danzan | inbox; deerington

What he attempted to you, he managed to accomplish with me. [What X'rhun is referring to doesn't need to be said.]

And there are people who have died and returned here-- whether or not you were dead before no longer matters in Deerington. And I have witnessed that one scene from a different perspective. [He looks down at his glass, then at the bottle of scotch.

And in a sudden burst of self-control, he screws the cap back onto the scotch.]

I am either dead or dying, but Deerington somehow grabbed hold of me as I lay on the ground, and refused to let go.

[ Logan is quiet for a while, having rinsed the plate and the utensils. He dries them with the dish towel. ] Dead or dying, you're doing good here. And while this world ain't real, the people we meet are.

When you go back to your world to die, you'll have a few more good deeds under your belt than you did.

It's more than any soldier's ever gotten at their death.

[X'rhun makes a noise in his throat at that. Doing good. A good person. He cant accept that, he refuses to because he is not. If he were a good man, he wouldn't be drinking almost every night.

(There was a lot of truth to that Host than one would think, and not just a random construct of the mind.)

Or maybe that's simply a grunt of exertion as he pushes himself up to his feet.

Who knows.]

Let's not get that romantic about my state of death or undeath, my friend. [And he deposits the glass in the sink, and his bottle in the refrigerator.]

[ Logan's not going to argue that.

Instead, like the topic hadn't turned heavy at all, he says, ] Thanks for the food. [ Somehow, he feels he's overstayed his welcome already. ]

Anything else you wanted to talk about?

[The Miqo'te sighs. Leans on Logan a little bit.

He may have drunk some scotch, but he's really only just tired rather than drunk.]

Mayhap you need to know more about the other races. Hyur and Miqo'te and Lalafell are not the only ones after all. [And they did see Roegadyn in the landscape of X'rhun's mind...]

[ What he reads into that is that X'rhun doesn't want him gone just yet. He could be wrong, of course, but it's enough to have him nodding regardless. ]

Yeah, I'd like that. [ He brings his own hand up, gently patting X'rhun on the shoulder opposite the one that leans against Logan's body now. ]

I was a history professor, you know. 'fore the latest war broke out in my world.

This kinda shit's my forte.

Mayhap you could keep up then-- or at least manage to not butcher any more names, lest another Eorzean arrive and put a sword through you for impugning their kind.

It's not Lalafalala? [ He genuinely cannot remember.

Maybe he should be grabbing his notepad for this. But it's not like X'rhun's accent is any help when he listens, he's just saying. ]

Okay, so how many races you got in total in Eorzea?

It's Lalafell, you great lump. [But X'rhun is laughing, and he's linking their arms together by the elbow.]

Come back to the table, and I shall educate you.

[ At least X'rhun is smiling. It's a welcome change from the look on his face earlier, and Logan nods and returns to the table with him. ]

Lalafell are the... tiny ones. Who're rich. Is that right? [ If he can't remember their names correctly from the off-handed comment X'rhun had made ages ago, then he's pretty sure he could get these descriptions all fucked up. ] And you're... Miqo'te. [ Does he know how to say that right? Hell fucking no. ]

Mayhap we shall start with basic topics.

[He settles himself on more cushions, on his arse again rather than his haunches.]

Such as Miqo'te. [And he pronounces it heavily, even flattening his accent into Eorzean common. In fact, he'll continue to speak in this for the rest of the conversation, just so his O's and U's sound different, and his Gyr Abanian lilt doesn't confuse the poor man more than he already has.] My kind.

A race of natural-born hunters, one and all, whether we be Seekers of the Sun or Keepers of the Moon-- day-leaning and night-leaning, respectively.

Can you guess which one I am?

[Though really, that should be obvious.]

[ Seekers of the Sun or Keepers of the Moon-- sounds like an offence-defence sort of thing, but what the hell does Logan know? ]

Hn. You can't see in the dark. [ Which means X'rhun can't keep shit at nighttime, much less an entire moon. ]

Sun seeker, then?

Exactly. Seekers are worshippers of the sun, and work only when it is high in the day, thus developing the right bodies and skills for hunting during the day. [And he points at his eyes-- with his pupils forever slits, much light doesn't come through them.] These are an asset during bright sunny days, even in deserts-- most of us live in bright, hot regions, though many tribes are also found by the sea.

On the other hand, Keepers are worshippers of the moon, and are well-suited to hunt during the night under the guidance of their own goddess. Their eyes are blown wide, thus their sight is far better than even yours in the dark. They live in forests where the canopies are so thick that there is always shade to hide in, so many a Keeper tends to have a grey or blue tint to their skin from the lack of sunlight.

Though we have far more differences than just physiology. Our cultures as well are different. [But here he pauses, just to make sure Logan is following.]

[ Logan's perfectly content to listen, so when X'rhun stops and looks at him, he goes through a stammered 'uh' before he gets his thoughts together. ]

You worship the sun, you live in the day, you live in warm, open spaces. [ He's pointing at X'rhun as he says this, then curls his fist to rest it on the table. ] The Keepers worship the moon, thrive at night, live in places with more trees and shade.

How're your cultures different? 's the whole worshipping thing the reason your lifestyles're so opposite?

Part of it, aye. But another part of it is simply how we live within a community.

For you see... [X'rhun props his elbows on the table, opening one hand.] Miqo'te usually prefer to live apart from cities, and those I've seen who do mingle with the other races on a daily basis in various settlements live alone-- this is because we prefer the company of our own kind, [then he opens the other hand, holding both of them apart,] Miqo'te communities has their own lands to live and hunt in.

[And is exactly why X'rhun lives on his own despite being an amiable man, and customized his house to suit only himself, without any regard who any guests he might entertain.]

For Seekers of the Sun, this is the tribe, twenty-six all in all. Each one is named after an animal totem meant to protect the tribe, though over time the names have changed to resemble more the common Eorzean alphabet, of which there are exactly the same number of letters. We trace our lines through fathers, and women take their father's first names as their last, though men are only tia or nunh.

Nunh are the beginnings of new families, the only men allowed to sire kittens after proving themselves the strongest in the tribe, thus ensuring the next generation shall be stronger than the last. Usually there is only one nunh in a tribe, though there may be two if the population is large enough to demand more.

Tia such as myself on the other hand are disabused of the notion unless they challenge the current nunh and win over him. [They, X'rhun says, not we. He's not interested in being nunh. Never has been. If he had been, he undoubtedly would still be carrying the title.]

So that makes you X'rhun Tia. [ Thank God for the common Eorzean tongue, honestly. It makes things a little easier to pronounce, though it's still butchered somewhat to match Logan's Canadian accent a bit easier. ] And X'rhun's your first name?

[ His arms fold over the table, head cocking curiously. ] You miss havin' other Miqo'te around? Or were you the "mingling" type?

Rhun is my given name-- She, or X, is my tribe's name. But everyone uses the tribal name with the given name, even those from other races. Our tribe is part of who we are after all, thus we carry it everywhere and remind people of where we came.

[Though he's already allowed two people to call him by just the name his parents gave him when he was born, because he made exceptions for them.]

As for your second question... I mingled, quite a bit, really. [That could be almost innuendo, honestly. Especially with his many, many dalliances as a younger man.] But I do miss living with my own kind on occasion.

[ Good thing innuendo tends to go way over Logan's head. ]

Huh... I see. [ Two fingers scratch lightly at his beard. ] So you spell your name with an 'X'. [ This whole time he'd thought it was something like "Sharon" with a U. "Sharun".

Of course, now he just thinks it's spelled "Xharun". ]

The seekers and the keepers got an okay relationship? You ain't all pissed at each other, are ya?

X, apostrophe, R, H, U and N, [is the easy reply, X'rhun tracing the letters on the table as he goes. Though there are stark dofferences between Earth and Eorzea, they do share so many common languages and even their alphabet.]

And... well. Some of their methods are strange to me, but should Seekers and Keepers ever meet, nothing terrible happens. I have met a number of them in my years of travel, and we treated each other the same as we would any other person on the road. [For X'rhun, that treatment is always cordial.]

The Keepers trace their lineages through the women instead, the mothers, and they live in small clans, often with a few more smaller familes led by other mothers. The men take on their mothers' names and are denoted by the order in which they were born, first son, second son, and so on-- though Keeper men are few and between. [Then his brow furrows and he tilts his head.] The men are evicted from the clans, I think-- they roam about from territory to territory, and may lay with the matriarchs of families if they manage to catch her eye. But usually they simply... wander.

Though do not quote me on that. This is still a concept I am not overly sure about, but it is true that Keeper men do not stay in their clans for long, unlike Seeker men who tend to stay within the tribe.

Edited 2018-11-11 16:39 (UTC)

[ So not Xharun. Noted.

Logan nods at the explanations given to him-- the idea itself isn't strange, but familiar with animals as he is, creative family configurations don't make much of an impact any more. Mostly he's interested by the naming conventions; that's not something you see often in nature, at least not on Earth.

He almost says he doubts he has anyone to quote to. He doesn't. ]

You go home to your tribe often?

[X'rhun's expression shutters. It's as if they never left the serious conversation from earlier, with the look on his face.]

No.

I've not returned to Gyr Abania in twenty years. [Meaning, since Lambard killed every one of his mages.]

[ Logan's just going to keep stepping on conversational minefields no matter what he does, huh. ]

...that's where your tribe lives? [ He doesn't use past tense on purpose in some fleeting hope that maybe they weren't all wiped out with the mages. ]

Aye, the region over which Ala Mhigo used to reign. No matter where in Gyr Abania you live, you are Ala Mhigan.

[Home is such a sore subject for him. He thinks about it almost all the time, but he has never gone home. Never even visited the refugees. Only distantly spoke to the Resistance through messages.

He's estranged himself thoroughly.]

[ Ala Mhigo is familiar. That's where they'd run around... the residential district that X'rhun lived in had been there.

Was that Gyr Abania? ]

You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.

But I thought we were speaking of the different races, my friend. [He sounds cheerful, but it's so obviously faked. He wants to move on from this.

But... He has one last thing to say on the topic.]

I'm never going home, Logan. Even if by some miracle of the gods that I don't die the moment I return to Eorzea, I shan't ever return to either Ala Mhigo or Gyr Abania. [He reaches out to pat Logan on the arm.] 'Twas a decision I made the moment I left twenty years ago.

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