.]

Magic is a weapon, like any other. A sword, a knife. Are they all wielding it to abuse or harm?

[Says the man who uses magic not kindly. The majority of it on him is offensive, but he's a SOLDIER, meant to fight and be thrown in conflict. It's a means to an end, and people understand that -- he thinks there might be some very striking cultural differences in his world, to have cultivated the kind of mindset she's just told him.]

[lightmage]

[ She seems to have to mull over that question for... A long time. ]

... Yes. Just before I came here, there was an attack.

[supersoldier]

[There it is, then.

An attack, coupled with talent that he assumes not everyone possesses. Unlike in Gaia, where anyone with proper training or effort could sputter out a basic level fire spell. It makes a little more sense now.]

On the kingdom you mentioned?

[lightmage]

Yes. They attacked Demacia and killed our king.

[ Even trained soldiers can't beat mages when they're caught so completely off guard. With preparation, maybe, but it had been by surprise. ]

[supersoldier]

So politics, then.

[Maybe it seems cold to water it down to that and nothing more. But isn’t that at the core of all conflict? Different wants, different world views. Never so simple as good versus evil, black and white.]

But it makes sense why you would view them that way.

[lightmage]

[ She nods. There's more she could say on it, but she doesn't want to bore a stranger with the politics of somewhere they've never even heard of. ]

... But you're a mage?

I'm - not making any assumptions, of course. [ Like, she's not trying to call a stranger evil! Haha! ] Different worlds and all that.