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Icarus let the little elf child continue to speak, expressing her ideal party. It was very much a child’s fantasy, and it pleased Icarus to no end to know that the residents of Below had such active imaginations. That’s how the best creators were made; painters; sculptors; writers. Mastering the imagination and becoming a creative powerhouse was a vital and holy skill. ”Most wondrous!”

Icarus’ attention was drawn away as Cillian was addressed. The mention of the soulstones being taken without permission made the cherub fidget in his seat. Cillian was being quite abrupt with his answers, and while Icarus understood this was simply way of the sluagh, the people of Below had no experience with their culture.

The cherub raised both of his eyebrows, giving Cillian a meaningful look. They were here to make a good impression. Cillian was presenting himself as someone who was closed-minded and defensive, and that simply would not stand. Not while Icarus was around.

”Cillian … “ Icarus had pulled himself away from the microphone stationed before him so that none could hear but his travelling companions. ”Do try and make at least some attempt to inform the public, will you? We do not want them believing your people are all unapproachable and standoffish. I understand why, but they do not … at least, perhaps, offer a smile? That may warm their hearts … ”

Well it wasn’t too bad of a blunder. Then something occurred to her, would they really learn all that they needed to by just them asking questions. Didn’t they have questions of their own? She didn’t know if the Sluagh where like goblins in their need for secrecy or it was just Cillian’s personality but maybe….

"Ah that is true… and I wouldn’t want to give you a false picture of what we are like, that would just cause complications in the future. Ah no it’s okay. If this is normally how their people are or just how they in general are like I mentioned before I wouldn’t want to get a false picture. Honesty is needed if any future plan of assimilation happens. If you guys are curious about below or at least came down to see what below was like is there any questions I can answer for you guys?”






total points: 5

Icarus could not keep himself from honing in on Yue’s offering to answer any of their own questions. How … unexpected. Being ‘aliens’, Icarus had not expected someone to be so willing to return the favour. The cherub had expected that him and his friends would be bombarded by endless questions. The simple fact that someone was willing to answer questions themselves was … enlightening.

”Hmmn … I doubt that you can answer on behalf of all of Below, but I do find myself with a particular question that comes to mind as I look upon the faces of the crowd.” Icarus put his chin in his hand, feathers tickling his cheek and making him smile an adorable little bow smile. ”Hybrids … they are so common place here. Not to say we don’t have them in Above … but, I’d like to ask what your personal view is on hybrids – how do you justify them?”

Icarus had turned to thank Cillian shortly after speaking with the geist woman who had approached the podium, but his expression faltered as he saw the rather mangled looking ... smile? Was it a smile? That was spread across the sluagh's face.

"Oh, my ... " That wasn't quite what Icarus had expected. Come to think of it, before now, Icarus had never seen Cillian smile. Perhaps it was for the best that he didn't.

Eisetsu blinked and then went up to Icarus "Well I am a hybrid and a hallowed." She shrugged "My social position is of my own doing." She said bluntly "To put it plainly I don't like social events, for the most part, I just happened to be taking a break from studying at the academy. I'm a curious hybrid by nature so I decided to see what this question and answer panel was about this it seemed more intellectually stimulating than playing bean bag toss." Eisetsu considered being a hybrid. "For me being a hybrid, I'm happy with who I am, I have a loving family though I chose not to see them often and live in the academy dorm instead. Do you not have hybrids in your homeland??" She asked curiously.

Cillian returned his attention to Topaz. "We do not tend to narrow ourselves down to one specialty. Since our union with the Cherubs, we have taken up the Lunar Cherub's affinity for architecture." He glanced over to Daedalus, absently wondering what he thought of this event. "You are likely under the impression that we are not very nimble. You would be mistaken." Ah, that was probably going to earn him another glance from Icarus. Oh well.

He looked to Nyria next, and blinked slowly. Parties... "We do not have a cultural predisposition to partying. Similar to Lunar Cherubs, we often find them to be loud and distracting." Much to the dismay of their Solar Cherub friends, of course. "When we have gatherings they are more subdued than an ideal Solar Cherub gathering."

jinxgirl5

Koiasi

Yue was probably one of the few people in the auditorium that Cillian’s smile wouldn’t phase at all. A lot of her children were hallowed and Cillian’s teeth were no different than one of her child’s. She did smile though at his attempt but continued on thinking the best way to answer their questions.
“Well no I can’t represent everyone but I can at least offer what I know. To start off with I am a geist. While I was growing up, yes there were times where a lot of us felt like social outcasts but Below has come a long way. We all compromise in ways or well some of us do. If one of our geist customs ends up offending some one of another race there are enough geists around that one of us will explain what the offender was trying. I personally try to learn about other cultures because if we don’t try to understand them then why should they try to understand us. I could offer more to whole how we handle it but it would probably take a while since different viewpoints and everything.
As for Justifying Hybrids, well you can’t just rely on a text book or social stereotypes to actually understand a race. Everyone is their own individual and personally everyone is allowed to love whoever they want. I myself am married to a fallen and have hybrid children. The academy helps a lot of us see past old grudges and shed light on other races. Take for instance the geist courting ritual of stealing from the person you have feelings for. Before I think that other cultures would get offended. They didn’t understand we were showing our affection. However now I think we’ve started to significantly work past old hatreds and grudges so people are falling in love because they are raised more openly. Ah sorry this is another topic that I could talk a lot on” Yue answered and then wanted to smack herself. Yep that was a great way to create bonds between them and below. Talk their ears off. Would it look bad if she just groaned.



total points: 5

Charon had been quiet, just listening to the back and forth up until this point, but when Icarus asked about hybrids, well xe felt xe was rather qualified to answer and headed up to do so.

"As a hybrid and a hallowed who's asked their parents that very question, I feel I can answer." Charon said. "While being born a hallowed is less....ideal in some cases, being a hybrid is justified because....love happens." Xe waved xir tail, motioning to the geist tendrils. "Sometimes we even have advantages, able to do things our parents individually can't. Most of the races don't have too much stigma, at least not that I've experienced."

Xe turned toward Cillian next. "I do have a question for you though, and I'm not going to apologize for it. You've been extremely closed up about your answers, and frankly I think you're pretty rude, so why in the name of the Nine are you even here? It's pretty clear you think you're too important to deal with us, especially some of us." Xe motioned to xyrself.