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Ice Wish
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It's much, much colder outside that room. I know for a fact this body was made to be pretty cold resistant, I have quite the intricate lattice under my surface, so this must be some excessive cold. Even Mun seems taken aback, and I doubt he's someone who's, say, used to the tropics, based on his appearance. It's so cold that it's hard to see, a fog enveloping everything. Even my psychic senses are blinded from thermal shock, but they'll quickly recover. Or I'll freeze to death. One of the two.
"Many, many cold," he says, before his eyes widen and his ears rise up. "Bird people. Danger."
He tugs me behind a stack of crates. Never have I been so thankful for poor organisation.
Our conversation drops to whispers. I keep my hand on him so I have an easier time reading him.
By the dimly-remembered presence-I-can't-quite-recall, Mun is so soft. And warm. No. Focus. Focus on anything other than his incredibly soft and voluminous fur. Plan making a blanket out of him in some non-destructive way later. It is taking half my willpower not to snuggle up against him inappropriately.
"Bird people?"
"Bishupi. Bishushpi. Bishuspi. ...bird people."
"Why "bird people", though? Can they fly?"
He shrugs. "Came from sky. Yes?"
"I take it they aren't friends."
He doesn't say anything, but I see him clench his fists.
"Why did they have you captive, anyway?"
"Not know. Bird people bad." He pauses, looking like he's searching for words, and gives up. "Many, many bad."
"Even towards their own kind?"
"Bird people? Think kulupu ma lete same?" He shakes his head bitterly. "Think kulupu olin pi ilo bad. Think kulupu ma lete many bad. Bird people want all people, bird people. No other."
"Imperialists, I take it."
He nods. "Yes."
"You're familiar with the word imperialists??"
He just looks at me, and frowns. "Yes? Bird people? Right here??"
"Sorry, I'm just having a hard time figuring out how much of this tongue you know."
"More than want."
"Not a fan of learning more languages?"
"Learn is choice. Not learn. Attack."
"Fair enough. And you want to attack in return, right?"
"No. No attack bird people. Defend. Defend my people." He glares at me. "Defend. Like kulupu akesi pipi."
"Like what?"
"Serrate. Hive."
"Serrate hive? What's that?" Sounds like a very ill-advised construction project.
He pauses, and looks at me in what I can tell is a spike of frustration like he can't believe I'm playing this dumb, before it slowly, slowly thaws first to realisation, and then a large flood of sympathy.
"You. Serrate. You..." He pauses. "Serrate defend. Defend kulupu olin pi ilo. Defend kulupu ma lete. Not have knowing?"
"I can't say I remember defending anything."
"Oh."
"...Bird people many, many, many bad," he says, looking at me sympathetically.
"I'm sure," I say, feeling oddly dizzy. I can't quite process this very very significant revelation. It feels so distant.
Mun gestures for me to get against the wall while I look a little dazed.
"Hunter. Good," he says, pointing to himself. "Patient. One good time. We wait."
"You strike me as a little, uh, resource-rich to be a hunter," I say, trying my best to be diplomatic.
"Good hunter," he says, with a swell of pride.
A lull in the patrols gives us a window of opportunity to act.
"Just one soldier," I say, and flick an antenna in the direction I can sense them coming from. "Seems distracted." Can't get more info than that without taking more than a second or two. "This is our chance."
Mun holds up a hand to signal me to stay where I am. Any ambiguity about the gesture, I have resolved with a passive reading. It means stay here.
I'm being given an order? Me? Me?? That's not how this works-- ugh.
--- Possible Approaches ---
A - Let Mun lead
He seems to have an idea or a plan, but I can't figure out what the hell it is and I hope I'm not being dragged along as a sacrifice.
I'm not reading any intention to betray, but I also can't just glean complex intentions like that until they're basically already happening.
B - Lead the charge, fling the guard over the railing and run
I could, with my psychic forces unleashed, easily take care of a single guard. A telekinetic impulse, a scrambling of the senses, I can't force him to do things against his judgement but I can definitely screw with his perception.
It's only natural I take the lead, but it's a little unorthodox for me to directly endanger myself. Still, Mun would make a fine recruit ally and I should probably introduce him to the idea of me taking control before I end up relegated to lackey.
C - Stay put, expand psychic awareness, deep read the minds of all involved
This will absolutely take time and focus. This will sacrifice the current window of opportunity, for definite, but it could lead to finding more. Plus, I have to admit, I'm aching to stretch my psychic might after it spent so long repressed.
Mun will probably not be too happy with me wasting this moment, or maybe he'll just wait for the next one. I don't know how he thinks, not to that detail yet.
Z - Something else (write in)
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