First question, do you write your story for any particular type of reader?

Your English is immaculate. But the story itself is Russian to the core. In fact, I don't think the average American or West European has enough of a backround to appreciate many bits and pieces of the story. The part where the girl compares the life of the old Soviet era, with its petrified social mores, deadening routines and pioneer's red ties, and the freer current era, and the way the pensioners and the hobo are described is written in a way only a Ukrainian or Russian enamored with the West would write. From the perspective of a person who was also born under communism and lived through the aftermath of its demise, but in a country which is already tightly integrated with the West, such as a Croat (myself being one), a Hungarian or a Czech the idealizing of the new era seems naive, as there is a lot of negative stuff and stuff that is sometimes just as idiotic as something from the communist era (like solving the problems caused  by economic liberalization by more economic liberalization, sleazy bureaucrats crawling at the feet of similarly sleazy bureaucrats from more developed countries, pooh-pooing one's own culture and generously ignoring one's own interests while the West stubbornly and ungenerously preserves theirs). An American or a Brit, on the other hand, would find it difficult to understand the powerful symbolism of the act of wearing jeans, a piece of clothing that was difficult to obtain and carried great prestige in the Soviet Union, or the angry reaction of the bussinessman at the sight of Alisa, because the concepts of spite, of blood-boiling jealousy, and the concomitant lashing out of unreasonable vengenance on others is alien to him. But most of all, it is difficult to tell whether Alisa feels liberated only from industrialized Russian culture, or modern human culture in its entirety. If it is the later, then the remark on red ties and jeans loses much of its value.

The way you describe cahracters is believable, but the way you describe them when they are annoyed or angry is fantastic. The questions that pop up from reading these two pieces alone are: what happened to the humans, and what kind of technological society the alimons are, and what are they fighting over.

Sacrificing one's life to save other lives is not what I meant. The way I envisioned the story, the situation is such that there is no way for the character to survive (so there is no way to quit) and the character cannot save his loved one(s) no matter what he does. He is trully and utterly doomed. Still he chooses to do all that he can.

The moral of the story is that you sometimes can't make things right no matter what you do. And you still do what you can.

For example, an epic struggle of Doc and some other leafeaters (including Dara) with sharpteeth, where the sharpteeth eventually win, as it so often happened in real life. The Gang survives this chaotic ordeal (not being in the "heat of battle"), but not quite the same emotionally.

I think the suicide bomber comparison was not necessary.

I can envision one tale where Doc's death would be meaningful. A story which teaches that, sometimes, heroism can't save you or your loved ones, but it is still the right thing to do.

Europe is so small. We have the exact same weather pattern here, Ducky. Also going to get colder soon.

I do have a name.

Bushwacked, right?

I'll transform the next poster into the amphibian at the beginning of 3.

Nope.

I trust that it'll be soon Midnight somewhere?

Welcome! Nice to hear from you at last.

Dil probably learned the Leafeater language from Ichy. Dil wouldn't have had much opportunity to learn Leafeater due to her lifestyle that is connected with water and the danger she would pose to leafeaters, so they would avoid her like the plague. Ichy on the other hand, is a small creature that lives on fish and other small animals, so leafeaters would tolerate his presence (or at least, being a flyer, he would be difficult to chase off) and he would have had the opportunity to learn their language.

Dil and Ichy were probably underdogs in their former societies. Dil, with her poor eyesight, and Ichy, either being weaker than other members of his species or being a pain in the ass, were the obvious surplus an expanding population would try to get rid off.

As such, they partnered up and eked out an existence for themselves on the fringes of the Valley of Mists. This would be my reconstruction of their pasts.