text | un:furfeathers

[reorienting]

[These messages pop up close to the middle of the night.]

Hello?

Ah, hello. I've arrived recently, trying to get my bearings. Little miffed that my phone doesn't work. RIP my art app.

If anyone knows of any good sources of paper and pencils, or even colored inks or paints, I'd be grateful. And will make you something with it. If you like artwork. I primarily do almost-realism but I've also done more abstract works and metalworking pieces.


[Then, several minutes later...]

Actually, I should probably confirm this first: are there any butchers that sell meat that tastes as close to nothing as possible? Or meat that tastes as not-meat as possible? Is that a thing? I hate it but my diet requires it. I got used to artificial rations and their super bland flavors over the years. (‘A`)

Comments

[reorienting]

Yes.

[Wait, that question probably means "give me an explanation" right? So here's a very brief explanation.]

I can shift into a large dog-thing with fur and feathers, a lion's mane, and shark teeth. And ears more like a rabbit's. If you took cat whiskers and put those on it. It looks pretty strange.

[dispersing]

that's
definitely a visual
i have a space wolf
but he looks like a fairly normal wolf
that glows
and teleports
but other than him i don't think i've seen anything like what you described

[reorienting]

I don't think anyone else would have seen it. Unless there's another me in another universe and was given that same path and made the same choices.

Well, not that what I am is a result of "choice."

Alien genes are wild. :/

Wolves don't glow where I'm from. Or teleport. They just have pretty fur and stay away from humans.

[dispersing]

we really don't get a choice in what we are
...
and yes
yes they are definitely wild.

[ And boy does he feel him on that. Keith doesn't look a thing like his mother, the purple ridiculously tall Galran woman, so apparently human genes won out that time. ]

[reorienting]

I'm probably wrong, but does your phrasing mean you've met someone with alien genes?

I'm sorry if I'm incorrect. Or pushy.

[He's pretty sure being too curious is also being pushy? So...]

[dispersing]

[ He's torn on saying it, if only because the Galra aren't exactly a well-liked race at home. In fact, they're mostly downright hated due to their conquering most of the known universe and the methods they employed. There's a glimmer of hope in that from the sound of it, they may not be from the same place so they may not know of the Galra - an alternate reality perhaps? - but it's still a glimmer, and it's because of that that he chooses his words as carefully as he can. ]

yeah
a lot actually
i fought alongside people from all different planets at home
and there were a few others who were halfbreeds too
not entirely sure what they were mixed with other than galra
but apparently human genes are stronger than galran ones

[reorienting]

[It's almost too lightly written for him to catch it, though he does after a few reads.]

Never heard of the galra before, but the universes are big. It took me a long time to find the smattering of planets that my heritage came from.

Human genes are definitely potent stuff. Even had me fooled for a while, too. I'm half-Igaes. It's an umbrella term for the races of shapeshifters with the same ancestry. We can transform ourselves about as far as our imaginations can take us. I myself can mimic the look of anything or anyone I've seen, or even make up an appearance on the fly.

Ah, sorry. I like to share information.

So, you're half-galran, if I'm reading your words correctly?

[dispersing]

igaes?
that's not a group i'm familiar with
but you're right the universe is enormous
and alternate realities do exist

being part galra isn't really a good thing at home
they did a lot of really questionable and kind of awful things
like destroy planets and try to take over the universe sort of thing
not all of them but most
the ones that followed zarkon anyway
i don't really have anything to show for it
they're tall and purple and most of them don't look human
honestly i'm not entirely sure what they are
and i never really thought to ask krolia about it

[reorienting]

Igaes haven't evolved beyond a rustic, and somewhat nomadic lifestyle. No space exploration attempts yet. Their only predators are each other, in terms of rival tribes.

Most are good, warm people. Curious and nosy. :3
Some like a good fight.
Others are closer to zealots.
But varied by individual.

They have eyes like mine: colorless and reflective.
Also night vision, for some. Me included.

I think I understand what you mean - that others might see you as bad by association? That seems to be a common thing among many people.

But you seem nice. :)

[dispersing]

you're probably one of very few who think that.
i didn't know i was until after we'd been in space for a while.
when i found out
i was pretty much given the cold shoulder from a friend
because the galra kind of destroyed her planet and killed her people.

most of them are purple with yellow eyes
and they're mostly fairly tall with long limbs
and i look human.
they're kind of intense too
because everything with them is either "victory or death"
or it's "knowledge or death"
they don't really have a middle ground.

[reorienting]

I don't understand that kind of thinking - to shun you just because of a trait of your birth.

Did she reconcile with you, at least?

[Hopefully she did, he thinks. But if she did, then-- the thought sends a little pang of envy through him. To have something that long ago slipped from his own fingers (and it's his fault, anyway.)

[And so while he waits for a response, he hopes that this stranger has a kinder lot than he has.]

[dispersing]

eventually but it took time
and taking on a mission that was pretty much suicide if it failed.
to be honest, i'm not sure if she actually trusts me like she used to
or if that still colors things.
there's nothing i can do about it though.

i wish people didn't think that way
but it's pretty common.
i guess they figure shunning people is easier
when they can just pick out something about you
instead of bothering to get to know you.

[reorienting]

[That's still a little disheartening. And his own heart aches for the stranger on the other end.]

No, there isn't. It's up to her to realize that nothing about you has changed in any significant way. You're you. And I'm sorry it took something so extreme for her to realize even a fraction of that.

I want to get to know you.

[His own words surprise him, but he keeps on.]

I mean, if it's okay. Not just because of the quirk of this place and what needs to be done to mend time itself.

I don't have any experience with being shunned by others purely because of species, but.

I'm here. :)

[dispersing]

i'm not going to say you can't
or tell you i don't want to
but i've been shunned a lot
even by other humans before we wound up in space
so i might not be worth knowing.

[ That's how you say you're cool with getting to know someone, right? He's trying, even if he's not very good at it. ]

[reorienting]

Are you me from another world, I wonder. I could say some of that, myself, and it would ring true.

Let's meet. In the near future, if it's alright with you.

You're worth knowing, I think.

I'm going to insist.

I'll try not to give accidental lectures about my particular interests. ^-^;;

[For reference, however, he sends over a selfie. He's not emoting too much, but his expression isn't unfriendly. It's just hard to force an expression.]

[dispersing]

i
okay.
i promise i'll try to be a little more social than i usually am
and i won't give you any lectures either.


[ But because this guy saw fit to send a picture, Keith makes the attempt to do the same in return, even putting effort into not looking like he's not interested. He's gotten a little better at it, but his default expression is still the classic lineface so it still takes some work. But at least this way they know who they're looking for. ]

[reorienting]

You don't have to be social to exist in the same space as someone else. :)

So I'm good for that, too.

[They can both lineface at things!]

Whoa, similar hair! Same expression! What the heck. :O

[dispersing]

maybe you are me
or i'm you
just from another reality
stranger things have happened.

[reorienting]

Oh gosh.
Yeah
Like time loops. :O

But if you are me
except part galra instead of igaes
how long do galra live?

Igaes have records of living over a thousand Earth years. And in that slow age, they also develop their society slowly.

Brain and body-wise, I've only developed about seven or eight years since my 18th birthday when I thought I was human. Everything just really started to slow down after that.

And it's been almost 300 years for me now.

[dispersing]

i'll be honest
i have no idea.
i know zarkon and lotor were more than 10000
but their circumstances weren't normal.
probably for a while though.

i know alteans live for a long time
and mom looks exactly the same as she did when she met dad
and that was about 20 years ago.
maybe a few more.

[reorienting]

I see.

Even I can't grasp that length of time, wow.

[Shit. This is wholesome, and his own mind tries to drag him down.]

I'm glad you still have your mom in your life.

Humans still only have an average life expectancy of about 95, last I was home. Assisted with extensive medical equipment and synthetics, around 110 to 125. It may have grown in the last century or so.

[This is the closest he can get to his own matters without worrying that he's trying to make a pity party.]

[dispersing]

i only met her two years ago.

[ Or it's been two years as far as he knows, since he can't remember being anywhere but at home just yet. ]

she left not long after i was born
and i spent 19 years thinking she abandoned me.

humans have about the same life expectancy at home.
and it's weird to think that i might outlive the others
just because of an accident of birth.

[ They can have a pity party together. ]

[reorienting]

...Yes.

[Unseen, his brow furrows.]

Outliving people dear to you isn't easy, and my experience is probably not going to be anything terribly close to yours.
So I don't really have any advice on that front.

My mother passed when she was in her 80s.
and I can't say we had the best relationship.
She wasn't what I needed her to be, growing up.

So I hope the relationship you foster with your mom goes well.

[dispersing]

thanks.
part of me hopes i inherited my lifespan from dad
but i don't think i'd want mom to have to bury her kid.
she might have to anyway though
because the last thing i remember from home
was being pulled by gravity toward either a star or a planet
i don't know which it was but either way unless something happens
like a miracle
i don't think i'm making it out alive.


and i'm sorry about your mom.

[reorienting]

Ah, no, I wasn't... trying to ask for sympathy. It's been long enough that the grief has dulled since a long time ago.

You're here now, though.
Maybe the bonds we make here will be strong enough to let us help each other in our own worlds, too? World-hop?
I could dream, I suppose.
That's a lot to have on your mind - one's mortality, I mean.

So let me know if I can do anything to assist you, okay? Anything. Don't hesitate. Even if it's just "let's hang out and be quiet together."