Kevin gave Alison a greeting wave as he saw her enter (and noted that she filled out that T-shirt quite nicely) but was a little too caught up with the Bloodrager thing to break off and say, "Hello."  He thought for a minute.

"Well, Jocasta might be able to do missing persons facial recognition search through Russian records for missing persons," Kevin suggested and then cried, "Oooh, I got an idea.  I remember this from an old episode of Castle."

Kevin got a sheet of paper and wrote 'My Name is' toward the top with an 'X _____________' at the bottom, presented it to Bloodrager, handed him a pencil and pointed at the line.  "Just sign here, please."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:39, Sat 18 May 2019.

Bloodrager looked at the paper, and at the line Darkstar indicated. He couldn't read the words, but understood that the line marked where he was supposed to do something. But he couldn't write any more than he could read, blast his barbarian nature! Sign? Well, maybe he could do something like that. Draw something. He looked at the pencil. Not colored, oh well.

He started sketching an octagon freehanded just above the line, then filling it in with light strokes.

"Well, since I can pick you all out easily enough I guess it's only fair to spill my secret too."

She rocked back and forth, crossing her legs to sit Indian style and blinked.

"It's easy enough to tell me in just about any form. It's in the eyes."

She tilted her head to the side and widened her eyes.

"Green eyes. Can't really tell if I'm a bug or something, but for the most part my eyes don't change color. You can look at an animal and if it has my shade of green eyes you can go 'Ok, that must be Deedee Deveroux.'"

"Well, to be fair, I'm not super-likely to checking for eye color in every dog, cat, bird, etc. that's around,"  Kevin told Deedee.  "But I guess if you got grabbed by Animal Control that'd be a good way for us to figure out which doggie in the window was ours.  If you somehow couldn't shift to a flea and bust out on your own."

Kevin looked at the weird drawing and sighed.  "Oh, well.  So much for Castle."

He looked at the big red man and explained.  "Here in this world, dungeon, whatever, we have to write our names.  A lot.  Forms.  Registries.  All kinds of things.  We do it so often that it becomes muscle memory.  We do it without thinking about it.  I was hoping you'd be able to do that, but I guess not."

While some of the others had partially answered Bloodrager's question, Lois decided to add her explanation (since she had been specifically asked).

"By Civilian Identity, I meant that you could pretend to be someone 'normal' while out in public.  It is like an actor adopting a role or someone taking on a disguise.  The idea being to befriend other people or enjoy modern activities.  There is an opinion that work should be balanced with some recreation, to stay alert and mentally fit.  Of course some people can function without that.  Nothing I suggest 'must' be adopted, I'm just highlighting choices that you might not know."

In reply to Darkstar (msg # 45):

"Well, it was a good try," Spider-Man says as we watches the going ons. "Maybe he has a living family out here somewhere? Not in New York most likely, but someplace in the world. I'm sure we'd be able to figure out more if we were able to analyze his DNA."

"Act? Theatre fun," he agreed listening to Lois. He liked to dance, and enjoyed music, too.

To Spiderman, he said. "Home was place called Lviv. Not remembering it, just name. And that had mother, sister there. Nothing else."

Kevin pulled out the Freak-fone, the gadget Andru had made for him once upon a time which looked like the bastard child of an I-phone and a Speak'n'Spell toy then looked Lviv up.  "Well, Bloodrager, you're not really a Russian any more.  You're Ukrainian, now.  But overall the news isn't bad.  As of 2017 the population is a little north of half a million and you remember a mother and a sister, so there's a decent chance there's missing persons report on you, which could tell us your actual name."

"Not... Russian?" He tilted to his head to the side, confused but intrigued.

The ring suddenly flared up brilliantly and his head returned to the erect position as Heart of Heart took total control of the body and asked emotionlessly, "What being difference Russian, Ukrainian?"

In a group composed of people with powers both strange and wonderful, Bloodrager had to take the cake as the most mind boggling, Ali reflected.    She didn't understand the basis of his healing through violence - blood? - ability at all. It struck her as something that might be more mystical in nature. But that was only a guess.  She'd only recently begun to accept the existence of the occult, and knew nothing about it. She didn't understand him as a person, either.   Something was different in the way his mind worked.

She was reminded somewhat of a person with autism, who took things very literally.   Though there could of course be other reasons for that. She had to give Kevin an 'A' for effort --  he was doing his best to sort the guy out a little.  And, Lois had the right approach in emphasizing his power of choice.

As it happened, she had a college friend who was Ukrainian.

"Not so much difference between Ukrainians and Russians, in general," she said to Bloodrager.

"Not unless you're speaking of western Ukraine.  And, Lviv is western Ukraine.   A friend of mine told me the people there are nice. They keep their cities really clean, and they're hard workers. Sounds like they have a great spirit.  They're sometimes called Galicians - from Galicia, an older name for the area. They had troubles in the past - attacked and dominated by people who weren't very nice."   

"Do you remember your mom's or sister's faces at all?"

Deedee, your cast box says your eyes are blue, you know --  trying to fake us out, hey?   Ali points at Deedee and cries out 'LIAR!!'   ;D
This message was last edited by the player at 20:28, Mon 20 May 2019.

Kevin felt a literal chill creep up his spine as Bloodrager changed.  Not physically, but in his personality.  Whatever was in his body now was clearly not who they'd been speaking to earlier.

"So I've been doing a little math.  Bloodrager looks like he's maybe in his mid-30s.  Ukraine was part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as Russia, until 1991, which was 28 years ago," Kevin said, the chill giving way to anger which he tried to suppress.

"So putting all that together, it means that you stole one of our children from Russia, a child with a mother and a sister, and you turned him into this fucked up role-playing game character," Kevin said, his voice rising some.  "Tell me.  Do you even remember that kid's name?  You know, from before you stole him from his family and turned him into this?"

Heart of Heart listened, Bloodrager's expression neutral and emotionless as the alien hive mind weighed Aurora's words. So many word-symbols for a single thing, with subtle variations of nuance that defied easy understanding. In human artwork, these nuances formed complexities of beauty, but in conversation they were awkward.

Images of Sword of Cup's family? He was aware that the unit did retain a single glimpse of them, but was not certain how to access that memory without handing the body over to Sword's full control. He was certain that the barbarian unit lacked sufficient skill with his magic to project the memory image via illusion to show the others.

Then Darkstar spoke up, clouding the issue of Russian vs. Ukrainian further, and issuing accusations that did not conform to Heart of Heart's own memory of the events when he arrived on Earth. He did not have the freedoms of temporal movement here that he had had in his own reality, when he had many more units without the burdens of individual selves sharing them, but he could still try to extrapolate results of an action. How to answer these accusations in the most productive and beneficial manner?

He spoke two words that he had kept to himself, away from Sword of Cup, since learning that humans were single-unit lifeforms and individual selves.

"Mykhaylo Chornovil."

A blast of mana surged internally as the name registered to the human part of Bloodrager, intense anger and feelings of betrayal leading into emotional anguish. But Sword of Cup had no influence over his body right now, and none of his pain surfaced past Heart of Heart's alien dispassion.

Alison pushed aside all thoughts of standard psychology, as well as geography and history -  because she'd plainly missed a number of things.   Things that painted a very different picture. One that was, amongst other things, disturbing.   Her eyes strayed to Kevin, as he seemed to imply - accuse that Bloodrager was some sort of ET, who'd stolen the body in which he lived.

Bloodrager's total poker face did nothing to convey how he felt about being so accused.   But, his giving up the name, and lack of denial, bordered on admission.

From: Bedroom


Taskmistress slipped into the room looking around. "So what are we discussing? The next step in destroying organized crime? World domination? Cheesecake Recipes?" she asked with a smirk. She judged the expressions around her and frowned .
This message was last edited by the player at 15:12, Fri 31 May 2019.

Lois had dropped out of the conversation when it started going... weird.  Possessions, aliens, Eastern Europe?  None of it made sense to her.  Her face also clearly telegraphed her confusion.  The best she could offer was a shrug to Taskmistress.

“I think it’s a trip down memory lane... or an interrogation.”

She chuckled darkly. "Yeah that street has a restraining order against me."she joked and walked over to Blood. "Is everything ok here big guy?" she asked casually giving the leader an inquiring but not accusatory look. She doubted The leader was trying to cause trouble. Probably just curious about something and the big guy was fascinating.

His head turned to regard her, emotionless and the entire ring bright. "Have I making another mistake, Taskmistress? What being difference Russian, Ukrainian?"

"Russians are people from Russia . Ukrainians are people from the Ukraine. Americans are people from America. Basically humans are diverse different skin color, languages, etc  we're spread across the planet. Where we are born and grow up determines our stats when dealing with things like cold and heat. we learn a language specific to the region. And we get the country name plus Ian behind it. For the most part. To you, being an alien there's not really a difference. It matters more to humans. Let's people segregate themselves into neat little categories." she explained walking over patting him on the shoulder.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:44, Fri 31 May 2019.

Different languages, that he knew. And that not all cultures ended with the -ian syllable; there were plenty of Japanese, Chinese, and Jewish taverns around. "Is difference meant much humans to. Each language own viewpoint having, cultural art expressing unique ways in. Why Sword of Cup much upset?" he said, gaze following her hand to his shoulder.

"I just got here bud you'll have to fill me in on what's going on from context clues. I can only guess that he's proud of his heritage and there was a mix-up and somebody got it wrong and he feels offended. Some cultures don't like other cultures. Like humansa d orcs don't get along or elves and humans. Maybe sword doesn't like Russians or doesn't like Ukrainians and if you call someone a part of a group they don't like they get upset because they don't like them. But maybe if you Tell me what happened I can help more . " she offered her own voice still held a tinge of an eastern European accent though of course she didn't know where it came from.

"Sword of Cup is Russian unit. Darkstar will be saying not Russian but Ukrainian," Heart of Heart stated emotionlessly through Bloodrager's lips.

"Actually, Darkstar," Kevin said, aiming a thumb at himself, "kind of ceased to care about that point quite a while ago."

"If it matters, since the, uh, Russian unit was Russian when he was acquired, he's still Russian, even if the city he's from is Ukranian now," Kevin said in a tight, tense voice as he kept a vicious grip on his emotions.

"Speaking of that, please explain to us all in detail exactly how you did acquire the Russian unit," Kevin told the being in Bloodrager's body.

She looked at Blood. "Basically Our Leader was just arguing semantics. With humans things change. Kingdoms rise and fall. Names change. If you were born an American and america changed to be south canada you'd technically change from American to Canadian. That's all. Nothing for Sword to worry about." she clarified patting the big guy gently.

The big, red man's head turned to look Kevin in the eyes. He showed no outward acknowledgement of Taskmistress' attempt to comfort him as thoughts churned, threading from item to item within Sword of Cup's matrix as the hive mind considered how to answer the order to explain.

"I am on home plane, and horrible vortex form around, fill region my... erm, school? in. Dimension crushing flatten, all 87 units me pulling into this plane. Long plunge through windfire, units ceased like dry ice. One unit survival to hitting house, screamed light for helps. Was ceasing when native unit touches, able absorb six units in house. Are five Americans and they Russian servant-slave. Not knowing that humans single-unit life while I rebuild units, erase most of what inside, building protective matrices from native imagination instances so survival this plane on. Is deadly toxic plane, Earth this. Using matrices design roles for new units, much bad assumptions I needed making amends for. Blood Red Swordsmen not good fits into real human society."

"So, basically, some disaster happened in your home dimension that dragged you here to Earth," Kevin reasoned, feeling his anger die down a little.  "And when you got here, you accidentally absorbed six other human beings into yourself, converting them into, uh, Blood Red Swordsmen."

"Well, can you put them back and let them out again?" Kevin asked him.  "This dimension, doesn't really have dungeons or treasures or a lot of that stuff.  But we do have witches and sorcerers, even if they're pretty rare.  Anyway, the guy who is the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, kind of owes us, really me, a pretty huge favor.  If your dimension exists or there's one similar enough to not be, uh, toxic, he might be able to send you there once we get the people inside you back out again."