[ his first thought, actually, had been that she must be from the past -- in the time of the dinosaurs, you know, before people had household appliances. but the talk of husks, of hollowed-out skyscrapers, paints a very different picture; his eyebrows pull together as he starts to imagine it. ]

Polis, [ he echoes. then instinctively translates, ] City.

[ ancient greek comes to him as easily as english, more so in some ways, so his first thought is to wonder at her hometown having a name like that. then again, a lot of places in the world of his time have names derived from ancient greek and latin. it's just a sign of the cultural legacy that's stretched from the past into the present-day, complete with modern gods and demigods like himself. ]

You might not have heard of it, but I'm from New York City. It'd be across the ocean from here. [ if it's still standing. now that's a happy thought. ] New York's a real big city, but it's not as crammed together as this place, and the technology's pretty different too.