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Post by Licht on Aug 18, 2016 23:19:22 GMT
When Vulira reforms herself on the other side of the door, she stands in the shade of a vast tree in the middle of a forest stretching on and on in all directions. As she checks her surroundings, a doe grazing nearby looks up, and scampers off. Looking back at the trunk of the tree she just came through, she is probably not surprised to find there is no sign of the small door behind her.
When standing fully and trying to decide which way to go, she notices an odd jingling sound. She looks down in confusion and notices an anklet she most definitely wasn't wearing before on her right ankle. It seems to be a thin silver chain that does not go fully around her leg, but ends in two silver ball bearings that do not quite touch. Reaching down to examine it, she realizes that is not the only piece of unknown adornment. Resting on her left arm is a simple leather band with a single green jewel in the center.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 18, 2016 23:52:05 GMT
Vulira inspected her new jewelry in puzzlement for a moment longer. She wasn't sure if they were supposed to be gifts or proclamations of ownership. Her ears swiveled around, listening for anything dangerous or interesting. Curiosity about her surroundings overcame her curiosity about the jewelry, and her eyes soon followed her ears, taking in the sights of the forest. The size of the tree told her it was a very old forest; quite possibly untouched by people. She stared up at the big tree, looking for signs of illness or decay, something to indicate that this world was 'dying' as the writing on the chalkboard had said. Nature was usually the first to give warnings of such things.
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 0:41:53 GMT
Vulira's skill with plants allows her to assess the old tree, and she finds nothing that gives her any warning signs in it or the plants nearby. She doesn't immediately recognize some of the flora but a good deal of it is quite familiar, or close enough to familiar that she can give educated guesses as to identities. She notes that this means she shouldn't have too much trouble identifying plants for use in medicine or poison, though she would probably like to compare notes with resident herbalists of the land to make certain about any tricky local plant life. Assuming she can communicate with them.
With her excellent hearing she picks out some interesting sounds. Somewhere further along in the forest she can hear the occasional sound of voices. Moving a bit more towards it, she catches sound of something else from off in a complete other direction. Somewhere that way she can pick up some movement, splashing, and a single voice. The direction she originally was listening in sounds like multiple people talking, and possibly several large objects moving, though they seem to be moving away.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 19, 2016 0:50:23 GMT
Vulira debated for a moment about what to investigate. Finally, she decided that it would be safer to investigate what sounded like just one person, in case they were unfriendly. Plus it seemed like they were probably closer, since she could make out some movement in that direction. She cautiously headed that direction, reducing her density just enough that she didn't weigh enough to crunch leaves or branches as she walked. It wasn't that she wanted to sneak up on whoever it was, per se, just that she wanted to get a sense of the situation before she revealed herself. She had no idea where she was or what kind of people lived here, or if they were even 'people' in the usual sense! Discretion is the better part of valor, she thought.
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 2:01:24 GMT
As she wanders closer to the source of the noise, she can pick out two voices having a conversation, one male, one female. The guy comes into sight first. He doesn't seem to have noticed her, and is crouched down on a rock by the creek, splashing water on his face.
He has silver hair streaked with black. Curiously for someone on a rock by a creek in the forest, he is wearing a collared shirt and tie. Most curiously however is the fact that he has black metal on parts of the right side of his face and arm. A reddish purple jewel sits on the metal between the cheekbone and jaw.
"I don't see how these people function with all these trees around Lucia, it's just not practical. And I'm so tired of having to repair these crappy sensors they gave us!"
Vulira gets an odd feeling from these two as she sees the girl now standing off behind the boy.
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 19, 2016 2:11:44 GMT
Lucia was picking burrs and leaves from her hair looking disgruntled and like there wasn't enough coffee in the world for this. Every one of their readings had been off to some degree, her feet were killing her. "I don't know either Daeus. I have tripped over so many roots and branches and I swear we end up lost every time we try and walk around this place. The fresh water is a rather nice change though." She suddenly looked startled. "It's that fox again! Tell me you see it this time Daeus." Lucia turned to face a direction totally opposite of where Vulira was at the moment and pointed.
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 2:24:02 GMT
Daeus turned and visibly rolled his eyes.
"Speak for yourself. I'll take Cathedral water if it means no malfunctioning tech or Cores. And no, yet again I see no fox. I think the wildlife around these arcanists has got you paranoid. You're seeing foxes everywhere."
Vulira realizes as she is listening that there is a split second where their words sound foreign to her before her brain automatically processes it. She is not sure how, but gives the jewelry a suspicious glance.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 19, 2016 2:39:41 GMT
Vulira blinked when the strange woman mentioned a fox, but since she was looking the wrong way, Vulira realized she didn't mean her. Then Vulira blinked again when she realized she could understand their speech. She glanced suspiciously at her new jewelry, one ear flicking back. Too much of a coincidence, she thought, it's too rare to end up in a world so analogous that the language is the same, or nearly the same.
She suspected from the way they were talking that they weren't exactly local. They didn't seem used to the wilderness. City folk, maybe? she wondered. She took particular interest in the metal and the mention of 'sensors'. I guess this must be a decently advanced world if they have the tech to make cyborgs. Hmm. I wonder if the chalk board entity is just one of those types that thinks nature and tech can't coexist? I've seen it work on some worlds, though!
She inspected their clothes and visible tech for signs of anything that might be a weapon. She still didn't know if the inhabitants here were friendly to her kind, or if they even had anything remotely like her here. Experience taught her that most beings, especially humanoid ones, tended to fear the unknown, often lashing out with lethal force when they encountered it. She didn't want to be caught by surprise and not have time to dissipate if they turned out to be hostile.
Vulira increased her density back to normal, and stayed still where she was, with one hand on a close-by tree. She neither announced herself, nor tried to hide, and simply watched and waited to see what might happen.
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 19, 2016 5:55:34 GMT
Lucia felt a little disconcerted since she had been seeing this fox ever since they had come to this place and for some reason Daeus coudn't see it. This did not give her a vote of confidence in the sanity department in the slightest and that made her very uncomfortable. She shook off the thought process and looked back at Daeus. "I am not paranoid! Yeah I know and that part is really frustrating. It's hard to do our job when nothing is working. Isn't it kind of nice though to be somewhere else for awhile?"
Part of why she was thinking this way could be what bomb she dropped on Deacon but that was another matter entirely. "We'll have to do what we can with the equipment we have and just be very observant and take notes on the rest."
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 6:13:54 GMT
Daeus frowned at her words. He had already pegged this partner they had paired him up with on this scouting assignment as one of the ones who bought what Cathedral was selling. He would have to be careful. She could have just been put on this assignment to keep him in check. She could easily stab him in the back... especially with that power of hers. Then there's the fact she keep seeing animals when they aren't there.
"Yeah, I can appreciate this nature thing a whole lot more as a holographic display in a history museum is what I'm saying. Allergies, and bugs, and whatever's going on with our gear. And at least you don't have to deal with part of your face malfunctioning!" He pointed at his Core in comic exaggeration. "You'll miss solid Wasteland sand under you if we get in a fight with the locals is what I'm sayin."
He turned and busied himself with packing up more of the campsite. "We should move on regardless. Those scientists can be damned if they're going to complain about a .2 variance in their readings. In fact they can come here and redo it themselves!"
He was rolling up his sleeping mat and a thought struck him. "Hey, you don't have any ocular implants, right? Something like that malfunctioning could be what's going on with your wonky fox sightings."
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 19, 2016 6:30:14 GMT
Lucia shrugged. "We have to be here anyway might as well find a bright side. Though I do feel sorry for your face." Lucia's tone made it unclear whether that was sarcasm or sympathy Her core was in a much less inconvenient place near her ankle on her right leg, needless to say it didn't cause too much unwanted attention. "I'd rather not get into a fight if we can avoid it considering as you said we'd be at a disadvantage." She started helping him pack. "I haven't had any ocular implants. I'm telling you it was there!" She rolled her eyes. "The scientists can be so picky we can't help things out of our control and if they want perfect then yeah they are going to have to come here and try and do a better job. Try being the key word here."
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 7:56:44 GMT
Daeus grunted agreement as he packed up the remainder of the gear. "You get the sensors ready to transport, I'll refill the water canisters. I still say it's unnatural how there's just this clean water... flowing across rocks and stuff like this!"
He leaned over the stones, watching the reflections of the light as it played off the water. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but there was something really nice about the way the clean water looked, how you could see yourself in it, or the fox person across the stream, or the tree leaves above them, or... wait.
Looking up with a start, Daeus took in the peculiar form watching them. Hoooooly crap an encounter with a local... He thought. Hey, wait, fox ears...
"Uhhh, heeeeey Luciaaaaaa..." He said softly, not taking his eyes off of Vulira. "I think I found your fox."
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Post by Vulira on Aug 19, 2016 9:16:23 GMT
She was sorting through what she'd overheard, trying to put the pieces together and make some sense of it.
They're definitely not from this region.
Their tech is malfunctioning.
There was mention of a cathedral, so maybe they're religious? Though that's slightly odd for a tech culture. I mean, not like I've not seen it before, but it's definitely a minority out of the places I've been so far.
They're trying to study this area? Maybe they've heard something about the local ecology failing. It would make sense if that's what they were here to study, but...
They think a stream is unnatural? The one called 'Daeus' mentioned a 'Wasteland', so maybe they're desert folk and unused to trees and water. Then again, there was also that museum comment... Not sure what to make of that. It might be nothing. I've known people who consider having a backyard 'roughing it', so preferring to see nature in a museum might be meaningless.
They don't want to fight; they feel they would be at a disadvantage. I'd hazard a guess it's because of their tech not working properly.
Still, Vulira felt like she was missing too many pieces to really get a sense of what was going on or what this world was really like. Something felt off about some of her guesses. It was dangerous to make assumptions about a new world, so she focused instead on what she knew for sure: their tech was on the fritz, they were here with a purpose, and they weren't looking for a fight.
When she realized she'd been spotted, Vulira instinctively ducked closer to the tree, but didn't duck completely out of sight or try to run away. There was a slight temptation to fall into that 'trickster' role her species sometimes took on, and just flash an enigmatic smile and then evaporate and drift out of sight. Her ears and the tip of her tail twitched as she forced herself to keep still and just keep a sharp eye on their movements. Just because they didn't want to fight, didn't mean they were friendly.
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 19, 2016 17:14:15 GMT
Lucia was working on getting the sensors ready enjoying the light breeze drifting through. She kept seeing the fox out of the corner of her eye but this time she kept silent....until it ran across her feet. Lucia let out a shriek. "What is with this thing?!"
When Deaus called to her she whirled around to face where he was looking, and had to prevent her jaw from dropping. "Not quite what I saw but fascinating, and something you can see too that makes me feel better." She cleared her throat and moved a little closer. "Hello." Lucia stopped before she got too close not wanting to scare her, also wanting to gauge if she might be hostile.
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 17:29:49 GMT
Daeus looked rapidly between Lucia and the fox lady. In his mind he rapidly went over the files he had glanced through about the indigenous arcanists. Animals... that was the Lycanthropes? No wait, the Shapeshifters. Right. She didn't seem like she wanted to pick a fight or anything, so they could work with this. Assuming she could understand them. Oh craaaaap. How much had she overheard? That was the last thing they needed right now, to have a whole tribe of these people chasing them.
He spared a glare for Lucia. Now she had to be picky about what type of fox she was seeing? Then he turned his attention in full to the woman across the water.
"Um, hello there." He stood straightening his tie. "Nice weather today, huh?"
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Post by Vulira on Aug 19, 2016 17:34:07 GMT
A puzzled expression flitted across Vulira's face when Lucia shrieked. Her ears twitched again.
"Oh, um, hi," she said hesitantly, hoping the mechanism that translated their speech for her worked in reverse, too. She glanced at the plants around Lucia for signs of hallucinogenic fungi or something similar that might explain the odd behavior.
Vulira stepped away from the tree to be more in view, her tail held out straight behind her, indicating her caution. Her fine chain mail rustled softly and her jewelry jingled a little bit with her movement. She brushed her hair away from her face and absentmindedly fiddled with one of the five necklaces she wore; the black and white cameo, which showed worn spots around the edges of the image, indicating this was a long-standing habit.
"Weather?" she raised an eyebrow at the standard small talk. Some things really don't ever change! "It's comfortable enough..."
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 19, 2016 19:15:09 GMT
Something occurred to her that seemed like a good idea to ask. "Do you live here? We were just camping for the night, so if we're intruding we apologize." Lucia backed up when a sizable bee flew towards her face, and narrowly avoided tripping and falling backwards over a tree root. Inwardly she was swearing but she managed to keep a smile on her face.
"Have you by chance seen a small fox? It's been following me for the past two days, but no else seems to see it but me." She was hoping that Vulira would say yes so she wouldn't have to go back to questioning her sanity.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 19, 2016 19:31:52 GMT
Vulira shook her head. "No, I don't live here. I'm... new to the area," she said cautiously, flicking one ear back. "And sorry, the only wildlife I've seen has been a doe, so far. You seem a bit unfamiliar with this biome though," she commented, wincing slightly in sympathy as Lucia flailed. "Have you handled any unfamiliar plants since you've been out here? Some plants secret toxins through leaves or stems, or even in pollen. Sometimes they can have hallucinogenic properties, so if you touched or inhaled something, that might explain it," Vulira said, tapping her cheek thoughtfully.
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Post by Licht on Aug 19, 2016 22:20:19 GMT
Daeus elbowed Lucia as she brought up the fox to the fox lady. "Blend in.." he whispered through his teeth. Though he supposed that such an illusion had already failed, since the woman clearly realized they were outsiders.
"Yes, we're not from around here." He offered in answer.
He smirked as the fox talked about possible plant effects causing Lucia to see things, then something made him frown as he listened. "Forgive me for asking but..." He searched for a way to phrase his thoughts. "You speak in a rather more scientific manner about these things than I was expecting from what I know of those from anywhere around here." Realizing that could be taken as a slight, he went on "I had assumed we were the closest things to scientists or researchers around here as all."
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Post by Vulira on Aug 19, 2016 22:32:41 GMT
Vulira made a one-shoulder shrug, mouth turning downward momentarily. "Oh, really? So the locals are less advanced than you two? I wouldn't know. You're actually the first people I've seen since I arrived," she admitted. "I'm no scientist or anything like that, though. I was brought up by an herbalist, so I know about plants. Though... I'll admit I have no familiarity with the local flora," she said, looking around at the trees and bushes around them. "But in my experience, plants tend to evolve with similar traits everywhere."
"I saw your tech and spoke in a way I assumed would be familiar to you," she clarified, plucking at the ends of a lock of her hair.
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