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--- sessions:embrace:2020-05-20 [2022/07/16 19:58] – Stuff from the 19th of March pinkgothic
+++ sessions:embrace:2020-05-20 [2024/01/23 11:24] (current) – removed shyriath
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-{{wst>pinkgothic|A left arm went up. Clawed fingers stretched. The unnatural posture was held for a while, then the arm lazily reeled back in, and the process repeated with the right arm.
-Then, elbows pointing outward, he rested his hands on his chest, ran his tongue along the studded plates of his mouth one might call 'teeth' if one were feeling generous, and, yawning silently, settled his gaze on the newcomer.
-The newcomer had an Orb. He was reasonably sure they didn't particularly sell well as tradeable goods and in any case, the newcomer only had one of them, not a selection, clinging to it like one might to one's personal belongings, so he assumed the newcomer was altogether new.
-There was a Colony on the creature's back if he was not mistaken, though, which might ease communication.
-He watched the creature for a while, taking note of the tone of voice, the pitch, the rhythm of syllables, the frequencies of the phonemes, trying to discern whether or not he had heard the pattern before. It was his sole focus for a while, sifting through a vast but poorly indexed tome of memories for anything similar.
-By the time he'd spent ten minutes on it, it occurred to him to wonder whether there may be more to it than whatever his own ears were picking up, and whether there was risk that most of the language was inaudible to him, and even a slight shift in dialect could make him erroneously assume a separate language where there was none.
-Slowly he swerved his head to look between his hips and his left arm, where his largely empty rucksack had been crammed. Listening to more of the conversation the newcomer was having with the owner of the inn, he opened his jar of slugs, taking note that it now only contained three of the delicacies, and speared one of them with a slowly descending claw, then fished it from the depths. It vanished into his mouth to be instantly flattened completely, kept from oozing out by thin but sufficient lips.
-Ta'skaaru, meanwhile, had yet to take note of the sluggish bundle of fur that was crammed into a nook not far from the entrance to the inn that had been largely chisled into the rock around what might once have been a natural chasm, and had some kind of wooden beams to hold up cloth where it had not.
-Perhaps his nook had once been meant to hold a guest book, or some decoration. Now and for the past couple of weeks, it had been his room.
-The creature negotiating with Ta'skaaru looked disconcertingly like a large version of the lizards she'd been eating, but was infinitely more articulate. A human might recognise it as looking very much like a monitor lizard, albeit with a strange set of milky, pupil-less eyes sitting on its snout just before the regular ones.
-<I have a holding area suitable for Orbs,> the lizard was clicking. <And the equipment to hold them. Certain plants are as impenetrable to them as your arms; holding them in place is a solved problem. A bit of distance is all I ask and the holding area is far enough that I am quite willing to risk it, but it would be rude to my other guests to let you into a room with it.>
-They had already negotiated that she would be allowed to stay for a rest and obtain some food as long as she put her wings to good use to retrieve a delivery that he had been waiting for, for a forage through a 'nearby' patch of vegetation that was the local equivalent of a forest for some berries Ehiphem had never heard of before but could relay the description of, and for a tour to the market for a round of groceries in the morning - with her Orb still in his possession, of course, as a simple polite form of insurance, lest she potentially make off with his money. At least she'd evidently been able to convince him that the Orb meant a lot to her.}}
-{{wst>shyriath|Ehiphem was evidently having a good time. Its tiny eyestalks had extended from its shell and waggled in all directions, looking at the inn and the creatures in and around it. Its fascination had interrupted its translation once or twice already, though the innkeeper's description of the Orb-holding plants had recaptured its attention.
-~We had not heard of such things!~ it exclaimed gleefully, after finishing its translation. ~We wonder if they have some rudimentary intelligence that the Orb reacts to. Seeing such a mind would be a fascinating thing.~}}
-{{wst>pinkgothic|Enough of the translation was reaching Ta'skaaru that she, too, was intrigued, despite having reservations about leaving 'her' Orb anywhere but near her person (what if it activated precisely while she was separated from it?). "Has anyone ever made a harness for these Orbs? Holding onto it as I've been doing has been a bit... taxing."
-After another basic translation round from Ehiphem, the inn-keeper commented: <I don't believe it's been done before, but it should be easy to set up. As for what causes the Orbs to stay in place, opportunities to test hypotheses have been scarce. It might be as simple as the amount of water; no one has seen Orbs pass through pure water. But we might never find out.>
-All four of the inn-keeper's eyes blinked in unison. <But to return to the original subject - if you accept the conditions, you may stay here. Is it agreeable, and shall I lead you to where you can park your Orb?>}}
-{{wst>shyriath|It was not as if alternatives were pressing themselves upon them. Ehiphem's understanding was that a lifestyle of hunting and gathering was indeed possible in the Embrace, but given how this had served Ta'skaaru so far, the innkeeper's offer seemed like the best alternative. Distracted though Ehiphem was, it was hard to imagine that it wouldn't have mentioned any intention to deceive.
-And so, accepting the offer, Ta'skaaru was led through a rock-cut tunnel that, while clearly associated with the inn, had no adjoining rooms. It led, after a hundred meters or so, to the bottom of a sort of shaft - some smaller cousin to the main one, perhaps, and indeed a sense of open space high above suggested that it might even connect to it. A stream of water slid down the side of it through a narrow channel and splashed noisily into a natural pool that covered much of the chamber's flat bottom.
-Arrayed between the edges of the pool and the walls were a series of wooden trellises, upon which were growing very strange-looking plants, with small but frilly, involuted leaves, black in color but with a strange sheen to them. Ehiphem regarded them with disappointment. ~However they work,~ it commented, ~it's not because they can think.~
-The trellises were designed such that the plants grew into a hollow sphere with a hole in the top. The innkeeper pointed at the nearest one. <When the plants are properly maintained in these shapes and given the correct nutrients, an Orb inserted into the sphere will remain there without leaving. Though Orbs are not so common a sight that there are often many of them here, we take care to keep these well; their leaves are palatable to some species, so they earn their keep regardless.>}}
-{{wst>pinkgothic|This was the sort of reasonable behaviour that Ta'skaaru had hoped to encounter. It still felt like a precarious acquisition, this piece of polite civilisation, this lack of anything but a purely practical prejudice. And yet, given her tiny sample of the civilisation here, it might well be the prevailing attitude.
-There was still some ambivalence about leaving her Orb unattended. After all, it might activate at any time, and while the inn-keeper apparently was willing to lose a few plants to the event, Ta'skaaru was less willing to miss the event. Maybe she could fashion a harness herself and wear the Orb during some of her errands - if likely not during the trip to the market.
-Still, it felt //good// to let go of the Orb - her arms practically sighed in relief, revealing just how uncomfortably close to locked up they'd gotten. After carefully and with the inn-keeper's guidance easing the Orb into a de-facto cage that would hold it, she rolled her joints.
-"Thank you," she said, relief mingling with both the disappointment that social pressure was making her let go of her dubious prize and a curiosity about how to use her new-found knowledge to better hold it. A low background exhaustion nagged her to ask first for sleep, but it felt rude to be quite so quick to claim her end of the bargain.
-"Can you tell me more about the delivery you wanted? How far away is it?" she asked, scratching lightly at her chest to relieve a phantom itch.
-<That depends on the route,> the lizard commented as he added finishing touches to the Orb's jail cell, pulling plant tendrils in place to make it impossible for it to escape in any direction by natural means.
-Then he dropped to the ground and shuffled to the other structures, inspecting them briefly, tongue flicking. He clicked: <It's nearly two days on foot, using the established paths.> Back on the ground, he turned to look at Ta'skaau, canting his head, blinking only his milky eyes for a moment. <But your destination should be considerably more accessible by air.
-<I'd honestly just send one of the Couriers for it, but they don't carry cargo of that weight solo, and even one of them is comparatively... expensive to rent,> he mused, matter-of-factly, then began to lead them back toward the Inn proper at a leisurely pace.
-<Normally I'd ask the Mailman to get it for me, but I suspect you'll be quite a bit faster. If you talk to him, he can tell you where to go - he also travels //up//.>
-He was using //the Mailman// as though it were some person that Ta'skaaru ought to know. Someone decently well-known in this area of the Embrace, perhaps? ~Does 'the Mailman' tell you anything?~ she found herself asking Ehiphem, choosing to check with her eerie tour guide before pestering the local.}}
-{{wst>shyriath|Ehiphem, from its place on her back, wiggled its eyestalks in curious uncertainty. ~I was uncertain about that translation, as the concept that this esteemed being was trying to convey seemed awfully similar to 'courier'. But it was, very much,~ it added, responding to Ta'skaaru's background thoughts, ~referring to a singular being, rather than one of a group. Just a moment...~
-The parasite had, after all, being doing the speaking for her, so it should have been no surprise that it could communicate unasked. The lizard blinked, glared at Ehiphem's carapace, and barked something at it, doing so again after an interval of what was, presumably, unvocalized response on the parasite's part. It closed its eyes for a moment, its scales briefly changing color in what appeared to be some kind of visceral discomfort.
-At last, the lizard's eyes opened and its colors returned to normal. It started speaking again, and Ehiphem resumed translating. <-unpleasant, regardless of how efficient it is. Did you at least get what you needed, so that you don't need to do that to me again? Very well. And tell your... companion here that I don't envy it having to get used to a Choral stuck to it.>
-Ehiphem withdrew its eyestalks a bit, and explained, ~I asked if I could simply see the image of this Mailman held in its mind. It agreed, but evidently it was not fond of the experience. ...at any rate, I think it might have been one of the beings out in the front of the inn.~}}
-{{wst>pinkgothic|Ta'skaaru cringed at the exchange, kernels of confused panic having blossomed in her gut during the exchange. ~You //could// have just //asked// verbally,~ she remarked with some alarm. ~I asked you first in case it was something well-known to the natives of this place, not because-- because-- ach.~
-She grimaced lightly, gesturing with a forepaw to hopefully make it clear to the inn-keeper that she wasn't directing the expression at him. ~Most people I've ever encountered,~ she thought to Ehiphem. ~Prefer some form of verbal communication, be it subvocal or voiced.~
-Finally, she huffed a little, trying to put the feeling of mutual violation aside somehow on basis of a frantic assumption that Ehiphem simply hadn't known better and was to be excused (//please let it be true//), and addressed the inn-keeper, fully cognisant of the irony of expecting Ehiphem to translate after she'd just chewed it out, however briefly.
-"Sorry about that," she said. "It means well." //Mostly. I think. It might also be deluding me into thinking so, though for what it's worth, I still feel mostly autonomous.// "I wasn't sure if the identity of the person you referred to was common knowledge and I usually ask the Choral first when I have reason to believe I've come across something like that.
-"I didn't know it was going to do... that... rather than ask. We're still working out how to work together. No harm intended; very sorry."}}
-{{wst>shyriath|The lizard huffed, or at least made a huffing noise; Ehiphem failed to comment on what it meant. It glared at the Choral as it spoke in what Ta'skaaru supposed to be a grudging fashion. <It asked; I said yes. It's a baby, one makes allowances for-> Ehiphem broke from the translation into an offended response. ~//Baby//? We beg your pardon? We have been accreting for hundreds of cycles...~
-It was evident that Ehiphem was speaking for both their benefits at this point, since the lizard was clearly hearing it and understanding as well; it clicked and jabbered back in a measured fashion, but its body language betrayed a certain amount of annoyance.}}
-{{wst>pinkgothic|Ta'skaaru frowned mildly. The relative age of the symbiont didn't make a difference to her, which made it all the more strange to her that the Choral itself was making a big deal out of it. But as the bickering broke out, a part of her wondered if she //was// supposed to care. What //was// an adult Choral like, if not like Ehiphem? Would Ehiphem eventually subsume her like a fungus?
-No doubt even if the answer //were// 'yes', there wasn't anything she could do about it other than hope someone else might covertly sneak a fungicide into her next meal.
-She didn't verbally comment on it, instead just gesturing generic understanding in a way she hoped was universal enough, or at least so obviously alien that it wouldn't offend.
-"Thank you for your guidance and hospitality," she said to their host. She meant it; the chores she was supposed to do were light in exchange for food and shelter. "I have one last question for now: Is there a way we can reliably assert to others that you authorised us to fetch your delivery?"}}