Possibly headed for a new game. Pup has...reservations.

[scarlet_discord]

[Wanda has her hands knotted together in front of her, like she always does when she's trying to hide her nervousness. The dog with her, who is bearlike in his enormousness and covered in black fuzz, can tell, and he's whining and leaning against her, occasionally swiping a donut-sized paw against her leg.]

Look...we've done okay together for a year and a half now, but now you're pushing it. I am willing to abandon my homeworld altogether to avoid any more family drama. That should make my feelings pretty damn clear. The idea of having to have the Big Giant Talk with my brother is not real comfortable, okay? And what if some version of him shows up? Again? I'm getting sick of trying to be civil with people who practically give me flashbacks every time I lay eyes on them. Especially when they turn out to be jerks.

....what do you mean, wussing out? I'm not wussing out. I'm tough enough. But I'm sick of this crap. It's like I can never escape it.

[She scowls and folds her arms, looking away.] It's not wussy to want a fresh start somewhere where I can start to...feel better.

Comments

[force_ful]

I know the feeling. Assuming Narnia is some kind of... completely unrelated place, anyway. And now my mundane wants to advertise through me. Would you rather we hold off?

[and looking at Huge Dog.]

Who's this?

[scarlet_discord]

Are you kidding? I love hearing about new places.

[She ruffles the dog and pats his butt.] Go say hi, Fozzie. Luke, this is Fozzie Bear, one of the kinds of dogs on my world.

[Fozzie urfs and wanders over. Hey dude.]

[force_ful]

Right, well... There's another universe or dimension. A version of Earth, people say, and it opens windows to other worlds that people can come through. A great thing about it is that no one is trapped there. Or... very few. Your window can get lost.

I go there to get a breather from what else is going on, sometimes. The really striking thing about it though is that just going there... well, the way they put it is that your soul becomes an animal and exists outside of your body. They call those daemons.

[He shows a smile.] It takes some adjusting to.

...ah, hello. [He offers his hand, and yes Luke will smoothly deflect any inroads at crotch or butt. :|] I've met fenwolves about this size. Some people ride them.

[scarlet_discord]

...wow. That's trippy. I did meet one guy with a daemon once, but I've never been to a world where everyone got one. I don't even know what mine would be.

I really do like meeting people from different worlds. Where is it?

These guys were bred to guard sheep herds from large predators. They're from a cold climate, so they're all fuzzy.

[Fozzie is actually well trained enough to mind his manners, but he does lick Luke's hand after a quick snuffle. His tongue is very wide.]

He's given kids rides before. I'm probably too heavy for him.

[force_ful]

Want to meet mine? Usually we keep her hidden, just because it's kind of a hassle to explain. They're supposed to reflect us - I'm a little disturbed, honestly, but there's nothing in her form I didn't know about before.

The place is called distantskies. There's no one there from any version of your world, I think.

[Good dog. Does he like his head rubbed?] Yeah? [He laughs] I'm sure you get a lot of comments about his size, so I'll try and leave off. I bet he has to be careful in the heat.

[scarlet_discord]

Um, if you don't mind. It sounds cool. But I've gotten used to not getting entirely what I expect out of life. I'm a lot better than last time we talked in part because I've gotten more flexible.

...cool. [She pokes her half-awake mun into going and having a look today]. I certainly know there'd be one guy there I'd want to hang out with more. [Fighting a smile, not very hard.]

Oh, he's huge, it's part of his adorableness. He's my Cuddlesaurus Rex. At least until it's go time, but that hasn't happened very often.

[Fozzie does love it. His ears are those half-mast droopy sort and covered in long fur.] Yeah. I have to close-clip him when it starts to warm up, and when it gets too hot I get a kiddie pool for him to soak in. He loves it. Unfortunately he also loves galomphing over and shaking himself off right next to me.

[force_ful]

Lucky guy. [He wears an innocent expression and does as the dog wishes.] I'm glad you're doing better.

[Something half-liquid emerges from his left sleeve. Boneless, skinless, glossy black but the light calls out opalescent traces of reds and blues, purples, greens, it winds around his wrist, pools in his upturned palm, and from that tendrils emerge, spilling out of the gaps between his fingers.]

This is Sycorax. [Her voice is lower and cooler than his, but she has the same accent. And speaks without a mouth, because hey.] I'm a Melter. Not carbon-based, but meltmassif. It's a kind of mineral sensitive to electrical currents.

[scarlet_discord]

Thanks. It was work, but I had help. I owe people. One day I'll find a way to pay them all back.

[She watches, fascinated.] She's beautiful. In a kind of Lovecraftean way, but yeah. Hi there.

I don't know what mine will be. I did turn into a black cat once, though, during a few days of magical weirdness.

[force_ful]

If they don't need it, I'm sure others will.

Hi yourself. Not a lot of creatures like this anywhere. [Tendrils curl. She's blind, but is used to perceiving through Luke that she is stared at.]

It's all about your personality. They reflect some part of it, or of what you were like early in your teenaged years.

Melters... It might be because I was a strange kid. But adaptable.

Not to mention something people really want to use, but it never works out for them.

[He frowns at her.] It works out when I'm asked and not forced. She's my blunter side, I'm afraid.

[scarlet_discord]

Yeah. [It's a high ideal, but that's fine. All part of her ongoing campaign to be as little like her father as possible.]

[Wanda smiles a little. But she keeps her hands to herself. Someone explained the no-touchy rule to her.]

No idea what that would translate out to with me. My childhood wasn't exactly normal.

[She just gives him a wry little half-smile.] I'm the last person to have a problem with "blunt".

[force_ful]

Mmm. [He nods, sympathetic.] Then some aspect of you. How you relate to random people compared to someone you're close to. Your thoughts on freedom - a flyer or something that wanders, compared to something with a small territory. How adaptable you are, how much focus you can put into things... It doesn't have to fit exactly.

[There's always the daemon forum. Personally I disagree with some analyses and prefer working on my own, but I'm weird and contrary anyway.]

[scarlet_discord]

I guess we'll probably find out.

[Fozzie sniffs at the shinywigglything, and Wanda sighs and calls him back to heel with a few snaps of her fingers. She doesn't know if animals touching Daemons causes problems too, and she doesn't wat to find out.]

[force_ful]

Or just find something you like and work backwards from there. That happens too.

Yeah. Should I wish you luck, or the guidance of the Force?

[It would be okay. Though Sycorax would have to solidify a little to keep any determined sniffing from sucking her liquidy body/medium into his nose. The dog would probably not like that.]

[scarlet_discord]

The guidance of the Force works, though I'm barely now learning anything whatsoever about what that means.

[Yes, let's avoid Sycorax-flavored doggie sneezes.]

I'll have the mun check this place out now that she has a stable Net again.

[force_ful]

Then may the Force be with you.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate.

[scarlet_discord]

OK. Yeah, how about this. We'll find a chance to sit down and spirituality nerd and I'll feed you some of my pie.

[force_ful]

Sure. You can show me what nerd means, too.

[scarlet_discord]

A nerd or a geek is an expert in esoteric things that normal people tend to look a little askance at or just don't understand.

Hey, how's Artoo doing?

[force_ful]

Then I'm both.

Someone has to be. It doesn't matter if no one gets it. [Sycorax is less mild in general, it seems.]

He's doing well. I could take him to Cittagazze, I suppose, but he's not at the Temple much in the past few months. Mostly he's been around my nephews and niece.

[scarlet_discord]

Yep, me too. And proud of it.

[A faint smile.] That's good. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he gets kids flocking around his...uh, metaphorical ankles? Heh.

[force_ful]

Kids always like astromechs. Plus he can keep Threepio - he's a protocol droid - company. They're always arguing when they're together, but they hate being apart.

[scarlet_discord]

They sound like an old married couple.

[force_ful]

[He laughs softly.] Sometimes I wonder.

...If yours is still looking and at a loss, my mundane seems to think urban animals are worth thinking about.

[General shared aspects of adaptability, belligerence/defiance in some situations and tolerance in others, many of them are hated and many are killed but they hang in there, some are domestics gone feral, others are sometimes taken as pets but are still wild.]