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 Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 3:33 pm
:: THE MACHINES THAT GO PING ::
Reserved for the day the Sprockets went haywire. o.0
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:04 pm
:: SHE HAS A COMPLAINT ::"You really didn't have to bring her," Laure said sotte voce as she preceded Jerava into the Forge.
"Did too!" Elena exclaimed from her 'mother's' arms. Jer rolled her eyes and set the toddler down on the floor.
"If I hadn't brought her, we probably could have heard her screams from here anyway," Jer replied to Laure dryly. The elf massaged her forehead. Elena had already managed to find a horde of Celestial sprockets, and was happily listening to them chatter at her.
"Well, at least she's staying quiet. For now," Laure said, staying near Jer as she walked around. "Is something wrong?" she asked her bond sharply as Jer rubbed her forehead again.
"Just a headache," Jer said absently. "It's nothing to worry about." Jer glanced at Laure. "Be careful, though, we still don't know why the sprockets went all wonky last week." Laure flickered in agreement.
Aislin marched in just a few minutes later, a rather large glass jar full of sprockets under her right arm, and apparently not in the best mood.
She walked straight to the counter and put the jar on it rather ungently with a loud 'clang'.
"I have a complaint," she said, her voice raised and demanding for attention. It wasn't until now that she noticed certain... oddities. She blinked. Once. Twice.
"Must be one of those weird dreams," she mumbled to herself.
"That happens sometimes," Laure said, spinning to face Aislin. Jer shot Laure a glance and examined the jar.
"What seems to be the problem?" she said brightly, her eyes twinkling slightly. "And, may I ask, how did you manage to get them all in the jar? It's quite an impressive accomplishment."
Elena, meanwhile, was staring at the other new arrival. "Hello?" she said cautiously in the sudden silcence created by the lack of chatter from the sprockets. "You okay?"
"Well, if you're a treasure hunter as long as I have been, sooner or later you're bound find something that's actually useful." She pulled an object out of her bag which looked like a crossover between a laser pistol from an old science fiction movie, and something very very... ancient?
"I call it the 'Floating-Nuisance-Immobilizer'," she said, and without further explanation she aimed the strange weapon at the celestial sprockets floating near Elena and pulled the trigger. A swirly beam of runes hit them, and for a moment nothing happened. Then - suddenly - the sprockets came raining down.
"They remain stunned for maybe three minutes, but that's more than enough for me." Ais patted the cork lid of the jar with a self-satisfied smile.
"As for my problem... All of our sprockets suddenly went completely haywire during the last week. If possible I'd like to have them repaired, or replaced."
Elena whirled to face Aislin. "Not nice!" she howled. "Mean lady!" she said, glaring at the woman. "Make better!" she insisted.
"Elena, they'll comeback on their own," Jer said, peering at the device curiously. "Just wait. Why don't you make them comfortable?" she suggested as a means to forestall a full blown tantrum. Elena glared at Ais once more, then set about arranging the sprockets on the floor carefully.
"You're lucky," Laure said. "Imagine being in a house with over 200 haywire sprockets," the Fandangle said mischeviously. Jer shot her another glance.
"Well, as far as I've been able to determine, there's nothing wrong with them." Jer shrugged. "Nothing to repair, and honestly, the idea of breaking in a new set of sprockets terrifies me," she finished with a wry grin.
"So I figure this happened to ALL the sprockets? Oh dear... Though I have to say, the new appearance is neat. Those holes are... tempting." She gave the sprockets who had been chattering inside her jar a mean grin and instantly their volume turned out quite a bit. Carefully she put the strange weapon back into her bag.
~~~
Elsewhere, somewhere deep in the labyrinth-like corridors of the forge...
"You are lost, admit it," Arif happily chimed.
Sesostris glared down at his weave sprocket. "I'm not. I'm just exploring the enviroment," he declared. "And don't forget we are here because of you."
"I coooould find the way for you, but only if you admit that you are lost," Arif teased.
Sesostris looked sceptical. "Yesterday you didn't even remember my name," he retorted.
"Mean lady," muttered Elena, as the sprockets woke back up. Laure spun lazily in the air, watching Ais and Jer.
"Again, as far as I can tell yes, it happened to every sprocket," Jer said with a shrug. "I don't know why, of course," she continued with an eyeroll, "But I am intriguied by what this might mean for the future.
~~~~
(With Seso and Arif)
~~~~
"Lost you say?" said a silky smooth voice. "I, too, am lost. Perhaps you can help me find my way?" the voice continued. A device came out into the open, shaped like a cog wheel, and colored in deep blues, with red and white markings scattered seemingly randomly across it's surface.
"I'm not lost," Sesostris protested, "I know exactly where we are, it's just this impossible place that keeps changing around. The shop room is exactly in that direction." He pointed onto the wall to his right. "Only... the door isn't," he added sheepishly.
"Well, he doesn't know the way, I call that lost," Arif sneered.
With a little 'Fwop!' he sprouted a silverish long leg. Interesting... "Seso?" 'Fwop!' "I think-" 'Fwopfwop!' "my legs-" 'Fwop!' "are coming back." 'Fwopfwopfwop!'
Seso looked down at his sprocket rather intrigued. So it was going back to it's original shape? Or not. It certainly didn't have crystal fur before the change occured.
"Erh, what did I just say?" Arif asked, surprise in his voice, looking more like a mechanical spider from second to second. And he was growing.
"You just kindly and politely offered us to show the way," the silver haired demon replied with a smug face. He had actually been waiting for Arif's next memory lapse.
"Ahaah~! Nothing easier than this!" With that the sprocket/spider picked up a golden thread from the ground with it's front legs. "We just follow this." Cheerily humming to itself it tickled away, following the thread while rolling it up to a ball in the process. And still growing.
Sesostris exchanged a confused look with the Fandangle (or at least asumed he did) and shrugged. "No use to try and make sense of this place. Lets just follow him as long as he knows what he's doing. What's your name, by the way?"
~~~
Aislin sulked. "Man, and some of them were just starting to get really useful... Now they don't either remember who they are, or what they just did, and they are either overdoing, or underdoing it. Like Q - he was supposed to try and repair the coffee machine, and he made a espresso maker out of it!" Something tugged at her bag, but she was too distracted staring at the weird... person up at the ceiling.
"How convenient," the Fandangle said, eyeing the Sprocket curiously. "Does it do that often?" it continued, still in that same silky smooth voice.
It looked at Seso in slight bewilderment. "Name? I have no name," it paused. "It is up to my Bond to name me," the Fandangle said proudly. "I would not want to take that choice from her." It tilted to the side, looking at Seso as they followed Arif. "Do you have a name I might call you by?"
~~~~
Jer chuckled and massaged her forehead again. "I know what you mean. I've had some of mine for quite a long time, and now I have to get used to them, and vice versa, all over again." She shook her head. "They don't even act the same anymore."
"The memory lapses, or changing into a spider and finding the way via a golden thread that wasn't there before?" Sesostris asked with raised eyebrow, but didn't wait for a reply. "The memory lapses started up last week, and since then his powers have been jumping up and down abruptly. I wonder if that's a huge power jump up right now..." he mused. "Just call me Seso. And the spro-, erh, spider over there is Arif." And he was still growing...
~~~
"Headache?" Aislin asked with a sympathetic voice. "I have a lot of those recently. Luthenep dragged in a new companion. Oh, he said to say 'Hello!' to you if I should see you, by the way!" She called to Laure over her shoulder. "Any how, that new friend, or pet or whatever, it looks like a harmless little floating gem, but you wont believe what havoc it wreaked! Unfortunately it's exceptinally good in hiding, I'm still waiting for a chance to zapp it with my secret weapon." She patted her bag, just to notice it was empty. "What the...?!"
"Verrrry interresting device," a creaking voice sounded from below. It belonged to what looked like an oversized greenish sprocket to Aislin, and right next to it lay her disassembled Immobilizer. "Especially this enerrrrgy crystal," the green Fandangle continued, completely oblivious to the impeding doom, "it would be perrrfect to build a bo-"
"YOU!" Aislin yelled furiously, looking around for something, anything, to threaten it with. "Fix it! NOW!!"
"Either, actually," the Fandangle said in the same slightly purring, very urbane tone of voice. "A week, you say? How...fascinating." It continued to follow the pair along the path outlined by the golden thread. "By chance, do you know where we are headed? You see, I seem to have...misplaced my bonded." The odd markings flickered slightly. "Not that she knows I'm coming."
~~~~
"They seem to be getting worse," Laure said, going closer to Jerava. "A floating gem?" she continued, more to herself. "D'you think Luthe would mind if I stopped by to see him?"
"Is, uh, that yours?" Jer asked with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that there were any new Fandangles, though," she continued, slightly unnerved by it's appearance.
"Looks like a radiation sprocket," Laure said with a giggle.
"Hopefully we are headed to the main shop, though with this place you never know. It seems to be warped even more than usual. It's fairly easy to 'misplace' something in here." He picked up a furious scream from somewhere ahead. That voice was familiar... "I think we are getting closer though," he added with a grin. "Who is your bonded? And how does she look?"
"I hope we make it there, before this place gets any smaller..." Arif muttered, squeezing through the next door.
~~~
"Come by anytime you like," Ais replied to Laure's question. "He wont mind at all, in fact he's constantly talking about you."
"I'm not a rradiation sprrocket," the strange Fandangle said with a dignified voice. "I'm a forrgechemical sprrocket." Pause. "No, wait, I'm not a sprrocket at all!" Slowly it inched away bit by bit from Aislin. "Arr, that woman therre is making me all nerrvous!"
"It sure as hell isn't mine," Aislin snorted, still looking around for something to use as a weapon. Well, that broom over there would do. She grabbed it and raised it over her head, preparing to let it come down with some of her breaking spells, hopefully creating a nice little crater and scaring the s**t ouf of that... thing.
"Kekeke, that is a baaad idea," the strange Fandangle snickered.
With a 'Woosh!' the broom went upwards, and Aislin was too surprised to let go of it. "Oh shiiiiiit!"
"I am not sure," the Fandangle admitted regretfully. "I do know that she is in the shop presently, however," it continued. "And, Arif, may I point out that you are the one getting larger. This place appears to be the same size." It looked aorund. "Of course, one cannot always be assured of these things."
~~~~
Laure flushed dark blue. "I'll definently have to come over, and soon," she said firmly. "And I didn't say you were a radiation sprocket. I merely said you looked like one." She tilted to the side. "Although, you do sort of resemeble a data sprocket and a toxic one as well."
Jer shook her head. "Well, then I have no idea who is supposed to get that one." Before she could say anything else, though, Aislin shot straight up. "Oh dear."
"Well, that's your point of view," Arif replied sceptically and turned around to look at his pursuers. "It appears you are right though... Oh, and Seso, I know that innocent look of yours - you are not getting a ride on my back!!"
Sesostris didn't say anything, but his dissapointed face clearly showed that Arif had hit the mark.
Arif turned back to the next door, opening it and poking his head inside. "Ah, I think we are here, that looks familiar. Hello Aislin, I see you are trying out those new delivery brooms~!" His cheerful greeting was answered by a plethora of curses.
Aislin! So that was why the voice had been so familiar. "Arif, move it, you are blocking the way!!"
"Am I? Sorry, just let me squeeze through here and I'll be out of the way." Indeed, he had grown big enough by now that he barely fit through the door. Fortunately there was plenty of space in the main shop room...
"So you know someone here as well?" the Fandangle asked curiously as it waited for Arif to get through the door.
Jerava had been about to say something to Aislin when the giant spider came through. Her jaw clicked shut and she shook her head. Then a hauntingly familair voice had come through the doorway and her jaw dropped back open again. It was, of course, immediately shut as she clenched her jaw in pain; her headache was now on the level roughly equivelent to a large bomb going off. Repeatedly.
Laure had noticed this, and was going to ask what was wrong when Jer began to shimmer. "Jerava!" the Fandangle cried out worriedly as her bonded's appearance subtly and slowly began to change.
"Look up to the, oomph, ceiling when you're inside," Arif recommended while squeezing his rear body part through the door. "She's one of Seso's family members." He waved with one of his metal legs to Elena. "Hello child, no reason to look so scared, I'm completely, absolutely and utterly harmless."
"Adopted family member though," Seso added, passing through the door right after Arif, "thanks to the foolishness of one of my grandchildren. That's a... long... story..." His voice trailed off. That woman...
"Get me the hell down!" Aislin yelled, still clinging desperately to the broomstick.
Elena's eyes were wide as she stared at the oversized spider. "Pretty!" she delcared from the floor, not paying attention to the Fandangle following behind Seso. The Fandangle, however, saw Elena and stopped dead.
"Mine," it purred possessively, floating over to the child slowly. "Correct, am I not?" Elena's attention was still riveted on Arif. The Fandangle sighed slowly and settled down to wait for it's bond to notice it. It was prepared to wait forever, if need be. It's entire existance revolved, or would revolve, around this girl.
Jer, meanwhile, had her eyes squeezed shut. Suddenly, she opened them. "No," she said quite firmly, causing Laure to stare at her in shock. It wasn't quite Jerava she was looking at, though. The woman, wo was still surrounded by a shimmering haze, now had long brown hair which nearly reached the floor. It was braided, not loose, and Jer's ears and forehead were clearly visible. The gem on her forehead was glowing a brilliant green, and Jer's now blue eyes narrowed. "No. I will not do this."
"You have no choice in this matter, Ithiltari," said another voice. It was a foreful voice, and one could tell it was tightly controlled so as to not be too overpowering.
Jer, or Ithiltari, ground her teeth together. "I am not going back. This is my home, damnit, whether you like it or not. And I will most emphatically not abandon my responsibilites here." Laure was staring at the elf in shock. What was going on?
'A human child that's not scared of giant spiders?' Arif was stunned. And quite flattered to be called pretty. He settled down next to the child and absently started to weave with the golden thread that had lead his way, giving the yelling woman at the ceiling only a casual glance. Did he know her? She did seem sort of familiar, but he could not remember ever having seen her before...
"I...thil...ta...ri...?" Sesostris blinked, not sure what was going on. That was the least person he had expected to run into in this place. She sure looked different... But she seemed to be in trouble, and in pain, and that was enough reason for him to get in the way of whatever was bothering her.
"Shiny," Elena said emphatically, reaching a hand out for the thread.
"Hullo Seso," Jer/Ithi ground out, her hair fading from brown to silver, then back again.
"You have abandoned your responsiblites to Us," said the voice logically. "You are needed here."
The elf snorted, her hair shortening in length until it was about to her mid back. It was now loose, and rather wavy. "You abandoned me first. And I am needed here more," she said quite firmly. "I am not, nor was I ever irreplacable in Your eyes." As she said that, her eyes flickered back to brown. "I am irreplacable here. You will not allow technology within Your Region, and where would that leave Laure?" The Fandangle spun slightly at being mentioned. "In addition, I have found myself a family here. And, might I add, a much less judgemental one." Her hair shortened again, to it's former short and spiky length, while the shimmering glow she was in suddenly stopped for a moment, then enveloped her in a blinding flash. When it was gone, there were two elves standing there. One was the Jerava Laure had been bound to.
The other was unfamiliar to the Fandangle, but Seso would undoubtedly know exactly who it was. She had the long, braided hair Jerava had been sporting, but in a dark grey. Her eyes were dark blue, and her forehead was marked with a glowing green gem as well.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," they said in unison.
"I'm not going back," Jer said to whomever had been speaking before.
"I would, but since I fully share, um, myself's opinion, I think I'll stick around." Laure looked back and forth between the two. There was a slight resemblance...
"So be it," the voice said resignedly. "We are sorry it had to come to this, but you leave Us no choice," it continued. "You, and your alter ego, are hencefrth banished from Our Region, Oblivion." The coice stopped, and there was an audible sound of a door closing, and a lock being turned. Jer and Ithi both sighed as their gems abruptly became blue.
"There, there..." Arif murmured, and gently tied one end of the golden thread around Elena's little finger, with a neat little bow. Then he cut off the thread and tied the other end around one of the blue Fandangle's edges, also with a little bow. Yeah, that looked about right. With a 'poof' he reverted to his original sprocket form and size. "Eh, did we actually manage to find the shop?" he asked, slightly dazed.
Seso had cringed away from the blinding light, and what he saw when he opened his eyes again... Baffled he looked at the two women. One of them he recognized right away, how could he ever forget her? And the other one... That change before that flash of light... "Two... Ithiltaris?" he asked perplexed, his voice somewhere between shock and delight.
Aislin in the meanwhile had given up on yelling, it seemed that no matter what she did she would be ignored anyway. With a grunt she heaved herself onto the broomstick, trying to find a comfortable seat on it.
"Yes, we did," said the Fandangle now tied to Elena. "My thanks," it continued in a bemused tone of voice.
"Mine!" Elena shrieked as she belatedly noticed the Fandangle. "My shiny?" she said in a somewhat quieter tone of voice, since Laure and Jer had spoken to the girl about automatically assuming that shinies were hers.
"Yes, my dear, I am yours," replied the Fandangle, nudging the girl gently. Elena shrieked again, this time happily, and hugged the Fandangle tightly.
"Not quite," said Ithi. "I'm Ithiltari. She's not."
Jer rocked back on her heels in thought. "Well, in a certain sense I am," she replied. "But not quite on the same level," the brunette elf continued with a shrug.
"I'm sure this is all quite fascinating," Laure interrupted. "But what is going on? Who are you?" she asked Ithi. "I'm so confused." Jer and Ithi exchanged glances.
"I'm Ithiltari," the grey haired elf said with a bow. "This is what Jerava used to look like before she came to Gaia." Straightening, she grinned. "Don't worry, you aren't bonded to me. Jer acquired you, rather obviously, after I technically ceased to exist." Ithi shook her head. "My, this is going to be quite complicated to talk about, I can tell." Jer rolled her eyes.
"I'm still confused about why it happened," Jer said. "I know why They were trying to change my appearance, but I don't understand why you split off like that." Ithi shrugged.
Sesostris eyes shot back and forward between the two. "So let me get this straight - you," he pointed to Ithiltari, "are Ithiltari as I remember you back from the good old days. And you," he pointed to Jerava, "are Ithiltari as you are now? And that, pardon me, she," he pointed to Laure, "is actually your Fandangle?" He scratched the back of his head. "If I only had known about this... The Multiverse truly is a small place." He stepped forward and without further warning he hugged both women (well technically only one) at the same time, one left, one right.
"I'm truly glad to see you again, even if the circumstances are a bit odd," he murmured gently. And then, a tad closer to Jerava's ear: "But what the hell have you done with your hair?!"
"I don't believe it, he's at it again..." Arif sighed. "And he still has to learn about that thing called 'tact'."
There was a strange sound distracting the sprocket from further observations though, coming from a dark corner near the counter, sounding a bit like a very weird kind of laughter...
Curiously he left the girl and it's newly found Fandangle behind and floated towards the source of that sound. Hm, yet another Fandangle, and it was... building something? Looked like it was assembling a strange kind of machine, with a time display. A clock of sorts?
Jer and Ithi nodded in unison. "Correct on all counts," Jer said with a smile. The pair grinned at each other, and hugged Seso back. "I cut it, obviously," Jer replied. "I wanted to do something different with it."
"And that's about as different as you can get," Ithi said teasingly. "It's good to see you again too, old friend," she said to Seso. "And I believe you mentioned that there was an adopted relative of yours in here?" Jer mentally ticked off the current occupants of the shop.
"That would be Aislin then?" Jer blinked. "How is she related to you?"
Laure, rather confused by now, headed up to the ceiling to float by Aislin. "It's safer up here," she muttered.
"Well, it looks like-" he managed stop himself before the word 'shrubbery' could slip off his tongue. He had clearly heard Arif's remark about 'tact'. "I like it better the way it was before." He gently tugged one of Ithiltari's braids.
"As for Aislin," he glanced up to the ceiling with a fanged grin, "that's another long story. The short version would be, that my foolish great-great-grandson once saved her life by not only forming a soul pact with her but also a blood bond, technically turning her into somewhat of a half-demon. And a family member. It's a very complicated situation..."
"While you are talking about me, old bat, you might as well get me down!" Aislin snorted. "Though it really might be safer up here..." she muttered under her breath, glancing to Laure.
A rainbow colored koi floated through the air next to her. "Or maybe not."
Arif was still pondering what kind of machine the strange Fandangle might have built. The digits on the display had now begun to move, slowly counting backwards. An alarm clock maybe?
Ithi stuck her tounge out at Jer, who rolled her eyes. "It's much easier to take care of this way," she said in reply to Seso.
"Great-great-grandson?" Ithi asked curiously.
"I'm guessing Luthe," Jer said with a nod. "And aren't soul pacts supposed to be complicated?" she asked with a laugh. "I thought that was one of the requirements for forming one. 'Must screw up everyone involved's life in some way.'" Ithi laughed.
"Rainbow colored koi is safer than down there," Laure said firmly as a butterfly winged one followed the first.
"We talked about this, didn't we?" Sesostris chuckled, but then his face quickly became serious. "In Luthenep's and Aislin's case it's unfortunately the sad truth. I didn't expect Luthenep to be capable of such powerful and complex magic at his age back then, nor did I notice his obsession with Aislin. You wont believe how much he messed up though - as I said the situation is... complicated. But hopefully I finally managed to set things in motion for a change."
"With other words, he meddled," Aislin mumbled. More and more koi in all shades of colors popped into existance around her and Laure. It was a spectacular sight, but the woman didn't really have eyes for it. Could it be... She always had been wondering how Daryl got to know about the Forge since he never left Earth. She was distracted in her thoughts though when a small weave sprocket floated up to them.
Must be Arif - his appearance changed, but the voice was the same, only that it seemed a bit more childish right now. But with what had been happening to the sprockets lately, that was only natural. At least she guessed it was.
"You," Arif said to Laure, completely ignoring Aislin for he simply didn't recognize her right now. "What is that? It's shiny, it has wires and cables and parts with colorful liquids. And a shiny crystal. And..." Damn, what else had been on that strange device? "Oh yeah, a display with numbers. It counts backwards. Could that be a time machine?"
"I'm sure they'll both appreciate that," Jer said dryly, knowing quite well how being meddled with had made her feel. Ithi chuckled.
"Mm. Seems he had the power to do it right, but not the knowledge," Ithi said, nodding. "Even if he had done it right, it would take a lot of work to undo. And if Luthe truly screwed it up, I don't even want to think about what's going to have to be done to fix the situation."
"...Counting backwards?" Laure said, wondering why she'd been picked to be an expert. "Um, I don't think it's a time machine," she continued slowly as she thought about what sort of devices counted backwards. "Where is this device?" she asked, trying not to panic as her brain thought 'BOMB!' in large, flashing red letters.
"I doubt they will," Seso replied, to caught up in his toughts to catch the sarcasm in Jer's voice. "Or at least Luthe wont. One of the biggest problems of that pact is the time magic he included to tie Aislin's aging to his and stopping his own aging. It's not much of a problem for Aislin," a loud snort could be heard from above, "but the side effects for Luthenep... Stagnation. Not being able, or rather unwillingness to change." He said solemnly, looking up to Laure. Yes, it would need quite some shock to crack that part of the spell.
"Over there, right next to the counter," Arif replied to Laure's question. "Some really weird Fandangle is tinkering with it, and if you ask me... Can Fandangles actually go nuts?"
Aislin moaned. Just when she had thought this day couldn't get any worse... Ah well, from this height she could probably let herself fall down without breaking anything. At least she hoped that would be the case...
"So, he has to be willing to change in order for the break to occur?" Ithi asked, arching an eyebrow curiously.
"It probably goes deeper than that," Jer replied, also looking up at Laure, who darted down next to the counter.
"It's entirely possible," Laure called back to Arif. "Depends on how they've been programmed and treated. Why?" she asked, looking around for the device.
"In a sense, yes. I'm not quite sure what, but something will cause him to finally want change. I'm 100% sure it's connected to your Fandangle though..." Curiously he followed Laure with his eyes. Was there something up behind the counter?
"Because, that Fandangle that built the device... I think it's not normal," Arif shouted after Laure, prefering to stay where he was. The ceiling seemed to be a nice place to stick around. That woman - she appeared strangely familiar to him - seemed to think otherwise though, since she just let herself drop to the ground. She even managed to land rather gracefully.
"Seso, I think now would be the perfect time for one fo your famous deflection spells," Aislin called out while hurrying after Laure. "There's a machine making a countdown, and somehow I doubt it's a cooking timer!"
"Laure?" Jer and Ithi echoed. "Granted, they are friends, but I wonder how much influence Miss Shiny has with Luthe," Jer continued.
"No one's normal," Laure called back mischeviously, still looking for the device and the Fandangle.
Jer and Ithi looked at each other and similtaneously rolled their eyes. "Wait. Countdown?" Jer's eye's widened and her tail flicked in agitation.
"I'd forgotten about that," Ithi said musingly, staring at Jer's additional appendage.
"Not now," Jer snapped. "Need to find the bomb. Or whatever."
"That's the point," Sesostris replied. "In a thousand years that brat never had a friend. Your Miss Shiny is quite special, it seems." Fascinated and not bothered too much by the mention of a mere bomb he stared at Jer's tail. When the hell did she grow that?
The strange green Fandangle was quite pleased with it's achievement. The machine... it was perfect. So shiny, so beautiful~! A shame that it would cease to exist in such a short time, but that was part of it's beauty.
"Found you!" Aislin called out triumphantly. But what to now? Mechanics, or technology never had been her thing... "Does any of you know how to deactivate a bomb?" she asked aloud.
"Kekeke..." the strange Fandangle cackled. "You wont be able to stop it in time..."
"She's just damn shiny," Ithi said with a laugh. "It's quite hypnotic." Jer eyed herself curiously.
"I'd say it's because she's so trusting," the other elf opined. "And oh-so-slightly naive."
"I don't," Laure said worriedly. "And Alden and Samira aren't here, so they can't warp time to before th ebomb was built. Or whatever it is they do."
"Seso!" Aislin called angrily. "Stop flirting and move yourself over here, and take care of this thing! I don't care if you teleport it away, or put a shield around it, or whatever! Just do something!!"
Sesostris sighed. "I'm sorry, Ladies, but it seems I have to leave you for a bit to take care of this. As far as I know nothing ever stayed dead in the forge, but I'm not too keen on testing this out myself." He gave both of them a nod and a warm smile, and then quickly walked over to Aislin.
"I'm not sure this actually is a bomb," he said, after looking a while at both, the fandangle and it's strange device. "I mean, the ones I saw, never were this... colorful?"
"It has a count down timer and lots of wires and cables, that's all the proof I need," Aislin snarled.
"It's the Inferrnal Machine," the Fandangle exclaimed happily.
"You hear him?" Aislin groaned.
"Well, since that countdown thing says there's still about 20 minutes left, why don't we just carry it out and let it explode somewhere far, far away?"
"Actually, it's morre like 20 seconds," the Fandangle commented. Both, Seso and Aislin stared. "The display doesn't show the corrrrect time." It did sound rather self-satisfied. "Fooled you~!"
Ithi and Jer chuckled, then followed him over. "We're in perfect agreement on that," Jer said. "Not only that, but I'd hate to have the shop explode, even though we're getting ready to move."
Laure had placed herself between Ithi and Jer, who had silently watched as Seso examined the device. "That's not very nice," Laure said reprovingly to the other Fandangle. "What if one of them could get you to your bonded? And then they exploded? Then what would you do?" Laure figured that since the glowy Fandangle hadn't been particularly keen on anyone in here, it's bonded had to be elsewhere.
"Well, Laure, what will you do if I die?" Jer asked, eyeing the device, and the Fandangle curiously. "I doubt the blast will affect you; Fandangles are very hard to injure, let alone destroy." Laure looked as shocked by the idea as she could.
"Why, I hadn't thought about it."
"My bonded likes explosions," the strange Fandangle replied dignified. "Ohhh, he likes them much, verry, verrrry much." Again that slightly insane cackle.
"Tsk, whoever your bonded is... If I ever meet him, I'll have a few words with him," Sesostris said absently, already calling upon his magic. A circle of protection around it first - a powerful one, better to be save than sorry - and then simply taking it into the shadows, where it could be explode without harming anyone...
"There, that should take care of it," he murmured, and stepped back a bit. Something like a small black hole seemed to open up right underneath the colorful device, black tendrils of shadow reached out to curl around it and draw it into the shadows.
"Whatever, I'm out of here," Aislin remarked and snatched the sprocket jar from the counter. "Not that I don't trust you- But you know what they say about 'save' and 'sorry'. And Murphy's Law." With her free hand she grabbed Elena, simply lifting the toddler up. "Look, there's lots of shinies in my hair," she said, hoping that would occupy her long enough to carry her out without too much yelling, scratches, bites and what else little kids might do when they were pissed off.
Sesostris did not answer, instead he was looking at the device slightly disconcerted. It was fully wrapped by the shadows now, but it did not move. "I hate it when the laws of magic go on vacation," he said. "I believe it is... stuck?"
"You still didn't answer my question," Laure said stubbornly. "What if you can't find your bond because you blew up the people who know where he is?"
Jer rolled her eyes and watched with interest as Seso attempted to make the bomb go away.
"SHINY!" Elena crowed happily as Ais lifted her up. "Have own shiny now," she continued, clinging to the Fandangle. "Is pretty?" she asked Ais, holding it out for inspection.
"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Ithi asked, looking at the shadow wrapped thing. "Um. Now what?"
"Errrhhhh..." replied the Fandangle, deep in thought. "I don't believe I know enough varrriables to... Or maybe... Hm... OH!" it said finally in a cheery tone. "Since I know he loves explosions, he'll of course come here and find ME after this big bang." It sounded quite pleased with itself.
"Very pretty," Aislin muttered, glad that the kid didn't decide to pull on her dreads or something. "You know what," she said, while hurrying out of the door, attempting to keep the kid occupied, "if you are good girl for the next five minutes, I'm going to give you one of my necklaces, okay?"
"That's definitely not supposed to happen. And so far it never did." Intrigued he watched as the shadows wrapped around the device started to inflate slowly, starting to look like a big pitch black balloon. "And that also never happened, just in case you were about to ask. Just stay behind me... Laure, Arif, you two as well." Quickly he cast another shield spell, just to be sure, and still trying to resist the urge to poke that... balloon.
That damned green Fandangle did not, though. The moment it touched the balloon with it's - was that a tentacle? - the 'balloon' burst.
There was a flash of blinding light (not again) but not the expected impact nor a...
No, this wasn't the sound of an explosion. More like a deep heavy pound, like a giant's heartbeat, sending out ripples through- He stared. Yes, actually through the floor. Wow.
He staggered, almost lost his ballance. Ithi, was she...? He turned around, just in time to catch a last glimpse on how the two became one again, and to catch her from falling. He drew her closer to him and simply held her, watching in awe as reality around them appearantly finally decided to fix itself.
That weird Fandangle went first, being sucked into some sort of miniature portal. The broom finally came crashing down, and it rained rainbow koi - each of them shattering on the ground into shimmiering clouds of dust.
Finally things settled down, leaving nothing of the madness behind, than rainbow colored sparkling dust on the floor and Aislin's strange weapon laying where the 'bomb' had been.
"Now, that was quite a sight," he murmured and reluctantly let go of Ithil- No, she called herself Jerava now, for whatever reason.
"But what if he can't hear it?" Laure continued before being herded behind Seso.
"Necklace," Elena echoed, staring at all the shinies. Today was definently a good day for her.
Ithi had been about to reply, but then the bomb had gone off. Jer and Ithi fell towards each other as the floor rippled. A second flash of light, obscured by the first, indicated that they had once more become one being.
"Moot point," Laure said cheerfully to herself as she noticed that the other Fandangle was now gone.
Elena twisted around in Aislin's arms, looking for her shiny. The string was still there, but it had been abruptly severed when her Fandangle had disappeared through a small portal. "Want shiny back!" she cried, her luminous eyes filling with tears.
"Indeed," Jer said wryly, picking herself up of the floor. "I think I can do without ever seeing it again, though." Her hair was covered in dust, and as she attempted to brush it off, she noticed that it was no longer the short cropped hairstyle she'd been maintaining. It was now long - not Ithi long, but long enough that Jer could braid it, and loose. "Well," she said with a grimace, "Looks like someone else didn't approve of my hair either."
"Aw, don't cry, don't cry!" Children, she never quite got the hang of them. Sure, there was Luthe, but he only looked like a kid. "I bet it's just gone because it had something terribly important to do. Like, erh, finding a treasure for you. I do that all the time, searching for treasures. Now look, which of the necklaces do you want, mh?" Nervously she glanced back at the shop. The 20 seconds were over for sure by now, but no 'boom' yet.
"I..." Sesostris reached for a strand of her hair, gently brushing the glittery dust off. "I rather like it that way. Don't cut it down short again. Please."
He was still in awe that he had met her again, here, of all the possible places. Why the hell did his Sight never show anything that concerned him?!
"So, erh, how have you been doing?" He finally asked. "You've changed rather drastically since I last met you. Your appearance, changing your name and all that..."
Elena sniffed. "Find me more shiny?" she asked hopefully. She stared at Aislin's necklaces. "Blue one?" Elena said catuiously. There were rather alot. "And silver!"
Jer smiled involuntarily. "I have kind of missed the weight of it," she said wistfully, continuing to dust herself off. "But it was much easier to take care of when it was shorter."
Laure, in a fit of mischeviousness, unleashed a bunch of music sprockets, who had enthusiastically begun playing a romantic tune. The Fandangle was having quite the gigglefit, especially when Jer shot her an annoyed glance. Oh, this was going to be quite fun~
"Things got rather...complicated after I got back home," Jer said in reply. She blinked. "Oh, it wasn't right away, but eventually I just had to leave. Luckily I found my way here, and decided that maybe this was a second chance of sorts." The elf smiled ruefully. "I should have known that I couldn't escape my past that easily," she continued, smiling at Seso. "Not that I wanted to escape from all of it."
"Hm, that makes it kinda hard to know which one you mean..." Aislin put down the sprocket jar to free up her right hand and fumbled through the massive amount of necklaces she was wearing. Ah, there. "How about this one?" A thin necklace made of bright silver, with little star pendants in different shades of blue, turquoise and green dangling from it. "You like this one?" She put the kid down on the grass, hoping she wouldn't run away; and sat down next to her, taking off said necklace and offering it to her.
Hm, still no 'Boom'. She wondered what was up in the shop, but with Seso around there probably wasn't a reason to worry.
Seso... She frowned. She had overheard part of what he had told Jer, and she'd love to have a little conversation with him, preferably without his usual excuses and lies.
Sesostris had a hard time supressing his grin when the music sprockets started up. No wonder Luthe liked that Fandangle so much. Enough to... Ah, nothing of that now.
"Ah yes, the past... Well, a lot has happened on my side as well. My clan has even left the Citadel, but as usual, that's a long story." He chuckled. "So, you live here now? Where exactly? And what are you doing now, still exploring?"
Elena sat down happily, holding her hands out for the necklace. "Pretty!" she cooed, wrapping it around her hand. "Thank you!" she said, remembering the manners that Jer had tried to instill in the girl. Evidently, Elena had forgotten all about the 'mean lady' making all of the Celestial sprockets take a nap.
Laure was still giggling when she remembered that Elena and Aislin weren't in the building. Not that she was overly concerned about Elena being missing, but Jer probably would. Then again, this was far too entertaining to interrupt.
"Yes, I live here now. With Laure, Elena, and quite a few others," Jer said. "Well, not really here in Gaia. I'll spare you the more technical details, but suffice to say, I've created an ever expanding and changing house within a small dimension. It's merely anchored here in Gaia," she continued. "Ah, no, not really. I work for Moorgahaine. I'm, um, something of a secretary now."
"A secretary." Sesostris raised a brow. "I have a hard time imagining this. That sounds so unlike...you. But that you work here is great news, I'll be able to see you more often then." He smiled. In fact he had just decided to stop by the Forge as often as possible. "Unless... You'd like to invite me to your house? It sounds interesting, I'd love to see it."
Hm, something was still bothering him. "Say, Elena, is she your... I mean, have you...?" He looked down and fumbled with his signet ring, wondering how to ask that question tactful.
Jer twirled a loose strand of hair around her finger. "Not really. You never saw what I did when I was back home, as it were. Lots of clerical work interspersed with the odd exploratory mission," she said with a shrug.
"Luthe has a key," Laure said helpfully from the ceiling.
"And I don't have any spares on me," Jer said ruefully. "Well, if you can get Luthe to bring you by, I'll be sure to have one for you." Laure giggled and didn't mention that she usually had a few spares on hand. This was a great chance to see Luthe again~
"Ah, Elena. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but she appeared from a book," Jer said with a slightly baffled look. "Apparently, she was waiting for me, or something, and now I have to take care of her."
"A book." He shook his head and grinned. "That is so Gaia... And the main reason I'm staying the hell away from certain shops and districts here - wouldn't want to end up as the guardian, caretaker or something of... whatever."
He glanced at the giggling Laure, and raised a brow. She was hiding something, though he couldn't figure out what...
"I'll definitely look forward to visit you," he finally said. "I'd give you one of my logkeys, but I wouldn't want to break any wards or the like you put up. I mean, as you've apparently been hiding from gods..." Presents. He'd need to buy presents before he visited her. But what did she like, appart from her affinity with the moon? Hm, he could have Luthe ask out Laure.
"Should I help you clean up?" He looked around at the glittering dust. It was pretty, maybe something could be done with that?
"I hadn't thought about that," Laure said, spinning in the air. "Luthe gave me a logkey. Oh, but it should be okay, since the house knows to let him in," she said after a moment's thought. Jer looked at her Fandangle oddly. When had this exchanging of keys happened?
"Oh, I'll just get some Sprockets to clean," Jer said, grabbing a few Cleaning sprockets from her pocket.
"Must you do that?" one of them complained in a stuffy British accent. "We were just about to clean the kitchen for Miss Anli."
"Too bad. Clean the floor," Jer said, pointing. "Then you can go back."
Sesostris did his best to hide a rather satisfied expression. So the kid had given Laure a log key so soon? He sure was trusting her...
"Well, if you could possibly let the house know to let me in as well? If there's a shadow logkey already present I should be able to home in on it. If not... I'll just get Luthe to bring me over. It's not like that kid has anything important to do..."
He watched as the cleaning sprockets did their work (how had Ithi-, no, Jer managed to keep them quiet all the time?!) and then remembered something. Quickly he scooped up some of the glittering dust, and put it away into one of his pockets.
"I have to leave now," he said, regret in his voice. "Even though my clan has been exiled from Hell I still can't escape having to deal with politics there, it seems.
I'll see you again, one way or another. We'll have to talk, about Luthenep, and about her." He glanced over to Laure. "And..." he leaned forward, whispering the last hopeful words into Jer's ear, "possibly about us?" He brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss and then stepped back, a completely innocent look on his face.
"Bring Luthe," Laure chirped. "That way the house knows for sure that you're supposed to be there. Sometimes the computers and stuff are a little off." Oh, this was going to be fun indeed. Especially once Luthe was around.
Jer watched as the sprockets busily vacuumed up the dust. At least the Cleaning ones had been easy to retrain and keep amused.
"Um?" she replied, distracted. "Ah, politics," Jer continued with a grimace. "Thankfully, I managed to escape that." Her face brightened. "Have Luthe bring you by, anytime. If I'm not home, someone who can get ahold of me quickly will be," she said, smiling. Then he leaned closer, and a slight blush colored her cheeks. "Indeed," she murmured.
"I'd like to talk to Luthe anyway since the 'mean Lady' mentioned he picked up another... friend of sorts. I mean, no friends in almost a millenium, and now suddenly two?! That must be a sign of the coming apocalypse..."
Sesostris bowed, with a smile on his lips. "Farewell my Elven explorer. I'll let Aislin know that she can send the girl back in." He looked around, searching for his weave sprocket. Ah, there, weaving a... cocoon? "Arif? We are going."
"Aw, but it's not- Eh, don't look at me like that, coming, coming!" He zipped over to his bonded, but not without hissing at the cleaning sprockets to not dare and touch his creation.
Sesostris raised his hand for a last farewell, and then he was out of the door, humming, and in an exceptionally good mood.
Compiled from MEF Shop RP
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:08 pm
:: MEETING THE AVATAR OF MEDICINE ::Funny. She'd never noticed this shop before, until someone had so politely shoved past her in the street, and knocked her into the fence. Some people these days... Mumbling about asking for a bandaid for her scraped knuckles, the girl meandered towards the door, admiring the gardens on her way. She wasn't very tall, or really very noticeable, dressed in baggy tan jeans and a wrinkled military shirt. Sure, she had horns and a tail that most people described as 'devilish' but... This was Gaia. There were gryffe-corn-pega-centaur-ghost-dragon-hooligans out there! She liked being almost normal.
Auriga knocked on the door with one hand, sucking on the knuckles of her other hand. Nice looking house, probably had money, that's for sure.
"Hiyya!" A young girl swung down from a tree behind Auriga, and hung upside down by her legs from the lowest branch, her black hair streaming messily down from her head. "What's your name?" She giggled and waved.
Auriga bit down hard on her knuckles out of shock. Then, she removed them slowly from her mouth, with a quiet 'ouch...' The girl had SCARED her. She turned to look though, head tilted slightly to the side. "My name's Auriga, and yours?" She couldn't help but grin. It had been a long time since she'd gotten to run and play like a careless child... Only a little over a week.
"I'm Memi, and you bit yourself." Memi hauled herself back up onto the branch and dropped out of the tree with a quiet 'oof.' "Want a band-aid? Have you had lunch yet? Do you like playing hide and seek?"
"Er..." Auriga glanced down at her hand sheepishly. "Ehehe.. Yeah, looks like I did." She licked her knuckles, and shrugged. "Yeah, a band-aid would be nice, or at least some antibiotics. Lunch, no, I haven't. Hide and seek, however, is one of the greatest games ever. You know how to play sardines or kick-the-can?" Auriga bounced slightly. Lunch, that reminded her of foooooodd... She was gonna need food soon, breakfast had been an onion ring and some cold rice. Mmm, rice.
Returning home from visiting with his humans, Eamnonn didn't expect to find multiple mortals this close to the compound. As such, he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, nor to his natural camoflauge, which made him a flickering, half seen shape as he moved through the trees. Humming a little to himself, he strode blithely home.
"Okay then, come with me!" Memi grabbed one of Auriga's wrists and dragged her through the front door and into the kitchen. "Sit here," she said, indicating a bar stool, and went to one of the lower cabinets and started rummaging through the basic first aid stuff. "I don't get to play much, so what is sardines, and is there anything to kick-the-can other than what it sounds like." Ah! There it was. Memi stood up with a brown bottle in one hand, and a couple small boxes in the other.
"Whoa!" Auriga, caught off guard by the grabbing of her wrist, was promptly dragged inside by Memi, though she caught the flicker of motion in the trees outside. Plonking herself down on the stool, as instructed, she held out her hand. "Well, sardines is like hide and seek, but only one person hides. Then, everyone looks for them, and when you find them, you hide with them, until everyone is squashed into this one hiding place. Then, the last person to find everyone is the newest sardine. Kick the can is like hide and go seek too, but instead of touching base, you kick this can to get in free." Auriga explained, watching Memi dig in the cabinets. Funny, she was getting her knuckles taken care of by a child younger than her.
Mmm, the compound. Lazy Ea time. Heading in to the main living room, the god dropped his camoflauge and flopped on to a couch belly first to stretch out fully and take a well-deserved lounge.
"Yeah, Mom would have been scared to let me play sardines," Memi said, scrunching her nose and sticking out her tongue. She hauled herself up on a stool next to Auriga and carefully began to dress the scraped and bitten knuckles with some internal coaching. "It sounds really fun, though, but people here don't seem to like playing games like that, and sometimes they're pretty hard to find since they're all doing their own thing. Whacha wanna eat for lunch, and do you wanna play before, after, or at all?"
"Ahh, that's too bad. It's a pretty fun game." Auriga watched Memi bandage up her hand with quite a bit of surprise. It looked better than it would have if she'd gone to a hospital.. Well, seen as how most hospitals would have looked at her hand and laughed, quite a bit better. The phrase 'people here' caught her attention, though. Was Memi's mother here, or did she just... live with some unrelated people, like... some sort of little commune? "Um, well... How about food first, and then we'll see what playing can be done, hey?"
"Mmkay!" Memi bounced off the stool and dashed to the next room, stopping herself by catching the doorframe with both hands and leaning in at a crazy angle. "Hello! Anyone want lunch? Oh, there's actually someone here!" Memi laughed and let go of the doorframe long enough to wave.
For some reason, probably havign to do with all this time spent with humans, the Hunt wanted a book to read. Stupid literacy. Glancing around the room, he searched for reading material within reach. Nope, nothing. Pity. He closed his eyes, hoping to nap, but the shout of a voice he didn't recognized stopped him.
"What? Who are you?" He glanced up at the unfamiliar female. Mortal?
"Someone else here?" Auriga followed Memi, but at a slower pace. Leaning against the doorframe herself, she raised an eyebrow. Oh my... This was nothing like anything she'd seen in Gaia before, that was for sure. Shaking her bangs out of her eyes, she smiled nervously. "Ahh.. hello? I'm Auriga."
"I'm Memi, I'm staying with Illumin until the god eats my soul," she said cheerfully. Far from being the scary prospect it had been initially, Memi was finding that turn of phrase hilarious. Accordingly, she giggled, then composed herself. "It's very nice to meet you. Would you like to eat lunch?"
Another one? Yeesh. The Hunt stood, stretching and yawning a bit before walking over to the two girls to offer a greeting. Hopefully the loincloth wouldn't scare them too much. "Hello. I'm Eamnonn, god of the Hunt." He blinked at the cheerful one, not entirely sure what she was talking about. Strange creature.
He would have added a 'nice to meet you,' but for some reason that felt vaguely like he was cheating on his followers. He was an odd one.
Okay, WHOA BACK UP. Auriga had heard some pretty interesting things in her life, but having a little girl speak up cheerfully about A GOD EATING HER SOUL... Oh, now that was a new one. "God... eats your soul, what?!" She snapped her head back up to look at Eamnonn, and that was when she leaned a little more heavily against the doorframe, and sighed. "I'm in a house... full of gods, aren't I?"
Oh, holy... crud, that was probably offensive. Hooboy.
"Well, not really full, since there's a lot of empty space, but there's Zero and me," Memi said with a smile. "But yeah, that's how Illumin explained it to me."
The Hunt nodded. "Gods left and right, but very little soul eating as far as I know. I mean, I've never personally eaten a soul, as far as I know, although I did posess this body, alter it mightily, and make it mine above Perri's protestations, but I didn't touch her soul."
"Oh. Well, that's... wonderfully strange, I'm sure. Pleased to meet you, both, especially since you both are... or will be? gods." Auriga smiled vaguely, still rather confused about the whole thing. Whoa. She'd never really considered what would happen if she actually found evidence that gods existed... Let alone what she'd do if she met one. "Um... I'm not going to have to do anything particularly god-like, just because I'm here, correct? Like..." The idea of lunch prodded her. "Eat ambrosia... Wasn't that the food of the gods?"
"I'm sure there's ambrosia around here somewhere, but I don't think I could cook that. Zero and I had pizza a few days ago, and I usually have pancakes or baked chicken or just a whole bunch of gumdrops for lunch," Memi said with a shrug. "The gumdrops make me hyper."
A small violet gem surounded by dark wisps of shadow zipped through the garden. Barely visible it carefully it took advantange of every available bit of shadow, and finally managed to reach the back door successfully without ever having been in the direct light. There was something about this house which drew it's attention, and it was curious as hell.
The door wasn't completely closed, and that narrow opening was calling, calling...
In, it went, quickly hiding beneath the next bit of furniture.
Luthenep noticed a tad to late that his Shadow Fiend wasn't arround anymore - again. "Ohhh, that little piece of..." he hissed through his teeth. 'It will cling to it's guardian's shadow until it gets older' they had told him. Yeah, right.
He stretched out his senses to his bond with the little one, trying to find out his whereabouts, and after a few moments he let out a sigh of frustration. Inside.
He glanced left and right if someone was watching him, then he quickly jumped over the fence. Maybe he could get in and pick it up before it got into trouble...
Just like the Wisp before he was careful to stay in the shadows and avoid any direct light until he was at the back door.
He knocked, and then poked his head in. "Hello?"
"No, no one eats ambrosia as far as I know, not that I have any idea what that is. We're not culture specific gods, more... Alimghty Blobs of different aspects like the Hunt and Wind."
This Memi girl said the oddest things, while Auriga seemed confused but grounded. For once, he sided with the grounded.
"Yeah, Beryl's really nice, and--" Someone at the door. Memi looked between the god and Auriga, and decided that they seemed to be getting along. "I'll be right back."
She walked quickly over to the door and waved at the kid looking through the door, and opened it. "Hiyya, can I help you?"
"Oh good, 'cause I can't think of how to prepare it either. Last I remember, from that mythos... The mortal who ate ambrosia was sentenced to horrible horrible torture by the gods. I think. Maybe gumdrops would be a better idea." Auriga's smile was coming back a little stronger now. Eamnonn's explanation made a little more sense of the whole shebang as well. "Oh. Well, then..."
Luthenep hadn't quite expected to be greeted by someone of his own height. Well, that would make things a lot easier. "Hello," he said. "Have you maybe seen a small floating gem? Violet, and about this size..." He indicated the size with his fingers.
"I'm pretty sure it went in here."
Hm, something about this girl made him feel uneasy, he wasn't able to put his finger on it though.
"Beryl is absolutely wonderful. I'm grateful every day she puts up with me."
Staying by Auriga the god frowned at the door. When had this place goteen so popular?
"I don't think our gems float," Memi said, tilting her head to one side in thought. "I didn't see anything. What's its name?" She paused, and blinked. "Sorry, I'm Memi. What's your and its name?"
"Beryl? She's the wind, then?" Auriga tried to put together the context clues, and succeeded slightly. "Okay... Um, if you don't mind me asking, Ea..mnonn," she fumbled over the pronounciation. "Is it... strange, being a god? And, uh, do you have temples and such?" Curiousity was killing her.
"I'm Luthenep, just call me Luthe. And the gem-" Hm, she didn't seem to think floating gems were something strange at all - he started to like Gaia more and more. "The gem's name is Azel. It's a shadow fiend actually, I bet it's hiding somewhere under the furniture."
"Okay Luthe," Memi said, and grinned. "If he's a shadow fiend, I know one place he's not." Illumin's room was uncomfortably bright for her. "C'mon, let's look for it."
"A~~zel," Memi called, taking the doorway where Auriga wasn't into the main room. "A~~~~zel, where are you?"
"Yes, she is. She and I are, uh, kind of a thing." He ruffled his hair, trying to explain a relationship that defied such labeling. Noting her trouble with his name, the god chuckled. "And please, call me Ea. My name's a bit long and tricky otherwise."
Tilting his head, he attempted to answer her god question. "I would say being a god is strange, but then I've never been anything else. Perri was a human chick, but I was never her, and if I find anything strange it's some of the memories she left behind in this skull when she vacated it. As for temples... you mean the kind with followers in it, right? I don't have any personally, no, but I do have three devotees - four if you count their dog. I've never really sought out any followers, so it's unsuprising I have so few."
"Ah, I see." Auriga grinned. So gods really did have strange relationships. Heh-heh-heh. "Oh. So, you've never entertained the idea of starting a temple dedicated to yourself to garner followers? I mean, I'm sure there are people who worship you in general, but have nowhere to go to show their faith..." Okay, so now she was just rambling, but at least it was an interesting idea. That's what she'd do, if she were a god. Maybe.
He shrugged. "I'm the Hunt, not an architect. Organizing people has never really been my thing. Besides, hunters aren't really a hang out in a building and worship sort of people."
"Sure..." A bit nervous Luthe trailed after her. It wasn't just the girl making him feel uneasy, it was the whole damn house. He wondered what was up with it.
"Azel?" he called and crouched down to get a look under those couches. Not there.
The fiend sensed it was being called, but... No, not it's bonded. Another call. Yes... Yes, that was him, but... It knew this kind of place. Shiny hide things behind doors. It wanted one of those, but how to get there without being seen?
((*giggles*))
They searched the whole main room, but didn't find the gem. Memi even looked in the gem display just to make sure. She paused, and looked up the spiral staircase. There was enough light coming through Illumin's door it might make shadow-anything uncomfortable.
Memi regarded the kitchen, and began looking under the cabinets and stools, and in a cabinet that she'd left ajar. "Azel?"
"Well... It doesn't have to be a building. Sure, that's what some temples have been in the past, but they don't have to be actually built. Just..." She trailed off, chewing on her unbandaged knuckles. "Mm. I guess you could be right. Do you hunt, yourself, or do you just represent the hunt?" Auriga grinned then. "And sorry about all the questions... I'm just curious."
The Hunt smiled and waved a hand. "Please, ask away, and I'll do my best to answer." He winked at her. "Yes, I hunt. If I didn't, I wouldn't be a very true representation of the hunt if I didn't, would I?"
Auriga shrugged. "I don't believe all gods do what they represent. I mean, there were gods who told their followers to practice being kind and good, and that sort of thing, and then smote many hundreds of people..." She was using her hands to emphasize her point, and when she realized this, she clasped them behind her back. "Er, sorry. I get a little carried away at times. Erm, going back to where you said that, um, was it Perri? Where she vacated your skull... What was that all about?"
Luthenep picked up some of Ea's and Auriga's conversation during the search. So this was a place where Gods dwelt... No wonder he was feeling uneasy then. Praying there was no light deity around he continued his search. It would be much easier to use the shadows to track the fiend down, but in a place like this he didn't dare it.
"Azel~!" he called again. Maybe bribing would do the job. "If you come out I'll buy the pretty box you wanted..."
Ugh, so much movement, so many people. Hard, so hard to make it through the room unseen, not enough shadows to cling to.
But... Oh! Oh! OH!! Door to shiny hide-things opening!! Maybe if it was fast enough?
Avoiding direct light the small gem whizzed along the wall, keeping close to the floor, then along the cabinets.
Careful, careful, to not be seen by the girl-child-person...
And then, in a moment she wasn't looking and and starting to close the door of the cabinet the fiend zipped inside...
Only to hit the first cup in it's way with an clearly audible 'cling~!'.
Memi opened the door back up and looked in. "There you are!" Memi waved to Luthe. "Aren't you pretty. I swear I looked in here...."
"You mean like biblical gods, yeah? I think they're quite a bit different than our kind. Never can tell with the monotheists. They do too much to avoid hypocrisy all the time, I imagine. That and gods, like people, change."
Hee, she talked with her hands! Eamnonn did too, but only because he'd learned it from Perri. "Perri was the human who had this body a while ago, and got my jewel put in. So, this body was hers, and then we shared it for a while, and now it's mine."
"Oh, I get it. A jewel, though? I've heard of deities taking many forms, but never a gemstone. Was it strange, to be in someone else's body at first?" Auriga really was curious now. What would it be like to have a god in your body, living through you? Would it hurt, or what? And what was this about jewels, really?
Oh, it was being seen! Not good, not good! Quickly the tiny fiend hid between the cups, trying to retreat in the darkest corner of the cabinet.
Ah, so she had found him... He walked over to Memi and curiously peeked into the cabinet. "Oh, with the cups? Should have known that, for some reason he really likes cups. I guess he thinks of them as shiny little caves to hide in or something." He reached in with his right hand, feeling around, he had to be in there somewhere.
"Sometimes he tries to drag them away, but he's not very strong, so..." Ah, there in the corner, that familiar oval shape. "Gotcha!" he hissed, closing his fingers around the little gem.
"Well, you see, sometimes gods fade when no one worships them. I don't really remember my old life or lives, but I must have faded, cause then Harmodious slapped me in a jewel to be all dormant and safe until I got put in a host."
"Funny. I would have thought a god of the hunt would have had quite a few followers. So, everyone here has one of these jewels, and they contain a faded god, of some sort? And then... somehow, the person with the gem becomes said faded god. I think I might have some semblance of understanding now." Auriga's tail curled around her hips, and she patiently unwrapped it, though it continued to twitch.
Eamnonn shrugged again. "Like I said, I don't really remember."
"It's a he? Why would he want to hide? He's pretty," Memi cooed, leaning in to look at him. She closed the cabinet as Luthe brought the gem out.
Auriga nodded. "I wonder if there's any significance as to who gets a gem, or what not. It would be fascinating to find out the relationship between gods and the mortals who receive them..." She bit her knuckles again, a habit she had yet to lose. Mumbling around them, she added, "D'you think that Perri influenced you?"
"]"Well, the man - Athan - who told me about what a shadow fiend is said it is a 'he'. I guess I'll find out once he grows up a little. If he grows up, I don't know actually." Yeah, there was still much he had to know about his little friend...
"And he's a bit shy, and loves to stick around in the shadows, so I guess hiding is his second nature." He showed the fiend to Memi, carefully covering it with his other hand so that it was still the shadows. "It's a sugilite, that's a pretty rare gem."
The Hunt laughed and nodded. "Goodness me, yes. She corrected my mistakes constantly, started my liking of Beryl, and has left me a bizarre collection of memories to sift through. You can't share someone's brain without being changed by them in some way."
"Neat. My gem's a she." Memi giggled and rolled up her left sleeve to show Luthe.
Your gem? The voice sounded like it wanted to raise both eyebrows in haughty surprise.
"I don't know what it is though, but it is pretty. Do you know?"
Auriga grinned around her knuckles. "That's cool. I guess it's a good thing that the gods have memories of human lives, because if they didn't, wouldn't it be easier for them to slip into more of a tyrannical outlook? I mean, not that some humans don't have that outlook already."
"No..." The girl's gem was emitting an aura that made his skin crawl, and Azel's reaction was immediate - he hid inside Luthe's sleeve.
"I've never seen anything like it, and I have seen a lot of gems. It's quite unusual..." He reached out with his hand but didn't dare to touch it.
"I don't know if anyone else got their host's memories. I think it works differently for everyone."
Yawning, he stretched, smiled, and gave Auriga a little bow. "I'm sorry, but I need to go take a nap before I fall over. I'm a total cat. It was nice to meet you!" Kissing her hand, he retreated up the main staircase and into his room.
Auriga smiled brightly at him, and nodded. "It was a pleasure, Ea." The peck on her hand made her blush slightly, but she waved as he left, quite happy with her new accquaintance.
"Aww...." Memi frowned. "I didn't know Panacea would scare Azel. What did you do?"
I did nothing. If the little fiend is afraid of me in this form, he's going to have courage issues later on.
"She says she didn't do anything, sorry," Memi said.
I"m being talked about like an errant dog? This is embarrassing.
"You can touch it," she supplied helpfully.
"I don't think she did. Azel he... He's actually quite good at picking up my feelings," Luthe confessed embarassed. "Don't get mad at me, but there's something about your gem that makes me extremely nervous, and that scared the s**t out of the little one."
"Why would someone be nervous about the goddess of medicine? It's not like she's Illumin, which would make sense to make Azel nervous." Memi frowned down at the gem in her skin.
Well, he doesn't seem to be a plague demon, Panacea mused. But I wasn't entirely unfriendly with spirits of disease...
"She wants to know if you're a plague demon," Memi said brightly.
"No..." So he had been recognized for what he was, at least in essence. "I'm a shadow demon actually, I guess that's why Azel awakened in my presence."
He continued to eye Memi's gem cautiously. "It's just that... My kind and deities tend to not get along with each other very well. I've made a few very bad experiences."
Illumin... Illumin... that sounded familiar somehow, wasn't that something Latin?
"The gods you met were probably just really uptight and no fun at all," Memi declared, rolling down her sleeve. "Most demons around here aren't evil at all, and are all very sad about being pers... um... people being mean to them because they're demons."
"Believe me, 'no fun' is a huge understatement. 'Huge' put in capital letters by the way." He shivered.
"So you have met other demons?" he asked, intrigued. A lot of different races seemed to gather here on Gaia, but he hadn't met any of his kind yet. Though, if they weren't 'evil at all' they probably weren't demons. "I mean, it's no wonder people are, erh, mean - the demons I know are all evil. Even I am. Technically."
"Mrs. Luci lived in the neighborhood. She even came to visit me in the hospital," Memi said, smiling. "She made really good carrot cake, and said that if I were any less cute she'd've eaten my soul years ago." Memi giggled, seeming utterly unperturbed by the implied threat. "The homeowners association threw her out after her relatives came to visit. Something about no portals in the neighborhood. See? Mean!" She made a face.
Luthenep nodded, not entirely sure she was really talking about a demon. He'd never heard about any demon's baking cake... The mental image of his grandfather proudly presenting a carrot cake popped up in his mind, and he couldn't help but giggle. Though Seso actually might- Nah, better not think about it, he decided.
"Souls are tasty," he said. "But I never eat children's souls."
The name 'Illumin' was still spinning around in his head. There was a phrase he had heard a few times: ' Dominus illuminatio mea' What did it mean again?
"Well, Illumin said that the gods in the gems eat their hosts' soul, but Ea over there.. well, he was over there... said that he didn't, so I dunno what's going to happen to mine." Memi shrugged.
The young demon stared in disbelief. "You are going to give up yourself for a God?! Why would you do something like that? It's..." He searched for an adequate word, without much luck. "It's stupid!"
"I've got a couple reasons." Memi held up one hand, index finger upright. "One, I was going to die anyway. For reasons beyond being human. Two, my parents were spending too much money to keep me alive. Three, I get to live pain-free instead of being a disgusting mess. And four, I'm pretty sure there was an enchantment involved somewhere." Memi dropped her hand and sighed. "And maybe... I mean... hospitals always seem to be bad places. She's Medicine, so maybe when she comes back, she can make it better for other people who have to spend too much time there."
Luthe lowered his had, looking to the floor. The girl had a point there, or two, or three. "I've been to hospitals, for... hunting. There were people there who were glad I came for them. But their souls always were bitter." He stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Suffering does that, you know? Of course that was before I promised I would't eat any more innocent souls," he added quickly.
Come to think of it, he had heard that phrase there... 'Dominus illuminatio mea' - The Lord is my Light.
s**t.
"There's a God of Light around here?!" he asked, his voice pretty much panic-stricken.
"Yeah," Memi said calmly. "I stay with him. It's really hard to sleep in there too, but don't worry, he usually stays up in his room or out in the garden at about noon because he hates any sort of shadow. I really don't see him anywhere else..."
"Doesn't matter, if there's a God of Light around, I'm out," he said, trying to calm down a bit, without success though. "Nothing against you, and I'm really glad you helped me find Azel and such - but I've made some really bad experiences with a Light deity, so I can't stay around. I just... can't, I don't trust Gods. Sorry." He turned around on his heels and stormed out of the door.
Memi blinked after him, and looked around the room. Auriga was gone, Eamnnon was gone, and Luthe had stormed out. She stood and brushed off her knees; whistling quietly she took out some pancake mix and a bowl, and started mixing herself up some lunch.
Compiled from RP at the Edelsteine HQ
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:21 pm
:: SHE HAS A COMPLAINT AGAIN ::
Ais trying to give back Azel and asking for a refund? Oh dear. XD
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:25 pm
:: NEWS OF THE GRAND OPENING ::
Getting ready for the big event..
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:30 pm
:: THE GRAND OPENING PART I ::"So, this is AEKEA? Looks rather bleak..." Aislin looked around, her left hand resting on her hip, a small backpack on her shoulders, and her right hand gripping her shakujo. Lots of greys, lots of machines - she didn't really like this place, Durem was more her thing.
The new MEF building was just a bit ahead - Daryl had aimed his portal surprisingly well this time.
"Well, I bet MEF will be anything but bleak. You still plan on exploring that place? You'll get hopelessly lost, you know?" Luthenep shifted the heavy box he was carrying to a more comfortable position. He really wished the sprockets wouldn't have gone haywire all of a sudden, the micro-, macro- and gravity sprockets had proven to be rather useful for transportation matters.
"Bah! I have my equipment, I have my staff and I have that really useful gyroscope thingie, better than any compass. No need to worry. Now, shall we get going?"
"Sure. You lead the way, I don't see much behind that box."
"Remember, you were the one who suggested to bring something along," Ais snorted. "So, you carry it, and you will set up the booth and take care of it. Keep you eyes open, maybe we can haul in a client or two, or maybe members of the Guild will be around. You never know..." She kept the door open for Luthenep, while glancing around. The place was awfully quiet right now, nothing she'd expect at the day of the 'grand opening'..
Luthenep seemed to think the same thing. "You sure this is the right place? Or time?" Carefully he set the box to the ground and looked around.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Daryl may be.. odd, but he never messed up on the transportation. I'll have a look around, you set up the booth as planned. Just use one of the tables over there, I don't think anyone will mind." She grabbed one of the maps from the counter and vanished through the next door.
Luthenep just shook his head, not even trying to protest. Her behaviour had been odd ever since she came back from her last visit to the forge, and he couldn't help but feel that she was hiding something from him..MEF_Staff Moorgahaine & MEF Staff- Robot 3679O-A retrieved an intact shipment of MEF Ribbons from the Durem house and added it to the Aekea shop inventory. Any further intact shipments will be relocated to the new location as soon as possible. A team of 7 robots have been dispatched to search the Durem house for any additional undamaged shipments. - MEF Security Network
And that note would make sure people knew who brought the goodies while he was.. away. Aislin couldn't seriously believe he'd stick around that table all day, could she?maskedquerade Moorgahaine, I've begun setting up credit accounts to help the Fandangle owners get back on track with their Bonded (and not bite my head off). Hope you don't mind, but it's ending the angry phone calls the shop it getting on a slighter higher note. Masque maskedquerade To all staff, Be careful when leaving inventory around! A hoard of Storm sprockets got loose and started chasing me around with one of those Tesla Staves. Thankfully (ha! - for once) the kinetic sprockets are having those power surges and stopped all of them at once. Masque Moorgahaine MEF Staff- Included is a shipment of Tesla Rings, which will sell for 100g each. It may take a bit of time, but my goal is to have MEF restocked with new items and hopefully be able to put all this 'black dog' prank business behind us. Thank you all for your exceptional patience and hard work. - Moorgahaine Moorgahaine MEF Staff - One more shipment for now, the Tesla Necklace. These will seel for 200g each. I'm a little apprehensive sending this many powerful magnetism/electricity items at once - but I'm sure you all will handle things just fine. - Moorgahaine
Crow lounged in a corner of the shop, toying with a toothpick and listening to her gang of sprockets yammer incoherently in Binary. She glanced up at the little machines hesitantly - they had been acting out of sorts for ages, and their weird behavior had hit an upswing when she let them out of the house. Wincing as she thought of all the damage they'd caused on the way to the shop, she glanced around and waved to the new guy that walked in.
"Hi," she said, absently batting away a few sprockets nesting in her hair.
Masque waved Silver inside. "You're having problems too, I take it?" There was a middling sized crowd of Fandangle and sprocket owners chatting in all parts of the room. "Come on in and I'll answer any questions I can."
With a small laugh, Silver walked over to Masque. "Mainly had trouble getting over here from durem where I was this morning." As he walked, he eyed a few of the items, blinking at the strangeness of them, and then considering something, tucking it away in the back of his mind for later. "How have you been? I mean, with the opening of a shop this big, there are bound to be some problems.
Masque raised an eyebrow. "So Kaze hasn't gone cog-disc and forgotten everything? Our main problem is that every known Fandangle has reverted to cog and been wiped of all information."
Luthenep just had done his own bit of getting lost exploring, much to his surprise not meeting anyone. Was this really supposed to be the 'grand opening'?
Just when he wondered if he should walk back the way he had come (hoping the rooms were still the same as they had been of course) he heard voices from somewhere ahead.
Curiously he walked up upon the next door and opened it, only to find out that he had apparently walked in a circle. And what was that thing about 'problems'? So it wasn't only his and Aislin's sprockets that had gone haywire?
Leaning against the wall and still playing with the toothpick, Crow watched the crowd of owners, Fandangles, and sprockets curiously. She was suddenly deeply pleased that she wasn't the only one with problems - when she'd first arrived at the shop, the first thing her sprockets had done was form a flock and divebomb every person out on the street before she could force them inside. Shifting closer, she sort-of eavesdropped on Masque's and Silver's conversation.
Looking back at Kaze, silver shrugged. "With all the interesting things that come out of this shop, i've been trying to not get to worked up about it. I figure i'll just rebuy the parts to get him back to where he was and help him evolve again." Silver was sifting through some of the parts bins, picking up some things to look at and consulting a notebook. "So it was universal? Happened to all the fandangles? Thats odd. Has Moorgahaine had anything to say about it yet?"
"Moorgahaine said that he had nothing to do with it and they're still investigated. We have some new items that were supposed to be used to enhance the Fandangles, but it looks like they'll be used to program the blank Fandangles. And yes, every single one that we know of so far has devolved." Masque shrugged.
She then raised her voice. "Did anyone here miss the first explanation of the new inventory? I'll be going over it again shortly."
Crow raised her hand and waved at Masque.
"I did!"
She definately wanted to hear some sort of explaination - not that she exactly had to worry about reprogramming or fixing anything of the Fandangle-ilk, but she needed the assurance that whatever was going on hadn't been some silly mistake in tinkering of her own that had caused widespread disaster.
Shaking his head and looking back at Kaze, he shrugged. "I figure right now he's as blank as when he came off of the press. Poor guy." He reached out and carefully patted Kaze, shaking his head again. "I would be interested in learning about what all these things do, so I don't mess up somewhere."
"He's actually blanker, since he doesn't even have any personality loaded on," Masque said, waving everyone up to the front counters of the shop where she had different upgrade items and some of the new inventory on display. "Come on up and I'll start once everyone's comfortable."
Luthenep hadn't been eavesdropping intentionally, his hearing just was really good. And yet, he was hoping he understood something wrong.
He opened the door completely and made his way to the counter.
"Excuse me," he said, looking up to Masque with a worried look. "What did you mean about Fandangles devolving and forgetting about everything?"
He tried to sound calm, but he felt like a clump of ice was forming inside his stomach.
Crow got up from her corner and herded the chattering flock of sprockets over to the counter, eager to see the new things and reassure herself that she hadn't somehow broken all of her companions. Settling with her elbows propped against the counter, she watched Masque and waited expectantly.
"For some unknown reason, every Fandangle we know of has been wiped completely clean of programming and memories. Moorgahaine sent a message to the staff that it didn't originate from the shop, and he's investigating. Is there a particular Fandangle you were wondering about?" she asked.
"Laure," was the prompt reply, without a second thought. "She's a friend of mine." Luthenep hesitated for a moment, considering his relationship with Azel. But Azel was someone he was taking care of, he couldn't even talk yet, so he was more of a fosterling, or a child, than a friend. "My only friend," he finally added.
Masque sighed. "Yes, we've heard from Jerava, and she's had the same problem. I'm sorry." She was sympathetic, but she was as mundane as they came, and she couldn't change the world back because a Fandangle was someone's only friend. There were a host of other reasons too, but even then, in a match of Masque vs. The World, The World had a first round knock-out punch.
Silver, due to his height, kept to the back of the shop, though he kept looking around. Something felt familiar. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something close that he should look into. Then, as Masque spoke, he looked forward again, filing the thought away in his mind again for later research.
"I... see," Luthenep said, his voice almost toneless. That ice clump in his stomach seemed to have grown suddenly, because he felt so cold, so terribly cold. This couldn't be happening, no. Not to Laure. This had to be a mistake.
His face pale he turned around and let himself slide to the ground, his back leaning against the counter.
Azel didn't know what was going on, there was just that sudden surge of sorrow from his bonded, and that was enough for him to whizz out of his favorite place in Luthenep's right sleeve despite the horrible amount of bright light. He tugged at his bonded's sleeve a few times, without getting much of a reaction, and then carefully looked around. Maybe there was something that would cheer him up? Something shiny?
"I think," Masque said kindly, "that you'll have to talk to Jerava about how she's going to be reprogrammed. Ravija has already voiced her strong dislike for the method that our current situation allows, but that's for the explanation." Masque wanted to sit and comfort him, but she had responsibilities to the other customers. She's start explaning in a couple more minutes.
Crow watched the ashen-faced guy for a minute or two, feeling very sorry for what seemed to be a terrible loss. She shifted uncomfortably, unsure if she should say something in comfort or mind her own business and leave well enough alone. Reaching up and plucking a sprocket out of the air, she shined its face absently with her sleeve and waited for Masque to speak again.
Patting the boy on the shoulder, silver gave a (to him) sympathetic smile. "There there laddy. Don't worry, i'm sure your friend will return to you. You'll just have to help her remember everything for a while. Think your strong enough to do that for her?"
Luthenep didn't like the sound of the word 'reprogrammed'. Absolutely not...
"I... don't know," he said to Silver. "I haven't known her for long, so I'm not sure I can." He burried his face into his hands.
Azel was carefully making his way around the counter. There was much bright light, but there were also many people, casting shadows for him to hide in. He stayed close to the ground, cautious to not be stepped on by one of those.. shoes.
Shoelaces.
The small fiend wasn't capable of carrying anything heavy yet (much to his dismay even Aislin's pretty porcelain cups with the gold rim had too much weight), but he had learned how to tie knots.
"All right, let's get started. The thing that's going to interest most people here are the bijou." Masque took one of the shiny balls out of the display case. "These contain the seeds of personality. With them you can give your Fandangle some personality."
Ravija, trailed by two Fandangles, snorted. "The personality you want."
"Yes, that's the problem. Some of you might be uncomfortable with the prospect of choosing the personality of your Bond, but so far this is our only solution to making them anything other than drones." Masque pointed to a kiosk to one side. "You have to set the personality traits at that kiosk; it's also programmed to randomize should you decide you don't want to choose it yourself. The bijou are elementally aspected, and we have a catch-all version and one that removes personality traits."
Rather pleased with it's skills of knot-tying the shadow fiend continued it's way to the backside of the counter, taking several detours to not have pass through direct light.
Ohhh, yes, it had been right, there were shinies, lots of open boxes with shinies. But there was a closed package which specifically perked the fiend's attention.
The woman-person seemed to be busy, so the fiend started to carefully tug at the string wrapped around the package. He was able to tie knots, so he should be able to untie them...Moorgahaine MEF Staff- I have come across a group of very strange energy/matter spheres while exploring the shop. I've dubbed these particular entities "Ignis Fatuus", due to thier ability to be shaped into very nearly anything (or anyone) by the holder. I would like these to be distributed amongst yourselves and the customers, but only to those willing to document what kind of creations they make of the spheres. I will supply a journal to anyone willing to purchase one (or more) sphere(s). These journals will allow the holders access to various upgrade items usually reserved for Fandangle owners. The more information that is recorded in these journals, the more upgrade items will be accessable to the sphere holder. I'm anxious to see what sort of beings or items are designed from these amazing spheres of creation energy- I believe they could even be fashioned into psuedo-Fandangles, or even psuedo-Exodii. Ignis Fatuus shipment included. These shall be priced at 1000 each. - Moorgahaine
Crow watched the explaination in interest, leaning over the counter to examine the nanobots. As she went in for a closer look, she noticed something rummaging in a few of the boxes. It seemed completely absorbed in untying the string tied 'round one of the packages. Crow had the feeling she should have notified Masque of the creature's presence, but the shiny things she glimpsed in the other boxes was too much a temptation. Whatever was in that package, she wanted to see as badly as the creature did. Chewing on her toothpick, she sidled over to a corner of the counter where she get a better view of the package and creature.
"Next are the elemental crystals. Since your Fandangles are completely wiped, they have no more elemental attunements. We have several different kinds of crystals, and each of these kinds also has an element attached. Here," Masque opened up the display case and took out two crystals, "we have a Holy type crystal with the Storm element, and an Infernal type crystal with the Storm element. Both will increase a Fandangle's skill with Storm." The electricity around the two crystals was visible, arcing back and forth between them. "They may only be used once, after which they tend to attract spirits. As if our homes weren't busy enough already. If you don't want to deal with those in the house, I suggest burying them, unless you've got a Lava elemental crystal, in which case I suggest burying it far, far away."
Hm, untying was harder than it seemed.. But the more the knot resisted, the more determined the little fiend got, and finally it slipped open.
The rest was easy, since the box basically opened itself. Or more like, was pressed open from the inside.
And, oh, how shiny the content was!!
MINE. The fiend didn't quiete have a sense of ownership yet (in fact it probably never will have.. <_<), but from the very core of his being he knew this shiny plate-like thing was supposed to be his. He just had to get away with it unnoticed - or if noticed, then at least unpursued..
Quietly, the brand new Fandangle floated out of it's box, watching as it's bonded tied up Masque's shoe laces. Thankfully it didn't say a word. It's bonded didn't speak, so there was no need to reply..
The fiend whizzed close to the Fandangle, tugging it with one of his shadowy wisps, to get it to follow him. He had to show it to Luthe!!
"Now these things..." Masque took out one of the pneumatic-hammer-syringe things, "...give your Fandangle abilities. Sensing an element, blasting the element, all sort of things you're used to, and a few more, including elemental runes, tattoos, cloth, and weapons. Each one of these artificies--that's what they're called--is one element only. Make sure the Fandangle has some crystals of that element beforehand, or it won't work."
The Shadow Fiend was already half way around the corner when it occured to him that he wasn't carrying the shiny plate-thing. Which meant he could carry something else..
After hesitating for a moment, Azel made a beeline for the closest box, which was containing those pretty bauble-like things which looked very much like the paperweights Aislin had. Of course he didn't know yet what paperweights were, just that they were shiny, and he wanted them, and they were always to heavy to carry.
But these ones... They were smaller.
Determined he wrapped some shadowy tendrils around a pretty, red bauble, but it'd only move a bit. If he could just get it out of the box, so that he could roll it..
The Fandangle grasped what it's bonded was trying to do, and as a part of his basic programming was to assist it's bonded in every way possible it moved behind the box to push - with a whee bit too much might, actually knocking the box over and making it's colorful contents roll merrily all over the place.
Crow tried to hide a slightly vindictive smile as she watched the weird little creature mess around with Masque's shoe laces - yeah, she could be nice and tell the poor woman what was happening, but where would the fun be in that?
She also noted the weird contraption the creature had freed from the package. Guessing it some kind of companion-machine like a sprocket, she watched it hover about the creature in mild fascination. Watching the creature eagerly raid the boxes was entertainment enough, and she half-wished she could join in the looting.
"Hey, Masque," she asked innocently, noting the highly shiny contents of a freshly raided box, "can people that just own sprockets buy Fandangle stuff just to keep around?"Carda To any/all concerned parties: Well, after much lost wandering, Xironi and I finally made it out of the shop. I'm exhausted from carrying five cases full of upgrades and extremely annoyed to find that it's been a good 18 hours since we entered the shop in the first place. There was a parking ticket on my windshield. I would highly recommend that SOMEONE have a polite chat with Aekea Police and explain the hazards of posting a 2-hour parking limit on the street in front of a shop with unusual space-time properties. Thank you in advance. --Carda
Azel had hidden away in a dark corner as soon as the box with the baubles had started to topple over. Now he cautiously glanced to Masque - amazingly enough it seemed like she hadn't noticed anything, at least not yet.
About high time to get away, but he wouldn't leave without one of those shiny things! Stubbornly the Wisp wrapped a few of his tendrils around the red bauble which had caught his attention in the beginning, using them to push the shiny forward.
It rolled really well, going 'cling' here and 'clong' there, bouncing off various boxes and objects, just like a billiard ball. Mesmerized Azel watched until it had rolled out of his sight. Now that was fun!
He reached out for the next bauble and gave it a good push, completely forgetting about staying quiet, and hidden.
Elena happily wound the golden thread up as Jerava walked to the Forge. She had quite a large amount wound about one arm, and couldn't understand why Jer kept getting mad whenever Elena toddled off in a different direction. It wasn't like it was her fault the thread went all over the place.
Laure floated behind Jerava, who had had a rough couple of days. With over 200 sprockets suddenly gone haywire, Elena's new obsession with golden string, and Laure's mysterious devolution and memory wipe, it was a wonder she hadn't had a nervous breakdown of some sort. Not that she hadn't been tempted.
Finally, Elena's string led wandering ended them all up in front of the Forge. Jer took a deep breath, hoping Luthe wasn't around because she didn't particularly want to deal with any hysterics about Laure, and opened the door. Elena happily ran in and squealed in delight. There was thread everywhere!
Crow winced as the creature started making noise with a few of the highly shiny baubles, glancing at Masque and wondering how on earth she hadn't noticed anything yet. The things it played with were very fascinating - she was strongly reminded of the ringing handheld medicine balls she used to use as cat toys. The creature was being less and less careful, and Crow was too fascinated in watching it loot and play to let it get caught.
"Um, Masque," she said loudly to cover the din caused by the baubles, " those Ignus Fatuus things you mentioned - are they alive, or do you have to program in behaviors and that sort of stuff like you do Fandangles? I mean, I know you mentioned how we can use the upgrades on them, but do they have their own personalities and minds to begin with?"
Masque glanced down and shook her head. It wasn't that she was oblivious, just that she had better things to do with her attention. A loud voice couldn't cover that din if it tried. "Hell if I know exactly what they are, I just got the memo myself. They're apparently shapeshifters, so I suspect they'd have a rudimentary personality in place at the very least in order to actually impersonate things."
Luthe's head jerked up as he heard that squeal - he recognized the voice instantly, and if Elena was here, Jerava couldn't be far. Instantly he jumped onto his feet and made his way to the door.
Azel stopped his game of rolling baubles immediately once he picked up that sudden surge of feelings from his guardian and zoomed after him, as fast as it was possible without leaving the shadows. His new Fandangle was trailing right after him.
Elena shot off before Jer could grab her, in hopes of using the girl as a reason not to talk too much to Luthe. Jer made a half-hearted attempt to follow Elena, but only really moved herself and Laure away from the door, in case anyone else wanted to come in. Laure continued to follow her Bond, and didn't pay any attention to Luthe as he came towards them.
"Hello Luthe," Jer called out quietly, eyes darting around in case his grandfather was lurking. Probably yes, and probably not where she could see him, but it never hurt to look.
Luthenep didn't even reply, he had only eyes for the silver-blue Widget following after Jer. "Laure?" he asked, his voice trembling a bit. That couldn't be her, could it? That Fandangle looked completely different.
Laure turned to face Luthe while Jer made a noise somewhere between a cough and a sob. This was probably going to be as hard on Luthe as it was on her.
"I am Laure," the Fandangle said in a flat voice. "Who are you?"
"I'm Luthe, don't you remember me?!" She didn't even sound like Laure, yet Jer's reaction told him that his worst fears seemed to have come true.
"I was at your house a few weeks ago, you showed me around and all that, you have to remember!"
Masque in the meantime took the time to untie her shoelaces. Sprockets had done worse to her, but it was cute since she hadn't fallen on any of the myraid sharp things in the shop.
Before Laure could reply, Jer cut in. "She doesn't remember. Hells, I had to tell her her own name," she said in exasperation. The fact that Jer was cursing, even mildly, was an indication of how upset she was.
"I am sorry?" Laure said, since Jer had already replied to Luthe's question.
"And the-" his voice failed him, and he had to clear his throat. "And there's no way to fix it? To get her memory back? The person over there at the counter is talking about reprogramming, I don't like that!"
"Not that anyone's informed me, no," Jer said with a long sigh. "Reprogramming probably has to do with personalities, not memories.' The elf winced slightly. "It's ither reprogram her how you and I remember her being, or we're stuck with this," she said with a geture at the Fandangle, who was watching the exchange with no apparent interest in participating, or in what was being said.
Something wet was running down Luthe's cheeks - he wiped it off and then stared at the crystal clear liquid on his fingers with some surprise, trying to remember when he had been crying the last time. Oh. That day. When Aislin had..
"I don't want her to stay like this," he said with a sob. "But I don't want her to be reprogrammed either, what if it goes wrong?"
Silver had been busy selecting various items, and after a while had gone and gotten a basket to pile all the items in, being careful not to break any of them, looking back at Kaze from time to time to frown, and then looking back over the items again, selecting carefully.
Jer sighed. This was pretty much what she had expected would happen, based on what Seso had told her before. She knelt on the floor, to bring herself down to Luthe's level, her jacket brushing the ground. "Look, Luthe, I don't think there's a third option," Jer said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "The best I can offer is having you help me, which I had intented on asking you anyway. Well, once I figured out that she wasn't coming back, and that she could be fixed, in a way." Jer shook her head, her newly long hair falling about her shoulders. "But I don't think she'll ever end up quite the same."
Nima looked up at the building, nervousness and dread settling somewhere around her stomach. "Oh dear....." The girl shifted the boxes on her hip. The contents clinked softly. She almost turned around a went home, but forced herself to stay. She'd walked all the way to Aekea. With the boxes. She'd promised Jerava she'd be here. She was not going to let shyness get in the way.
The girl walked inside....and almost bolted for home again. So many people.... She took a deep breath. Another. Felt a little closer to normal. She spotted Jer nearby, but the elven woman was in conversation with someone. Still, having someone she knew here helped calm her nerves. She spotted an open table and started to set up her booth.
Luthenep nodded slowly. "I'll- I'll have to think about that. I'll go outside for a bit, I'm feeling a bit.. sick, sorry."
"Hello there," Masque said as she walked over. "Setting up a booth?"
Nima jumped at the voice. "Y-yes, I am." She nodded and shifted the boxes. "Th-that's okay, right?" she added in a small voice.
"It's fine," Jer said softly, letting go of his shoulder and standing up, brushing her knees off as she did so. "And perfectly understandable. Don't worry about coming back in til you feel better, okay?" she continued with a small smile.
"Good bye?" Laure said to him, still in that flat, emotionless tone of voice. Jer shuddered slightly.
Compiled from MEF Shop RP
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:33 pm
:: THE HUNT ::
Nothing better to clear the head.. >3
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:41 pm
:: THE GRAND OPENING PART II ::Nima checked back in the box. Just like Jer said there was a controller with Arilin's name on it, matching the cog's colors, and an instruction manual inside. "So what does the controller do exactly?" she asked, flipping through the manual. She tilted her head. "And do they all sound like that when you first get them? All flat and mechanical I mean."
"Laure didn't. But she does now," Jer said with a helpless shrug. "The controller is how you check on various things. It used to be how you upgraded things, but I don't believe that's how it works now."
"Did something happen to Laure?" she asked, feeling a flash a worry. She glanced at the controller and manual in her hands. She didn't really have time to fiddle with it now and she didn't want to screw something up with Arilin just because she didn't know what to do. She tucked them both into her bag to examine later.
"You didn't notice?" Jer asked, confused. "All the Fandangles were reset. Personalities, powers, and memories. Well, you wouldn't have noticed that, but surely you noticed your Sprockets acting funny?"
"Well, I noticed they were acting funny. Weirder than usual. I didn't know they were all reset. Are they all going to be okay?" Nima asked, concerned now.
"Should be," Jer said shortly, not wanting to dwell on sprocket things. Having all of the ones in her house reset and go haywire was not a pleasant experience.
A door opened, and Carda slipped inside, holding the door wide. Trailing behind him were a young, bookish man in robes, a blond little girl who looked to be about eight years old, and an angelic-looking being complete with wings.
Xironi was nowhere to be seen. As it turned out she was back home, still working on installing all of Esca's upgrades. Quite a time-consuming process, considering just how many upgrades she had bought...
"This is an interdimensional nexus?" the bookish scribe inquired, adjusting his glasses.
"That's what I'm told, Jonas, and considering how easy it is to get lost in here, I believe it. Calaria, I want you to stick close to either me or Miss Seraphim, okay?"
"Sure, Mister Carda," the little girl replied, awestruck by all the sights and sounds in the Forge.
Seraphim looked around. "Wow. This place is impressive."
Carda nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to get a good look around. Didn't have much of a chance to last time. We were a bit... focused on Esca." Carda reached down, gently grasped Calaria's hand, and led her about the store.
"Hello everyone. Can I help you?" Masque had straighted up the boxes at Nima's booth and had made herself available to other customers with questions or those coming in.
"Oh good. What about Laure, is she going to be alright?" Inwardly she sighed in relief. She'd had to resort to locking her sprockets in a closet to keep them out of the way. Hopefully they'd go back to normal. At least as normal as sprockets get.
"She'll never be the same as she was before," Jer said sadly. "I can only try to make her how I remember her. Which, hopefully, won't make her friend Luthe too upset."
"Oh...I'm so sorry Jer." She patted her friend's shoulder consolingly. "I would help you if I could, but I didn't really know Laure that well."
Carda looked up. "Actually, we're just looking around. I'll be sure to let you know if we need any help."
Calaria simply had WAY too many cool things competing for her attention. She barely noticed the nice lady behind the counter.
"Thanks for the offer though," Jer replied with a sad smile. "How's your brother doing?" she asked in a change of subject.
"Well, you better not make any mistakes then," Sesostris whispered into Jer's ear. "A demon's wrath is... You don't want that to happen to you, trust me."
Jer jumped slightly. "Such a juvenile sense of humor," she said, smiling a bit more. "That is, if you think sneaking up behind me is entertaining." She turned to face him. "Although I think there's someone who might protect me if Luthe thinks I made a mistake."
"He's alright. He keeps dropping hints about working as a male model for some reason." She made a face. Surely her genes could go to better use than that. Nima jumped back a few feet at the sudden appearance of the newcomer, knocking Arilin out of the air. The cog bounced back up and spun rapidly to dust itself off.
Carda's attention was drawn to the Ignus Fatuus display.
Hmmm.
Jonas slipped up behind Carda unnoticed and studied the display himself. "Very interesting things they have here in this shop, but..."
Carda didn't take his eyes off the display even as he spoke. "But what?"
"I don't know, are you sure this place is safe for Callie? They have an awful lot of weapons here."
"Eh, she'll be fine, she knows better than to play with stuff that doesn't belong to her."
"Carda, this is the same child who swiped my glasses yesterday when I wasn't looking."
"She likes you."
"She likes this shop, too, which has me worried for her welfare. Do you even know where she is?"
Carda snapped out of his reverie and looked around. Sure enough, Calaria had let go of his hand and wandered off, and was now nowhere to be found.
A quick glance over at Seraphim saw the Angelus standing alone near a display of sprockets.
"Aw, HECK."
"Male model?" Jer asked over her shoulder, wrinkling her nose slightly. "That's all he can think to do?" She shook her head. "I thought he had mage talent?"
"Apparently." She sighed and shook her head dejectedly. "And he does have the talent, but he has an adult amount of power with no skill. Not a very good combination. Until I can figure out how to best teach him or get him back to my academy, it's best that he not do anything with it. Neither of us want him to accidently make a tornado." Nima shuddered at the thought.
"Always and ever." Sesostris chuckled, leaving it to her interpretation if he was referring to the protecting- or the the sneaking comment.
"The kid's out hunting, by the way, nothing better to clear your head. For one of our kind at least. He should be back here soon enough and.. I hope he'll make the right decision." He looked at Laure - her appearance sure had changed. Absently he touched the awfully quiet sprocket that held together part of his braids - losing friends.. that was always hard.
"Mmph," Jer said to Nima. "I've probably got something in the house that will only allow a certain amount of power until he's mastered that level," she continues, mind flicking over the various devices she'd either built or bought.
"I hope so too," she said to Seso with another sad little smile. "I'd really like to have his help with Laure; since they were close friends." Jer shook her head again. It was hard to not talk about Laure in the past tense; in a sense, she had died, and this was some new Laure.
"Oh, that would be wonderful." Nima grinned. "If you don't have anything though, I can always ask my professors to help me build a portal back to the school. I'm sure they'll be able to help him there." She frowned a bit. "At least, I hope they can."
"Well, you and Luthenep remember her as she was, and even though she might turn out a bit different as you.. remake her, I think in essence she will be very much the same as she was.
I just wish I knew what caused this incident - I'm not a Fandangle owner, but I'm not pleased about all my sprockets losing their memory and all that."
He gave Nimaina a friendly nod. "Are you a friend of Ith-, erh, Jerava?"
"Well, I'm sure someone can help him so he doesn't have to be a male model," Jer said with a quick grin. "That's probably not the best career option for a mage anyway."
"It's still not going to be an enjoyable process," Jer said to Seso. "And yeah, I really want to know who or what caused all of this."
Ravija wandered through the room with a catalogue in her hands. She flipped through it, making occasionally tick marks with a pen or folding over pages. Alden and Samira trailed along behind her, silent and... cog-like, because they were.
Ith? Who was that? "Yes. Her room-mate too. Well. Sort of." Nima flashed a grin at Jer. "I certainly hope so. It would be such a waste if he did."
"It's...complicated," Jer said, smiling back at Nima. "But in a good way." Laure bobbed above them all, watching everything and filing it away. The cog wasn't sure why everyone was so sad whenever they talked about her. If she'd cared, it probably would have made her depressed. But she didn't, so it was okay.
"'Who'" Sesostris blinked. "I actually hadn't considered there might have been a person behind this. But if there was, he, she or it will be so very sorry.."
He was just about to start an impressive rant about how scary the wrath of a demon could be but-
Mesmerized he looked after Ravija. What a beauty! She must have been hired for today's opening..
"Ah. Okay then." She figured it wasn't a good idea to pry aboutit just now. "I'm going to check something at my booth. I'll see you in a bit Jer." She walked back over to her booth, Arilin trailing behind her.
"It's entirely possible there was a who," Jer pointed out. Then Ravi walked by. With a sigh, Jer snapped her fingers in front of Seso's face. "Hello Ravi," she said to the woman. "How have things been here so far?"
"Sorry, Ith," Sesostris said, snapping out of his trance-like state but still staring at Ravija, trying to figure out if she was wearing a feather bikini, or if that actually was a part of her.
"Things have been pretty good. Mom said a purple jewel tied her shoelaces together, but nothing too out of the ordinary." Ravija smiled and waved her hand back at the Fandangles. "That's just something I've got to deal with." She turned her smiled on Sesostris. "It's always nice to have new people around. Is he a friend of yours, Jerava?"
"Things have been pretty good. Mom said a purple jewel tied her shoelaces together, but nothing too out of the ordinary." Ravija smiled and waved her hand back at the Fandangles. "That's just something I've got to deal with." She turned her smiled on Sesostris. "It's always nice to have new people around. Is he a friend of yours, Jerava?"
Jer laughed. "No, not too bad," she said with a smile. "Mmm, you could say that. I knew him long before I ever came to Gaia," the elf said with a grin directed at Seso. "So forgive him if he slpis and calls me Ithi; we haven't really had a chance to catch up with each other."
"I'm not entirely new to the Forge though," Sesostris added. "I've been the core shop quite a few times, it's been ages since I've last seen Moorgahaine himself though."
Finally remembering his manners he reached out his hand to Ravija. "Sesostris. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Ravija, pleased to meet you." She shook his hand warmly, and firmly. "And, no, I'm not actually wearing a feather bikini." Ravija enjoyed that small bit of power when someone stopped and stared; it was as if they put their entire lives on hold, just for her. If she sought that power, it would weaken and die. It was a fancy of hers. "So you've been here many times? You must know the place like the back of your hand."
"Oh, if I end up somewhere in the corridors, I'm just as lost as everyone else - I usually have a good idea about the direction, but the doors never agree with me." Indeed he had been lost in this place countless times, but at least he wouldn't have to listen to Arif's remarks about that for a while now - though he kinda missed it already.
"Next time I'm going to try it with dowsing," he added, making his most serious face.
Ravija chuckled. "So it's not just me, is it? Nothing I try ever seems to work. Good luck with dowsing," she said, smiling. She had the feeling he'd need it. "Are you looking for anything in particular while you're here? I wouldn't want Jerava to have to actually work while a friend's around."
"Ah, no, not really, just didn't want to miss the fun of the Grand Opening. And of course I was hoping for another chance to see Ith-, erh, Jerava again. Though, if there are any new shadow element related items...?" Amused he watched as two customers in the back tried to detach their tesla staffs from each other.
"Not so far as I'm aware, though my mother is the expert on our inventory," Ravija said, glancing around quickly for the woman, who had disappeared from the main room. "Hm. It seems she's otherwise occupied."
Sesostris raised a brow. "So the Lady at the counter was your mother? I guess you take more after your father then?" He eyed her up and down thoughtfully, trying to not look too long at the 'bikini'.
"In fact I've never seen someone like you, and I've been around," he added curiously.
"I'm what is commonly referred to as a "Gaian foundling,"" Ravija said with a smile. "I don't know precisely who I take after, since I'm not sure what I am. Doesn't help that I forget everything when I do any sort of major magic. It's one of the reasons I'm so upset about the Fandangles. They," she waved at the passive Fandangles, "have been with me for over a century, so they say, and have remembered everything for me. Now..." Ravija snapped her fingers. "Gone."
"Ah, I have heard about those. Jer's got a kid.. who was born from a book, something like that. I swear, I'll never again enter a bookstore or a library on this world." Speaking of which, where was that noisy brat?
"I'm sorry for your loss.. I had a hunch something concerning the Fandangles was going to happen, and now I'm starting to wonder if I could have done something about it." He sighed.
"Do you know what is behind you r memory losses? I mean, did you ever do a trade with a demon... deity... something like that? I might be able to help, if that is the case." He half awaited Arif to scold him, to tell him to not meddle with yet another person's life - but of course he didn't.
He missed his favorite sprocket already.
"Book!" Elena chirped from the floor where she was sitting. "I have books," she said seriously to Seso. Or his leg, which is what she could see. "Spider here?"
Jer was idly studying Elena's Fandangle. It was very....blue. Laure had been nearly translucent, she'd been so pale as a cog. Of course, that had made her hard to spot.
"It's all right. Memories are memories. Something to be cherished, yes, but nothing to hang your hopes and dreams upon." She smiled to herself, a sad smile. "All my memories are gone, so I don't know if I'd done such a thing, and have no idea how to check."
"But memories are part of what defines us, shapes us. To lose them, even part of them.. I've made a few deals like that myself, and I still not sure if they were worth it. On the other hand, for you it means a new beginning. Starting over again, seeing everything as if for the very first time - that can be a burden as much as a blessing." He scratched the back of his head. "If it was a demon's trade, I can pull some strings and see if something turns up. If it's something like a soul pact, I can even find out myself. I'd rather not deal with deities though."
He looked down to Elena and wondered how the hell the kid had managed to sneak up on him. Must have been the.. feather bikini distracting him.
"I'm very sorry, but the spider had to go somewhere far, far away. He wont come back anytime soon. Is that a new friend of yours?"
"My mother says it is quite annoying to reexplain the concept of clothing every time," Ravija said with a smile filled with nostalgia for that which she couldn't remember. "It never seems to stick though. Clothing never feels quite right over feathers. If you would like to look into it, I would be grateful, and I'm sure I can arrange some sort of payment, likely magical. We're not rich," she glanced back at her mother, "and she's the most unmagical person I know, but I've got enough to burn." Ravija giggled; she thought that was very funny.
Elena frowned. "Tell spider said hi?" she asked Seso. "Is my shiny! Much nicer than Laure," she said, sticking her tounge out at the unresponsive Fandangle. "Found shiny cause of spider thread."
Seso bowed down a bit to stroke the childs hair. "If I see the spider again, I'll let him know you said 'hi'. I'm sure he'll be very proud that he helped you to find your shiny again," he chuckled.
"I think your natural feathers fit you just fine," he said to Ravija. "The are quite an eyecatcher. And payment.. lets talk about that after I find something out, though I will most likely find nothing."
"That's good," Elena said, grabbing Rasalus out of the air and hugging the cog tightly. "Don't want lose you," she mumbled sleepily.
"I won't ever leave you," the cog purred happily from her arms. Jer shook her head and picked the pair up.
"I'll just drop them off in the employee lounge," she said to Seso and Ravi. "Be right back." With a flick of her tail in lieu of a wave (since her arms were full), the elf wandered off to try and find the lounge. Wherever it may have ended up.
"Then it is resolved. If you find nothing, don't feel too badly. And don't feel badly if I don't remember you the next time we meet." Ravija smiled and glanced to the side. "It strains friendships."
Sesostris looked after Jer a tad worried, hoping she wouldn't get lost. You never knew, with this place.
"I wont," he replied to Ravi. "I'm a bit too old to be affected by something like that. If you don't remember the next time I'll certainly try to not stare so impolitely at you then." He gave her a fanged grin. "You rarely get a second chance for a first impression on the same person. As for finding out if there's a soul pact behind your memory losses.. I'd have to touch your soul for this, and I suggest we do that not here and not now. If you want me to do it at all. Usually I devour them."
"A soul that is continually reborn may be difficult to devour," Ravija said, quirking a smile. "I'd invite you to try, but I daresay I'd regret it. It might have been tasty, though. Perhaps some time we could arrange to meet and you could touch my soul then."
"It would probably give me a heartburn," Seso chuckled, taking a mental note of the 'reborn' part of her comment. He would have to ask her about this.. later.
"Speaking of which, my grandchild should be back from his hunt soon, and I have at least half a dozen reasons to not be around when he returns. So, if you would excuse me.. I will be back to the Forge at another time, if you please would let Jerava know of this?" He winked and then bowed elegantly. He made four, five steps backwards and then, somehow, just became one with the shadows and was gone.Compiled from MEF Shop RP
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Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 4:51 pm
:: THE GRAND OPENING PART III ::It was maybe an hour after he had left as Luthenep stepped into the MEF main room again. A Widget colored in dark purples trailed after him, on first sight it might seem to be his - if it wasn't for the small floating gem following Luthe's evevery single footstep, always staying in his shadow and hard to see if you didn't know where to look.
After getting Elena and Rasalus settled in the employee lounge, Jer and Laure had drifted back to the main room. Not seeign Seso around, the elf wandered around the room, Laure bobbing above her.
Someone tugged Jer's jacket from behind. "Jerava? I'm back."
The boy had cried a lot, that was rather obvious from the still red and swollen eyes. But his face wasn't as pale as before anymore, and he seemed almost calm.
Jer turned around to face Luthe. "Feeling any better?" she asked, noting the evidence of crying. Hopefully Seso wasn't lurking in the shadows or anything.
"Somewhat... I guess. I was out hunting. I didn't realize how much I had strained my body and my powers, so at least a part of me does feel better now. And I did a lot of thinking afterwards." He looked down to the floor. 'Brooding' was the more fitting description, and he'd still be if it hadn't been for the tiny shadow fiend.
"If you'll allow me, I'll do everything I can to help you restore Laure."
"That's good to hear," Jer said, not concerned about the hunting bit. She did, after all, know his grandfather. And had visited his ancestral home. Not that Luthe knew that.
"And of course I'll allow you to help. I did ask for your help earlier, didn't I?"
"Uhm, yeah, you did. It's just that... Laure is yours, so I thought I'd ask formally." He smiled shyly.
"If I want to or not, I'll have to look into this whole upgrade thing anyway, since Azel has.." His voice trailed off and there was a look of surprise in his face. "You didn't meet Azel yet, did you?" He blinked, how could he have forgotten about this?
Jer bit her tounge to keep her first response from coming out. For whatever reason, Seso didn't want his grandson to know he was around. Shrugging mentally, the elf smiled. "Ah, no, I don't think I have."
He mentally nudged the tiny fiend to come forward and picked him up, carefully covering him with the other hand to protect him from the direct light.
"This is Azel, a Shadow Fiend. It's a bit complicated, but I found the gem in a box in the house of the magician who copied the book I borrowed from your library." He held the fiend a bit higher so that Laure could see him as well.
"He was just a gem when I found him, and later that night he, erh, awakened. And seemed to think I'd make a great guardian." Luthe's face clearly told that he didn't agree with it. "Someone locked the soul of a person in that gem, and now that he's awakened he sort of gets a second chance - though he'll probably never.. remember.. who he was before." The boy swallowed. "A bit like Laure, I guess," he added quietly.
"And it seems that Azel managed to get himself a Fandangle, however he's done that. I'm starting to feel like a duck mommy with those two trailing after me all the time."
"That does sound complicated," Jer replied with a grin. "You might not think you'd make a good guardian, but I don't think anyone ever does. I mean, I never thought I'd wind up with even one child, let alone all the ones I've ended up adopting," Jer said with a shake of her head. "Life is wildly unpredicatable like that, I've noticed." Laure tilted to the side when her name was mentioned. "A Fandangle? Well, since you're going to have to take care of it, congratulations and condolences," she said with another grin.
Luthe made a sour face. "Azel's full of mischief, and I was told it'll get worse as he grows up. I really hope he wont manage to infect his Fandangle with this - it's usually Aislin's stuff that breaks.." He released the fiend from his hand and it quickly skittered back into the boy's shadow.
"I'll definitely need to pick up something that'll enable the two of them to comunicate, it seems that Fandangles don't understand empathy, or telepathy, by default. At least this one doesn't." He couldn't help but keep staring at Laure. So quiet, and so different..
Jer chuckled. "I can't say how the Fandangle will develop. It used to be they were similar to their bonded. Laure always reminded me of a younger version of myself," the elf said with a sigh and a shake of her head, her hair falling over her shoulders. She grimaced. "Now I remember why I had it short in the first place," Jer said with a quick glance around. "But I promised someone I wouldn't but it off again."
She eyed the Fandangle and gem curiously. "Laure never had any kind of telepathic link with me until she chose to dabble in the Mind element. Though most of the time, it was definently a surface thoughts only sort of link." Jer shrugged. "Perhaps you should consider a mind or emotion element if that's the only way they can communicate," she continued with a nod at the gem.
Luthe blinked. He'd noticed something was different with Jer, but since his mind had been occupied with other things he hadn't quite realized what it was.
"I like your hair that way," he said with a smile. "And you can always tie it back or braid it if it gets too anoying, that's what I do."
He looked down at the small floating gem. "Hm, something with mind and shadow should work, I guess.. I have no clue on how to set up his Fandangle.. I named it, him, Aronnax for now. I'd like to let Azel do it himself, but I think he'd mess it up completely.
So, uhm, have you already thought about how to.. restore Laure?"
Jer coughed. "I think I'll avoid braids for now. Unpleasant associations," she explained. "Not that I don't like braids, it's just that it brings up bad memories." She smiled somewhat wistfully. "But there are some good ones."
Jer looked at the Fandangle, then the gem. "Well, you can always set up a basic set of elements, and personality, and let Azel do what he likes when he's older," she suggested, poking Laure once. "I'm going to do that with Elena, I think. And, ah, no, I haven't," she admitted. "It's not something I'm exactly looking forward to, you know."
"I guess that's what I'll do," he shrugged. "I wonder what Azel will do with him - hopefully nothing that'll make Aislin throw us out. She's threatening to do that more and more often, and last time it sounded pretty serious." There was disbelief in his voice, as if Aislin's threat was something defying the laws of nature. "And I wouldn't really know where else to go," he admitted quietly.
Gently he reached for Jer's hand. "I'm not looking forward to it either. But I think letting her stay like this would be even worse. I can't keep the promises I made to her if she stays like this." He blinked. Damn, tears again? He wiped them away quickly.
Jer quirked an eyebrow. Did Seso know about this? "Um," she said. "Well, if she does kick you out, you can always come live with us." Jer blinked, then sighed. It's what Laure would have said, really. "It's not like there isn't plenty of room," the elf continued with a grin.
"Well then," Jer said, squeezing Luthe's hand, "I think the hardest part's going to be the personality. Once that's laid in, she can help us pick the rest, right?" Jer asked, wondering about the promises these two might have made. That was going to complicate things, especially since Laure couldn't remember anything she might have done.
"Yeah, Ais' place is tiny. Anyhow, she's done worse things than kicking me out and yet we ended up hanging out together again a few years later - can't be helped, I guess." He shrugged, not really keen on explaining things about a certain soul-pact and all the mess it had caused.
"It would be nice though, if we could stay at your place every now and then so that Aislin has a chance to cool down."
He gazed at Laure, a clump of ice forming inside his stomach. If she had a soul, things would be so much easier. "I- Well, I didn't know her that long, so I guess you know her personality a lot better, but.." Took a deep breath. "Wait a sec, I'm going to get one of those catalogues, and then we can just sit down somewhere and try and sort this out."
"That would be fine too," Jer said solemnly. "Whenever you get a chance, stop by the house and we can work on getting a room set up."
Laure floated down towards the pair, knowing that she was being talked about. "That's a remarkably good idea," Jer said. "I'll meet you over by Nima's table, okay? I saw an empty table and some chairs over there."
The elf moved off briskly, stopping at Nim's table to write her name down on a raffle ticket. After a moment's thought, and being nudged by Laure, she wrote the Fandangle's name down on another one. Jer eyed her widget curiously. That was the first time she'd actively done anything since the wipe. Shaking her head again, Jer sat down and began idly drawing swirly lines on the table top.
Luthe nodded and dashed off to the counter, immediately followed by Azel and Aronnax who had practically glued themselves to his shadow. He reached up for one of those many catalogues with the new fandangle items, and - after thinking for a moment- a second one, cursing once again the fact that he was so damn short.
The catalogues in his hands he looked around. It was only then it dawned upon him he didn't know where that 'Nima' put up her table, or who she actually was. Laure had mentioned her briefly, but that was pretty much all he knew.
With a frustrated sigh he heaved himself onto the counter to get a better look around, ready to jump down as soon as someone of the staff would start yelling at him. And indeed - Laure's silver-blue disk was fairly easy to spot. He squinted. The shadows in that part of the room seemed darker, deeper. How odd, it was almost as if.. He shook his head. Nah, couldn't possibly be.
He jumped down and made his way to Jer's table, looking down at the shadows every now and then - but he never spotted anything. They were just.. shadows.
"Here," he said and placed the catalogues on the table, and then sat down.
"Thanks," Jer said, pulling one closer and flipping it open. "Bijou, bijou, ah. Here we go," the elf said, looking over the list. "Um. There's certainly a lot to choose from." Laure floated down to peer over Jer's shoulder. "Hmm."
Luthe flipped through the other catalogue until he found the pages about the bijou and started reading. "I'd say, the air bijou sounds about right, partially at least." He fished a pen out of the pockets of his jacked and encircled the words 'light-hearted' and 'naive'.
"And maybe a fire bijou?" He made another two circles, this time around 'spirited' and- oh. He cursed in his own language under his breath. "Do we have to chose an abberation for every archetype? Because, none of the fire bijou ones sound right.." He started eying the picture of the boost bijou. Maybe with that one?
"Mmm. Yes, the air bijou do sound a lot like her," Jer said, peering intently at the lists. She poked a finger at the boost bijou. "I think that one's going to be the best, since we can combine things from different elements." She looked at the description again. "Or make up our own," the elf added with a head tilt. "Id be wary of that, though."
"Well, I don't see 'curious' anywhere on that list. Or 'loves to read'." He chuckled to himself and started drawing curls and runes onto the page. "How about we 'sleep on it' - to use a human expression - and then we both make a list and see where we agree, and where not?"
"Well, I can always work on other things for her while you make a list," Jer pointed out. "For example, I need to choose some elements for her, and this whole flavor thing makes it slightly harder." She grinned. "But certainly more fun."
"I think she would have- will like that." He skimmed over the page with the elemental crystals, wondering what Azel might choose for Aronnax later on.
"Hm, Lunar of course, and Mind - though I had the impression she was uneasy with it. But that may have been because it was still new to her. And she did use it to read over my shoulder when it was in a language she didn't know. I'm not sure about those 'flavors' though. Just... not infernal."
He poked his nose back into the page which told about the bijou. This was hard. Picking the archetypes was fairly easy, but those aberrations? Well, she was 'naive' for sure, but 'gullible'? He thought for a moment. Well, someone who befriended a demon without a second thought was gullible for sure..
He started scribbling down notes on the side of the page, striking through a lot and finally ending up with the following list:
Archetype: Impulsive, enthusiastic, light hearted, animated, cheerful
Aberration: Easily distracted, naive, air head, gullible
Hm, still a lack of abberations, but maybe Jer could think of something..? Without words he shoved the catalogue to her side of the table, waiting for what she would have to say. She knew Laure a lot longer than he, after all.
"It might have been the ethics of it too," Jer siad quietly, remembering a few conversations. "She did?" Jer looked surprised. "I didn't know she could do that."
Jer looked over the catalogue while Luthe wrote, marking down things she thought Laure would have liked. And some things that Jer thought were just cool. She looked up when the other catalogue nudged against her shoulder, and smiled when she saw the list Luthe had made. It quickly quirked into a grin as she read it over. Jer quickly added, in a neat and precise hand, whimsical to the archetypes, and impatient and nosy to the abberations.
"How about that?" she said, pushing it back over. "Not a bad summation of her personality," Jer added with another grin.
"Well, she didn't say she did, but considering her reaction when I read through that book I borrowed from your library- I'm pretty sure she did." He looked down on the additions Jer had made to his list. "I think that does qualify her for being 'nosy'," he commented with a loopsided grin. "I'm not entirely sure about 'impatient' and 'whimiscal' though, but since you know her better than I do.."
Jer laughed. "Yes, that's certainly nosy," she said with a rueful shake of her head. She peered at the lists again. "Mm," Jer said in response. She reached over and scratched off whimsical. "How about quick learner instead?" she suggested. "She always picked up rather fast on what I was telling her."
"Hm, sounds good. Actually I never would have thought of that," he admitted and added 'quick learner' to the list. Then he quickly jotted down another list:
Archetype: organized, down-to-earth, imaginative, practical, dry humor
Aberration: nosy, loud-mouth, impatient, predictable, anxious
"I'm thinking of this setup for Aronnax - sounds like a good baby-sitter for Az, and not too much trouble for Aislin. I definitely want to give him forge element abilities, someone needs to fix all the stuff Azel breaks." Luthe made a sour face. "You wont believe what the little one is capable of, and that can only get worse later on.." He couldn't quite hide a little smirk though. Azel might be a lot of trouble, but the way he kept interrupting his and Ais' everyday routine was kinda.. nice? Refreshing? He didn't quite know how to put it, but it felt right.
He flipped through the pages of the catalogue again, randomly ending up in the section about the artifices. After reading through some of it, he whistled. "Whoa, I think Laure will definitely love this stuff!!"
"Then we'll go with that," Jer said firmly. Not that she liked the idea of programming Laure, but with Luthe's help they'd probably come close to her previous personality.
"I think Aislin might prefer the blank personality," Jer said dryly. "Then again, I think having change in both your lives is a good thing," she continued, skirting around what Seso had told her about Laure's influence on Luthe. "From what I've been told, you guys had a fairly set routine and rarely deviated from it." Let him think that was supposed to mean Laure had said something. Lying by omission, Jer's specialty.
"Mmm?" Jer said, flipping to the same section. "Ah, yes. Some of that stuff sounds fascinating. Elerune and Eletatt especially."
"You might be right about the blank personality, but.. All those new skills and such - I might be able to convince Ais that a Fandangle in the household might actually be useful. As long as it doesn't break any more stuff than Azel and the Sprockets already do.. I was told Shadow Fiends are able to phase through solid matter once they grow up - he'll need that.." He looked around for the Fiend, but it was nowhere to be seen. Probably tying up shoe laces again or something..
"Well, it's not as if Ais and my life was boring - but.. I've never really thought about it, you may be right about the routine thing. Always the same places, and even the treasure hunts were sort of routine after a while. Most of them at least." Absently he played around with his pen. "Ais and I had sort of an.. argument - very mildly put - a long time ago, and after that we sort of agreed on a truce." He shrugged. "Things never changed much since back then, and honestly I haven't been keen to disturb that balance we've found." He poked his nose back into the catalogue.
"I think Lunar Tattoos would look spectacular," he mumbled, trying to change the subject back to the upgrading items. "And definitely get Lunar Eleforge, it looked so pretty when she did stuff with Moonlight. I don't know about the rest though.."
Jer chuckled. "Sounds like you need something that'll make things unbreakable," she said with a grin. "Much easier, I think, than making sure that new additions to the household aren't prone to destruction." Jer's ears perked up. "Why will he need that?" she asked, almost absently.
"Maybe it needs to change," Jer said quietly, once again skirting the edge of what she knew that Luthe didn't know she knew.
"Well, once her personality is laid in, I'm sure there's things she'll want to pick," the elf pointed out, following the change in conversation.
"Ais has way too much stuff that breaks easily. The fuss she makes over her porcelain.." He rolled his eyes. Magical objects, jewelry and the like - that he could understand. But dishes? "Azel just wanted to carry off one of her cups as a hiding cave - he likes how they look, especially if they have a gold rim - and of course it crashed down because he's not strong enough to carry them. And then he noticed she gets all upset and yelling and stuff when that happens and now he's started pushing down stuff on purpose..
He'll really need that phasing ability to escape from her. I mean, she tried to zap him with that strange gun a few times already, and I don't wanna know what's going to happen when she manages to cage him into that jar of hers.." He thought for a moment. "It maaaaay be useful on a treasure hunt as well, the question is just - useful for whom?"
"I wish you all luck in that," Jer said, her eyes glinting mischeviously. "I'm sure it will be an interesting experience," she continued with another grin.
Jer continued to flip through the catalog. "Ah, languages," she said, coming to that page. "Those are going to be fun to pick out." Jer looked up at Luthe curiously. "You're a demon, yes?" She asked, blinking in thought. "Is there a language that Laure could conceivably learn? Like whatever it was in that book you borrowed, assuming that wasn't just some dialect of an Earth language." Jer shrugged; everything she read was translated either into Quenya or English, depending on what she needed it for.
"I just hope he'll cause nothing that's too much to handle for my protection magic.. I have the theories all down, but I don't have enough power for the stronger spells - unless I'm using artifacts for amplification, or have something that can store additional magic. Apart from that, I guess we'll do a lot more running, screaming, falling and jumping than usual." He grinned. 'Interesting experience' indeed.
"Hm, I dunno about the languages.." He blinked at the mention of his race. Well, Laure probably told her. Or Aislin - they had enough chances to talks with each other. "Shadow possibly, Demonic or Hell - whatever you want to call it, uhm..." The boy's face reddened significantly. "I'd have to look up what most of the really old languages I know are actually called, sorry. But if she wants to visit me and show her around a bit, Earth languages would be useful - Italian, Polish, Portuguese.. It's amazing how many different languages exist." He pondered for a moment. "I like Gaelic very much, and Arabic. And Grandpa had me learn several of the ancient languages, like Sumerian, Akkadian and ancient Egyptian. And I think now I'm rambling, sorry."Compiled from MEF Shop RPRP still in progress.
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:49 pm
:: OF PAPERWEIGHTS ::Aislin To ME&F Staff - perhaps you should not only warn about the spatial anomalies in this place but also about the temporal ones. Or how else could it happen that after exploring the rooms for maybe two, three hours it's early morning (I don't want to know which morning...) the Grand Opening is over and this place completely deserted?! Aislin PS: Took six of those pretty paperweights and left the money on the counter since no one was around. Masque Aislin, It was deserted? That's odd, Ravija was supposed to be working this week. Thanks for your honesty, I've put you on the owners list and... On that note, paperweights? ~Masque Aislin To MEF Employees- I have a complaint. Apparently the creature my, uhm, partner Luthenep is taking care of, brought home a Fandangle which - I swear - must be the most arrogant, impolite, loud-mouthed and downright rude specimen I've yet encountered. Luthenep claims it wasn't like that when he brought it with him, but I don't believe a word he says. <.< I'd like to give it back and ask for refunds if Luthenep paid anything for this, his money is better spent on compensating the damage his so so called 'Shadow Fiend' is causing. If it was a gift, or stolen, all the better, just take it back. Aislin PS: How well is that delivery job actually paid? I might sign up Luthe for this, he's owing me a lot of money by now. Plus, this would get him and that awful creature out of my shop and thus reduce the damage caused considerably..Masque Aislin, I'm beginning to think that those paperweights you bought were bijou, which contain personality traits for the Fandangles and sprockets (untested on sprockets, please don't try it for your own safety). Currently, all Fandangles have had all programming and personality wiped, so it is very likely that Luthenep did not bring it home in the state you currently have it. To allow me to confirm this, please send a picture of the "paperweights" you bought, consult a ME&F catalogue, or bring in the originals to allow me to see if the elemental energies have been absorbed. If you wish to change the Fandangle's personality, you may purchase some bone bijou (please consult a catalogue for a quick answer), but keep in mind that only a certain amount of energy from a bijou may be absorbed by a Fandangle at any one evolutionary "stage". As for money, some people commission the shop for them and some get a random attachment. I'll check the accounts to see what Luthenep has paid for. Keep in mind that I don't have his species on record, so as he may or may not be a legal minor and you may or may not be his parent or guardian, I won't be able to release it to you without his consent. Keep me posted on your troubles, and I'll do what I can. ~Masque Aislin Masque, I grabbed the catalogue Luthe brought home and those 'paper weights' look awfully identical to the Bijou artifacts you mentioned. Bought six - if the Fandangle absorbed the energies of five of them, does that mean I wont be able to use a bone bijou on him to cancel out the effects?! Luthenep is actually older than I am, but as long as he doesn't stop acting like a kid I don't see why I shouldn't treat him like one. Technically you could say I'm his adopted sister, and it's my shop and apartment he's living in. Thank you for your help, Aislin
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