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

[hungry_noteyes]

(Well, you did mention him . . . though I'm not sure if he would be wrong so much as dangerous, at least the second Corinthian. But then I'm not a big Heinlein fan, so . . .)

"You seem like an interesting young man." The Corinthian smiles. "I like your mode of speech, it's so very formal compared to Earth."

[guy_from_mars]

((That's fine. I've never read Sandman, either, so you clearly know more about this than I do.))

Mike shrugged and smiled a bit ruefully. "I am still learning to speak English brightly, brightly and with beauty," he answered. "I must be careful not to speak wrongly."

[hungry_noteyes]

(The first Corinthian was a serial killer. This is the second, who is trying not to become one.

(Both are nightmares, but people need dreams and nightmares can be therapy.)

"Lots of native speakers can't even do that." He chuckles. "Fuckin' idiots, but that's their problem."

[guy_from_mars]

"That is true," Mike agreed. "But each person has a unique way of speaking that sets them apart. I think this is a goodness."

[hungry_noteyes]

"Yeah, I guess.

"Can be annoying as Hell, though."

[guy_from_mars]

Mike acknowledged that with a nod and another slight shrug. "I suppose I would not know," he said simply. Obviously, very little fazed or annoyed him.

[hungry_noteyes]

"Martians don't get annoyed, then?" he asks, sounding amused.

[guy_from_mars]

Mike thought about that and then shook his head. "Perhaps it is better to say that Martians get annoyed at different things from those which upset humans."

[hungry_noteyes]

"Are you actually a Martian, or just culturally immersed?"

[guy_from_mars]

"I have only been away from Mars a few months," Mike answered. "I think of myself as Martian, first and foremost. I know some of my water brothers think that is a wrongness, but it is what I grok about myself."

[hungry_noteyes]

"Born human, raised Martian. Interesting, that.

"But then, my world is the Dreaming. So who am I to talk?"

[guy_from_mars]

"Yes," Mike agreed. "It is interesting. Humans and Martians are... very different."

[hungry_noteyes]

"Well, they would be. Totally different worlds, after all."

[guy_from_mars]

"There is much to be grokked about the differences between the human and the Martian way," Mike agreed.

[hungry_noteyes]

"And here there are all sorts of non-humans. So you have even more things you can learn."

[guy_from_mars]

"Yes. I have met some of the non-humans," Mike acknowledged. "The talking sunflower was a great wonder."