nativized | IC Contact (Folkmore)

[ Lex exhales and shakes his head, downing what's left of that beer and leaning back a little. He doesn't really dislike cats or anything, but the whole objective thing is weird. He mutters to try to have the earth spirits loosen up their grip on him, and then looks to see the wind spirits going about around the guy, tugging on hair.

they shine, at least to Lex's eyes. ]

That other guy's telekinesis was more useful, but yeah.

[ At Lex's confirmation Cale sighs and finishes off his beer, then gently shakes the cat back down from his shoulder. ]

Don't blow it into my face or tangle it too much.

[ That's all he says before pulling his hair free of its ribbon and letting it fall over his shoulders. He crinkles his nose for a moment, expression undeniably grumpy as he notices just how much longer it's gotten. Without anyone to attend to his hair it's become such a hassle.

Should I cut it? ]

How is the food?

Interesting. The flavor profiles there aren't the sort I'm too familiar with.

[ He'll try anything, of course, and he does like it. But... well, perhaps it's just not what he expected out of Cale? That's probably the truth of it.

But then, he's not been to every realm ever.

The spirits will ... not obey that. They will tug and move it around and wave it however they want. ]

It's South Korean food.

[ Cale frowns as the spirits don't listen to his request. ]

Hmm? If it gets all tangled I won't be able to untangle it. Should I cut off all my hair then?

[ ... Snort. Lex waves a hand and then mutters an order for them to back off a little. The spirits comply, but having been so invited to linger there, they keep blowing that hair, including some of the tangles, in the wind.

... Korean? ]

Eeeeh, is that so. Never had it, I suppose.

[ Did they get introduced to it here? Had he misjudged the situation and this guy was from some Earth which also had elementals and spirits and such? ]

[ Deciding he really doesn't want to (or know how to) deal with excessive tangles, Cale ties his hair back up but in a way that just keeps it from being blown around too crazily.

And, at this point, Cale really can't help but ask— ]

So, which country did you live in on Earth? America?

[ —the clues keep pointing toward Lex being another possible transmigrator from a version of Earth. ]

[ Well that confirms ... something. Honestly, it could confirm a number of things, given how confidently this guy spouted off facts the first time they met. Lex still can't help but feel his heart rate go up a little, as if called out by something. His eyes shift a little to a more red-orange shade and he answers, ]

Yeah, the United States therefore of.

[ Cale appears very pleased with himself for guessing correctly. ]

Reincarnation, hero summoning, transmigation, or something else?

[ . . . What the hell? He's knocked into a surprised state so much that his eyes shift to a red color as they narrow and he leans forward. ]

This is a common enough thing for you there's terminology for it?

[ What the fuck even is a transmigration ]

It's not common. I'm familiar with the terminology from fantasy novels, and the research Cale Henituse's biological mother left behind for me.

[ Yes, he did refer to 'himself' in the third person purposefully. Cale figures since he's asking all of these questions he may as well leave some hints of his own. ]

[ What the hell? why is he ... referring to himself like that? Lex has a lot of questions and frankly terrors flooding his mind all at once. Fantasy novels? What, there's some sort of genre fro all this stuff? More than just like ... his eyes take on a more distinct red shade, and he sets his hand down to his side on the one side. His left side specifically - he can feel is hurting down there, a little.

Typical. ]

I don't know what 'transmigrate' even means.

[ He kind of wants to leave it at just that. Reincarnation? How would that even work? Does that even work for humans? What the hell? Hero summoning?

Honestly, it makes him feel sick. He feels sick. Lex taps his fingers twice on the table and, ]

I was summoned in, but it's not some hero thing. It was a desperate, random chance.

...Transmigration is the exchanging of souls between two bodies in separate worlds. There is one who initiates the process and one who is a victim to it.

It can also just mean someone being taken from one world and put into another.

[ It doesn't escape Cale's keen eyes that Lex seems to be experiencing some level of distress. He frowns faintly. ]

...Hey. You've done a good job of surviving, Lex.

Don't patronize me.

[ It comes out quickly and darker than he'd expect or even want, really. To have those words said to him by some guy who is around his age (possibly a littler younger, really) and a noble disgusts him. Who cares if this guy is nice and demonstrably dramatically more powerful to him? What does he even know about what he's gone through? Lex hasn't said any of it. Lex's eyes practically glow red, and the halo appears above his head. Not so much for Cale or anyone else's pain, but for Lex's own. His body language is much, much too tense for a moment- ]

[ - And furthermore, he's not necessarily suffered the most. There was that one woman who went between four worlds. There was Maul and Sharon and all the others. It's not just him and the other wayward soldiers of Vanengardt. Hell, the memories of that one Toge man were just as horrific as anything he'd experienced, and in some similar context. He looks down at the Korean food for a moment.

South Korea.

The mother of Cale?

Transmigration is the exchange of people...?

His brain works through all of that in a second or two as he tries to calm himself down at all, feels his old wound hurt again, fails, and then just-- opts to roll with it, ]

[ this place is about emotional openness, right? And he had said more to that one woman on the drunk night, said more to Betsy on their first meeting. Sure he doesn't know this guy all that well, but putting it together, the reason this guy asked is because he must've been in some similar situation. His mouth dry, he can't really bring himself to apologize just yet, even though perhaps he ought to, so he just keeps talking- ]

None of that. Or at least -- no, the whole point is that they didn't have people to spare. They desperately 'needed' [ the word is venom in his mouth ] their reinforcements. And so all sorts of people were pulled in from all sorts of places.

[ Ah. Cale can hazard a guess about the circumstances and it pisses him off to think of what Lex likely had to go through. ]

And you were still just a kid, not given the proper care and consideration you needed to adjust properly, and expected to fight to the death for the governing body that kidnapped you?

You make it sound so clinical.

[ He responses by way of confirmation, attempting a joke even as he still feels sick. How could this guy know it was when he was young? Maybe - no, he must've dropped hints at various points. This guy was smart, methodical in his observations. ]

It's just how bastards like that work.

[ Cale could say something about how kidnapping children makes the most sense because they're more vulnerable and easier to manipulate, and that taking them from other worlds adds an even greater level of power imbalance, forcing them to be entirely dependent on their kidnapper.

But he won't, because Lex has lived through whatever happened to him. Survived. It was fucked up and traumatizing and Cale feels a flash of anger at the thought of his friend being abused like that. Wishes he could visit that world and bash the person responsible's head in with a rock.

But instead Cale transforms into an elegant red cat, with fur like silk and a too-sharp gaze. He slinks across the table and sits down in front of Lex.

Then, on reflex, his feline body decides to try purring—

—and does an awful, awkward job of it since Cale hasn't vocalized much as a cat, but. Hey. An attempt was made. ]

I meant what I said before. You've done a good job surviving what you went through.

[ The image surprises him. Not so much because he didn't think Cale could do it. By physical traits, the man was most probably a Familiar just due to a lack of anything else even before he got it confirmed on Pandora's Fox. No, it's more that the guy does take up the form, does come over the table at him.

He's got a load of questions, and several defenses ready besides. How familiar is the guy with situations like that. It's not common, but it must be common enough if his mom (Cale's mom?) can so research. He's not even explained what all he went through, so this guy shouldn't mouth off about it. They all really die in his throat, mostly because- ]

... Objectively, sheesh.

[ He works out some other thing to mutter out as he looks down at the cat before him, one hand still holding his left side and the other now reaching out to bop the top of the other's head. ]

[ Cale — 'Rok Soo', in this form — blinks at Lex, tilting his head to the side curiously. Was that pain psychosomatic or had the man been injured? He flicks his tail, irritated by the thought.

Being touched as a cat is... new. And for a moment Rok Soo can only flinch in instinctive fear before his mind quickly kicks back in, reminding him he's safe and it's just Lex.

He doesn't lean into the touch, but neither does he make any move to pull away after his initial flinch.

His clumsy purring also gets a bit louder. ]

[ Another little bop. It's not really a pet, not ... at all, actually. More just a little touch because if someone or something is going to play at being a purring cat and get the fur on the food like that, he might as well show it the affectionate touch that implies. And to be fair, it is warm.

... He's not explained anything of it. His survival, all that hard work to get to the points he did... he doesn't dismiss it, no but nor is it really all his own power or anything. What's more- ]

Just so you're not assuming through things, [ Even if he was correct, ] the basic version is that I was pulled into their war a little over ten years ago, was in it for five, left after the capital fell [ there's a lot, lot more to that, but he did say cliffnotes and he's driving to another point, ], and I've been journeying since.

So what's your story?

[ Unwilling to speak of his circumstances too loudly, lest someone overhear it, he jumps onto Lex's shoulder, sprawls across his neck like a shawl and makes himself comfortable. Finally he speaks quietly beside Lex's ear. ]

A reincarnator cursed by the God of Death pushed my soul out of my body before I was born on Nameless 1. Then I was born on Earth 1 as Kim Rok Soo, and because I was touched by that curse everyone I held affection for would leave and everyone I loved would die.

When I was twenty monsters from the Demon World suddenly appeared and brought the apocalypse.

[ He swishes his tail back and forth, releasing nervous energy. ]

One day I fell asleep reading a fantasy novel and then woke up in the body of the minor villain, Cale Henituse.

I wanted to avoid the upcoming war against that reincarnator bastard, but somehow ended up as the commander and eventually killing him myself.

The original Cale Henituse is not a bad guy. He exchanged identities with me to save his family, who are now my family.

...And although I am now Cale Henituse, in this form I'm "Rok Soo", got it?

[ Nameless 1? Earth 1? what the hell does any of that mean. Also apparently gods are real and directly worked through this guy's life - or at least cursed his enemy. Again, reincarnation as a key term. And this guy's been through an apocalypse from demons, and then on top of that swapped into some fantasy novel which is, apparently, real.

Lex supposes all stories end up sounding a little incoherent when you just get facts and not the relevant connective parts. As is, despite clearly detecting this is a key confession for the other man, it's hard to actually understand much of any of it as one story.

Other than a few key beats, the obvious ones. The guy suffered his own blows as bad or worse. The whole curse thing is whack. And then he managed to defeat that guy already? And the commander of what? The war? The guy reincarnated sure but that means that guy reincarnated also into the same fictional but not world... maybe? Maybe that was Nameless 1?

His halo begins to fade, mostly because while he still feels tense, he's using more of his brain for the simple act of comprehension now. ]

Rak Soo, yeah?

[ ... Why? Just honoring himself, maybe?

Also wow he better not feel any claws up on his shoulder. ]

[ There's only so much coherency he can manage when there's just so much to what he's been through as both Kim Rok Soo and Cale Henituse. But it's something that can always be brought up again at a later date, with more privacy and comfort than a canteen. ]

Rok Soo.

[ No claws! Just some absentminded purrs, because laying over someone's shoulders is surprisingly comfortable as a cat. And warm. ]

And if anyone else sees me I'm just a regular cat who is kind of cowardly but loves free food.

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