Application: Valentine Michael Smith: Stranger in a Strange Land

[guy_from_mars]

A young man entered the Sorting Room. He was handsome of countenance, and his expression was serene. His eyes were as guileless as a child's, and yet seemed to hold the wisdom of the ages

Comments

[ra_tilt_chimera]

Zel raised an eyebrow. "That's an interesting word. What exactly does 'grok' mean?"

((OOC: Because I inflict Demyx on far too many psychics. Have a mildly angsty chimera instead. Also, Heinlein &hearts *wishes Deety was still around*))

[guy_from_mars]

Mike did not know if this were one of the Old Ones that he assumed humans still had. There was something of wrongness in his looks, but their was beauty there as well. It would not be said that Zel did not have his own face.

"Grok," he said slowly. "I am not sure of the right words. To grok is to know, to understand, to enfold and cherish. It is an easy concept in Martian, as easy as breathing, but my explaining is not good.

[ra_tilt_chimera]

"Martian...?" Zelgadiss tried to remember anything he knew about Mars. Red and dry was the first thing that sprang to mind. That would explain the way he talks about "sharing water." Probably very important to Martians.

"I see." He smiled slightly. "It's alright. I know some concepts don't translate well between worlds."

[guy_from_mars]

"Often they do not," Mike answered gravely. "Human language is... slippery, and words have many meanings which are unfamilliar to me. It is the same, I think, for humans learning Martian."

[omg_sunflora]

"Water brother?" Sunflora asked, tilting her head.

[guy_from_mars]

It did not occur to Mike that Sunflora was unusual. He simply assumed he had not met her like before.

"It is a means of growing closer," he answered. "Water brothers are..." he paused in search of a word. "Family. The exchange of water means you are willing to trust in your water brothers completely."

[omg_sunflora]

Sunflora processed this information. "Ohhhh, kinda like the guild I'm in back home! Especially at dinnertime!"

Sort of Sunflora. Sort of.

[guy_from_mars]

"You are a tradesman?" Mike asked. "What is your profession?" He would have probably inserted the dictionary definition of a guild here, but the mun is lazy.

[3rd_retirement]

"I don't think you'll be in danger of corrupting most of the people here," Mathis said. "A bribe is sometimes a gift made in good favor to one who would receive it well. Money, goods, beautiful daughters: these are merely ways of saying hello in some places."

[guy_from_mars]

"I do have money," Mike answered. "With which I can buy goods. But I do not have beautiful daughters, or I would offer them to you that together you would grok one another and grow closer." He seemed genuinely sad about not being able to provide Mathis with aforementioned daughters.

[3rd_retirement]

Mathis was sad about the aforementioned daughters, if they were being freely offered. He smiled. "I appreciate your offer in the spirit it's intended," he said. "My point is that the people here are hardly innocent, and that your definition of a bribe is lacking the more practical applications."

[guy_from_mars]

"So I did not speak rightly? Even though that is what the dictionary says?" This was quite dismaying.

[j_whitlock]

((Jasper's a vampire and also an empath with the ability to influence emotions as well as read them. Mike's free to perceive whatever emotions are described in the narrative, and, if you don't mind, Jasper will be doing the same with Mike. I'm also tempted to toss Glorfindel at Mike))

Okay, there was a whole lot of grokking and cherishing going on in the application, and only some of the answers even made sense to Jasper. Though confused, he was also clearly interested in learning more about this strange man.

"Hello," he greeted the applicant, but didn't offer his hand. It wasn't intended as a slight. "What does it mean to exchange the water-sharing ritual with someone? I mean, what does that entail? Do those you perform it with then become what you're referring to as your water brothers?" he guessed.

[guy_from_mars]

((Not a problem. And I was going to throw Mike at Glorfindel myself, so... Whichever!))

Apparently, Mike didn't sense any wrongness about the sparklepire. In fact, he sensed in him something ancient, almost Martian, and there was that of the water brother about him as well.

"The water sharing ritual is the offering of water by one who wishes to grow closer to another. Both drink of the water, and then they are as nestmates. It is a very special thing, because there is not water on Mars as there is here."

[bowchickamaou]

"You're right! Sexually harass is a wrongness!" Finally, someone to share Yuuri's indignation without the weird moralistic homophobia that usually accompanied such objections!

Yuuri was sixteen years old, had an adopted daughter not yet ten, and was saddled with a male fiance. He was not one to denounce alternative family structures.

[guy_from_mars]

Mike was not about to start moralizing or being homophobic. He was not thusly inclined himself, but, well, what happens in the nest stays in the nest.

"There are better ways to grow closer," he agreed. "Always, it should happen when all parties desire it."

[bowchickamaou]

"Yeah. And they should be married, probably," Yuuri added.

[guy_from_mars]

Mike nodded sagely, even though the Martian concept of marriage was... distinctly not Earth-like. "Growing closer is a great goodness between water brothers," he acknowledged.