Milliways Again

[her_imperial_radiance]

It lurks. Oh how it lurks.

Comments

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Tunnel between the worlds?" Orfeo suggests. "Can your sorcerer-empress do that?"

[prima_sequentem]

"We've never tried. Another thing to put on the list of experiments."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Orfeo nods. "So... what's it like, not having any wolves or vampires around? I've lived around and in packs, near covens, all my life..."

[prima_sequentem]

"Good question," says Libby. "I could ask the same thing in reverse. My aunt's an ingot, so I have been generally aware of magic all my life, but I never actually met a non-aunt magical person until much later."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"...Okay, going by comparisons to movies and stuff... I assume everybody I meet can live forever if they have the least interest in doing that. I divide relationships into 'fated perfect eternal' and 'doomed'. I grew up referring to myself as though I were a baby dog instead of a baby goat and so did most of my friends. People around me don't get sick. If we get injured, it's over with in a week, and that's if we were seriously mauled and shot full of venom just shy of killing us. Within a pack, the silent treatment is not an option - telepathy is not optional. Wolves are at the bottom of the mental totem pole among the supernaturals until you get down to some pretty thinly bred hybrids, but compared to people I see on TV or that I've interacted with while out in human civilization, I think we might really be quicker or something - I'm not talking myself up personally, but they don't seem to operate on the same time scale, and that makes sense, we move faster than them. I'm not used to adults aging, and it weirds me out to see movies made by the same actor ten years apart. Everybody around me at home is buffer and prettier than random people I see in Oslo or wherever. No one complains when it's time to move furniture for some reason. My friends are all on liquid diets or capable of demolishing supposedly family-sized packages of anything for morning snacks." He pauses. "Does that help?"

[prima_sequentem]

"That helps a lot, actually," says Libby.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Great," he says, grinning at her.

[prima_sequentem]

She grins back.

"On a more personal scale, I suspect you grew up with a much stronger sense of close community than I did. Places like this are pretty small and friendly compared to living in New York City, and I didn't have a big family to offset that."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Yeah," Orfeo says. "I don't remember this part, but when I was really little, the sense of community was magically enforced. The Princess tore the fake parts of that down as part of the takeover, but there was a lot left, and after all that time people were used to it. It stuck. I don't think I want to claim we're Communists or anything - we use cash, Jake's in charge of our pack and Becky and Rachel are in charge of theirs, and we don't go around calling each other Comrade. But someone has to be really determined to not be involved with us to get to the point where we wouldn't all swoop in to support them if they needed it. That's another reason Elena wouldn't really want to go to your world. She's used to all these people and hasn't got an astronomically higher priority."

[prima_sequentem]

"That's a nice thing to have," she says. "I wouldn't want to take her away from it unnecessarily."

[her_imperial_radiance]

Orfeo nods. "So hopefully you can fix the packlessness issue, or it turns out it's a nonissue for imprinted wolves."

[prima_sequentem]

"Hopefully one of those," she agrees.

[her_imperial_radiance]

"Have I mentioned I'm glad you speak English?" Orfeo remarks suddenly. "My dad was only barely starting to learn Italian when he met my mom, and to this day she's nearly monolingual."

[prima_sequentem]

"You haven't mentioned that, no. And now I'm tempted to start speaking German just to tease you."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"You can if you want, but I know you'll understand me if I talk English," he laughs.

[prima_sequentem]

She blinks at him in exaggerated mock-confusion and asks, in German, "Are you sure?"

[her_imperial_radiance]

He snorts, and replies in Italian, "The weather is divine today, don't you think?"

[prima_sequentem]

"Good one," she says appreciatively. "I can tell we're going to get along."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I wonder how long this is going to amuse you," he replies.

[prima_sequentem]

Libby giggles. "You're cute."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"I kind of expected you'd be able to understand some of this from the French. Maybe you can and aren't letting on."

[prima_sequentem]

She grins, which isn't informative either way, really.

[her_imperial_radiance]

It's really not. He raises an eyebrow at her, smiling.

[prima_sequentem]

She looks terribly innocent.

Which is kind of informative, isn't it.

[her_imperial_radiance]

If it is, he's not getting it. "Having fun?" he asks in English.