I've decided Tanner needs a bit more development. My writing with him thus far has been under very specific circumstances and always talking to specific characters I'm used to writing dialogue with, but I need to understand his personality with a broader spectrum of people (particularly people I'm not writing the dialogue for).

Tanner: *shoves his hands in his pockets and looks around the empty room*

*whistles a bit*

*gets bored* Help! I've been kidnapped and thrust into an unknown world!.. AGAIN!

Jhils: *coughs*

Tanner: Well, it's at least nice to know it doesn't just happen to me. What's up? I'm Tanner. *tilts his head back in acknowledgement*

Bakar: *Walks into the room fully clothed in his winter garb. The door closes behind him. There is visible surprise on the visible part of his face: the top half. He turns to leave but finds that the door is locked.* Uh...I'm sorry, I think I took a wrong turn. *then mutters to himself* Very wrong. *Removes his heavy, brown scarf and allows it to drape over his shoulders. Points a mitten covered hand up at the two people in the room.* Um...Do I know either of you?

Tanner: *leans against a wall and puts his hands back in his pockets* Looks like you're about to. *nods his head back again* Tanner Grayson, and you?

Jhils: *looks up* The ceiling? I'm Jhils.



Jhils: Nope, I don't.

Bakar: *Nods his head slowly as his eyes drift around the room.* So then...this isn't the court of Lord Vledorin, is it?

Jhils: Nope, it's not the Court of Lord Veldory? Veldori?

Tanner: It doesn't look like a court at all, but then, I've only been in basketball courts and tennis courts and such... Never really a... court court...

Jhils: What's a Basket Ball? And a Tennis?

Bakar: *Turns and checks the knob once more. Sighs when it doesn't work. Begins to take off his hat and gloves as he speaks.* I guess I should have seen this coming. Vledorin has never been one for wanting to make peace. I've already set up a few of my own surprises for him and his men, so it is just as well. *Removes his jacket, and sets it, along with all of his other winter garb, on a table.* So as long as there is some time to kill -- figuratively of course -- how about you give me your names. *Sits down in a chair and rests his hands behind his head.* My name is Bakar. Oh, sorry! You were talking about balls of some kind. Please don't let me interrupt.

Jhils: A Ball? You mean this? *looks at left hand**left hand turns metal**metal turns into a metal ball**Jhils hand is gone, but the ball is in his right hand*

Tanner: *to himself* The world never turns normal... *to Jhils* They're games played in big open rooms. One has people trying to get a ball into a basket, and the other has them trying to keep a ball off the ground by hitting it over a net.

Doesn't sound like you're on good terms with him, Mister Bakar.

Jhils: *turns the rest into a fishing net and puts the ball into it* Like this?


Jhils: Who?

Bakar: *is very confused by whatever is happening with Jhils’s hands, but his feelings of confusion only express themselves slightly on his face. Turns to Tanner.* Hmm? Oh, yeah. No, Vlendorin and I have never really been on any terms officially, but I’ve had enough dealings with him to know when something’s up. Like I said, it is all taken care of; he will be begging me to help him out of whatever mess he has made of his plan. He is getting cleverer though. I would have never thought this room was lying behind that door. I don’t think I would know even if it happened again, what, with all that snow and all. Did he trap you in here too?

Tanner: I don't think so... Usually I know when I travel to odd places... But I'm not familiar with any of the high ranking humans in the world I'm new to... It's possible, I guess.

*to Jhils* Not quite... It's a flat net. *grabs a piece of paper and charcoaled stick and scribbles out a diagram of a tennis court* The net is flat and stretched across the middle, and you don't want to ball to get caught in the net, at least, not on your side. You have to try to get the other person to miss so it stops moving on their side of the net.

Jhils: *ball and fishing net turn back into his left arm* I see. *NOTE* Jhils is still rather confused but he gets most of it.

Tanner: Do they have sports where you're from?

Jhils: What's a Sports?

Tanner: *scratches his head* A sport is an active thing you do for fun, I guess... That mostly means games like tennis and basketball where I'm from, but sometimes it's fishing, or hunting, or riding too...

Jhils: *thoughtfully* Fishing, hunting, and riding. We do that sometimes, but my main object is to keep my city safe.

Tanner: Yeah, there seems to be a lot more to worry about in these worlds. Or at least, I notice the worries more... But people still find things to do for fun, don't they? I know my friend does...

Jhils: ...

Bakar: Of course we have fun. There are always tournaments one can enter during the spring time. I personally love wrestling. *Thinks for a moment then chuckle and smiles.* There is also this crazy game called Grumba wrestling which has very little to do with actual wrestling.

Tanner: What's that like? It sounds interesting.

Bakar: ha ha, well... *stands up to better illustrate.* Down near the coast there are the salt water bogs where these things called Grumbas live. There sort of a really large version of a mud-skipper, about the size of a pig. Anyway, the locals like to take people "fishing" for these Grumbas. You have to get out of the boat into almost waist deep mud and water. You try to disturb one enough for it to come up out of the mud. That is when the fun begins. These Grumbas don't like being disturbed, so they will basically attack anyone who does. They mostly use their big hind fin to slap the crap out of you, ha ha! What you have to do is dodge them as much as possible while to try and catch them. The best way is if you can get its side fins pinned against its side and then rotate them upside down. That is basically the goal: to get them upside down long enough that they pass out.
Let me tell you, it is about ten times more fun to watch then it is to do, but people still enjoy getting out in the mud every now and then.

Jhils: *listens attentively**becomes a Grumbas and sits down*

Bakar: *Sees Jhils as a Grumba.* Hey yeah! Like that! *points* Have you been Grumba wrestling too?

Jhils: *turns into an Image of Bakar* Nope, I haven't.

Bakar: Whoa! Wait...is my nose really that big?

Tanner: *grins* That reminds me of someone I just met. She's always battling some creature or other... She's a bit strange, but not in the usual way.

Bakar: Is she strange in the way he is strange? *points at Jhils, but then realizes the irony of pointing at his own image across the room.*

Tanner: Here? That's what I call normal strange... No, she's not special powers odd, at least, I don't think so. She's all covered in scars except for her face, but she hunts and fights a lot, so I don't know if it's from that or something that was done to her, because it seems weird that nothing would manage to scar her face... But she has a darkness about her, I think... I don't know... She just seems... strange...

Bakar: *Suddenly becomes very serious. Looks down at the floor.* I see.... There was once a time that such a story was all too familiar to me. *Rubs his own arms, and then tries to snap himself out of it.* How did you meet this girl? Is she pretty? *Tries to probe for any hidden affections that may or may not be in Tanner.* Have you known each other for long?

Tanner: What? I don't know, I only saw her for a few minutes earlier today before I ended up here. Most of what I know is just because my friend told me while we were cleaning kills.

Jhils: *turns into Tanner* *gags* Kills!?!? You kill?

Tanner: I didn't kill them! And I thought you said you went hunting too.

Jhils: *turns back into himself* I don't kill people just usually animals.

Tanner: We were cleaning animals... Skinning them and such.

(Me: Wow, that made me laugh so hard!)

Bakar: *is disappointed that he will not be able to tease Tanner about this girl.* What did the friend say exactly? What sort of animals were you hunting?

Tanner: They're called Shepao. They look like a cross between a bear and a sheep, and Guilo said they eat people. He also told me that Kaida killed them before they got the chance to, but I don't think it was by much from what I heard. Other than that, he said she fought with those things all of the time, and was on good terms with dragons.

Jhils: Oh, animals, I see. *speechless*

Bakar: She sounds like quite a woman. Where can I find these human-eating bear-sheep? They sound like an interesting challenge. I guess they travel in flocks? Do you hunt them very often?

Jhils: *slides down from the wall and sits on the floor* Shepao. Never heard of them.

Tanner: I've never seen one alive before, but I guess they're part of the reason there aren't too many humans out west. They don't seem to bother the other races though. I think the few people who do cross the mountains tend to get eaten though.

Bakar: That is kind of racist.... What were you doing out there?

Tanner: I haven't been out there. The dragons carry the carcasses back. They probably keep any others out too. I don't think I'm a coward, but I don't ever want to see one alive.

Jhils: Why not?

Tanner: Because, they're vicious. They don't eat people because they're hungry, they just do. And when they decide they want to, they won't stop until they have. *gives the slightest of shivers*

Bakar: Sounds pretty...disgusting. You know, I think I'll stick with Grumba wrestling over Shepao hunting. *Twiddles thumbs for a moment* What were these other sports you mentioned? The ones with the balls? You don't hunt Shepao, but you play those other games?