[wedne] More Circles (for the 21st)
Apparently I am balls at figuring out proper endings to rambling trains of thought.
Sometimes Tonio wonders about what the world is like beyond the Walls. He knows that he has a case of wanderer's lust greater than the expanse of the tribe's territory and even though everyone tells him of the horrors beyond their civilization of steam and gears, he can't help but daydream. Are the people out there truly so bad? Do the people to the north really eat their own children? And how do the people to the south live if they have no women? What about the people in the other lands, the ones with the foxes and the legions and the green hair? No one tells him anything about them. That's why everything he knows has been gleaned from listening to the traders when they come for their brief visits through the Gate.
The Traders are different; members of another tribe where the Odd aren't reviled as they are here. He understands why his people have to get rid of them, that they're impure and they threaten the stability of the city's population and so on. That doesn't make them any less interesting when they come in with the caravans. They're just so vibrant.
And yes, the really powerful ones, the true freaks, they have to stay behind. It only makes sense, that. After all, they share no borders, but it's good policy to make sure that there aren't enemy spies infiltrating their defenses. Still, Tonio has seen enough, spoken to enough of them (and wouldn't that get him in trouble if anyone knew?) that he knows that they're not monsters, no matter what they look like.
Truly, some of them do look monstrous. His latest acquaintance, especially, a woman who called herself Chao, my what a work she was. Scales and horny ridges erupted from her skin, built in armour that could (and did) deflect swords. At first glance, the effect was horrifying, making her look like some sort of lizard cross... but after the initial shock, she was strangely beautiful, exotic. But then, Tonio has always admired strong women. His closest friend, after all, is the head of the City.
It's a joke, really, among everyone who knows them. What with their names, everyone already knew they were fated to be friends. Vittoria Argente and Tonio Gold, mix them together and you get electrum. They don't agree about the Odd, though. Vittoria hates them with a passion that Tonio really doesn't understand.
To be fair, Tonio has never really cared as much about things like the Gods that live in the Above, or the purity of their people as much as Vit has. That's why she's the one running the tribe right now, and he's just the inventor who tinkers with her in the lab when she's not figuring out policy and affairs of state. Well, that and the fact that Tonio couldn't care less about silly things like plumbing and schooling and disease control. He has projectiles to be playing around with, after all, and it's worth being stuck within the walls if he can work metal and build his trains and gliders and explosives. Goodness knows the people Outside wouldn't let him do that. After all, Chao hadn't even known what a forge was.
Still, he does wonder, because well, somebody has to, don't they?
Sometimes Tonio wonders about what the world is like beyond the Walls. He knows that he has a case of wanderer's lust greater than the expanse of the tribe's territory and even though everyone tells him of the horrors beyond their civilization of steam and gears, he can't help but daydream. Are the people out there truly so bad? Do the people to the north really eat their own children? And how do the people to the south live if they have no women? What about the people in the other lands, the ones with the foxes and the legions and the green hair? No one tells him anything about them. That's why everything he knows has been gleaned from listening to the traders when they come for their brief visits through the Gate.
The Traders are different; members of another tribe where the Odd aren't reviled as they are here. He understands why his people have to get rid of them, that they're impure and they threaten the stability of the city's population and so on. That doesn't make them any less interesting when they come in with the caravans. They're just so vibrant.
And yes, the really powerful ones, the true freaks, they have to stay behind. It only makes sense, that. After all, they share no borders, but it's good policy to make sure that there aren't enemy spies infiltrating their defenses. Still, Tonio has seen enough, spoken to enough of them (and wouldn't that get him in trouble if anyone knew?) that he knows that they're not monsters, no matter what they look like.
Truly, some of them do look monstrous. His latest acquaintance, especially, a woman who called herself Chao, my what a work she was. Scales and horny ridges erupted from her skin, built in armour that could (and did) deflect swords. At first glance, the effect was horrifying, making her look like some sort of lizard cross... but after the initial shock, she was strangely beautiful, exotic. But then, Tonio has always admired strong women. His closest friend, after all, is the head of the City.
It's a joke, really, among everyone who knows them. What with their names, everyone already knew they were fated to be friends. Vittoria Argente and Tonio Gold, mix them together and you get electrum. They don't agree about the Odd, though. Vittoria hates them with a passion that Tonio really doesn't understand.
To be fair, Tonio has never really cared as much about things like the Gods that live in the Above, or the purity of their people as much as Vit has. That's why she's the one running the tribe right now, and he's just the inventor who tinkers with her in the lab when she's not figuring out policy and affairs of state. Well, that and the fact that Tonio couldn't care less about silly things like plumbing and schooling and disease control. He has projectiles to be playing around with, after all, and it's worth being stuck within the walls if he can work metal and build his trains and gliders and explosives. Goodness knows the people Outside wouldn't let him do that. After all, Chao hadn't even known what a forge was.
Still, he does wonder, because well, somebody has to, don't they?