The bard nodded ruefully at hearing the differences between his world and Rance's, caught as always by the strange similarities and yet jarring differences between realms that others had come from. He dropped his partial-shift with relief, the form one that he usually kept hidden from all but his closest friends. Only Rance's tale of being an animal shifter as well had prompted the uncommon revelation from the Provost, and now that it was settled he returned to the form that he was most used to hiding in.
He had tried to slide the uncomfortable truth in delicately, half-hoping that the other man wouldn't pick up on it, but he should have known such a hope was in vain. He grimaced and nodded ruefully, resigned to the fact though he would never be happy about it. "She wouldn't," he admitted, glossing over the profanity with the ease of long practicegods most fortunate, he still missed Edy. "For the last three hundred years, humans were the only race in the barrier here. They only re-learned about the Fae last spring. Before that..." He sighed, watching the other man for signs of further distress, ready to stop if it looked like Rance was nearing an edge. "They didn't really have a concept of non-human intelligent races, outside of fairy tales and story books. What they did have was humans in four different 'flavors,' I supposed you'd say. Not really races, but the differences were enough to set them apart from each other."
Blue eyes glanced over to Isuma, taking comfort from her presence as she raised her head to watch the two men curiously, sensing the tension in the air. "The portals that brought us here... Most of this is just guesswork at this point, but it seems as though they force the Outlanders who pass through them into a form that fits into this world's rules and limits. Those who were demigods become mortal. Skinshifters become Attuned. Mages become Abandoned... more or less. It's not a perfect system. Mistakes happen. But every one of us Outlanders becomes a human of some variety, if we weren't before." He brought his gaze back, watching Rance steadily as he laid out the facts as gently as he could without shying away from the painful truth.
He had tried to slide the uncomfortable truth in delicately, half-hoping that the other man wouldn't pick up on it, but he should have known such a hope was in vain. He grimaced and nodded ruefully, resigned to the fact though he would never be happy about it. "She wouldn't," he admitted, glossing over the profanity with the ease of long practice
Blue eyes glanced over to Isuma, taking comfort from her presence as she raised her head to watch the two men curiously, sensing the tension in the air. "The portals that brought us here... Most of this is just guesswork at this point, but it seems as though they force the Outlanders who pass through them into a form that fits into this world's rules and limits. Those who were demigods become mortal. Skinshifters become Attuned. Mages become Abandoned... more or less. It's not a perfect system. Mistakes happen. But every one of us Outlanders becomes a human of some variety, if we weren't before." He brought his gaze back, watching Rance steadily as he laid out the facts as gently as he could without shying away from the painful truth.
