shellphones | Whale Man Tries to Turn Around And Walk Back Into the Rift

[ Ulpianus takes that glass of water calmly, seemingly unmoved by Jill's outburst. This, too, can be a way of getting to understand people, even if a somewhat cumbersome one.

If this were Aegir, he could have asked her to dance or sing together, but he's learned long ago that land-dwellers put very different connotations on those things. So he'll just go on what he can understand about her so far. ]

Your own isolation drives you to seek companionship in beings you have never seen, but hope that they are like you. Beings that would devour you as naturally as burdenbeasts graze on grass, and construct more of their brethren from the nutrients of your corpse.

Seek your solace in the multitudes of humanity, not in the unknown.

[Is it seeking companionship or her learning that even the beings being looked down upon deserve a chance to be understood? An old(er) man once taught here, every man is worthy of that chance. They just need to know it exists in the first place.

And Hunter doesn't seem like the type to take the time to inform them.]

You talk about these them as if they aren't living creatures in need of survival too. Regardless if they are as bad as you make them seem, your first thought is to gather enough information from me to end them rather than use that information to truly understand their goals. Their desires. Their wants and needs.

Perhaps you should do that and maybe, just maybe, you might find you can come to a peaceful mutual understanding.

[Of course, this is all her supposing that whatever this great thing Hunter is in opposition to can't be that awful. Much like how some people think Dominants and Bearers are nothing but the elements that turn a good world bad.

Though one could say Hugo Kupka has earned that reputation.]

Many sought that mutual understanding. And it was only ever one-sided.

[ He seems as unwilling to budge as her. ]

They have only one goal. Only one need and desire. To propagate. To turn the sea, and then the land, and then the stars into themselves.

[ Fortunately for everyone involved, he stops for a second to think about how to convince Jill instead of simply insisting he's correct. ]

If this helps you understand... I am one of them.

I could easily say your take is just as one-sided too.

[In other words, she's only getting his view on things. Maybe if there was someone else to corroborate with what he's telling her or even better, another person to refute all his words, Jill just has to work with what she's got right now and none of it sits well within her.

No, it doesn't help her understand, but it cause her to stop and think for a moment, brow furrowed in confusion.]

You want to end your own kind?

[She understands being so hopeless where self-destruction seems like the best choice of all. She, however, does not comprehend the idea of wanting to wipe out your entire species too.]

[ If ONLY Ulpianus knew how to earn people's trust and explain things clearly and without apparent hostility. ]

They are not my kind.

[ That totally helps.

Again, he pauses, looking at Jill as though he's studying her. Eventually, he leans back slightly, seemingly having reached a decision. ]

An analogy for you, Dominant. Do you hear the voice of that Eikon you hold inside you? Do you feel what it wants? Do you know it better than a stranger from another world?

[This man speaks in riddles now. Is he or is he not what he claims to be part of? Aegir is what he said he was. Is that not the species he named? How are they not his kind? (Yes, explaining things would clear up the confusion, but that doesn't seem likely to happen, does it?)

And then Hunter does something that sends a disgusted shiver down her spine, something that's actually visible in how she tenses up without answering his questions. The staring? No. It's the calling her Dominant rather than her given name. Every time someone does it, it feels like they're reducing her down to nothing but the Eikon and to be perfectly honest, she's had enough of that for a lifetime.]

Jill. My name is Jill.

[Her words have razor sharp edges, as if she's using them to protect her fragile sense of self over something others would just consider an innocent title.]

[ Ah. So she is clearly not happy about that title. That adds more explanation to her earlier outbursts - he'd misjudged them to be simply the longing of an outlier, but it seems to go deeper.

This would be a good place to maybe apologize and deescalate the tension.

Would be. ]

You never gave me your name.

[Yes, he's right. But he's the worst kind of right: the technically correct sort. Yet, did it not occur to Hunter than when she asked his name, he should do the same?

Jill closes her eyes and takes a few deep breathes to center herself. Rarely the kind to lose her temper, this man certainly has found ways to test her composure.]

You never asked. [Totally his fault.] When you give yours, it's commonplace to ask for one in return.

[She's going to have to hold his hand through every landwalker custom, isn't she?]

[ She is. Hope you have fun with that, Jill! ]

And in some lands it is commonplace to offer one's own name when asking another's.

[ --ah, but he knows at least some customs! ]

Does your culture require the use of honorifics? Based on age, sex, or other social status?

I never asked for yours. [Technically.] I just made a comment on your tendency to demand things without offering something, anything, in return. You offered your name in order to get answers to your questions—which might I add, you received—and not because you wanted to get to acquainted.

[Is she being petty? Yes and it's quite unlike Jill to be so, but to be honest, this guy has rubbed her wrong since text message #1. Why is she even still bothering to speak with him?]

Social status for the most part. Lesser nobles would be Lord and Lady and the like. Anything higher, you'd use their royal title: King, Prince, Archduke...

[ The problem with being petty with Ulpianus is that he mostly ignores it unless you're close - which he does now, too, instead using the time to take a sip of his water.

Through his mask. ]

Which one do you require?

[One could say she was a princess once upon a time. They could also say that she'd be considered a lesser noble by virtue of being a ward of the Duchy. But in any case now, today, right this moment in this inn, there's no status for her to claim.

She shakes her head, frowning both at his question and the fact that the water can't taste very good being filtered through his mask. Even if she believed in using honorifics (and she still does, but for other people), insisting one be used for her would seem silly. A lady wouldn't have committed the atrocities she has, much less a proper princess.]

None of them. I am of common stock.

[So she feels.]

[ He pauses briefly again. So far, taking her at her word rarely improved communication. It is possible she expects something else of him, despite her insistence on no status-based honorifics. ]

I have observed that honorifics are used among commoners too.

[ Ulpianus thinks back to that boy, Breogan's descendant. He'd insisted on calling him "Don Ulpianus". ]

In the last country I visited, custom would dictate that I address you as Doña Jill.

[There's little Jill has come to expect of this man, except for him to continue testing her nerves.]

I assure you, that custom does not hold here. In all honestly, I've never heard that word in my life.

[But if referring to her like that means he never calls her Dominant again, so be it.]

[ Well, whatever floats your... powers your landbound vehicle. ]

Equivalent or similar usage: miss, ma'am, hanimefendi, mademoiselle, sheila.

[ Take your pick, Jill. ]

[Chocobo. They can float too!

Miss and ma'am, fine. Jill's familiar with those. But the rest of the words are just as foreign in her ear as they are on her tongue as she attempts to repeat them, terribly, except for one:]

Sheila?

[Somewhere, a mod's ears are burning.]

[ Hey, he's not the one who came up with that. ]

A Rim Billitonian word. Not an honorific, but can be used as a placeholder. Refers to women. Male equivalent is 'bloke'. Gender neutral: 'mate'. Applicability and usage may vary depending on circumstances.

[ A part of him wonders why he's telling her this - a waste of time, as far as he's concerned... But she does seem to hold some interest in learning more about his world. Curiosity isn't a bad thing, and if it helps calm her down and get her to give him answers, he'll use it.

Hell, he'll even slip into the ~~Australian~~ Rim Billitonian accent to demonstrate. ]

Edited 2026-01-10 03:58 (UTC)

[She holds up a hand, palm facing Hunter, indicating for him to stop. Jill's heard enough.]

Miss will do just fine. Doña, if you insist. Just no sheila.

[She asks for so little...]

[ He doesn't insist. It's for her benefit, not his, as such. ]

Miss Jill, then.

[ Okay now we can go back to talking about murdering things baybey!!!! ]

I will repeat my analogy. As you hold an Eikon inside you, I hold a Seaborn inside me. I hear the voice of the many. I feel what it wants. I can see the world as it does. That is how I know there is no understanding to be found.

[The many. It. Jill wonders how many Seaborns make up one entity and whether or not there are genders to it or if Hunter is just distancing himself from them. A lot of questions are brewing in her thoughts, but perhaps she needs to tread carefully around such sensitive subjects. After all, she still doesn't know how quick this man is to shutting down and with how much Jill's talked about herself, he owes her quite a bit of information about himself.]

And can you call upon them—it—as you wish?

[ He takes a deeper breath. Sharing this actually isn't very easy for him, though his reasons for that are both similar to and different from Jill's own apprehension. ]

No. If I were to... 'call upon' it [ he says this almost through gritted teeth ], "I" would cease to exist.

[His trepidation is noted, but she continues her line of query.]

Immediately or all in due time?

[She wonders if it's like the curse for her. Slowly, but surely, every time Jill primed, more and more of her flesh turned to stone. Sooner or later, she'd have to face her inevitable death via petrification, like so many Bearers before her.

At least here, the curse seems to have stalled, but then again, Jill has only fully primed once. Testing it just for fun isn't an option.]

I see you can formulate questions better when needed.

[ Is that a compliment or a mockery?.. Well, to Ulpianus himself, it's just an observation. ]

Depends on how much I resist it. It may take a long time for it to become possible, but the transformation itself is usually quick.

[The ale in her mug's has turned lukewarm forever ago, but it only takes a second of Jill wrapping a hand around the cup with a soft blue glow to turn it immediately frosty.

What a neat party trick.]

So does that explain...

[Drink handled, Jill takes that same hand from before and gives it an up and down wave, indicating his choice in dress. It's time to stop ignoring the elephant in the room.]

...the mask? To hide what's within?

Edited 2026-01-10 05:38 (UTC)

[ His eyes immediately flicker to her hand when it glows. Some power of hers? Back home, Ulpianus would have known at least five ways how this could be done, but here much seems to rely on 'magic'. Whatever that is.

He looks up at her, raising his eyebrows briefly. ]

Yes.

[ ... and no. Hiding what's within is one of the basic functions of most clothing. That's like asking if he's dressed because he doesn't want to be seen naked. Of course, hiding his face is part of it - Ulpianus already knows the kind of impression he gives, and exposing the many scars on himself would only make it worse. So "yes" will suffice as an answer. ]

What did you just do?

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