Koda spent the walk in step with Stormy, eyes on the backs of those before him, zoning in and out as switched from focusing on their colors to focusing on their whispers. Each of them had a voice he realized, but the quiet words they spoke were utterly alien to him, and sometimes they were so faint he was convinced they’d never been there at all. He’d faltered a couple of times when he caught new whispers in his mind, tasting of old dust and stagnant waters, or of fresh gasps and brittle twigs, but he realized soon enough they were just snakes and lizards and birds and butterflies. Or he thought they were, that's what they felt like, and he occasionally caught glimpses of rustling grasses and flashing colors among the green.

They were minds, he thought, he could taste, and see, and hear [i]minds[/i]. Or he was crazy. Either or. He just didn’t understand them though, which was weird right? He spoke English, the other’s spoke English, he even understood some Japanese! He knew enough of a few of the common languages found in Lightbridge to at least recognize them when he heard them too, so it wasn’t a case of everyone just having a different first language, they just… their thoughts didn’t work the same as vocal words. Or maybe his… gift, maybe his gift was just broken and didn’t work right.

Maybe this Magician could help? This was alike to magic as everything else he’d seen, though his mind quietly rebelled at the thought of playing up the mysticism of this new branch of science by calling it magic. The Magician would surely have some knowledge about how things worked right?

He felt a revolting riot of red wash over him and shivered, Tabitha was… not well. She called a stop and muttered something he was too far back to hear. He sighed, whatever her problems were Koda really wished she sorted them out, but really it wasn’t his place to help her, or any of them really. He flopped onto his ass the second everyone else began to take a break, then leaned back and threw his arms out like a starfish, letting out a loud sigh as he did. He was [i]so[/i] hungry. Why were they stopped? Sure it was a long trek but Koda would kill for some chicken curry, or some spicy crispy taokaenoi seaweed snacks, or even some sugar blasted oatmeal. [color=#d5c7b1]”Ugh,”[/color] he said aloud to Stormy, forgetting the worrying changes to his appearance and drowning out the whispering minds around him with his thoughts of food, [color=#d5c7b1]”I’m [i]so hungry,[/i]”[/color] he complained, not even trying to hide the whine in his voice. He’d sworn off beef, but right now he would fight for a cheeseburger. Or some wings, ooh some barbecue wings...