forum Letters Across the Universe (Always open. Say you read page one stuff)

Started January 29, 2020 by @Althalosian-is-the-father book

tune

Dearest Ali,

tell Lybra to calm his tits a expression we use here on Earth to signify someone needs to calm down in more ways than one. Honestly fairies are mostly born with their powers and wings.

Star and I are still at the just kissed level, I haven't seen her since to do much else but thats okay I guess.

how old are you in human years? Do you want to have a family someday? Would you make a move on Lybra if you were bored enough too?

Sincerely, Geneviera

Dear Geneviera,
Lybra does need to chill out, but I guess I understand where he's coming from. If I had been there when he lost his arm, I would never have left him alone again. He's lucky, in that aspect.

In human years, I'm 19. I think. I kind of lost track after a while, but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere around 19 or 20, and I have no idea how old I am in Tallesian years. A family is pretty much out of the question. I especially don't trust myself with little kids, I get worried I might say something or do something that scares them.

Are you religious in any way? What does Earthen music sound like?

Se'dil te Ixe,
Ali Samul

Dearest Ali,

honestly I don't think I want a family either, its not that I don't trust myself with children, quite the opposite actually. Its just now that im not with anyone anymore it seems more of like a burden, in a third person view. I just always remember wanting a family when I was younger, but not so much now.

I am not religious unless you count following some fairy related holidays when I lived with my family religious, other than that I have never even thought about religion. Earthen music is just— music it sounds may different ways honestly, due to there being different genres.

Are you religious? What does music sound like on the planets you've been too?

sincerely, Geneviera

(that took longer than I thought)
Dear Corrin

I definitely don't know that much french, I know how to introduce myself, my fleet and my ship. That's all I really need to know.
It is okay, I also did not ask for yours. Mine are he/him and they/them, if that is how it works.
The SBS Raven is very large! Large enough for about a 1000 crew and passengers. Canoes are much smaller, depending on the maker they can carry usually 2 to 8 people. There are different kinds of sea vessels! Some can be small enough to be manned by 100 people or less, they are usually single or double masted, the biggest ship in the fleet is the SBS Falcon, it can hold over 1500 crew and passengers. Triple or double masted ships are the most common.
A quartermaster is the person who is in charge of steering and signals on the ship, but our quartermaster also likes to help teach and look after younger crew members. So I guess in a way he is a maths teacher. Huh. Fascinating.
Yes, it is very chaotic, but very enjoyable.
Ah! Said how it's spelt. It is a very pretty phrase. Yes, a beautiful mistake of a saying.
Two centuries! That is a ridiculous idea! Most crew members and passengers won't live above 80. Heck, I probably won't live any longer than 60. I'm not the healthiest to be completely honest. How long do you live for?
You have also gotten a potato! I have also baked mine. I shared it with the cabin boys. They all very much enjoyed how it steamed. I did not have any cheese to put in my potato, cheese is a bit of a delicacy. Creamy substance is butter, correct? I had butter and I used the pulled pork that was for dinner to put in it and broke it up for the boys. They were begging the first mate for more. I guess they will be buying them for meals.
Oh absolutely! That feels like an honour.
A day in the life of me? Well, I get up early to see if there is any help I can do around the ship. Then I head to meet my mentor, the head navigator. He teaches me about maps and stars so I can know how to navigate the oceans. It is odd going onto the land because it doesn't sway. I can only imagine how it would feel the other way around. The longest time I have been on land is a week while the SBS Raven was being repaired. No one has fallen off for a while but when they do, they call 'man overboard!' and climb down the ladders on the side of the ship and either grab the person or throw them a rope. Most people can swim actually, we often climb down to swim in the sea when stopped. Can you swim? Do you have anywhere to swim? What is a day in your life like? Do you have a job?
The lights in the sky are the stars. They are suns far off in the distance. The make up patterns called constellations. There are so many because they are all so far away and some are closer.
There really are gates between worlds like that? That's fascinating. It is strange to think that we aren't so different. I always thought that otherworldly beings would be so strange and unlike me. I guess our biggest difference is I live on the ocean and you on land. And the age difference.

Forever and Fortune,
Ash Connor,
Navigator-in-training,
SBS Raven

Dear Ash,

How many languages do you know? If you have to stop at many places for supplies, I suppose you would need to know one of the languages spoken. I find it funny that there are so many different languages for a single species. We have languages for each species, more or less, and that's about it. Most people or creatures know at least some English or Spanish or something, to be able to at least somewhat communicate with the spirits of dead humans.
Is it weird for you, to think that down here are dead people? People you might have known? What is death like in the Above, if you think that it's final? I say think because if the soul passes the three Trials, it can be reincarnated and come back, though it wouldn't be recognized. So in some way it is final, but it also isn't.
Mon dieu! I didn't think it was that big! Are all the SBS ships named after birds? And is the ship actually blessed by the gods? How does that work? Did they actively help build it, or did they just pow and there's a ship? What is a mast? Are ships with more masts superior to those with less? Do masts determine the importance of a ship? Do canoes have masts?
Steering and signals, you say? What kind of signals? Signals to other ships, or to the crew and passengers? What are the signals used for?
It is quite ridiculous, yes. Something that happened during Elder N'marras' time prompted that rule, and though you can't find many details about it - something about letting loose a Nightmarish and a couple horrible diseases - I know that none alive or existing now would do such a thing. In fact, I'm friends with a Nightmarish. They are, to put it simply, made of the nightmares and fears of humans. But the ones I know are very nice.
Oui, the creamy substance was called butter. Cheese is a delicacy? Are there not an abundance of cows in the Above? Do cows not produce the stuff that makes cheese every day? You could take one with you, could you not? Can cows not swim?
I cannot swim. We have creeks and a river - a long one, winding through the whole of the Unterworld - that we are not allowed to swim in because that is where the banshees - pretty much the security and police of the Unterworld - live. Over time, the river has become somewhat sacred. It is simply called the River, because there are no other rivers to confuse it with.
A day in my life varies, actually. It depends on the time of year. On most days, except for the solstices and equinoxes, I get to keep some of the horizon in place. We have a constant illusion of the horizon, and if you try to run you will be swallowed by the illusion of the horizon. There are "holes", parts of the illusion that never stay, so lucky me, I get to hold up the illusions for most of the day.
It's more fun than it sounds. The horizon is generally a vaguely gray-and-black landscape, but when I'm bored I make it neon green or have frogs or something of the sort. Or I mirror the sky in the horizon, making it look like the land has sunk into itself.
Huh. How do the stars hang in the sky like that? Why do they not float away, or fall to earth?
There are. I know of three.

Apologies for the long letter, and g'hreal nie despoto,

Corrin D'Hiver