un: ornithology

[hawkwardness]

Hey. I'm new here. My name's Tobias. I figured I'd introduce myself before I'm in the classroom, so that no one thinks they're going crazy. See, I'm a red-tailed hawk, not a human. So if you see a big bird with a pretty red tail indoors or flying around, keep in mind it might not be a normal animal.

That's all. Thanks.

[The end of the world is more than enough to worry about, he doesn't need to fight off fellow students! Let the boy get an education.]

Comments

[soft_focus]

That's not very nice to other hawks...

[hawkwardness]

They don't think like I do, is that better?

[soft_focus]

I guess.

I haven't seen a lot of hawks here. Mostly there's just pigeons. They like to sit on the statues since they can see more there, and people leave food.

Was the place you came from 'normal'? Everyone here says that the only 'normal' place is 'earth', but everything here just seems boring and

I don't know the english word it just 'stays the same' all the time.

[hawkwardness]

I'm from Earth. It's the only normal I know. Where are you from that's not Earth?

Monotonous? I think.

[soft_focus]

The doctors said I'm from earth.

I just wasn't in the monotonous spots for the parts I remember. They said those spots were the outlands.

[hawkwardness]

Aren't those dangerous?

[soft_focus]

...The Outlands?

I think there's some spots that are dangerous, but I don't remember those places. Just the places where it wasn't.

[hawkwardness]

So what's it like, then?

/Cuts in

[unpocoloco]

It's bad. It's very bad. Like constant monsters everywhere, semi-perpetual terror bad. Reira there is a very lucky girl to have made it through.

[And less lucky to be there in the first place.]

[hawkwardness]

[Oh hey, Héc.]

Yeah, that's more along the lines of what I thought it was.

[unpocoloco]

Yeah, it's definitely something to avoid. This whole Nightfall thing is basically that world bleeding over to this one. That said, I know one person who makes a home there, and there are some here who were born in the Outlands or fell in when they were too young to know anything else.

[Which would be Reira there, though he'll try to be subtle.]

But it's very much a case of having something that helps you, a lot of magic defenses, a lot of skill, or a lot of luck. Possibly all four. It's not an easy place for even daemons to survive.

[hawkwardness]

Are there still people stuck out there? In there. Whatever. You know what I'm asking.

[unpocoloco]

The Outlands is a big place. When a normal person sees the mists, especially in the dark, it's easy to just assume some kind of fog. So, unfortunately, there's always people stumbling in. When you're in, unless you've got the powers or tools, it's really hard to find the way back out. Tailing daemons who make portals is an option but a really risky one.

I find though, a good thing, is that survivors usually end up finding each other. At least in my experience. You travel in a group and it's a lot safer and easier to manage, even without much magic. And sometimes, for those people out there, there's not much choice anymore.

[hawkwardness]

You've probably already considered any ideas I can come up with...

Are there search and rescue teams going in there? I could help.

[unpocoloco]

Not necessarily. I'm no genius.

But I wouldn't recommend just heading out there. The Outlands move and shift. What was in one place at once time can be somewhere entirely different another moment. And that's without the dangers. If there were ever to be any kind of search it would need to be extremely organized, very well studied on Outland things. And what lives there.

We'd also need a place for them to go. Some of those out there don't try to leave because there's no place for them in the normal world anymore. It sounds crazy, but it happens. Like those guys who try to get back into prison on purpose, I guess.

[hawkwardness]

I didn't know that. It makes a twisted kind of sense. The second part, that people might not be able to cope.

[Like himself, despite being born 'normal'. Like that little girl up there Héctor mentioned...]

I wonder if it could be settled.

[unpocoloco]

Sadly. Coming from a place like that to earth, especially after a long time, it's pretty overwhelming. Sometimes it's not even that so much as it's the ability to magically or physically hide what makes you magic in the normal world.

[Some of his primos were too weak. Not enough magic in them to shift over into looking "human". Some couldn't bear the feeling of it anymore. Since he was taken apart, he understands the feeling much clearer. His skin still crawls.]

A settlement could work though. It's possible. I mentioned a friend who made his home out there. Very secure, actually. The only trouble there is having enough magic to put up and keep up those defenses. It takes a lot. The people I knew out there didn't have that at their disposable. But maybe something here could do the trick.

[If he could risk going back for them, that is.]

[soft_focus]

The Outlands?

I though this place was part of it before everyone kept saying it wasn't. The 'Outlands' didn't mean any sort of big spot, until everyone said it was.

There was just all the different places I saw, like places with big mushrooms you could bounce on, or places where everything was upside-down and also left and another direction, or the ones where you could see different colours.

(I still can't find words for the colours and directions though)

They were all just other places, like this one.

I don't know what makes this one so 'special' other than being...'monotonous'.

[hawkwardness]

Have you only seen the school? There's a whole lot more to the world than this one place. Maybe you could travel, someday.

[soft_focus]

I saw a place called 'Marsielles' and 'Oxford', but they still seem pretty much the same as this one.

[A lot of the regular world is 'samey' after you've wandered eldritch realms half your life.]

[hawkwardness]

I haven't been anywhere either. You might like the beach? I always see kids playing on the beach. Well, saw, past tense. I lived close to the ocean.

[soft_focus]

I think there was a beach at the Marsielles place.

It's not that I don't like any of the places I guess.

They're just very simple places.

[hawkwardness]

Safer, though. I'd rather have a simple safe place.

[soft_focus]

Safe is a good thing, that's true.