Strange Visions

@"Thoth"

A couple of islands. There was nowhere in the world Coete knew like that. Or, rather, nowhere he knew of in the world he knew. Chances are that there were islands that fit the description to some extent, but with cities on them? Somewhere this warm? Newmyoss' cities were all on the mainland. Maybe in the east? But the accent didn't fit.

He sighed. "I suspect I'm so little from around here that it ought to be funny," he said drily. "At the very least, something weird happened. I've never heard of any sort of magic that allows travel between places - especially not between climates - and it certainly isn't magic I possess." He rubbed his forehead again. "Is New Caledonia a place near here?" The name rang unfamiliar in both his ears and his mouth.

@"Thoth"

South? There were places even farther south than somewhere this warm?

Definitely not his world. Well. It wasn't as if his world had any place for him anymore either. He sighed. "My world doesn't have anything farther south than somewhere as warm as here, much less cities on islands. No, I'm not from here."

He had never imagined there to be multiple worlds. Then again, he'd never imagined much at all. He wasn't a dreamer; he felt things. He worked by touch, by sensation, not by imagination. Once he'd felt something new, though, adapting and accepting - or modifying, as needed - was the best course of action.

"What about you? Are you from... this world?"

@"Thoth"

That there was more to the world than this island, or chain of islands, was of absolutely no shock to Coete. It was a world, was it not? Worlds were large. For this world, or at least this so-called native, to consider the island strange, though... that caught his attention.

"How is it weird?" he asked, absently rubbing his fingers together. Whether or not it was actually weird, he needed more information. How was this place considered weird? Did strange things happen here? Was it something about the people? If he had come here from another world, had others done the same? Was this a gathering-place for multiple places that should never have connected?

The explanation made complete sense right up until Coete found himself being described as not human. That made him pause, and for quite a long breath. He was human. He had been born human, to a human mother. Everyone in his world was human -

well, other than mature mages. Growing up. She had said that. She had started to explain. Grief darkened his face. Well, if this stranger was calling him non-human then clearly he was, as Lest had put it, 'growing up.' So be it.

"I started out human," he said slowly. "Mages in my world just... well. I used to think that creatures like chimaeras and ents and dragons were simply rare magical beasts. Turns out it comes with using magic." He could have made it sound like a jest, brought in some humour, lightened the situation and his mood, but then again he couldn't. His voice stayed flat and empty. As empty as he was now.

Eventually it would occur to him to wonder what he was turning into; his joints were not strange enough for him to have finished changing yet, after all, so clearly he wasn't fully grown up. For now, he just drifted.

No mages at all? Well, they weren't exactly common where he was from either. He had just happened to run into more than his fair share of them. There was definitely magic here, though. He could feel it even if there was too much life to the nearest leiline for him to use it without growing ill.

"I shall keep that in mind." He was used to being an oddity, the local landmark, the one people talked about. It had ranged from positive to absolutely, horribly negative, but he was used to it. Clearly it would simply be more drastic here.

He gave his head a polite tilt at the introduction. "I am Coete," he replied, drawing his name out a little bit to clarify the vowels and stressing the 'e's gently.

@"Thoth"