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

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?

Understandable. Tell me more about the Seaborn.

[He's going to ream her out about non-specific questions again, isn't he?]

Called on the Eikon for a small favor. [She brings the cup to her lips and takes a sip before continuing, feeling that there's a certain question coming. Might as well beat him at the timing.] Shiva. The Warden of Ice.

Hmm.

[ Ice... Not a substance he's commonly encountered, but he does know of it. Her power must be tied to temperature manipulation, then. But more importantly, it looks like the relationship between a Dominant and their Eikon is closer to being equals, given that Jill does not hesitate to use Shiva's power for something as small as this. ]

Rephrase your question unless you are willing to hear by what mechanisms Seaborn cells replicate.

[It's not a common past time of Jill's to cast spells for such mundane reasons, at least not until she realized the curse has been put into sort of stasis from being here. This place seems to have given her the blessing of using magick with no cost to her health or sanity. And to be perfectly honest, she'd much rather use it on drinks than innocent lives again anyway.

With no real interest in that particular aspect of the Seaborn, Jill acquiesces. Fine. She sees she has to play his game to get any decent answers out of him.]

Are you the only one who has a Seaborn within? Is it inherited? What happens to it upon your death? Has your relationship with it always been so antagonistic?

[Look who can ask rapidfire questions too!]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject