chikaidestroyer | ∞ 104: Five years gone [voice/action]

[Forwarded to afternoon of Sunday, November 4]

[voice]

As we have entered the sixth cycle year for Luceti, there are new calendars available for the upcoming year. Copies may be picked up at the library or the Welcome Center. Thank you.

[Right before the journal stops recording, there's the sound of loud banging against a far off window, followed by said window shattering.]

[action]

[Albert stares at his broken window. Or, more precisely, he stares beyond the broken window at the huge eyes peering at him from outside. Then there's the flutter of equally-huge wings and a resounding thump on the roof.

He hurries out of his room and into the spare room, quickly setting up the ladder and climbing up onto the roof.

And out there, standing there as patiently as can be, is a somewhat familiar giant owl, hunched over as to not look as imposing as it would at its full 12 feet of height. It is dressed with a big turquoise ribbon around its neck, which holds an envelope in place.]

...No.

[Three minutes later, after getting the owl to allow him to remove the envelope, Albert sits on his roof reading the enclosed letter.

A shame that you are still trapped in this world, my boy; we are still working away on solving this issue! Here is a gift in commemoration to when you first started contributing to the Organization. I had a feeling you would like it!

- With sympathy, Sir Catherine]

Bil.

[Above him, the giant owl clacks its beak almost understandingly at his exasperation.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He sighs audibly.]

Neither have I. But it looks like it is the same owl that I had during the first draft in Desset.

An owl from a past draft? [So it wasn't part of the local wildlife.]

The Malnosso must have sent it here, if it's the same one. Why?

It's a gift for me. [Perhaps the strangest gift he has ever received.

...And now, in a slightly less deadpan voice.] You may be interested to know it originated from our world.

It is quite the interesting gift, then. [With his previous announcement about the date, it was almost like an anniversary gift, really.

He didn't think saying so would be polite, though.]

Is it? I've never seen an owl of such a size in Falena. [Though that didn't mean a species of such size couldn't exist on another continent.]

[He spends a little while making a filter, just because he doesn't like talking about their world at length over the public network. ~~Never mind that he talked about the same subject years ago.~~]

They live in the forests in the southernmost regions of Toran. I have not read of them living elsewhere, so it's possible they do not live in the queendom.

[A filter....?

He makes note of it, but doesn't question it. It didn't seem like such sensitive information.]

It is no wonder I have not heard of them, then. I am afraid I do not know much about the wildlife of Toran, besides what I have come across in texts.

[He continues wryly, glancing at the bird.]

The information I have on them is fairly old. As far as I know, they have not been tamed for riding purposes in several centuries. [Thus why royal messengers relied on the dragon knights to visit Magician's Isle instead of steeds that could possibly be tamed by the imperial army.] So it's possible the owl is from such a time, or it was tamed in this world.

I would guess so as well, If it is such an old practice. Was there a reason they abandoned it? [Flight was still a great benefit even now, after all. Perhaps there had been difficulties with the taming process?]

I am not sure. Perhaps the owls did not breed in the numbers that the empire would have desired, or the practice was simply more complex than the alternatives. [It seemed like the empire did not have much luck with beasts of burden in general, considering how the gul-horses had fallen out of favor after the fall of the Teo McDohl's armored cavalry.]

Perhaps. Flight would be a great benefit, but if it got too difficult to manage them, that might very well have been the case.

[It was a curiosity, really. They didn't have such means of transport in Falena.]

They would have been helpful in other capacities, if not on the war front, had they continued to be of use to the empire. [He sighs wryly.] But speculating here changes nothing of what happened in our world.

Ah, while I have your attention -- I wanted to ask if you have seen anyone who seems to be from our world, from other enclosures. I thought it would be interesting to compare notes.

They would have. You are right, though.

[....People from there world....He thinks back to the time the Kincorran's had been here.]

I have. There were someone from Falena here when the Kin’coran refugees were placed here for a time.

Edited 2012-12-04 09:13 (UTC)

Admittedly, I only took notice because they were of other races. There is a member of the Duck Clan in one enclosure, and one from the Lizard Clan in another. I was able to converse briefly with the duck.

Oh? Admittedly, I only spotted them at first because they were Beaver from Beaver Village. She seemed rather reluctant to deal with the humans here.

[Not that it was surprising. It had taken some convincing to get her to even accept supplies from him.]

There was another from my country as well, though I only found out shortly before they left. They took to following me most of the time the Kin’coran's were here.

[And.... questioning his identity.]

Edited 2012-12-04 11:01 (UTC)

[A beaver. He muses for a moment over how the beaver would have adjusted to this world.] Ah, so you were approached? I suppose you would look recognizable to Falenan citizens. Was the person a guard of some kind?

[Just a light guess, going off of the "following" bit.]

I was.... but they were no guard. They actually doubted my identity. [They must have overheard his name at some point.... Or maybe they had seen him when he'd visited their hometown.]

I managed to speak to them on the last day, and they mentioned being from the town of Estrise.

Edited 2012-12-06 08:14 (UTC)

∞ 104: Five years gone [voice/action]

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