New Trick for Creator Girl - RPLOG
Participants
Date
21/7/476
Log
A moderate crowd gathers. Tis unusual for a Creator to put out the call for gathering, and not one easily denied, even if it comes from a mere cub of them. Said child stands just under the great Creator vessel, perched on a cube of Creator Steel as if to emphasize her position as she waits for everyone to arrive.
Having heard the call from Juliana, Ictus wanders up to the ship and peers up at the girl, he may look a little different from when he last met her as he waves friendily a bit, "Hello Juliana." he smiles.
Mazurek is one of those to respond to the call. The huge draco-iguana had been taking a swim on the beach when the call sounded, which has his dark hide gleaming in the light.
Ryusho had.come along because he had heard all about this stuff, but, to see it after his return from being gone so long is..literally a shock to him, as he seems in a daze just from sight alone in supprise, even towering over most others he still was in shock from the fact that the -idea- of creators being able to actually -be- on this planet..not just ...elsewhere and all was just an idea, a concept, not a reality when he had left on that mission so many months ago, and still finding stuff so straonge to him, for this to be real was...mind blowing to say the least as he stands there, probably not far from Ictus or Mazurek.....
Arimia slips through the crowd, making her way toward the front of it, her cloak pulled about her. She stops once she has a clear view and watches the young Creator. She keeps her distance, however, content to wait near the crowd, in the event that she needs to slip away. As she waits she fishes about in her pockets and pulls out a thin white cylinder, raising it to her muzzle and using a small bit of fire magic to light the tip. Some sort of smoke.
Leian wanders slowly into the area, tail swaying softly behind her. Her ears perked atop her head curiously as she gets near, looking to the child and blinking slightly, her features softening a bit " A child! Awe..." she coos slightly, smiling to her, and looking to the others about her
She is not shy to return the wave towards any that call her name, which has her waving a lot as her name has become something of common knowledge through the city since her arrival. "I'm glad you could all make it," she says. She does not appear to put any effort into speaking, but the dangling metal card at her chest echoes her words loudly, making it easy to understand even over the crowd, "That spirit, Shaila, she taught me a secret, and it was a very hard one. I had to do a lot of research to figure it out." she says, tapping her chin lightly, "But I did, and I want to show."
The Iguana-dragon has been very much out of the loop for quite a while now, for he has this look of one who does not comprehend anything that is being said by the child. Having been hibernating underwater for quite some time, he has missed critical events that he just might have wanted to experience.
Ictus blinks at Mazurek and chuckles a bit, "Hello Mazurek, how have you been?" he now has yellow patterns in his fur and three tails instead of two, he looks to Ryu and blinks at his daze with a tilts of his head, "You ok Ryusho?" he chuckles at Leian and nods at that, "Probably knows more than all of us put together though." he looks to Juliana and nods at that, "I see, what did she say?"
Arimia tugs the hood of her cloak further about her head to try and hide the scowl that twists her features at the mention of the spirit, though she doesn't say anything. She simply keeps her odd eyes on the child, watching and waiting.
Leian tilts her head a bit at the mention of Shaila and her ears perk a bit again " Shaila?" she softly flicks her tail a bit as if the name had sparked something of an interest " Oh, do tell!" she looks to Ictus and blinks a moment " She does? Thats amazing!" she says gleefully " And she is so adorable as well!"
the same could of been said for the large dragon as he blinks and glances down to Ictus, "...This is real right?" he asks then he blinks, ".....am I alright? I was lost in the desert for -months- ...A lot of what I have delt with is far from what most would call -alright- and my current mindset is probably far from 'alright' too, and.........this -is- real right?" he says again simply, "This was barely a -idea- if I remember right before I had my mission I got lost on." he says as he is trying to wrap his mind around it.
"The spirits have their own way of doing things, and at first," admits the Creator, "It made my head hurt something awful trying to figure through it, but I think I understand it." She extends a hand out, "They have more space than we do," she says as if that should make some sort of sense, "Imagine if you were..." she trails off, perhaps noticing the crowd is starting to look fairly baffled. "Let me show instead of saying." She brings back those hands, then thrusts her right hand off to the side, where it seems to just vanish into the air, cut cleanly a little past the shoulder, though it clearly is not painful to her. A shriek comes up in the crowd that parts way, revealing the Creator child's hand hovering there where it has snatched someone's scarf off their neck. It vanishes, pulled back to the child who holds it up triumphantly.
Ictus chuckles at Leian and nods before he looks to Ryu with concern, "I see, yes. This is real and it was a shock to me as well when they arrived." he shrugs though. Then Juliana speaks up and he nods at that, "Wouldn't surprise me..." he blinks at that arm though and stares at the scarf, "How...?" he looks confused a bit and shakes his head, "Impressive..."
Arimia tilts her head as she watches, though grows distracted by the scream, turning quickly with one hand disappearing under her cloak. Once she sees what is going on she turns back to the child, eyes narrowed slightly, before she steps forward. "Is it a device you have created that does this? Or do you do it without such aid? An' if the latter, can you teach it? It could prove quite useful to some. If dangerous if the students were not chosen with care."
Ryusho stands there, looking to ictus then...when that happened he just kinda..stares dumbfounded, as if something just stopped working in his brain, as he stares, without blinking for several seconds before he blinks finally once, then twice, before he hears ictus say Impressive before he sits there, and...stares at Ictus, then back to the kid before he rubs his eyes, "..By the creators.......now I wonder if I'm still in the desert, and have finally gone mad....." he mumbles softly to himself as he looks around and rubs his eyes several times before he flat out -slaps- himself for a moment to make sure...
Mazurek shakes his head slowly, looking from Ictus to Ryusho and then back, "I am afraid I have no clue what this is about. Who is this creature in front of us, and how has this airship been able to defy the natural laws and not topple over from its weight? I am as lost as Ryu here in this regard." He is about to say more when the scream interrupts him, causing him to twirl about in a defensive crouch that includes the spreading of his wings. His carelessness just might end up knocking quite a number of folk over. He spies the hand and the scarf and is struck speechless, but remains staring away from the child afterward thanks to just not knowing what just happened.
Leian jumps in surprise from the scream, looking around a moment, and spots the floating hand in shock " Wha..." she says startled, then looks to the child once it dissapears, and blinks seeing the scarf with her " What just happened?"
The child hops down from the box, approaching the crowd to offer the scarf back, though few are willing to touch the thing that was so recently the focus of such an outlandish act, "I'm not sure. We could try? I will ask your king to speak with mom and dad and pick out a few that I'll try to teach. I should warn, it's pretty hard..." Hard for a Creator, that's encouraging.
Ictus looks to Mazurek and shakes his head with a small laugh, 'Mazurek... She is a creator, you've seen their statues before haven't you?" he smiles though and looks back to the child, "Oh? I'm with Ari in that it'd be fun to try... I admit I'm not much of a mathemagician though." he shrugs a bit, "But if it was hard for you..." he trails off a bit
Arimia moves her shoulders in a small shrug and, if allowed, reaches out to take the scarf and look it over. "Few things worthwhile are easy, child. Don' mean they ain't worth learnin' to do." She gives a small shake of her head and continues. "An' don' jus' look to the king. There are other places you can ask without that won' be as bi... That won' involve botherin' the royalty. The academy, the Freesword Guild. Others. Smart kid like you can figure it out, along with your parents. Far better than most of us here, I'm sure."
Mazurek nods slowly to Ictus after he recovers from his surprise, folding his wings once again, "I..have seen some, but not anything like THIS." He does not part for her, but then again he probably doesn't need to since she could walk right under him without trouble given his size, "How is she talking to us, anyway? She's barely moving her mouth."
Leian shakes her head slightly " A.. Creator?.. I know little of such from where I come from..
Leian shakes her head slightly " A.. Creator?.. I know little of such from where I come from.." she looks about slightly " Tell me more about them perhaps?" she tilts her head, tail twitching behind her " Are they all adorable like this one?"
Ryusho slowly shifts, glancing to the creator, then to Ictus, then..shifting a bit, "I...but.." he stands there a moment, "But......Then What...But.." ...he slowly rubs his eyes, and opens his mouth but then ..rather then saying anything he closes it, as he takes a long deep breath, "Creators help me I either have completely gone insane...and am realising I am stuck in my own mind, or I am just....." he sits there for a moment, "...confused beyond any thought that I have." he says finalyl with no clue how to say what he was feeling...but it is mostly mumbled to himself as he rubs his head..as this has already given him just a bit of a headache.....
The Creator surrenders the scarf to Arimia, "Of course, uh..." She hops back a step, half skipping towards her cube and looking thoughtful, "The ones with the nice jewelry," she says, pointing at a few soul pendants dangling from necks, "Learn the fastest, right?"
Ictus nods to Mazurek and motions to the device around Juliana's neck, "Through that, err... Device is how she is speaking." he looks to Ryu and gives a pinxh, "We are real, you are not in the desert still." he blinks at the child and nods at that, "Yeah, we do." he looks surprised though, "You don't know what these are?" he fingers his pendant a little.
Mazurek turns his gaze to the box that the girl has around her neck, finally NOW noticing the thing, "Is that some sort of translating device or can she understand us easily enough as well?" He rubs his head a little, "Someone is going to have to fill me in on events. I haven't been out of my hibernation for very long, heck I just finished taking a bath." His pendant is definitely out in the open, being bare-chested and all.
Arimia lets out a soft laugh and gives a small shake of her head. She turns the scarf this way and that before handing it back. "After a fashion we do. We... Learn the knowledge stored in the gems here better." She taps one of the gems in her pendant. "If it's not a knowledge in the gem... We learn it at about the same rate as anyone else, I suppose. We're jus' more accustomed to learnin'." She looks over at Ictus with a flat expression before saying, "Of course not, kit. There haven't been any Creators about from the time of the Shatterin' until now. So they'd have to ask an' study to learn about it. An' I'm sure they've had their attentions focused elsewhere. No doubt lots of folk makin' demands of them. No matter how politely phrased."
Leian rubs her head slightly as she watches on curiously, biting her lower lip in a bit of a nervous manner as she holds her pendant softly against her chest, tail swaying slowly behind her, back and forth as she keeps her eyes on the child.
Ryusho himself had his twin pendant rather visible, with the two gems socketed in it, though they have not been removed or swapped in quite a long time, it has been cleaned up and worked on quite a bit, to make it look quite nice, after all the weathering it had suffered while he had been lost in the desert for so many months
"The doctor said it was a," the Creator lifts her hands, making air quotes, "Local Curiosity. She sounded keen about it but didn't tell me much else." She squints at them, "Those gems are like memory devices?" she says, the translation coming through quite roughly as an unequivalent term is slammed into and worked around by clever Creator Technology, "I never heard of that before. Uh, well... let's try?" she pats her thighs as one might summon a favored pet, "Come on, let's get two of you and we'll try it."
Mazurek raises his brow slightly with the motions given by the girl. He recognizes it even if he shouldn't. Curiosity gets the better of him and he heads over to the girl, his long strides making it a short trek to begin with, "I..guess I'll be one of your lab rats, or whatever."
Arimia reaches up to pluck the smoke from her muzzle and uses another small bit of fire mathmagic to incinerate it, letting the ashes fall to the ground. She pushes her hood back and moves toward the child. "Here's hopin' I don' end up gettin' cut in half by tryin' this," she mutters wryly. She then says, a bit louder, "I... Suppose they are? They store the knowledge an' skills of the one who imprints the gem. Be it a merchant or an archer."
Ryusho mrphs softly, as he looks over, and..slowly he takes a deep breath, "..I almost want to...say I will try just..to help me..figure out if this is..more if a real thing but....it seems you already have....your two joiners....though I don't know if my mind could deal with it well enough if I tried..now that I think of it.
Ictus shrugs at Mazurek and shakes his head, "It does other things as well, I'm told anyway..." he looks nods to Arimia and shrugs, "True, though... I figured the others had told them about it..." he looks to Juliana and blinks at that as he processes the words, "Yeah you could say that." he thinks a bit but Arimia and Mazurek speak up first so he shrugs and steps back
Leian grips softly at the middle of her own arm, crossing her other arm over her chest " What about what you mentioned about Shaila?" she tilts her head a bit " What was it she spoke of? Was it this? Or is there more?"
She begins to speak, and the device has quite some difficulty translating the esoteric things she is saying. The words are foreign, and the device fumbles terribly trying to come up with close equivalents, but it all sounds like nonsense. The girl frowns at this, then pulls up the card, tapping at it a few times before taking a slow breath, reconsidering her tact perhaps. "Oh," she says towards Leian, "She is the one that taught me the trick, or at least pointed me in the right direction."
Mazurek finishes his approach to the girl while she is having trouble with her device. He towers over her two or even three times over, or more depending on how tall she is. This is lessened a bit before too long, settling into a crouch only to have a seat right on the ground. It helps some, but not completely.
Ictus hmms? at Leian and smiles as Juliana explains, though he tilts his head in confusion at the mass of esoteric words and shakes his head, "Hmm, wonder what she said?" he looks over at Ryu and Leian curiously
Ryusho looks over, as..he was really wanting to of volentiered, as it kinda shows, but he keeps quiet, the main reason though is he wanted to get a closer look and make sure this was real though he then makes a weird face, "I almost want to say...in some part of my brain that -made sense- ...and yet I don't have a clue why..."
Arimia frowns as she listens to the child, banded tail flicking behind her. She shakes her head slightly, crossing her arms. "Don' think this is the best way to teach us. Way I see it there's three options, though two are really the same reversed. First would be talk to the Blackbacks. They can explain the soul gems better than I, by far. An' then you could try to put the knowledge on a gem. Not sure how that works, exactly. I'm not a scholar on the subject of gems. Second would be to learn our language an' teach us that way. Somethin' that would probably be easy enough for you, with that little device around your neck. Third is that in reverse. Teach some of us your language. I can make some suggestions as to who if need be. Though I'm sure the Academy is full of those would would jump at the chance."
Leian looks up to Ictus' inquisitive sound and tilts her head at him slightly " What?.. I.. wasn't sure. Never hurts to be sure. Especially with those questioning if she was.. Real I guess?" she tilts her head towards Ryusho as if to point him out
Juliana shakes her head, "Not that easy. We already speak almost the same language, even if your accent is hilariously thick. Just knowing the words won't do it. You don't know enough... stuff. Imagine trying... to teach someone..." she looks around slowly, and back at the city, "Blacksmithing, but they didn't know what copper or iron was, or even what metal was good for or that things get soft when you heat them up. You start giving a speech about how to properly warm up the furnace and how to hammer things right and they're just staring at you like you're talking crazy." She notices a huge being standing in front of her, and looks back at him, up and down, "You're adorable," she decides, "And big. Adorably big." Creator approved.
Arimia reaches up to lightly tug at one of the hoops in her left ear and says, "I'm sure we don' think we got an accent. Most of us anyway. But I get your meanin'. So you'd have to teach us the stuff we need to learn before we can learn the rest. Which, I imagine, would take quite a long time. There's still the option of tryin' to impart the knowledge by way of a soul gem. I don' know if it's at all possible. Like I said. You'd have to speak to the Blackbacks about that. They ain't... Ah... They should be able to help figure if it's possible or not. As well as answer any questions you have 'bout our... 'local curiosoity.'" She glances over at Mazurek before turning her gaze back to Juliana and saying, "I don' see it."
Ictus nods to Ari and then chuckles at Leian, "Yeah, but you can't be sure about this..." he ponders that and nods, "Well, we should get you to a soul gem smith then... They might be able to help?" he looks back to Ari as she speaks and shrugs, "Neither do I do be honest."
Ryusho mrphs a bit, "At least he is adorably big." he says softly after a moment, glancing over at how Juliana was 'admiring' mazurek, as he shifts, though he thinks a bit, ..though he understood what she ment, he..feels that would be an odd way to describe it though since he is a blacksmith himself, but...thinking about it, it would make sence....kinda, you would have to start from an even more basic idea, "You would need ot start...by explaining what the hard stuff is, or explain even more basic..You would .need to start with the absolute...most simple parts...to begin to get a grasp, and..work upwards slowly...helping them slowly peice things together..in a way to make it very easy to understand..." he says softly, though loud enough to be heard
Mazurek smiles down to the child, managing to do it without showing too much teeth. If the child knows her animals she would be able to pick out his Iguana features right away since they're not hiding in the slightest. Being called adorable brings about a blush to his already dark features, "Umm. Thank you, little one. You're adorable as well. And I have knowledge of the Craft, as I needed to if I wanted to make myself the best things possible." He pats his lap, "Would you..like to have a seat, or am I asking too much?"
Leian sways her tail lightly behind her, seeming unsure of what more to say, as she listens to the conversations around her carefully and curiously, tail swaying more behind her. Rubbing idly at her left ear as she watches the scene before her unfolding
Juliana blinks at him, "Ohmygosh," comes her voice, untranslated, "You're like a big scaly UNKNOWN!" she squeals, thoroughly amused and grinning ear to ear, "Oh, uh, probably shouldn't though. Mom and dad will get nervous. Uh, I'll ask about the orb thing and see what they say, but no promises. Hey, did you guys read the mail?" she says, tone implying she's changed topics quite abruptly. "Everyone, I mean _everyone_ is talking about this planet, and you all. You're all over."
Ryusho can't help but blink and cant his head a bit about this comment about the mail considering well.....no he has not since he has only just returned unless..it is a mail..thing he doesn't know about.
Arimia tilts her head slightly and looks at the child. With her height she's probably closer to eye level standing than Mazurek is even when seated. "Most of us have not read it personally. But most have heard, I'm sure. An', I believe, most would rather we were not. Promise is ours. It was given us, an' findin' that we may lose it to some unknown group of Creators who may try to run us off, or worse, is... Unsettlin'."
Ictus blinks at Juliana and tilts his head, "Mail... Oh, I remember hearing something about messages being recieved... But I didn't read them myself." he frowns a bit as he looks to Arimia and stares as she voices his own thoughts, "Indeed..."
Mazurek is taken aback by her outburst, not certain at all if she is genuine in her apparent excitement or if it is something else. It takes a moment, though, for him to understand the rest of her meaning, but he has to add, "A big..scaly...what? Your translator thingy didn't translate whatever it was you wanted to say. As for mail, we don't know when they arrive from you guys until the Machine Priests gather everyone to activate those ancient machines and read whatever it is that may be there. It was quite a surprise when we found a very old message regarding when you were to first arrive here."
"It's a holiday thing," she says as if that should explain it, "And gosh, hope not. You are all such nice people. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen," she frowns, "Which is why I've been posted all about how great you are on my favorite UNKNOWN, er, bulletin board. So others can see it. They think you're pretty great too."
Ryusho glances to Ictus, "It sounds like we..so to speak, are...popular with others who we do not even know?" he say ssoftly, "Thats..an interesting thing to think of..."
Mazurek shakes his head, finally shifting to actually lay on his side on the ground..and maybe finally be eye level with her, "Just how many are we talking about here, and just how is it that you are in contact with them all? I mean, with your ship here just..being here, there's no sign of it having....well....moved since it got there. How is it not falling over, anyway?" Back to that question again. This time spoken right to the child and not the Kitsune.
Ictus nods to Mazurek and hmms, "I think I know what had happened..." he looks to Ryusho and nods at that, "Yeah, it is." he looks a little perplexed at the bulletin board but shrugs at Maz, "I would have told you had I known myself."
Arimia gives a small shake of her head. "Perhaps that'll be helpful." She doesn't sound like she thinks it would, however. She sighs and says, "I hope things are sorted to the point where we can keep Promise, child. But, as some here can tell you, I'm sure, I've not the best opinion of folk, Creator or no, an' I think things will not end neatly or even politely in such regards."
Leian rubs her head softly " Cant say I.. Noticed anything about any letters.. I know nothing about what your talking about.. What is this really about?" she tilts her head, looking quite perplexed and confused about what was being talked about
She looks back at it, "What, that thing, it's just using UNKNOWN." she says like everyone should know and is taught at an early age, which may be true, if you're a Creator. "And we're still on the, uh." She catches herself, "We have a big.... net, a web. We can send words and pictures and stuff even from star to star. It's not as fast as me and you talking, but pretty close!" She looks at Leian then, "Is that you Woof?" she asks, misidentifying entirely. Damn, all the canines look so similar, "You mean how many read my post. Not that many, maybe a few hundred thousand?"
Arimia rub at the side of her muzzle and mutters, "A few hundred thousand?" She shakes her head slightly then sighs. "That's certainly more than a few."
Mazurek clears his throat, almost choking, "A..few..." He coughs a little, "A few hundred thousand...is considered not many?" He slumps a little and ends up focusing on a bit of math that has him transforming into his much smaller, seven foot self. He loses all draconic influence and becomes a full-fledge iguana. His shorts remain the only thing he wears, and he has at least made a pair that easily shift along with him without trouble or there'd definitely be a lot of blushing involved.
Ryusho blinks as he looks at 'woof' as he quirks his brow then, looks to the creator kid as he sits there, "Wait...so..." he stands there a moment, "IT is like..a giant..net, web.." He thinks, "It is like a bunch of lines, from one place to another...that you can share pictures and..words on." He thinks, "..Ooh.." he says softly, "...I think I understand." he says softly, "It is like lines, that all connect ..a bunch of .." he thinks "Like strings, if everyone here was holding a string, that coudl somehow ..the other end of the strings they held was held by everyone else...and then you could like..move...paintings...pictures, and messages..writings back and forth to eachother on it." he says after a moment, "...but it is really fast....and.....goes a long ways." he says softly...as he seems to be strugglign to figure out how to phrase it, but he -does- seem to get the idea...
Ictus blinks at that and nods in cunfusion, "Okay..." he blinks at that and looks around, "Who? Wulf? No, she's not here. Sorry." he blinks at that and chuckles, 'A few hundred thousand may not be impressive to you..." he looks to Armia and shrugs, "The first text says we were created to tame worlds, and that we have done that many times over does it not?" he looks to Ryu and chuckles
Juliana shakes her head, "I don't know about that," she admits, "But yea, the board isn't all that big. Real popular people are seen by hundreds of billions every time they put up a picture or some words." Her words have slowed as she becomes more careful how she phrases matter of high technology, "Anyway. There are a lot of guys that want to put their money together and buy your planet before someone else does."
Ryusho suddenly stops for a moment and looks at her, "...Excuse me? ..To -Buy- Our planet? our -home-?" he says, ...as in he almost sounds like he ..could actually be offended by such an idea....
Leian tilts her head slightly in confusion " Buy the planet? For what?.. And why?... What about us?"
Arimia sighs and rubs at her muzzle again. "An' why can't we keep our own damn planet?" She raises a hand, giving it a small shake to try and forestall any attempt at answering. "Ah well. We'll figure somethin' out. An' if we don' an' they try to take our planet away from us, there'll be blood. Mostly all of it ours, I'm sure, but still."
Ictus blinks at that and sighs, "Well, if it must be owned... Can we make the money ourselves?" he looks curious before he sighs at Arimia and gives her a flat look, "Indeed..."
And all the faces fall. She waves a hand, "Not like that, come on. We love you guys," she assures, "If they get it, they'll just sit on the deed and let you guys do what you've been doing. You're perfect right the way you are. But if we don't do it, what happens when some big... jerk... comes along with 'big ideas' and grabs it up? I mean, someone has to own it, and I don't think you have any money? And I'm not talking those coins."
Mazurek snorts, now in his normal and very unintimidating form, "The planet is not for sale, little one." He reaches out and brushes one of her arms with the back of a hand, where she will be able to feel the characteristic roughness of his scaled hide, "We have been here for hundreds of years, and while we do not have the knowledge you or your people do, there will be resistance to the extreme."
Ryusho Sits there, "We are not property." He says softly, himself, "A sword, a shield, armor, clothes..Thats all items, those can be owned..." he says softly with a slight shake of his head, ".....I'm not for sale..." he then just kinda says to himself...
Arimia tilts her head, one hand moving under her cloak and says, "No. We haven't any of your money, I think. Is there a way we could get some? I am sure there is something in our land of value that we could trade off. Question is if it is valuable enough. Or perhaps there are... Other methods."
Ictus looks to the others and shakes his head, "I think they want to buy it for us, is what she is saying." he looks at Arimia and ponders, 'Yeah, that's true."
Leian looks to Ictus and nods a moment " Thats... Kind of what it does sound like, doesn't it?" she tilts her head curiously, tail swaying behind her a bit as she contemplates " Like to protect us from those who might... Do something?"
She bounces back as she's nudged. As if by magic, or cleverly hidden cameras, two other Creators emerge from the vessel, moving rapidly to collect their child even as she tries to dance away from them, clearly not wanting to abandon the conversation just yet, "Exactly. We buy it for you, so you don't get bothered. I told you, they absolutely adore you guys. They hang on every word I tell them. They're going crazy with jealousy that they can't be here instead and meet you all."
Ryusho blinks a bit, "But...How can they buy our planet if we are not selling it, when...we own our planet..." he means we as a whole..confused dragon....
Arimia flicks her ears and mutters distractedly to Ryusho, "The point is, despite what was promised us, we don' own it. Else this wouldn't be occurin'." She speaks up louder then, "So why not arrange such, an' charge? Get an area set up, an'... Made safe, where they can meet us. Paid tours, as it were. Probably wouldn't be profitable enough by itself, but... First thing that... Second thing that came to mind."
Mazurek had only brushed, not nudged, but that was beyond the point, considering what happened immediately afterward. He jerks to his feet and finds himself staring once again, this time at the more..adult Creators who have appeared. His surprise is such that he actually transforms again, defensive instincts kicking in, "Who are these two that have come?" Perhaps it is a mistake, but he quickly moves to place himself between the girl and them.
Ictus waves to the parents friendily and nods to Arimia, "Indeed, it seems so." he blinks at Mazurek as he gets in the way and sighs as he pulls him away, "Mazurek! They are Juliana's parents! Leave them be."
Leian looks up at the newly arrivaled parents of the child, tilting her head slightly as curiousity sweeps her " So.. How many of you all are there, anyway? And what plans might these others have, if any are known, to do with us?"
The parents hardly react well when the aggressor moves to hide their child. One draws something that looks something like a Creator Scorcher, if one didn't have five hundred years of wear and tear on it. Juliana squeals when she sees it, "Don't hurt scaly UNKNOWN!" she urges as she dashes forward, running right between the dragon's legs to get to her parents with all due haste. The mother wraps her up in her arms and begins lecturing her and looking grateful to have her back as the father slowly lowers the device, uncertain.
Ryusho had instinctively began to reach for his weapon himself, "HE was trying to protect her from them since he didn't know who they were, Lower the ewapon!" he says without thinking, "HE only had her safety in mind, and didn't know you were her parrents!" he calls out ..actually..not being agressive, but..basically saying 'what the hell lower the weapon he was tyring to do a -good thign-
Ictus grumbles at Mazurek and shakes his head with a scowl, "Mazurek... I know you just woke up but seriously? That was reckless and stupid." he growls a bit before he bows to the parent units in apology, "My deepest apologies, he meant no harm. Ryusho is right... He was only trying to protect Juliana."
Mazurek has no knowledge whatsoever with Creator Tech, having been oblivious to too much in his absence from civilization and all. The outburst from the girl tells him that he was about to have something happen to him...but it doesn't really click as to what. he calls out in confusion as well as curiosity, "Don't hurt me? Just what is that thing supposed to do? And what the blazes is she even calling me?" He glances to Ictus and then back to the Creators, bowing to them, "Mazurek is what I am called here. I have a protective instinct that sometimes gets me into trouble, even if it threatens my life."
Arimia sighs and rubs the side of her muzzle again. She looks at Ictus and says, "And you lot say I'm hot headed. Right." She shakes her head slightly and reaches up to pull her hood about her head again. "Don' even think things through. If there were those among the Creators who wished the child harm they would have had plent of time before ever getting here. The only threats to the young one are from those of Promise. They are right to watch over their young."
Leian sighs and shakes her head softly, ears flat upon them a bit " This is suddenly getting far out of hand.. Please stop fighting before someone gets hurt.. Or an accident happens.. Especially with children around!"
The father holsters his curious little device, "Sorry, you just startled us something fierce. Little rascal can't resist causing trouble, sorry if she's been any bother to you. It's been a long day," he says in his best 'Disengaging parent' voice, "And it's time we tucked her in."
"But I'm not even tired!" Juliana complains, but to no avail, for even the Creators are powerless before their parents.
Ictus looks to Mazurek and sighs, "If it's anything like Mirana's... Creator Scorcher... It fires light that can eat through metal." probably not the best description but oh well. He looks to Arimia and laughs a little, "You are, what Mazurek did was just foolish." he nods though and sighs, "And yes, there are threats here... But not from us. I hope..." he looks to Leian and nods at that
Mazurek draws a hand back to rub the back of his head, "I'm one of those who attack only when provoked or startled. I have an adopted son who loves to get into trouble. Fortunately he's got tutors to keep him out of trouble when he is with them." Did he just say something mutually exclusive?
Arimia lifts a hand in a wave as the child is carted off and turns away. She fishes in her cloak and pulls out another of her smokes, lighting it the same as the first. "I am not hot headed, kit. I've just no time to waste on being polite an' playin' word games." She takes a drag from her smoke then exhales slowly. "An' there's less danger from my side of the town than there could be. I've seen to that. If they wish to go for the Creators... Well, it's a complicated form of suicide, but it's their choice. But children are off limits. I have made those who are so inclined painfully aware of that."
Ryusho Mrphs softly as the kid is indeed carted off as he rubs his head, and then sighs a bit, glancing around, as he thinks, "I suppose I need to head back and..start working at trying to figure otu what I have and all still, so I can start.trying to get back into running my own forge again, Or at least get so I can understand how to do this myself once more.."
Leian approaches the creators, wagging her tail softly as she tilts her head at them " You have such a lovely daughter.. And your such wonderous parents." she murrs softly " Tell me more about yourselves?"
The mother makes polite sounds, but is quite focused on carting Juliana off, which she does, both gone back into the vessel which closes up behind them as if it has never opened to start. The father is left behind, but with his wife and child safely squirreled away, he seems more relaxed, "Stephen," he introduces himself, "We're not usually so on edge, but alien world, only child. You understand, I hope?"
Mazurek nods, "We understand all too readily, what with the threats we've faced for many years with the Shadow Creatures and the War-like nations. Alien world to you, but home to us. You have the ability to see everything while we still have not yet seen everything of our home." At least, he hasn't ever seen a complete map. Not that he's looked for one, anyway. He adds, "I've not seen my mate since I woke today, which makes me wonder if he's hibernating as well."
Ictus blinks at Ari and nods at that, "Very well..." he hmms? and nods at that, "That's good, though I am not entirely convinced that is true." he shrugs though and nods to Ryi, "Alright, I'll see if I can explain some things to you later." he chuckles at Leian and blinks at that, "I have no children of my own... But I can see why you are so protective." he looks to Mazurek and nods at that, "Indeed."
Leian nods as her ears fall on her head " I know how that can be, Sir.. Like an unfamiliar village.. Or cavern.. Or woods.. One is cautious about their family being in such, not knowing how dangerous it could be."
"It doesn't help that we've raised such an inquisitive little trouble maker. We love her, but she takes years off our life on a regular basis. It's what we get for raising her to be an explorer. As for the other, we can't see 'everything', but we did get a nice peek at the planet before we came down. Looking from a distance is nothing like actually visiting though," explains Stephen. "We'd show you around, but there are a lot more of you than there is space, and it's the only ship we have."
Arimia tilts her head slightly and glances at Ictus. "You are not convinced of what? That I would do what I can to ensure the safety of children? Shows how little you nobles pay attention. An' I said the danger is less than it could be. Not non-existant. I an' mine cannnot be everywhere." She takes another drag from her smoke and glances back at the Creator. "She gathers protectors at any rate. The big one over there," She jerks a thumb at Mazurek. "An' others besides. While I caution you not to let your guard down, such would only invite trouble, were unpleasantness to occur you would not find yourself without help from those on this... Alien world."
Ictus hmms? at Stephen and nods at that, "I see..." he ponders a bit and smiles though, "Don't suppose you have map of Promise?" he looks at Arimia and raises an eyebrow at that, "I believe you do your best, yes. At least, I hope you do. But that is a good point."
Mazurek inclines his head slightly, "I might suggest taking only those of us that are interested in such a ride who wear these pendants. If the ship should get into trouble with whatever we may encounter then we can help defend you and yours. At the same time we'd be able to finally see just how diverse our own home is. We have not explored much due to the terrain being inhospitible beyond a certain point."
Stephen raises his shoulders, "It's all stored UNKNOWN. I could draw it, but you wouldn't enjoy the result. I'm no artist, or cartographer.
Leian tilts her head a bit as she looks up at Stephen " So.. Is there anything you can tell us of these other beings who wish to.. Protect us?" her tail sways behind her
Mazurek shakes his head, "We would be able to draw it ourselves, really. We possess some who could draw the map very well. some of the best aren't even afflicted with the need to have these pendants, even."
Ictus looks at Maz and sighs, "Yes, we could. But there are gifted out there with less than good intentions as well." he shrugs though and looks to Stephen with a nod, "I see, ah well..." he looks to Leian and tilts his head curiously, "You mean the spirits? I doubt our creators know much of them." he ponders a moment and shakes his head
"Juliana knows more than I wish she did," sighs out Stephen, "I know she showed you that... thing... she can do, breaking all the laws of motion/math with that adorable smile on her face while she's at it."
Arimia flicks an ear and says wryly, "Less than good. Cute. There are soulless out there with downright nasty intentions. Not jus' less than good." She looks back to Stephen and asks, "So you'd be less able to teach us that trick than she? She tried to make a start of it, but from what I understand we lack the basic concepts necessary to even make a start."
Leian nods slowly as her ears fall back on her head " Children can sometimes learn quite quickly, getting them into alot of trouble as they get.. Confident?"
Mazurek rubs his muzzle a little, "Speaking of knowledge, she imparted upon us something that is very disturbing. She said that there are those who wish to buy our home right out from under us. what is going on that we are not even aware of?"
Ictus hmms at Arimia and shrugs, "Still less than good..." he ponders a bit more as he looks at Steven before finally speaking up, "Have you ever heard of the beings we call Shadows? Formless things that can take a being and possess them, though there are other kinds as well..."
"Sinclair just about..." it trails off as translation fails, but then comes back, "She said it was like how the ship gets from one star to the next quickly, oh, you heard about that?" he asks, sighing and rubbing behind his head, "It's why we came, don't you remember? We saw the planet up for sale, and received your landing signal, figured it was worth a detour to look over at least. Huh, yea, heard of them, haven't seen any, can't say I want to really, the way you describe them."
Arimia gives a small shrug and says, "They ain't all bad. Shadows that is. Used to be we were at war with them. Some still hold to their hatred due to that. Now... There are some with more peaceful intentions. Or at least that is what they claim, an' they haven't shown otherwise yet."
Ictus nods at that and hmms, "Yes, I meant before you came here? Did you know of them?" he looks to Arimia and nods at that, "True..." he looks away a little, "My brother was among the taken..."
Mazurek shakes his head, "I do not remember for the simple reason of being asleep, hibernating in my underwater lair for quite some time. I still have not yet figured out just how long I have been asleep. A few seasons? A year? Two? The last thing I can recall going out with a group for was to explore a cave that had interesting things in it, but collapsed when something of your technology exploded."
Leian tilts her head slightly " Yes, your daughter mentioned it.. I was.. I am sure.. We are, rather.. Curious about these others trying to.. Protect us?"
"Bunch of UNKNOWN think it's their mission in life to protect you, like, well, like I just rushed out here to protect Juliana. They see you as something... innocent, to be protected. The feelings on both side are getting heated as the legal tangle is just starting to become public. You would not believe how much trouble your original creating business is in right now."
Arimia lets out a soft snort and says, a bit disbelievingly, "Innocent? We may know little of what goes on among you Creators, but... Few on this world are innocent, I'm afraid. But I suppose we shouldn't disabuse the notions of those willing to try and help us keep our home."
Ictus shrugs as his question goes unanswered and sighs, "Maybe I was wrong..." he mumbles to himself before looking to Stephen again, "Very rarely is anything innocent I'mm afraid..." he sighs and shakes his head, "Though... What would most do... If they bought our world?" he braces himself for the worst
Mazurek slowly crosses his arms with a slow tilt of the head, "So what you are trying to tell us is that there are those amongst you who have no desire to ever enlighten us any further than we have done for ourselves? We do not see things as you do regarding the world. They speak of buying our home out from under us with the intent of protecting us. Are they so afraid of us that they would think we would rival their power?"
"That's an interesting hop," speaks Stephen, "But you've got people crossed. The ones worried about you -that- way would rather just send enough explosives to do to this planet what's already been done to the moon." He hikes a thumb up at it, "You wouldn't even see it coming, just a momentary glimpse of something in the sky a split second before it was all done. I'm rather hoping it doesn't go that way. If you can't buy it yourself, which I don't think you can, having the peaceUNKNOWN grab it up is the next best idea. Least then no one can go doing anything rash without consequences. Besides, innocence is subjective. To them, you're all like newborn babies, wide eyed and unknowing."
Leian nods softly a bit " That would be wiser and safer than... Explosives.. It would be quite unpleasant.. If any of us survive.." she frowns sadly at the thought
Arimia scowls and says, "I'd rather it not go that way myself. As for us buyin' it ourselves... Not without help. Were we to try an' sell stuff for your coinage or what have you, we'd have to have a middle man. Which would mean havin' someone we trusted to do it. Same for jus' about anythin' else. 'Cept maybe stealin' what we needed to buy Promise. But even then... Stealin' from a vault here is nothin' easy. Takes a lot of plannin' an' skill to pull off, no matter which route we went. I imagine a Creator vault would be even harder to crack. An' certain tricks I would try, like forgieries an' infiltratin' the staff, wouldn't work in such situations. Not for us. Again, it would involve findin' a middle man we could trust. All said an' done it sounds like we need an advocate among the Creators."
Mazurek nods slowly, "What was done to the moon is what caused our prediment for the past several decades in both the Shadows and the Soulless. I was there when that message was first received, but I had to read the recordings of the revelation to find out that people had jumped to the conclusion that it was an attempt at contact from the Creators. It had been speculated that the Shadows were sent by the Creators as some sort of punishment for not receiving the message in time. Was the explosion something that these warmongers you hint at caused instead?"
Ictus looks to Maz and shrugs, "We aren't all that different... On the inside anyway..." he blinks at that and tilts his head, "Explosives huh?" he shudders a bit and shakes his head, "Would be a sad day." he looks at Eri and shakes his head, "Stealing would be one way to go about it, but even if we could? What do you think would happen if we just showed up with... However much is needed to buy a planet?" he looks at Maz and ponders that a bit
He shakes his head, "Your biggest hurdle there is moving enough material to make enough before someone catches on and bans sales from a planet you don't actually own right now. You'd be selling someone else's materials right now." He shakes his head at Mazurek then, "We don't know what caused that. We'd need a lot more equipment than we have on us. We're surveyors, not full grade scholars."
Mazurek nods slowly, "I do have a Scholar Gem stored away, but I have not yet done a thing to begin to learn its knowledge. To this end we could help you with this again, but it would more than likely need a Dragon who has studied the Scholar Gem to be of best use. Given enough time, I could do that."
Leian frowns and shakes her head softly " Surely you might have something that can help us.. Or at least to help us gain further interest in those who wish to help us, at the least, so that they do not lose interest?
Selena makes her way along to the ship's site, rubbing her eyes for a moment and muttering something to herself before she waves in greeting to the beings gathered. "I haven't seen you for a while." She comments idly to Mazurek, moving over to Arimia to give the raccoon a friendly hug in greeting. "...Discussing the planet? I asked around about that. If we could get the church to hand over its records of all the messages you sent, do you think someone would be able to help us look for something useful there? I mean, the planet isn't named promise for nothing. Has Juliana been staying out of trouble?"
Any day is a good day for a walk and Wulf fely like taking a walk to the creator ship... close behind Selena whom she pounces when she arrives. "Whats all this about planets? Have i not been reading the news as well as I should have?" Wulf smiles, her fluffy tail wagging.
Arimia looks to Ictus and shakes her head. "Improbable as it is, that's the easy part. Jus' gotta lie enough. An' don' make the rookie mistake of stealin' exactly as much as you need. It's always supspicious when twenty thousand crown goes missin' an' someone shows up the next day to buy a twenty thousand crown horse an' cart, you know? Steal more, or a bit less an' hope for good will to fill in the rest. Then claim that it's a combination of charity an' a hidden cache of Creator coinage we found in some ruin buried under the sand. There are methods of fakin' the proper amount of wear." She looks back to Stephan and says, "I wasn' thinkin' the raw materials so much as produced goods. Though even then it would be difficult enough to raise that much, I imagine. Either way... I suppose our first step in anythin' as far as that is concerned is findin' an advocate. Somethin' we'll need help with, if you all in there are willin'." When Selena walks over she hugs the wolf in return, then lightly leans against her.
Stephen looks thoughtful a moment, "Well... You do have a unique product. You are the only alien species that we made, after all." He taps his foot on the ground, clad in its unknown materials, "Cultural items could sell rather well, curiosities. I'm not an expert on that, though. I deal in ores and deposits." He spots Wulf and does a better job identifying her than Julie did, "Ah, Wulf? You just missed her," speaks the adult Creator.
Ictus peers at Ari and shakes his head at that, "It may work... But I still wouldn't like it." he looks to Selena and chuckles at that with a shrug, "Just the usual I suppose, you missed her demonstration." he looks at Stephen and tilts his head, "We do?" he narrows his eyes then and shakes his head, "You aren't suggesting ourselve are you?" he huffs a bit
Mazurek turns to Wulf when the subject matter shifts a little, "You just missed her, as well as me being the foolish guardian by trying to protect her from her parents. They only came out when I tried to coax her into my lap. Well...it was after that and I brushed her arm a little. The topic of discussion right now, to put it simply, is that we are in danger of being wiped out by warmongers from the stars." He then addresses Ictus, "He said cultural artifacts, not slave labor."
Selena chuckles quietly and sighs. "Well, I asked. No comment at all on that?" She queries again. "Think there might be something in the message banks we could use to gain leverage?" The wolfess nods a little disappointedly at Ictus's comment, shaking her head. "I'll admit I'd rather not try to steal from them at this point either, but that's neither here nor there.It's a means to the ends. And - Mazurek? I asked if she was staying out of trouble. Wulf asked if she'd missed anything."
"Slave labor? Why would we buy wild slaves when we could..." he trails off, letting that thought die on the vine, "Artifacts. Jewelry, swords, armor, things that say 'This is us, this is how we do things.' People go wild for that kind of thing, especially when its made by hand, paw? Hand." he settles on hand, peering at the hands of those around him, definitely hands.
Leian's tail sways softly as she listens to the conversations quietly, ears twitching on her head slightly as she " So, you want our equipment? To sell to you? Showing what we do, and our culture?" she tilts her head
Wulf flicks her ears in interest with all that is going on, too and fro and left and right. "Missed whom? And warmongers from the stars? That is no good at'all nope." she looks over towards Stephen with a slight smile. "Well... you already seem to know my first name it seems, so who do I have the pleasure of talking to myself?"
Arimia flicks her tail slightly and says, "Don' care if you like it. It would be an action of last resort, simply due to the difficulty that would undoubtedly be involved." She turns back to the creator and says, "What would the likelyhood of an investment or the like be? You say your interest is ores an' deposits. Is there enough of such that if we were to get a group to invest that we could pay off the loan they gave us through the selling of the ores and the like? A bit of a long shot, I understand, as any such group could easily jus' buy the planet an' mine it all for themselves. But if we could find a group so inclined to help us..."
Mazurek smirks toward Selena, finally answering her initial question, "I haven't been around because I have been in hibernation until today." He looks around to the larger group thoughtfully, "That might work if we have enough minerals. We need to mine the more rare ores to craft the best gear anyway. Perhaps if we mined and crafted the best stuff we could give our Prospector Creator here what he will need to help us keep our home safe and sound?"
Ictus hmms? at Maz and shrugs, "I thought that Stephen meant something else..." he nods to Stephen and relaxes at that, "Alright..." he looks to Ari and shrugs, "If I were in their position? I'd be suspiscious, that's all I am saying..." he nods at that and looks to the creator again, "Indeed, cultural artifacts... And ore? I suppose that's not much to you though..."
He shakes his head, "I won't be ferrying illicit cargo. What you make, you own. Raw ore, there's lots of laws about that, and you're not the legal owner of it. I could lose my license, lose my ship, lose everything. I understand your situation, but I do have to put my family first," he declines before answering Wulf, "Julie's father, she's spoken a great deal about you. All good, I assure. Now hold up a moment here, there's a lot of you and only one of me."
Selena sighs, rolling her eyes and muttering something something under her breath. "We could go on a tangent about selling goods for days." She comments a little louder. "Well, good to hear you're awake again. I suppose nobody's interested in the possibility of resolving this? I don't know how creator law works but if we could prove the planet was promised and given to us, does nobody here think that'd carry a little weight?" Turning to the husky, she adds; "Wulf, his name's Stephen. There was an introduction when he landed in Firmament if that answers your question a little better."
Wulf looks disbelieveing at Stephen a moment. "Oh has she? I really think I want to know now..." Her tail slowly wags side to side as she looks at Selena with a smirk. "I wasn't AT the introduction.
Leian tilts her head slightly, looking up to Wulf and blinks a bit " Oh! So.. Your the one that the child had.. Er.. Called me 'Woof' to? I thought she was talking of my species.."
Arimia shakes her head slightly and says, "When I was talkin' or I was only talkin' about after we got a loan to get us official ownership of our planet. At that point it wouldn't be illicit cargo. An' out of curiosity what do the laws say 'bout us usin' the raw ore to make products to ship? I mean... If we can't mine an' sell the raw or right now, wouldn't it be jus' as illegal for us to mine it, work it, then sell what was made? Or are the laws less clear on all that?"
Ictus looks at Selena and nods at that, "True, that would be helpful... But exactly how are we going to do that?" he looks at Ari as she makes an excellent point and nods, "In another life... You would have made an great mechant."
Stephen stuffs a hand in a pocket, frowning a little, "You're in an interesting middle ground. As an established native species, you can't be told not to use the resources of your planet, but you can be prevented from just selling it off whole sale if it belongs to someone else. Does that make any sense?"
Mazurek arches his brow in amusement, "Established Native Species? I suppose we could be called that since we've all evolved from the creatures who were placed here in the first place." He then shakes his head, "I fear I will be useless from here on out in negotiations. I will be able to craft some armor and weapons for use in trying to save our home, but it would take time. Right now, I must return home for some rest. Creator Stephen, if either you, your wife, or your daughter wish to contact me, I can be reached at..." He gives his home location by the Beach. Afterward he starts to head toward town.
Arimia tilts her head slightly, glancing at Ictus and says, "Not all business goes on in the market, kit." She turns back to the creator and nods. "Some, sure. We can make what we want with the ores an' all other resources, but can't ship 'em raw. Of course, that brings up more loopholes. Usin' iron as an example. Make a bunch of second rate products, let's say jewelry. Make a bunch of iron jewelry, ship it in bulk an' have it melted back down into raw ore. Circumvent the law that way. Such things would usually be done through a dummy business as a front, but if one were able to find an associate who wouldn't gouge you on the prices too badly..."
Selena sighs, shaking her head as again her comment goes unnoticed by the creator. "I know, Wulf. That's why I was filling you in. And yes, he's Juliana's father." The wolfess murmurs something again before she replies to Ictus; "Two ways. We ask for them, or we take them." She replies flatly. "To be perfectly honest, I don't care what the church thinks about the matter. If they want to help keep promise in our hands? They'll do it regardless of their dogma."
Stephen offers a curious sort of wave as Mazurek takes their leave, "What's this about a church?" he asks.
Ictus looks to Maz and nods with a wave, "Alright, see you later Mazurek." he looks at Ari and peers at that, "I know that." he sighs, "In any case... He isn't going to do anything illegal." he blinks at Selena and nods at that, "Provided it was ever written down properly? Sure... And I agree." he looks at Stephen and shrugs at that, "The Church of the Creators, we... Don't see you as gods exactly, but we do give thanks."
Arimia lets out a sharp laugh and says, "You haven't seen it? Or been pestered by the priests? It's the church of the Creator Saints. Those bloody i... Folk who revere Creators like yourself, an' the Creator Saint's in particular." She looks to Ictus then and says, "That's the beauty of a job like that. It ain't illegal, exactly. More jus' a legal grey area. As far as our laws are concerned anyway. They may have closed such loopholes." She leans back against Selena then and murmurs something to the wolf.
Wulf takes a seat on the ground next to Selena, remaining quiet for the time being.
Leian eans back against a tree, pulling her flute softly from her side and taking it to her muzzle, and began playing a soft tune from the instrument, the wind beginning to pick up a bit around her.
Selena groans quietly as the creator asks. "All right. Because I'm fond of your kid, I'll give you a repeat of what I've said three times now. Ari's just given you enough of the background on the matter, so: Promise is called exactly that because the creators that set us here - and do they even have a collective name? You mentioned a company - promised it to us, or bequeathed it to us, or whatever you want to say. The church keeps records of all communications we were sent by said creators. If we found proof the world was bequeathed to us in those records - which, I might add only a priest or someone schooled in your language can read - would that help our position? Yes or no." She repeats, tail flicking back and forth a little.
"I've heard of it," says Stephen, "Spoken to a few priests. Just not sure how it relates. As for your idea, let me paint a picture." He crouches down and picks up a rock and a stick, "Behold, ore," he says dramatically, "Their worth at this weight, basically nothing, but watch." He jams the rock onto the stick, "And now, a treasured, primitive, hand crafted, artifact. Now it's worth something, not a whole lot, because I put no effort into it and anyone that looked at it would call it terrible, but more than the stick or the rock was worth by far." His economic lesson complete, he leaves the stick/rock combo on the ground, "What proof do you have?" he asks, "I mean, beyond word of mouth or your own books, which don't count for much, legally speaking."
Wulf peers over at Leian from her spot on the ground before stading back up to walk over tot he Wolfess. "To answer your earlier question, yeah, I'm 'Woof' as the little girl put it. Mainly cause Wulf almost sounds like woof it seems."
Arimia reaches up and grabs one of Selena's ears, twisting and pulling down slightly. "Don' get testy with the Creator, love." She hesitates a moment after that, before coughing softly and continuing. "It ain't his fault this mess is come about. An' I suspect we'll be needin' allies like him. Pissin' him off won' do any good." She releases the wolf's ear and looks to Stephen. "They have what they call their machine spirit. The one that sends and receives messages. I don' know what all is in there. I'm sure you could figure it out if you looked."
Selena flinches a little as her ear's pulled on, sighing quietly. "I know Ari, but he's managing to do a good job of the reverse." She replies, taking a few moments to collect herself. "I did just say that we had communication records. Not all of them were ever fully translated into our language either. In fact, you could probably sell that off too as a 'history' of some events we don't have on record."
Leian tilts her head softly, pulling the flute from her muzzle as she nods a bit " Ah. Well, it seems she confused me with you somehow.. Though.." she looks over Wulf with a tilt of her head " We clearly look little alike.. Perhaps she got confused somehow.. But how... Thats unusual." she shakes her head and shrugs, but smiles softly " She is adorable however."
Wulf smirks, her teeth glinting. "Oh I have no clue really... perhaps she got our fur mixed up I suppose?" The Husky takes a seat on the ground next to the Wolfess, leaning back against the tree.
"I'd bet a thousand crown/currency that you don't have a single recorded communication that spells out that promise. They knew," says Stephen, "They were breaking all the rules. There just is no way they didn't. I would bet they only sent communications saying 'Do this.' 'Expect that.' and similar. The only thing that confuses me is how they planned to get rid of the evidence afterwards. I mean you can't just make a whole planet of beings just... go away, not without causing severe damage to the planet alongside it."
Arimia gives a small shrug of her shoulders and says, "Might be worth havin' you look at anyway. Never know what'll be found there. An' in the meantime I think that between everyone gathered here we can get some craftsmen started an' the like."
Leian nods softly to Wulf, and smiles at her gently " Well, since I know your name, tis only fair you learn of mine, I think, now. Leian Caldri. Musician." she puts the flute back to her muzzle and resumes playing the melody, the wind picking up again, a pair of nearby flowers looking like they are softly dancing besdie one another by her feet
Ictus looks at Stephen and ponders that, "Really? Would be worth a look..." he hmms a bit and shakes his head, "Indeed, it'd be hard to cover up..." he looks to Ari and nods at that, "Yeah, I'll send word to see if any craftsmen would like to help..."
Wulf nods at Leian with a chuckle. "Oh, now that I know your last name it's only fair you know mine. "Wulf Tiernan, Adaptable folk and scout for the Light Bringers."
Selena sighs. "And that's the problem. We can't read them ourselves. I'd be glad to pour over them if I could, but between being a heretic and having no schooling in the first tongue, I can't check. What I can do is tell you that the church wouldn't stop you if you asked to see them. If you can get a copy of them, I'm sure there'd be beings willing to go through them that didn't have the opportunity to do so beforehand." She elaborates. "I never said it wasn't a long shot, but I see no reason not to try. In fact,there might be something down in the undertunnels on the subject. There was a machine down there that had something on it, but it could well be useless." She shrugs, glancing back to Arimia. "I suppose I could make some trinkets. I've got leftover materials back at our house, unless you needed them for something?"
The side of the Creator vessel opens wide enough to permit Juliana out, who scurries over to them, holding up her strange card, seemingly pointing it at the flute playing canine, "Mom said I could s'long as you're here," she chimes as Stephen opens his mouth to object. Defeated.
Arimia gives a small shake of her head to the wolf and says, "Nah. My golem works are on hold for a while. Other things going on." She looks toward the child as she rushes out and gives a small shake of her head before saying, hopefully soft enough the kid can't hear, "Thinking her mother just got tired of being pestered?"
Selena chuckles quietly as Juliana shuts down the older creator, loosening up a little and smirking as at Arimia's comment. "And to think, you said I was free to visit her." She chuckles, waving over to the cretor child. "Business as usual with you, I suppose... Though we both know why I haven't been sitting around the workshop and crafting lately."
Stephen sighs, "Well, no harm in it I suppose. I'll wander towards the church and ask if I can't have a look at it. Besides, I know a thing or two about basic upkeep on parts. Maybe I can do some repair while I'm in there. Getting tired of sitting idle anyway. I'm sure Sinclair will be delighted for any information we find along the way."
Wulf looks up from the blade of grass she was staring at as Julie comes out of the ship and she looks up. "Oh, hello there Julie. How are ya doing tonight then?"
Leian removes the flute from her muzzle, the wind suddenly dying down as she did, and tilts her head to the child " Oh? She did, did she now? What brings her to let you out here to see me, hmm?" she tilts her head, smiling softly at the child with a soft murr and sway of her tail
Arimia flicks an ear, causing the metal hoops in it to clink together, before saying, "Don' let them swamp you with their adoration an' all. An' if you want to see that one down in the undertunnels Selena mentioned I'm sure an escort could be arranged, when you're set for it." She lightly bumps her head against Selena before saying, "I'm gonna head off. Have some things to do. Probably see you back at the apartment later."
Ictus looks at Selena and ponders, "Indeed, might be helpful." he looks at Ari and chuckles at that with a shrug, before looking back to Stephen, "Indeed, an escort would be greatly advised if you are going down there."
Julie waves a hand eagerly, but the other remains on the card, holding it steady at the flute playing, but then it stops, aw... "They're going to love this," she says, manipulating the card in odd ways as she does... something.
Selena chuckles quietly. "And you have a bargaining chip, figuratively speaking. If you throw the machine priests a bone..." She shrugs, letting her voice trail off and chuckles quietly as Wulf greets the child. "It's been a while." She comments with a shrug, leaning over to plant a kiss on Arimia's lips. "I'm sure I will, Ari. If you run into Saibh, could you say hello for me? I haven't seen her in months."
Wulf waves at Ari as she leaves. "Later Ari, you take care now, ya hear?" The Husky turns to Julie once again and peers at what she is doing very closely. "What ARE you up to over there?"
Leian tilts her head softly to Julie as she watches curiously, blinking a bit at her from the tinkering " Love.. What?" she smiles softly a bit
Arimia tenses slightly at the name mentioned and says, "Ah... Might be my fault that. Last time she came around I kinda got upset. There was yellin'. An' chairs bein' thrown out a window. We made up! But she may be wantin' to avoid that again." She gives Selena a kiss in return, waves to Wulf, and walks toward the gates into the city.
"I am going to show them an UNKNOWN," says Juliana before frowning, "A picture, with sound, and moving, of you playing that flute. They will go crazy. You were very cute." She seems satisfied with the card, releasing it to dangle around her neck. Interstellar alien reporter.
Wulf scritches behind her ear as something comes to mind about pictures moving. "I think... I think I have seen one of those before Julie, a short one. I'm not sure if it still works though but I assume it would if it's stilk down whereIi found it."
Leian tilts her head curiously and blinks a moment " Uhm.. Alright. Sounds interesting. A picture that makes sound and moves?" she nods slowly a moment, before putting the flute to her muzzle and beginning to play. The winds picking up again and the flowers around her 'dancing' about, bobbing up and down, and moving back and forth in the breeze, the leaves of the tree above her shaking softly, seemingly adding to the music in their own way as they rustle against eachother, the branches moving like arms circling around while outstretched, her eyes closed softly.
Selena quirks a brow at the husky's reply. "You don't say?" She queries before she addresses Juliana again. "Another unknown, huh? It makes me wonder if there's a word we've used that you haven't had an equivalent for." the wolfess smirks. "Though I suppose 'creator' was close."
"Creator," speaks the father, "Is a loaded word. For you, it means us, the ones that actually made you. For us, it's a lot more ambiguous. No one, so far as we can actually prove, decided to make us, we just happened." He rolls his shoulders, "A cosmic mistake, a miracle. Whatever you want to call it." He moves over and ruffles the hair of his daughter, "You be good. I'll leave you in Wulf's care."
She salutes as he heads back to the ship, a strange Creator salute. Then she bounds over to stand next to Wulf as ordered, directing her card at the resumed flute playing.
Ictus ponders as he looks around and shrugs a bit, he blinks at that tidbit and ponders, "Must be frustrating... Not knowing where you came from..." as he wanders over to Juliana to watch curiously
Wulf coughs in suprise and sputters as she hears that she Is being left in charge of the little creator. "Wha?! Surely there was smeone better suited to doing that than I." Wulf says with no little amount of suprise.
Selena nods; "That it is." She agrees with the father and chuckles, setting herself down and glancing over to Wulf. "Well, well. How good are you with children, Wulf?" She teases the husky, looking through her bag for something or another. "Don't worry about it, Wulf. I'll take responsibility if you'd prefer and her parents don't mind." She replies, looking back over at the creator as he moves off - though doubtful of a response. "...Either way, we're all still here. As much trouble as she can cause, I don't think she'll be getting on another airship anytime soon."
Leian's tone lightens softly, a short flurry of soft rapid notes blow through the flute, leading to a short high note leading downwards again like it were going down a set of stairs gradually and cautiously, the wind shuffling about through her fur a bit, giving it a ruffled up look, also caressing the child's cheek like a soft hand
Flop! Juliana helps herself to a Wulf Lap(tm) and gets comfy, keeping the card focused on Leian's playing, "Luckiest girl in the galaxy," she says with a grin, clearly enjoying the show.
Selena chuckles as the child sits down on the husky, moving herself over to sit with the woman as well. "As long as you behave yourself - I don't think all the luck in the galaxy could save you from your parents." She teases.
Wulf oomphs as shes been deemed suitable for sitting on. Wulf leans over a bit onto Selena as she listens to Leian "I think the size of my family would answer that question Selena" she teases back. "Besides he entrusted me with her so I will do my duty and take care of her. Besides, him charging her to my care is basically me making a promise to take care of her... and Adrestia would not be pleased if I placed her in another's hands." Perhaps thats her animal ancestry speaking as well and not just reasoning of her duites, who knows?
Ictus looks around some more and blinks as he looks to the sky, "Ah... I should get going, I have work to do." he bows to Juliana and smiles, "I must be going, I'm sure we will see eachother again though." he waves and heads back for the city
That Stephen is a wily character, finding a suitable babysitter without even an interview. Juliana raises a free hand to wave at Ictus, directing the card at him a moment, "Say bye everyone," she says, though who this 'everyone' is is not made immediately obviously.
Leian's tail sways behind her, she leans off of the tree and softly begins dancing to her own tune, hips swaying gently causing her tail to swing back and forth behind her, ears flat on her head in concentration, the tune becoming that of a sound of singing animals to the morning as the day awakens
Selena chuckles quietly and nods back to the child. "'bye." She says, though a raised brow and chuckle imply she's not convinced for the point. "Wonder how those 'unknown' moving pictures and sounds are actually made. I could probably do something like that with earth magic and some dust - or water magic and ink." She suggests to the husky.
