I | VIDEO/VOICE

[hispanus]

[The video focuses on a group of children in a park somewhere as they choose sides for a game. Much of what is said between them is too quiet for the communicator to pick up until one boy's face falls, his complaints carrying loudly enough to be heard: "But I was an imPort last time! I want to be a native!" A girl responds unintelligbly, but given the slouch in the boy's posture, his fate is evident.

When the children split up and run off, the video cuts, and a voice is finally heard, speaking the Queen's Latin (i.e., he sounds just like Russell Crowe doing a British accent).]

I have seen similar games in the provinces; tribes against the invading army. Children will have their sport, whatever the climate.

[He pauses, considering the implications. When he speaks again, his voice is softer, lacking the modicum of levity it once had.]

This is more than sport.


[ooc: 4th wall as much as you want c:]

Comments

[hispanus]

Despite appearances otherwise.

[skort]

Not everyone who gets pulled here is an innocent, I'll give you that, but we are victims of kidnapping. I bet most of us would leave, if given a choice.

[hispanus]

What would you do against the actions of a few bad men, my lady?

[skort]

I don't know that there's anything I could do. But that doesn't mean I don't wish things were different.

[hispanus]

It would be a difficult endeavor to eradicate their fear of us, yes. Not without the sands of time.

[skort]

Even with time it'd be difficult. Earth and her people have long memories when they want to.

[hispanus]

Is it that dire?

[skort]

[ she looks a little sheepish and shrugs one shoulder ]

Maybe not. I certainly hope not. But I've seen something like this happen before and it didn't end well, to say the least.

[hispanus]

[a pause.]

What happened?

[skort]

Back in my universe, my people ended up on Earth as refugees. Mistakes were made on both sides and eventually war broke out. Earth was the victor, but now it's suspicious of everything that comes from the stars.

I had an opportunity to travel about a thousand years into the future and it's still the same. Earth fears that which doesn't come from it, despite good people trying to change its mind.

[hispanus]

Is this Earth so similar?

[skort]

I don't know. I haven't been here long enough to tell. But I can't help but be reminded of what happened sometimes.

[hispanus]

[a brief pause, then quietly:]

I have traveled nearly nineteen hundred years from my time and human nature is as it ever was.

[skort]

I think parts of it have evolved in that time. There's a lot more gender equality than there was before.

[hispanus]

There are cultural differences, yes.

[with curiosity:]

Did you travel the stars?

[skort]

I did. I was born in the stars.

[hispanus]

What is it like?

[skort]

It's like the best thing you've ever experienced... except ten times over.

[hispanus]

[maximus thinks of the nights he has tried looking at the stars through the light pollution--what little he could see had remained the same despite nearly two millenia; a small comfort in itself.]

Are these your skies as well?

[skort]

Not really. There are lots of differences. [ pause ] There's not much out there, from what I can tell.

[hispanus]

[a short pause, then with gravity:]

I am sorry.

[skort]

For what?

[hispanus]

For reminding you that your world is no longer out there.

[skort]

Oh. It's alright. That's something I've gotten used to. Earth is my home now.

[hispanus]

For how long now?