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???; fourth wall
[...This all would be a lot more enjoyable if the past week hadn't been so shitty.
"This all" being the sudden reappearance of Ondorus' monstrous features; his pointed ears, and the spiral-ridged horn attached to the front of his skull. Along with those comes his magic, with which he patches himself up. All is well...
....
yeah no not really. He can make an effort not to wallow, but recent events have him in a rather somber mood.
For now, though? He's got his species back. He's got his magic back. He can play with his Pokemon (...the ones still with him), showing them forms of different elemental spells. Deliberately avoiding any earth-based ones. He can let them touch his ears and poke his horn, just sort of...existing in monstery solidarity.
And hey, look! Wherever they happen to be at the moment, chances are they're not alone. A small, ever-changing crowd of other monsters are here to play. Some slimes, some weegulls, some ants, the occasional buffamoo or mushroom, a handful of ignis and tundras...and, of course...
...a big cuddly pile of woolies. Because it's not a rune party until the woolies arrive. also ondorus emits wooly magnet beams or something
The univir's smiles are a little forced, but the atmosphere of serenity is real, wherever they happen to be. Come hug a wooly. You know you want to.]
"This all" being the sudden reappearance of Ondorus' monstrous features; his pointed ears, and the spiral-ridged horn attached to the front of his skull. Along with those comes his magic, with which he patches himself up. All is well...
....
yeah no not really. He can make an effort not to wallow, but recent events have him in a rather somber mood.
For now, though? He's got his species back. He's got his magic back. He can play with his Pokemon (...the ones still with him), showing them forms of different elemental spells. Deliberately avoiding any earth-based ones. He can let them touch his ears and poke his horn, just sort of...existing in monstery solidarity.
And hey, look! Wherever they happen to be at the moment, chances are they're not alone. A small, ever-changing crowd of other monsters are here to play. Some slimes, some weegulls, some ants, the occasional buffamoo or mushroom, a handful of ignis and tundras...and, of course...
...a big cuddly pile of woolies. Because it's not a rune party until the woolies arrive. also ondorus emits wooly magnet beams or something
The univir's smiles are a little forced, but the atmosphere of serenity is real, wherever they happen to be. Come hug a wooly. You know you want to.]
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Is that so...For some reason, I'm not surprised.
[The wooly closest to Ondorus bleats, and he pats it on the head. It sits down abruptly. He chuckles.]
Are you hungry, Lord El-Melloi? I was thinking of eating soon. [And that weegull poking its beak into my bag isn't going to wait around for midnight snack. Let's have a monster picnic.]
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[It seems obvious, but you'd expect things to be more extreme...
...well, dealing with Pokemon for so long has made him a little more tolerant of animals, so he'll... experimentally pat that sheep
it seems well-behaved enough]
I'm a bit hungry, yes. What are you having?
[it's not like there's anywhere else he has to be...!]
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Nothing too refined, for which I apologize. I hadn't anticipated meeting with anyone on the road, and packed accordingly.
[Still, what he takes out is pretty nice. A small tupperware container (...or whatever equivalent, you know what i mean) with some kind of
okay what i'm imagining here is some kind of mixture of meat and vegetables over rice with a small amount of sauce, and there's some kind of crackers or thin bread in there too? god i don't know how to food. this is a no-junk-food zone, population ondorus. (also a fork to eat it with)
he gave kayneth the nicest-looking thing in the bag, apparently, because whatever he's getting himself is a lot more like typical travel rations. also bread and berries for the monsters here you go guys]
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It's quite alright. This is far better fare than I generally expect to get on the road, so I can't complain at all.
[...it's not the sort of thing he usually likes, but circumstances have forced him to be much less picky than he was back home...]
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It's been far too long since we last spoke in person. Over a month? [Something is obviously bugging Kayneth. Let's talk about something that...probably isn't related. Hopefully? The chances of it being this-weekend-related are pretty high.] How did the event in Vermilion turn out?
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Well, that isn't particularly unusual in a place like this. Everyone seems fairly spread out...
[...AND SO HIS MOOD GOT EVEN WORSE]
Extremely poorly.
welp, i'm laughing
I - I see. [COUGHS well this is awkward
uh
damn] My consolations.
[maybe he should suggest swapping magic demonstrations...but at this point it'd be obvious he's just fishing for a pleasant topic... ]
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[you know what, fuck it]
You seem troubled. Is there something we can talk about that would take your mind off of whatever's bothering you?
[feelings.]
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...well, I suppose you could start by telling me more about the monsters that are here. As I said, many of them do have analogues in my world, but I suppose it could be interesting to hear about the differences.
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This one is a wooly. They're fairly self-explanatory - generally rather docile and curious, and they tend to get along well with humans due to not being able to cause much damage.
["Behhh."]
That's as a general statement, of course. There are unusual members of any species. [golden-fleeced ones, for instance.]
The one that appeared and vanished again about a minute ago is a tundra. It's one of a variety of less corporeal monsters, elementals of sorts. They're rather capricious and wild monsters, with little in the way of culture or custom. The elder of my people keeps a similar creature as a pet.
[He pauses to take a few bites of his food.]
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[yes, good. this is a good distraction.]
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[....jrpg bias. shhh.]
Speaking of, I do wonder if there are governing entities linked to the elemental alignments of Pokemon in this world. There are vague mentions of mythical, powerful Pokemon in literature...[mm.] It's worth looking into, in the future.
The gathering a short ways from us is a troop of orcs. The grand majority of them possess no magic to speak of, but they are rather intelligent and have a defined social structure, especially the ones that are established on earth. Many emerge directly from the Forest of Beginnings, which means that their behaviors are mostly inherent.
[drink...] They're forest-dwellers, typically. Orcs band together to hunt for food and fend off attackers. They're also rather curious when it comes to humans and the things they create, though they're much more capable of causing trouble than woolies and thus generally not welcome.
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[...pause...]
Orcs? That's... interesting. There are scattered, inconsistent stories about things referred to as 'orcs' throughout history, but their usual depiction was only really codified by a twentieth century fantasy author with a strong background in mythology and linguistics. Admittedly, their depiction in his books isn't particularly flattering... saying that they caused trouble for humans would be quite the understatement.
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Ondorus raises an eyebrow at the explanation.]
From a human author, that's not surprising. Everyone has their own perspective. But if he was a fantasy author...
...mm. There's any number of explanations. [He's sure that Kayneth can think of some on his own.] But to the credit of the orcs I know, they're among the least truly wild species of monsters out there. Highly territorial, yes; aggressive, certainly; but far easier to communicate and bargain with than others, generally speaking.
[The orc with a bow and quiver had glanced up at several points in that conversation, but didn't pay attention beyond that.]
Hmm...I think that's everyone here at the moment? [He glances around. The weegulls vanished...orcs, woolies, tundra...seems like it. More will show up later, probably.] So it is. Then, there's the one you're speaking to, of course.
[Let him tell you about univir.]
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Well, it's not as though he had a complete vendetta against nonhumans--it's more that there was a very clearly defined line between the 'good' nonhumans and the 'evil' ones, with elves, eagles, and the like being primarily good and the evil ones being things like orcs, trolls, and so on. Humans were, if anything, highly flawed and had the potential to go in either category. It was fairly simplistic, but you know how these things are. It's not like a work of fiction has impact on any other worlds, anyway.
[...wow he just nerded really hard there uh
and wait what
...he is certainly socially adept enough to know that 'you're a monster??' would probably be a grade A conversation ruiner but the thought certainly crosses his mind]
...yes, of... course.
[well that would explain why he's treating all of these things like they're people, anyway]
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We're characterized mainly by our physiology [he gestures briefly up to his face - what needs to be said?], but also by our lifespan and a particular kind of healing magic which seems to be unique to univir.
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...From the way you've been talking, though, I'm not entirely clear-are elves also considered to be monsters, or is there some sort of distinction? Where is the line drawn, exactly?
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What defines monsters is our place of origin. There is a world separate from, but connected to, the one I was born in, usually known by the name "Forest of Beginnings". Monsters are beings that emerge from that world. But, if such a traveler settles outside of the Forest and raises children, those children will be monsters as well, though they did not come from that world themselves. A being is called a monster if the Forest of Beginnings is the world to which their soul ultimately belongs.
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[...actually, you know...]
Would time pass differently in that world compared to the one you were born in?
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[SOUNDS LIKE THE THRONE OF HEROES TO HIM, TBH]
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For now, there's other stories worth chasing. [Pokemon-related ones.]
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[...ah, yes...]
More immediate ones, of course. I do have to wonder what caused this particular... incident.
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