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You're fucking gross.

I can't help being a wendigo, and it's better than the alternatives in any case.

[He falls over laughing, holding his side.] And you just running around telling people!

*He shrugs.* Most people stare blankly and ask what that is, assume I'm joking or both. If they'd have even known what the Donner Party was, which is questionable.

Do you have some experience with the supernatural?

Edited 2016-06-24 00:37 (UTC)

"Oh aye? And... why is that...?" Maria may be merely asking the correct, apropos questions of this man, or else, and this is far more likely: she is genuinely interested in what the Donner party is like that makes it so unique.

The cannibalism, mostly. But then 1846 was a bad year for travelers.

"Cannibalism? Seriously!?" Maria gawps openly for a brief moment, before resorting back to her own trademarked smirk, as she eyes this man's teeth nervously, as if hoping to find something stuck in his teeth to confirm this bloody claim.

You've never heard of the Donner Party, then? Sierra Nevadas, 1846? They named a pass and a lake for it, I believe. Poor fools took a shortcut that turned out to be a long cut, half of them starve or froze to death.

"Of course, I haven't! I mean— sorry, but... Wait, Sierra-Nevada? I-isn't that desert in the bloody Americas?!" She grimaces apologetically. "I'm sorry, but— I don't think I know much American history, being from Britain..." And a witch, with next to no interest in Muggle history! she adds silently, fingering her wand in her pocket, just in case; of course, she has no real prejudice against this bloody old man, given that he reminds her, just a tinge, of Remus Lupin...

Donner party? This one of those weird Man things?

A mountain chain, actually, but there are deserts nearby.

I'm from Scotland myself, although I do live in said mountain chain these days.

Edited 2016-06-24 05:56 (UTC)

It's a famous incident where about 80 travelers took a shortcut that turned out to be a long cut, and half of them died.

Oh, sounds like it would have been fun, if nothing else to add to the confusion.

Great fun, I agree. I wish I had been there.

I've been part of similar sojourns, admittedly, but never one with so many people to eat.

Man's still not my taste. But I would have had fun.

Though probably was in the winter wasn't it?

Winter in the mountains, yes.

But I'd have let you borrow my coat, if we had been there.

So much snow... Sure I wouldn't have disappeared in it?

[ She smiles ] Thank you I would have needed it.

You're welcome, little killer. *He smiles back.* I wouldn't let you get lost, either. We wild things have to stick together.

Sagira, I didn't tell you last time. It's the name that the one that cursed me gave me.

I'm generally known as Colonel Ives, myself. I have been for many years now.

Colonel Ives. [ She tries to pronounce it like he had, though there is some fludging, and it sounds more like kernel Ives. She frowns at the mistake. ]

That is a mouthful.

*Oddly enough, that's pretty much right. English is weird.*

A bit of one, perhaps, but easier than Colqhoun.

There are other languages Men speak?

[ She usually ignored men who were shouting back home, most seemed to speak either gibberish or the language she knew so it didn't seem to matter. If you spoke the common one people tended to understand you.]

English is a common one, but yes.

Men are a weird creature.

They are, yes.

I was one, so I should know.

Yes, but your supernatural status makes you a bit more understanding to the other creatures than their dulled brains.

Very well put.

The beasts men fear are nothing on me.

[ That gets a giggle from Sagira]

I don't know, creatures of the sea may be more dangerous. We both need air after all. They breathe water.

Yes, but that means that they're not very useful on land. Which is where people tend to be.

I have experience with assholes who think they are fucking cool and can hurt people.

Would you rather I act harmless, even though I'm not? I do a good 'lost and pathetic,' I just didn't feel like it today.

"That's a rather tasteless joke."

Tasteless, you say? *He laughs.* I quite like it, myself.

Shame I wasn't there for the Donner Party, it would have been a lovely feast.

Guess that's a good point. Though I've seen ships on the water. I don't think I'd like travelling that way, the motion would make me ill.

I've been on a ship once or twice. They are indeed unpleasant things.

Stuffy and too many people packed in one area. Thought that would be a floating feast for you.

They might be these days, but I was only human last I sailed.

"Wouldn't be much meat on starving people I imagine." Actually, he didn't have to imagine it.

Oh? [She tilts her head.]

I was born human, what I am now is a gift and a curse.

There's always organs, and there were enough people in that party that it adds up in any case.

Plus, it amuses me to see how people change when they get desperate. I'd have loved to watch.

I see. [She is silent a few moments thinking.]

I try not to think about those days. I'm a new man now, and a much happier one.

That's what counts right?

That's all that should ever count.