why is there a word for that

[alicornucopia]

Finnah's just arrived at work to open the store for the morning shift; she has her apron on but hasn't put her hair up yet. She lets in the customer who always takes half an angle to determine that he wants four buttercreams, again, and then nips into the back to tend to her hair and check the overnight progress of the rock candy.

This isn't the back.

But that -

No, he's too tall to be Mial, if this is a Mial prank it's a stupidly elaborate one.

"Okay, I give up," she says, "what the hell?"

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

Mial laughs. Stalas and Miles both look at him with wry sympathy.

"I admit I'm not totally sure how a language goes about bullying someone," says Stalas.

"I have a pretty good idea," says Miles.

[alicornucopia]

"Words don't just have denotations, they have connotations," says Finnah, "and for most things Draconic is pretty good about coughing up the exact set you're looking for, and for 'shren' it's really, really not."

[thisvorlunatic]

"See also: 'mutie'," says Miles.

"...Right track, yeah," says Mial.

"Thought so," says Miles.

"Is this a life experience I should be glad I missed out on?" says Stalas.

"Very," says Miles.

[alicornucopia]

"And of course it's not just the shrens themselves who speak this language but also dragons, so, Aurin is fine and Mial's dad is fine and most of them are a great big bag of dicks in one or another way, such as my parents or Mial and Aurin's grandfather."

"Grandfather's okay in most ways," says Aurin. "Just - not about that."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm sure he has many redeeming qualities," Mial says dryly. "For those lucky enough to experience them."

"Mine tried to kill me," offers Miles. "Before I was born, and then afterward. We... got mostly straightened out all right, though, around when I learned to walk. Bonded over his horses."

"Neither my world in general nor my grandfather in particular has horses," says Mial. "But I doubt it would've made much difference if they did."

"Also, wait, Mial and Aurin's grandfather? That's... that's different from our genealogical arrangement," says Miles. "I wonder who corresponds? Stalas and I don't seem to share any ancestors we can confirm, but he never met his mother so she's a question mark."

[middlingalong]

"Uh, our dads were half-brothers but mine died like two hundred years ago," says Aurin. "My dad's name was Pardam and my mom's name is Alys? Grandfather's name is Piro?"

"Sounds like my nuclear family just sort of - snipped off and stashed under Piotr," says Ivan. "My dad died almost right when I was born."

"Mine had time to name me," says Aurin, "so there's that, Mial and I are both members of the Only People With Our Line Names Club, since Grandfather and Uncle Avar had a disagreement about whether Avar's line name belonged on Mial and Mial hadn't been named yet at the time."

[thisvorlunatic]

"You know, there's no reason I couldn't just go and get my parents," says Mial. "Is there?"

"Well, as long as you can do it while someone else from your world holds the door, I don't see why not," says Miles. "And then we could probably confirm who if anyone they're alts of. What are their names?"

"Avar and Koridaar."

"...That sounds reasonably like Aral and Cordelia..."

[isthisart]

"You keep saying that Mial's father is a dragon. What is his mother?"

[alicornucopia]

"Elf," says Aurin.

"Luckily enough, or you probably wouldn't get to meet her," says Finnah.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Because dragonishes age ten times slower than humans, right," says Miles. "How old is she? I mean..."

"Two hundred thirty-three," says Mial. "Late seventies equivalent. Healthy, though."

"That's going to be weird," murmurs Miles.

A thought occurs to him, and he pens a note to Linya: That third dose of Lalita's blood just sprang to mind. Do we know its effects on old age? Can we think of a safe way to test?

[isthisart]

Bar can probably confirm safety. Its effect on old age on recipients is non-obvious and would have come up if there were a known reaction, but he's very well-preserved.

[thisvorlunatic]

Yeah, I think that's why I thought of it. Check with Bar? You're closer. And I'd rather not bring it up with Mial until we have a better idea of whether or not we can try it.

"So, should I go get my parents?" asks Mial.

"Why not," says Miles.

[isthisart]

Linya murmurs to Bar.

Bar can't check without an elf present to look at.

[thisvorlunatic]

Mial goes out the door and teleports away to find his parents.

[alicornucopia]

Finnah holds the door, since she is wearing an apron and can shoo anybody who comes near.

[thisvorlunatic]

Mial returns, parents in tow.

[on_my_word]

Avar looks around curiously as he steps into the bar; Koridaar does the same.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...yeah," says Miles, "weirdly young version of my father, weirdly old version of my mother. All in all, weird."

"I don't actually know what my mother looked like," says Stalas, "but..." He's gazing thoughtfully at Avar.

"What?" says Miles.

"Nothing, maybe. I'm thinking."

[alicornucopia]

"Avar's not going to look any older than that," says Finnah, "least not human-shaped, dragon thing. Did Mial explain you stuff?" she asks the parentals.

[middlingalong]

"I'm going to guess that your mother looks just like mine and there's no reason to involve her," Ivan says to Aurin.

"Probably? I mean, maybe yours doesn't have bright gold hair."

"Nnnope. Brown. Still."

[on_my_word]

"Quote, 'alts!', end quote," says Avar.

[greatcomposure]

"I got several more words than that," says Koridaar. "But I'm given to understand it amounted to the same thing."

[isthisart]

"Well, these two are Miles and Stalas, alts of Mial," point point, "and that's Miles's brother Mark, and that's their cousin Ivan, and I'm Miles's wife, Linyabel. You've missed another couple of sets with different mixing and matching who've already gone home, but I'm planning to loiter here for days and everyone else who's intending on going back through our door is waiting on me rather than skip the intervening waiting through the magic of time dilation."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Seriously," says Miles to Stalas, "what are you thinking over there?"

"Well, it's just... I mean, it's a no-brainer that your father would look like you. Therefore, by extension, also like me. And it's not that weird that he'd end up looking like the rest of my family in the process. But - a couple of things you've said - and the statues are very stylized, but - and which members of my family he looks most like—"

"Spit it out, Stalas."

"I think the Thedas version of, well, you," he says with a gesture to Avar, "was Aeducan. As in the Paragon Aeducan, founder of my House. I mean, it's hard to tell, because we obviously can't drag Aeducan in here to compare, he's been dead for centuries."

[isthisart]

"Bar, can you give us some manner of informative possibly out of print portrait of Aeducan?"

This is the best I can do.

Here is an unusually realistic relief carving.