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"Oh I can believe it," Topaz said, grinning. "Biggest hands I've seen belonged to Imps and Grimms, and while they don't compare even with all that fur they also have claws. I've seen them do some pretty delicate things. But some stuff is just inherently harder because of the size of their hands. I do a lot of restorations, both as a hobby and source of income, and I've handled a few things that would be quite difficult to handle without smaller fingers. I suppose tools could be used as a substitute though," she added, trailing off thoughtfully. It would probably be more tedious, but if it got the job done then why not?

Another thought occurred to her. "Are either of your races known for being particularly talented magically, or do you feel physical qualities define your people more," Topaz asked, directing the question towards all three on the stage.

Florence cocked his head to the side. He tried to time his own questions in between the other questions and answers going on all over the place, and hoped he wasn't interrupting any of the other responses.

"Why is it illegal," Florence asked. It was quite strange to him. Of course there would always be those that would prefer to keep to their own race, but that was personal choice rather than law. To have laws making it illegal to imbue with others of ones own kind, even if they were a different subset, made Florence wonder why it was so. Did it cause health problems?

"My dad says when solar and lunar Fey imbue together that the child will either be one or the other. My grandparents are actually solar and lunar, but I've never met them before. Does it not work like that for Cherubs? Is it dangerous for the stone if they have a solar parent and a lunar parent?"

Illegal. Hitotsu's ears flicked at the word. Illegal to intermingle. He wondered why, but looked to his son and his sister before he even considered asking. He had two young lives, two hallowed children in his care. One born from an accidental awakening at the wrong time of year, and the other made of his own arrogance and wish to rebel. He could understand why it might be illegal, it should have been in his case, at least until he got his head on straight.

He gently set Shisume--his sister--down from his lap and rose to stand, carefully collecting his tails so they didn't trip him or anyone else as he approached the mic. He had to consider the wording carefully since he knew all about secretiveness and rules that seemed stifling and silly out in the world.

"I second what my fellow kumiho just said." He began. "But I remember all too well the stigma of having children with those not of my own kind, and how the first thing you might do when away from those rules and laws might lead to a lapse in judgement. I don't regret mine for a moment. I have a son I am honored to have, and a sister who is a pleasure and a joy. Forgive me if this has already been asked, but I don't seem to have caught why it's illegal for your people to interbreed, if you Icarus or one of your companions wouldn't mind answering."

Icarus was impressed and mystified by the amount of voices that had something to say about the issue of hybrids. One the one hand, of course they would argue for hybrids. Most of the people in the room were parts made up of many different races mashed in to one being. It made sense then, when addressing a room of largely cross-bred individuals that the answers would be in favour of hybrids.

Instead of addressing one individual in particular, Icarus decided to address the room.

”A long time ago, the Cherub's and Sluagh’s very existence was threatened, and much like was previously believed, we were at risk of being wiped off the face of Above. The need to keep the bloodline pure, plus irreconcilable differences between the lunar and solar alignments lead to laws being put in place to prevent alignment mingling and breeding, and to help prevent anymore civil wars. While the solar and lunar cherubs share blood, their mentalities and aptitudes vary greatly from one another, causing a natural divide we have grown to respect and utilize to our advantage. In an attempt to explain … if two lunar fey parents get together, it is guaranteed that when they imbue they will have lunar children. If two lunar cherubs imbue, they are not guaranteed a lunar child. Solar cherubs do not fit in with the lunars, and vice versa. We do not even allow lunars to raise solar children, or solars to raise lunars. Our alignments must remain separate.

Believe me, love is very high on our list of priorities, at least for solars. Lunars are far less inclined to follow that inclination, and if I may be so bold, Daedalus, love is often not even a consideration among the lunars. We may be of the same race, but as our names suggest, we are as different as the sun and the moon. We represent different morals, viewpoints, and ways of life, and we excel at different things. We respect that our two societies do not understand one another. We respect that the solars have their religion and devotion to the Nine, and the lunars have their science and alchemy. That is why we must stick to our own alignments: for kinship; for stability. Our roots must not be lost. The balance we have struck with the solar and lunar societies is a delicate one, and while it may not make sense to others, it works for us.”

Icarus gave a simple, easy shrug. He expected such criticism and seemed wholly unphased.

”Before our two societies rejoined, lunars and solars were producing children of the opposite alignment. It wasn’t until we had to put aside our differences to work together that children of opposing alignments were allowed to remain within city limits. Lunar children born to solar parents would be disowned, and the same for solar children of lunar parents. Nobody’s history is perfect. Today, we have many systems in place to protect children. Lunar children born to solar parents are taken in to the towers and begin their schooling to hone their innate skills, while solar children without parents are taken in to the churches where they learn about religion and tend to become priests and priestesses. Sometimes a child will be given to a foster family of the same alignment. Our system works for us, and none of us disagree. Those who break our laws are dealt with accordingly, though we rarely have issues with law-breakers on the matter.”

She was glad she hadn't cast stones. She could understand a culture's need to keep their roots and their customs. It looked like it had been taken a bit far but then a lot of things had happened due to the war. However Draven had been like that interested in only art and music and history before she had met him. Yet they had still worked things out. Their children where raised with both fallen and geist traits. They understood both their cultures. "I think I want to add on to what I had been saying about hybrids. I talked about how I sat down and talked with my husband so we both understood where each other where coming from. We give that to our children as well. I am working to be an anthropologist so I make sure that my children know their roots. Even the ones I have adopted and aren't geist or fallen. I make sure they know their people's culture and their roots or at least as much as we know about them."

"As another question, Cillian mentioned that at least Sluagh were not hurting like others forced into assimilation? Is this also true for the Solar and Lunar Cherub? How are your populations doing now?" Yue asked hoping once again that she wasnt stepping on any toes. Since apparently there where other people here for that.

No calm down, no face palming. She could get through the day with out face palming.

total points=5

The current topic was enough to distract Topaz from her previously asked questions, though she didn't forget them entirely.

"What about the stones found here," Topaz asked. "If I understand correctly, they've been placed into various homes. If your races are nature over nurture, even with the best of intentions at heart, what do you think might happen to any of the children whose guardians fight to keep them? Do you feel it might be detrimental to their well-being, or, because many places in Below are quite culturally diverse, do you think they might very well flourish?"

Styx looked a little taken aback by Icarus' response, her already usually big and mirror-bright eyes as wide as saucers. "Th-that's not what I asked," she responded, a little shocked. She swallowed reflexively, trying to fight tears. This had been a bad idea, after all. She hadn't meant–!!

"I-I wasn't questioning your social structure, it clearly wo-wo-works for you. I was... was merely... I... I ap-pologize." The buzzing on her skin was louder than ever, promising to drown out any sort of response.

This... this was no good. She felt dizzy....

Without so much as a nudge from someone else, she dropped.