Elphaba hummed to herself as she left the compound, a basket of books in tow. She was planning on going to sit in the sun and read for a while. The upcoming holiday required inspiration and she needed a good way to apologize to Glinda for over reacting about the marriage discussion. Of course she wouldn't give in, the idea of it was ridiculous but Glinda couldn't help being so soft hearted.
The man on the path knocked her out of her reverie by simple virtue of being in the way. "Oh!" Elphaba stopped short and then stumbled back. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I was...thinking."
Cain was immediately spun around and he was on guard, almost immediately. It wasn't that you saw people everyday with that tone of skin was all, but really, you never really saw many people here with zippers in their head or wounds from having the second-sight sucked out of them.
Cain wasn't sure yet what kind of place this was. "I'm sure I was in the way," he said very carefully, not moving a single inch as he looked her up and down. "Can't seem to move my feet anywhere but here."
She was used to the scrutiny, the suspicion. It didn't happen very often here, of course. But some things you never forgot and her chin lifted automatically in defense. "As I said, I'm sorry. I was distracted." She folded her arms and refused to give in to the need to glare. Her voice was sharp and clipped, she couldn't help that, "Is there something wrong? Do I have something in my hair? Is my dress torn?"
Cain wasn't one to really pussyfoot around the truth of the matter and he kept his hands casually by his sides as he looked at her impassively, an icy look coming from deadened eyes. "Never seen skin that green before," he admitted freely. "At least, not outside the seedier parts of Central City."
"I wonder what it is about people that they always feel the need to justify their staring by telling me all the other green people they've met," Elphaba said, as if musing idly. Her own eyes were dark and angry. "I'm not from Central City, wherever that is. I was born in Munchkinland."
Cain didn't move a single inch. "I stare at anyone whose angle I haven't figured out yet," Cain was all too happy to promise, but the gun wasn't out, so he wasn't planning on doing anything drastic.
And then she'd said that.
"You're a munchkin?" Cain asked, blinking in surprise. "One of the Guild Fighters?"
Elphaba looked at him like he was crazy, "Definitely not. Why would the Guilds ever need fighters? Munchkin country is the most peaceful in all Oz." Or at least it had been until her sister had taken power. The things that Nessarose had done... If Elphaba hadn't left, would Nessa have gone so power mad? Could she have stopped it?
She shook herself to stop the dangerous spiral of thought. "My family has been Governor for generations."
"Where I come from in the O.Z., the munchkins had to band together after the old Witch started sending Zero from village to village to flay them alive," he said evenly, giving her a curious look about the talk of Oz. Sure, they had Ozian-everything, but never so casual a term as just bunching the words together.
He was proud of himself, though, for not attaching Azkadellia's name to all the wrongdoings. He'd been thinking on that for a long while, feeling sorry for the poor kid. It couldn't be easy being trapped and watching yourself commit all those crimes. Cain sympathized with her plight, knowing all too well what a tin prison felt like. "Don't think we've had any governors for centuries. Just the Queen, these days," he said politely, tipping his hat to her, forgetting the part about introductions. "I'm Wyatt Cain, miss."
Elphaba paled, an interesting effect on green skin. "Elphaba Thropp. We haven't had a Queen in generations, not since the last Ozma was deheaded." She frowned, curiosity getting the better of her apprehension as always. "Why did you call it the O.Z.?"
"Well, that's where I'm from. The Outer Zone," he answered, not using more words than he absolutely had to. "Our Queen was locked away." The Witch really had a thing for imprisonment. Cain was fairly sure Glitch might use his fancy psychology to call that 'projection'. Cain just thought it was an ironic punishment. "But she's free now."
"How strange," she mused, "I wonder if you're from my future, my past or somewhere else entirely. The religious do say that Ozma will return some day and retake the throne but..."
She took a step back, not really certain why. "Are the Animals safe? In your world, are they citizens or just...chattel."
Cain wanted to think future, but really, the O.Z.'s been so backwards lately that he was sure they could have looped right back to the start. "Are you talking about Viewers?" he asked warily, who weren't really animals. Toto was a dog-man, or man-dog, or whatever you wanted to call it, and then there were the mobats in the sky.
"Some of the forests have lions, tigers, folks have seen bears on occasion." And of course, the stags to hunt.
"Oh my," Elphaba responded dryly. It was a conscious mimic--she'd seen that ridiculous film once and it stuck.
"There are two sorts of animals. The dumb kind, who can't speak or think. The way all the animals are here. And the Animals." Somehow when she said it, the capital letter was obvious, "My History professor at Shiz was a Goat. My nurse growing up was as well. They're citizens of as and good as any human and better than most. The Wizard tried to strip them of their rights. Make them in stupid, silent animals that had no way to defend themselves."
She paused, aware that she was getting too worked up over this. "What is a Viewer?"
It reminded Cain of talking with DG, telling the history of the O.Z. to someone blind to all its' ways. This time, no zipperhead to help. It was a shame, because a lot of the time, Glitch really did know better than Cain about things in the O.Z. "Viewers are like psychics," he explained, hearing the echo back to days ago. "Except instead of seeing with their minds, they see with their hearts." The explanation was to buy time while he tried to figure if he'd ever seen an Animal the likes of what this Elphaba was describing.
"Viewers are mostly human with a lot of animalistic qualities, but a lot of it is just the way they dress themselves. Gloves like claws. Coat like fur. The face, though, that's where you see the resemblance." He felt like he could move again, his feet giving way as he turned to look at the surroundings.
He'd need to build himself something of a shelter. Maybe even bide his time building a house to pour his energy into.
That troubled Elphaba. If there were Animals still, he would have known of them. Unless these Viewers were all that was left, Animal become humanlike until all that was left was their hearts. Elphaba shivered at the thought of such an Oz.
She took another step back as he looked around. "I think we can say for certain that your world and mine are vastly different."
"No arguments there," Cain agreed, studying her carefully. "Why don't you tell me more about your home? Seeing as we've both got munchkins where we come from and it's probably not coincidence about the name."
The man on the path knocked her out of her reverie by simple virtue of being in the way. "Oh!" Elphaba stopped short and then stumbled back. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. I was...thinking."
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Cain wasn't sure yet what kind of place this was. "I'm sure I was in the way," he said very carefully, not moving a single inch as he looked her up and down. "Can't seem to move my feet anywhere but here."
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And then she'd said that.
"You're a munchkin?" Cain asked, blinking in surprise. "One of the Guild Fighters?"
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She shook herself to stop the dangerous spiral of thought. "My family has been Governor for generations."
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He was proud of himself, though, for not attaching Azkadellia's name to all the wrongdoings. He'd been thinking on that for a long while, feeling sorry for the poor kid. It couldn't be easy being trapped and watching yourself commit all those crimes. Cain sympathized with her plight, knowing all too well what a tin prison felt like. "Don't think we've had any governors for centuries. Just the Queen, these days," he said politely, tipping his hat to her, forgetting the part about introductions. "I'm Wyatt Cain, miss."
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We're all free now.
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She took a step back, not really certain why. "Are the Animals safe? In your world, are they citizens or just...chattel."
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"Some of the forests have lions, tigers, folks have seen bears on occasion." And of course, the stags to hunt.
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"There are two sorts of animals. The dumb kind, who can't speak or think. The way all the animals are here. And the Animals." Somehow when she said it, the capital letter was obvious, "My History professor at Shiz was a Goat. My nurse growing up was as well. They're citizens of as and good as any human and better than most. The Wizard tried to strip them of their rights. Make them in stupid, silent animals that had no way to defend themselves."
She paused, aware that she was getting too worked up over this. "What is a Viewer?"
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"Viewers are mostly human with a lot of animalistic qualities, but a lot of it is just the way they dress themselves. Gloves like claws. Coat like fur. The face, though, that's where you see the resemblance." He felt like he could move again, his feet giving way as he turned to look at the surroundings.
He'd need to build himself something of a shelter. Maybe even bide his time building a house to pour his energy into.
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She took another step back as he looked around. "I think we can say for certain that your world and mine are vastly different."
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