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Post by Taliyah on Aug 20, 2016 3:02:18 GMT
"I'm not familiar with the plants around here but that's an explanation I hadn't thought of.We haven't come across many people either." Lucia felt a rush of relief that there could be another plausible explanation other than she was going stark raving mad.
"To our knowledge that is the case yes. We're just vacationing really, getting some fresh air and all that." Lucia decided it might be a wise idea to just lean against a tree, less chance of tripping, or falling, or other clumsy shenanigans. She really was more composed than this back home, but new surroundings, lack of sleep, and possible hallucinations had interfered with her normal behavior. "I'm Lucia."
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Post by Vulira on Aug 20, 2016 3:22:00 GMT
"Vacationing... uh-huh," Vulira gave the other woman a penetrating look, wondering why she was deflecting. "Well, I'm Vulira, and I don't actually know exactly what I'm doing. Kinda lost. It's amazing how often that happens, actually," she said with a charming smile. "Anyway, here," she said, pulling a small paper packed out from a pocket behind her and holding it out towards Lucia. "If you did come in contact with a hallucinogenic plant, this might neutralize it. I mean, no guarantees... it's kind of hard without knowing which plant caused it and making a specific antidote for it. But since most hallucinogens work by activating 2ARs in the cortex, this should theoretically at least lessen the effects of most hallucinogens by blocking the receptors for an hour or two. It shouldn't hurt you. I mean, unless you're allergic, but that's rare. Test it by putting a little of the powder on your arm, first. If you get a rash, don't ingest it. If you don't, it should be fine. You can mix it with any non-alcoholic beverage. It's only slightly bitter." Vulira shrugged apologetically. "Most medicinal herbs tend to be at least a little bitter."
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Post by Licht on Aug 20, 2016 5:50:05 GMT
Daeus stared at the offered medicine. His first instinct screamed poison. His second instinct told him that if he reacted suspiciously, that would cast more shade on them both. He reached a compromise in his head. He would try the stuff first, his body was the most resilient. If nothing bad happened Lucia should try it. He would love to be able to get a sensor reading on the compound, but that would of course imply working technology.
He shrugged and moved to a narrower part of the brook before hopping over. He needed to try and help smooth things over, Lucia was panicking. Figures that she's not used to talking her way out of situations, she's more used to not being seen when she chooses. Of course the fox wouldn't believe they were just vacationing after their talk about readings. "We're doing research, but it's not supposed to be talked about in the open." He racked his brain for details to corroborate the story. "For the King." Did they call their ruler a king? What else could he throw in to make it sound better... "We're from Kalemnos." I really hope that was the right name Lucia found out when she was listening to that caravan...
As he walks in front of Vulira he stops and smiles. "Thank you for your kindness Vulira. My name is Daeus." He holds open his palm for the herbal remedy she was offering, trying to seem nonthreatening.
With your knowledge of medicine, as he is closer to you, you realize his body is suffering in some way. He does not appear in pain, but his body is showing some signs that it is not used to, or reacting poorly to something around him.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 20, 2016 12:26:28 GMT
Vulira looked at Daeus blankly, no sign that 'Kalemnos' had any meaning to her. "So the regional government is a monarchy?" she asked, sounding surprised. "Seems... old fashioned..." she muttered. She looked at Daeus' outstretched hand, but made no move to deposit the medicine packet in it. Her expression turned wry. "There's not very much of this, just the one dose, and I'm not familiar enough with the local flora to replenish it until after I've spoken to a local herbalist, or botanist. It's basically just an herbal SSRI," she explained, "but it targets the receptors instead of neutralizing serotonin itself." Vulira continued to hold the packet towards Lucia. "I don't know what conflict you have with the locals, but I'm not part of it," Vulira said firmly. "I have no interest in harming either of you. It's good sense to be cautious of strangers handing you powders, but I promise, it does only what I've said. The locals wouldn't have offered the kind of explanation I have, would they?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Then she flipped the packet upright in her hand, pinching it so it opened. She stuck a finger in and pulled it out, holding it up so the other two could see the small amount of gray-green powder that clung to it. She stuck her finger in her mouth, making a face at the bitterness. She loosened her grip on the packet so it closed, and once again held it towards Lucia. "A little bit of anti-depressant probably wouldn't be bad for me right now anyway," she sighed. She took a closer look at Daeus. "So, what's your discomfort?" she asked. "You definitely seem to be, hmm... a bit off? Does it have to do with your tech malfunctioning?" she asked, regarding the metal on him with open curiosity. Nothing in her demeanor indicated she was in any way intimidated or put off by his appearance.
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Post by Licht on Aug 20, 2016 18:15:34 GMT
Daeus looked shocked at how the Shifter person was speaking so blatantly. She didn't know about the regional government? She's offering affirmation to prove she's not a local.
As far as the medicine, he shrugged at Lucia and mouthed "Up to you." There was always the possibility to fox was a really good actor, but he was somehow beginning to doubt that. He shook his head at the mention of something being wrong with him "I'm fine enough, just a bit light headed I guess? More fresh air than I'm used to I guess." He answered with a crooked smile.
An idea began forming in his mind. He knew there were multiple portals aside from the one they came through. He'd seen a few stranger things than her in the time he had been in Unzai hiding out before. He wondered...
"You're really not from around here, are you? Er... are you possibly also from..." He looked to Lucia for help, not wanting to outright ask if Vulira were also from Krilia. There was the fact she didn't seem to have a Core herself, but she seemed more curious and less shocked by his metal parts. This was turning into more of an enigma than he could have guessed.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 20, 2016 18:31:57 GMT
"Definitely not from anywhere around here," Vulira said, suppressing a smile. "I rather doubt you would've ever heard of my homeland, though. It's... very far away." And yet not! Really just a single step, if I find a portal with a coordinate input. Not that I want to go back... "Light headed? Ok, more oxygen than you're used to can certainly do that. Nothing I could offer for that though, I'm afraid. You'll just have to try and take it easy until you adjust. Though once you get used to it, I think you'll find it difficult to go back to a high-pollution urban setting, if that's the sort of situation you come from."
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 20, 2016 18:41:15 GMT
Lucia watched the exchange between Deaus and Vulira closely and listened to her explanation carefully. She watched to make sure there were no ill effects from the powder, and seeing none, took the powder from her. "Thank you."
She took some of the medicine bracing herself for the forewarned bitterness, and was rather impressed that she was trying to help Daeus. Lucia noticed where Daeus was trying to go in the conversation and pondered for a moment. "I think what he is trying to say is, are you from an area where there is tech like we have?" Lucia deliberately neglected to say Krilia as a precaution just like Daeus.
This stranger intrigued her as they had not seen anyone like her from their home or from here before. She didn't seem like she was a danger to them thus far and getting to know her might be a good thing.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 20, 2016 19:01:19 GMT
As they talked, Vulira's tail slowly lowered as she began to relax a bit. She nibbled the inside of her cheek and stared up at the forest canopy while she considered how to answer. "If you're asking me if there are people with cybernetics where I'm from, then I'd have to say yes," she said finally, lowering her gaze back to the other two. She crossed her arms and leaned on the nearest tree. "Is that uncommon here? Are you normally something of a spectacle?" She asked, looking at Daeus. "I might know a little something about how that feels," she added ruefully, dramatically wiggling her ears for emphasis. It hadn't escaped her notice that they didn't seem terribly shocked by her ears and tail, and her curiosity sharpened further.
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Post by Licht on Aug 20, 2016 19:13:09 GMT
Daeus nodded at Vulira's words. "I believe we, at least I especially would be a spectacle as you say." He ruefully indicated the Core and other metal on his face and arm, while glancing at Lucia's leg where her Core was pretty much hidden by her boots.
"Fortunately we've not had too many encounters with locals. We're.. led to believe they may take us to be hostile I suppose would be the best way to put it." He had begun to relax around their guest. It was seeming more clear that she was a stranger in these lands, and probably had to be from another part of their own world. He moved over to the backpack filled with their gear and took out three small metal rods. He walked back over to the clear space near Vulira and Lucia and placed them on the ground, pressing a switch. The devices unfolded and expanded, creating three basic, but comfortable metal chairs with a foam seat.
"If you would like." He nodded to Vulira before taking a seat himself and propping one leg up on the other.
"I'm fairly certain you would be able to blend more than either of us, considering what we know about the locals." He said thoughtfully, glancing at her ears.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 20, 2016 19:19:25 GMT
Vulira's face lit up at the expanding chairs. "Oooh, neat trick!" she said, sounding impressed. She pushed off the tree and gingerly sat on one so that her utility belt remained concealed under her chain mail. She looked at Daeus with greater interest. "I would blend in, huh? That's very interesting, and we'll come back to that in a minute. But I have a more important question!" She put her elbows on her knees and rested her chin on threaded fingers and met Daeus' gaze directly. "Why would the locals assume you're hostile? Do they have cause?"
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 20, 2016 21:20:57 GMT
Lucia sank gratefully into one of the chairs and listened to the conversation rubbing the spot on her leg where her core was absentmindedly, it pulsed from time to time which it didn't usually do in Krilia, rather like a small current running up and down her leg.
"My personal tech may be hidden but I imagine the tools we use would seem alien to those around here. So we do stick out regardless, and this could lead to assumptions that we are hostile because we are unfamiliar." There were probably some of the mentality to attack first and ask questions later, but she sincerely hoped they wouldn't run into any.
She noticed she didn't feel as on edge and anxious as she had before and was settling back into acting more like herself. Daeus seemed more comfortable too which to her was a good sign as well. For now the fox sightings had stopped so she assumed even though she hadn't downed the whole dose, that it was helping. Maybe putting the rest in tea wouldn't hurt, to help cut the bitter. Plants with hallucinogenic properties....that had to have been it. She wasn't crazy, just high as a kite apparently, which was a strange but somehow comforting conclusion.
Lucia rested her chin on her hand. "What kind of tech do they have where you are from?"
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Post by Vulira on Aug 20, 2016 21:43:14 GMT
Vulira's gaze followed Lucia's hand movement to her leg and figured that was where the woman had her own cybernetics. Hmm, prosthetic leg? she wondered. "I might have some familiarity with running into that kind of attitude as well!" Vulira said. "But if I might point out: you're here in their territory, doing research you're not supposed to talk about. And the implication in saying you worry they'd be unfriendly, is that you're here without their permission. After all, if you were here with their approval, you wouldn't be worried. Or, if you had official sanctions over public objection, then you'd have local law enforcement out here with you to protect you from dissidents. So that means one of two things. Either you tried to get permission from the local government and were denied and are out here over objections, or, you haven't even attempted to reach out to local authorities to get permission. In either case, I'd have to say you seem to be the party in the wrong," Vulira shrugged apologetically, and then added, "Not that I believe it warrants violence against you!"
She sat up straighter and crossed one leg over the other. "As to your question about tech where I'm from, I must confess that's difficult to answer. It's always changing. Where I come from sees a lot of travelers, from many more places than you could probably imagine. They bring all manner of wonders with them, great and small. Sometimes people from very different places with very different things will work together to combine them to make something that has truly never been seen before! But it's been quite a long time since I've been home, so I can't really say where things stand, now."
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Post by Licht on Aug 21, 2016 1:26:38 GMT
Daeus looked at Lucia with a shrug. He had no problems admitting that Cathedral was probably morally in the wrong with their stance on a lot of things but wasn't sure how she felt. "To be fair, the idea of whether what we're doing is right or wrong probably didn't go into their thinking much. Regardless, neither of us would be her in this situation if it weren't for orders." He picked up a twig and twirled it around as he thought.
The situation with the girl Vulira was wierding him out. She was sounding more and more like she wasn't from here, but nothing made sense with anything back home either. Was she making things up to stall for time. He frowned at the thought. For some reason he wanted to trust her, or at least keep her for mistrusting them. "Perhaps we should-" he cuts off and whirls around at a sudden sound behind him.
A branch snaps, a bowstring is drawn taught. Crouched on a treelimb above them, a man holds a bow aimed at Daeus' head. A quick glance around makes it suddenly apparent that there are at least three others aiming all of them. There is a rush of wings, and a man lands in the middle of the stream. His arms are wings and his face is a beak, but otherwise he appears as a shirtless human man in leather leggings. "Do not move."
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Post by Vulira on Aug 21, 2016 1:53:31 GMT
Vulira looked up in alarm. "Huh? Wha-?" Her ears flattened against her head and her tail went straight out behind her and doubled in size. Wow, hostile might've been an understatement! Is that guy a tengu? She held back the temptation to ask what the problem was. She knew what the problem was. They'd just been discussing it! She wondered what the likelihood was of being able to diffuse the situation. She wasn't sure how long the newcomers had been waiting in the trees. If deescalating the situation was going to require being mistaken for one of the locals, she doubted she had a proverbial snowball's chance if they'd overheard very much of the conversation. But she was on guard now, so it would be difficult for them to hurt her. But still... she didn't really like the thought of leaving Daeus and Lucia to deal with it on their own, even if the situation was largely of their own making.
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Post by Licht on Aug 21, 2016 17:00:49 GMT
Daeus started to stand and an arrow flew by, inches from his head. A warning shot. He made a noise of disgust and remained frozen in a half sitting, half crouching position, glaring at the bird guy. He could probably take him, but they had numbers. He had to start thinking about escape. He would have to try and hold off these guys, give Lucia and Vulira time to escape somehow. He paused, surprised at himself.
Why was he instantly jumping to trying to help the fox woman. She probably is one of these people, maybe was even stalling for this ambush. But he still wanted to believe what she had been telling in the conversation they'd had. She wasn't from around here if it was remotely true. He glanced at Vulira, who was clearly upset by what was happening. Okay, good actress or not lying.
"I said do not move." The falconesque man threatened, before flipping his wings back. Feathers vanished, turning into the muscled arms of a human. The beak and avian facial features faded to a grizzled human mouth. "I am Hawin, and I am working under the orders of Kayin Nightraven." He said the names as if they should mean something.
"And you... you are not supposed to be here." He had not pulled a weapon himself, but tapped his foot as he spoke, and it became obvious that his feet had transformed into the wickedly curved talons of a bird of prey, only human sized.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 21, 2016 17:08:16 GMT
Vulira uncrossed her legs and leaned forward a bit, staring in fascination as the man's features changed. She was totally oblivious to the emphasis the position put on her cleavage in the process. Her ears shifted a bit more upright and forward from her head, which she cocked to one side. She had no reaction to the mentioned name whatsoever. "I don't doubt that you're correct," she said slowly, meeting Hawin's gaze. "I'm rather lost, and I was just having a nice conversation with these two, trying to possibly get my bearings. Please, let's not have violence," she said shifting her glance from Hawin to Lucia and then Daeus. "If we're not supposed to be here, please, escort us to where we should be?" she said hopefully, looking back at Hawin, her voice lilting into a question at the end of her request.
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 22, 2016 4:38:24 GMT
"He's right we are here on orders, disobeying those would lead to even more trouble.” Lucia's eyes widened as she realized they were now in a rather interesting predicament. With her core's abilities she could stealth and get away, but that would leave Vulira and Daeus to fend for themselves. Given that Daeus had an arrow aimed at his head she couldn't do that, and she wouldn’t to Vulira either. One of her other abilities might be useful and she drew from it.
Lucia suddenly looked calm and composed and there was a quiet air about her. “We will remain still, we mean no harm. Since we have no intentions of violence would you please move your arrow away from my friends head? As our friend here has said if there is somewhere else we should be instead of here we will gladly go there. We mean no offense to any who might rule this area.”
Internally she was wracking her brain to try and recall if she had heard about anyone named Kayin Nightraven before. She knew that it was possible from the spying she had done but didn’t know if mentioning anything about him would cast more suspicion on them.
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Post by Licht on Aug 23, 2016 18:01:51 GMT
Hawin stares at Vulira as she gives her request, taking in the ears, tail, and blushing a bit as he notices her cleavage before looking fixedly away. "I do not recognize you madam, but your unfortunate association with these.... Technists," he says the word as one might say monster while staring at the metal on Daeus' face, "is unfortunately suspicious. I would have you all come with us while we sort out these matters."
Lucia's ability to charm and catch off-guard with her words has the desired effect, and several of the bowmen lower their weapons. Hawin seems surprised by her gentle words but still suspicious. He glares at the guards for a moment, but simply orders them down from the trees and to keep their weapons out, not to keep them aimed at any face in particular. A few of the humans climb down with catlike features, while a few others manifest wings briefly before returning to normal. Vulira notices one with batlike features that steps out of the shadow of a tree. She also does not appear to have a weapon drawn but is studying the three of them fiercely, as if trying to memorize their features.
Hawin turns to them and addresses them again "Stand slowly and hold out your hands, we will restrain them while we walk."
Daeus grimaces at this. He will have a better chance if he tries to get the other two out before they are restrained in any way. He silently praises Lucia for her quick thinking with trying to calm the guards, even just a little.
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Post by Vulira on Aug 23, 2016 18:36:36 GMT
Vulira blinked at the venom in Hawin's voice and the way he looked at Daeus. She slanted a look at Daeus, wondering if the obvious prejudice was wounding. I'm really not sure what's going on here, but there's obvious prejudice on both sides. It's not good. It reminds me of the conflicts between opposing elementals back home. I really don't want a repeat of that. I can't... She shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. I need to cooperate, to learn more about what's going on. The restraints are meaningless anyway. She stood slowly and held out her arms, squishing her bosom in the process, still oblivious. She'd been too distracted by the other strangers with their changing features to notice Hawin's blush.
"I'll be cooperative, if you treat everyone kindly," she said. Despite her calm tone, her ears remained low and the fur on her tail remained standing on end, though the tail itself was lower now, rather than sticking straight out behind her. "I wouldn't expect you to recognize me," she added after a moment, "I'm not from this area. My name is Vulira."
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Post by Taliyah on Aug 24, 2016 0:57:19 GMT
Inwardly the insult pissed her off and she had to struggle to make sure her temper didn't flare up. That would certainly ruin the calm presence she was trying to convey. A gentle look came over her eyes and she stood carefully with her arms out as directed. "We would not disrupt your method of procedure good sir, lead the way." It did not escape her notice that the shifter was blushing due to Vulira, but she kept her giggle on the inside.
Lucia made a deliberate point to be polite and not return the insult with the counter insult for residents of this world, though for a split second she felt like it. Doing so would only escalate things into a potentially dangerous situation. Maybe Hawin had a reason for spewing the term. She looked at Daeus for a split second making it seem like she was relieved her companion was safe.
"My thanks for lowering your arrows." She directed this at Hawin while giving Daeus that quick glance as if to say, don't do anything, not right now, She was frantically thinking and the conclusion she came to was better to do as the stranger said and figure out a plan of action later if things became troublesome.
They were trespassing after all, and maybe the people would be reasonable wherever they were going. There had to be some way to explain their actions without seeming like a threat.
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