Akin (aka Curls) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
akin2squidrats) wrote2011-07-30 11:57 am
akin2squidrats) wrote2011-07-30 11:57 am
Entry tags:
Memory 12: Meeting Tino
Status: Not Taken Yet
Akin is nine months old in this memory. Lilith basically is carrying him on her back as she works in a vegetable garden. They walk through the forest and Lilith doesn't mind stopping to let Akin examine things he hasn't seen before, or to point out a hazard. He tells her that he can feel which plants will be toxic, and she reminds him that some plants will hurt him if he even touches them, but that she clears those away from gardens.
He notices someone moving around, and tells her. She asks him to keep a lookout while she works -- he remembers her senses are sharp for a human, but not as good as an construct's. Lilith is clearly worried about the intruder, but Akin is curious and gets annoyed when Lilith turns away when she spots the man's bow and arrows. He'd never seen a resister before, so wanted a good look. (He'd also heard they kidnapped human-looking construct children, which he thought was dumb.)
The man was a bit alarmed when Lilith put on her friendly 'hi, I am from a nearby village' and wanted to know who she had been talking to before. Lilith told him 'my son' and the man took a closer look and wanted to know what was wrong with Akin. He tells her "I was born before the war. There's nothing Oankali about me. I have two parents, both human, and no one told them when and whether they could have kids and what the sex of those kids would be. Now, how is it you were allowed to have a boy?"
Which pisses Lilith off a bit, since dammit, her son. She also snaps his bow in half and tells him that he's not going to bring weapons into the village. He assumes she's a construct, since humans aren't generally that strong, and she tells him she was born 26 years before the war, but, dammit, she has kids in that village and no one is getting near them with a bow and arrows. (Lilith does carry a machete, but for clearing undergrowth.)
Since the man is being a pain, Lilith goes back to cutting down fruits and veggies -- pineapples, cassava, bananas, and a couple of Oankali plants (quat and scigee*) and tells him that if the man is coming, he can help her carry things. She also whispers to Akin to watch him 'without using your eyes'.
The man waits for a bit, then follows and kind of apologies -- he tells Lilith (and Akin) that he left his village because all the other residents were too preoccupied with trying to create life before the war. He'd been a kid during the war, so he tells her that modern tech just isn't real to him any more. He also asks some things about constructs and Akin.
The man tries to talk to Akin, and Akin has to remember 'look at people with your eyes', but answers and asks for the man's name. When the man ignores him, Lilith tells him off. Akin also notices that the man is missing a toe and has scars from life without Oankali healing**. The man finally gives his name as 'Augustino Leal' and tells Akin everyone calls him Tino and asks Akin more questions about his development. Akin can't walk yet, and he notes that it's unusual that he learned to talk so quickly, even for a construct kid. He also takes a 'taste' of Tino, and Tino comments that at least Akin is like a human infant in that everything goes into his mouth.
Lilith says she doesn't know what Akin will grow up to be, since all the adult male constructs were born to Oankali mothers. "If Akin is like them, he'll be bright enough, but his interests will be so diverse and, in some cases, so just plain un-human that he'll wind up keeping to himself a lot.' She also comments that she had two construct kids by the time she left the ship that she couldn't run off and be a resister. Akin reflects that Lilith was sometimes bitter and that she and Nikaanj had had a fight about the conception of her first child.
They return to the village and everyone is all 'new person!'. Sabra!Akin would probably think it was a lot like the way they greet new Blanks, up to and including Tino's WTF reaction. Lilith basically says that the villagers will want to hear everything about him and also comments that some of them might try to drag Tino off after dinner and storytime for some more adult-rated fun, but that if he's feeling overwhelmed no one will take offense if he tells them to go away. Tino says he doesn't mind talking to them, and an impromptu potluck party is arranged.
Akin's Oankali father, Dichaan, takes him from Lilith so she can get dinner ready, and Akin tells him that he likes Tino and wants him to stay -- that Tino was a little afraid and a little dangerous, but mostly curious, which he identifies as a Oankali trait. Dichaan does warn Akin not to be alone with Tino, just in case he's a child thief.
They eat cassava bread with quat and scigee and beans with spices, with fruit for dessert. Akin is still nursing so only eats a bit of food. And Tino tells how he'd arrived at Phoenix after his parents ate some bad fruit and the village took him in and spoiled Tino rotten since he was one of the few human children they'd seen. Originally the Phoenix folks had hoped that Tino and any other kids who had been prepubescent during the war might still be fertile. Nikanj speaks up to say 'nope', and Tino and Nikanj have an awkward moment. For some reason, Tino mildly upsets and greatly interests Nikanj, and Nikanj caused some reaction in Tino***.
Nikanj takes Akin and explains via sensory link that Tino had wanted to stay with the Oankali and Nikanj had handled 'his conditioning'. He'd made an impression on Nikanj by being an eight year old who wasn't terrified of the aliens. Nikanj had wanted to keep him, because it knew his parents would run off, but 'couldn't get a consensus': Oankali are crappy at raising fully human kids. And it didn't want to force the family to stay. So, they made do with 'prints' -- recordings of their genetic code so they could clone them if they needed to and have them born to trader Humans. Nikanj also explains that most humans don't have perfect recall, so Tino may not recognize him. Lilith isn't like that, but Nikanj notes that it's a combination of a natural inclination for good memory processing, plus a few tweaks it made.
Nikanj also explains that Tino was lucky to find them, that other resister villages might be dangerous to another resister. The Onakali don't take steps until they become dangerous to them. "Human diversity is fascinating and seductive, but we can't let it destroy them -- or us.'
Tino describes Phoenix, and notes that it really felt like they were building something new. He also calls their buildings and nice things a distraction from the fact they don't have kids to pass it on to.After a string of suicides and people disappearing, Tino gets sick of things and goes out to look for something better. He then complains that the trader village looks so much more primitive than Phoenix -- if the Oankali have spaceships, why does their village look like it's made of thatched shacks? There's a lot of bitterness here:
This doesn't go over well with everyone. A human woman, Leah comments that all resisters do is build useless houses and kill each other. Akin's Oankali mother, Ahajas, suggests they make more of an effort to win resisters back over, which makes Tino convinced that they'll use him for information. Nikanj interjects to say that they know where all resister settlements are, so Tino doesn't have to say anything, but maybe they should tell resisters 'you all are still welcome if you want to relieve your sterile, pointless lives; but no pressure'. Tino makes a disparaging comment about the lack of Human men in the village being why they live like primitives and Wray, one of those human men (and Leah's husband), tells him that they are building themselves. (Which Tino notes that the Oankali are doing that.)
Lilith attempts to cool things down by telling Tino 'look, ask questions instead of shooting your mouth off', and says that while she's not happy with the Oankali, she points out they hitched their star to humanity's: when the ships leave, they're stuck on Earth, and Oankali biology dictates that they blend with humans. And it is a true blend: the construct adults and second-gen kids look like a true mix. Then there's a tangent about the choice: it's a crappy one, but it's better than no choice at all. She also reveals that the hut they are in is a larval version of the skip, which Akin knew but Tino sure didn't. The Oankali tell it to not grow up to be a ship yet, and help shape it to be a comfortable home for people. They also keep a guest house that is a real wood and thatch building because strange humans can't talk to the walls and floors the way the villagers can. Nikanj notes that Tino will see the difference when he stays in the guest house, and other people use that as an excuse to make dirty jokes about how given how Nika is reacting, there's no way Tino will be staying in the guest house.
Eventually the party breaks up, and Margit comes to put Akin to bed, even if he wants to stay up and listen to Tino more.
What Akin Learned
-- Tino! Who he liked and apparently will die protecting him from child thieves. So he must have stayed around for a bit, since Akin was at least a year older than now when he was in Phoenix himself.
-- A lot more about the Oankali and human conflict and village life.
-- Ooloi can enhance humans. Akin can probably see the changes between Sabra humans and the ones he remembers if he looks back to compare. All humans that the Oankali touched age slowly and will live for centuries****, can't get viruses/bacteria/internal parasites, and are healthy... but sterile. Trader humans can control the doors and walls of a village or ship. Lilith has a perfect memory, enhanced senses and strength (and healing).
-- This is his first real memory of his Oankali parents, besides feeling their presence at his birth. Both are protective: Ahajas is very much so, while Dichaan is more laid-back and go with the flow.
-- The war is obviously a Big Deal to humans, even if most of them just say 'the war' and don't explain it, leaving Akin to wonder if Jace is right about it being a conflict between Oankali and humans.
-- His mother is complicated: she loves her family but also resents the Oankali system of doing things, but also will defend it to Tino. Looking back and with the Sabra experience, Akin can reflect that his mother and Tino are kind of right -- it's not a good choice and it's not fair. OTOH, he can agree with his Oankali parents and Leah and Wray that humans are occasionally terrible people and what if they do destroy themselves?
-- -- Interesting tangent. Akin, through Ari's memories, now remembers a way humans died that had nothing to do with themselves. The Judges offer a similar bad choice to the first residents -- die between the Fiery Sun and the Hungry Earth or go through the Games to try to sustain them all. OTOH, Akin has enough perspective to realize it's a failed system from the perspective of humans/other residents: the Judges live, but... well, all the original Sabrans died, and there was at least one previous round where, if the numbers matched, there could be at least 30-40 blanks from his generation. Possibly more, given turnover. So, while Akin can understand the Judges trying to survive, he isn't too thrilled about them surviving at the expense of other beings. Even if it's intellectually not that different than blanks eating meat or plants. (It does make him wonder that if they can bring people in, why can't they leave? Or ask for help?)
* Scigee apparently is made from an Earth plant and tastes like pig meat. Akin knows this from what humans have told him -- pigs are extinct. Quat is cheeselike.
** Which does answer whether Akin can heal without a scar. Apparently yes if he can work full-out. His Sabra state of less healing so people don't die of malnutrition probably just means things are less likely to scar.
*** Based on canon and Akin's adult perceptions of human emotion, I'd say Tino is infatuated with Nikanj. The two had met before.
**** If I ever hiatus and Akin meets Tazendra, he might wonder about her genes -- her ancestors were clearly genetically engineered from humans (mostly) and some of the longevity switches the Jenoine tampered with may be the same that the Oankali used. OTOH, no Oankali would ever design a Dzurlord.
Akin is nine months old in this memory. Lilith basically is carrying him on her back as she works in a vegetable garden. They walk through the forest and Lilith doesn't mind stopping to let Akin examine things he hasn't seen before, or to point out a hazard. He tells her that he can feel which plants will be toxic, and she reminds him that some plants will hurt him if he even touches them, but that she clears those away from gardens.
He notices someone moving around, and tells her. She asks him to keep a lookout while she works -- he remembers her senses are sharp for a human, but not as good as an construct's. Lilith is clearly worried about the intruder, but Akin is curious and gets annoyed when Lilith turns away when she spots the man's bow and arrows. He'd never seen a resister before, so wanted a good look. (He'd also heard they kidnapped human-looking construct children, which he thought was dumb.)
The man was a bit alarmed when Lilith put on her friendly 'hi, I am from a nearby village' and wanted to know who she had been talking to before. Lilith told him 'my son' and the man took a closer look and wanted to know what was wrong with Akin. He tells her "I was born before the war. There's nothing Oankali about me. I have two parents, both human, and no one told them when and whether they could have kids and what the sex of those kids would be. Now, how is it you were allowed to have a boy?"
Which pisses Lilith off a bit, since dammit, her son. She also snaps his bow in half and tells him that he's not going to bring weapons into the village. He assumes she's a construct, since humans aren't generally that strong, and she tells him she was born 26 years before the war, but, dammit, she has kids in that village and no one is getting near them with a bow and arrows. (Lilith does carry a machete, but for clearing undergrowth.)
Since the man is being a pain, Lilith goes back to cutting down fruits and veggies -- pineapples, cassava, bananas, and a couple of Oankali plants (quat and scigee*) and tells him that if the man is coming, he can help her carry things. She also whispers to Akin to watch him 'without using your eyes'.
The man waits for a bit, then follows and kind of apologies -- he tells Lilith (and Akin) that he left his village because all the other residents were too preoccupied with trying to create life before the war. He'd been a kid during the war, so he tells her that modern tech just isn't real to him any more. He also asks some things about constructs and Akin.
The man tries to talk to Akin, and Akin has to remember 'look at people with your eyes', but answers and asks for the man's name. When the man ignores him, Lilith tells him off. Akin also notices that the man is missing a toe and has scars from life without Oankali healing**. The man finally gives his name as 'Augustino Leal' and tells Akin everyone calls him Tino and asks Akin more questions about his development. Akin can't walk yet, and he notes that it's unusual that he learned to talk so quickly, even for a construct kid. He also takes a 'taste' of Tino, and Tino comments that at least Akin is like a human infant in that everything goes into his mouth.
Lilith says she doesn't know what Akin will grow up to be, since all the adult male constructs were born to Oankali mothers. "If Akin is like them, he'll be bright enough, but his interests will be so diverse and, in some cases, so just plain un-human that he'll wind up keeping to himself a lot.' She also comments that she had two construct kids by the time she left the ship that she couldn't run off and be a resister. Akin reflects that Lilith was sometimes bitter and that she and Nikaanj had had a fight about the conception of her first child.
They return to the village and everyone is all 'new person!'. Sabra!Akin would probably think it was a lot like the way they greet new Blanks, up to and including Tino's WTF reaction. Lilith basically says that the villagers will want to hear everything about him and also comments that some of them might try to drag Tino off after dinner and storytime for some more adult-rated fun, but that if he's feeling overwhelmed no one will take offense if he tells them to go away. Tino says he doesn't mind talking to them, and an impromptu potluck party is arranged.
Akin's Oankali father, Dichaan, takes him from Lilith so she can get dinner ready, and Akin tells him that he likes Tino and wants him to stay -- that Tino was a little afraid and a little dangerous, but mostly curious, which he identifies as a Oankali trait. Dichaan does warn Akin not to be alone with Tino, just in case he's a child thief.
They eat cassava bread with quat and scigee and beans with spices, with fruit for dessert. Akin is still nursing so only eats a bit of food. And Tino tells how he'd arrived at Phoenix after his parents ate some bad fruit and the village took him in and spoiled Tino rotten since he was one of the few human children they'd seen. Originally the Phoenix folks had hoped that Tino and any other kids who had been prepubescent during the war might still be fertile. Nikanj speaks up to say 'nope', and Tino and Nikanj have an awkward moment. For some reason, Tino mildly upsets and greatly interests Nikanj, and Nikanj caused some reaction in Tino***.
Nikanj takes Akin and explains via sensory link that Tino had wanted to stay with the Oankali and Nikanj had handled 'his conditioning'. He'd made an impression on Nikanj by being an eight year old who wasn't terrified of the aliens. Nikanj had wanted to keep him, because it knew his parents would run off, but 'couldn't get a consensus': Oankali are crappy at raising fully human kids. And it didn't want to force the family to stay. So, they made do with 'prints' -- recordings of their genetic code so they could clone them if they needed to and have them born to trader Humans. Nikanj also explains that most humans don't have perfect recall, so Tino may not recognize him. Lilith isn't like that, but Nikanj notes that it's a combination of a natural inclination for good memory processing, plus a few tweaks it made.
Nikanj also explains that Tino was lucky to find them, that other resister villages might be dangerous to another resister. The Onakali don't take steps until they become dangerous to them. "Human diversity is fascinating and seductive, but we can't let it destroy them -- or us.'
Tino describes Phoenix, and notes that it really felt like they were building something new. He also calls their buildings and nice things a distraction from the fact they don't have kids to pass it on to.After a string of suicides and people disappearing, Tino gets sick of things and goes out to look for something better. He then complains that the trader village looks so much more primitive than Phoenix -- if the Oankali have spaceships, why does their village look like it's made of thatched shacks? There's a lot of bitterness here:
"My people never had a chance. They didn't make the war. They didn't make the Oankali. And they didn't make themselves sterile. But you can be damn sure that everything they did make was good and it worked and they put their hearts into it. Hey, I thought 'if we made a town, the... traders... must have made a city. And what do I find? A village of huts with primitive gardens. This place is hardly even a clearing. You got kids to plan for and provide for and you're going to let them slide right back to being cavemen."
This doesn't go over well with everyone. A human woman, Leah comments that all resisters do is build useless houses and kill each other. Akin's Oankali mother, Ahajas, suggests they make more of an effort to win resisters back over, which makes Tino convinced that they'll use him for information. Nikanj interjects to say that they know where all resister settlements are, so Tino doesn't have to say anything, but maybe they should tell resisters 'you all are still welcome if you want to relieve your sterile, pointless lives; but no pressure'. Tino makes a disparaging comment about the lack of Human men in the village being why they live like primitives and Wray, one of those human men (and Leah's husband), tells him that they are building themselves. (Which Tino notes that the Oankali are doing that.)
Lilith attempts to cool things down by telling Tino 'look, ask questions instead of shooting your mouth off', and says that while she's not happy with the Oankali, she points out they hitched their star to humanity's: when the ships leave, they're stuck on Earth, and Oankali biology dictates that they blend with humans. And it is a true blend: the construct adults and second-gen kids look like a true mix. Then there's a tangent about the choice: it's a crappy one, but it's better than no choice at all. She also reveals that the hut they are in is a larval version of the skip, which Akin knew but Tino sure didn't. The Oankali tell it to not grow up to be a ship yet, and help shape it to be a comfortable home for people. They also keep a guest house that is a real wood and thatch building because strange humans can't talk to the walls and floors the way the villagers can. Nikanj notes that Tino will see the difference when he stays in the guest house, and other people use that as an excuse to make dirty jokes about how given how Nika is reacting, there's no way Tino will be staying in the guest house.
Eventually the party breaks up, and Margit comes to put Akin to bed, even if he wants to stay up and listen to Tino more.
What Akin Learned
-- Tino! Who he liked and apparently will die protecting him from child thieves. So he must have stayed around for a bit, since Akin was at least a year older than now when he was in Phoenix himself.
-- A lot more about the Oankali and human conflict and village life.
-- Ooloi can enhance humans. Akin can probably see the changes between Sabra humans and the ones he remembers if he looks back to compare. All humans that the Oankali touched age slowly and will live for centuries****, can't get viruses/bacteria/internal parasites, and are healthy... but sterile. Trader humans can control the doors and walls of a village or ship. Lilith has a perfect memory, enhanced senses and strength (and healing).
-- This is his first real memory of his Oankali parents, besides feeling their presence at his birth. Both are protective: Ahajas is very much so, while Dichaan is more laid-back and go with the flow.
-- The war is obviously a Big Deal to humans, even if most of them just say 'the war' and don't explain it, leaving Akin to wonder if Jace is right about it being a conflict between Oankali and humans.
-- His mother is complicated: she loves her family but also resents the Oankali system of doing things, but also will defend it to Tino. Looking back and with the Sabra experience, Akin can reflect that his mother and Tino are kind of right -- it's not a good choice and it's not fair. OTOH, he can agree with his Oankali parents and Leah and Wray that humans are occasionally terrible people and what if they do destroy themselves?
-- -- Interesting tangent. Akin, through Ari's memories, now remembers a way humans died that had nothing to do with themselves. The Judges offer a similar bad choice to the first residents -- die between the Fiery Sun and the Hungry Earth or go through the Games to try to sustain them all. OTOH, Akin has enough perspective to realize it's a failed system from the perspective of humans/other residents: the Judges live, but... well, all the original Sabrans died, and there was at least one previous round where, if the numbers matched, there could be at least 30-40 blanks from his generation. Possibly more, given turnover. So, while Akin can understand the Judges trying to survive, he isn't too thrilled about them surviving at the expense of other beings. Even if it's intellectually not that different than blanks eating meat or plants. (It does make him wonder that if they can bring people in, why can't they leave? Or ask for help?)
* Scigee apparently is made from an Earth plant and tastes like pig meat. Akin knows this from what humans have told him -- pigs are extinct. Quat is cheeselike.
** Which does answer whether Akin can heal without a scar. Apparently yes if he can work full-out. His Sabra state of less healing so people don't die of malnutrition probably just means things are less likely to scar.
*** Based on canon and Akin's adult perceptions of human emotion, I'd say Tino is infatuated with Nikanj. The two had met before.
**** If I ever hiatus and Akin meets Tazendra, he might wonder about her genes -- her ancestors were clearly genetically engineered from humans (mostly) and some of the longevity switches the Jenoine tampered with may be the same that the Oankali used. OTOH, no Oankali would ever design a Dzurlord.