[i]Something more his speed.[/i]

Silas nodded, unperturbed by the change in scenery. He took a quick glance around, but was not alarmed. One of his bosses turned into a cat. Avalon had poked around his brain more than once. He had fallen into a chamber an been possessed by an entity that had slept for millennia. 

He was not alarmed by benign changes. 

He looked at the chart, squinted a bit at the question, and then fixed his glasses again. 

[b]"Well,"[/b] he started, [b]"I can't know that which I don't know. But um. You don't really know what I don't know until I say what I do, so I guess you're right for starting with that which... Sorry. Yes. Runes. 

"Allegedly, and according to the- the Hávamál? I think? Forgive me, my Norse mythology is rusty. Very. But according to that poem, Odin envied the Norns, the... [i]I believe[/i] they were the destiny makers of Norse mythology, who wrote the fate of the Nine Worlds by carving runes into... Was it Yggdrasil? The tree that supports the worlds. Yggdrasil, I think. And they lived at the bottom of the Well of Urd at the base of the tree, carving the future of the Nine Worlds into the trunk. And. Um. Odin, who was a big man, king og the gods, he was jealous. He wanted that power. But he knew the runes were only for the worthy, and only revealed themselves to such.

"So, like any God in a pissing contest with the universe, he hung himself from the branches of the tree, impaled himself on his own spear, and stared down into the depths of the Well of Urd with no food or water, in tremendous pain, for nine days, until the runes deemed him worthy in his suffering, and revealed themselves to him. They granted him mighty powers beyond that which he already had, because he was... Um. Well, when you engage in sacrificial masochism, I suppose you are now worthy, according to the runes.  

"Which does make a lovely story. 

"But they were really more than likely, ah... Well, historically speaking, as opposed to religiously- I don't want to step on any toes- But historically speaking, they were probably derived from the old Italic alphabets, at the point in history where Germanic mercenaries working for the Roman Empire traveled to the Italian peninsula and were involved in cultural exchange there. And they're written as they are- jagged, and such- because they were generally carved. 

"Well. Except Wyrd. That was added to the Elder Futhark in the 1980s, most likely, or possibly the 16th century if you rely on some patchy evidence. Which is why I was a bit confused. Some people call it Odin's rune. but that's also a patchy place to be, because Odin already had a rune, which, again, I may be wrong- I'm no Norse expert here- just a dabbler- is Ansuz. 

"But if I missed something there, please do fill in the gap. I don't know that which I don't know. And uh. Sorry. For carrying on. I'm a bit of a- Well, you know. I carry on. It's a professor thing. Very sorry. Sorry. Please. Share what you were going to. I would love to know."[/b]

There was no malice or challenge in his statements, but rather a genuine recitation of that which he knew. A summary offered with the intention of being added to.

He leaned in, wide-eyed and curious, staring at the chart of symbols. He knew them, and had a general grasp of their significance. The concept of a word which was more than a word was not a culturally unique one- The talking drums of West Africa, for one, or the Indian concept of the "Ohm" that breathed life into being. 

But, Dr. Whitmore could not know what that which he did not, and if there was one thing he wanted, it was [i]always[/i] a chance to expand his knowledge. Or at least the perspective view of another.