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 Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 1:09 pm
 There was a sharp intake of breath as Exalla received the tome, her upper torso lurching as she compensated for the weight of the unexpectedly heavy book. Hastily, she set it down and rubbed one shoulder. She was not very good at lifting heavy things...
She paused with one hand on her upper arm to stare back at Kios, < She cut herself off and peered at Akakios, <>
Arching a brow as all four eyes settled on this curious creature, <> She offered no more then that, however, and continued to gaze at the other, not quite sure what to make of him, <> The markings under his eyes made her wonder if he wept blood, and she reached out to investigate.
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 1:31 pm
 Mourning ritual ? Oh, if Exalla had not already been the sole focus of Akakios' attention, she would have been now. "Like that, yes, through I do not how every race handles it by heart yet." He knew some, yes... But he had yet to completely and utterly reach out. He did not know how, really. He knew what he had read in books, however.
It became evident now, to him, why Exalla asked that question. "...You've lost someone, did you ?" He asked, softly. "No... Multiple someones." He could feel it. A part of him wanted to reach out for it. "Can I do anything to help you ?"
"We do, yes." Through, technically Echo had always been an adult, or at least close to it, unlike him. He had yet to see a god that truly looked 'old'... "But I am not done yet, I think." Maybe.
When Exalla reached to touch his face, the veil was carefully removed and set into his lap so that she could do so. She felt... funny. So many fingers ! And was that fur ? The markings would not fade or leave no matter how hard she rubbed, however. The ashes, however, would be another story... "No, I am fine. That is just how I look like."
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 1:46 pm
<> She rubbed at the markings a little, her touch gentle and exploratory as she traced the tear marks down to his jawline then let her hand drop away, <>
She blinked as he asked his question and withdrew a little, looking away. It was obvious what the answer was even if she was too proud to admit it. <>
She clasped her hands before her and sighed, her tail flicking again.
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 2:04 pm
"I am still young. I still have to learn a few things, to gain power and influence." That admittance made him pout a little, but really... That was the truth. He was not used to lie, to pretend to be anything but what he was, and rarely set on purpose to do so. Echo had raised him to be open and open-minded, after all.
"Did not knowing everything you now know when you were younger make you any less an andalite ?" He asked, idly, as Exalla continued her exploration. "And yes, we are really gods. Some more broad in influence than others, but that is the nature of the things we rule... Your people understand because Knowledge let you do do. Mortals manipulate the environment because those gods allow them to." He could be considered rather limited, really, compared to influences like Water, or Wind...
When she finally spoke her sorrow, Akakios' eyes settled to look right into her main ones. They were not unkind, they were soft in their own way, but there seemed to be a bottomless sorrow in them, something that never did quite leave him. "There is no need to tell me anything." His voice, again, barely just a whisper. He reached, well, stumbled really, for a part of him, still mostly unknown, that had not been there before he had grown, consciously reached for his own, fledgling power for the first time since he had grown.
That power reached out, enveloped Exalla, took some of her pain away, and made it his own. Slowly, softly. He could have taken it all away, ripped it all out in an instant, but... What good would that be ? What would Exalla learn from it if he did exactly that ? She needed to understand that grief and pain had their place, had to be lived. But eventually... Eventually, one had to move on.
"Does that... help ?" He asked, sounding a little strained. This was so... so strange. The first was killed by the second, and the second... His own grief overtook him. He knew that now. "It was not your fault, Exalla."
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2012 10:56 pm
She tensed as he reached into her, deep into something she couldn't describe, and gathered up her sorrow and grief and drew it out, like tapping a barrel of water. Exalla had buried those feelings out of neccessity but now... now she was forced to relive the torrent of feelings in mere moments but it was followed by a sense of release and that, more then the pain that had flowed through her, brought tears to her eyes. Blinking repeatedly, she reached up and rubbed a hand along one cheek, keeping her gaze down as if to hide. She'd been unable to resist whatever Akakios had done... it was frightening and intriguing at the same time.
At length, Exalla nodded, the tilt of her brows and the openess of her gaze the andalite version of a smile. <>
The idea that their discoveries, their technologies and wars and peace were all because a god allowed it was chilling. She didn't know whether to be intrigued or intimidated or both.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:07 pm
He moved to dry of her tears as well, touch feather soft. "It is okay." Ir was alright to cry. It was alright to be overwhelmed and have no other choice to express it. He would never find her weak for it - no, in fact, he knew, perhaps better than anyone, that to lay oneself bare took more strength than nearly anything else.
"Well, for me... I was only recently born." It did not look this way, he knew, and his little knowing smile betrayed that before Exalla could voice that fact. "For my parents, and most of the other gods..." How could he say this, really ? Did the elder gods talk openly of gems and rebirth ? He really had no idea. He never had to talk about it to anyone who was not already aware of it... and he could see how that could frighten a mortal. Through Exalla had not asked where gods came from, so...
"Well, they were gone for a long time. The mortals, all of the worlds, forgot them. Forgot us. So the gods need to make the mortals aware of their presence again, to gain power and influence once more." There it was - that strange sensation again - except the being that took form in the garden was... Echo, but not quite. The sound of her wings followed her, but there were no wings. But there were four eyes, still that errie blue-on-blue, and well - Echo had not gotten the memo about female andalite not being blue. And the poor goddess looked so, so confused - and nearly face-planted over her own hooves upon landing.
<> Too many eyes. Too many fingers. The whole hooves things was not as bad as she though, except on tiles like that !
But still, she had her prizes - one tiny, asparagus-like plant into the flowerpot, and a branch covered in tell-tale pink leaves.
<> Echo looked like she was trying to pout, but clearly lacked the mouth to do so. <>Indeed, Akakios had lasted about half a second before he had started laughing his a** off. Really, how could he not ?! "Sorry, mother, but you look ?"<> She filled in the blank herself, and her form started to waver and change - no where near Exalla's morphing ability, and without the many unpleasant sounds attributed to it - until she was herself again. "Well, the few andalites I ran into seemed to think so as well. Kept staring at me like if I had grown a fifth eye or something."
That said, both pot and branch were handed over to Exalla. "I believe this is what you asked ?""...Do I even want to know why you went planet-hopping to get a plant and a branch ?" Akakios asked, idly.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:33 pm
She shied away from his touch, uncertain then stilled as he proved gentle, <> She feared for her people if they gained the wrath of the gods....
She'd tilted her head, the beginning impression of a word in Kios' mind when Echo burst back into the room - or rather, an incredibly bizarre Andalite - and Exalla blinked, startled. < Again she cut herself off as Lament laughed heartily, the sound and motion foreign to the Andalite and she peered at Kios as if he'd grown a second head, <>
Shaking her head she looked back at Echo <> She gestured at her own purple fur, rather confused, <> Confusion reigned as she tried to connect the dots, brows furrowed in intense disbelief as she processed this information.
When the tree and the branch were handed over, she lit up, however, and reached for the two with utmost care, <> She closed her main eyes as she inhaled their scent deeply and was reminded of home - the soil, too, had some of the iconic blue-green grass she would run along at meal times. Holding them close, she stared at the plants for a long time in silence, thinking.
When she finally spoke, she did so without looking up, <>
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:52 pm
Even under his mother's somewhat unamused stare, it did take a while for Lament to finally calm down and stop laughing, ending up having to wipe the start of tears from his eyes. "It will help, yes." He finally answered Exalla's question.
"What were you two talking about ?" Echo asked, clearly a little curious, but that was before Exalla launched into something about morphing and devices, and at that mother and son looked rather evenly matched.
They certainly made the exact same face when confused. "...I was laughing ?" Yes, clearly a little dumbfounded there. "...What's an Escafil Device ?"
Oh, good job. Exalla had kickstarted the torrent of questions, but that... had been rather inevitable. "And I can shapeshift." Well, that had been a little evident. "But not in the way you do it, if that is what you are asking."
Then Exalla started elaborating, and Echo blinked. Oh... OH ! "That... Is what it was ?" ...Oops. "Well. I am female, if that clears out anything. And my son is, well, male."
"...So technically to your people I would be a girl ?" Uh. Yeah. No thanks. Nothing against girls or anything, but... no thanks.
"You can certainly stay, if you would like." Echo nodded. "And you can plant them here... They will get as much sun as they will need, I promise you. You might want to make it clear how more water they need, however."
"Beside." Echo's smile turned impish. "I do not think Kios would let you leave to be honest."
"...Mother !" He pouted.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 8:06 pm
Exalla's brow furrowed once more - the concept of laughter was an alien one, certainly, but she understood the noise was something of an exclamation of joy? at least in definition.... <> As if to explore her theory, she leaned forward once more as if to poke and prod about Akakios' mouth since he had let her touch him earlier.
Her face turned to regard Echo as her stalk eyes remained on Kios and her hand, <> She didn't elaborate further, however, and instead raised her hand to press fingers against Akakios' forehead, <>
Exalla tilted her head when Music confirmed the genders and smiled with her eyes at Akakios' question, <>
Hand still pressed to Lament's forehead, the Andalite looked at Kios with a mildly worried expression, <>
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 8:50 pm
And there he was, being poked and prodded again. "It is not always involuntary..." He did not get to elaborate much more before Exalla started poking and prodding in truth. Again.
"...I figure you could call it biological." Every god was capable of it to some extent, as far as she knew - through some were certainly more skilled at it than others. "There are parts of me that I cannot change at all. Like my eyes, and the markings around them." Hopefully that might help settle it as different in Exalla's mind.
Exalla launched into biology and checking out and Echo rose an eyebrow. "I do not think that will be necessary." She could not keep the amusement from her voice.
Thankfully, Akakios was just innocent enough that whatever innuendo Echo was perceiving there was completely lost on him. Really, it was the DNA matter that intrigued him. Did gods even have DNA ? "I do not know if it will work..." Or if it was even remotely a good idea. "Be careful, okay ?"
"...And that's an expression." He clarified the 'not letting her leave' part.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 9:05 pm
<> She paused at Echo's amusement and tilted her head as she blinked, <> It was obvious she'd completely missed the double meaning in her moment.
Returning her attention to Kios, she pressed her hand to him and concentrated to acquire his DNA... and nothing but a sense of sorrow and grieving filled her. Brows furrowing, she tried again and again failed. With a snort of confusion, she dropped her hand at stared hard at Akakios, "You have no biological signature.... Echo....?>> Standing she stepped over to the goddess and pressed a hand to her cheek without waiting for permission and attempted to draw on Music.
She received a similar response, though she was filled with the music of her homeworld and countless other places, enough that it was disorienting and she had to step away less she be overwhelmed. Blinking and clearly trying to settle her ringing ears, she stared at Echo too, "I cannot register you either.... What manner of being is neither mechanical nor biological? Energy.... perhaps?>> Her critical side kicked in then as she regarded each, her thoughts kept to herself as she reviewed everything she knew about theoretical life - it was something she studied now and again as a sub-section of life classifications and sentience markers to improve her understanding and ability to entertain with her morphs.
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Posted: Tue May 29, 2012 7:29 pm
It felt... strange, really. He could tell that Exalla was trying to do something, but not actually what she was trying to do - and it was not long before the andalite gave up entirely.
"Mana, probably ?" It would make sense, really. Gods were defined by what they ruled, their mana their very essence.
Echo stiffened a bit under Exalla's touch out of reflex, but the andalite did not get whatever result she wished for, which was just as well. The idea that someone might flawlessly take on her features... Well, she knew a little too well where that particular path could lead, and she had no wish to allow it to happen once again.
"Most likely." Echo nodded at her son's guess.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 2:08 pm
She tilted her head, <> Exalla's curiosity was piqued as she remained standing between the two, tree in the crook of her arm and branch returned to her other hand.
She glanced at them again and dipped a bow, the motion much like that of the antelope from the lion king, <> Hopefully she could cultivate them.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 3:08 pm
"Something like it, yes." It was similar enough, really, and there was no need to confuse the poor andalite further.
"It was an... interesting experience." She had never shape-shifted so radically, and to be honest, she was still feeling a little dizzy. Too many eyes.
"So you are gonna stay for a bit ?" Akakios looked rather happy with that fact. He definitively was not out of questions that he wished to ask the andalite... Not at all. And maybe she could help him understand how to shapeshift ? He certainly had not gotten very far on his own.
"You can stay in my room, if you want." It was not like he used it much... Especially lately, where he more or less did live in the library.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 3:22 pm
<> There was a smile in her mental voice as she looked past Akakios and blinked at his question.
<> She tapped the floor beneath their feet with a hoof as if indicating that was how she ate. <>
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