dì​sì​; the red shoes.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[River is sprawled out on the ground - again, let's be honest, she's done this sort of thing before - with multi-coloured markers and a book of fairy tales stolen from the library on the Plane. On first glance she appears to be annotating it; on further inspection, it becomes clear that she's not so much annotating as editing, crossing out whole sections and writing new ones in the margins, pointing out fallacies, and occasionally drawing diagrams. She's fixing it, you see! Making it better. It may or may not be a very valuable edition.

You'll thank her later.]

Comments

[oliverplus]

Uh...yeah. All right. [frowns--what was it she said? Osiris? his knowledge of mythology isn't great, but just maybe...] You aren't talking about death, are you?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[-Awwww, bless his heart, he's trying.]

A planet. In the Core.

[Beat.]

Core planet.

[oliverplus]

[he really is!]

But...the core of what? Your universe?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

Society.

[Somewhat reassuringly:] It's political.

[oliverplus]

Ohhh! [hooray, something that makes a little bit of sense for once!] So like, your capital? Or just...part of a "core" society?

What year is it there?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Just. Going to handwave the date here. Future! Whee.

And then she grabs a blank sheet of paper and starts drawing a diagram for him.] Core planets - [Ariel, Osiris, etc.] - in the Alliance. Got the technology, protection. Meddlers. [And then to the planets on the edges of the systems.] Outer planets. Rural. Farmers, ranchers. [And other such things.] Dong ma?

[oliverplus]

Ah, I get it! [which is very exciting, considering how this conversation has been going] That's...well, it's sorta like the Empire where I'm...living. [makes a face; he almost said where he's from, but it's not home--not yet, and probably not ever really] There's the Empire, and then there's the Rim. I live near the Rim.

But what do you mean "meddlers"? Like...they're try to expand the core territory?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

Meddling in people's business. People don't like a meddler.

[Yes, that was... supremely unhelpful. And then she glances at Oliver all sideways.] You're displaced. [Said in a matter-of-fact-tone, like she knew this already (she did) and didn't really need him to confirm it like that (she didn't).]

[oliverplus]

[frowns, rather creeped out by that repeated statement--not to mention how she's looking at him] You... [pauses, licking his lips. he can't believe he's asking this, but the way she's looking at him just seems to shout that, somehow, impossibly, she knows] You don't mean because I'm on the Plane, do you?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Somewhat airily, which translates in Riverspeak to 'brattily':] Would have said if I was.

[oliverplus]

[stares at her. what does that mean? has she talked to someone about him? no, that can't be it; she said that before she even knew his name, and it's not like he's even told many people. so how? can she read minds like Mu, maybe?] [nervously] But...how do you know about that? We haven't met before.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

I just know. It's in the way you talk, walk. I can see.

[...Yes, River, that was helpful. And she seems to be expecting him to understand this right off.]

[oliverplus]

[frowns, trying to decide if he can believe that she could tell just from that. maybe there's a reason for it] Are you...displaced...too, River?

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[This icon? This icon is her face. Sorry, Oliver, in River's world this IS a reply.]

[oliverplus]

Uh...that's a no then. Sorry.

[bytwo.livejournal.com]

[Gracious like a gracious thing:] Dé​ráo​rén​chù​qiě​ráo​rén​.

[...Geez that was a long word, the narration sure hopes it was more or less correct. Preferably more.

Anyway, River goes back to writing. And drawing. Now she's drawing a horse!]

[oliverplus]

[that was certainly a long word, but Oliver has absolutely no idea what it meant. so he watches her draw instead, still trying to make heads or tails of this odd girl]